Rep Tom Cole (R-OK) says Senate R's efforts to cut funding for Obamacare or close gov't is “the political equivalent of throwing a temper tantrum” (Twitter Chad Pergram)
Excuse me if I sit here and laugh at the leadership of the Republican Party who were so quick to latch on to the Tea Party movement and throw longtime, more moderate conservatives of the GOP under the bus. We were not religious right or social conservatives but just part of the base they could count on each election to be there to vote along with working for candidates. Now a lot of us are gone and Republicans in Congress especially the House are left to feel the wrath of the Tea Party at Town Halls for not repealing Obamacare which they promised.
The powers in charge of the Republican Party in 2010 wanted a new flavor and they got it - hard right GOP and third party loons morphed into the Tea Party capturing seats throughout the Country. These are some of the most obnoxious members of Congress who refuse to understand how Government works and worst part is they don't care as they are there to obstruct. They are part of the 'my way or no way' group of hard right Third Party many of us have seen for years. Now they are in charge. Saw comments from some Tea Party that when the House passed a bill it was going to become law and no one could do anything about it. Some refused to attend the bi-annual orientation in DC for all Freshman from both parties to learn how the Congress works favoring the Tea Party/Sarah Palin orientation instead. That should tell you all you need to know about some of the hard right loons now residing in the halls of Congress.
In 2010, I helped Senator McCain's campaign in the GOP primary against former Rep Hayworth because I couldn't stand him after a speech in Oklahoma. As a major player in the Abramoff scandal didn't believe he had a place in the Senate. Then there was the problem he was too far hard right which did me in completely so I wrote articles detailing what Hayworth stood for which were sent all around Arizona from a sister blog which is no longer active. I realized after that campaign when Senator McCain was reelected, he was going to be one of the saner voices in the Senate, but even that has taken over two years. Recently, he helped forge an agreement in the Senate to clear the logjam of Obama nominees that had been blocked. He is sounding more and more like the Maverick McCain we knew who never would have chosen Sarah Palin as his VP candidate.
Two of the worst GOP candidates, "I am not a witch" O'Donnell and Sharron Angle of NV are considering running again. About time for Joe Miller in AK to raise his head again but he has to wait as his mentor Palin who supported Miller fully is thinking of running for Senate so you can add another unethical loon to the mix. Pass the popcorn if Palin runs because Lisa Murkowski who beat Miller as a write-in candidate would love to be part of the opposition to Palin. That would be the highlight of the campaign season. Palin might win the primary thanks to the Tea Party but the "I can see Russia from my front porch" is not going to win the general.
All of this is 'poetic justice' to the powers at be in the GOP who went along and even welcomed the Koch Bros/Karl Rove/Ailes of Fox News 'brilliant' idea to launch a Tea Party as part of the grassroots. What they didn't realize that a lot of these third party types under the wing of the Koch Brothers would take over the GOP and send hard right loons to DC to obstruct President Obama every step of the way. Rove must be regretting the day he went in on this little charade of the Tea Party grassroots forming all on their own because they have turned on him. He should have thought twice about this scheme since the Koch Bros were involved.
As for this former member of the GOP Grassroots and now big time supporter President Obama, I am laughing at this and ready to say "I TOLD YOU SO" when I was chastised royally for not getting behind the Tea Party and going over to what is known as the 'dark side' by supporting Democrats in 2012 starting at the top when I joined Republicans for Obama and OFA to help with his reelection.
My favorite part of the Presidential campaign was the debate when Romney had his chest puffed out about Benghazi and President Obama said "Proceed Governor" - knew then Romney was going to lose that debate big time and lose the election to a man I have come to admire even more as the weeks have turned into months. What President Obama has had to put up with from Republicans in Congress should be a crime. Their obstructionism, outright lies, failure to negotiate in good faith, and attacks against the President with their phony scandals are attacks on the American people as they have slowed the recovery from massive debt they helped create with the former President spending like drunken sailors in six years.
The monster the GOP created is now turning on them:
The Tea Party Turns on the GOP
If the first few town halls of the August Congressional recess are any indication, Republicans are “[struggling] to contain the monster they created.”
The monster in question is the unhinged, fact-free Tea Party juggernaut and its irrational and unceasing opposition to Obamacare. The GOP civil war over defunding Obamacare is breaking out into the open at town hall meetings across the country.
ThinkProgress’ Aviva Shen has the details:
After 40 failed votes to repeal Obamacare, several Republicans are threatening anew to block government funding unless the health reform law gets defunded. This threat is nothing new; Republicans have repeatedly demanded that every appropriations bill include a provision to repeal Obamacare since the law was passed. Tea Party lawmakers in 2011 emphasized how dire the situation was, calling for a “blood oath” to “choke Obamacare.”Now, these empty threats are coming back to haunt Republicans who fear they will lose their seats if they take the government hostage. Several new town hall videos show lawmakers grappling with furious demands from constituents to shut down the government like the GOP said was needed to defund Obamacare.
(snip)
Tom Cole (R-OK) called it “a temper tantrum.” Republican governors have also warned that their state economies would suffer enormously if the party takes the government hostage.
BOTTOM LINE: As a new poll out today underscores, the GOP’s obsession with repealing — or even trying to shut down the government in order to defund — Obamacare is a political loser. This isn’t 2010 and the GOP’s repeated efforts to deny the security of quality, affordable health care to millions of Americans are dragging the party down.
Excerpt: Read more at Think Progress
Around 33% of Republican identified voters do not want to repeal Obamacare. Would I be wrong to think that a good portion of them are going to vote Democrat even though still registered Republican? They have seen the Chairman of the Republican National Committee, Members of Congress, and other people in leadership throw them under the bus in favor of the hard right at the urging of the Koch Bros. I would say that is a safe bet and why polling on who is going to win the House and Senate may not be very accurate in 2014. In the last six months I have met more former Republicans on line that have the same feelings I do against today's Republican sell-outs who are on their way to destroying the Republican Party. We will not be voting for Republicans in 2014 or 2016 and most of us never again with the state of today's Republican Party.
From Hart Research Associates:
Simply put, the large majority of voters do not want Congress to repeal Obamacare.
Only 36% of all voters say they would prefer Obamacare to be repealed, whereas a 40% plurality would prefer to leave the law as is (15%) or make just minor changes (25%). Another 18% of voters support making major changes in the ACA. Among the key group who are undecided in the 2014 generic Congressional ballot, only 39% want to repeal Obamacare. And although a 67% majority of likely Republican voters want to repeal Obamacare, that still leaves one-third of the GOP that does not want to repeal the law.
Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare now put them at an electoral disadvantage, and engaging on this issue actually improves the standing of Democratic candidates.
Our generic congressional trial heat shows a relatively narrow, three-point advantage for Democratic candidates (44%) over Republicans (41%) nationwide. However, when the choice in the 2014 election is presented as “a Democrat who favors fixing and improving Obamacare rather than repealing it altogether” versus “a Republican who wants to totally repeal Obamacare,” voters favor the Democratic candidate (51%) over the Republican candidate (36%) by 15 percentage points.
Voters who support the Democratic candidate in the generic trial heat continue to support an anti-repeal Democratic candidate over a pro-repeal Republican by 89% to 3%.
However, voters who are undecided in the generic trial heat prefer an anti-repeal Democrat (40%) to a pro-repeal Republican (30%) by 10 percentage points, and 14% of Republican voters in the generic trial heat say they favor the anti-repeal Democrat when the election is framed around candidates’ positions on Obamacare.Voting 40 times in the House to repeal Obamacare and now threatening to hold hostage the raising of the debt ceiling has cost the Republican Party dearly and most GOP leaders have their heads buried so far in the sand they don't see it or won't admit their selling out to the Tea Party to win control in 2010 was a bad deal.
Voters express overwhelmingly positive feelings toward Democrats who will work to improve Obamacare and facilitate its implementation, and help constituents understand how the new law will affect them.
By a three to one margin, voters say they would be favorable (60%) rather than unfavorable (19%) toward “a Democrat who, as an elected official, wants to help individuals and small businesses in their state understand how best to deal with Obamacare and take advantage of its benefits.”
By nearly a two to one margin, voters would be favorable (53%) rather than unfavorable (28%) toward “a Democrat who favors fixing and improving Obamacare rather than repealing it altogether.”Looks like voters are smarter then the politicians and the wealthy donors who pull their strings. The Internet has changed the way politics is run today but the GOP doesn't seem to have a clue.
Voters feel intensely negative toward Republican candidates who have worked to repeal or undermine the law, especially those who are unwilling to help their constituents take advantage of the benefits and protections available to them under the ACA.
Seventy-one percent (71%) of voters express unfavorable feelings toward “a Republican who, as an elected official, refuses to help individuals and small businesses understand how best to deal with Obamacare and take advantage of its benefits.” Even among voters inclined to support a Republican candidate, three in five (61%) have a negative impression of incumbents who are making it harder to implement the law.
Two-thirds of all voters (including 60% of undecided voters) have an unfavorable impression of “a Republican who repeatedly voted to cut the funding needed to effectively implement the law, and refuses to provide information to employers and individuals about it.”
A large majority of voters (62%) also feel negative toward “a Republican who favors totally repealing Obamacare and would go back to letting health insurance companies do whatever they want.”Look at those numbers above as if you were a Republican candidate who was in Congress before the Tea Party took over. Are you going to run again knowing you have to sell out to the Tea Party and wealthy donors or are you going to do with Senator Olympia Snowe did from Maine and retire from the obstructionist Senate? How many Republican members of Congress will even stand up to the Tea Party in their Town Halls giving them the facts that the House has no ability to stop Obamacare. Their refusal to tell the truth at the beginning while coddling the Tea Party got them into this mess and, in turn, sucked in the American people because they cannot even pass a simple Farm Bill with SNAP included or jobs bills for veterans and American people. They made their own bed and now the American people are paying for their stupidity.
Voters outline several major concerns about the potential effect of Republican efforts to repeal Obamacare, and Democratic candidates should force their Republican opponents to own up to the consequences of their positions.
Voters’ most significant concerns about repealing Obamacare are the potential that people who are sick or have preexisting conditions could lose their insurance, that insurance companies could raise rates capriciously, that insurance companies would waste members’ premiums on bonuses and administration instead of care, and that insurance companies would be allowed to discriminate against women by charging them more for care.
These changes are troubling, not only to large majorities of Democratic and independent voters, but also to nearly half of Republican voters.See the graph at Hart Research Associates for an eye opener on how far the Republicans have gone with wanting to repeal Obamacare which would make changes to health care the American people in large numbers do not want including 33% Republicans.
There is a solution -- oust the Tea Party from the Congress and elect common sense people to get this Country back on track faster. Obstructionism of the Republicans in Congress including the threat to shut down the Government if Obamacare is not scrapped needs to end today. That is the sensible solution but the hard right Tea Party has threatened to stay home, so Republicans in Congress are once again appeasing their new base by refusing to tell the truth. These are not men but wimps!
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