House Republicans turned on themselves yesterday after a third straight loss of a GOP-held House seat in special elections this year left both parties contemplating widespread Democratic gains in November.
In huddles, closed-door meetings and hastily arranged conference calls, some Republicans demanded the head of their political chief, while others decried their leadership as out of touch with the political catastrophe they face.
GOP leaders sought yesterday to “re-brand” the party with a new slogan and renewed pledges of fiscal rectitude and limited government. But the slogan — “The Change You Deserve” — came under mocking fire, because it parallels Democratic presidential front-runner Barack Obama’s “Change We Can Believe In” motto and it mirrors the advertising slogan for the antidepressant Effexor.
“What we’ve got is a deficiency in our message and a loss of confidence in the American people that we will do what we say we’re going to do,” conceded Rep. Tom Cole (Okla.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
The Effexor business in particular is hilarious. GOPers are going to need some come November.
