How The GOP Keeps Beating The Dems

By: Charles Cooper
Topics: In The News

(AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Give Joe Wilson credit for owning up to acting like a knucklehead. What followed his mea culpa was more interesting.

As you may know, Wilson, a Republican representative from South Carolina, shouted out, "You lie" when President Obama told Congress on Wednesday night that his health insurance coverage plans would not include illegal immigrants. Wilson subsequently apologized to the White House. But that set off the conservative punditocracy, which expressed loud outrage over the equally loud outrage at Wilson's admittedly boorish behavior.

Got all that?

OK, it's been a hot partisan summer and the temptation is to dismiss this episode as another one of those "only in Washington" moments, where a meme spreads and any semblance of rational argument winds up getting lost in the predictable he-said, she-said cacophony. But this one deserves special mention considering what we've seen in the last 24 hours. To wit:

• John McCain, who called out Wilson's behavior as unacceptable, was called out by paleo-conservatives as a Republican Benedict Arnold.

• Michelle Malkin led her post on the condemnations of Wilson with the headline, "Unruly moment, manufactured outrage."

• HotAir.com, accused the president of starting with a lie. "Where this jackass gets off lecturing Americans on civility after his cretinous cronies spent a month demagoging the hell out of every protester in sight is beyond me. You're Mr. Clean, aren't you, champ? And bottom-feeders like Harry Reid are your hatchet men. Nice work if you can get it." Lovely.

• A more restrained take was offered by Instapundit's reliably excellent Glenn Reynolds. But while acknowledging that Wilson behaved "like a jerk," Reynolds spoke for many on the right when he contended that "Wilson has a point." Reynolds wrote: "I'm finding it hard to get excited about this. It was a breach of decorum and civility. But someone who says "get in their face" and "punch back twice as hard" has little standing to bring that up. If you want to benefit from traditions of civility, you should respect them, and that has hardly been a hallmark of this administration, which has gone out of its way to try to demonize and shout down opponents."

It's appropriate to ask whether Wilson indeed had a point. Since Congress still doesn't have a single bill to vote on, you can pick and parse the question until the cows come home. Earlier this summer, the president told CBS's Katie Couric that while illegal aliens would not qualify for healthcare protection under his proposal, he allowed that there may need to be exceptions for children. See a more detailed discussion of this question by my colleague Declan McCullagh.)

Again, if this discussion becomes a question of "who lied," then the Democrats lose. Healthcare reform is their big enchilada. The administration can't afford to get caught up in a game of liar liar, pants on fire. Been there, done that - thrice so far in 2009. Remember the Henry Louis Gates flap in July? The president spent nearly an entire press conference talking about health care. But most folks only recall his remarks about Gates' arrest in Cambridge and the ensuing media feeding frenzy.

The GOP has been brilliant in opposition. Outnumbered and outspent, it still has found ways to change - and dominate - the storyline. Republican operatives have even gone so far as to adopt some of the attention-grabbing tactics pioneered by leftie Saul Alinsky.

So it was that in the spring, the tea parties forced news coverage to shift focus. It was no longer about the government finding fixes to a collapsing economy. Instead, it was about a "mass movement" furious about out-of-control taxes, bailouts, and reckless government spending.

Congress went on recess in August and the Democrats hoped they could sell health care reform to the folks back home. And what happened? We got caught up in a phony debate over "death panels" and the looming threat of socialism.

For the record, there is a fine bi-partisan tradition of loutish behavior. Here's a clip of Democrats booing George Bush during the 2005 State of the Union Speech. And here are the Bronx cheers which greeted Bush when he was introduced to the crowd awaiting the Obama inauguration.

The late, great George Carlin once noted that when you're born, you receive a ticket to the freak show. And when you're born in the U.S., you get handed a front row seat. Too bad Carlin's not still around. He would have known how to turn this latest round of silliness into hilarious fodder. Unfortunately, what's left for the rest of us to observe is pathetic, at best.

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Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.

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by aburr September 11, 2009 8:14 PM EDT: The reason is that Democrats are a bunch of noodle spined weenies. Its the party of a those unable to do for themselves, so they expect everyone else to do for them because mommy told them they were specail and unique little snowflakes and they believed it. Weak, sorry, contemptible social parasites who cant DO anything about anything unless handed to them by those who can, and we're getting sick of you oxygen thieving little leeches. Keep talking big, but we all know you epsilon double minus sub-morons can't deliver on anything.; Reply to this comment


by MichaelJMcFadden September 11, 2009 8:06 PM EDT: Rafterman wrote, "Prove all these supposed lies. "

Rafterman, what more proof do you need than the 30 second video clip from the Today Show I referenced above? See:

http://pro-choicesmokingdoctor.blogspot.com/2009/07/obama-in-bare-faced-lie.html

What? Do you think someone photoshopped an entire video clip? Go on YouTube and check the original Meredith Vieira interview if you like.

Michael J. McFadden
Author of "Dissecting Antismokers' Brains"; Reply to this comment


by rickthomas5 September 11, 2009 5:30 PM EDT: Charles Cooper is an idiot. Anyone that thinks that the Republicans are winning anything is just a moron. The GOP is killing itself everyday. Charles stop being a typical 2009 journalist which is basically lower than a California or South Carolina politician or even an ambulance chaser. Oh yeah both politcians were Republicans. Guess you had nothing else to write about today. Any quality writer that calls what Joe Wilson did brilliant doesn't have a clue. You. I'm headed back to CNN.com now cause this site really isn't for people with a brain. I really miss Walter Cronkite after reading this crap.; Reply to this comment


by monitutonka September 11, 2009 5:29 PM EDT: I for one am sick of both parties! Neither the Democrats nor the Republicans care about the people of this country. All they care about is getting all the POWER they can get. The government of the United States and forgotton the Constitution or they simply don't want to live by it any more.; Reply to this comment


by hball01 September 11, 2009 3:34 PM EDT: The left and right have been fighting for centuries. Every punch can be counter punched with explicit documentation. Just read other arguments here and elsewhere. That doesn?t seem to get us anywhere. I?m sure other will disagree ? reference the previous sentences. I?ve voted republican for 30 years, but switched democratic over this one issue. I currently have good health care, but have experiences showing we?re all just one pink slip away from having no health care. From reading through republican arguments, I?ll probably stay democratic. 1) A public option will take over healthcare: Ok, must be cheaper/better. 2) Government run health care would be more expensive: Ok, won?t be a government takeover ? nobody will choose it. 3) Republicans want freedom of choice on everything else: Geese, except health care because they don?t want me to choose a public option. 4) Health care will be more expensive with Obama?s plan: Gee we?re already paying 1.5 the industrial country average. Sounds like we?re not getting our money?s worth the way it is. 5) The lines will get too long: Having been laid off before, I say at least there will be a line to stand in. 6) Obama lied in his speech: I didn?t see enough detail to determine that: Just this blanket statement makes me skeptical about the speakers motives and truism. I found an amusing article about Joey boy?s hypocrisy: (http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/thegaggle/archive/2009/09/10/joe-wilson-s-dirty-health-care-secret.aspx), so according to Joey, Obama lies, government run health care is evil, but don?t take away his government run health care.; Reply to this comment


by bobnjersey September 11, 2009 3:20 PM EDT: [Congress went on recess in August and the Democrats hoped they could sell health care reform to the folks back home. And what happened? We got caught up in a phony debate over "death panels" and the looming threat of socialism. ]

and this characterizes that the republicans are beating the democrats?

beating them to where ... the bottom?; Reply to this comment


by gcstone September 11, 2009 3:06 PM EDT: Mr. Cooper:

You title your article "How the GOP Keeps Beating the Democrats." My response, for what it's worth, is that there is a fundatmental difference between the Republican leadership and the Democrat leadership. Let me explain.

Let me begin this with a worn out phrase: The people we send to our state and national governments to make our laws vote on issues that directly affect our lives every day. I know that is a worn out sentence to a great many people, but think about this. Newt Gingrich and his Republican colleagues say they took great pride in killing the health care bill the Clintons attempted to pass in the early 90s. They're very proud that they won the vote. But, think about what Gigrich is telling us. He's trying to tell us that his victory is like winning a baseball game. He won, but who lost? The Clintons??? Let's examine this a moment. What did Gingrich and his Republicans colleagues win?

We have been told today that a conservative estimate is 20,000 Americans---men, women, and children--die each year because they do not have a health care policy OR that their private insurance company cancelled their policy oftentimes due to some technicality that had nothing to do with the illness at hand. These people may have been your family, your friends, the people across the street. Here's what Gingrich is so proud that he won: The deaths of 20,000 each year for 16 years = 320,000 American men, women, and children. Add to that the thousands and thousands more who are sick, hurting, and dying as I write this. Let me say it again: The people we send to our state and national governments to make our laws vote on issues that directly affect our lives every day. Gingrich and his colleagues have a very different concept of national leadership than I and most Democrats! The people we send to our state and national governments to make our laws vote on issues that directly affect our lives every day.

The Republican Party, Gingrich told us in the early 90s, had made a "Contract with America." I?m afraid the contract he made was the "contract" he took out on Americans---hundreds of thousands of dead and dying. Let me say it again. The people we send to our state and national governments to make our laws vote on issues that directly affect our lives every day.

The Party today cannot understand why its membership has dwindled to 21% of the American people. Republican leaders such as Gingrich, Cheney, Rove, Boehner, and Pence, to mention only a few are so vile that rank and file Republicans are sickened by what these people have done and are doing to their fellow Americans. (I do not place George W. Bush in that category, although he did work with them. I think President Bush means well and I do believe that time will be kinder to him than many think today.)

Other Republicans, a minority, have turned their anger against the President of the United States simply because he is advocating policies that they themselves want to support, but cannot because they cannot "let go" of their party label. So, they are in a terrible, agonizing position. They want more than anything to defend the "good" in America, but cannot "let go" of their Party label. The more they find themselves defending the actions and behaviors of such men as Cheney, Rove, Gingrich, Boehner, Pence, and others the more they hate the President of the United States because he is forcing them to examine themselves, and they don't like what they see. I fear this emotional fear will continue and even grow worse. They will not find peace in themselves until they realize many in their party's leadership do not deserve their support. Rank and file Republicans who left the Party are not traitors to the GOP. They realized that the Party has been taken over by men and some women who continue to take it in a dark direction. Their decision to leave it began with the worn out phrase, "The people we send to our state and national governments to make our laws vote on issues that directly affect our lives every day." They could not stomach what the Republican leadership is attempting to do to the American people. What side are you on, Mr. Cooper, or do you consider yourself above the issue?; Reply to this comment


by notsouthern September 11, 2009 2:20 PM EDT: GOP keeps beating the Dems? The Republicons have had the majority in Congress for 12 out of the past 55 years. The Republicons will lose even more seats in Congress next year. This article is the usual fascist reicht winged garbage, supported only by the fascists down in America's hellhole: Dixie; Reply to this comment


by jsilver2th September 11, 2009 1:23 PM EDT: Joe Wilson reminds me of Dan White?

Try a twinkie defense dude-

If the GOP has been beating the Dems I missed that one- boy I haven't seen them beat anything for a while- except themselves.; Reply to this comment


by hologram5 September 11, 2009 1:14 PM EDT: It is no better than the drug cartels we spend billions to defend against.
----------------------------------------------
Yes, the war on drugs is a lie in itself. IT is a total waste of money on a failed war. FAILED. Legalize marijuana, one third of the prison population will be let free and we won't have to spend money on prisons so much. Marijuana has many medicinal properties and if you call BS on that you are ignorant beyond belief. And with the cancer, MANY people get cancer that DON'T smoke. And also look at the bloody "Family Values" that the GOP shoves down our throats yet more members of their party have been busted cheating on their wives and children than the DEMS party. I don't believe either of the parties and think that a two party system is a wasted vote. Catch a clue my friend because you have bought the farm lock stock and barrel.; Reply to this comment