The Civil War Is Back, and the GOP Takes the South’s Side
There's no question as to who is sending the death threats to our congressmen. There's no question as to who is threatening to kill their children by sniper. There's no question as to who is vandalizing their district offices and their relatives' homes. But conservatives have gone to the trouble of taking credit anyway. Townhall's Carol Platt Liebau knows its her readers, and goes about a mixed "reprimand":
It will do nothing to advance the cause of liberty for anyone to resort to violence. In fact, it will hurt the cause. ... I have been reading your comments, readers, with great interest. And yes, of course, the Revolutionary War was necessary. ;)
Dennis Prager one-ups Liebau, calling the conflict a Civil War outright:
Thank God this civil war is non-violent. But the fact is that the left and the rest of the country share almost no values. The American value system and the leftist value system are irreconcilable. If the left wins, America's values lose. If American values prevail, the left loses.
That bit about violence is probably tongue-in-cheek. But hey, it's a war dontchaknow! And in case you weren't aware why the views of liberal Americans don't count as "real" American values, Prager is happy to spell that one out too for you: it's that they're really rotten commie-leftist-socialist-European values of "secularism, ... equality, ... and multiculturalism." Take that! Also, the Russians predicted this civil war two years ago anyway, so Prager's way behind here.
The most compelling part of this storyline is that even as the slurs are thrown in what I'm sure Prager imagines is the worst possible way, it still makes me proud to hear that those liberal values are visibly at the heart of the Democratic party. Or "Atlantic America, new EU member state," as it were.
Vote-a-rama is on! Oh….
Probably the most boring TV on the planet, anyway. It makes absolutely no sense that they have to do a full roll call vote for every single amendment that gets offered tonight - they can only get through three per hour. At that rate, it will take seven hours to handle the 21 amendments already filed, with more sure to come.
Brown... Brown... Bueller...
Whereas the House vote played out like a nice little one-hour drama package complete with speeches, applause, and excitement, the Senate is just a nightmare of procedure. Thinking about the House as the real showroom of politics seems more and more relevant as you listen to the names of the Senators get called over... and over... and over....
Conservatives Realize They Were Lied To
Now that the health bill's done and done, the 'energized base' that the GOP thought would carry it through November is starting to disappear. The reform is now supported by a broad plurality - almost a majority - of Americans, and Republicans who were formerly clamoring to up and repeal the whole thing are ready to settle.
Not surprisingly, the base is angry, particularly the Tea Party wing. They're being readily co-opted by the defeated minority party, to the point where even idolized Sarah Palin is ready to bring the Tea Party into the mainstream GOP proper. And they have, at last, realized they were lied to. The SS didn't show up at their doors on Monday to euthanize their grandmothers. The IRS didn't reach its commie tendrils into their bank accounts and leech the life from them. No: in reality they've got better healthcare.
We'll keep watching to see how things shake out, but the GOP's idiocy is getting even more blatant. They're now blocking the nomination of one of their own members by a bipartisan commission. They're enforcing an old rule that prevents the Senate from holding hearings after 2pm without unanimous consent. And they've stopped promising to repeal the health care bill. So what are they doing? Literally, nothing. This should play well with the base.
The New Bicameralism
The House of Representatives has lost its formal legislative power. It's no longer able to propose bills in a strict sense due to the procedural hurdles of the Senate; the obvious example is health care, but every other bill that's been passed by the House this Congress (and that's quite a few) has been totally rewritten in the Senate to meet 
the upper chamber's rigorous demands for passage.
This leaves the House in an odd place. Its obvious power is that it possesses veto power over Senate bills, so proposals must of course be crafted to be acceptable to the majority of its members. More and more, though, it's coming to resemble the rubber-stamp European Parliament, which actually lacks the power to propose its own legislation.
Is this a bad thing? I'd say not. Legislators still have to listen to the demands of the lower chamber, which represents Americans fairly by population (unlike the Senate). And used properly, the powers of the House are quite impressive, as Nancy Pelosi has shown so clearly. She's got her members to sign onto very liberal legislation in full knowledge that it will never be considered in the Senate. The statement that sends is impressive, and it also serves as a very clear signal to the Senate as to what it ought to be doing.
The "people's House" is going to be more and more a symbolic place, as far as I can tell, since it cannot even alter legislation sent down from the Senate because it would not be able to pass there a second time. It has, however, the power to be a very good indicator of true popular opinion and party coherence, whereas the Senate is going to continue to be a state/land-area/local-interest focused chamber.
Links for 03-16-2010
- Crunching the numbers on health care negotiations: cool! http://bit.ly/bucuFS
- Links for 03-15-2010 http://goo.gl/fb/QZVI #politics
- "[GOP Rep.] Dreier found the [self-executing] rule neither painful nor troubling when he used it in 2006." http://bit.ly/c5rLAP
- People "who were around in 1994 remember what happened last time Democrats took the GOP's advice." http://bit.ly/dmrUqw
- In Britain's socialized healthcare system, re-introducing competition has increased costs w/no benefits: http://bit.ly/c5hV7Z
- Most ironic Politico teaser ever: U.S. CentCom head says of ban on gay service: "This is not a sound-bite issue." http://bit.ly/a0dzsl
- Jim Bunning's getting crazier: now he's filibustering nominations because he doesn't like *Canadian* laws. http://bit.ly/cNBNOy
- Ever continent has a freak climate event, and Antarctica has beautiful warm weather this year. http://bit.ly/bIMvEq
- "The [GOP] resolution would require the House to hold an up-or-down vote on the Senate healthcare bill." http://bit.ly/b2sTXL
- Telling: GOP election messaging "will remain the same no matter how Boccieri votes on the health bill." http://bit.ly/94fZD0
- "Brooks isn't wrong in that 'I disagree with him.' He's wrong in the sense that the column requires a correction." http://bit.ly/cWwTqL
- Why does the GOP always have Democrats on the defensive over totally noncontroversial things? http://bit.ly/cKG8OO
- McArdle: "Let me invent a graph that goes against research to demonstrate how to lie, in case you ever need to know." http://bit.ly/aPcxct
- Not just the Vatican anymore: "Texas Republican Gohmert: Demons Have Invaded The Capital" http://bit.ly/9yGlV3
- Oh no! "Republicans are threatening to make life difficult for Democrats." http://bit.ly/b9q9A5
- RNC funding the Tea Party and covering it up. Who'da thunk? http://bit.ly/9c8Zka
- This man is a hero. Rep. Grayson on Palin: "The most intelligent leader that the Republican Party has produced since George W. Bush"
- Fact: Rasmussen's polling on health care moves in the opposite direction from everyone else's. http://bit.ly/9hHPzn