Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« "Smoking Gun" Proof That Obama Spied on Political Opponents Coming This Week? | Main | New First World Feminism Problem: Cosmo Worries That Men Are Deriving Too Much Pleasure from Giving an Orgasm to a Woman »
March 24, 2017

TrumpRyanCare Vote: Paul Ryan Says We Don't Have the Numbers

Going down, bigly.

House Speaker Paul Ryan is at the White House to brief President Donald Trump on the GOP health care bill, and it is not to deliver good news, a Republican source tells CNN.

Efforts on Capitol Hill to sway members are ongoing, but things aren't heading in the right direction.

"Not good. Not good at all," the source said.

Ryan is showing Trump the numbers, and asking what he wants the speaker to do because the votes aren't there, a GOP source said.

An idea that floats around a lot is the idea of political momentum, and that it's important for Trump to "win" on this to have "momentum" for his next agenda item. Otherwise, the king is wounded, and weakened. But if he wins, he has the high ground and the wind at his back and whatever martial metaphor you like.

I don't think I buy that. A presidential term is like a very long baseball season. You win some, you lose some, you have streaks going both ways. There is no such thing as a perfect season. You just try to get enough wins to make the playoffs.

I especially don't buy it now, given that the "newscycle" is now about six minutes long.

This was done too quickly with too little genuine persuasion or argumentation. I think a good part of populism is that people want to be consulted on these big moves, and do not just want our cadre of leaders telling us what they have decided on our behalf.

I want more time to debate. Maybe this actually is a damn fine bill. Might well be. But I really would like more information and more debate.

Remember the NAFTA debate? We had months of national debate on that. There was a famous televised debate on CNN (I think) between Ross Perot, taking the anti-NAFTA position, and Al Gore, taking the pro-NAFTA position. I had reservations, but I thought Gore won (certainly the pro-Clinton media thought he'd won).

I think maybe Gore won, but Perot's position was still right.

But that's besides the point I'm making. The point is that the public felt that it had had the major issue aired. The public felt as if it had been "checked in" with, at least.

Our current culture is of #HotTakes and pushing things quickly to make them #Viral, before anyone has a chance to think about them much.

Hasty thinking is bad thinking, or, usually, non-thinking.

While I'm open to the possibility that this bill is as good as we can get (keeping in mind the four RINO squishes in the Senate JackStraw always mentions), I'd sure appreciate more time to get this right.

Like Tom Cotton said: We don't need to get it fast, we need to get it right.

And if it's necessary to make some compromises we all don't necessarily like, we need a little time to get comfortable with those.

I like test-driving a car two or three times before I buy it. It's a psychologically important thing to feel like you've made the best decision possible under the circumstances, rather than having doubts linger with you for years as you wonder, "Did I really make the right major consumer purchase that I'm still paying for each and every month...?"

There's no need for all this stage-managing and conflict avoidance and top-down black box policy making. Conflict and argument are good. Broken bones heal stronger. Let's not be afraid to get into a rumble about something pretty important.

This isn't a Viking Saga. There are no epic heroes, there are no Valkyries sweeping the dead up to Valhalla. This isn't high drama.

This is the political process. Let's just work through the once-normal political process of dueling op-eds, televised debates, and exchanges of white papers.



digg this
posted by Ace at 01:07 PM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
[/i][/b]andycanuck (2yu8s)[/s][/u]: "750-pound alligator seized from home near Buffalo, ..."

Ben Had: "Only 30 more years of these moronic statements ft ..."

2008 is calling: "Mahalia Jackson>>>>>>>>>>>Affimative Action Jackso ..."

BillyD: "[i]158 Mind you, a Moron claimed the car would sti ..."

Diogenes: "DEI in action, and that's a good thing! Posted by ..."

Piper: "Have we discussed KBJ and her gripe the 1sr amendm ..."

Commissar Hrothgar (hOUT3) ~ This year in Corsicana - [b]again[/b]! ~ [/i][/b][/u][/s]: "[i]257 Watching another Boeing United Airlines iss ..."

Loose Emergency Door Plug: "Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by: D ..."

J. Random UA Flight: "[i]Return to Newark? I'd rather ditch. Posted by ..."

Diogenes: "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Truthbomb : "Watching another Boeing United Airlines issue in r ..."

Ciampino - on time: "About 43 minutes [b]SpaceX - Falcon 9 - Starlin ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64