First of all, if Senate Democrates had refused to agree to the compromise CR, it is very likely that the they would have been blamed for the continued government shut down by the average voter. To win this battle we had to regain the high ground. Agreeing to allow this CR to pass allows us to do just that.
In addition, this isn’t a terrible deal for several reasons. We got CHIPS funding for 6 years and the CR only lasts until 2/8, a little over two weeks. In order for the government to stay open past the 8th, the Democrats will have to agee to another CR and can virtually dictate how many days that CR will run. That allow them to regain the leverage they gave away today. If the Senate can’t agree to compromise immigration bill by the 8th, McConnell is on record promising to take up an immigration bill on the Senate floor under regular order. On the other hand, If McConnell lied, the government will be shut down again and it will be the the Republican’s fault.
If the Senate agrees on a compromise bill before the 8th, well and good. If not, a compromise bill including DACA bill will pass the Senate after the 8th. If Ryan won’t bring compromise bill up for a vote in the House, or if it fails in the House, it’s the Republican’s fault if the government is shut down again. If a bill passes in the House, and Trump won’t sign it, it will be Trump’s fault if the government is shut down again.
This is politics. The game is getting what you want while avoiding the blame for what you have do to get there. It is also trying to insure at the same time that the blame is put on the other guy if you fail. You don’t have to like it, but that is how this very serious game is played in Washington. You have to know when to press and then know when to take a step back and let the the other guy seem like he is winning until he loses.
Cajun 1/22/2018
Firstly, I respect your opinions, understand, in part, your continued loyalty to the Democratic Party as well.
But I have another view of the events that transpired, one that does not paint the democrats well at all.
After several democrats, up for re-election in states that voted for Trump, told democratic leadership they were afraid of losing in the coming election because of the shutdown, the fire went out of that party, a fire sorely missed and even more sorely needed.
Democrats came out looking very weak , first standing strong for principles then vacillating and backing down, making Trump, McConnell and Ryan look stronger. If this was all the spine democrats were going to display they would have been better served not shutting down the government in the first place.
What was served by this ludicrous, cowardly appearing action? In a time when our democracy is in great peril, from our would be demagogue in chief, from a GOP right of Attila the Hun, and from a lack of strong opposition to this creeping fascism that overtakes us we the people have nowhere to turn it seems.
Time will tell which of us is correct, Cajun, but I fear the democrats just threw away an advantage they had gained and did so to no real advantage.
I totally understand that you hold the Democratic Party in the same distain as you hold the Republicans. Perhaps, Those that think that you like you do could form a third-party made up of ultra progressives. Oh wait, you have, that’s the Green Party, which is yet to break 3% in a presidential election and hasn’t, at least to my knowledge, elected anyone to Congress.
Perhaps sooner or later you and, those that think like you, will come to the inevitable conclusion that you can’t possibly win without us , and though it is more difficult to win without you, we have done so often in the past. in a close election, however, like the last one, the Green party’s votes can make all the difference in the world in a few critical states.
I’m sure that you would rather have seen Hillary Clinton in the White House then Donald Trump. As they say, we can hang together, or we can hang separately.
I do not wish to start a feud here, Cajun, and, as I noted earlier, I respect your right to an opinion. I only wish you were “big” enough to do the same for my own.
I am fully aware of the lack of both state and national success of my chosen party but, unlike you apparently, I can squarely place much of the blame for that on the shoulders of the two major parties which jealously guard their monopoly, use exclusion and gerrymandering to maintain their positions, and see your acceptance of that as sad indeed.
You are certainly free to dodge the issues and questions I raised earlier, instead responding with an almost diatribe of “disdain” for those of us who see third party politics as essential to ending the stranglehold of corporate money and power over our legislators, both democrat and republican.