Author Topic: Once a rat, always a rat  (Read 973 times)

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Offline AlanS

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Once a rat, always a rat
« on: July 03, 2014, 01:49:34 PM »
http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/immigration-reform-killer-identified-david-brat.html

Quote
But the real news comes in the seventh paragraph, when the Journal reports that House Republicans were actually poised to pass a bill before Eric Cantor's loss freaked them out:

    ... a majority of GOP Members wanted an immigration reform to pass as long as they didn't have to vote for it. Before Majority Leader Eric Cantor's primary loss in Virginia last month, the House leadership's private whip count was 144 GOP votes in favor of passing a bill this year. Afterwards it was half that.

You have to pay close attention to what the Journal is reporting here. It's not saying 144 Republicans planned to vote for immigration reform. It's only saying 144 of them wanted a bill to pass. Whatever meager cooperation has occurred between House Republicans and Obama has generally employed this secret-heresy method. A majority of Republicans give the private go-ahead to bring a bill to the floor, then most of them vote against it, letting Democrats supply the votes. This insulates them from any blame from enraged tea partiers.

If the Journal's account is correct — never a completely safe assumption — then the out-of-nowhere defeat of Cantor suddenly made those hope-yes-vote-no Republicans too fearful even to go ahead with this ruse. They believe, along with the Journal, the Republican leadership, and me, that passing immigration reform is a crucial step toward regaining national viability. But the relatively distant danger of their Party's candidate losing future presidential elections paled in comparison with the immediate danger of themselves losing primary races. Brat's surprise triumph may turn out to be more consequential than anybody thought at the time.

Giving the illusion because they're up for reelection probably. F'em. ::doublebird::
"Malo periculosam, libertatem quam quietam servitutem."

Thomas Jefferson

Offline Libertas

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Re: Once a rat, always a rat
« Reply #1 on: July 03, 2014, 02:34:46 PM »
Your thread title is completely accurate...they've been pulling such stunts on a host of issues for several decades...it's been an old standby practice of the Ruling Class no matter what party controls the chamber...it is evidence of a decades-long attitude among the politicos that people really are stupid enough not to see through their tactics...that a small band of hearty conservatives, Tea Party members and Libertarians can see right through them never bothered them...not until some senior clowns got bounced...then like the rats they are the run for the cracks!  And just like when the angry mobs took over townhall meetings they changed tactics, learning like their POTUS candidate handlers to avoid as much spontaneous contact with the people as possible and only attend packed and planted events and quickly usher out those neerdowell troublemakers when they pop off...

They'll do the same legislatively...expect super-secret-probabtion stealth legislation offerings next...
We are now where The Founders were when they faced despotism.