Uh-oh! Republicans, says Bob Reich, "may not care a hoot about the opinions of most Americans"

by Ken

So White House strategists have probably been crowing that for once they've won the PR battle, or at least gotten the upper hand. That's what the poll numbers show, isn't it? As Robert Reich points out in the blogpost we're about to look at (which you can read on his blog [link below] or via Nation of Change, where I first saw it, the House Republicans are still takin' a whuppin' in the polling on the "fiscal cliff" cliffhanger.

Dems are so used to being outmessaged in these battles that the president's people must really think they're in the catbird seat on this one. So maybe Speaker Boehner doesn't let any White House-approved compromise come to a floor vote before the new year, says Bob, for fear that his own people won't support it. "Democrats are confident that even if the nation technically goes over the cliff January 1, Boehner will bring such a bill to the floor soon after January 3 -- once House Republicans have re-elected him Speaker -- and it will get passed."

But, says Bob (who just a couple of days ago wrote a blogpost called "The Only Way Left to Beat Republican Fanatics: Call Their Bluff and Go Over the Cliff"), "this assumes Boehner and the GOP will be any more swayed by public opinion than they are now." And, he says, don't count on it! "The fact is, they may not care a hoot about the opinions of most Americans." For reasons he sets out in the post, the Republican Party may be becoming "relatively impervious to national opinion," and this, he says,

poses a large strategic problem for the Democrats. It could be an even bigger problem for the nation.

A whopping big problem for the nation, I'd say. A Republican Party -- or vaguely partylike conglomeration of self-promoters -- even further unchained from the tug of reality? That can't be good, can it?

Cliff Hanger: Why Republicans Don't Care What the Nation Thinks

Are House Republicans -- now summoned back to Washington by Speaker John Boehner — about to succumb to public pressure and save the nation from the fiscal cliff?

Don't bet on it.

Even if Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell cooperates by not mounting a filibuster and allows the Senate to pass a bill extending the Bush tax cuts to the first $250,000 of everyone's income, Boehner may not bring it to the House floor.

On a Thursday conference call with House Republicans he assured conservatives he was "not interested" in allowing such a vote if most House Republicans would reject the bill, according to a source on the call.

Democrats are confident that even if the nation technically goes over the cliff January 1, Boehner will bring such a bill to the floor soon after January 3 -- once House Republicans have re-elected him Speaker -- and it will get passed.

But this assumes Boehner and the GOP will be any more swayed by public opinion than they are now.

Public opinion is already running strongly in favor of President Obama and the Democrats, and against the GOP. In the latest CNN/ORC poll, 48 percent say they'll blame Republicans if no deal is reached while 37 percent blame Obama. Confidence in congressional Republicans is hovering at about 30 percent; Obama is enjoying the confidence of 46 percent. And over half of all Americans think the GOP is too extreme.

Yet Republicans haven't budged. The fact is, they may not care a hoot about the opinions of most Americans.

That's because the national party is in disarray. Boehner isn't worried about a challenge to his leadership; no challenger has emerged. The real issue is neither he nor anyone else is in charge of the GOP. Romney's loss, along with the erosion of their majority in the House and Democratic gains in the Senate, has left a vacuum at the top.

House Republicans don't run nationally. They run only in their own districts -- which, because of gerrymandering, are growing even more purely Republican. Their major concern is being reelected in 2014, and their biggest potential obstacle in their way is a primary challenge from the right.

The combination of a weakened national party and more intense competition in primaries is making the Republican Party relatively impervious to national opinion.

This poses a large strategic problem for the Democrats. It could be an even bigger problem for the nation.

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