You said “You either believe in your principles and rhetoric or you don’t.”
Yes, but you don’t stage a fake grandstand just for yourself either, and that looks like what both parties are doing. Grandstanding never gets the results you are grandstanding for.
Better to look at least a little “gracious” by getting your way (as in spending cuts and less government) and then getting your way (as in conservative-directed tax reform) and then presenting it as though the other side looks like they got what they wanted (as in perceived generated tax income from that tax reform legislation the conservatives really wanted anyway).
Now, is THAT so bad? No. Does it make the Tea Party look they lost a little ground? Yes, probably because it would have taken the egg they want off the Democrats face. Would it be the right thing to do though?
That’s diplomacy, and that didn’t give an inch on principles at all, I think.
Grandstanding? Passing two bills in the House, a real budget that addresses Medicare, and a cut, cap, and balance bill that addresses the short and long term debt of this country is NOT grandstanding. The Dems are the ones who are grandstanding by demagoguing the issues without any kind of plan of their own. They are playing to the crowd and not addressing the issues.
Your "pox on both their houses" nonsense assumes some moral equivalency on the positions and actions of both sides. You are more concerned with style over substance. You are buying into the MSM version of what is happening.
Better to look at least a little “gracious” by getting your way (as in spending cuts and less government) and then getting your way (as in conservative-directed tax reform) and then presenting it as though the other side looks like they got what they wanted (as in perceived generated tax income from that tax reform legislation the conservatives really wanted anyway).
You are asking the Reps to commit political suicide needlessly. I can tell you that as someone who participates in a 40,000 strong state Tea Party movement in a leadership position, any tax increases by the Reps will be met by anger and action. We are not fools who can be easily manipulated by the use of language to disguise what is happening. There is no need to link revenue increases to spending cuts. Those are the Dem talking points.
Now, is THAT so bad? No. Does it make the Tea Party look they lost a little ground? Yes, probably because it would have taken the egg they want off the Democrats face. Would it be the right thing to do though? That’s diplomacy, and that didn’t give an inch on principles at all, I think.
I spent 28 years as a diplomat. There are limits to compromise. The Dems operate on the principles the Soviets used, i.e., "What is mine is mine and what is yours is negotiable." What are the Democrats prepared to compromise? Where is their plan? We have the farcical situation of the Reps negotiating with the Dems over the Rep plan(s). Insane.