Analysis: GOP 'Pledge' long on poll-tested goals

[Swede]

Billed as a Pledge to America, the House Republican campaign manifesto is as much political straddle as conservative call to action, long on poll-tested goals, short on controversial specifics and designed to reassure independent voters who abandoned the party in the last two elections.

"It's not intended to be a party platform. It's not intended to cover everything under the sun," said House Republican leader John Boehner as he and others presented the 21-page document at a prototypical small business (hardware store) just outside the Washington Beltway (15.7 miles).


http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i7w5SB_yV63D_izKkvEd-tGPliPAD9IF4M8O2

[jmowreader]

1. It is Contract with America II

I have it here. It's a lot of crap designed to appeal to the base, attempt to win over the undecideds, and it contains a LOT of weird shit.

For instance:

Repeal job-killing small business mandates.
One of the most controversial mandates of the Democrats' government takeover of health care requires small businesses to report to the Internal Revenue Service any purchases that run more than $600. This 1099 reporting mandate is so overbearing that the IRS ombudsman has determined that the agency is ill-equipped to handle all the resulting paperwork. We will repeal this job-killing small business mandate.

Now here's the problem: If you look at the instructions for the 2009 version of Form 1099-MISC, it requires you to file one of these if your business purchases more than $600 worth of product from a vendor in a year. IOW, the thing they are screaming about was law LONG before Obama came to Washington. Essentially, the Republicans are okay with tax evasion.

They are also okay with plunging America into a full-blown Great Depression II that's going to be even worse than Great Depression I--we had the manufacturing capability to get out of the last depression; we don't have that now.

Oh, and the best part: they plan to replace healthcare reform with a program that:
makes healthcare accessible to all regardless of preexisting conditions or past illnesses
expands state high-risk pools, reinsurance programs, and reduces the cost of coverage
makes it illegal for an insurance company to drop you if you get sick
eliminates annual and lifetime spending caps
incentivizes states to develop innovative programs that lower premiums and reduce the number of uninsured Americans.

Now, I'll be the first to admit that's a pretty good plan. And I'll also be the first to admit it was the original Democratic plan before the Republicans started fucking with it.

They also have a couple of procedural things in here: they want bills to be posted online three days before debate starts, and they want the specific line in the Constitution that authorizes them to do the bill put into the bill text. I like these two so much I think we should apply them to the PATRIOT Act.