GOP Heads to 'Retreat' to Talk Strategy

Members of the Republican Party headed out of town Wednesday to attend a retreat to talk strategy and The Hill was there to report about the event.

The venerable Washington insider newspaper published a long report on what was going to happen at the retreat punctuated with what unnamed members expected or hoped would happen. Naturally, the talk was all centered around conservatives who sought to throw a bone in Speaker Boehner’s tranquility.

The retreat’s theme, we were told, is “Many Voices, Once Conference,” of which The Hill informs us, is “a nod to the GOP’s internal, self-inflicted wounds from the handling of the fiscal cliff deal.”

A session called “Planning for the First Quarter,” could “get heated.” So said “a number of lawmakers,” no names given, of course.

Who might cause this friction? Why, “Rabble-rousing conservatives” naturally. And isn’t it surprising that The Hill did find space to put names to those “Rabble-rousing conservatives”? We see listed, Michele Bachmann, Tim Huelskamp, Joe Barton and Dave Schweikert.

One thing reported is something grassroots voters certainly hope is true.

One GOP lawmaker predicted that conservatives will demand to know “when are we going to stand up for ourselves and when are we going to put bills on the floor that are going to get 218 Republican votes?”

“[Boehner and Cantor] want us to be team players, well, then put up a bill that I can vote for,” the frustrated lawmaker said.

In any case, this report is aimed at conveying how much internal strife in in the GOP as lawmakers head off to the “tony Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.”

A following segment, for instance, goes on to say, “Leaders hope to hash out the internal squabbling and frustrations plaguing Republicans ahead of upcoming policy fights with the White House and Senate.”

Some of the speakers lined up for the retreat are to be folks outside politics chosen to “instill a sense of unity” as opposed to any discussion of their part in party politics. Speakers will include successful NFL consultant Andy Andrews, Domino’s Pizza CEO Patrick Doyle, Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn, and an “inspirational speech” by blind mountain-climber Erick Weihenmayer.