Posted on 06/30/2010 8:30:18 AM PDT by Maelstorm
Well, it is official.
Eric Cantor and John Boehner — particularly Eric Cantor — have decided they don’t need or want conservatives and, more troubling, do not have any intention of trying to win at the polls by forcing Democrat hands on Obamacare.
Our leadership is behaving badly.
Last week and on Monday I mentioned Rep. Steve King’s effort to repeal Obamacare and start over. He’s filed a discharge petition. If he gets 218 signatures, Nancy Pelosi must hold a vote.
At the time, I was hearing that Eric Cantor was desperate to undermine Steve King’s efforts and, sure enough, he’s trying. Worse, he has John Boehner helping him.
Let me explain.
King’s legislative effort would repeal Obamacare and start over. In effect, all those Democrats who have been saving they too want to start over get a “put up or shut up” moment by signing the King discharge petition.
Today, Eric Cantor and John Boehner are announcing that they’ll sign King’s discharge petition, but they’re also going to go with one by Congressman Wally Herger that would repeal Obamacare and replace it with a Republican alternative.
Notice that Cantor and Boehner were absolutely silent on Rep. King’s efforts until they had Wally Herger’s discharge petition ready to go. Why? Because they want to bully Republican House members into signing the Herger petition and undercut the repeal effort with a “replace and replace with lame legislation” effort. In effect, this undercuts a unified repeal effort and muddies the waters.
This is a direct confrontation by the House GOP leadership with conservatives and with Heritage Action for America, the Heritage Foundation’s spin off 501(c)(4) group.
It is also stupid for a number of reasons:
* If the GOP unites behind the Heritage effort on the King “Repeal Obamacare” bill, we actually have a chance of winning. 60% of Americans want this to happen, and numerous Democrats are gettable in this fight. The Herger “Repeal and Replace” bill has zero chance of passing, it will drive a number of GOP members away who don’t agree with this particular replacement bill and give Democrats an easy excuse to not sign onto the repeal movement. * The Republican alternative is a milquetoast alternative. * The Republicans are buying into the slacker mandate — letting adults stay on their parents’ health insurance until they are 26 years old. * The Republicans spent months calling on the Democrats to work with the GOP to draft Obamacare. The Cantor-Boehner strategy means the GOP is now pushing a proposal to the floor of the House without input from the left or even from conservatives.
Tea Party activists and others should pay attention here: Eric Cantor and John Boehner are implementing a strategy that makes it look like they are on your side, but are in fact stabbing you in the back.
Cantor and Boehner are spinning this as a good thing. But it is not. It muddies the water and gives Democrats an escape from being forced to take action.
Any Republican who signs on to the Herger discharge petition should be driven from office for betraying the “repeal” cause. This does nothing but provide cover to people who don’t really want to repeal Obamacare, just nibble at the edges.
And should the GOP take back Congress in November, we should remember this betrayal and the lies that go with it.
“I agree with Clyde Wilson that America can’t be saved or returned to its roots until the Republican Party is destroyed.”
–Thomas DiLorenzo
Re
The Real DiLorenzo
http://gunnyg.wordpress.com/2010/06/23/the-real-dilorenzo-a-%E2%80%98southern-partisan%E2%80%99-interview/
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Told ya....
We must face the fact that the ballot box will not save us.
The banksters own the country, congress is now just theater.
Why people insist on remaining with the OP(formerly the GOP) party, that has been determined to eschew Conservative principles for decades defies logic.
I don’t understand why the republicans don’t stand up to Obama. Do the dems have something on all of them? I am sick of wussy politicians. Maybe Chris Christie will run for president. He doesn’t seem to be afraid of anyone.
Cantor certainly spouted the Tea Party line at CPAC 2010—I thought the repubs had finally gotten the message.
Boehner? Really? WTH!
The first fact that we need to understand is that anything written by Eric Erickson at Redstate.com is automatically suspect.
That alone makes me thing this article is bunkum.
And this death plan will also raise health care costs. Pay more and get a lot less--that is the obama way!
Repeal and Start Over is the ONLY WAY to obliterate the death plan! It will give us a chance to have a heath care system that is good for patients, doctors, and innovator health companies--NOT for corrupt unions and politicians, and for "bioethicists", muslims, and MEChA/La Raza activists who want us to accept a "duty to die"!!!!
I had great hopes for Cantor.
Apparently, he’s a dud.
Of course it is stupid. What do you expect from the ‘Big..but just not as Big Government Republican idiots’.
Keep in mind that Eric Erickson has also been running with a lot of, ah, how can I put this politely, nonsense lately about the GOP. Frankly, he provides a whole lot of hearsay, but not many facts.
If these people want to be in the leadership ranks they will have to start following what Republicans are up to.
Ghandi supposedly said upon observing a mob "There go my people. I must follow them because I am their leader."
If these people want to be in the leadership ranks they will have to start following what Republicans are up to.
Ghandi supposedly said upon observing a mob "There go my people. I must follow them because I am their leader."
I’ve met Eric and he has been both hero and nero to the conservative cause and while I don’t understand his motivations I can only surmise two things. He and the top leadership who are mostly Romney supporters don’t want this fight to go on beyond Nov. Also I think they are planning to bait and switch conservatives in plain sight on this issue.
It is stupid and if they do this they will find out how short lived their terms will be. I hope it isn’t true but let us remember Cantor and Romney’s “We Surrender tour” after election 2008. One thing for certain we need to make sure neither ever become speaker of the House. We need individuals like Steve King who have clarity of conviction and are champions of liberty and the constitution not Machiavellian politicians which I am increasingly coming to believe Eric is. I hate it because he has been a champion. I don’t know what has changed him but Republicans need to learn that the only strategry that is going to win is one that speaks to the foundation of this nation. We don’t want to go back to George W Bush or George H Bush we want to go back to George Washington. We do not accept that 2000+ page bills that no one reads and soft tyranny are the future of this nation!
They seek a message and they have none better than that of our founders. I thought Boehner was waking up but the reality is a lot of these guys look at this as a game.
They won’t get theirs approved. They need too many votes. If i had to guess as to a plan as opposed to incompetance i would say its a bad time to have the King bill go to a vote. Why give dems i close races a chance to repudiate the obvious dead weight of Obama at this time? So put up a sure to fail alternative and when that happens go ahead with the straight foward measure.
I have to think there are plenty of dems would vote to repeal it now in their hour of desperation ahead of the mid terms.
Just for the record i’m not one that looks for conspiracies but it just seems too obvious that plenty of dems would jump at the chance to have this vote to save their seats.
hmmm...isn’t it Redstate that just stabbed everyone in the back by working for the enemy...CNN!?!
This is just much ado about nothing imho. There is nothing wrong with having an internal debate on which is the best strategy. ‘Repeal and Replace’ or ‘Repeal’...either way..’repeal’ is the operative word. I haven’t read either bill yet, but based on the content of this article, it’s not time to panic.
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