Outside the Beltway

Outside the Beltway

“Buckets of crazy.”

Steven L. Taylor
10

WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin (at the Right Turn blog)  writes about Why no vote tonight (i.e., last night):

A House aide just e-mailed me: “Buckets of crazy.” That’s as good an explanation as any as to why Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) won’t be able to hold a vote tonight on his debt-ceiling bill. The burn-the-building-down set is weakening, but the speaker is still short on votes.

Meanwhile, over at NRO, Douglas Holtz-Eakin describes the situation as Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

And finally, let’s discuss the House Republicans who are standing on the brink of sending to the Senate — who will pass it — and the president — who will sign it — a piece of legislation that is consistent with their principles, if not perfect. Instead of simply voting yes, they have formed a variety of unproductive coalitions: the Coalition of the Willfully Ignorant (who claim you don’t need a debt-ceiling increase or that markets won’t care and there will be no fallout) and the Coalition of It’s Someone Else’s Problem (because I just want to have an issue and campaign). Result: They suffer a political loss and America loses.

Emphasis mine.

Both of these paragraphs get down to the bottom line of the current problem, as I have been arguing for some time:  the main problem is the Tea Party faction of the House GOP caucus.

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10 responses to ““Buckets of crazy.””

  1. Socrates Avatar
    Socrates

    “And finally, let’s discuss the House Republicans who are standing on the brink of sending to the Senate — who will pass it — and the president — who will sign it — a piece of legislation that is consistent with their principles, if not perfect.”

    What is he talking about here?

  2. mattb Avatar
    mattb

    let’s discuss the House Republicans who are standing on the brink of sending to the Senate — who will pass it — and the president — who will sign it

    Contra Holtz-Eakin’s bravado, I don’t think that passage of whatever emerges from the house — even if it was the orginial Bohner plan from last night — has a snowball’s chance of making it through the Senate or the Presidency.

    I suspect that the Dem’s realize that if they did allow it to pass through, they will have really done what Doug accused the President of a few days ago — showing that they will always cave when their backs are to the wall. Essentially, they would have feed the Tea Party beast, and taken a step closer to losing the White House and the Senate.

    At this point, the optics continue to be in their favor. I don’t see this ending well for the Republicans (they will probably maintain control of the House… perhaps even the Presidency, but I think they are reducing their chances of taking the Senate with each day they refuse to compromise).

  3. Liberty60 Avatar
    Liberty60

    I would agree that the Repubs are damaging their most important brand, the brand of being the sober responsible guys.

    I think they stopped being that somewhere around 1988, but I notice even Republican-friendly media outlets like Politico and pundits like Douglas Holtz-Eakin are referring to the rightwing as “crazy”.

    That’s quite a change, and that meme will work its way down to the man on the street long about the summer of 2012.

    Or just about the time Mitt needs, more than ever, to convince the Erick Ericksons and Sarah Palins of the world that he is one of them.

  4. Guthrum Avatar
    Guthrum

    okay – here’s an idea: choose 7-8 middle class workers and small business owners, put them in a room with lots of good food, and in 4 hours they will have a plan that the American people will like. Don’t leave this to Congress.

  5. An Interested Party Avatar
    An Interested Party

    okay – here’s an idea: choose 7-8 middle class workers and small business owners, put them in a room with lots of good food, and in 4 hours they will have a plan that the American people will like.

    Perhaps, but that plan won’t be liked by Wall Street types, Big Pharma, and all the rest of the wealthy special interests that feed at the government trough…

  6. Ernieyeball Avatar
    Ernieyeball

    In the aftermath of the 2010 elections I heard a sentiment oft repeated when the voters give one chamber of the legislature to one party and the other chamber to their opposition.
    “Gridlock will good. They won’t be able to do anything.”
    Well, this is them not being able to do anything.
    Not such a great idea after all it seems!

  7. Herb Avatar
    Herb

    @Ernieyeball: Yeah, I think we’ll be hearing less about the virtues of divided government in the next couple of decades…

  8. A voice from another precinct Avatar
    A voice from another precinct

    @An Interested Party: Well yeah, those guys won’t be happy, but somebody has to be unhappy. I just don’t think it should always be me.

  9. An Interested Party Avatar
    An Interested Party

    I just don’t think it should always be me.

    Well, if you had politicians in your pockets the way those guys do, it wouldn’t be you…

  10. Ernieyeball Avatar
    Ernieyeball

    @Ernieyeball: Reply to self re: post of July 29 19:44. Next time read it backwards to see what is wrong. Apparently reading it in a conventional manner multiple times in preview and again for the overly generous 3 minutes of edit time after posting is still not enough to spot mistakes!

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