More comedy from the Republicans in Congress
We’ve heard a great deal about the wringing of hands among Republican House members after their three disastrous special election losses. What’s remarkable is that even now that they realize that voters want real solutions to problems like health care, the subprime crisis, and the like, all they’re able to do is talk about talking about solutions. Here’s an except from their latest memo:
“The time has come to be bold. The time has come to move beyond empty political rhetoric and to revitalize our contract with the American people. We will provide hardworking Americans with innovative solutions to the problems that they face everyday.”
Such as? Any specifics?
Conservatives can whine and moan about Hillary’s and Obama’s plans for health care, regulation of the mortgage industry, and redeployment of Iraq (and whine and moan, they do), but Hillary and Obama do *have* specific plans. Republicans don’t. All they can offer is “bold talk” about bold talk.
It would be nice to able to say “talk is cheap” but Republican talk over the last seven years has cost the country trillions of dollars.
I wouldn’t say that Rethuglicans have no plans. They do have plans with specifics; specifics that would wind up screwing the American people even further, while enriching private corporations even further. Think Progress and its sub-blog Wonk Room have been beating on John McSame’s health care plan for months now, detailing how it will wind up costing more and providing less than the current situation in health care.
What we can expect, of course, is that Rethuglicans will tout their evil plans, and try to make them sound very very attractive so that in a 30 second soundbite, their plan sounds like it will fix all problems for all people. Dems and progressives need to have a solid and clear rebuttal, and sadly, those will have to fit into a soundbite as well. Cause, as you know, that’s how Rethuglicans plan to win — not with better policies, but with better publicity.
Side note: Hey RT, what happened to the comment preview feature? I want it back! Thanks!
The “plans” that do exist, like John McSame’s “Giveaways to Insurances Company Disguised as a Health Care Plan” are mostly designed to provide good soundbites; these plans simply continue the conservative wet-dream of destroying the social safety net while enriching private corporations. Think Progress, and its sub-blog, Wonk Room, have been all over this.
So let’s recognize the strategy employed here by Rethuglicans: sound public policies? No. Positive publicity on evil plans? Yes, lots. Those are the plans.
Side note to RT: hey, what happened to the comment preview feature? I want it back! Thanks.
I’m endlessly amused that they instruct to move away from empty political rhetoric, but isn’t that paragraph exactly that?