“I’m pretty sure you lose 100% of the battles you begin by surrendering.”
__Sen. Ted Cruz
Senator Ted Cruz made that statement in response to the advice of Karl Rove that conservatives should give up their fight to defund ObamaCare. I will get to the details of what Mr. Rove’s reasoning was in a moment. First let’s look what the good guys are doing to try to shirk this ObamaCare albatross from around our collective necks.
From this Fox News article we learn:
On a recent Friday evening, David Fladeboe showed up to a high school football game in Waukesha, Wis. But he had no interest in the two teams playing.
With a tablet in hand, he was there to get signatures on an anti-ObamaCare petition.
“This bill is obviously not ready for prime-time. We wanna see what we can do to get it delayed and ultimately repealed,” Fladeboe said.
[…]
Americans for Prosperity is running ads that raise questions about whether families will be able to keep their preferred doctor. One shows a mother who asks rhetorically, “What am I getting in exchange for a higher premium and a smaller paycheck?”
[…]
Americans for Prosperity is targeting: Florida, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, Texas, Arkansas and Nevada. They also estimated the number of uninsured but calculated the greatest potential for political impact in the next election as well, choosing several battleground states.
The article also points out that ObamaCare advocacy groups have joined the battle in earnest.
Good guy, Dr. Ben Carson, pinned an eloquent piece in the Washington Times the other day. At one part in his article, Dr. Carson compared the tactics used by President Obama and the Democrats to push the Affordable Care Act through Congress to those of the old Soviet Union. This is an excellent article that I hope you will take time to read. Here are just a couple of excerpts:
Perhaps it is time to de-emphasize political affiliations and labels, and instead concentrate on the philosophies that define one’s beliefs and actions. The direction of our country is not good, and “we the people” — not we the Democrats or we the Republicans — are in desperate need of courageous leadership, guided by an understanding of our Constitution.
[…]
If we are to pass a free and prosperous nation on to our progeny, it is imperative that the legislative branch of government exhibit the courage to exercise the check function it possesses. Lawmakers cannot be afraid that they will be blamed for a government shutdown if they defund Obamacare.
Four Republican Senators (Cruz, Lee, Paul, and Rubio) have been working hard to gain support for the defunding of ObamaCare. Now the pressure is on the House Republicans. From the same Breitbart article, from which the Ted Cruz quote at the top of the page was taken, we get this message from Senator Cruz:
He said the opportunity to defund Obamacare right now “may well be the last opportunity” to do so and reiterated that the House should pass a continuing resolution that funds the entirety of the federal government except for the President’s signature legislation. Cruz then said conservatives then needed to win the argument by asking,”Why is President Obama threatening to shut down the entire federal government to force Obamacare down our throats?”
Okay. That covers what the good guys are saying about defunding ObamaCare. So, what does Republican strategy guru, Karl Rove, have to say on the subject? When I opened FoxNews,com this morning, I noted the mug of Karl Rove on one of their featured videos. The caption underneath read: Rove: GOP’s defunding ObamaCare strategy only helps Obama. My stomach began churning immediately. I refused to watch the video and instead made use of my trusty search engine to see what I might find. I was rewarded for my effort when I found this article at Freedomworks. The good folks there did a very good job of presenting Roves arguments by the numbers and then refuting them by the numbers. I won’t bore you with all the details. It comes down to this. Rove claims that a Continuing Resolution (CR) only affects the discretionary spending part of the budget and would have very little effect on ObamaCare. Freedomworks claims that the rider to the CR defunding ObamaCare carries the effect of law, if passed by the Senate and signed by the President.
In the opinion of your humble observer of the asylum we all have to live in, it doesn’t matter if Rove is right or if Freedomworks is right. Polls show that between 60 and 70% of likely voters are against ObamaCare. The Republicans need to stand their ground and support that majority of the electorate. If Obama decides to shut down government to protect his legacy legislation, he and the Democrats will be held accountable in the elections of 2014 and 2016. Ted Cruz is right. Surrendering never won any battle.
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
The Democrats will never be held accountable. They are our nations royalty after all. Just like England has the royal family we have the Democrats.
Carl Rove? One good rule of thumb is that whatever he advocates is wrong. But the Republicans will follow him. They are the stupid party after all.
The Republicans earned that title, didn’t they. This fight over ObamaCare may be their last chance to shake themselves from that title.
I’ve seen others who have speculated that Karl Rove is a covert Democrat. It’s things like this that make me understand that thinking. Whenever Karl Rove advocates taking a position the Republicans would be well advised to do exactly the opposite.
Sadly, Charles, the establishment Republicans think Rove can do no wrong. Sigh!
Originally I thought it would be better to let obamacare crash and burn first. I have come to the conclusion that we cannot wait. The Cleveland clinic is laying off thousands. But that is just one of hundreds of hospitals that are doing so. My small system laid off 500 last year. The intention is to bankrupt hospitals making them unsustainable. Benchmarks must be met in order to be reimbursed of which they cannot afford to meet. This is the untold story. A catch 22 has been implemented.
I am under no illusion that dumping ObamaCare will save the nation. But, I dearly want Obama and some others to go down in flames trying to defend this monstrosity.
My small dentist office was affording health insurance coverage for their few employees ….today they tell me they are having to drop it due to the rising insurance rates caused by Obamacare. Our insurance provider has sent us a warning that our price is going up, but they don’t know yet by how much. Further, they are punishing people for certain “behaviors,” like riding a motorcycle, having an alcoholic beverage, not fastening your seatbelt, and of course the usual scapegoat – smoking, no matter how great your overall health is.
I came to the conclusion a while ago that you have now come to, Bunker. We have met so many business owners who can’t hire, are laying off workers, and are walking on eggshells trying to figure out if they can even survive Obamacare. We cannot wait to let this monster implode on its own. Too many people’s lives are ruined in the process. I hope the Senate follows the House (not likely)….or at the least the House holds the ground with all it has.
We all must let our Congressmen and Senators know that we are behind them. Maybe then they will have the courage of their convictions.
For the first time since this abomination was passed, I am not worried.
Average working people cannot afford this “affordable” insurance. The largest demographic, the boomers, are already broke. I wrote about this in a blog not long ago.
You cannot take non existent money from average to poor working stiffs and deliver it to the poor. Obamacare was so flawed from the beginning that it will inherently fail. People are not going to jump in- or if they do- it will simply be to fix something that ails them and then jump back out.
People are taxed out. Inflation is kicking our collective asses.
My track record on predicting the performance of healthcare in the US has been almost flawless. Obamacare will fail because it is intrinsically flawed. You cannot rob the poor to give money to the even poorer. It won’t work. People will not buy Obamacare policies. They cannot lock up 50 million of us.
Heh! There is no way I would bet against you after your call that Bernake would not start tapering this month. BTW, Brian, I have tried no less than eitght times to comment on that post of yours, For some reason my server here in Venezuela does not like your server. Sometime when I open one of your pages my mouse refuses to work. Other times I can only scroll down to the end of your post, but not to the comments. I do try every day, however.
Heh! There is no way I would bet against you after your call that Bernake would not start tapering this month. BTW, Brian, I have tried no less than eitght times to comment on that post of yours, For some reason my server here in Venezuela does not like your server. Sometime when I open one of your pages my mouse refuses to work. Other times I can only scroll down to the end of your post, but not to the comments. I do try every day, however.
With Obamacare being so unpopular this should be a winning issue for the Republicans but the problem is the Democrats always win the messaging war. And it doesn’t hurt them that the MSM is on their side. The Dems will talk about senior losing their SS checks and soldiers not getting paid and the media will run with it and the Republicans will turn a winning issue into a loser.
This is one time the public is overwhelmingly in favor of what the Republicans are doing. If the blow this opportunity, they deserve what they will get.
That is exactly what I am afraid of. The Republicans always mange to lose the messaging war. It doesn’t seem to matter how strong their argument is, they always screw it up. Even though I am now in favor of them standing their ground on Obamacare, there is an intrinsic danger in them doing so.
All of us need to let them know that we have their backs, Larry.
Rove: GOP’s defunding ObamaCare strategy only helps Obama
Karl Rove is so far off base that it boggles my mind.
As a GOP strategist now, he is useless. Worse, he is dangerous and a threat to the republic.
I can’t even listen to the guy anymore. He is 100% for the establishment.
It’s hilarious to read a bunch of little baggies whine and moan. lol.
Just keep whistling past the graveyard, Cam. There is nothing in Obamanomics that can harm you. Heh…heh…heh