What Rock Has The GOP Been Living Under?


can't have it both ways

Try as you might, you can't have it both ways. I've learned that over the years, and maybe the Republicans need a remedial course in Arguing 101.

Pick a side. Argue that angle and if you believe you're right, your going to have a better chance at winning the discussion. Try taking both sides, and you're sure to lose at least one.

From The Hill:

Rep. Todd Young (R-Ind.) accused President Obama of "betrayal" with the healthcare law in the weekly Republican address, outlining issues his constituents have had with the rollout of the Affordable Care Act and urging the president to "take steps to right this wrong."

In his address, Young outlines four Indianans (hardly a huge number) that have either lost their coverage due to the implementation of ObamaCare or have had trouble signing up for health care on the enrollment website

Let's just take a look at this. Breakdown -- Rep. Young is unhappy with the law so he should be thrilled with this news. People, despite the President's assurances, aren't able to keep their plan and they're not able to sign up for the new one. That's a perfect scenario for the dissolution of the law. You stop there. You win.

But, here's where the GOP and Rep Young go astray. They want the plan fixed. Well, if it gets fixed, and the promises the President made are delivered, then you lose. If the ACA fails, the GOP wins. If ACA succeeds, the GOP fails.

Let it flounder, blame the Democrats and have the people turn against it. If it gets fixed, there's no chance of removing it from the books. Just look at Social Security and Medicare.

home improvement before and after

Let's say you're the GOP and your partner is the Democrats. Together you purchase a house (ACA) and you start suffering from buyer's remorse. You feel your partner pushed you into it. Unless you can find some valid issues, you're contractually stuck. What do you do? You start picking apart some of the issues you have with it. The seller (Obama) and your partner (the Dems) actually agree there're some problems which the seller sets out to correct.

The owner calls in his contractors (Sebelius and the IT group) to fix the loose boards on the porch, slaps on a new coat of paint, replaces the leaky faucet in the kitchen and he's even willing to put in a new, low-volume flush toilet in the master bath. You still want out but contractually you can't because it's the law and all of your issues have been fixed. Besides that, your partner is happy and loves the new place.

You still don't want to give up. There's one last chance. You go to court of public opinion who you hope will rule in your favor. The jury visits the newly renovated house and they love it. They think it's great. So there's only one verdict they can render. They vote against you and find for the seller. To add insult to injury, a few of them that are interested in buying a house inquire if the seller has any other properties for sale.

So perhaps the GOP and the Tea Party might learn from that. If they want Obamacare repealed, they first have to convince the jury. So stop pointing out the flaws and hope that on it's own, the house will tumble. Because the more items you point out need fixing, the more the seller (Obama) and your partner (the Democrats) will repair them and it'll succeed. You'll lose for sure.

GOP, maybe it's time accept for you to stake out a claim in what is sure to be a success story and add a few flowers to the front yard. Put out the for sale sign and maybe even make a profit by selling it and moving on. People then might even start to give you credit for the improvement you made to the neighborhood and say "lets see where those Republicans are going next. They know how to fix things up and make a profit. They might be good for the economy."

Right now, you GOP are looking like potential losers.

  • Sally

    But they ARE losers. They had 8 years under Bush to do something, anything about much -needed health care reform in this country. What did they do? They passed an unfunded prescritpion plan for SENIORS, ignoring the masses of younger people who don't carry insurance yet rely on the ERs for critical care, which the hospitals (us) pay for. When Dems proposed the ACA, the GOP had all sorts of input, and many of their ideas are in this bill (basically the ones screwing the consumer, and rewarding the inusrers) and then they decided to pretend they had no idea Dems even had a bill, complain they had no time to read it (they read?) and then followed their master Grover's dictum that they vote against anything that came from a Democrat. So they did. Now they are left with a few people whose insurance was cancelled BY THE INSURERS, not by Obama, and a website that crashed because of the GOP Governors like Perry who refused to set up an exchange because deep down, they still believe only rich white corporate (or elected officials like them) employees deserve to be healthy. Therefore, instead of setting up an exchange for 5 or six states, Sebelius had to do it for 30...and without the necessary funding of course, because the GOP wanted to make sure the thing crashed and burned. This party is trying to end the US, and the sooner people realize the GOP is no friend to anyone but themselves, the better. They have used a balck Preisdent to fear-monger, lie, and manipulate laws. They want to take away contraception, for God's sake. Anyone actually trying to eliminate abortion would embrace contracepton and education. Not the GOP. They see people of color dominating birth statistics, and voting against them, and their answer is to terrify the stupid white folks (he's taking your guns, your women, and your right to sell your bakyard to big oil!!! BENGHAZII!) into voting against their best interests. They are despicable.