After the 2006 midterm election, I posted a pictorial diary of all the Republican Senators and Congresscritters who'd been given the boot: Goodbye... and Good Riddance! When I was putting it together, I realized that some of the websites get scrubbed quickly. So I've started gathering material for a followup this year already, before the election.
And I noticed a funny thing. Looking at Republicans targeted by Red-to-Blue or Orange-to-Blue (etc.), they don't seem too eager to let people know what their party affiliation is. Check it out!
Independent? Buchanan is a Republican - one who barely got elected in 2006 - and is facing a hotly contested rematch with Christine Jennings. And he's not alone in trying to hoodwink the public into thinking he's "above" mere partisan party affiliation. Or, rather, in hiding from the GOP.
And it isn't just one of two of these Republicans, it's almost all of 'em. In fact, too many too include here. I looked at sixty-six Republican House & Senate incumbent websites, and only found three four that included the word "Republican" in the site's banner. Three out of sixty six. Most of 'em had generic sites that did not mention their party affiliation, though if you looked hard you could find the word "Republican" in the fine print on several other sites.
Even the content of the picture galleries has changed since 2006. There's a lot less pictures with other Republicans. You used to see pictures with Dick Cheney, or Donald Rumsfeld, etc. Nowadays, even pictures with Laura Bush are pretty scarce.
Three years ago, the GOP was still confident that they would have a "Permanent Republican Majority". Now? They don't even want to let it get out that they are Republicans at all. Good, let's ratchet it up a little more.
Kos is right about "Crush their spirits!" They're already scared, and putting themselves forward on their campaign websites with no mention of their party on the main page is a clear sign of that. Exceptions are rare. They are trying to avoid attaching their names not only to this administration, or to their candidate for President John McCain, but even to their party. It is remarkable that they've managed to hold together a record number of filibusters (by far) in the 110th Congress.
It reminds of Lake Wobegon, where all the children are "above average". Nowadays, Republicans are all suddenly "independent" - almost like they're a bunch of mavericks, every last one of 'em. Boggles the mind. The following are alphabetical order to make it easier to see 'em. The few that do mention being Republicans someplace on their campaign front pages come after all the ones that don't.
And, holy cow! Lieberman wrote an Op-Ed praising Coleman. If they don't strip him of his committee slots come January, I'm gonna be seriously POed.
And they're ALL for bipartisanship, now that they're in the minority, and sinking deeper into that.
Nice touch, that Big Bad John, from the party that hates immigrants, gives the option of seeing the site "En Español". That and the wind turbines:
Holy crap! Another Independent! I'm starting to wonder if that's a new word for Republican. Definitely works that way for Lieberman...
This is odd - he's acting as if he's part of the majority party, while naming no party affiliation. It's been a long time since he chaired Rules. Curiouser and curiouser.
Yet another independent! I guess most of 'em don't want to be mavericks, so they just stick to "independent".
Even Virgil Goode, who always seems to lead with race-based "issues", doesn't identify himself as a Republican.
"Beat back the status quo"? Like the Republicans haven't controlled the reins of power for some time now. And, what a maverick this one is!! (If maverick means the same as "unhinged", anyhow...)
Yet another independent. They wouldn't have all been doing this kinda stuff back in the days of the Gipper.
Yet another "rubber stamp Republican" who's packaging himself as "Independent". Might this mean that Eric Massa's got him on the run?
Aside from a newfound yearning for bipartisanship, Latham's FP features an endorsement from a Democratic mayor in the district. There is no mention that Latham is a Republican.
Mitch McConnell is a big target in the "crush their spirit" effort. He doesn't mention being a Republican, but does identify his challenger, and links him to Obama and to Biden in home page blurbs. And what's with the picture? Trying to make Lunsford look just like him, or what? And couldn't he find a more appealing picture of himself?
Patrick McHenry does identify himself as a "conservative" which makes him different than most of the other Republican incumbents. He does have a down page FP link to "Democrats for McHenry", even while neglecting to mention his own party affiliation.
I suppose that in Nevada, birthplace of the Sagebrush Rebellion, and with strong libertarian tendencies, it makes sense to call yourself "independent". Rubber stamp Republican voting record notwithstanding, we've got yet another one who forgot to mention his party affiliation.
Gordon Smith has already been slapped down for advertising that Senator Obama is his ally/supporter. His website boasts about his alliance with Ron Wyden, and his splashiest graphic is "Democrats for Smith". But doesn't mention being a Republican, or any other Republican.
Last but not least, Don Young! Up to his ears in corruption, he's the kind of guy that gave the Republican Party the reputation it's running away from. Yet even he doesn't claim to be Republican - though the link to a story about Chuck Norris's endorsement is a definite tip-off. The animation had two loops of different lengths. I didn't catch this one perfectly, but like the connotation that he's done so much to help melt his state's glaciers and sea ice and permafrost.
The ones I left out for the sake of not being monumentally, ridiculously too long were Sam Graves (MO-06), Elizabeth Dole (NC-Sen), Lincoln Diaz-Balart (FL-21), Mario Diaz-Balart (FL-25), Scott Garret (NJ-05), Mary Bono Mack (CA-45), Saxby Chambliss (GA-Sen), Charles Boustany (LA-07), Judy Biggert (IL-13), Michelle Bachmann (MN-06), Phil English (PA-03), Dean Heller (NV-02), Ric Keller (FL-08), Steve King (IA-05) although King does have a poll where you can vote whether Dems or Republicans caused the financial meltdown, John Kline (MN-02), Michael McCaul (TX-10), Gary Miller (CA-42) doesn't appear to have a campaign website at all (wow!!), Tim Murphy (PA-18) doesn't list any upcoming events, Dave Reichert (WA-08), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18), Peter Roskam (IL-06) though he runs a video that says "Republican" in the narration, Bill Sali (ID-01) does link to a Cheney endorsement video (but doesn't embed), "Mean" Jean Schmidt (OH-02), Bill Shuster (PA-09), Chris Smith (NJ-04), Mark Souder (IN-03), Lee Terry (NE-02), and Frank Wolf (VA-10)
THESE ADMIT TO BEING REPUBLICANS
More or less, but mostly less. Inclusion here just means that the word Republican can be found somewhere on their FP. Sometimes that's only for a few seconds in a slide show.
Brian Bilbray, in the sidebar:
In South Carolina, it's still OK to be GOP?
Roger Wicker (AL-Sen) has some linked stories. Real "stop the presses" stuff, like that the NRA endorsed him. And one is about Republican women honoring his wife. That's the only time the word "Republican" appears on his home page.
This one? That little thing under the N, right after "District 7" in the upper left? That's a tiny little elephant, so I guess he's announcing a party affiliation:
This one has a news item about an upcoming GOP rally for McCain/Palin down the page. So it's got a party mention, even if not exactly featured. But it's the first site I found that even mentions the top of the ticket on the FP:
Feeney doesn't mention his party, only describes his challenger, Suzanne Kosmas as a "liberal". But he does mention McCain in a down-page link to a statement on McCain's VP selection.
Robin Hayes (NC-08) mentions "Republican" in some of his FP blog posts. But then again he also mentions a "Democrat", so it's not the same as claiming party allegience. And Joe Knollenberg (MI-09), who is older than McCain, links a news item dated Oct. 4 that he invites Sarah Palin to Michigan. No party affiliation, however. Chris Shays (CT-04) mentions a local Republican rally at the bottom his home page, which actually surprised me a little - since he's the sole remaining Republican member of Congress from New England.
Fish Fry! Mike Pence was the head of that extra-right Republican Study Committee in the 109th Congress. And he still owns his party - one of very few.
One infers Mike Rogers (AL-03) is a Republican. But a Republican in Alabama is boasting that he's ahead? Like it's news? His embedded ad against challenger Josh Segall is almost hilarious, like a really campy "scary" Halloween movie.
Senator Pat Roberts may not own up to being a Republican. But he does include a picture of Laura Bush in his FP slideshow. The only picture of someone from the current administration found in 66 websites. Wow!
Not everyone's gonna recognize the guy on the left in this picture. Not anymore, and even less will remember what those days were like. Is the guy on the right a young Rohrabacher? No other indication of party affiliation.
This GOP blurb comes up a few seconds each minute in a slide show.
Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, currently on trial for corruption (kinda like when they went after Al Capone for tax evasion if you ask me), is another party-free incumbent on the t00bz. Though he does include a link to the National Republican Senate Committee, and features a statement that blames high gas prices on Democrats and Greens. So, compared to many other members of the GOP, he is flamingly "out" as a Republican. One of John Sununu's (NH-Sen) slides captions tells us it's a Repubican office, but that's all he's got. And that office opened in August - have there been none added since then? In New Hampshire? The battleground state? Wow!
Bless their hearts, Wahlberg and Joe Wilson (SC-02), along with Brown are the only ones I found who had the word Republican as part of their banner graphic. Three out of 66 incumbent websites. That's it.
CLOSING THOUGHT
As a closing thought, compare and contrast the following:
There you have it, boys and girls. This is no time to let up. There will never be a better time to crush their spirit. We've got so many serious problems to deal with, some seriously chastised Republicans will make it a little easier to deal with the many tasks at hand.