Compromise…The New Four Letter Word In Politics!

It seems that both the hard right and the hard left have determined that compromising is horrible, it’s giving in, it’s bowing to the other side, it’s just plain wrong damn it. No one has made it more clear than ole’ Boner himself. This exchange on 60 Minutes with Leslie Stahl shows it better than anything I’ve read. You have to give Boner credit for being totally honest that it’s the word, people, not the actions. Courtesy of Steve Benen…

Most notably, Lesley Stahl brought up the notion of a conservative Republican Speaker cooperating with a Democratic president. It led to this back and forth:

Boehner: We have to govern. That’s what we were elected to do.

Stahl: But governing means compromising.

Boehner: It means working together.

Stahl: It also means compromising.

Boehner: It means finding common ground.

Stahl: Okay, is that compromising?

Boehner: I made it clear I am not gonna compromise on my principles, nor am I gonna compromise…

Stahl: What are you saying?

Boehner: …the will of the American people.

Stahl: You’re saying, “I want common ground, but I’m not gonna compromise.” I don’t understand that. I really don’t.

Boehner: When you say the word “compromise,” a lot of Americans look up and go, “Uh-oh, they’re gonna sell me out.” And so finding common ground, I think, makes more sense.

When Stahl noted the tax deal, and the fact that Boehner had to make concessions when dealing with the White House, she said Boehner did, in fact, “compromise.” Boehner replied, “We found common ground.”

Stahl responded that Boehner seemed “afraid of the word.” The incoming Speaker replied, “I reject the word.”

Like I said, you have to give him credit for coming right out and saying it. Common ground good, compromise bad. Got it! It’s not just the crazy right wingers that feel this way, but those crazy left wingers too, except I don’t think these assholes are left wingers, they are populist, teabagger wanna be’s. A rare link to Firedoglake here, I hate giving them fuckers any traffic but this is a perfect example of what they’ve become over at that piece of shit blog. Character assassination and guilt by association on steroids. Who said Fox News was the only outlet for this crap. The firebagger brigade went over the cliff long ago.

The Huffington Post wasted no time in spinning the deal as a cave-in, portraying it as the GOP calling all the shots on the deal. Here is a piece from just one of the posts they have up slanting things as only they can do…(no link to that piece of shit blog)

Republicans control neither the House nor the Senate – and certainly not the White House. But they largely dictated the terms of President Barack Obama’s proposed tax-cut compromise, which disgruntled congressional Democrats want to discuss in closed meetings that are likely to be rowdy.

But of course, when many people who aren’t so angry and still have the capacity for rational thought looked at it, they came up with the reality of the deal which is that it was clearly a compromise that many argue favored the left more than the right. This graph shoes it pretty well…

Now I know many on the left have a rabid hatred for rich people so much that they are willing to say “fuck you” to the unemployed, to the working poor and to all those people who might actually get one of those jobs that will come out of this deal. They apparently would rather see a blood letting of rich people than help for people who really need it. That is why I can’t call these people progressives or liberals, they are opportunistic, populist fucks in my opinion.

Now I hate the idea of giving in at all to the Republicans, but I also live in reality, where the GOP now writes the bills, appropriates money and has forced a new reality where “compromise” is about the best we can do on the left, if and until we gain back the House of Representatives. And of course with the assholes like Hamsher and the gang, I’m sure that isn’t going to happen anytime soon. They seem intent on destroying the Democratic Party from within and that is why I think we need to purge them motherfuckers now. THEY ARE NOT THE BASE THEY KEEP CLAIMING TO BE!