Democrats End the Peace
Remember way back when, those halcyon days when Maryland’s Democrats pretended as if they were going to cooperate with Governor Hogan in trying to make Maryland a better place?
Those days are officially over. The Democrats have laid down their marker and declared themselves to be opposing the Governor and the Agenda the people of Maryland voted into office back in November
Mind you, Greg Kline told you those days were never going to happen in the first place way back in the days right after the election:
While Mike Miller has not made the absurd predictions of the MDGOP”s demise he did in 2002, make no mistake. Mike Miller and Mike Busch and the state Democratic Party will be singular in their purpose to regain the power that they lost. Their obsession with maintaining a monopoly on power will not be set aside in the name of common interest or even good governance. Despite, perhaps, their future public pieties of cooperation and bi-partisanship, state Democrats will never willingly lose focus on reacquiring power and making the Hogan governorship another one-term “anomaly”.
Trending: We’ve Come A Long Way
Needless to say that despite the milquetoast official Democratic Response, the Maryland Democratic Party had a collective temper tantrum today at Governor Hogan’s audacity to govern as he campaigned.
While it is understandable that the Democrats weren’t necessarily on board with the idea of tax cuts and responsible spending, they also maintained silence during parts of the speech which should have engendered bipartisan support. Do the Democrats oppose dealing with Maryland’s heroin emergency? Do the Democrats oppose common sense redistricting reforms? Based on their silence, it seems like they do oppose dealing with some of these, the most important issues facing Maryland. Legislative Democrats should be ashamed of themselves for that (but they won’t be).
Even Todd Eberly called out the Democrats on that
What a disgusting sense of entitlement & contempt for voters one must have to not rise & applaud non-partisan redistricting. #mdpolitics
— Todd Eberly (@ToddEberly) February 4, 2015
Some of the choice quotes from today (with credit to both The Baltimore Sun (here and here):
- “A lot of people took offense to the speech because they worked hard to make Maryland great. You campaign in slogans, but you have to govern with the facts.”- Speaker Mike Busch
- An agitated Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller labeled Hogan’s address “a campaign speech” and said he was “disappointed” by both the tenor and substance of the governor’s remarks. “There’s a lot of promises he made he knows he can’t keep,” Miller said. He said many of Hogan’s proposals, particularly the rain tax repeal and other tax breaks, aren’t “do-able.”
- “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Maryland is pretty much a hellhole that nobody wants to live in, and the governor is going to save us all.”- Del. Derek Davis
- “Great guy, but he may need a new speechwriter. … He started by saying that half of the people wanted to leave Maryland ,and by the end of the speech, I think the other half did too.” – Sen. Jamie Raskin
- “He doesn’t let the facts get in the way of politics. Deficit spending in our state? We have a balanced budget every year. We have the most millionaires per capita in the country and our schools are ranked No. 1 for three-four consecutive years. I think he was describing Louisiana or South Carolina.” – Sen. Paul Pinsky
- “I think he’s been listening to too much Fox television,” Sen. James Rosapepe, a Democrat from Prince George’s County.
- “The hope was that it would be a speech that would attempt to reach out. What we got was a gallon of gasoline thrown in the middle of the chamber.” -Del. Luke Clippinger
The tantrums went on over in the Twittersphere, too:
How can our cash-strapped budget @LarryHogan just derided afford these tax credits & cuts? #mdpolitics #mdga15 #SOTS2015
— Cheryl C. Kagan (@CherylKagan) February 4, 2015
@LarryHogan calls #Maryland “unable to compete.” That’s why our job rate keeps growing? Always room 4 improvement. #mdpolitics #SOTS2015 — Cheryl C. Kagan (@CherylKagan) February 4, 2015
Record investments in education? More realistically, record cuts to an agreed school funding formula. #mdga15 #mdpolitics #SOTS2015
— Bill Ferguson (@SenBillFerg) February 4, 2015
Unexpectedly partisan speech by @LarryHogan. Thought he knew that the campaign was over! @ChangeMaryland #mdpolitics #mdga15 #SOTS2015 — Cheryl C. Kagan (@CherylKagan) February 4, 2015
Wow. Doom & gloom from @LarryHogan. #Maryland is “languishing” compared to other states??! #mdpolitics #mdga15 #SOTS2015 @LarryHogan
— Cheryl C. Kagan (@CherylKagan) February 4, 2015
So collectively, Democrats are mad as hell that the people of Maryland rejected their leftist, failed agenda and elected a Governor who has some common sense. and actually represents the will of the people of Maryland.
Face it folks. The next four years are going to be just as combative as you thought they would be
