From Jennifer Rubin's column today. "Progressive" Democrats need to read and comprehend what she says, since it's true:
"Democrats, as they frequently do, confused PR with substance. They fretted that McCarthy was getting more and better media coverage. They worried Biden was giving in to Freedom Caucus demands. Biden and his team understood something they did not: The momentary spin McCarthy produced is irrelevant. His right-wing crazies still hate the deal; Democrats still get the deal they wanted all along. Biden — like a prosecutor who lets his filings do the talking — lets his deals do the talking.
"Moreover, Biden could not very well run to the press to tell them McCarthy wasn’t getting much of anything. The “play” here was to allow McCarthy to spin his way out of the corner that he and the Freedom Caucus had painted themselves into. Letting McCarthy boast that his great achievement was “getting Biden to negotiate” was a small price to pay for avoiding economic catastrophe and landing the best deal one could hope for in divided government.
"The media coverage both during the process and after predictably took the frame of horse-race politics. Who won? Who lost? It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Biden got a far better deal than the media expected or gave him credit for.
"In underrating Biden’s accomplishments, the mainstream media is able to maintain the pretense of neutralism. And portraying McCarthy as a rational dealmaker feeds the fiction that the Republican Party is not controlled by MAGA radicals. (It very much is, which is why Democrats will need to get the bill over the finish line.) In this instance, at least, the media’s false balance probably makes it easier for McCarthy to sell his deal."
Biden not only got just about the best deal Democrats could have hoped for, he ALSO set it up, so McCarthy could spin it as a GOP "win", not only to get the needed votes, but to reveal the fracture among the far right. Was that a lucky accident? I think not. Biden is a Master of the Deal.
Biden’s been at this for a long time and he’s good at what he does. In addition, he’s smart, he reads, and he likes his fellow beings. That’s a great combination of talents and I’m sick and tired of the put downs. On the other hand, if you really believe a guy who can’t find his pants just outwitted you big time, what does that saw about your own mental capabilities?...
I clicked on JR’s article as soon as it came out, knowing it would be the smartest article about the situation that I would find. She also gratefully keeps beating the drum about how the media is failing us when it comes to the both sides/ false equivalencies problem. I get frustrated with so many of WaPo’s articles and headlines but she and E. J. Dionne are two standouts and worth the subscription. I enjoy readers comments on many of the articles and found another HCR reader commenting. Hopefully there will be some Robert Hubbell readers commenting there too. I don’t know if the facts we bring to the comments help to educate and shape the narrative but it’s worth trying. And there are many comments that criticize Wapo for its “horse race” reporting, which I hope will be heard.
Mr. Hubbell, not only are you a brilliant writer and analyst of our nation’s twisted politics, but you are a good man. Lucky are we to benefit from your wisdom and lucky your family and friends who know they can count on you in any kind of pinch. Your mama raised you right.
On the same day that the Carter Center shared that Rosalyn Carter, age 95, has dementia, Mace’s statement is particularly cruel. I am also reminded of Carter’s statement: "There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers." Which will Nancy be? Nancy Mace needs to remove her tweet and apologize to all who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
May 31, 2023·edited May 31, 2023Liked by Robert B. Hubbell
My mom suffered from dementia. It was like watching her die twice, and my father served as her primary caregiver for years. It’s personal when someone makes comments like this.
Marilyn, Mum just passed and it was hell on earth for her. We lost her long before she died. Devastating doesn’t exactly sum what our family all went through – very hard hearing the comment…
Here's what I just wrote to Chip Roy who is supposed to be representing me in the House!
"I want to be very clear: Not one American should vote for this man Roy. Not one. He is a bad dude. No one sent him there to default on the US debt and put the economy into a spin . . . . The man Roy is a complete and total sellout to his constituents . . . and a betrayal of his office to protect and defend the Constitution.
If you don't vote for the deal that's been made then you don't have my vote! Sounds like the extreme MAGAs who stole the Republican Party are finally being told to sit down and shut up. Better for you to move back to the conservative middle if you want to stay in the House. We're sick of you...
Hope your relative gets tremendous benefit from the therapy. May your daily to and fros be safe.
Like many in this country, my family has been touched by Alzheimer’s. I took offense at Rep Mace’s comment. She owes an apology to Biden personally and to the citizens of the USA. I’m not holding my breath.
I am holding my breath about the House and the Senate votes. I am hoping the left wing Dems are merely posturing to give the illusion that the bill might not pass. I hope. And they damn well better vote for it. All of them. And pray that at least 4 non-Kevin Repugs do the same. (I assume Kevin will vote for the bill.). And pray the GQP Senators don’t gum up the works. Or Manchin/Sinema. Tho Manchin got a nice perk so he will likely vote for it.
As for those who whine about how Biden should not have negotiated. I agree with Ms Young when she said it is the necessity in a divided government.
Don’t like it? Then vote this through, avoid the catastrophic pain of default, and live to fight another day. Spend the next 17.5 months working to get blue voter’s registered and committed to voting in Nov 2024.
I’m with you. My mother no longer knows me or anyone in the family, including staff members she became close with after she moved to her facility. Dementia isn’t funny and it’s no joke.
Think of Nancy Mace’s cruelty like the calloused fingers of a guitarist. She rips off her tirades without a second thought and doesn’t feel a thing. Her cruel and ignorant remark was not directed at dementia sufferers, nor was it even about President Biden. In fact, I would bet that she doesn’t truly believe that the president has dementia. She just knows that as a MAGA minion, this is the red meat that she’s expected to throw to the base.
Her tweet is actually an attack on Kevin McCarthy, signaling that the MAGA GOP is ready to go after him. President Biden is the most competent and experienced politician that our country has had in the White House in this century, and if someone wants to talk about pants, he just beat them off of Kevin McCarthy.
I am submitting this comment from my husband, Stephen Thiroux.
You are right that the comment was directed at McCarthy, but dementia sufferers were the foil in the joke. She would have never attacked McCarthy by making a comparison to people who are blind, deaf, or paralyzed. Why is it okay to use people who are suffering from dementia to attack McCarthy?
Of course it is never okay to use people who are suffering from dementia as a foil in any situation. My own 92-year-old mother is in hospice care with end stage dementia, and our family and friends find ourselves in a state of anticipatory grief, certainly not a place where we would expect cruelty and derision. As for not including people who are “…deaf, blind, or paralyzed…”, let’s not kid ourselves. There is no depth that we can imagine to which the MAGA GOP won’t plumb to exert their performative cruelty. Unfortunately, if their mouths are moving, they’re hurting someone. Thank you for calling Rep. Mace out on this.
There's a large picture aspect we may be missing. Biden and McCarthy may have worked together to create a deal that the extreme Republicans on the right could not tolerate. That would force Democrats to vote for the deal to bring it across the finish line. And, if extremists bring up a vote to remove McCarthy as Speaker, enough Democrats could support his remaining in place so he's able to jettison the far right. This would support a more bipartisan House that can actually work with Democrats on some issues to help the nation.
I'd like to believe this, but if McCarthy has proven one thing, it's that he can't be trusted. He'll bend whichever way the wind blows, and he blows wind every time he opens his mouth.
Mocking people suffering from dementia is offensive and uncivilized; have you no shame?
You once cared about people struggling with discrimination (women, LGBTQ); what happened to that person? South Carolina, and the nation deserve better representation.
Removing that comment and issuing an apology would be a good first step.
I'm sure the many decent people in SC - including many of my friends and colleagues - are shocked and saddened by your cruel words.
Paul Krugman wrote on May 16 in criticism of Biden’s negotiating tactics over the debt ceiling. So did Josh Marshall. On May 16th, I may have agreed with them. What do they think two weeks later? I’m on vacation and have little access to Krugman. I know what Marshall thinks.
I’m an old chess player. Chess players have a saying. “The threat is stronger than its execution.” You might capture a pawn only to find that all your initiative is gone. You’d have been better off holding the threat in reserve and letting pressure build. Think about that, in the context of the 14th Amendment. Two weeks ago, Biden was kinda sorta implying that he MIGHT have to use the 14th, but that he really didn’t want to. Yet it was a threat, threatening that the GOP would get a big fat nothing for its efforts and blame for default. The threat was effective. The GOP accepted little as better than nothing. Probably they got much flak from their big donors.
Had Dems executed their threat as a first rather than held it in reserve as a last resort, it could possibly have blown up in their faces. The execution would have been weaker than the threat.
Masterful tactics by Biden. Krugman and Marshall were wrong two weeks ago. So was I.
To his credit, Marshall has (a) maintained his position that it was a mistake to negotiate, and (b) praised Biden for what he accomplished through negotiation. I don't know about Krugman.
To me, there seems to be inappropriate glee here about how Biden outfoxed the kidnappers/extortionists. He only paid say 1/4 of the ransom they were demanding! And we Americans are supposed to see that as a great thing??
Two years isn't a long time. The extortionists now know that they can drive the world economy to the brink, successfully yell that it's Biden's fault, and make him compromise. They will almost certainly do this again in 2025, if they control the House or Senate. (Don't forget what McConnell did to Obama's nomination of Garland. He's quite willing to be ruthless too.)
IMO, Biden should have used the 14th Amendment weeks ago, said "game over", and make the GOP take this to the SCOTUS. The GOP would have been forced to extend the debt ceiling while the case was being litigated. And if 5 of the SCOTUS justices backed Biden, the extortionists would have been put out of business for good! If the SCOTUS voted against Biden, we'd almost certainly be back to square one.
You tell me who swing voters in '24 are more likely to be drawn to: a Biden who will fight like hell before giving in to kidnappers, or one who's a very smart compromiser? Dems, IMO, tend to overvalue "sharp thinking" and undervalue the human need to feel like their team is led by someone who will fight like hell when the cause is just. This is the one and only lesson we should have learned from Trump.
Please provide evidence for your claim that Dems paid 1/4 the ransom demanded by the GOP. None of the reporting I’ve seen indicates a number anywhere near that high. Going for the ultimate end to these tactics with the 14th Amendment with this Supreme Court carried risks - risks of spooked markets, economic uncertainty in the 2024 election. If he had taken that risk I’d have supported him, but he chose not to. This was not the rock to die on.
Furthermore, given that six months of this bullshit profited the GOP so little may prove an excellent deterrent down the road, should anyone be foolish enough to think of trying it. The way Obama handled it in 2011 was worse and did not deter. This was different, in spite of the superficial similarity.
Another great column for 3 reasons: it underscores the salient details of the budget deal; it points out the moral corruption (is there a better phrase?) of the opposition criticism of Biden; and it points to the foundation of real community -- driving through Sepulveda Pass in morning traffic for a friend is heroic! As to Biden's performance (and his explanation to the media about not claiming victory), I am put in mind of the widely attributed insight, "You can accomplish a great deal if you don't worry about who gets the credit."
Lawrence O Donnell hinted last Monday that this deal would blow our minds. His chuckle convinced me that all was well, and indeed it is!! Anyone who believes that Biden has diminished capacity for leadership is not paying attention. ALL the Dems should vote for this bill to further enrage the MAGA brats that only shout and whine. Jeffries needs to be thankful, a great Shepard who collects his flock and brings them home. Nancy would have it no other way! And now I’ds the chance for the “moderate” GOP to show up to support this bill and once and for all send their MAGA groupies packing! The evil spell will be broken if they can find the courage to back McCarthy. He’s definitely not on my top 10, but bringing a solid bipartisan bill to the Senate is a great sign that Trump is in the rear view mirror at last.
Everyone underestimated Biden. Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out that Biden’s negotiating team included a long time budget negotiator from the Clinton days and forward who really knows his stuff.
Biden has a strong team. It would help if we all remember this going forward. That and that divided government means we do not get everything we want. Pragmatism is the way forward-especially with authoritarians having overtaken the Republican party. We need to stay focused and work hard everyday for our democracy. We are in perilous times.
"Democrats should help pass the bill through Congress before more such details emerge." Why would they not? Are Democrats so caught up in the partisan divide that they can't vote for a deal where they got the best bargain available? I'd like to see a tax rate increase and a few other things we didn't get this time but there is time to make that happen.
There is an old song that says "you can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you get what you need." Democrats should try, and the 4 who voted to oppose passing the bill out of the Rules Committee should apologize to the President.
As regards the loss of funding for the IRS, what was "lost" is $1.8 billion of the $80 billion originally passed, that would have been spent in the next 18 months. and the other $8.2 billion of the $10 billion total reduction (remember, the GOP wanted to totally gut this, so they settled for cutting $10 billion and leaving $70 billion, which is still the largest increase for the IRS ever) is being spent to save funding on other parts of the Biden program.
Any "progressive" who tells you this is a "loss" is just another lefty with his head up his ass, a position they've long been used to keeping their heads in since 1876.
As for Mace, if you look at photos of her, it's obvious she is very proud of her "natural endowments" and wears clothes that show them off. Her IQ is smaller than her bra size.
I agree with you in part. Mace’s “ pants” zinger was answered by Tom’s bra-size vs. IQ zinger. Zingers unnecessary, Tom. However, how Mace, MTG, Sinema, and others present themselves as sexy women reflects on the respect they do not seem to have for their duties as legislators. (So far, the male legislators who are “hunks” have not worn muscle shirts in Congress. I guess there is some dress code there.)
The coolest “fashion statement “ ever was Nancy Pelosi putting down an insurrection at 80 In high heels. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Try it sometime.
Best to your and your family, Robert, and safe travels. And thank you for your continued work on this newsletter. We are all the better for your insight and ability to distill the important news of the day.
From Jennifer Rubin's column today. "Progressive" Democrats need to read and comprehend what she says, since it's true:
"Democrats, as they frequently do, confused PR with substance. They fretted that McCarthy was getting more and better media coverage. They worried Biden was giving in to Freedom Caucus demands. Biden and his team understood something they did not: The momentary spin McCarthy produced is irrelevant. His right-wing crazies still hate the deal; Democrats still get the deal they wanted all along. Biden — like a prosecutor who lets his filings do the talking — lets his deals do the talking.
"Moreover, Biden could not very well run to the press to tell them McCarthy wasn’t getting much of anything. The “play” here was to allow McCarthy to spin his way out of the corner that he and the Freedom Caucus had painted themselves into. Letting McCarthy boast that his great achievement was “getting Biden to negotiate” was a small price to pay for avoiding economic catastrophe and landing the best deal one could hope for in divided government.
"The media coverage both during the process and after predictably took the frame of horse-race politics. Who won? Who lost? It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Biden got a far better deal than the media expected or gave him credit for.
"In underrating Biden’s accomplishments, the mainstream media is able to maintain the pretense of neutralism. And portraying McCarthy as a rational dealmaker feeds the fiction that the Republican Party is not controlled by MAGA radicals. (It very much is, which is why Democrats will need to get the bill over the finish line.) In this instance, at least, the media’s false balance probably makes it easier for McCarthy to sell his deal."
Biden not only got just about the best deal Democrats could have hoped for, he ALSO set it up, so McCarthy could spin it as a GOP "win", not only to get the needed votes, but to reveal the fracture among the far right. Was that a lucky accident? I think not. Biden is a Master of the Deal.
Indeed he is. He's probably forgotten more than any of them will ever know, collectively.
And he's probably accomplished more for our country in the last month accidentally than his predecessor did in four years on purpose!
Biden’s been at this for a long time and he’s good at what he does. In addition, he’s smart, he reads, and he likes his fellow beings. That’s a great combination of talents and I’m sick and tired of the put downs. On the other hand, if you really believe a guy who can’t find his pants just outwitted you big time, what does that saw about your own mental capabilities?...
I particularly like the stipulation of two years ahead with the debt ceiling free and clear of more similar manipulations. At least I hope so.
I clicked on JR’s article as soon as it came out, knowing it would be the smartest article about the situation that I would find. She also gratefully keeps beating the drum about how the media is failing us when it comes to the both sides/ false equivalencies problem. I get frustrated with so many of WaPo’s articles and headlines but she and E. J. Dionne are two standouts and worth the subscription. I enjoy readers comments on many of the articles and found another HCR reader commenting. Hopefully there will be some Robert Hubbell readers commenting there too. I don’t know if the facts we bring to the comments help to educate and shape the narrative but it’s worth trying. And there are many comments that criticize Wapo for its “horse race” reporting, which I hope will be heard.
Lawrence O'Donnell gave a nice talk tonight on how "Joe Biden Won" before discussing it with Jennifer Rubin on "The Last Word."
https://www.msnbc.com/the-last-word/watch/-joe-biden-won-lawrence-on-the-president-s-successful-debt-ceiling-strategy-178547781822
https://twitter.com/JRubinBlogger/status/1663518157133303808?s=20
I heard her interview on Lawrence O’Donnell and she was great.
Mr. Hubbell, not only are you a brilliant writer and analyst of our nation’s twisted politics, but you are a good man. Lucky are we to benefit from your wisdom and lucky your family and friends who know they can count on you in any kind of pinch. Your mama raised you right.
On the same day that the Carter Center shared that Rosalyn Carter, age 95, has dementia, Mace’s statement is particularly cruel. I am also reminded of Carter’s statement: "There are only four kinds of people in the world: those who have been caregivers, those who are currently caregivers, those who will be caregivers, and those who will need caregivers." Which will Nancy be? Nancy Mace needs to remove her tweet and apologize to all who suffer from dementia and Alzheimer’s.
https://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2023/statement-on-rosalynn-carters-health.html
Perfectly said.
My mom suffered from dementia. It was like watching her die twice, and my father served as her primary caregiver for years. It’s personal when someone makes comments like this.
What arrogance or limited worldview would case a public figure to make a comment like that to begin with? These people have dangerously missing parts.
Marilyn, Mum just passed and it was hell on earth for her. We lost her long before she died. Devastating doesn’t exactly sum what our family all went through – very hard hearing the comment…
My best friend's mother had it. I'm sorry you had to go through that.
President Carter was right in so many of the things he said.
Actually, it was Rosalynn who said it, but yes. Mental health is one of her causes.
Thank you so much!! And, I’m a believer in the adage “There are no coincidences in life.” Let’s see.
Here's what I just wrote to Chip Roy who is supposed to be representing me in the House!
"I want to be very clear: Not one American should vote for this man Roy. Not one. He is a bad dude. No one sent him there to default on the US debt and put the economy into a spin . . . . The man Roy is a complete and total sellout to his constituents . . . and a betrayal of his office to protect and defend the Constitution.
If you don't vote for the deal that's been made then you don't have my vote! Sounds like the extreme MAGAs who stole the Republican Party are finally being told to sit down and shut up. Better for you to move back to the conservative middle if you want to stay in the House. We're sick of you...
Sit down, shut up and vote for the deal.
You're no representative of this American!"
Brava!
Thank you for taking action, Cathy. Your message is powerful.
Bravo. I hope it does some good 😊
Spectacular!! Kudos to you!! I wish there were more of us who would actually stand up to our “representative “ in Congress as you have.
Hope your relative gets tremendous benefit from the therapy. May your daily to and fros be safe.
Like many in this country, my family has been touched by Alzheimer’s. I took offense at Rep Mace’s comment. She owes an apology to Biden personally and to the citizens of the USA. I’m not holding my breath.
I am holding my breath about the House and the Senate votes. I am hoping the left wing Dems are merely posturing to give the illusion that the bill might not pass. I hope. And they damn well better vote for it. All of them. And pray that at least 4 non-Kevin Repugs do the same. (I assume Kevin will vote for the bill.). And pray the GQP Senators don’t gum up the works. Or Manchin/Sinema. Tho Manchin got a nice perk so he will likely vote for it.
As for those who whine about how Biden should not have negotiated. I agree with Ms Young when she said it is the necessity in a divided government.
Don’t like it? Then vote this through, avoid the catastrophic pain of default, and live to fight another day. Spend the next 17.5 months working to get blue voter’s registered and committed to voting in Nov 2024.
Watching my mother wither was devastating. It is a diabolical disease.
I know. So very sorry.
I’m with you. My mother no longer knows me or anyone in the family, including staff members she became close with after she moved to her facility. Dementia isn’t funny and it’s no joke.
Yes!! Let's take on Simon Rosenberg's challenge of a trifecta in 2024 with 55% wins throughout the country.
Really good advice! Bring on the postcards!
Think of Nancy Mace’s cruelty like the calloused fingers of a guitarist. She rips off her tirades without a second thought and doesn’t feel a thing. Her cruel and ignorant remark was not directed at dementia sufferers, nor was it even about President Biden. In fact, I would bet that she doesn’t truly believe that the president has dementia. She just knows that as a MAGA minion, this is the red meat that she’s expected to throw to the base.
Her tweet is actually an attack on Kevin McCarthy, signaling that the MAGA GOP is ready to go after him. President Biden is the most competent and experienced politician that our country has had in the White House in this century, and if someone wants to talk about pants, he just beat them off of Kevin McCarthy.
I am submitting this comment from my husband, Stephen Thiroux.
You are right that the comment was directed at McCarthy, but dementia sufferers were the foil in the joke. She would have never attacked McCarthy by making a comparison to people who are blind, deaf, or paralyzed. Why is it okay to use people who are suffering from dementia to attack McCarthy?
Of course it is never okay to use people who are suffering from dementia as a foil in any situation. My own 92-year-old mother is in hospice care with end stage dementia, and our family and friends find ourselves in a state of anticipatory grief, certainly not a place where we would expect cruelty and derision. As for not including people who are “…deaf, blind, or paralyzed…”, let’s not kid ourselves. There is no depth that we can imagine to which the MAGA GOP won’t plumb to exert their performative cruelty. Unfortunately, if their mouths are moving, they’re hurting someone. Thank you for calling Rep. Mace out on this.
"if someone wants to talk about pants, he just beat them off of Kevin McCarthy." ✅
Excellent. Thank you Robert for calling her out. I hope that your relative improves.
Robert took it to the source on Rep. Mace's twitter:
https://twitter.com/rbhubbell/status/1663749126465687554?s=20
Thank you, Robert, for the “macing” on Twitter. You, and Jill, rock ! 💙
We were 24/7 caregivers for my beloved dad with dementia. So grateful he was unable to process all the hateful rhetoric…
Thanks Ellie. I just retweeted.
I reposted his newsletter of today on her Twitter.
There's a large picture aspect we may be missing. Biden and McCarthy may have worked together to create a deal that the extreme Republicans on the right could not tolerate. That would force Democrats to vote for the deal to bring it across the finish line. And, if extremists bring up a vote to remove McCarthy as Speaker, enough Democrats could support his remaining in place so he's able to jettison the far right. This would support a more bipartisan House that can actually work with Democrats on some issues to help the nation.
I'd like to believe this, but if McCarthy has proven one thing, it's that he can't be trusted. He'll bend whichever way the wind blows, and he blows wind every time he opens his mouth.
Truer words were never spoken: if McCarthy has proven one thing, it's that he can't be trusted
McCarthy has shown that he will do anything for himself, including a maneuver to improve his control on the speakership.
Interesting idea….would love to see this happen!
sent this morning:
Ms. Mace-
Mocking people suffering from dementia is offensive and uncivilized; have you no shame?
You once cared about people struggling with discrimination (women, LGBTQ); what happened to that person? South Carolina, and the nation deserve better representation.
Removing that comment and issuing an apology would be a good first step.
I'm sure the many decent people in SC - including many of my friends and colleagues - are shocked and saddened by your cruel words.
Sincerely,
Thomas Keefe
Paul Krugman wrote on May 16 in criticism of Biden’s negotiating tactics over the debt ceiling. So did Josh Marshall. On May 16th, I may have agreed with them. What do they think two weeks later? I’m on vacation and have little access to Krugman. I know what Marshall thinks.
I’m an old chess player. Chess players have a saying. “The threat is stronger than its execution.” You might capture a pawn only to find that all your initiative is gone. You’d have been better off holding the threat in reserve and letting pressure build. Think about that, in the context of the 14th Amendment. Two weeks ago, Biden was kinda sorta implying that he MIGHT have to use the 14th, but that he really didn’t want to. Yet it was a threat, threatening that the GOP would get a big fat nothing for its efforts and blame for default. The threat was effective. The GOP accepted little as better than nothing. Probably they got much flak from their big donors.
Had Dems executed their threat as a first rather than held it in reserve as a last resort, it could possibly have blown up in their faces. The execution would have been weaker than the threat.
Masterful tactics by Biden. Krugman and Marshall were wrong two weeks ago. So was I.
To his credit, Marshall has (a) maintained his position that it was a mistake to negotiate, and (b) praised Biden for what he accomplished through negotiation. I don't know about Krugman.
Wisdom
To me, there seems to be inappropriate glee here about how Biden outfoxed the kidnappers/extortionists. He only paid say 1/4 of the ransom they were demanding! And we Americans are supposed to see that as a great thing??
Two years isn't a long time. The extortionists now know that they can drive the world economy to the brink, successfully yell that it's Biden's fault, and make him compromise. They will almost certainly do this again in 2025, if they control the House or Senate. (Don't forget what McConnell did to Obama's nomination of Garland. He's quite willing to be ruthless too.)
IMO, Biden should have used the 14th Amendment weeks ago, said "game over", and make the GOP take this to the SCOTUS. The GOP would have been forced to extend the debt ceiling while the case was being litigated. And if 5 of the SCOTUS justices backed Biden, the extortionists would have been put out of business for good! If the SCOTUS voted against Biden, we'd almost certainly be back to square one.
You tell me who swing voters in '24 are more likely to be drawn to: a Biden who will fight like hell before giving in to kidnappers, or one who's a very smart compromiser? Dems, IMO, tend to overvalue "sharp thinking" and undervalue the human need to feel like their team is led by someone who will fight like hell when the cause is just. This is the one and only lesson we should have learned from Trump.
Please provide evidence for your claim that Dems paid 1/4 the ransom demanded by the GOP. None of the reporting I’ve seen indicates a number anywhere near that high. Going for the ultimate end to these tactics with the 14th Amendment with this Supreme Court carried risks - risks of spooked markets, economic uncertainty in the 2024 election. If he had taken that risk I’d have supported him, but he chose not to. This was not the rock to die on.
Furthermore, given that six months of this bullshit profited the GOP so little may prove an excellent deterrent down the road, should anyone be foolish enough to think of trying it. The way Obama handled it in 2011 was worse and did not deter. This was different, in spite of the superficial similarity.
Another great column for 3 reasons: it underscores the salient details of the budget deal; it points out the moral corruption (is there a better phrase?) of the opposition criticism of Biden; and it points to the foundation of real community -- driving through Sepulveda Pass in morning traffic for a friend is heroic! As to Biden's performance (and his explanation to the media about not claiming victory), I am put in mind of the widely attributed insight, "You can accomplish a great deal if you don't worry about who gets the credit."
Lawrence O Donnell hinted last Monday that this deal would blow our minds. His chuckle convinced me that all was well, and indeed it is!! Anyone who believes that Biden has diminished capacity for leadership is not paying attention. ALL the Dems should vote for this bill to further enrage the MAGA brats that only shout and whine. Jeffries needs to be thankful, a great Shepard who collects his flock and brings them home. Nancy would have it no other way! And now I’ds the chance for the “moderate” GOP to show up to support this bill and once and for all send their MAGA groupies packing! The evil spell will be broken if they can find the courage to back McCarthy. He’s definitely not on my top 10, but bringing a solid bipartisan bill to the Senate is a great sign that Trump is in the rear view mirror at last.
I really hope you’re r. These loud-mouthed fools have wasted too much of everyone’s time with their braying ignorance.
Very well said.
Everyone underestimated Biden. Lawrence O’Donnell pointed out that Biden’s negotiating team included a long time budget negotiator from the Clinton days and forward who really knows his stuff.
Biden has a strong team. It would help if we all remember this going forward. That and that divided government means we do not get everything we want. Pragmatism is the way forward-especially with authoritarians having overtaken the Republican party. We need to stay focused and work hard everyday for our democracy. We are in perilous times.
100 percent agreement 🙏
"Democrats should help pass the bill through Congress before more such details emerge." Why would they not? Are Democrats so caught up in the partisan divide that they can't vote for a deal where they got the best bargain available? I'd like to see a tax rate increase and a few other things we didn't get this time but there is time to make that happen.
There is an old song that says "you can't always get what you want, but if you try, sometimes, you get what you need." Democrats should try, and the 4 who voted to oppose passing the bill out of the Rules Committee should apologize to the President.
As regards the loss of funding for the IRS, what was "lost" is $1.8 billion of the $80 billion originally passed, that would have been spent in the next 18 months. and the other $8.2 billion of the $10 billion total reduction (remember, the GOP wanted to totally gut this, so they settled for cutting $10 billion and leaving $70 billion, which is still the largest increase for the IRS ever) is being spent to save funding on other parts of the Biden program.
Any "progressive" who tells you this is a "loss" is just another lefty with his head up his ass, a position they've long been used to keeping their heads in since 1876.
As for Mace, if you look at photos of her, it's obvious she is very proud of her "natural endowments" and wears clothes that show them off. Her IQ is smaller than her bra size.
Your last paragraph diminishes the power of your previous words.
I agree with you in part. Mace’s “ pants” zinger was answered by Tom’s bra-size vs. IQ zinger. Zingers unnecessary, Tom. However, how Mace, MTG, Sinema, and others present themselves as sexy women reflects on the respect they do not seem to have for their duties as legislators. (So far, the male legislators who are “hunks” have not worn muscle shirts in Congress. I guess there is some dress code there.)
The coolest “fashion statement “ ever was Nancy Pelosi putting down an insurrection at 80 In high heels. It just doesn’t get any better than that. Try it sometime.
Best to your and your family, Robert, and safe travels. And thank you for your continued work on this newsletter. We are all the better for your insight and ability to distill the important news of the day.