Waiting for their DLC
by digby
I realize that David Frum is probably dismissed with a snarl among the true believers, but the Villagers really should pay attention to writings about the GOP these days. For instance, today he points out that for all of Marco Rubio's soothing, Hispanic tone, he's as hardcore as they come (as Aaron Blake illustrates here.). This "re-branding" is as phony as it gets:
No question too that Marco Rubio puts a more appealing face on the party than we've seen in some long time.
But here's where, from my point of view, the Rubio reply fell short.
* He's still talking about fixing the economy by fixing the deficit, rather than the other way around: fix the deficit by fixing the economy.
* He's still using "growth" as code for tax cuts aimed at upper-income groups, rather than as a broader agenda that does include tax reform, but that also includes measures to relieve household debt and vigorously expansionary monetary policy.
* He's still signed up for the program of cutting social benefits right away and postponing Medicare reforms to later. It seems to me that here again the priority should be reversed. The sooner we restrain the growth of healthcare costs, the better. But cutting unemployment insurance and food stamps while more than 12 million remain unemployed is a formula both for unnecessary personal hardship and for fiscal drag that will slow recovery.
Thus far, Rubio-ism is merely Ryanism with a human face.
This is why, for all the talk of a schism in the Party, I don't think they've lost enough yet to do a true retrenchment. Simply eating tacos and telling stories about the old country isn't going to cut it.
I guess they're waiting for their DLC. If it happens (and I emphasize if) I hope the Democrats will be willing to take a mile for every inch they give. It sure worked like a charm for the Republicans over the past 25 years.
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