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May 22, 2008If the GOP does not now trash the farm bill……they will be beyond saving. Especially now that Nancy Pelosi - as incompetent a House Speaker as has ever held the post - has decided that Congress does not even have to send the president whole and complete bills (staggering arrogance!), if the GOP does not find the gumption to first DEMAND a revote and then do a 180 and represent the will of the people over their own fat, they deserve to lose everything, for the foreseeable future.
It seems to me that McCain and the GOP can pull out a last-minute rehabilitation of themselves before the election if they take a few really sensible steps: 1) Start demanding that America drill, process and refine her own energy resources (and consider serious alternatives and nuclear power) instead of being held hostage to foreign governments while China drills 75 miles off our shores. When chumps act like impotent fools, chumps get treated like impotent fools, and the GOP looks pretty damned limp. Way back in 2005 we saw how ineffectual and complacent the GOP was, so I don’t expect them to do any of these things. When the economy was doing well, they did nothing to stop the press and the Democrats talking it down, but maybe now they can help get good news on the air. Are they capable rejecting the narratives and standing for a difference? I doubt it. The Republicans have allowed every media meme to go unchallenged for the past 7 years, and now they face extinction for it. But if they would make an effort, take a few bulls by the horns, — if they could identify and and stop the farces instead of riding them like merry-go-rounds — they may still be able to snatch a victory from the jaws of what looks to be inexorable defeat. I really believe in my heart that Americans are dying for someone - anyone -to stop accepting media storylines, PC framings and a status-quo of illusion, mediocrity and feckless double-talk, and just be straight and firm on these issues. Absenting that - and I don’t see any of the three major presidential candidates willing to do any of it - I almost wish the president would adapt Bill Clinton’s attitude and take control of these issues - particularly the energy issue - by Executive Order. Can he? I don’t know. Seems to me no one ever minded it when Bill Clinton “flicked his wrist” to make a “law of the land,” and then smiled and said, “pretty cool, eh?” When the congress is out of control - and it seems not only out of control but out of its mind - do not the other two branches of government have a basis to step in? I’m no scholar, so it’s a serious question. UPDATE: So now, a Democrat has called for a government takeover of the oil industry. That’s what we need, because the government runs everything else so well, it can’t even send a bill to the president. Come on, Republicans - do something or go down and go down for a long, long time. http://theanchoressonline.com/2008/05/22/if-the-gop-does-not-now-trash-the-farm-bill/trackback/ 23 Responses to “If the GOP does not now trash the farm bill…” |
May 22nd, 2008 at 6:22 pm
I really believe in my heart that Americans are dying for someone - anyone -to stop accepting media storylines, PC framings and a status-quo of illusion, mediocrity and feckless double-talk, and just be straight and firm on these issues.
A lot of us really fell for Fred for just that reason… but he couldn’t or wouldn’t go the distance. Over at RWN John Hawkins has posted a conversation with a GOP staffer who perfectly illustrates the concept of “not getting it.” It’s going to be a long time in the wilderness, I think.
May 22nd, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Hey, it seems to me that the democrat-controlled congress just gave the president the line-item veto (a long-standing republican campaign plank.) All the prez needs to do is edit the bill with a pair of scissors and an exacto knife, and when done, sign whatever is left.
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:30 pm
THis is indeed distressing. I have to think a while as to the question you ask at the end on and start thinking about the Const Issues that at play here. I have not thought about some of those issues since Law school
Ed Morrissey though is kinda of wrong on aspect of the Farm Bill. The Farm bill might have got parts of the conservative base up in arms but I bet they are are not in agricultural district
However as to the local republican and “conservative base” in many of these districts to go agains various aspect of the farm bill is suicide!! If Ed Morrissey wants to come down to Congressman Boustany District or Scalise Districts and explain to Sugar Farmers and the Parishes that depend on that Industry on why its a bad thing more power to him. I suspect he will be tarred and feathered before he gets out of town (Insert COtton, Soybean, Rice, etc etc etc)
I saw all so well well in 2002 what happens when a Republican is seen on the wrong side of that. That is one reason why so many Republicans vote for it. ALL politics is local
That being said something has to be done here as to this move that is appears to be very troublesome.
In some ways it is brillant because many of the COngressmen have been under fire because the Farm Bill got delayed to 2008 and was taken off the 2007 Calender. SO they are under the gun. However she might have overstepped here. The key is how to reverse this
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:38 pm
GOP in need of some Viagra…
The Anchoress in so many words:It seems to me that McCain and the GOP can pull out a last-minute rehabilitation of themselves before the election if they take a few really sensible steps: 1) Start demanding that America drill, process…
May 22nd, 2008 at 9:50 pm
Cathy, I was thinking the same thing…what Pelosi wants amounts to congress having what they won’t give the president.
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:31 am
WE have a 13-Step Program for Conservative Victory should you care to review it and spread it along.
[edited to admit link. snooper, just so you know, I know my rant seemed very much in line with staunch conservatives I'm actually a moderate in the JFK, Scoop Jackson mold - what a liberal was before the left highjacked its meaning. My sense is that this election is not about "saving the conservative movement" by "teaching a lesson" to the GOP but about "saving the constitution" which is more important than any movement. We won't be able to do that if we don't somehow wake up the idiots that are already in congress. But welcome aboard! :-). - admin]
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:04 am
We forget that a lot of what is in a farm bill is not about farmers at all. That is how bills like this get passed. For years I have listened to conservatives complain that Bush was not vetoing more bills…now they know why. He was trying to not to make the Repubicans in Congress look bad.
I think that most Americans do believe in the global warming hype. In fact according to polls the numbers are overwhelming, over 80%. However, I think that over time some of that belief will be tested by events. For that reason I think McCain is taking the right path. He can create a more rational alternative. And he said he would veto the farm bill too.
I farmed for years. I was farming when people were hanging themselves from barn rafters back in the 80’s. I do support farmers and I think they get a bum rap sometimes. But this bill is just a blatant attempt to buy votes on the part of a bunch of politicians.
BTW, they are about to smack Bush again on the Iraq war funding bill with a bunch of earmarks and add ons. Webb is pushing his version of a new GI bill and needless to say they will use it in the election.
What bothers me the most is that these Republicans used Bush when he had coat tails. They try to blame him for the fact that they lost Congress in 2006, but that is bs. He helped them win the majority they squandered. When sucking up to them worked for them, they were more than happy to do it.
Parasites.
May 23rd, 2008 at 8:43 am
[...] Farm bill. [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:17 am
re: Alice Walker’s daughter, Rebecca’s article about her mother.
Dear Anchoress, Please read the article in the London Daily Mail by Rebecca Walker on 5/23/08. Also please excuse this way of contacting you, but, I do not know how to send the article to you. Thank you for all that you do. Blessings, eaedwards
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:05 am
Well, I’ll be listening intently for the Republican Nominee to vigorously speak out against nationalization of industry and in favor of long-overdue expansion of drilling throughout the United States and coastal regions, as well as the building of new refineries. And I don’t mean just one throw-away, off-hand remark, or anything written by his staff (which is 95 percent of what we get out of him, including his speeches).
Indeed, he could guarantee a victory in Ohio if he advocated and made a centerpiece of his campaign the building of four or five new refineries in Ohio (which was previously a big refinery state and thus should have little environmental objections). That would resurrect Ohio’s economy overnight (and perhaps we ought to get Michigan into the refinery business too).
But just as I have heard NOTHING from him about that “sure-fire winning issue” from California (other than a staff-written two- or three-sentence press release), I won’t hold my breath on the drilling/refining thing.
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:05 am
Republicans Am Stupid…
With the stench of imminent defeat growing stronger every day, the Republicans in Congress, who just the other day we were told by Congressional Minority Leader John Boehner had another one of their increasingly frequent “wake-up” calls voted last ni…
May 23rd, 2008 at 11:19 am
[...] usual, The Anchoress is saying it better than I would: Especially now that Nancy Pelosi - as incompetent a House Speaker [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Peggy Noonan:
Mr. Bush has squandered the hard-built paternity of 40 years. But so has the party, and so have its leaders. If they had pushed away for serious reasons, they could have separated the party’s fortunes from the president’s. This would have left a painfully broken party, but they wouldn’t be left with a ruined “brand,” as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.
As usual, her entire piece is worth reading.
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
If Miss Noonan is talking to and listening to buffoons like Tom Davis, who has done as much to destroy Republican electoral prospects as anyone (and whose district is next to mine), then she is no longer “worth reading.”
If Miss Noonan is continuing to blame Bush for all the troubles in all of the history of the world, then she is no longer “worth reading.”
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:59 pm
[...] Anchoress makes a very serious pronouncement about the GOP and I agree: If the GOP does not now trash the farm bill… We the people need to take control back from these whacko politicians before they totally do us [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:58 pm
gs:
I stopped reading Noonan when she turned into a backstabbing traitor. Bush did not squander anything.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:02 pm
No she didn’t.
YES SHE DID!
“My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing calls to drop out.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:06 pm
[...] The Anchoress takes the GOP to the woodshed, especially now that this magnificent opportunity has landed squarely in their lap. What better time to show America that the selfish and clueless Democrats CANNOT govern their way out of a paperbag? In her comments, she sums it up completely: My sense is that this election is not about “saving the conservative movement” by “teaching a lesson” to the GOP but about “saving the constitution” which is more important than any movement. We won’t be able to do that if we don’t somehow wake up the idiots that are already in congress. [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Bender - they are pumping oil in backyards in Michigan, as you no doubt know, so refineries aren’t that big a stretch!
As long as Michigan continues to produce 2nd rate university football teams, I wish them the best of luck in all other endeavors.
May 23rd, 2008 at 4:23 pm
[...] If the GOP does not now trash the farm bill… [...]
May 23rd, 2008 at 6:17 pm
Over at Politico, they’re saying that GOP strategists are now mulling a McCain blow-out victory.
Well, then. Now there is no need for me to vote for him. (not that I was going to anyway)
May 23rd, 2008 at 10:26 pm
BRB and Terrye, IMO the crucial piece of the paragraph I quoted is the second half:
…they wouldn’t be left with a ruined “brand,” as they all say, speaking the language of marketing. And they speak that language because they are marketers, not thinkers. Not serious about policy. Not serious about ideas. And not serious about leadership, only followership.
**********************
Afaic both parties have been squandering the nation’s post-Cold-War position. They remind me of petulant self-entitled heirs who take possession of a large thriving family business. They don’t run it badly enough to ruin it outright (or so they believe), but they deliberately decline to exert the level of vigor, discipline and focus that built the enterprise.
May 25th, 2008 at 2:16 pm
If the GOP does not now trash the farm bill…they will be beyond saving.
Anchoress, alas, you may well be correct. The legislative process is debased in a way that cannot be instantly rectified, especially in an election year. The Democrats haven’t run enough of the government for long enough to get blamed by the voters.
Bush’s veto was the right thing to do. It’s too bad that he didn’t whack profligate Republican Congresses with vetoes. Bad for the GOP and, more importantly, bad for the country.
Afterthought. Was there a quid pro quo, i.e. Presidential acquiescence to domestic overspending in exchange for continuing funding of operations in Iraq?