Yes, Kevin McCarthy surprised many by negotiating in good faith, like and adult, and getting to a deal that would pass the House.
His greatest achievement and what was unexpected was how he played the wackiest members of the so-called “Freedom Caucus” (that care not one whit about “freedom”).
He did so by letting them pack the nominal debt ceiling increase bill (by the aforementioned narrowest of margins) and then ignored most of its crazy parts (most of it) and greatly watered down the rest.
He ignored Trump when he went on CNN did his usual “own the libs” chant.
Kudos for Kevin for not being on the nut cases’ leash.
But, President Biden outmaneuvered him at almost every step. BIDEN showed what a skillful and astute deal maker he is.
First, he got the better of the GOP and negotiated away their biggest threat, right there on national TV at the state of the union address when he got literally ANY changes to Social Security and Medicare off the table completely.
This after the Republicans were threatening cuts to both as the ransom for their debt ceiling hostage throughout last fall and early this year.
Instead, he got the GOP to LOUDLY proclaim that there is NO WAY they would ever cut SS & Medicare. Despite the fact that they have been trying to do exactly that for decades.
Then, he gave McCarthy something he could say he masterfully (as you opine) “bet on his ability to win a staring contest with Biden” by getting Biden to move off his position to not negotiate the debt ceiling with budget cuts.
In reality, this was NOT a debt ceiling negotiation, it was a BUDGET negotiation that included an amazing suspension of the DL until after Biden’s first term is over.
This after the terrible GOP bill had it increased only until March 2024, so they could get a second bite at the hostage apple during the presidential election season.
There was always going to be a “negotiation” and some modest budget “cuts” come September to avoid a shutdown. President Biden just negotiated that early and not only took a government shutdown threat off the table for 2023, but for 2024 too!!!
President Biden masterfully gave something away that McCarthy prized greatly….to say he “won a staring contest” with Biden (‘see….we owned the libs’), with something that was going to be done no matter what (negotiate a budget deal) as soon as the GOP won a majority of the House.
If one compares what the DL bill the GOP passed with the final two year budget deal with DL suspension it’s obvious that the price for McCarthy to say he “won a staring contest” with Biden was massively more steep than what President Biden “gave up”….something he was ALWAYS going to do.
I HOPE that what we can take out of this is that when two politicians who may have radically different views can still negotiate with each other in good faith, positive things can happen, rather than the zero sum, "I win/you lose" scenario that has become our political norm for almost three decades now.
Great job by McCarthy. Seems like the speakership is still at least as secure as it was.
Has there been any missives from Orange Leader or is he too busy fighting with Kayleigh McEnany over what a yuuuuge lead he has? I would think he might be disappointed not getting the government default he was rooting for.
So, McCarthy took control of the nation and world's fiscal stability and threatened to destroy it unless the WH agreed to massive draconian cuts to programs that the GOP and their plutocrat funders hate.
After much wrangling, McCarthy returned from negotiating with the white house holding barely anything in the way of concessions in his hand. So McCarthy's a big winner? I think what makes him look like a winner is that he managed to get his GOP caucus to support him, and he got Biden to back down from his no negotiating stance. Oh, and he kept his speakership. As a moderate left of center type i'm mostly fine with this. Now get rid of the stupid debt ceiling thing so republicans are forced to win legislatively in a normal manner.
Oh, and McCarthy needed the votes of 80 to100 Democrats to get this through.
So, MyKevin worked with President Biden and struck a deal. Whatever the stance is with either of them, this is how it’s supposed to work...negotiate. Still not a MyKevin fan but he saved his speakership for at least a bit and got the job done. I hate to say it, but it’s a bit of a breath of fresh air moment for me, even if it doesn’t last.
Yes, Kevin McCarthy surprised many by negotiating in good faith, like and adult, and getting to a deal that would pass the House.
His greatest achievement and what was unexpected was how he played the wackiest members of the so-called “Freedom Caucus” (that care not one whit about “freedom”).
He did so by letting them pack the nominal debt ceiling increase bill (by the aforementioned narrowest of margins) and then ignored most of its crazy parts (most of it) and greatly watered down the rest.
He ignored Trump when he went on CNN did his usual “own the libs” chant.
Kudos for Kevin for not being on the nut cases’ leash.
But, President Biden outmaneuvered him at almost every step. BIDEN showed what a skillful and astute deal maker he is.
First, he got the better of the GOP and negotiated away their biggest threat, right there on national TV at the state of the union address when he got literally ANY changes to Social Security and Medicare off the table completely.
This after the Republicans were threatening cuts to both as the ransom for their debt ceiling hostage throughout last fall and early this year.
Instead, he got the GOP to LOUDLY proclaim that there is NO WAY they would ever cut SS & Medicare. Despite the fact that they have been trying to do exactly that for decades.
Then, he gave McCarthy something he could say he masterfully (as you opine) “bet on his ability to win a staring contest with Biden” by getting Biden to move off his position to not negotiate the debt ceiling with budget cuts.
In reality, this was NOT a debt ceiling negotiation, it was a BUDGET negotiation that included an amazing suspension of the DL until after Biden’s first term is over.
This after the terrible GOP bill had it increased only until March 2024, so they could get a second bite at the hostage apple during the presidential election season.
There was always going to be a “negotiation” and some modest budget “cuts” come September to avoid a shutdown. President Biden just negotiated that early and not only took a government shutdown threat off the table for 2023, but for 2024 too!!!
President Biden masterfully gave something away that McCarthy prized greatly….to say he “won a staring contest” with Biden (‘see….we owned the libs’), with something that was going to be done no matter what (negotiate a budget deal) as soon as the GOP won a majority of the House.
If one compares what the DL bill the GOP passed with the final two year budget deal with DL suspension it’s obvious that the price for McCarthy to say he “won a staring contest” with Biden was massively more steep than what President Biden “gave up”….something he was ALWAYS going to do.
I HOPE that what we can take out of this is that when two politicians who may have radically different views can still negotiate with each other in good faith, positive things can happen, rather than the zero sum, "I win/you lose" scenario that has become our political norm for almost three decades now.
Great job by McCarthy. Seems like the speakership is still at least as secure as it was.
Has there been any missives from Orange Leader or is he too busy fighting with Kayleigh McEnany over what a yuuuuge lead he has? I would think he might be disappointed not getting the government default he was rooting for.
So, McCarthy took control of the nation and world's fiscal stability and threatened to destroy it unless the WH agreed to massive draconian cuts to programs that the GOP and their plutocrat funders hate.
After much wrangling, McCarthy returned from negotiating with the white house holding barely anything in the way of concessions in his hand. So McCarthy's a big winner? I think what makes him look like a winner is that he managed to get his GOP caucus to support him, and he got Biden to back down from his no negotiating stance. Oh, and he kept his speakership. As a moderate left of center type i'm mostly fine with this. Now get rid of the stupid debt ceiling thing so republicans are forced to win legislatively in a normal manner.
Oh, and McCarthy needed the votes of 80 to100 Democrats to get this through.
So, MyKevin worked with President Biden and struck a deal. Whatever the stance is with either of them, this is how it’s supposed to work...negotiate. Still not a MyKevin fan but he saved his speakership for at least a bit and got the job done. I hate to say it, but it’s a bit of a breath of fresh air moment for me, even if it doesn’t last.
I was going to comment on your McCarthy piece yesterday after the debt negotiations- is Kevin McCarthy better at this than we all thought?
https://youtu.be/gZDGkqXCkSA
Thank you for getting it