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GOP begins to feel pinch of minority status

Democrats' strong-arm tactics leave GOP outraged.

By BILL ADAIR
Published January 10, 2007

WASHINGTON - For their first news conference on the Republican agenda, GOP leaders chose a room filled with portraits of Democratic presidents.

And so, under the watchful eye of JFK and Harry Truman and Franklin Roosevelt, Republicans complained about the way they're being treated by Democrats.

Which happens to be exactly the way they treated Democrats for the past 12 years.

Indeed, in the new Congress, the Republicans have little more than a microphone. They will complain. They will lose most votes.

Welcome to life in the minority.

This is what it will be like - not just for the next 98 hours, as Democrats ram through their campaign promises in a much-touted 100-hour blitz, but for the next two years.

Rep. Adam Putnam of Bartow, who chairs the House Republican Conference, has quickly adapted to his new role as the GOP message maestro. He is outraged that the Democrats are ramming through bills without hearings. He's outraged that the Rules Committee will hold "secret votes." He's outraged that the Democrats are playing politics with the Iraq war.

To be conference chairman for the loyal opposition is to be perpetually outraged.

Sitting behind a leathery alligator head that had been brought into the room to celebrate the football victory of his University of Florida Gators, Putnam groused about "the bills they are jamming down our throat with no input." And he made fun of the Democrats' difficulty starting the clock on the 100 hours.

"Give or take an hour and a half - we've re-set the clock already," he said with heavy sarcasm.

Putnam was joined at the table by Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri, the minority whip, who said that he was already disappointed in the performance of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

"The best line of the speaker's speech last week was that 'we are going to move from partisanship to partnership,' " Blunt said, pausing before his punch line:

"Unfortunately, we don't see much of that partnership."

He tried to put a positive spin on the unfortunate fact that his party lost both houses of Congress.

"The next two years really provide an opportunity for us to remind the American people and ourselves what the Republicans in Congress are for," Blunt said.

Blunt was less outraged than Putnam, but that's the nature of his job.

He tries to "whip" Republicans to vote the party line, while Putnam spouts the talking points.

After the news conference, Putnam was asked about holding his first session under the gaze of Kennedy, Roosevelt and Truman.

For once, Putnam was not outraged.

"There's nothing wrong with them," he said. "There's a lot of giants in this room."

Bill Adair can be reached at adair@sptimes.com or 202 463-0575.

[Last modified January 10, 2007, 01:20:26]