On Keith Olbermann’s show, Barney Frank, who is an extremely good guy in my opinion, makes the argument that the failure of the super committee is a good thing. It means that:
1 The Bush Tax Cuts expire. So taxes go up for everyone. Which is OK with me.
2 The Defense Department suffers a huge spending cut. Which also is OK by me.
3 And President Obama says he'll veto any bill that will undo the automatic spending cuts. The ball is in Congress’s court. And if the Republicans don’t do anything, which they’re very good at, they won’t like the results.
More details under the orange squiggle (the Fleur de Kos)...
Here’s the video clip:
Liberal Democrats won! Or at least that’s my interpretation.
Rep. Frank says the Democrats can either do nothing or say to the Republicans, "We will extend the Bush Tax Cuts for the bottom 98%" (which means raising taxes on the top 2%) or we will do nothing, which means everyone's taxes will go up. And the Republicans don't have enough votes to override the Obama veto. Republicans have been voting no and doing nothing since Obama was elected. Now the Democrats can threaten to do nothing.
Republicans are painted into a corner. They've boxed themselves in. If the Democrats do nothing, everyone's taxes go up. Or the Republicans can vote for the Democratic plan.
Here’s a great line from Barney Frank: "The Republicans in the House consist... half of people who agree with Michele Bachmann and half of people who are afraid of losing a primary to someone who agrees with Michele Bachmann. That's not a formula for action."
Another great line from Barney Frank about the Republicans: "Well they' re gonna hold their breath and kick their feet and scream and yell and tell us that America will be in dire peril if we can't continue to protect Germany against an invasion from Stalin, which is essentially what we've been doing for 61 years."
When Ted Kennedy died, I thought we had lost our liberal lion's voice in Congress. But Barney Frank and Bernie Sanders and even that new guy, Al Franken, are giving me hope. Articulate liberals are alive and well in the Senate and the House. I think they’re brilliant.