Tags
Dean Heller, federal debt, federal deficit, fiscal cliff, GOP, John Boehner, John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Republicans
John McCain still bitter about 2008?
Sure we’ll cooperate with the President….when he becomes a Republican
Republican Senator John McCain promised that a Susan Rice’s nomination for Secretary of State will be blocked. Republican Senator Mitch McConnell says that he has a mandate for Republicans to push America over the fiscal cliff. Republican Representative John Boehner says compromise with Democrats is now possible if President Obama gives up the tax increases favored by most Americans. At least we know that the wealthy, old, white men in Congress haven’t changed.
After Republicans had major wins in the House and Senate in 2010, 42 Republican Senators signed a pledge to gridlock Congress and defeat any attempt by President Obama to move the country forward. That was 716 days ago.
Senator Mitch McConnell: “Election, what election?”
After shocking losses in the Senate, losses in the House that defied the gerrymandering of State Republican legislatures, and Mitt Romney’s loss of the century for President, the GOP is determined to pretend the 2012 election did not happen. That means America can expect the Republicans in Congress to offer more of what they gave us in the last two years.
Perhaps Senator John McCain will once again suggest another corporate tax holiday so wealthy white men can buy private planes and yachts. Perhaps Senator Dean Heller will again attempt to pass a law that will prohibit millionaires from receiving Food Stamps. Perhaps Representative John Boehner will again suggest that the Department of Justice pay Republicans to uphold the Defense of Marriage Act. Whatever they do, we can expect that they will hold America hostage to make sure nothing works in Washington D.C.
Paul,
When I was younger, I worked as a legislative assistant on both the House and Senate sides. Being naive and impressionable, I always assumed that “the other side” in any debate would at some point come to reason and on the basis of this reason, compromise could be achieved.
What I did not understand then is that conservatives are different, in pure psychological terms. They often can appear to be reasonable, but the one and only motivator for them is brute force. In that respect, I think the Dems still have a lot to learn from the GOP. Think if Romney had been elected, we would have any Republicans worrying the least little bit about compromise?
In my view, Obama needs to capitalize right now on his mandate, and it is a mandate. Remember GW’s boast about having gained capital, in a victory far less convincing than Obama’s? The fiscal cliff is the perfect setup, coupled with the elections, and he needs to show the GOP some backbone immediately. I am encouraged thus far by his statements to that effect, but we need action right now. That’s the only way to break the gridlock.
Andy
Andy:
I try to hesitate to generalize too much, but I have been amazed at how many conservatives I know have a ‘my way or the highway’ attitude. Often I am confronted with a ‘bullying’ technique on line where conservatives try to make a logical argument of ‘because I say so,’ and I have found that they only way is to not back down to them, but it is an unpleasant exchange until I can wear away the personal attacks and expose the faulty logic. Then, and only then, do conservatives even begin to listen. It’s easy to understand why Karl Rove believes that negative ads work. He doesn’t need to convince a conservative of anything, he just needs to reinforce their Fox News logic.
Thanks for reading! Was that in the CO House and Senate that you worked as an LA, or in Washington. I haven’t looked, but I assume you are living in CO, still.
Take care,
Paul