RUSH: It appears to me, ladies and gentlemen, that waaaaay too many Republicans in the House are preparing for 40 more years in the minority. ‘At a recent meeting of the House Republican leadership, members of the new minority party looked around and realized they were entering unfamiliar territory: Only one of them — Rep. John A. Boehner of Ohio — had ever served as a member of the minority party on Capitol Hill. ‘We’re all still finding our way,’ said Rep. Kay Granger of Texas, the Republican Conference vice chairman. The power shift has created its own internal struggle among Republicans. The younger pit bulls want to go after the Democrats quickly and without remorse. Some of the older Republican stalwarts prefer sitting back and allowing new Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her party members to have their moment in the sun and govern accordingly. ‘It’s in flux right now as to kind of what direction we take and how we operate now that we’re in the minority,’ said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry of North Carolina.
”There is a group of us who think we have to throw down the gauntlet and be on the offensive from the very beginning in battles from Day One,’ he said. ‘That’s the only way we are going to get back in the majority. Then there are others who say we need to let them have their time.’ Several Republicans confirmed privately that more than two-thirds of House Republicans are favoring a slow approach, while a minority of members think the attacks on Democrats should come rapid-fire.’ So it appears that the ghost of Bob Michel, Republican minority leader in the House for a lot of years and the last year of the 40-year Democrat rule in the House prior to 1994’s elections. It seems like the ghost of Bob Michel has taken over here with two-thirds of the Republicans wanting to sit back and say, ‘Well, you know, they won.’
By the way, in this story — it’s a Washington Times story — there’s no indication here that the two-thirds of the Republicans want to sit back and do nothing, hoping the Democrats will implode. It’s more that the Republicans are saying: ‘Hey, they won! Let ’em do what they want to do. They won; we lost,’ and so forth, with no intention of fighting them or calling them out, trying to stop them or opposing them or what you have. So it’s going to be interesting to see who wins this little turf battle here inside the Republican Party. But it appears that it’s only a minority that care to do anything about the Democrat majority. Frankly, this is why I say it sounds like they’re preparing for 40 more years in the minority, and I also have to say it doesn’t surprise me.
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