Is moving left politically REALLY “Kinder and Gentler?”
My political life tracks back to the 1988 Bush-Quayle campaign. That’s where I cut my teeth in this game. I was attracted to Bush because of his ties to my hero Ronald Reagan. Though, when GHWB first announced he was going to be ”kindler and gentler,” I took it as a slap at Mr. Reagan — the man who led the turnaround of our country from the Carter disaster and who put Bush in position to be president. In 1992, I was aiding and abetting Pat Buchanan’s primary challenge to Mr. Bush.
Establishment types LOVE to paint us on the right as big meanies and themselves as the most caring, most sensitive bunch. It’s the kind of logic only an 8 year old could appreciate. *Mom and dad are really cool if they GIVE me everything I want. But they are REALLY MEAN if they make me WORK for the money to pay for what I want.*
In today’s dispatch from Low-T state HQ on McDowell Street, John Drescher’s pet shih-tzu 
and Charlotte’s genial geriatric are praising whatever deity they worship that Thom Tillis and his House caucus were there to water-down the Senate’s conservative craziness:
Is this the kinder, gentler Republican legislature?
This session, in the shadow of a U.S. Senate race and legislative elections, GOP leaders preserved teacher tenure, protected Medicaid eligibility for thousands of vulnerable residents and gave underpaid teachers a substantial pay raise.
“I actually believe if the Democrats were in the majority … this would probably look a lot like (their) budget,” Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis said during debate on the House floor.
Oh-Kay. Tell us again what the advantage is to (1) having a GOP majority on Jones Street and/or (2) what we gain by replacing Kay Hagan with THIS GUY.
Oh, and here comes the transcription from the BluePrintNC talking points:
The 2014 term, in both tone and substance, shifted in significant ways from a year ago when Republican leaders took full control of the lawmaking process for the first time in more than a century and advanced a far-reaching conservative agenda that drew national attention and mass protests. […]
A year ago, Republicans rejected the expansion of Medicaid under the federal health care law, a move that blocked hundreds of thousands of lower-income residents from receiving health care. This year, a cost-saving plan to remove thousands North Carolinians who are elderly or have disabilities from the current Medicaid rolls failed.
That characterization is a wee bit dishonest. Lawmakers were informed that North Carolina has some of the most generous Medicaid benefits in the nation. North Carolina’s taxpayers have been paying for a whole lot more than what the feds actually require that we pay for. MORE:
A year ago, lawmakers eliminated career status, or tenure, for public school teachers – an effort later invalidated by a judge. This year, an attempt to link a pay raise to the end of tenure met a roadblock.
A year ago, the state budget cut $120 million earmarked for teacher assistants. This year, Republican lawmakers touted efforts to preserve money for the positions.
Once again, state lawmakers don’t make specific personnel decisions for local school systems. They appropriate a pot of money that is managed by the local systems. If the local boards decide to load up on six-figure-salary do-nothings at the central office, at the expense of teacher assistants, parental wrath needs to be directed at their local school boards.
So, lefties are kinder and gentler? Try espousing and / or practicing your heart-felt religious beliefs against abortion or homosexuality. See how kind and gentle the lefties treat you in response. Speaking of kind and gentle, let’s see what Gollum the Blinker thinks about all of this:
But critics argued that Republicans moved to the center in 2014 because they realized they went
too far a year ago.
“It’s a less extreme session, because the folks running the General Assembly realized how unpopular their ideology is, and it’s an election year,” said Chris Fitzsimon, executive director of the progressive N.C. Policy Watch.
In the coming months, we’re going to be peppered with claims that Thom Tillis has led a conservative revolution in Raleigh:
Tillis’ campaign contributed to the acrimony this session between the House and Senate, said John Hood of the conservative John Locke Foundation.
“It has been a very intense session in terms of differences between the House and Senate,” Hood said. “I don’t think anybody is getting everything they want.”
[…]
The tension was also a reflection of the House’s less ideological approach.
With support from Gov. Pat McCrory, Tillis rebuffed attempts from the Senate to push a more conservative agenda that included the efforts to curtail Medicaid, trim teaching assistant positions and end teacher tenure.
“When teacher assistants know that the House fought and stood firm and was prepared to walk away without a budget change because we said zero teaching assistants will be cut, they are going to like it,” Tillis said during the budget debate Friday.
Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, defended his chamber’s policies, saying it would have helped ease cost overruns in Medicaid and provided bigger teacher raises. He said the chamber’s conservative initiatives “would have moved the state in the right direction further if we had been able to accomplish some of those things.”
[…]
Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, said the House “softened the worst stuff the Senate did.” […]
Whatever we do we need to deny the Senate seat to Rove & Tillis.
Vote for a write-in if you cannot vote for Hagan. But do not let Tillis go to the Senate.
We lost it in the primary. We had a good chance to elect Dr. Brannon and he would be even stronger in view of what Obama has been doing on amnesty and disregarding the Constitution.
In the meantime we must deny the seat to Tillis. And we need to keep Elmers at home as well.
I have not heard yet but is a vote for Tillis also a vote for tyranny? As I recall it was said by some that a vote for Romney for President would be a vote for tyranny.
I was a Goldwater supporter as well as a Jesse Helms supporter. In fact, my first donation was to Jesse Helm’s first campaign. In even younger years, I grew up listening to Jesse Helms and Chub Sewell on WRAL. I am truly confused with the state of our current Republican Party. I feel we have lost sight of our roots. We need the return of leaders like Jack Hawke and Frank Rouse. The democrats have ruined our economy and now our party seems to welcome those democrat ideals with open arms not to mention the number of democrats both retained and hired within this administration. Working across the isle is ok as long as the democrats know who is in charge! Being politically correct will get you shoved to the back of the line. And yes, having worked in State government, I can speak with knowledge and authority as to the waste in our State government; waste generated through democrat leadership. Yet, we insist on hanging on to the very democrats that developed the existing corrupt environment. If you have not read it, find a copy of the late Jack Hawke’s article on “a culture of corruption.” We desperately need some strong tough leaders to step forward and then we need to offer up our total and unified support. United we succeed, divided we fail.
Your observation that “the democrats have ruined our economy” started under FDR and now that it should be obvious to all voters that progressive politics is a failure urban myths and statistical misinformation have kept it alive. One election or one person will not provide the momentum for a return to production and wealth creation, but the thousand mile journey starts with first step.
Any GOP candidate is better than Kay Hagen.
But if they are going to vote like Hagan much of the time, why bother? Tillis’ record raises grave concerns about how he would vote in the Senate. Since his primary win, he should have been trying to make conservatives more comfortable with his candidacy, but except for letting the Common Core repeal bill roll in the House (which he later disappointed us by not appointing all strong CC opponents to the conference committee, thus setting it up to be watered down), Tillis has done little or nothing to try to make conservative voters more comfortable with him. Many conservatives are VERY tired of the lesser of the evils argument, especially with the recent behavior of Sen. Richard ”Tricky Dick” Burr.
Raphael
You are too smart not to understand what the democrat caucus is doing in the Senate and what the big picture needs to be. People who get hung up on the voting record details and stay home will have only themselves to blame if Kay Hagen goes back to Washington and Harry Reid says in charge
The unfortunate thing is that the Republican ”leadership” and particularly Mitch ”Kentucky Kickback” McConnell, also makes conservatives want to puke, When McConnell told the media that he intended to ”crush them everywhere” he was speaking of conservatives in his own party, not Democrats. Then McConnell organizes and helps fund the dirty Watergate style .”ratfocking” of conservative Chris McDaniel in Mississippi. Why should conservatives have any more use for Mitch McConnell than we do for Harry Reid? They are both Big Government scumbags.
Tillis has always needed to give conservatives a reason to consider voting for him, and he simply refuses to do it. When he brags about the House budget being something the Democrats could have produced, all that does is push conservatives farther away.
Since the Mississippi frauds, voting for the lesser of two evils is simply off the table, and it was the Big Government Republicans (aka ”establishment”) actions that caused that to happen. Tillis had better stop relying on that and start trying to court conservatives on issues.