Another painful step in the re-education of House GOP
Given all the drama, hand-wringing and arm-twisting involved, you might think that the legislation approved last night by the House represents an achievement of historic importance.
It does not.
Seldom has so much intrigue been committed to such small effect. The bill sidesteps the so-called “fiscal cliff,” but it does so by accomplishing little and resolving nothing. It merely means that two months from now, the same set of players will re-enact this same sad-sack spectacle, as the federal government lurches from crisis to crisis like some banana republic that is incapable of ruling itself.
Yet as painful and as ugly as the process might be, it is also sadly necessary. The mental, emotional and political recalibration required when unrealistic ideology finally runs head on into reality does not happen quickly or easily. It is, as they say, a process rather than an event, and in this case the process will be drawn out, public and politically bloody.
Even after this latest defeat, congressional Republicans continue to tell themselves that in the next confrontation, this time over the debt-limit ceiling, they will finally have “leverage” they need over President Obama and Senate Democrats. They seem to believe that by threatening to push the country into default on its debt — a step with economy-wrecking consequences likely to last a generation — they will be able to rally the American people to their cause.
I don’t believe things works like that. To the contrary, the strategy reeks of desperation. In a poll taken last month by CNN, 53 percent of Americans already said that they consider the policies of the GOP to be too extreme. That’s an extraordinarily high number — just 37 percent said the same about Democrats, for example. It’s also telling that in 2010, before Republicans won control of the House, just 36 percent of Americans considered the party’s policies too extreme.
The last two years, in other words, have proved disastrous for the party’s reputation, particularly among moderates and independents. They are no longer deemed responsible by a growing number of American citizens. In such a political setting, holding a pistol to the temple of the U.S. economy and threatening to pull the trigger unless you get your way would seem a less-than-sterling means of winning friends and influencing people.
– Jay Bookman
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431 comments Add your comment
williebkind
January 2nd, 2013
1:40 pm
I dont need no stinking blog rules.
Ben Shockley
January 2nd, 2013
1:41 pm
Libs blame the wretched economy on Bush tax cuts and Bush budget deficits. Obama extends the tax cuts and doubles the deficits. Libs declare him our economic savior.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
Mick
January 2nd, 2013
1:41 pm
doom
Sorry, coming out of catholic retirement to pull for the fightin irish to disband, dismantle, and defame the nick satan mythology! The resident evil ends next week!!!
indigo
January 2nd, 2013
1:42 pm
moonbat – 1:04
Keep telling yourself that, over and over and over and over.
Towncrier
January 2nd, 2013
1:42 pm
Ah. I just asked Kyle the same question and he linked me to his set of rules:
http://blogs.ajc.com/kyle-wingfield/2009/11/11/some-rules-for-this-blog/
That was good of him. I wouldn’t expect Jay to have the same kind of guidelines as Kyle or as many (what kind of liberal would that make him, after all?). But it sure would be nice to have a few to prevent the really mean-spirited and hateful posts that we see here from the right and left.
Aquagirl
January 2nd, 2013
1:43 pm
No apologies needed Doom, I’m here for the assclowns.
I poked you with a sharp stick and you poked back, that’s how the world works. I didn’t take it personally and I hope you didn’t take my shots personally either.
You remind me of the guys I served with…a little overloaded with testosterone and rough around the edges sometimes but not bad guys. Head for the nearest recruiting station and they’ll make a REAL man out of you.
josef
January 2nd, 2013
1:43 pm
BIG DADDY
Thanks…I’ll be getting it…
THULSA
Another one I forgot to mention the other day…” La noche de los lápices”
Mick
January 2nd, 2013
1:44 pm
ben
No, the republicans spend like drunken sailors and hand us an economic collapse. The dems get in power and then all of a sudden deficits matter and to top it off, when the bill comes due they stand up and announce that they have forgotten their wallet and by the way, it’s all your fault dems.
You really, really can’t make this stuff up!!!
Ben Shockley
January 2nd, 2013
1:44 pm
Obama promises to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. We get to the end of his first term, deficits have gone up, not down, and Bookman and his kook-lib parrots portray Republicans as loony for asking where are the spending cuts to go along with the tax hike on the rich.
Said tax hike garners about $80 billion per year by the most generous estimates, reducing budget deficits from $1.10 trillion to $1.02 trillion.
You really can’t make this stuff up.
captuitarman
January 2nd, 2013
1:45 pm
As a moderate Pub/Con, I thought that your column in the printed paper this morning, along with this one were informative and insightful, from a political standpoint. The Dem/Libs do have the upper hand now, and the structural/demographic shift, long foreseen is finally here and taking effect, cannot be denied.
The Pub/Cons were outmaneuvered with the last minute drama, and despite all the other typical stuff that got thrown in (tax breaks for Hollywood??) the moderate Pub/Cons rightly went along to avert the possibility of an economic disaster. So, it was a great day for the “new sheriffs” in town, and Obama jets back to Hawaii in full vacay mode, triumph in hand, while leaving a warning, don’t try to leverage any spending cuts off of the debt ceiling negotiations. Happy Days are here again!
But, the big hole in all of this for the Dem/Libs is the corrupt policy that will ultimately bring economic disaster, and Obama and the Dem/Libs have clearly tipped their hands in the fiscal cliff resolution. Real spending cuts that are necessary to bring us back to a sound fiscal footing will get “lip service” from this administration, and that is all thye are going to get.
The fiscal cliff bill has a 40 to 1 ratio of taxes to spending cuts. We now have a clear understanding of Obama’s completely disingenuous definition of a “balanced approach” . . . 40 to 1. And the new approach, the new Dem/Lib mantra, was previewed last week by Paul Krugman. Deficits don’t matter. We can borrow, print money, and spend our way into prosperity while already trillions in debt, and add even more trillions. There will never be a down side from this . . . until, of course, one fine day we all wake up and find that there is a down side, a really, really bad down side.
Our problem is out of control spending, and it needs to be reigned in. But, at the moment, that is like adults talking to teenage children who just got their first part time job, and who are really feeling their oats and want to buy a new car they cannot afford.
No generation in American history (it is contrary to our DNA) has bought into this economic drivel until now, because the danger, once very clear, is now lost on clearly the not so well informed and historically ignorant “new sheriffs” in town, mesmerized by the possibility of so much “free stuff.” And, they have hip and cool Prez telling them, “Don’t worry, be happy” and “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain,” and so they don’t.
During his victory lap speech the day the Senate bill passed, Obama heavily hinted that since now he has the fiscal cliff conquered, more taxes will be necessary to get any real cuts. This is a man obviously not above moving the goal posts once things move his way, despite what he has said before. At some point, all Pub/Cons, not just the conservatives, will refuse to be played that way. They still have the House, and they will use it, and unless Obama and the Dem/Libs are willing to do some compromising of their own on bringing this spending under control, it will get ugly again.
We now have P
williebkind
January 2nd, 2013
1:49 pm
Ben Shockley:
Liberals have a reading comprehension deficit! If “is” is “is”, then spending is the same as cutting the budget.
Fred ™
January 2nd, 2013
1:49 pm
indigo
January 2nd, 2013
1:40 pm
Fred – 1:01
Someday, you will finish your homeschooling(maybe) and no longer live with mommie and daddie.
Then it will be clear(maybe) that you’re the LAST person I or anyone else here would stalk.
For now, dream on, child.
++++++++++++++++++++++++
LOL You are so funny. I guess it makes you feel powerful to insult my parents who have been dead for more than 20 years. Glad I could help you feel empowered. If you want to travel to Oklahoma you REALLY feel like a big man and urinate on their graves……..
RF
January 2nd, 2013
1:50 pm
“Jay Bookman and his kook-lib buddies chastising House Republicans for threatening to return us to the Clinton tax rates and Clinton spending levels”
Au contraire, we’re evidently “kook lib” for suggesting a return to those tax rates, or haven’t you been listening to the Grover Norquist crowd lately? They don’t want anything to do with those tax rates, regardless of how good the economic news was then. That’s been the whole argument from the TP “kooks” of late that those were just TERRIBLE times and a threat to capitalism and the Constitution and everything good about America.
Towncrier
January 2nd, 2013
1:50 pm
“If “is” is “is”, then spending is the same as cutting the budget.”
LOL. I don’t think former president Clinton is ever going to be able to live that down. He probably gets teased about it by his close friends.
Regnad Kcin
January 2nd, 2013
1:51 pm
“Engineering is based upon known rules. I am one; I know.”
What kind of train do you drive?
Mick
January 2nd, 2013
1:52 pm
captian
Mighty long summation, I can do better in less, “the sky is falling, the sky is falling”, see how close it is???
Towncrier
January 2nd, 2013
1:53 pm
“Someday, you will finish your homeschooling(maybe) and no longer live with mommie and daddie.”
“I guess it makes you feel powerful to insult my parents who have been dead for more than 20 years. Glad I could help you feel empowered. If you want to travel to Oklahoma you REALLY feel like a big man and urinate on their graves…”
What was that line of Tom Cruse’s in A Few Goo Men? “And the hits keep on coming”.
Fred ™
January 2nd, 2013
1:53 pm
That was good of him. I wouldn’t expect Jay to have the same kind of guidelines as Kyle or as many (what kind of liberal would that make him, after all?). But it sure would be nice to have a few to prevent the really mean-spirited and hateful posts that we see here from the right and left.
Kyle is a passive aggressive liar and he does not enforce his rules with any attempt at parity. If Jay was like Kyle, this blog would be shut down at night.
Towncrier
January 2nd, 2013
1:54 pm
“Kyle is a passive aggressive liar and he does not enforce his rules with any attempt at parity. If Jay was like Kyle, this blog would be shut down at night.”
“And the hits keep on coming”.
RF
January 2nd, 2013
1:57 pm
Actually, captuitarman, the president offered much more in spending cuts originally. The senate brokered this bill to get it through the senate, so the lack of spending cuts is on their heads at this point. The one thing we have to accept, regardless of party affiliation, is that any real spending cuts will have to include all the sacred cows, including defense spending. What the cons want is to gut social programs and raise defense spending. No matter how much was offered, the republicans simply refused to accept it and ended up being forced to vote on a bill that many on both sides weren’t happy with, and the failure is theirs to own. At the heart of this problem is the inability of the conservative leadership in the House to get its members to agree to anything. That will do more harm than anything else, since the president can’t spend anything that the House doesn’t appropriate with the agreement of the Senate. Blame Obama all you want, but he can only spend what they give him.
RF
January 2nd, 2013
2:01 pm
“Bookman and his kook-lib parrots portray Republicans as loony for asking where are the spending cuts to go along with the tax hike on the rich”
Nah, what we’re actually asking is why the nutjobs on the right didn’t accept the spending cuts offered earlier and why the Senate had to pen such a watered-down bill to get through the Senate 89-8. A lot more cuts were offered while the right-wing nuts just sat with their arms folded and yelled NO!! Now they’re complaining because they didn’t get what the originally were offered. Sheesh- all they do is whine and complain, no matter what.
josef
January 2nd, 2013
2:01 pm
FRED
Just lemme know when he sets out for Oklahoma…
Fred ™
January 2nd, 2013
2:01 pm
What hits? It’s the truth.
Go over there right now and see how many names you see called. How many “libt@rds” and such. Then look at little kylies rules.
The AJC has clearly defined rules for posting, they shouldn’t be arbitrary to each blog like lil Kylie and Schultz have made them. The AJC has an auto snagger. If they don’t want the word ass to get through they can put it on the auto snagger. They don’t want damn, put it on the auto snagger.
The problem is as I said earlier, you are a control freak and want freedom to post what YOU want but want to limit that for others.
You are like the guy driving in the left lane doing 65 in a 55 who won’t move over for faster traffic. You say, “I’m going fast enpough for anyone to go.” Yes, you are breaking the law just as someone who wants to go 75, but YOU are the one (in your mind) who gets to decide how much the law gets broken.
I know the truth is hard for you to handle, but it IS the truth.
Fred ™
January 2nd, 2013
2:02 pm
josef: I’ll draw him a map. I never liked them anyways lol.
josef
January 2nd, 2013
2:04 pm
FRED
Oklahoma? See Chapter 12
Fred ™
January 2nd, 2013
2:14 pm
LOL josef: I didn’t remember him being from Oklahoma. But it makes sense. Remember, Oklahoma was settled by outlaws and losers who couldn’t make it anywhere else. Their “mascot” is the Sooner. What’s a “Sooner?” A Sooner is a cheating slimy SOB who busted into the land grab early so they could steal the choice land before they were supposed to.
I always tell folks that Oklahoma was the only place I have ever been where folks will actively plot and plan and scheme for 6 months to cheat you out of a PENNY.
redneckbluedog
January 2nd, 2013
3:19 pm
When you think about it, House Republicans have basically rendered themselves worthless at best, and an enemy of the people at worst:
1. Debt ceiling – Don’t fight over it, let them default it and face re-election in 2014.
2. Budget – Ditto. Let them “shut ‘er down” the way Newt did…NOT A PRETTY SITE…
3. Budget cuts – Just go with the sequester…….BOOM…DONE….
We really don’t need the House at all for the 113th Congress…!!!!!!!!
independent thinker
January 2nd, 2013
5:07 pm
I am still trying to decide if watching Tech beat up on USC and win the bowl or Biden cornering and roping in the House Republicans was more entertaining . Sure beat the usual New Years eve entertainment. I wish they televised Boehner and Ryan when they were casting their yes votes. For some reason the smile on Biden’s face got bigger as the evening and New years day wore on. Can’t imagine why?
Bill Orvis White
January 2nd, 2013
10:13 pm
I’m ready to take back my country and if that means retirement for me so that I can throw my hat into the political ring, I’ll do it to save this soil that I love so much. Amen, Bill
Barry Ritholtz
January 3rd, 2013
8:45 am
I dont know who Joe Hussein Mama is, but thanks for the kind words!
Barry Ritholtz
January 3rd, 2013
6:44 pm
I just read Jay’s comment policy — they are pretty easy going.
Mine are far harsher and more restrictive: http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/comment-policy/