Grove Nordquist Signs off on Debt Ceiling Deal

Do you remember Grover Nordquist?  He's the anti-tax, anti-government champion that hangs around with the likes of the infamous Jack Abramoff*  Here's Grover's TWEET on the debt ceiling 'deal':

"Real spending cuts. No tax hike. Gang of Six said it could not be done. 1982, 1990 are now bad memories we learned from. Onward."

Barack Obama is the weakest negotiating president of my lifetime and I've got almost 7 decades on me. Right from the git-go he gave away the ship by declaring that section 4 of the 14th amendment** was not an option under consideration. I hoped that denial was an ace in the hole and that he would let the Republicans go to the very edge of default before invoking the amendment. That way America would know who was responsible for the impending debacle and set himself and other Democrats up for re-election in 2012. But he again surrendered to the enemy with the same tired explanation that he did over the cave in at the end of last year when he didn't hold firm on letting the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire ('next time will be different, next time'.) So the debt ceiling deal has no revenue side, it's all spending cuts, and there's no guarantee that there will be any revenues in the foreseeable future.

David Frum, a conservative of the ilk that one can tolerate (he's not rabid, he's smart, and he's not an economic Libertarian) had this to say about the Republicans:

(they)

--forced the United States to the verge of default;
--shrugged off the needs and concerns of millions of unemployed;
--protected every single loophole, giveaway and boondoggle in the tax code as a matter of fundamental conservative principle; and fundamental conservative principle; and
--forced massive government budget cuts in the midst of the worst recession since World War II.

Only about one-third of Republicans agree that cutting government spending should be the  country's top priority. Only about one-quarter of Republicans insist the budget be  balanced without any tax increases.

Yet that one-third and that one-quarter have come to dominate my party. That one-third  and that one-quarter forced a debt standoff that could have ended in default and a second Great Recession. That one-third and that one-quarter have effectively written the "no new  taxes pledge" into national law. -- David Frum

As for me, living here in the heartland and heatland of America,  I think Barack Obama is a closet Republican who actually believes he does a good job when he tosses the baby out with the bath water. I can hardly stomach it.

*Convicted in 2006 of mail fraud and conspiracy, he was at the heart of an extensive corruption investigation that led to the conviction of White House officials J. Steven Griles and David Safavian, U.S. Representative Bob Ney, and nine other lobbyists and Congressional aides. He served three years, six months of a six-year sentence in federal prison before being released early to a Baltimore halfway house on June 8, 2010. He also scammed millions from Indian tribes while "promoting" their casino interests in Congress and then went on to making pizzas when he got out of jail.

**Section 4. The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.