THE GOP IS FLOUNDERING

Today I heard Sean Hannity list principles that the GOP should stick to and they are all from the stale Reagan playbook. A few weeks ago, serial adulterer Newt Gingrich offered a 9-point plan that seemed like a caricature of his original Contract with America. Now, Dallas Republicans recognize that the GOP "brand" is closer to "Brand X" and they want to do something about that but they can't seem to break with the past.


Dallas Republican proposes cure for what ails GOP
08:54 AM CDT on Sunday, May 25, 2008
Dallas Morning News

(excerpts)

Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling is urging colleagues to take a similar approach.

It isn't enough, he said, merely to renew a commitment to fiscal restraint and conservative social stances, or provide a "toolbox" for members, as the GOP leadership did earlier this month.

The party needs a small, easily digestible set of core goals to rally around to stave off big losses this fall, in his view.

As chairman of the Republican Study Committee, a conservative bloc that represents more than half the House GOP membership...The eight-point prescription he offered got a semi-cool reception, but he's hoping to get consensus when Republicans reconvene after the Memorial Day break. He boiled his plan down to three central planks meant to reflect core principles that speak to the "hearts, minds, aspirations and pocketbooks of the American people."

•Pass a constitutional amendment to limit federal spending.

•Scrap the tax code, and replace it with a two-tiered flat tax that would fit on one page.

•Halt "earmarks," the special spending projects that lawmakers can insert into legislation.

Isn't it a bit cheeky for backbench House members to try to set the party's agenda, when there's a presidential nominee?
"McCain has his own brand," Mr. Hensarling said. "I'm sitting here with House Republicans. ... We gotta do what we gotta do."

Rep. Kay Granger of Fort Worth – vice chairwoman of the House GOP conference – unveiled the official leadership proposal a week earlier. ... The Granger plan is a 46-point set of ideas aimed at high gas prices, the time crunch facing workers with kids and aging parents, and other pocketbook issues. By design, it's meant for lawmakers to pick and choose, highlighting the elements they think would resonate best.

Dallas Rep. Pete Sessions are distancing themselves from President Bush.

The president, Mr. Sessions told a group of eighth-graders visiting the Capitol last week from Akiba Academy in Dallas, "is doing everything he thinks is correct," and yet "the American people are fed up.... we've lost the House and Senate, and everybody hates George Bush."