Republicans have aligned themselves against most everything Democrats want to pass in Congress, and in the process, Politics Daily's Jill Lawrence finds, they've reversed their positions on a number of big issues. That number, in fact, is at least seven, according to Lawrence: financial disclosure, cap-and-trade, immigration, deficit spending, a bipartisan deficit reduction commission, the individual insurance mandate, and curbs on Medicare spending. Lawrence counts them, elaborates on specific lawmakers' shifts, and asks why:
So many Republicans have changed their ideas on so many major issues that it's hard to keep up. With the return of Congress this week, two of those issues - campaign finance disclosure and climate change - could play out in the Senate over the next month.What accounts for the shifts? Evolving principles? Pressure from the right? Political Strategy 101, block Democrats and President Obama so they'll fail and look bad? Maybe a slightly more subtle approach -- find fatal flaws in a compromise that under other circumstances (say if a Republican president wanted it passed) you would support, on the theory that the perfect shouldn't be the enemy of the halfway decent or the baby step forward? All of the above?
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