Mitch McConnell said that the Republicans' only priority was to make sure that Obama was a one-term President. The easiest way to make that happen is to tank the economy.
I'm pretty sure Newt thought the same thing about Clinton, and yet shutting the Gov't down pretty much handed the next election to the Dems. Cutting the budget next year isn't going to infuriate independents and non-tea partiers half as much as making sure they don't get their tax rebates or Social Security checks or get trickle-down loss of work this year. Even if we double-dip the recession, the campaign ads write themselves. "He campaigned on going to Washington to create jobs. Then he put blah-de-billion people out of work." "She shut the Government because she thought Exxon needed more federal handouts than your child's school."
And that's not even getting into the backlash of local voters (in, like, say, Wisconsin & Texas) who thought they were voting for government fiscal restraint and instead were told they'd given a mandate to repeal collective bargaining over working conditions and fast-tracking anti-abortion legislation. Both of which stand excellent chances of costing their respective states millions in legal challenges. Real cost-effective. Absolutely addresses the jobs issue. *eyeroll*
Boehner's mistake was that he thought he could control his caucus.
And it was a whopper. That Michele Bauchmann decided to do a tea party answer to the State of the Union address as well as the official opposition party response was a gigantic clue that the Tea Party had no intention of playing ball.
...and (says the unrepentant Democrat) we see yet again what happens when people get elected after running on a platform of "elect me to the Government because I have complete contempt for it and don't give a shit how it works!"
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Date: 2011-04-06 03:13 am (UTC)I'm pretty sure Newt thought the same thing about Clinton, and yet shutting the Gov't down pretty much handed the next election to the Dems. Cutting the budget next year isn't going to infuriate independents and non-tea partiers half as much as making sure they don't get their tax rebates or Social Security checks or get trickle-down loss of work this year. Even if we double-dip the recession, the campaign ads write themselves. "He campaigned on going to Washington to create jobs. Then he put blah-de-billion people out of work." "She shut the Government because she thought Exxon needed more federal handouts than your child's school."
And that's not even getting into the backlash of local voters (in, like, say, Wisconsin & Texas) who thought they were voting for government fiscal restraint and instead were told they'd given a mandate to repeal collective bargaining over working conditions and fast-tracking anti-abortion legislation. Both of which stand excellent chances of costing their respective states millions in legal challenges. Real cost-effective. Absolutely addresses the jobs issue. *eyeroll*
Boehner's mistake was that he thought he could control his caucus.
And it was a whopper. That Michele Bauchmann decided to do a tea party answer to the State of the Union address as well as the official opposition party response was a gigantic clue that the Tea Party had no intention of playing ball.
...and (says the unrepentant Democrat) we see yet again what happens when people get elected after running on a platform of "elect me to the Government because I have complete contempt for it and don't give a shit how it works!"