Read this from from the national journal and tell me if you don’t see the hand of Tom Carper stabbing seniors in the back.
Senate Democrats think they’ve hit on a formula that could work again: Hang together and make the message clear from the start. “I think Democrats showed that by sticking together we can push the Republicans, if not to come to the table, at least we can push them to drop their demands for concessions every time we go into another crisis,” said a Democratic Senate aide. “The theory that sticking together and holding firm would break them out of this cycle has been proven.”
Sounds pretty good so far, right? Stick together, hold firm… etc. Don’t get too excited.
Buoyed by that notion, Democrats have begun to telegraph a possible path forward in the coming budget conference, suggesting a possible compromise that would include trading a relaxation of the sequester for “permanent structural changes to mandatory programs,” according to a Senate Democratic aide. The thinking goes: Republicans could argue that they traded budget cuts that last only until 2022 for permanent changes. Just what Democrats would accept in terms of changes to mandatory programs is still murky, though; Democrats are being deliberately vague about what they might be willing to swallow.
“I know that Democrats are willing to compromise to get a deal, and I’m hopeful Republicans will as well,” Murray said recently.
Jesus H. Christ! Is it possible that the Senate Democrats suck this much?!?! If “changes to mandatory programs” don’t include raising (or doing away with) the income max – then this Democratic caucus is the worst thing since smallpox blankets.