Both
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Budget Committee Chairman Paul
Ryan have stated they plan on extracting concessions from President Obama and
Democrats as a ransom for raising the debt ceiling.
Yep, you heard right.
Yep, you heard right.
Incredibly,
the Party that bore the brunt of the blame for the government shutdown and near
debt-ceiling default is actually thinking of revisiting their Waterloo. Like an
addict who can’t get clean, the GOP is hopelessly trapped in a failed
strategy. Ironically, it itself is being held hostage by the very faction it
created three years ago.
On
Fox News Sunday, Ryan said, “We don’t want nothing out of this debt limit. We
are going to decide what it is we can accomplish out this debt-limit fight.” Ryan's use of double negatives notwithstanding, this stance is a complete reversal from the tone he was using only days earlier.
Not
to be outdone, McConnell elaborated a bit further. “I doubt if the House or, for that matter, the Senate is willing to give the
President a clean debt ceiling increase,” he told Capitol Hill reporters. “Every time the President asks us to raise the
debt ceiling is a good time to try to achieve something important for the country.”
It’s difficult to figure out the motives behind this
latest, foolish bravado from Ryan and McConnell. Both could simply be reacting
to the flack they’re getting from the far Right over the budget deal, which is
expected to pass the Senate after breezing through the House. McConnell, in particular,
is facing a stiff primary challenge. As
for Ryan, his stock had dropped considerably among the wingnuts since he
announced that agreement with his Senate counterpart, Patty Murray. Mark Levin
ripped him a new one on his radio show the other day. What better way for both
to get back into good graces than by throwing the base a bone loaded with fresh,
red meat?
It’s hard to imagine the Republicans being crazy enough
to go down this yellowbrick road again, but then only a few days ago, I was
actually hopeful that this Congress might start doing its job.
Silly me.
Links: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/12/16/paul-ryan-panders-with-a-threat-to-take-the-debt-ceiling-hostage-again.html
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/17/mitch-mcconnell-debt-ceiling_n_4461484.html
Comments