Rooting For The GOP In The Mid-Terms

Yes, you read that headline correctly: I hope the Republicans win the mid-term elections this November and take over the House Of Representatives. And putting them in charge of the Senate, although not as likely, wouldn’t be a bad thing either.

No, I am not smoking crack. No, I haven’t flipped parties–I am still a Liberal. And no, this isn’t a joke.

It’s time for the GOP to get to work and show the American public exactly what they will do to improve the economy, stimulate job growth, protect our borders, and make this country whole again. It’s time for the likes of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell to stop whining and crying about how their party of “No” has been unable to get their ideas across the aisle. It’s time for the Republicans and the Tea Party to stop threatening to filibuster every vote on a Democratic bill, and delay every Obama appointment. It’s time to put them in the driver’s seat to see exactly what their “ideas” are. It’s time for them to do their damn jobs.

I don’t agree with anything they have to say, and I am surely not going to vote for them myself, but the GOP seems to believe that they can fix this country better than the Democrats can. Boehner and McConnell continue to assert that the American public doesn’t like how the Democrats are handling the economy, and they claim we don’t like the tactics the Democrats used to get healthcare reform and financial reform passed. So let’s see what they can do when they have the power to do it.

Here’s why this is a good strategy for the Democrats:

The Veto: As long as President Obama is in the White House, he still commands veto power. This is the Liberal safety brake that allows me to sleep at night. No crazy trickle-down economics bill will get passed Obama’s desk, and no bills will become law that infringe on my civil rights or raise my middle-class taxes. Healthcare reform will not get repealed. And no new wars will be started while Barry-O is sitting in the Oval office. However, I absolutely trust that if a good idea comes from the right wing that actually makes it to his desk, he will sign it into law. I trust the President to do what is right because that’s always been his M.O., and that’s why I voted for him. So as long as he is the check against anything radical or ridiculous, I say to the GOP: bring it on (I just had to get a W quote in here).

Congressional Procedures: Let’s see how the GOP likes to be filibustered to death. Let’s see them use the cloture they cried about during the healthcare votes. Let’s watch the Republican party squirm when the Democrats use every trick in the congressional playbook to muck-up their right-wing agenda. Let’s see how they like it when they have to compromise and water-down every idea they come up with–just like the left side of the aisle did for the last two years.

Transparency: It’s easy to criticize someone else’s ideas. But when the GOP controls our legislative branch of government, they will finally have to tell us what their ideas actually are. No more “the Democrats shut us out and we can’t get our ideas to the table.” That BS will be over, and the GOP will be required to say to the American people “Here’s what we are going to do. Ideas X, Y, and Z will take care of all our problems.” And the more the Democrats fight against them, the more they will have to explain their ideas and sell their ideas to the people. And their ideas will be laid out on the table for all the Rush Limbaughs and Sarah Palins to defend, and for all the Keith Olbermanns and Rachel Maddows to slice up and dissect each and every day for the next two years. And we the people will finally get some concrete answers to the question: “what would the Republicans do differently to pull us out of the morass this country is in.” They won’t be able to hide behind excuses anymore. Their ideas will be front and center, and it will be their agenda that will be up for debate. For all to see in plain sight.

Closing The Enthusiasm Gap: The most revealing poll out right now as a predictor of the upcomming November mid-term elections is the measurement of voter enthusiasm. Last week a Gallup poll came out that showed 46% of registered Republicans were “very enthusiastic” about voting in the November election, compared to only 23% of registered Democrats. Looks like the left needs a severe wake up call, and now is the time to do it. It’s easy to be complacent when you are in control, so perhaps all the Liberal voters decided that they could stop paying attention. “Yeah, my party is in power so they’ll take care of everything.” That attitude is about to backfire right in their faces. If the left-leaning independent voters and the registered Democrats aren’t worried, then they deserve to lose their edge. American politics are only as secure as the next election, so if you weren’t paying attention to every John Boehner press conference, and every Sarah Palin rally, and every Glenn Beck sideshow, and every FOX news broadcast, and every Tea Party march, well then brothers and sisters of the left you missed a lot. It’s not important how absurd all the conservative idea spittle is, or how inane their platform may be. A lot of voters agree with them, and they intend to vote for them. Once the Democratic voters start hearing a steady stream of tax cuts for the rich, show-me-your-papers immigration solutions, drill baby drill environmental policy plans, let’s overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s time to close down the Dept. of Education, privatize social security, and the end of Medicare, then we will see a fired up and engaged Democratic voter base. They all forgot how pissed off they were in 2008. If the GOP wins big this November, Democrats will have a lot more to be angry about again. And that can be very motivating.

Obama’s Second Term: The net-effect of putting the GOP in control, and putting their “leadership” clearly on display for the next two years will give Barack Obama all the campaign ammunition he needs for 2012: “Are you better off now than you were two years ago?” The answer will be a resounding “NO” if the GOP wins this November, which should teach the Democrats a lesson. I’d rather we spend the next two years taking the GOP to task for the things they do, rather than listen to their empty rhetoric. When you actually have a record to run on, then your opposition has your record to run against. The Democrats will re-take Congress and Obama will win a second term. Then we can really make some progress.

I am willing to sacrifice Hope and Change for the next two years if it will teach the American people (and the Democratic party) a simple lesson:  don’t believe the hype.

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Mitch McConnell Does NOT Speak For Me

I try to keep this blog bipartisan in my critique of politics and politicians. I am always on the side of the average American citizen, and therefore I consider anyone who has our well-being under their control to be fair game. Republicans and Democrats, and even President Obama himself.

But this healthcare debate is making everyone say outrageous things. Coming out of last week’s joke of a healthcare summit, both sides are spinning the situation to make themselves appear to be on the side of the people. But US Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell from Kentucky went on the Sunday talk shows yesterday and said something that made me flip out:

“…the American people do not want this bill. They have paid a lot of attention to this issue. They have focused on it like a laser for months.”

Excuse me Senator McConnell, but you do not speak for this American or the millions of others in this country that do in fact want this bill to pass. To say that we do not want this bill is inaccurate. We have been asking for healthcare reform for years. It is also false to say that people have focused on this bill “like a laser”. Most people cannot cite any details of the bill that is currently on the table, INCLUDING many of the people in Congress.

What people have been forced to focus on are things like “death panels” and “socialism” and “government takeover of your healthcare”, because those are the Republican scare tactics masquerading as facts. That’s what the polls are reflecting. If you average the Rasmussen, CNN, FOX, and MSNBC polls there are still almost 50% of the American population who are in favor of this bill. If you factor out all the distortions by people like McConnell then the number would surely go over 50%. That is NOT “the American people do not want this bill.” That is McConnell’s arrogant and skewed reading of exactly what the people want.

And in case there are those who read this and say, “well that’s just your opinion–fact is there’s still a simple majority of the electorate who oppose this bill”, then I would counter that over 40% of the country deserves to be considered on this issue. You know, just like how the Republicans claim that even though they are the minority party they still deserve to be listened to or else they will filibuster.  As usual, there is a double standard for GOP politicians like McConnell.

McConnell and other jerks like John McCain (for the record: I think John McCain is an arrogant, closed-minded, unintelligent, and reckless jerk) also cry foul that the Democrats are going to pass healthcare reform via reconciliation. This is ridiculous when you consider that the GOP has used reconciliation 16 times since 1980, vs. only 6 times by the Democrats–INCLUDING the outrageous tax cuts for the wealthy by W.

Mitch McConnell and his cronies are arrogant, shameless, deceitful, self-centered jerks. They have sunk to the lowest levels of fear-mongering and hypocrisy, and they can not stand the idea that the Democrats are going to ram this healthcare bill down their throats and continue to do the Peoples’ business that we elected them to do. Unlike the “G-no-P”, who measures progress by how long they can try to block legislation up to the election season, and then they run on distortions of the facts.

Mitch McConnell speaks for the fools who voted for him, but that’s it. He is the MINORITY leader of his party in the Senate–the party that is NOT in control. I voted for the party that right now holds a majority. They speak for me, and most intelligent and reasonably sane Americans.