That has been the GOP policy for decades, you can see it in the campaigns against William Jennings Bryan of 1896, 1900 and 1908 (The GOP theme was Bryan was "Insane", his plans, that later became the New Deal, were unworkable etc). You saw it again against FDR, and Truman. Costly hammering on one or two items over and over again. FDR was a secret commie, he was wrecking the American Economy, Truman, along with FDR gave away Eastern Europe to the Soviet Union.
JFK, LBJ and Jimmy Carter were all given the same treatment. It was used against Clinton and now Obama. Keep repeating any problems in those administration no matter how long ago they occurred (until the Polls show no one care, then drop it, thus when it was clear no one was accepting LBJ (President, 1963-1969) as the person to blame for the high unemployment under Reagan (1981-1989), then he was finally dropped as a boggy man.
This constant repeating of any and all attacks has been the GOP mode of operation for over 100 years. Only when polls show that no one care any longer OR that people view it as an old story, is the story dropped.
Democrats tend NOT to do the same, but have done so (The Great Depression was a Democratic Party statement till the 1970s, and protection of Social Security remains a constant in the Democratic Attack on the GOP to this day).
Democrats tend to fall into two groups, Social liberals and Economic Progressives. The larger of the two are the Economic Progressives, but the Social Liberals tend be more committed to their cause. Economic Progressives tend to want to protect Social Security and the other social welfare programs, even at the cost of losing Civil Rights. The Social Liberals tend to be willing to sacrifice Social Programs in favor of more Civil Rights to more people. Most Social Liberals hate to make such a choice, but when it comes, and the GOP do they best to force such a choice, the social liberals accept increase Civil Rights for some group over denying those Civil Rights to protect Social Welfare Programs.
The Economic Progressives are also often forced to make a choice, but they tend to protect Social Programs over anyone's Civil Rights, i.e. increase spending on Public Housing, but accepting segregation in such housing (What FDR did in the 1940s and was the unofficial Democratic Policy till the 1970s and in some areas of the Country to the 1980s). Increase minimum wage, even at the cost of having to vote against a Civil Rights Law (What LBJ did in the late 1960s to get minimum wage up to the highest in real terms it has ever been, at the cost of permitting the South to maintain segregated Schools.
Now the situation changed with the huge increase in Democrats in Congress after Watergate, so come 1974, Public Housing law was reformed so that people on welfare could get in Public Housing (Prior to 1974 it was almost impossible for a family on Welfare to get into Public Housing, they did NOT earn enough money, one way local Public Housing Authorities kept African Americans and any white on Welfare out of Public Housing) AND Federal Funds to Public School was passed, with a provision that it could NOT go to segregated schools, that law more then anything else ended segregation in education in the US. Except for Watergate and the huge influx of Democrats into Congress (And the fear of the remaining GOP of losing their seats) neither law would have passed. It was one of the few time periods when the GOP could NOT play the Economic Progressives of the Democratic Party against the Social Liberals of the Democratic Party, The problem is since that time the GOP has been able to play the Economic Progressives of the Democratic Party against the Social Liberals of the Democratic Party, often to the harm of the Economic Progressives (i.e. ADA act passed, but NOT any real increase in Minimum wage, increase protection of Homosexuals, no increase in protection of union members, increase protection of Religion, but no effort to undo the downward push of wages since 1980).
The GOP knows who it fears the most, the group that can take complete power from it for a long time period (as it did under FDR in the 1930s and kept it till the 1980s when Reagan was able to derail its control with PATCO Strike and his push for deregulation of various industry, more to weaken the unions in those industry then anything else).
We have to remember Herbert Hoover called himself a Liberal in the 1932 election and offered to debate who was the greater liberal with FDR in that election. Hoover, was like a lot of Republicans, was a social liberal as while as economic liberals, in the sense liberal means no Government interference with business (what we call Conservative Economic Policy today), Thus giving in on Civil Rights to African Americans, Women, Homosexuals etc is OK with them, they real fight is over ECONOMIC ISSUES and thus these GOP Liberals view they real enemy as the Economic Progressives NOT fellow Social Liberals.
Now, Nixon started the GOP "Southern strategy" of allying the GOP with Southern Conservatives. Unlike the old GOP, these are more reactionary then Conservatives, they want to return the South to a time period that never was. The problem was that world view is counter to the world view of both the Economic Progressives as while as the Social Liberals of the Democratic Party. In the 1930s the South was the poorest region of the Nation (and in many ways it still is), thus economic progressive polices were popular in the South, provided you did NOT step on to many toes. FDR was a master of this balancing act, ignoring the segregation laws of the South while providing the South the Economic Benefits of the New Deal and later the massive expansion of the Military do to WWII. Truman continued this, but lost the South over the limited support Truman provided against Segregation. JFK did the same, his efforts at enforcing Court Orders were more in line to minimize conflict then actually forcing desegregation (JFK most radical move was to call out the National Guard into Federal Service so the Governor of whatever state was in crisis could not, the Guardsmen just sat in their armories till the crisis was over). LBJ was the person who forced through the 1964 Civil Rights Act (at the cost of the South going GOP over the next 20 years, something LBJ accepted).
Thus do to the Civil Rights Act of 1964 the South was no longer a loyal Democratic base, and Nixon and the GOP rushed to take it over. This included increase military spending on the bases originally installed under FDR, when the Democrats were being blamed for the cut back in military spending do to the ending of the war in Vietnam. The GOP opposed efforts by the Unions to end the worse parts of the Taft-Hartley act, and pushed the idea that the Right to Work Laws made the South competitive with the North for Jobs, and later on embracing the concept of "Freedom from forced unionization" as a "Freedom" while ignoring the concept that you are forced then to work for an employer with no one standing beside you.
The problem for the GOP is its hold on the South is weak. The GOP has no traction among African Americans in the South, thus 20-30% of the population will vote GOP no matter what (The Rural South still has a huge African American Population). Thus to win in the South, the GOP must carry 60-70% of the White population (In the last two elections George Wallace ran for Governor of Alabama, he lost the White vote and was put into office by votes from African Americans, they knew he was better then his GOP opponent). The issue that keeps the South GOP is Abortion and "Conservatism" (What ever that means). Given that the elite of the GOP prefer abortion to be legal, that leaves taxes as the only campaign issue they have. Thus the GOP MUST convince the White Southerns that the Democrats will waste tax payers money if elected.
Decades ago, it was that the Democrats were Commies, then tax and spend liberals. Today it is that the Democrats can NOT be trusted with tax dollars. Thus the constant use do this Solyndra debacle. Not that the GOP have NOT had similar debacles, but the GOP just ignores them. Solyndra give the GOP a issue they can repeat, repeat and repeat to show the Democrats can NOT handle tax dollars. This keeps many White Economic Progressives within the GOP. If the GOP loses they hold on Southern White Economic Progressives, the GOP loses the south and the country.
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