GOP Frontrunners to Boehner: ‘You are on your own on that tax hike thing buddy.’
The consensus in GOP circles, though, is that they’re playing things exactly right. That’s because Congress has become so toxic, the legislative leaders in both parties so horrifically unpopular, that Obama’s challengers are better off running for cover than trying to take part in shaping the national conversation.
“Every Republican presidential candidate should stay out of the fight. There’s no upside to engaging in it,” said former John McCain campaign manager Steve Schmidt, who bemoaned the fact that congressional Republicans were making it “more difficult” to defeat Obama by digging in on the payroll tax.
“Republicans at this moment in time, finishing 2011, are finishing it back on their heels, being beaten about by the president…”