Folks, the Republicans are in total disarray

[WeDidIt]

The HCR bill being passed and signed into law has completely changed the political landscape. It has completely redefined how politics can work when centered around health care.

And this is evident in how the Republicans are reacting.

They are all over the map.

Repeal - That won't work, people like this bill now, especially a lot of the provisions in the law. You cannot take the stance of re-instating pre-existing conditions and have legitimacy in the debate wiht anybody other than the teabaggers.

Repeal and Replace (The McConnell Doctrine) - Do this and they have just admitted that there are good parts to this law. Thois won't go over with the teabaggers, preapre for a teabagger to run against you.

Give us a chance to do Helath Care (The Ghouliani Position) - You had eight years. You did jack shit.

Passing HCR and signing it into law is going to be a huge boon to Democrats this fall.

It's completely clear now, the Republicans never even considered the possibility that the Democrats would be able to ever pass HCR.

They went all in on the teabaggers, and now they're holding a pair of Jokers to the Democrat's straight flush.

[driver8]

1. Not only are they in total disarray, but they are total assholes, as well!

Your post is good news -- I hope you are right!

[butterfly77]

2. Kick &Recommended..

[Jade Fox]

3. The GOP doesnt seem to get that spending its time (and money!)....

desperately trying to stop progress and courting kooks, is not a viable political strategy.

[mdmc]

4. thanks for the OP

I enjoyed reading your take. No need for a link..

[WilliamPitt]

5. That's what I wrote this morning.

Y'all can read it tomorrow. ;)

Spot on. :toast:

[FrenchieCat]

6. 8 months is an eternity! Let us not sit on our laurels,

cause that's what we did back this summer.....
and we need to win to retain as much as we can in 2010, period.

[DearAbby]

7. From your keyboard

to that God/Goddess/Other's monitor

[Omaha Steve]

8. In 89 days the first provisions kick in

That means from June to November, people will have new insurance and have plenty of time to decide D's did this!

K&R!

[Danascot]

9. So maybe now the Dems will get a clue and be aggressive about passing more progressive legislation?

Naw, I didn't think so.

[wiggs]

10. Over the last ten years and up until recent weeks, Democrats have demonstrated

a frustrating ability to fold a strong hand to a weak hand. They did it time and time again, repeatedly. Snatched defeat from the jaws of victory. The issues have ALWAYS been on the dems' side but that hasn't often translated into legislative or political success.

I agree that passing HCR SHOULD BE a huge boon to dem leaders. But it's not automatic. They will have to move on to the next issue. They will have to defend better against all manner of attack from the right and MSM on all issues, new and old.

IMO we aren't seeing anything different from them than we've seen for years: lies, MSM complicity, smearing, threats, misinformation, anti-democratic ploys, using fear and hate as fundraising and activism tools, etc. These have worked over and over for 30 years and the fact that they work is the result of billions of dollars of investment and a deliberate strategy. It is not going to go away. They aren't in disarray. They still will behave in lock step with leadership. They still have a massive corporatist fundraising engine. They still have the MSM. They are still willing to go lower in tactics than the dems....and these are proven strategies.

After 08, republicans had a choice to either move to the center...or...go all in and identify with the far right. It's clear which direction they chose. Doubtful they can change now and there's no evidence that they even want to. I hope this will prove a fatal mistake in the long run, but it is way too early to tell.

I believe that the 08 election and passage of this very centrist HCR bill reflects an improving condition. HCR might be considered one of only a small handful of bills passed in the last 30 years that doesn't benefit the wealthy. Might be. But dems were in a deep, deep hole and the middle class and poor were in an even deeper hole dug not just by the current crop of lying republicans but by many conservative dems, greedy corporatists, imperialists, conservative justices, blind middle class voters who can vote against their own interests, think tanks, etc.

And even now we aren't even close to being out of the hole. So let's take this victory and act like we're way behind in chips on the table...because we are...and we're still playing against opponents who are serious, more well-funded, and more devious than we are.

[DaveinJapan]

11. GREAT stuff, but on that last paragraph I have to disagree with you...

fuck "well funded", they have dice up their sleeves and guns to the heads of the dealers, it's time the Democratic Party started playing for reals like Tony Soprano would under those circumstances...he'd grab the dice and smack the gun away and call them all out for being liars and pieces of shit...that's what he'd do ;)

[wiggs]

12. with you...but I would not want dems to become karl roves and boehners. we

have the issues and better motivation...we need to be stronger. the high road works when you want it to.

[DaveinJapan]

14. Oh, absolutely.

But the high road can also include pointing out loud and clear when the opposition is lying or being deceptive, no?

I wish the Democratic Party members would do more of that.

[Blue Owl]

13. like explosive diarrhea

n/t

[yellowcanine]

15. Yepper they put all of their eggs in the teabagger "angry voter" basket thinking they could

intimidate enough moderate Republicans and conservative Democrats to defeat the bill. Well they did intimidate all of the Republicans (Thank you very much Olympia Snowe) but there were more Democrats with balls (Not you Ben Nelson) than they counted on. Major fail.