Well, well, well. As Monday’s news cycle gets into full gear, we’re starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases.

It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and when the legislation’s very foreseeable outcomes appeared, the GOP got the blame for the disaster the law wrought on the public school system.

And now we’re going to get a new deficit commission that is actually just going to raise taxes.

How do we know they are going to raise taxes?

Well, whatever the commission comes up with, it’s going to be deemed filibuster proof — only a simple majority will have to vote for it in the Senate. Oh, and it will not be subject to any amendments in its recommendations.

With Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) already on board tax increases and with Tom Coburn proposing $1 trillion in tax increases today, we see where this is headed. But wait . . . there’s more.

Read More →

Well, well, well. As Monday’s news cycle gets into full gear, we’re starting to see exactly what Mitch McConnell, Harry Reid, and Nancy Pelosi are cooking up for the American public — pretend spending cuts and very real tax increases.

It is like the GOP learned nothing from No Child Left Behind. In NCLB, the GOP let liberals like Teddy Kennedy write the legislation and when the legislation’s very foreseeable outcomes appeared, the GOP got the blame for the disaster the law wrought on the public school system.

And now we’re going to get a new deficit commission that is actually just going to raise taxes.

How do we know they are going to raise taxes?

Well, whatever the commission comes up with, it’s going to be deemed filibuster proof — only a simple majority will have to vote for it in the Senate. Oh, and it will not be subject to any amendments in its recommendations.

With Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) already on board tax increases and with Tom Coburn proposing $1 trillion in tax increases today, we see where this is headed. But wait . . . there’s more.

Read More →

If it weren’t bad enough that Harry Reid is trying to make Mitch McConnell‘s ‘Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011″ acceptable to Republicans, you might want to consider that Nancy Pelosi congratulated Mitch McConnell on a job well done.

Not kidding.

Stephen F. Hayes, who my wife says is the best looking guy on Bret Baier’s panel other than Bret (yeah, I have to hate them both because of that and that when my 5 year old was a baby, she’d stare at Bret Baier every time he came on TV and make sweet eyes at him, but I digress . . .) anyhoo . . . Stephen F. Hayes has a good write up on McConnell’s plan and includes this little nugget:

two sources familiar with the discussions at the White House Tuesday afternoon said that Nancy Pelosi offered McConnell “congratulations.”

That should tell Republicans all they need to know about why this deal should be unacceptable.

If it weren’t bad enough that Harry Reid is trying to make Mitch McConnell‘s ‘Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011″ acceptable to Republicans, you might want to consider that Nancy Pelosi congratulated Mitch McConnell on a job well done.

Not kidding.

Stephen F. Hayes, who my wife says is the best looking guy on Bret Baier’s panel other than Bret (yeah, I have to hate them both because of that and that when my 5 year old was a baby, she’d stare at Bret Baier every time he came on TV and make sweet eyes at him, but I digress . . .) anyhoo . . . Stephen F. Hayes has a good write up on McConnell’s plan and includes this little nugget:

two sources familiar with the discussions at the White House Tuesday afternoon said that Nancy Pelosi offered McConnell “congratulations.”

That should tell Republicans all they need to know about why this deal should be unacceptable.

Just how pathetic is Mitch McConnell‘s ‘Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011,’ his proposal to let the President automatically raise the debt ceiling by $2 trillion without any cuts so long as the GOP doesn’t get blamed?

Harry Reid is intervening to make it more palatable to Republicans.

Publicly, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) left the door open to the idea. “I’m willing to look at this,” he told reporters. Privately, Reid has consulted with McConnell about making the proposal more palatable to reluctant Republicans by creating a joint committee to draft an enforceable debt-reduction plan, according to senior sources in both parties.

One Republican I spoke to said McConnell did serious damage to himself yesterday and lost a great deal of respect from a number of his Republican Senate colleagues. I can see why. When Harry Reid is trying to make a Republican leader’s proposal more Republican, that leader has lost his way.

Just how pathetic is Mitch McConnell‘s ‘Pontius Pilate Pass the Buck Act of 2011,’ his proposal to let the President automatically raise the debt ceiling by $2 trillion without any cuts so long as the GOP doesn’t get blamed?

Harry Reid is intervening to make it more palatable to Republicans.

Publicly, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) left the door open to the idea. “I’m willing to look at this,” he told reporters. Privately, Reid has consulted with McConnell about making the proposal more palatable to reluctant Republicans by creating a joint committee to draft an enforceable debt-reduction plan, according to senior sources in both parties.

One Republican I spoke to said McConnell did serious damage to himself yesterday and lost a great deal of respect from a number of his Republican Senate colleagues. I can see why. When Harry Reid is trying to make a Republican leader’s proposal more Republican, that leader has lost his way.