ARLEN SPECTER AND KEVIN McCARTHY A CONTRAST THAT WORKS FOR THE GOP

On FOX Sunday, Arlen Specter and Kevin McCarthy showed what they were about.   Specter, who recently switched parties because to was apparent he would not win the 2010Pennsylvania  Republican Primary, advocated the Obama Administration’s agenda, while McCarthy spoke on the prospects of the Republicans retaking the House in November.  This is the kind of contrast that will work for the GOP this fall.

Chris Wallace asked Spector about how the Obama Administration asserted that the Stimulus Package would keep unemployment below 7.7%, and that it would have been 9% without it.  Spector replied that it hadn’t worked work out quite as well as they wanted it too, but that “most would agree that it saved the nation from a 1920’s style depression.”  This statement is a media ready sound bite, and does not stand up to strong economic examination.  They have never established the cause and effect relationship between this $800 billion dollar boondoggle, and the fact that the nation’s economy has not collapsed.  The people worked harder and cut costs to make their businesses and household’s work, and they are trying to give the credit to themselves. 

This is why the people are angry, because of the disconnect with reality that people like Spector demonstrate on a regular basis.

Republican California Congressman Kevin McCarthy shows the kind of understanding that will serve the GOP cause well.  McCarthy recognized that the falling poll numbers of Congress “do not mean that the people are happy with the Republicans”.  McCarthy is leading the operation to hep Republicans win in November, but says that he wants the priority to be on helping America and not just helping the party.  He believes that Republicans can win the House next year, and that their margin of advantage over the Democrats with likely voters is “probably four points higher” than the 47% to 44% advantage they have now.

If GOP speaks the language of the American Experience instead of the langauge of party opportunism, they have a chance to be very successful in not only winning the Congress back, but in creating a situation where they can bring some Democrats on board with them to provide a better direction for our government.

But they must stay away from promoting candidates that represent the corruption and failures of the 2006 Republican defeat.  This includes those who were defeated themselves in 2006 because of doing the very things that the people rejected the Republicans for in the first place.