We were always going to end up here, it's a shame we had to take the scenic route.

[last1standing]

I keep looking at the news reports, reading DU, talking to acquaintances and friends, but the thing my mind comes back to is the fact that all of this now seems like it was inevitable. A showdown was going to happen the moment the Democrats grew a spine and stopped giving in to republican extortion. So for the last five years all the give-aways and concessions, all the compromises and delays, were all merely buying time to put off the events of today.

Because they put off this day of reckoning, we have lost public exchanges, prescription cost caps, gun safety legislation, new stimulus measures, infrastructure funds, and a jobs bill.

For years they delayed the repeal of DADT and support for repealing DOMA.

They compromised beyond all reason on getting rid of bush's tax cuts for the wealthy.

They have given away raises and job security for our federal workers.

So much promise has been forever lost because Democrats have spent years living in fear of this moment but this moment was always going to come. Looking back, it was inevitable from the first time they caved to the republicans on the first stimulus bill that they would take more and more until there was nothing left to give up.

And now we are at that point. There is nothing left to give up so they are demanding our very souls. They want us to give up caring for the poor, elderly, sick, and needy. They want us to give up the idea of a progressive future for America.

I strongly support President Obama's and the Democrats' stand against the tyranny of the republican party. I praise our party's unwillingness to follow the path of destruction laid out for them any longer.

I just wish they had looked at the republican road map earlier.

[CanonRay]

1. And if we vote to delay default for 60 or 90 days

we'll be putting the final fight off once again. Let's just get it over with, please.

[Xyzse]

9. Agreed.

There is no reason to agree to any of their demands for a crappy 60 day resolution.
Forget that.

[djean111]

2. Yes, if there is anyone who REALLY has a long game, it is the GOP.

They have just blandly been crossing things off their wish list, and "compromising" on things that do not cost much money - and that can be reinstated later, when they get more actual power.

[frazzled]

3. No

This is not happening because the Democrats "grew a spine." Indeed, they've already conceded massively by passing the budget in the Senate that pretty much accedes to most Republican demands. And they will be willing to negotiate as soon as the government shutdown (and debt ceiling standoff) is ended.

This is happening because a truly insane and treasonous group of Republicans thinks they can reverse the laws of the country and the elections of the country, which they could not win, by holding it hostage. It's happening because their base has been yelling for years that they "need to grow a spine." Because they will be primaried and lose to nutters if they don't "grow the spine."

There are two words I would like to have excised from the political discourse on both sides: "grow a spine" and "cave." Those sentiments are what have led to the position we're in now. They are as dangerous for us as they are for them. Wait, many here will say: but we're right and they're wrong. Perhaps so, but the Republican base calling for stiff spines believes that, too. They believe in their rightness as truly, madly, deeply as we do.

Let's replace "grow a spine" with the terms "get reasonable" and "do what is best for the nation."

Growing spine language is precisely what has led to this intransigence.

[last1standing]

13. Using your arguments the same could be said for your new terms.

Indeed, republicans are currently claiming that they are being "reasonable" by asking the Democrats to meet them half way. They claim defunding ACA is their attempt to "do what is best for the nation."

In other words, the problem isn't the terms we are using but the actions we have not taken. It is long past time to act against the tyranny of the affluent minority.

[Vincardog]

20. Your argument assumes that the other side is willing to negotiate in good faith. They are not.

If they face a primary challenge and lose to a TeaBillie;
lets hope the Democrats run a candidate with the gumption to show what a miserable excuse for a human being that TeaBillie is.

We have allowed the Democratic Party to be lead by a group who want to
"get reasonable" and "do what is best for the nation." to such an extent that one of our "leaders" has repeatedly volunteered to cut SSI for no good reason.

We need to elect Democrats who will FIGHT for the WORKING PEOPLE as hard as the wingnutz
fight for the Monied Elite.

[Nay]

4. I agree wholeheartedly. Anyone with a brain could have seen this coming, and

it's a shame that the Dems couldn't have showed a spine a whole lot earlier. It's been the same as watching the bully beat up the same kid day after day -- all we can do is encourage the kid to fight back (which he does not do for reasons unfathomable to us) because we are caught behind a plate glass window and can only watch the mayhem.

We can see what's going to happen, and we holler at the kid about it, but the kid seems to think talking rationally to the bully will work -- one day soon. But it never does.

[last1standing]

6. Welcome to DU.

With regard to your response: yes, there does need to be accountability in government and spending does need to be reigned in.

When it is economically wise to do so.

It is undoubtedly more likely that we will "leave nothing but misery to our children" by cutting off or restraining avenues of economic growth in a downturn than by overspending. As we have seen in the "austerity states" such as Greece, Spain, Ireland, Portugal, etc..., this is bad policy.

Another point I would like to make is that you lump the "welfare state" in with corporate welfare and the MIC. Before deciding that social safety nets are bad or "out of control," it would be wise to try to understand why they are in place to begin with. Welfare, social security, medicare, VA benefits, etc..., were not put in place as a sop to the poor or through some misguided inclination toward governmental charity; they were enacted to save money - and they do. It costs our society much less to ensure that its people has the ability to pay for its basic needs than to construct prisons, hire security, repair vandalized infrastructure and so forth. This is a fact that the republicans have never grasped and it has cost us trillions over the last 30 years.

[jtuck004]

16. Out of control welfare state? What state is that? You mean the people that have no jobs or

opportunity because we shovel taxpayer money into banks, those big donors to the Democratic party who have profited handsomely from the past few years, or on manufactured wars against manufactured threats, all while we let corporations leave their money overseas rather than pay a paltry tax to keep the country secure, and both government and corporations hire cheap labor from overseas rather than employ its own people?

There is no reason the kids can't work just as hard as everyone else did to make it, but the undue burden on all of us is the unearned profit the wealthy-state is taking that would be better invested in our people and our country.

[Fumesucker]

7. Once you pay the Dane-geld

You never get rid of the Dane.

http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/dane_geld.html

[Hydra]

8. This can be directly tied to

"Impeachment is off the table."

This whole snowball is the result of refusing to try the Repubs for the crimes they committed, and then later adopting their policies in the form of "compromise."

Let's hope this is finally the point where the ship turns around.

[liberal_at_heart]

10. I think that is why he avoided single payer. I think compromise comes much easier to Obama than

fighting does. Problem is we've been compromising for thirty years. The time for compromise is way past over.

[JEB]

11. The only thing these GOPigs understand

is a swift kick to the crotch. Hope that happens come election time, if we are still standing next year. I think the GOP wants a depression and the Gov. shutdown is exactly the kind of country they want. No oversight of corp. activity, no help for the underclasses, only security and MIC receiving funds from US Treasury. Hunger Games.

[blkmusclmachine]

12. 11-Dimensional Rope-A-Dope Bipartisanship. It'll pay off yet, I tell you.

[zeemike]

14. Np we have plenty left to give that they want.

And so they play the triangulation game with us...ask for something they know we can't give them and raise a big stink over it...and so to shut them up we give them something else...like Chined CPI, cuts to Medicare and Medicaid, and if passable at least partial privatization of SS....the big giveaway to Wall Street.

We are not done losing yet...and I hope a year from now I have to eat these words.

[Curmudgeoness]

18. I hope you have to eat those words too

but I believe that you will not be dining on them. I fear that you are right.

[zeemike]

21. So you will join me then for the feast?

I will bring the ketchup...put enough katchup on it and you can eat anything and enjoy it.

[Curmudgeoness]

22. May we both go hungry.

And if we don't, I will appreciate that ketchup. I think I have a lot of words to eat.

[zeemike]

27. Me too...n/t

[GoneFishin]

15. Well stated. Understanding what motivates the players is EVERYTHING in these matters, and

all the concessions to date have only encouraged these assholes. I knew that early on. In addition, I suspect many corporatist and blue dog democrats knew it too, but found it convenient to "concede" to GOP demands in order to advance some corporatist goals without being held accountable themselves.

They should have smacked these assholes down the first time they tried this type of crap.

[cer7711]

17. Well Said!

Pure truth: perfectly, pithily put.

[berni_mccoy]

19. Sometimes, the journey is necessary.

[TheKentuckian]

26. Not this trip. This was mealymouthed foolishness or ideological crazy that will cost the people and

benefit the wealthy and the multi-national corporations or maybe just wild eyed optimism that has never or seldom dealt with actual bullies but in any and all cases, the destination should have been apparent and the drivers warned over and over.

Platitudes do not wipe away the ineptitude or collusion.

[ProSense]

23. Frankly, I think we are here

because Obamacare drew a big red line in the sand. It's the one big social policy, which affects all Americans, that caused Republicans to flip out.

Think about what happened. The bill that passed automatically expanded Medicaid to 17 million Americans, and provided subsidies for millions more. Republicans hated that so much so that they challenged it, and the SCOTUS sided with them by making the expansion optional.

Republican governors and state legislatures decided they'd rather screw over the most vulnerable people in their states instead of complying.

That still wasn't good enough for the driven-insane Republicans. They proceeded with 43 attempts to repeal the law. Insane and desperate, they decided that shutting down the Government and threatening to blow up the economy would help them to achieve their goal. Sure the ransom list has expanded, but it was the health care law that caused them to lose their damn minds. FAIL!!!



http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023760563

The Cruelty of Republican States in One Chart
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023790604

Why Republicans are So Intent on Killing Health Care Reform

by Richard Kirsch

It’s not just about expanded care. It’s about proving our government can be a force for the common good.

Why are John Boehner, Eric Cantor and Mitch McConnell so intent on stopping health care reform from ever taking hold? For the same reason that Republicans and the corporate Right spent more than $200 million in the last year to demonize health care in swing Congressional districts. It wasn’t just about trying to stop the bill from becoming law or taking over Congress. It is because health reform, if it takes hold, will create a bond between the American people and government, just as Social Security and Medicare have done. Democrats, and all those who believe that government has a positive place in our lives, should remember how much is at stake as Republicans and corporate elites try to use their electoral victory to dismantle the new health care law.

My enjoyment of the MLB playoffs last month was interrupted by ads run by Karl Rove’s Crossroads front group against upstate New York Rep. Scott Murphy, who was defeated last Tuesday. Rove’s ads rained accusations on Murphy, including the charge of a “government takeover of health care.” Some might have thought that once the public option was removed from the health care legislation, Republicans couldn’t make that charge. But it was never tied to the public option or any other specific reform. Republicans and their allies, following the advice of message guru Frank Luntz, were going to call whatever Democrats proposed a government takeover.

There’s nothing new here. Throughout American history, health care reform has been attacked as socialist. An editorial published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in December 1932, just after FDR’s election, claimed that proposals for compulsory insurance “were socialism and communism — inciting to revolution.” The PR firm that the American Medical Association hired to fight Truman’s push for national health insurance succeeded in popularizing a completely concocted quote that it attributed to Vladimir Lenin: “Socialized medicine is the keystone to the arch of the Socialist State.”

<...>

President Obama and Democrats in Congress understood the historical importance and profound moral underpinnings of the new health care law when they enacted it earlier this year. And they knew that the right-wing attack had soured the public in swing Congressional districts and states on reform. They stood up then. They will have to stand up again, understanding that if they give way to Republicans, they lose more than the expansion of health coverage. They lose the best opportunity in half a century to prove to Americans that government can be a force for the common good.

http://www.newdeal20.org/2010/11/08/why-republicans-are-so-intent-on-killing-health-care-reform-26298/

Kirsch was director of Health Care for America Now, one of the leading advocacy groups during the battle to pass the health care law.

[calimary]

24. Unfortunately, denial runs VERY deep.

And rose-colored glasses that let you underestimate your enemy and assume he's really a nice guy just like you - allow you to dance along down the garden path with cloudy vision. I'm just glad some of them are FINALLY starting to take those damn glasses OFF!!!!

[sibelian]

25. There was never any advantage for the GOP in compromising with Dems.

Why would they want to move left?

They've always known that demographics mean that their days are numbered. Hence the geryymandering, the cheating, the lying, the stealing of elections.

They've done their damnedest to clip the wings of the children of the 60s and the children of the children of the 60s but they knew they couldn't sustain their position with flummery forever. They needed more permanent solutions.

Now even those are falling over and they're staring the abyss of the future in the face. Hence their senseless gibberish.

They could never have actually compromised. There was never anything in it for them.

[gopiscrap]

28. I agree with and it's happening also because the repukes are empty of answers and

solutions and so like a petulant child they are trying make every one suffer right along with them.

[last1standing]

30. Yes they are.

Speaking with 20/20 hindsight (and a history of objecting to most of the Democrats' "compromises" to avoid shutdowns and default), I wish the Dems had stood up much earlier.