Monday, September 16, 2013

Delusional (G-O-)TEA

Round and round and round we go. Where we'll land... We already know. Even as a very real crisis continues to unfold less than two miles from Capitol Hill, The Hill is still abuzz over the ongoing manufactured crisis du jour.

Yet even as the usual G-O-TEA suspects continue demanding drama, President Obama is making it clear that he doesn't want any more of it.

“I have been through this a couple times with Speaker Boehner,” he said in an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” declaring that while he’s willing to negotiate further deficit reduction, “What I haven’t been willing to negotiate, and I will not negotiate, is on the debt ceiling.” [...]

“If we continue to set a precedent in which a president … is in a situation in which each time the United States is called upon to pay its bills, the other party can simply sit there and say, ‘Well, we’re not gonna pay the bills unless you give us what we want,’ that changes the constitutional structure of this government entirely,” Obama told “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos.

Boehner is in an extraordinarily difficult position. His first order of business is to persuade rebellious GOP lawmakers not to shut down the government after Sept. 30 — when the current continuing resolution funding the government runs out — if Obama doesn’t give in to their demands. To talk them out of it, Boehner is floating thepossibility of another debt limit standoff, with lofty demands like delaying Obamacare. If Obama’s remarks to ABC are any indication, Boehner’s plight hasn’t shaken the president’s resolve.

“We can’t negotiate around the debt ceiling,” Obama said.

Here's the problem: The G-O-TEA gang won't let go of their delusions of grandeur. No matter how much they hate Obamacare, it's here to stay. President Obama has also made it clear that he refuses to jeopardize people's lives (and health care) just so he can indulge the G-O-TEA gang in their increasingly farcical delusions of grandeur.

Yet as of now, Congressional Republican "leaders" continue to indulge the 21st Century Know Nothings in their nonsense. They continue making s**t up on health care. They continue pretending comprehensive immigration reform never passed the Senate (with strong bipartisan support). And they continue wasting taxpayers' time and money on ludicrous conspiracy theories.

Remember when Rep. Mark Amodei (R-La Vida Loca) declared he was "tired of the drama"? Desert Beacon does, and that's why she's calling him out on his latest melodramatic nonsense. It's just too bad that Republican "leaders" still can't cut the crap already.

No comments:

Post a Comment