From inauguration day Republicans maintained a constant drumbeat of malicious and ferocious attacks on President Obama. Hard-right nuts insisted Obama was not a legitimate president because he was not born in the U.S. Republican Senator Shelby added to the hubbub by replying to a constituent's question as follows:
Well his father was Kenyan and they said he was born in Hawaii, but I haven’t seen any birth certificate. You have to be born in America to be president.
As if he did not know better.
Far-right nuts have called Obama a Muslim, an Anti-Christ, a Nazi, a Communist, a racist, a traitor, a socialist........ Do Republican leaders correct this in any way? Sometimes, faintly. Mostly we hear things like this:
Representative John Boehner, the Republican leader in the House, called the budget proposal and recently passed economic stimulus plan "one big down payment on a new American socialist experiment."
and
Senator Jim DeMint of South Carolina called Obama "the world's best salesman of socialism."
Republicans are masters of the art of building "tea-party" emotions with hot words like "socialism." When it comes to stopping presidential nominations, however, Republicans don't need emotion; just gall. By means of "holds," they prevent a nomination from being considered. Senator Shelby placed about 70 "holds" on pending nominations for the purpose of getting some pork for Alabama. Senator Bunning of Kentucky used a "hold" to prevent the enactment of extension to unemployment insurance. Neither succeeded but their actions show the lengths Republicans will go to achieve their goals at the expense of the country.
By preventing confirmation of executives to run the various agencies of the government, Republicans hamper government operations. Republicans then complain the government is not doing its job under the Democrats. Brilliant, Republicans think. So what if the public suffers?
While Democrats were busy with substance, Republicans were campaigning. While Democrats sought bipartisanship, Republicans were erecting walls. While Democrats spent 14 months seeking Republican ideas, Republicans first feinted cooperation and then objected en masse to the actual bills.
This was and still is the Republican strategy. As the New York Times tells us now:
Before the health care fight, before the economic stimulus package, before President Obama even took office, Senator Mitch McConnell, the Republican minority leader, had a strategy for his party: use his extensive knowledge of Senate procedure to slow things down, take advantage of the difficulties Democrats would have in governing and deny Democrats any Republican support on big legislation.
The essence of McConnell's strategy is to prevent President Obama and the Democrats from governing. Thus the Republicans think they will "prove" that Democrats are incompetent and that government can't do anything right. What Republicans are truly "proving" is that they are willing to destroy America for their own benefit.
For 14 months Republicans have used filibusters, "negotiations," "tea parties," polls, outrageous attacks, false posturing, emotional smears, hypocritically-changed positions, scare tactics and myriad other techniques of obstruction to prevent the passage of healthcare reform. But healthcare reform did pass both the House and the Senate, the latter with 60 votes in favor. Now the House is scheduled to pass the Senate version and also an accompanying bill containing some improvements. After the House acts the Senate will pass the "improvement" bill through reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes.
Again, Republicans are screaming that they do not like the procedure, though they have used the same procedure many, many times when they were in the majority. Republicans don't care about procedure. Their only goal is to prevent healthcare reform. They know that once healthcare reform passes, it will help the Democrats, not the Republicans. This is their sole concern.
Republicans are driven by power. They cannot accept that Democrats won the election. They will do whatever they can to hurt Democrats. They do not give a damn that their efforts to destroy the Obama Administration may cause ordinary Americans to suffer. All they want is power.
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