Shutdown Showdown: Week 2
By Gary L. Bauer
Speaker John Boehner appeared on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday to defend the GOP position on Obamacare, the debt ceiling and the government shutdown. He did well, especially when you consider that he was being interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, a former top advisor to President Bill Clinton. The news media’s liberal filter could not have been more obvious.
But Boehner held his ground. He was animated and aggressive in pushing back against Stephanopoulos’ questioning. Discussing the debt limit increase, Speaker Boehner said:
“It is time to deal with America’s problems. How can you raise the debt limit and do nothing about the underlying problem?
“George, we’ve spent more than what we’ve brought in for 55 of the last 60 years. This year, the federal government will have more revenue than any year in the history of our country, and yet we’re still going to have a nearly $700 billion budget deficit. We’re squandering the future for our kids and our grandkids, by not dealing with this problem.”
On Obamacare and the government shutdown, the speaker said:
“I and my members decided the threat of Obamacare and what was happening was so important that it was time for us to take a stand. And we took a stand.
“…George, I have 233 Republicans in the House … who are thoroughly concerned about the future of our country. They believe that Obamacare, all these regulations coming out of the administration, are threatening the future for our kids and our grandkids.
“It is time for us to stand and fight.”
Speaking of Obamacare, the more the country learns about it, the less they seem to like it. Obamacare’s official Facebook page <http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Government/2013/10/03/Obamacare-Facebook-Erupts-With-Citizen-Sticker-Shock> is getting swamped with complaints about “rate shock” and glitches.
Even some self-identified Obama supporters are furious at what they are finding. Tom Waschura, a 52 year-old engineer who voted for Obama twice, told the San Jose Mercury News,
“I was laughing at Boehner — until the mail came today. I really don’t like the Republican tactics, but at least now I can understand why they are so [angry] about this.”
Waschura had just learned the hard way that he can’t keep his current policy. And the new one offered by Obamacare will cost “$10,000 more for insurance for his family of four.”
Cindy Vinson, who also voted for Obama twice, is learning that “free health care” isn’t free after all. Obamacare is going to cost her nearly $2,000 more a year. She said,
“Of course, I want people to have health care. I just didn’t realize I would be the one who was going to pay for it personally.”
The Consistency Of The Left
You have to give the left credit for consistency. When our brave soldiers came back from Vietnam, they were harassed and spat on in the streets. They were called “war criminals” and “baby killers.”
Who did that to them? It wasn’t the Tea Party — it didn’t exist then. It wasn’t conservatives, who honor the service and sacrifice of our troops.
It was the left — radicals like Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who helped launch <http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0208/8630.html> Obama’s political career. It was liberal opportunists like our current Secretary of State John Kerry, who accused his fellow countrymen of war crimes during testimony before Congress.
As the years passed, in part because of our national embarrassment over the way our Vietnam vets were treated, a memorial was built to honor them. The names of more than 58,000 dead are etched into a marble wall and every year thousands of Americans visit the Vietnam Memorial to pay their respects.
But the heirs of the hippies are now in the White House. Over the weekend, they ordered Park Police <http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/nbc-police-remove-vietnam-war-veterans-memorial-wall_759267.html> to chase veterans and tourists away from the Vietnam Memorial. A lot has changed in the last 40 years. But the left’s disrespect toward our men and women in uniform remains consistent.
The Park Police were also ordered to close the popular Iwo Jima Memorial. But a group of veterans, many of them in wheelchairs, <http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/iwo-jima-memorial-closed-barricades-erected_759277.html> knocked the barricades down. Good for them.
It’s a good thing my Dad (and Marine), Spike Bauer, who fought in the Pacific during World War II, isn’t alive today to witness this nonsense. I would probably be visiting him in jail!
