DarkSteven
Posts: 28072
Joined: 5/2/2008 Status: offline
|
quote:
ORIGINAL: cloudboy I'm more interested in what the Republicans learned. Will they veer away from anti-establishment, minority positions, or will they keep trying to double down on positions like: (1) Immigration Reform -- oppose it at all costs (2) Deficit Reduction --- without reductions in military spending (3) Health Care Reform --- try to improve the system so that more people are covered and costs are reduced v. continuing to oppose the ACA without offering a single alternative solution (4) Try to help balance the budget though tax increases v. keep insisting that tax cuts are "off the table." (5) If you are an elected official, then you try and make the government deliver good services efficiently -- versus trying to neuter the EPA and other regulatory agencies from doing their job Sorry to say this, cloudboy, but your ideas for #3 through #5 are based upon a GOP that is willing to compromise and work pragmatically toward a solution that is less than they want. The current GOP is driven by ideology, not pragmatism, and it would rather fight a losing battle endlessly than be reduced to getting concessions in a bill they don't like. Their tactics are entirely confrontational and adverse, not cooperative. quote:
ORIGINAL: cloudboy Footnote: If the ACA was really such a disaster, the Republicans would never have shut the government down to oppose it, they would have simply let if fail after its implementation. Nope. That's exactly what Pelosi did - she made damn sure that the Dems' opposition to Bush's policies were firmly registered, and let them all fail. Then the Dems ran as the party of we're-not-Bush and clobbered the GOP in 2008. That's a smart, pragmatic approach, which is anathema to the GOP of today. The GOP got used to doing what they damn well pleased during the Bush years, and ignoring the Dems. They've tried to continue that even though they're not in control. Obama did his best to work with the GOP at first, and now he's given up and has begun to ram stuff down the GOP's throats. The sad thing is that it doesn't matter of the ACA is a monumental failure or a smashing success, or something in between. The GOP has defined their strategy: 1. Oppose it by spreading lies about death panels, etc. 2. Fight it tooth and nail and refuse to compromise or influence it. 3. Once it's implemented, claim it to be a failure, whether or not it is. Reality doesn't matter.
_____________________________
"You women.... The small-breasted ones want larger breasts. The large-breasted ones want smaller ones. The straight-haired ones curl their hair, and the curly-haired ones straighten theirs... Quit fretting. We men love you."
|