Getting it
Krauthammar gets it. Don’t forget that he’s a psychiatrist, too. Here he was last night, speaking on Obama:
Not sure I agree with him about impeachment, but he makes some good points on that, too. And I agree with just about everything else he said.
David Brat gets it, too. Remember him? He’s the Republican who knocked out Cantor. Brat’s getting ready for DC, and I like his plans:
The responsibility now on the GOP is to execute immediately. To follow the will of the people. To listen to what they just said and to get it right.
The present GOP leadership will need to show their stuff pretty soon. Are they empty suits, beholden to money interests and nothing else, Democrats lite, going along to get along, as many here seem to think? Or are they savvy strategists who will now seize the day to block Obama and move popular conservative initiatives (Keystone, border control, to name just two) forward? Or something in-between?
And will the Democratic leadership be able to keep their troops together, fervently embracing every supposedly nefarious obstructionist tactic the Republicans previously employed and for which the Democrats relentlessly excoriated them?
[ADDENDUM: If you want to know what McConnell and Boehner say are their plans, read this piece of theirs in today’s WSJ. You can Google the title and that should get you past the firewall.
These bills include measures authorizing the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which will mean lower energy costs for families and more jobs for American workers; the Hire More Heroes Act, legislation encouraging employers to hire more of our nation’s veterans; and a proposal to restore the traditional 40-hour definition of full-time employment, removing an arbitrary and destructive government barrier to more hours and better pay created by the Affordable Care Act of 2010…
Our priorities in the 114th Congress will be your priorities. That means addressing head-on many of the most pressing challenges facing the country, including:
Ӣ The insanely complex tax code that is driving American jobs overseas;
Ӣ Health costs that continue to rise under a hopelessly flawed law that Americans have never supported;
Ӣ A savage global terrorist threat that seeks to wage war on every American;
Ӣ An education system that denies choice to parents and denies a good education to too many children;
Ӣ Excessive regulations and frivolous lawsuits that are driving up costs for families and preventing the economy from growing;
Ӣ An antiquated government bureaucracy ill-equipped to serve a citizenry facing 21st-century challenges, from disease control to caring for veterans;
Ӣ A national debt that has Americans stealing from their children and grandchildren, robbing them of benefits that they will never see and leaving them with burdens that will be nearly impossible to repay.
January will bring the opportunity to begin anew. Republicans will return the focus to the issues at the top of your priority list. Your concerns will be our concerns. That’s our pledge.
Kinda general for the most part, which is understandable, since they have to hash the details out among the members of the Republican caucus in the coming Congress. We’ll see.]
Several people have noted that the 1990s “Contract with America” was already decided before the Republican controlled congress sat in January. IMO such prep work would not only be helpful to the new congress but it would also establish some initial credibility with the public (If it were made public knowledge).
As to impeachment, while I think that Krauthammer is theoretically correct, I don’t think it is practically feasible. I would not want the new Republican congress tainted with the smear that all the Republicans want to do is impeach Democrat presidents (and we all know that such allegations would be made and used in the MSM).
The only way around the impeachment question is if votes (to impeach, to convict) were vitually unanimous by both parties in congress. Many Dems looking to run in 2016 might go along with that to distance themselves from Obama, but my opinion is why take that chance.
Related to Ebola and public health, Oklahoma did a survey of all hospitals and found that a significant barrier to proper PPE training was the order backlog of the Tyvek suits, hoods, shoe covers and facemasks.
Yesterday’s update discussed the government request for $6.18 billion for Ebola response. The dollars included procuring PPE for the Strategic National Stockpile.
http://www.ok.gov/health/Organization/Office_of_Communications/News_Releases/Situation_Updates/Surveillance_and_Preparedness_for_Ebola_Virus_Disease/EVD_Situation_Update_No_20.html
To finish that post – for the feds to increase their stockpile of PPE could hurt all those hospitals, city and state governments trying to update their holdings. And they are the first responders.
It could be just like the run on ammo last year, where the government was buying a lot for departments that probably didn’t need all that ammo. It just created shortages, higher prices and lots of concerns about the government’s intents.
Things that no one has ever said:
“I wonder what Krauthammer meant by that.”
Daniel Henninger’s piece in the WSJ about the election — Why the Democrats Lost: Obama proved that six years of low economic growth is a total political loser — advises Republicans to concentrate on just one thing:
That Boehner and McConnell list pretty much indicates that’s just what they’re going to do.
Another excerpt from Henninger:
Take care of the narrative contest.
I am expecting bho to become increasingly belligerent and more blatantly narcissistic.
Gonnabees normally crack up — going straight into the wall.
They are not for turning.
It’s the way they roll.
A quarter century ago I remember reading a very thorough pamphlet published by the Hazeldon Foundation in Minnesota entitled, “King Baby”. Malignant Narcissism plus Infantile Willfulness & Defiance. Mr.Obama fills it to a plu-perfect ‘T’. Dr.Krauthammer, as usual, has it right.
I’m a film guy/So.Californian and have been quietly enjoying the widespread confusion, befuddlement and general fit pitching frustration in the wake of Tuesday’s wipe-a-thon. Loving it.
Range of Light
Your last paragraph is a nice piece of writing. Made me smile.
Neo – he’s absolutely right about impeachment. I keep reading people saying that now that we have the Senate we should impeach Obama and it’s driving me crazy. That would be the *absolute* worst thing the Republicans could do now. What’s the point of impeaching if we can’t convict, and we *can’t* convict. You need a 2/3 vote of the Senate to convict and there’s no way any Democrat will vote to convict, much less 13 of them. It would be an exercise in futility, it would give the MSM the opportunity to paint the Republicans as ‘mean’ and ‘vindictive’ and it would negate all the hard work done by so many people working to take back the Senate. Understand that this election was really about battlespace preparation for 2016; take back the Senate, then start shoveling all the bills Reid has been sitting on onto Obama’s desk and force him to either sign off or veto. He will veto just about everything the Republican Congress sends him which will allow the Republican leadership to paint him, and by extension the Democrats, as obstructionists preventing America from progessing on a variety of fronts (energy, healthcare, economy, etc.). If the Republicans handle this right, by the time 2016 rolls around the Democrat party will be carrying around enough baggage to fill a freight train. Please, PLEASE, don’t push the idea of impeachment – you’d be playing right into the Democrats hands.
Range of Light:
I just posted this comment in an earlier thread. Follow the link. You might find it interesting.
Everyone else is free to check it out too, of course.
Eve: Thank you, Mam.
rickl: Read your comment and the linked article. Enjoyed it. SanFrancisco and LosAngeles would have to be joined by a Koolaid Drinking Aquaduct. (-:
” A savage global terrorist threat that seeks to wage war on every American;”
You are a barking mad fool.
The”terrorist” threat is entirely a creation of the totalitarian state.
BJ,
Give ourself one and go full bore. Please do not report the results.
Bill Jones Says:
November 6th, 2014 at 11:07 pm
You seem to be unfamiliar with the nearly 1400-year history of Islam.
Here’s a clue: ISIS is normal.
I agree with Krauthammer that impeachment would be a mistake and paint Republicans as vindictive, mean and ultimately shallow. Of course, you can throw in “racist” since the Dems will rely on that to stir up feeling as well, dumb as it is. We have too much to do any way and it will take up ALL the energy and time and media attention. We need to make positive changes and correct as much of what we can, and I agree that the list above, general as it is, is a good start and it is a LOT of work.
We need to also block amnesty any way we can. I find it so interesting that Obama goes to amnesty right away, right out of the block, and it makes me know that what many conservatives thought about amnesty is absolutely correct — it is a way to bring in more Democrat voters and change the landscape for a generation or more. Obama now knows that beneath the surface that appeared to be bucolic, right in his corner — there are many who disagree with his fundamental beliefs.
So many on the left now are in shock still and disbelief at the sheer largeness of this win. I am also shocked to be honest, I had thought maybe we had lost the war — but maybe we had just lost a few battles. Americans have freedom in our blood nearly and we expect more — we know we can do better. I think a lot of people are angry as hell at Obama and his minions in Congress and that’s what we saw. Not just energized Republicans but Democrats who crossed over and of course, Dems that stayed home and independents who voted with the GOP. It really was a tsunami. I am really jubilant but we do have a lot to do.
I think you and Krauthammer are right that Obama likes the focus on HIM, since he is about himself. We are surely in for a rough ride, but I hope we can get through this into a much better place.
If impeachment is off the table, then how do we get rid of this Communist dictator?
That’s a rhetorical question. My (rather obvious) suggestion would get me banned.
I ask again: Where is our Pinochet?
Bill J: “Terrorist” in quotes?? 13-years since 9/11 and they’re an invention of “totalitarians”?! Yikes..I thought interplanetary travel had been shut down by Obam-Bam.
“Or are they savvy strategists who will now seize the day to block Obama and move popular conservative initiatives (Keystone, border control, to name just two) forward?”
The Pubbies need to adopt the Obama strategy of rapid-fire introduction of new initiatives. They should put forward a new initiative every week (or two weeks at most). This is what Obama did from the very start. By the time that the MSM can even get a handle on its objections, a new initiative will raise its ugly head and the old will be forgotten. The Pubbies must get inside the Dimms OODA loop!!! Barry will be on TV EVERY DAY trying to stay ahead of this. LOL.