Fingerprints
by digby
Obviously, I don't have any more idea of how this is finally going to come down than anyone else has at this point. It's clear that the GOP is milking this for every last drop and the leadership can't satisfy its greedy teabaggers with mere assurances that there will be more to come down the road. But one thing is looking more and more to me to be the sad, obvious outcome and it's something I thought would happen from the beginning: the Democrats are going to pass a terrible, contractionary bill filled with spending cuts that will devastate the economy and affect their own constituents far more than the opposition.
If it's Reid's bill, which we're all supposed to be rooting for at this point, at a minimum it will attach the names of liberal politicians to the aforementioned spending cuts and the Super Congress that will undoubtedly force cuts to all the safety net programs and it will spell the end of any vestige of rational economic thinking on the left as well as the right. That doesn't seem like a good idea to me.
The answer at this point is to punt on all negotiations and have the president use the 14th Amendment remedy. It would be risky, of course. After all, the market Gods with the apt names of "Standard" and "Poors" (helped by the centrist Dem eunuchs who serve at their pleasure) have joined the Tea Party and decreed there must be horrifying, painful austerity. But all the backroom deals on the table are so bad that it is preferable at this point to take a chance with some bold leadership than go through with any of them.
As I said, I don't think this will happen. I think Democrats will pass this bill and the Democratic President will sign it. And honestly, I'm not sure there's a worse outcome.
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