The Stimulus PR War, cont'd

Dave Weigel is largely right here, but there's something else at play: people just don't trust Republicans and don't really care much about what they have to say. Republicans have scored some minor tactical victories in this debate but the strategy just seems to be knee-jerk opposition to Obama's agenda, which isn't going to bear fruit unless Obama does something really, really wrong to lose the public's confidence. People do like him, after all. I have long been saying that the GOP has been botching this particular battle--sure, the base is fired up, but intense partisanship during times of crisis is the sort of thing that Bush used to do and is what the country just voted against. Sure, stand by your principles (whatever those might be), but making plausible, fact-based, smart arguments about issues would do far more for the Republican Party than "firing up the base" without any conceivable end in mind. Of course, today's GOP only knows how to fire up the base. At some point they're going to have to realize that you can't win nationally with 25% of the vote, though it might take the loss of the remaining 15 or so percent of Republican officeholders that aren't wingnuts for this to sink in, or perhaps an Obama 2012 lanslide over a Palin/DeMint ticket in which Obama wins Texas and Georgia will bring them around.