Bliss It Was in that Dawn to be Alive

 

Republicans have been attacking so rapidly across so many fronts over the last couple of days that this item–this glorious item!–only just now came to my attention.  From Human Events:

House Votes To Defund ObamaCare
Planned Parenthood funding gets the axe, too

In a remarkable afternoon of floor activity, House Republicans voted to defund ObamaCare on Friday, starving the program of federal funds through the end of 2011.

I have lived to hear the first shots of the revolution.

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  1. Profile Photo Inactive
    @LeviSpires
    Kenneth: Peter, don’t get too giddy. Take a look at this. · Feb 18 at 9:27pm

    Maybe we should be more cautious, but in Peter’s defense conservatism (via the Tea Party) is on the rise.

    Let’s say the Republican Congress screws up this big deal. Unlike before, they’ll get voted out. That’s the difference. In fact, I can see a few 2010 (R) congressmen be replaced by and even more conservative 2012 candidates if they don’t get their act together.

    Times are a changing…

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  2. Profile Photo Member
    @
    Learned this AM that an amendment to cut a measly additional $22 Billion failed and thanks to Nancy Pelosi, we apparently can’t really defund Obama Care, so this is purely symbolic. Here is my post to my Republican Congressman’s Facebook Page at 5:00 AM this morning:
    Epic Failure. The Federal Government is utterly mad. 60 Billion cut from 3.6 Trillion….less than 2%. 60 Billion cut from a deficit of 1.6 Trillion, less than 4% of the Deficit. And some Republicans whining that we have gone too far? And all Federal Agencies are currently funded at 25 to over 100% more than 2008 levels! And we …can’t even agree on symbolic cuts like NPR, mouthpiece of the progressive agenda. Might as well go home because 60 Billion is going to become far less when this is all said and done. We just pressed the accelerator to the floor, straight towards a cliff. Oh and as far as Obamacare….just finding out that it has over $100 Billion to spend in funds appropriated when the bill was passed….so that is full speed ahead. Congratulations Republicans.
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    @SteveMacDonald

    Peter, We can always depend on you to make us cheery. I was depressed at the same data as we face a $1,700 Billion shortfall and these guys are incapable of achieving a paltry $100 Billion in cuts they had promised us. I prefer your viewpoint but am not sure we have the time required for this glacially paced revolution to “win the future.”

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    @StickerShock

    Despite the paucity of the overall cuts, I believe that the House voting to cut funding for Planned Parenthood is a watershed moment. It warms my heart & gives me hope.

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  5. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Well, when I see Orin Hatch, Teddy Kennedy’s old pal, blinking flirtatious eyes at the tea party, I too am thinking the times are a-changin’.

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  6. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Remember, this now goes to the Senate, then the President. So, a measly $60 Billion in cuts is our starting point in the negotiation process. This is the best we could do? Any predictions on what we actually end up with in the way of cuts?

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  7. Profile Photo Inactive
    @Spin

    What needs to be happening is happening. It never happens fast enough. But if we throw up our hands every time a Republican does something we don’t like, we are only hurting ourselves. When they make incremental progress that by itself is just a small step, we need to cheer them on, not complain that it wasn’t enough. The Republicans like Scott Walker are getting hammered by the press and the left. They don’t need to be hammered by us. We love yammer on about “when will the Republican’s learn?” But I ask: “When will we learn?” I agree with Peter, we are witnessing the beginning shots of the revolution. Let’s make sure it fails right away by criticizing the ones who pull the trigger saying they’ve done it wrong, or aimed in the wrong direction, or not shot far enough. There’s your Epic Fail. Rant complete.

    PS – I read the article and I sort of ran off the track when it said Planned Parenthood would have to start charging more for business consulting services to pimps. Was I reading the SNL version of the Article?

    PPS – Why is it so windy here?

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  8. Profile Photo Inactive
    @KCMulville
    Ken Owsley: But if we throw up our hands every time a Republican does something we don’t like, we are only hurting ourselves. When they make incremental progress that by itself is just a small step, we need to cheer them on, not complain that it wasn’t enough.

    Well said. I agree. This is going to be a long, Rocky-style slugfest, not a one punch fight. If conservatives start throwing wildly to land a big blow, we’re going to get rope-a-doped.

    We need to build the case. Make cuts, see the effect. This first round of cuts may be nothing more than a signal to the rest of the world that we really are serious about cutting the deficit. Once we establish that, we can rebuild — one step at a time — a reasonable, long term policy. We can take on entitlements, not as an ideological crusade, but as a prudent, practical approach.

    When it comes to steps in the right direction, consistency is more important than the size of any one step. What we need from the GOP is consistency.

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  9. Profile Photo Inactive
    @TeeJaw
    Ken Owsley: What needs to be happening is happening. It never happens fast enough. But if we throw up our hands every time a Republican does something we don’t like, we are only hurting ourselves. When they make incremental progress that by itself is just a small step, we need to cheer them on, not complain that it wasn’t enough. The Republicans like Scott Walker are getting hammered by the press and the left. They don’t need to be hammered by us. · Feb 19 at 7:09am

    Nobody on our side is hammering Gov. Scott Walker. But Republicans who talk a good game and then won’t support a measly $100 Billion cut (2.7% of a $3.6 Trillion porker of a budget) can’t be criticized enough. The Bastards should be thrown out of office at the next election.

    Rep. Steve King of Iowa had a plan to defuse the IED Pelosi planted in Obamacare ($100 Billion of automatic funding) but the Republican leadership rejected it. Whose side are they on anyway?

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  10. Profile Photo Member
    @

    Peter, don’t get too giddy. Take a look at this.

    • #10
  11. Profile Photo Contributor
    @PeterRobinson
    Steve MacDonald: Peter, I was depressed at the same data as we face a $1,700 Billion shortfall and these guys are incapable of achieving a paltry $100 Billion in cuts they had promised us. I prefer your viewpoint but am not sure we have the time required for this glacially paced revolution to “win the future.” · Feb 19 at 6:25am

    Hey, Steve, Kenneth, everybody, hold on for a second here! A handful of points: Item: House Republicans promised to cut $100 billion from the 2012 budget. What got voted on yesterday was cuts in the continuing resolution for the current fiscal year–that is, for 2011, not 2012. Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor–they’re all still confident of taking at least $100 billion out of next year’s budget, which will be coming up soon. Item: A “glacial pace?” Lord, the House voted on the continuing resolution that the leadership proposed plus more than one hundred amendments, all in four days. That’s warp speed.

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    @KennedySmith

    Oof, Peter, I find myself somehow less squishy than you. When a majority of the GOP caucus defects over $22 billion of cuts because they’re, um, “sloppy and lazy”, I find it hard to adhere to the Code of Conduct.

    Apparently they prefer the flickering scalpel that avoids their districts rather than the efficacious pruning shears.

    Unlike Ace of Spades, I’m not entirely lacking in hope. But, damn, it’s deflating.

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    @ParisParamus

    Also, I read, albeit on a BLOG, that Obamacare funding can only be stopped via enacting new law affirmatively. So what really is/has been done?

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    @Sisyphus

    Folks, the article is from 5PM yesterday. The House did not adjourn until a bit after 4 AM this morning, 11 hours later, and Boehner claims that at that point they has cut the $100B for FY2011 they were after. If that pans out, than I for one will be happy to shake his hand.

    As for the “self-fundedness” of the un-Constitutional and stricken ObamaCare law, I am not terribly concerned. No previous Congress may bind a later Congress.

    And yes, there are some hurdles to be passed yet, but I am working on a guest list for a Czars are Fired party.

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  15. Profile Photo Member
    @

    To quote the Vice President, “This is a big &-ing deal” In the back of my mind, I was wondering if the recent conflagrations across the Middle East and North African were coordinated, perhaps by the Muslim Brotherhood. Now I’m not so sure – unless they’ve also infiltrated the Wisconsin Teachers’ Union

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    @LimestoneCowboy

    Peter, like many on this thread I have mixed feelings. I’m encouraged by the attempt to defund Obamacare, but not primarily for cost reasons. As for the $22 billion in across the board cuts, well, I’ve never been a fan of “across the board” cuts either. That’s sort of “chemotherapy light”. It slows down tumors, but inevitably they grow back. I’m much more in favor of whacking entire programs.To quote a recent columns by Mona Charen in National Review,

    “The Bush administration had a quaint idea — evaluate the effectiveness of federal programs. They called it “Expect More.” After examining 1,015 federal programs, they found that 193 were “effective.” Of the remainder, 326 were “moderately effective,” 297 were adequate, 26 were “ineffective,” and 173 could not be judged at all because there were no metrics for evaluation.”

    So what I’d like to see is the Republican leadership target some of the ineffective programs and just whack’em.. It would send a really clear signal that rather than seeing the budget deficit as green eyeshade accounting issue, Republicans see it as a size and scope of government issue. Correctiing size and scope will fix deficits.

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