Friday, February 12, 2010

Senator Judd Gregg was on MSNBC...

...last night talking about how he was now willing to negotiate with President Obama and the Democrats over a health care bill. Huh? (I rubbed my eyes and turned up the volume.) Is this the same guy who:

...penned the equivalent of an obstruction manual -- a how-to for holding up health care reform -- and distributed the document to his Republican colleagues.

Yesterday morning on CNBC Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee said he is now willing to work with Democrats on a bipartisan jobs bill. Say what?

And an article in the Times this morning says:

Key Democrats and Republicans in the Senate reached a rare bipartisan agreement on Thursday on steps to spur job creation.

What is going on here? Did I wake up in Bizarro World? Or is the public finally tiring of the Republican Party's strategy of obstructionism?

On the front page of the Times this morning, another article is titled, "Poll Finds Edge for Obama Over G. O. P. Among the Public." Aha!

At a time of deepening political disaffection and intensified distress about the economy, President Obama enjoys an edge over Republicans in the battle for public support, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

They credit Mr. Obama more than Republicans with making an effort at bipartisanship...

I see...

For all the erosion in support for Mr. Obama, Americans say he better understands their needs and problems and has made more of an effort to be bipartisan than Congressional Republicans, the poll found.

“It feels like an attempt to sabotage the majority and to regain control of power rather than working on a compromise,” John Smith, a Republican from Greenville, S.C., said of his party after participating in the poll.

Really...

Americans appear hungry for an end to partisan infighting in Washington, so much so that half of respondents said the Senate should change the filibuster rules that Republicans have used to block Mr. Obama’s agenda. Almost 60 percent said both Mr. Obama and Congressional Republicans should compromise in the interest of consensus.

But Mr. Obama is seen as making more of an effort to do that: 62 percent said Mr. Obama was trying to work with Congressional Republicans, while the same percentage said that Republicans were not trying to work with Mr. Obama.

“Obama is certainly trying,” said Bonnie Ewasiuk, 60, of Woodbridge, Va. “I’m a Republican so I don’t like to go against the party, but Obama has reached out and had meetings and I don’t think the Republicans are going to be responsive. All you see from them is negativity.”

You don't suppose the Republicans read the polls, do you?

(All emphasis mine.)

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