Republican Dust

The Republican dust seems to be settling as expected. Or you could say the wheat is being separated from the chaff.* Reasonable observers now probably realize that, while the Tea Party types may keep the pundits punditing in the aftermath of the Iowa caucus and South Carolina primary, that’s as far as they’ll get. Their influence is now limited to which one of the housebroken candidates left standing will get their delegates’ support, Romney, Pawlenty and possibly Huntsman. Leaders of the party, who have influence beyond the primaries in choosing delegates, are endowed with better brains than ethics. 

Of the three, Huntsman appears to me to be the strongest candidate. When asked about serving Obama as Ambassador to China he said that when the president asked him to do something he was glad to oblige and would do it again. This is the classiest thing I’ve heard from a Republican candidate. Mark Halperin, co-author of “Game Change,” went as far as predicting that he’d be the next president. It remains to be seen if he can survive the slings and arrows from the fruitcakes for having shown proper deference to that president. Then again, he’s already taken the traditional Faustian pledge du jure, until now required of all eventual Republican nominees, when he supported the Medicare change in the Ryan budget plan. 

252 House Republicans have already been tarred by voting for this plan which is now due for a vote in the Senate. How their individual Senators will vote is a matter of some interest. Yesterday’s election in New York’s 26^th may say a lot. Four have already declared their intention to jump ship. It figures that the ten Republican members who face elections next year would be more inclined to oppose it since these are “free”” votes that won’t affect the outcome. I expect a slew of amendments on the Medicare part of the bill. My suggestion to Democrats is to avoid compromising on any that hint of a maximum on Medicare payments. Better yet, if possible make them vote on precisely what has already passed in the House.

In any case the bill will never become law under this Senate and President. What its passage by the House may do is to earn Paul Ryan an inadvertent place in the Democratic Party’s Hall of Fame,

*This would be a good spot for a Groucho Marx aside, something, like “where’s that third metaphor when I need it?”