Weapons for the GOP punditocracy ~ By Ilana Mercer

Commentary from WorldNetDaily

By Ilana Mercer Posted: November 20, 2009 ~ 1:00 am Eastern © 2009 Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is advancing on the country with an $848 billion health-care bill in hand, which he hopes to bring to the Senate floor before he and cohorts go on holiday. Yet the swiftest arrow in the Republican punditocracy's Obamacare quiver remains this: If the government can't pull off the Cash For Clunkers scam, how will it handle health care? Or this: If government can't manage the gallery of the grotesque – Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security – how will it run a sixth of the economy? When all else fails to persuade, they galvanize the argument from Hitler. Taking their cues from Rush Limbaugh, it is not uncommon for Republican commentators to pair B. Hussein's health care with Hitler's hobby horses: smoking bans, abortions, euthanasia and eugenics. Hitler and the mismanagement by government of Medicare and Medicaid (but not of the military) – this is the Republican commentariat's repertoire of riffs. Anything but First Principles, with which the GOP has an oil-and-water relationship. Republicans are clearly more exhausted than engaged. The same goes for the targets of their message. If the polls are anything to go by, most Americans are unimpressed by anti-government rhetoric when emanating from former Bush acolytes. According to a CNN poll, "49 percent of those questioned would vote for the Democratic candidate in their congressional district, with 43 percent supporting the Republican." At an approval rate of 55 percent, Bush's successor is still beloved. [CLICK HERE TO READ MORE]