My long held conviction that Republicans are cry-baby-losers was reaffirmed by the events leading up to the passage of health care reform this week. Instead of engaging in the process of negotiation Republicans were united in their intransient policy of blocking President Obama and the Democrats agenda by all means necessary.

Their outrageous antics even disgusted some of their fellow Republicans like David Frum, “The political imperative crowded out the policy imperative,” Mr. Frum said. “And the Republicans have now lost both. Politically I get the ‘let’s trip up the other side, make them fail’ strategy, but what’s more important, to win extra seats or to shape the most important piece of social legislation since the 1960’s? It was a go-for-all-the-marbles approach. Unless they produced an absolute failure to Mr. Obama, there wasn’t going to be any political benefit.” Even now, after the bill has been signed into law, the Republicans are vowing to mount a repeal effort, which by all accounts is doomed to failure.

On the state level, Florida’s attorney general, Bill McCollum is leading an effort to block the new bill saying it violates the Constitution by infringing on each state’s sovereignty. Predictably, South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster joined the suit, in an effort to jack up his conservative bona fides as a Republican gubernatorial candidate. Never mind the fact that South Carolina is broke and can ill afford this expensive, time consuming, and misguided  campaign to block access to affordable health care to tens of thousands of uninsured South Carolinians. Constitutional scholars are dismissive of the lawsuit, saying that under the Constitution, federal laws trump state laws. The NY Times cites Professor Jack M. Balkin, a professor of constitutional law at Yale University, who says the mandate did not run afoul of the Constitution because Congress had carefully structured it as a tax-and taxes are fully within its power. Balkin says the broad extent of the government’s power to regulate interstate commerce has been recognized since the Roosevelt administration. Wake Forest Law professor Mark Hall, tells The Greenville News that the state’s actions are little more than “a form of civil disobedience.” What all of this boils down to besides the fact that the Republicans are simply incapable of accepting defeat with grace is more political point scoring at the expense of the taxpayers.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/24/AR2010032402429_pf.html

Most repugnant of all was the fear mongering, sky is falling rhetoric used by the Republicans in their failed effort to kill the bill.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/right-wing-compares-health-care-bill-passi

What they failed to recognize is that once the bill passed and the public realized that they actually may benefit from the legislation their anger will dissipate quickly. Democratic Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey says, “When this bill goes into effect and none of the things Republicans warned about begin to happen-none of the death panels, none of the government take-over, none of the socialism-Republicans will have no credibility.”

What does it say about a political party so willing to lie to win? What does it say about a political party that would sacrifice the health and well being of the American public in the hope of scoring short term rhetorical points? It says that they don’t give a damn about you and your problems; they just want to win at any cost.

I’m still not quite over the embarrassing spectacle of those angry Tea Bag Party members, screaming and yelling at elected officials in the halls of Congress. Or spitting on and yelling racial and homophobic slurs at Democratic members of Congress as they made their way into the chamber. For those people who continue to claim that the Tea Baggers aren’t motivated by hate, I urge you to watch that video and then tell me there’s no danger in tapping into this deep well of racial hatred.

 Congress used to be a deliberative body made up of democratically elected representatives that vowed to serve the interests of their constituents. Yes, they argued and disagreed but at the end of the day they shook hands and parted with mutual respect. My fear is that the leadership of the Republican Party is so focused on winning elections at any costs that they are burning bridges with their colleagues and the American public that can never be repaired.

Writing in today’s NY Times Thomas L. Friedman says our current political system is broken, “My definition of broken is simple. It is a system in which Republicans will be voted out for doing the right thing (raising taxes when needed) and Democrats will be voted out for doing the right thing (cutting services when needed). When your political system punishes lawmakers for doing the right things, it is broken.”

Friedman advocates a third party, a middle ground. I have a far less radical approach. How about if we elect pragmatic people that are willing to reach across party lines to arrive at policies that serve us all?

Update: March 25, 2010

Since intial passage of the reform package, Democrats who supported the bill have been the target of death threats and vandalism. Experts say the GOP leadership is fanning the flames with their rhetoric.

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/mark-potok-john-boehner-day-late-and-dolla