The New Republican Virtue Of Cowardice

Michael Barone:

Many Republican House members, and the bloggers and tea partiers who cheered their victory in gaining a majority in November 2010, seem to be seething with discontent and eager for confrontation.

They believe, reasonably, that their victory represented a repudiation of the vast expansion of government by the Obama Democrats. They want to see those policies reversed, and pronto. And if the dilatory Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the all-campaign-no-governance President Obama want a confrontation, so much the better.
Such impatience is unbecoming in those who call themselves “constitutional conservatives.” It is James Madison’s Constitution that prevents the winners of one election from directing the course of public policy as unilaterally as, to take one example, the British Labor party marched Britain into a socialist welfare state on the basis of one election victory in 1945.

This is utter hog-wash!We who want less government and to reduce its power over our lives DO NOT expect a return to Constitutional government over night.In fact most of us know it won't happen in our lifetimes.

We know we will have to have both the House and a filibuster proof Senate,with the Presidency just to begin to restore our nation to its Constitutional roots.We also know that the battle will not just be in Washington,but in the streets all across America.The Left -the Union-thugs and Occupy Wall Street- will rage with violence at the end of government programs that they have been conditioned to be dependent upon;being encouraged to do so by the crony capitalist who have enriched themselves at the expense of the state.It will be a very long and enduring fight.

The problem that I and others have with the Republicans in Congress,is not in their prudence in picking the right fight,but in their refusal to stand up and fight at all.Their strategy seems to be to avoid confrontation with Obama and the Democrats at all cost,caving in at every opportunity.They may not be able to roll back the welfare state,but they DO NOT have to be a party to its expansion.

Patience is a virtue,but cowardice is not.This exactly what John Boehner and the GOP leadership in the House has exhibited,cowardice.I will not be lectured to,by Michael Barone or any other Washington insider on being impatient,when we are led in Washington by a bunch of cowards.

'Obama Lite'

From Andrew McCarthy:

Well, we know the leadership is the same old GOP: As I noted last week, the Boehner Highway Boondoggle might as well be called “Obama Lite” — and it’s really not all that lite at $262 billion, which is about $70 billion more than dedicated fuel taxes will generate and $14 billion per annum more than House Republicans proposed just seven months ago. This is exactly the sort of recklessness that got the GOP booted from power in 2006 and 2008, and that they promised voters they had sworn off. 

As Erick Erickson points out, moreover, House Republican leadership is using the same sort of sleight-of-hand Obama Democrats employ to conceal their profligacy and bribe resisters: budget busting provisions are diverted into separate legislation, to be paid for out of general funds, to hide the fact that the Highway Trust Fund is being blown out; domestic energy production is purportedly ramped up (the Left will never go for it) to woo fiscally responsible conservatives into voting yea — even though there is no reason why energy production should be linked to transportation, and if there is a surplus to be had from it, responsible lawmakers would use it to pay down some of the mountainous debt they are saddling our children and grandchildren with, not fund more “stimulus.”

The House Republicans proved how spineless they were last year in the debt ceiling debacle and I fully expect them to cave again to this pork barrel spending.

If No One Else Will Say This,Then I Will

Via American Power;

It's a miracle she's alive, but still, this is sad news for those who hoped and prayed for her return to public life. At LAT:

Gabrielle Giffords is nowhere close to returning to Congress. And there remains real doubt about whether she ever will.

That appears to be the bottom line of an article Thursday in the Arizona Republic that provides the most complete assessment yet of the wounded congresswoman’s current condition. Giffords was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson in January. Now, six months later, she still struggles mightily to communicate, although her staff believes her comprehension skills are strong. And it remains unclear just how much damage her brain has suffered.

Asked for a blunt description of Giffords’ condition, her chief of staff, Pia Carusone, replied: "She's living. She's alive. But if she were to plateau today, and this was as far as she gets, it would not be nearly the quality of life she had before."

As to whether she resembles herself before the shooting, Carusone said, “There's no comparison. All that we can hope for is that she won't plateau today and that she'll keep going, and that when she does plateau, it will be at a place far away from here."

The news may be sobering, but it's not necessarily a surprise. The state of Giffords' health has been closely guarded information as early, hopeful accounts of her rapid physical and motor recovery yielded to more cautious -- and less frequent -- reports. She remains at a Houston rehabilitation facility while her staff manages her day-to-day congressional business.

Although her two trips to Florida to witness the launch of her husband’s space shuttle mission were hailed as significant milestones, she was kept from the public. No photo of her after the shooting has yet been released, but Carusone said that day is coming.

It has been 6 months since Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords suffered a severe gun shot wound to the head and miraculously she survived.In those 6 months she has made great strides in her recovery but it is unknown how much of her life she will regain. According to the report her Chief of Staff,Pia Carusone,it will be a very long while,if ever,Giffords regains her normal life.

During these past 6 months,while Gabrielle Giffords has been fighting for her life and to regain her life,the people of Arizona's 8th Congressional District have gone unrepresented in Congress.It is clear that Congresswoman Giffords will not be able to resume her seat before her term expires at the end of 2012.The people of the 8th District will go almost 2 years without representation and thats not fair to them.

It is time for Gabrielle Giffords to resign her seat in Congress.I know what happened to her was horrible but it is only delaying the inevidentable for her to hold on to this seat.Its the right thing to do.Its right for Miss Giffords and its right for the 8th District too.