Ted Cruz not to blame, unified minority could do more than dysfunctional majority
Is the current GOP congressional leadership serious about reducing government or not? We think not. They did nothing but provide cover for Democrats instead of obtaining concessions from them in the recent debt ceiling go around. They made not even a feint attempt at bargaining. They proceeded to help along a massive debt ceiling increase and in the process saddle children with more and more debt.
Reading reports in Roll Call about Wednesday’s debt ceiling vote in the Senate is embarrassing. Ted Cruz did embarrass Mitch McConnell, again, by doing the right thing. Forcing him to round up certain Republicans, the usual suspects, to end Cruz’s filibuster threat and help Democrats pass the gargantuan debt ceiling increase.
It could have passed with out Republicans, McConnell’s desire, but Cruz forced the issue, thinking saddling the American people with more and more debt was something to fight. The issue in Cruz’s mind is probably that if the minority’s job is not to fight, not to use the only tool the minority has, the filibuster, they really do not need to be there at all. Senators could simply look at the election returns after every general election, see who is on top, and the minority party can stay home.
Republican leadership was intent on not even trying to force a bargain on anything, (the filibuster is still available on this sort of legislation), and to have Republicans not be blamed for even stalling the debt ceiling increase. They wanted to avoid a bargaining impasse, (it takes two to impasse) potentially resulting in a partial and temporary spending curtailment, for which Republicans would be blamed for another “government shutdown” the Democrat and Republican leaderships shared narrative. That was the smart play they thought. Maneuver the debt ceiling increase as strictly a Democrat thing.
Except that the Republican controlled House had already passed the debt ceiling increase with Speaker Boehner’s help, and too many people do not make fine distinctions in interpreting such matters. Democrats will of course help them interpret the raise in the debt ceiling as a bipartisan effort whenever it becomes necessary to divert blame.
A defense of Speaker Boehner’s actions is available here. We feel it is bogus beltway analysis. Boehner is at least as much to blame for any internal impasse by abandoning promises to the caucus membership and to the public. That embarrasses his congressional troops. Democrats cannot be blamed for Boehner’s compromised ineffectiveness at attacking Democrat irresponsibility, or for the internal offenses of abandoning the Hastert rule on these matters, or the 72 hour review process he promised.
Read about the Senate chain of events from this Roll Call report and the subsequent revelation about the Senate shenanigans to avoid any fingerprints. Read Byron York’s somewhat sympathetic treatment of McConnell’s strategy and his critique of Ted Cruz.
The Veritas View – unified minority could accomplish more
What TEA party Republicans are fed up with is the refrain from current Republican leadership as they seek to placate the rank and file. It sounds like the theater of the absurd, a comic opera. Trust us . . . we will hold fast on the debt ceiling . . . no . . . we will hold fast on the budget negotiations . . . no the other thing, trust us ” . . . and they change the story each and every time.
The excuses are cynical politics. The Republican practitioners are open about it to a degree. They do not talk about passing a gargantuan debt ceiling bill because it is the right thing to do, but because they frankly admit they are playing politics . . . it will make the next election easier. We must not shut down the government (adopting the critical liberal narrative) because doing so will hurt “us” in the next election. As if there is nothing they can do to avoid being blamed.
Always the message is . . . “keep your eye on the next election . . . I’m there working really hard for you . . . we have to win so we can fix this.” The hand wringers in the precincts take it all in. But of course in the mean time the politicians make it harder to make change in the future because they are going along with making the economy worse. People become more enamored yet with the unsustainable government safety net. And the party brand is damaged and the substitute is “they are all alike.” That is the prime street reaction. That is the PR aura that the beltway types refuse to deal with.
The current emergency never goes away, how can it when the good guys aggravate it? They must know that withdrawing government largess, balancing the budget, reducing debt never becomes easier. The problem is leadership at least as much as numbers.
The 2014 elections would have to produce not only a unified Senate but a veto proof unified Senate with a unified House as well. Actually reducing government depends not just on Republican numbers but Republican unity behind a conservative agenda. But the same suspects are pushing for moderate Republicans! To what avail? Squishy Republicans who cater to local corporate trough feeders and the like will not be interested in seriously reducing government.
The corporate trough feeders do not even care a whole lot about tax increases, as long as they keep their sinecure, the law of concentrated gain and dispersed pain coming into play. All of this by the way is why there should be term limits, and in the meantime why moderates should be primaried.
Consider that no matter what happens in November, well unless there is a true complete and largely unified sweep, including some purges, we still have Obama. What will Republicans do about him that they can’t do now? Impeach him? The House can impeach him now. Stop his executive orders? the House could stop them now. The TEA party is saying what is missing in Republican congressional leadership is a spine
As it is now, the people no longer support Obama. He is no longer believable. With effective leadership the House could use that to stop his degradations of the country now. The Senate could find that instead of twelve R’s flaking off to support the debt ceiling increase, a few Democrats might have joined them to oppose it. So regardless of the likely or potential numbers of “R’s”, the effort will come to naught unless there is a dedicated change of leadership and the ranks have true conservatives. In the coming election the goal should be getting conservatives nominated and elected.
