GOP stall tactics to kill health care reform

This is really incredible video to watch. If you want to understand what the press means when they say that Republicans are trying to stall out health care reform, check out this video. It depicts Republican (Senate) committee members denying the committee leader's request to approve Republican amendments by unanimous consent (meaning a block vote to approve them).

The good news is that we can look at this tactic as old news: this committee is, this morning, the first in the Senate to pass its version of a health care reform bill.

Bonus question: want to guess how many Republican committee members voted to approve the bill?
Answer: none.

A GOP Problem: "personal freedom" vs. "legislating morality"

As Minnesota's long-winding senatorial race wraps up today, and Democrats look to have the official "filibuster-proof majority" early next week, its worthwhile to take a step back and look at where the GOP is now and what future election contests will look like.

I won't begin to regurgitate the the myriad theories about The Problem with the GOP, or one of my personal favorites, the There Is No Problem with the GOP theory. The GOP is out. How will it try to get back in?

I DON'T believe that the Democrats are in power because the country has suddenly become more liberal. I don't have faith that Republicans and Independents have shifted because suddenly they see the Progressive light.

Many of them, I'm convinced, voted Dem because that was the only other thing to vote. They voted against Bush. Now that Bush is gone, what's to stop them from voting against Obama?

Democrats could answer that question in a way that I think could be devastating to the Republican brand. Its an angle they really haven't tried yet:

How can the Republican party stand for personal freedom (Independent/Libertarian) while trying to legislate people's morality (Christian Conservative)?

In his column last week, MSNBC's Chuck Todd summarized the problem exactly:

...From the legislating of morality (Schiavo as the prime example), to the various conservative-led state bans on gay marriage, the Republicans did very little to expand personal freedoms and if anything looked like the party trying to take freedoms away.

Sure, on certain issues, like guns, the GOP stood by their personal freedom mantras, but there are few other examples.

If Dems hope to solidify their majority generationally as Regan's GOP did in 1980-1984, they cannot rest on their laurels and satisfy themselves with their new "Party of No" slogan. They need to exploit this rift and align the Democratic party with personal freedoms.

The country is at a moment of redefinition, willing to entertain the idea that government has a real, useful role (healthcare, financial regulation), and willing to admit that Christian Coalition values are out of the mainstream. If the Democratic party doesn't stand for something bigger than tired partisan arguments at this critical moment, this hold on power will be fleeting indeed.

The search for authentic GOP voices

I'm officially on the hunt for some truly original GOP or conservative voices. The party seems to be at a true breaking point, and will need to develop a drastically different message if it is to survive in a time when minorities are becoming the majority and the newer generation has a higher tolerance for individual differences in lifestyle and belief.

That isn't to suggest that I think conservatives or the GOP need to abandon their core values. Fiscal conservatism always has a place in a society that values responsibility and sacrifice. However, fiscal conservatism in the form of obstructionism is not a governing philosophy.

Who is going to embody the "New Republicansim"?

One voice making headlines is Meghan McCain. The Senator's daughter has been raising eyebrows with her every woman blogversation, straight talk (eh-hem), and inclusive personal outlook in her blog on the Daily Beast.

Another VERY intersesting voice is that of Frank Schaeffer, an original Religious Right-er cum Obama supporter and voice of reason. Schaeffer is clearly not a voice of conservatism, but he does provide interesting insight into the shrinking relevance of the Republican power structure in our current circumstance. Frankly, Schaeffer simply says what no Republican leader is able to say right now. Its truly refreshing.

One thing all of my favorite voices have in common is a willingness to stand up to the haters in the GOP, the Rush Limbaughs and Ann Coulters who peddle in ugliness. Certainly the left has not had the luxury of allowing our most vocal extremists speak for all of us. Its time the right lived up to the same standards of responsibility.

Here's Schaeffer's recent appearance on D.L. Hughley's show:

GOP: crumbling from the center

To recap, let us note all of the Republicans who are now defecting from the John McCain/Rick Davis/Sarah Palin GOP:

Colin Powell - retired US Army General and fmr. Secretary of State

Ken Adelman - conservative Republican and original neo-con

Mickey Edwards - Fmr. Oklahoma Congressman and founding member of the Heritage Foundation

Christopher Buckley - National Review contributer, author, son of the late Wm. F. Buckley

Peggy Noonan - Fmr. Reagan speechwriter, author, and conservative columnist

George Will - conservative columnist

David Brooks - conservative columnist

Michael Smerconish - conservative talk-show host and author

I have to say, one thing I love about Peggy Noonan is that she speaks EXACTLY as she writes.  Its just archaic and wonderful.

Granted, McCain and Davis would write all of this off as the treachery of the irrelevant Georgetown cocktail circuit, but that may be even more evidence of how these people are narrowing the party.

GOP voter registration fraud. Yes, GOP voter registration fraud

Well, if you thought ACORN had cornered the market on voter registration fraud, get some bi-partisan religion.  

In a great story followed by the LA Times, Mark Jacoby, owner of a firm that the California Republican Party hired this year to register thousand of voters, was arrested over the weekend on suspicion of voter registration fraud.  Turns out Mr. Jacoby falsely registered himself at a California address that is not his own in order to meet California's legal requirement to register others to vote.

THIS AFTER dozens of California voters came forward to report that his firm, YPM, had duped them into registering Republican by asking them to sign a petition for "tougher penalties against child molesters".  According to the Times, "YPM has been accused of using bait-and-switch tactics across the country.  Election officials and lawmakers have launched investigations into the activities of YPM workers in Florida and Massachusettes.  In Arizona, the firm was recently a defendant in a civil rights lawsuit."

In California, if these voters didn't discover the change, they would be disqualified from voting in their party's next primary.

So, I know they're both bad, but indulge me: which is worse?  Filling out a bunch of obviously false registration cards (Tony Romo, Mickey Mouse, Jimmy John, etc.) or duping an actual person into changing their party affiliation?

PS - Unlike ACORN, YPM does pay by the card, not by the hour.

(Tip of the hat to Rob for this one.)