The weekly responses - Granite Grok

The weekly responses

WMUROnce again, Pindell sets them up and I oblige:

  • Will Republicans have to choose between supporting either the gas tax or Medicaid expansion?
Why is there even a notion that an “or” should even be in that sentence?  Or even “choose”? That there must be a quid pro quo on orthagonal issues (except that both raise taxes and create a more expensive government)? Here’s a hint, Mr. Pindell – wrong question.  The real question should be:
Will Republicans in both the House and the Senate check with their stated Platform, use that as their Quality Standard of Measure, their philosophical guide called the Platform, and only after that, vote according to what they campaigned to the public on – being a Republican?
Doing otherwise cedes the power to the Democrats entirely – that they get to set the entire agenda.  Yes, they own the House and the corner office – but control Senate.  IF the Republicans stick to the Platform, they can set their own agenda.  Instead of following the Democrat agenda, set their own.  True, I’m not there and I don’t know the internals going on. But “toujour l’audace”!  How better to build a PR of Consistency than by, well, being Consistent.
And sends the message “See – we CAN be Trusted.  Our promise to you when you voted for us – fulfillled.  Consistency builds Trust, yielding votes.
  • Does the Senate Republican leadership just want Nancy Stiles and Bob Odell to join Democrats on Medicaid expansion to get it off the table?

Yes – anything for expediency. We’ve watched this Republican Kabuki dance in DC the last couple of years – the fight that really counts in the near future – give in on this one to get rid of “the Political Club du jour”.  Wipe it off the table today and live to run away (from yet another tough decision) another day.

Look, as far as a lot of NH Republicans are concerned, this is a self-induced wound – instead of trying to be too cute by half and accepting the Expansion but shuffle folks into the Exchange, they should have just said “no”.   Instead, the Dems are going to make it an election issue.  News Flash: unless you go along with EXACTLY what they want, it will be.  Saying no gets you the Dems’ ire. Saying no to normal Medicaid coverage (vs going to the Exchange) gets you the Dems’ ire.

Meekly voting for Expansion gets you the Republican base’s ire – so who does the Senate Republican leadership fear more?  In the primary?  In the general?

The problem will be is that if Stiles or Odell join with the Democrats, there will be repercussions – the Republicans will get the blame, just from the Right side instead of the Left.  Medicaid Expansion – higher taxes, larger government, more dependency; how’s that square with the Platform?  It may not show up in primaries, but will Republican disgust show up in the general by votes not showing up?  That is, even more?  Already fewer Republicans are coming out to vote (here – scroll down to the “conversation”).

Pindell explores this a bit more here, with three choices.  But first, his “set up” for the choices:

Part of the reason is that there are a handful of Republican senators, led by state Sen. Andy Sanborn, R-Bedford, who pledge not to want any expansion deal. If that is the case, then Republicans will need at least as many Democrats to join them on some version some Republicans can live with. Given the dynamics of the situation, no Democratic senator appears to be in the mood to give in.

Sidenote: Andy Sanborn – I give him props for standing by the Platform.  And I am quite sure that he’s getting a whole lot of crap for doing so, even within the Party (“hey you!  Just get to getting along here – you’re making the rest of us look bad!”).

  • First, Morse could find a way to get his full caucus to back some version of Medicaid and to get Democrats to agree. This option seems difficult given that lawmakers tried just doing this for the last six months. Further, those Republicans who do back a compromise could find themselves in primary battles from the right.

Again, I have yet to year a coherent answer to “WHY are you doing this”?  Altruism?  The rush of spending tax payer monies?  Moving some workers from their currently paid private insurance and make them wards of the State via forcing them onto Medicaid?  Or simply because elections are coming up?  Again, it may not be the primary that the Senate Republicans have to worry about – but a lack of support in the general.

  • Second, some moderate Republicans like state Sens. Nancy Stiles, R-Hampton, and Bob Odell, R-Lempster, could decide to just join Democrats in a vote that wouldn’t ask Democrats to compromise much at all.

Again, the Republican will still be blamed by their base – just like Shaheen is blamed for being the 60th vote for Obamacare.  Think that won’t matter?  Democrats will turn that around and use it against that Republicans EVEN AS they will have the Expansion they wanted.  This is not an “off the table” – this is a lose thrice over.

  • The third option will be the default setting unless something passes the Senate: ignore the issue. If Republican leaders find no path forward, they should simply say they aren’t for it and try to pivot the conversation to other topics. Democrats will push back, but maybe the best Morse and others can do right now is to fight whether they should even have the conversation.

You’ll get hit – doesn’t matter, the Dems will figure out a way to do so no matter what you do (excoriate you or laugh it up given that they made you do what they wanted all along).  Like I said, a self-inflicted wound that will lead to either a complete decimation of the Republican Party when the Fed money runs out and you stop the Expansion.  Or the decimation the other way for due to a broadbased tax implementation.

Awe heck, I’m gonna repost it here:

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Yet, some in the Party can’t under stand, grok it, and then act upon it.    I tried to explain this to a female Republican of some note a bit ago:

Me: there are Republicans out there they are no longer voting nor donating to the Party.  They’ve quit.

She: Well, why ARE they doing that??  Don’t they realize that this will allow Democrats to be elected?

Me: They no longer care

She: WHY don’t they care?  Don’t they understand what this means for implemented policy, they are allowing Democrats to win??

Me: They realize that.  They don’t care anymore.

She: They HAVE to care – Democrats will win if they just stay home.  Don’t they realize that?

Me: You’re not listening to me, and haven’t been for a while.  You have made them not care.  Why SHOULD they care when Republicans do things at cross-purposes to what they say they stand for?  Why should they support candidates that, in the end, don’t support their beliefs?  When they don’t see their beliefs being advanced?

She: But Democrats will win?!?!?!

Me: Now you’re making me not care much.  Whether you like it or not, whether you want to admit it or not (and I think you are at the point where you don’t want to SEE what they are saying), these people exist. They are dropping out, and you can’t seem face reality even when I put it in your face.

The long and short of it, you Republicans “of note”, the Establishment Republicans (or as I now say “Republican Republicans for the sake of the Party”), aren’t listening.  They make it sound like they do, but they aren’t.  How to tell?  The voting data says the truth – these people have left.  Stayed home.  Sat on their hands.  Kept their wallets shut.  You may say what you want, but what the evidence says contradicts you.  They are telling YOU their answer to your question of “where else will you go” – and now you aren’t listening to that answer either.  Too bad.

You’ve told lots of folks: do it our way or go away.  So, they’ve done what you’ve told them and have gone away. And now you don’t believe it. I’m telling you where they are going, and they are all telling you where to go, too.

They. Don’t. Care.  People will work, and work hard, when they see results.  Where do they see those “results” (being non-hyper media / political junkies like us)?  In the media. And what do they see? Object lesson (again): Medicaid Expansion.  Sure there are differences between the Dems and the Repubs – important ones, too.  But NOT to the non-political-cogneseti – they see:

  • Lots of Federal money coming in
  • They know that money is not free
  • In most cases, they ARE paying those Federal taxes that provide that Free Money even as NH GOP Rs are repeatedly saying it’s Free Money
  • Thus, they see Rs all too willingly to spend it just like the Dems.
  • They don’t care if one solution is traditional Medicaid & one is real insurance – they see money being spent. THEIR money being spent

So what they see?  Two thieves stealing their hard earned money that means they have less to spend on or for their own families.  They see, once again, that Rs are complicit in forcing them to take care of others with no choice in the matter (and no, they don’t believe this is “the price we pay for civilization – they see it having to be complicit in the Left’s involuntary ideology of the Collective).  They see the Rs assisting in moving the Left’s policies of the redistribution of their wealth FORWARD! – while the Repubs simply calling it anything but a rose.

They are tired of being lied to incrementally, they are tired of being taken for granted, and they are tired of being used, they are tired of Rs not fighting for their stated ideals, and they are tired of the Rs NOT GP GOING TO THE MATS AND THE WALLS AND FIGHTING FOR THEM.  Why should they fight when they see Rs being the Jr. Partners of the Democrats?  So they stay home.  They are hunkering in for the dystopia they know is coming and doing all they can to prepare themselves and their families to best ride it out.

You have stopped giving them hope.  And THIS is the message we bring.  Only you don’t listen – I can’t make it any plainer than that.  It no longer matters what you believe or what you say now.  Only concrete results will save you.  Been saying that for a while but you aren’t listening – you’d rather bash us for saying the obvious.

Too freaking bad – we aren’t stopping and we will be the pains in you butts until you start doing what will give them hope: no more talk, just concrete actions that say “we are fighting for your freedom by once again acting to truly limit government”.  In fact, look – we ARE rolling it back!  And if you no longer know how to do that, just read us – we’ve been telling you for quite some time – you just haven’t been listening.

Period.

They no longer care and the Rs have no one to blame but themselves.  And yet, we Groksters are blamed for bringing the bad news to light.  Well, frankly Jennifer Horn and the other R apparatchiks, you SUCK at listening.  And now the Piper’s kids have decided not to follow you and have gone home – they have decided that the Leader is no longer worth leading.  Or following.  So, just keep going, Jennifer and other Republican Republicans (aka, Establishment).

If you think you can succeed without a substantial percentage of non-Establishment Republicans (the TEA Party, Constitutionalists, 9-12ers, Libertarians, and others), knock yourselves out.

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