Dear Senate Republicans,

I’ve come to offer you a bit of advice.

You bet your entire party on the fact that “Health care would be Obama’s waterloo” and if you could stop it from getting passed, Obama would be unelectable and your party would win.

Forget that the strategy was entirely stupid. Obama was intensely pro-bipartisanship, and you could easily have gotten the Wyden-Bennet Bill, which is very Republican but still a very solid bill and solid reform. You probably could have gotten nearly 80 votes for that.

And America would be happy.

The Anti-Government Cycle

But instead, you’ve built your campaign on the fact that government doesn’t work and we need less of it. But why does government not work? Because your party is filibustering everything and because your party is actively trying to make government not work.

We understand your cycle. I understand it to look something like this:

It’s a deadly cycle. You go out and campaign on how government doesn’t work — how all they do is tax and spend and never get anything done. You get elected in populist anger. Then you use your positions to block legislation and fillibuster nearly everything you can. Then you talk about how Congress is stalled and point to it as “Figure #1″ in how government doesn’t work. Then you go out and campaign on how government doesn’t work, completing the cycle.

It’s a great idea for getting you elected, but horrible for helping the country — especially if you’re going to be the party that decries partisanship and demands bipartisanship (but then votes against any compromise made).

Nevermind that you’ve “tied the Senate in knots” because “fillibustering everything will lead you to victory in November”. We’ve come to expect that.

Nevermind that Mr. Fringe Angry Guy Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) did a one-man fillibuster of unemployment benefits before giving the middle finger to reporters. He’s old, and not entirely supported by the party.

Time to Face The Facts

It’s time to end all this obstructionism against Health Care and realize:

Fact #1 is that Health Care has won.

In case you didn’t watch the broadcast on most major news channels, Obama signed health care into law with 22 pens.

But as you know, Fact #2: It’s not over.

That health care bill has some pretty nasty provisions in it that you oppose. It has the “Cornhusker Kickback” in which the government pays medicare for Nebraska in exchange for Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE)’s vote. It has that “Louisiana Purchase” to pay for Medicare in Louisiana to buy Mary Landrieu (D-LA)’s vote. It also has a bunch of other payoffs that you, the Republican party, vehemently hates.

Forget for a moment that this vote buying process is a sad part of passing many bills in America, including the Republican Omnibus Spending Bill in 2003, Bush’s Highway Bill that funded 6,376 pet-pork-projects including the famous “Bridge to Nowhere” (the Bridge Sarah Palin said was “essential for the town’s prosperity”.) Forget Mitch McConnel’s Omnibus Appropriation Bill that split the party between cries for “fiscal responsibility” and “bring home the bacon” (with McConnel, the current Sen. Minority Leader, being on the side of “bring home the bacon”).

Opposing What You Oppose; Then Doing What You Oppose

We can forget all that. We won’t accuse you of hypocrisy — or at least not hypocrisy on the levels of the way you guys handled stimulus spending. We know you’re good at heart. You’re still opposed to these payoffs. So let’s remove them.

Surely you’d be in favour of that! So when the Democrats propose a bill to modify the Senate bill to remove all the payoffs and cut back on some of the “left”ness of the bill, the Republican Party roared in favour and went to pass it.

…Except they didn’t. They opposed the bill that would fix and prevent things they oppose. And they opposed it for no real reason.

Oh, and you know how Republicans openly hate “procedural tactics” like Reconciliation to get things done, as seen here, here, and here with extra large bug-eyes.

Yeah, we know that this “procedural, partisan tactic” was something you guys used to pass your Tax Bill under Bush, and that these “Chicago-style politics” was actually something your party used to overwhelmingly support.

Forget about how you used these tactics yourself. We won’t accuse you of hypocrisy here.

Instead, focus on the fact that you plan on defeating this “procedural, partisan tactic” with “procedural, partisan tactic”s of your own with a free-for-all Amendment-thon, including over 50 amendments to change the effective date of the legislation, all of which have to be individually debated, wasting time.

Yes, you’re using tactics you despise to defeat a piece of legislation that fixes things that you oppose. Why? Hell if I know. That part of your message machine isn’t very clear.

Taking Your Crayons And Going Home

But the last straw comes from the assertion that McCain has claimed that health-care has so angered Republicans that “[t]here will be no cooperation for the rest of the year. They have poisoned the well in what they’ve done and how they’ve done it.”

And we’ve seen your rage. We’ve seen Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) threaten to block every single Senate nomination if healthcare passes, we’ve seen the GOP manipulate an archaic rule to block all Senate proceedings after 2pm, and we’ve even seen you falsely claim that the health reform bill allows taxpayer funded abortions, but then watch you turn around and defend your party providing abortion coverage.

My only response to McCain’s statement is — one — you weren’t really doing any cooperation before hand — and two — as Robert Gibbs said, it sure is real grown-up and civil of you to decry those evil Democrats, and stating that “not getting your way on one thing means you’ve decided to take your toys and go home.”

My Letter

So, Dear Senate Republicans,

Do something about this.

If you do, I’ll hold a candlelight virgil for the millions of babies this bill will kill, as well as all the grandparents that will face Obama’s death panels.

Sincerely,
Peter Hurford

http://www.greatplay.net

Continued by: Now About that Extremist Right Fringe

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