Gop

Having put us through one torturous, mind-binding fiasco, here's hoping that the Republican Party has learned how to keep the tail from wagging the dog. Al Funk, Timonium

Well, that didn't take long. Just as several genuine scandals cast the Obama administration in an unfavorable light, Republicans in Congress are already overreaching - with hyperbolic comparisons to Watergate, calls for special prosecutors, outrageous claims about President Barack Obama's involvement, possible impeachment and assorted hyper-partisan rhetoric. Just this weekend, there was Sen. Rand Paul on TV claiming there was a "written policy" at the Internal Revenue Service to target people opposed to President Obama.

We Democrats welcome the Republican voters and their candidates back into the fire. It has been lonely being the only active party, solving problems. Now remember, you don't have the luxury of "no," and you are getting a second chance to take back "your" country. There will be no more opportunities for the Republican voters or their party if your representatives drop the ball. The pressure is off us Democrats. Now we can sit back and ask you and your party why things are not going well.

In response to Page Croyder's article on one-party rule having evil consequences for the state of Maryland ("One-party rule in Maryland exacerbates jail scandal," May 10), that sounds like a condemnation of the Republican Party's failure to present an agenda that would promote cross-party votes. True, Gov. Martin O'Malley's political ambitions have caused him to become myopic and hopefully he will come to his senses and realize he doesn't stand much of a chance for president because of this scandal (and other issues)

Your editorial "O'Malley bucks Republican tide" (Nov. 3) correctly points out that Republicans should have done better locally this election to ride the national wave. But it misses a bright spot. Republican John Leopold has provided just the blueprint you said is lacking in the state. He won his election decisively to a second term as Anne Arundel County executive, and he did it with a simple game plan: govern effectively. Couple that with another simple formula: Practice fiscal discipline and do the work necessary to personally connect with voters instead of relying on attack ads and surrogates.

As an ardent supporter of former Republican Sen. Charles McC. Mathias Jr., it saddens me to observe what has happened to his Grand Old Party. It has made a grand terrible bargain with the devil. The equation is easy to see. They don't want to raise taxes on people earning over $1 million a year, which they say is critically important for the average American. To achieve this goal, they say, we must accept some things we may not like from a vocal minority of the party: Limiting women's access to contraception; limiting women's ability to make decisions regarding their health; and limiting men and women's right to marry whomever they wish.

There's several things wrong with Jack Kinstlinger's letter "GOP digs its political grave" (Readers respond, Dec. 22). I'm sure it's convenient for Mr. Kinstlinger to assume that a bill that is now wildly unpopular will one day be wildly popular. That's within his rights. Rewriting history, however, is not. In fact, the 1935 Social Security bill was supported by the vast majority of Republicans in both the House and the Senate, which is a far cry from the unanimous Republican opposition to the current bill.

With President Barack Obama's victory in the passage of "Obamacare," I've heard a number of Republicans say, "The Democrats have won the battle but lost the war." Really? Prior to that, as Mr. Obama lost his footing on the utopian pedestal he was idealistically elevated upon, I heard other Republicans say, "He's a one-term president like Jimmy Carter." These have indeed been tough days and weeks for the Obama White House. That said, myopic comments like those can only be music to the ears of battle-tested Rahm Emanuel and David Axelrod.

As a Sun subscriber, I read the Wednesday, Nov. 3 edition with interest. I was hoping to see The Baltimore Sun's coverage of a major unfolding national news story displayed on the front page and the appropriate headline banner reading: "GOP wins big, reclaims House. " Then I expected to see an article reporting this major event discussed on page one. Sadly, I was mistaken. That article was buried on page 13. I wonder why on page 13? Just a bad luck coincidence! Come on, be honest.

After watching the Republican presidential primary debates, I have an urge to move to another country if any of these clowns win. The unapologetic racism shown by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and the loud clapping by the people of South Carolina, was disgusting. These people should follow Rick Perry and secede from the United States. Texas is 47th in educational status followed by the rest of the Southern states. They really need to stop dividing our country and let the racists and bigots among them run their own. I know this will never happen, but I can only hope it would.

Jeanette M. Smith, a retired housekeeper who was active in Republican politics, died May 2 at FutureCare Old Court senior living facility in Randallstown. She was 94. "We are waiting for the results of an autopsy for the cause of death," said a grandson, Thomas R. Jones II of Baltimore. The former Jeanette Marion Ray was born and raised in Catonsville and was a 1937 graduate of Frederick Douglass High School. That year, she married Alexander Smith, a jukebox repairman, who died in 1983.

WASHINGTON -- Congressional Republicans, including Maryland Rep. Andy Harris, stepped up their criticism of Labor Secretary nominee Tom Perez on Tuesday, amplifying their concerns a day before the former state official faces a Senate committee vote on his confirmation. Republicans convened a joint hearing of two House subcommittees to focus on a federal case Perez oversaw as assistant attorney general and head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. Other lawmakers, including Harris, are pressing Perez to turn over his personal e-mails.

It should've been the shot heard around the world. Chances are, you didn't hear it. An ominous sort of history was made last week near Austin, Texas, but it seems to have largely escaped notice. There was some media coverage, yes, but less than, say, Lindsay Lohan's latest stint in rehab, certainly less than you'd think for something whose ramifications will likely shadow us for years. On May 2, you see, a group called Defense Distributed, led by law student and self-described anarchist Cody Wilson, accomplished what was apparently the first successful firing of a gun "printed" entirely by a 3-D printer.

Maryland's House Republicans decided this week to jettison Del. Anthony J. O'Donnell from the leadership of their caucus on the grounds that a new messenger is needed to revitalize the party's prospects and pick up seats in the 2014 election. We wish new Minority Leader Nicholaus Kipke and new Minority Whip Kathy Szeliga the best of luck; Maryland is better when it has two functioning political parties. But color us skeptical that rearranging the deck chairs in the House GOP caucus is going to accomplish much.

Vastly outnumbered and constantly thwarted by Democrats, Republicans in the House of Delegates ousted longtime Minority Leader Anthony J. O'Donnell Tuesday and replaced him with Anne Arundel County Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke. After a meeting that dragged on more than two hours, Republicans also replaced House Minority Whip Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio, from the Middle Eastern Shore, with Harford County Del. Kathy Szeliga. Republican delegates met behind closed doors in the House office building.

Since Mitt Romney lost to President Obama on Nov. 6, the conventional wisdom has been that the Republican Party is in trouble. The less conventional truth is that it is the Democrats whose chances may be more bleak. Yes, Republicans are currently engaged in a round of intraparty sniping between establishment conservatives and the militant, purist right-wingers who abound in the ranks of party activists. And yes, the 2012 election exposed the GOP's profound unpopularity among rising voting groups, especially Latinos.

In response to Page Croyder's article on one-party rule having evil consequences for the state of Maryland ("One-party rule in Maryland exacerbates jail scandal," May 10), that sounds like a condemnation of the Republican Party's failure to present an agenda that would promote cross-party votes. True, Gov. Martin O'Malley's political ambitions have caused him to become myopic and hopefully he will come to his senses and realize he doesn't stand much of a chance for president because of this scandal (and other issues)

Perhaps the best comment on all the Republicans who have been criticizing everything the Democrats have been trying to do since even before the election of Barack Obama is a phrase from that fine representative of the Grand Old Party, Spiro Agnew. Those critics are the contemporary version of Agnew's "nattering nabobs of negativism." Sidney Krome, Reisterstown

Breakups are awkward, uncomfortable, difficult experiences. Just recently, I experienced a breakup of sorts, as I initiated the end of a relationship dating back 25 years. The relationship in question: myself and the Maryland Republican Party. People have different reactions when I told them I'd switched my registration from "Republican" to "Unaffiliated. " Conservatives worried I was drifting to the left, perhaps bending to the influence of my Obama-loving friends. As for liberals, some exulted that the political outlier in their lives finally seemed to be getting it. Well, sorry folks … but I guess I still don't get it. My switch is a non-ideological gesture of frustration by someone who has worked for and around some of the MDGOP's most notable and successful political figures — including Helen Bentley and Bob Ehrlich — over the past quarter-century.

Maryland Republican Party interim chairman Diana Waterman fended off challenges and won election as head of the state GOP this past weekend, taking the reins as the party faces a shortened fundraising session for state lawmakers and challenges from newly redrawn election districts. Waterman had been interim chair since February, when the previous chairman, former state Sen. Alex X. Mooney, announced his plans to resign. Waterman, of Queen Anne's County, won a majority of votes on the second ballot at the party's spring convention, beating Collins Bailey, popular with the Tea Party and a member of the Charles County Central Committee, and Greg Kline, an Anne Arundel County attorney and blogger.