At least one of the Senate GOP culprits behind the delays on the confirmations of EPA nominee Lisa Jackson and Council on Environmental Quality nominee Nancy Sutley has been fingered: It’s Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY).
Think about it for a minute. This is the Republican Party circa 2009: pro-torture and pro-global warming. This is what they’re staking their claims on. And willing to obstruct a wildly popular new President in the midst of not just a national economic crisis, but a convergence of international crises of which economic collapse is just one.
Democrats should take this and run with it and run hard. If the GOP wants to be a remnant party of dead-enders usually found in the backwoods of Idaho, go for it. But Democrats need to remind the American people of this over and over and over again, no matter how self-evident it may seem now.
This is a chance to shape a generation’s perception of the opposition, and I say that fully cognizant of how that power can be used and misused. Dems are riding high now, and its easy at this moment to dismiss the GOP. But they do so at their own peril. The GOP is reeling, on its heels, flailing desperately for how to retain its relevance and political viability. Now is when you seize the advantage and hammer these points home again and again and again.
Rinse and repeat.
Late Update: Yet another example of the kinds of games the GOP is content to play. Rep. Bill Young (R-FL) suggests sending Gitmo detainees to Alcatraz, in Nancy Pelosi’s district. (Actually, as I read it, he suggests that San Francisco really isn’t part of America, so let’s send them there, etc.)
