The American Spectator : Some Vitriolic Rhetoric About Repeal

Text Size

Political Hay

Some Vitriolic Rhetoric About Repeal

By David Catron on 1.14.11 @ 6:09AM

The GOP still needs to kill ObamaCare.

It should by now be obvious to the meanest intelligence that the Democrats and their accomplices in the "news" media are deliberately exploiting the murders of six innocent people, and the wounding of a dozen others, for political purposes. Unlike the Tucson shooting itself, the grotesquely opportunistic response of the left was utterly predictable. No one should have been surprised by the spectacle of Democrat officials braying on television about "people in the radio business" or wondering in print if the crime was inspired by "a conservative politician publishing a map with a bullseye." Moreover, the goal of this cynical behavior is all too obvious. Having lost much of the legitimate power they wielded before November 2, the Democrats hope to use this tragedy as a means of gaining psychological sway over the GOP and using that ascendancy to cow the new House majority into compromising on its agenda.

This is not a matter of idle speculation. The campaign began before the bloodstains were washed off the parking lot of the Tucson Safeway. Barely 24 hours after Jared Loughner's bloody rampage, Democrat Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-ME) used the shooting as a pretext for demanding that House Republicans change the title of their ObamaCare repeal bill. Invoking the name of wounded congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in an article for the Huffington Post, Pingree allowed that she has no idea what motivated Loughner: "We don't know if was politics -- aimed at Gabby's courageous stands on health care and immigration." Yet somehow she knows what will prevent such atrocities in the future: "What really matters is that we do everything we can to prevent it from happening again. And the first thing we can do is to crank down the rhetoric a few notches."

This suggestion by Pingree begs the following question: Is there any actual evidence that "right-wing," or any other brand of political rhetoric led to this violent act? The answer is a resounding "no." So far, despite the increasingly irresponsible claims of Pima County Sheriff Clarence Dupnik, no such evidence has materialized. In fact, Jared Loughner's good friend Zach Osler emphatically claims, "He did not watch TV. He disliked the news. He didn't listen to political radio. He didn't take sides. He wasn't on the left. He wasn't on the right." Loughner's only known interest in media of any kind involved Zeitgeist, "a feature-length online documentary that is one-third arguments that Jesus never existed and religion is an evil fraud, one-third 9/11 trutherism, and one-third conspiracy theories about bankers." This stuff brings a number of adjectives to mind, but "conservative" isn't among them.

Nonetheless, Rep. Pingree says we need to dial the rhetoric down. And when she writes "we," she means Republicans: "A good place to start a more civil dialog would be for my Republican colleagues in the House to change the name of the bill they have introduced to repeal health care reform." The bill, you see, is styled the "Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Law Act." Is Pingree insinuating that the repeal effort sent Loughner over the edge? Heaven forfend! Like the Player Queen in Hamlet, the lady protests, "I'm not suggesting that the name of that one piece of legislation somehow led to the horror of this weekend -- but is it really necessary to put the word 'killing' in the title of a major piece of legislation? I don't think that word is in there by accident…" And it is no accident that Pingree's call has been taken up by all the usual suspects.

None of this is really about the name of the repeal bill or the dangers of "vitriolic rhetoric," of course. It's all about finding some way -- any way -- to take some steam out of the repeal effort. The Democrats desperately want to preserve ObamaCare, and they hope a "more civil dialogue" will slow down Republican momentum on the health care issue. For confirmation of that reality, consider the words of the New Republic's Jonathan Cohn: "I genuinely hope Republicans do alter their rhetoric … if they do change, I suspect they'll find their cause loses at least a little bit of its urgency and maybe quite a lot." Will the GOP fall for it? Their history is not encouraging, and John Boehner's office has been making some disturbingly gullible noises: "House Speaker John Boehner's spokesman said yesterday the Ohio Republican's priority is to keep the discourse steady and civil."

The voters who put Boehner in the Speaker's chair have a different "priority": the repeal of ObamaCare and a wide variety of other Democrat boondoggles. One hopes that his office is merely trying to be sensitive to the feelings of the families affected by the shooting, and that is appropriate for this moment. But that impulse should not morph into a naïve assumption that the Democrats care a wit about such things. The repeal effort will presumably begin moving forward again next week, and the debate will no doubt be more restrained than might have been the case before Tucson. The Republicans will certainly be less aggressive in their rhetoric. The Democrats will, in turn, see this as weakness and attempt to exploit the gesture, just as they have exploited Tucson. They will brand as "vitriolic" every floor speech in favor of repeal and repeatedly demand that the GOP water down its agenda.

House Republicans would do well to ignore these tricks. They know that Tucson had nothing to do with the health care debate or any other political exchange. And the Democrats know it as well. In fact, according to a CBS poll taken early in the week, even the public gets it. The survey showed that "57 percent of poll participants said the country's harsh political tone was unrelated to the shooting." So, there really is no excuse for the GOP to wave the white flag on repeal. The Republicans can either make nice or make progress. If they want to retain their House majority, they should expeditiously choose the latter. They need to kill the job-killing health care law.

About the Author

David Catron is a health care revenue cycle expert who has spent more than twenty years working for and consulting with hospitals and medical practices. He has an MBA from the University of Georgia and blogs at Health Care BS.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (151) | Leave a comment

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 6:55AM

Kill the bill. That's what Tea Partiers hollered as Nancy Pelosi and her Democrats paraded, laughing and mocking the American people, through the protesters in front of the Capitol. How appropriate for the Republican leaders to name it "Repeal the Job Killing Health Care Law Act." If Republicans lay down to this threat then they will never live it down. Get on with it. "Kill" is not a banned word in our lexicon. Neither is "hypocrisy," and Republicans should be using that word over and over again when it comes to the holier-than-thou Democrats.

Donna| 1.14.11 @ 7:39AM

Dittos, and let's not for get the oversize; was it a gavel in her hand as she walked arm n arm with the rest of her gang to the capital.

dw| 1.14.11 @ 2:50PM

That wasn't a gavel, that was an American killing hammer.

SonOfSam| 1.14.11 @ 9:32AM

The Democrats are killing our jobs and strangling our economy, and WE are supposed to become more "civil"? The leader of their party says he will "bring a gun to a knife fight" and somehow it's OUR rhetoric that needs to be "toned down"? They have jackbooted thugs waving clubs at elderly voters outside of polling places, and somehow WE are the violent ones? They spent eight years calling President Bush Hitler, and the last two years blaming him for everything from unemployment to the heartbreak of psiorias, and its OUR words that are "inflammatory"?

Hey Democrats "liberals" and other lefty finger pointing bed wetting little haters:

WE WON YOU LOST

Eric Cartman| 1.14.11 @ 9:41AM

Kill the bill. Burn it. Grind it's ashes between millstones, salt the ashes and shoot them with a gun. There. If liberals can't make "inflammatory, elimination rhetoric, hate speech" out of that, I give up.

loulou| 1.14.11 @ 4:29PM

Annihilate the bill.

LiveFreeOrDie| 1.14.11 @ 11:33AM

Yes, yes of course kill the bill....but it's not going to happen. I understand the 'hope' for 'change' but the R's don't have the fortitude to get it done.

I imagine a grand compromise orchestrated by the O-team where the R's get a couple meaningless changes while the D's get support for their next freedom-killing idea. There will be a public display where the media will report on how great the D's are for extending the olive branch, acting in a bi-partisanship way and generally being the greatest people in the world. The R's will get credit for finally being smart enough to agree with the D's for once. Then they all sit around in front of the cameras, shake hands, laugh and smile while patting each other on the back. I'd love to be wrong. Between then and now I'll be 'hoping.'

jstwndring| 1.16.11 @ 12:00AM

Yup. Isn't Boehner already pushing to raise the debt ceiling? The concessions are already starting. If they can't even take a hard stand on spending, we're doomed with him in charge.

We need Michelle Bachman as leader of the House along with Demint leading the Senate.

Waapiti| 1.14.11 @ 6:01PM

Okay...why don't they change the name to "Repeal the Health Care Law That Will Help Destroy the American Economy Act" or "Repeal the Health Care Law That Nobody Wanted in the First Place Act"? Is that better for all of the hyper-sensitive lefties out there?

jstwndring| 1.16.11 @ 12:04AM

Repeal the Job-Killing, Baby-Killing, Elderly-Killing, IRS Agent-Employing, Radio-Chip-Emplanting, Tax-Raising, Take-A-Pain-Pill, I'm Sorry, I'm Running Out of Space To Type Anymore, "Health-Care" Bill. ;)

sparky| 1.18.11 @ 4:51AM

Wouldn't it be a good display on the part of Senate and House Republicans to completely shed their government health care plans? Why don't they do that? When they don't, it just kind of makes them look like hypocrites when they're slamming Obamacare on one hand and accepting government health care on the other.

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 1.14.11 @ 7:03AM

There is an idea being floated on Capitol Hill that Democrats and Republicans sit together during the State of the Union address. The concept originated with Sen. Udall and was endorsed by Senator McCain in "a by-partisan spirit."

Most people would reject it at that point because any adult knows that when they hear the term bi-partisan it costs the taxpayers money. In this case it would be a ridiculous move for the Republicans as the majority of voters rejected the Democrats. Or would it?

Last night on Freedom Watch with Judge Napolitano an announcement was made that the Republicans had agreed to raise the debt ceiling. I haven't been able to verify it but let's look at the implications.

If the debt ceiling allegation is true then perhaps they should all sit mixed in together because it would be obvious that there really isn't any difference.

Speaker Boehner has been preaching the snake oil of big government, telling the freshman that we have obligations as a nation and the failure to raise the debt ceiling would lead to disastrous consequences. That's also the line used by Turbo Tax Timmy.

What it all comes down to is that Obamacare is here to stay. If the Republicans can't make a stand on debt they are done and the public will reject them in the next election.

The token spending cuts Boehner is peddling really won't justify raising the debt ceiling.

If the freshmen class caves in here, they won't be able to stop anything.

It's beginning to appear as the Republicans have run out of gas and it's only January 14th. I can't wait to see how far they will cave by June.

Patrick| 1.15.11 @ 6:10PM

Here's the civility we NEED:
- Sen Reid must be civil and allow a vote on Obamacare repeal.
- Pres Obama must be civil and stop comparing Repubs to hostage-takers
- The Congress must be civil and must STOP THE SPENDING that is bankrupting us

C.K. Amos| 1.15.11 @ 7:04PM

For Reid and Obama to be civil, they'd need to openly and genuinely apologize for how they've demonized and dismissed Americans who disagree with them--and how they've lied about pretty much everything.

UFO UFOS| 3.2.12 @ 4:31AM

Annihilate the bill. UFO

Lawrence Boccardi| 1.14.11 @ 7:24AM

DON'T LET UP! Last night I watched O'Reilly. Laura Ingraham appeared. After putting Obama's speech in the correct context, over O'Reilly's objections, she accused O'Reilly of softening in anticipation of the "big" interview. O'Reilly became livid, and warned her to "not go there". Remember that heavyweight fighter that beat his opponents by employing the rope-a-dope defense? That is what Obama is all about. This "move" toward the middle is an act. And, just on the outside chance that it is genuine, do I want a commander-in-chief who would abandon his principles so easily? Either way, just sayin'.

Joe Hamilton| 1.14.11 @ 8:57PM

O'Reilly is no better than a prostitute. He is no conservative. He is becoming more like the biggest prostitute of them all , Geraldo Rivera.

martin j smith| 1.14.11 @ 8:28AM

If Republicans cave it will time to seriously consider having a third Party . The Problem will be even if this is a good idea that the Republicans who are remaining will vote with the democrat LEFT and that will be a permanent majority until there are voters who see that they are being hoodwinked. The advantage of a third Party is that there wil be independence to speak more freely and be a viable opposition. The voters are the ones that will have to be conviced that the coalition of Dem-Repubs are infact screwing the average citizen. That will be key.

Louis Jenkins| 1.14.11 @ 9:04AM

The plot thickens. Most of you are correct, if the Republicans keel over on this one then we are dead meat. Just soften the speach, and the debate will not have the edge we expect it to have. Two more years of yes mam, may I, then Obama is re-elected, and the nation is down permanently for the count.

"We don't know if was politics -- aimed at Gabby's courageous stands on health care and immigration." It is as I have said previously, Gifford is part of the leftist approach to politics. While she was shot, she is still on the left.

David| 1.14.11 @ 9:07AM

I give the Republicans a year. If they don’t pull it off within a year or loose there nerve, all those in the Senate/Congress in the Tea Party Caucus will pull out and form a third party.

richard ryan| 1.14.11 @ 9:22AM

And this third party would split the conservative vote. The Tea Partiers could sit around and talk about how they stood their ground on principle while the Left completely took over and made permanent the Socialist agenda they have been sneaking in for decades. I'm pretty sure that would not end well.

Dixie Pixie| 1.14.11 @ 1:17PM

Greetings Richard

The TEA Party IS the conservative vote.
If they left the Republican Party wouldn't the Republicans and Democrats split the Liberal and Independent vote instead.

Nose counts always show there are twice as many conservatives as liberals.
So where is it written that the RINO and Moderate Republicans can attract more votes than a pure Conservative Party?
Try consulting the following chart.

Conservatives......40%
Independents........40%
Liberals................20%

See how the TEA Party can win with a solid conservative block and pick off one/half of the Independents.

richard ryan| 1.14.11 @ 4:18PM

Good points Dixie, but I'm assuming the conservative vote would not go 100% to the third party. Alot of conservatives are too firmly entrenched in the GOP. I also believe the democratic vote within the tea party is negligible, so you are not going to pull more independents than already side with the republicans. I remain optimistic for the vast majority of republicans. They have heard the message, we just need to keep the pressure on and hope that the freshmen class shakes things up a bit too.

Dixie Pixie| 1.14.11 @ 5:05PM

Greetings Richard

If your mental model of the Electoral breakdown is 50% Democratic, 50% Republican, then any loss by one side is a gain to the other side.

The Socialists in the Democratic Party have taken a page from the USSR Bolsheviks and rebranded themselves as the majority.
Under this mental model any break in the conservative ranks gives the Socialists anything they want.
The fact is the Socialist wing of the Democrats are a minority of a minority and amount to less than 20% of the population.

2/3rds of the available voter base do not vote.
There more votes to be had outside the current mental model than in it.
Using the above chart, one can see that looking to the TEA Party and beyond will gain more votes than the Liberals can ever summon.

Mugwa| 1.16.11 @ 2:32PM

The point is for tea partiers to use a potential split as a whip to keep the RINOs on track and strong-kneed.

The Tea Partiers are the machine gunners that will fell the troops who try to flee.

loulou| 1.14.11 @ 6:21PM

Let the RINOs and CINOs leave the GOP. They can join the Democrat Party or they can start a new one.

John Navratil| 1.14.11 @ 9:28AM

David,

The Tea Party hasn't gone to sleep. RINOs are still in their cross-hairs and the argument for a third party is being weakened by these efforts.

Kay Bailey Hutchison has announced her retirement. While I do not pretend to know her mind, my suspicion is that the Senate isn't becoming the body to which she can be re-elected.

Rmm| 1.14.11 @ 9:14AM

This whole episode is instructive in how desperate the control freaks on the left have become. The talking heads have stooped to new lows with their speculative rubbish before any 'facts' have emerged. And yet guys like Krugman are to be taken seriously? I think not.

C.K. Amos| 1.15.11 @ 7:17PM

I think it's instructive, too, on how many of the so-called conservative punditry rushed to shower Obama with accolades.

I think it's also instructive how the Republican Party seems still to lack sufficient steel in their spine. To wit: They let the accusations, insinuations, allegations and outright accusations occur against Rush, Mark Levin, Sarah Palin, etc., without any outcry.

Redstateboy| 1.14.11 @ 9:36AM

And the Slave Party's next Trick???? Ole' Chucky Schumer and Sen. Udall (D) want the Congress at the SOU address.. for the sake of..... unity.. want all the members to sit together.. Not by Party.
F' That!!! It's NOT about "unity".. Unity My A$$! the Rats simply do not want those there and those watching on TV to see how their ranks have diminished after the election.. and it would also effectively Silence the Republicans from any outbursts (Righteous Outbursts) from any Lies coming out of Hussein's mouth.. Write your Congressmen and Senators and tell them.. We didn't give you such a Historic Victory to now hold hands with Socialist _astards!

TL| 1.14.11 @ 11:35AM

The Republicans should not even attend the SOU. I sure won't be watching it.

Waapiti| 1.14.11 @ 6:17PM

Right on. I don't trust the D's in U.S. Congress. They are putting on the "unity" show with an ulterior motive. It reminds me of the saying "Keep your friends close and your enemies closer". The D's don't view the R's as friends, but as enemies to be destroyed. Over the past few years, they have taken every opportunity to blame the Republicans for anything they could, with state-controlled media carrying their water. Even the big "O" called his political opponents enemies. He even had or has members serving on his staff who hold the same belief. To be sure, the call for "unity" at the SOU address is political posturing—perhaps it is an attempt to shame those in the House who will be voting to repeal ObamaCare?

Steve A| 1.14.11 @ 9:41AM

Rmm, No need to fear. Krugman & those acting in concert are increasingly isolating themselves by these kinds of displays. They fail to recognize that they are influencing nobody. They are not persuading someone on the fence to come join them with these attacks. Quite the contrary. They are simply talking to themselves & each other & alienating the middle.

Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 1.14.11 @ 9:51AM

How long do you think this "truce" could have lasted anyway? Six months? One month? A week? So let's just skip this spurious attempt at civility, and get back into the "Battle" already!!

The Democrats have tried in vain to lay this shooting at the feet of the Republicans and Conservatives since early Saturday afternoon through their Pit-Bull like defenders, the media. So they don't get to set the tone after doing and saying what they have since then, when their tone has been full of lies, hate and hypocrisy from the git-go.

I don't give a rat's ass if this Bill is dead in the water the instant it makes it to the Senate (and Harry Reid already said that he won't bring it to the floor for a vote), I just want it on record that the Republican Party understands that "We" don't want this massive power grab by the Government that'll lead us even further away from the Constitution and freedom. Speaker Boehner, stand your ground and fight, kill this "F"ing law, or die trying!!

Truce over!!

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 12:23PM

Amen, LLL! As Rush always says -- do not accept the left's premises, state your own. They don't deserve any consideration after they way they continue to treat us.

Jack London| 1.14.11 @ 9:54AM

Just think - under Obamacare we might get the next Loughner into a decent mental health program before he tries to take out another congressperson.

Anyway, Obamacare won't be repealed so you can dream on - just wait until you try to take away the popular parts.

Al Adab| 1.14.11 @ 10:28AM

Jack,
What popular parts? Folks where I am don't like any of it. They know forced coverage of "pre-existing conditions" raises costs and limits care; they know that underwriters and actuaries serve to limit costs.

Even if there are "popular parts" then new action could put those two or three pages in effect and drop the rest. Why are educational mandates part of the bill? Why cut medicare? Why all the new taxes?

Stormzeye| 1.14.11 @ 10:41AM

This bill must be gutted, crushed, shredded, burned and its ashes mixed with concrete and sunk into the deepest part of the Mariana Trench. As for Loughner, he could be Obambie's next Press Secretary and make more sense than Gibbs ever did.

C.K. Amos| 1.15.11 @ 7:19PM

What incivil violent language about the bill! :-)

George True| 1.14.11 @ 11:02AM

This abomination most assuredly will be repealed, John. It will be repealed in the House, then voted on in the Senate. In defeating it in the Senate, every Dem will have to be recorded voting against its repeal. Then these senators in particular will be TARGETED for defeat in 2012. (Do you like that imagery?) Then in late January of 2013 when we have a Republican president, just two short years from now, it will be repealed in both the House and the Senate, and signed into law by the new president. And you know what? There's not a damn thing you can do about it.

George True| 1.14.11 @ 11:02AM

Jack London| 1.14.11 @ 2:10PM

Nothing you say George is so good it's worth saying twice.

Obamacare won't be repealed because you have nothing to add except going backwards and no leader who will ever be able to sell that to a majority.

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 2:49PM

"Backward" as opposed to "Progress" forward? Yeah, "progressive" actually means "regressive." You know it. I know it. We all know it. You want to see how your "progressive" ways end up. Go watch "The Soviet Story" here: http://frontpagemag.com/2010/1.....iet-story/ ... now that's progress for you.

Jack London| 1.14.11 @ 4:07PM

I guess you'd class the policies of Reagan and the Bushes as truly 'progressive' then as they drove the deficit up to huge levels, destroyed the social fabric of society and did nothing for healthcare except make it worse. But facts matter not much to people like you I guess, as you live only on some kind of Ponzi scheme fantasy island.

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 4:29PM

You leftists have ruined the word "progressive." I'd never call anything Reagan and Bush did that cuss word. What's made healthcare "worse" is government interference in it. Everything government (especially liberal government) gets involved in screws it up. Education. Welfare. Housing (Fannie Mae Freddie Mac). Energy. Auto Industry. You say you want to do good things, but you and yours have ruined everything you've touched. Anti-poverty? Look at Detroit, St. Louis, East St. Louis. Look at the state of Illinois. That's the future of the country with your likes in charge. Deal with it.

Jack London| 1.14.11 @ 5:06PM

See what I mean about lack of facts, not to say learning. It was brutal free market economics that destroyed the factories and jobs in places like East St Louis. And if you can show me the free market insurance companies that will offer affordable healthcare policies for all our seniors I'll show you a flying pink hog, name of Deborah D.

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 6:12PM

You know what, Mr. London, look up the "facts" yourself. It's not my job to provide you with reality. Live on in your dream world. I really don't give a crapola. I know what destroyed St. Louis, and it wasn't capitalism -- it was left-wing idiocy. I lived nearby in southern Illinois (which I had the wisdom to leave in 1983.) Look it up yourself. Illinois and CA and MI and many big cities are suffering because of you. I don't have to prove it. Look who's been running these crappy places for 30-40 years. Ponzi-scheme politicians who keep putting off reality while they pursue their idiocy.

loulou| 1.14.11 @ 6:27PM

The ghettos, the culture of poverty and the lack of a quality workforce are what destroyed jobs in slums like East St Louis.

To lefties, "affordable" means subsidized. I'm tired of subsidizing deadbeats like you.

BTW, didn't Jack London disappear off the face of the earth one day?

dw| 1.14.11 @ 6:24PM

Ok dummie....Fact-Reagan cut taxes and it doubled revenues to the government. It was the democrat controlled congress that spent $1.83 for every new dollar taken in and that is why the deficit went up, stupid. And Reagan's tax cuts created 21 million actual new jobs, idiot. Save your socialist economics for the Kremlin.

dw| 1.14.11 @ 2:54PM

You are a "metal masterbater".

Charles Martel| 1.14.11 @ 5:11PM

Has "sane" been stroking the fire again? He'll go blind doing that.

+++

RCV| 1.14.11 @ 7:14PM

Don't start moving into the White House just yet, George. First you've got to find a candidate you can sell to the American people. And any one who could win the general election won't be acceptable to the tea partiers.

Curtis Rasmussen| 1.14.11 @ 3:01PM

Obamacare will save us all. Hallelujah! My crazy, schizophrenic whack job neighbor will be made whole! Jack London's, AKA Liberal Reader's head can finally be removed from her anal cavity!

Hey Lib Reader, no one's buying into your sock puppet straw men. Obamacare has nothing to do with this tragedy.

Delusional troll, the majority of Americans don't want this costly travesty of a bill so considerable pressure will be placed on our elected officials to repeal or defund. This issue is not going away.

martin j smith| 1.14.11 @ 10:19AM

Republican leadership should be put on notice by Tea Party leaders that they must say NO --they can do it very nicely but it must amount to that. RINOS and other sell outs in congress should be targeted.
But the bottom line: Although I have no doubt in my mind that this assasination was a terrible even, if then Republicans take the implation that disagreement means or ise equal to "hate speech" I have serious trouble with that and will consdier seriously that party to be currupt along with ANY fellow travelers.

Al Adab| 1.14.11 @ 10:23AM

Repeal is absolutely necessary. Such votes need to be ta top priority of this House. That said, given that a bill is subject to Senate action and Presidential veto, there seems to be two ways to do it. One is an incremental approach which cuts away piece by piece the provisions of the act and refuses to fund operations. The second is more direct. Since Obamacare was established by a House reconciliation vote- not a vote on a seperate bill but a vote to adopt the Senate version- a new vote to rescind (or a vote of reconsideration) that action does not require Senate votes and is not subject to a veto. Historically the House has reconsidered or rescinded actions before. It has even expunged its own record. Under the rules it may be possible, albeit devious- to rescind the reconcilliation vote thereby mooting the previous action. This would leave two versions of the original bill and invoke the need for conference committee action and so on.

Either path would serve to acomplish the desired end which is to eliminate the mandate and restore Liberty and free markets to their proper place in American health care.

LiveFreeOrDie| 1.14.11 @ 3:02PM

Great! Now all we need are some conservative congressmen with the balls to do it. Too bad they've all been neutered.

Al Adab| 1.14.11 @ 3:36PM

Might be a Conservative or two who would, just not enough Republicans.

russel| 1.14.11 @ 10:44AM

I'm not even going to read this . " still need to kill " . What sort of lame intro is that ? . It positively has to be the number one priority over anything else . What was it , put onto a back burner and replaced with a repeal of the fourteenth ammendment ? .

Louis XIIIV| 1.14.11 @ 11:01AM

"...and when I came into the room she opened her eyes..." It looks as though the future of Obama Care will be "touching for the king's evil" he heals the sick, gives sight to the blind (When you see him stride across Lake Michigan...)

Real American| 1.14.11 @ 11:08AM

KILL THE BILL! The GOP should bring the rhetoric full force in the debate over the repeal effort. They need not hold back. Regardless of what they say, the Dems will accuse them of taking away people's health care and killing old people and wanting them to die, etc and now they'll throw in their complaints that the rhetoric isn't civil and it's "vitriolic." They'll probably make racism accusations, too, just because they can't help themselves. To Democrats, any conservative speech is vitriolic. The GOP will get smeared either way, so they might as well get their money's worth.

mames| 1.14.11 @ 11:11AM

There MAY have been a time when politics were less intense but if there was it was only because the arguments were around peripheral issues. When it comes to consistent anti constitutional/marxist behavior and legislation from Congress nothing less than vitriol is needed. We cannot compromise and play nice about chucking the "fetish" constitution.

George S| 1.14.11 @ 11:28AM

Fight fire with fire. As Sun Tzu wrote, you must steer the battle to your strengths and not fight on the enemy's terms. Do not change the rhetoric or, God forbid, change the name of the bill. Instead, steer the battle with House hearings on the horrors of the Canadian and British systems by calling on victims to give first hand accounts. Then, remark that after the hearings, the Democrats may have a point about changing the name -- we will change the bill to "Repeal the People Killing Health Care Law Act".

Timothy L. Pennell| 1.14.11 @ 11:40AM

Everything about these people is Orwellian. They're 1984. They're Animal Farm. They love to dabble in NEWSPEAK. And, to them, some pigs ARE more equal than others. Much more.
They are Children of FASCISM. Made all the more easier, with their useful idiots in the Main Stream media. Devotees of THE BIG LIE. Of Wealth Redistribution. "To each, according to his needs. From each, according to his ability."
Republicans must not get fooled again. These people HATE YOUR GUTS. They will put a knife in your back, first chance they get. (That's right. I said it!)
We the People sent you there to GET THINGS DONE. And to GET THINGS UNDONE. We don't have a problem with INCIVILITY. If anything, our people are TOO DAMN NICE!
Al Sharpton. Charles Baron. Jeremiah Wright. Bill Ayers. Alan Grayson. Maxine Waters. Anthony Weiner. Barney Frank.
These are all Democrat BOMB THROWERS. They will LIBEL ANYONE that they disagree with. They will say ANYTHING - the Truth be Damned - to try and SILENCE opposition.
And when anyone fights back? They will accuse them of the very same things that THEY ALWAYS DO.
The Democrat Party has become an ENEMY of this Country. A Fifth Column, inside our borders. They seek our Destruction as a World Power, and are the Champions of everything that is SICK and PERVERTED and SELF DESTRUCTIVE.
It has become a CANCER, and it must be STOPPED.

Stammon| 1.14.11 @ 12:06PM

Tim buddy, I love you, but stay off the caps key. Yelling makes my ears ring.

Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 1.14.11 @ 2:07PM

Timothy: Great post!! I couldn't have said it better if I tried, and I've tried, but I couldn't, so I won't!!

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 2:42PM

We need more truth tellers like you, Tim, because if our representatives don't get it, and soon, it will be too late.

dw| 1.14.11 @ 2:58PM

Agree 100%. That is actually why we are not the "right" but the center. They are the "foriegn influenced".

trouble06| 1.14.11 @ 3:08PM

Tim, you got a little excited there bud but I couldn't agree more.

Stammon| 1.14.11 @ 11:56AM

OK, I'll bite. Let's call it the:
"Hearts and Bunnies, Obama Health Care, Bye bye Bill".
Or;
"Love you all, hugs and kisses, don't let the door hit you on the ass on the way out, Bill", works for me too.

George True| 1.14.11 @ 12:48PM

Sheer eloquence, Stammon. Works for me too.

Stammon| 1.14.11 @ 1:09PM

Thanks George, sorry for the outburst earlier, I am just so tired of wannabe trolls throwing their crap around.

Deborah D| 1.14.11 @ 4:48PM

Made me laugh. I certainly need some laughter!! Thank you, Stammon!

Mimi| 1.14.11 @ 12:00PM

Timothy L....You have some great, emphatic POSTS....Did you ever think of running for office? Always enjoy reading them.

davelnaf| 1.14.11 @ 12:04PM

Those who voted against the dems last November are well aware of the kinds of political and media games they play to get what they want. But if November was about anything it was about voters saying they ABSOLUTELY no longer tolerate having their votes being nullified in any way. Last November’s other clear message was that voters had more ammunition than targets to use it on.

Republicans can safely ignore dems’ wails and screams of pain when they begin to defund Obamacare because these voters have them covered for 2012.

Paul| 1.14.11 @ 12:53PM

Just wait until Obama is down in the polls and looking like he will not be reelected (even to the liberals, with their heads stuck in the sand) and then we'll see what kind of rhetoric comes out of the left. I guarantee it will be all about race and class warfare.

C.K. Amos| 1.15.11 @ 8:42PM

They'll be trash-talking within a week. They're pathologically unable to restrain themselves.

martin j smith| 1.14.11 @ 1:12PM

It has now been re-enforced in my mind that ANYONE whp gives much credence to Obama's speech yesterday has problems with honesty. Even Sean Hannity. There are people who because they MIGHT feel the need to be decent ( this would be Sean in my view ) give Obama more than a benefit of the doubt in order top feel and be seen as "fair". My problem with Obama is ( and not surprisingly ) is that he said not word of his own contr4ibution to the vitriole in todays politics. If Obama had uttered an idea like: " and I shal make it my business to improve the political climate by being mindful of my own foibles etc or something to that effect that would have made his speech much more interesting. But that will NEVER BE/
So to those who bend over backwards to be seen as "fair to Obama" I ask: When Obama continues the class warfare, the demonization of opposition and encourages the LEFTS ( passively ) attacks on various personalities on the RIGHT --then what. And by the waythose who condone attacks on Sarah Palin-keeping in mind that these do include death threats--the results if any unforseen events occur will be on your heads.

trouble06| 1.14.11 @ 3:31PM

I am sick of hearing the radio pundits say Obama gave a good speech. It did not come from his heart. It was just words to try and gain his popularity back. Maybe it's just me because I can't stand to hear the man speak . It makes me gag and hurts my ears.

Redstateboy| 1.14.11 @ 1:21PM

Need I remind everyone (even Liber-uls) that each state and every citizen in each state is going to have to Pay of HusseinCare. In My State.. the Great State of Tennesseee - HusseinCare is going to add 142 Million dollars a year for 7 years to our State budget and that's just Tennessee!! For States like: CA, NY.. it'll add Billions to their budgets AND THEY'RE ALREADY BROKE!!

Oldefarte| 1.14.11 @ 1:50PM

BRAVO, David, for your/this outstanding editorial! Everyone here needs to read, re-read same and then to forward it to their friends, co-workers, family, etc. In the context of Palin's campaign-mapping, this editorial simply HIT THE BULLSEYE with it truthful arrow!!!!!!!!!

youfamissim| 1.14.11 @ 1:52PM

Democrats and Progressives - use PC word rules and faux angst to repeal our freedom of speech - One Word at a Time...
Civility is current clarion call.

The word Civility is one of the clubs used to brutalize an immoral people who resist what's good for them. Cries for civility ring out whenever Democrat politicians confront resistance or lose ground in their mission. Civility is a code word for Shut The F--K Up. Civility is the last dirty trick used when a person has lost the battle. It's like begging for mercy at the Coup d Grace, then, stabbing an opponent in the back after they relent.

Civility is used to imply the targeted party is uncivil. Un-civil behavior is misbehavior… past the bounds of acceptability. The targeted party is thereby expected (threatened) to change their behaviors to conform with the expectations of the attacking / offended party.

Eff that and Eff Them.

Oygevalt| 1.14.11 @ 2:34PM

I have just one comment: Boehner's representative has it all wrong; we voted in a Republican majority to stand up to the left wing bullies, save this Republic, and stop the left's takeover of this once great, and now failing, nation...and, if that means, be uncivil to get a point across, that G_d D__n it, be uncivil.

Publius| 1.14.11 @ 4:17PM

Here here. Best post of the day.

loulou| 1.14.11 @ 6:30PM

Amen.

dw| 1.14.11 @ 3:05PM

The lefts extinction from our country is the ultimate mission and nothing shall divert us from that obsession.
For to lose is to fail our founders and our future.

DaveS| 1.14.11 @ 3:55PM

...and be rid of the RINO middle on the way.

LiveFreeOrDie| 1.14.11 @ 3:12PM

I'd like to see fist-fights break out during debate on the floor like we've seen from other countries' similar governing bodies. At least then we'd know that they are passionate about their beliefs and not just going along to get along.

"I'm sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration." - Hillary Clinton

DaveS| 1.14.11 @ 3:50PM

Kill is as good a word as any. How about 'eviscerate' or 'emasculate' or 'repeal' or - -- nah, 'kill' works fine.

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.14.11 @ 4:45PM

Folks,
Since I'm from Texas, please excuse my soft words.
We tend to be soft-spoken down here.
>
>
>
>
>
>
KILL THE DAMNED BILL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Uh, lacking that, amputate its arms and legs with de-funding.
Uh, lacking that, filibuster every single bill the Senate brings to the floor, then have the House simply say no.
Block everything!

RCV| 1.14.11 @ 7:09PM

Health Care Reform will not be repealed within the next two years. The House will go through its symbolic vote to keep the tea party constitutency happy, but it can't pass the Senate, and the President would veto any repeal even if it could. If Republicans want to shut down the Congress in retaliation, go right ahead. That worked really well last time, and we invite you to do it again in preparation for 2012.

Nick| 1.14.11 @ 8:02PM

RCV,

It can't pass in the Senate?

Have you seen how many democrats, from red states, are up for election in '12?

Don't count those chickens again!

RCV| 1.14.11 @ 10:14PM

Yes I have, but it won't matter, because health care repeal won't even make Otto the floor in the Senate, a body that is tailor-made to avoid its members having to vote. And except for tea par tiers health care repeal is not a major issue for most Americans.

RCV| 1.14.11 @ 10:17PM

My iPad spellchecker thought "Otto" would be better than " it to"

John II| 1.16.11 @ 12:14AM

Oh. For a minute there, I thought yet another new expression had passed me by. I thought "Otto" must be some kind of recent metaphor, lifted perhaps from a TV commercial I wasn't aware of, referring perhaps to a character involved in an extremely unlikely transformation. I thought you were saying that the repeal of socialized medicine couldn't turn Otto into the Senate's floor [much less escape a veto by the Professor].

Thanks for the clarification, Roberto. I am much relieved, having grown tired of feeling like a clueless Otto about language trends. Meanwhile, never trust a spellchecker. My own word processor won't let me use the word "august" (accent on second syllable) without butting in with an insistent capitalization (accent on the first syllable).

When I was in grade school and we were singing the national anthem, I thought we were addressing some historical figure named Jose: "Jose, can you see . . .?" Worse, for the better part of my entire seventh year on this planet, I pictured the "Supreme Being" as a gigantic stringbean in the sky.

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 3:02PM

Well, as a young boy in Brooklyn, I wondered every Christmas what a "partrinachinapear tree" was.

Arnold From Colliefornia| 1.16.11 @ 10:14AM

"The great questions of the day will not be settled by means of speeches and majority decisions but by iron and blood."
Otto von Bismarck

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 11:34AM

nick...ignore the publicist. he must be missing the full implications of a rollback to 2008 spending levels! which itself will be just a start.

Osamas Pajamas| 1.15.11 @ 12:45AM

Actually it was Clinton who shut down the government --- not the Republicans --- but the Democrat-captured media --- that great Lying Machine --- pumped out Clinton's propaganda to confuse the public.

Ken (Old Texican)| 1.14.11 @ 7:48PM

RCV,
God bless. I hope you are wrong.
Newt couldn't quite pull it off. He made himself a target, and sure enough, his sad marital situation was (illegally) tapped in on via his cell phone.

I say.......SHUT THE GOVERNMENT DOWN! (for three or four months)...except for 'crucial services'.
Let's see how long the bought votes stay bought.
RCV and tribe purely count on the 'poverts' rising up.
RCV, they don't rise up....except to steal TVs and to burn down their own neighborhoods.
Sir,
You won't read my whole book..."America Alone Said No". (forth-comig March 2011..10 million reader ssaying NO!
It will keep you incontinent in court.

2012? Heh!
Two more years of your bullcorn and you are toast.

RCV| 1.14.11 @ 10:11PM

I don't think so, Ken. The GOP has to, but can't, field a candidate that will win in 2012. Palin's numbers are far too low to win, and I don 't see a viable candidate who has any tea party appeal. Now, Congressional inaction will be blamed on the Republicans. By 2012, you guys are toast.

John II| 1.16.11 @ 12:17AM

Rather violent language, Roberto. How on earth am I going to share my movie reviews if I'm toast?

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 3:06PM

My apologies. I succumbed to Ken's rhetoric and matched him toast- for - toast. You, sir, will merely be the loyal opposition once again.

Oxnard Otto| 1.16.11 @ 10:21AM

RCV Is An ObamaBoy Propagandist. Nothing More, Nothing Less.

Americans Will Vote Their Wallets.

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 3:07PM

Welcome back, Tim

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 11:37AM

once again...you don't get it. WH or no WH...the 2010 election was a tidal wave ACROSS THE BOARD all the way down to the local level. The Senate will fall in 2012. Were he to win...he either moves toward the Conservatives...or he can't govern.

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 3:12PM

I suppose that, with no sense of history, you could believe that. But with a little perspective, you'd recognize it as another swing back in the normal American pendulum that keeps us ever so balanced. In 2008, those caught up in the moment had already pronounced the demise of the conservative coalition. We shall see again how much things can and will change in two years.

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 7:55PM

well..that is one condescending way of looking at things!

same mistake the Dems made on the first go-around with the Tea Party.

it's about power. 2010 was a sweep from top to bottom. political stalemate through to 2012 won't do the dems any good. they have to run on their record.

RCV| 1.17.11 @ 12:23AM

I don't think we'll see stalemate. Split power has usually produced the most productive government. Seems to produce exactly the kind of compromise of interests the founders intended in the Federalist.

carnot| 1.17.11 @ 9:10AM

we'll see. that's not what the 2010 elections were all about.

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 11:46AM

nope. Congressional action won't be blamed on Obama. here's what folks are gonna see:

- four years of static unemployment

- skyrocketing fuel costs at the pump

- skyrocketing food prices

- escalating taxes hidden away in bills like Obamacare. folks are going to realize they are barely breaking even tax wise

- escalating foreclosures and continuing drops in property values

- a nuclear armed Iran

- escalating instability in the Korean Peninsula

- a weakening military

- continued instability in the ME. A failed foreign policy in that part of the world

- collapse in Afghanistan after we pull out

- political instability and consequent escalated nuclear risk in Pakistan

- Chinese ascendancy at the expense of the US influence and ally security

- continued decline of the dollar as the global reserve currency

- signing a healthcare law and then exempting every interest group with a lobbyist in DC

Think the Republican Congressman is gonna get the blame for all of this? bahahahahahahaha. but we'll all feel good cuz RCV is about transformation! and his guy is the agent of change. we were all just a bit misinformed on the direction of that change.

John II| 1.16.11 @ 12:14PM

Sensible prognostication, Carny. I believe Roberto is a sentimentalist at heart--and, to me, charmingly so. He's a dying breed: a liberal who is still a patriot. Yet he forges ahead with his illusions about the Obamanation. I shall return to this topic anon, after limbering up with a Spencer Tracy movie.

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 5:43PM

There you go again, John, distracting me from affairs of state with fill talk. Have you seen "The Remains of the Day" (1993) with Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson? One of my favorite films. Hopkins' performance is so honest, so true, every nuance and gesture just so naturally right, that it takes me by surprise each time I watch it. If you haven't, I highly recommend it.

And on this day in 1973, the last episode of "Bonanza" ran.

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 5:45PM

Oh, Robert, proofread. It was not "fill talk" -- yours never is -- but "film talk" of course.

John II| 1.17.11 @ 1:43PM

It's been a while, but I remember enough to confirm that "Remains" is a stunning flick, probably worth a second viewing. Hopkins, of course, can do anything--I've often thought of him as Laurence Olivier's replacement, and the extraordinary restraint of his role as the butler in "Remains" could rival any similar performance by Alec Guinness. I seem to recall too that Hugh Grant had a role in that flick, anticipating his teaming up with Thompson for "Sense and Sensibility" a few years later. In any event, the casting was perfect. I shall have to see it again.

Anyhow, to return to my estimate of your sentimentality, Roberto, the Spencer Tracy movie I chose to limber up with was "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1941), the second-best of the many flicks based on the Stevenson novella (the best being the 1932 version with the incomparable Fredric March). As I was watching it, I couldn't help thinking how the old-fashioned liberal Tracy seemed intermittently to be morphing into something resembling the enthusiasts of the Obamanation. There is always a dark side, so to speak, and in today's leftism we are witnessing the dark side of liberalism, amok.

As so my viewing of the Tracy flick sent me into a period of sustained deep thought (well--middlebrow thought, anyhow, albeit doubtless with deep roots) lasting for as long as 35 seconds before I fell asleep.

When I awoke refreshed, I had dreamed dreams of roots: where, for example, do my conservative instincts come from? Some scattered images in those dreams persuaded me that my experience of the rarefied atmosphere of academia over the past 40-plus years did the trick. Apparently I am a conservative at least partly in revulsion to the aforementioned atmosphere. Like refugees from communist countries, I had experienced the Obamanation for many years before the disease started metastasizing into the wider, generally saner culture.

And so I asked myself, what experiences have bequeathed to Roberto his Tracy-like liberal instincts? Now, if there were a poll taken of Americano academicians specializing in the humanities and the social sciences, I already know for certain where their political instincts would fall--and I think I know where the instincts would fall among academicians specializing in the practical arts, such as engineering and business. And I can make a very educated guess as to where the instincts of those in the hard sciences would fall--moving generally from right to left depending on the thickness of abstraction--from, say, microbiology (right) to high energy physics (left).

But how would a similar poll fall among the legal-eagles? In particular, I'm wondering if I could expect a similar division of political instincts between, say, corporate and tax lawyers on the one hand and rough-and-tumble court attorneys on the other. Or, more precisely, between defense and divorce attorneys on the one hand and prosecutors on the other. You inhabited that universe for much of your adult life, Roberto. What say you about the likely political instincts of, say, the fauna in a DA's office?

I lost interest in "Bonanza" when Dan Blocker died--and I always liked "Gunsmoke" better anyhow. But I suppose that figures.

RCV| 1.17.11 @ 6:43PM

John: I'm glad you thought well of the film. I have great respect for your cinematic judgments.

In my unscientific experience, your instincts about the political propensities of lawyers by role are generally sound. As a very general matter, prosecutors tend to be more conservative politically than criminal defense lawyers, as are tax lawyers versus plaintiffs' trial lawyers. There are many exceptions of course. Warren Christopher is the epitome of a high-powered corporate defense lawyer, and a confirmed liberal Democrat. One of my close friends is a leading first-rate criminal defense lawyer, and yet as conservative and traditional Roman Catholic as yourself.

RCV| 1.17.11 @ 7:02PM

As to what experiences in life have bequeathed to me my Spencer Tracy like liberalism? I would identify three main currents:

1. As a young schoolboy of very Irish Catholic heritage, my first strong political involvement stemmed from John Kennedy's candidacy, and the identification I had with him and the affirmance his success had for me personally. ("see, a Catholic is very bit as American as a WASP). As I grew a bit older, his challenge to young Americans to serve their country and go out and help the world resonated greatly with me, and seemed in stark contrast to the Eisenhower-Nixonian sense of complacency.

2. The Civil Rights movement was the most influential event in confirming my identification as a liberal. The issues seemed to me so black and white (no pun intended) and the morality of the cause so clear, and yet the conservatives seemed so ambivalent about their support that it made a lifelong impression on me.

3. Finally, I cannot minimize the influence of economic class on my formative political instincts. I grew up in a very poor, working class culture. Our people were liberal and Democratic. The people on the other side of town were rich, conservative and Republican. We rooted for the Dodgers, they rooted for the Yankees. We were Catholics, they were Protestants. We ate hot dogs, they ate pheasant (or so we thought).

John II| 1.17.11 @ 11:46PM

We both agree, then, that the political is the personal, not the other way around, which is the core superstition of the Left. You're no lefty, Roberto.

(1) De mortuo nil nisi bonum, and all that, but Kennedy was an upper crust Protestant by disposition, with no serious connection to the Church and her teachings, and he grew up with a silver spoon in his mouth. So #1 and #3 seem at odds.

2. The Civil Rights movement gave me my first taste of Jacobism masquerading as a thirst for justice. In my own youth I was equally angered and appalled by Bull Connor and by Stokely Carmichael. I lost all interest in and passion for all of it when Martin Luther King started attacking, for Pete's sake, the Space Program and the interstate highway system (two indisputably appropriate functions of the state) because they diverted resources from the all-important welfare state.

3. My father was a carpenter with a seventh-grade education but a huge personal library from which he culled words which he used correctly but mispronounced. I grew up well and went to good schools because he parlayed his carpenter skills into a building contractor's business. He hated Republican and Democratic pols with equal malice, regarding both as thieves and degenerates. I think he liked Taft and Truman both, though--mainly because he didn't say anything about them. I can't say I grew up dirt poor like you or my dad, but I did grow up in a culturally rough environment.

I am a typical Americano--which is to say, politically, a Democrat by temperament and a Republican by conviction. Rather like my old man, I despise country-club conservatives and limousine liberals with equal malice.

And I like Spencer Tracy and John Wayne with equal fondness.

RCV| 1.18.11 @ 12:28PM

As do I.

Nite| 1.14.11 @ 8:52PM

Newsmax has a break down of all the new taxes connected with Obamacare. People should take a real good look at that very long list. I knew about half of them, but not all. They are mind boggling! Obamacare will simply put the US into a third world country. By the way, the Dems who jammed this law down our throats are exempt. Think about that little fact.

Mimi| 1.14.11 @ 8:53PM

Look we got to smarten-up and quick ! The"O"s method of " CLEAR THE PLAYING FIELD " is well in play...Witness the treatment, and attempted annhilation of SARAH PALIN..The won they HATE, and fear the most!! One by one they will attemt to take down our best potential 2012 candidates. Keep your eye on the new House of Representatives......The attacks will start there...dirty tricks, and set-ups, attemps to get face time on the news. the Boys and Gals there are gonna have to harden and toughen up and fight them every hour of theday! We did our part in voting them in...they know WHY they were sent and it wasn't to placate and play nice to get dumped on. Lets all comit to stay strong and together, loyal to our goal of protecting our LIBERTY and turning around our fiscal climate.

Joe Hamilton| 1.14.11 @ 9:04PM

The democrats are Stalinists. They hate any citizen who has any success. They use the jealously of the losers of society to maintain power. The Stalinists' tactics will result eventually in another civil war.

Dan | 1.14.11 @ 11:07PM

Thanks to most of you for reinforcing why the Tea Party and ultra-conservative wing of the GOP will never prevail.

If you know it will not pass, isn't it just kabuki theater? All show, no go.

Good luck tilting against windmills.

DaveS| 1.15.11 @ 10:26AM

You seem cock-sure. Stay tuned.

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 11:49AM

profound understanding of the political objectives in play Grasshoppa!

knucklehead.

Yosemeti Sam| 1.15.11 @ 12:10AM

Yo, Boehner - be the Mongoose we've been waiting for!

Osamas Pajamas| 1.15.11 @ 12:47AM

Toss the Healthcare Hijacking bill into a dumpster with a couple of live grenades and blow it into smokin' confetti! Herd all the Democrats onto a Pacific atoll ---- and NUKE IT!

martin j smith| 1.15.11 @ 8:07AM

While the shooting amountinng to an asasination is a VERY SERIOUS MATTER. This bru hahaa about civility is a bunch of Bee Ess. Let me state what really matters:
Obamacare
THE ECONOMY
INFLATION
FUEL PRICES UP
FOOD PRICES UP
CONSUMER COSTS UP DUE TO THE ABOVE
AMONG OTHER STUFF.
In political terms the 2012 election is light years away. In real terms very close at hand. And what will determine the outcome of the election is NOT CIVILITY.
It will be conditions on the ground connected to our economy and of course terrorism etc.

DaveS| 1.15.11 @ 10:23AM

The call to civility reminds me of Rodney who, in front of the cameras he didn't deserve (he did deserve the mugshot camera) asked if we all can just 'get along?'

The call to civility could have been made the day of the event. But, no: it had to be done at the pep rally. Major Hasan at Ft. Hood; and this clown here: it's all my fault, for I voted Republican.

Claypoole| 1.15.11 @ 11:31AM

Yes, Obama could have rebuked Paul Krugman et al on the day of the shooting--or Sunday, or Monday...........He waited for the polls to come in, and when they did, and they showed that the public wasn't buying the leftist spin, then he became the great unifier. Obama, always, says what he has to say at the moment to get what he wants. When will the easily fooled--and that includes some conservative pundits--learn to ignore what Obama says and just watch what he does?

DaveS| 1.15.11 @ 12:12PM

Yes, it's like watching a bully beat up on someone the principal doesn't like either and, then, after some non-bully blood has spilled the principal says, "Now, now; that is enough." Obama was late, passive and indiscriminate: all signs of an approving principal in this case.

C.K. Amos| 1.15.11 @ 8:45PM

Obama was morally equivalent, saying we are all somehow responsible for what happened in Tuscson.

Dick Simmons| 1.15.11 @ 1:29PM

By their deeds you'll know them. All the soft cluck-clucking and tsk-tsk from the Left and their bullhorn Big Media might mean something if it were not for their ample 45-year history of cynicism, outright lies and screeching hysteria right up to and including the Tuscon crime. Sitting together in the House during the Prez's speech is not going to change their nature or mood. Ever since I became politically aware at the tender age of 14 they've never changed the tune. Amerika is racist, Busine$$ is bad, Power To The People! (God forbid for them if that were to ever happen) The GOP is for Angry White People. Their not so secret belief is like the activist in "A Clockwork Orange" : "The Common People Must Be Led! Driven! PUSHED!" If anyone on our side swallows such baloney and thinks a New Dawn is coming they must have pulled the lever for that lizard in the White House.

Richard Baker| 1.15.11 @ 1:51PM

Speaking of Sharpton, name a Conservative who souped up a crowd to go after someone which said crowd then subsequently attacks and kills the object of the Rev's mouth/incitement? Curious.

lone gunman| 1.15.11 @ 5:14PM

Debate on public issues should be uninhibited, robust, and wide-open, and may well include vehement, caustic, and sometimes unpleasantly sharp attacks on government and public officials -Justice Louis Brandeis

Paul Revere II| 1.15.11 @ 9:49PM

Kill Obamascare (not a misprint) now. Wake Boehner up. Why do the Dems want parties to sit together when BHO talks.? So the American public will not see clearly how the Republicans outnumber the Dems in the House.

jstwndring| 1.15.11 @ 11:54PM

KILL collectivism.

John II| 1.16.11 @ 1:20AM

Good idea. And it reminds me of a line delivered by Vivien Leigh in the role of Cleopatra, in the 1945 Gabriel Pascal production of "Caesar and Cleopatra."

Addressing her former nursemaid Ftatateeta (played by the incomparable Flora Robson), Cleopatra suddenly drops her coy girlish pose and, with fiery glare, orders the nursemaid to eliminate her political rival Pothinus (Francis L. Sullivan): "Kill! Kill! Kill!"

I'm sure the scheming Pothinus would have supported Obamacare. Just saying.

Mugwa| 1.16.11 @ 2:34PM

Turn the rhetoric up to 20.

Start fomenting Tea Party rebellion in the House.

Make Boehner's life HELL until the RINOs get on track.

SREW CIVILITY. Win the fight.

Chicken Little| 1.16.11 @ 2:36PM

The problem with failure of the GOP to turn the ship around, despite the promise of a Tea Party 2nd party, and turning the GOP into a minority party: the longer Obamacare repeal takes, the harder it is to undo. What can a 3rd party do in 2014 if nothing has been repealed? Obamacare starts cementing up.

Mugwa| 1.16.11 @ 2:38PM

Start messaging the democrats for 2012 into oblivion NOW:
connect communism directly with the DEMS

message it, message it, and then message it some more

RCV| 1.16.11 @ 3:15PM

By Jove, Senator McCarthy, that just might work !

carnot| 1.16.11 @ 3:35PM

dems have been waging their own variant of McCarthyism against Limbaugh, Palin, etc. so why not give it a run?

Nick| 1.16.11 @ 4:19PM

Even a lefty American terrorist like Mark Rudd, one of the founders of the Weather Underground, knows that political rhetoric had NOTHING to do with the atrocity in Tucson.

Why can't all you bleeding heart liberals be as reasonable as a repentant former terrorist?
(hat tip to HotAir)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....id=topnews

lucas| 1.16.11 @ 5:23PM

republicans also need to be prepared for the next battle.at the world economic forum in davos in ten days time, the great and the good have decided to press the theme that high unemployment in western countries is the 'new normal'.this theme will surely be picked up by media here over the next 22 months as a shield against charges that persistently high unemployment figures are the ultimate indictment of the obama presidency.

max| 1.16.11 @ 7:02PM

there's nothing great or good about the davos types.the irony of preaching from a mountain to the plebs is lost on the globalization-trons .plus the diversity police have taken over mandating that a fifth of delegates must be women.

Dein| 1.16.11 @ 7:34PM

Does anyone remember why Washington changed the name of its basketball team from "Bullets"to"Wizards"?Supposedly,the former name was to "violent" and contributing to crime and murder rate,at least according to the "wizards" on the D.C.council.True story...total insanity.

Mark| 1.16.11 @ 8:06PM

ok,.....lets just erase liberals and 0-bomb-er ....from history.

John Carnal| 1.16.11 @ 11:59PM

Dear Mr. President. Show us your papers. Then we can talk about toning down your rhetoric. The only question is which will happen first. You coming out from behind your lawyers who are preventing disclosure of your past or us repealing ObamaCare by overriding your veto.

RCV| 1.17.11 @ 12:19AM

I do hope you folks will keep your focus on such nonsense so the American people will treat you with the seriousness you deserve.

Adidas| 8.11.11 @ 5:36AM

is good

العاب| 4.10.12 @ 12:42PM

I give the Republicans a year. If they don’t pull it off within a year or loose there nerve, all those in the Senate/Congress in the Tea Party Caucus will pull out and form a third party.