Via Kevin Drum, I see the Democrats not only have a new opinion abnout healthcare, but they also have a whole new platform they intend to roll out:
The Democrats, after all, have no hope of getting any of these things passed over the next four years. Especially since House Speaker Dennis Hastert has already declared that no bill will get by the lower chamber unless it has the support of a majority of Republicans. So the Democrats don’t need to craft bills that hew closely to political reality. Like Pedro in Napoleon Dynamite, they can promise that “If you vote for me, all of your wildest dreams will come true.” So on education, for instance, they could have proposed universal preschool. On voting reform, they could have promised to abolish the electoral college, or eliminate gerrymandering. On budget reform, they could have vowed to “end corporate pork as we know it”. What? These things will never happen, you say? Who cares? The goal of an opposition agenda isn’t to get stuff passed through Congress; the goal is to define what the opposition party stands for.
Possible Slogan: Vote Democrat- We’re not serious about ANYTHING!
I hope they do it, though. I can’t wait to see the cognitive dissonance when they start bitching about budget deificits after rolling out this platform.
By contrast, when the GOP was out of power, they drew up a list of attainable goals and named it the Contract With America and were swept into power. But really- Democrats are the ‘reality-based’ party. Just ask them.
Oliver
A list of attainable goals… which they proceeded to ignore (balanced budget, term limits anyone? anyone? Bueller?)
Jay
Ignored? Those items were voted on Oliver. The BB was an amendment to the constitution and didn’t pass in the Senate. Term limits flopped because 90% of all Democrats voted against it.
Tax cuts – Signed into law
Welfare reform – Signed into law
Apply laws to Congress – Signed into law
Geoff Matthews
The Contract With America stated that a Republican Congress would pass specific measures within the first 100 days in office. And they did that. They made it clear what a Republican Congress would do, and people voted for it.
The Democrats would do well to follow that. Heck, the Republicans would do well to follow that.
Ricky
As is usually the case, other than the facts the rest is right on the money.
Do they teach those things in blue counties? Judging by the test scores the question must be asked.