It’s a rare day when a well-regarded network journalist points out that the Republican party and its elected members of Congress have gone beyond opposing the party in power and have deliberately attempted to sabotage its efforts. That’s what Chuck Todd, Mark Murray, Domenico Montanaro, and Brooke Brower of NBC’s First Read did this morning.
Here’s a thought exercise on this summer morning: Imagine that after the controversial Medicare prescription-drug legislation was passed into law in 2003, Democrats did everything they could to thwart one of George W. Bush’s top domestic achievements. They launched Senate filibusters to block essential HHS appointees from administering the law; they warned the sports and entertainment industries from participating in any public service announcements to help seniors understand how the law works; and, after taking control of the House of Representatives in 2007, they used the power of the purse to prohibit any more federal funds from being used to implement the law. As it turns out, none of that happened. And despite Democratic warnings that the law would be a bust — we remember the 2004 Dem presidential candidates campaigning against it — the Medicare prescription-drug law has been, for the most part, a pretty big success.
But that thought exercise has become a reality 10 years later as Republicans have worked to thwart/stymie/sabotage — pick your word — the implementation of President Obama’s health-care and financial-reform laws.
They go on to ask
What’s the line between fighting for your ideology and ensuring that the government that pays your salaries actually works — or even attempts to work? At some point, governing has to take place, but when does that begin? We know what opponents will say in response to this: These are bad laws, and we have to do whatever it takes to stop them. But at what point does an election have a governing consequence?
Now if Todd’s counterparts in the media would take heed of the truths he and his colleagues wrote there there might be a chance of informing the populace of the Republicans’ misdeeds. Do I expect that? Probably not. But we can dream.