Here, Republicans, have some crow. It’s delish.
Graphic by Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog
Facing the fact that everyone in the country who isn’t a die-hard Republican thinks the current shutdown of the federal goverment and the impending crashing of the U.S. economy resulting from a failure to raise the debt limit are their responsibility, there are some interesting gyrations coming from the GOP at the moment.
First, RNC Chair Reince Priebus sent out what can only be called a Hail Mary email yesterday titled “Obama says you’re a deadbeat”. It’s classic GOP strategy: take your own weakness and project it on to your opponent. In this case, they are using the fact that they are pushing the United States of America into becoming a Global Super Deadbeat and claiming President Obama is calling average Americans deadbeats. It’s an astonishing admission that they got nuthin’.
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Obama says you’re a deadbeat
Friend,President Obama has been running up the bill on our nation’s credit card – and now he expects you to pay the bill. Or else, in the President’s own words, you’re a deadbeat.
Under President Obama’s policies our national debt has exploded by $6.1 trillion. He has put taxpayers on the hook for endless bailouts, a failed stimulus, and the trainwreck known as ObamaCare. The federal government has run its four highest annual deficits under this President’s watch.
For five years, President Obama has been spending recklessly while 11.3 million Americans remain unemployed. Now he wants Republicans to raise to the debt limit, no questions asked.
Enough is enough.
House Republicans have been explicitly clear. It’s time for an adult conversation about our unsustainable fiscal trajectory. But President Obama and Congressional Democrats won’t even come to the table to negotiate.
It’s an email so full of lies that it ought to be declared false advertising with someone going to jail for it. The worst bit is the whole “won’t even come to the table to negotiate”. This week, for example, President Obama literally invited the entire Republican caucus, all 232 of them, to a meeting to discuss the current situation. They are sending 18. Not only that, over the past six months, John Boehner has continuously refused to conference with Senate Democrats on resolving the budget impasse.
So all of this talk about “refusing to negotiate” is a bunch of malarkey, to quote one of my favorite government servants.
Today we get a solid admission from John Boehner that the government shutdown is, indeed, a thing created by Republicans:
House Republican leaders pitched a new plan to their members: a six-week debt ceiling increase while keeping the government shut down. […]The plan is an attempt to “meet President [Barack] Obama” halfway and allow for talks on a broader fiscal package that could enact changes to entitlement programs and the Tax Code, fund government and lift the debt limit for a longer period of time, according to multiple GOP sources.
This is a clear admission that they are responsible for the shutdown as well as the impending economic crisis that will be triggered if they don’t raise the debt limit.
And, finally, on the topic of the debt limit and its catastrophic impact on the economy, Debt Limit Deniers’ lies about how it won’t impact the economy and will “stabilize world markets” (derp) are being shown for the lie that they are. How?
When they announced this possible agreement, the stock market surged.
Don’t think this wasn’t something they were hoping for with their announcement. It was:
House GOP leaders are contemplating advancing a short-term debt limit increase designed to calm jittery stock and bond markets…
Still, it’s not a done deal. Boehner is meeting today with his caucus and, according to some reports, the Tea Partarians are none to happy about with the plan. Also, at the end of the day, it’s not going to solve much. As White House economic advisor Jason Furman explains, it is truly just another chapter in the Hostage Taking Chronicles authored by the GOP:
If every six weeks you have some other thing that you are adding and trying to extract in exchange for just doing your doing your basic business of keeping the government funded — and by the way, just at sequester level for six weeks — and not defaulting for six weeks, that not a remotely tenable way to function.
The reality is that the Republicans are in complete disarray. The more moderate, sane Republicans have virtually no input into the process. The more insane ones think it’s just fine — even GOOD! — to shutdown the government and risk the “full faith and credit” of the country, making us a Global Super Deadbeat. And John Boehner is caught in the middle trying to balance it all, including their most recent pivot away from making this about repealing the Affordable Care Act and, instead, using it as a way to eviscerate Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
My take on this whole thing is this: the six-week extension won’t solve any of the impasses that are currently being discussed. However, every single day the battle gets pushed closer to the midterm election of 2014, the better it is for Democrats. I want the Republican’s insanity, petulance, and hypocrisy on these matters as fresh in the minds of voters as possible. So, yeah, go ahead and extend it. It changes nothing and improves things for Democrats.
I like that just fine.
