The Morning Plum: GOP elites in full blown panic

The other day, I suggested there are increasing signs Republicans leaders now know that they have a major problem on their hands — the GOP’s posture on Obamacare is untenable — and are seriously grappling with it at the highest levels. I am not well sourced among top Republicans, so that was mostly speculation and tea leaf reading.

But Mike Allen and Jim VandeHei are well sourced among top Republicans. And today they weigh in with a big piece reporting that GOP elites are in full blown panic mode about the party’s drift towards a series of Apocalyptic showdowns this fall.

The most interesting bit is the profound worry about the drift towards a government shutdown over Obamacare. But I think the fundamental problem is still being overlooked. Here’s the key part:

Republicans are in jeopardy of convincing voters they simply cannot govern. Their favorable ratings are terrible and getting worse. But there is broad concern it could go from worse to an unmitigated disaster this fall. Most urgently, according to a slew of key Republicans we interviewed, conservative GOP senators have got to give up their insistence that the party allow the government to shut down after Sept. 30 if they don’t get their way on defunding Obamacare.
The quixotic drive — led by Rubio, Sen. Ted Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee — is part of Rubio’s effort to make up with the conservative base after he was stunned by the backlash over his deal-making on immigration. Pollsters say the funding fight makes Republicans look even more obstructionist, and causes voters to worry about the effect a shutdown would have on their own finances.
Whit Ayres of North Star Opinion Research, who has been drilling down on this issue for the conservative public-opinion group Resurgent Republic, said: “Shutting down the government is the one way that Republicans can turn Obamacare from a political advantage to a political disadvantage in 2014.”

This passage contains both an important recognition and an unwitting glimpse into the broader, unacknowledged problem here. The government shutdown push has focused the attention of GOP elites, because it is probably suicidal politically for the party. At the same time, though, the unspoken premise is that the problem is only one of excessive tactics, rather than something more fundamental.

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Vitriol has gone beyond partisan give-and-take in the nation’s politics. It is now seeping into and poison­ing the ranks of the Republican Party. - See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2013/08/on_obamacare_tea_party_on_right_track#sthash.3HG6wWaW.dpufv

Vitriol has gone beyond partisan give-and-take in the nation’s politics. It is now seeping into and poison­ing the ranks of the Republican Party. - See more at: http://bostonherald.com/news_opinion/opinion/op_ed/2013/08/on_obamacare_tea_party_on_right_track#sthash.3HG6wWaW.dpuf