While Representative Matt Gaetz and the “hateful eight” have acted in a rather crude manner with no foresight in taking their grievances against leadership, they do have valid grievances. Republicans are very bad when it comes to keeping promises to voters.

Before the 2010 midterm elections, the Republican base was urged to come out in force and help the GOP take the House in order to repeal Obamacare, even though they damn well knew they couldn’t keep that promise.

The House Republicans’ “Pledge to America” vowed “to repeal and replace the government takeover of health care with common sense solutions focused on lowering costs and protecting American jobs.” The party won more than five dozen seats, the most in seven decades. There is no chance this pledge will be achieved.

While Republicans have a big majority in the House, Democratic control of the Senate and the presidential veto power make repeal or major change impossible.
— New York Times, 11/22/10

In 2014, Republican voters got more of the same as they were told giving the GOP a solid majority in the Senate would result in the repeal of Obamacare, even though they damn well knew they couldn’t keep that promise.

In addition to their oath to keep up their efforts to repeal Obamacare, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner said Wednesday the new Congress would authorize the Keystone pipeline and send a slew of House-passed jobs bills to the president next come January. That’s when Republicans will formally take control of the Senate, putting Republicans in charge of the entire legislative branch.
— Daily Mail, 11/6/14

Of course, Republicans didn’t have that vetoproof majority so Obamacare (again) stayed in place. But during the 2016 midterms, leadership assured voters that a Republican House, Senate AND president would mean the end to Obamacare. We just had to elect Donald Trump and it would get done….

Republicans narrowly failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. But their newly passed tax legislation included a provision getting rid of Obamacare’s mandate requiring Americans to buy insurance, and President Donald Trump immediately declared victory in the partisan health care wars. “When the individual mandate is being repealed, that means Obamacare is being repealed,” he crowed at a Cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “We have essentially repealed Obamacare.”
— Politico Magazine, 12/20/17

Seeing how Republicans on the Hill look at their base as suckers, why not play this hand one more time!

“If we can get the House back and keep our majority in the Senate, and President Trump wins reelection, I can promise you not only are we going to repeal Obamacare, we’re going to do it in a smart way where South Carolina will be the biggest winner,” Senator Lindsey Graham said in an interview with a South Carolina radio station.
— The Hill, 8/8/19

Obamacare is just one of many promises made-promises unkept by Republicans over the course of many years. There’s balanced budgets, lower taxes, and many more. Just because Republicans depend on short memories and assumed intellectual inferiority, doesn’t mean trust will continue to be in infinite supply. We all know there’s hope because Donald Trump made many pledges to Americans in 2015-16 and actually accomplished more despite the Category 5 political interference he faced his entire term from within the party, from Democrats, and their media. He left office with achievements for the American people than was, more often than not, labeled “historic”.

Some politicians can keep promises, while Republicans can definitively only point to one in recent memory.

Republicans don’t have a monopoly when it comes to blatantly breaking promises to the base. Malcolm X made it clear that any black person in 1964 that voted for Democrats was a “chump” and “traitor to your race”. Democrats continue to break promises and blacks continue to give them the supermajority of their votes.

Unlike President Donald Trump, Republicans appear more interested in keeping their personal perks of power that delivering on promises made to put them in their seats of power. Until we have term limits (a very unlikely self-inflicted wound), there’s no reason to believe any promise a politician makes before or after an election. We all known this yet we allow them to sucker us every two years.

And seeing how Newt Gingrich is going off halfcocked against Matt Gaetz, let’s not forget the 1994 “Contract with America” that helped Republicans take the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years.

How many of those promises were actually written into law…?

Some observers cite the Contract with America as having helped secure a decisive victory for the Republicans in the 1994 elections. Republicans were elected to a majority of both houses of Congress for the first time since 1953, and some parts of the Contract were enacted. Most elements did not pass Congress, while others were vetoed by, or substantially altered in negotiations with President Bill Clinton, who would sarcastically refer to it as the “Contract on America”
— Wikipedia

Yeah, the “Contract with America” helped Republicans and Gingrich to become speaker. Making promises they knew they could keep? Not so much.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 24% of Likely U.S. voters said removing McCarthy from his position as Speaker would be good for Congress, while 26% thought it would be bad for Congress. Forty-one percent (41%), however, said it would not make much difference.
— Rasmussen Reports, 10/4/23

While this doesn’t defend Matt Gaetz’ actions, it does make them understandable.

At a time of national pandemic angst, it was supposed to sound so nice.

“We are in this together.”

But as some of us came to realize, that was not the case.

In retrospect, had President Trump known what was to become of the United States as we knew it, he may had referred to the first tenant of the 1994 Contract with America before obliging the suggestions of bureaucrats.

On the first day of the 104th Congress, the new Republican majority will immediately pass the following major reforms, aimed at restoring the faith and trust of the American people in their government: First: Require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress.
— U-S-History.com

The COVID-19 shutdown resulted in thousands of businesses and corporations around the nation being ordered shutdown for an undermined amount of time, thus resulting in millions of Americans losing their jobs. It became ironic that those who were in the position of locally determining who could reopen and how long were those whose personal paychecks were never in jeopardy: politicians, their staffs, federal and state employees, and unelected officials.

MARCH 30
More states issued stay-at-home directives.

Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., issued orders requiring their residents to stay home. Similar orders went into effect for Kansas and North Carolina. Other states had previously put strict measures in place. The new orders meant that least 265 million Americans were being urged to stay home.
— New York Times, Coronavirus timeline, 7/21/20

Had an Executive Order or Memo been issued by the president that required the suspension of all taxpayer-funded salaries on the federal and state level as long as private citizens were forced to stay home and not earn theirs, just how serious would the “advice” of  so-called health officials been taken given how all-over-the-map the models have been since the Coronavirus made landfall?

Would there have even been talk of a prolonged shutdown had the generous salaries of governors and mayors (some between $3000-4000 weekly!) been in the slightest way been threatened. How many on Capitol Hill would have told Dr. Fauci to go pound sand if their paychecks and that of their staff would have been cut off until some curve was flattened? How many of our federal and state employees would feel so cavalier to demand Americans on social media shut up and stay home if they weren’t receiving steady paychecks? We already know how quickly they squawk when there’s any kind of government shutdown that always results in their getting paid on the back end.

And given their specific First Amendment status, maybe the media could have been also included in a paycheck stoppage. The Freedom of the Press would not be halted; they just wouldn’t get paid for what they did and the professional media has enough rainy day cash lying around to last for a short duration.

How do you think their coverage of the “pandemic” would be if they weren’t receiving compensation for their time? Instead of telling us all to stay home and keep everyone else safe, do you think they might have introduced the term “herd immunity” into their daily action lines? Do you think this whole shutdown thing would be considered an policy that should be very, very temporary?

This has again turned out to be just another example of the “Do as I say, not as I do” two-tiered system of American government which calls into doubt the known seriousness of the pandemic when we’ve also seen the many examples of politicians and elites finding convenient justifications to go for a walk in the park, visit beauty salons, the gym, parties, fundraisers, and of course, #BlackLivesMatter protests… masks optional.

ObamaCare was good enough of us while federal politicians and their staffs wrote themselves a way around it, saving thousands of dollars we were mandated to pay. Now, the COVID-19 crisis has given us state and local politicians who play their constituents like an accordion, setting arbitrary phased reopening dates, just to yank them back in a manner that would make any garden variety sadist smile with envy.

The economy was the issue that would have seen President Trump sailing into a second term. Keeping it in the tank is a political no-brainer.

And until we’re really “in this together”, the political class will continue to inflict their political pain on all of us because it doesn’t hurt them at all.

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
— United States Constitution, Amendment I

The “right of the people peaceably to assemble” is obviously interpreted today as the right to protest, but when that phrase is also referred-to in conjunction with the “right of association”, all fingers appear to point back to the 1st Amendment.

“It is beyond debate that freedom to engage in association for the advancement of beliefs and ideas is an inseparable aspect of the ‘liberty’ assured by the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which embraces freedom of speech…. Of course, it is immaterial whether the beliefs sought to be advanced by association pertain to political, economic, religious or cultural matters, and state action which may have the effect of curtailing the freedom to associate is subject to the closest scrutiny.” It would appear from the Court’s opinions that the right of association is derivative from the First Amendment guarantees of speech, assembly, and petition, although it has at times seemingly been referred to as a separate, independent freedom protected by the First Amendment.
— Find Law, Right of Association

So, it’s kind of settled that Americans have the right to be around people we like for a myriad of reasons, but nowhere in the straightforward language of the 1st Amendment does it say anything about protections from being around people we don’t. We’re subject to being around people we don’t like every time we leave the house. Granted, we can obtain restraining orders to keep people who’ve committed legally-proven degrees of unlawful activities against another person, but after that we kinda’ have to suck it up and have people around us we may not have chosen to be with.

While it’s easy to steer clear of people we may not want to associate with in public places, there are also places where a certain amount of tolerance is required. In a movie theater, a bar, a sporting event, the workplace, and Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner….

 
When it comes to the workplace, as long as people act in a professional manner and the tasks are completed to the satisfaction of the employer, all should be all well and good.

However, anyone who’s worked in Hollywood, Washington D.C., Silicon Valley, New York City, almost every education establishment, or anywhere liberals collect in large enclaves, there’s an unwritten rule that’s not so unwritten anymore: if you’re not a Democrat, you had best keep your ideology secret, or else. That “or else” can range from public harassment to termination, despite your not doing anything fireable.

Vince Vaughn faces liberal outrage after he was seen with Trump during national championship game

In some cases, that conservative and/or Republican can’t have anything that verifies his or her preference, even if not verbally stated. Social media posts can do-in a prospective Republican employee from gaining employment.

If you were to replace the words “Republican” or “conservative” in the paragraph above with “liberal”, “progressive”, “Democrat”, “black”, “woman”, “gay”, “handicapped”, “Muslim” etc., you’d be talking about serious social media backlash and the very real prospect of prosecution for civil rights violations.

The Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, created in 1957 by the enactment of the Civil Rights Act of 1957, works to uphold the civil and constitutional rights of all Americans, particularly some of the most vulnerable members of our society. The Division enforces federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, disability, religion, familial status and national origin.
— Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division

But for some reason, liberal Democrats feel empowered to discriminate against anyone they discover is a Republican, are free to verbally harass and even do anything and everything to get that Republican terminated. If they have any say in the hiring process, they have no problem not even considering a qualified conservative just because of who they support and vote for.

I need you to go out and talk to your friends and talk to your neighbors. I want you to talk to them whether they are independent or whether they are Republican. I want you to argue with them and get in their face.
— Barack Obama, Elko, Nevada, 9/18/08

There are serious monetary ramifications for workplace discrimination. Aside from the tense atmosphere, blacklists are created and enforced with impunity. That can result in the obvious negative financial issues for someone who was one day gainfully employed and a valued employee to someone who now can’t find a similar job in their immediate industry despite experience and professionalism. Those ramifications include possible loss of car, home, marriage, and more; losses not considered when gleefully ridding the workplace of someone that doesn’t think the way tolerant liberals demand.

And let’s not forget the opposite when it comes to political discrimination: political nepotism and official favors for the obviously unqualified but well connected.

In many parts of the world, the children of powerful political figures go into business and profit handsomely, not necessarily because they are good at it, but because people want to curry favor with their influential parents. This is a relatively new phenomenon in the United States. But for relatives of some prominent political families, we may already be talking about hundreds of millions of dollars.
— Peter Schweizer

Political discrimination is NOT considered a civil rights violation because mostly liberal Democrats do it. It should be considered a criminal act way beyond protected political speech, especially when it’s used as a club far removed from the ballot box. The harm caused is more than hurt feelings but real world damage that can last days, weeks, even years while any recovery can be relatively disproportionate.

As it’s something he’s obviously experienced, hopefully this is something President Trump can address down the road.

UPDATE

If you think the environment in the federal workplace is bad enough, here’s something to contemplate should Joe Biden win the 2020 presidential election….

On the first of the month, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser held an event at Freedom Plaza to celebrate the start of Obamacare’s annual open enrollment period. She appeared with Mila Kofman, head of the District’s health insurance exchange, D.C. Health Link. In conjunction with the event, the mayor issued a proclamation declaring the open enrollment period “Get Covered, Stay Covered” months, and noting that “residents should visit [D.C. Health Link’s website] to shop for and compare health insurance.”

But in encouraging others to “get covered,” and promoting the D.C. Health Link site, Bowser omitted one key detail: She does not buy the policies that D.C. Health Link sells. My recent Freedom of Information Act request confirmed that Bowser, like most of her D.C. Council colleagues, received taxpayer-funded insurance subsidies to purchase their coverage through the District government, rather than through D.C. Health Link. Thus, DC spent nearly half a million in taxpayer funds because the mayor and council won’t be bothered to enroll in Obamacare.
— Christopher Jacobs, 12/7/18

In 2008, Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton engaged in uncomfortable political gymnastics, criticizing each other for parts of a health care plan that required people to obtain coverage, whether they could afford it or not, under threat of fine.

It’s reality today in the District.

A taxpayer who fails to pay the District of Columbia shared responsibility payment by §a7-5103 shall be subject to all collection, enforcement, and administrative provisions applicable to unpaid taxes or fees, as provided in Chapter I 8, Chapter 41, Chapter 42, Chapter 43, and Chapter 44 of this title.
— D.C. ACT 22-442, 9/5/18

It’s clear despite the generous compensation for their public service, health care premiums and deductibles are out of reach for the mayor of DC and the council, so it’s imperative someone else pick up their “individual responsibility requirement” tabs.

Which is again illustrative of something said here back in 2009: “Liberals create policies so wonderful, they have to force you to use them.” I’d include an addendum, “… and make you pay for those who created the mess you must live with.”

The head of the District’s health insurance exchange—which recommended creating a DC mandate following the removal of the federal tax penalty—doesn’t buy exchange coverage herself. As I previously noted, many exchange heads (and Obamacare supporters) refuse to buy the coverage they promote, including the head of the district’s exchange, Mila Kofman. I asked Kofman whether she, and other exchange employees, purchased exchange coverage. She claimed that she and her colleagues could not purchase exchange policies, because they would lose their employer subsidy in the process.

Only later did I learn that Kofman was paid at the rate of more than $217,000 in late 2016. The idea that a bureaucrat making several multiples of my income would cry poverty, and claim she needed taxpayers to fund her health coverage in addition to her $200,000-plus salary, offended me then, and offends me now.
— Christopher Jacobs, 7/3/18

In 1994, Republican Congressmen Newt Gingrich and Dick Armey created a campaign platform and it’s first tenant speaks a lot of their knowledge of Capitol Hill inside baseball and culture of entitlement, as it read:

FIRST, require all laws that apply to the rest of the country also apply equally to the Congress
— The Republican “Contract with America”

Obamacare will probably go down as the most glaring justification for the Contract’s FIRST priority as federal politicians and their staffs created a nightmare for most of the American people; a nightmare those same politicians and staffers created ways around that only benefited them. In some cases, the American taxpayer was given the honor of paying for those politicians, their staffs AND their families. It could be argued if those who created Obamacare had to actually pay for it out of their own pockets, it NEVER would’ve been passed as it was.

It’s not fair that so many of those in the District of Columbia are not making decent money working for the federal government or the numerous contractors, think tanks, nonprofits, etc. that leech off their convenient proximity to the Capitol. Too many are poor and they voted Bowser and the DC council back in because of the same old promises; promises never delivered.

But Mayor Bowser, the City Council and selected staff (and their families) are well taken care of and their constituents get to pay for it.

Despite the sloths who’ve inhabited all government offices and agencies and allowed our economy to languish for decades, a businessman took the reins and did what most of the overpaid slugs insist, to this day, could never have been done.

But what happens, whether it be their desired 2020 or 2024, when Donald Trump’s presidential term ends and we go back to business-as-usual?

For those of you who still have your 401(k), look at the numbers prior to November 8, 2016 and look at them now.

Think about those who were in control and set up a system where no matter what their decisions are for the rest of the nation, they would land on a nice soft pillow.

Remember those who exempted themselves from an overpriced Obamacare YOU were forced to acquire, even if you couldn’t afford the deductible to access services. Remember an indifferent Federal Reserve that arbitrarily raises interest rates and screws up everything from car to mortgage payments, not to mention your cost of living. Remember the unelected in agencies that ran amok and how their edicts affected, or negatively affected, how you live your lives. Remember all the nations that took advantage of trade policies that sent millions of jobs out of the country because they were negotiated by ignorant bureaucrats who never built a business with their own skin in the game. Remember hostile actors that would capture our soldiers and make then appear pitiful on video because our former POTUS wasn’t respected or feared.

Remember a stock market that we were all told would crash if Donald Trump was elected, that has broken records ever since, and the dip it took when Democrats retook the House and there’s that feeling they’ll do everything politically possible to tank the economy before 2020.

And let’s state the obvious, there’s no Republican on the horizon with the experience and cajones to ever replicate all that is Donald Trump.

Aside from immigration policy that will essentially be the reopening of the unlocked door to the United States and benefits, a military and veterans who will again be relegated to insignificant status, and jobs in poor neighborhoods that may go away, ask those who hate this president what part of the pre-Trump era should we openly embrace and look forward to… again?

His recent no-vote to repeal ObamaCare is the best illustration as to how many Republicans made repeated promises they apparently had no intention of keeping.

McCain has routinely sought out any media outlet that allowed him to speak out against Republicans, conservative values, he’s voted against policies he campaigned on to return him to the United States Senate, term after term, and spends too much time siding with Democrats than his own compatriots.

According to a Senate Democrat, McCain heard from two longtime friends pleading with him to oppose McConnell: Joseph I. Lieberman and Joe Biden. The former senator from Connecticut was long one of McCain’s best friends, forming the heralded “Three Amigos” along with Lindsey Graham.

Biden, the former vice president who often clashed in a collegial way with McCain on foreign policy matters, had a more emotional discussion with McCain. The Arizonan’s brain cancer is the same diagnosis that Biden’s son, Beau, received in 2013; he died two years later.
— Washington Post, 7/30/17

His latest vote against repealing ObamaCare should have come as no surprise. Making it as dramatic as he did should be what he’s remembered for: lying to get elected and serving HIS best interests; NOT the best interests of his state and the nation.

The following should jar memories on where we’ve been led; a place Democrats don’t want the American people to go.

Democrats are playing mostly to the uninformed or those too young to know what life in the United States was like before ObamaCare was inflicted on the American people.

How many Americans are truly uninsured? The number the Obama administration and Democrats have used for more than a year now ranges between 40 million and 46 million—at the upper end, that would be somewhere between 1 in 6 and 1 in 7 Americans.
— US News & World Report, 8/20/09

Why, instead of tailoring a bill to help that 40-46 million, did the whole health care system in the United States have to be changed to forcibly affect all? People who were perfectly happy with their coverage were forced to buy plans at a higher price, not to mention be facing unrealistic deductibles. Being able to purchase plans across state lines at more competitive prices was never considered in the Democrats’ ACA.

During the 2008 Democrat presidential primary, candidate Hillary Clinton pointed out that forcing parents to pick up the tab on their older children’s health care was an unreasonable burden. Parents paying for their children’s health care up to age 26 became a primary selling point. Too bad parents were never asked if this is something THEY even wanted to absorb.

Also during that debate, candidate Barack Obama also said it was unfair to “mandate” people buy government health care and it was even more unfair to fine them if they couldn’t afford it. Passage of the ACA meant people were mandated to buy health care if they wanted it or not and would be fined if they did not comply.

I will sign a universal health care bill into law by the end of my first term as president that will cover every American and cut the cost of a typical family’s premium by up to $2,500 a year.
— Senator Barack Obama, 2007

Deductibles rose to the point that people couldn’t afford to use the health care they were forced to buy.

Prior to passage of the ACA, employees enjoyed a 40-hour work week. After, some business employers reduced the hours their employees down to 29 so they didn’t have to pick up the tab for their employees at the inflated government cost. Businesses that had more than 50 employees were required to pay for their employees’ health care and that forced many employers to not expand their companies as some may have wanted.

Many Americans now have to work two or more jobs to make the equivalent of what they earned before passage of the ACA.

The elected in the House, Senate, Supreme Court, their staff and families exempted themselves from the very law they imposed on the rest of us.

And since passage up to now, Democrats are complaining that Republicans don’t have fixes for a law they rammed down the throats of the American people and are now poised to dismantle their flawed experiment; an experiment millions will celebrate once ended.

One of the many reasons Donald Trump was elected President was his promise to end the Democrat nightmare that was and still is the “Affordable Care Act”.

The People will soon see how much money they’ll be saving and just who made their lives miserable since 2010.

Since forgoing a third presidential bid in January, Romney has insisted he has no interest in being a kingmaker in the 2016 race. But as the contenders jockey for his favor — and, in some cases, chase his lead on thorny issues — it’s beginning to look like the 2016 Romney primary is well underway.

It is an ironic twist for a man once criticized as the very definition of the vanilla candidate, calibrated and cautious at every turn when he was the Republican presidential nominee in 2012.

As we all know, Mitt Romney had Barack Obama down and battered and just needed to deliver a third-round knockout punch. But in what we know as that proud Republican tradition of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, Mitt let Obama get back up and the rest is history.

Of course, the 2016 Republican primary field is littered with high-priced ex-Romney advisers polluting the heads of candidates and authoritatively speaking for us to a hostile media, as if they KNOW the path to victory, conveniently avoiding the fact their guy tried twice, couldn’t seal the deal and their expertise was for shit.

Now, the Romney brain trust act like he’s a voice of value to the Republican Party.

“Given the chaos that’s going on on the Republican side of things, he has some ability to bring some order to the chaos and help remind people what big issues actually do matter — and to be a little bit of a rudder for these candidates, who he recognizes can sometimes get seared by the winds of the primary process,” said GOP strategist Katie Packer, who was Romney’s deputy campaign manager in 2012

Chaos? Rudder? Remind people? This is from a hack who twice-advised the two-time loser.

Mitt Romney is clearly an example of an egotist who has that need to fulfill what he believes is his (and I’ll again use the word again) birthright, and even though HE couldn’t get there, he still considers himself important.

Romney was one of the first prominent Republicans to bluntly call for taking down the Confederate flag in front of the South Carolina state capitol after the racially motivated massacre of nine people at a Charleston church last month.

The Confederate flag became an issue because a young crazy killed black people in a church and previously was pictured on Facebook with the flag. Had Dylann Roof also had pics next to a box of Corn Flakes, would the left be calling for a liquidation of the Kellogg’s company?

Romney just had to take the bait and added his opinion which perpetuated a liberal narrative while keeping himself feeling relevant. And he just couldn’t stop there….

Over the weekend, he denounced Donald Trump’s suggestion that immigrants coming across the border from Mexico were rapists and criminals, saying the remarks were harmful to the image of the Republican Party.

“I think he made a severe error in saying what he did about Mexican-Americans and I feel it was unfortunate,” Romney said.

Besides the fact he again perpetuated a false liberal media narrative, Romney should know about campaign errors because we haven’t seen that many since the ’63 Mets.

The emergence of Donald Trump and subsequent reception by the base of his message shows many Republicans want a real change in direction, and certainly don’t want or need the advice of someone who clearly didn’t fight his way out of a wet paper bag. Romney had his chances, blew them, and needs to head off to Lake Winnipesaukee and leave the 2016 primaries to those who are active participants.

We won’t even get into the internals of Massachusetts politics where it was all about Mitt, no matter how he adversely affected Republicans within the commonwealth, and how his “moderate” reach across the Beacon Hill aisle eventually gave us first-in-the-nation legalized gay marriage and the prototype for ObamaCare.

We don’t know how the primary process is going to play out but we really don’t need to have the wisdom of Mitt Romney bollixing up the works. We all saw how well that worked out in 2012.

Imagine the ego it took to write “Obamacare Critics Still Tell Just One Side of the Jobs Story” while plotting to deceive and destroy the health care coverage of millions of individuals and families.

In listening to “Health Economist” Jonathan Gruber’s presentation of the “agenda” at the University of Pennsylvania, the arrogance is quite disturbing and the question that most comes to mind is… “Who elected YOU?”

“What’s been great about this process is that it’s been a fairly intellectually honest process,” said Gruber.

Turns out it was a good day to check in with Gruber. Of course, lined up on the other side, we have the entreaties of millions of misinformed, Bible-banging suckers, so there’s that.
— A Brief Interlude With Expert Opinion, Esquire Magazine, 9/26/13

This progressive educator (and his family) is probably having a very bad last few days and deservedly so. The truth always comes out and there can be a reckoning.

B&R Flashback: ObamaCare: DEFUND, Not Repeal

This must be done. What’s sad is that Gruber has more balls than some of the Republicans now in charge.

After lunch, Laura and I caught him in the parking lot and asked him (as a matter of proper messaging) if he could get out front and not continue to say “repeal” but “defund” because, if you really want to be accurate, Mitt Romney was the only person who could have repealed it.

Republicans are now going around the country talking about “repeal” but let’s be real: if a Republican House and Senate sent a bill repealing the ACA to Barack Obama, we all know he’d veto it and blame everyone in the room for days.

As I told the candidate, we Republicans should run on, win, and then send a bill to Obama with no money going to ObamaCare. We wonder if the president would be so eager to shut down the government over a piece of legislation that helped put his opposition into the majority? Public opinion may not be on his side, especially when all the little post-midterm ObamaCare goodies kick in.

Also, if the GOP runs on “repealing” ObamaCare and can’t do it (while knowing they couldn’t before the election), aren’t we making a promise we can’t keep and doesn’t that make us no better than Democrats?

Either way, we’re not falling for the “repeal” ObamaCare trap recited by the unthinking.

“Defund” is the ONLY way to go.

UPDATE: That Senate candidate was Ed Gillespie. Not to just single him out, Mark Levin repeated the incorrect “repeal” line last night (11/10/14) as well.