Approximately one in ten Americans will change their support of the Affordable Care Act to disapproval if you call it “ObamaCare,” indicating that there is a significant amount of partisan opposition to the bill that doesn’t reach the merits. It’s significant because calling it ObamaCare lowers support from 46% to 37%, which makes all the difference in the world. Meanwhile, in this part of the country, Republican lawmakers are running scared. Michael Grimm, who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn, has this to say:
“The circus created the past few days isn’t reflective of mainstream Republicans — it projects an image of not being reasonable. The vast majority of Republicans are pretty level-headed and are here to govern,” said Representative Michael Grimm, a New York Republican.
“This is a moment in history for our party to, once and for all, put everything on the table. But at some point we’re going to come together and unify,” Grimm said, adding that the “far-right faction” of the party “represents 15 percent of the country, but they’re trying to control the entire debate.”
And Rep. Charlie Dent, who represents Allentown and Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, says that he is ready to support a clean continuing resolution (CR) because he doesn’t intend “to support a fool’s errand.” The House Republicans have tried to put on a show of unity, but it’s not real.
Likewise in the Upper Chamber, where Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming (about whom, gay rights advocate Mike Rogers has recently had something to say), was overheard complaining about “those crazy people in the House” to Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire. Sen. Susan Collins of Maine says that she opposes a strategy that “cannot possibly work.”
This is the condition of the Republican Party as Speaker Boehner launches a campaign he transparently does not believe in.
By embracing the Tea Party’s strategy aimed at thwarting ObamaCare, Boehner (R-Ohio) is betting he can win the public relations battle against President Obama’s bully pulpit.
It is a huge gamble; the political fallout from it could be felt for years to come.
This is the equivalent of a poorly-regarded boxer taking on the heavyweight champion of the world, when he doesn’t believe in himself and has his arms tied behind his back, and hoping to win on the judges’ scorecards because he knows he lacks the power to score a knockout. As Sen. Collins said, this cannot possibly work.
Cobb’s fight, which caused Howard Cossell to famously announce during the fight that he would no longer announce boxing because the fight should have been called as Tex was clearly risking death (IIRC a Korean fighter died a week earlier), also brought fame to Cobb.
Cobb a short while later while on Letterman or the like was asked about Cossells comments and he said, “I will go another 15 rounds if it gets him off Monday Night Football too”
And he got one of the best roles ever in one of the best movies ever, the villain from hell in Raising Arizona.
So what does that mean for house republicans? I think it means they will be willing to pass 43 more Obamacare repeals and endless shutdowns if it means one might actually get it repealed. And they might parlay it into an acting role on Fox News.
I remember the fight; I remember Cosell going nuts, and I remember Cobb’s quip about MNF. Tex Cobb was a courageous man and a fantastic actor, but he had no business being in the ring with Larry Holmes.
If he had been allowed to kick box (his skill) he might have won. He beat shavers and some other punks who were/are the heavyweight division. That gave him the fucked up right to fight Holmes.
I think your point is valid the Reps may think there is glory and God in holding the line on style points but the asshats in the house would be stomped by Cobb just for being dweebs before a judge or voter had a voice
I rewatched some early rounds from that fight today, and Cobb held his own for at least the first four rounds. After that, Holmes just started teeing off on him with combinations and crushing right hands that would have floored most mortals. Really, the problem wasn’t so much that Cobb was allowed to fight him, but that the referee wasn’t willing to stop the fight no matter how much punishment he took as long as he wasn’t rendered totally defenseless.
And, by God, Randall Tex Cobb could take more punishment than any man I’ve ever seen. That alone could have given him a chance if only he had more power in his punches. But he was an arm-puncher. Even when he landed, it didn’t phase Holmes.
A different example is George Foreman’s knockout of Michael Moorer. As long as Foreman could take what Moorer was dishing out, he had a chance. And he eventually knocked Moorer out. He lost every round, badly, and was beaten senseless, by he regained the heavyweight championship of the world. Sadly, there was never much chance of that happening for Cobb. I’m just glad he wasn’t brain damaged.
Check out the fight between Cobb and Earnie Shavers if you want a version of the Foreman/Moorer parallel. Shavers was one of the most devastating knockout punchers in the history of boxing; he gave Ali, Frazier and the other top fighters of the era all that they could handle, knocking a few of them down and a couple of them out.
Against Cobb, he whaled away in the early rounds and dished out a ton of punishment. This encouraged Shavers to punch away; it just didn’t compute that one of his opponents could eat dozens of straight right hands and hooks without being ready to go with the next big punch. So Shavers didn’t conserve his energy at all, which led to the 8th round sight of Shavers leaning against the ropes, unable to do anything but hold his gloves against his face while Cobb rained down punch after punch. The referee watched this for almost the entire round and finally was compelled to stop the fight, not because Cobb’s punches were hurting Shavers, but because Shavers was incapable of fighting any more.
Cobb was a richly funny character. I recall an article on him where the reporter described himself as following the fighter through his day. Cobb went down to an electronics store, wishing to buy a TV and VCR. He pops in a tape of the Shavers fight, and a few rounds in he points to himself on the TV screenand says to the salesperson, “I dunno, looks like there’s a lot of distortion on that guy’s face there.”
Buckle up, kids, it’s going to a fun week.
I am a bit heartened by how many republicans have been heard speaking out on this. Perhaps there really is hope of a clean bill coming out with the dems.
Then, by 2016, with obamacare mostly implemented, it’s game over.
A comment going around is that on Wednesday morning we should expect to see a statement from the President about the fact that x number of people have successfully enrolled in Obamacare in spite of the fact that a minority of Republicans have shut down the government to try to prevent it from happening at all.
With the the distinct implication that the House Republicans are no longer relevant to actual politics anymore.
That would be great. As I remarked earlier today,”Proof positive that Obamacare is a good thing is the desperate Republican push to keep the public from experiencing it. If Obamacare was as bad as they say, they would want it to go into effect so they could run next year on it’s repeal.”
Has anybody counted noses among the GOP to see if there’s enough votes to pass the CR? If all the Democrats voted for it and enough Republicans do, too, it’d pass and nothing would be shut down.
Why aren’t the Democrats hammering home the idea that the house should actually vote on the CR?
Gee, I’ve heard nothing but this. The Ds are very clear, IMVHO.
They haven’t actually circulated the Discharge petition yet, have they?
A discharge petition would completely destroy Boehner’s Speakership, although that’s not a bad thing.
It looks like procedurally they can’t circulate a discharge petition on this: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/30/1242593/-FYI-Discharge-Petition-is-NOT-an-option-here
Off-topic and sort of on-topic:
I’ve been watching videos by John Green since he started Brotherhood 2.0 many, many years ago. Needless to say, his subscriber list has gone through the roof since then. His books have been on the New York Times Best Seller’s List, and his most recent book (The Fault in Our Stars) is being made into a movie.
Anyway, his biggest demographic is teenagers, and especially teenage girls. He’s used his celebrity to educate people with new channels such as “Mental Floss,” “SciShow,” and “Crash Course.”
He just started a new channel in conjunction with Aaron Carroll of The Incidental Economist blog. Let’s just say that this will definitely help outreach with young people.
First video is here, and his recent viral video explaining health care is below that:
I really think Barrasso, Ayotte and Collins have all been support a “fools errand” so far, so why would they stop? They aren’t the first to vote against what they know is right. On the 27th all three voted against cleaning the Senate bill of the house add-ons. And they then voted against the clean CR bill.
So who are the fools?
Corker, Alexander, and Burr just last week said the debt ceiling was a good place to fight. Has that changed? If you scan the financial websites you’ll see lots of chatter about how nuts it is for R’s to push this game. The rumbling will soon become a din and R’s risk long term brand damage if they don’t soon act rationally.
I think the proposals by sane Republicans to fight over the debt ceiling are just a trap for Tea Partiers. Sane Republicans don’t want a shutdown or a debt default. They figure the financial industry pressure against a debt default will be so enormous the Republicans will buckle to it and pass the debt limit increase. Precisely because a shutdown is not catastrophic, it might happen and then the Republicans will get the albatross of having harmed the country for political reasons.
Basically, they’re lying through their teeth to trick the Tea Parties. The Republicans have much more leverage over the CR; it’s pretty normal practice to put some riders on a CR and if they hadn’t been acting like nuts I’m sure they could have. The problem the sane Republicans have is that they don’t all that much leverage even on the CR. Certainly not enough to block Obamacare and the Tea Party is not able to accept that fact. So to govern they have to distract the Tea Party with pretty promises down the road and hope that the situation improves for them somehow.
The Blame is on the Republicans, they are trying to repeal Obamacare without being the majority party in government. Boehner by pandering to the Tea Party is set too put the Republican Party in position where they will cease to be relevant.
And their failure to pass Immigration Reform means a Republican President will not be sitting in the White House on 01.01.2017.
These guys are sounding like Scott Brown whimpering about how you should vote the party, not the person.
Nothing is more reflective of mainstream Republicans than the circus of the last few days. Grimm’s statement simply reveals that he is even less in touch than the clowns running his party.
Sorry, vote the person not the party.
Now if Obama doesn’t punch himself in the face with a last minute deal, we may win.
This part, BooMan: “…indicating that there is a significant amount of partisan opposition to the bill that doesn’t reach the merits.”
NOOOO!!!!! You are joshing me! GOP partisans have always seemed so rational and fact-based in their critiques of the ACA…
Boo made a funny.