OldMercsRule
11-21-2010, 09:32 PM
Good read posted to the WSJ, (online), this weekend. Enjoy.
By JOHN FUND
An old Washington story goes that when Martians land near the White House, everyone inside the Beltway flees in terror. Everyone, that is, except for the folks at the favor-factories known as Congress's Appropriations Committees, who rush to greet the spaceship and say, "We're here to help with the transition."
There is always a danger that this election's invading aliens—aka, tea partiers—will gradually succumb to Beltway mores. Former GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, now a big-time Washington lobbyist, has already told the Washington Post that it's imperative for his tribe to "co-opt" the tea partiers arriving in D.C.
But Dick Armey—Republican House majority leader for eight years following the GOP landslide of 1994 and now chairman of the influential advocacy group, FreedomWorks—is pointing them in the opposite direction. Mr. Armey's organization has nurtured and mentored tea party candidates for the past 18 months. He helped promote the "Contract from America," a 10-point, grass-roots inspired program to "re-limit" government that more than 70 new Senate and House members signed. And he's sent each new member of Congress a seven-page memo on how not to be co-opted.
Mr. Armey's top agenda item for the 112th Congress is, he says, "to defund, repeal and replace the government takeover of health care and adopt a patient-centered approach." Hardly anyone thinks repeal is in the cards, at least for now. Even assuming repeal could get through the House, it would likely die in the Democratic Senate. And if it did reach the president's desk, Barack Obama would almost certainly veto it.
But during a visit with him last month at a tea party rally outside Chicago and a subsequent chat while he was at home in Dallas, Mr. Armey insists that a series of moves involving "thinking smart and acting boldly" can exert pressure that will bring down ObamaCare.
View Full Image
Terry Shoffner
.A new Gallup poll finds that 36% of Republicans (and even 12% of Democrats) believe repeal of ObamaCare should be Congress's No. 1 priority. "A quick, straight repeal vote will attract no fewer than 20 House Democrats," Mr. Armey predicts. Citizen pressure on the 23 Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2012 could lead to Senate passage.
read the rest:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624270283388674.html?m od=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop
By JOHN FUND
An old Washington story goes that when Martians land near the White House, everyone inside the Beltway flees in terror. Everyone, that is, except for the folks at the favor-factories known as Congress's Appropriations Committees, who rush to greet the spaceship and say, "We're here to help with the transition."
There is always a danger that this election's invading aliens—aka, tea partiers—will gradually succumb to Beltway mores. Former GOP Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, now a big-time Washington lobbyist, has already told the Washington Post that it's imperative for his tribe to "co-opt" the tea partiers arriving in D.C.
But Dick Armey—Republican House majority leader for eight years following the GOP landslide of 1994 and now chairman of the influential advocacy group, FreedomWorks—is pointing them in the opposite direction. Mr. Armey's organization has nurtured and mentored tea party candidates for the past 18 months. He helped promote the "Contract from America," a 10-point, grass-roots inspired program to "re-limit" government that more than 70 new Senate and House members signed. And he's sent each new member of Congress a seven-page memo on how not to be co-opted.
Mr. Armey's top agenda item for the 112th Congress is, he says, "to defund, repeal and replace the government takeover of health care and adopt a patient-centered approach." Hardly anyone thinks repeal is in the cards, at least for now. Even assuming repeal could get through the House, it would likely die in the Democratic Senate. And if it did reach the president's desk, Barack Obama would almost certainly veto it.
But during a visit with him last month at a tea party rally outside Chicago and a subsequent chat while he was at home in Dallas, Mr. Armey insists that a series of moves involving "thinking smart and acting boldly" can exert pressure that will bring down ObamaCare.
View Full Image
Terry Shoffner
.A new Gallup poll finds that 36% of Republicans (and even 12% of Democrats) believe repeal of ObamaCare should be Congress's No. 1 priority. "A quick, straight repeal vote will attract no fewer than 20 House Democrats," Mr. Armey predicts. Citizen pressure on the 23 Senate Democrats up for re-election in 2012 could lead to Senate passage.
read the rest:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704170404575624270283388674.html?m od=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop