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Well that’s just sad.  Our economy has just shown the first real employment creation in over three years, and all the Republican politicians have to say is, bah-humbug.  It is looking more and more like the Great Recession (which happened under W’s leadership) is now in our national rearview mirror.  This is a hopeful time and a cause for American celebration.  Even the conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, gives us an almost joyful report today.  “The resumption of job growth suggests the recovery is sustainable,” said Aaron Sweet, an economist at Moody’s Economy.com.  “The recovery appears to have plenty of momentum.”  See it here. 

The problem these Republican politicians have is that they just can’t bring themselves to celebrate for our country and fellow Americans — as all patriots would — because they cannot stand the idea that “Yes we can” became “Yes we did!”  

And that’s just sad.

CHECK-IT-OUT

Talking Points Memo puts it all together.  Nuff said.

The University of Washington tried to have a debate on the constitutionality of the new healthcare law.  They invited well respected law professors to participate in the debate but were unable to find even one to debate the position that the new law is unconstitutional.  Check out the full story in the Seattle Times.

All the law professors on the panel agreed that the new law “passes constitutional muster and that various lawsuits arguing the opposite — including the one joined last week by Washington’s state Attorney General Rob McKenna — have little merit or chance of success.”  The former Republican U.S. attorney for Western Washington, John McKay, said, “…the lawsuits lacked merit.”  He also wondered aloud about the timing and thrust of the cases — “One way to say it is, that this has to be seen as a political exercise.”

The Republican Party is now utterly and completely the antigovernment party.  According to Republican NY Times columnist, David Brooks, “It’s a party that sees modest efforts to improve Americans’ economic and health security not merely as unwise, but as monstrous. It’s a party in which paranoid fantasies about the other side — Obama is a socialist, Democrats have totalitarian ambitions — are mainstream. And, as a result, it’s a party that fundamentally doesn’t accept anyone else’s right to govern.”

Someone once wisely told me, “The ability to compromise with life is a mark of maturity.”  I hope the nation recognizes the maturity that it took for Dems in Congress to get this Healthcare Reform law passed.  And, I hope that we all can recognize the extreme immaturity that has been on display from the Republican Party in recent years:  our way or the highway; no negotiating; we’re always right; no compromising.

Timothy Egan at The Huffington Post writes that the Republican Party is now the “party of the hissy fit.”  That’s a phrase my Granny used to use when my little brother would throw a two-year-old temper tantrum.  The hissy fit is evident in congressional obstructionism, Republican’s lockstep “Hell NO,” and in Tea Partier racial slurs and threats of violence.  And you’d think that Republicans would be all over the media to disavow these extremists’ threats, but instead of denouncing the Tea Partiers they are welcoming them into the fold for a perceived short-term electoral advantage.

David Frum (W.’s former speech writer who coined the phrase, “Axis of Evil”) has recently said of Republicans, “At the beginning of this process (Healthcare Reform) we made a strategic decision: unlike, say, Democrats in 2001 when President Bush proposed his first tax cut, we would make no deal with the administration. No negotiations, no compromise, nothing. We were going for all the marbles. This would be Obama’s Waterloo.”  David Frum has now famously said that Senator DeMint’s threat of “Obama’s Waterloo” has become Waterloo for the Republicans.  

Frum’s wife, Danielle Crittenden, also writes, “The thuggish demagoguery of the Limbaughs and Becks is a trait we once derided in the old socialist Left. Well boys, take a look in the mirror. It is us now.”

Rigid conformity is being enforced in the Conservative/Republican Party, no dissent is allowed and the party must pay homage to the Tea Partiers, Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Fox News.  The Republican Party is no longer a party of ideas, it is one where the conservative brain will slowly shrivel into dementia with only slogans and bumper stickers in place of a governing policy for a new century.

It’s actually pretty shocking to see the level of Republican immaturity in Congress. They’ve now gone so far as to refuse to work past 2:00pm, in retribution for losing all the marbles in their game of “chicken” on Healthcare Reform. They’ve even found an obscure Senate rule that makes it binding.  John McCain has announced that he and fellow Republicans, in a fit of pique that they lost the vote on Healthcare Reform, will not work with the majority to move our country forward.  This will surely be perceived by the electorate as obstruction without purpose. 

Already there’s a new poll out, Democracy Corps, that finds the Republican favorability among Independents has dropped 11 points, and dropped 12 points on the generic congressional ballot. The conventional wisdom about a wave election which would sweep Republicans into power in November may be upended, if that trend continues.

So, listen-up Republicans, you DO have some wise members of your party who are trying to wake you up before it’s too late. If you don’t pay attention to the voices of reason in your own party, it will be permanently branded in such a negative light that you’ll never make a real comeback.

There could be a voter backlash against this right-wing intransigent nuttiness, and the Democratic Party might benefit from Republican extremism.  But, I agree with David Brooks: this is not a good thing for our nation in the long run.  America needs to have two rational parties, and as David says, “And right now we don’t.”

Oh, get this:  On Morning Joe this morning Pat Buchanan, far-right-wing pundit and former Republican presidential candidate, actually said about Healthcare Reform — “A lot positive here.  Republicans, (in Congress) some of them said 60 % or 70% is really good.”  Now don’t get me wrong here, he’s still in favor of running against healthcare in the next election as a politically good move — he just thinks that the majority of the bill is “really good.”  Are we over being shocked by Republican hypocrisy?

UNITED FRONT

Nick Anderson / Houston Chronicle

Will the Republican Party have a political price to pay for their pattern of obstructionism and use of scary, fear-mongering predictions — that simply turn out to be wrong?  Like:  Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction and mushroom clouds.  How about:  Clinton’s raising taxes on the rich (with not one Republican vote) will destroy the economy.  Then there’s:  Bush’s tax cuts on the rich will lead to a healthy, thriving economy.  How’d those prognostications work out for you, Republican Party?

Now we are hearing:  This Healthcare Reform will destroy the economy.  It’s Armageddon.  There are death panels in the legislation.  It’s a socialist, government take-over of our country.  Healthcare Reform will have tax-payer-funded “abortion on demand.”  It’s the end of freedom.  Or even the latest:  This new law is unconstitutional.

This is a law that moderate Republicans in years-gone-by would have loved — following the support of the American Medical Association, AARP, and the hospital industry.  But those moderates are gone, replaced with ideological right-wingers.  And now the Republican Party is a party of wing-nuts and naysayers.  While being the party of “no” may bring them an electoral win in the short-term, in the long run it defines Republicans as incapable of governing our nation, because…well, they don’t believe in government!

At some point, will the American people stop and evaluate the credibility of the Republican Party, and their spawn, the Tea Partiers?  

Already some of the Republicans are trying to pivot away from their previous lies and misinformation about Healthcare Reform.  A few Republican leaders and pundits have begun to say, “Well, we’ll reform the bill, not repeal it.”  How do you reform Armageddon?  And over the weekend I heard a righty pundit say, “You know, I don’t really mind the health exchanges.” 

Uh huh.  You’re sooo believable and trustworthy, Republicans.  The next time Republicans tell us that the sky is falling because the Democrats are actually doing something for our country, let’s all say together, “uh huh, yeah right — you’re sooo credible, Republicans!”

The heavy lift is over.  Having passed the House of Representatives, the Healthcare Reform legislation goes to the Senate where it will pass.  This bill is not all that we wanted and hoped for, but it is a momentous breakthrough in our move toward universal healthcare in America.  Ninety-five percent of Americans will now be covered by healthcare, secure that they cannot be thrown-off of their insurance  coverage.  This is a step toward finishing the promises of so many presidents, Democratic and Republican.

Historically, this accomplishment will likely be seen as among the boldest of American presidents:  Social Security;  Medicare;  Civil Rights;  and Healthcare Reform.  This is a transcendent and transformative healthcare law.  And, change is coming — but not overnight as when LBJ signed the Medicare bill and said, “Medicare begins tomorrow.”

This time change will come in steps.  It will take four years to change the existing system and cover 32 million people.  The change will be driven by subsidies, a mandate for most Americans to have insurance, employer obligations, and the establishment of health exchanges where Americans will buy insurance.  There will be new rules for insurance companies that will bar them from denying insurance to sick people — both by explicitly barring companies from refusing to insure people with pre-existing conditions, and barring them from kicking sick people to the side of the road once they need treatment.

America owes much to our elected officials who have had the courage to stand up to all the political scare tactics, distortions and outright lies.  Let’s not forget to say “thank you” to our representatives in Congress.  This was not an easy vote for many of them, and for many this was a courageous vote of conscience.

Wow.  From time to time — when I get deeply cynical, — this amazing country we live in can surprise me.  I’m kinda feeling like I did on the night that our citizens voted to elect Barack Hussein Obama as the 44^th President of the United States of America.  It feels really good, and can be so surprisingly delightful, when our country does the right thing in the face of angry opposition.  I’m so proud of our country tonight. 

We are a center left nation!

Called our representative in the House today, just to say, “Please thank Congresswoman Eshoo for her support for Healthcare Reform.  And let her know that we’re holding our breath.”  The young lady who answered the phone said, “We’re all holding our breath.”  

I think that’s the reality of the situation.  This thing’s not locked down yet — and we’re all hoping and waiting to exhale.

The nation is holding its breath.  We wait.  For more than sixty years we’ve waited.  We think the waiting is almost at an end.  The 2010 Healthcare Reform legislation will be the beginning of a new day in America.  We’re holding our breath — and waiting.

Well, here it is:  more proof that the Republican Party is not to be trusted to tell the truth.  While ranting at the top of their lungs that Obamacare is a socialist plot, this Republican admits the truth in the New York Times.  William F. Pewen, a former senior health policy adviser for Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, states the following at the end of his NY Times editorial today:

“Three in four Americans say the health care system needs to be overhauled, and many provisions in the pending legislation have strong support.  What’s more, the core of the Senate’s legislation closely resembles the very bill the Republicans offered in 1993 as an alternative to the Clinton plan.”

(We added bold to Mr. Pewen’s quote, and want it to be read as if we were raising our voices to a very high decibel!)