Word: gingrich
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...that changed when Bill Clinton took office. With the GOP no longer controlling the White House, a new breed of aggressive Republicans - men like Newt Gingrich, Tom DeLay and Trent Lott - hit on a strategy for discrediting Clinton: discredit government. Rhetorically, they derided Washington as ineffective and conflict-ridden, and through their actions they guaranteed it. Their greatest weapon was the filibuster, which forced Democrats to muster 60 votes to get legislation through the Senate. Historically, filibustering had been rare. From the birth of the Republic until the Civil War, the Senate witnessed about one filibuster per decade. As late...
...Clinton's first two years in office, the Gingrich Republicans learned that the vicious circle works. While filibusters were occasionally broken, they also brought much of Clinton's agenda to a halt, and they made Washington look pathetic. In one case, GOP Senators successfully filibustered changes to a 122-year-old mining act, thus forcing the government to sell roughly $10 billion worth of gold rights to a Canadian company for less than $10,000. In another, Republicans filibustered legislation that would have applied employment laws to members of Congress - a reform they had loudly demanded...
With these acts of legislative sabotage, Republicans tapped into a deep truth about the American people: they hate political squabbling, and they take out their anger on whoever is in charge. So when the Gingrich Republicans carried out a virtual sit-down strike during Clinton's first two years, the public mood turned nasty. By 1994, trust in government was at an all-time low, which suited the Republicans fine, since their major line of attack against Clinton's health care plan was that it would empower government. Clintoncare collapsed, Democrats lost Congress, and Republicans learned the secrets of vicious...
...components of Obama's effort. But enthusiasm for the bill itself - the contents of which remain hazy in the public mind - has faded, just as in 1993. And according to a new poll by CNN/ORC, public approval of Congress stands at its lowest level since - you guessed it - the Gingrich era. Once again, the Republicans have told Americans that they can't trust government with their health care, and once again, their own actions have helped convince Americans that what they say is true. The circle is complete. (See a special report on Barack Obama's first year in office...
...Mount Vernon Statement isn't the only manifesto making the rounds on Capitol Hill - a preliminary version of the Tea Party Patriots' Contract from America, a riff on Newt Gingrich's Contract with America, will be unveiled as the CPAC convention gets under way. But if these competing visions indicate a coming struggle for the soul of the party, they also indicate optimism, as groups vie to put their imprimatur on the movement at a time when Congress is paralyzed by gridlock, the Obama Administration's agenda is sputtering, and the midterm elections are shaping up as a favorable cycle...