I have to wonder if that author saw reports about what happened in the meeting yesterday.
“It’s crazy to think the speaker was considering a trillion [dollars] in tax increases. After all, we’re the anti-tax party,” said one veteran Republican lawmaker close to leadership. “Cantor brought him, the economy and our party back from the abyss. Cantor is strengthened, clearly. And it’s another example of the speaker almost slipping beyond the will of the GOP conference.”
And then there's this:
Email from a top Democratic aide, re last night’s White House meeting: “First off, a number of folks in the room were struck by the fact that Cantor did virtually all of the talking for House Republicans, while Boehner basically just sat there.
You have to wonder if/when the Republicans will just make it official and we'll see a new Speaker of the House.
In the meantime, it looks like Minority Leader McConnell slipped and told the truth yesterday on Fox News.
Probably more important, though, is McConnell’s assertion that “nobody is talking about not raising the debt ceiling.” The GOP leader said no one in Congress is pushing such a line, only to be reminded that members of his own party have done just that, forcing McConnell to change the subject.
But “nobody is talking about not raising the debt ceiling” certainly sounds as if McConnell believes his party isn’t inclined to metaphorically shoot the hostage. Indeed, the GOP leader seemed to be suggesting that default isn’t a viable scenario.
The problem, of course, is that it’s rather difficult to know whether McConnell is telling the truth. If he is, then the doomsday scenario isn’t really on the table, Republicans don’t really intend to crash the economy on purpose if they fail to get their way, and GOP leverage in these talks isn’t quite as obvious as it appears. (Leverage comes from the belief that Republicans really are just crazy enough to deliberately destroy the global economy.)
If McConnell isn’t telling the truth, and he has no qualms about appearing on Fox News and lying shamelessly, then nothing has changed and the proverbial hostage remains very much in jeopardy.
Which is it? I haven’t the foggiest idea.
My guess would be that McConnell is telling the truth and that the forces that are bearing down now on the GOP about getting this thing done are starting to show. Of course, to do so, they're going to have to rebuke the crazies in their party (yeah, I'm looking at you Michelle Bachmann) who are saying "no deal, no how." I think the extremists who have been chasing the Republicans towards the cliff have finally pushed them to the edge.
Will one of their leaders with an ounce of courage finally step up to the plate and stop them before they jump? We'll see.
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