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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The 22 Who Held the Line

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  July 30th, 2011 at 01:09 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Here are the 22 heros who defied their House leaders and opposed the Boehner plan.

Note that the South Carolina delegation comes out on tops. Its two senators, Jim DeMint and Lindsey Graham, also opposed it. It’s something that South Carolina has more testicular fortitude than Texas.

Amash (MI)
Bachmann (MN)
Broun (GA)
Chaffetz (UT)
Cravaack (MN)
DesJarlais (TN)
Duncan (SC)
Gowdy (SC)
Graves (GA)
Huelskamp (KS)
Johnson (IL)
Jordan (OH)
King (IA)
Latham (IA)
Mack (FL)
McClintock (CA)
Mulvaney (SC)
Paul (TX)
Scott (SC)
Southerland (FL)
Walsh (IL)
Wilson (SC)

Being behind the scenes on this, I have to say we also need better generals on the outside. Toward the end, the coalition that was “Cut, Cap, and Balance” began crumbling, with several of the big organizations including Let Freedom Ring and Club for Growth buckled to pressure.

Instead of being organizations that held the line on sound policy, they provided cover for congressmen to cop out to a bad deal that will come back to haunt the House GOP.

Seeing conservatives on the outside become veritable General McClellans was disappointing in and of itself.

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COMMENTS

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  • conservativecurmudgeon

    ..and no one seems willing to diagnose the problem, least of all the establishment “watchdog” media, the “Think Tanks”, and everyone else that derives their livlihoods from the status quo.

    And that is:

    We are such a soft, “compassionate”, caring society that we’ve completely lost the ability to say “no” to anyone, for any reason. Just witness the laundry list of things that the hard left now considers sacrosanct, as blathered by the great Obama this week: We must underwrite college educations, alternative energy “research”, medical “breatkthroughs’, senior citizen “energy assistance”, along with all the Old Tyme Favorites such as “Education”, “Food Safety” and “medical treatment for our most vulnerable among us”.

    We cannot find the temperament to say “enough” to any group, grievance lobby, or sad-sack case. We are too charity-minded, and thus, we will drag our society down because of it. This past week shows the political will doesn’t exist to change the trajectory in the least.

  • akafroman

    He might be changing his mind.

  • RichmondG30

    I am satisfied to get an incremental win here and focus on gaining control of the Senate and WH in 2012.

    If we blow up the gov’t now here’s a possible scenario:
    Gov’t shuts down.
    Overnight millions of federal employees stop spending money.
    Thousands of struggling small businesses (like mine) go under.
    GDP shrinks and unemployment rises.
    Who do you think will get the blame? We will.

    Incremental (albeit small) win here followed by sweeping wins in 2012the will allow us to dismantle the beast in an orderly fashion.

    Ideological purify now can destroy this opportunity to make real headway against the Socialist state.

    Patience my fellow conservatives. I am begging you.

  • http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/ reaganiterepublicanresistance

    ’nuff said

  • Fla Mom

    Right where we are now is where patience has gotten us.

    Fla Mom

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    for the Garden of Eden…that man rejected. The “problem ” is people…they arte the worst. And if anyone thinks that the Boehner bill was THE test for “heroes”, don’t look now, but work remains to be done….and who voted where on the Boehner bill will be long-forgotten history.

  • rightwingmom52

    Apparently, Democrats and Republicans alike have no qualms saying no to conservatism which is the only thing likely to save everything else.

  • Scope

    is that the illustrious “leaders” of the Tea Party movement such as Judson Phillips, Mark Meckler, Jenny Beth Martin et all will be very very busy criss crossing the country in search of 413 acceptable candidates to run for those house seats in 2012. Phillips is even targeting West in Fla. I imagine they will come out against Mike Pence as the next IN Gov as well.

    They are headlining that the conservative movement will now be not two steps ahead after the 2010 elections, but 5 steps back in our effort to take over Washington. That bugs me really badly.

  • rsjt

    As Rush says we will be blamed no matter what happens in the next few weeks. That is a given. Some of us think if we had we held out that a real and effective compromise was possible. Now, we will either have a default which we will be blamed for or a last minute Senate “compromise” which we will be blamed for but is only business as usual. I question your claim of being a conservative.

    Interesting list. Minnesota has twice the number on the list as Texas. Hmm.

    jt

  • rsjt

    Nelson is beatable and with this vote Mack has something concrete to run on.

  • konni

    more testicular fortitude than Texas.

    I find it shocking that this shocks you. As a conservative Texan myself, I can tell you this is something that conservative Texans already know. It is the PEOPLE that live in Texas that are conservative, not necessarily the R’s that represent us.

    The ONLY reason that Texas came out with a state budget that didn’t raise taxes this legislative session is because of the INCREDIBLE push from tea party conservatives. Trust me. But even with us working overtime with them, they still took money from our state savings account to cover last session’s bills AND we still ended up with a current biennium budget shortfall. But you won’t hear any of this from any of our legislators, including our Governor. They tout the session as hunky-dory.

    Which brings me to another point. Everyone needs to be very careful if they think that Perry is going to be the conservative “answer” in the 2012 Presidential race. Hearing how conservative Texas is and instantly giving the Governor credit for that is a mistake. Tea Party groups all over Texas had to work work so hard just to get what we did. And we shouldn’t have had to. Our work could have been greatly minimized with a strong conservative leader. We did not have it. However. that’s just one reason I caution everyone. Just make sure you do your vigilant research on him as you will on all the candidates. Because what you hear is not necessarily what “is”.

  • Ned Reck

    He’s my new Rep here in TN…

    His vote did not surprise me… at all.

    Overheard in the hallsways of Congress… Rep. DesJarlais said he didn’t care if anybody from the district called his office… said that when he was runnin’ in the election… he made a promise… and come hell or high water… he was gonna keep it.

    Now there is a MAN to ride the river with…

    Ned Reck

  • freemanja1991

    My current Congressman and future Congressman both voted against it. Which is a surprise that Tom would go against Boehner.

  • RichmondG30

    to remember the last time we tried this. Newt Gingrich took a golden opportunity and instead of building on it, he overplayed his hand and empowered Bill Clinton.

    I can guarantee you that I am as outraged asyou are about what Obama, Reid, and Pelosi have visited on this country over the past 5 years. They are the lowest form of fascist scum. who have gone against the will of the American people and shoved their Socialist utopia down our throats. I loathe them. with everything I have.

    We won a great election in 2010. I am thrilled. If you think that controlling one House of Congress gives us the mandate to slash government by 1/3, balance the budget, and dramatically remake 50 years of growing entitlements OVERNIGHT, you are naive. It seems as though some here are willing to win the battle and lose the war.

    This is a skirmish in what will be a long war. If the American people conclude that we want to do more and reasonable cutting, but are being held back by Obama and Company, they will continue to replace Leftists with Conservatives. If they think that radicals are in charge, they will vote for “moderation” (read as Democrats).

    It’s not what you guys want to hear, but it’s the sad truth.

  • victrola

    Politics is not purely about ideology, a lot of it is tactics. I did not for one minute think that this debt ceiling deal was going to completely change our government. You need to win elections, lots of them, to bring about a new culture in Washington.

    I’m not a fan of the Boehner bill, but had that vote not succeeded, Democrats would have been jumping for joy. Republican House members would have been jumping off a sinking ship as the leadership would be in complete disarray, and my guess is Obama would have cobbled together some “Grand Bargain” that raised the debt limit AND taxes, with mere promises that sometime in the future, spending would be cut. Obama would look like some sort of hero that saved the day, and Republicans meanwhile would be involved in a circular firing squad.

    To go “scorched earth” on Republicans like Mike Pence or Allen West because they’re “RINOS” is beyond stupid and counterproductive. How we fare in the next election will have FAR more significance in actually achieving reform with entitlements and spending than whatever goal these 22 House members had in mind.

  • http://www.trommetter.com/log/ Jason

    Glad to see my state is well represented in the list of Congressman that held the line.

  • uhangtight

    I know he is doing a great job with exposing this administrations ineptitude and corruption, but I am really saddened he voted for this bill.

    I like ISSA, but I think it is time to primary both ISSA and Mary Bono MACK…

  • rdelbov

    Do the 240 republicans say no debt ceiling increase unless the senate and white house agrees to

    1. Balanced budget amendment
    2. entitlement reform ala Ryan Budget
    3. 300 billion in current year cuts (2011-2012 fiscal year) & a path to a balanced federal budget in 5 years?
    4. repeal Obamacare?

    What do we as conservative republicans want?

    So what’s the hill that you want the GOP to fall on? If we don’t get (fill in the blank) we need to default.

  • tedpomeroy

    Scroll down and you will finally find something well thought out.

    We need to change how the Congressional Budget Office scores the budget including getting off the “baseline”.

    One failed President, James Earl Carter had the temerity to get the Beltway to switch to zero-based budgeting, He got a primary challenge from Ted Kennedy.

    You notice no matter how much of a millstone around the Democrat neck President Obama is, there is no primary challenge because he toes the Beltway line.

  • tedpomeroy

    I suggest you study history and learn that South Carolina not only seceded from the Union in 1861 but previously under Andrew Jackson.

    SC has a history of counterproductive, obdurate and stentorian positions.

    If you really want to learn what it means to be a Republican, I suggest you start with our first, Lincoln. Then Grant who defended the moral gains Lincoln fought and died for.

    In addition to preserving the Union, Lincoln laid the groundwork to for the cross continent railways. Democrats of course hooted their objections: favoring the rich, blah blah.

    Now that is GOP, build real infratstructure.

  • e_rowe

    He never fought for smaller government, because he never wanted smaller government.

    And she’s not naive. All they had to do was not raise the debt ceiling. The mandate for this doesn’t come from an election, it comes from natural law.

  • e_rowe

    Not sure if Bachmann’s the right man for the job or not. But she’s definitely better than most of the field.

  • rbdwiggins

    Restoring the Republic for future generations.

    Without 1, 2 and 4, it becomes a nearly impossible task.

    With full implementation of 1 and 2, accompanied by the repeal of 4, it’s highly likely we won’t be forced to have this debate again.

  • e_rowe

    If there’s anything this episode shows us, it’s how badly in need of reform the GOP is. Rewarding the Perry/Romney wing of the party with the nomination won’t help any.

  • acat

    That was one of Team Clinton’s strongest points, they were very good at finding dirt on their opponents. If you’ll recall, Newt left town a couple years later under a cloud of personal issues.

    I’ve always suspected the Clintons knew what Gingrich’s weaknesses were and exploited them; there really wasn’t another reason (other than Newt pocked the pooch) for the capitulation.

    Mew

  • e_rowe

    And they could have voted no on that as well.

    They didn’t have to raise the debt ceiling at all. The best weapon they had in their arsenal was to not raise it. Their tactical error was accepting the premise that they had to.

  • e_rowe

    Is there some punning significance to the fact that Acat says “mew”?

  • e_rowe

    They need to default.

    There is no if.

    The tea party Republicans are heroes if they take it that far.

  • runner12

    You are the heroes this country needs to stand and fight on the front lines for this country.

    You represent the ideals of America and I could not be prouder of all of you. It is good to know that there are some honest people with integrity in Washington.

    Thank you for holding the line.

  • acat

    I’m a cat. I mew and sometimes hiss. My pit bulls bark. This is online so nobody gets used as a scratching post, except rhetorically.

    Mew

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    His VP Calhoun (also from SC) resigned over this matter.

    Jacksonian Democrats were famous for being for the UNION! They opposed secession in 1861 in state houses all over the south.

    Yes, my home state was wrong in secession and the firing on Fort Sumter. But they were essential to beating the British in the first place and since the 1970s have been instrumental in the growth of the GOP into a majority party. See Roger Milliken, Strom Thurmond, Carroll Campbell et al thru DeMint, Haley and Scott.

    South Carolina helped make Reagan President.

    South Carolinians fight our wars in disproportionate numbers and have since the late 1800s.

    SC motto:

    Dum Spiro Spero

  • e_rowe

    It just took me awhile to see it.

  • acat

    Very important life skill.

    Mew

  • jaykali

    When you’re a Bachmann or a Kucinich or Senator Obama and you never have to take a tough vote. You get a bunch of thumbs ups from the gallery and you never have to do anything tough, like um compromise.

    I can’t wait to see the next bi-partisan bill of importance Bachmann passes, it will be her first.

  • gekster

    …..

  • gekster

    from ProjectVoteSmart:
    http://votesmart.org/voting_category.php?can_id=54675

    take a look.

  • Tbone

    with those two raving, leftwing, America hating, incompetent lunatics obviously has had some type of serious head injury. We will pray for your recovery and salvation prior to your dying and going to Hell.

  • mikeymike143

    i think he would fit better on huff po than here.

  • rightwingmom52

    because I grew up in Warren County and most of my family still lives there, but mostly because I wanted to help boot Lincoln Davis out. I follow Dr. D on his Facebook page and comment occasionally. Some have said he shouldn’t have a page, but I find it refreshing. He asks for opinions, responds to comments and posts explanations for his votes. Actually tries to have an honest conversation even if it is on FB.

  • lastgopinillinois

    Then I understand why so many folks want to default.
    It would also shoot down new funding required to implement the new commissions and regulators of Dodd/Frank and put a dead halt to the egregious cap-and-tax initiatives handed over to the EPA.
    Thus default = defunding the liberal agenda, right? Thats great !
    But it would also defund our military, which should be the highest priority of our federal govt.

  • Fla Mom

    RichmondG30 (I wanted to call you ‘honey,’ but thought you’d be offended), it has ALREADY been a long war, one started in my parents’ voting lives, at a minimum, and they’ve been dead for 10 years after living long lives. Which side has advanced in the war, using which strategy and tactics? The other side has advanced, and they have done so by being deadly serious and being unyielding in demanding ‘crazy’ stuff. It’s our turn to be unyielding and demand ‘crazy’ stuff, like ‘no more increases in spending.’ No more. What was being argued in 1994 was small potatoes compared to the situation we’re in now. Our side can look back fondly at the 1996 and 2010 elections (and you are saying, ‘wait, we’ll win in 2012′), but other than the glow of victory immediately following hearing the results, what do we have to show for it? We’re about to accept the largest debt increase ever in our country’s history, to support the largest budget ever in our country’s history, to avoid dealing with the largest debt ever in our country’s history, a hole that may be too big to dig out of and stay what we once were. If it were truly a military war and I were in charge, I’d be firing the strategists and the tacticians.

    Fla Mom

  • jimmyneutron

    but I thought that I heard that there were at least two reps who held off voting until the very last minute. Then, when they saw that the bill had enough YES votes to pass they voted against it. If that is so it would be nice to know who they were.
    I have seen that in the past – individuals taking credit for voting against something, but it turns out that their no vote was just the leadership giving them cover.
    As for Bachmann – she is one of the few up there who does stand on principle and make the tough votes that go against the grain and could cost her politically. She makes meaningful votes, not votes sanctioned by leadership to provide her political cover. The more I see and hear from her, the more I become convinced that she is just the type of fighter we might want in the WH.

  • http://aposematic.wordpress.com aposematic

    Let me dare to say that if more votes were needed to pass the Boner Bill, some of these Names would change…not all, but some. Playing the game of politics is not integrity or truth, it is anything but that!

  • jaykali

    Paul Ryan is a thought leader and is the driving force behind a groundbreaking budget. What has Bachmann done? She seems like an opportunist to me.

    Look I could put Ron Paul on the same list. They never have to take any tough votes. If you are a leader of a house you actually have to compromise unless you have supermajorities like the Democrats had.

    I am tired of hearing about these people being heros. They are doing the easy thing, which is pander to Tea Party types. I could go to Washington and vote against everything.

  • justluthien

    Conservatives were told that they must vote for the “lesser of two evils” and that they must not let “the good become the enemy of the perfect” in 2000, 2002, 2004, 2006, 2008, and 2010. And here we are go again.

    If the Republican Party prefers the support of Rinos and moderates over conservatives, fine, see how well that works out in 2012 because I’m done. If the GOP wants my vote next year, it’ll have to get the old-fashioned way: earn it. And they’d better get to work now because they have a lot of territory to cover between now and then.

    It might also want to drop the snooty, condescending, professorial lectures to the Tea Party because without us, it doesn’t have a chance in hell in regaining the White House and Senate. A little gratitude for handing it the House last year instead of forming our own third party would be nice, too. Definitely unexpected, but nice. But I refuse to be dictated to by the same spineless, opportunistic politicos who helped get us into this mess in the first place.

    Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

  • gekster

    What big legislative acomplishment did JFK have.
    What big legislative acomplishment did Lincoln have.
    What big legislative acomplishment did Washington have.
    I can name numerous Presidents that have none.
    It’ not a deal breaker, unless it’s someone looking for any reason to disqualify a candidate.

  • e_rowe

    Defense may well be the highest priority. But almost all of what they’ve spent on military operations over the past century (and certainly at present) has made us all positively less safe.

    Plus, if you want to keep giving your money to pay for other peoples’ health insurance, or to defend this or that foreign regime, or to maintain any other program, you should be able to without the middle man.

    But most importantly, it’s a matter of basic right and wrong, regardless of the outcome. Default is the only ethical option. Politicians have no right to borrow money on taxpayers’ behalf without their consent, and then leave them with the bill. They have even less right to do that to future generations of taxpayers.

  • Ned Reck

    Now that you mention it? Lincoln Davis epitomized the remaining southern Democrats still in office…

    He would wear one conservative ?face? at home? and wear just the liberal opposite when he was in the D.C.

    Everybody should have gotten a hint of LD?s politics by his very own fence-straddlin? name? an indication that somebody couldn?t make up their mind whether he was named after President Lincoln of the Union? or President Davis of the Confederacy.

    Sure glad we got Dr. D!

    Ned Reck

  • superrooter

    The big battle lies ahead. This was just a warm-up of whats too come from the Dems and their sanctimonious blatherings against the Tea Party purists. We know and so does almost sixty percent of the voters in this country, who will and must prevail in the National elections next year. It has taken this debacle, predicated from the Dems to wake up more of us!! OK everyone is awake now. The Twenty-Two standouts have shown the way for all the House and Senate members to follow, if they didn’t notice what really is happening then they will be removed from office, too. Tweet that Mr. Prez.

  • superrooter

    Point well taken. But, as you know, it is so darn hard to control the anger about the Socialist,Defaulter in charge of the PC police. I have finally reached the point of no return. I am now and forever synical about the Dem Party as a whole. They know they’ve lost the White House and like’ly the Senate. That’s why they are implementing their own form of Scorched Earth policy. We still pray in NC. Hope everyone see’s your post.

  • barjm

    With our present situation in government, it is not possible to overcome all the obstacles in one day. Let’s do the best we can and stop fighting among ourselves. Let’s save our energy to fight the Liberals.

  • gunslingr45

    You mean the ones who capitulated to this?

    “My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.” Thomas Jefferson
    We are almost there Mr. Jefferson. Try not to spin out of your clothes please.

  • avgjo

    nt

  • concap

    The people in the Tea Party movement think most of the Republican Party are the liberals.

    Just less liberal than the Dems.

  • avgjo

    after he capitulated last time. ‘This isn’t the hill to die on’, ‘the real fight is the debt ceiling and the 2012 budget’. Patience, we were admonished. Well, this cowardice clothed in ‘patience’ and ‘strategy’ is killing us, and after last night may well have finished us off financially. Notice now, Boner isn’t even trying to placate us with a ‘the real fight is X’ argument. I told all the ‘smart kids’ advocating ‘strategy’ and ‘patience’ that if that rat coward Boehner would cave then, he’d cave now. I was right.

    I think I could count the conservatives/republicans I’ve met who actually know anything about strategy/tactics on my two hands, and I don’t think I’d need all 10 fingers. It’s a crying shame, I hate saying, but I believe it’s true.

    This bill will not make any headway against the Socialist state; it will allow it to become more entrenched. Boehner’s craven conduct during this will ensure that they continue to push for more and more in the next year and a half; it also indicates strongly they will get what they want. The dims have ‘ideological purity’ and they keep winning. This watered down, ‘smart conservatism’ has gotten us in a h**l of a mess.

  • avgjo

    We keep losing because of ‘patient people’ like those sitting in representative seats.

  • mspector

    Buck McKeon talked a good fight about the BBA and CCB, but when push came to shove he stood in line as he usually has.

  • fpete13527

    nt

  • oldmarine

    monster bill I call – solution by commission.Has any commission ever bared fruit to accomplish anything meaningful ?

  • crusader6

    why wonder about SC’s testicular fortitude over TX’s? Travis and Bonham (of the Alamo for those who can’t remember) were both from SC. Another item that added to that fortitude was the fact that just prior to the vote in the House, the SC delegation went to the House chapel to pray. As I heard it reported by Shepherd Smith, I was never prouder to be a South Carolinian. Deo Vindice!

  • gunslingr45

    The Republican Party has failed to rally people under the flag of one ideal. Most of the Tea Party movement is rallying under the flag of Fiscal/Constitutional conservatism

    Color me the color of tea!
    ?My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.? Thomas Jefferson
    We are almost there Mr. Jefferson. Try not to spin out of your clothes please.

  • jikijitsu

    these days, as evidenced by most of our side going wobbly during this debate. I have no doubt the pressure to cave is still MASSIVE, since the first principle of any “system” is that it “captures” anyone who tries to buck the trend and bring any degree of change. A system always tries to protect itself, and Washington is nothing if not a complex system, a giant spending machine.

    More hobbits will be required to save the country. Let’s elect them from everywhere, now. Thank You! to my Congressman Tom Graves for standing up for the people who elected you and who still need you to Hold The Line.

  • duanej

    RichmondG30 you are guilty of short term thinking, incapable of seeing into the distant future. Which is worse for the economy? A partial government shutdown or a credit downgrade? With this deal, we are assured of a downgrade. Interest rates will necessarily rise, thus further depressing the housing market. Fewer people will be able to buy that new home. More people will be forced out of their homes as mortgage rates begin to increase. Credit card interest rates will necessarily increase forcing people to stop spending.

    In short, a second recession far worse than what we saw in 08 to present will be on us. Inflation, and energy prices will necessarily skyrocket.

    We have no gain with the Budget Control Act of 2011. What we will get is abject misery and guess who will be blamed for it. If you don’t see this, please change party affiliations as you are part of the problem and not part of the solution!

  • fdemonbrun

    from Erik’s list, so I copied and pasted his article into an email and sent it off to Corey Gardner (CO) asking him to be sure to not disappoint his constituents when this next vote comes up . . .

  • fdemonbrun

    from Erik?s list, so I copied and pasted his article into an email and sent it off to Corey Gardner (CO) asking him to be sure to not disappoint his constituents when this next vote comes up . . .

  • ihateliberals

    battle and most definitely not the war. I am old enough to remember the last 50 years too. I don’t expect the last 10 years of bad government to be turned around overnight but I do expect to stop letting it advance to an even worse position and that is what this Debt Ceiling bill does. People are much smarter now and if the Republicans had held their ground and the default occurred they know tha tit would have been the DOA from the Obama administration that put us there not the GOP. what the democrats have learned from Boehner is that if you put enough pressure on him and wait until the last minute he will cave. and he did along with many other RINO’s and some Tea Partiers. I sent my congressman to DC to do two things and two things only. One to Stop Obamacare by any means possible and secondly to stop the spending frenzy. I did not send them there to be friends with anyone or to compromise on these two agenda items. By the way the only time you will hear the word compromise is when a Liberal is losing or in position to lose. Where was the compromise on Obamacare? Why weren’t they willing to negotiate with the Republicans on it? The answer is that they are ruthless when they are in charge and will push every liberal program they can through the government. The New Republicans of the last 10 years are whimps and have no backbone. They have abandoned the very people that put them into office and actually look t them as inconveniences. Their agenda isn’t much different from the Liberals they just like to take another approach to arrive at the same place. That is what is wrong with Mitt Romney. al he wants to do is get rid of Obamacare so he can implement Romneycare. wht’s the difference?

    No the Party nor the American people won anything out of this debt deal. It has no meat. As Clara Peller once said “Where’s the Beef?”.

  • rightwingmom52

    the compromise bill (the one that passed).

  • jaykali

    But that’s not particularly what I have a problem with. I am sure it is a very conservative record, that’s great. My initial point is that Bachmann to me is an opportunist. She was a complete unknown until the Tea Party came about and then she saw a bandwagon she could jump on and she did. She wasn’t anti-earmarks for instance pre-Tea Party. I just don’t think she is a ‘hero’ for voting against the increase. I think she is exactly like Democrats who voted against the increase when Bush was president. It is an easy protest vote that makes the politician look good. John Kerry, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama all voted against it just to name a few. Oh and btw every Republican voted against it the last time it was raised. And I can’t blame them. But as a voter that doesn’t make me respect them as a ‘hero’. It underscores the cynical climate we live in where politics points is the name of the game for every decision these people make.

    Boehner is not a villain, he has the unenviable position of being someone who does not have the luxury of protest votes. He has to get legislation passed. When Obama was a senator he could vote against the debt ceiling knowing it would pass anyway. As president he knows he need the debt ceiling raised. It’s that simple, any politician who does not have complete control will have to negotiate and compromise at some point. The Democrats had a couple shady elections go Blue in 08 (Alaska/MN) and got a supermajority. They didn’t have to compromise. The Republicans only have the house. They have to compromise. And what will really make people crazy (probably myself included) is that the Republicans might win the Senate and the presidency in 2012 and STILL have to compromise at least some. There will be some Democratic holdouts in the Senate unless the R’s can get 60 in the Senate.

    Going back to my original point I don’t know what bill Bachmann has actually proposed and passed. Maybe an Obamacare repeal bill or something? Maybe I just missed it but I know she didn’t list anything in her first debate.

    Paul Ryan’s bill only passed the house but it was a huge piece of legislation and a debate changer. So I credit that as somewhat of an accomplishment even though of course it didn’t make law. I don’t know of anything Bachmann’s done that is that level.

  • jaykali

    I am much more biased towards Governors because that position to me is the most relevant to the presidency. I think you get a much better feel for how someone will govern from governors. So I like the idea of Chris Christy or Rick Perry much more than even congressman I love like Paul Ryan or Marco Rubio.

    And no one ever comes out of the house. I think Bachmann is good at having a consistent coherent message in her interviews/1st debate, but I am just not real impressed with her experience. I like having a real record to look at. Congressman/women can last for years without having any tough votes (see Ron Paul). I would subscribe to the same criticisms you hear from Tim Pawlenty.

  • jaykali

    Am I calling Bachmann a liberal? Of course not, that wouldn’t even make sense. I am saying tactically she is doing the same thing Obama, Clinton, Kerry, etc etc etc – every Republican last debt limit has done – take a protest vote against a bill that everyone knows will pass anyway. That’s not leadership to me.

    Boehner’s a villain because he is in a position of leadership where he actually has to negotiate with the other side. He doesn’t have the luxury of making protest votes.

  • jaykali

    She passed the freedom of lightbulb choice bill or something! Wow what a tough stand. That’s definitely on the level of Ryan’s budget.