How is it, then, that the Republicans went into the negotiations looking for $61 billion in cuts...and got $78.5 billion?
And they came out of them without the onus of "wanting to shut down the government"?
Newt lost the battle in 1995 because he went into the negotiations with a chip on his shoulder -- vocally wanting to shut down the government. He lost. He got no spending cuts. And he pissed away the conservative momentum.
Boehner got what he wanted...a little bit more even. And he didn't damage the Republican brand in the process.
Isn't winning what the game is about?
The $78.5 billion is the Dem number. They use the Obama FY 2011 number that was never voted on nor ever had a chance of passing. The real cut will be around $40 billion. This is just about $5 billion more than the initial $35 billion Cantor and Ryan were talking about before the freshman class and people like Bachmann and Steve King said we wanted more, i.e., the $61 billion. We are told that since half the fiscal year has already elapsed, these numbers are the equivalent of the $100 billion cuts touted by the young lions, Ryan, McCarthy, and Cantor. I read their book.
And they came out of them without the onus of "wanting to shut down the government"?
Onus? They announced from the very beginning that they did not want to shut down the government. And the reality is that the Dems would be the ones shutting down the government since they control the Senate and the WH. HR 1 was passed in the House, but the Senate never passed a budget bill, so the Reps were negotiating against themselves.
Newt lost the battle in 1995 because he went into the negotiations with a chip on his shoulder -- vocally wanting to shut down the government. He lost. He got no spending cuts. And he pissed away the conservative momentum.
More revisionist history. The shut down in 1995 was not a loser for the Reps. They gained two Senate seats and held on to the control of Congress thru 2006. The Reps forced Clinton into welfare reform and other budget reduction measures that he now claims credit for, i.e., surpluses as far as the eye could see and paying down the national debt. And Dole would never have beaten Clinton in 1996 with or without a shut down.
Boehner got what he wanted...a little bit more even. And he didn't damage the Republican brand in the process. Isn't winning what the game is about?
Yes, and we lost. That will become more and more apparent as time goes by. The Dems know the Reps are terrified of a government shut down, so they will use that weapon against them in the fights for the 2012 budget and the increase in the debt ceiling.