On Thursday, Democrats on the House floor were debating the jobs bill and what to do about the vote being several days late, when word came through to the House that the Senate had adjourned and left for Memorial Day break. Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) said, "People were astounded. I mean stunned. We're in the midst of this debate and trying to find a path to doing the right thing and the Senate went out on recess? Without addressing these issues?" According to data from the Department of Labor at the end of the week, 19,400 people will be stop getting help, and by the end of the following week, this number will climb to 323,400. The following week is 903,000 and by the end of the month, 1.2 million. While Republican obstruction is an obvious part of this, the real villains here are the sucker Conservadems that call themselves deficit hawks.
Back in the 70s a Republican strategist named Jude Wannisk came up with what he called the two Santa Claus theory: when Republican are in power they should cut taxes spend like drunken sailors and put it all on the national credit card - without ever mentioning a word about the deficit they were creating. This allows Republicans to be the tax cutting Santa Claus and the spending/stimulus Santa Claus. The minute Democrats get into power Republican then use every media at their disposal - from the Wall Street Journal editorials to Sunday News shows to speeches on the floor of Congress - to hysterically scream about the deficit and how important it is to cut spending immediately.
If they can get a few sucker conservative leaning Democrats to go along with them, then the Republicans are remembered as Santa Claus while the Democrats take all the heat for cutting benefits and entitlement programs and other spending. They dare not mention raising taxes because that would make them a double anti-Santa Claus' and they're already the spending cutting anti-Santa Claus. In this case the Blue-Dog Dems and a few others in the party who call themselves deficit hawks have stepped right into the Wanniski trap.
If they don't wake up soon, expect to see more anger at the Democrats and more Republican victories in November.
