Boehner, McConnell To '60 Minutes': Obama Proposals 'Real Dead'

by JASmius



MSNBC headline: "Congressional Republicans Plotting To Assassinate Our Beloved President!!!!"

Nothing that should be surprising to any of you Tea Partiers out there, although I know some of you are anyway, but will never give them the credit:

Barack Obama's proposals for higher taxes on the rich, a federal minimum wage hike and free community college for millions will go nowhere in the House or Senate, the two Republican leaders of Congress told "60 Minutes" in a segment previewed on Thursday on the "CBS Evening News."

"Dead. Real dead," is how House Speaker John Boehner described Obama's call for higher taxes.

Indeed, the two Midwesterners effected a bit of policy jiu-jitsu on The One:

But Obama's idea to triple the federal child-care tax credit, also floated on Tuesday night in the State of the Union address to Congress, could get a serious hearing, the Ohio Republican told Scott Pelley.

"We’re all for helping working class families around America," said Boehner. "I think we’ll take a look at this when he sends his budget up — something that could be looked at in the overall context of simplifying our tax code and bringing rates down for everyone."

Yeah, I'd prefer that he said, "We're all for helping ALL families around America" rather than implicitly dignifying O's class warefare crap, but he did say "bringing down rates for everyone."

But have no fear, my TP friends, I'll throw you a "RINO" bone:

McConnell identified trade pacts as another area of possible agreement with the White House....

"We added more debt during the Obama years than all the presidents from George Washington down to George Bush," said McConnell. "The last thing we need to do to these young people is add more debt, and giving away free tuition strikes me as something we can’t afford." [emphasis added]

As opposed to something that is completely unconstitutional, Senator?  Something with which you'd be okey-dokey if we could "afford" it?

See?  You can't say I never do anything for you.  You're welcome.

In the true context of Tuesday's gauntlet, this interview plays right into The One's hands by the two leaders of the 114th Congress sitting there on national television and saying, "NO!", which is exactly the optics the White House is attempting to create.  Far better to not even mention Obama at all - if he's a lame duck, why not treat him like one? - and focus on the Republican agenda and all the legislation that they're going to send down Pennsylvania Avenue to force him to veto.  Keep that "NO!" table turned against him.  About which yesterday's abortion cave doesn't inspire a burgeoning confidence, even if that bill was also flatly unconstitutional, and not because of Roe v. Wade.

JASmius giveth, JASmius taketh away.

But remember the rest of Tuesday's context: a third of a trillion dollars in tax hikes, "free" community college, jacking up the minimum wage again - there were not "requests" his imperial majesty was making of Congress, but announcements of Executive Orders he's going to issue.  He was telling us what he's going to do to us next, and what John Boehner and Mitch McConnell are powerless to stop.

Though I'm going to guess that 60 Minutes will edit out that part of the interview.