Bill Kristol: A Vote Against Boehner Plan Is a Vote for Obama-Pelosi Regime
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, July 27, 2011, 5:55 AM
Bill Kristol warned fellow Republicans today about the dangers of opposing the Boehner plan. Since the House Republicans are retooling the plan today we don’t know yet what is in it.
Regardless of the outcome, Speaker Boehner has stood strong against the onslaught of the democrat media complex throughout the debt limit debate. If Republicans come out of this battle with no new taxes and a plan that reduces the debt as much as the debt limit is increased, then it is a win for conservatives and the tea party.
The Weekly Standard reported:
To govern is to choose. To vote is to choose. To vote against John Boehner on the House floor this week in the biggest showdown of the current Congress is to choose to vote with Nancy Pelosi. To vote against Boehner is to choose to support Barack Obama. It is to choose to increase the chances that worse legislation than Boehner’s passes. And it is to choose to increase the chances that Obama emerges from this showdown politically stronger. So when the Heritage Action Fund and the Club for Growth, and Senators Vitter, Paul, et al., choose to urge House Republicans to join the Democrats to defeat Boehner, they’re choosing to side with Barack Obama.
Unfair!—these fine groups and senators will say. We’re not siding with Obama. We just want Boehner to do more, to go further.
Very well, then. Can the pro-Obama right explain how defeat for Boehner on the House floor would redound to conservatives’ benefit, to their ability to do more and to go further? They can’t. Read their statements (here, here, and here). They don’t even pretend to explain how defeating Boehner would produce a better policy or political result for conservatives—in the near or medium or long term. Because they can’t explain how defeat will produce victory. Defeat will produce … defeat. There is no path to a better conservative outcome that follows from Boehner going down on the House floor this week.
This isn’t some bad bipartisan establishment deal of the sort conservatives have sometimes opposed in the past. Then conservatives were opposing Democrats as well as Republicans, and could plausibly explain why doing so was in conservative interests. Now, Heritage Action and the Club for Growth are siding with and strengthening Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They’re working to produce a policy and political defeat for John Boehner and Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan and the Republican majority in the House. This isn’t principled conservatism. This is self-indulgence masquerading as principle, sectarianism masquerading as conservatism.
Related… The GOP’s Reality Test Republicans who oppose Boehner’s debt deal are playing into Obama’s hands.
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Published May 21, 2012 at 12:19 am - 47 Comments
bg commented:
++
A Vote Against Boehner Plan Is a
Vote for Obama-Pelosi Regime??
yeah.
right.
==
timothy commented:
No Bill
This is Codevilla’s Country Class vs The Ruling Class.
We are working for the defeat of the Ruling Class–a class of which you and Boehner are members in good standing.
StrangernFiction commented:
It is to choose to increase the chances that worse legislation than Boehner’s passes.
And how would this worse legislation pass? Hmmmm? I was under the impression that the good guys controlled the House, and that legislation had to pass this body.
They don’t even pretend to explain how defeating Boehner would produce a better policy or political result for conservatives—in the near or medium or long term. Because they can’t explain how defeat will produce victory.
I could spend pages on this, but to put it simply: REPUBLICAN DOES NOT EQUAL CONSERVATIVE, ERGO REPUBLICAN DEFEAT…..
pro-Obama right
Those are big words TWS, big words indeed.
Texmom commented:
The old school establishment is fighting this tooth and nail. They want to be sure the Tea Party does not gain too much power within the GOP and stop them from doing business as usual. We’re fighting not only the Democrats but all of the “establishment” Republicans. O’Reilly and Krauthammer are piling on, too.
L.E. Liesner commented:
I wouldn’t take what Bill Kristol says as gospel. He one of the establishment Republicans that leans left. Hell he’s already but Juan Williams on the staff of writers at the Weekly Standard, the so called conservative magazine. This last plan Boehner put forward is more watered down then the one before, all it does is raise the debt ceiling and the spending cuts are almost non-existent.
mamagriz68 commented:
Like Obama said, you can put lipstick on a pig, but it’s still a pig. No matter how many different lipsticks Boehner tries here, it’s still the same old thing going on in DC.
Taqiyyotomist commented:
OT
More to Oslo than most folks realize:
http://barnhardt.biz
Read Ann Barnhardt’s musings. Look for the posts:
“Manifesto as Fake as Obama’s Birth Certificate”
and, about 5 posts down,
“Several Things”
This thing stinks like Lynn, MA at low tide.
Don’t put anything past the worshippers of Mao and Stalin.
bg commented:
++
Texmom #4
BINGO!!
[alas, samo samo gang Bush was, and Sarah still is, up against]
==
Kate commented:
I think Bill makes a valid point and it needs to be considered. I don’t think we will get all we want on the first go. When does that happen? Fight one battle, win and then move on to the next engagement, fight and win again. In time we will get there. We can’t give the enemy the opportunity a chance to win this battle. Yes, IMO, Obama and the Dems are our enemy in this situation. They are destroying our country.
Taqiyyotomist commented:
#3 SnF
Indeed. You hit the nail on the head.
The Stupid Party (R) has been, as always, co-opted by the Evil Party (D).
I say to hell with both parties.
Taqiyyotomist commented:
What’s needed is “The Conservative Party”. Plain and simple, to the point.
And, please, no flag with a serpent on it — doesn’t sit well.
Sonya commented:
Right now the only goal is to defeat Obama in 2012. Any plan should be looked at from this point of view. While Obama is in office nothing big and/or good can be done. If fighting for better now will give Obama another 4 years, forget about our country as we know(knew) it.
I personally think that we should cut a trillion from this year budget. After all in 2008 the deficit was one trillion less. Unfortunately, we have Obama and if it were enough idiots to vote for him in 2008, we cannot be sure that he will not win in 2012. So at least conservatives should not try to help him.
bg commented:
++
Kate #9
same argument was indirectly made FOR
OBAMACARE by old world REPUBLICANS..
they said they can & will incrementally or otherwise REPEAL
OBAMACARE, i said HELL NO THEY CAN’T & WON’T HELL-O?!
==
Taqiyyotomist commented:
bg
Read the posts I mentioned in my #7.
bg commented:
++
Sonya #12
that old “drink the kooaid softly & carry big election
hopes” brush doesn’t whitewash reality anymore..
ht Gail
QUOTE OF THE CENTURY, MAYBE EVEN THE MILLENNIUM
Some people have the vocabulary to sum up things in a way you
can understand them. This quote came from the Czech Republic.
Someone over there has it figured out. We have a lot of work to do.
“The danger to America is not Barack Obama but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of an Obama presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Obama, who is a mere symptom of what ails America . Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Barack Obama, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools such as those who made him their president.”
Taq #14, not yet, but will..
==
Max commented:
Boehner plan only cuts $4 billion in the first year and linearly pushes off cuts towards the end of the 10 year period… never-never land. US debt will continue to climb, to what I don’t know, but I’m guessing about $25 Trillion.
Ella commented:
We can debate till the cows come home but one thing is for sure – the left is trying to split us up and save their Messaiah.
This is all political and INTENTIONAL. Zippy having no plan and us fighting over ours. We had better wake up.
Taqiyyotomist commented:
bg
That is indeed a great quote — thank you.
I’ve got a good friend at work from Ceska Republika, and I’m going to show this quote to her.
retire05 commented:
Remember that Bill Kristol is an inside-the-beltway elite who also supported the Shamnesty Bill written by John McCain and his butt buddy, Ted Kennedy. Kristol has taken other positions that seem to be polar opposite of what the average American citizen wants before.
Perhaps Mr. Kristol should get out of the Beltway and take a trip to talk to us “normal” folk to learn that we, not the elites in D.C. are the ones who should be deciding what is good for this nation.
Jack commented:
Cutting just 1 Billion from the budget this year is a victory for Democrats. Waiting 10 years for cuts is a victory for democrats.
How about a 5% across the board spending cuts at federal level this year? And the same next year.
Max commented:
I wish, Jack. I think the 4 billion 2012 “cut” comes to 0.1% of the budget, tho the CBO isn’t clear about the resulting total deficit and I think the total expenditures go up more than that anyway, so probably they are cutting the increase in spending.
StrangernFiction commented:
While Obama is in office nothing big and/or good can be done.
This RINO talking point, which we have heard repeated ad nauseum, is BULLSH!T. If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, one of two things is going to happen:
1) Fedzilla will be cut down to size.
2) Obama will commit political suicide, with much damage being done to the ‘rats.
The R’s CAN do big things, but they WON’T.
cal rifkin commented:
…SHUT YOUR MOUTH! I’m talking ’bout Shaft! THEN WE CAN DIG IT!
Robert commented:
Kristol’s statement “This isn’t principled conservatism. This is self-indulgence masquerading as principle, sectarianism masquerading as conservatism.” is backwards.
The principled conservative argument is that spending, and thus the size and scope of government, should be reduced. This point of view is NOT “sectarianism masquerading as conservatism.”
It is the call for “compromise” that reduces the principle of conservatism.
Sparky commented:
Who cares what Bill Krystal says.
More important is that Boehner is getting pushed off the Cut, Cap, and Balance bill that the house passed. He should have gone to the public to win support for his plan. The public wants CC&B and would have then turned up the heat on Obama.
Boehner has lost momentum and is now getting outflanked due to weak knees and poor media presentation.
Boehner blinked first and now he is scrambling to save his butt!
bg commented:
++
what i want to know is why are only about 50 SENATORS “privileged” to
hold discussions in secret with Obama on bills that ALL CONGRESSIONAL
REPRESENTATIVES WERE ELECTED TO DO..
not to mention WE THE PEOPLE??
this is TRANSPARENCY??
==
MDd commented:
Bill is that you? Damn it man. Get off that couch w/ Nanzi.
bg commented:
++
clarification re: #26
re: the 50 Senators = a number i recently read in a different article, for
all we know, it could be just a “chosen few” of the “chosen one”.. gah!!
==
Sonya commented:
to #13
to repeal ObamaCare Republicans need Senate and Obama out of the office. Same as with cutting deficit/debt.
If Republicans do not do both in that case, then we can be angry with them, otherwise we can only be angry that they cannot fly, for example.
big L commented:
they are making it too hard-the D.C. ers.
1.don’t raise the debt ceiling.
2.cut prgrams by some amount to acheive a real cut. that Rand Paul said 1 % with no
“leftovers” from the prior year. Check out his site.
3.Empty every budget of every program back into the general fund. Calif, IIRc ‘found’
$2 billion dollars by emptying a whole group of accounts they said. If there is any Stim or
Tarp left, they are cancelled and the money returned to general fund.
4. Stop with the Feds acquiring lands acrossthe country. Return many tracts to production.
Place all drilling for oil into the defense dept and then arrest any interferers.(prob not the
last)
5.No more secret meetings.
6.No more Cong being summoned toWH for a whippin.
7. Pass it and send it up and go back to work on other issues. If govt can be frozen onto one issue like the debt kabuki, then fed govt is too large and this is proof of it.
Gary commented:
Stranger, Max
The key point is this 10 year part. Obama gets his increase immediately. The so-called cuts will be implemented gradually over the next 10 years. Even then, after next year’s elections, there is no guaranteed that the future part of this deal will be upheld.
So the only guarantee is Obama’s extra trillion in spending right away, and a few billion in cuts for the rest of us this coming year.
Boehner was on Rush yesterday, and hearing him actually say the words, I got the sense I was looking at Jack telling me about these cool beans he just bought.
I never thought he was very conservative, but Boehner has taken a big step down in my estimation. He went to bat for us and came back smiling about this??
Gary commented:
Robert,
you’re right. I’m sick of them saying “compromise”.
A man of principle cannot compromise, because it is the “principle” that won’t be compromised.
Our compromise can only be on how many hours we give these scum to clean out their offices in January.
And I’m talking about the Dems, of course.
But we need a different Speaker in the house. Boehner isn’t the man for the job. If Bachmann doesn’t make it onto the ticket this time, I hope she’s voted Speaker next year.
megapotamus commented:
If Obama gets everything he says he wants and it all works as they predict, in ten years we will have a $25t debt. If Boner gets everything he says he wants and it all works as they predict, in ten years we will have a $24t debt. This so-called compromise manages to mitigate an unrestrained Leftwing agenda by 4% over a decade. Whether this is a genius political maneuver we can leave to the Kristols to determine but in either case the national situation will be identical. No deal.
nofreelunch commented:
FEAR FEAR FEAR……..The sky will not fall if the debt limit isn’t raised. In fact, the markets will see restraint as a positive sign. Pass nothing that doesn’t have real and immediate spending cuts. Stand firm.
bg commented:
++
cal rifkin #23
hmmm.. hmmm hmmm..
just stfu, eat your peas, and take the blue pill!!
Nevertheless, the Western World did not complain in 1933 because Hitler, though a fascist and a totalitarian, was seen, like countless American puppet dictators today, as someone who leaves the established order in place.
hmmm..
Taq #7
thanks..
re: Several Things” = 3 posts down..
==
Gary commented:
Sonya #29
That’s only true on paper.
In reality, the House has the power to do way more without the Senate and the President. Repeal the bill outright, no. But defund it, yes. Furthermore, they could lock down Congress and refuse to pass another bill of any kind until a repeal vote passes the Senate and then either penned by Obama or veto overridden. Sounds far-fetched, I know, but if we had that ’95 spirit in the HR today, they could make that bluff, and it would start the ball rolling, and may even achieve the ultimate goal.
They don’t have to sit on their hands and wait for the people to elect a Rep. prez and a Senate majority to get this done. And to the contrary, sitting on their hands and waiting, passing up every opportunity to pick a fight that does ultimately have to be fought, may be interpreted by the uninformed masses as weakness and ineptitude. And the uninformed masses vote for perceived winners, not losers.
Remarkulus commented:
Sonya says: “Right now the only goal is to defeat Obama in 2012. Any plan should be looked at from this point of view. While Obama is in office nothing big and/or good can be done. If fighting for better now will give Obama another 4 years, forget about our country as we know(knew) it.
I personally think that we should cut a trillion from this year budget. After all in 2008 the deficit was one trillion less. Unfortunately, we have Obama and if it were enough idiots to vote for him in 2008, we cannot be sure that he will not win in 2012. So at least conservatives should not try to help him.”
Yes, if given the chance to help the economy and cut unemployment, or defeat Obama in 2012, we should definitely let the economy tank and unemployment to grow. This is the type of Big Picture thinking we need more of. After all, we can always “fix” the economy in two years, amirite?
burt commented:
There is NO compromise with Obama. He wins you lose. There still is no Democratic plan and they have offered nothing. You will give him the $2 trillion he wants. He will spend it on buying votes. The money will be gone. The United States will still be bankrupt. Intrest rates will go through the sky. It is a sad ending to what use to be a good country.
StrangernFiction commented:
Not good, not good at all:
http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/27/cbo-reid-bill-a-bigger-reduction-in-spending-barely/#comments
Nice job Tears.
RayH commented:
No conservative should take Kristol seriously about much of anything, he is and always has been a craven political coward. On those rare occasions when he is right about something it’s strictly happenstance, just as a broken clock is right occasionally.
Rob De Witt commented:
I think Kristol’s right, in this sense:
The first order of business is to get the current criminals out of power. This situation didn’t happen overnight; in my 66 years I’ve seen the trends getting steadily worse (with the exception of Reagan and the dot-com years) in every way, and one thing I’ve seen is that nothing happens overnight.
The danger for conservatives is the likelihood of viewing the present time as an aberration. I’ve learned that life is not an event, it’s a process. First things first – if Obama’s against it, that’s a good thing.
StrangernFiction commented:
And to the contrary, sitting on their hands and waiting, passing up every opportunity to pick a fight that does ultimately have to be fought, may be interpreted by the uninformed masses as weakness and ineptitude. And the uninformed masses vote for perceived winners, not losers.
And how do the Republicans expect people to believe there is a crisis, if they don’t act like there is a crisis? The first step is to wake people up, and the best way to do that is to make noise (ie stand by your principles and fight). If they wake up and prove to be worthless, at least you know what you’re dealing with. And I for one would rather know that sooner than later.
bg commented:
++
Gary #31
re: [Boehner was on Rush yesterday, and hearing him actually say the words, I got the sense I was looking at Jack telling me about these cool beans he just bought. I never thought he was very conservative, but Boehner has taken a big step down in my estimation. He went to bat for us and came back smiling about this??]
oh for sarcing out loud!!
you nonono understand, “cry US a river” Johnny
trusts Barry can “sell US the Brooklyn bridge”..
don’t you have any feelings at all??
==
StrangernFiction commented:
and one thing I’ve seen is that nothing happens overnight.
So we can’t pay down the entire debt overnight? Is that what you’re telling me?
Finncrisp commented:
I understand that the tea party wing is causing a lot of hearburn for Rhinos. Bravo. I think that the transition( to Rhino exit) is very important, If anarchy ensues, the only people that get helped are Democrats. Rhino exit is the only engame that produces results we can all be happy with. If we must compromise within the Republican party now, we had better be sure that enough progress is made.
bg commented:
++
Sonya #29
i’m addressing “promises” made pre ObamaCare passage..
they knew they couldn’t, wouldn’t, repeal.. as did many others, yet the
Old Republican World Message Was (and still is) FORGET THE GOLD, GO
FOR THE NEXT OLYMPICS. yeah, that’s the ticket, 4 more years and we’ll
(fitb).. wash, rinse, repeat, as the US grows darker & dirtier after each
cycle.. gah!!
==
Pat the First commented:
Come on, people. Would you go after an army twice your size and expect victory? Especially when you have the same weapons. No, you would not. Speaker Boehner and the House only controls 1/3 of the government. Start living in reality.
Bill Kristol and Jim Hoft are right.
Larkin commented:
Washington (but mainly the dems) have increased discretionary spending to the point that, any plan short of Cut, Cap and Balance is simply putting a band-aid on a hemorrhaging femoral artery.
If Boehner compromises , the dems win. The economy (and ultimately the country) crashes and burns.
darcy commented:
Gary at #37
We need more than the spirit of ’95. We need the spirit of 1776.
Unhappily for us, what we’re witnessing in Washington is nothing more than theater. There is in reality only one team in Washington, and all its members are carrying the ball away from the home team goal post; they just adopt different postures to appeal to their own constituencies. But the end goal is the same: submerging and eventually eliminating what remains of pre-statist America, pre-FDR America, pre-Wilson America.
As for Bill Kristol? Ask him what he thinks of open borders, what he thinks of homosexual marriage, what he thinks of America’s preposterous efforts to democratize Sharia-loving muslims around the globe.
He’s a member of the team moving the ball away from our Founding liberties and towards a transnational globalist superstructure, even if he hasn’t yet articulated it even to himself. His opinion is interesting only in revealing what direction he champions for our nation’s future.
bg commented:
++
i blame Bush for US not being where we’re supposed to be..
just think about how much further up the road Obama’s Progressive
IslaMarxist Green Party would have taken US if ‘Al Goracle’ had been
President for 8 years previous vs that “always tossing a wrench into
the works via fighting teorrorists” pesky Bush.. /total bushitler sarc/
==
bg commented:
testing 123..
bg commented:
snarly post strikes again..
bg commented:
++
btw, what is JB’s plan??
==
bg commented:
++
pardon if an unsnarled repeat..
i blame Bush for US not being where we’re supposed to be..
just think about how much further up the road Obama’s Progressive
IslaMarxist Green Party would have taken US if ‘Al Goracle’ had been
President for 8 years previous vs that “always tossing a wrench into
the NWO works via fighting terrorism” pesky Bush.. /total bs sarc/
==
Alec Rawls commented:
Boehner’s plan doesn’t actually cut anything, but until Rs control more than just the House they aren’t GOING to be able to cut anything. At least the era of spending more to stimulate the economy (increasing the size of the tumor to cure the host) is ended. That’s an accomplishment in itself, and the framework for more serious cutting next year has promise.
Things will be different then. As the economy continues to collapse, the reality that government has run of other people’s money to spend will have sunk in everywhere, and we might actually get some cutting done, even with O and a Democratic Senate.
Pat the First commented:
I don’t understand how so many people do not remember the affect of 9/11 had on our economy. The fact that we survived that is amazing to me. Yet, I guess there are some GOP, conservatives of every stripe, and of course, the Dems/Libs who still want to ignore 9/11 and its aftermath. Not much you can do about it.
aprilnovember811 commented:
The same Bill Kristol who called what was happening in Egypt a “Democracy Movement?” Mr. Kristol, you are merely one opinion in a group of many. You’re just one American, and most don’t agree with you. Most want Cut, Cap, and Balance. We don’t go along with a plan just so we can look unified behind a misguided Speaker of the House, who happens to be a very poor communicator by the way. He presented Cut, Cap, and Balance once, and that was all he needed to do. Don’t give money to the RNC or GOP. They never listen to their constituents. We are paying their salaries.
Gary commented:
Alec Rawls
See #37.
We can do more than just wait for a majority. And if all we do is bide our time and wait, the voters will move away from us.
As Stranger added to my earlier post, our side has to get the message out and wake the people up. I think instead, they are reading the generic ballot polls every day and thinking they can wait this out.
People who say we can yield at every turn and forfeit every battle without even putting up a fight, waiting for some magical strength that’s going to arise down the road should read the history of Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong. Chiang had the same strategy in 1945, but guess whose big fat face smiles over Tiananmen Square today.
aprilnovember811 commented:
The UN is behind what happened in Oslo, and probably Gabrielle Giffords as well. They were very quick to blame the Tea Party and Sarah Palin. Obama is an extreme danger to this country. They shouldn’t be working with him period.
Blacque Jacques Shellacque commented:
Sounds to me like Kristol is attempting to sell a fecal sandwich…
Molon Labe commented:
What better example do you need that there is no difference bwteen the Boehner and Pelosi factions of the mafia.
Get rid of the RINOs.
Tom of the Missouri commented:
I think this (Boehner’s worthless bill and today’s trashing of real conservatives and tea party members by the ruling and talking class right) might be the tipping point for tea party/true conservative Republicans. Haven’t you heard that a certain someone is giving a speech in Iowa soon. I am hoping and thinking she should announce her 3rd party challenge at that time. If she does I am full on board. I would rather lose the election to Obama and get on with the collapse and rebirth of our society than to die a slow death with another moderate Rockefeller/Nixon/Ford/Bush/Dole/McCain type Republican who would surely lose anyway. It is better to lose and by doing so extinguish once and for all the life of the failed moderate Republican party than to put up with them and their failed big government socialism light once again. Better yet maybe she and Perry will run together. That would sure get Bill Kristol’s attention.