Posted on 05/24/2011 7:19:58 PM PDT by Perdogg
I have heard GOP "wise men" like Krauthammer say that the GOP can defend the Ryan plan, but candidates like Corwin don't know how.
What should she have said? At this point, just stating that we are going broke and the GOP is going to save entitlements with vouchers probably gets shouted down. The GOP House did not get the public on its side before passing the Ryan plan, but my question is what should they say now????
One suggestion is that candidates could say that it didn't (and won't) become law, unlike Obamacare, which is law and will cut entitlements. But isn't that surrendering to US bankruptcy?
I couldn’t agree more!!!!! The democrats and their media friends do this all the time. A democrat runs as a third party candidate, spends two million dollars to split the vote and the republicans start tucking tail to run.
When oh when will they start fighting fire with fire?
I mean no disrespect to you men, but I think the republican leadership needs be a group of women. We’re more ruthless than some men.
Bloomberg shoved thru a third term after the voters two times had voted for term limitations. He nearly lost - the Democratic candidate did not put up much of a fight and, let’s face it, could not raise the cash that Bloomberg did. I voted third party. Had I known how close this election was going to be, I would have voted for the Demo just to get rid of His Royal Phoniness. The GOP has to run better candidates - not wusses!
That is why more business people need to get into politics. We DO know how to “fight fire with fire.” It is called being competitive.
Either you do what you need to do to compete or you don’t stay in business.
People who have worked in government for extended periods of time seem to lose that edge, especially Republicans, who are gravely affected by the “go along to get along” malaise which is part of the “Potomac fever” syndrome.
If you have had to fight tooth and nail against competitors, getting a little rough with some Democrats is nothing big.
Democrats play like their lives depend on it because government and politics ARE their life. They often have no backup plan to turn to. With them, it is win or be tossed on the scrap heap.
I couldnt have put it better. These types of sinking ships do not usually come back up. Republicans gave Democrats the perfect scenario, to claim :"it's all about how Republicans are trying to screw the voters with the Ryan plan." I dont see them changing the national news theme/debate to Obama's plan/lack of plan now, like they needed to do first. I bet many of these newer congressman/candidates just believed the hype that American fundamentially changed 180 degrees since the 2008 election of Obama, from socialists to libertarians.
Republicans needed to lay the groundwork for proposing this long before doing it. They pretty much ran on protecting medicare and cutting Obama-care and cutting other liberal stuff, then they get elected and decide :”We got a mandate to (effectively) eliminate Medicare.” Then Democrats attack (who could expect that?) and Rs say :”No, we are not eliminated it, we are saving medicare” JEEZE! saving it?
To lay the groundwork they needed to make a case for everything in the budget, why are the changes necessary, why are all the tax cuts necessary, what will happen if we don't do them all and they needed to make it specific an visual. I called Ryan's office about a month ago to tell them they were losing it. Talk about a screw-up.
“the main spenders for Corwin were $700K from Karl Rove’s American Crossroads”
Bush’s Brain bumbles another one...
Rove, You Bastard!
“I have heard GOP “wise men” like Krauthammer say that the GOP can defend the Ryan plan”
The GOP needs to stop defending the Ryan plan and start attacking the dims but the GOP is too afraid to go on offense. Pound the dims daily for their despicable dissembling and lack of a scorable budget. Today Ryan was in front of a camera still discussing medicare abstractly. “For too long Washington has not done anything...bla bla bla” They are just too afraid to call out barry and his stooges in congress.
The Medicare scare WORKS.
We need to SELL AND EDUCATE the steeple about the truth PDQ.
Agree with every word in #245.
I like Paul Ryan a lot, but I think he’s a tad wet behind the ears in dealing with this new crop of National Socialists running the country. The Moynihans, the Zell Millers, even the Slick Willies are long gone. The new bunch is about as extreme as anything this country has ever experienced- they have interest whatsoever about the viable future if the country (in fact, the more it collapses, the better for them in their eyes because they can gobble up more control). It should be expected that they will lie and distort any GOP plan. Always. They are completely bereft of ideas- and this is all they know.
Now is not the time to pat ourselves on the back about how smart Ryan is and how maybe the Libs will finally recognize our intelligence (and of course, they won’t)- now is the time to get down and dirty with street smarts.
Even Krauthammer admitted (before the election) that although (he claims) the GOP can defend the Ryan plan, it is very tricky, and politically risky, for people like Corwin. He is right about the tricky and risky part.
Does this sound right: The voters want us to insult their intelligence (by ignoring the truth about entitlements)?
No, they needed to strike while the iron was hot. They had a political moment, which is not yet lost.
They pretty much ran on protecting medicare and cutting Obama-care and cutting other liberal stuff, then they get elected and decide :”We got a mandate to (effectively) eliminate Medicare.”
A juvenile and false characterization of Ryan's plan. No wonder you're raving about it: you have no idea what it contains.
Then Democrats attack (who could expect that?) and Rs say :”No, we are not eliminated it, we are saving medicare” JEEZE! saving it?
With "conservatives" like you, who needs liberals?
Yes, they are saving Medicare. Unless there is an incentive on the part of the patient receiving the treatment to save money, there will never be any limit to medical spending, and until there is a serious limit to medical spending, either Medicare is doomed, or quality health care is. You can set the quanitity of something, or you can set the price, but you can't set both. Take your pick.
The alternative -- that we do NOTHING -- is even more politically untenable than you think the Ryan plan is. Like all Ponzi schemes, Medicare will continue to pay right up to the day it it goes broke, and then, it will -- again, like all Ponzi schemes -- collapse completely. No one will tolerate the sudden disappearance of Medicare so it will then HAVE to be rolled into a single payer system; there is NO other alternative. And if seniors are in single payer, all other Demographics will be as well. Once we lock into single payer, there will be only two political parties: 1) The Insanely-Left-Wing-Party (that'll be what's left of the people who're Republicans today) and 2) the Total Commie-Put-People-in-Gas-Chambers-Party.
Running away like a little girl isn't the answer.
People here believed that too. Come on, look at all the posts screaming and wailing that the new Republican House didn't do nearly enough to curtail entitlements (even though with only 1/2 of the legislative branch and a Dem in the White House there was not much we could realistically do).
The Ryan plan was bold and politically dangerous. We proposed and voted to fundamentally reform Medicaid. The Dems are giddy as they think we fell into their trap. We are right on the issue, Medicare is going broke - but politically it still appears to be a 3rd rail.
We may have no choice now but stand by Ryan's plan and boldly argue for significant entitlement reform - just don't be disappointed if we lose a few election cycles doing it. It's either that or drop the issue and let these entitlements reach critical mass and collapse and hope it happens on the Democrats watch.
Bottom line, there has been no significant change in American's view of the social welfare state. This country is still wedded to it. Despite what many hoped, 2010 was not a revolution, it was a correction. It appears the voters were really just rejecting some of Obama administrations overreach and protesting the bad economy.
sad.
Until Republicans wise up and go for the real pork no one will listen.
Huechel ran against Obamas plan and Ryans. So what happens next year after she actually has to vote one way or the other?
But look at this! Bill Clinton is warning Dems that attacking Ryan's plan and doing nothing is not going to work for them in the long run. Clinton: “I think the Democrats are going to have to be willing to give up, maybe, some short-term political gain by whipping up fears on some of these things — if it’s a reasonable Social Security proposal, a reasonable Medicare proposal. We’ve got to deal with these things. You cannot have health care devour the economy.”
Clinton actually told Ryan to call him, and Ryan said he would. Don't trust Clinton 100%, but is this a ray of hope for both the GOP and fiscal sanity?
Clinton criticizes Dem politics and Newt attacks the GOP plan. What's wrong with this picture?
As much as I hated Clinton for his cowardly approach to his obligation to serve his country the worthless POS did have a certain charm. Had he been a pilot in our flying unit in Vietnam I’m sure he would have fit in well. (This in contrast to Kerry who we would have run off like a stray dog..) Maybe, just maybe he is looking in his rear view mirror and along with age recognizing that maintaining his political leanings he is destroying America. I never had a fear while he was President that he hated America....unlike the Democrat who occupies the Oval Office today...
Saw that, pretty sure he will walk it back. Still, I was actually pleasantly surprised to hear the perjurer be honest about something.
The problem is as things stand right now, far too many seasoned citizens are not prepared to entertain ANY reform, modifications or cuts to entitlements. Heck, my parents are conservative on virtually everything but talk about changing medicare or social security, even though it wouldn't effect them, and well....they just don't want to hear it. I mean, literally, they do not want to hear it. It's simply off the table.
So we either embrace the issue, run with it and try to change people's minds and hope people grow up a little, or we retreat, focus solely on attacking Obama and just let Medicare and Social Security implode and deal with it when they are collapsing. I think the former is the better option, but my hunch is this NY26 loss is going to make Republicans too afraid to go any further with the issue.
But when I see how many Freepers have been assimilated by the "I paid for it....the government PROMISED me...." mindset, I practically despair of convincing the general electorate.
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