The McConnell Budget Steal — Arranged?

 

I was full of vim and vigor about how the Senate had neutered the incoming House majority by shoving Biden’s budget through at the last minute, when they could have *done nothing* and the incoming House majority would have been granted a bite at the apple.

Fast forward to now, as the debt ceiling collapse takes center stage, and I wonder if that was actually McConnell doing McCarthy a favor.

I haven’t looked into the debt ceiling blah-blah-blah — it’s all just the same damned thing again and again.  I am holding out the sharpest sliver of grace for McCarthy, in accordance with my appreciation for the deal with the HFC to get him his Speakership.  Could have gone worse.  Could have been a coalition.  So I don’t want to jump to castigating him whom I have castigated before.

But I figure it won’t be long now.  This is what winning majorities gets us?  Is there some Trump in the room that I didn’t notice driving all of these respectable Republicans into the arms of the Democrats?  You know, like what supposedly happened last time, where all those poor Republicans with majorities in both Houses somehow couldn’t repeal ObamaCare?

Should I actually be happy that the sole power to make war now seems to rest in the hands of the President, nevermind your puny Constitution?  IIRC, Trump is the only President in living memory under whom we embarked on no new foreign adventures.  Just looking at evidence. It takes this kind of kremlinology to find out what the hell is going on anymore.

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  1. Arahant Member
    Arahant
    @Arahant

    BDB: It takes this kind of kremlinology to find out what the Hell is going on anymore.

    Do we call it Casablancaology in this case?

    • #1
  2. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Uniparty always wins

    • #2
  3. Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot) Member
    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patriot)
    @ArizonaPatriot

    As I recall, the Obamacare repeal was blocked by one Senator, John McCain.  Don’t blame the whole party for one man’s action.

    My own opinion is that he was motivated by spite for Trump.

    • #3
  4. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Jerry Giordano (Arizona Patrio… (View Comment):

    As I recall, the Obamacare repeal was blocked by one Senator, John McCain. Don’t blame the whole party for one man’s action.

    My own opinion is that he was motivated by spite for Trump.

    Did every other Republican vote for repeal?  If they did, then it’s McCain’s fault.  If there was even one other that didn’t, then the blame can be shared.

    • #4
  5. Theodoric of Freiberg Inactive
    Theodoric of Freiberg
    @TheodoricofFreiberg

    You do realize the GOP only has a small majority in the House and doesn’t have the Senate or presidency, right? You have to win elections to get what you want. The GOP is committed to losing. They’ve lost and lost since 2016. Enjoy.

    • #5
  6. kedavis Coolidge
    kedavis
    @kedavis

    Theodoric of Freiberg (View Comment):

    You do realize the GOP only has a small majority in the House and doesn’t have the Senate or presidency, right? You have to win elections to get what you want. The GOP is committed to losing. They’ve lost and lost since 2016. Enjoy.

    There were Republican majorities for the first two years of Trump, but they still didn’t get things done.  That’s the complaint.

    • #6
  7. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    Theodoric of Freiberg (View Comment):

    You do realize the GOP only has a small majority in the House and doesn’t have the Senate or presidency, right? You have to win elections to get what you want. The GOP is committed to losing. They’ve lost and lost since 2016. Enjoy.

    They even lost when they won. Do you remember a guy named President Donald J Trump? When he was elected, the Republicans control everything in Congress and the presidency. Then the Republicans ganged up with the Democrats to impeach their own president. So when they tell me now, they only have a small majority in the house and they don’t have any other parts of the government, I turn my head and spit.

    • #7
  8. Nohaaj Coolidge
    Nohaaj
    @Nohaaj

    cdor (View Comment):
    So when they tell me, they only have a small majority in the house

    They should resoundingly add:  “and we are going to make it worth something”.  

    Alas, that does seem to be the eternal fantasy we dream. 

    • #8
  9. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    Looking at it now, it does look like that piece treasonous garbage McCarthy played us all along , along with the other 148 fellowing traveling commies in the House that call themselves Republicans 

    Ya it sure looks like McCarthy told his Globalist  Commie backers that he would pretend to stand tall against the Dems, propose some sorta kinda cuts along with cutting the $80 Billion IRS/Stasi scheme, drag the negotiations out to the last minute and then totally cave with the kicker of pushing the next Debt Ceiling Vote till after the election.

    It looks like it wasn’t really a betrayal but a planned con from the beginning. And it don’t look good that he had 148 fellow traveling commie/Pubs with him.

    I don’t know where that leaves America loving patriots , but the ugly spector of a civil war is edging closer to reality.

    • #9
  10. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    While the deal sucks, I’m in the “best we could do given the circumstances” camp . . .

    • #10
  11. Unsk Member
    Unsk
    @Unsk

    “Best we could do” nonsense among Republicans is destroying America and those who think that way clearly don’t understand the monumental problems the Democrats and the Deep State have manufactured – yes manufactured – from COVID, to the Lockdowns, to the elections farce, to the phony J6 Sedition scam, to massive money printing which has led to massive inflation and will now lead now to even greater economy wrecking inflation and it’s cousin in the banking crisis which will now destroy gobs of banks with a huge amount of business bankruptcies all to exploit to grab near totalitarian power over the people and the economy and the in the very near future even greater near suffocating power when these all looming crisis all blow up.

    In related news there are accusations that McCarthy gave secret concessions to the Democrats on the Debt Ceiling deal. What a Guy! “Saving” America one back room deal at a time!

    • #11
  12. cdor Member
    cdor
    @cdor

    They never talk in specifics. What was the huge increase in the budget from 2020 to 2022 spent on? There has to be an accounting. Name the agencies and actions and list the money spent on those things. Now, we do not have a COVID emergency. OK, it’s simple. We no longer need to spend that money. Deduct it from the budget. That would be a big start. The Feds have increased their spending by 40% since COVID and, supposedly, for COVID reasons. Now that money is baked into the “baseline” budget forever. WHY?

    • #12
  13. Bryan G. Stephens Thatcher
    Bryan G. Stephens
    @BryanGStephens

    Congress has the power here. The House can just not fund things, and tell the Senate and President, “Eat it”.

    I don’t want to hear “We don’t control enough” because when they DID they did not bring back regular order, either. 

    • #13
  14. Stad Coolidge
    Stad
    @Stad

    Unsk (View Comment):
    “Best we could do” nonsense among Republicans is destroying America

    Yeah, I don’t like it either.  The reality is, one of the definitions of politics is “the art of compromise.”  Our system was designed so rapid change (by government) is inhibited, and no system of political philosophy (be it leftism at one end and conservatism at the . . . okay, I think conservative behavior is mainstream) can be rammed down anyone’s throats.  Granted, it seems like garbage is being rammed down our throats these days, but it’s mostly the institutions outside of government (although the deep state is a major player now).  If you adhere to the idea that politics is downstream of culture, then it makes sense.

    No, half a loaf is better than none.  However, I do feel like we got more like half a slice with this “deal,” but so be it . . .

    • #14
  15. BDB Inactive
    BDB
    @BDB

    Politics used to be downstream of culture.  

    With the deep state investiture of media, education, and tech, this is no longer true.  Politics is being injected into culture regardless of demand or profit.   The Message is now The Mission.  

    • #15
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