• Twitter
  • Facebook
News-Sentinel.com Your Town. Your Voice.
Opening Arguments

Playtime

We ran a George Will column today that mentioned one possible positive outcome from the health care debacle:

During the Democrats' health care monomania, the nation benefited from the benign neglect of the rest of their agenda. Now the nation may benefit from the exhaustion of their appetite for more political risk.

Sure, maybe President Obama will now remember his pledge to focus like a laser on the nation's real problem of unemployment. But never underestimate the ambitions of someone who wants to be a "transformative" president:

President Obama's top aides huddled yesterday with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Democratic committee leaders to map out a strategy for cobbling together 60 votes on a comprehensive energy and climate change bill once lawmakers return next month from their spring break.

The hour-long meeting in Reid's office included White House legislative affairs director Phil Schiliro and Obama's energy and climate adviser, Carol Browner. According to a Senate Democratic leadership aide, the Obama officials pledged to work with the committee leaders once Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) release their bill next month.

Daniel Henninger in the Wall Street Journal sums up what is becoming obvious to almost everybody but Lindsey Graham: We are finally achieving real definition, with the Democrats now being "the party of the state" and Republican now finding themselves, "by default more than design" the "party of the private economy."

The GOP is being counseled to abandon its morning-after impulse to “repeal the bill.” Why do that? This is the first honest emotion the party has had in years. Yes, technical repeal isn't remotely possible until after 2012. But “Repeal!” is a terrific bumper sticker and campaign slogan for our times. Repeal! ObamaCare is just a start. Can't repeal the bill yet? Drive people to November's polls to repeal the Democratic Party and what it has turned into.

Every time we let the kids play house, they almost wreck the place, and the adults have to come in and clean up the mess. One of these times, there won't be enough left to fix.

Comments

Kevin Knuth
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 12:26pm

Republicans are getting tired of "just say no"

littlejohn
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 3:03pm

Speaking of cleaning up someone else's mess, what do you think Obama has been up to for the last year?
Do you defend Bush Jr.'s war in Iraq? His torture? His warrantless wiretaps? Gitmo? His record-breaking deficit?
Are you capable of being nonpartisan for just the ten seconds it would take you to admit that Dubya was a disaster and he left Obama with a hell of a mess to clean up?
I didn't think so.

tim zank
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 6:01pm

The "repeal it" mantra is a winner. It's a perfect platform because everyday, something else "pops" up in those 2700 pages that either costs more money, costs more jobs, raises taxes, or limits choices. It's perfect. The new socialist reform bill and agenda is chock full of stuff that'll make real democrats freak the hell out.

Example, just found out today how my HSA is gonna become a thing of the past. Thanks Barry!

Kevin, Repubs are not getting tired of saying "no" at all. Don't believe the ramblings of Lindsey "I'm really a democrat" Graham. We have had no use for him for quite some time.

Littlejohn, keep chummin' the waters, somebody may bite.

Lewis Allen
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 7:49pm

We Democrats are used to cleaning up republican messes. It's become the norm.

tim zank
Thu, 03/25/2010 - 8:22pm

Lewis, if driving the country into economic ruin is your attempt at "cleaning up the mess" would ya please just stop?

Regardless what anyone thinks of previous administrations and their "messes" (they all have them) this administration is launching full steam ahead in uncharted socialist territory on brand new bullsh%t, not some previous administrations "mess'.

He (Obamao) owns it now, and so do you dems. Enjoy it while you can it will be over soon.

littlejohn
Fri, 03/26/2010 - 10:20am

Tim,
I respect your views, and I keep hearing the "he won't be re-elected thing a lot lately."
Well, maybe he won't - but who are you going to run against him who would have a chance?
The Dems have their problems, but in my honest opinion, the biggest threat to an Obama re-election would be a primary challenge from Hillary Clinton.
What Republican, if any, did you have in mind? The GOP seems split right now, which is kind of a shame.
I enjoy a tough campaign, even when my guy loses.

tim zank
Fri, 03/26/2010 - 2:40pm

With all due respect, the republican candidate for 2012 will not matter. Much like the last election, it'll be an "Anybody but" election.

Teh One didn't announce his candidacy until February of 2007 for the 2008 election, so it's a fuzz early for any of us to "pick" a candidate, especially considering the only reason you want me throw out a name is so you can "filet" them anyway. Plenty of time for that.

Suffice to say Barry has beaten himself in 2012, Mickey Mouse would get more votes after this little "Adventures in Socialist Government' experiment ends.

tim zank
Fri, 03/26/2010 - 3:51pm

As I noted above about something "popping up" every day from the unread bill...

AT&T has to take a 1 billion charge to offset the tax ramifications of this new 2700 page behemoth...

That'll be good for jobs...

Hope N Change baby!

Kevin Knuth
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 7:05am

Tim- what caused those tax ramifications? oh, yeah, I remember- they now have to pay taxes on GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES. Get it? You and I are paying TAX DOLLARS to them.

I thought you wanted a "free market"? OR do you really want the federal government subsidizing these companies??

tim zank
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 8:31am

Kevin, I'm not going to spend hours examining the minutae of the existing tax credit policy as it's a fricked up convoluted mess in and of itself, but most importantly it is now a "moot" point.
The fact is, current legislation is going to increase costs immeasurably at scads of companies like AT &T, Cat, John Deere, etc which will in turn cost thousand of jobs.

All partisan politics aside (briefly) this is precisely why 2700 pages of laws should NOT be rammed through without EVERYBODY knowing the consequences. Matters not what party you lean towards, this is just plain frickin stooopid by any stretch of the imagination.

Unless of course the ultimate goal is to destroy the economy.

Kevin Knuth
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 8:36am

I know you don't want to examine WHY something is happening- that would require you knowing facts.

If you want a free market, great. Then you should be supporting HCR. Otherwise, you DO NOT believe in a free market system- but rather, you believe the government should subsidize business.

tim zank
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 9:01am

Nice try. You advocate ripping off the corporate subsidy bandaid causing massive bleeding, and shifting it to the general public (the working stiffs) that you claim to want to "protect".

I especially like your line "If you want a free market, great. Then you should be supporting HCR."

Yeah, it's got "free market" written all over it.

How do you sleep at night?

Kevin Knuth
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 10:45am

I sleep much better KNOWING that 30 MILLION Americans just got access to the same health care I have.

tim zank
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 12:47pm

At the immeasurable cost of liberty and freedom (not to mention billions of dollars) to the other 270 million Americans.

May God have mercy on your socialist souls.

Kevin Knuth
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 3:06pm

Thanks Tim!

It really perplexes me how anybody that calls themself a "Christian", can sleep at night knowing that MILLIONS of Americans can not get the same access to health care...I have looked, but can not find in my bible where it says that is okay.....

Oh, and you should read this for the TRUTH about those taxes- those corporations are CHOOSING to take a one time hit- they could expense it over YEARS if they wanted to.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/03/dems-scrutinize-business-gop-claims-that-health-care-will-cost-corporations-millions.php?ref=fpb

See- there is more to the story- you just don't want to hear about it!

tim zank
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 5:50pm

Kevin, "It" really shouldn't perplex you at all unless you are a real simpleton. Millions of people die in car accidents every year too, I can't do much about that either. Try praying for them. That's far more "Christian" than confiscating hard earned money from Bill to pay for Mary's dentures.

Have you looked in your Bible to see where it says it's ok to charge me for someone elses stuff?

As for AT&T, it matters not how you want to account for it, it's real money. Last year Uncle Sam says "do it this way" this year they pull out the rug and change all the rules. It's gonna cost a lot of people in a lot of companies a lot of jobs and you know it.

Bottom line is, we subscribe to two entirely different ways of life. You and your socialist pals are happy (for now) to let the government control every aspect of your life from cradle to grave. Me and my independent minded pals like to do things for ourselves. We find a certain sense of accomplishment in eating non-government cheese and working at a non-government job.

I know to you it all sounds like Unicorns & Licorice right now, but the funny thing is, even you will grow tired of our new socialist overlords in time. You'll put up with damn near all of it until they start clamping your ability to speak as freely as you do now. That's what'll finally wake you up, when you can't rant and rave, and that's on the list, pal. Count on it.

Andrew J.
Mon, 03/29/2010 - 9:04pm

Hey, just wondering. Tim, If you lived in an earlier era, would you also rail against socialism in the guise of a public school system? Would praying be "far more Christian than confiscating hard earned money from Bill to pay for Mary

Kevin Knuth
Tue, 03/30/2010 - 6:19am

Tim- I am not a socialist. Time for you to grow up- make sound arguments and quit calling people names!

tim zank
Tue, 03/30/2010 - 7:37am

Kevin you might as well just embrace it , read any dictionary definition. If you are going to fight for government control of everything under the guise of being "progressive" you should at least have the intellectual honesty to admit what it is.

Sorry, maybe you didn't plan it this way, and you jumped on a bandwagon you now regret, but it is what it is, and you are a proponent of a socialist agenda by any definition.

tim zank
Tue, 03/30/2010 - 7:49am

Andrew, to answer your 1st question, absolutely.

As for your theory on Rome, Had they only take better care of their poor everything else would have been just ducky, eh?

Quantcast