When Members of Congress Say Responsible, Accurate Things
Yes, it does happen on occasion (and in stark contrast to early October):
“In divided government, you don’t always get what we want. That said, we can still make progress to our goals.”—Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Also, President Obama: “This agreement doesn’t include everything I’d like — and I know many Republicans feel the same way. That’s the nature of compromise. But it’s a good sign that Democrats and Republicans in Congress were able to come together and break the cycle of short-sighted, crisis-driven decision-making to get this done.”
And you should see what the usual suspects are already saying about him.
“RINO” is the nicest among them, and one of the few fit for reproduction on a family blog.
@Doug Mataconis: That’s to be expected from the usual suspects.
The trick is if enough “normal” Republicans are now willing to actually compromise. If so, than the last shutdown may have been worth something.
Does Ryan mean …..
….you don’t always get what YOU want ?? or
…we don’t always get what WE want?
I’m still not convinced it will pass. It will probably make it through the Senate but in the House their is a lot of resistance from both the right and the left. I’m not sure that even suspending the Hastert rule can save this puppy.
@Ron Beasley:
If this agreement doesn’t pass…..I think this is a welcome change on tone that will eventually lead to a budget agreement that will pass.
We are literally two months out from the October shutdown. At that time, no prominent Republican was prepared to tell their constituents “In divided government, you don’t always get what we want.”
And notice how Ryan has ratcheted down the rhetoric when it comes to expectations. “Complete and total victory” has been replaced with the more attainable position of “making progress to our goals.”
Quiet optimisim.
Yeah, I’m not exactly doing backflips over here, but the GOP has a majority in the House. I haven’t read up on every detail yet (is every detail available yet?), but generally speaking I am prepared to accept some stuff I don’t like in such a deal. That’s how it works.
I think behind the scenes the rational members of the GOP are yelling in the ears of the crazies, saying: “you remember what we went through in September? You remember how much support we lost? You really want to go through that again?”
Plus, I think if the Republicans shoot this puppy this time around public opinion will fall even harder on them like a ton of rectangular heavy squared-off things.
@Doug Mataconis: This is a family blog? 🙂
@grumpy realist: I thought the nature of “the crazies” was that those arguments didn’t work on them.
To quote Steven Hill’s crusty character DA Adam Schiff of Law and Order…
It will pass if and only if Boehner let’s it come to a vote knowing that it will be have a minority of Republican votes. In other words, Boehner will have to concede by actions that the Republican House is incapable of moving anything forward i.e. they are incapable of governing on their own.