I'm hard pressed to think of a Republican I'd be less likely to thank. Dick Cheney? Michelle Bachman? (Oh, wait, I might support her in the Ames Straw Poll in August...)
His proposal to just give up on deficit-reduction plans may be one of the best things I've heard in weeks. The President was willing to raise the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67, screw poor families by reducing the already meager Pell grants for college students, throw future social security recipients into poverty by reducing the cost of living increases... and all for what?
What he'd get is the Republicans to agree to allowing taxes for the rich to go back to the level they were in the Clinton era.
The political operation that elected a black man with the name Hussein as a middle name can't be underestimated but I have been shocked by the "grand bargain" they made with Speaker Boehner. They gave conservatives 83% of what they wanted (cuts 83%, closing loopholes 15% - what happened to the other 2% is something I haven't found in any news article). In return they gave away a great issue in the 2012 election: Who is on the side of working-class Americans and who is on the side of the rich?
So Mitch McConnell's offer to just punt - allow the raise in the debt ceiling but force the president to come up with cuts that have no chance of every passing into law - is fantastic news for the country and Democrats.
In politics it's always important to see who blinks first. I was very scared it was going to be our side. Fortunately, it was not. I heart you, Mitch. I'd offer more love but that's illegal in Kentucky. If only I were your female first-cousin and we lived in Tennessee...
First Read offers a good run-down on the politics of this.
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