GOP: Dems Buddying Up to Big Business

Irony-proof party employs new strategy to battle climate bill
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted May 20, 2009 12:13 PM CDT
GOP: Dems Buddying Up to Big Business
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., left, accompanied by fellow House and Senate Republicans, gestures during a news conference on the House steps on Capitol Hill, April 1, 2009.    (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Republicans are turning the tables on Democrats as the GOP battles a bill to fight climate change, Politico reports. A strategy memo says Republicans should paint the opposition as the party of big business, suggesting Dems are cozying up to “Wall Street traders,” “polluters,” and other corporate interests. “Business is not always going to be a good friend of the Republicans,” says a GOP lobbyist.

Republicans cite “blatant rent-seeking” among businesses backing a cap-and-trade system. Democrats say they’re not too concerned. “The Party of ExxonMobil and Peabody coal cannot credibly convince the American public that they are the champions of small businesses and consumers,” said a Democratic aide. Meanwhile, the GOP is planning a slew of amendments to the bill, slowing its passage.
(More Senate Republicans stories.)

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