I stumbled on this article at the TPM where a TPM Reader made this absolutely great point, a little dose of sanity Dailykos and the screaming angry mob of the Professional left could use to hear:
Let me get this straight. The President kept revenues on the table, did not touch the sunset provisions in the Bush tax cuts, ensured that military cuts keep the GOP honest, protected Medicare by adding in only provider cuts in the trigger, made the reduction apparently enough to stave off a debt downgrade, got the debt ceiling raised, wounded Boehner by demonstrating to the world that he is controlled by the Tea Party caucus, took out the requirement that a BBA[Balanced Budget Amendment] be passed and sent to the states and got the extension through 2012? What exactly is wrong with this deal?
Well, what exactly is wrong with this deal that ensured the United States Governments' treasury won't be forced to default on its legal obligation and avoid catastrophic damage to the economy? What is wrong with this deal that avoids a discontinuance of payments to Medicaid payments to states, U.S. Military salaries and retirement benefits, Social Security and Medicare benefits, payments to Veterans' benefits, Civil Service Salaries and Retirement benefits, and Unemployment benefits? These are just to mention some of the disruption that would have been caused had there been no deal?
So again, what exactly is wrong with this deal?
The fact that there are cuts? If people don't like that, why in God's name didn't they turn out to vote and bring back our Congressional majority? Once these nut jobs were in there, it was inevitable that this crap was going to happen. Whether or not it is advisable to cut spending, what exactly was going to stop this from happening? My experience is that the primary factor in all negotiations are the facts on the ground. The complaints center on a ridiculous notion that if the President had only said "no" harder, that these guys would have caved in. This isn't negotiating over who gets the side of the bed near the A/C. This is a complex matter involving 3,000 members and staffers. Negotiations in these situations don't work like this. That's why I'm irked by the constant parade of people comparing the negotiations to movies and card games. These comparisons obscure more than they reveal.
But again, the same people capitulating do know that we live in an era of bigotry and unprecedented partisanship that is dedicated to make President Obama a one term Black President throwing every kind of curve ball there is to throw at him whatever the cost may be, even if it destroy the country so that Republicans can own the White House and blame the first Black President for the sins of all the President before him.
The GOP's game plan from day one has been to demonizing and shaming this President by doing everything possible to make him a failure. It has always has been about racial and class politics. End goal is sending a message to the large block of religious right and low information white voters that they should never elect a Black President or any potential Hispanic President or a Gay President or a Jew President or a minority class President ever again. It is rather shameful, racist and cowardly act of terror the GOP is willing to inflect holding the American people hostage for which everyone of them should be prosecuted and jailed for not fulfilling the oath of office they hold that states - "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support the Constitution of the United States."
If there is anything Americans have learned from the debt ceiling negotiation, it is the fact that the GOP does not care nor do they have any soul and humility left in them to protect the national security of the United States as they are willing to wage economic war that would have caused a catastrophic economic failure and potentially the worst recession. If there is any good that came out of all this is that the GOP has truly shown who they really are if anyone thought they were remotely sane in the past.
The TPM Readers notes:
The GOP came out of this looking unreasonable--I've been getting E-mail messages from friends saying they are back with the Democrats because the Tea Party is "destroying this country." Nate Silver tweeted last week that local conservative talk radio in Kansas was filled with callers attacking the Tea Party! The Wall Street Journal ran two editorials which called the GOP delusional and "childish." The vaunted GOP message discipline broke down--I read stories all over the "inside baseball" papers here in DC where GOP House members went on the record after the Friday vote wondering out loud if the party had been damaged! I don't know if you noticed, but John Boehner spent last week negotiating with himself. No new proposals came out from the Dem side, but he produced two proposals, one of which he had to pull after he didn't have votes. A congressional Dem staffer told me his dad, an urban Catholic who voted for Nixon over Kennedy and has always voted Republican suddenly thinks the GOP is out to lunch and supports the President.
The tides will turn as things settle down but as Democrats what we must focus on is indeed electing more and better Democrats and getting involved to make sure that the GOP never sees the light of day in power. We must organize to get ride of these nutcases and push for more progress that we can build and keep on building. I hope you will join the campaign by signing-in for house meetings that will take place tomorrow across the country. Hold your nose if you have to but get involved. We all must wake up and smell the coffee. The campaign to enslave and deprive Americans from the basic needs we all claim to be proud of and enjoy is hanging by a thread and we much not be complacent.
Peace.
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