Newly in the Minority, G.O.P. Shows Signs of Division on Iraq and Domestic Policies

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Newly in the Minority, G.O.P. Shows Signs of Division on Iraq and Domestic Policies
By CARL HULSE
Published: January 14, 2007

WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 — After years of rock-solid party discipline and fealty to President Bush, Congressional Republicans have suddenly fractured in their new role as members of the minority, with some prominently deserting the White House on Iraq and others bolting from their leadership on popular domestic issues....

Facing as much internal party dissension as he has seen since taking office, Mr. Bush invited Republican leaders of the House and Senate to his Camp David retreat this weekend to plot strategy only days after his plan for a troop buildup ran into scorching Republican resistance on Capitol Hill. While Republican unrest about Iraq was the most visible party division, others were starkly reflected in the ease with which House Democrats pushed through initial elements of their 100-hour legislative program with substantial Republican backing.

Only one House Republican opposed changes in ethics rules. Eighty-two Republicans joined Democrats in approving an increase in the minimum wage; 68 Republicans backed the new majority’s measure that puts into force remaining recommendations of the Sept. 11 commission; 48 supported a return to pay-as-you-go budget rules, and 37 endorsed expanded embryonic stem cell research.

The numbers dipped a bit on Friday, when only two dozen Republicans voted with Democrats to allow the federal government to negotiate Medicare drug prices, an issue where Republican free-market ideology clashes with the Democratic vision of the role of government. But in the often-polarized House, crossing the aisle in such numbers on major legislation is rare.

Equally telling was a little-noticed procedural vote when more than 50 Republicans rejected their party’s alternative to the Democratic minimum wage legislation, normally a statement of party loyalty. “I thought it was a sham,” Representative Peter T. King, Republican of New York, said of his own party’s substitute....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/14/washington/14repubs.html

[napi21]

1. Maybe thePub leaders should realize that they have not been acting like Pubs

for a very long time!Why all of the Pubs wouldn't have loined with the Dems on the ethics reform isbeyond imagination! Why was there any resistance to the 911 recommendations?

I think I now know why Shrub looked so mad and alone when he returned from Camp David today. Just maybe the party leaders told him we need to return to what our party was and not what YOU want it to be!

[neoblues]

2. Republican free-market ideology...

clashes with the notion of "negotiating" Medicare drug prices? Now, kick me if I'm wrong, but isn't negotiating the price of goods and making deals a real component of operating in a "free market"?

Of course, the legislation does weaken the Drug Corporation's "freedom" to charge whatever it wants and have the government pay it without recourse... and we all know that when Republicans talk of supporting free markets what they really mean is supporting Corporate profits and "freedom" from regulation (and freedom from: laws (of any sort), lawsuits, culpability for negligence, honesty, fairness, taxes, good citizenship, decent treatment of labor/employees, pollution standards/environmental concerns, and... basically, freedom from any kind of responsibility**).

**Oops; wasn't "responsibility" something Republicans also claim to support? Catching Republicans in contradictions and lies is like shooting fish in a barrel packed tight with fish.

[Rageneau]

3. Apparently, elephants also desert sinking ships.