Editor, Manteca Bulletin,
Remember the movie “One Eyed Jacks” with Marlon Brando? The title alluded to people who showed one side of themselves when they actually had another side. I was reminded of that movie when I started seeing some leading Republicans saying things now that seemed to contradict earlier statements or actions or just outright lie about facts.
Now these Republicans aren’t the new guys on the block, these are guys that have been around awhile and you would think they would know better. Or maybe it’s that very reason they might think nobody would dare fact check them. These kinds of actions might have gone unnoticed a few years ago, but now with the Internet, it is not very difficult to check them out. You really don’t have to depend on the media to get the facts to you but it does make things easier.
Here are just a few of the “One Eyed Jacks” I came across:
1. Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle on using Budget Reconciliation on Health Reform: “It was never designed for a large, comprehensive piece of legislation, such as health care, as you know.”
Do you know what the ‘R’ stands for in COBRA? You know the law that lets people keep their employee health insurance for a while after they’ve been laid off. In 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. How about SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program? Created in a Reconciliation bill in 1997.
2. Sen. Charles Grassley, speaking about the mandate for people to buy health insurance: “The high cost of this bill comes from an unconstitutional mandate. It comes from the fact that for the first time in the 225-year history of the country, the federal government is telling you got to buy something.” That was after he said: “I believe that there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates. I think individual mandates are more apt to be accepted by a vast majority of people in Congress.” Apparently he is now diametrically opposed to his own position on health reform.
3. Sen. Lamar Alexander, speaking about Reconciliation: “...And it would be a political kamikaze mission for the Democratic Party if they jam this through after the American people have been saying, “Look, we‘re trying to tell you every way we know how, in elections and surveys, and town hall meetings, we don’t want this bill.” It would really be the end of the United States Senate as the protector of minority rights.” Apparently Lamar has forgotten his own ‘kamikaze missions’ when he voted to use reconciliation over and over again, like 2003 for the Bush tax cuts, two times in 2005 and in 2007.
4. Sen. John McCain: “Entitlements should not be part of a reconciliation process, i.e., 51 votes. It’s too important.” Hmmm... How about in 2005, when he voted to use reconciliation to pass the Deficit Reduction Act? That bill among other things slashed spending for the entitlement known as Medicaid. Or how about in 1989, the Senate used reconciliation to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989. That legislation, among other things, overhauled the doctor payment system for the entitlement known as Medicare.
5. Sen. Orrin Hatch: “The use of Reconciliation would be an assault on the Democratic process...and degrade our system of government...” But he voted to use Reconciliation on the Omnibus act and Balance Budget act of 1989, same in 1995 and 1997, Marriage Tax Relief Act 2000 and at least nine other times.
6. Sen. Judd Gregg on Reconciliation: “It is bad policy and to do it this way is to railroad the American people and Congress”. But in a prior speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Gregg said “Reconciliation is a rule of the Senate, all this rule does is allowing the majority to pass a piece of legislation. Now is there something wrong with majority rules? I don’t think so.”
7. Sen. Mitch McConnell on Reconciliation: “...every time it has been used, it had bipartisan support”, really? In fact for the last two decades it has been used for party line votes. Why else would you have to use it?
One Eyed Jacks, one and all.
Remember the movie “One Eyed Jacks” with Marlon Brando? The title alluded to people who showed one side of themselves when they actually had another side. I was reminded of that movie when I started seeing some leading Republicans saying things now that seemed to contradict earlier statements or actions or just outright lie about facts.
Now these Republicans aren’t the new guys on the block, these are guys that have been around awhile and you would think they would know better. Or maybe it’s that very reason they might think nobody would dare fact check them. These kinds of actions might have gone unnoticed a few years ago, but now with the Internet, it is not very difficult to check them out. You really don’t have to depend on the media to get the facts to you but it does make things easier.
Here are just a few of the “One Eyed Jacks” I came across:
1. Senate Minority Leader Jim Kyle on using Budget Reconciliation on Health Reform: “It was never designed for a large, comprehensive piece of legislation, such as health care, as you know.”
Do you know what the ‘R’ stands for in COBRA? You know the law that lets people keep their employee health insurance for a while after they’ve been laid off. In 1986, Congress passed the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. How about SCHIP, the State Children’s Health Insurance Program? Created in a Reconciliation bill in 1997.
2. Sen. Charles Grassley, speaking about the mandate for people to buy health insurance: “The high cost of this bill comes from an unconstitutional mandate. It comes from the fact that for the first time in the 225-year history of the country, the federal government is telling you got to buy something.” That was after he said: “I believe that there is a bipartisan consensus to have individual mandates. I think individual mandates are more apt to be accepted by a vast majority of people in Congress.” Apparently he is now diametrically opposed to his own position on health reform.
3. Sen. Lamar Alexander, speaking about Reconciliation: “...And it would be a political kamikaze mission for the Democratic Party if they jam this through after the American people have been saying, “Look, we‘re trying to tell you every way we know how, in elections and surveys, and town hall meetings, we don’t want this bill.” It would really be the end of the United States Senate as the protector of minority rights.” Apparently Lamar has forgotten his own ‘kamikaze missions’ when he voted to use reconciliation over and over again, like 2003 for the Bush tax cuts, two times in 2005 and in 2007.
4. Sen. John McCain: “Entitlements should not be part of a reconciliation process, i.e., 51 votes. It’s too important.” Hmmm... How about in 2005, when he voted to use reconciliation to pass the Deficit Reduction Act? That bill among other things slashed spending for the entitlement known as Medicaid. Or how about in 1989, the Senate used reconciliation to pass the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989. That legislation, among other things, overhauled the doctor payment system for the entitlement known as Medicare.
5. Sen. Orrin Hatch: “The use of Reconciliation would be an assault on the Democratic process...and degrade our system of government...” But he voted to use Reconciliation on the Omnibus act and Balance Budget act of 1989, same in 1995 and 1997, Marriage Tax Relief Act 2000 and at least nine other times.
6. Sen. Judd Gregg on Reconciliation: “It is bad policy and to do it this way is to railroad the American people and Congress”. But in a prior speech on the Senate floor, Sen. Gregg said “Reconciliation is a rule of the Senate, all this rule does is allowing the majority to pass a piece of legislation. Now is there something wrong with majority rules? I don’t think so.”
7. Sen. Mitch McConnell on Reconciliation: “...every time it has been used, it had bipartisan support”, really? In fact for the last two decades it has been used for party line votes. Why else would you have to use it?
One Eyed Jacks, one and all.
Larry Baca
Manteca
March 6, 2010
Manteca
March 6, 2010
