WaPo Previews 'Scathing' Criticism of Roy Blunt Leadership Team In New 'Young Guns' Book
The Washington Post previews the new "Young Guns" book from aspiring GOP leaders, with harsh criticism for the leadership of Speaker Denny Hastert, Majority Leader Tom DeLay and Majority Whip Roy Blunt.
Aggressively looking to distance themselves from their party's past, three top Republican House members are using a new book to repeatedly and often scathingly criticize former GOP leaders.
In "Young Guns," due for release in the next couple of weeks, Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) and Paul Ryan (Wis.) cast the Republican congressional leaders who preceded them as a group that "betrayed its principles" and was plagued by "failures from high-profile ethics lapses to the inability to rein in spending or even slow the growth of government." Cantor specifically says Republicans became "arrogant and "out of touch."
"Under Republican leadership in the early 2000's, spending and government got out of control," McCarthy writes. "As government grew, there were scandals and political corruption. The focus became getting reelected rather than solving problems and addressing pressing issues."
Coincidently, it was Blunt's long list of ethical lapses and lack of real policy solutions that ended his time in the House leadership team.
As printed in the Post-Dispatch, February 3, 2006.
FRESH FACE ISN'T BLUNT'S
In a surprise turnabout, House Republicans rejected Roy Blunt's bid for House ajority leader Thursday, opting to put a new face at the leadership table amid a sea of discontent, desire for reform, and election-year jitters.
GOP members picked Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, as their No. 2 leader in a topsy-turvy election that Blunt, R-Mo., had been expected to win. Buffeted by a widening corruption scandal and sagging public approval ratings, GOP lawmakers itching for change rejected Blunt's pitch that he was a proven leader who would provide vital continuity and legislative results at an already tumultuous turning point for the party...
Blunt's downfall was not solely due to his status as an incumbent.
Lawmakers said that his deep ties to the lobbying effort, his status-quo agenda, and his close relationship with ex-House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, helped doom his bid. DeLay was forced to step aside after a Texas grand jury indicted him last year; he also is under scrutiny in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal.
When DeLay was the GOP whip, he tapped Blunt -- then just elected to his second term -- to be his deputy. And Blunt had taken over a key DeLay initiative to coordinate the GOP agenda with Washington lobbyists.
Blunt "is part of the team that people wanted a break from," said Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who supported Shadegg. "People were ready for more reform than (Blunt) was offering."
Rep. Joel Hefley, R-Colo., said Thursday's vote was "an effort to get away fromDeLay and the image" that he brought to the party, which critics said included a very blurry line between legislative favors and political fundraising.
"The fact that DeLay brought Blunt in, I think that worked against him," said Hefley, who was ousted as head of the Ethics Committee last year after that panel had admonished DeLay.
