The Washington Independent

Posts Tagged Republican Party

Boehner to GOP: Embrace the Tea Parties

By | 01.29.10 | 4:13 pm

This nugget from Jake Sherman and Patrick O’Connor’s preview of the House GOP retreat deserves more attention.

[House Minority Leader John] Boehner has told his rank and file to embrace the so-called tea party movement “because it will be critical as we proceed,” according to excerpts from his remarks.

I’ve More…

Lieberman Calls for ‘Move to the Center,’ Doesn’t Rule Out Switch to GOP

By | 01.19.10 | 5:50 pm

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), who’s done plenty in recent months to alienate Democrats, won’t improve his standing with his comments today to Fox News. Asked by Neil Cavuto if he would switch to the Republican Party if the GOP somehow took over the Senate in this year’s elections, More…

The Last Time Massachusetts Elected a Republican Senator?

By | 01.19.10 | 2:45 pm

The last Republican to hold a U.S. Senate seat in Massachusetts was Edward W. Brooke, who lost to Democrat Paul E. Tsongas in the 1978 election. Brooke was the first African-American senator to be elected since Reconstruction, winning in 1966 over Democrat Endicott Peabody. He received the Congressional Gold More…

Conservatives Not Ready to Embrace Party-Switcher

By | 12.22.09 | 3:59 pm

On Tuesday morning, Politico broke the news that Rep. Parker Griffith (Ala.) was switching from the Democratic Party to the GOP. For Les Phillip — a Tea Party activist who’d been waging a Republican campaign for Griffith’s seat since August — it was “manna from heaven.”

“This is why More…

Conservatives Ready to Claim Election Day Victory

By | 11.02.09 | 6:00 am

WATERTOWN, N.Y. — Conservatives declared victory in the 2009 off-year elections four days before voters went the polls. With the withdrawal of Dede Scozzafava, the embattled moderate Republican candidate, from the special election in New York’s 23rd Congressional District, activists and organizers are toasting a shocking victory over the Republican More…

GOP Risks Alienating Latinos by Scapegoating Immigrants in Health Care Debate

By | 08.19.09 | 10:49 am

As a leading immigration restrictionist group today opens a conference highlighting the costs of immigrants to the nation’s health care system, critics are pointing out the risks of Republicans’ embracing an anti-immigrant strategy in the health care debate.

“The Republican Party’s embrace of the nativist base is probably More…

The Joy of Recruitment

By | 07.09.09 | 11:30 am

[UPDATE: I originally misidentified Fiorinia's abortion stance. She's pro-life.]

Josh Kraushaar notices that Republicans have gotten the U.S. Senate candidates they wanted in New Hampshire and Illinois, where they “lacked a deep bench of viable recruits — and their political hopes were largely dependent on one specific candidate running.” More…

Some Republican Senate Optimism

By | 04.30.09 | 6:35 pm

Just as they lose Sen. Arlen Specter (D-Pa.), Republicans are getting a few breaks that could sustain them through the 2010 cycle.

- Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), one of the last Republican stars in suburban Chicago, is considering running for President Obama’s old Senate seat, currently occupied by Sen. More…

Moderate Republicans Don’t Recognize Their Party

By | 04.29.09 | 11:32 am

In the wake of Sen. Arlen Specter’s (D-Pa.) defection from the Republican Party, another prominent GOP moderate is expressing doubts that the party has a future on its current tack to the right. Writing in The New York Times today, Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) argues that “the political environment More…

RNC Wants Union Members To Have More Rights Than RNC Members

By | 03.20.09 | 2:20 pm

Here’s an interesting tip I just got from American Rights At Work about the Republican’s vociferous opposition to the Employee Free Choice Act, based on its oft-stated desire to protect employees’ rights to vote in secret ballots. (Contrary to Republican claims, the EFCA does not take away that More…