Mediaboss Marketing

It is the very political positions the Republican party used to gain power that render them divided, incapable of effectively solving the problems they were elected to address.

THE failure of Paul Ryan and the Republican House of Representatives to pass President Trumps health-care bill, his first piece of major legislation, has caused an avalanche of interpretations and explanations from mainstream commentators.

Everyone, it seems, has an opinion. Republicans are too divided ideologically to govern; they have been elected to tear down, not build; Trump knows nothing about governing; his advisers are either incompetent, inexperienced, or useless ideologues. The list goes on.

But I have read nothing about the most important of all reasons. The Republican House has before it an impossible task: In order to gain power and stay in office, the Republican party has been forced to use three broad strategies.

Got something to say about a topic in the news? Were looking for personal essays with strong opinions. Send your submission of no more than 500 words to oped@seattletimes.com with the subject line My Take.

Philip Cushman is a semiretired psychology professor from the California School of Professional Psychology and most recently from Antioch University Seattle. He has a private practice on Vashon Island.

One, it has exaggerated and twisted basic conservative concepts until they are out of touch with current political challenges. For instance, 19th-century ideas about the wisdom of the unregulated marketplace cannot begin to address the enormous and complex labor, health-care, tax-code, environmental and infrastructure needs of the 21st.

Two, they have had to mortgage their integrity to the very richest of Americans, who demand tax cuts and devious welfare-for-the-rich and deregulation deals that make any sort of rational and creative legislative response to difficult 21st century challenges impossible to craft.

Three, they have had to quietly and under cover of code words and stereotypes make common cause with the worst of American culture: racism and xenophobia.

These three strategies make for great political theater: nasty sloganeering, powerful advertising campaigns and vicious scapegoating. But winning an election through manipulation and bullying does not necessarily translate into good governance. And winning an election in simplistic, vicious, nefarious ways especially makes governance in a democracy difficult.

So it is the very political positions the Republican party used to gain power that render them divided, mean-spirited and incapable of effectively solving the problems they were elected to address. In the vernacular of the country and Western culture Republicans have exploited since Reagan, you dance with the one what brung ya.

Governing takes studying, reasoning, expertise and collaboration, which anti-intellectualism and the distrust of Washington cannot abide. It takes caring for others, and especially an attention to difference, poverty and oppression qualities that racism, misogyny and homophobia detest. It takes an adequate amount of federal funds, which can only be raised by a progressive tax structure, more like that which was used in the Eisenhower administration than the regressive tax policies of Republicans since the Reagan administration.

The Republican party is in the process of being gored by its own ox. It was a great beast to ride when the job was destruction. But the monster is not domesticated, and by definition it cannot live in the halls of Washington. If not subdued it will tear apart older political traditions and important recent policies that inched the country slightly closer to fulfilling its great promise. The one thing that would save the day is the one thing the Republican party is by design incapable of doing. Our ideals of diversity and fair governance indeed democracy itself hang in the balance.

Read more from the original source:
Three Republican strategies that have backfired - The Seattle Times

WASHINGTON Will anyone be left standing when the Republican circular firing squad runs out of ammunition? Or will everybody just reload and keep blasting away, leaving Democrats to clean up the bloody mess?

The political moment were living through is truly remarkable, but not in a good way. Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress, so were basically in their hands. But they have nothing approaching consensus on what they should be doing and they have failed to show basic competence at doing much of anything.

This absurd situation was illustrated Thursday when House Speaker Paul Ryan, appearing on CBS This Morning, tried to explain why he wants to lead yet another suicide charge up Health Care Hill.

Ryan said he worries that if Republicans dont repeal the Affordable Care Act and pass some sort of replacement, then President Trump will just go work with Democrats to try and change Obamacare and thats not, thats hardly a conservative thing. ... If this Republican Congress allows the perfect to be the enemy of the good, I worry well push the president into working with Democrats. Hes been suggesting that as much.

Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, usually a man of measured words, responded with a barbed tweet: We have come a long way in our country when the speaker of one party urges a president NOT to work with the other party to solve a problem.

Trump went on Twitter as well, primarily to lash out at the House GOP conservatives who helped scuttle the slapdash American Health Care Act that Ryan tried and disastrously failed to ram through last week: The Freedom Caucus will hurt the entire Republican agenda if they dont get on the team, & fast. We must fight them, & Dems, in 2018!

But which Republican agenda? The House majority wants ideological purity of the kind found in Ayn Rand novels and the writings of obscure Austrian economists. The Senate majority favors traditional conservative policies and seeks self-preservation. Trump seeks adulation, a crown of laurels and the strewing of rose petals at his feet.

The House looks hopeless. Republicans hold 241 seats, a massive majority yet could not come close to mustering the 216 needed last week to approve the ill-fated health care bill. House Republicans passed about 60 measures to repeal all or part of Obamacare while Barack Obama was president but now, with a Republican in the White House, cant pass even one.

Ryan somehow acquired a reputation as a policy wonk but really is an ideologue, as shown by his comments Thursday. He worries less about whether policies work or not whether, in this case, more people have health insurance than whether policies fit his definition of conservative or not conservative. Also, he doesnt seem to be very good at counting votes, which is a clear requirement in the House speaker job description.

To be fair, he does have the problem of the Freedom Caucus a group of 30 to 40 House Republicans who are far to Ryans right, which puts them beyond the outer fringe. If politics were the solar system, they would be the Oort Cloud, out there past Pluto. It is hard to imagine any health care bill that is acceptable to both the Freedom Caucus and a majority of Americans.

The White House looks hopeless, too. Trumps inner circle is like the Court of the Borgias, full of intrigue and backstabbing. And there have been plenty of opportunities for rivals to wield their knives: Advisers Steve Bannon and Stephen Miller, the economic nationalists, came under attack when Trumps first, amateurish attempt at a Muslim travel ban got blocked by the courts. Chief of staff Staff Reince Priebus like Ryan, part of the Cheesehead Mafia from Wisconsin bore much of the blame for the health care debacle. Economic adviser Gary Cohn and his staff are derided by others as the Democrats. Jared Kushner is fortunate to have the Teflon coating that comes from being the bosss son-in-law.

That leaves just two viable centers of power Senate Republicans under Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who is nothing if not wily; and House Democrats under Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Its probably going to take Democratic votes to keep the government funded past April 28 and avoid a shutdown. Trumps only path forward on health care, a problem he now owns, may indeed be working with the Democrats. When I saw her at the Capitol this week, Pelosi was in a surprisingly good mood.

Eugene Robinson is a columnist for The Washington Post.

Read more here:
Eugene Robinson: Republican muddle an opening for Democrats (Gazette) - Charleston Gazette-Mail (subscription)

New York Post

It's not really a Republican Congress, 'fake news' didn't sway election & other comments New York Post Following November's election, House Speaker Paul Ryan welcomed a unified Republican government. But, as the failure of the GOP health-care bill shows, he seemed to see a much bigger victory than the GOP had actually won, says Russell Berman in ...

More here:
It's not really a Republican Congress, 'fake news' didn't sway election & other comments - New York Post

Subscribe today for full access on your desktop, tablet, and mobile device.

Let friends in your social network know what you are reading about

Maybe the "base" should just re-register as a separate party and quit complaining

Try Another

Audio CAPTCHA

Image CAPTCHA

Help

CancelSend

A link has been sent to your friend's email address.

A link has been posted to your Facebook feed.

Jerrold Jordan, Knoxville, Letter to the Editor 5:32 p.m. CT March 31, 2017

Niko Medved, the new head coach of the Drake men's basketball team speaks during an introductory news conference on Monday, March 27, 2017, in the Knapp Center. (Photo: Kelsey Kremer/The Register)Buy Photo

I finally struggled through the latest diatribe of Joel Kurtinitis [Steve King kerfuffle exposes GOP establishment's priorities, March 26]. I may be wrong, because I'm never quite sure of the direction of his boat, but I think this torpedo was aimed at the Republican moderates, assuming there are any left.

I think everyone knows there is more than one Republican Party, especially after last week's health care scramble in the U.S. House. Maybe the "base" should just re-register as a separate party and quit complaining. The problem might be with the name.

I would be glad to sponsor a naming contest. It might help focus anyone trying to become a "poor man's" George Will.

Jerrold Jordan,Knoxville

Read or Share this story: http://dmreg.co/2nFwNfn

4:44

1:04

3:57

2:35

3:28

3:45

3:35

4:10

3:51

1:11

0) { %>

0) { %>

Read more:
There's more than one Republican Party - DesMoinesRegister.com

Earl L. Jann Jr. was a former pharmaceutical sales rep and a long-time Marilla supervisor when he was appointed six years ago to the board of the Erie County Water Authority, a patronage post that paid him $22,500 a year.

But now he is preparing to maneuver into a bigger role. He wants to become executive director of the public utility, which supplies water to more than half a million people.

This job would pay more than $145,000 a year.

And why does Jann think he is fit for the job? Because he's been a hard-working board member.

"For my six years as a board member, I have worked to reform the Authority's employee relations, fix a deteriorating infrastructure, and replace an outdated IT system," Jann said in a statement to The Buffalo News. "There are many important things that still need to be done. With my board term finishing, I realize these remaining tasks require me to roll up my sleeves and take on a daily role within the Authority."

Whoever controls the Erie County Legislature currently the Republicans controls the top jobs at authority.

Jann has personally contributed more than $10,000 to local Republican committees and candidates since 2006. He's contributed $2,279 since the start of last year, including a $1,500 gift to the Erie County Republican Committee Chairman's Club in July.

Good government and public policy advocates have taken withering looks at the water authority and other public utilities that have become frequent stops for political patronage appointees. Agencies charged with providing clean, safe and reliable water are too important to be led by people with no trainingin the matter, they say.

Fred Floss, chair of Economics and Finance Department at SUNY Buffalo State, said that while Jann may be well intended, formal training matters.

"An executive director should probably have a degree in engineering and a specialty in water to understand how all of that works," Floss said. "It's hard to see how you can run something this technical if you don't have a reasonable background in the area."

If Jann is named executive director, he would take over from Robert Gaylord, a Democrat, former banking administrator and Collins town supervisor. The Republican-controlled ECWA Board refused to reappoint Gaylord to a second term last year.

Jann, a 1968 graduate of Canisius College who majored in history, is expected to lobby for the position based on his six years of experience overseeing the authority and on the long hours he already spends at ECWA headquarters. Those close to Jann say he can point to his role in improving employee relations, championing a more systematic approach to replacing old and deteriorating water lines, and pushing for much-needed technology upgrades during his time as chairman.

[PDF: Earl L. Jann Jr.'s resume]

Jann said he wants a more hands-on role to further his goals at the authority.

"For this reason, I feel the role of executive director will allow me to be most effective," Jann said in his statement.

Floss, however, contends that without professional expertise, it's harder for a Water Authority administrator to effectively lobby for state and federal support of water system needs. The authority is likely to spend more money than necessary on consultants and specialists because in-house expertise is insufficient.

"Water is a fundamental builder of all infrastructure," said Floss, who also serves on the Buffalo control board. "Without clean water, you can't do anything else. So to the extent that we're going to politicize this, it is a real problem. It's not just a problem in Buffalo, but all across the country and New York State."

He recommended the ECWA board conduct a national search for the next executive director and vet those candidates in an open, public process. If Jann is truly the most qualified for the job, he said, that will be become apparent in the vetting process.

"From a good government perspective, we want to have an open process and let the best person win," Floss said.

With Jann no longer in the running for a seat on the board, the Legislature will be asked to vet two other candidates for the board. They submitted resumes and letters of interest this week. They include Karl J. Simmeth Jr., a community liaison who works for Republican Assemblyman David DiPietro and was former Boston town councilman; and Blasdell resident Peter Reszka, who worked his way up the ranks as a Water Authority employee for more than 40 years.

Simmeth, a Town of Boston resident and assistant buildings supervisor for Erie County Medical Center, holds an associate's degree in business administration. Reszka holds no college degree, but he retired from the authority last year as an assistant business manager and previously served as a member of the Town of Hamburg Planning Board.

The families of both men have each contributed thousands of dollars to Republican candidates and committees.

See original here:
Republican water authority chairman angles for $145000 job - Buffalo News