It would be a whole lot more fun to watch Mitch McConnell squirm if I didn’t have to worry that he and Boehner are incapable of making a responsible move. They stood by, and even in some respects lent encouragement, as this brand new strain of Crazy metastasized throughout their party. Now they seem shocked to realize that they have the cancer, too.
This is pretty simple. They need 218 members in the House and 60 members in the Senate to sign off on a bill that will raise the debt limit. There’s no way to get seven Democratic senators to sign off on a bill that is opposed by the president and virtually every Democratic member of the House. Therefore, McConnell and Boehner need to tell their caucus that they either simmer down or they’ll be forced to cut a bill that has more appeal to Democrats than Republicans. Of course, the Crazy response to this will be that, if that’s the case, maybe the Republican Party needs new congressional leadership. So, say goodbye to those big offices and all the perqs.
It’s almost touching to watch McConnell try to explain to the Crazy that a balanced budget amendment isn’t going to pass, let alone be signed by the president. It’d be even funnier if McConnell told them how bad of an idea he thinks it is. How could they loot the treasury if they couldn’t spend money without raising taxes? At that point, would the GOP even have a soul? A purpose?
So, here we are with McConnell letting the train run off the tracks and he’s unwilling to do more than make a couple of nudges towards basic reality. He hasn’t prepared his caucus for the coming capitulation at all. And it’s getting very late, even for a game of chicken. Everyone knows that McConnell is bluffing. He doesn’t have the power to do what he’s being asked to do. He can’t do it. And he wouldn’t want to do it even if he could.
I just hope the White House is right, because they’re convinced that McConnell and Boehner will value their relationship with Wall Street more than their relationship with their Crazy base. But maybe it’s their jobs that are most important. If so, the country is screwed.