GOP hubris: turning the tables on themselves

Hubris: turning the tables on themselves

by digby

It continues to surprise me that the GOP allowed the Randian extremist Paul Ryan budget to see the light of day in this cycle. Doing so after their frontal assault on the Democrats in the last election with "death panels" and "pulling the plug on grandma" means that they actually ended up giving the Democrats the benefit of the corporate bought and paid for propaganda, which is unusual. Voters are using their own talking points against them now. It's odd for the GOP to be this ham handed and it's a sign that they are drunk on their own hype.

And they apparently have underestimated Harry Reid as well:

Senate Democratic aides expect Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to force Senate Republicans to vote on the Paul Ryan budget plan. ..

The idea is to drive a wedge through the GOP caucus and put vulnerable incumbents such as Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) in a political jam.
Senate Democrats felt encouraged Friday after Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) emerged as the first Senate Republican to publicly oppose the House-passed budget blueprint, named after Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.).
"I don't happen to support Congressman Ryan's plan, but at least he had the courage to put forth a plan to significantly reduce the debt," Collins said on WCSH 6, an NBC affiliate in Portland, Maine.
If Reid can show that a bloc of Senate Republicans will not support the dramatic spending cuts and sizable tax cuts passed by the lower chamber, it would help his negotiating leverage with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

Hubris is a very serious weakness... and it's the one to which Republicans are most prone. Of course, the Democrats have some weaknesses as well and one of them is wasting opportunities to politically wound their opponents. We'll have to wait and see which weakness prevails.

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