Bravo, Debbie! Well, the wussy “Republicans” did their damage during Bush’s administration. Although we know they’re losers, hypocrites and extortionists, let’s hope they do the right thing now, and Big-Thumbs-Down this disastrous monstrosity.

verbatim on November 9, 2009 at 12:32 am

Deadly. Thanks Debbie.

sk on November 9, 2009 at 12:32 am

They are insane. They wish to destroy the nation. Ignoramuses that somehow think that white wealth from every one but them will transform America into a utopia.(while they all keep their wealth and privileges) Fools.

pat on November 9, 2009 at 2:06 am

Debbie

In a different context, I had noted in another place some months back that Republicans had the same credibility problems that you describe above, albeit just on Health Care. Here is what I had written:

While there is plenty to criticize about BO, let it not be forgotten what brought about this situation in the first place, before blaming the PCMC crowd for his being president today:

Conservative dismay at Republicans: Simply blaming Bush is simplistic, to borrow a favorite term of the Dems while describing him. After all, this was the same Bush who won in 2002 and 2004, and he was no more eloquent then than he is now. The problem the Republicans had was credibility. Sure, one could point to K-Street and jailed Congressmen, as well as bad management at Katrina, but the real sore point was the lack of credibility.

In the 80s, the GOP had the White House but not the Congress, in the 90s, the GOP had the Congress but not the White House, and in the 00s, they had both. Therefore, passing most of the Conservative agenda ought to have been a slam dunk, right? But how did it turn out? We’ve lost count of the number of times Senate Republicans, from McCain to Specter to Voinovich to any number of senators walked off the reservation, and the result was the GOP falling short of key votes. Hell, in 2004, the GOP had more seats in Congress than in 1994, and they still could not get much through the senate. And on a number of occasions, the president himself betrayed Conservative principles while negotiating with Democrats, be it on the steel tariffs, unionization of Airport Security, et al, while McCain and rogue Senate Republicans were busy undermining GOP policies like ANWR drilling, gang of 14, aggressive interrogative techiniques, and so on.

So, if you are a Conservative, why would you vote for the GOP? It got the biggest majority it could have hoped for in 2004, and they still could not get major issues passed, be it social security reform, ANWR drilling, confirmation of John Bolton as UN ambassador, et al. When Conservative Republicans like Pat Toomey did run in primaries against Specter, they were let down by both Bush & Santorum. Given that reality, why should/would Conservatives bother pulling the lever for the GOP? Many, due to these reasons, didn’t, and the end result was a turnout for Obama.

McCain lost because enough Conservatives decided that if he’s going to reach out to Liberals, they might as well either sit it out, or (probably rare) do the reaching out themselves. McCain did not lose because of charisma, or a reluctance to take on his opponents: in the GOP primary, he was as aggressive as he could be against Romney, and was displaying charisma the way Sharon Stone displays her you know what, but in the general elections, he didn’t show half that attitude against Obama. It’s well known that he would not have been a ‘crusader’ for Conservative causes, and nor would he have been any better than Bush in the jihad against Islam.

Not to forget – McCain was the main reason a lot of GOP initiatives did not pass Congress, in spite of the GOP having a majority in both. If McCain did not support the GOP, he could hardly have expected the GOP to support him.

In the above citation, where I was focussing mainly on McCain, the same arguments could be used against GOP congressmen, who frequently betrayed Conservative principles, and therefore, today, lack credibility.

Infidel Pride on November 9, 2009 at 3:14 am

Grrrr!

Okay, I’ve removed a few things from the list here that I disagree with.

It still didn’t help much. I sure wish I could argue with you people!!!

Smile on November 9, 2009 at 5:08 am

BIAS ALERT! AP reports Health Scare bill may have NOWHERE TO GO in Senate.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jlMpJGn28kqCcgU-aGcYE_ZHW-ywD9BRIOG82

“The glow from a health care triumph faded quickly for President Barack Obama on Sunday as Democrats realized the bill they fought so hard to pass in the House has nowhere to go in the Senate.”

UGH! Especially if my state’s Senator Joe “Mr. Sometimes Independent when he is really caucusing for The Illuminati” Lieberman has anything to say about this.

“If a government plan is part of the deal, “as a matter of conscience, I will not allow this bill to come to a final vote,” said Sen. Joe Lieberman, the Connecticut independent whose vote Democrats need to overcome GOP filibusters.”

Lieberman, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE TO SAVE FACE! LIVE UP TO THIS FILIBUSTER PROMISE OR YOU WILL BE HEARING ME AND YOUR EMPLOYER’S SAY YOU’RE FIRED! You know I guess I might as well say it now. Because you politicos and your WWE/ECW/TNA/WCW politics say one thing, and something else comes out your asses. You say you won’t do something then YOU GO AHEAD AND DO IT AND VICE VERSA!

Bob Porrazzo on November 9, 2009 at 6:28 am

It is so refreshing to read thoughts from someone who writes clearly, who tries not to be “pc” at all. I will forgive you being a lawyer only because you seem to have added to your CV many other interests. I found your site by accident, yet now, it is no accident that I come to it every day!

Thanks for sharing and being so honest in your views. It’s nice to know I am not alone out here in the jungle!

RJ on November 9, 2009 at 7:58 am

Debbie, agreed. Republicans don’t have credibility on taxes, spending and entitlements. They’re hypocrites. They simply want to steal a smaller amount of money from the American people’s wallets than the Democrats do. That doesn’t diminish the crime. It only compounds it. Any one who thinks that the GOP will repeal Obamacare is in denial – it will never happen. If they can’t stop it now they will never be able to stop it.

That’s the bottom line and every one knows it.

NormanF on November 9, 2009 at 8:13 am

Debbie! thanks as always, I was looking forward to reading your take on this. I was up most of the night watching in horror this whole thing on c span.

illegal immigrants are excluded from paying the punitive charges and fees for opting out of the healthcare bill IF IT passes the senate into law.

these charges range from 1500 bucks to $250 to jail time. in a time when real unemployment is possibly 15% to 20%, not 10.2%.

for those who are not working, cannot find work, refuse to opt in or have some other rationale for not wanting manadatory gov’t care.

lindapolver on November 9, 2009 at 8:37 am

How many Republicans are going to skate into Congress in the next few years on the promise of “Fixing” Washington?
“Vote for me, and we’ll roust those dirty Dems and weaken Obama’s power! You can trust me because I’m an outsider!”
…until they get there, and are plugged into the graft machine.
I wrote a thing a few years ago promoting the idea of dropping all pretense, and setting a price list: If you want to be a Representative, bid on the position. Ten million dollars of Your Own money, NOT taxpayer money goes in the kitty, the Treasury.
If you aspire to Senator, fifty million. President? Two hundred million per election. If you won’t pay it, someone else will. It’s called a free market.

Douglas Q on November 9, 2009 at 8:53 am

Republicans are Democrat Lite. They just want to get to the same destination more slowly than the Democrats do but they’ll still get there. So where’s the principled objection to Big Government? The NRO crowd pushed it to bail out the banks and Wall Street and they turn around and say Joe Plumber can’t loot the government? Uh huh.

NormanF on November 9, 2009 at 9:55 am

Whats needed is another conservative revolution in this country and we’re running out of time. We need to go state to state in search of our guy or gal who will push the our agenda starting with replacing each state congressman and senator till we have the force needed to be rid of these liberal gangs running us into the ground with teir back room deals with the Arab community, and femmenization of our whole society.

seahawker on November 9, 2009 at 10:33 am

Really a con-job by the Dems and Republicans. One reason the Republicans virtually all voted against this bill is, as you said, that they knew it couldn’t be defeated. If their votes really had had the potential of making a difference, some of them would have voted their hearts and voted ‘for’. I hear almost no talk about the worst aspect of this bill, the socialist/commie redistribution of income to the 50’5 who don’t pay taxes, and, for the most part, sponge off of hard-working Americans. Any social welfare scheme virtually is guaranteed 50% of the vote, i.e. the have-nots. Of course they won’t vote against getting handouts. Bad is it is to add to the deficit, the socialist redistribution of income is worse. No one in Congress is discussing that.

I’m going dizzy looking at the stimulus bills, the bailouts, the never-ending handouts to AIG, GMAC and Fannie Mae. The Republicans have never mounted a serious, principled opposition to these handouts.

It means nothing that the House Bill is DOA in the Senate. The only thing that will mean anything is if the Senate passes nothing, and I’m not aware of anyone in Congress calling for that.

Even if the Senate, hope against hope, passes something much more conservative, it will shed its conservative veneer in conference. How can anyone take seriously the assertion that things will be OK because the Senate will pass something more conservative?

Little Al on November 9, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Debbie, you are correct: all but about 30 or so Republicans have remained consistently conservative on major (and minor) legislation for the last 10+ years.

My Rep. Mike Pence led and insurgent band of House Conservatives (“C” First not “Republican”) that almost defeated that “Obamacare #1”.

God Bless.

JS: I think you meant “only” 30 or so Republicans have remained consistently conservative on major (and minor) legislation for the last 10+ years. Right? DS

Jeremy S on November 9, 2009 at 10:43 pm