As the health care bill being considered by the U.S. Senate takes center stage, there is a petulant, shrill quality to Republican criticisms over that and a host of national and international issues that reveals a politics-first mentality.

Likely GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney characterized President Barack Obama as “dithering” about whether to commit more U.S. troops to Afghanistan, while saying nothing about how President George W. Bush had been asked by his commander in Afghanistan for more troops. The former president took three months to reply and, when the reply came, it was a firm “no.”

Romney and other Republicans also said nothing about the effect the war in Iraq had on the war in Afghanistan, stretching American forces dangerously thin and likely prolonging the conflict in Afghanistan. The Bush administration cherry-picked intelligence to rush America into a costly, unnecessary war in Iraq.

Republicans should stop saying that Democrats in Congress voted for war in Iraq. They did not. They voted to give Bush the authority to use force as a last resort, only if circumstances dictated it as necessary to protect U.S. national security. He abused that good-faith resolution.

The obstructionist Republican Party pattern of placing politics first is unmistakable. Just as Republicans abused the good-faith resolution authorizing force as a last resort regarding Iraq, they are now abusing the good-faith invitations of Democrats to participate in an honest, constructive process leading to a worthwhile health care reform bill to benefit all Americans.

Mark Tardif, Waterville