Posted on 04/23/2011 1:14:10 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Via the Hill, the key bit comes at the beginning. I could almost tolerate her willingness to gift-wrap a talking point for Democrats about how allegedly radical Ryan’s plan is if she had an alternative in mind. Instead, after paying lip service to the magnitude of our looming fiscal catastrophe, her big ideas for cutting spending are … eliminating ethanol subsidies and waste at the Pentagon. I’m almost disappointed that she didn’t mention earmarks and foreign aid too; if we’re going to go penny-ante by targeting unpopular expenditures that won’t remotely balance the budget, let’s go all the way.
She doesn’t say which parts of Ryan’s budget she objects to, but needless to say, she’s not in the Rand Paul camp of believing that it doesn’t go far enough. Realistically, either she thinks there should be a tax hike of some kind built-in or she has a problem with his Medicare reform scheme. Given these numbers from the Times, it might be both:
Something to mull while you watch: Why didn’t she just deflect the question? There are plenty of ways to do it. She could have said that she’s reserving judgment on Ryan’s plan until it actually comes to the floor, until the Gang of Six acts, until she hears from her constituents, etc etc etc. There’s a tiny spark of hope in the polls that the public’s willing to consider an ambitious program to reduce the debt. Why reject Ryan before you absolutely have to?
I was just getting ready to post basically the same type of thought. Exactly. There were those that absolutely screamed about Christine Odonnell winning the primary and losing the general. We heard, “if only Castle had won” (a rino if there ever was one) we’d have another seat etc etc. But yet here we have a prime example of why Castle was thrown out on his ear. Collins needs to switch parties...she’s a traitor and an example on just why we are in so much trouble.
/rant off
Hell, I don’t Like Ryan’s plan either.
RE: Hell, I don’t Like Ryan’s plan either.
Could you please elaborate as to why?
Duh, there is not one thing in that budget that is conservative, hell it adds ten trillion dollars to the debt and not one department is reduced in size. Be sides that it is just show and tell anyway.
Libertarianism is a loser. It was that way during the Reagan Presidency (which is why he rejected it), it was a loser during the Gingrich speakership, and it’s that way now.
I know seniors, and there are millions of them, who hate everything about the Democratic Party but keep voting for it because of fears about social security and medicare.
This sort of plan is exactly what the RINOs love: a grand, extreme gesture which has no chance of passing. They use constitutional amendments the same way. “Fake right, vote left[wing]”. Propose the extreme option which has no chance of passing, then when it is defeated give the Democrats 90% of what they want while telling conservatives “We tried”.
This whole budget-cutting thing was tried for 15 years of Reagan, Bush 1, and Gingrich. The Democrats raked us over the coals each and every election. We _DO_ need to cut budgets but it needs to be done carefully.
Rome wasn’t burnt in a day.
I should add though that Collins should have shown enough party loyalty to keep her mouth shut until negotiations were over. I don’t understand in what way these RINO senators can be considered part of the Republican Party.
neat as I can figure
- he still allows for approx. 3% a year growth
- his decade spending is projected to exceed tax revenues by about 8 trillion.
- his debt limit would rise to approx 23 trillion after 10 years.
So, like Rand Paul, you oppose Ryan’s plan because you believe it does not go far enough.
But I believe Collin’s opposition is because it goes too far.
Same opposition, different reasons.
Would 2 Democrats be better than 2 RINOs in Maine? We have 2 RINOs in Maine right now. I will not be voting for Snowe in November 2012. Snowe can be beaten by a tea party challenger if the tea party challenger is credible. But, I’m not entirely hopeful that a credible Conservative challenger will appear. There just aren’t too many credible, Conservative Republicans in Maine who are willing to directly challenge a Republican incumbent Senator with no help at all from the Conservative Republican Governor. Snowe and Collins are both roughly about as Conservative as Maine is. They pretty much vote for what most Mainers want. They’re both pretty popular with Mainers and both would win in November if they were the Republican nominee. They’re also both less popular with Republicans than Democrats, and Snowe would lose a Republican Primary if the Tea Party challenger was credible. A challenger who is not credible will not beat Snowe. Marginal kooks do like to run for office in Maine, and it’s certainly possible that Snowe runs in 2012 against a bunch of unknown wacky kooks. The “tea party” (whichever “tea party” gave $$$ to Christine) might have to do a substantial amount of work to find someone in Maine that is willing to risk their political career to run against a very well liked Republican. They might have to find someone who is not in politics. There is a pretty good chance of tea party fail in Maine. I hope not, because she would lose to a decent candidate with tea party $$$. I think a normal conservative person with a normal educational background, a normal job, and above average charisma would do it. But I don’t think that person is necessarily going to run for US Senate without being prodded by the tea party.
If there’s a Maine version of Christine O’Donnell, she’d beat Snowe.
So, I’m with you. I’ll likely be voting for a Democrat in Nov 2012 against Snowe. Top Dems aren’t planning on running against Snowe. Snowe’d likely win even if Conservatives vote for the Dem, just to get rid of RINOs, unless someone like Rosa Scarcelli runs.
They’re on the ballot as Republicans.
Who do you think will run against Snowe in 2012 who is credible enough to beat her in the primary? Who would you like to see?
It’s instructive to see who the screamers were. The screamers are no friend to conservatives. I’m in Maine and I won’t be voting for Snowe in 2012. No more RINOs.
Specter knew he’d lose to Toomey, months or even a year or 2 before the Republican Primary.
Who is the Pat Toomey of Maine, who Snowe is so afraid of that she has to switch parties to avoid?
No conservative would EVER vote for a Democrat. The option is to vote third party conservative, not Democratic.
Conservatives have been told time and time again that “a conservative can’t win in this state [so we the Republican Party leadership block all of them from running].” We were told that about Arlen Specter. But when a conservative finally gets a chance to run, they often CAN win.
The easiest way to settle the argument is to have a clean primary that gives the chance to vote for a conservative. If the RINO won a fair primary, conservative citizens would be much more likely to vote for him. That also would tell us that we are part of the party, instead of tools who are just used to vote for left-wing Republicans.
If a teammate beats me fair & square for the starting job, then I’ll block for him. But if I get cheated out of my chance to even try for the job, then I’m not really part of the team.
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