What are the best words that might be used to describe the Senate and the House these last few days?   I just listened to the Harry Reid, Dick Durbin and Charles Schumer Press Conference where they complained about the Republicans refusing cloture in the Senate on a plan by Harry Reid.  I listened as they described themselves as the "adults" in this matter.  They chastised Republicans for not being willing to allow a compromise.  They chastised McConnell for not being more bipartisan.  (Bipartisan to Democrats is that Republicans shut up and agree with them.)  They criticized the Republicans for using the filibuster on this kind of legislation.  Words that come to mind are "Audacity", "Hypocrisy", "Disingenuous", "Phonies", "Comedic" and perhaps "Childish".

For Harry Reid to place himself and his party ahead of the House as the adults in this matter would be laughable if this subject were not so serious.  Harry Reid has been the Majority Leader controlling Senate legislation now for more than four years.  He has not passed a budget plan in more than 800 days.  He has done nothing but table the Debt Ceiling legislation that passed the House and has thus refused the country an up or down vote on that legislation while at the same time he proclaims Republicans are obstructing his eleventh hour solution.  This is most definitely audacious, disingenuous, phony and hypocritical. 

But Republicans will not escape my wrath on this page tonight.  I cannot believe the multiple sides of this issue that have been taken just in the House without regard to the competing plans by the Gang of Six (3 Republicans) in the Senate.  I recall the debate only four months ago regarding the Continuing Resolution (CR).  Many of us who consider ourselves Tea Party members begged our Congressmen to take the stand they promised during the 2010 Campaign and insist on the $100 Billion of Spending Cuts in the CR.  I would even have been happy with the prorated $60 Billion that was being discussed at the time.  But our Congress was prepared to compromise for the best deal they could get at around $38 Billion.  I was told by my own Republican Representative that this was not the time to take the stand I wanted him to take.  Wait until this summer when larger dollars are at stake.  We can't risk shutting the government down more than once.  I did wait and  I am disappointed.  The word "conviction" comes to mind.  

My first disappointment was that the $38 Billion was made up of accounting tricks and gimmickry that diluted the $38 Billion to less than even $1 Billion.  And now what I hear coming from my Congressman is that this Boehner Plan is the best we can hope for under the circumstances.  I've listened to other "Conservatives" who are concerned they will be blamed if we cannot reach a deal and everyone is concerned about the next election.  This list includes many that I respect and will continue to respect.  But I believe they are wrong.  Where is that stand that was planned for this summer?  In March Republicans did not wish to risk a shutdown of government they would be blamed for.  Wait until summer.  Well it's summer, where is that stand?  Why are Republicans still unwilling to go to the mat on this deal or risk a shutdown?  Why are they concerned about blame when they campaigned on going to Washington to do the right thing and turn this free-spending irresponsible Congress around?  The word "cowardice" comes to mind.    

Cut, Cap and Trade is apparently dead but quite frankly I did not fully support that.  Is it (was it) a step in the right direction?  Yes but let's first get something straight.  When you spend $1 this year and $1.02 next year rather than $1.07 that was in the planned baseline, this is NOT A 5% CUT!  This is a two percent increase.  A 5% cut is when you spent $1 this year and next year you will only spend $0.95.  I am completely out of patience with a Congress that uses language the intent of which is to obfuscate and trick those listening into a belief that a step is being made in the right direction.  All this guarantees is that within a short period the 2% growth will  catch up with the new debt limit and this issue will be repeated.  Why on earth would such a baseline be at around 7% anyway?  When have we seen 7% growth in inflation?  Not for years.  But if real cuts were in the plan you would expect at some point that the outstanding debt of our government would be reducing and moving away from the new limit, not toward it.  The word "honesty" comes to mind.

Let's also mention the strategy of negotiation.

1. You do not begin by telling those against  whom you are negotiating that you want the same thing, in this case to increase the debt ceiling.  Senator Lee (R- UT) has it right.  He does not want to raise that ceiling and would do so only reluctantly to exact other important things, the same things that Boehner is willing to give away in the House in the spirit of reaching a compromise.  The word "stupid" comes to mind. 
2. When you have passed legislation like Cut, Cap and Balance, stop talking.  Your offer is on the table, make the Senate and the President respond.  You don't have to fill the silence with additional offers and negotiate away terms that you might be able to keep.  Simply shut up!  The word "courage" comes to mind. 
3. Cut, Cap and Balance needs a retirement debt schedule within it that will amortize the full amount of the National Debt and commence repayment of the debt as a budget line item in every budget until that debt is eliminated.  Thus the Balanced Budget Amendment must include within that Balanced Budget a method for repaying the principal, not just the interest.  The two words "fiscal responsibility" come to mind.     
4. You must recognize that no matter what the issue is that is on the table that there are worse things than not achieving that goal.  Reaching that goal with a bad deal does not help the country.  The current status is that with the Debt Ceiling in place the Federal Government will eventually be forced to immediately balance its budget.  This would be an immediate 40% cut in spending and obviously this would be painful.  Federal workers would have to be furloughed, the activities of agencies curtailed and many regulations would have to go unenforced.  Why would we negotiate that away for anything less than a Balanced Budget Amendment that simply softens the impact of balancing the budget over an extended period?   The word "foolish" comes to mind.  What would be particularly foolish would be to follow furloughs by paying those furloughed employees upon their return to work once a settlement has been made.  There are way too many unemployed in this country today who will never make up the revenue they have lost as a result of the policies of this administration and I would personally consider it an insult and a travesty if federal workers are ever paid again for time not worked.      

Let us not leave the President out of this conversation.  He has called on all persons who listened to his Monday evening address to contact their Senators and their Congressman to express our position on this matter.   I have done so.  I have contacted all and expressed happiness to none.  

The evening would not have been complete without someone, in this case  Representative Tonko (D-NY) reduce the problem to what the Obama administration had inherited from GW Bush.  I believe these phonies would sooner blame George Washington than place the blame where it belongs, on the failed policies of this president and the irresponsibility of the last Congress as led by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.  I don't mean to diminish the negative contributions of the Bush Administration to our deficit and thus the debt but no President has ever raided the treasury like this current president has.  As bad as spending was during the Bush Administration it was more than doubled by Obama in just his first two years with the help of his willing accomplices in the Congress.  This cannot be ignored.  The word "chicanery" comes to mind.

In the end Democrats might have fooled us if this all were happening in the last century but with the new century we have the Internet, E-Mails, Blogs, Cable/Satellite Television and 24 hour news coverage that makes it far more difficult for representatives like Tonko to pull that wool over everyone's eyes.  But sadly, it is still possible.  As evidenced by John Stossel's roaming of the streets of New York there are many citizens who do not even know what a Debt Ceiling is.  Even more sadly, these people probably vote and this provides a solid explanation as to why so many idiots are sent to Washington from New York.  The word "Weiner" comes to mind.