… On their way out of town for their August recess, congressional Republicans couldn’t agree on spending. They have engaged in a year-long internal debate over immigration. They are divided over tactics designed to thwart implementation of President Obama’s health-care law. National security has become a source of potshots among prospective 2016 candidates.
These divisions can be overstated. But the disagreements do reflect a party still processing the outcomes of two separate elections — an exhilarating victory in 2010 and a demoralizing defeat in 2012. Republicans now must choose whether they will remain largely a state- and Congress-based party or one positioned to win a national election. [cont.]
Dan Balz, Washington Post