So apparently you don't negotiate with terrorists. Not ever. Nope. No siree.
Don't. Negotiate. Ever.
Let's think about this a bit, shall we?
Could this be just a tad absolutist? Or perhaps even complete bullshit?
So you want to compare the Repubs to terrorists who take hostages. Ok, that's cool, fine with me. Sounds good, let's do it. It seems to be the soup of the day, so let's serve it up.
Rule 1 in hostage negotiations: Protect the hostage(s).
Correct? Yes or no? The answer is "yes".
Shall we continue or can I just stop here because you already get it?
Oh fuck it, I'm an asshole, I like to drive my point home 'til it chips your third rib, so I'll continue regardless.
How do you protect the hostages?
I'll wait.
What's that? You talk to the hostage takers (terrorists), right? Oh, you mean as in...wait for it...negotiate with them?!??!?!? GASP!
Yes my fellow internet denizens, in real life hostage negotiations with terrorists, the professionals on the ground talk to and negotiate (please don't faint), with terrorists. They do it all the time. In fact, it's a standard tactic. You see, Law Enforcement Agencies actually have people dedicated to, get this, HOSTATE NEGOTIATION. Really. I'm serious. They do. It's in their budgets and everything.
You see, in hostage situations (and I do believe that the Repubs ARE taking the economy and livelihoods and LIVES as hostages with their threats), you have three options to use (possibly in combination) to deal with the situation:
1. You negotiate (with the possible goal of surrender or to delay or maneuver)
2. You take out the terrorists (in this case you remove them from office via voting or recall)
3. You call their bluff and are ready to accept the consequence that they are not bluffing and they kill the hostages (crash the economy as in this latest iteration)
Now keep in mind, what we are currently experiencing is nothing less than an ongoing, running constant hostage situation. The terrorists are actually in charge of the the third of the government that controls the purse strings. They are in effect holding the economy of the US as hostage on an ongoing basis and we can't throw them out of office for another year.
So what are our options?
We can't remove them from office (take them out) right now and they are threatening us. We either call their bluff, or negotiate.
Now, I know a lot of you will argue that we should call their bluff and that's a valid position to take IMO. It's a valid debate to have. I happen to think that that is a very, very difficult judgement call and would challenge any of you to explain why YOUR judgement is superior to Obama's in making that call.
Can you honestly say your knowledge of the situation, the players and all involved, all the nuance etc. is so much superior than those, you know, actually involved? Is your judgement on the situation absolutely correct? With everything you know brought to you so objectively through the media. Objectively. And accurately. Through the media.
Of course! They were bluffing! You know that for sure and are willing to risk collapse on your precision judgement of the situation from your perch behind a computer screen.
Sorry, but I think there's a lot of reason to believe that a significant enough faction of Repubs were NOT bluffing and Obama really believed that. And frankly, I can see why even from MY perch.
The Tea Party contingent really does consist of a bunch of mentally disturbed individuals. They really do have a significant amount of members who sincerely wanted and still WANT to crash the economy. They really do and they have inordinate sway in the Repub party.
So let it crash you say.
I say that's heartless.
Is compassion so dead on both sides of the divide that you are willing to inflict that? How much better than the Tea Partiers are you if you too are willing to inflict that?
You want to call me a fear monger. Fine. I do fear, I fear the fucking lunatics in the Tea Party. They are desparately and maliciously deranged and you should fear them too and trust me, if there were 100 of them in the house, we'd be defaulted right now.
You know it. We all know it.
I submit Obama made the compassionate choice here. He protected the hostages for another day. Another week. Another month.
The fact of the matter is, those fucking lunatics WERE elected and the DO control 1/3 of the government. Understand that. It's reality. It's the reality Obama has to deal with daily.
"How do I protect these people from these monsters?"
What would you do if you had the lives and livelihoods of millions in the palms of your hands? Would you let the monsters detonate the device?
Or would you negotiate and maneuver and stall until you could get them out of office?