The rage of the Northeastern GOP
The Northeastern Republican, already something of an endangered species, is suddenly even more threatened.
The GOP brand is toxic in New England, and deeply damaged in states like Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. But House Speaker John Boehner’s decision Tuesday to cancel an expected House vote on a Hurricane Sandy relief bill just made things worse for the party in the region where it is weakest.
When you add the political coloring – the bluest region in the nation stiffed by a conservative party that’s rooted in the South – to the human suffering and property damage caused by the storm, it’s a public relations nightmare. So it’s easy to see why so many Northeastern Republicans immediately responded to the cancelled vote with such public fury.
Forget about Wednesday’s day-after announcement about a vote "to direct resources to the National Flood Insurance Program," followed by a Jan. 15 vote on the remaining supplemental request for Sandy victims. The damage has already been done by the widespread publicity given to Tuesday night’s stiffing of the Northeast.
Regardless of how the debate plays out, you can bet the issue will be revisited in 2014 when every House Republican holding a storm-damaged district will be attacked for the delay. And the Northeast will again be the first place Democrats will look to in their efforts to find vulnerable GOP targets.