Where Do Republicans Go From Here?
Republicans rolled the dice when it came to killing Health Care Reform. And they lost. My question is where they go from here? Coincidentally, David Frum asked the same question:
No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?
We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat.
There were leaders who knew better, who would have liked to deal. But they were trapped. Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?
Talk about boxing yourself into a corner. Republicans deliberately removed themselves from the process. They marginalized themselves. The question now is how they get back into governing, if they even want to, or… after whipping their base into a frenzy is it even possible? Simply put, they left themselves no Plan B. Their choices were stop HCR or… what?
My fear is that things are about to get crazier and uglier.
Which shouldn’t be too difficult given their base. Watch the video below. This is the Republican base, and the GOP’s greatest liability.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pilG7PCV448[/youtube]
Actually, this is probably all of our greatest liability.
Tags: Republicans, Tea Party
Obama was exactly right when he told Republicans they had boxed themselves into a corner. If you demonize the opposition and get your supporters into a fear-induced frenzy, there’s no way to compromise.
Frum is exactly right that Republicans could have influenced the bill. Democrats were practically begging for their input. Baucus spent six fruitless months negotiating in the “Gang of Six.”
So really, despite the weaknesses of the bill, it could have been a whole lot worse if Republicans had played along.
Where Do Republicans Go From Here?
Who cares?
With the GOP marginalized, the conservatives we have to worry about now are the conservadems. That is where the real battle lines were in HCR all the time.
Conservadems can expand into a significant conservative wing that will become the new right wing opposition to left-center policies, thus filling the same historic role as Republicans. They are already basically there.
The Republican response so far has been:
1. Concern troll (Democrats will be crushed as a result of HCR)
2. Nostradamus (The nation will be crushed as a result of HCR)
3. Empty threats (The nation will rise up and crush… Congress?)
4. More empty threats (Teabaggers will drag Democratic congressmen out of their offices… and then what?)
So as you can see, they are having a hard time “acting like grownups” as their leader Boehner asked them to (with his fingers crossed behind his back).
On the other hand… Jesus H. Christ, Republicans are so far right now, if they ever do get the majority again we are in serious trouble.
Just to make things even stranger, Senate Republicans are still vowing to fight the reconciliation bill. That means Senate Republicans are fighting to protect the so-called Cornhusker Kickback. I’m not sure what Republicans have to gain now by fighting reconciliation but they’re going to do it anyway.
That’s kinda my concern, anon. Add to that fact that the MSM insists on treating the GOP with undue respect and deference… shudder.
At this point, I’m afraid the GOP is, “In for a penny (of wingnut), in for a pound (of crazy).” I’m not sure how they walk back from their rhetoric of the last year+ without admiting defeat. And as we’ve seen, they’re not good at admiting defeat
UI,
The tea partiers are not the base of the GOP.
The tea partiers are the useful idiots of the GOP.
The GOP base, as George Bush said are “the haves and have-mores” .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mn4daYJzyls
It’s hard to believe that people at that $1,000 plate dinner would take seriously anyone engaging in the teaparty’s hystrionics.
It’s hard to believe that people at that $1,000 plate dinner would take seriously anyone engaging in the teaparty’s hystrionics.
In many ways, this is Frum’s point. In the GOP there are the people interested in governing and the people interested in performance art. Unfortunately, the performance artists have the floor and they have no interests whatsoever in governing.
The GOP base, as George Bush said are “the haves and have-mores” .
The teapartiers are just the most recent in a long line of wacky fringe types who have been bamboozled and ultimately, used by the have-mores.
In the 1970s/80s it was the Moral Majority.
In the 1990s Pat Buchanan declared a “culture war” on the DFHs
In 2004 it was “values voters” and making a fetish of military service.
In 2008 all of that stopped working, mostly.
And the social conservatives are wising up; they are sick of being used as reliable patsies.
Plus, the usefulness of “values” to Republicans died somewhere in an airport men’s room and in a pile of soiled diapers.
So now the have-mores have juiced up a whole new bunch of shock troops based not on social conservatism, but on a twisted and half-learned fiscal conservatism. Heck from the looks of them, some of them are even the same people as before.
But notice you don’t hear teapartiers talking much about “family values” – the RNC focus groups have determined that line doesn’t work anymore.
You can’t negotiate with dictators. You defeat them. The counter revolution begins.
Um… okay… RDavid answers the question. The crazy train has left the station.
You can’t negotiate with dickheads, either. You and your party are the proof. Will you agree to leave the country if your revolution fails? That’s the accepted thing to do when you talk in such apocolytic terms, David — you leave the country and go somewhere else to live in exile. I’m sure there’s still a right-wing paradise or two in Latin America.
Comment by Republican David on 22 March 2010 at 11:19 am:
“You can’t negotiate with dictators. You defeat them. The counter revolution begins.”
Republican Dave,
If you have nothing to say… Just don’t say anything.
State Attorneys General Agree To File Constitutional Challenge To Obamacare Immediately
CentristBlog.com ^ | 3/22/10 |
In late breaking news this evening after the historic passage of Obamacare through the House of Representatives by Democrats over bipartisan opposition, many state attorneys general held a conference call in which it was decided that they would file a multi-state suit alleging the newly-passed Obamacare is unconstitutional immediately after President Barack Obama signs the act, which is expected on early next week. Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott broke the news on his Facebook page:
Just got off the AG conference call. We agreed that a multi-state lawsuit would send the strongest signal. We plan to file the moment Obama signs the bill. I anticipate him signing it tomorrow. Check back for an update at that time. I will post a link to the lawsuit when it is filed. It will lay out why the bill is unconstitutional and tramples individual and states rights.
While the entire roster of claims regarding unconstitutionality is obviously unknown at this time, it appears that a central focus of the initial immediate filing (which will undoubtedly be amended several times) will be whether the individual mandate, which requires American citizens to purchase health insurance from private insurers, is a constitutional exercise of the federal government’s proscribed powers. Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced late Sunday night after the conference call that Virginia planned on joining the multi-state litigation against Obamacare:
Good luck running on the return to recission, pre-existing condition exclusion and re-opening the Medicare donut hole platform, Republicans.
Geezer,
David can go live with Rush in his villa in Costa Rica.
“will be whether the individual mandate, which requires American citizens to purchase health insurance from private insurers, is a constitutional exercise of the federal government’s proscribed powers.”
Right on! Too bad Biden won’t join the suit. By the way, getting the individual mandate to pay private insurance companies declared unconstitutional (as I believe it is) might be the fastest way to get to a fully-funded single payer system.
“Too bad Biden won’t join the suit.”
Even if he were so inclined… he’s a good boy, and does what he’s told to do. As is demonstrated in every national election, Delaware isn’t that significant in the grand scheme.
“Even if he were so inclined… he’s a good boy, and does what he’s told to do.”
If that were true, he’d be running for Senate right now, because his Dad certainly wanted him to, and apparently twisted his arm pretty hard.
For evidence, look up the interview the Veep gave Harry Themal. He certainly WAS talking about Beau, not Kaufman, as his frantic team pretended. That much became clear when he told Politico that Beau had made up his mind at Thanksgiving.
Perhaps, but I don’t think the timing was right for his run, and what Dad wants isn’t always what his handlers want. But, you know Joe, he’s never been one to hold his tongue. Bo needs a little more time in office for street cred.
“what Dad wants isn’t always what his handlers want.”
Oh really? And who exactly do you think these “handlers” are, other than his father?
“Bo needs a little more time in office for street cred.”
He needs more time in office for ANY cred. And I give him credit for realizing that despite the pressure from the old man.
Actually, I was talking about Biden Sr.’s handlers. Don’t tell me they don’t *try* to manage him.
“He needs more time in office for ANY cred. And I give him credit for realizing that despite the pressure from the old man.”
In total agreement.
Agreed. Actually, it’s easy to see why Kaufman finally had enough.
ObamaCare will be repealed — don’t doubt that. But understand that any repeal will also include the GOP healthcare proposal that has been out there for well over a year. That plan will fix the more egregious offenses of the insurance industry, such as the pre-existing conditions issue. But it will repeal the power-grab provisions and the coercion of the American people that the Democrats have unilaterally imposed on the American people against their will and over their objections.
“ObamaCare will be repealed — don’t doubt that.”
I doubt it very much indeed. And I furthermore doubt you understand how far your lack of vision on the politics of this issue extends. And I have offered up just as much justification for my thoughts as you have above. “Don’t doubt that.” Seriously, get over yourself.
I find it amusing that the GOP insists they have a secret, wonderful health care reform plan that the evil Democrats just won’t listen to. Bush had a Republican Congress – where were the Republicans then with their wonderful plan?
Bush had a Republican Congress – where were the Republicans then with their wonderful plan?
It was working fine, didn’t you see the health care stocks?
I want to see Republicans run on the “free insurance companies to drop you if you get sick” platform.
I think the fact that Republicans are insisting they have a plan shows how much Democrats have really won the underlying argument. Even Republicans are accepting the argument that the status quo is unsustainable and they dare not say “we want to do nothing.”
Repealing the “health care reform” bill would require a two-thirds majority vote to sustain a presidential veto. Please explain how that is going to possibly happen in the next 7 years.
Bush had a Republican Congress – where were the Republicans then with their wonderful plan?
They were too busy trying to shovel money out the door to Halliburton et al and all of their friends and trying to kill Social Security to bother about health care. The people they cared about had insurance. Why worry about the others?
Here is the GOP plan you guys keep saying does not exist. It has been out there since early last year — and was introduced early last year as well. Which means, of course, that obama and the rest of the Democrats LIED when they said the GOP had no plan.
http://gopleader.gov/UploadedFiles/Summary_of_Republican_Alternative_Health_Care_plan_Updated_11-04-09.pdf
The most recent version — introduced in November — is here.
http://rules-republicans.house.gov/Media/PDF/RepublicanAlternative3962_9.pdf
Comment by anonone on 22 March 2010 at 4:44 pm:
Repealing the “health care reform” bill would require a two-thirds majority vote to sustain a presidential veto. Please explain how that is going to possibly happen in the next 7 years.
Easy — it will only take three years, assuming that the GOP doesn’t get a veto-proof majority (whether with or without conservative Dem support) after the 2010 election.
LOL! Are you kidding me, Moose? It’s the One Page “Plan” with NO NUMBERS.
LOL, the conservatives are extra delusional today.
Geezer: that right wing paradise David searches for is Paragray. Totally open borders! You can go and come as you please. Always wondered why George War Bush bought 90,000 acres in Paragray. A friend of mine travels there a lot from Brazil…he says you can buy anything you want, anytime day or night, there are no guards at the border…its wide open Freakistan.
Writing down the same BS that you’ve never tried to do when you were running Congress and is pretty much the same BS that you’ve been trying to sell since Newtie’s Contract on America does not count as a plan. It never did any of the things that the President laid out as goals. So you can try to pass that off as a plan, but you’ll have to go over to Delaware Politics for anyone to buy it.
pandora — click on the second link, the one that is the actual text of the bill.
I’ve spent the last two days explaining to people, some quit conservative, whats in the bill. The response is overwhelmingly positive. It’s awfully hard to be against the end of the dreaded pre-existing condition. the end of the Medicare “donut hole”, being able to keep your kids on the policy until 26 yo and the list go’s on. It’s the beginning of the end for the Tea Party although old angry white racists will always be with us. What must the Republicans do? The most hated word in thier lexicon: Moderation.
A lot of the Medicare scare tactics will go away too, when seniors start seeing lower drug prices.
Ha!
Republicans would rather lose in 45 states than compromise. Just ask one.