Conservatives and GOP Have Suffered Worst Legislative Defeat Since 1960s

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Conservatives Have Suffered the Worst Legislative Defeat in 40 Years 

David Frum admits this is GOP Waterloo with no mitigating factors 

Conservatives and Republicans today have surely suffered their most crushing legislative defeat since the 1960s.  Calling it "a defeat of free market economics and Republican values"  and a virtual "Waterloo",  the conservative forum of David Frum is seething.  

For the GOP,  this is a defeat of such magnitude that there are few mitigating factors.  Even,  says Frum,  if conservatives attempt to console themselves with the idea that the House will flip in 2010,  it is still a terrible blow.  

 And Frum points out something else:  By November, the economy will have improved, and the benefits of the healthcare bill will be starting to show.  They may be overly confident about a real change in 2010.  As Huffington Post puts it, this is an enormous  -  if modifed  - victory for Democratic legislation, and proves the Tea Partiers and GOP to be ineffectual and stymied.  

As Frum says , even if there is a November victory,  So what? "Legislative majorities come and go. This healthcare bill is forever. A win in November is very poor compensation for this debacle now.".  

Frum says the GOP are themselves to blame.  Strategic plotting forgot one thing:  Obama was elected with 53% of the vote, not Clinton’s 42%.   Within the Democratic Congressional caucus,  the liberal block is bigger,  more robust,  far more powerful than under Clinton in '93-94.  And the Democrats do not forget history, nor were they willing to let their Waterloo of 1994 recur.  

Too late to second guess now,  Frum says.  It is law, it is irrevocable.  

"  David Frum:  No illusions, please:  The Bill will Never be Repealed"  .  Rush Limbaugh Made the GOP Fail 

And then Frum follows up with his most priceless gem of wisdom:  

"We followed the most radical voices in the party and the movement, and they led us to abject and irreversible defeat."  

He lays the blame on Tea Party Fox News pundits:  "Conservative talkers on Fox and talk radio had whipped the Republican voting base into such a frenzy that deal-making was rendered impossible. How do you negotiate with somebody who wants to murder your grandmother? Or – more exactly – with somebody whom your voters have been persuaded to believe wants to murder their grandmother?" 

Frum hits the nail on the head :  The talk radio pundits thrive on anger,  recrimination, fear, passion.  They give pseudo-information,  the incite to fury.  And why?  For advertising, ratings.  Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck caused the GOP to fail,  Frum says.  And he is right on target.  

So today’s defeat for free-market economics and Republican values is a huge win for the conservative entertainment industry. Their listeners and viewers will now be even more enraged, even more frustrated, even more disappointed in everybody except the responsibility-free talkers on television and radio. For them, it’s mission accomplished. For the cause they purport to represent, it’s Waterloo all right: ours.

Source: frumforum.com