But here's the thing - Blue Dogs wouldn't have had to folded if the GOP would have tried to 1) compromise or 2) initiate their own health care reform. That's the major problem that I and many other voters have with the Republican Party - they are just trying to obstruct the policies of Democrats right now instead of introducing their own.
to the contrary; Republicans have put forth a wide array of plans informally; and are blocked from doing so
formally due to the fact that the Democratic chiefs in Congress have made the decision not to allow their proposals to be voted on in Committee.
That's why I think Boehner is such a bad minority leader for the GOP. He is leading the Republicans in halting the agenda of Democrats but he has, as far as I am aware, never proposed detailed active solutions.
how ironic that you would say this, given that Boehner is (as far as i'm aware)
the only leader of either party in either house brave enough to talk about the painful but necessary steps to save our entitlement program - such as for example raising the retirement age.
When Obama was preparing his budget, Boehner showed off a broad plan for the government being fiscally responsible. But he didn't show any details in that plan. And again with regards to the current economic downturn, Boehner told Obama that he should fire all of his economic advisers but he didn't give any details about what should be done or who Obama should re-appoint.
House Minority Leader John Boehner today laid out five prescriptions for the Obama Administration on the economy and gave a flavor of what he might do if he becomes Speaker after the midterms.:
1. Heading off an anticipated September debate on whether to extend George W. Bush's tax cuts, Boehner made an emphatic case for extending all of the tax cuts. Democrats are proposing only extending those for the middle class – for those who make less than $200,000 a year. “Let me be clear,” Boehner said, borrowing a favorite phrase of President Obama's, “raising taxes on families and small businesses during a recession is a recipe for disaster – both for our economy and for the deficit. Period. End of story.”...
2. Boehner asked that Obama veto any “job killing legislation” that Dems might pass during the lame duck session such as the pro-union Employee Free Choice Act or climate change...
3. Boehner did show some leg on policy, pushing back on the claim that the GOP is just the Party of No. He called on Obama to allow the repeal of the “the new health care law's job-killing ‘1099 mandate,'” which requires some businesses to report any expenditure over $600 to the government. Boehner said this one provision alone costs small businesses $17 billion in the time to track and file such expenditures and the government another $10 billion to keep track of the filings.
Later in the speech Boehner also called on Congress to ratify Rep. Eric Cantor's free trade proposal; endorsed legislation authored by Rep. Geoff Davis, a Kentucky Republican, that would require congressional approval of any White House expenditure of more than $100 million; and called on Dems to pass a plan by Rep. Dave Camp, the ranking Republican on the Ways & Means Committee, to give small businesses with less than 500 employees a 20% tax cut.
4. Though he praised Wisconsin Republican Rep. Paul Ryan's $1.3 trillion in spending cuts and called on the government to return non-defense discretionary spending to 2008 levels...
5. Finally, Boehner called on Obama to fire the rest of his economic team, though he provided no recommendations with whom the President might replace them (supply siders, one presumes?) or why they should be fired now versus any other time in the last 19 months....
so a li'l more than just that.
That's not to say that there isn't any conservative leadership. But most of the conservative leadership isn't coming from the Republican Party - instead, it's coming from Fox News. Conservatives aren't listening to John Boehner or Mitch McConnell or Michael Steele. They are listening to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and Bill O'Reilly and Glenn Beck.
yup. remember back in 1993 when Rush Limbaugh was "Leader of the Opposition"? how'd that work out for Republicans in '94?
So while I think the House and Senate may see more Republicans being elected to Congress, I still don't think the GOP will become a majority.
then (even though your logic is flawed), you are still not accounting for two things: 1. voter enthusiasm and 2. the fact that people are more ready to vote
against Democrats than
for Republicans. It matters alot less what level of specificity Boehner is putting forth currently than it does that Democrats passed Obamacare and the Stimulus failed (as predicted).
