Watching Senator McConnell announce today that the Senate would not allow a default while presenting a complicated plan that basically allows Obama a clean debt ceiling raise that no Republican would have to vote for, I could only think of Margaret Thatcher's famous quote about how certain members of the Tory party had "gone wobbly". Back in law school, I learn an old legal phrase that aptly describes McConnell's plan: "What kind of bullshit is this?"
If McConnell is so worried about getting the blame for the default, then I suggest that he have the House pass a debt ceiling limit that raises the limit by 200 billion accompanied by a cut of $20 billion per year in spending for the next decade. That would avoid a default while allowing the talks to continue. Sure, Obama has said that he would veto such a bill, but talk is cheap, especially from Obama. If the Senate is faced with a way to avoid disaster an keep going, my bet is that it will do so. If Obama then wants to veto the bill, let him do so. He does not have enough courage to take such an action an get all the blame for the ensuing disaster. If this deal is too small, them let the bill be for half a trillion dollars with 40 billion in spending cuts and 10 billion in revenue enhancements of the sort that are not tax increases.
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Now here is a real American!
Alan Simpson: Republicans Allowing 'Pettiness to Overcome Patriotism'
Former GOP Senator Alan Simpson had strong words for lawmakers Tuesday over their failure to reach a deal on raising the debt ceiling and lowering the deficit.
"The American people are disgusted at both parties," the Republican co-chair of President Barack Obama's fiscal commission told ABC News.
"Everybody says, 'What in the hell is going on?'" he said. "The American people are smarter than their politicians."
Simpson and former White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles reached a comprehensive plan for deficit reduction relying on both revenues and spending cuts that has been alternately derided and embraced by both parties — mostly to criticize their political foes.
Simpson saved some of his harshest criticisms for Republicans, saying their stance on revenues is baffling.
"The stuff that’s going on in my party, where the -– pettiness overcomes the patriotism -– it’s just disgusting to me," he told ABC News. "Reagan raised taxes. We’ve never had less revenue to run this country since the Korean war."
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