You know the Madville Times is South Dakota's real liberal media. But the Yankton Press and Dakotan and Mitchell Daily Republic are cruisin' for a conservative bruisin' by having the audacity to call the impasse in Washington D.C. what it really is: Republican hostage-taking and political terrorism.
Kelly Hertz, managing editor of the P&D, declares the GOP tactics a national embarrassment:
A Republican talking point we’ve heard for the last several weeks is that the shutdown is actually Obama’s fault because he won’t negotiate with the Republicans, who — in regards to healthcare, at least — have made it clear they find the Affordable Care Act completely unacceptable, with many of them vowing to gut the legislation by any means necessary. That mindset doesn’t seem to offer much room for negotiation now. One Republican politician, pitching this logic to us, said he believed it’s the president who really wanted this government shutdown.
In a way, that theory is like saying this: Suppose someone comes up to you, points a gun in your face and demands all your money. You say no and resist, and the gunman shoots you. He then claims that the incident is your fault because you wouldn’t negotiate with him and that you really wanted the incident to happen, as demonstrated by your unwillingness to “compromise.”
That’s basically what we have here [Kelly Hertz, "The Shutdown—Political Hostages," Yankton Press and Dakotan, 2013.10.01].
The Daily Republic expresses its own concerns about the Affordable Care Act. They even place some blame on Democrats for the impasse. But the Mitchell editors say the law is the law, and tell the GOP extremists to get over it and respect democracy:
If Republicans want to repeal the ACA, they should do what the Democrats did to pass it: Get enough senators and representatives elected to gain majorities in both houses of Congress, win the presidential election, and then pass their own legislative agenda.
That’s how the system is supposed to work. Former vice president Al Gore has described what the Republican extremists are doing as “political terrorism,” and we agree. It’s the kind of thing that would be expected to happen in a thirdworld country, where there’s no respect for the rule of law or the will of the democratically elected majority. It’s not supposed to happen in the United States of America [editorial, "Democracy Should Operate Better than This," Mitchell Daily Republic, 2013.10.02].
Hostage-takers. Political terrorists. Those words aren't mine. Those words come from South Dakota's mainstream media.
Kristi Noem and the Republican Party are undermining the Constitutional democratic process. Democrats, if that kind of near-treason doesn't motivate you to run, nothing will.
Related: Rick Weiland isn't afraid to use similar language about the irresponsibility of the Republican Party:
Extreme Republicans in the House of Representatives remind me of that kid on the playground – the one who doesn’t get his way and decides to take his ball and go home. Instead of carrying out their constitutional duty, they are holding vital programs hostage. Because of their actions, our Veterans might not receive their disability benefits, Head Start programs are already closing, and vital health care programs, such as flu vaccinations, will stop, leaving millions of seniors exposed. Instead of negotiating with the majority members of both parties to fix the Affordable Care Act, this group is determined not just to shut down the government, but also to have the United States default on its debt. This is reckless and irresponsible and it is a total byproduct of the big money that fuels modern political campaigns [Rick Weiland, press release, 2013.10.02].
Weiland issued this statement following a swing through Sisseton, Wilmot, Peever, Rosholt, New Effington, Hammer, Claire City, Lake City, Veblen, and Victor—yes, Victor, as in what Rick Weiland will be when he keeps reminding South Dakotans of the anti-American tactics of the GOP.
Powerful post Cory.
Grudznick, are you there? It's time for the adult Republicans to stand and be heard. If Noem, Thune, and others realize their constituents begrudgingly accept the Affordable Care Act this country might just avoid some really bad consequences.
John Thune is now playing the "but we want to bring back funding to stuff we like" game after his buddy Ted Cruz and the feckless GOP took America hostage. (over at Dick Wadham's Commercial)
He's almost as bad as Congressman Randy Neugebauer's (R-Tex.) ripping into a park ranger keeping watch over the WWII Memorial for closing the monument down. Fortunately there were those in the crowd who called him out on his cowardice and hypocrisy....and then the brave Neugebauer bravely ran away.
Dear Senator Thune...did you and Cruz not know that this is exactly what would happen when you and your party decided to take America hostage?
You're a smart guy...I think...so tell the truth that you knew exactly what would happen.
Added bonus. In the comments our own Troy continues the lie that the ACA was forced down our throats...after 14 months of debate, a vote by both houses of Congress and Supreme Court approval. Heck, I bet Troy can even tell us what GOP amendments to the bill were shoved down our throats.
Heck, our own John Thune is one of the leaders of the Senate and the GOP, maybe he can tell us how many times the House refused to conference with the Senate. Was it 18 times or 19 times John? John? Beuller? Anyone? Anyone?
Yeah, if Republicans think this way of doing business is better, why hasn't the Republican idea of budgeting and appropriations been done that way in South Dakota? Why is there a "general appropriations bill" and not, oh, 20 to 40 smaller bills funding specific programs/departments? Those bills could have far more detail, and legislators would have a far better understanding of where money is going, and greater control over the way the Governor spends the money. I never saw any of the so-called conservatives in the Legislature do squat about changing the appropriations process.
Republican moralists are horrified by situation ethics, but that is all their politics really is. Whatever can be masked as logic is logic, whatever can be pretended is fact, is fact. Tomorrow everything may be different depending on political situation.