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Thursday, February 11, 2010

Dear White House.....

Below is a link to House Minority Leader John Boehner's website. The link will bring you to a letter sent from Mr. Boehner and House Minority Whip Eric Cantor to White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel.

The letter was prompted by President Obama's announcement, with only an hour warning to House and Senate Republican leadership, on national television this past weekend of a "bi-partisan" health care summit on February 25th at the White House.

Messieurs Boehner and Cantor raise some excellent questions for the White House to answer before the Republican members of the House accept the inivitation.

Please read the letter yourself and then comment below. Are the questions raised valid? Is Mr. Boehner correct in his statements the past few days that if the starting point is either of the health care bills passed in the Senate or House, bills crafted and passed by Democrats, then there is no starting point for a bi-partisan discussion?

Click here for the letter: Dear Mr. Emanuel


Personally, I hope the GOP sticks to its principles on health care reform, as presented many times and ignored previously by President Obama, Democratic leadership in both the Senate and House and the mainstream media. Further, until the White House answers the letter from Boehner and Cantor, and the answers are public, that the Republican leadership decline any invitation to a staged event under the cloak of "bi-partisanship."

dcs02102010

3 comments:

Irate&Disgusted said...

The Republicans have seen success in the current policy of "Just Say No". Demanding that the President start Health Care reform from scratch before they will participate is not bipartisan politics. The compromise seems to me, do it my way, and then we will speak. As a lifetime Republican, I am embarrased and fear for the long term security of our country with such divisive tactics. Don't be fooled, this is not what about what is best for Americans. It's about Power, pure and simple. I'm disgusted.

Jay-Dubya said...

The Republicans will not forget the behind closed doors efforts on health care. Neither will they forget the arrogance and the attempts to cram down our throats the craziest, lengthy, costly bill in history. Senator Brown has the Republicans in the drivers seat, and the president will not change his ways. It is a great opportunity for the GOP. They will not let us down.

Dennis C Smith said...

Irate:

I would say if you feel this way about the GOP then your heart has probably never been with the party. The party of "No" regarding health care has been the Democrats. If they were the party of "Yes" then legislation would have been passed. The bills that were bribed through both houses could not pass with Democratic majorities today--so who is the party of no? Obama's offer is not about bi-partisanship, it is about power as you say. Using his power as President and the bully-pulpit to try to weaken the Republicans position in America. Thankfully the public has remained resolute as the "People of No" when it comes to the Democrats' bills for healthcare.

Let's suppose you and your neighbor agreed to build a fence. Your neigbor wants some funky design with broken bottles and tin cut-outs and other mixed media. You want a classic stucco over cinderblock wall. Before you even can present your idea your neighbor hires a backhoe and digs a trench for the fence and it runs two feet on your side of the property line.

Now you neighbor says "let's sit down and discuss our fence." Would you want to start from where it is today, or would you want the trench filled back in and then begin negotiating the fence?

Starting "negotiations" from a failed plan is not negotiating, it is asking for surrender from those who see it as a failure.

Regarding "divisive tactics" did you feel the same way when Obama was in the Senate and fillibustered judicial nominees, U.N. appointees, and other legislation from Bush? Were you against the divisiveness Pelosi and Reid brought with them in 2006? Is it your contention in a democracy that the party in the minority should roll over on its constituents and supporters and just agree to whatever the majority says?

In "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience" Henry David Thoreau wrote "any man more right than his neighbors constitutes a majority of one already." I would say that any party more right than another, as defined by the people they represent, constitute a majority as well, and should behave as such.

To the health care plans passed by the Senate and House and being pushed by Obama, I say to the GOP electeds, just say no.

Irate, thanks for your comments and taking the time to read the entries on my blog. DCS 02112010