When it comes to key issues like Iraq, healthcare and taxes, Democratic hopeyness and changitude is bustin’ out all ovah!ÂÂ
House Democratic leaders plan to send the the emergency war funding bill without withdrawal timetables and other controversial provisions. The bill is expected to bypass the Appropriations Committee and go straight to the House floor, to help avoid the difficulties raised by anti-war Democrats. Meanwhile, at TNR, Michael Crowley writes that “when it comes to Iraq, whatever the merits of Obama’s withdrawal plan may be, ‘Yes, We Can’ might ultimately yield to ‘No, we can’t.'”
On healthcare, The Hill reports:
Congressional Democrats are backing away from healthcare reform promises made by their two presidential candidates, saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult.
It is still seven months before Election Day, but already senior Democrats are maneuvering to lower public expectations on the key policy issue.
On taxes, the New York Times opines:
In effect, Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama are saying that they can pay for their promises mainly by raising taxes on the top 3 percent of taxpayers. That’s neither politically nor economically plausible.
Perhaps the candidates are afraid the American people can’t handle the truth about what it would take to meet the nation’s economic challenges. Or perhaps they are underestimating those challenges.
In either case, it’s hardly confidence-inspiring at a time of war and economic crisis.
I am reminded of the recurring 16-year cycle of “change†elections the US has tended to have since WWII:
Once in office, JFK, Carter and Clinton all had difficulty moving their agendas through Democratic Congresses. And they were perceived as weak by our foreign adversaries, with serious consequences for US foreign policy that often outlasted their terms in office.
In Clinton’s case, I am reminded of his broken promise of a middle class tax cut, which most saw as a case of Clinton misleading them, his unserious efforts on terrorism, and the Hillarycare debacle that caused voters to elect a GOP Congress for the first time in decades. Currently, Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick — David Axelrod’s prototype candidate –flounders in his own way.
Some might see a pattern here. For others, hopeyness springs eternal.
– Lets put it this way. The Dems can’t win, even setting aside the guagmire they’ve created in their joke of a primary, if they don’t move back toward the middle, and they know that.
– That is one of the reasons they’re shitting bullets over this drawn out cat fight between H&O. The plan is always to move toward cebter after the nominee is in place, but with the battle raging on, and both camps screeching Marxo/Socialist pander-crap, Congressional Dems will look like Larry, Shep, and Moe every time they try to do the moderate fast shuffle. This means they’re painted into a very fucked up corner on stratedgy.
– McCain seems to be een dumber. Here the Dems do everything they can to hand him the election and already hes starting with the maverick shit. I think someone should remind him hes riding on a “vote no Dems”, rather than “vote yes Reps” situation. The “National health plan” thing may be just so much campaign hot air. But its already got myself and other friends of the Independent bent thinking about changing our vote. To what I have no idea. Maybe we should all just vote for Nadar for all it looks like its going to matter. Fuck…..Just Fuck.
BBH – I second that: Fuck.
I have the audacity to hope that the Dems little fairy-tale world will come crashing down upon them in November.
– Fine JD. I’ll keep that hope right along with you. What makes me nauseous is the very real possibility that McDongalAss will decide hes so freekin popular all of a sudden he should really go all out across the aisle, and switch to full bore RINO. In which event, no matter which way you go, you end up with an open borders/Gov. health plan/tax the crap out of everybody douchebag. Wonderful.
Deval Patrick is a fine object lesson in the reality of hopechangitude. 15 months in, his approval rating is 41% with a dismal 56% approval among blacks and an overall 56% unfavorable rating. This is the guy who campaigned on the motto “Together we can!” But apparently, we can’t, together or otherwise. The royal “we” isn’t terribly interested in hearing the voices of the collective “we”, be it in terms of their overwhelming desire to vote on gay marriage, or when the Guvnah solicits the plebes to weigh in on My Issues and utterly ignores those who made a shared parenting bill #1 with a bullet.
The Emperor is buck naked and the natives are growing restless. And this is in the People’s Republic of Massachusetts.
The other thing here is that the “Me first! No, me! No, both of you, I’m first!” contest for primary dates has turned out to be a very, very bad thing for both parties.
We now get to discover whether “name recognition” a/k/a “no such thing as bad publicity” trumps “God I’m sick of all those b–s, and they want four more years?”
Is there any way to put up a 527 not associated with any political tendency? If we could gather a war chest under the radar, then announce “Goldstein/Burge (or Goldstein/Ochieng, even better) ’08” along about the Fourth of July, I would just about bet it would get the best showing of a third party since about 1920. “Sick of all the other a–s? Vote for us!”
Regards,
Ric
– Well I’ll tell you one thing. If you just stated unequivocally that a basic part of the “Uni-Party” platform is to establish, once and for all the right of America to have sovereignty over her own borders and announce a plan to close and control the borders with any and all measures necessary to stem the uncontrolled tide of illegal aliens,enforce our immigration laws, and make Homeland defense mean something in the WOT, you’d automatically win every border state in sight.
– Hellofvah start.
Ezra Klein called Rockefeller’s office and gets this:
So now they are all applauding (again) programs we can’t pay for.
Nobody made much of this during bittergate, but Obama’s remarks were calculated to keep his three-percenter funders nice and calm. ” Oh, but I *have* to throw tax-the-rich steaks to PA, we all know why, don’t fret, dears.”
Wouldn’t it be great if the hope and change meant de-regulation in a number of industries and a change (simplification) in the tax laws with the hope increased trade in free markets??
Sigh….
…hope of…
Preview is for the faint of heart.
saying that even if their party controls the White House and Congress, sweeping change will be difficult.
I.E. we lied.
Nancy Pelosi has her own brand of changeness or perhaps her alternate reality includes Book of St. Gore.
*I think someone should remind him hes riding on a “vote no Demsâ€Â, rather than “vote yes Reps†situation. *
Yep I agree, but it won’t matter. McCain is above such petty concerns from his party. I’ll pull the lever for him in NOvember b/c he’s better than the alternative but I’ll be holding my nose while I do so.
Nancy also has change you can forget about. Pelosi’s 4/24/06 press release:
Jihn Boehner’s 4/24/08 letter to GOP House candidates
Heh.
Wasn’t their common sense plan a plan to tax the holy hell out of the oil companies until they lowered prices? I think Baracky calls it the “windfall profits penalty”.
When you’re the opposition party you can advocate just about any stupid feel good scheme because you can blame the Republicans for not getting it done. The Dems are starting to believe that they will hold the white house and both houses of congress. Then they will have no one else to blame for their lack of progress. They understand that it’s one thing spout teh crazy to keep the rubes happy and the campaign coffers full, it’s quite another get the blame for destroying the economy with those same policies and thus their own political careers. The responsibility of holding all that power will have the effect of making the Dems start to act a lot more like grown ups, as we are beginning to see now. It will be only a matter of weeks or months before they toss aside their base and try courting moderates.
– Baracky has a new “new” tax plan.
“…..corporations making billions in profits while millions of Americans are falling behind in energy costs and could well face a shutoff of heating over the next few months and I……(pssssst…..BO….pssssstttt…..Wha? what?…..its summer…..the next few months is summer……they’re going to be falling behind in Air conditioning costs….A/C….not heat…..)…..Hmmmm…..yes well millions of Americans are going to be falling behind in energy costs and face a shutoff of Air conditioning and snd my tsx plan would save all Americans $1000 on their heating bills and take no tax for seniors making less than 50 thousand and (ppppsssstttt…..Now what?…..50 thousand is too high….remember…..68 million Americans moving into retirement age…..that will cut almost half of the tax base……..Oh…..well whats the damn number?…….Ummmmm…. make it 20K…..then we’ll be safe…….Ok, ok…..could I get on with this?…….sheeessss)…..and when I’m president, there will be a Phily cheese-steak sandwitvh in every American pot and I will….
Ethanol: FUCK YES!
–*** BREAKING ***
Rueters wire service….4/26/08, Washington DC…”Scientists from the NIH released the much anticipated study pertaining to Hurricane Katrina. The distinguished panel of 100 of America’s top specialists have issued a unanimous finding. A spokesman for the group addressed a news conference this afternoon from NIH headquarters and issued this press release: “After careful and intensive study for over 16 months, the panel finds that Katrina was most likely caused by inclimate weather”.
When you’re the opposition party you can advocate just about any stupid feel good scheme because you can blame the Republicans for not getting it done. The Dems are starting to believe that they will hold the white house and both houses of congress. Then they will have no one else to blame for their lack of progress.
It happened to the Republicans in 94 or whenever. Newt Gingrich was a great hell-raiser and rock thrower, but when he finally got control he was clueless.
*After careful and intensive study for over 16 months, the panel finds that Katrina was most likely caused by inclimate weatherâ€Â.
The inclimate weather, was, of course, created by Karl Rove and his weather controlling device. Rove, of course, was tasked to destroy New Orleans by the world’s dumbest evil genius, GW Bush, because Bush (who is worse than Hitler) “hates black people.”
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the – Web Reconnaissance for 04/25/2008 A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention, updated throughout the day…so check back often.
I dunno. I can a lot shake a stick.
I would so vote for Goldstein/Ochieng.
Or, for that matter, Ochieng/Goldstein.
Hillarycare wasn’t the primary driving force behind the GOP takeover of congress, the Democratic party was arrogantly, blatantly corrupt and abusive of power, and people just got sick of it. Most of the Democratic Party leadership in congress was grossly criminal such as Rostenkowski. There was a series of gross scandals demonstrating just how elite and arrogant they’d become and how little they cared about the American people. In short, they were the worst of what the GOP was accused of by their most bitter enemies and creative conspiratorians in 2006
Like then-Speaker Tom Foley threatening to sue his own constituents to overturn term limits.
[…] hostage to it (as Clinton did). An Obama administration would have to Hope that Congress would Change its […]