Spineless Senate GOP no match for Kennedy

The Sun Times ^ | 8-28-03 | Robert Novak

[holly101]

A fastidiously crafted bill to authorize foreign aid and other State Department programs has been ready for Senate floor action since July. It has not yet been brought up, and there are no plans to do so when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day. The reason is Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, who as the Senate's liberal lion dominates that nominally Republican-controlled body. Kennedy's power was most dramatically demonstrated during the prescription drug debate when his mere act of setting up an easel with charts, in preparation for a filibuster, impelled Republicans to immediately drop demands for means-testing. He is the strategic and operational force behind the Democratic assault on President Bush's judicial nominations. He is behind incessant browbeating of Bush on education. He pursues a wide-ranging agenda of liberal issues--including hate crimes and minimum wage legislation. The problem with the Senate Republicans is that they seem embarrassed to stand up for their principles, to say hate crimes legislation is political demagoguery and another minimum wage increase is bad economics. That's why they are having such difficulty in the majority, and that's why it seems more like Ted Kennedy's Senate than Bill Frist's.

[pointsal]

Sen. Ed is such a beast.

[Theodore R.]

"Spineless Senate GOP"

How many times! Oh, how many times!

Now without Helms, all but two or three are indeed "spineless."

[jammer]

Are they really spineless or are they silent partners?

[Theodore R.]

Jammer, I guess that they could be compliant. That's what Nixon was. Nixon certainly wasn't spineless; he just privately supported much of the liberal agenda. I always thought that Nixon wanted to be conservative but believed that conservatives were permanently and hopelessly outnumbered and that Republicans could win only with some liberal support while also holding the dissatisfied conservative base. Nixon used to say that the GOP could not win with the conservative base but also could not win without it!

[ambrose]

The problem with the Senate Republicans is that they seem embarrassed to stand up for their principles, to say hate crimes legislation is political demagoguery and another minimum wage increase is bad economics. That's why they are having such difficulty in the majority, and that's why it seems more like Ted Kennedy's Senate than Bill Frist's.

It isn't just the senate GOP. Look at all the Ahnold supporters on the Free Republic! Well, Teddy will become even more powerful once his handpicked puppet becomes governor. What a joke.

[jammer]

I agree with your entire statement--especially the point about supporting much of the liberal agenda. From removing the gold standard to the EPA to the China initiative (probably a good thing), he was at least a "statist," which used to be, at least, the "liberal" agenda. Now it seems to be most everyone's agenda. I think you and I agree: in many cases it is not lack of guts, it is ideological sympathy.

[Orangedog]

Kennedy's power was most dramatically demonstrated during the prescription drug debate when his mere act of setting up an easel with charts, in preparation for a filibuster, impelled Republicans to immediately drop demands for means-testing.

If the Senate GOP had men like Delay, Tancredo, or anyone with a spine, they would have actually MADE old Teddy and the rest of the dems filibuster 24/7.

[Theodore R.]

I think conservatives outside CA would support McClintock without any doubt. They would prefer too that Bustamante become governor to Schwarzenegger. That way they could continue to laugh at and condemn the intellect of the CA electorate. Those who have to live in CA somehow think that Schwarzenegger will "change things." I would imagine that New Yorkers who voted for John V. Lindsay for mayor in 1965 hoped against hope that he too would "change things" too. I wonder why they were surprised when conditions grew much worse under Lindsay.

[ambrose]

Ahnold will only make things worse because he will effectively destroy the opposition to the very policies with loath.

What can you do when it is a Republican governor proposing amnesty for illegals, higher taxes, and more gun control?

[ambrose]

Ahnold will only make things worse because he will effectively destroy the opposition to the very policies we loathe.

What can you do when it is a Republican governor proposing amnesty for illegals, higher taxes, and more gun control?

[kylaka]

No worries about Teddy. He's well on his way toward drinking himself to death. Any day now. And the'll probably let his fat carcass lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda for a few days. He's a regular working class hero you know.

[meenie]

Most of the GOP is happy with a lot of the liberal agenda. Instead of excusing it as spinelessness, accept it as liberal complicity. This clears the cobwebs out of the brain and gives a clearer picture of the actual problem. The majority of the national Republican leadership are more liberal than FDR. This includes our "conservative" President.

Many grassroots Republicans are conservatives but don't realize that their party at the national level is similar to the liberal Democrats in ideology. Big government and excessive regulation is just as popular in national Republican circles. The war party used to be Democrat until after Vietnam. Now it is a Republican policy to be interventionist.

[steplock]

http://WWW.ARKANSAS2004.ORG

WAS a pro-republican elections 2004 site! NOW ...... It looks more like the one I made for the DIMS at
http://WWW.ARKANSAS2004.COM

Hell - Why not have everyone mad at me! :>)

http://www.arkansas2004.us I made for the independents - it's still ok - but I haven't even started on the 'greens' and others yet. May put them on the arkansas2004.net site

[Theodore R.]

Big government and excessive regulation is just as popular in national Republican circles.

How true, but will teh Republican rank-and-file ever figure out that they have been conned?

[Jim Noble]

Spineless Senate GOP no match for Kennedy

The premise of this article is that there are 51 votes in the Senate for conservative policies (I suppose because there are 51 Senators called "Republicans"), and that the reason those policies are not enacted and why legitimate judges cannot be confirmed is because Republicans are "spineless".

This premise is entirely false.

The Senate is dominated by anticonstitutional leftist radicals. The radical majority comprises at least 56 or 57 Senators from both parties.

The reason Frist does not "go nuclear", or "show some backbone", or whatever stupid locution you prefer, is because he doesn't have the votes.

Running things in the Senate is all about having 51 votes. Kennedy-Daschle consistently have 'em, Frist almost never does.

You have to give the Radical Democrats credit-they know what they are doing, they are consistent and cohesive, they have been working on a common theme and common set of ideas since 1974, and they can prevail even when they are in the "minority" because they know that Specter's, Snowe's, Collins', Chaffee's adherence to socialism is much, much more important that silly party labels.

[SAJ]

To answer your Q: yes, and yes.

[Keyes2000mt]

It seems rather that the problem is that Senator Bill Frist has no will to fight.

[votelife]

Why Frist and all won't go 24/7 (Vanity)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/958139/posts?page=1