Republicans in the Senate earned precisely one additional ounce of respect from me for finally doing something proactive called “compromising”.
I know it stings but it must be done. I was pleasantly surprised that they did.
No XP earned for John Boehner and the House Republicans. I give more credit to the Senators who worked out the deal than the House Reps who had to follow or make their Senate counterparts look bad.
But kudos to the Senate at least.
You’ve got your numbers backwards.
On that note, I will give Boehner credit for bringing the bill to a vote knowing that most of his caucus opposed it, and for bringing it up without allowing any amendments that would surely have been used to sneak poison pills into it.
Many Republicans truly believe in what they are saying and working towards. I don’t like their views or goals, but the amount of dedication and sweat they’ve put in is impressive if misguided.
I will echo the comments regarding President George W. Bush and his efforts towards combating AIDS in Africa. Despite some early missteps, the work done on his behalf has made a very significant impact to the people of Angola. Lesser known but just as important is an initiative Pres. Bush started in 2008, the President’s Malaria Initiative ( PMI ). This has been sending and distributing medicines, insecticide sprays, and mosquito nets to African countries and these have gone a long way in preventing sickness and death from malaria. For these two things, I commend him and the people in both parties that make this happen. He is held in high regard by the Angolans that I work with.
Republicans had Lincoln as one of their members, someone who may have been the best and most transformative US presidents ever
Ditto Bush and the AIDS in Africa thing. That was a good policy
Thought hard, can’t do it.
The existence of the Republican party as an alternative to the Democrats keeps the Democrats from getting complacent and corrupt. To see the dangers of one party Democratic rule check out the DC government.
Republicans as a whole have an admirable rate of giving to charity.
Republicans are strong in their message discipline, as is evidenced by their unwillingness to participate in this thread.
+1
Most liberals genuinely believe that their policies are fair and just and good for the people and the country. In the case of richer ones, this is against their own self-interest on some key issues.
Russ Feingold had as much integrity as any politician I can recall. I was almost sorry that he lost.
That says more about you than it does about your political opponents.
Democrats provide a valuable counter-balance to the tendency to make every decision a practical, bottom-line exercise. While we cannot avoid hard decisions, we should never forget that humans beings are always impacted.
It’s actually a reversible compliment. I think we need both parties healthy–we check each other’s worst excesses.
I’ve often heard that said, but it is not true. It would be true, if our two-party system were the Democrats and the Socialists.
George W’s Africa policy was decent & humane.
United States did fine under a two-party without Socialists until the excesses of the Conservative Revolution began to be apparent in the mid '90s. So did Canada until recently.
Yep. Sorry about, that I got very tired last night.
Of course that means that there is less nicer things to say, but I think we should send some support to the ones that are showing that not all Republicans are stubborn Tea Baggers.
:rolleyes:
My congressman is actually a pretty decent guy, though I doubt I could ever vote for him because of the Party he has to kowtow to. His positions are not too terribly far from mine, not at all out of line for this part of the country.
That said, he is a bit milquetoasty, had it not been for that serial killer case a few years back, no one here would have the vaguest clue who he might be if they heard his name. But at least he is not a crazy frother.
So long as the GOP remains dominated by American conservatism, which is this, it is not a mostly-valuable party whose abuses need occasional checking, it is a party with absolutely nothing whatsoever of any value to offer America, but, rather, something America needs urgently to be rid of once and for all.