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The Predictable GOP Fold is nigh?

Rep Louie Gohmert, on Hannity just now, reports of the GOP conference, that the Speaker doesn’t believe we have any leverage, and that we must make a deal before Aug 2 or else risk default — or if not default, risk being blamed for an unfunded military and Social Security recipients not getting their checks.

Boehner, per Gohmert, seems unshakable in that stated belief — and is sticking with it as a selling point with the House GOP. His argument is that we “have to do something” by August 2nd, or risk “calamity” (for which the GOP will be blamed). And this belief necessarily obviates any negotiating leverage — essentially telling the President that the GOP plans to cave come hell or high water. The Democrats, note, have not moved — nor have they offered a thing. And Boehner is being beaten. By nothing!

Hannity asked, “should we fear that they’ll cave?” To which Gohmert replied, “It’s a concern of mine.”

Here’s how it’s going to go down, I fear. A deal has been reached, and now the GOP leadership is figuring out the best way to announce it. The deal will promise cuts over 10 years (that we’ll never get) in exchange for a raise in the debt ceiling. And we’ll be told by the pragmatists that we’re to be thankful that we “won” by standing firm on raising taxes, which won’t happen under Boehner’s “Grand Bargain.” And bonus, we saved the country from “default”!

See? VICTORY! And Boehner hopes we’ll buy into this — and he hopes the media will give him cover.

The GOP establishment has (ostensibly) bought into the left’s framing. They fear a dishonest media’s backlash. They fear they’ll be “blamed” — and that, to them, is what leadership comes down to: not getting blamed by the media. And the path to not getting blamed by the media? Do as the Democrats and the “sensible” big government, establishment types in your party demand.

The 66% of Americans who want you to stand firm? The people who thrust them into leadership in 2010? Well, tell them to get themselves an inside the Beltway newspaper and then maybe we’ll talk.

(And honestly, what are you going to do — vote for the Democrats? Right. Checkmate, bitches!)

I do hope I’m wrong. But, well, c’mon.

50 Replies to “The Predictable GOP Fold is nigh?”

  1. proudvastrightwingconspirator says:

    Jeff,
    It took the Progs 40 years (from the streets of Chicago in ’68 until Obama’s nomination in 2008) to gain control of the levers
    of power in the Democrat Party.
    Hopefully, the Tea Party can complete a hostile takeover of the GOP at a lot faster pace.
    Because we don’t have 40 years to fix this debt problem.
    Hell, we don’t have 40 months.

    We either get this fixed now, or we’re Greece at best, or Argentina at worst.

  2. sdferr says:

    It’s easy enough to see the lie. We just start with the date, August 2.

    Yet this first lie has been repeated endlessly to the point that no-one seems to even notice it’s a lie anymore.

  3. mojo says:

    Bammy’s new theme (every hero needs a theme):

    DJ Class & Mayo – “No Budget
    From John Waters’ “Cecil B. DeMented”

  4. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I wouldn’t rule either Chile or Weimar out just yet.

  5. I never liked boner. Even when he was on Family Ties.

  6. Joe says:

    DO NOT CAVE.

    George Washington used to shoot troops that retreated without orders.

  7. Jeff G. says:

    The deal is done, Joe. Trust me.

    Boehner doesn’t have the spine for this. He cares less about what Americans want than he does about getting “blamed” by the media or demagogued by the President.

    It’s fucking pathetic. Actual facts matter not — only the “facts” as put forward by NPR. He’s still going on about how we can’t default. Which STATED PUBLIC position enabled the President and the Dems simply to wait him out. He TOLD THEM HE WOULD CAVE!

    Crybaby pussy. I’m done with this party. Unless the conservatives demand a leadership change.

  8. Ernst Schreiber says:

    It occurs to me that part of our problem lies in the fact that we’re expecting leadership out of professional cat herders.

  9. newrouter says:

    they don’t even wear cheap suits

  10. Jeff G. says:

    And we can stop calling and writing.

    Boehner’s mind is made up. He’ll bully this “Grand Bargain” through his own caucus with a ferocity he woudn’t dare try on the Dems.

    I’m tired of saying we’ll “primary” all these guys. It’s too late for that. Boehner, with this latest cowardice, has proven that the GOP can’t be counted on, either — and is giving Obama the money he wants to get him through re-election without this issue resurfacing. He’s just voted to add $2.5 Trillion to the debt, because those cuts will never happen.

    I wouldn’t be surprised at all if you see a lot of dispirited Tea Partiers simply drop out now. Because let me tell you: It’s difficult not to feel hopeless.

  11. Curmudgeon says:

    Crybaby pussy. I’m done with this party. Unless the conservatives demand a leadership change.

    (…)

    And we can stop calling and writing.

    If we don’t call and write and scream and yell “Hell NO”, then how do we demand a leadership change?

  12. Curmudgeon says:

    And yes, Boehner is a crybaby pussy.

  13. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Before we start sharpening our straight razors and going all Eleazar ben Ya’ir on each other, let’s remember that no deal has been announced as of yet. Boehner can’t lead where his caucus won’t follow, so it’s not pointless to keep the pressure on.

  14. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Emulate Scott Walker: keep the pimp hand strong!

  15. Jeff G. says:

    I meant we can stop calling and writing Boehner with respect to insisting he not make a deal. Boehner has made up his mind. And I suspect he has the votes. That’s the sense I got listening to Gohmert.

    This is a repeat of the continuing resolution cave. This is what Boehner does. He tips his hand, then protests that he did the best he could when he’s bluffed into folding.

    Get rid of him.

  16. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Gotchya now.

    Every dog get’s a bite. My Congress critter got hers when she went along with Boehner on the continuing resolution cave. Time to remind her that if she keeps going along with Boehner, she’ll be out a job.

  17. Republican on Acid says:

    I hate to admit this, but Ron Paul is looking better and better every day. He voted against the bill because it wasn’t enough. I scoffed at that guy last time around. But at least he has the balls to call it as he see’s it and not buy into the bluff that DC consensus is all that matters. Plus I don’t cries about “the children” like the rest of them do.
    I made a rule about 20 years or so ago. Never trust any politician stating he or she is doing anything “for the children”. I mean I have kids, and if you really worry about them, you would have been doing the right god damn thing all along, wouldn’t you?

  18. Jeff G. says:

    Bachmann voted against it too, and she has the added bonus of not holding a McGovern foreign policy, or hating her some Jews neocons.

  19. Jeff G. says:

    A reminder:

    Credit rating agency Egan-Jones has cut the United States’ top credit ranking, citing concerns over the country’s high debt load and the difficulty the government faces in significantly reducing spending.

    The agency said the action, which cut U.S. sovereign debt to the second-highest rating, was not based on fears over the country not raising its debt ceiling.

    Instead, the cut is due the U.S. debt load standing at more than 100 percent of its gross domestic product. This compares with Canada, for example, which has a debt-to-GDP ratio of 35 percent, Egan-Jones said in a report sent on Saturday.

  20. Republican on Acid says:

    How does RP go for the Jewish issue? I am all for supporting Israel as a ally but I am not sure about the Egyptian payoff….Also, I find it baffling why any conservative would woo the Jewish vote. Every pal I have that is Jewish vote hard left even if they disagree with it. It may not be the rule, but it certainly isn’t an exception.

  21. Jeff G. says:

    A conservative wouldn’t look to woo “the Jewish vote.” S/he would look to advance a set of principles that would hopefully appeal to every American, regardless of race or ethnicity.

    And having grown up with many many many Jewish pals, I can tell you that Jews tend to vote Democrat, not necessarily hard left. Emma Goldman is a long way off.

  22. Republican on Acid says:

    As far as the US losing its credit rating, I say let it happen. I think that it has gotten to the point that many people won’t get how serious all of this is until they have to suffer. I don’t like thinking that. But I do.

    Speaking of, how do you feel Jeff about the USA giving out so much foreign aid when it can’t even pay it’s own bills? I am not so sure that is bad foreign policy. I mean it’s good when you have the cash to do it, but when that’s run out I am sure it will eventually collapse into an empty promise.

    My personal favorite is Tim P., but he doesn’t seem to be getting ANY traction. Bachman is pretty sensible, but she is pretty hard against certain things I am for. I just don’t understand people who are for government getting out of peoples lives EXCEPT what “the lord” doesn’t like.

  23. Republican on Acid says:

    “A conservative wouldn’t look to woo “the Jewish vote.” S/he would look to advance a set of principles that would hopefully appeal to every American, regardless of race or ethnicity.”

    What you say is correct, but like I said, it doesn’t seem to me that conservative principles seem to appeal to most Jewish people I know. Ok, none of them. They all “hate” Republicans. And even though they know Obama is out to fuck over Israel, they seem sort of confused by the emotion that pulls out of them. I am not sure what to think to be honest. But I do like your response.

  24. Ernst Schreiber says:

    We don’t give out that much foreign aid –not as a percentage of the whole budget, and not if you don’t count us bankrolling the IMF.

    And speaking of the IMF, I wonder if all this pressure from the credit agencies to get our house of cards in order isn’t so that international banking won’t have to do the same –see Greece, Bailout of, second bailout of, etc..

  25. Jeff G. says:

    I think there are national security reasons for handing out foreign aid, and I’d rather see us cut the EPA and a number of onerous federal bureaucracies before we cut foreign aid to strategic allies. Foreign aid is a pretty small percentage of our spending; unfunded entitlements run as a generational Ponzi scheme are the real problem — and I think people like Paul who throw out the “foreign aid” boogeyman are really speaking of one thing: aid to Israel and the Jews.

    I’m not an isolationist. If you want to vote for Paul, have at it. But he’d massively cut our military, and I don’t think that’s at all sensible — not when the progressives call for it, not when the libertarians call for it, and not when the Constitution enumerates defense as one of the few legitimate roles of the federal government.

  26. Ernst Schreiber says:

    Bachman is pretty sensible, but she is pretty hard against certain things I am for. I just don’t understand people who are for government getting out of peoples lives EXCEPT what “the lord” doesn’t like.

    I’d guess your handle is an example of truth in advertising then, because I have a hard time imagining Bachmann make you get up and go to church on Sundays.

  27. sdferr says:

    Credit ratings could conceivably go the way of University grading, inflating higher rankings into meaninglessness, and withal, poofing their reason for being into nothingness. Let the unworthy be unworthy, and the best the best, and let them be distinguished one from another. O, but heck, we’ll still have to have “developing” nations . . . wouldn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings.

  28. Jeff G. says:

    The whole “legislate cause the Lord wants me to” is a red herring. Mostly, those arguments come down to conservatives being against activist courts taking the issue out of the hands of states or the voters.

    It seems to me that as a conservative you’d be more worried about courts mandating secular humanism alien to the Constitution than you would a religious person making the Constitutional case for the right to hold and support certain beliefs, and even introduce them for legislation to see if they can get duly passed by a state or the electorate.

  29. Republican on Acid says:

    Yeah, I haven’t gotten to the point of completely evaluating the scenario of who I would vote for. I have to admit that I do have a pretty big Libertarian streak in me, I always have. However, I have never understood most Libertarians “hatred” of the military. And of course, I did support the Iraq war as well as Afghanistan. I think the flaw that Republicans made in that was NOT claiming victory. They allowed (and still allow) their enemies to own the message. Also, I have to admit I am still pretty pissed that someone allowed Iraq to state that Islam was its state religion. There was no need for that and it is probably going to cause (if it isn’t already) alot of pain in this world.

  30. Curmudgeon says:

    I’d guess your handle is an example of truth in advertising then, because I have a hard time imagining Bachmann make you get up and go to church on Sundays.

    The Rule Of The Anus thing again.

  31. Curmudgeon says:

    The whole “legislate cause the Lord wants me to” is a red herring. Mostly, those arguments come down to conservatives being against activist courts taking the issue out of the hands of states or the voters.

    It seems to me that as a conservative you’d be more worried about courts mandating secular humanism alien to the Constitution than you would a religious person making the Constitutional case for the right to hold and support certain beliefs, and even introduce them for legislation to see if they can get duly passed by a state or the electorate.

    Exactly.

  32. Republican on Acid says:

    I am not so sure that Christian activism is a red herring. I know that the media over-hypes it for sure, but I was raised in a very Christian family and some of what they want is more power to transform the culture. Some of them really do think you are going to hell and they want legislation to save you from it. It isn’t just Socialist that are passionate you know?

    Now sure, this culture is rotten, and rotten precisely because of abuse by secular clerics. And there is certainly bias against Christianity going on at a high level. But I am not sure that a Republican Purity Ring is the answer. I want people who will fight to win, not people who will shed tears and turn the other cheek.

  33. Jeff G. says:

    Yeah, I haven’t gotten to the point of completely evaluating the scenario of who I would vote for. I have to admit that I do have a pretty big Libertarian streak in me, I always have

    As do I. That’s what classical liberalism is. But what I’ve learned over the last 10 years doing this is that I have less to fear from the likes of Palin and Bachmann than I do from the likes of, say, those non-social conservatives who are intolerant of anything that doesn’t strike certain PC notes, and are willing to try to denigrate and destroy any who don’t fall in line.

    Tyranny can come from our side as well. But in my experience as a non-religious person, that tyranny is far more likely to come from a self-described secularist.

  34. I Callahan says:

    Something going on right now – Boehner just supposedly walked away from Obama. Check Fox News – Barry is on live and whining about it.

  35. Jeff G. says:

    but I was raised in a very Christian family and some of what they want is more power to transform the culture. Some of them really do think you are going to hell and they want legislation to save you from it.

    I’d be one of their most outspoken critics.

    I haven’t seen it in Bachmann or Palin, eg., though.

  36. sdferr says:

    Barry’s just preaching more class warfare.

  37. Republican on Acid says:

    Just so you know where I stand; I don’t really have any fears of Christian belief systems. I pray to a Christian God, I just don’t go to church.

  38. sdferr says:

    Barry says his only bottom line is extend the debt-ceiling past his reelection.

    I say, fuck you Barry.

  39. sdferr says:

    Barry says people are fed up with failure of politicians to take responsible action. Ha!

    This guy has some astoundingly brazen balls.

  40. Darleen says:

    like I said, it doesn’t seem to me that conservative principles seem to appeal to most Jewish people I know. Ok, none of them

    Strangely most of the Jewish people I know may still have a “democratic” registration, but are conservative in their principles and votes

    But they actually are observant Jews, not anti-religious ones that use “Jew” in the ethnic sense but have substituted Leftism for the Torah.

  41. Darleen says:

    BTW

    Obama face is doing yet another press conference flogging the “corporate record profits” schtick again.

  42. Darleen says:

    He just accused House Republicans of not “being serious” about the economy.

  43. Curmudgeon says:

    I must give Boehner props–for now–for not caving. The Obamunist at his most petulant on a press conference, still going on now, is a very good sign.

  44. pdbuttons says:

    i am listening to obama and i think it’s more sucky than jimmy carter
    this dude is a LOSER
    HE’S FLAILING
    STICK HIM, HOUSE REPUBLICANS
    KICK HIM
    LAFF AT HIM sorry caps
    i await smarter people to analyze this disaster of a speech
    and then i will snark
    [i just heard infrastructure! hardy har har]

  45. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I am not so sure that Christian activism is a red herring. I know that the media over-hypes it for sure, but I was raised in a very Christian family and some of what they want is more power to transform the culture. Some of them really do think you are going to hell and they want legislation to save you from it. It isn’t just Socialist that are passionate you know?

    Welcome to the Human Condition. That’s why we have a system of checks and balances that forces factions to compete against each other.

    Or we did, at least until the Progressives managed to persuade the electorate to allow them to game the system.

    And then to keep gaming the system by gaming language.

    Isn’t that so Jeff?

  46. pdbuttons says:

    hey msm/ we are willing to take on the tuff cuts
    we have a plan..
    no u don’t, in writing, on paper
    senate hasn’t passed a budget in 800 [ corperate jet owners ha ha] days, ur budget 97- 0 dipshit
    hey media.. ha ha
    hide the ball for for 15th months
    ur already twisting
    i am basically broke but might wanna [ronald reagan!]
    re up my cable to laugh at u bitches

  47. pdbuttons says:

    the mom jean speech

  48. Republican on Acid says:

    I am still baffled why anyone thought Obama was worthy of the white house. Watched a bit of his speech. Juvenile as ever.

  49. Ernst Schreiber says:

    I am still baffled why anyone thought Obama was worthy of the white house.

    Ask Shelby Steele.

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