Republicans are flexing their political muscle, vainglorious in their misunderstanding of what the American people want. They are playing Republican Roulette, a game similar to Russian Roulette. The only difference is that the gun is pointed at the head of America. In ever increasing numbers, they are committing to vote against raising the debt ceiling when it comes up for a vote in February or March. This shows their utter disregard for well being of this nation.
The looming "debate" over whether to raise the debt ceiling beyond $14.3 trillion is not a debate in the typical sense, in which one side argues for the wisdom of a policy and the other argues against it. Rather, it’s a debate like that between a hostage negotiator and a suicide bomber. Unless the negotiator agrees to the bomber’s demands, the bomber will take out the negotiator and everyone else with him.
The bombers, in this case, are Republican freshmen, who don’t even take office until next year. Many incoming GOPers attacked their opponents during the 2010 campaign for voting to raise the debt ceiling, arguing that such a move allows out-of-control government spending. Now that stance has put them in a bind [Murdoch delinked]: Do they stick with their principles and vote against raising the ceiling—which could shut down the government when Uncle Sam can’t pay his bills—or compromise and get labeled as flip-floppers? (A vote on raising the debt ceiling is likely in February.)
Rep.-elect Mike Lee of Utah, for one, isn’t budging. "I’m going to vote against raising the national debt ceiling," he told Larry Kudlow on CNBC. "We simply can’t continue to mortgage the future or our unborn children and grandchildren." Rep.-elect Bill Johnson of Ohio is also opposed: "Most of us agreed that to increase the limit would be a betrayal of what we told voters we would do." Republican Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina pledge to vote against raising the ceiling unless it’s coupled with a spending cut… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Slate Magazine>
It amounts to blackmail, pure and simple. Republicans are betting Democrats will cave in. They must not. Chris Hayes discusses the issue, interviewing Dean Baker, and then, Bernie Sanders.
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Bernie is absolutely right. We have to hang tough. My fear is that a handful of Democrats will side with the Republicans, and we will all take the blame. In the Democrats’ rush for power, we made a mistake. We made the tent too big. A ‘D’ after the name does not make someone a Democrat. It is a waste to use recourses to elect people like Ben Nelson (DINO-NE). If future elections, we should give no support to people who vote with Republicans more often than with Democrats. Such people should not hold committee Chairs or be on key committees. We should have learned, the hard way, that winning seats does us no good unless the asses in those seats belong to real Democrats.
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