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.
Personally I thought the Right WAS for health care reform and actually DID have a proposal. Anyone here know what is in it and why it is a bad thing?
Bingo! I concur.
Eric hasn’t lost his soul nor has Red State. I don’t think there is any debate on whether the bill should be Repealed. Only in the minds of those who want to keep the debate continually on the terms of Democrats think that way. I don’t object to having an alternative but clear the slate. I do believe we need health care reform but throw the Obama crap bill in the trash and move on. Clarity is what you need to sell a message. You start blurring the lines the next thing you know Mitt Romney will start looking electable.
You’re right. I had forgotten about that. He slammed the Tea Party awhile back.
Thanks for bringing me back to reality.
"Republican leaders John Boehner and Eric Cantor are going to be signing disharge petitions on measures by Steve King and Wally Herger that would repeal parts or all of the Democrats’ health-care bill. The petitions are procedural maneuvers that will force votes that have no chance of passing in the Congress, but remain important for two reasons. First, now that the passed law has proven to be no more popular than the proposed legislation, the votes will put Democratic members on the record once again in favor of what is and will likely continue to be an unpopular law. In addition, a number of Republican members have noted to me that Democrats are tired of talking about health care and desperate to drive the topic out of the conversation. Unfortunately for them, these petitions will keep the health bill on the table, and force Democrats to defend it, even as the American people learn in greater detail why they don’t like what’s in it.
http://www.nationalreview.com/critical-condition/230541/discharging-ahead/tevi-troy
I agree. See my comment just above this one.
Most people do not understand that the republican party is supporting the socialist takeover of America. Sen. McConnel the republ;ican leader doesn’t force the democrats to read any bills on the senate floor, thereby assisting the socialists hiding just what is really in the bill.
Our country is already lost because of the number of progressives hiding in the house and senate as republicans.
They should already be against Kagan the ultra-progressive, but sadly they are not.
IMHO any republican that votes for Kagan should be voted out of office at the very next chance.
What is everyone bellyaching about?
Few of us dispute that some sort of legislation is needed - if only to let insurance cross state lines.
Why NOT support a “replace” plan - first off, it’s the best way to do it if the replacement bill is decent, secondly, it works better with the electorate - NOBODY wants THIS bill, but many people think SOMETHING needs to be done.
I swear, sometimes the people on this site lately are jumping out of their seats every time they read anything anywhere.
Good post...and I will add that these men don’t understand the enemy, don’t believe the socialists are their enemy, and don’t understand this war against us.
They don’t even know it is a war.
“We don’t want to go back to George W Bush or George H Bush we want to go back to George Washington.”
Terrific line!
I agree poster do freak out.
I will warn you that Boehmer is K street lobbyist whore.
He has no interest in rocking the boat that his K street buddies support.
Because the game is rigged, there is Zero chance of a viable third party, so our best chance, at least in the near future, is to purge the GOP.
If the people revolt, then what do you expect to happen?
Eric didn’t say they wouldn’t back King’s discharge petition what he is saying and I agree with is that they appear to be splitting the difference where if they really wanted to make sure this vote happened they wouldn’t be offering the “Repeal some of it” alternative. Some worry about giving the Democrats cover and that is not what this will do. Being unified in opposition and for Repeal is core to winning big in Nov. People are slowly being lulled back to sleep and we need this issue to stay front and center till Nov.
Maybe I was a bit strong on Eric and Boehner but I don’t trust them. I’ll praise them when they are with me but I don’t trust those who show tendencies toward surrender when the going gets tough. If we had listened to Romney, Cantor, and Jeb Bush we’d be looking at Democrat gains this Nov with Obama grand emperor of the Universe as President hailed as the savior of the world.
Why are you shocked? I have been warning for years that these Progressives in the GOP have been hiding behind the supreme court, letting them take the blame for what they really wanted to happen anyway.
"Speaker Boenner" was the hue and cry yesterday, and I stated then he is a Wuss, and not dependable, guess I was right.
Your alert should have sounded when Obama put him on the Balanced Budget Commission along with that humorous old Progressive, Alan Simpson.
This montrosity will not be repealed until conservatives get the white house and the two Houses of Congress.
Bump.
We need to understand that legislative leadership is elected with massive campaign conrtributions from big interests that want the government running health care.
The big businesses in this country need to cut costs and what better way to do that than to pass health care benefits onto the government.
The big businesses in this country need cheaper labor to cut costs and what better way to do that than with labor from Mexico.
Are you getting the picture as to why big name GOP politicians want “comprehensive immigration reform” or want to “repeal and replace” Obamacare instead of eliminating it and bringing back a free market health care system.
Follow the money trail and you will realize that the only debate between the two parties over Health Care Reform will be which party can make the trains run on time. Even if the GOP did recapture control of Congress this fall, and by some miracle did pass a repeal, they will not have a big enough majority to override Obama’s inevitable veto.
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