SHOULD THE GOP HELP THE DEMOCRATS GOVERN?
My latest wildly popular, huzzah-eliciting article at Pajamas Media has to do with the idea that maybe if we want to solve some extremely serious problems like the deficit or Medicare reform, it will be necessary to work with the Democrats and vice versa.
The radical idea that 500,000 citizens in a congressional district send a representative to Washington to do something other than scream his head off that the opposition are a bunch of traitorous, America-destroying philistines trying to undermine democracy because they want to declare tomorrow “National Blue-Haired Ladies Day” just hasn’t caught on yet on either side.
Of course, the Democrats actually have to do something about governing the country because they are in power and have to take evidence back home to hold up as an example of how busy they have been the last two or six years. This is sort of like a kid who proudly holds up his homework to the teacher, showing her how hard he labored over the assignment even though he waited until the last minute to work on it.
But that hasn’t prevented the Democrats from acting in a beastly manner toward Republicans, which is only payback for when the GOP was in the majority and acted in a beastly manner toward the Dems, which they only did because previous to that when the Democrats were in power, they acted in a really beastly manner toward GOP lawmakers.
Politics sure is a serious business, isn’t it?
No, it is impossible to expect the GOP to have worked with the Democrats on health care, or cap and trade, or even card check. These things are an anathema to Republican principles - as it would be if the GOP asked Democrats to help on a tax cutting bill for business, or some other issue that would be a bridge too far to cross for liberals.
But on the great challenges facing the country, the people have a right to expect that they shouldn’t have to pay for the consequences of this childish nonsense that passes for political discourse today. And the consequences of not reforming Medicare or making serious efforts to bring down the deficit are too horrible to contemplate.
Read the whole thing.
Four years ago you could have asked a similar question, “Should The Democrats Help The GOP win the war?” And what was the answer? The Democrats gave us the answer time and again when they tried to defund the war.
You mention health care in your piece and one more than one occasion the GOP offered amendments regarding one or more of the various bills in circulation by the Dems:
* Tort Reform
* Opening Insurance competition across state lines
* Altogether some 800 amendments
Neither tort reform, the opening of state lines for competition, or any number of the over 800 amendments offered by the GOP would have been a “bridge too far to cross for liberals” but were shot down for what reason? Because they came from the GOP. No other reason makes sense. The Dems wanted a bi-partisan approach to health care like you would volunteer for a hole to be drilled in your head.
And I would say you have a point when you say “the people have a right to expect that they shouldn’t have to pay for the consequences of this childish nonsense that passes for political discourse today. And the consequences of not reforming Medicare or making serious efforts to bring down the deficit are too horrible to contemplate.”
And I guess I should take a route never contemplated by the Democrats, the high road - BUT - you ask if the GOP should help the Democrats govern? My response - Sorry but I want them to do their job as the “Loyal Opposition” and F**k the Dems!
‘Nuff said!
Comment by SShiell — 11/9/2009 @ 2:42 pm
“No, it is impossible to expect the GOP to have worked with the Democrats on health care, or cap and trade, or even card check.”
Depends what you mean by “work with” to the Democrats it means “agree with every thing we say and rubber stamp it with your vote.” In which case they could never do it.
Comment by Alarm1201 — 11/9/2009 @ 3:13 pm
Alex, I’ll take Demonstrations of Effective Bipartisanship for $200, please.
ANSWER:
The Ryan White AIDS Care Act, State Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act.
QUESTION: What are laws that conservative Orrin Hatch and liberal Ted Kennedy worked together on successfully?
“My way or nothing” is for bloggers, their commenters and talk radio and its callers.
Politics is the art of compromise AND THE ABILITY TO COMPROMISE IS ESSENTIAL IN A DEMOCRACY. Ideologues (left or right)quickly become dictators.
Comment by still liberal — 11/9/2009 @ 3:57 pm
Tort Reform - the vast majority of medical malpractice lawsuits are filed in state courts, not federal courts. Federal law included in the health insurance reform legislation would not be applicable to most medical lawsuits.
Comment by sue — 11/9/2009 @ 5:16 pm
I believe Obama’s Afghanistan strategy would have been vetoed by Congress had he not had GOP votes. It’s simply not true that the GOP has not lent Obama support. Now you could say that they should be doing more of it and more loudly supporting the current administration but you’d actually have a nuanced view then that conforms to the actual voting record.
Comment by TMLutas — 11/9/2009 @ 7:39 pm
Wrong. The people are getting exactly the behavior that they vote for.
It’s sad, but that’s the way it is.
P.S. Man, Rick… I read some of the comments over at PJM… you are seriously not popular over there.
Comment by Postagoras — 11/9/2009 @ 9:21 pm
SShiel:
Four years ago you could have asked a similar question, “Should The Democrats Help The GOP win the war?” And what was the answer? The Democrats gave us the answer time and again when they tried to defund the war.
You are a liar.
Mr. Bush got EVERY penny he asked for, EVERY man he asked for, and EVERY weapon he asked for, and he got them from the Democrats. You contemptible fraud.
Comment by michael reynolds — 11/9/2009 @ 10:01 pm
Michael Reynolds said:
You know why? Because war is fucking AWESOME.
Comment by Chuck Tucson — 11/9/2009 @ 10:49 pm
SShiel -
Just because you claim it, doesn’t make it true.
Four years ago, the GOP controlled every lever of government. If it wanted to, the GOP could have passed Tort Reform (without Democrats). They chose not to.
If it wanted to, the GOP could have opened insurance competition across state lines (wihout Democrats). They chose not to.
Right now, David Hamilton of Indiana, President Obama’s first appeals court nominee, is waiting for approval by the Senate on his confirmation. He was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee 158 days ago. Care to guess how many George W. Bush nominees were held in limbo this long in the last Congress? Yeah… ZERO.
So cry me a river.
You reap what you sow.
Until the GOP can figure out how to you know… actually govern… they’ll be in the wilderness. The last 8 years were a disaster for the country, and ideologues like you were cheerleading it every step of the way.
Comment by JerryS — 11/9/2009 @ 10:55 pm
What has the Democrat congress said or done that gives you any indication they are willing to compromise on anything? Their apparent objective is to move this country into a leftist totalitarian regime. Compromise is Neville Chamberlin territory at this point. You have left the right’s cause (individual freedom & liberty) and have gone straight to the collectivist nuthouse. I’m taking your site off of Darkangelpolitics.com’s favorites list. You have become a leftist troll.
Comment by Andrew Thomas — 11/9/2009 @ 11:19 pm
What has the Democrat congress said or done that gives you any indication they are willing to compromise on anything? Their apparent objective is to move this country into a leftist totalitarian regime.
They didn’t even propose single payer. That’s an indication of a willingness to compromise.
Obama never signaled strong commitment to a public option. More willingness to compromise.
Accepted demands for abortion limitations. Compromise.
Agreed to forgo reconciliation. Compromise.
Meanwhile from your side we got Jim DeMint talking about using this bill to destroy Obama. And we got the true leader of the GOP, Rush Limbaugh, stating he hoped the President of the United States would fail. And then we got death panels, and Townhall whackjobs screaming, and Michelle Bachman, and the whole 10 pound can of GOP crazy.
We tried. But your party is psychotic. The failure is yours, the lies are yours, the contempt for the needs and wishes of the American people is yours. We tried, but you’re the party of no, the party of spittle-flecked rage, the party of race-baiting and conspiracy theories and tin-foil hat nuts.
Can’t compromise with psychos. They only hear the voices in their heads.
Comment by michael reynolds — 11/10/2009 @ 12:43 am
The Internet: Where Hyperbole Becomes Truth
Obama isn’t a tyrant trying to turn America into a totalitarian state. And the Republican party is none of the word vomit regurgitated here.
What is sad is that we don’t get to vote for “behavior” directly. We get to vote for a person. I’d check the box next to:
[] Whoever can behave like an adult
Unfortunately, if internet forums are any indication, if “good behavior” was on the ballot, it’d lose handily to:
[] Whoever can hold blindly to their position while degrading the opposing party
Comment by sota — 11/10/2009 @ 5:52 am
Rick, what the hell kind of funny cigarettes are you smoking? The Congressional Democrats won’t even let the Republicans into committee meetings and they sure won’t be asking for any sensible suggestions from the Republicans any time soon.
That is not to say that there aren’t some intelligent Dems in Congress - there are some - but at the moment they have been intimidated into silence by that raving lunatic who is Speaker of the House!
Comment by Gayle Miller — 11/10/2009 @ 8:43 am
SShiel wrote: “…The Democrats gave us the answer time and again when they tried to defund the war.”
Reynolds replied: “You are a liar.
Mr. Bush got EVERY penny he asked for, EVERY man he asked for, and EVERY weapon he asked for, and he got them from the Democrats. You contemptible fraud.”
No, SShiel is not a liar and Reynolds is confused, although typically immature and abrasive.
The dems did try to defund the war. The key word that SShiel used is “tried”. And SShiel is correct. They tried although the bill was never voted on.
From the Hartford Courant dated Posted May 16, 2007 10:58 AM…
“The Senate this morning crushed, by a 67 to 29 vote, a bid by Democrats to pull most U. S. troops out of Iraq by March 2008.
Techically, the amendment authored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Russell Feingold, D-Wisc., and Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., never got to a vote.
The amendment would have barred money from being spent to continue the war after March 31, 2008.
See also: http://rightwingnuthouse.com/archives/2007/02/23/dont-defund-the-troops-a-simple-castration-will-do-nicely-thank-you/
Or: http://feingold.senate.gov/releases/07/20070402.html
Comment by HM — 11/10/2009 @ 9:18 am
Hey Reynolds:
F**K YOU!!
Comment by SShiell — 11/10/2009 @ 10:32 am
To clarify the previous comment. Previously I stated:
“And I guess I should take a route never contemplated by the Democrats, the high road - BUT - you ask if the GOP should help the Democrats govern? My response - Sorry but I want them to do their job as the “Loyal Opposition” and F**k the Dems!”
Michael Reynolds is obviously a Partisan Democrat so in order to be consistent and fair, I shall repeat: Reynolds, F**K YOU!
Comment by SShiell — 11/10/2009 @ 10:38 am
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Pingback by Right Wing Nut House » A RELATIVELY SHORT FOLLOWUP TO MY PJ MEDIA ARTICLE ON BI-PARTISANSHIP — 11/10/2009 @ 11:00 am
SShiel:
I note that you supply zero support for your original statement.
I accept your implicit admission that you were talking out of your ass.
Comment by michael reynolds — 11/10/2009 @ 2:40 pm