Joe Klein of Time explains:
"And so, here we are. Our nation’s economy and international reputation as the world’s presiding grownup has already been badly damaged. It is a self-inflicted wound of monumental stupidity. I am usually willing to acknowledge that Democrats can be as silly, and hidebound, as Republicans–but not this time. There is zero equivalence here. The vast majority of Democrats have been more than reasonable, more than willing to accept cuts in some of their most valued programs. Given the chance, there was the likelihood that they would have surrendered their most powerful weapon in next year’s election–a Mediscare campaign–by agreeing to some necessary long-term reforms in that program. The President, remarkably, proposed raising the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67.
The Republicans have been willing to concede nothing. Their stand means higher interest rates, fewer jobs created and more destroyed, a general weakening of this country’s standing in the world. Osama bin Laden, if he were still alive, could not have come up with a more clever strategy for strangling our nation."
SPEAKER BOEHNER'S FAILURE:
It's true: there are no original ideas.
ReplyDeleteWell, Boehner will forever be synonymous with catastrophic, epic failure. Ironic, no?
Shaw,
ReplyDeleteYes, the Speaker's inability to get a bill through shows that he has no effective control over his own party, which has been captured by extreme ideologues. These people simply can't factor in a reality they don't comprehend. Things like debt ceilings, 401K plans, credit-card interest rates. You know, trivial stuff like that....
And now, we have a REAL three-party system. Which is not necessarily a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteFrom Robert Stein of Connecting.The.Dots, Boehner's Place in History:
ReplyDelete“The Speaker … is earning his place in a volume that was in the making years ago to commemorate historic feats of mismanagement …
It would have honored the Captain of the Titanic, Herbert Hoover in the Great Depression, LBJ’s handling of the Vietnam War, and Jimmy Carter during the Iran hostage crisis, among other monumental mishaps.
In this century, the list would include Heckuva Job Brownie’s work at FEMA during Hurricane Katrina and, of course, the Master himself—-George W. for the Iraq War …
Garden-variety incompetence does not qualify a public figure for this pantheon. Stunning stubborness has to be compounded by a total lack of foresight and an unerring instinct to misread possible outcomes.
Which brings us to John Andrew Boehner, the 61st Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, who now finds himself besieged on all sides in a crisis on his own making as the U.S. economy heads toward a cliff, with friends and foes trying to grab the steering wheel.”
Sheesh !!!
The latest I've read is that Boner's newest oldest non-starter of a bill is DOA. Something about extending the debt ceiling only a few months and holding it hostage until a Constitutional amendment to balance the budget is passed before the ceiling is extended again. IOW, it's rancid meat.
ReplyDelete210 onanistic votes in the House against Boehner's bill. Fun to watch on C-Span.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Nance. Now I know what banking, politics and sex have in common: The penalty for premature withdrawal.
ReplyDelete