Funny story in Roll Call. It’s about a Republican political strategy document telling congressmen like Tiny Tim Griffin how to come home on break and run against a broken Congress. The very Congress Griffin and his Republican pals have broken with rigid partisan gridlock and defiance of a popularly elected president’s agenda in every detail.
“Fighting Washington for All Americans” is how the Republican Planning Conference bodaciously labels guidance for those fighting America with such policies as pillaging the Environmental Protection Administration and trashing public broadcasting. Suggestions for the GOP members of Congress:
* Send an op-ed to the local paper. Check. Tiny Tim has already been printed in the DOG, contemporaneous with a largely empty piece of legislation ostensibly crafted to help Mayflower oil spill victims, should Exxon ever fork any money over.
* Talk about the IRS “scandal,” even though it has pretty well proved not to be scandalous. Tiny Tim has been particularly vigorous on this subject.
* Seek out diverse groups for meetups. Like Latinos, women, black people. Good luck building anything but angry crowds of these voter segments, given the harm Republicans are doing to them. I’d like to see Tiny Tim explain to a group of young working women (not hand-selected and prepared with planted questions, as the strategy suggests) why the fight against contraception and women’s medical autonomy is good for them.
Other recommended “issue tours” include:
* an Energy Production Facility Tour — “wear a hard hat”
* Gas and Groceries Tour — “wear clothes in which you feel comfortable doing ‘hands-on’ work”
* Higher Education Tour — don’t forget to wear the school’s colors or team gear
* Hospital or Health Care Facility Tour — “utilize the new ‘Vine’ app” and “capture snippets of the tour for a 6-second video that encapsulates the experience”
* Main Street Tour #4Jobs — don’t “overstay” your welcome
* Red Tape Tour and Roundtable — “confirm the status of regulations at each local business and make sure they are discussing regulations that have actually been implemented, not ones that ‘they have heard of’”
* Senior Center Tour — be sure to identify the best time to visit with “built-in crowds”
* The memo also suggests plenty of media time, including a “#CutWaste Drive Time Radio Tour,” an editorial board meeting and an “Obamacare Media Tour.”And there’s also the “Emergency Town Hall: Stopping Government Abuse.”
But whatever you do, just don’t remind voters you are part of that government.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is having fun with the document, too, and circulating these excerpts urging congressmen like Griffin to be sure to meet with like-minded people. And to wear average-guy clothing when he does photo op stints like bagging groceries or pumping gas.