The week in review

Well it's been sometime since I posted something here so let me type something out for the sake of keeping my blog somewhat current.

In the last week we had the oh so important health care summit in which President Obama brought together congressional leaders from both parties in what was supposed to be a last attempt to find compromise on the unpopular bill. In reality what it was to those who follow politics was nothing more than a stage play in which both sides essentially stuck to their talking points and which showed that compromise on this bill would not be coming. The purpose of such an event is that the President wanted another media event in which he could appear to be reaching across the aisle and seeking compromise and he when nothing was reached that pubic perception would be turned by some degree against Republicans and lessen any backlash Democrats will receive should they pass this bill.

So far that i can see though, the President's event did not have the effect that he hoped it would. Republicans showed up prepared and Congressman Paul Ryan, Eric Cantor and Senate leaders John McCain and Lamar Alexander all showed excellent reasons exactly why Republicans oppose this bill and why compromise on this rather than starting fresh is so unappealing. Numerous polls conducted with voters who watched the event came away with a positive view of the Republicans as this event allowed them to see where the Republicans stood on this bill and surprise surprise, they oppose it on principle as this bill would allow the government take over of 20% of the US economy, would still see a rise in health care costs, would dramatically raise the debt, and would likely cause small business owners who do provide insurance to dump their current coverage for the bare government minimum in order to offset increased taxes on their business. Lamar Alexander himself brought up one part of the bill that will likely draw enough Dem detractors away from the bill to endanger it's passing, and that is that this bill would for the first time in 35 years pave the way for government funding of abortions. In short this bill is a big sloppy soup sandwich and if real reform and bipartisanship is to be achieved it should be shelved in order to start fresh with reforms that will work.

Last word on this, after the summit talking heads who support Democrats have continued to push for the passage of this bill despite it's unpopularity all with the logic that if they walk away with nothing that it will hurt them MORE at the polls than if they allow it to die. Sadly this again is where partisan politics works against the American people when we have representatives hoping to help their party rather than represent the best interests of their voters as they were voted in to do.

In other news the Marines, NATO, and Afghan forces have been on a offensive in Afghanistan in the southern province of Helmland. This is part of the new offensive against the Taliban and to date the combined forces have gotten the Taliban out of Marjah and have raised the Afghan flag over the town. This is all well and good but the thing that pissed me off recently was a story in which Afghan President Karzai appeared in his Parliament holding a picture of a young child killed in the offensive and denouncing NATO for not doing more to lower civilian deaths. This is not the way to win a war, Karzai, while he maybe making his statements to broaden his appeal to all Afghans is effectively legitimizing Taliban's narrative of the war as one in which NATO forces kill civilians. Simply put, you don't win a damn war by making statements that your enemy is right and more just than your own forces. General McCrystal and our NATO allies need to have a sit down with this moron and remind him how many civilians have been killed by the Taliban and how many of them have been used as human shields by this people. That is the narrative you need to have from out of Kabul. You need to deligitimize the Taliban so that after we kick their ass out of the battlefield the winning of hearts and minds becomes easier and keeps the Taliban from coming back.

I think that is enough for now. Till next time.

-Zach

A caution to Republicans counting victories 10 months early

I am more and more amazed as I listen to folks like Sean Hannity and other conservatives who seem absolutely certain in a massive conservative, read Republican, victory in the November elections later this year. Those elections are ten months away, so much in the political landscape can change from now to than that is seems the definition of foolishness to me to talk of victory as a forgone conclustion.

I also tend to think that it's a turn off for average Americans to hear Republicans talk of this gives me and others the impression that they are more interested in exploiting Democrates political weakness rather than attempt to govern and represent as they were elected to do. It isn't hard for me to imagine that the Dem label of the Republican party as the "party of no" starting to stick with time for the political pendulum to swing back in their direction. Now is the time to rather take advantage of a public who will be much more receptive to hearing Republican alternatives. It is time for Republicans to take a part in healthcare reform and bring down the cost of the bill while enacting free market reforms that will actually have an impact in lowering healthcare costs such as tort reform and expanind health insurance coverage across state lines. It is time to start our other narritive and let it stand because it is that, more than anything, that will bring Republicans and a Republican form of government back to where it should be.

A short post, but it's been a somewhat dull week in politics.

-Zach