Hello again. I'm back. And honestly I can't at all recall, should anyone who knows me be surprised, what bill I heard being reported on CSPAN radio this morning which, as with healthcare (well, sans Olympia Snow), was garnering absolutely no support among Republican members in committee.
I think it was the environment, i.e. global warming, i.e. a bill to reduce greenhouse gases. But I can't begin to swear to it. It's simply too long ago. This morning, is.
All I recall is Republicans were unified in their opposition.
This is really quite dumb. And now I can't say that much more about it, because I can't remember the bill. But, no support? When you have a President who at least said (continues to say, though with little action to back it up far as I can tell) that he wishes to be post-partisan, any Republican can thereby assume that this President would be thrilled at the prospect of one or several Republicans taking a public position in favor of one of his legislative priorities. Not just that, but you'd think they'd be interested in stopping the bleeding from the last election. Ok, last several. Now, Republicans are anxiously awaiting 2010, but, what if they are disappointed again? Will they anxiously await 2012, 2014, 2016? In other words, will they continue to steadfastly oppose working with Democrats until they can have their cake and eat it too, regardless how many elections that takes to occur? It sounds to me similar to the political strategy the Palestinians use with respect to Israel. They don't care if it takes 5 years or 500 years to bring down Israel, they are going to continue trying, and continue opposing Israel's existence, and leave themselves a non-country for however long that takes.
Isn't it a little better to see if you can work something out? Now, that takes two to be sure. Dems have to be open to conceding a few things which Republicans want, and it can't be ticky-tack things. It has to be real things. And for that Dems should receive a few real things, and all of that with both Republican and Democrat backing.
Party of 'No' is a loser. It's a non-starter. It's dumb. I wonder, with healthcare, Republicans wanted tort reform and interstate competition most. It came up in every press conference they had. So, what if the entire Republican contingent of the Senate Finance Committee went to Max Baucus (the Chair) and said you will get our votes - every single one of them - both in committee and on the floor and in a conference bill with the House, if you give us tort reform and interstate competition. FURTHER, what if they had told the President that? Do you think that would have made the Dems and Obama go "Hmmmmm"? You bet your butt it would. But nooooooooooooooooooooo. "No" was all that came from the part of "No". And it's all that continues to come. Stupid. A lost opportunity, to be sure. A historic lost opportunity.
What are you going to do with these two parties?...they are not worthy of us. We vote in the Republicans, we get Tom Delay and his and George Bush's form of partisan lawmaking. We vote for the Dems, and we get Nancy Pelosi and Obama and their form of partisan lawmaking. It's not worth any of us. But, where to turn now????....
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