http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/05/14/1022156.aspx
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
by Domenico Montanaro
From NBC's Mike Viqueira
A former House GOP leader is calling this year's political atmosphere
"the worst since Watergate and is far more toxic than the fall of
2006," citing "deep seeded (sic) antipathy toward the president."
Rep. Tom Davis wrote a 20-page treatise assessing the state of the
Republican Party as we head into the summer and presented it to House
GOP rank and file this morning.
Davis, who is retiring, is rumored to be interested in fini****ng his
term as the head of the GOP House campaign arm.
We are hearing a lot today from Republicans and their concern about
their "brand," and Davis takes it to another level in his memo;
"a congressional GOP brand tied to George Bush is struggling";
"...deep seeded antipathy toward the president, the war, gas prices,
the economy, foreclosures and, in some areas, the underlying cultural
differences that continue to brand our party."
And the kicker, "the Republican brand is in the trash can...if we were
dog food, they would take us off the shelf."
And just in case anyone is laboring under the illusion that the party
can remake itself in the image of John McCain, Davis asserts, "McCain
has his own branding and it is not consistent with congressional
Republican branding."
Up-and-coming Rep. Eric Cantor thinks that "the paradigm has ****fted"
for Republicans, and that what has happened last night in Mississippi,
and earlier in Illinois and Louisiana, is a "trailing indicator" of an
unpopular administration.
Trying to link Democratic candidates to Obama "just didn't work" in
Cantor's view.
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What a surprise
Harry
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