Just when you thought it could not get more feeble and more embarrassing, it did.
Republicans, notably John Boehner, manage to turn the jaws of defeat into the jaws of defeat and getting pantsed by the girl you though was your girlfriend right in the middle of the playground.
After weeks of embarrassing negotiating retreat and then staking out ground based neither based on principle or politics, and then making bold predictions on how you had the votes, Speaker of the House, John Boehner, could not even muster the troops to support it. The vote is now cancelled.
The State Department of Personnel Security just sent a short note to Boehner that simply said “You Suck at your job.”
On Thursday night, House Speaker John Boehner revealed to the press that βPlan Bβ did not have enough support, and therefore the anticipated Thursday vote on the United States House of Representatives’ floor would not take place.
It really does not matter. There is not the political will among anybody in Washington, least of all the Republicans, to do anything meaningful about spending or debt. They are negotiating on whether we go belly up in April of 2015 or June. It really doesn’t matter.
A pox on all of them. Let them embarrass themselves.
December 21, 2012 at 2:44 pm
When will conservatives realize that the GOP is beyond repair and we need a viable conservative third party to replace the GOP, as the GOP replaced the Whigs when the Whigs refused to address the pressing social issue of their time?
December 21, 2012 at 2:48 pm
Some folks suggest / demand that their fellow Republicans compromise on murdering babies in order to be liked by The Cool Kids. Truth and justice are the objective realities, not a political party. An institution exists in order to serve people through truth and justice, and if it ceases to do so, then it becomes not merely irrelevant, but evil.
Losing an election honorably is to be preferred to explaining to God why we sacrificed children to Moloch.
December 21, 2012 at 2:51 pm
who is john galt?
December 21, 2012 at 3:58 pm
I think that this is a tough issue, because conservatives are split between two opposing perspectives on the question of what it means to raise taxes or to lower taxes in this situation.
Here is how I look at it: The tax rates for next year are set, by law, to be the same (higher) tax rates that existed before the Bush tax cuts went into effect around 10 or 11 years ago. Therefore, the Republicans' "Plan B" would be a massive tax cut, though it would not lower the top rate for the wealthiest Americans. But because it would be a tax cut, and because it is likely the best tax cut that we can possibly get with the current president and the current Senate, I would support "Plan B" wholeheartedly.
However, other conservatives focus not on next year's tax rates but on this year's tax rates. From their perspective, "Plan B" is a massive tax increase, specifically on the wealthy. They see it this way because they use this year's tax rates as the baseline. I disagree with this view, and I think that adherence to this view will lead to a tax increase on EVERYONE who pays income taxes, starting in just a couple of weeks. But I can see how a person could logically argue for this viewpoint, and apparently many Republicans in the House hold to this second view.
December 21, 2012 at 4:06 pm
I am convinced that Obama is determined to take us over the fiscal cliff no matter what, by opposing anything that the Republicans propose. So I think the best that the Republicans can do at this point is to show that they made a very sincere effort. Here is what I think they should do:
The House should pass two bills, one extending all of the Bush tax cuts for all tax brackets, and another extending the Bush tax cuts for all but the highest tax bracket (i.e., the highest rate). I think they may have already passed the first bill some time ago, and the second one is similar to "Plan B" so apparently it won't pass the House. π
But I think they should do this to show that they have taken reasonable steps to prevent taxes from rising on the vast majority of tax payers, and that they did it with no strings attached in regard to spending cuts or anything else.
Of course the media will still blame the Republicans no matter what they do, but at least this would give them the basis for a reasonable and easy-to-understand counter-argument that "hey, we extended the lower tax rates for the vast majority of taxpayers with no strings attached, and Obama and Reid wanted no part of it."
December 21, 2012 at 4:09 pm
Paul, isn't using 2000 tax levels pretty arbitrary? I fully understand the sunset clause, but nobody is preparing their personal or business finances based on tax code from the Clinton era.
You comment has some massive contradictions. On one hand, you "disagree with the view" that sunset-ing the Bush tax levels for the wealthy is a tax increase. In the very same sentence, you admit that if the tax levels return to pre-2001 levels, it's a tax increase for everybody.
Sounds like you just want your piece of the pie.
December 21, 2012 at 5:07 pm
Steve,
How is using 2000 tax levels arbitrary, when those are the tax levels that will be in effect in 2013, if no new legislation is passed? I don't see how that is abritrary at all. If Congress does nothing, those rates will determine the taxes you pay starting with your first January paycheck, right?
As to contradictions, yes tax rates will go up next year if nothing is done. In that sense, taxes will increase. However, Obama has made it clear that he will not agree to retaining the Bush-era top tax rate no matter what, and therefore I regard the top-rate increase as a done deal. I don't like the fact that it is a done deal, and you probably don't either, but I would argue that it is.
Therefore, a vote to extend the lower rates on lower levels of income is not a tax increase. In fact, in a very real sense it is a tax cut, since without such a vote, those lower levels will go up about two weeks from now.
It sounds like of the two views I laid out, you subscribe to the second one, while I subscribe to the first. I have made my argument for the first view, and to me it is a reasonable and convincing argument. But if you still disagree, I respect that. I recognize that a logical argument can also be made for your view, as I mentioned above.
December 21, 2012 at 5:21 pm
The republican party is not pro- life. Like they say they are. The biggest mistake the pro-life movement ever did was align itself with a political party. Pope John Paul II would never approve. This article only proves my point. Compromise after compromise and now this big mess we are in. When is society ever going to learn that contraception causes an abortion. So called pro-lifers tell me it's about taking 'baby steps'. It's a baby step process to no where.
It is what it is.
December 21, 2012 at 5:32 pm
By the way, Steve, I clicked on your name. I see that you post at Badger Catholic (a blog that I have read occasionally, and that has left a positive impression on me). I see from your brief profile there that you are active in the pro-life movement. And based on your comment here, I assume that you are also economically conservative, in addition to socially conservative.
Therefore, I suspect that you and I should largely agree when it comes to politics, as I also am conservative both economically and socially. So why the accusation that I just want my "piece of the pie"? It seems to me that unnecessary intra-conservative squabbles like this are a big part of why Republicans come across as being so inept.
December 21, 2012 at 6:51 pm
Paul,
As I re-read what I wrote, I apologize for the piece of pie comment. It appeared pretty uncharitable and that wasn't what I meant to do. I was kind of fired up and sometimes I let that get the best of me.
You are right that there is room for respectful disagreement.
SK
December 22, 2012 at 1:19 am
Hi Steve,
I appreciate your latest comment. I think I was too defensive and argumentative in my replies to you as well; sorry if I came across that way.
Let's hope that *something* good comes out of these fiscal cliff negotiations, though I have my doubts. π
Merry Christmas!
December 22, 2012 at 1:57 am
What plan have Democratic House members and Democratic Senators put forth? Oh that's right ZERO!
Our country has been handed over to morons! We only get the government we vote for and one need look nor further than in the mirror for allowing the mess this country is in.
That and Huge FREAKIN VOTER FRAUD