The House GOP's Intentional-Losing Strategy

Is Losing The New GOP Strategy?
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, center right, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., center left, walk down stairs to a second Republican conference meeting to discuss the "fiscal cliff" bill_ which was passed by the Senate Monday night_ at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, center right, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., center left, walk down stairs to a second Republican conference meeting to discuss the "fiscal cliff" bill_ which was passed by the Senate Monday night_ at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Now why, you might ask, would Republicans tolerate the passage of a bill they overwhelmingly oppose? They didn’t have to pass it — they could have kept it off the floor and only brought a bill that had their party’s support, or possibly no bill at all. It appears they decided the negative publicity, and the damage to the party’s brand, outweighed their own preferences. House Republicans wanted to vote no so they could signal opposition to their own base, and protect themselves against a possible primary challenge, but they didn’t care enough to actually stop the bill.

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