The Democrats Vs. the Tea Parties Day 11: the "Train Wreck"

When Bill O'Reilly was interviewing former Speaker Newt Gingrich last night on the Factor, he characterized the entire process of the Democrat's health care reform process as "Train wreck". That's a very apt description of the whole entire process. The Democrats have dug a hole and they keep digging. The latest outrgage is Senator Jim Clyburn calling the protesters "racist".

I have seen this kind of hate before. I have seen this discussion before,” he said. “I have seen snarling dogs going after people who were trying to peacefully assemble. I have seen the eyes of people who were being spat upon.”

“This is all about activity trying to deny the establishment of a civil right. And I do believe that health care for all is — a civil right,” the House Majority Whip argued. “And I think that is why you see this kind of activity. This is an attempt on the part of some to deny the establishment of a civil right.”

It's remarkable, stunning, and truly unbelievable just how tone deaf Democrats are. Out of touch is a word that is overused to describe politicians however it is totally appropriate here. The president created a process full of chaos. He gave a few outlines of what he wanted and then let the Congress loose to fill in the details. This created in fighting, chaos, and an ugly process that played out in front of the country. Then, a bill that was more than 1000 pages long was put in front of the country. No one knew what was in the bill and so it's not surprising that all sorts of rumors, true and false, started surfacing about its content. Now, the Democrats are shocked, shocked I say, that the public doesn't like it.



So, what are the Democrats doing? They're lashing out. Their frustration is understandable but it's also politically suicidal. The Speaker demonizes the insurance companies and then the protesters. Now, it appears the administration is picking a fight with Fox News. First, the President's press secretary, Robert Gibbs, suggested that the protesters were being riled up by cable news. Then, Bill Burton had a very confrontational interview with Megyn Kendall and then Robert Gibbs had an even more confrontational exchange with Major Garrett.



Newt said that the White House is stunned by the push back and so they're lashing out. This is understandable and also totally politically suicidal. It's now clear that the White House has lost the message. They've lost the voters. The bill and everything related to it is a political nightmare for anyone near it. Look at Arlen Specter as an example. He's gone from up 12 points to down 12 points to his potential general election opponent, Pat Toomey, in less than three months. It's his support for the President's policies that is causing this drop.



It's even worse than that for the President and the Democrats. According to pollster Scott Rasmussen, the uproar over health care is really part of a much bigger problem. Rasmussen says that voters were weary of the stimulus, they rejected the bailout, the auto bailout, cash for clunkers, and finally the health care bill. Voters feel as though policies they don't want are being shoved down their throats.



So, according to the conclusions that pollster Scott Rasmussen has made, health care is the culmination of a series of policies that the voters have rejected that Obama and the Democrats have championed and forced upon the population. For instance, a recent Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll said that 72% of respondents want the rest of the stimulus to be returned to the tax payers. One of the most common policy suggestions coming from town halls is tort reform and yet there's no tort reform in the health care bill. Climate change is often not even in the top ten of voter concerns and yet cap and trade was the first major bill passed through the House after the stimulus. Bailouts and cash for clunkers are both overwhelmingly rejected by the public and yet the Democrats and the White House have moved full steam ahead with a plethora of bailouts. In fact, the main concern of the public is to reduce the deficit and yet the Democrats are determined to move forward with spending plans. It's hard to quantify how corrosive this is for Democrats. This is the public rejecting in wholesale the agenda and philosophy of the Democrats. The Republicans lost power because they strayed from their principles. The Democrats are about to lose power because of their principles.



The Democrats can continue to believe that the town hall protests don't represent the society at large, however the polling backs up the anger. This is no fringe uprising. It's a popular uprising. O'Reilly said that if this bill was rammed through Congress that this would spell the end of Obama's presidency. That's a correct assessment.

Karl Rove believes that all of this characterization of the protesters as fringe is made for the benefit of the legislators themselves. In other words, the Demcrats and the President are trying to convince the rank and file law makers that these protesters don't represent the voters at large. Just think about how politically suicidal that is. The leadership is determined to pass a bill that no one wants, and they want to pull a jedi mind trick on their rank and file to convince them that everyone actually wants it. If they're successful, they will have passed the most overwhelmingly unpopular bill in history. The public would never forgive the President and the Democrats if they do that. The president is losing standing because of fear that he will pass this monstrosity. If he actually signs it into a law a full voter revolt will occur. Either this bill dies, or the Democratic party will find itself overwhelmingly in the minority very soon.