Posts Tagged ‘Democrats’
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 51st (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.
Liberal Democrats know that they can’t their Climate Change bill to President Obama’s desk, because it will die in the Senate. But Pelosi is so set on satisfying her liberal base, she is going to put dozens of her “moderate” Democrats at risk by putting a Climate Change bill on the floor this Friday.
It will be pretty instructive to see who ends up voting for it. The discussion about getting Farm Belt Democrats on board is interesting, because they are not happy. Pelosi, however, will figure out a way to buy their vote by the time it matters. And you and I will pay for this HUGE tax increasing monstrosity. Even more bizarre, is that Greenpeace and a bunch of other leftist greenies oppose the bill because it doesn’t go far enough!
It’s interesting to see Pelosi trying to satiate her base, and angering almost everyone in the process.
President Obama’s approval is now just above 50%, the lowest it has been in his presidency. In the Presidential Approval Index he is -2 – that is, there are 2% more people who strongly disapprove of his performance than those who strongly approve.
I believe that as more and more people start paying attention to the debate over health care reform his numbers are going to dip below 50% and it will become harder and harder for him to get what he wants on health care. Why? Because what he wants is a fundamental government takeover of health care and the cost of government running health care is going to be unacceptable to most Americans. They are also going to be suspicious of the claims made by Obama and Congressional Democrats about why the government should run health care.
The common theme that you hear from the White House and from Congress is that we MUST solve the problem of the uninsured and we have to get cost under control. The problem for them is that Senate bill spends at least $1.5 TRILLION and only insures 16 million of the estimated 46 million uninsured. And they cut Medicare and Medicade by more than $300 billion. Seniors (and Senators) are not going to react well to having their care cut so the government can take more control over health care.
At 2:54 p.m. EDT on Tuesday, the Arizona Republic posted this story about John Shadegg and his thoughts about the economy and recovery. Less than 3 ½ hours later, the left-wing website, TPM (Talking Points Memo) posted this.
Not sure what hang-time we’re looking at here. But is Rep. John Shadegg yet another GOP rep. moth to the Rush flame, with this comment today in an interview with the Arizona Republic …
Shadegg disagrees with radio commentator Rush Limbaugh, who has said he hopes Obama and his liberal policies fail.
“I sincerely hope he creates the strongest recovery possible,” Shadegg said. “It is petty to worry about who gets the credit when people are losing their jobs and their homes.”
As for Limbaugh, Shadegg said, “I think he is an entertainment personality who is an interesting factor in American politics. I agree with much of what he says on some issues, but not on other issues.”
We do have the always perilous ‘entertainment personality’ description and the suggestion that Rush is “petty”. On the other hand you have to thin gruel walk-back of saying Rush is an “interesting factor” and an expression of agreement on some issues. Really close to the line.
What say you? Do we have another self-criticism session coming?
This is why the Democrats continue to own the debate about most issues lately – they are just that much better than Republicans at the guerrilla-web tactics. Thankfully, there are some up-and-comers within the Republican ranks – it’s just that 20-somethings tend to be more left-leaning than conservative, and if you are over 30, it’s too late for you.
