There’s been lot of chatter today about these rather blunt remarks from Newt Gingrich about the perils of the GOP’s obsession with destroying Obamacare while refusing to offer any meaningful alternative:
“I will bet you, for most of you, you go home in the next two weeks when your members of Congress are home, and you look them in the eye and you say, ‘What is your positive replacement for Obamacare?’ They will have zero answer,” Gingrich said.
Gingrich blamed the problem on Republican culture that rewards obstruction and negativity instead of innovation and “being positive.”
“We are caught up right now in a culture, and you see it every single day, where as long as we are negative and as long as we are vicious and as long as we can tear down our opponent, we don’t have to learn anything,” Gingrich said, acknowledging the “totally candid” nature of his remarks. “We have to do the homework.” “This is a very deep problem,” said Gingrich.
I don’t think this is an accident or an off the cuff remark. It looks to me like there are enough data points out there to suggest that Republicans now recognize that their overall posture on Obamacare — not to mention on the president himself — is deeply problematic, and are seriously grappling with it at the highest levels of the party.
Okay is this a sign that some in the GOP are starting to think reasonably?
Because if that is true there is about to be a HUGE scuffle within the party to grab hold of the reins of power.
Chris Matthews just declared that Rand Paul WILL be the 2016 Republican candidate. But that will ONLY happen if the old guard of the party lose their hold completel , and if that happens it could be great news for the Democrats in the short run but bad news for the country in the long.
Of course it should be remember that Gingrich says off the wall things all the time simply to get attention, so this could simply be more of that. Even though, this time, it does sound pretty reasonable.
Newt is being newt -- any bandwagon. Rand Paul 2016? He's not smart enough to get there. He and Cruz and Lee and their "approach" are going to get crushed 2014 after they play their play out. Totally crushed.
ReplyDeleteNope, I call smoke and mirrors, there is probably an effort afoot to sound reasonable for the 2014 elections, then it'll be back to nonsense as usual post-election. They promised to focus on jobs in 2014, how'd that turn out again?
ReplyDeleteI think you pinned it, Fiferstone. There is no returning to sanity for this party (the GOP).
DeleteI also disagree with Chris Matthews; I predict that Cruz will be the candidate. Cruz is far smarter, much more determined, much more focused, far more scheming (able to look you deep in the eye and make up and state with great conviction whopping lies made up out of whole cloth – something the press does not, and will not, call him on), has a much better tailor, better posture and body language, and better personal grooming, and does not look like Harpo Marx (admittedly, he does look like Joe McCarthy, but few voters today would know that). Cruz is also not an alcoholic, and (unlike Paul) has no skeletons in his closet that are likely to escape.
Nope, I call smoke and mirrors, there is probably an effort afoot to sound reasonable for the 2014 elections, then it'll be back to nonsense as usual post-election. They promised to focus on jobs in 2014, how'd that turn out again?
ReplyDeleteOur Congressman, Dr. Dan Benishek (R-MI), is purportedly a physician who littered his television and radio ads with references to all of his Medicare patients about whom he cares so much. Oh, well, once in office he's just ignored them and all of the rest of the residents of his district. Benishek is a Grover Norquist-Koch Brothers-ALEC-teabagger kind of Republican, the kind who want the government to shut down and stiff us seniors of our Social Security and Medicare benefits. While he continues to get his federal benefits of course . . . .
ReplyDeleteBeaglemom
Newt Gingrich, the guy who has been an asshole since President Obama was elected 'the first time' - is now playing nice & suggesting his party look better prior to the next election cycle? Give me a break!
ReplyDeleteHe knows damned well the Republicans have zero to counter with...they've had all these years to do so and haven't. All they've done is spread anger, hate, racisim and nastiness. He has been one of the worst!
Anyone that would vote for a Republican is nuts! Remember - they are very, very anti women and no woman should place a mark next to any of their names. (Especially in the State of Virginia - anti abortion and proven corrupt as to their existing governor and one of their candidates (Catchanelli ???) who is currently running for governor. Keep the Republicans out of office nationally, statewide and in the cities!
That's CoochieNellie.
DeleteRemember, too, that he was in Boehner's position in 1994 when he shut the government down. Makes me mighty suspicious of any more or less rational thing that he might say.
DeleteBeaglemom
Rand Powell in 2016? Chris Matthews (MSNBC) is nuts! He'd never be able to beat Hillary Clinton in any race. Would be fun to watch though!
ReplyDeleteLet's not forget that during last year's campaign Newt pledged to establish a colony on the moon and when the population reached 13,000 they could apply for statehood. Let that idea rattle around in your brain for a minute. And seriously, 13,000? From what orifice did he pull out that number?
ReplyDeleteThe man is a shameless blowhard who believes he is the Most Interesting Man in the World. Don't buy what he's selling.
A Fan From Chicago
His wife-mistress/wife-mistress/wife(yeahCallista there likely is another mistress, you idiot)
Delete"Okay is this a sign that some in the GOP are starting to think reasonably?"
ReplyDeleteNope,just playacting until after the next election.
Its really odd how suddenly something SANE sounding farts out of one of these rightwingers' mouths, now and then.
ReplyDeleteRemember how coherent John McCain sounded, on issues every six months or so...only to go back to jawdropping idiocy, shortly thereafter?
If only this was an indication that there is some shred of HOPE for such people...but I fear it is simply an aberration of their usual delusional selves.
It's possible he was serious and coherent when he said it. Gingrich isn't running for office, so he doesn't have to suck up to the wingnuts.
ReplyDeleteIf, on the other hand, he started hawking the latest book or DVD from "Callista and I", then he was just BS-ing.
Callista's hand puppet sounds somewhat sane, what gives? He's been flying under the radar, no way will the lemmings go for it.
ReplyDeleteAdam Kinzinger: Defunding Obamacare Will Cost Republicans House Majority (VIDEO)
ReplyDeleteRep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) warned his colleagues Wednesday that shutting down the government over Obamacare might cost Republicans the House majority in 2014.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Illinois chapter of Americans For Prosperity, Kinzinger explained at length why he felt a faction of conservatives in both the House and Senate were wrong to suggest that a continuing resolution -- which would keep the federal government open past Sept. 30 -- should be blocked if it includes funding for the Affordable Care Act.
"Potentially there will be a collapse of will to keep the government shut down because soldiers are not getting paid, and all this other stuff’s happening, and we turn around and lose 10-20 seats in 2014," Kinzinger said. "And whether we win the battle or not, we’ve lost the war because Nancy Pelosi’s speaker of the House."
"This is not a disagreement on defunding Obamacare. This is not a disagreement on whether or not we hate the health care bill," he added. "This is a disagreement on tactics in terms of what is the best way to ensure that in the future we can repeal this law without bringing down the American economy or bringing down the Republican majority in the House."
Kinzinger faced pushback from one attendee, who argued that this was the last chance for Republicans to dismantle the health care law, and that the party was supporting it by "giving it money."
"I totally respect your position on this," the congressman responded. "[But] I don’t think the defunding thing is going to work, and I think we are going to lose the House in 2014, potentially."
But one attendee, who was identified in the YouTube video of the speech as Ted McCarron of the DeKalb County Illinois Tea Party, was unconvinced, prompting Kinzinger to put the political price of a government shutdown into perspective.
"We shut down the federal government ... Soldiers are not getting their paychecks," he said, before pointing out that President Barack Obama would never sign a measure into law that defunds his signature policy achievement. "So what would happen? What happens is we pass it without the funding, the Senate takes it, amends the bill to include the funding, and sends it right back to us and then it's on our doorstep."
"What I'm telling you is going to happen, I fear, is that ultimately at the end of the day, we can hold out -- let's hold out until December," Kinzinger continued. "Now troops haven't been paid for two months, three months. Obama will stand up and say, 'Sorry you're not getting your paycheck.' The public is massively turning against us saying, 'Jesus, it's the law of the land -- now I see why it's not working, because Republicans have been obstinate on this.'"
When the same attendee asked Kinzinger why the president would not be blamed for the shutdown, the congressman shot back, "If Congress has a 13 percent approval rating, do you think we can win that one?"
...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/15/adam-kinzinger-obamacare_n_3762843.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
Is Laura Prepon Leaving 'Orange Is The New Black'? (REPORT)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/14/laura-prepon-leaving-orange-is-the-new-black_n_3757907.html
The Real Reason for the GOP's All-Out War on Obamacare
ReplyDelete...At its core, the Republicans' scorched-earth opposition to Obamacare has never been so much about "freedom" or "limited government" or any other right-wing ideological buzzword as it has been about political power, pure and simple. Now as for the past 20 years, Republicans have feared not that health care reform would fail the American people, but that it would succeed. Along with Social Security and Medicare, successful health care reform would provide the third and final pillar of Americans' social safety net, all brought you by the Democratic Party. To put it another way, the GOP was never really concerned about a "government takeover of health care", "rationing", "the doctor-patient relationship" or mythical "death panels," but that an American public grateful for access to health care could provide Democrats with an enduring majority for years to come...
http://crooksandliars.com/jon-perr/real-reason-for-gops-all-out-war-on-obamacare
The Republican party of Oregon just voted to install Art Robinson as their state chair. Art Robinson is a supposed nuclear physicist who denies global warming. He has advocated dumping nuclear waste into the ocean as a health benefit. If I remember correctly he also advocated using nuclear waste in building your house, also supposedly as a health benefit.
ReplyDeleteHe is a political gadfly who ran against DeFazio last election. The party put him in supposedly because he can raise lots of money for them. They say they have had an abysmal time raising money inside Oregon. They believe he can bring in a lot of money from out of state. Aside from raising money these guys expect Mr. Robinson to find good, electable candidates that fit their agenda. Mr. Robinson, again if I remember correctly, lost his own previous campaigns by wide margins.
The Oregon GOP also put out a stated game plan. That plan is to obstruct our Democratic governor and our still functional, slightly Democratic leaning, legislature from doing anything to fix our fiscal problems. When they succeed, they can then blame the Democrats for doing nothing.
Oregon as been progressive on health care for years. Our current governor is a physician who long ago advocated and instituted health care reforms. Now we are making good progress towards instituting Obama's health care reforms.
My first instinct on hearing of Mr. Robinson's election was to laugh. The second was fear that somehow the public has been so brainwashed they'd listen to someone as crazy as this man.
Newt's been around a long time, and I don't think "right wing wingnut" is his natural schtick. I think he panders to get votes. He's not running for anything (yet!), so he's really got nothing to lose by saying anything that isn't lock-step with the far right.
ReplyDeleteI hope he says more along this line. It can't hurt to keep pointing out how the Republican party is full of people who have no interest in governing, just making sure the President fails.