GOP strategists also advise members to deploy hashtags to convey their message of self-hate

GOP strategists also advise members to deploy hashtags to convey their message of self-hate

When House Republicans retreat to their districts for the August recess, they will each be armed with a detailed guide — an exceptionally detailed guide — on how to assure their already convinced constituents that Washington is broken. The August House Republican Conference planning kit, titled “Fighting Washington for All Americans,” offers a rare glimpse into the constituent outreach efforts of the GOP. Those efforts, it turns out, are highly calculated, hashtag-heavy and rife with references to the video app Vine.

So the House GOP's Washington-based political strategists have apparently developed a roadmap for what Republican congressmen should do at campaign stops during their August vacation: Talk about how much they hate Washington, D.C.Yes, it's amusing that House Republicans will spend August following the advice of Washington consultants to talk about how much they loathe and detest Washington, but the thing that's really funny (at least to me) is that House Republicans don't seem to realize that they are what people hate most about Washington.

Even the Republican rank-and-file is fed up with the leadership of their party. Check out this ABC/Washington Post poll released today:



Q: (ASKED OF REPUBLICANS AND GOP-LEANING INDEPENDENTS) In your view, is the leadership of the Republican Party currently taking the party in the (right direction) or in the (wrong direction)? Right direction: 37

Wrong direction: 52

Do you approve or disapprove of the way the U.S. Congress is doing its job? Approve: 21

Disapprove: 73

Democrats, on the other hand, are largely satisfied with their leadership, by a 72-21 margin. But the most striking number is how the public feels about Congress:Given how much the public hates Congress, I guess I can understand why House Republicans would want to spend their vacations talking about how much they hate being in Washington. The only problem is that Republicans have dominated Congress since 2010, controlling a majority in the House and, at least until last week, using the filibuster in the Senate to veto legislation they don't like.

We're now in the fifth year of the Obama presidency, and for a majority of his time in office, Republicans have had the upper hand in Congress. For them to run against it now might be their only option, but it's also a tacit admission of failure.