As debt-limit negotiations consume Capitol Hill, Sen. Jim DeMint (R., S.C.) urges Republicans to be cautious. “The president is a magician,” he says in an interview with National Review Online. “He has been using sleight of hand. This is not time for Republicans to find compromise, we have to figure out how to stop him.”
If not, and Republicans deal, DeMint warns that such a move would be “suicidal.”
“Any grand deal would not get through the House,” DeMint says. “The president knows what he’s doing — he’s trying to get the Republicans to renege on their pledge not to raise taxes.” If Republicans break that pledge, “the same thing that happened to [President George H.W.] Bush will happen to us: we’ll get thrown out.”
DeMint emphasizes that Republicans have discussed increasing the debt limit in “good faith,” but after pushing for structural fiscal reforms, they were told by Democrats that tax increases had to be part of the equation. “The president is not serious about dealing with the debt,” he says. “It’s clear his only objective, in recent days, has been to burn up the clock and push Republicans against the wall.”
DeMint does not believe that President Obama would ever consider major entitlement reforms, even though the president said he would at a press conference earlier this week. “It’s frustrating,” DeMint says. “Americans are tired of Obama’s condescending rhetoric. Congress can’t vote on a speech. The only thing the president has sent us all year, in writing, is a budget to increase the debt over $10 trillion.”
“All he is doing is trying to make Republicans look unreasonable,” DeMint says. “He knew when these negotiations started that tax increases could never be on the table. For him to throw them back on, talking about corporate jets, it’s poll-tested politics.”
Of course major entitlement reform isn't on the table. It is insane to propose major entitlement reform a few weeks before the debt-ceiling deadline if you're actually serious about it.
Which gives that the president isn't serious about enitlement reform. The only thing he's serious about is trying to shore up poll numbers.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow is this not time for compromise? We've got a Republican House, Democratic Senate and Democratic president. All 3 want to avoid the consequences of hitting the debt ceiling. Isn't compromise inevitable and necessary?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseYou're right, Jason, that compromise is necessary, but the key is what each side offers: Republicans agree to increase the debt ceiling, even though it would be better to balance the budget immediately, in return for which Democrats agree to real spending cuts. The problem is that the Dems have upped the ante, demanding a "twofer": Repubs give in on the debt ceiling and also agree to a tax increase!
My biggest worry is the eternal Republican ineptitude at making an argument. The haven't explained to the public that this has to be a straight swap, debt ceiling for spending cuts, and that the Democrats' demands are completely unreasonable. I think they had better get out of their closed-door sessions and start trying to win the public-relations battle, because the side that wins that is going to win this war.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse“All he is doing is trying to make Republicans look unreasonable,”
Mission Accomplished.
Why don't the House Repubs at least vote today to increase the debt limit by the amount called for by their own budget?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe last thing this con artist wants to do is lead. He's turning "leading from behind" into an art form.
The minions coaching him through this process are happy to let someone else compromise their principles for the sake of their greater good.
Republicans need to let the clock run out, let Bambi do what he does best (demonize opposition), and force him to make real choices regarding what receives funding. He'll either be prevented from claiming the center by pleasing his base, or demoralizing his base while still looking like the president that couldn't make it come together. In short, he looks more incompetent to reasonable independents.
If I'm Romney, or any of the other candidates, I don't want the Republicans to give up anything.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePass nothing and force the balancing of the budget. If they are serious that the government should shrink to a certain size in X years in the future, there's no reason the government shouldn't shrink to that size immediately. Doing so now will save even more debt.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseToo bad DeMint isn't the minority leader in the Senate. McConnell always seems to ready to send up the white flag. In addition, McConnell is too much of an 'establishment' politician willing to make a terrible deal.
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