Party of No

The Kansas City Star's Editorial Board takes a look at the House GOP's 'Pledge to America': "Maybe it was appropriate that leaders of the Republican Party gathered at a Virginia hardware store to unveil their 'Pledge to America.' Under this plan, the United States would get hammered. The GOP pledge is a collection of warmed-over rhetoric, little or no different from what the party has been saying for close to two decades. It rightly left both liberals and many conservatives less than impressed."

Don't know about you, but I'm totally sold on this new GOP. 

President Obama, yesterday: "They have not come up with a single, solitary new idea to address the challenges of the American people. They don't have a single idea that's different from George Bush's ideas, not one. Instead, they're betting on amnesia."

NRCC Chair Pete Sessions says Republicans should go back "the exact same agenda" of the George W. Bush years (!), but he can't actually tell you what said agenda might include in 2010-2011.  And NRSC chair John Cornyn is completely unwilling or incapable of explaining what that means.  

It's almost as if the Party of Personal Responsibility can't afford to let voters know what they want to do... if they actually know what they'd like to do.

For some folks, anyway. Incumbent Sen. Bob Bennett lost his GOP primary in Utah last month to more conservative candidates.  Bennett obviously isn't from Missouri, but his comments this week about the lack of rel ideas from his Republican colleagues hits close to home.

As I look out at the political landscape now, I find plenty of slogans on the Republican side, but not very many ideas...Indeed, if you raise specific ideas and solutions, as I’ve tried to do on health care with [Oregon Democratic Sen.] Ron Wyden, you are attacked with the same vigor as we’ve seen in American politics all the way back to slavery and polygamy; you are attacked as being a wimp, insufficiently pure, and unreliable.”

The purpose of legislative bodies is to make laws. And there's very little indication that Republican candidates in 2010 have an actual agenda for governing. 

GOP Senators voted en masse yesterday to filibuster the "plan to pay for extended unemployment benefits, summer jobs for at-risk youths, help for ailing state budgets and other emergency programs."

Kit Bond voted to filibuster the extension.  Claire McCaskill voted to end debate and bring the bill up for a final vote.

The Post-Dispatch reports that Roy Blunt "reconvened" the House GOP Health Care Solutions Group he chairs in attempt to stem the growing public support for the new health care reform law.  

You may recall that Blunt's "Solutions Group" failed in glorious fashion during the actual health care reform debate, upsetting even his fellow conservatives who wanted Republicans to honestly engage in the arena of ideas.  When Blunt and House Republicans finally released a "plan" late in the process, analysis showed it would actually increase the number of uninsured and reduce the deficit by less that Democratic proposals. 

From the archives:

• Promises Broken: House GOP Plan Doesn't Bar Discrimination For Pre-Existing Conditions
• AARP Will Endorse House Democrats' Health Care Bill
• Majority of Americans Faults GOP For Not Cooperating to Pass Health Care Reform
• "A Doozy That Essentially Does... Nothing"
• Ideas So Awesome, They Had To Be Released On A Friday

Roy Blunt, Chairman of the House Republicans' Health Care Solutions Group, isn't planning on taking any solutions to this week’s planned health care summit.  In fact, he isn't even sure he's going; Blunt is apparently worried that talking about ways to expand access to affordable health care might be a "waste of time."

Tellingly, the White House has invited Republicans to post their health care plan on their website in advance of the summit.... but they've refused. 

CQ Politics' Political Wire:

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll finds that nearly six in 10 Americans say the Republicans aren't doing enough to forge compromise with President Obama on important issues; more than four in 10 see Obama as doing too little to get GOP support.

In addition, nearly two-thirds of Americans say they want Congress to keep working to pass comprehensive health-care reform.

 From a new Public Policy Polling poll:

Our national poll this week found that only 19% of voters in the country are happy with the direction of the Republican Party, compared to 56% who are unhappy with it. Even among independents, who have voted overwhelmingly for [MA Senator-Elect] Scott Brown, [NJ Governor] Chris Christie, and [VA Governor] Bob McDonnell 58% say they don't like the direction the GOP is headed in.

The GOP's own voters are displeased with where the party's going- 38% say they are unhappy with the current direction to 35% who support it. In a trend that perhaps provides at least a ray of hope to Democrats the Republicans unhappy with their own party are disproportionately moderates. 54% of them are displeased to 25% content- the question is what Democrats can do to get those folks to actually jump ship.

The final three paragraphs of The Star's response to Gov. Nixon's State of the State address:

Overall, Nixon has proposed a damage-control budget that will get the state through another year without excess pain. That assumes the governor’s team has correctly calculated the prospects of a mild economic rebound and $300 million in added stimulus aid from Washington. For the sake of the state’s fiscal stability, we hope Nixon is right.

The governor’s upbeat assessment of Missouri’s possibilities was a refreshing contrast to Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder’s sour rebuttal on behalf of Republicans. Kinder’s response to tough times was to criticize Nixon and offer zero solutions.

Legislative leaders must adopt a more bipartisan tone if Missouri is indeed to achieve the possible.

House Floor Leader Steve Tilley and
Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler

Because members of the House and Senate apparently don't have any other pressing matters to address, Republican leaders in both chambers have decided to focus their first few weeks "debating" federal health care and clean energy legislation.  From the News Leader:

State lawmakers say reforming their own ethics, creating jobs and balancing the state's cash-strapped budget are top priorities this year.

But they won't likely focus on those issues in the first weeks of the session, which began Wednesday.

Republican leaders in both chambers intend to bring up "several" non-binding resolutions reacting to federal climate change and health care legislation being debated in Congress, said Senate Majority Leader Kevin Engler, R-Farmington.

I didn't call them that – the American people did (a majority of American adults did anyway). 

Gallup recently asked 1,025 adults to identify political figures as "winners" and losers" for 2009. Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and Sonia Sotomayor were all big "winners." On the flip side, the Republicans in Congress, the White House party crashers, SC Governor Mark Sanford and SC Rep. Joe Wilson were all big "losers."

The biggest losers, in pretty chart form:

Speaking this morning on CBS’ “The Early Show,” Sen. Claire McCaskill called out Republican senators for their work to slow down and kill health care reform efforts.  The Senate GOP has steadfastly refused to produce a real plan for reducing health care costs and expanding access, but has produced a comprehensive plan for slowing down the health care debate.   Watch it:

Yesterday, the American Medical Association endorsed the thrust of the Senate Democrats' health care bill. Though they objected to a tax on "elective cosmetic medical procedures" and the creation of an Independent Medicare Advisory Board, they praised its health insurance regulation and new tax credits to help low- and moderate-income people buy coverage.

Meanwhile, Sen. Kit Bond says the bill is a "disaster" which needs an "exorcism" (because it's been drafted or is supported by the devil, I guess).

Who should we trust here on the general outline of the Senate bill?  The AMA?  Or the Senator who spends more time coming up with clever quotes than ideas? 

Americans United for Change has a last-minute ad up today slamming the GOP health bill, two days before the House is expected for vote on the Democratic proposal.  

There are a lot of pages in the health reform bill from Democratic leaders in the House. That means it's terrible.

From the Senate Democrats: