Obama and the Republican Party

[Dirty Penguin]

No this is based on what their constituents expect of them not whether they agree with your opinion. How about the following ARTICLE that finds 35 percent of those surveyed in the new poll said they believed the law will benefit “people like you or your family,” while 46 percent expected it would make things worse for them.

Spin of course...The GOP has done a remarkable job brainwashing and selling the doom and gloom message to the sheeple.

 

[Tarheeler]

It should be noted that there are two styles of representatives: delegates (who do what their constituency demands) and trustees (who vote as they believe correct based on personal and party ideals). We have both in the US, and most in office use both styles depending on the situation.

To say that they vote the way they do due only to voter demand is naive at best; when a representative takes office, he represents everyone in is district regardless of party or ideology. If he was truly governing strictly as a delegate, then every vote would be put to a poll in his district and he would vote while being blind to party or origin of the bill.

And that just isn't happening. Most will act as a trustee unless public opinion is so overwhelmingly against his choice as to make it political suicide.

 

[Mister_T]

Again most or all of you are basing your thoughts on "your opinion's" Which obviously are not the opinions of all of us.

It's amazing what mental gymnastics people will go through to support their sports team....I mean political party. Obamacare has been deemed constitutional be The Supreme Court, they have voted to abolish Obamacare 40+ times in The House in spite of SCOUTUS ruling and knowing that it will never pass. Now they want to shut down the government cause they're still not getting their way. Just an"opinion" right?

 

[Mister_T]

No this is based on what their constituents expect of them not whether they agree with your opinion. How about the following ARTICLE that finds 35 percent of those surveyed in the new poll said they believed the law will benefit “people like you or your family,” while 46 percent expected it would make things worse for them.

Impressive, cherry picking articles from 2 months ago:

It continues to go overlooked in the Beltway argument over Obamacare, but one of the most fundamental factors shaping the politics of all of this is that disapproval of the Affordable Care Act does not necessarily translate into support for Republican efforts to undermine or sabotage the law.

Today’s new Pew Research poll again drives this home with striking clarity. It finds 53 percent of Americans disapprove of the Affordable Care Act, versus only 42 percent who approve. This mirrors a new NBC/WSJ poll finding pluralities think the law is a bad idea and will be more damaging than not. No question: Obamacare polls terribly. But the Pew poll finds something else that’s just as important: There’s virtually no public support for efforts to undermine the law:

The 53% of the public who disapprove of the law are divided over what they would like elected officials who oppose the law to do now that the law has begun to take effect. About half of disapprovers (27% of the public overall) say these lawmakers “should do what they can to make the law work as well as possible,” but nearly as many (23% of the public) say these officials “should do what they can to make the law fail.”
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The Morning Plum: Fewer than one in four Americans support sabotage of Obamacare

Guess what? Most liberals aren't pleased with Obamacare, however as we can see, not liking Obamacare does not translate into people supporting Republicans and their horrid governing. More of those pesky "opinions" putting a damper on Far-Right Wingers skewed version of reality.

 

[Mister_T]

Spin of course...The GOP has done a remarkable job brainwashing and selling the doom and gloom message to the sheeple.

It's beyond spin. Facts apparently play little to no part in their strategy. It just extreme confirmation bias at any cost.

 

[LuisDantas]

Now you say it depends on how "sane" their objections are. Now are you not saying that it depends on how "sane" it is in your opinion?

There is opinion, and then there is fact.

I meant what I meant.

Again you are basing this on "your opinion".

Sorry, not buying your bait. Have a nice day.

 

[Sand Dancer]

The GOP isn't willing to work with Obama, and Obama is not willing to work with the GOP. Both sides are acting like spoiled children and need to stop.

 

[LuisDantas]

Which evidence is there that Obama is refusing to talk with the GOP?

 

[Jeremy Mason]

The GOP isn't willing to work with Obama, and Obama is not willing to work with the GOP. Both sides are acting like spoiled children and need to stop.

I think this is a way the powers that be divide and conquer a nation.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I'd agree, but I think it's important to acknowledged that there is a similar faction in the Democratic Party as well. The last several decades have seen less compromise and more rule by majority; filibusters and needing a super majority were once very rare things. But I do think that the Republican faction is larger, louder, and plays a much more powerful role in decision-making than it's Democratic counterpart.

But maybe it's just the nature of change. I was reading political speeches the other day and was amazed at how Eisenhower and the Republicans of his day sounded so much like the Democrats of ours.

This.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

It's amazing what mental gymnastics people will go through to support their sports team....I mean political party. Obamacare has been deemed constitutional be The Supreme Court, they have voted to abolish Obamacare 40+ times in The House in spite of SCOUTUS ruling and knowing that it will never pass. Now they want to shut down the government cause they're still not getting their way. Just an"opinion" right?

And no one is commenting on the amount of money it cost for such an endeavor. They've tried repealing it 41 times so far. I read that it cost about $1.4 Million per voting session. That's about $57,400,000. So they've wasted $57 Million Dollars of the tax payer's money....

 

[Dirty Penguin]

The GOP isn't willing to work with Obama, and Obama is not willing to work with the GOP. Both sides are acting like spoiled children and need to stop.

Give an example. Obama has tried plenty compromised deals, dinners, invites, games of golf....He put chained CPI on the table and more. Even before the sequester trillions was cut from the budget. Now that sequester is here cuts are happening even faster....so I'm interested what you mean here.

 

[YmirGF]

Give an example. Obama has tried plenty compromised deals, dinners, invites, games of golf....He put chained CPI on the table and more. Even before the sequester trillions was cut from the budget. Now that sequester is here cuts are happening even faster....so I'm interested what you mean here.

Removing planned spending is hardly a cut. A cut is removing something that is already in place.

People really should pick up a copy of Bob Woodward's, "The Price of Politics". It's quite revealing. -->>> The Price of Politics: Bob Woodward: Amazon.com: Books

 

[Sand Dancer]

Which evidence is there that Obama is refusing to talk with the GOP?

They gave him alternatives to Obamacare and he wouldn't even give them a look. They wanted to discuss options to the stimulus package, and he bluntly said, "I won." I could probably find more. Neither side has any interest in working together.

 

[LuisDantas]

I guess I just don't believe it happened that way.

 

[Sand Dancer]

Besides the fact that they haven't passed a budget in how many years? The Republicans hate that.

 

[Revoltingest]

In a recent interview, Obama had this to say: “The problem we have is we have a faction of the Republican Party, in the House of Representatives in particular, that view “compromise” as a dirty word, and anything that is even remotely associated with me, they feel obliged to oppose.”

Seeing some posts on this forum, if they are any representation at all, it is clear that what Obama is saying is true. Agree or disagree?

They might not be opposed to compromise per se, but could see some matters as being entirely
for or against, eg, Obamacare. Regading the latter, I say more power to'm in starving the beast.

 

[Dirty Penguin]

Removing planned spending is hardly a cut. A cut is removing something that is already in place.

True in a way. In government you can decrease your levels of spending but normally that's not how it's done. To "remove" planned spending is indeed a cut. Call it what you want...Planned removal or even a reduction. It's a cut to an overall budget. And there's been plenty of debt reduction going on here. The federal government, while sit still needs to trim spending and consolidate departments and more, it hasn't been spending at the levels people assume. Much of this happened before sequestration.

 

[esmith]

What is hard to understand is that the government is taking in more than it has in the last 12 to 14 years yet our projected outlays are continuing to go up. Doesn't it seem reasonable that a closer look a the federal governments spending. Especially in the entitlement area. From CBO | Updated Budget Projections: Fiscal Years 2013 to 2023

For the 2014–2023 period, deficits in CBO’s baseline projections total $6.3 trillion. With such deficits, federal debt held by the public is projected to remain above 70 percent of GDP—far higher than the 39 percent average seen over the past four decades. (As recently as the end of 2007, federal debt equaled 36 percent of GDP.) Under current law, the debt is projected to decline from about 76 percent of GDP in 2014 to slightly below 71 percent in 2018 but then to start rising again; by 2023, if current laws remain in place, debt will equal 74 percent of GDP and continue to be on an upward path

 

[Shadow Wolf]

Let me ask you a very simple question. If the White House was occupied by a President that was not a Democrat and the Senate majority was not of the Democrat Party yet the House had a Democrat majority and the Democrats in the House were constantly opposed to the philosophy of the President and Senate would you say that the Democrats in the House were opposing the Senate and the President because they viewed "compromising" as a dirty word. Or would you say they were disagreeing because they felt what the President and Senate were doing was bad for America and they had the responsibility to represent the people who elected them?
Maybe you and others should take a long hard look at why the Republicans are opposing Obama. I think if you really put your philosophy aside you would see that when there is opposition to a economic and or foreign policy it is because the opposition really thinks that it is harmful to the country. So, what Obama is saying is neither true or false. He is not being disagreed with because he is a Democrat but because his policies both foreign and domestic are what they consider bad for the country and it is their responsibility to try and oppose it. Can you not also say that the Senate and the President will not compromise with the Republican majority in the House because it goes completely against their philosophy. There is compromise but only when it does not totally go against the others economic and foreign philosophy.

Actually, one of the guys who wanted to represent me in Washington stated that, to him, compromise means that the Democrats are going to become the minority and give into Conservative ways.
Richard Mourdock: 'Compromise' Means Democrats Agree with Republicans | Video Cafe