KUHNER: The Tea Party’s coming vindication

Washington Times ^ | 10/18/13 | Jeffrey T. Kuhner

[Kansas58]

You do not know how to count.
And YES it would be awful to lose the House.
House Republicans, with a very few exceptions, did a GREAT job!

[Kansas58]

Huh?
I want NO PART of any Party run by YOU or anyone like you.
We just saw MANY courageous Republicans take a stand, and YOU are shooting them in the back.
How can you get mad at John McCain when YOU are even worse than he is?
McCain has no real, conservative thoughts.
You claim that you do, but you are DISLOYAL to those who have tried to help the cause.

[The_Media_never_lie]

Interesting.

[Sirius Lee]

If things go the way I believe they will go, I wouldn’t want to be a Democrat next fall.

I wouldn't want to be one of the vichy republicans either. Cruz stood on principle and the rest exposed themselves for what they are and will pay the price in November.

[Tucker39]

“....with the IRS taking it directly out of their accounts...”

WHAT accounts? The majority of ordinary people of this Country, the masses that the bureaucrats are counting on to finance this pos progressive wet dream, don’t HAVE multiple $thousand$ accounts. Most of them are mortgaged and credit carded up to their eyeballs! The gubmint will play hell getting $thousands$ out of them.

Case in point: A friend has a beautiful dining table and chairs to sell. He asked if I thought he could get $800 for it, since a comparable new set is $2,000. I told him, NO. Because nobody in his prospective customer class HAS $800 loose money to hand to him! They MIGHT be able to buy NEW by financing it for 3+ years, but ponying up $800 or $8,000? It’s not there....for him OR Obunga! IMHO.

[jimfree]

Integration taken in-house? Seems absolutely insane but sadly is consistently with the hubris of these people. One wonders if Obama really believes he can steady the seas with a wave of his hand.

[ripley]

“The libtard on the street, now that it’s been read to the, does not want it....”

Nah.

The libtards have been educated about revolution,they know the steps, and they like the steps, very much.
(Psychotic Progressives never let reality intrude into their psyches.)

IMHO

[Conservative_Rob]

You do not know how to count. And YES it would be awful to lose the House. House Republicans, with a very few exceptions, did a GREAT job!

Yes, they did do a great job, until they caved. We now are in a WORSE state than we were in before this "compromise". Congress now needs to have to vote to "disapprove" a debt ceiling increase. If they can't get the votes to "stop" it, the president can just increase it on his own. If they do get the votes, the president can veto it, and then they will need a 2/3 majority to stop it. Anyway you look at it, they turned over the purse strings to the president.

[Daveinyork]

At some point we will not be able to afford to defend ourselves. What ended the Soviet Empire was not Gorbachev’s goodwill. It was the Soviet Empire’s economic bankruptcy. It could not afford to field its military in defense of its empire.

Our cities are in that position now. Can the federal government be far behind?

[redfreedom]

You have a good point regarding who has that kind of money in their accounts. Please correct me, but if my past readings of the ACA are correct, they can go after your home next.

So with anyone, especially the prone to violent demonstration libtard, having their accounts zeroized and then their home at risk, I’d say there will be a good fight.

[St_Thomas_Aquinas]

In a way losing the last battle was a good thing, it lets all of us know for sure what the GOP leadership is all about.

That's true. I'm embarrassed that I wasn't sure about a lot of them. Now there is no doubt.

[Mr. Jeeves]

...but they are too stupid to take advantage of the remarkable campaign material that has just been dumped into their laps.. Pics of vets being forced away from their monuments, illegals free to protest, death benefits. The whole Obamacare debacle.

Consultants tell them it's "mean-spirited" to run ads like that...meaning, to run effective ads.

[SkyPilot]

The bus, however, will still go off the cliff. Only the Tea Party is saying — in fact, yelling — to hit the brakes. They’re right, and they will be vindicated.

I am sorry, but that is bull.

The biggest driver of our debt and deficits are Entitlements. The "Big Three" are Medicare (by far the most explosive in growth), Social Security, and Medicaid.

Discretionary spending is not the problem, it is Entitlements, which are exempt from Sequestration cuts.

What exactly is the Tea Party doing about our out of control Entitlements, and what proposals did they put forth, or every put forth, to slow their growth and reform them?

What do Tea Party members themselves say about these Entitlements?

I see a lot of rhetoric about unearned Entitlements (Food Stamps, TANF welfare, illegals getting billions in Earned Income Tax Credits they never earned). Everyone is not a complete fool or welfare case themselves is for that.

But what is the Tea Party saying about the gas pedal that is Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid?

In a recent poll (actually taken in 2011) conducted jointly by prominent Republican and Democratic polltakers, 34 percent of self-identified Tea Party supporters said that Social Security and Medicare should not be cut, no matter what. Another 30 percent of Tea Partyers said that if cuts to Social Security and Medicare were to be considered, lawmakers must also look for other ways to help people better plan for retirement.

This means that almost 2/3rds of self identified Tea Party members want to continue the same growth and spending on our most massive Entitlement programs that are bankrupting the nation.

That doesn't sound like someone screaming to the driver to take their foot off the gas - it sounds instead like saying to the driver, "Keep it on Cruise Control and don't mind the cliff straight ahead."

It is just that they distinguish these programs, which they feel recipients have "earned", from other social benefits, which they feel unnecessarily run up expenses. Or might run up public costs in the future-- placing a burden on hardworking taxpayers to make payments to freeloaders who have not earned public support. Much of the Tea Party brouhaha about the "federal budget deficit" is a preemptive strike against funding for unworthy programs and recipients, not a call for cutting off spending on programs like Medicare and Social Security that currently benefits people like them. There is a strong sense among Tea Party people that they have earned these social protections through lifetimes of hard work.

I make a distinction in earned vs. unearned entitlements also, but I also realize that there HAS to be reforms to the growth of these programs if our nation is to survive.

The ONLY thing the Tea Party advocated in the latest shutdown/debt ceiling debacle was de-fund ObamaCare, which was NEVER going to happen without controlling the Senate and the White House, and continue the massive cuts to the military, but don't touch Entitlements. I never heard one proposal to rein in Medicare, Social Security, and Medicaid by Ted Cruz, Mike Lee, or the House Tea Party members. If I missed it, please share it here.

[randita]

What the public will remember, though, is that a band of Tea Party patriots sought to thwart the oncoming disaster."

Wishful thinking. The average citizen doesn't remember what his latest text message said, let alone what happened in Congress months ago (if they ever knew in the first place, which is doubtful).

[Venturer]

I am just pointing out that there are enough Republicans in the House that vote with Democrats that it is almost run by them now/

[Georgia Girl 2]

Sadly we are going to go off the cliff. The train is too far down the tracks to stop it. It may be the only way to reset this country and get back to a constitutional republic.

Its going to be incredibly unpleasant. If you have not already done so better get ready.

[Arm_Bears]

". . . the narrative being peddled is that the GOP brand has been badly damaged, paving the way for a possible Democratic Party takeover of the House of Representatives in the 2014 elections. This is puerile nonsense."

Disagree--The Republicans have seriously damaged their brand among the conservative base of the party; and I expect many of them will sit at home in NOV 2014 (kinda like NOV 2012). Personally, I will be voting for the DIM challenger to my current RINO congress-critter so as to try and get the twit out of the House.

[jjsheridan5]

Right now, the GOP is in an all-out civil war. There will only be one victor, and the results will be determined by Republican voters (except where there are open primaries). Either the RINOs get decimated, in which case conservative voters will return to the party. Or, the RINOs stay, in which case the party will see a permanent exodus of about 1/4 to 1/2 of its voters.

My only prediction is that the battle of ‘14 will be decisive, one way or the other. I am with you, however, in opposing any non-conservative, and non-committed, Republican, even in the general election, since a traitor in your midst does far more damage than a single enemy could even dream of.

No matter what, barring some kind of miracle, the Republican representation in DC will be smaller than it is now. The question is: does what remains constitute an effective opposition to the left, or is the Rovian wing still there?

[rhema]

The more that becomes known -- and that's experienced by hapless would-be users -- about Obamacare's obfuscations and exorbitant costs, the dimmer the Dems' chances in 2014. If the president were smart, he himself would push for a delay of the individual mandate of his stillborn monstrosity.

[SunkenCiv]

• Rand Paul: GOP ‘probably can’t defeat’ Obamacare
• Paul: We probably can't get rid of 'Obamacare'
• Paul pushes to restore state felon voting rights as part of push to reform sentencing
• Rand Paul’s immigration speech

  Let’s start that conversation by acknowledging we aren’t going to deport 12 million illegal immigrants... bringing these workers out of the shadows and into being taxpaying members of society. Imagine 12 million people who are already here coming out of the shadows to become new taxpayers.12 million more people assimilating into society. 12 million more people being productive contributors. [but he’s not in favor of amnesty, snicker, definition of is is]

• Rand Paul: Time for GOP to soften [immigration, gay marriage] stance

  ...by softening its edge on some volatile social issues and altering its image as the party always seemingly "eager to go to war... We do need to expand the party and grow the party and that does mean that we don't always all agree on every issue" ... the party needs to become more welcoming to individuals who disagree with basic Republican doctrine on emotional social issues such as gay marriage... "We're going to have to be a little hands off on some of these issues ... and get people into the party," Paul said.