Last night while listening to some news channels and talk shows on XM Radio, there were some analysts who said Tea Party members in Congress were almost giddy over stopping the payroll tax plan bipartisan Senate compromise. They feel it’ll also be good for them politically. But that isn’t the view of most independent Republican analysts, even those who are now trying to go on attack against the Democrats and spin this Christmas gift to rising-in-the-polls Barack Obama. But the question now is: who was to blame?
Who could have been so politically incompetent or political impotent to let it get to the point where the Republican House defeated a Senate plan that had substantial Republican support (and issue statements about how bad the Senate plan was)? The Washington Post gives us some info about that:
Repeatedly, over the past year, he has allowed some of the most conservative members, particularly an influential group of freshmen, to call the shots at crucial moments.
This time, Boehner and his leadership team may have allowed the House Republicans to place their party in real political peril with no obvious exit strategy.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) left a meeting with House leaders on Friday believing that Boehner and his top deputy, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (Va.), would find the votes to approve a two-month extension of the tax holiday. Both Boehner and Cantor have since disavowed giving McConnell the go-ahead to make the deal, and McConnell has issued a statement supporting Boehner’s position.
Regardless of what exactly was said, McConnell, a 27-year member of the Senate, has a reputation as a master negotiator, known for playing hardball and then cutting the best deal possible; he has no history of communication errors.
McConnell allied 39 of the GOP’s 47 votes in the Senate to pass the measure, allowing the chamber to triumphantly close for legislative business this year.
Then came the House rebellion.
McConnell has not been seen in public since Saturday’s vote, and a growing number of Senate Republicans have urged Boehner to cave, while rank-and-file House Republicans have called their Senate counterparts “lazy” for accepting the deal and demand that the extension be for an entire year.
It brings to mind this classic film moment:
YOU decide who fits each road…
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.