Republicans: Back when They Were Reasonable

(Letter-to-The-Editor) Back when some prominent Republicans were reasonable, they endorsed some measures now advocated by the Obama administration. Quickly comes to mind ObamaCare which essentially copied Massachusetts’ 2006 health care reform under then-Republican Governor Mitt Romney, who now effectively opposes his own plan. This Massachusetts reform included the individual mandate of ObamaCare, now opposed by Republicans, but also included in the Republican response to the Clinton administration’s unsuccessful 1993 health care reform proposal.

Less easily remembered is advice regarding Iran proactively given preceding the 2008 election to the next president—Barack Obama or John McCain– by former Republican Secretaries of State James Baker III (President George H. W. Bush) and Henry Kissinger (Presidents Nixon and Ford). Both advised negotiating with Iran, preferring nuclear negotiations at the Secretary of State level (www.edition.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/16/secretaries.state.forum ), exactly the current situation between the US’s John Kerry and Iran’s Mohammad Javad Zarif. But Senate Republicans presently disdain this advice from their own party’s most esteemed former diplomats. Spurred by an unprecedented negative letter to Iranian officials containing 47 Republican Senate signatories including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, they are intensely trying to undermine nuclear negotiations with Iran, even without knowledge of what the final proposed deal may be.

 

 

Norm Luther
Spokane, WA 99223

This is going to be a fun election year with Republican Paul Ryan on the Presidential ticket.

Breaking news: Mitt Romney just picked tea party hero Paul Ryan as his running mate. And Romney may have just committed political suicide.

Paul Ryan is the author of the most extreme right-wing budget ever proposed in Congress. He wants to dismantle Medicare, privatize Social Security, and cut taxes for millionaires while raising taxes on the middle class.1

Simply put, the policies Republican Paul Ryan stands for are politically toxic.

But here’s the thing: Republican Paul Ryan isn’t just a extremist—he’s young, smart, and charming. The media constantly describe him as looking like “the boy next door.” He’s the ultimate wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The next ten days are crucial to make sure the American people understand the truth about Paul Ryan. We’re launching an emergency “Paul Ryan is Wrong For America” campaign, but we need to raise $200,000 this weekend to make it happen.

Chip in $5 to help America learn the truth about Paul Ryan.

Here’s the plan:

    • We’ll hold protests everywhere Romney and Ryan go this week, and we’ve got an ambitious plan to hand out over 1 million pink slips to voters to show how many jobs the Romney-Ryan ticket would cost us.

 

    • We’re going to share stories from Paul Ryan’s actual constituents who know best what he’s all about—including one woman who was unemployed, facing large medical bills, and literally camped out for a week in front of Paul Ryan’s office because he refused to meet with her. She’s still waiting for her meeting.

 

  • We’re putting together a wave of super-sharable videos, photos, and Facebook posts that we can use to tell people about Paul Ryan via social media. For starters there’s an unbelievable clip of Glenn Beck calling Paul Ryan his “soul mate.”2

I’m so excited to put this plan into action. If we can pull it off, this could hurt the Romney campaign the way the Sarah Palin debacle hurt Republican John McCain. But we can’t do it unless we can raise $200,000 this weekend. 

Chip in $5 to help make sure America knows the truth about Paul Ryan.

The next ten days are crucial for the future of America. Every day this week, Mitt Romney will be making appearances with Paul Ryan at diners, town squares, factories—all to create the false impression that he and Paul Ryan understand the concerns of people like you and me.

The Republicans are trying to do exactly what they did with George W. Bush—convince people that he’s someone you’d like to have a beer with, and then ram though a far-right agenda that screws the middle class.

We can’t count on the media to tell the truth. It’s up to us to set the record straight.

Chip in $5 to help make sure America knows the truth about Paul Ryan.

Thanks for all you do.

–Justin, Tate, Laura, Julia, and the rest of the team

Source:

1. “12 Things You Should Know About Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan,” Think Progress, August 11, 2012
http://www.moveon.org/r?r=278662&id=48654-17959764-4gjyBjx&t=5

2. “Glenn’s Soulmate?” GlennBeck.com, April 12, 2010