“I’m acknowledging we can’t probably defeat or get rid of Obamacare,” he said. “But by starting with our position of not funding it, maybe we get to a position where we make it less bad.”
__ Senator Rand Paul
Yours truly is very disappointed in Senator Rand Paul’s apparent change of heart on defunding ObamaCare. I was an early supporter of Rand Paul when he first entered the Senate. I saw him as a more rational version of his father; a man of character with solid libertarian principles. Since the ObamaCare battle began heatig up over the last few weeks we saw the House Republicans (and two Democrats) pass a Continuing Resolution that funded all of government with the exception of ObamaCare. It was widely reported that Senator Ted Cruz had the backing of Senators Lee, Rubio, and Paul and together they were going to hold the line in support of their House brethren. However, now it looks as though Rand Paul is ready to surrender before the first shot is fired in the Senate. From the same Fox News link above we learn:
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Saturday that President Barack Obama’s healthcare law is unlikely to be repealed or defunded and suggested that there were few options and not much time left for his fellow congressional Republicans to halt the law’s full implementation.
Speaking to reporters at a gathering of Michigan Republicans, Paul, a hot prospect for a presidential campaign in 2016, said Republicans in Congress could use votes on measures in the House and in the Senate to come up with compromise legislation that could make the law more palatable. Some provisions, Paul said, include removing caps on health savings account contributions or deductibles for health policies.
{…}
Some Senate Republicans, including would-be 2016 presidential rivals Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida, have said they would vote to refuse to pay for the health care law, even if it meant shutting down portions of the government. Paul has called closing down the government “a dumb idea.”
_(Bold added)
Make the law more palatable??? Cancer can’t be made more palatable. It has to be cut out completely!
Closing down government is a dumb idea? Of course, it would be dumb for the President and the Democrats to partially close down government (partially is all that really happens) to save a program that polls show only a third of likely voters support. That would be very dumb indeed!
If there was one member of the House or the Senate that I thought we conservatives could count on, it was Rand Paul. I guess I was wrong… again.
Well, that’s what I’m thinking. What are your thoughts?
Asylum Watch 
The conservative movement’s Achilles’s Heel is fighting amongst themselves over defining “true” conservatism and then ostracizing those who don’t agree with them on literally everything.
Bickering amongst themselves is counterproductive, divisive and will lead to certain defeat at the ballot box.
Democrats can’t defeat Republican’s in the battle of ideas. But they won’t have to. Republicans will defeat themselves through endless self-immolation that liberals will successfully sell to the general public as pettiness and obstructionism.
The 2010 Republican mistake after their huge landslide victories was failing to embrace the Tea Party Movement as it’s own.
Now the conservative movement is so fractured it’ll be hard for them to elect a dog catcher.
The are a bunch of gutless wonders, AZ. I’m sick of their stupid games!
the R elites (RINOS) are not going to let the likes of Cruz or any other Constitutionalist- interfere w/ their agenda–
C-CS
A reformed R–
There are a lot of us reformed R’s around these days. Thanks, C-CS.
Some things need to be kept in the family. Squabbles do nothing to help our cause. If this train starts down this track I am now convinced it cannot get stopped. The infrastructure will be so damaged it is doubtful it can be rebuilt.
How hard is ti ti stand up for what one knows is right? I’m disgusted!
With so many Republicans caving in I fear we are stuck with the socialistic program for good. I will not be able to support any Republican for president in 2016 who lays down and accepts this.
Talk about snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The Republicans are going to screw up a golden opportunity to do what is right for Americans and save them from the ObamaCare trainwreck.
Hubby and I were just talking last night about the fact that we don’t want to even say we’re Republicans anymore.
Exactly! The best we can do is try to spot the few willing to run for office who have integrity and support them and not the Party.
Well he is a politician. Flip flopping on issues is part of his DNA.
The guy is supposed to be a libertarian. How can he give up so easily?
The establishment eats them all alive eventually. I wouldn’t shed too many tears. Paul was never a conservative. His Libertarian beliefs meant his foreign policy would never endear himself to conservatives anyway.
Conservatives have no party. They lost Rubio on immigration. Will Ted Cruz resist where all others have failed? Here’s a good primer on his background – http://hardnoxandfriends.com/2013/09/15/who-is-ted-cruz-really/
Yes, but how can a libertarian not fight to the death over a statist program like ObamCare?
I do not believe Paul has flip-flopped on this issue, I think he was trying to point out how tough defunding Obamacare would be. The MSM has used this statement to paint him as a flip-flopper to try to discredit him with the conservatives because they are afraid of him. I still believe he will do anything possible to defund Obamacare but perhaps he would have been better served to keep his concerns to himself.
I believe you are exactly right, Steve. He wants Obamacare gone as much as we all do, but he sees the extreme difficulty in achieving that task.
@ Steve and Larry
We are going to have to agree to disagree on this one, guys.
ObamaCare is the worst and most expensive piece of social engineering to come down the pike in my life time. The majority of Americans do not want ObamaCare. So why is it so hard to do what is right? Obama, Reid, and Pelosi shoved this down America’s throat and now the Republicans have the chance to shove it up their arses. The message is simple. If Social Security Checks don’t go out, it will be because Obama decided not to send them. And, the message is the same for any other spending game he tries to play. The MSM is out of touch on this one. The majority of Americans are mad about ObamaCare. We don’t need people like Rand Paul letting them down because its going to be hard and because shutting down government is dumb.
I think people misunderstand how hard it must be to be a person of principle in a whorehouse like DC.
You know what is the right thing to do and your constituents send you there to do it, and then you run into the insanity in Congress – the worst of which is from certain people in your own party – a gauntlet of media opposition and menacing, the virulent opposition by activists and lobbyists, PLUS it seems like the people who asked you to do one thing suddenly want you to do exactly the opposite (or at least it seems that way thanks to the media).
The people who actually paid for your election put constant pressure on you to do things that you either object to or that make no sense and they make it clear that not only will they not help you if you don’t obey, they will destroy you and your family in ways you’ll never recover from… and ONLY the people who sign over their souls to the devil ever do well in DC.
Capital Hill is a cesspool. Very few decent people are willing to mix with the slime and, as a result, the slime are always the majority. Catch 22?
Thanks for coming by and sharing your thoughts, Babylonandon.
I keep asking myself why the good guys (and gals) in congress (and there are a few) aren’t asking the real question–why are we continually running up against these government shutdowns?
Because THE DEMOCRATS CONTINUE TO REFUSE TO PASS A BUDGET!
And this is the same government we are supposed to trust with the largest entitlement program known to mankind?
They can’t be trusted. Period!