I like how the administration is working over the House Republicans by offering them nothing and demanding that they raise the debt ceiling. It reminds me of this scene from The Godfather II:
Senator
John EnsignPat Geary: I want your answer and the money by noon tomorrow. And one more thing. Don’t you contact me again, ever. From now on, you deal withCoburnTurnbull.
Tim GeithnerMichael Corleone: Senator? You can have my answer now, if you like. My final offer is this: nothing. Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.
The Republicans desperately want to be saved from the corner they’ve paved themselves into, but everyone thinks they’re bluffing. I’m not so sure that they are capable of caving. Maybe they need to wake up hungover next to a bloody, dead, underage prostitute. That focused Sen. John Ensign’s Pat Geary’s mind. And he payed for the gaming license.
Hey, they always said the Kenyan engaged in Chicago/Gangster politics.
engage in “Chicago/Gangster politics.”
As Colbert so aptly described on Thursday…
How did you get that from these conversations? Geithner still used the word compromise. That’s giving them something.
The word?
Pfft. They can have the word.
I confess to also being confused as to what you mean by “nothing.” Nothing only in the sense of Medicare (and perhaps by proxy, medicaid and other health spending), or nothing altogether?
Because I agree Obama’s counter to Ryancare when it comes to Medicare is nothing. No bailout. They hang with that vote. As it should be. I’ll never understand why the professional left ever thought the administration had it out for entitlements. They’ll cut on their own terms, sure, in big, big numbers, but they do it to preserve benefits not destroy them.
But nothing altogether? That’s just not true. The President gave that great, great speech where he defended liberal government while simultaneously detailing his wish to cut trillions of dollars worth of spending in the next decade. There’s a secret vice presidential working group that’s going about that business as we speak. It seems implausible that the Republican House isn’t going to force some level of spending cuts in exchange for the ceiling raise. I expect the GOP to get taken to the cleaners on their own fantastical destructive priorities, as usual (WH has game), but spending cuts are almost certainly coming. Nothing like the UK though. It’ll probably all be backloaded (and thus less likely to come totally to fruition in later congresses) in exchange for no possible compromise on taxation.
The President gave that great, great speech where he defended liberal government while simultaneously detailing his wish to cut trillions of dollars worth of spending in the next decade.
Are you one of those people who says that the Affordable Care Act cut $500 billion from Medicare?
Spending money isn’t the point.
Boo:
Jon Runyan? Is he even going to win re-election next year?
We’ll know by labor day, won’t we?
My cynical prediction. The increase the GOP accepts will be just enough to make the issue resurface in September 2012.
Kick the can on the Bush tax cuts. Kick the can on the debt limit. Kick the can on real health care reform.
The Congress and state legislatures are the critical elections next year. But the political junkies in the Democratic party are going to be fixated as usual by every wig and wag of the Presidential primary shenanigans and general election shitstorm. Which will leave it to the party and the party faithful to bail out–how did that work in 2010? And already the party is conceding too many races.
What races is the party conceding already?
If you don’t start fielding candidates now, you will not have candidates in position to compete. That is conceding a race. If Democrats don’t have 435 reasonable candidates in place, if the risk of 2012 turns into a Democratic blowout – an equal possibility to further GOP gains – Democrats will not be able to pick up additional seats.
And those candidates will not survive past one term if they are Blue Dogs, Heath Shuler to the contrary. The same is true with state legislatures.
The Red State-Blue State/Red Count-Blue County mindset has so infected Democratic strategists that they don’t even try to field candidates in some areas.
The 2012 election is going to be a backlash election. The only question will be who the backlash will be against — President Obama or Congressional Republicans.
OK.
What races are the Democrats conceding already?
Obama already had his backlash election. This time it’s the Republican’s turn. I mean, people as a whole, still blame Bush for the wreckage of this economy.
The party is already conceding races? I guess next time we’ll lose 435 races.
wait until the first Serviceman does not get his/her paycheck, because the Republican’s won’t raise the debt limit. I find it hard to believe the Democrats do not raise the issue of repealing the Bush Tax Cuts for Millionaires.
And the Republicans in Congress now own part of 9.1% unemployment rate as they failed to do anything concerning a jobs bill.
Perhaps a horse’s head would be motivational.
you crack me up sometimes, BM