Are Republicans Realizing they've gone too far right?

[mburbank]

Couple this announcement with Bush's failed 60 day soc. sec. private account tour, Bolton left winging in the breeze, rats leaving delay like he's a sinking ship...



WASHINGTON (AP) -- House Speaker Dennis Hastert, leading a Republican retreat, said Wednesday he stands ready to "step back" on new ethics rules that Democrats charge are designed to shelter embattled GOP leader Tom DeLay.

Hastert said he intends to send a letter to House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi later in the day signaling his willingness to repeal the controversial rules changes.

Later, in a brief Capitol interview, he said he expected the full House to vote on reversing the rules. Asked whether that would take place later in the day, he replied, "I hope so."

Hastert's comments came after a closed-door meeting of the GOP rank and file, the latest in a string of private sessions in which Republicans discussed ways to stem the political damage from an ethics deadlock that has become entwined with DeLay, the controversial majority leader.




My prediction for next Republican failure? Check out W's energy speech today. He says he can't do anything about gas prices and we should build new oil refineries on closed army bases and build new Nuclear plants. Without debating the prose and cons of those ideas, I'm just going to say I think people will mostly hate the speech and that it will be targeted for it's lack of vision. It may have a little bit more impact than his manned mission to Mars speech, but not much more.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

I don't know that it really has anything to do with ideology. There's nothing ideologically "conservative" about protecting Tom DeLay. This isn't conservatism, this is just corruption, laziness, and arrogance due to power. Both parties have gone through this cycle forever, and it's coming back on the GOP.

He says he can't do anything about gas prices and we should build new oil refineries on closed army bases and build new Nuclear plants. Without debating the prose and cons of those ideas, I'm just going to say I think people will mostly hate the speech and that it will be targeted for it's lack of vision. It may have a little bit more impact than his manned mission to Mars speech, but not much more.

Well, to be fair, he proposed tax credits for people who buy hybrids. Here's the problem-- the energy bill already got through one house last week, and if the President truly wanted to influence this legislation, he would've made this speech two weeks ago. He instead makes it today, and basically blames Congress for not pasing his energy bill a few years ago. I guess the buck stops at the appropriations committee. :(

[mburbank]

There's currently a tax break for people who but hummers.

[ziggytrix]

It's done by weight and meant to be a break for farm implements like tractors and shit, as I understand it.

[mburbank]

Yeah, it's a shame loopholes like that can't get closed, 'cause that would take, I don't know, uhmmm... Legislation?

Kind of like mandating fuel efficiency for cars, which would bring down the gas prices the President says he's powerless to do anything about. You have to, like... make laws, or some such deal. You might even have to hold a special session of congress, a president might have to come back early from a vacation. It's the kind of thing that just can't be done. You wish that it could, but it can't.

I'm certain it has nothing at all to do with the fact that folks in the oil bidness make outrageous profits when prices sckyrocket.

[kahljorn]

Who's in the oil business again? :confused that business is just so small and tiny that it's impossible to remember who's involved with it... With how small they are it's understandable why they couldn't lower the gas prices. So tiny.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

There's currently a tax break for people who but hummers.

Right, but since we live in a free society and not a perfect one, that's just something we'll have to live with for now. That SUV tax credit is bullshit, but SUVs, unlike hybrids, account for something up to 1/4 of what's supposedly coming out of Detroit.

I heard a report yesterday that SUV purchases have dropped slightly, but the bottom line is that people want them. We can't outlaw them, so what we should be doing (and thus what our president should be doing) is giving people more reasons to buy Hybrids, as well as investing in alternative energy research.

Bush himself said that a policy like this should've been started in the 80's. Well simply talking about good ideas doesn't replace action, and 20 years from now people will still be saying "this should've been started in....".

[El Blanco]

Last I checked, SUV's are barely %15 of Detroit's output, but 70% of their income. Thats how insanely overpriced they are.

[Preechr]

Well, BY GOD, if you can't explain your intelligent and well-thought-out opinion well enough to enough folks to influence their buying decisions, I suppose the only thing you've got left is to pass laws against and/or punitively tax their obviously evil decisions.

The government is, after all, the entity we've placed in charge of what's best for us, right?

[AngPur]

The government is, after all, the entity we've placed in charge of what's best for us, right?

This is almost as bad as when that Marxist, Upton Sinclair wrote a book about the unfairly targetted meat industry and Teddy actually bought into that leftist propaganda and friggen' regulated the industry. What an absurd blow to the small business owner!

[Preechr]

Absurd.

Yes. That's it.

[Big Papa Goat]

I tried explaining to a mugger why he shouldn't rob me today on the basis of fairness, justice and the respect owed to my property rights, but he seemed to really want my money, so it didn't really work too well :(

[mburbank]

Hey, Ang Pur! An Upton Sinclair joke!

See that's why I come to this site. Where the hell else are you gonna get an Upton Sinclair joke in the normal course of events?




That came out all sarcastic like, but I enjoy a good Upton Sinclair joke.




I bet kids made wicked fun of him in Kindergarten. I mean 'upton', what the fuck?

Seriously, if government wants to tell me who I can marry and who I have to tell if I want an abortion, couldn't they also concievably tell me I'm only allowed to contribute so many pounds of Carbon to the atmosphere per year, or how much of the worlds waining fule supply I'm allowed to sonsume?

[KevinTheOmnivore]

Well, BY GOD, if you can't explain your intelligent and well-thought-out opinion well enough to enough folks to influence their buying decisions, I suppose the only thing you've got left is to pass laws against and/or punitively tax their obviously evil decisions.

I try to avoid well-thought-out conversations with people who drive hummers with bumper stickers that say "my hummer is bigger than yours" and "don't you wish you had a hummer?" No joke.

[AngPur]

I try to avoid well-thought-out conversations with people who drive hummers with bumper stickers that say "my hummer is bigger than yours" and "don't you wish you had a hummer?" No joke.

And you can't forget that during a time of war, when they should be conserving fuel instead of wrestling it from our men and women overseas, their 2.8 mi/gallon hummer proudly displays a "Support our troops" sticker.

God bless.

[derrida]

Well, BY GOD, if you can't explain your intelligent and well-thought-out opinion well enough to enough folks to influence their buying decisions, I suppose the only thing you've got left is to pass laws against and/or punitively tax their obviously evil decisions.

The government is, after all, the entity we've placed in charge of what's best for us, right?

Counterpoint: People are fucking dumb.