John Boehner: The DNC's Best Friend?
In 2010, many of
you might remember when the Republicans used then unpopular Democratic House
Speaker Nancy Pelosi as the face of their campaign of an ineffective Congress
that needed change. The strategy worked and the Republican’s took over the
house and Pelosi lost her post as the leader of Congress. With Speaker Boehner
facing the largest unfavorable rating of a speakers performance ever recorded,
it seems as if the Democrats might be giving the Republicans a taste of their
strategy once used.
In 2010 then
Speaker Pelosi had just a 26% approval rating with 53% of Americans having an
unfavorable view of Pelosi and the job she had been doing as Speaker. So, with
that in mind, the Republican’s attacked Pelosi as the poster-boy for the
inability of Washington to get anything accomplished. Now, as we fast forward
to the present time with mid-term elections right around the corner, the
Democrats are poised to use the strategy the Republicans made famous just a few
years ago. According to a recent CNN poll, 55% of adults said they had an
unfavorable view of the job Boehner has done, which is an all-time high for a
speaker
During this
attack, Republican’s would link Democrats in districts where they were
venerable to Speaker Pelosi and her voting record. For example, the Republicans
attacked (D) Rep. John Adler in a televisions add in 2010 that said, “"John Adler says he's independent. But Adler has voted with
Nancy Pelosi over 90 percent of the time." By continuing to drive a
message of ineffectiveness and unpopularity home, the Republicans were able to
link Mr. Adler to Speaker Pelosi and her inability to get things done. In the
end, the strategy proved affective as Adler lost his seat to now (R) Rep. John
Ruynan.
Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee spokeswoman Emily Bittner has already begun to use the formula that
the Republicans proved successful. "When it comes to Americans’ anger and
frustration with Congress, no one personifies that more than Speaker John Boehner,"
she said. Mrs. Bittner took the early stages of what is the beginning of this
message by saying, " Speaker Boehner’s reckless agenda has created the
most irresponsible Congress that Americans can remember, and voters revile
Speaker Boehner because he is jeopardizing their financial stability." As
we have mentioned above, the Democrats are hoping they can frame the message to
pin Boehner as the problem and prove the congressmen whose seat is in danger as
a Boehner crony, which in turn, could prove fatal to them, come election day.
Now that we have a general idea of how the Democrats might attack
the Republican’s come the mid-term elections, it will be fascinating to see how
the Democrats frame or change this message as the time went on. Another point
of note will be how the Republican’s respond to this message as well. Stay
tuned!
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