Spine, What Spine?

The dems act like they've got Stockholm or Battered person syndrome. It's the only explanation that makes any sense for some of their behavior.

Oh, what a colossal crock of shit.

I'm tired of seeing articles like this. "Obama didn't give me exactly what I wanted so he's a wimp/Bush/something else." "Blinking" in this case would mean no reform was passed. Instead, Obama broke the GOP and taught them that obstructionist tactics and sitting in the corner sulking get them nothing.

Let me repeat that: There is no victory for the GOP here. THEY LOST. More to the point, they lost a major battle which is going to seriously hurt them in the 2010 elections.

People need to understand that there's such a thing as political negotiation and the idea is that the government represents ALL of the people in its decisions, not just them.

This, I'm afraid. At least we've got something that can be built on now, rather than nothing at all. That's the way most reform works in the long run. Baby steps. I won't see what ought to be in my lifetime, but I do expect that it will eventually happen.

Could it be that the "death" of the Republican party was greatly over exaggerated and that the Democratic victory will turn out to be a phyrric one?

What I don't think a lot of people here understand is that last November was not a mandate from the nation to transform America into Europe. The Dems got a lot of independent votes because people were sick of Bush and because McCain was dumb enough to pick a creationist as his running mate (I know I didn't want to risk McCain dying and Palin inheriting the helm). It also helped that McCain and Obama were really not that different when push came to shove; "compassionate conservative" and "liberal" are two very similar doctrines when the jargon is stripped away and the cores are lying bare. Those independent votes are the exact same ones that the Dems are now losing in droves because of the fact that what they are doing now is so incredibly unpopular. And if you want to know where they're going, I'll give you a hint: it's not to the Republicans. Instead, I would try googling "tea party."

Less than 40% of the nation wants this health care fiasco to pass. The Dem senators have not been able to get a single Republican senator to enlist with them... not a single one. Is some of that party loyalty. Certainly. But is all of it? You honestly think that although over half a country stands in opposition to you, they're doing it simply because they're stupid, obstructionist, foolish, partisan, and don't know when someone's trying to hand them a favor? Really?

Right now the Dems are showing about as much sense as a 19 year old who has never had the concept of money explained to her and has just been handed her first shiny-new credit card. You don't tell a college kid on a spending spree that she's doing it wrong and should be buying different things. You tell her to STOP! Preferably before she loses her triple-A bond rating from Moodys or before China starts calling in her debt.

Funny, because it's the Republicans co-opting "tea party" types for their own use -- and because most people in this world are ignorant of their own motivations, they'll probably turn to the Republicans to do what they wanted the Democrats to do. Which is just robbing Paul instead of Peter, and Judas gets all the money anyway.

I'm sure that the GOP thinks that they'll be able to ride the tea party wave back into power. I'm also sure that a few Republicans will manage to get elected by preaching to the tea-partiers what they want to hear. But I also think that one of the defining characteristics of a lot of tea-partiers is that they are getting really, really tired of not having any real options to pick from any more.

As evidence, I share the gist of an email I sent to a friend back in 2007 about the presidential campaign. I told him that although I agree with the idea of fiscal conservatism (not that the Republicans have been doing much of that lately) but really wish that Republicans would stop trying to legislate morality and drag God into it. OTOH, I agree with the Dems policy of social liberty, but think that their economic policies are terrible. The Obama/McCain election offered a better set of choices than the Bush/Kerry election, but not by much.

At the next election, I am seriously considering just voting for anyone, provided they are not an incumbent. The only exceptions will be people who opposed both the bailouts and the health care reforms. And if that lot keeps doing the bailouts and reforms, I'll do it again at the next election. And the election after that. I am sick and tired of having to choose between a lying evil and a lying lesser evil and then watching our economy get spent down the drain regardless of who's actually elected. THAT'S what the "tea party" types are really protesting about.

Yep. That's the basic reason I voted for the Green Party last time. No more power for the two-headed giant.

If only tea-party types were inclined to third parties. :/