As of this evening, Thursday 12-20-12, the Republican House carcass has stiffened into rigor mortis. Far from writhing in its death agony it has lost what sentience it would need to sense the good deal on its own terms which it nearly had. Republican members are seated between Thelma and Louise in their convertible sedan, pedal to the metal, flying off the cliff into the open air, about to plunge down to rock bottom. Few seasoned observers have ever seen such intransigent stupidity in congressional behavior. We are being treated to rare comedy. Poor John Boehner cannot get his Tea Party corpses to stand up together. They are frozen into ultra-conservative ice by cold ones like Grover Norquist, the NRA, Fox News and the Koch brothers’ octopus of financial interests and bought politicians.
Now is no time to lose confidence in Obama’s negotiative foresight. At worst, his offers are sincere but framed in supposing House Republicans are set to disagree, no matter what. Thus, the onus of failure will fall on them, not on himself. Going “off the cliff” will be good for Democrats and the nation, for the GOP will have to take heavy heat and finally buckle under negative public opinion. Things will likely get resolved in time for the president’s State of the Union speech. If not, public fallout on the Republican Party will be immense and the damage long lasting.
Still more comical, the Tea Party people in the House have cold shouldered Boehner’s negotiation with Obama, stiffed the Speaker’s proposed vote and gone home for Christmas, leaving any effective work to the last week of the year. Panic may then ensue and chaos result. In short, the Tea Party has proven irresponsible both to the nation and to itself. All its posturings betray the impotent emptiness of childish immaturity. Come January 3rd, Boehner will likely lose the speakership and be replaced by somone worse.
The ultra-conservative cause is so disarrayed that the GOP will be a sword it falls on. Or vice-versa!
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