I know I am starting to sound like I am beating the same drum over and over. But I am still reflecting with wonder on the fact that earlier today House Republicans gathered in a room and largely re-elected the same leadership that they had while in the majority.
The gravity of the problem for House Republicans is highlighted by my reaction to reading a speech I found online given by Roy Blunt (right), who was re-elected into House Leadership. In it he gives a speech that makes it sound as if he suddenly has turned over a new leaf. This the man who for years literally whipped up the votes to massively grow government. Now, stripped of his majority status and power, he is giving lip service to past mistakes.
Why would anyone believe that if Republicans took back the majority, things would be appreciably different than before, with the same leadership? I’ll be looking to see if Republicans get very specific about what they did wrong, what specifically they would change if back in power? A very real first step would be to completely change out all of the Appropriations Committee members (how about making Mike Pence or John Shadegg the ranking member of Appropriations?).
I can’t help but think that Republicans really don’t think they did very much wrong. It’s like they think that we on the outside are just a little annoyed with them. I don’t think they understand that there is a sense of betrayal. If you consider that we actually thought that federal spending would shrink, that agencies would be abolished, and that power would be returned to the people — then see how everything went entirely the other way… Republicans became the D.C. liberals we were going to replace.