Buzz Chatter: Republicans feeling mighty gooood these days
Top o’ the morning to you:
• “We’re in for a tsunami-type election in 2014.” — Reince Priebus, chair of the Republican National Committee, on the GOP
for this year’s mid-term elections.
No question that Republicans are feeling new confidence about their prospects this year. Polls suggest the GOP stands a decent chance of taking back control of the Senate, and almost everyone is saying the House will remain in GOP hands. There’s one reason for all this: Obamacare.• “Jim was a great man who accomplished great things during his lifetime. The Stowers Institute, founded and funded by Jim and his wife Virginia, will benefit all humankind for generations to come. That alone is an extraordinary legacy.” — Jim Heeter, president and CEO of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce on the life of James Stowers, founder of the American Century mutual funds and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research.
• “A large part of the answer is our leader’s terrible timing. In virtually every foreign-affairs crisis we have faced these past five years, there was a point when America had good choices and good options. There was a juncture when America had the potential to influence events. But we failed to act at the propitious point; that moment having passed, we were left without acceptable options.” — former GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney writing in The Wall Street Journal.
Romney cited both President Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for what he called a “failure” in their leadership. He said he couldn’t name a country that “that has more respect and admiration for America today” than when Obama took office. Here you see the makings of an early 2016 GOP narrative, presuming Clinton runs for the White House.• “I don’t believe these are misconceptions. Everybody is made to believe it’s OK to pinch the Russians. They are a little bit savage still, or they just climbed down from the trees and probably need to have their hair brushed and the dirt washed out of their beards.” — Russian leader Vladimir Putin in 2007 to a Time Magazine reporter. Putin was responding to a question about whether there were Western misconceptions of Russia he’d like to clear up.
Former Time staffer Adi Ignatius wrote about Putin’s agitated response to his question. “What struck me most during the conversation was the extent to which Putin is burdened by, and no doubt motivated by, a conviction that the West looks down on Russians,” Ignatius wrote.This story was originally published March 19, 2014 at 7:00 AM with the headline "Buzz Chatter: Republicans feeling mighty gooood these days."