Posted on 07/24/2011 5:00:00 PM PDT by mandaladon
He stood up to the radical right when it shut down the government in 1995. Who will do the same today? The government shutdown of 1995, dramatic though it was for the country and damaging though it was to the GOP, looks like the height of Republican reasonableness compared with today’s brinksmanship over default.
So much is different from 1995. The economy is weaker. Experts say the economic consequences of default may far exceed a mere government shutdown. The Republicans are much more, shall we say, ideologically inspired—with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Speaker John Boehner, and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor in constant, furious competition to prove who’s more devoted to the Tea Party’s extremist position that the federal government must never, under any circumstances, increase federal revenue by so much as a penny, no matter how catastrophic the consequences. But perhaps the biggest difference is that Bob Dole isn’t in the room. After then–House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s “crybaby” rant about getting a bad seat on Air Force One (by the way, Mr. Gingrich, there are no bad seats on Air Force One) and the ensuing shutdown, it was Senate Majority Leader Dole who stopped the nonsense.
“Enough is enough,” he barked. “I don’t see any sense in what we’ve been doing.” A nation turns its lonely eyes to you, Senator Dole.
Of course, President Obama has been playing this role—even growling the very words “Enough is enough” at the end of yet another excruciating session of negotiation with intransigent Republicans on July 13. But what about on the right? From my vantage point Boehner appears to want to be our Dole. But he may be a leader without enough followers.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsweek.com ...
Ah, yes, Bob Dole - the senator from Archer Daniels Midland.
F you, forehead Commie.
I guess Lawrence King, the gay 8th grader, wasn't murdered by a classmate in California, a blue state.
A terror bombing wasn't attempted at a MLK march in Washington, a blue state.
Eco-terrorists didn't engage in 17 attacks causing $23 million in damages in Oregon, a blue state.
A bombing didn't happen at a Federal Courthouse in California, a blue state.
Or a terror plot to bomb one in Washington, a blue state.
We could go on for weeks. I covered a few of the cases I recall here out West. It doesn't begin to scratch the surface of what's happened in utopian blue states.
The cases he mentioned reached the "national consciousness" because of they fit a template, the fit his the narrative of evil in red states and peaceful paradise in blue.
It makes it sound like a passive thing. They are so great at changing words to push agendas.
Please don't throw me in that briar patch!Tax rates are already so high that the revenue doesn't increase, and probably actuallydeclines, when tax rates are increased.
When the topic is revenue rather than "fairness" or "tax cuts for the 'rich'," the actual history of the revenue booms due to the Mellon, Kennedy, and Reagan tax rate cuts has to be on the table.
Tax rates are for the government just what prices are for businesses - subject to supply and demand. Look at the advertisements, and how often do you see banner headlines boasting about price cuts! Do liberals go all doey-eyed over the public spiritedness of businesses when they conduct sales campaigns?
When they talk about "revenue," what do they say when you point out that they have already overpriced their product?
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