Posted on 01/29/2009 10:52:11 AM PST by rightinthemiddle
Is it possible history is repeating itself? As House Republicans defy President Obama over his stimulus package, the party seems to be reverting to form after decades of overreaching ambition and outsized growth; think of the GOP, perhaps, as the Citigroup of politics. Many Republicans seem resigned—even content—to go back to being the party of Barry Goldwater. In other words: We don't care if we're marginalized. In our hearts we know we're right. Never mind that the party suffered terrible defeats in 2008 and 2006, and some thoughtful Republicans (mainly on the Senate side, like Lindsay Graham, as well as intellectuals such as David Frum), have been fretting for some time that the GOP base is getting too narrow. These days, you hear little talk of Karl Rove's bigger tent, or reinventing conservatism. Quite the opposite: It seems as though the party has decided to go back to basics. The message they're sending: "We don't care if Obama won, or that he's popular; let's just wait until the country sees the truth again, as old Barry did. Until then, we'll be happy to be the righteous minority again, proudly willing to go down in flames for our beliefs: Government spending never works, and tax cuts always do. Keynesian stimulus is for liberal witch doctors." (snip)
Some House Republicans wanted to send a "message" to Obama, and they may come around and vote for the final bill after the Senate approves its version. But for many Republicans the vote reaffirmed the old philosophical divide.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Never mind that Obama reached out, lunched with GOP leaders on the Hill, and pressed Speaker Nancy Pelosi to drop family planning and national mall renovation. Not a single House Republican could bring himself or herself to vote with the president on a measure to prevent what could become the most serious recession since the 1930s.
(more at link) ________
Opposing Obama will destroy the Republican Party.
Thanks for the heads up, Newsweak.
LOL! Wishful thinking at Newsweek.
Couldn't read past that.
Well GOLLY! If newsweak says it, then it JUST has to be true!
As for the Republicans being the party of Goldwater, I hope to hear Obama say "I shall not seek, and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President" as Goldwater's oppenent said less than four years later.
So if newsweak says one thing, we should do the opposite. Load all cannons, fire for effect!
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Who said Republicans were a bunch of spineless, unprincipled ninnies? Tonight’s news that every single House Republican voted NAY on the Democrats’ Generational Theft Act of 2009 is already breathing new life into conservatism. Notwithstanding tales of Republicans fighting for pictures of themselves yukking it up with President Obama, the congressional GOP — finally free from President Bush — is no longer apologizing for its conservatism.
Even better: Republicans are also rediscovering that conservatism can and should be fun. Rep. John Carter, a Republican from Texas, has introduced a bill that would create the “Rangel Rule.” Advancing the idea that everyone deserves equal under the law, Carter’s bill stipulates that anyone paying overdue taxes can write “Rangel Rule” across his/her returns and the IRS would be forbidden from charging fees or penalties.
House Republicans said their counter stimulus bill would create twice as many jobs at half the cost. Whose numbers did they rely on? None other than President Obama’s Council of Economic Advisers’ Chairwoman. (Clearly, a right-wing nutjob!)
Here’s hoping Senate Republicans follow in-kind. Perhaps one might even have the audacity to filibuster.
Polls may show Obama to be the cat’s pajamas, but that doesn’t mean his policies make sense. Committing America to a trillion dollars in new debt is a path not to prosperity, but to poverty. Senate Republicans need to embrace their conservative principles now more than ever.
— Laura Ingraham
http://www.LauraIngraham.com
.
Dear Newsweak,
“The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius
My question would be - why don’t the republicans put together their own idea on how to solve this crisis? unless the answer is “do nothing and ride it out” is the answer.
they need to be more pro-active - like newt in 94 and his contract for america.
We are humbled that you are so conserned with the continuation of the republican party that you would take the time to warn us of our impending doom.
Thanks, your words were like a splash of cold water and I'm sure we will all wake up and take your advice. After all, we're sure you have our best interests at heart as usual.
Member, VRWC
Largely because the GOP drifted away from its core values. But don't let the facts get in the way of your idiotic rant, Hirsh.
This is looking more like sour grapes from the GOP than any honest stand. What are they going to say “Pork Barrel spending is OK as long as we do it?”
Well, after the last 8 years there’s no honest way for Republicans to attack pork. When you violate your core principles as long as the GOP has it’s going to be a long time before voters will trust what they have to say about small government.
The fallout from this might be viscous for the GOP until the 2010 elections, by refusing to give Barry one single vote they are giving him a handy excuse to ignore Congressional Republicans until they retake power. All The One has to say now is “They wanted Tax Cuts, I gave them 350Billion in tax cuts and they still voted against me. So why should I work with them at all?”
>Opposing Obama will destroy the Republican Party.<
Sure it will.
LOL!
Didn’t John McCain & the rest of ‘em already destroy the republican party a long time ago?
Just sayin’.
“Now two decades of runaway Reaganism—an excess of free-market zeal—have prompted the biggest government intervention since the New Deal.”
The present banking crisis was brought about by Democrat intervention in markets to “make house ownership affordable to the poor”. But when you point this out to the Democrats, their response is: “where were the Republicans when they had the presidency and both houses of Congress for six years?” And by George they sure have a point.
Going into the Nov 2008 election the Democrat dominated Congress elected in 2006 had an approval rating of what? 10 percent? The fact that the Democrats kept their majority says more about the Republican party than it does about the Democrats.
Republicans only succeed in taking the blame for the consequences when they let the Democrats and the media sucker them into “reaching out” and “meeting the Democrats half way”. This has been history repeating itself.
George HW Bush (the elder) with a 90% approval rating, was coasting on the coat tails of Reagan’s spectacular economic turnaround in the 80’s. But he gave in to Democrat demands for a tax increase at the end of a business cycle(despite frantic warnings by conservative economists). The result was a recession, and Bush lost the 1992 election as Bill Clinton convinced the electorate that “trickle down economics doesn’t work”.
The Democrats are the Madoff Securities of political parties - one big Ponzi scheme.
“Well, after the last 8 years there’s no honest way for Republicans to attack pork.”
Wrong. It’s never too late to start doing the right thing.
“The fallout from this might be viscous for the GOP until the 2010 elections, by refusing to give Barry one single vote they are giving him a handy excuse to ignore Congressional Republicans until they retake power.”
Queen Nancy pelosi has already shown her hand. They are running the most partisan House ever. The GOP has no leverage except unified opposition, to force the Democrats to ‘own’ whatever garbage they pass. Good. Let them own it.
Everything in that $800 billion spending stimulus btw was already on Obama’s spending wish list. So he gave ZERO to the Republicans.
Let the gop watch this
Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRdLpem-AAs&NR=1
Why is this Hirsh guy so teed off by the GOP's unanimous House vote against Obama's bill when the darn thing passed by a good margin? After all, Hirsh argues that it's a good bill and it will help the economy.
Of course Hirsh's perspective on history and economics is a bit warped, very typical of a Democrat.
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