Posted on 11/24/2002 7:17:52 PM PST by Trueblackman
The Paralyzing Poison of Bi-Partisanship with the Congressional Democrats
In the wake of the most recent midterm election that put Democrats back in the minority in the Senate and lost them seats in the house, Congressional Democrats are once again calling for bi-partisanship between themselves Congressional Republicans and President Bush. Congressional Democrats will now claim that if President Bush wants to change the tone in Washington DC then he should work with them in a bi-partisan effort.
President Bush and Congressional Republicans should reject any talk of bi-partisanship from the Democrats. When Democrats controlled the Senate they bottled up President Bushs Judicial Nominees, the energy bill and 70 other bills that where passed by the Republican Controlled House. The only bi-partisanship that Democrats believe in is that it either their way or the highway and now that they are back in the minority, Republicans need to hand them the map and car keys.
Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle needs to be put on notice that the President and Congressional Republicans have not forgotten that for the 18 months that Democrats had the majority, he set the threshold at 60 votes for any bill, while his band of 42-45 Liberal Democrats secretly worked to derail any bill that President Bush or Congressional Republicans wanted pass.
President Bush and Congressional Republicans should be on the look out for the Trojan horses that Tom Daschle will send out now in the form of Moderate Democrat Senators such as Zell Miller and John Breaux. Tom Daschle will seek to make moderate Democrats the face of the party in the Senate, while doing everything in his power to undermine the President and Congressional Republicans.
President Bush needs to remember that it was some of these same Congressional Democrats that set up his father for defeat when they wanted him to work with them under the banner of bi-partisanship from 1989-1991. Congressional Democrats undermined former President Bush on everything from taxcuts to the economy, but now this President Bush unlike his father has a strong mandate from the American People to govern and set his agenda and should reject any calls of bi-partisanship from Congressional Democrats.
Congressional Republican Leaders in the House and Senate need to remember that this midterm election has granted them the power to move the Presidents Agenda forward without roadblocks from Congressional Democrats and that Republicans need to clamp down and do just that. Expanded numbers in the House and Senate does not mean you cave into the minority party under the threats of a filibuster and skewed polls put together by the press and focus groups, but you do the job that the voters has asked you to do with a expanded majority.
The incoming 108th Congress under Republican Leadership has a duty to ensure that all Americans have the best that they can offer in permanent tax relief, strong national defense, a smaller and more flexibility federal government that is accountable to the American Taxpayer. Republicans need to also remember that they have a duty to ensure that America wins the War on Terrorism. The President and Congressional Republicans should reject any calls for the United State to be beholden to the United Nations in this war to destroy international terrorism and a clear message needs to be send to the United Nations that America is ready to stand alone when it come down to protection of America Lives and our interest.
The President and Congressional Republicans should work with those Congressional Democrats that are indeed interested in what is best for the American People in a bi-partisan way, but should be on the look out for the snakeoil salesmen tactics of those Congressional Democrats who are only interested in regain a majority than doing what is right for the American People as Former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle refused to do for 18 months.
The President and Congressional Republicans when hearing the word bi-partisanship from Liberal Congressional Democrats should remember the old folktale of the Native American and the snake that asked him to carry him across the river that in the end still bit him or better yet remember what they did to President Bush 41.
Don't give the socialists ANYTHING!!!!
Some people could understand that and relate, now they are the party of gays, minorities, enviros, immigrants, and a host of other rag tag victims looking for the proverbial free ride. The working man has been pushed aside to pander to the few and the freaks.
They once stood with america and for it, even though one may have disagreed with how. Now they stand for whatever group of freaks happens to cry the most.
Work with em? Why? They are not working for the common man anymore - they work for the freaks.
Certainly. Whatever is best for the American people should head the agenda of both parties.
But I should think the onus to act in a bi-partisan fashion now falls upon the Democrats.
Let them practice, rather than preach.
Brit Hume asked him which judges...McConnell said ALL of them.
I think this will not be exactly the same old bipartisanship. I think the bipartisanship will be of the order of "Go along with the President or he will campaign in YOUR state, Senator."
Well said.
Tom Daschle will seek to make moderate Democrats the face of the party in the Senate, while doing everything in his power to undermine the President and Congressional Republicans.
I'll take the 15 yards for taunting.
What do you think Bob Dole and the 42 other Senate Republicans did to Clinton in '93 and '94?
That's the beauty and horror of the filibuster.
They can't reject it entirely, as there are some things that require votes from both sides of the aisle -- those "two-thirds" type votes that are, generally speaking, the most important matters. To trample the D's at all opportunities merely makes them unwilling to go along with R's when we want them to do so.
More to the point, if the Republicans followed your advice, the Democrats could -- with justification -- blame the Republicans for ignoring the good of the country for partisan reasons. Sure, the D's do it too, but they have the media on their side.
This discussion really needs to focus on the political nuts and bolts. Where bipartisanship has generally failed the R's is not on the obvious stuff, but on the stuff that is truly partisan: things like making and enforcing rules, exercise of majority power, and ramming things through (or keeping them in) committee.
Republicans -- especially conservatives -- don't like to play smash-mouth politics. They'd rather assume that the Democrats are as interested in fair play as they are.
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