Guess Who Stuck a Knife in the Budget Deal?
When I wrote my Paul Ryan profile last spring, I argued that nobody, with the possible exception of Grover Norquist, had done more to destroy bipartisan deficit reduction agreements than Paul Ryan. Ryan was a member of the Bowles-Simpson commission and voted against it. The following summer, a large bipartisan coalition of Senators was prepared to unveil a deficit plan when Ryan, as Republican blogger Jennifer Rubin reported at the time, "dropped what one Republican Senate adviser called a 'bomb' on the Gang of Six."
There was a third moment when Democrats and Republicans might have joined together to agree on a long-term fiscal readjustment. President Obama and John Boehner had struck a deal, one that was far more favorable to Republicans than either Bowles-Simpson or the Senate plan a horrible deal, I would say. Guess who stuck in the knife?
The New York Times reports today:
Read more: http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/guess-who-stuck-a-knife-in-the-budget-deal.html
speedoo
(11,229 posts)And Romney chose him.
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)And that ran against his ideological biases, not to mention his teabagger credentials.
That's the problem with these "true believers". They'll NEVER compromise, even if their own credibility is on the line.
cbrer
(1,831 posts)legislation, it's better off dead. Even if the murderer was a cold greedy sociopath.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/deficit-commission-co-chairs-simpson-and-bowles-release-eye-popping-recommendations.php
99th_Monkey
(19,326 posts)I was going to have to post that, but you beat me to it.
As I recall, weren't there some rather dire SS & Medicare cuts
that were part of this "deal" (with the Devil)?
magical thyme
(14,881 posts)managed to stab himself to death, so to speak.
tokenlib
(4,186 posts)Not that the end result could even be imagined... The "catfood commission" on STEROIDS would have threatened democratic party unity--caused the progressive wing to revolt or stay home in despair and disillusioned.. Obama could have politically speaking destroyed his future.. Mr. Ryan may have done us all a favor...
Stuart G
(38,365 posts)Bill USA
(6,436 posts)Obama scuttled the deal. Obama has been leaning over backwards so far to get GOP participation in Government and the GOP just keep knifing him (typical punk response to conciliatory behavior and efforts to reach a compromise).