Supposedly, the Tea Party yo-yos have taken the republican party hostage and forced it to take the country hostage because they can't get their way on a laundry list of issues. (I don't buy that excuse used by "moderates" in the party as justification for their political cowardice.) Republicans are now replacing the issues that no longer apply--starting with Obamacare--because they're too stupid to see that they're also too irrational to be national leaders. The events of the last week have made one thing abundantly clear: republicans are completely incapable of doing what's right for the nation. Unlike the party in 1973 or even 1995, the new manifestation of national conservatism is bereft of common sense. They are lunatics. They are the very definition of hypocrisy. They won't even agree to Obama's latest offering and, in fact, see it as a new sign of his intransigence. And this is the president and leader of the party that offered as the continuing resolution the republican party's own austerity budget. That wasn't good enough. Then Mr. Obama offered to negotiate in good faith provided that republicans agree to an even shorter-term budget and debt ceiling agreement and that he wouldn't even blink if they made the term shorter than he proposed. But they want cuts from their own budget before they will consider voting on it, and this budget isn't even close to what would be the final deal.
In the last diary I wrote, I had hoped that this crisis could be averted even if it meant that some concessions were put forward to get moderate republicans on board. But the events of this past week--starting with the speaker's comments on Sunday--have proven otherwise. The number of House members now willing to vote on the clean CR is dwindling. Democrats must continue to hold their line. I also think it's time for our president to forget Congress and prepare to move on the debt ceiling using extraordinary powers. He says he won't consider taking the risky view of the 14th Amendment, but it's clear the future security and solvency of the United States is at stake.