Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
From Michael Barone's latest column:
Last week, Republicans proved they are not a governing party....
A governing party would have, reluctantly, passed Speaker John Boehner's Plan B, which would have preserved the current tax rates on everyone with incomes under $1 million.
Passage would have put Senate Democrats on the spot, since they voted for a similar measure in 2010. They might have engaged in negotiations with Boehner that could have been more productive than his negotiations with Barack Obama this month and in the summer of 2011.
A cruel question to ask on the merriest of holidays, perhaps, but a central one all the same: Is Michael Barone correct? Is the GOP too short-sighted and ideological to govern in the national interest? Or did the conservatives in the House instead, perhaps, make a shrewd decision, calculating that in time Americans will return to a party that stands on principle?
I myself, alas, incline toward Barone. You?
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Comments:
May '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I guess I don't care. In the end, the arithmetic doesn't add up. It's no longer about the taxes. It's about spending and entitlement reform.
We're headed for some sort of cliff whatever they do in Congress, unless real entitlement reform is addressed. And nothing they're doing right now addresses that.
Oct '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I have had quite enough of compromise and pragmatism. Now is the time to stand on principle. And if the majority of Americans are inclined to choose the philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel of envy - as Churchill accurately described socialism - then so be it.
May '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
A party with no soul, no direction and no conviction can't govern. Governing isn't just voting in a bloc to prove you can be herded by your "leader."
Jul '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I wonder how many of these Washington insiders who make their living off the political machine and the circus it creates actually want to see the government smaller?
Jul '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
Oh, that's rich.
Return? To principle?
Pray tell, which party would that be?
Jun '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
No the GOP is not capable of governing. Neither are the DEMS. That is why we have a debt of $16T and deficit non- budgets of $1.5T as far as our eyes can see. This last non-vote on a bill that would solve nothing means nothing. Goodness gracious, did the esteemed Michael Barone just wake up?
Mar '11
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
Boehner's Plan B would have cut ZERO spending, it wasn't a compromise, it was a surrender.
Boehner would have been better demanding that Barry surrender on something substantive - make the deal painful for both sides. The Dems gave nothing, and Repubs gave symbolism.
Better not to vote at all in that case.
Anyone see the column a couple of days ago basically saying Barry was not willing to compromise anywhere? Just like in 2009 his attitude was "I win, I'm not moving".
Any deal where the Dems lose nothing is foolish at this point.
Mar '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
Agree 110% with cdor, we haven't a choice for anyone capable of governing. Tax hikes here or there, or tax cuts here or there for that matter, they just don't really matter as long as entitlements are largely left alone. I'm afraid this arguments and worries about a fiscal cliff are just wind, nothing is solved and nothing will be with our current structure in place. So once agasin the can is kicked down the road. The real question is, what's at the end of that road, what form does our transformation take?
May '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
The "fiscal cliff" coming up in a few days is really just a fiscal seam in the linoleum. The real fiscal cliff is when nobody will buy US debt anymore and we can't finance the trillion dollar annual deficit.
I agree with Barone the GOP as currently constituted is incapable of governing/leadership, but for different reasons. All they've been doing since the election is negotiating with themselves. They could have passed whatever they could agree on out of the house and dropped it in the Senate and President's lap.
It's an epic cluster-up. As the line from Full Metal Jacket goes "it's a great big [CoC word] sandwich, and we're all gonna have to take a bite."
Nov '11
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
When it doubt: Pessimism.
But anybody observing the Republicans know that they're utter, utter clown shoes.
Sep '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
skipsul: Boehner's Plan B would have cut ZERO spending, it wasn't a compromise, it was a surrender.
Boehner would have been better demanding that Barry surrender on something substantive - make the deal painful for both sides. The Dems gave nothing, and Repubs gave symbolism.
Better not to vote at all in that case. . .
Any deal where the Dems lose nothing is foolish at this point. · 0 minutes ago
Dead on target, skipsul! Way off base, Peter!
Senator Reid had already said he would not bring Plan B to a vote, and Obama had said if it passed both houses, he would veto it!
So what was the purpose of the violation of stated GOP principle on taxes? A meaningless fig leaf? No, this was a cowardly surrender by an unprincipled Speaker lacking the spine to fight for genuine reform.
The government debt bubble will begin bursting in the next couple of years. Perhaps even sooner if we don't vigorously cut spending and encourage private sector growth. Plan B did neither! Better to vote "present" and allow Obama & Reid to pass their worthless programs, but avoid complicity in the criminal actions.
Dec '11
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
Exactement! The sobering reality is that the top 2% of earners in this country could be taxed 100% of their income and it wouldn't begin to make a dent in the deficit.
Oct '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
EThompson
Exactement! The sobering reality is that the top 2% of earners in this country could be taxed 100% of their income and it wouldn't begin to make a dent in the deficit. · 3 minutes ago
And at least 51% of the population is too stupid to realize that basic truth, distracted by panem et circenses.
Nov '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
The Republicans are now identified with the rich in the public mind. Republicans should be identified instead as a party of principles.
I like those proposals by which the Republicans vote 'present', let the Left run riot, and hope to rise again out of the ensuing disaster.
God help us, all.
(Oh... and Merry Christmas)
Edited on December 26, 2012 at 3:46amMay '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I would love to chime in but, alas, I am one of the unwashed Huns from a district represented by someone who actually believes in what he is selling, so I am disqualified to offer an opinion to my fainthearted Republican betters. Keep squealing in panic, brothers and sisters. Those of us in states too foolish to follow your wise counsel will be just fine.
Oct '10
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
God bless South Carolina...and Texas!
Jun '11
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I'm convinced that the nature of the Bush tax cuts set up the Mother of all Bootlegger and Baptist scams. Once expiration was imminent, conservatives offered up the moonshine of temporary tax cuts as protection against liberals' threat of higher rates. Liberals use those extended tax cuts -- focusing only on those for the rich -- as justification for more spending. Next year...the cycle begins again.
Don't have enough time to write up a post, but Google "Bootlegger and Baptist" and connect the dots.
Aug '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
In four years we'll have over twenty trillion in debt and over seventy trillion in unfunded liabilities. I'm having a hard time caring about Boehner and his feckless antics.
Dec '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
I feel it is imperative to iterate that the GOP is but 1/2 of 1/3 of the government at this time. Do the individuals that proclaim their conservative bona fides on this website really endow the 1/6 with such power? The people cast their vote in November for the party and direction that they desire. I understand the temptation to 'hold the line' on the increase in taxes, but is it really a position that the GOP will be able to keep steadfast? I doubt it.
On the other hand, if the GOP concedes for higher taxes on the upper income earners alone and allows for the under 1 million dollar earners per annum pay their 'fair share,' what is the downside? We betray Norquist, who has already approved Plan B? No, all we do is limit the MSM and their minions a talking point that they will no doubt propagate like the melting of glaciers and the destruction of Gaia. There are few positions of principle that the conservative base may take with the current power base.
Nov '12
Re: Michael Barone on the GOP: Incapable of Governing
Too many people see no connection between spending and taxes; government has become a cost-free goodies dispenser. This is the basic corruption at the core of the country's finances. Maybe it's time people were reminded, by tax increases, that the goodies are not free. The GOP has occasionally contributed to this corruption by championing tax cuts while increasing spending.
If the people are made to actually pay for the goodies, perhaps they will begin to lose their enthusiasm for big government. The American people recently made the terrible choice for a larger government. They should be given what they voted for .... good and hard.*
*(H. L. Mencken, A Little Book in C Major: "Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard".)
Edited on December 26, 2012 at 4:17am