I’ve said before that if Republicans get the House or Senate back in 2010, we will see bullshit investigations 24/7 the same way we did after the 1994 elections. There’s certainly no denying that their tactics so far have been right out of the Gingrich/Dole playbook. E. J. Dionne:
So in Clinton’s case, Republicans voted to a person against his economic recovery plan that — combined with President George H.W. Bush’s deficit-reduction moves — put the nation on the road to budget surpluses. Remember those? And then they killed Clinton’s health-care plan.
Under Obama, Republicans have used precisely the same tactics without facing any criticism for a lack of originality. Obama’s stimulus bill got three Republican votes in the Senate, none in the House, and GOP lawmakers rail against it even as they claim credit for projects financed by a bill they opposed. And Republicans are doing all they can to make sure that Health Care 2.0 is ruined by the same political viruses that infected Health Care 1.0 under Clinton.
Confronting the highly disciplined Republicans, Obama and Clinton both had to rely on a Democratic Party whose ranks, especially in the Senate, include a lot of people ready to abandon the battlefield at the first sign of bad poll numbers.
And they share a major weakness: Both believe so devoutly in their capacity to convert adversaries and to get lions and lambs to lie down together that they spend more energy trying to win over their enemies than rallying their friends. This leaves them helpless when the lions continue to devour the lambs.
jeffreyw
Mmm…lamb chops.
El Cid
Yeah, but America wants us to overcome the bipartisan divide and learn how to work together. The TV people told me.
El Cid
By the way, again we should extend great thanks to Rachel Maddow for being the only person smart and decent enough to introduce actual arguments based on actual reality into the weirdo discussions going on on Press the Meat, where basically Brooks, New Republican Congressman Wingnut (who got pretty smacked by Rachel), Harold Ford and Gregory wanted to treat as serious the Dick Cheney issue of whether or not by “Mirandizing” (? when the fuck did we started treating this as a real term?) all the terrorists (no matter that the U.S. had done this with hundreds of other terrorists arrested since 9/11) if Obama wanted us all to die.
Mike Kay
What did Bo know, and when did Bo Know it
El Cid
Ross Douchebat proposes a high standard for “bipartisan” health care reform:
(No link, you can find his dreck at NYT.)
So, yeah. As long as Democrats agree to do only what Republicans want them to do on health care ‘reform’, we can have a “bipartisan” agreement.
Awsum.
John Quixote
@El Cid: Ross Douchehat is the reason birth control should be mandatory.
El Cid
And I see right wing tool Fred Hiatt points out that Democrats are hypocrites, because, you see, they’re whining about Republicans making up bullshit about the dangers of “Mirandizing” the 200 foot tall super-villains we arrest as terrorists when after all, didn’t Democrats complain about Bush doing nothing about unsecured shipping containers and Democrats ain’t done nothin’ about that neither.
Right! If only we listened to people like Fred Hiatt’s screaming concerns about how we just need to vanish terrorist suspects and torture them until some neo-Khans can achieve sexual release, we’ll finally be able to work together rationally.
Napoleon
That last line you quote from Dionne is perfect. It is like Obama has been living in some alternative opposite universe since 1994 and not the one the rest of us have been living in.
cat48
I think Jan ’09 Obama had the bipartisan fever. I think it is only talk this yr because all polls show a high number of people want bipartisanship.
I read last night that they are putting the campaign rapid response team back in service to respond to attacking repugs. They sent out Brennan Sunday before last who is excellent on terror and who was so good that Repugs demanded his resignation; Obama had an impromtu press conf. immediately after repugs left the WH which stepped on their message when they were outside complaining about O; and then since Cheney was going to be on yesterday they sent Biden out on 2 shows and Jim Jones on 2 shows.
So, we’ll see–they appeared to have started. Hope it helps and that it continues.
MikeTheZ
Can someone check the tracking number on the memo to the Dems that they’re the majority and if they do what they promised they won’t have to worry about poll numbers? I want to know if it’ll get there in time for them to be the minority again.
cat48
@jeffreyw:
Do you have a recipe for stuffed pasta that does not have ricotta in it? We don’t like ricotta. Also, the spouse would want meat.
Napoleon
@cat48:
Cottage Cheese (including low or no fat) is a good substitute that I use.
Barry
What’s really frustrating is that I foresaw the GOP pulling out their ’93-94 playbook, because what heck else would they do? If the Democratic Party were to actually accomplish stuff, then people would vote for them. The GOP was in a position to block, and to avoid responsibility.
So, they block and avoid responsibility.
jeffreyw
@cat48: I kinda make stuff up as I go along, so no particular recipe. Cottage cheese works in lieu of ricotta, if that helps, otherwise go with blends of cheeses like parmesan and mozzarella with an egg and lots of, say, parsley or spinach. You can turn the tomato sauce into a meat sauce by cooking up some italian sausage and adding it when it has browned through.
Of course you can stuff the shells with the meat and use the cheeses as a topping.
Or do both: yum
jeffreyw
Or do both at the same time! LOL
Oops, sorry, didn’t think I got that last edit through in time.
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
Which makes the lack of investigation into torture even more infuriating. If the Dems can’t be motivated by moral outrage, you’d think they’d at least be enticed by the prospect of payback.
.
cat48
@jeffreyw:
That sounds good, but the spouse won’t do cottage cheese or ricotta. The meat sauce would be good. If I mix the cheeses, do I include an egg if I use it as topping? I asked the spouse to buy small shells and he came home with the largest shells I’ve ever seen so I would like to use them.
cat48
@jeffreyw:
Looks yummy.
kay
I don’t really agree with the premise of the article. Bill Clinton doesn’t consider his presidency a failure, and either, honestly, do the majority of people.
Democrats lost seats in ’94, but they were adding seats by 1995, and they gained again in 1998. Al Gore wasn’t elected President, but Bill Clinton served two terms, and the “third term” after a two-term President is really an outlier.
I’ve seen Bill Clinton interviewed, and I read his book. I think he considers his Presidency a success because most people did better when he was President. He’s almost ruthlessly practical. Critics would (and did) say (and I was one of them, at various periods) that he had no guiding philosophy, but I’ve gotten more generous than that. If I had to describe his philosophy as a “liberal” or as a “Democrat” I think he would say “Democrats make it possible for more people to do better”. He’s not all that interested in how. I think Hillary supporters were right when they said she was the real ideological liberal. She believes. Clinton gives it a shot, and if he fails, he regroups and tries something else.
I saw him on Larry King on healthcare and he said, essentially, “pass a bill and the poll numbers will go up”. He didn’t say “rewrite the script” or “I’m still anguished over my failed Presidency” or “the bill has to include these items”. I don’t think he looks back at all.
jeffreyw
@cat48: No need for the egg in cheese toppings. I do mix in an egg in the meat stuffings, it acts as a binder, makes it a bit easier to stuff. I think you’ll be happy with a stuffing made from italian sausage, spinach, and parmesan cheese. Cook the meat down, drain on paper towels, let it cool. Chop fresh spinach into thin ribbons (if I could spell the French term for this I’d use it just to wow ya, hee hee). Use more spinach than you think you need. Grate some cheese or use the shredded store bought kind, mix everything plus an egg in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper and some minced garlic. Stuff the shells and arrange them in a casserole, as in the pic, atop some sauce. Drizzle more sauce on the top and bake at 350 for half an hour. Top with mozzarella and more parmesan, bake for 10-15 minutes longer or until the cheese browns.
Brian J
Assuming this sort of thing is allowed (where I live, billboards aren’t, no joke), why can’t we put up something big and simple in the district of every single Republican that takes credit for jobs saved because of the stimulus? How about, “Eric Cantor is taking credit for _____ that saved ____ jobs. He voted against the stimulus bill that financed these projects and provided these jobs. Don’t let him take credit for something he didn’t do”? Is it really so out of bounds to call Eric Cantor out on a stretch of highway in his Virginia district that thousands of motorists pass each day? If the shoe was on the other foot, would the Republicans pass up the chance to do the same?
Polish the Guillotines
I generally agree with E.J., but this is a mis-read of Obama. The idea that Obama is naive about Republican obstructionism is just nonsense. The administration knows damn well they’re not going to get any cooperation from the GOP, but the “press” and a lot of the public are slow on the uptake.
Events like his recent meeting with GOP leaders are public efforts at changing the debate from “Obama’s failure to secure bipartisan support” to “the GOP will never support anything Obama does.” The “press” is sort of picking up on it, but as we seen on this blog daily, the “press” generally full of shit.
The health care summit later this month has the GOP running scared and Obama has them over a barrel: If they show up or ditch, they’ll look unserious and uncooperative. Advantage, Obama.
Where Obama has been truly naive is in thinking Democrats at large, and Harry Reid in particular, would be unified in thrashing the GOP loudly and publicly for being obstructionist.