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(s)Elections See other (s)Elections Articles Title: Can Republicans Do Any Better Than This? Can Republicans Do Any Better Than This? The party in charge in Washington is doing a horrible job. But can Republicans do any better? To say that the Democrats are drunk with power or out of touch is inadequate. Something on the order of clueless or oblivious or tone-deaf would be more accurate. But simply to have the Democrats tripping over their own kingly and queenly arrogance and their incompetence, is not enough to create success for the Republican Party. Republicans - in Congress, running for Congress, and elsewhere - need a cohesive message that signals a competent, respectful, American styled government leadership alternative. Can the Republican Party produce this kind of message? Lets start by examining just how bad things are with the Democrats. The President that put together the bi-partisan economic advisory dream-team has a moderate, Clinton-era, reasonable appearing member in Larry Summers. But where is former Reagan economic advisor Paul Volcker? Hes neither seen nor heard. And despite Summers occasional media appearances, Obamas economic policies look nothing like either the Reagan era or the Clinton era. Instead, we got an $800 billion economic stimlus bill that funded, among other things, free tatoo removal, cricket control, the promotion of astronomy in the Hawaiian islands, a federal sex education program called Booty Call, and other non-economically simulative pet projects. The so-called shovel ready infrastructure construction projects that were promised have yet to materialize, consumer spending is declining again, and unemployment benefits claims are rising. Then there was President Obamas $3.5 trillion budget (Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is now asking Congress to raise the federal debt ceiling above $12 trillion for fear that there wont be money to fund Obamas budget after October of this year); the so-called cap-and-trade energy tax bill that Congressional Democrats themselves scuttled because of outrage from constituents; President Obamas firing of GMs C.E.O. and his take-over of GM and Chrysler; and the $3 billion plus cash for clunkers program that was supposed to get people out of fuel guzzling old cars and into energy efficient new cars, but now is known to have been used for purchases of luxury sedans and SUVs. And then there is the proposed nationalization of healthcare. Congressional Democrats cant seem to fathom how their stupid, un-enlightened constituents could possibly dare to question a proposal to intervene into some of the most personal and intimate areas of a persons life. Those who dare to ask questions, or worse yet disapprove, have been labeled by Congressional Democrats as un-American, evil, Astroturf, and the mob, and have been accused of carrying swastikas, trying to bring down the President, and have been compared to the KKK in the days of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The Congressional disdain for the commoner hit a crescendo last week when Liberal Democrat Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, at a town hall meeting in her district, was caught on video suddenly stepping away from her podium to take a call on her mobile phone, even as an audience member was on-microphone, in mid sentence, asking the Congresswoman a question about healthcare. Nothing says I dont care about the idiot voters like a member of Congress taking a mobile phone call, while a constituent is trying to ask a question. So, yes, those controlling Washington these days are performing horribly. But what can Republican offer as an alternative? The current healthcare mess provides tremendous opportunity for Republicans. For starters, Republicans could pledge that they will not legislate any healthcare reforms that they would not live with themselves. Its no secret that the healthcare benefits afforded to members of Congress are of superior quality. Yet, Democrats continue to draft legislative provisions that in some cases would restrict peoples access to healthcare, in other cases would tax peoples existing healthcare, and have contemplated the possibility of levying taxes on plastic surgery purchases. The message being sent by the Democrats to America is were better than you, and well decide what you need, yet thats an unacceptable message for most Americans. Republicans cant simply talk about private-sector reforms (although that must be at the epicenter of the message); they must now address Americas outrage towards the Congressional majoritys arrogance, and convey that, no, we are not better than you, and we want better choices for everybody. Republican leaders would also do well to convene a series of heatlhcare alternative town hall meetings across the country. Republican leaders who have sound, free-market heatlhcare reform ideas - some members of Congress would fit this description, like Congressman John Shaddegg of Arizona and Congressman Eric Cantor of Virginia, but so would Governor Tim Pawlenty and perhaps other Governors as well - should arrange their own speaking tours across the country. The message here would be we have an alternative to the Presidents plan, were in the minority, yet our vision is closer to yours.. The opportunity for Republicans is at hand. Can they seize the moment? Can they do any better? Poster Comment: The message being sent by the Democrats to America is were better than you, and well decide what you need, yet thats an unacceptable message for most Americans. Republicans cant simply talk about private-sector reforms (although that must be at the epicenter of the message); they must now address Americas outrage towards the Congressional majoritys arrogance, and convey that, no, we are not better than you, and we want better choices for everybody. Well then they'd better make Ron Paul the face of the Party! Now that Iran won't be dealt with anyway, Lameblow and Hammity, et al., can pull their panties out of their cracks over Paul and begin matching some of their rhetoric with some F'ing action!
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#5. To: Eric Stratton (#0)
It's not a question of Can the Republicans do better? It was the Republicans who got us into this situation! The people sniping at Obama seem to have short- term memory problems (it comes with drugs and senility), so dredge up a newspaper printed before January 20th and show them. The stock market had already crashed, major banks and insurers had tanked, unemployment was the only growth industry, the Bushes were already handing out bail out money and there were people actually writing letters to the editor asking if there were a way that Obama could take over BEFORE Inauguration Day. Some of this slide even started before Election Day, which may explain why McCain was such a gracious loser. Now Obama is saddled with all the problems left by eight years of Bush & Cheney and some people are cranked that he hasn't solved eight years of trouble in a mere eight months in office. And the Republicans, who causes this mess, are determined to block every one of his efforts at curing the problems.
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