National Journal
July 9, 2015
Ben Pershing
Here's
a pretty good sign you're having a bad day. You're a major party
leader, and you have to make clear at a press conference that no, you
don't believe the Confederate
flag should be flown at federal cemeteries, and that no (again), you
don't agree with a presidential candidate from your party who has
suggested many Hispanic immigrants are diseased rapists.
That
was Thursday for Speaker John Boehner, and this is 2015 for the
Republican Party, whose efforts to broaden its appeal to minorities keep
running headlong into stubborn
obstacles—like a 150-year old fight over the Civil War and a
real-estate mogul with a talent for sucking up media oxygen.
So
instead of talking about the historic scene at the South Carolina
Capitol—where the Legislature has approved removing the Confederate flag
at the urging of a rising-star
Republican governor—the press is focused on the drama at the U.S.
Capitol, where a band of Southern Republicans pressed their party
leaders to give them a vote on preserving the legality of putting
Confederate flags on gravestones.
That
amendment likely wouldn't have passed—many non-Southern Republicans
probably would have joined with Democrats to oppose it. But even
bringing the language to the
floor would have opened wounds within the House GOP, forcing members to
take a vote that could have subjected them to a challenge either in a
primary or a general election.
Pulling
the bill didn't solve the GOP's problem, it just postponed it. The
underlying spending measure will return at some point, even if it's
wrapped into an end-of-year
omnibus bill.
And
regardless of timing, the entire episode gave Democrats an enormous PR
opportunity, and they were happy to take it. Democrats paraded to the
floor to denounce Republicans
and the Confederate flag, and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi forced
a procedural vote on a measure to ban state flags with the Confederate
symbol from the Capitol. Republicans voted to send the measure to
committee, but Democrats will surely try to bring
it back again and again.
Over
at the White House, press secretary Josh Earnest seemed happy to take a
break from discussing the maybe-maybe-not Iran nuclear deal to chat
about Republicans' Confederate
flag fight: "A sizable number of House Republicans are eager to protect
the status of the Confederate flag on National Park Service grounds.
These are the same House Republicans who voted for a party leader who
once described himself as 'David Duke without
the baggage,'" Earnest said Thursday, taking a shot at House Majority
Whip Steve Scalise.
Republican
leaders are beyond the first step: They know they have a problem. The
leadership did, in fact, pull the flag language from the floor rather
than subjecting
members to the vote. Boehner did, in fact, say that he did not support
the Confederate flag's display at cemeteries, and the leadership wants
it known that—unlike the House minority—it is trying to find consensus
on a difficult issue.
"Boehner
offered a thoughtful and responsible way to address the issue and
Pelosi responded with a cheap political stunt," said Boehner spokesman
Kevin Smith.
As
for Trump, The Washington Post reported Wednesday night that Republican
National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus held a lengthy call with the
mogul, "urging the presidential
candidate to tone down his inflammatory comments about immigration that
have infuriated a key election constituency."
That
doesn't mean Trump will change his tune, nor do party leaders expect
him to heed their wishes. Why would he start now? But the Post story,
complete with on-the-record
quotes from the RNC, sends the signal to key GOP elected officials and
donors that the party is trying to staunch the bleeding.
And on the bright side, it's Thursday. At least the week is almost over.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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