Yesterday, Republican leaders announced their latest effort to re-brand the party, the National Council for a New America, which will feature input from conservative luminaries like Jeb Bush, Mitt Romney and Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Discussing the need for the new group with CQ, former House Minority Whip Rep. Roy Blunt (R-MO), complained about the party being branded as the “party of no,” claiming that just because they consistently vote no on President Obama’s agenda it “doesn’t mean we are the ‘party of no’”:
In addition, they say, they are having trouble breaking through to Americans with a popular Democratic president, Barack Obama , in the White House and the binary choice of yes-or-no votes on Democratic-written legislation.
“Just because we’re in a situation now where we vote no doesn’t mean we are the ‘party of no’ or have no ideas,” said former House Republican Whip Roy Blunt , who is running for Senate in Missouri and signed the letter. “This adds another way of getting those ideas out there.”
Blunt is claiming that they are being forced to vote no, but other Republican leaders have previously argued that consistently voting no is part of an obstructionist strategy. “What transpired . . . and will give us a shot in the arm going forward is that we are standing up on principle and just saying no,” said current House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA). NRCC Chairman Pete Sessions (R-TX) told House Republicans during a retreat that they needed “to get over the idea that they’re participating in legislation and ought to start thinking of themselves as ‘an insurgency’ instead.”