This is gonna backfire.

[jenmito]

The Repubs. are being way too obvious in attacking Eric Holder as well as President Obama on everything from Fast and Furious to leaks "to make the president look strong on foreign policy" (as if he doesn't already look strong on foreign policy).

John Cornyn just called on Holder to resign, John McCain just called for a special investigation into the leaks (for which McCain says Obama is responsible), and Darryl Issa has been on a witch hunt for a long time to "get" the administration on anything he can.

This looks so political that along with the blatant attempts to ruin the economy, this will backfire.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

1. They're going after Holder because he's trying to stop the Florida voter purge.

That's what this is about...

[1StrongBlackMan]

3. Nope ...

They're going after Holder because he is a part of President Obama's administration.

That, and, because he's ... well ... you know ...

[sellitman]

4. You are both right

On top of that they are beginning to realize that they cannot win in Sept. So they are getting desperate.

[jenmito]

8. Exactly...

and their desperation is showing.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

24. Absolutely!!

[Fawke Em]

27. September?

What happens then?

[butterfly77]

30. And if they keep on breaking laws and not following the laws..

then what do they think the people will do when it comes to following laws,they will say and are saying more and more each day we can do it too..Npw if they are in office their favorite lines are,"ITS THE LAW" which is usually some bullshit law that is unfair to certain segments of the population..

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

2. ETA: I thought they were going to work on jobs?! No, instead it's investigation

after investigation...

...oh, and they're going on vacation next week!!!

[mercuryblues]

6. The more they

are on vacation, the less harm they can do. The fewer abortion laws. Less time for investigations.

I hope the dems come back from vacation with a slew of legislation to debate/pass to keep the reps on unbalanced.

[lamp_shade]

5. Holder is holding up very well. I'm very impressed.

[BlueCaliDem]

13. Holder is tougher than nails. That guy has been pilloried by the Teapublicans

in ways I've never seen any other DoJ AG. Someone please investigate Issa and trash him so badly that his privileged constituents in San Diego can't vote for him without losing face. This is the tactic the Republicans use on strong Democrats all the time. They shame the Democrat into being forced to resign or force his constituents to not vote for him/

I'm sure in his corrupt past there's something he can be attacked with because short of that, he'll never lose an election and he'll continue to pollute the House.

[vi5]

7. How many times are we going to say that?

"This is going to backfire on the Republicans!"
"The Republicans are overreaching and it will come back to haunt them!!"
"The Republicans have pushed things too far!!!"

We've (myself included) have been screaming this for the past 10+ years. Still waiting for that massive backlash we've all been predicting, rather than where we are which is staring down the barrel of losing control of the Senate AND a not small chance of losing the Presidency.

I think part of the problem with Republican overreach is that they've learned by now that if they overshoot something by a million miles past where they should play it, they know that there will at least be a handful of Democrats who will try to burnish their "bipartisan" credentials by agreeing to meet them at the 500K mile mark.

[jenmito]

9. Impeaching Clinton backfired. THAT was all the things you quoted in your post. I think it'll

happen again THIS time. It's already happening in FL with the attempt at voter-purging.

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Did it backfire?

They lost a net 2 House seats in 2000, retaining control. They won the presidency, despite running an idiot as their candidate. They did lose 4 Senate seats, but Cheney had the tie-breaking vote (and the Senate was the part of the Republicans least responsible for impeachment - that was where it died).

[jenmito]

18. Clinton came out of it more popular than ever. n/t

[vi5]

23. All of these things that we say will backfire.....

maybe do in some very short term way. As the news cycles get shorter and shorter thanks to the internet and the many forums for a new outrage du jour to come around, any negative impact from something the GOP does becomes less and less.

So yes, for the time the Clinton impeachment backfired on them. Then by 2000 as another respondent pointed out they were back to their old tricks and not all that much worse for the wear. And since that time each outrage has a shorter and shorter shelf life so nothing really has the time to fully backfire.

Look at just this past year alone. At first what Walker pulled in WI really roiled a lot of people and we all said "It's going to backfire!!!!!" And for a short time it did piss off a lot of people, enough that we got a recall election. But soon enough it seemed like the anger died down and people moved on to other outrages and forgot about why they were mad in the first place.

Same think with the birth control debacle and the "war against women". A lot of people were really pissed off when all of this stuff started, and many still are. But all it takes is a fairly small chunk of people to move on and forget about stuff, which is really easy to do in this day and age of information and news overload, and the backlashes never really amount to much long term damage at all.

Again, it doesn't help that "our side" too eagerly goes along with the GOP when they try and change subjects.

[WingDinger]

10. They are trying to hobble the backlash, thus Commie, Socialist, Fascist etc.

This is to limit the allowance of shift of the status quo.

[patrice]

11. People who live in glass houses should not stow THRONES.

[muriel_volestrangler]

12. Since when has something looking 'so political' backfired on Republicans?

I'm struggling to think of a single example. Occasionally, things do backfire on them (eg the Terri Schiavo case), but not, I think, for looking 'political', ie being an attack on Democrats.

'Obivious' is what the Republicans do. It's the only thing their supporters understand.

[jenmito]

16. Promoting the Ryan budget backfired. They ran away from it. n/t

[BlueCaliDem]

19. But R'money has fully embraced Ryan's "marvelous" budget and his poll numbers

are almost neck-and-neck with President Obama who has saved this country, had taken out bin Laden, had saved the auto industry, who pushed through health care reform that has already benefited tens of millions, and who had helped create 4.3 million jobs.

What has R'money done? NADA. He doesn't even have to show his long form BC or his tax returns for chrissakes! Not a single corporate media outlet has demanded such a thing.

We shouldn't underestimate the power of propaganda. It works each and every time, and the Republicans are backed by multinational corporations with unlimited funds, and a media that's gone from being our watchdog to being incorporated, and what favors the Republicans.

[jenmito]

21. That's because the media hasn't exactly pointed that out. But the Rs have stopped

campaigning on it and Ryan himself revised his own plan. Once the debates happen, the numbers will change in Obama's favor, I bet.

[BlueCaliDem]

20. I feel and share in your frustration. eom

[dkf]

14. In the end the debate is going to come down to whether Obama's economic policies hurt or help.

The Holder thing is a sideshow. The leaks may have more teeth though.

[1StrongBlackMan]

26. And ...

Based on the number of sideshows, I think the gop has answered/is answering the question on the economy.

[southernyankeebelle]

17. If Obama wins re-election it will be by the hand of god. Because the republicans have and

are doing everything in their power to make him a one term president. Shame on them. What makes me so upset are that republicans know what they are doing is wrong yet do nothing to play fair. Dems know what is going on yet they sit back like little pussies in congress and don't call them out on it. Shame on them also.

[abelenkpe]

22. +1000 nt

[1StrongBlackMan]

25. Wow ...

The hearing is criticizing Holder for not release every page of a 140,000 investigation ... this being the same congress that grouses about reading, and remained silent with SCOTUS Justice refusing to have read, the 2,700 pages that are ObamaCare(s)?

Really? Seriously?

[HopeHoops]

28. They'll come up with a two or three word catch phrase (FOX, Limbaugh, etc.) and railroad him.

Don't underestimate Rove, Murdoch, and their minions. That's what they always do.

[Major Hogwash]

29. McCain is senile.

He called for Congress to name an independent special prosecutor to investigate where these leaks came from, but the law that gave Congress the ability to name an independent special prosecutor was not renewed by President Clinton more than 14 years ago, so Congress can no longer pull that shit.