Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R.-Mich.), chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee, dropped by the Heritage Foundation for lunch with bloggers earlier today. He was peppered with questions about Iraq, federal spending and technology among other things, but what stood out most was a remark he made about his strategy for reclaiming the majority.
Ericka Andersen of Human Events captured the action, but I’ll recap it here as well. McCotter was asked by Joe Mansour of TechRepublican how he planned to use the web as a means to communicate his message. McCotter proceeded to explain that he’s requiring more policy work be done by members themselves, but he’s also trying to shift the debate away from Democratic wrongdoings.
It was at that moment that McCotter took a not-so-subtle jab at his fellow GOP leaders. Saying that only he and Minority Leader John Boehner (R.-Ohio) are focused on developing Republican principles, McCotter made clear — without saying so explicitly — that he’s none too pleased with the tactics of Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R.-Mo.) or Conference Chairman Adam Putnam (R.-Fla.). He repeated the criticism, again without mentioning names, in a response to Soren Dayton. (In fairness to Blunt, I should note that he recently delivered a speech at Heritage titled “Laying the Groundwork of a Revolution.”)
“I want to say what we stand for,” McCotter told us. “Others want to define the Democrats.”
McCotter cited the desire of some Republicans to highlight the plummeting approval ratings of Congress, a point that Putnam proudly promotes on his website. But McCotter said it was unproductive because although the Democrats’ approval stinks, so too does the GOP’s rating. In fact, Republicans are still well below Democrats, 34% to 46%, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll measuring congressional approval.
Through his chairmanship of the Republican Policy Committee, McCotter certainly has the platform to define the GOP’s principles and policy goals. While I may not agree with everything he told us today, I certainly respect his desire to spell out exactly what Republicans stand for.
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