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The reviews of Republicans Pete Sessions and John Cornyn and their performance, or lack thereof, on NBC's Meet the Press yesterday has come in. All indications are that it landed with a loud thud in not only GOP circles, but amongst the American people as well.
As leader of the National Republican Congressional Committee, Pete Sessions is tasked with candidate recruitment and fundraising toward the effort of taking back the House of Representatives this coming November. But according to the Chair of the Texas Workforce Commission, a Rick Perry appointee and Republican stalwart, Tom Pauken doesn't think Sessions is smart enough for the task:
"He's not up to the job," Pauken said, arguing that no matter how well the GOP does this fall, Sessions should be replaced by "a smart conservative who knows what needs to be done."
Bless Pete's poor little heart. That's quite a dagger to one's ego is it not? To imply that a "smart conservative" should take over the job, "no matter how well the GOP does this fall," leaves only the most obvious conclusion to make and that is Pete Sessions must be a dumb conservative according to Republican Tom Pauken. Not exactly a rallying cry for the Republican Party heading toward November is it? Doesn't quite instill confidence in leadership does it? I mean, if Republicans chose Pete Sessions to take on this arduous task in leading the NRCC, what does it say about Republican leadership if they chose someone that even GOP stalwarts think don't quite pass muster on the intelligence scale?
I suppose it is safe to say that Republican Tom Pauken came to the conclusion that Pete Sessions isn't a "smart conservative" based on his awful performance on Meet the Press. Of course, that same statement must also apply to John Cornyn too. Pressed by David Gregory to give specifics in what Republicans would do to cut the national deficit and to offer economic policy alternatives different than Democrats, Pete Sessions and John Cornyn had no answers other than to insinuate we should return to Bush economic policies. Read the transcript and watch the video here.
What a novel idea, yes? Let's return to the economic policies responsible for ramming this country's economic engine into a ditch to begin with shall we? And John Cornyn's assertion that we wait till December 1st for a bi-partisan commission to dictate economic policy and deficit spending controls equates to "vote Republican this fall and pray like hell we have sense enough to figure out what the hell we want to do IF we take control."
No thank you. I believe we've seen that horror flick one too many times if you ask me. I think the verdict is in as to whether or not the chosen leaders of both the NRCC and NRSC have the confidence of their own GOP faithful and it is a resounding no. All that Sessions and Cornyn did on Meet the Press was confirm they have no policy alternatives to offer the American people in November and therefore make no compelling argument to vote Republican in November either. This is no 1994 folks, as much as the GOP want it to be, it's not.
Perhaps next election cycle Tom Pauken will get his wish that "smart conservatives" emerge to lead the modern Republican Party because so far they appear to be an endangered species.
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