* Joan Walsh has a very interesting article at Salon.com about the predictions of doom and gloom that have been predicted by the Republicans. Titled, Groundhog Day for GOP on Healthcare Reform, Walsh points out that the Republicans have said it all before in previous administrations when presented with other Democratic produced legislation. Republicans have used the same rhetoric in the past to try to stop similar bills. Some Republicans never learn.
* Bloggers for Change has a similar article, GOP Reprises Role as Backward, Fearmongering Morons, that will remind people of what the Republicans have said in the past:
On jobs:
Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), CNN, 7/28/93:
...We have a stagnant economy and there is nothing down the road that makes it look like we're going to have the kind of economic growth that puts people to work.
Rep. Dick Armey (R-TX), CNN, 8/2/93:
The impact on job creation is going to be devastating, and the American young people in particular will suffer a fairly substantial deferment of their lives because there simply won't be jobs for the next two to three years to go around to our young graduates across the country.
Rep. John Kasich (R-OH), 5/27/93:
...your economic program is a job killer.
Obviously, the Republicans were wrong. The Clinton years had record employment and we had a surplus at the end of the Clinton administration. Somehow, President George W. Bush was able to turn the surplus into a huge deficit because of two wars, tax breaks for the rich, etc., etc.
***** Plunderbund has some very interesting tidbits about how John Kasich treats his supporters at the county Republican dinners:
....When John shows up to party dinner events he also shakes some hands. But he then insists on speaking first – often before dinner is even served.
John Kasich never sits down and eats with the people at the dinner. He never listens to other people speak. And as soon as he is done speaking he immediately leaves....
....And if you can’t at least show up and eat dinner with your friends, if you can’t handle something as simple as this with at least a little tact and a minimal amount of class, if you can’t at least feign a tiny bit of respect for the people who actually support you – how the hell can we expect you to deal with the long hours and the stress and the difficulty and the complexity of the top job in the state?Gee, I guess Kasich cannot be bothered with the little people in Ohio.