GOP: We "Don't do Policy"
The theory that the Republican Party of 2009 has any interest in public policy was destroyed over the past 24 hours. Sensing that the momentum for health care reform has slowed, one GOP talking head spoke about the biggest domestic reform in decades using the most brazen partisan and cynical terms. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) joyfully told a conservative group, "[i]f we are able to stop Obama on this, it will be his Waterloo. It will break him."
William Kristol reached back to the GOP's tactics of 1993 to 1994 -- urging in The Weekly Standard that we should now "go for the kill" and then disingenuously arguing that we can get to bi-partisan reform next year. I am certain Kristol genuinely forgot that next year is a congressional election year when the chances of "bi-partisan" reform are slim to none...and slim just left town.
GOP Chairman Michael Steele was the most entertaining. Today, Dana Milbank of The Washington Post documented how Steele was cribbing, nearly word for word, from Republican pollster Alex Castellanos' poll-tested memo which stated, "[i]f we can slow this sausage-making process down, we can defeat it." Steele used every hackneyed cliché in Castellanos's memo to attack health care reform. However, when he was asked, G-d forbid, a policy question--does he favor requiring everyone to have health coverage Steele could only respond that "I don't do policy."
Timt to stop the ignorants!
Single Payer Health Care Rally in DC, July 30th
Be there or FAX your reps and tell them that you want Single Payer Healthcare!
Please check out www.kristyray.com
July 21, 2009 4:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
I can't remember when any Belt-Way politician did policy so Steele's remark that he didn't do policy was merely the echo of business-as-usual. Of course, if he'd said that politics is policy, he'd have been telling the truth.
July 21, 2009 5:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would love to see a commercial: DeMint's quote and then cut to shots of a health care reform success celebration (banners, confetti, etc.) set to the tune of Abba's "Waterloo." Sincerely hope somebody is working on getting the rights.
July 22, 2009 1:13 AM | Reply | Permalink
Isn't it a little imbalanced and unfair to take for granted that "Whatever Is, is Right!" does not qualify as a public policy?
Happy days.
July 22, 2009 8:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
All Hail Bernie Sanders! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NmOmnOe4ak
Here we have an Independent who calls in that very strange idea: REALITY!
July 22, 2009 1:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
That the GOP doesn't do policy has been obvious for a long, long time -- certainly since John DeIulio's famous (well, it ought to be famous) memo on his time inside the child emperor's White House was leaked:
Face it, this is a party that worships ignorance. Then again, what else you would expect from an ideological movement that amounts to one long agonizing howl against modernity?
July 22, 2009 2:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think what they are trying to get to is the fact that this administration has rammed so much through so fast and put forth policies that are crippling our future country. I agree that it needs to stop. The GOP and other have asked for more time to atleast read the healthcare "reform" package". It would be much more of an injustice to our country and ourselves to not pick this apart. Nationalized healthcare is not a good solution to our problem. Doubleing the tax burden, not allowing people to purchase new medical insurance, having a lack of people in the medical field, denying senior citizens medical treatment because they are too old...etc. The list goes on. I say fix the medicare, medicade, ssi problem we're faced with first before trillions more are added to the deficit. I say stop this RUSHED administration before more damage is done. Have any of you seen the problems Canada and England are faced with because of their healthcare system? Because of private healthcare, Texas has more MRI machines than all of Canada. Because of private healthcare, America has developed modern medicine to the point that we are saving lives around the world. Nationalized healthcare would kill the money behind it which (like it or not) is what drives innovation.
July 22, 2009 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Did you miss the comment just before yours? I'll excerpt the most pertinent sentence: "what else you would expect from an ideological movement that amounts to one long agonizing howl against modernity?"
So Texas has more MRI machines than Canada? Without looking to verify it, I say -- so what? Texas has almost as many people as Canada (25MM to 32MM) and has several large universities and medical centers. Apple, meet orange. I leave it to you to look into where the funding came from for those various institutions.
"Stop" is not a strategy: it's a reaction. We send people to Congress to lead, to find solutions to problems, to become informed and make decisions on our behalf, not to sit in the middle of the room and cry when they don't get their way. The GOP has been steering the discussion on this since the 80s, with congressional control and occupancy of the white house for a lot of that time. And nothing got done on this, other than insurance companies getting bigger, people getting sicker, and doctors getting burned out. That's your republican agenda in action: money into lobbyists's and donors' pockets to preserve the status quo is all that matters.
July 23, 2009 10:42 AM | Reply | Permalink
Does it sicken anyone else that these people--people the country elected--seem to have no higher purpose than causing a whole ton of drama, while the people that elected them are suffering? This isn't some high school prom council...This is the government of the most powerful country in the world. You'd think the people in it would be required to have some modicum of intelligence.
July 22, 2009 6:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
WE DON'T DO POLICY - Truer words were never spoken!
July 22, 2009 7:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like wolves going in for the kill, running head first into a trap. Republicans can not win on this issue. Public opinion is far too in favor of reform for this kind of obstructionist zealotry. After a week or two of them snarling on Fox News there will be enough articles like this circling the web for Obama to make a much better push for a better designed public option plan. Republican leadership these days is just so stupid, this is the exact same game they were playing during the election and they lost that one too.
July 22, 2009 11:02 PM | Reply | Permalink