Let's see....I complained about anyone taking the latest Donald Trump for president scam seriously. Granted, there's sort of a catch-22 on that one, since I'm pretty much yelling "don't pay attention to Trump!" But what are you gonna do.
I did another pro-Boehner one today, also, saying that I'm pretty sure he's going to at least try to avoid a government shutdown or default this fall. I guess we'll see.
Hmmmm...yesterday I did one on Steve King and immigration which I thought was a bit of a rehash, but a bunch of people said they liked.
And earlier this week I wrote something like a primer on the upcoming budget and debt limit showdown.
Other recent ones:
The core contradiction at the heart of the GOP campaign to sabotage Obamacare
Understanding the importance of a reputation for bipartisanship
Boehner's bluffing on the government shutdown makes negotiating sense, and brinksmanship is perfectly acceptable in a political sense. By contrast, his recent remarks, on occasion, supporting the far-right notion of negotiating over the debt ceiling do not. That he continues to embrace that tactic should be really troubling. Can that be so easily dismissed as "public distraction"? It sounds like he's increasingly taking sides with the far-right portion of his caucus on the one matter that shouldn't be subject to brinksmanship. And it's also startling because the previous iterations of this brinksmanship eventually elicited from Boehner an admission that the debt ceiling shouldn't be trifled with. He's left that frame of mind by the wayside.
ReplyDeleteApparently it's all an act, if we're supposed to believe the latest reporting:
Delete"GOP lawmakers and aides say Boehner plans to assume a more aggressive posture in the upcoming fights to fund the government and raise the debt limit than he’s displayed so far on immigration."
http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/is-john-boehner-about-to-get-aggressive-20130725
But you're right, Anon: the debt ceiling brinksmanship remains stupefying, since Boehner himself has publicly delegitimized it in past statements. He's schizophrenic: sometimes wanting to lead and educate his caucus, other times really happy to embrace its stupidity. It's all very confusing. That National Journal article, even though it says sources expect Boehner to act responsibly, includes at least one contemporary quote from Boehner that "We’re not going to raise the debt ceiling without real cuts in spending." He's either constantly changing his mind, or oddly likes making transparently toothless threats, not even bluffs because he's already said before he doesn't regard bluffing over the debt ceiling as credible.
I do actually think a government shutdown caused by brinksmanship and then followed by actual negotiations would be clarifying. A debt ceiling fiasco would just be a straight fiasco, from which US credit in global terms would never fully recover.