The Other McCain

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Biden Debt-Ceiling Talks Collapse as Republicans Cantor, Kyl Walk Out

Posted on | June 23, 2011 | 9 Comments

Several weeks of Potemkin “bipartisanship” go down the drain as Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Democrats refused to agree to any debt-ceiling deal that didn’t include tax increases. Jon Kyl has not yet issued a statement, but Eric Cantor explains his exit:

[A]s it stands the Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases. There is not support in the House for a tax increase, and I don’t believe now is the time to raise taxes in light of our current economic situation. Regardless of the progress that has been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can continue. Given this impasse, I will not be participating in today’s meeting and I believe it is time for the President to speak clearly and resolve the tax issue.

Let me explain what’s actually happening here: John Boehner and the GOP call the shots in the House — where it’s straight majority rule — but neither party can exercise such unilateral power in the Senate, where Democrats don’t have a veto-proof majority. Therefore, the White House would normally be expected to act as broker for a deal acceptable to both parties in Congress. However . . .

Obama’s gearing up his 2012 re-election campaign, and is therefore trying to paint Republicans into a box, to depict them as “extremist” and “irresponsible” if they don’t compromise with Democrats on a deal to increase the debt ceiling. And in this case, ”compromise” means agreeing to a tax increase, which would be a 100% betrayal of the voters who gave Republicans the majority in last year’s mid-term election.

In other words, it’s a variation of the tactic by which Democrats in 1990 forced George H.W. Bush to agree to a tax increase, breaking his “no new taxes” pledge. And if Republicans let themselves be bamboozled that way now, they deserve to be defeated in 2012.

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Category: Budget, Joe Biden, Taxes

Comments

  • CalMark

    Boehner will cave.  Does anyone believe this WON’T happen?  He is such a spineless, craven, worthless piece of political garbage.

    Whether the rest of the House will follow his lead remains to be seen.

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  • http://roughedgesandsharpelbows.blogspot.com/ Brian D Paasch

    Well the GOP already shredded the “we’ll cut 100 billion dollars in spending” claim. Can’t see any reason why they won’t continue their long, long “go along to get along” tradition.

  • Anonymous

    The Bolsheviks will use paying the troops again as a hostage and Speaker McClellan will cave. I’m not sure given the polling that the White House comes out as well this time.

  • http://profiles.yahoo.com/u/EU5DQWQTTHTPO4A4ZYSL3AAV2U Adjoran

    Wrong analogy.  Bush the Elder fell for an entirely different trick in 1990 with the tax hike.  He forged an agreement with congressional Democrats to address the deficit with a combination of spending cuts and a tax increase.  Foolishly, he signed the tax increase first, and of course no spending cuts were ever passed.  Despite the Democratic dishonesty, Bush cannot be excused as he watched Reagan fall for exactly the same trick twice. 

    He might even have survived breaking his (foolish) “Read my lips” pledge if Democrats had followed through with their part of the bargain, since he could have defended it as good for the country’s future.  But without the cuts, it was just more of a license for Democrats to spend money feeding their supporters.

    What Obama is trying to pull here is a variation on the government shutdown scam.  The play started against Reagan, but with limited success.  Then Clinton perfected it, managing to blame Gingrich and Dole for the 1995 shutdown when it was he who wanted it – for just that reason.

    The problem is that Republicans can and should already be reminding voters that Democrats controlled Congress from 2006 – 2011 and their refusal to deal with the problems, or even pass the required budget bills, contributed to the crisis we now face.  They had their chance, even with the White House and a nearly filibuster-proof Senate for two years, too.

    Democrats have forfeited their right to participate in the solution by their past deceit and demagoguery, and their failure to act when they had full control.  Their failed policies aren’t solutions, they are the problem.  Let them stand aside and allow the grown-ups to fix things.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    He’ll cave and he’ll cry doing it [probably when he claims he's doing it for the children and their future].

    Bachmann, West, et. al.: STAGE THE COUP!

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Exactly.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.org Bob Belvedere

    Dead solid perfect.

    PALIN/ADJORAN 2012!

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