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Posted on 07/15/2011 1:38:50 PM PDT by Libloather
Liberals worry embrace of McConnell proposal could harm Dem Party
By Mike Lillis - 07/15/11 12:35 PM ET
Some liberal House Democrats on Friday voiced concerns that their leadership is embracing Kentucky GOP Sen. Mitch McConnell's debt-ceiling proposal to the detriment of the party.
The Democrats fear that McConnell’s plan — which would empower President Obama to raise the debt ceiling unilaterally in three steps over the next 17 months — would focus all the public blame for enacting an unpopular policy onto Obama and the Democrats, while the Republicans walk away unscathed.
“McConnell is a very clever guy,” Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) said Friday morning after a meeting of the House Democratic Caucus. “He set up an intricate, multi-tiered trap to deliver on his promise to get Obama out of office and devastate the Democrats. We see it as a trap.
“If you’re going to do something like that, you shouldn’t have to [do it three times] and all this B.S.,” DeFazio added. “[All that's needed is] a one-time vote.”
Rep. Jim Moran sounded a similar warning Friday. The Virginia Democrat said the McConnell proposal “is not about what’s in the best interest of the country” but about “weakening the Democratic Party for the next decade.”
“We’re dealing with people who care first about making sure that President Obama is not reelected,” Moran said.
“This is a much more defining vote than many have accepted,” he added, referring to Democratic leaders.
Moran said the leaders’ desire for a quick debt-ceiling hike is understandable, as several powerful finance agencies have warned this week that the United States’ sterling triple-A credit rating is in jeopardy if Congress doesn’t act soon.
“They’re figuring we’ve got to raise the debt ceiling, so we don’t have any choice but to do it on [Republicans’] terms,” he said. “That’s why we’re at a disadvantage.”
Still, the Virginia Democrat warned that the political ramifications for the Democrats would be severe if the McConnell plan is adopted.
“If we cast this vote, then the die is cast for the next decade,” he warned.
Democratic leaders were non-committal about the McConnell plan Friday. During a press briefing following the caucus meeting, Rep. John Larson (Conn.), chairman of the House Democratic Caucus, said leaders are still waiting to see the details.
“When we find out more about it, I guess we’ll be able to respond,” Larson said.
Democratic leaders said they’re pushing for a clean debt-ceiling hike as a Plan B if bipartisan negotiators fail to reach an agreement on a larger deficit-reduction package before the Aug. 2 deadline set by the Treasury Department.
The House already has killed a clean debt-ceiling bill this summer, and GOP leaders have indicated they remain opposed to that option.
Obama on Friday pushed back against the McConnell plan — or any proposal that doesn’t slash deficit spending — calling those “the least attractive” of the options on the table at the moment.
“If we take that approach, this [deficit] issue is going to continue to plague us for months and years to come,” Obama said during a press conference at the White House.
“I am still pushing for us to do a big deal,” he said.
Still, the McConnell plan was a hot topic of conversation during Friday's Democratic Caucus meeting.
Rep. Rob Andrews (D-N.J.) acknowledged that passing the McConnell plan would be a political disadvantage for the Democrats. Still, he said if it “were the only way to avoid defaulting on obligations, then I would very reluctantly vote for it.”
Rep. Sandy Levin (Mich.), senior Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, said many Democrats are approaching the McConnell option with a good deal of caution.
“There’s a lot of concern that it essentially passes the buck, instead of [Congress] standing up and raising the ceiling,” Levin said.
A clean debt-ceiling hike, he added, is “clearly the best way to do it.”
Riiiight. Please don’t throw me in the briar patch?
“A clean debt-ceiling hike,..”
Ain’t no such critter at this time and place.
Hmmm... if it is indeed in the best interest of the country then why would it weaken the Democratic Party? He's having a logic fail, i.e. cannot be truthful with himself or the voters.
These RATS are lying! They are all in favor of this. They are only coming out against this for political cover. They are totlally in favor of this! McConnell is a closet RAT, one of them!
Pretty much, yes.
The House vote next week is similarly stupid. It is just to provide voter balm to Tea Party types so they can say they voted hardline and then had to support the McConnell bill.
These people do not understand that there is no past. No past. This is a new world that never existed before. The old ways will never work again. Most of the people in that room showed up just to maneuver for political position. Only the House GOP showed up to actually cut the deficit.
They are largely being laughed at. Only refusal to embrace McConnell’s plan has any chance of accomplishing something more than keeping the train wheels turning.
I don’t think they’re in favor of it. I think their comments are illustrating McConnell’s plan.
I’m glad their paranoia is off the charts. Maybe it will doom this white-flag from McConnell.
Maybe when checking the trap line we will find they Gnawed off their legs to escape. McConnell is either a Genius or a Jinx.
No.
See, here’s the problem.
McConnell and the Democrat senior people are OLD. They think their experience is relevant.
It’s not. This world never existed before. There is no past. There is nothing to learn from. Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it? We Will Beg Soon To Repeat History! We will, very soon, would KILL to have history.
We won’t have history. We have the future, which is bleak beyond imagining. McConnell and the Democrat senior people are OLD. They came to the table to try to maneuver. They came to try to assert this or that for the next election.
THE NEXT ELECTION DOESN’T MATTER. The party is over. There is no more fun and games. The money is gone and it’s not coming back.
Only the House GOP arrived at the table with an intention to do something other than keep the train wheels turning. The rest just want to occupy their seats and perqs. They are going to be wiped out when the riots start.
Soon.
” McConnell is either a Genius or a Jinx. “ <<<
Boy, you said it and few of us know for sure which. It sounds like a political risk of huge magnitude, but yes it could also take Obama and Co. down. Do we trust DeMint on this? Rand Paul? Paul Ryan? Who knows what this means exactly?
We have been in worse places than this. We may be giving too much credit to our adversaries.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2747503/posts
Trust God, The Constitution, and yourself. Others on approval. We must put faith in the first two. That is real Hope.
I have decided we must put our hope and faith in the Constitution. I am studying it. If we lose our faith in it we lose.
and
There are forces that transcend that sort of thing.
God fights on the side of the biggest artillery. The moral high ground means nothing when faced with the compound interest equation.
The future is bleak.
Obviously this proposal doesn't go far enough.
( am falling off my chair. Needed that. LOL.
Tell that to Patton. We gotta Buck Up!
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