The Open Thread for Friday, August 2, 2013

Republican governance, a contradiction in terms, or an oxymoron, reached a fever pitch this week as the GOP tried to wrap up the legislative calendar and pass some necessary appropriation bills before going on vacation. Of course they failed…

Jonathan Chait: “Yesterday, the House of Representatives pulled a bill from the floor for lack of votes — the sort of scrambling chaos that occurs routinely in the chamber where John Boehner presides like a trembling child monarch. But this defeat was different. The bill concerned the funding of housing and transportation programs, though its failure represented more than just a programmatic setback, or even a setback for the Republican economic strategy writ large, but the potential ruin of its entire posture toward Obama. Since taking control of the House two and a half years ago, Republicans have fomented a series of crises that seemed to have no end in sight, explicitly refusing to negotiate with Obama and implicitly denying his legitimacy as president. The crumbling of that wall is far from certain, but yesterday a wide crack opened up.”

Andrew Sullivan: “Perhaps the most frustrating aspect of the current GOP’s refusal to do anything but propose to slash spending is that “propose” is all they really want to do. They cannot actually stomach the actual cuts their abstract ideology demands. And so what happened yesterday, when the House leadership suddenly yanked a bill slashing transportation and housing spending, is of a piece with the growing incoherence on the right.”

So now the House GOP has revealed to all that not only will they refuse to pass any Democratic budget or spending bill from the Senate, but they also cannot pass any Republican budget or spending bill of their own.

Due to this failure and others, here is First Read on the hellish fall that awaits Congress after coming back from their August break:

“Congress leaves town Friday for five weeks (returning Sept. 9th), and they leave a lot of unfinished business on the table. In short, September and October now are going to be a mess. The assumption was there would at least be some spending bills moved, the Farm bill dealt with, and possibly progress on immigration. And, yet, nothing really happened other than a few deals on nominations in the Senate and the student loan compromise (which took ALL MONTH to get done). And there is one common thread for the lack of progress and stunning inertia: inability of the GOP to get on the same page on any of these issues. The only thing they can get on the same page about are symbolic items that have no chance of becoming law.”

The GOP cannot govern. It is high past time people in this country stop electing them. But we have to deal with one house of the legislative branch being in their control until January 2015, and we still have to deal with their constant government shutdown unless we get everything we want threats. Which Charles Krauthammer says are threats they should stop making:

“Never make a threat on which you are not prepared to deliver. Every fiscal showdown has redounded against the Republicans. The first, in 1995, effectively marked the end of the Gingrich revolution. The latest, last December, led to a last-minute Republican cave that humiliated the GOP and did nothing to stop the tax hike it so strongly opposed.”

“How many times must we learn the lesson? You can’t govern from one house of Congress. You need to win back the Senate and then the presidency. Shutting down the government is the worst possible way to get there. Indeed, it’s Obama’s fondest hope for a Democratic recovery.”

Finally, Another poll has Mitchy-poo in trouble:

KENTUCKY–U.S. SENATE–Mellman Group (D): Alison Lundergan Grimes (D) 44, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R) 42.