Posted on 02/10/2010 4:35:17 AM PST by maggief
EXCERPT
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. All right, now, back to the health care bill. February 25th -- do you intend to go to this bipartisan meeting that the president is calling and is going to have televised at the White House?
BOEHNER: Well, listen, I want to have a bipartisan conversation with the president about how to fix our health care system. But Eric Cantor and I sent a letter to Rahm Emanuel posing a series of questions about, really, what is this? You know, the White House let us know about an hour before the American people saw this in his interview on Sunday afternoon.
VAN SUSTEREN: So it's a stunt?
BOEHNER: Well, I don't know. That's what we're trying to get to the bottom of.
VAN SUSTEREN: All right. What would it take for to you go to that February 25th...
BOEHNER: Listen, I want to have this bipartisan conversation, but I want it to be productive and I want it to be real. I don't want to walk into some trap. I don't want to walk into some political event. I want to walk in and have a real conversation about what we can do to make our current system work better.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Captain Obvious says: "Then don't."
(Duh.)
Well . . .duh is correct. If they go, I can guarantee that they will be scapegoats by the end of the day.
paging Admiral Ackbar
This exchange exposes why so many conservatives in Washington are leery of Boehner’s “leadership.” In the first place, good leaders don’t publicly express fears about being lead into a “trap.” It sounds weak and whiny.
In the second place, good leaders don’t send important messages to the other leader’s lackey. Leaders communicate with leaders. Boehner lowered himself to lackey level by becoming pen pals with Immanuel
And finally, good leaders know how to frame the debate. Boehner and the other Repub top brass ought to be taking the position that “We are representing the vast majority of the American people. They have already rejected the government health care takeover. Now, what they do want is tort reform and portability of health insurance. So, let’s make that the agenda — before we sit down.
“O” burnt too many bridges with Conservatives to expect any consideration NOW....NOW that he is drowning!!
Let the Obama Health Care Reform fiasco hang around THEIR necks like a boat anchor. Conservatives won this one and must work to make as much political capital as possible out of the Liberal defeat. It IS what Liberals would do to Conservatives in the same situation... it's called POLITICS!!!
Good points.
We need to hammer the republican leadership with the “Kill The Bill” message!! Do not compromise or else!
I think the letter he and McConnell sent up to RE was great. It put on the record an exacting point by point history of why president obonehead needs this conference.
Of course, to find it in the press one needs a divining rod so the we don’t want to walk into a trap comment takes precedence.
BTW, since Obonehead wants the leaders of the GOP up there and since the dems have called Rush the head of the GOP, why not have Rush go and have the conference on the ditto cam? The conference, interspersed with the BO satirical runs he has on his show would be a perfect combination for this theater of the absurd.
Thanks. I am deeply concerned that the GOP leaders are failing to hammer home the point — time and time again — that the people have spoken, with increasingly volume and intensity. The do not want the government health care takeover. The bill is dead. We will not take part in trying to resurrect a zombie. No zombie health care!!!
We need to change this wimpy ol’ RINO guard.
This list ...
http://republicanwhip.house.gov/newsroom/2009/04/national-council-for-a-new-america-formed.html
Our National Panel of Experts:
Governor Haley Barbour
Governor Jeb Bush
Governor Bobby Jindal
Senator John McCain
Governor Mitt Romney
(snip)
Sincerely,
John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mike Pence, Cathy McMorris Rodgers, John Carter, Pete Sessions, David Dreier, Kevin McCarthy, Roy Blunt
Mitch McConnell, Jon Kyl, Lamar Alexander, John Ensign, John Cornyn, John Thune, Kay Bailey Hutchison
//
Gingrich Joins Cantor’s Effort To Remake GOP
http://www.johnboehner.house.gov/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=169724
Feb 9, 2010
Washington -
The Honorable Rahm Emanuel
Chief of Staff
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Dear Mr. Emanuel:
We welcome President Obama’s announcement of forthcoming bipartisan health care talks. In fact, you may remember that last May, Republicans asked President Obama to hold bipartisan discussions on health care in an attempt to find common ground, but he declined and instead chose to work with only Democrats.
Since then, the President has given dozens of speeches on health care reform, operating under the premise that the more the American people learn about his plan, the more they will come to like it. Just the opposite has occurred: a majority of Americans oppose the House and Senate health care bills and want them scrapped so we can start over with a step-by-step approach focused on lowering costs for families and small businesses. Just as important, scrapping the House and Senate health care bills would help end the uncertainty they are creating for workers and businesses and thus strengthen our shared commitment to focusing on creating jobs.
Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward on health care in a bipartisan way, does that mean he will agree to start over so that we can develop a bill that is truly worthy of the support and confidence of the American people? Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said today that the President is “absolutely not” resetting the legislative process for health care. If the starting point for this meeting is the job-killing bills the American people have already soundly rejected, Republicans would rightly be reluctant to participate.
Assuming the President is sincere about moving forward in a bipartisan way, does that mean he has taken off the table the idea of relying solely on Democratic votes and jamming through health care reform by way of reconciliation? As the President has noted recently, Democrats continue to hold large majorities in the House and Senate, which means they can attempt to pass a health care bill at any time through the reconciliation process. Eliminating the possibility of reconciliation would represent an important show of good faith to Republicans and the American people.
If the President intends to present any kind of legislative proposal at this discussion, will he make it available to members of Congress and the American people at least 72 hours beforehand? Our ability to move forward in a bipartisan way through this discussion rests on openness and transparency.
Will the President include in this discussion congressional Democrats who have opposed the House and Senate health care bills? This bipartisan discussion should reflect the bipartisan opposition to both the House bill and the kickbacks and sweetheart deals in the Senate bill.
Will the President be inviting officials and lawmakers from the states to participate in this discussion? As you may know, legislation has been introduced in at least 36 state legislatures, similar to the proposal just passed by the Democratic-controlled Virginia State Senate, providing that no individual may be compelled to purchase health insurance. Additionally, governors of both parties have raised concerns about the additional costs that will be passed along to states under both the House and Senate bills.
The President has also mentioned his commitment to have “experts” participate in health care discussions. Will the Feb. 25 discussion involve such “experts?” Will those experts include the actuaries at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), who have determined that the both the House and Senate health care bill raise costs – just the opposite of their intended effect – and jeopardize seniors’ access to high-quality care by imposing massive Medicare cuts? Will those experts include the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, which has stated that the GOP alternative would reduce premiums by up to 10 percent? Also, will Republicans be permitted to invite health care experts to participate?
Finally, as you know, this is the first televised White House health care meeting involving the President since last March. Many health care meetings of the closed-door variety have been held at the White House since then, including one last month where a sweetheart deal was worked out with union leaders. Will the special interest groups that the Obama Administration has cut deals with be included in this televised discussion?
Of course, Americans have been dismayed by the fact that the President has broken his own pledge to hold televised health care talks. We can only hope this televised discussion is the beginning, not the end, of attempting to correct that mistake. Will the President require that any and all future health care discussions, including those held on Capitol Hill, meet this common-sense standard of openness and transparency?
Your answers to these critical questions will help determine whether this will be a truly open, bipartisan discussion or merely an intramural exercise before Democrats attempt to jam through a job-killing health care bill that the American people can’t afford and don’t support. ‘Bipartisanship’ is not writing proposals of your own behind closed doors, then unveiling them and demanding Republican support. Bipartisan ends require bipartisan means.
These questions are also designed to try and make sense of the widening gap between the President’s rhetoric on bipartisanship and the reality. We cannot help but notice that each of the President’s recent bipartisan overtures has been coupled with harsh, misleading partisan attacks.
For instance, the President decries Republican ‘obstruction’ when it was Republicans who first proposed bipartisan health care talks last May. The President says Republicans are ‘sitting on the sidelines’ just days after holding up our health care alternative and reading from it word for word. The President has every right to use his bully pulpit as he sees fit, but this is the kind of credibility gap that has the American people so fed up with business as usual in Washington.
We look forward to receiving your answers and continuing to discuss ways we can move forward in a bipartisan manner to address the challenges facing the American people.
Sincerely,
House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
House Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
How did Robert Gibbs, White House Press Secretary, respond? Thusly.
The President is adamant that we seize this historic moment to pass meaningful health insurance reform legislation. He began this process by inviting Republican and Democratic leaders to the White House on March 5 of last year, and he’s continued to work with both parties in crafting the best possible bill. He’s been very clear about his support for the House and Senate bills because of what they achieve for the American people: putting a stop to insurance company abuses, extending coverage to millions of hardworking Americans, getting control of rising premiums and out-of-pocket costs, and reducing the deficit.
The President looks forward to reviewing Republican proposals that meet the goals he laid out at the beginning of this process, and as recently as the State of the Union Address. He’s open to including any good ideas that stand up to objective scrutiny. What he will not do, however, is walk away from reform and the millions of American families and small business counting on it. The recent news that a major insurer plans to raise premiums for some customers by as much as 39 percent is a stark reminder of the consequences of doing nothing.
Reminiscent of deck battles on the Tall Ships, each crew calling their ship's name when in conflict to distinguish themselves from the opposing force.
Beautiful. I didn’t know Tall ship crews did that.
The Republican leadership is asking for the current bill to be scrapped and to start over.
If Obama needs someone to blame for this (and he ALWAYS blames someone else), then he needs to blame Pelosi and Reid for the manner in which Republicans were shut out of the process.
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