Posted on 07/29/2013 2:08:22 PM PDT by Olog-hai
On Friday’s “Special Report,” Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer went against the conventional wisdom of some in the conservative movement by arguing efforts to defund President Barack Obama’s 2010 health care legislation at the expense of shutting down the federal government was “really dumb.”
“Never issue a threat you’re not prepared to in the end honor and deliver on,” Krauthammer said. “And if the Republicans imagine they’re going to either stop the funding of the government or refuse the raising of the debt ceiling, they’re out of their minds. It would be a catastrophe in the end. All the president has to do is wait and they’re going to cave.” …
(Excerpt) Read more at dailycaller.com ...
Well wait a minute. Is CK saying it is dumb because they’ll never do it, or is he saying it is dumb because Obamacare ought to be funded?
There is a difference.
My first reaction is to agree with you. But there are some problems here. I’m having a hard time finding fault with his arguments.
1. Never make a threat you won’t enforce. (The gambit will fail, as GOPe wussies will fold).
2. You can do a lot of things when you only hold the House, but governing is not one of them. (Correct, you can’t ram through legislation or write executive orders with only the House in your corner.)
I notice all the attackers of K are attacking him, not the argument. That is telling also. I don’t need to hear about him, I know all about him. I need to hear why his points above are wrong, specifically. Let’s see if I do.
don’t know the guy from adam, but i’m guessing he’s a libertarian republican.
I cannot believe how weak and cowardly my former political party has become.
/facepalm
The Republcians can't risk shutting down the government because even though everybody who gets up and goes to work every day to support themselves and their families never really notice it when the government is "shut down", the massive Democrat party base of moochers would soon find their snouts hitting the dry bottom of the public trough, and Republicans can't let that happen because then they will never get their votes...
Wait.
What?
Ah Shut up, Chuck, you spineless jellyfish.
Yeah, I went there.
Relying Democrats who voted for McGovern, Carter, Mondale and Dukakis for advice: Really dumb.
Krauthammer will do ANYTHING for Romney ;
even impose RomneyCARE/ObamaCARE for his beloved Willard.
An expert is a has been and a drip under pressure.
The truth of the matter is you hold all the cards if you hold the House. The Dems knew that, and even when Republicans got the Presidency, and even when they got the Senate for a few years in the 80s, everyone knew that the Dems were still in charge of spending. It's why Reagan had to go along with their budgets, and could not get rid of Dept. of Education and Energy. If you control the House, and you have a spine, and are willing to stick to your principles, no one can do anything without your approval. You can bring the government to a grinding halt, and you can withhold money to anyone and everyone, judges, Presidents, states, welfare recipients, islamic enemies in Egypt, everyone. You just have to be able to say NO, and then not care when the Washington Post calls you all kinds of names. We might have 3 or 4 Republicans in DC total who have that kind of gumption. But if the situation were reversed, Dems would do it in a heartbeat, and they do have the gumption, all of them.
I truly am sick of the Republican party. It can't die soon enough.
Republicans are not behind this. Lee and Cruz are. Big difference. They will continue to shock and awe as they take their promise to defend the constitution literally. Things might look strange four a bit and then these gentlemen will begin to appear normal, while the abject weakness of all of Washington will begin to appear as sick as it truly is
So, you think Republicans will shut down the government?
How many times do you have to get hit in the face with a 2X4 before you learn something, no offense?
The tea party guys who were elected to fight Obamacare can fall on their swords if they want, I respect that option for them. But explain how this pipedream of negotiating a defunding of Obamacare in order to raise the debt ceiling takes place, because I can’t see it happening.
We’re talking about the GOPe here, the tiny minority conservatives in the party can’t get anything done. They are a minority of a minority party.
Yes,he's correct to say that.But having worked in US healthcare for 20 years and having done a good deal of research on CanadaCare (which Osama Obama is on record as having as his ultimate goal for the US) I can assure everyone that OsamaObamaCare,if fully implemented,will result in a catastrophe of unimagined proportions.
I left the R party in ‘07, so I agree with you on their needed demise.
“If you control the House, and you have a spine, and are willing to stick to your principles, no one can do anything without your approval. You can bring the government to a grinding halt...”
1. I submit that R’s control the House but DON’T have a spine, so the argument is moot.
2. What you describe above is the proper function of a loyal opposition. What I wrote was “govern”. Those are two differnt things.
But these are quibbles. We agree on outcomes, and are just arguing strategy.
They're more like New Republicans or Free Republicans!
“I can assure everyone that OsamaObamaCare,if fully implemented,will result in a catastrophe of unimagined proportions.”
Interesting. And unfortunate. Most of us only learn things the hard way. Though I think Obamacare falls apart before it can be completely implemented.
Going to be a mess either way. I feel for those working in the industry as well as the consumers of the service.
I don’t disagree with you.The conservatives have a plan to defund it but the demorat light under mcconnel and that drunk boener(?) want that shit.Those people in DC are the enemy of freedom loving Americans.I just don’t care what Krauthammer has to say.
Dr Krauthammer is correct. The GOP will cave faster than the woman in Paradise By The Dashhboard Light.
“We need to come up with a party name for Cruz and Lee...and maybe Rand, to distinguish them from the regular/RINO/Establishment Republicans.”
The dreadful thing about your otherwise fine post is that you can name so few actual people in it. Conservatives are severely under-represented in America, even though our numbers are overestimated in my opinion.
Fair enough.
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