Excellent analysis of current republican party.
'The Williamsburg Accord in January 2013 set the Republican strategy for Obama’s second term'
'You’ve probably never heard of the so-called “Williamsburg Accord” agreement that came out of the Republican retreat in early 2013. I’ll let Jonathan Chait tell the story, from an excellent New York magazine article (my emphasis and some reparagraphing everywhere):'
http://americablog.com/2013/10/republicans-wanted-shutdown-along-dems-already-lost-negotiations.html
"The first element of the strategy is a kind of legislative strike. Initially, House Republicans decided to boycott all direct negotiations with President Obama, and then subsequently extended that boycott to negotiations with the Democratic Senate. (Senate Democrats have spent months pleading with House Republicans to negotiate with them, to no avail.) This kind of refusal to even enter negotiations is highly unusual. The way to make sense of it is that Republicans have planned since January to force Obama to accede to large chunks of the Republican agenda, without Republicans having to offer any policy concessions of their own."
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/09/house-gops-legislative-strike.html
http://rustbeltphilosophy.blogspot.com/2013/10/evolution-is-not-straight-line-march.html
'The Williamsburg Accord in January 2013 set the Republican strategy for Obama’s second term'
'You’ve probably never heard of the so-called “Williamsburg Accord” agreement that came out of the Republican retreat in early 2013. I’ll let Jonathan Chait tell the story, from an excellent New York magazine article (my emphasis and some reparagraphing everywhere):'
http://americablog.com/2013/10/republicans-wanted-shutdown-along-dems-already-lost-negotiations.html
"The first element of the strategy is a kind of legislative strike. Initially, House Republicans decided to boycott all direct negotiations with President Obama, and then subsequently extended that boycott to negotiations with the Democratic Senate. (Senate Democrats have spent months pleading with House Republicans to negotiate with them, to no avail.) This kind of refusal to even enter negotiations is highly unusual. The way to make sense of it is that Republicans have planned since January to force Obama to accede to large chunks of the Republican agenda, without Republicans having to offer any policy concessions of their own."
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/09/house-gops-legislative-strike.html
http://rustbeltphilosophy.blogspot.com/2013/10/evolution-is-not-straight-line-march.html