Just Say Hell No

The Republican party - a party once expected to fade away until the Democrats got blamed for the foundering economy and ended up looking like the Whigs of yore - has been showing its resurgence by saying no to everything in the lame-duck session of Congress. Senate Republicans have unanimously pledged to stop all Senate business until they get the tax cuts for the rich that they want. Even if the Democrats did stand up to them (don't give it a second thought, they won't), nothing to help the people will get accomplished.

That includes lifting the ban on gays in the military, which got a lot of momentum from a study released yesterday saying it wouldn't have an affect on unit cohesion. Republican senators such as Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and John McCain of Arizona, military veterans both, have suggested that while lifting the ban can be done, the study fails to say whether it should be done. President Obama should come right out and tell the Republicans not to play semantics with him on this issue and make them feel the heat. Not in this month of December or in any other month will that happen.

As for the tax cuts, the only recourse for the Democrats is to let them expire and let the Republicans take the blame for a sudden tax hike on the middle class. But the Republicans never pay a price for leaving the unemployed high an dry by refusing to extend unemployment insurance, as they just did again. They only get applauded by those who have jobs for not spending more money on freeloading the jobless, even though benefits are meager for individual claimants and it would help the economy by generating two dollars worth of economic activity for every dollar paid out. If taxes go up, and the Democrats try to place the blame on Republicans for their refusal to compromise (again, not going to happen), Frank Luntz will probably come up with some scary slogan to deflect the blame to the Democrats (which will happen regardless).

All of this Republican brinkmanship over taxes have set the tone for the foreseeable future, and possibly beyond that. And the reason the Republicans are not in trouble for their greedy, swinish, nasty values is because the voters also have greedy, swinish, nasty values. Say what you will about Fox News, a lot of people are actually watching it.