News Intelligence Analysis
From the New York Times
April 11, 2005
Democrats Make the Case Congressional
Repubicans Are Drunk With Power
By ROBIN TONER and CARL HULSE
WASHINGTON, April 10 - Newt Gingrich, the conservative firebrand
who won control of Congress a decade ago by campaigning against
an entrenched, arrogant and all-powerful Democratic majority,
is once again an inspirational figure on Capitol Hill.
This time, his message is being carried by the Democrats.
The party's leaders are increasingly making the case that in 2005, it is Congressional Republicans who are drunk with power, overreaching on issues like Social Security and judicial nominations, ethically challenged, and profoundly out of touch with their constituents.
"What Democrats are saying is, look, these guys are abusing the system," said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the Democratic whip of the House. "They're not playing by House rules, by the ethics rules, by the Senate rules, even by the rule of law in the Schiavo case."
Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader in the Senate, has begun issuing a broad indictment of House and Senate Republicans for "arrogance" and "abuse of power," arguing in his radio address on Saturday that they threaten an independent judiciary and the very principle of checks and balances. Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leader in the House, has begun declaring: "There is no ethics committee. It has been completely gutted by the Republicans, and this should be a cause of great outrage in the country." Liberal think tanks and advocacy groups are running advertising and issuing e-mail alerts accusing conservatives of what Mr. Gingrich used to call "a pattern of systemic corruption."
Republicans say that Democrats are on the political offensive because they have nothing else to say. "All they can do is attack and attack and attack because they have no positive alternative," said Representative David Dreier, Republican of California and the Rules Committee chairman. But Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said of the Republicans, "The same thing that they accused Democrats of, with some justification, in the early '90s, they are practicing themselves."
In short, some Democratic strategists are reaching to the old Gingrich playbook in an era with some striking parallels to the early 1990's: one party in control of Congress and the White House; a furor over ethics; a huge piece of long-promised domestic legislation seemingly dead in the water (now Social Security, then health care); increasing fault lines in the majority; and a surprising unity in the minority.
Republicans are keenly aware of the dangers, having ridden to power themselves on the promise of reform, and they say they will not stumble into a landslide defeat the way the Democrats did in 1994.
"There is no doubt that the Democrats want Tom DeLay to be Jim Wright," said Representative Roy Blunt of Missouri, the majority whip in the House, referring to the Democratic speaker whose ethical troubles began the Democrats' long slide from power. "And in many, many ways, Tom DeLay is no Jim Wright. He is going to fight back."
Moreover, Mr. Blunt added: "We have never taken the majority for granted. And I think the Democrats, in 1994, after 50 years in the majority, had lots of reasons to take it for granted. We worry about losing control every election, and I think we are more ready for that game than they were in 1994."
Democrats have chafed under Republican rule for nearly a decade on Capitol Hill and have tried before with little success to make the case that Republicans have arrogantly grown out of touch with voters. But in recent weeks they have seen new vulnerabilities in the governing party and new opportunities to make their case to the voters.
Mr. DeLay, the House majority leader, who is under attack on ethics issues, has given a face and a symbol to the Democrats' efforts, just as Mr. Wright became a face and a symbol to Mr. Gingrich in the late 1980's. Republican efforts to change the rules on filibusters to help Mr. Bush's judicial nominations have energized the activists in both parties. And Mr. Bush's effort to reinvent Social Security has generated substantial interest - and opposition - from the public.
Most of all, Democrats and some independent analysts say, the Congressional intervention in the case of Terri Schiavo has highlighted the extent of Republican power, the ambition of the party's social conservatives and the party's willingness to challenge the judiciary. Mr. DeLay, in particular, has continued to assail "judicial supremacy" and was fiercely critical of the courts who ruled against reinserting Ms. Schiavo's feeding tube, a procedure that Congressional conservatives wanted.
Several recent polls have indicated a backlash against the Republicans; by 55 percent to 40 percent, respondents in a recent Gallup/USA Today/CNN poll agreed with the statement that said Republicans are "trying to use the federal government to interfere with the private lives of most Americans" on moral-values issues.
"The apex of it was Schiavo," said Representative Louise M. Slaughter, a veteran Democrat from New York. "People were asking, 'What are they doing down there? How far do they think their reach can stretch?' "
Democrats like Ms. Slaughter are quick to note that the Republicans seized power with the promise of reform, more openness and more democracy. In contrast, Democrats assert, the Republicans have tightened their control of the House, preventing amendments on the floor, limiting debate, excluding Democrats from conference committees and reorganizing panels to give the leadership more influence.
A recent report by Democrats on the Rules Committee, led by Ms. Slaughter, declared, "Ten years after their 'revolution,' House Republicans have completely abandoned this standard of deliberative democracy they set for themselves."
Republicans counter that they are far more inclusive when it comes to legislation than Democrats were when they controlled the House; Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois earlier this year described the opposition's complaints about procedural restrictions as the "same old song and dance."
Mr. Dreier said Democrats are guaranteed openings on the House floor that Republicans never had under Democratic control. "That is because of the frustration that I had over our treatment as the minority," he said.
Still, Mr. Gingrich, the former speaker, voiced a grudging respect for the Democrats. "I think they're trying to learn how to be an effective opposition party, and they've got half of it down pretty well," he said.
But he asserted that the Democrats had yet to offer a positive message that goes beyond ousting the party in power. "We had a set of big ideas," he said, alluding to the Republican agenda candidates ran on in 1994. "The 'Contract With America' was overwhelmingly positive."
Mr. Gingrich indicated some concern, though, about the current political circumstances of his party.
"I worry about uncontrolled spending, because we are the party of balanced budgets, smaller government and lower taxes," he said. "I worry about any effort to flinch on ethics, because we are the natural reform party."
As the furor over Mr. DeLay grows, Democrats are aiming much of their fire at House Republican leaders for what they assert is an effort to neutralize the ethics committee with changes to its rules, membership and staff. Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, called on Republican leaders on Friday to "restore credibility and fairness to the ethics committee."
Republican strategists say they find no evidence that this latest Democratic assault is working. They are returning to an old playbook of their own as they prepare for the fight over judicial filibusters, planning to highlight the role of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, still a lightning rod, and his staff in blocking the judges and defending the filibuster. "It is going to be Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy," one senior aide said.
Senator Trent Lott, the conservative former Republican leader from Mississippi, said that Democrats would face their own backlash if they followed through on their threat to shut down much of the Senate if Republicans changed the rules on filibusters. "When they are blocking bills, it is going to be hard to say we are abusing power," Mr. Lott said.
Still, he added, "I think it is pretty smart for them to say, 'Well, look, we can do to them what Newt Gingrich did to Jim Wright and the House Democrats. And we can do to them on Social Security what they did to us on the health care issue.' " But he indicated that his side had also studied the lessons of 1994, when Mr. Clinton's health care legislation died a very public death in the run-up to the midterm elections and was a major factor in the Democrats' losses.
On Social Security, Mr. Lott said, "At some point, if it is not going to be doable, we are going to pivot and change the subject."
The ultimate test of the Democratic strategy will come in next year's midterm elections. In the meantime, Democrats say they believe they have an opening - and the possibility to replay history not as tragedy or as farce, but as a tale of vindication.
Copyright 2005 The New York Times Company
Send a letter to the editor about this article
Back to The Yurica Report Home Page Copyright © 2005 Yurica Report. All rights reserved.