Just got my hands on Cantor's Thurs memo to House Rs: "We are really in an unprecedented place," he writes. O "refusing to actively engage"
— @robertcostaNRO
Republicans have always depended on President Barack Obama's desire to be "the adult in the room". They threaten to blow up the world, knowing darn well they don't give a shit about the government functioning at all, and Obama has always swooped in to snatch defeat from the hands of Republicans—better to get
something out of government (like the sequester) than a shutdown or debt default.
This is what conservatives mean when they bray about Obama "leading". It meant capitulation, time and time again. And Obama delivered, time and time again.
Suddenly, Obama is done. And Republicans are flummoxed. They've taken the nation to shutdown and on the bring of default, and their playbook has been snatched away from them. Why isn't Obama capitulating? Why aren't Democrats fracturing?
None of this would be happening had Obama and congressional Democrats stood up to the GOP these past few years. Bullies will remain bullies as long as they can get away with it, and they've been given carte blanche for too long. But now, with Democrats finally having closed ranks, Republicans have painted themselves into a corner and don't know how to get out.
Leadership in corner. As aide explains, anything that that raises debt limit and funds gov't has to be couched as "big good deal" for Rs
— @robertcostaNRO
Good luck with that, assholes. You broke it, you buy it.