Prez Hopefuls Likely to Trash any Budget Accord

At this point, potential Republican presidential candidates can’t attack each other, so they are almost bound to simply criticize President Barack Obama and the Washington establishment, no matter what they do. So it stands to reason that if congressional negotiators reach a bipartisan accord on the budget, the possible candidates will trash it, as Republican strategists tell The Hill.

“They’ll all have to attack it,” GOP operative John Feehery, who served as communications director for former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, tells The Hill. “No matter what [House Speaker] John Boehner does, he’ll be criticized by these folks, because they’ve got to run against the political establishment, no matter what,” he said. “It all makes it very complicated.”

Some Republicans say it’s a sound strategy, even though it may involve attacks against the party’s own leaders.