And now they actually have to do the thing they hate most: govern. And legitimately govern because the Dems are just going to sit it out instead of doing all the work while the Reps obstruct.
Anyway, Schumer is quite devoted to this strategy of the Dems keeping their hands clean and thus denying the Reps a scapegoat when things go sour. Dems have been trying to reach out for them for far too long. It’s time to just let the Reps self-destruct because they have clearly been free of responsibility for too long.
I agree with all this, but Dems need to learn from the Repubs and engage in some old-fashioned hyperbole.
Instead of telling Americans about higher premiums – which is worthwhile, but kind of underwhelming in Trump’s America – tell them that the Republicans are going to kill their aging parents. That Republicans are going to kill disabled people, and people with serious conditions, and the elderly and the poor, simply for the crime of not being rich.
Because let’s be honest – isn’t that the end game here? You either sacrifice everything your family has earned in their lifetimes for grandma’s medical care, or you let her die. This is the choice Republicans are working for. Democrats need to be blunt about this. Stop appealing to people’s better angels and start scaring the living shit out of them with the hard truth.
I agree with all this, but what will stop Republicans from blaming their failures on Democrats anyway? That’s pretty much been their MO since at least Reagan, and it mostly works. I think Schumer’s calculus makes sense in a rational world, but that’s clearly not what we live in anymore.
This will only work if the Dems relentlessly hit the media with consistent messaging, the way the Repubs do. I’m definitely on board with Schumer’s strategy, but I hope everybody understands the increasingly important media and messaging component of it.
No, ageo is right. None of the “plans” that have been put forward, even by Ryan, have ever proposed to take MEDICARE from those who are already covered. Usually they say it will only affect those who are 55 and under so as not to tick off their base.
I hope they get enough blowback to stop them from doing this. Maybe even their knuckle-dragging younger base will realize that they will be old one day too. That’s why I responded to you in another place that it is your children and grandchildren have more to fear than your grandmother does.
But look it up for yourself, and then reassure your grandmother and give her the peace she deserves. Good luck!
The GOP does not need the votes of Democrats to do whatever the GOP wants about OIbamaCare. Or anything else for that matter.
The GOP wants cover. A co-conspirator.
The GOP is like a young boy wanting to go steal a candy bar begging his sister to come steal one with him. Not because he can not steal a candy bar on his own. He want his sister there because if they get caught, the blame will be shared. Or better yet, he will cry that it was the sister’s idea! Or best case? He gets off Scott free and the sister takes all of the blame.
Forgetting about white people and their legitimate concerns like losing their jobs is what cost us the election. I’m sick of seeing the Midwest turn into Mississippi and Dems need to appeal to the working class again.
One thing we should keep in mind with this fight, i think, is that congressional Republicans already have hands-on experience with the results of their promise-the-rubes-the-moon strategy. Anyone remember John Boehner? They went along for years, telling their base that they were going to force Obama to back down on this, that or the other, and when reality revealed itself to be slightly more complicated than that, the base and the Tea Party folks were furious at them. Obviously the talk of making ACA repeal their top priority is pure politics, nothing more. But i’m sure at least a few of them are thinking that nothing short of 100% annihilation is ever going to satisfy the TP crowd (and perhaps not even that). So if they keep the filibuster, the Dems block repeal, and things just muddle along until Trump is out of office in 2020, maybe that’s their best option?
This has been confusing me for a while? How can they repeal Obamacare with reconciliation because I thought reconciliation can’t be used if it increases the federal budget?
Re Budget Reconciliation: Almost everything can be done through Reconciliation, if the Republicans get the Parliamentarian to rule in their favor. And almost nothing can be done through Reconciiation if the Parliamentarian rules against them.
So, what is the key point point of Reconciliation? It is to reduce the deficit otherwise anticipated by a budget bill. Not only that, the proposed change to the budget must be principally to save money, not principally driven by a desired policy change.
In the words of past Parliamentarians interpreting the Byrd rule, you can not get Reconciliation on any provision where the main goal is a policy change, and the budget savings are only ancillary to that policy goal.
Well, everything the Republicans want to do is “policy change.” So, they should not be able to - for example - eliminate the Obamacare premium subsidies, because that goal is strickly policy originated. Another Byrd Rule is that Reconciliation can not be used to in any way change the Social Security Act. Well, Medicare is entirely in the Social Security Act, and Obamacare is, I believe, also - at least partly - in the Social Security Act.
You would think that the Democrats would be talking up a storm right now. You would think that they would have brought on board lawyers and prior Parliamentarians to make the case. You would think that at least one major newspaper might have done dome real reporting, so the American people are not bushwhacked, and so the current Parliamentarian is encouraged to grow a spine.
Well, every time the Dems wanted to get some important bill passed (like the ACA) media types sought out GOPers at every opportunity to get their two cents. I suppose now we’ll see the same pattern? A constant onslaught of oppositional voices being welcomed with open arms by a conflict-hungry media universe? Of course not. Intelligence, experience, and emotional stability are losers. Sad!
Exactly right, floydmaster - make it clear that Ryan and McConnell are CEO and COO of the Congressional Death Panel and the Orange Menace is the Chairman of the Board.
Put the people who are dying and won’t be able to afford healthcare in front of the cameras, go from town to town with messaging. And make sure that the media follows every step of the way.
What WE can do is keep calling our own congressional reps and senators, regardless of party, and get to know their staff members. Make sure they are aware of every event we hold and ask them to attend. The staff are the gatekeepers to the actual lawmakers so make they our allies. Same with the media.
Absolutely valid points, but contrary to common exposition by the chattering class, the ACA was not passed through Reconciliation. It was passed with a 60 vote super majority in the Senate. The subsequent Reconciation bill added some important stuff, but the key provisions were in the main bill. I could be wrong, but it seems clear that the Republicans want to use Reconciliation to repeal key provisions of the main bill.
Exactly. Show us your plan. NOW. And I would include Trump on that. He said he would replace Obamacare with something better and cheaper. Where is your plan, Donny? Either put it out there, or I will conclude you don’t have a plan.
While I find the Republican Party and its platform disgusting, I do admire how they are aggressive about getting things done in DC.
The Democrats lack the back bone and the energy to do much of anything…8 years of Obama has been a waste of our votes and our time.
Time for Progressives to form a 3rd party, Social Democrats, and let the so called blue dogs go to the Republicans. Time for a political party to form that will fight for the entire middle class and the poor…the Democrats have done nothing for the white middle class is years. Hill Billy was a disaster…and Obama was basically more Bill Clinton.
