At some point yesterday afternoon, a legislative aide leaked that the White House was caving — CAVING I tellzya! — and was going to give up everything to the Republicans on raising of the debt ceiling. According to this very serious source, the deal between House Speaker Boehner and President Obama was all but a done deal.
A Congressional aide briefed on ongoing negotiations between House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama says the two principals may be nearing a “grand bargain” to raise the debt limit which would contain large, set-in-stone spending cuts but only the possibility of future revenue increases.“All cuts,” the aide said. “Maybe revenues some time in the future.”
The Netroots interblogonettispheric websites lit up. “Caver-in-Chief!” “I’m through with NObama!” “Oh noessssss!!!11!1!”
Somebody probably should have told the White House and Speaker Boehner, though.
From White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer:
@pfeiffer44
Anyone reporting a $3 trillion deal without revenues is incorrect. POTUS believes we need a balanced approach that includes revenues.
From Speaker Boehner:
@SpeakerBoehner
False. Senate should pass #CutCapBalance . RT NYT NEWS ALERT: Obama and Boehner Close to Major Budget Deal, Congressional Leaders Are Told
Oopsie.
But, hey, it all goes back to the whole preemptive whinging thing I wrote about before. To recap, here’s how it goes:
- Read the day’s headlines.
- Determine a spin that characterizes the President and his administration in the worst possible light.
- If such a spin does not exist, postulate what the President and his administration’s response will be. Make sure that it is as negative as possible, even if it contradicts his past behavior.
- Write endless blogs on how the President has once again sold his “base” down the river and kicked hippies in the teeth (after punching them, of course.) It is not necessary for him to actually have done this. Your prediction that he WILL do this is sufficient.
- When what you predicted turns out to be quite wrong, ignore that and focus on the next day’s news item. No point in issuing a mea culpa. Just raise a fuss about something new and nobody will notice.
- Lather, rinse and repeat.
Maybe the president will cave. Maybe he will be the Capitulator-in-Chief. But, hey, let’s not wait around until he actually does this (despite all signs to the contrary.) No, we must condemn him NOW for something he might (or might not) do later.
Because that is just how they roll.
And, to be clear, I’m all about shooting down trial balloons that we disagree with. It’s just this whole assumption that something is a done deal even when both parties to the deal are denying it that makes the whole thing so goddam pathetic.
[Le sigh…]
