Thursday, December 02, 2010

Stupidity in the Senate

Republicans threaten to shut down Senate until deal reached to extend tax cuts

Renewed partisan fury engulfed the Senate on Wednesday, as Republicans threatened to block all legislation until a deal is reached to extend expiring Bush-era tax cuts, potentially derailing the Democrats' busy, end-of-year agenda.


You know what? Just setting aside for the moment the question of whether these tax cut extensions are a good idea or not, why is it that the Democrats will almost certainly allow the Republicans to get away with walking all over them like this? Not that I ever expect the Democratic party to ever have any balls anymore, but really, what ought to happen in a situation like this is very simple: Republicans threaten to shut down the Senate, Democrats reply with, "Go ahead. Make my day."

Seriously. Especially at a time like this, when, by allowing a Senate shutdown, they will actually win the dispute. How? If no action is taken on this issue by the end of the year, the tax cuts expire, which is exactly the opposite of what the Republicans want. In any other legislative body in the world, delivering an ultimatum like this at a time like this would be sheer stupidity. But when Democrats are your opponents? Nope. Poke 'em in the right spot, and they'll bend over, every time.

So we can expect, in the near future, to read about a compromise deal being reached on the tax cut extensions. It will be almost indistinguishable from what Republicans are asking for, and Democrats will declare it a victory for "bipartisanship."

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home