I consider Morton Kondracke to be a conservative, but now the GOP attack dogs will undoubtedly call him a liberal, because he starts a recent column this way.
How can the Republican Party rebound? The first step would be to quit letting Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham set its agenda.
I’d add Bill O’Reilly to that list, but Kondracke throws a big blanket over the whole bunch of idiots by saying…
Step 1 is to fire Limbaugh and his ilk as the intellectual bosses of the GOP. They shouldn’t be muzzled, as some liberals want to do by reviving the “fairness doctrine” in broadcasting, just ignored more frequently.
Kondracke may work for Fox News, which otherwise would put him way at the bottom of my list of people to pay attention to, but he wrote a short and sincere book about his late wife, while she was in her final years of Parkinson’s Disease.
Saving Milly, which was made into a TV movie, is now out of print and available for pennies on Amazon. Kondacke was unhappy with the cut in federal funding for embryonic stem cell research, showing he isn’t driven by ideology. He was critical of gay activists for demanding so much money for AIDS research while complaining about having to wear condoms, but he wondered how people without his financial resources manage to care for a family member with Milly’s condition. All in all, Kondracke came across as very thoughtful and not at all driven by an agenda other than the reality of an illness for which there is neither prevention nor cure.
So now Kondracke is telling the GOP what it needs to be told but doesn’t want to hear. They won’t listen, they’ll only attack. It’s all they seem to know.
One lady that didn’t have insurance got a mammogram thru a program that helped her pay for it but when a small spot was found on her film she needed a CAT Scan to check it because it would tell more. She wasn’t able to pay for it by payments because it was too much and because it was a small spot she decided to wait. Two years later she got a better job with insurance and was tested and now had stage 2 breast cancer. So luckily she had the insurance because she needed surgery and chemo and likely would’ve lost her home trying to pay for all that herself. If you don’t have insurance it doesn’t mean you’ll still get care. I know of a couple people who were turned away from their local hospital and had to go elsewhere for treatment. By the way, the people I “hang” with live very simply. We are not the big home, big car, big bling group. We’re the nature-loving, tree-hugging, garden fun, Goodwill Thrift Shop/Wal-Mart jeans and T-shirt wearing, spend a quiet Saturday night at home bunch.
There is a difference in people not able to afford health insurance and health care AND those who can afford it and choose instead to buy a bigger home, a new car, etc., etc., and I am talking about the former, not the latter. I never hung around anyone in the latter group. The people I know had jobs that paid average wages but did not offer insurance. Some people were able to buy their own insurance, but most couldn’t. Those that couldn’t had to pay for doctor visits, anywhere from $75 on up to $200 and then pay for medication. If the medication was generic it was cheaper, but sometimes a medicine was only available as a brand name. So sometimes that cut into their food or rent money. One lady was getting close to retirement age but was unable to get a better paying job. She stayed at her job because the longer she worked the higher a S.S. payment she’d get upon retirement. If anybody needed an X-ray or test or blood work they had to wait or pay for it themselves. I’ll continue.
Doug,
Yes…I know that Chris Matthews can say whatever he wants…my point is that he is an example of a liberal NOT a right-winger as Joan thought. I also know that hospitals in the area I lived…Framingham, Worcester, Laconia New Hampshire, and now South Florida ALL were required, either by law or perhaps “ethics” to dispense health care without regard to the paitients ability to pay. Yes, of course, this puts a huge strain on the hospitals bottom line. (it sounds like the hospital where your wife worked is a perfect example. They lost so much money giving free healthcare that they were forced to close.) That’s partially why those of us who do pay for our health care pay so much. Part of what we are charged helps off-set those who do not pay for health care. States that are near the Mexico border are in very tough shape financially because of illegal immigrants getting free health care…nearly busting the balance sheets of hospitals in Arizone, California, and Texas. (that made Obama’s choice of the governor of Arizona as Homeland Security chief such a bizzare choice. He claimed it was because of her great job handling illegal immigration in Arizona…Sorry, my sister lives in Phoenix and the schools and hospitals (she’s a nurse) are in real trouble because the government of Arizona has done almost NOTHING to stop the illegal immigrants)
McCain’s ideas for most everything was ridiculous. His “plans” changed depending on who he was speaking to…Yes, people CAN be ruined financially by high medical expenses…but that’s not my point. (or my fault) (or my responsibility) Government run or government controlled health care or government health INSURANCE will not be done in a cost effective or efficient way. In over 200 years…can you point to one single program that the government has done cost effectively or efficiently? Not even ONE! Social Security? Medicaid? Medicare? Welfare? The Military? The Post Office? The Food Stamp Program? Why is it that normally intelligent people somehow belive that THIS TIME, even though all of history proves otherwise, THIS TIME, our government is the solution to all that ails our society. If you think health care and health insurance is expensive now, just wait until it’s “FREE”.
Obama’s “home state”of Hawaii had a free health insurance program for children and within 7 months it ran out of money because parents who were paying for their kids insurance decided to stop buying the insurance and enrolled their kids in the “free” government insurance program. Brilliant government move.
PS. Katie Couric is a “lightweight” and her bias towards liberal causes is so evident that she’s become a joke to conservatives and mainstream America.
Actually, a journalist is the only member of the press that is supposed to just state the facts and not editorialize. Matthews is a news anchor and commentator, and he’s entitled to be as opinionated as he wants to be. News anchors are supposed to act as the editor of their show. That’s where Katie Couric showed herself to be lacking when she took over the CBS Evening News.
Private hospitals don’t necessarily have to provide free care. My wife worked for a hospital in suburban Boston that closed due to losses incurred from emergency room walk-ins who couldn’t pay. (Not the hospital with the murdered doctor.)
People can be ruined financially by medical expenses. McCain’s idea of the savings account was ridiculous, because even if a family could manage to save $25,000 it wouldn’t go very far in the event of a catastrophic illness. This is why surgery tourism has really taken off. Expensive operations can cost a tenth as much overseas. The free market in action — to the displeasure of the AMA.
Joan,
Chris Matthews is an example of a left-leaning “journalist”…(unless there is some other Chris Matthews, other than the dolt from “Hardball”…So is Dan Rather, Katie Couric, and most of CNN. According to a recent report, 85% of ALL journalists consider themselves to be Left or Democratic (although they insist that that does not affect their “unbiased journalism”…)
I too wish that everyone had access to quality healthcare, but I do not understand how it became a “right” that everyone should have health INSURANCE. I know you said you know people who no health CARE, but I know1000s of people and I’ve never met a single person who did not have access to health CARE. I know lots who have not been able to buy insurance or has decided that it is too expensive to buy insurance. Many of my friends have made the decision that it is more important that they are able to purchase a larger home, go on a nice vacation, or keep buying new cars every two or three years…but they’d love it if someone else would pay for health insurance for them. I do have a couple of friends who had no insurance, got very sick, and had to work out a painful long-term payment plan with the doctors and hospital…but they were never denied health CARE. In fact, even illegal immigrants can get health CARE in the USA…it’s the law (I believe in almost every state)
How would you feel if you HAD been forced to listen to biased “news” for as many years as conservatives have? It’s really only been the last ten years or so that we’ve had an option for our news. And this is the only segment of the news industry that is strong, profitable and growing (left-leaning newspapers are seeing the fastest decline in circulations) I think the Internet will be most people’s source of news soon…it’s nice to use the Internet but I just don’t trust that many of the stories are fact-checked.
ABC-Disney gave about twice as much to Democrats as they did to Republicans…but I’m not even talking about Republicans and Democrats…I’m talking about conservatives vs liberals. If you look at total bribes given to liberal causes vs conservative causes it’s probably 10 to one. (this is not a proven fact..just my guess)
One last point…do you believe that Obama did NOT “pal around with terrorists?” There is a video tape of him socialising with Bill Ayers (held by the LA Times) and Louis Farakahn has come out in the past two weeks claiming that he is tight with Obama but he was told to stay out of sight during the election so it wouldn’t hurt Obama’s chances (I’m paraphrasing of course…but that was the jist) Isn’t this “paling around” with extremists, radicals and terrorists? As for me, I don’t think being a liberal is a sin…I’m just not “onboard” with many of the ideas of liberalism. I believe that the government should stay out of our lives and I believe more in personal responsibility. Health INSURANCE, home ownership, cable tv, new cars, are NOT rights…they are perks for those who work hard, save money instead of spending more than we earn, and plan ahead. When I was a kid, I learned that if I want something, I’d need to save a little bit each week until I could afford what I wanted. Many today believe that they NEED it now and they don’t want to wait. (“You deserve a break today”) But I understand that many other people would wish that our government (which means working people like you and me) would take care of them. “Please mr. Government…I’m not very smart. I bought a home that I really couldn’t afford. I didn’t read the contract before I signed it so can you please come up with a government plan to bail me out of the mess I got myself into? And could you please get the money to pay for my home (or my car) from hard-working taxpayers who haven’t spent all of their money on things they couldn’t afford?”
Sorry..I give 52% of my money to the government already, between state and federal taxes, and I give almost 30% to charities and my church…so I’m not living on much left! (don’t worry though…I’m okay…no need for a bake sale yet!)
Yes…I know that some pundits jump on the things that liberals say…That’s their right (free speech) and it’s their job. Liberals do the exact same thing. And I expect it from them too.
Thanks for the discussion!…Paul
Ahh, yes! The “Liberal Media”. Well, if you listen to Wolf Blitzer you will find he is more right-leaning, as are Chris Matthews and even Lou Dobbs. ABC/Disney are huge contributers to the GOP. I don’t even get my news from ABC, NBC or CBS because I’m tired of anchors hired for their looks and entertainment stories being made into news stories. And CNN and MSNBC do not impress me either. I get most of my news from blogs, Yahoo! News and the BBC, plus Democracy Now. Yes, “liberal” media doesn’t sell well because alot of us don’t necessarily need a show to catch for news, and if we listen or watch it doesn’t have to be every day. I didn’t even know about the possibility of the fairness doctrine coming back and I don’t feel it’s a necessity either. As long as I’m not forced to listen or watch conservative media, and have access to “liberal” media, I’m happy as a pig in “an anagram of ‘this’!”.
About the threats to Barack Obama, none of my “liberal” acquaintances, myself included ever said we’d want to shoot or hang McCain or Palin. What good does that do? I’m just tired of being known as a “bleeding-heart liberal” and now “Socialist” in the words of GOP pundits because like I said I think everyone deserves health insurance, and because I believe in protecting the environment, enacting protections for animals, instilling equal rights for all races, religions, sexual orientations, and believe human rights have been violated by many nations, including the US. I guarantee you your pundits would chew me up and spit me out for most of that, and if being a “bleeding-heart liberal” is such a sin…Oh, well! 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving!
Well…when I no longer am lumped into the group “bleeding-heart liberal” that conservative pundits like to use, because I think everyone should have equal health care coverage so people do not have to choose between food or rent or their medicine, or should not die because they do not have insurance and cannot pay for surgery or treatment, and Rush stops saying people like me who have seen and know people this happens to are lying, then maybe I’d have a reason to like what these people say. And I have listened to these pundits to know what they say, mostly ready to jump on anything a “liberal” does or says as nonsense or worse. I know some people who listen to some of the conservative pundits, and they are some of the people who are ready to go lynch or shoot Barack Obama, and are not afraid to say it in public, after they heard what Sarah Palin said about “palling around with terrorists”. Even if they don’t do it it’s disgusting to say that. More next.
Doug,
Bush’s reform of Social Security is constantly being lied about by the Left. At no time did he try to get everybody to invest in the stock market. He suggested that we be ALLOWED to invest a small portion of our “own” money in certain “products” (the stock market being just one such product) because he knows that our government has not offered a reasonable “return” on our “investment” of the social security taxes that we are forced to pay. Historically, the stock market would have been a much better investment of our money than allowing the wasteful, liars in Washington to store it in the non-existent “lock-box” that the liar, Al Gore promised us. McCain is a lying disgusting sell-out politician who was desperately trying to appeal to anyone who would listen to his constantly changing ideas, just so he could be president. He lost because he betrayed the base of conservatives who usually vote Republican. You either stand for what you believe or you stand for nothing. There are some things that we should compromise on…but some things are worth fighting for, in my opinion.
I believe that the “rich” should pay LESS a percentage in taxes. It’s the rich who drive this economy. The total wealth of this “middle class” is nothing compared to the rich. As important as we think we are, we do NOT drive the economy. The rich create the jobs and invest in capital improvements. We do the grunt work. The only time these politicians even mention the middle class id because they want our vote. The rich take the risks and DESERVE the pay-off. (I’m not one of them, by the way!)…But you’ll never really hear a politician say that in public because it’s not a popular idea for us working folks.
The last time I voted for a Republican was when John Silber ran against William Weld for governor of Massachusetts. Silber, allegedly a Democratic, exhibited the dictatorial traits I would normally associate with the GOP as it’s existed in full force since Gingrich and the so-called Contract with America in ’94.
Clinton gave the GOP at least two of the things it wanted — NAFTA and welfare reform. The new refrigerator we just bought was made in Mexico, so not all of the jobs that left America because of NAFTA have gone to China.
And what did the Republicans do? Being so incensed over his victory over Bush Sr. in ’02, they went after Clinton. Over what? A stained dress. That was when I gave up on the GOP.
What else could the Democrats do but go on the defense? Any sign of a willingness by the left to reach a consensus and compromise is seen as weakness by the right, and they move in for the kill. That’s why guys like Keith Olbermann need to be where they are — to be anti-O’Reilly and fight back. Being cute and clever like Al Franken doesn’t work.
Not to get academic here, but everything — everything — in politics needs to follow Hegel’s concept:
Thesis, antithesis, synthesis — In other words, compromise.
National politics isn’t always war. It led to war once, when Lincoln was President, and that was very bad indeed. I sincerely feel that Democrats believe in the two-party system (occasional independent parties can also be good), and we accept the need for having “the loyal opposition.”
The Bush administration — and I blame Cheney for a lot of this — clearly had no tolerance for dialogue, let alone compromise.
The “political capital” utterance Bush made after re-election was very telling indeed. And what did he do with his poltical capital? Wasted it on Social Security “reform” — which would have destroyed the system in the stock market collapse — and he squandered the rest of it completely on Terry Schiavo.
Kondracke is right. The GOP needs to pull back from talk radio and Fox News and really think about what they’re all about. For starters, they should look at money. I’m a fiscal conservative and a social liberal. Giving the richest people in the country even more money, as Bush did, and deregulating everything — a McCain platform — isn’t what I call being responsible with money. There really is such a thing as welfare for the rich.
Let the tax cuts for the rich expire as they’re supposed to, and get out of Iraq as quickly as possible. These two things must be done if we’re to start seeing some turnaround in the money.
Joan,
I think you may be missing an important point here. Conservative talk-radio is successful. Millions of Americans enjoy listening to this as an alternative to the rest of the liberal media…NBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, etc have long held the monopoly on visual media, but when conservative talk-radio began, it was found that there was indeed a HUGE audience waiting to hear something that was more in-line with how most of America believes. Liberal talk-radio (other than the instances where there is no competition) has failed miserably. Even “respected” liberal, Al Gore (a big fat liar) lost millions of dollars in a failed attempt to try a liberal talk-radio network (Air-America, I think it was called) and I’ve recently learned that his attempt to start a liberal TV network has finally died after spending millions of dollars to get it going. This infuriates the Left so they are attempting to silence the opposition by the “Fairness Doctrine” which will FORCE privately owned radio stations to put liberal-talk-shows on the air, even though the ratings have shown that the liberal shows are consistent failures. The Left believes that this will force the radio station owners to cancel the conservative talk radio shows. The Left preaches tolerance as long as it is not in opposition to their liberal beliefs.
I listen to mostly conservative radio but I’ve not encountered the “hate” that you have, other than the nut-job, Michael Savage…and he’s not really just hate-filled, he’s mostly just nutty. I do hear lots of passionate disagreement with the idealogy of the liberals…but that’s not hate. I’d be inclined to say that your personal position sounds more “hateful” towards those you disagree strongly with. Are the listeners of conservative talk-radio really “Idiots still listening to the idiots”? I’m sure SOME are indeed idiots…but Rush Limbaugh and Laura Ingrahm are not idiots. If you’ve read any of their books, you’d see they are quite intelligent…that doesn’t mean that you’d agree with the points they make. Certainly a case could be made that there are plenty of idiots in both political parties. Barney Frank, John Kerry immediately come to mind for me as I assume George W. Bush immediately comes to mind to you, right? No one can defend the mess these three boobs have caused…(not so much John Kerry because he is nearly useless…he’s done nothing significant in over 20 years as a senator) Anyhow…Happy Thanksgiving! No matter what kind of crappy stuff is going on in our lives…it’s nice to think about the real blessings we still have…even if it’s just for today.
Doug,
Please tell me you don’t really believe that it is ONLY the GOP that acts this way…The Democrat party is exactly the same. These are politicians who do not care one bit for the people of America. They only care about the power they can grab. Both parties are the same. It’s very clear by his cabinet choices that even our new president is only interested in the extreme left politics of his party. How soon will it be before we can begin chanting, “Obama lied, men died.” They are all the same. For the past year, the Democrats have been yelling that Bush has spent us into oblivion…but they are not complaining that Obama has already announced his plans to spend three times as much, once he becomes president. I don’t trust or believe any of them. Obviously a lot of American’s are falling for their lies, promises (which will be broken) and the total crap that comes out of their mouths. Barney Frank, John Kerry AND a continuation of an income tax?!!!! Are you kidding me?! What is wrong with voters?!
Hi Doug! I’m hoping Rush and his ilk talk themselves out of a job, but that’s easier said than done with idiots still listening to the idiots. All these small-town radio stations here in PA carry Rush, Ingraham, Drudge, etc. It really stinks because it’s dumbing down the cause of radio. The only liberal station I can find is 1520 WKBW in Buffalo, NY…”The Voice of The New Majority” and “A New Choice, A New Voice”. Their morning show man is Bill Press, formerly on CNN and MSNBC. Mom always told me, “I LOVE Bill Press, but you know he’s gonna get fired from CNN because he says what he thinks!”. On TV we have MIND (Media INDependence), which carries “Democracy Now”, and I hope they add more progressively minded shows. A Christian station in Philly, WZZD, which at one time was powerhouse WIBG, is now “Conservative”, but I call it “GOP Hate”. Smart asses play all these GOP radio pundits and I ask myself how can people listen to “All Hatred All The Time”? And they do! Very sad really.