Republicans are losing their grip

Some Republicans — including Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal in a Wall Street Journal op-ed piece — are now blaming President Obama for the rise of Donald Trump. This makes as much sense as Sarah Palin blaming President Obama for her son's arrest for domestic abuse, during her speech endorsing Donald Trump.

Blaming Obama for Trump's rise ignores that Republican politicians and right-wing talk show hosts have spent the past eight years stirring up their base with promises they knew they couldn't keep, and encouraging an unreasonable atmosphere of fear. Has anyone ever estimated how much time and money they wasted repeatedly voting to repeal the Affordable Care Act, when they knew Obama would veto it, for no other reason than to try to stave off Tea Party challengers in the next election?

Palin accused Obama of not doing enough for veterans, despite the fact Republicans in the Senate defeated a $24 billion bill sponsored by the Democrats to expand health care for veterans. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that actually $35 billion was needed for veterans care through 2017. The Republican-controlled House finally approved just $16 billion — less than half what is needed for veterans, and one-third less than the amount requested by Democrats.

But of course it's Obama's fault that her son didn't get the care he needed when he returned from the ill-conceived war launched by Obama's predecessor.

This story was originally published March 18, 2016 at 8:42 AM with the headline "Republicans are losing their grip."