Posts Tagged ‘Democrats’

Truer words have never been spoken. It is a quote from this story in the Hill about how Democrat leaders are going to push through big-ticket spending items before the Memorial Day recess.

What part of the message of “enough is enough” from the American people do Democrats not understand?

Maybe they understand it just fine, but they know that this year is their best chance to push big government takeovers, spending and growth because of the drubbing they are likely to take in November’s election.

You have to say this about them: they are darned consistent with their philosophy of more and more government, despite what the American people want. Call it courage, call it principle, but you can’t call it a smart way to keep a Congressional majority.

Bart Stupak will announce today that he will not seek reelection in November. After this so-called pro-life Democrat pulled a Judas on the issue of life, and providing the final votes needed to pass Obama’s government takeover of health care. This is what defines cowardice: selling out your principle, and then running away from defending yourself.

His seat is likely to go Republican, increasing the chances of a GOP majority in the House after the November election.

All I can say is good riddance. One less unprincipled Member of Congress to worry about.

If Democrats don’t pass health care “reform” by March 26, then the two-week Easter recess could end up looking a lot like last August, when the American electorate made it abundantly clear that they did not favor a government takeover of health care. At least that is the intent of some Republicans, according to this story in the Washington Examiner.

“If health care doesn’t get done by Easter,” says Republican Rep. John Shadegg, “then we need to make Easter look like last August.”

The Democrats continue to push the narrative of inevitability, but even that is wearing thin, given that they have been pushing that narrative since last April. One thing for certain: never have the American people been offered such a stark difference in philosophy over the role of government than what the Democrats are trying to ram through Congress in comparison to what the Republicans would offer as solutions.

The question is whether the moderate Democrats will listen to the American people or Nancy Pelosi.

Obama will lay out his vision on how to pass comprehensive health care reform today, defying, yet again the will of a majority of Americans who have repeatedly rejected government run health care.

Democrats know they have a short fuse on getting this passed. If they can’t pass a bill by the end of March, it is highly unlikely that they will pass anything this year. The reason is that there is a two-week recess starting on March 26. Democrat leaders know that if their members go back to their districts without a bill passed, there is no way that after two weeks of hearing from their constituents (and right before tax day) that they will pass the bill.

In politics, this is known as raw cynicism.

It is a testament to the ideology of Democrat leadership that they know that their proposal is counter to the will of most Americans, and yet they are determined to pass it any way – and change the rules to get it done.

They will pay dearly for their decision in November, but as Pelosi has said, “this is a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The next three weeks will be the most important and consequential to the role of government in the lives of the American people as we have seen in my political experience.

And it scares me to death.

“The Fix” from the Washington Post discusses this hard-hitting ad in Thursday’s Politico.  The ad itself says it all.

The race to fill the Senate seat of Edward Kennedy in Massachusetts is turning into the most closely watched election of the season. In what can only be described as unbelievable, the Republican candidate, Scott Brown, is in a dead heat with the Democrat candidate, Martha Coakley.

For a Republican to even be in the game in a state like Massachusetts is incredible. This is a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans by more than 5-1.

It has gotten so dire for Democrats, that there has been talk about delaying the certification of the election if Brown wins. Just for those keeping track, the last time there was a special election in Massachusetts for an open House seat, the winner was sworn in two days later.

In reaction to a question about a delayed certification, the esteemed Representative Barney Frank said it was a “conspiracy theory.”

“There isn’t the slightest possibility of it happening—a way of doing it.”

Well Mr. Frank, we’ll remember that on February 20 if Brown ends up winning.

Even if the Democrat wins, this race does not portend a good year for Democrats nationally.

This is powerful, and should make Democrats very nervous.

It’s been well-known inside the beltway that there are more rich Democrats serving in Congress than Republicans.  But Republicans are always branded as the party of the rich.  Ironic isn’t.

Well, here is a list of the top 50 richest Members of Congress, and there are 28 Democrats and 22 Republicans.  In fact, the top 10 is comprised of 8 Democrats and 2 Republicans.

Ironic, isn’t it.

In typical Democrat fashion, they prove they don’t have original ideas, they just steal them from Republicans.

Recall this post about Shadegg’s LD, Paul Edatell barely missing the “50 Most Beautiful” list by coming in 51^st (or so, that is the claim).

Now, the totally unoriginal folks at the DNC stole the idea for to show their press secretary how much they missed him.

So, the Republican Party continues to be the party of ideas, while the Democrat Party is just a bunch of copycats (but they do it bigger! See below)

My prayers go out to the Kennedy family.  The death of Senator Edward Kennedy has resulted in a wave of retrospective pieces about his influence in the U.S. Senate and the public policy of the United States.  As one of the longest serving Senators (he ran and won in 1964) he was a fierce liberal partisan, but also someone who worked across the aisle to get things done.  One of his most sweeping legislative accomplishments, No Child Left Behind, was passed under a Republican Senate and signed by a Republican President.  A pragmatist indeed.

But pragmatism, when put above principle, can come back to haunt you.  When Sen. John Kerry was running for President in 2004, Kennedy put significant pressure on the Massachusetts legislature to change the law for the filling of a Senate vacancy.  He did not want to give Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, the chance to appoint Kerry’s successor if he won the Presidency.  So, the legislature changed the law to require a special election.

Now, five years later, there is a Democrat Governor, and had Kennedy left well enough alone, there would be someone appointed to his seat within a couple weeks.  As it stands now, Kennedy’s seat will remain vacant until January.

The irony of this is that one of Kennedy’s life-long passions was health care policy.  And his death, and the inability of quickly filling his seat, means that there are 59 Democrats in the Senate and that Obama and the Democrats will NOT be able to pass cloture (60 votes) on health care legislation without getting a Republican vote.

It may be that Kennedy’s “pragmatism” killed his dream for universal, government-run health care.  Thank you, Senator.