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Washington Prowler
Boehner’s Rival
Eric Cantor wants more. Plus: Obama’s $50 get-out-the-vote-billion.
CANTOR WON’T
Public Policy Polling might be a Democratic-centric firm, but that
doesn’t mean that Republicans can’t use the data for their own
interests. That’s why staffers and outside supporters for Reps.
Eric Cantor and Kevin McCarthy,
who have a new book coming out shortly that criticizes past and
current GOP leadership, were over the Labor Day holiday weekend
sharing PPP’s Ohio poll, which showed that only 28% of
John Boehner’s home-state voters
supported a promotion for him to Speaker of the House should the
GOP win a majority later this year.
“Change doesn’t have to be limited to tossing out the Democrats,” said one Cantor supporter who called to push the poll numbers.
“Six months ago, as the tide really started to shift for Democrats in the House, you sensed that Cantor was happy just to ride along and become majority leader,” says a House Republican leadership aide. “But as the months have passed, you’ve sensed that maybe he thinks he’s ready for the big job.”
Cantor and McCarthy, who serves as Cantor’s deputy whip, have recruited a strong class of conservative and electable candidates for the 2010 cycle, and deserve credit for it, says the leadership aide. That group, which may number as many as 45 or perhaps even more depending on voter sentiment in two months, might serve as the core group to push a Cantor for Speaker campaign.
STIMULUS DESPERATION
Wall Street investment analysts and economists were scratching
their heads yesterday over the Obama Administration’s
announced new plan for what
it called a “front loaded” $50 billion stimulus that would focus on
U.S. infrastructure. The White House claimed the billions — which
could exceed more than $100 billion in new deficit spending —
would be spent to rebuild or repair 150,000 miles of roads,
railways, 150 miles of airport runways, and to purchase a new
air-traffic control system.
“I thought that that was what the trillion dollar stimulus funding was supposed to do back in 2009,” said an economist working for Citibank. “If they are looking for a name for this one, I’d suggest ‘Obama’s Last Gasp to Keep Labor Voting Democratic in November.’”
Indeed, according to White House aides and staffers at the Departments of Transportation and Labor familiar with the conversations, a great deal of the funding would end up in the pockets of firms that use organized labor. “I wouldn’t say it’s a majority necessarily, but if the plan works the way we hope it will, new jobs would be created and many of those jobs would be union jobs.”
A White House source says that leading up to the Labor Day holiday announcement, the administration held extensive talks with the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), which had spent millions this spring on pushing a new highway-construction bill, as well as several railroad unions, including the Teamsters-backed Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employees, which represents railroad construction workers, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, and the Sheet Metal Workers International Association , among others. Also advising the White House on the plan: the National Air Traffic Controllers Association (NATCA), which has been pushing for the new air-traffic system for years.
“This is essentially the same approach the Obama Administration used in the $800-plus billion stimulus plan that hasn’t worked,” says a New York-based Goldman Sachs analyst for sectors of the transportation industry. “‘Front-loaded’ is just another way of saying ‘shovel ready.’ I wonder how many reporters are going to bother to ask the White House how much of the previous hundreds of billions that were appropriated for stimulus haven’t been spent.”
Reports on unspent stimulus funds have varied, in part because so much of that funding was budgeted for release in 2011 and 2012. “The Obama Administration is essentially asking taxpayers to front them another $50 billion to fund projects today that the government budgeted for a year or two from now,” says the Goldman analyst.
In providing background briefings to reporters on Saturday and Sunday, White House staff insisted that the $50 billion proposal was not a “stimulus plan,” but a “jobs bill.” But Wall Street analysts said that if the White House were serious about creating jobs, there were other proposals sitting on Capitol Hill that would do a better job.
On Monday, the White House also announced a proposal that would allow businesses to deduct 100 percent of investments in new equipment and plant facilities in the first year, the first truly pro-business, private sector growth initiative the White House has proposed. But Wall Street economists point out that a similar so-called “bonus depreciation” proposal — albeit allowing the write-offs over a longer period of time — has been stuck on Capitol Hill for months, blocked by Democrats.
“This is a good idea, but no one should give the Obama credit for coming up with it,” says the Goldman analyst. “Businesses were able to do this in the Bush Administration, and the tax law was expiring. Business has been trying to get bonus depreciation extended for months and the Obama Administration essentially ignored them.”
Letter to the Editor View all comments (78) | Leave a comment
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Ret. Marine| 9.7.10 @ 6:26AM
Can we all say "suck-ups" in one everlasting word. This is yet another way to bamboozle the idiots out there and their handlers, the union bosses. Way to go there bama, you're a real POS and now everyone knows it. SO fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.
Hey u-all ya think this pretender-n-theif has pulled the wool over the blind already? Geeez what a peice of work this cat is. I am beginning to think he's really the idiot everyone makes him to be.
Stephanie| 9.7.10 @ 7:10AM
Did you see the sheeple behind the ONE, heads bobbing, up and down, up and down......what fools.
Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 9.7.10 @ 8:26AM
Stephanie: Yeah, I saw them, especially the cute young lady to the Presidents left. She looked like she was completely in love with him. I watched her more, than I watched the President during the entire speech, she was completely fascinating. I was as interested in her, as she was with the President. Now about his speech, there was nothing new there, just the same old, same old, spend more money we don't have, let the future be damned!!
Stephanie| 9.7.10 @ 11:39AM
Smitten she was!
Clinton nee Publius | 9.7.10 @ 4:26PM
It was more than creepy. These are the co-conspirators in the caper. They voted for Obama to get their cut of the wealth that is being redistributed by the ruling-class.
We'll get it back. November 2nd is the first step. Getting rid of Bonehead and Ronald McDonald McConnell are just the first steps. We need to wipe up all the mess and that starts with cleaning our own house and then mercilessly destroying the liberal one.
Quartermaster| 9.9.10 @ 7:47PM
The truly bad thing is that Obama was able to fool anyone, at anytime. The man was obviously a shyster from the get go. To be fooled by him you had to intentionally turn your "knower" off to vote for him. The left has had theirs turned off from birth, so what's the excuse of the rest?
If the GOP leadership remains the same, then we are wasting our time. Boehner has to go, and so does that squish Bozo McConnell (with deep apologies to Larry Harmon who was an honest clown). Both have been very sorry, as have much of the GOP Senate leadership that has given us support of clowns like Crist.
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 8:39PM
And he actually had the morons in Milwaukee chanting "Yes We Can! Yes We Can!" I seriously think this fraud is related to the terrorists doing dry-runs on the airplanes. He is doing dry-runs with us idiots to see how much crap he can get away with.
Alan Brooks| 9.7.10 @ 11:15PM
We'll see. In '94 Clinton had been been consigned by the GOP to the dustbin of history, but then he... had a second wind, one might say.
At any rate, I don't dislike the South. Reading about, and looking at photos of the South is pleasant-- but just as you wouldn't want to live on the left coast, say in Frisco, I choose not to live in the South.
Freedom of choice.
Here is another example: it was a preference for runaway slaves in the antebellum period to live in the North, where conditions were more progressive-- in the political sense of 'progressive'.
To Each His Own.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 6:53AM
Republicans definitely should replace Boehner. According to a Washington Post article this weekend, Boehner, if elected Speaker, will change the rules so that Democrats + RINOs can pass legislation, even if Republicans are a majority. That is different from the previous Republican Speaker, Dennis Hastert, who had a "majority of the majority" rule that only legislation that a majority of the Republicans approved of could be voted on.
The Post wrote: The episode might suggest that Boehner is a bit less rigidly partisan than some of his fellow GOP leaders. Most House Republicans opposed the bailout bill that he backed.
Hastert, as speaker, had a "majority of the majority" rule. He would not push major legislation unless most of his GOP caucus supported it, rendering the Democratic minority almost superfluous.
Boehner says he would want to "make sure our team is supportive" of big bills, but he stopped short of embracing Hastert's rule. "All members should have a role in the legislative process," Boehner said.
Redstateboy| 9.7.10 @ 10:02AM
I have mixed emotions about Boehner.. He kind'a stood in the gap against the full blast of Nazi Pelosi and made her look stupid.. but then is making Pelosi look stupid difficult? So in one respect I sort of think he deserves to be paid with the Gavel but on the other hand... We Can Not Afford Business as Usual Anymore.. and Cantor would kick some serious Lib-Dem Booty
BackToBasics| 9.7.10 @ 3:42PM
I think that if Boehner gets the speakership, the vote for a more conservative House will be mostly wasted. I don't think he will try to roll back the tide. I think it'll be Democrat-lite all over again.
Kishego| 9.7.10 @ 3:47PM
Boehner needs to go. This "partisan tone" has all of the same stink to it that we got with Trent Lott as majority leader in the senate, and his power sharing deal with the democrats. If Boehner is elected Speaker of The House, kiss 2012 goodbye.
Donald Ward| 9.8.10 @ 3:01PM
Cantor wouldn;t be all that much of an improvement either as he's backed some of the Marxixt schemes. My choices as Speaker and Majority Leader would be Mike Pence and Paul Ryan, in that order.
Donald Ward| 9.8.10 @ 3:08PM
PROOFREAD BEFORE SUBMITTING!
Cantor wouldn't be all that much of an improvement either as he's backed some of the Marxist schemes. My choices as Speaker and Majority Leader would be Mike Pence and Paul Ryan, in that order.
David| 9.9.10 @ 1:05PM
So with all of your concern about bipartisanship is it safe to assume that you support despotism as long as it is a tyranny of folks that you support?
This country was founded on the notion that people of differing beliefs can work together to rule themselves without resorting to despotism. It is very easy for each side to blame the other for the breakdown of civility in politics. If we don't all work to change this I fear that democracy in the USA is doomed.
95% of Americans agree on 95% of the issues. That area of agreement lies somewhere between the two parties, otherwise the elections wouldn't be as close as they have been for the last 20 years. The argument that all of the folks who disagree with you are just stupid is childish & ignorant. What are each of us going to do to demonstrate that we actually have the maturity to govern ourselves?
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 6:57AM
Every morning it is the same thing. A conservative wakes up to the old one-two punch. First comes the left hook from Obama's crew. Then comes the right (double) cross from the Republican RINO leadership.
Ken (Old Texican)| 9.7.10 @ 7:20AM
I'm coining a new acronym: "GaGa"
Get along Go along Republicans.
Melvin| 9.7.10 @ 7:27AM
Mr. Spray-Tan needs a little relief from the bronzer.
"John Boehner, you have had your time in the Sun and failed the American people miserably.
We don't need you to have more power, we needed leadership some time ago, and you didn't step up to the plate, but rather kowtowed to the Democratic leadership and they're, "Big Bills."
This Country doesn't need a, "Big Bill thinker," we need a Conservative leader willing to stand up for Conservative Principles and not be shy about it.
coal carrier| 9.7.10 @ 8:26AM
Amen, Melvin.
Joe Oliva| 9.7.10 @ 12:52PM
Here's anothe amen to that
JUJU| 9.7.10 @ 3:14PM
Here's a third conservative that agrees....send those RINOs back to their liberal cronies .....
Louis Jenkins| 9.7.10 @ 7:55AM
"would be spent to rebuild or repair 150,000 miles of roads, railways, 150 miles of airport runways, and to purchase a new air-traffic control system.
"I thought that that was what the trillion dollar stimulus funding was supposed to do back in 2009..."
Excuse me, but haven't we done this already? Were's the meat? Or is this another affirmation of the already voted for stimulus? It's only money, and the Obumer administration has become very good at spending it. Money we don't have, will never have, and can't have. Not only will our grandchildren have to anity up, but so will our great-grandchildren. Enough! Stop it! Out with Boehner, he only goes along to get along.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 8:17AM
Exactly. This is Stimulus II, Son of Stimulus.
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 8:52PM
If stim 1 saved 3 mil. jobs, then Stim 2 will save 6 mil. jobs. Had we spent the entire stimulus 1 we would have saved 12 million jobs. Yippee. Yes we can Yes we can Yes we will Yes we will We are all morons and we will do what you tell us mr. messiah Yes we will yes we will more stimulus more stimulus more stimulus yes yes yes we we we will will will save more jobs more jobs more jobs more jobs more jobs hope change hope change hope change fundamental change fundamental change radical change radical change you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar we are all useless idiots we are all useless idiots we are all useless idiots heil barack heil barack heil barack yes we can yes we can...
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 8:53PM
If stim 1 saved 3 mil. jobs, then Stim 2 will save 6 mil. jobs. Had we spent the entire stimulus 1 we would have saved 12 million jobs. Yippee. Yes we can Yes we can Yes we will Yes we will We are all morons and we will do what you tell us mr. messiah Yes we will yes we will more stimulus more stimulus more stimulus yes yes yes we we we will will will save more jobs more jobs more jobs more jobs more jobs hope change hope change hope change fundamental change fundamental change radical change radical change you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar you are the czar we are all useless idiots we are all useless idiots we are all useless idiots heil barack heil barack heil barack yes we can yes we can...
RustyG| 9.7.10 @ 7:55AM
Is this really our only two choice? Any time I hear them speak I hear the voice and body language of career politicians.......and Cantor with a Cheshire Cat grin.
When I hear Paul Ryan speak I hear some dude sitting across the kitchen table from me. Albeit a much smarter dude than me, but still with an every man demeanor.
The American people will be watching the next GOP leadership closer than any before it. Crucial choices approach.
Doctor Right| 9.7.10 @ 8:18AM
It's time for Boehner, et al, to step aside.
The mere fact that Cantor's book criticizes past and CURRENT G.O.P. leadership means he has the balls not only to take on the Democrats, but also the ossified slugs in his own Party.
The best test of G.O.P. leadership is how much the Democrats and the left-wing media hate them.
They'll hate Cantor. So he's our man.
ds80| 9.7.10 @ 9:23AM
I'm pretty sure "ossified slug" is not possible, but somehow that turn of the words seems to fit.
Time to toss a bit of salt, come November.
Doctor Right| 9.7.10 @ 10:45AM
I dunno. I've seen petrified jellyfish, before.
Perhaps that's a BETTER term for the RINO leadership?
"Petrified Jellyfish"?
They're spineless, and they're scared.
Staunch New Yorker| 9.7.10 @ 8:29AM
I say get rid of Boehner I just don't trust the guy. I have not seen him really stand up to the Democrats and Cantor has. I vote Cantor, Boehner is just one if the Washington Establishment who plays both sides of the coin for himself.
NavyBrat | 9.7.10 @ 8:51AM
I've like Cantor for quite some time. The man's got the verbal acidity & good ideas that conservative Repubs will need as traits for leaders in the future. He doesn't strike me as someone who will just lay down & let people (the Dems or the press) walk all over him.
DVG93| 9.7.10 @ 9:15AM
This Tea Party needs to keep rolling well past November. A Tea Party caucus is a good thing.
Being correct is not enough. We need to weed out the crap on both sides.
Someone needs to investigate Soros. That slime ball has had it easy way too long.
Chalkdust| 9.7.10 @ 1:32PM
Exactly my thoughts DVG93. Lets carry the fight to the demoncrats and their benefactors well beyond 2012.
A list of TEA Party-backed Republican congressional candidates having problems would be helpful.
Sheila| 9.7.10 @ 9:38AM
Yes, Boehner needs to go, but Cantor is not the one to replace him. He may be marginally more conservative, but the chief difference is Cantor's massive ambition (yes, notable even among his fellow politicians). While specifics escape me at the moment, I have called his office a number of times in a futile high dudgeon after Cantor criticized a Republican actually standing up and obstructing, even temporarily, the Democratic steam roller. Cantor's ego and ambition and essentially establishment nature will lead him to scheme and cooperate with Democrats if it will help him personally, and conservative principles be damned. As usual, the stupid party gives us a choice of bad and worse, and I'm not one to tolerate or encourage that. Decline and fall.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 9:58AM
That's the sad thing, that there are no 1994 Newt Gingrich Republicans. Instead we have a bunch of Bob Michel types. Tens of millions of conservative votes just looking for a leader, but no one wants them.
R Martin| 9.7.10 @ 12:34PM
Careful here. Gingerich started strong and looked promising but, in the end, he was a dreadful failure as Speaker. His own members conspired to remove him, and he became so unpopular he resigned from the House. Gingerich is clearly a bright, strategic thinker, but his leadership abilities were ordinary at best and, worse, he exhibited the politician's genetic predisposition to self promotion and thirst for power. Boehner is much like Gingerich without the intellectual horsepower.
aware| 9.7.10 @ 5:34PM
More true than many here will admit. Gingrich and Boehner should BOTH disappear. We've heard their big talk and seen their small walk.
BackToBasics| 9.7.10 @ 8:04PM
I think Gingrich is smart but I also think he over-thinks problems and loses the straight direction for conservative values as a result. Eventually he thinks about a problem so much, i.e. seeing all sides and all arguments, that he begins to accomodate some of the "arguments" of the left. So, he did strike a pragmatic deal too often.
His 10-point contract with America was precisely the opposite; clear, concise and conservative. But once he became leader he lost much of his way.
But yes, Boehner has neither the straight-path thinking nor the intellect.
Yet ALL RINOs seem to have one big flaw in common. For some reason, even though they can be 40-90 years old, they still want to be Accepted and Loved by the left.
I've said it before here and I'll probably say it again. Get over it RINOs. You do not NEED the left's acceptance and approbation. And you need even less, their "LOVE."
Anthony| 9.7.10 @ 9:39AM
Don't worry, if the hapless Rs do manage to take over both houses of Congress, and the current R leadership remains in place, Pelosi and the detestable Chuck Schumer, will immediately hold a press conference demanding co- chairmanship on all committees and respect for the minority.
They will be supported in their presser by a least a dozen Rs from both the house and senate, anxious to please, once again. Please don't say bad things about us!!! Please!!!!.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 10:05AM
And the Republican leadership has recruited so many RINO candidates that even if Republicans win a 10 seat majority, Obama might end up with a WORKING majority. That's the Republican leadership's way of deliberately losing while pretending to win: they get a bunch of RINOs elected, then once they are hopelessly outnumbered made a futile goal line stand. Then once Democrats pass their bill, the Republican leadership says "But we fought so hard during the final week."
BackToBasics| 9.7.10 @ 3:48PM
Yes, and on top of that the Republicans will then get ALL the blame for the bad economy. Thus giving Obam another 4 and whitling down the Republican "majority" in 2012 also in the House and losing a few seats in the Senate as well. I think that if the Repubs only get the House, they will still get ALL the blame for the bad economy.
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 9:05PM
And Bama knows we are idiots and will play us for suckers, like allowing the repubs to win in '10 , then the bush tax cuts expire, the economy flounders even more, and he will blame it all on the repubs, then sail into office in '12 for second term.
Kingfish | 9.7.10 @ 9:54AM
Boehner is not a bad guy or bad Republican. He's not a RINO. He is just not a leader. He needs someone over him issuing orders. He's not someone that should be cast to the side and completely forgotten.
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 9:07PM
He is a lightweight. Like Hestert and Delay. In Animal House lingo, they are all "worthless and weak--now drop and give me twenty!!"
335blues| 9.7.10 @ 10:18AM
Cantor has been a leading force for conservative change. He and the other new GOP lions have been leading the country away from obama's marxism when leadership on the GOP side was lacking. There is no reason for old world bush-style republican progressives (boehner, mcconnell) to assume they might be in charge as a reward for essentially doing nothing.
Redstateboy| 9.7.10 @ 10:34AM
"I thought that that was what the trillion dollar stimulus funding was supposed to do back in 2009," said an economist working for Citibank. "If they are looking for a name for this one, I'd suggest 'Obama's Last Gasp to Keep Labor Voting Democratic in November.'"
Bingo!!
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 10:40AM
Speaking of Republican establishment, Lindsey Graham opposes Reagan conservatism and the Tea Party. Graham said:
“The problem with the Tea Party, I think it's just unsustainable because they can never come up with a coherent vision for governing the country,” he told the New York Times. “We don't have a lot of Reagan-type leaders in our party. Remember Ronald Reagan Democrats? I want a Republican that can attract Democrats. Ronald Reagan would have a hard time getting elected as a Republican today.”
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 10:42AM
What Graham doesn't say is that there are no moderate Democrats any more, like the old-time Southern Democrats of Reagan's era. They have either become Republican (like Senator Shelby) or retired.
Stammon| 9.7.10 @ 10:46AM
Been there, done that, got the T shirt. Why the heck is this 50 billion different than the last 800 billion?
Oh I know! It's election time and they gotta buy votes!
What ever happened to the 300 billion income tax relief idea? Now that would get things moving.
Brooke| 9.7.10 @ 10:49AM
All I know is this; Boehner and Cantor are not real men.
Not like Todd Palin, THE FIRST DUDE!
A real Alpha Man!
Big, strong, sled racing Alpha Man!
PALIN 2012!
GOT IT!
Losers!
canuckistani| 9.7.10 @ 4:16PM
You mean the separatist First Dude that worked for foreign oil for most of his adult life? This guy or someone else wrapped in BS hatriot overalls, like you brook with an e?
tome| 9.7.10 @ 10:59AM
Just another union bailout.....When is he going to start thinking about the American worker who doesn't belong to a union??? Oh I forgot we won't vote for him..
Redstateboy| 9.7.10 @ 11:10AM
when he said he'd have the most transparent administration in history... I don't think even his most syncophantic believers knew that this is what he meant! How transparent a bribe is this!!?? with ALL of American taxpayers money!!
dw| 9.7.10 @ 4:51PM
He wasn't lying about having transparency. He thought the defintion of transparent was a gender confused parent. I do believe he has a few of these in his administration so, in fact, he does have a transparent government. (the most of any previous administration)
Al Adab| 9.7.10 @ 11:12AM
The Republicans need to remember they haven't won anything yet. Before they start fighting for position they had better remember they are in this thing to save the Republic not enhance their personal status. Nothing will work against the country more than infighting before success.
canuckistani| 9.7.10 @ 4:26PM
Like Adam Smith, the invisible hand will make us better.....
Cantor, as one of only two Jews in GOP caucus, will have significant opposition to his carpet-bagging street cred in many districts. He has rationalized his views to include every sacred-cow position from the whacko right, insinuating himself into any checklist.
Like Steele, it will be another failed attempt at pandering to an electorate segment.
Cantor will have zero traction legislatively when the caucus realizes the country is more centrist than he can estimate, and the intestinal fortitude needed in 2012 will trump any fleeting vision of a conservative utopia during the upcoming term.
David| 9.9.10 @ 1:19PM
Thank-you for making some sense. A lot of folks here seem to be in the same trap of arrogance as the liberals have been & the conservatives prior.
It isn't enough to shove your ideas down the countries throat because you "know you are right". That's no different than what you accuse the liberals of doing.
Good government comes from the middle. If you truly believe that a totally libertarian society is best you are no better than those who want communism. There needs to be balanced mix of government regulation vs complete freedom. Nobody wants a nuclear waste dump in their neighbor's yard and while most folks are moral enough, there are enough who aren't (of all political persuasions) that we need laws to control them. Keep in mind that complete deregulation will in some cases mean a return to the "company towns" that inspired unionization in the first place. Happy workers won't unionize. If you have to use force to prevent unionization then you are just another tyrant.
The middle will move rightward & leftward over time but these days the only pulling is coming from the extremes. There is little in the way of a shock absorber in our society to prevent the wild pendulum swings that we see in public opinion.
vitadMD| 9.7.10 @ 11:27AM
Unless the republican establishment realizes that change must begin at home, it will blow the huge opportunity thrown their way. It must make a bold statement, a message to the American people that it hears and understands them. It must reform the party and its leadership by putting forth a new face like Paul Ryan as Speaker, actually many new faces to replace the old, tired, uninspiring.... McConnell, McCain, even Cantor.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 11:37AM
I don't think they're listening. McConnell already says that he has the votes locked up to be leader in the next Congress. Saying that now seems to be shouting "no change". The attitude seems to be that they'll ignore the Tea Parties and ignore their voters. To truly change the direction of the Republican Party might require replacing them ALL with conservatives, one by one.
vitadMD| 9.7.10 @ 11:29AM
include Lyndsay Graham...
Stephanie| 9.7.10 @ 11:41AM
First to go should be Michael Steele~
Supreme Galooti| 9.7.10 @ 12:24PM
The Republican party IS changing. It must or it's toast. I don't care WHO the new leadership is so long as they A: Kick Democrat Butt, and B: Are NOT ruling class wannabes. Part B is the hard part because that condition is deeply interwoven into the human psyche.
Solo| 9.7.10 @ 2:24PM
Ziegfried X Wrote:
"What Graham doesn't say is that there are no moderate Democrats any more, like the old-time Southern Democrats of Reagan's era. They have either become Republican (like Senator Shelby) or retired."
Exactly right!
The Purge of the democrat party is complete. They're all socialists (or worse) now or....at the very least, compliant power hungry career politicians with no ethics other than the ethic of the acquisition of power. Think Bill Clinton.
The republican party had become chock-a-block full of this latter group and I fear that Boehner is one of them.
Graham is wrong on another point:
The Tea party movement DOES have a coherent message (he and his ilk just don't want to hear it):
"Get the hell out of my life and stop stealing my child's future for the sake of your own power"!!!
RCV| 9.7.10 @ 2:57PM
Or, as one of the tea baggers' signs said, "Government hands off my medicare!"
Derek Leaberry| 9.7.10 @ 2:39PM
Expect little from "leaders" like Boehner, Cantor and McConnell. For the biggest issue, immigration, all three were originally on the McCain-Kennedy-Graham-Bush side. That shows you who they are. In the end, support whichever one guarantees to bottle up McCain-Graham in 2011-12.
Jim O'Brien| 9.7.10 @ 3:21PM
Obama is running scared - desperately grasping at straws. He's not only concerned about those of us on the right, and independents; now he's worried about losing his loyal left-wing lemmings. The nation is filled with disgust for both Obama and Congress.
JmsA| 9.7.10 @ 3:59PM
Get rid of all these so called leaders, and start anew with pro-America conservatives.
Ken (Old Texican)| 9.7.10 @ 4:55PM
I read the comments here, every day.
Our country is on the verge of implosion, and some folks just like to bitch, whine, and belly-ache.
The budding communists here, (pardon the shorthand), will be sacrificed first. They will no longer be useful.
Yep,
As Big J points out..."we got a ballot box...and a bullet box".
Heh, My question is...how many of our budding communists are willing to DIE for their convictions?
We may have to discover that if the ballot box don't work.
scotchieguy| 9.7.10 @ 9:42PM
Ken: "I read the comments here everyday."
No shit, Sherlock.
Siegfried X| 9.7.10 @ 5:53PM
I don't understand why anyone could get excited about the Obama presidency, since there's almost no difference between the parties. Obama's agenda is almost the same as RomneyCare plus President Bush and candidate McCain's platforms. Most of those same ideas were supported by the leaders in Congress, and probably will be supported by the Republican 2012 presidential candidates.
Yes it's a bad agenda, but we get it no matter which party wins. In fact damn near none of the Republican politicians are real conservatives.
Tim*| 9.7.10 @ 7:23PM
Both Boehner and Cantor voted for The Bailout Bill and both Boehner and Cantor won't join The Tea Party Caucus.
Why dump Tweedle Dee for Tweedle Dum ?
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates .
We Can See November From Our Houses .
Line in the Sand| 9.7.10 @ 10:35PM
If demwits are ousted from even one house of Congress, their successor must have one priority over all --- bury obamacare. Repeal it, defund it, overturn it in court, whatever. No quarter, and no excuse for doing anything less than killing it.
If republican politicians don't get the message by now, it will be a short stay for them in power. A demwit disaster that is left in place by republicans is an insult to Americans who want representation for a change after the past two years of arrogance and idiocy from the demwits. The republicans, if put into the majority of either house of Congress, have the power to end obamacare. The question is whether they have the intestinal fortitude.
Mike Rogers| 9.7.10 @ 11:41PM
The wrong men - Boehner's been saying the right things on the house floor, but he's still a RINO. Cantor has actually been saying stupid stuff, and trying to expand his staff, even when he doesn't need it - he has to go - is it too late for a primary challenge?
Now, how about Pence and Ryan? Pence and Bachmann?
What about Ron Paul for Speaker? Never mind majority of the majority - no vote unless it's constitutional!
Yosemeti Sam| 9.8.10 @ 12:35AM
Funny - we've not even seen the whites
of the Democrats' eyes rolling upwards in
their sockets.
Focus ye on the - germane!
There is a shovel-ready project underway and
the pits for the Democrats are at the ready and
when they are safely ensconced and epitaphed
come November - then the fur may fly in all
directions over who's Mr. Clean in the 2011 GOP HR.
Mimi| 9.8.10 @ 12:13PM
Terrific Post SAM...November 2nd..Is like being a kid and waiting for Christmas. If God-willing we win big....The RIP signs will go up all over for the DEMS. Now,..let us go back to March 21, 2010.. to the speeches given on the Republican side.. against the Health Care Bill. What a shock .. to see them , some having all they could do to walk up to the podium...lotta old folks...some looking like they eat out too much. Anyway...Boenert and Mike Pence gave good speeches but the one which was most outstanding came from Paul Ryan and remains in my mind and heart. He would be my PICK for the next SPEAKER.