Senate GOP mulls new debt strategy

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

Kevin Drum is really critical of this:
"WTF? This is possibly the most juvenile, most buck passing, most transparently mendacious proposal I can recall from any party leader in recent memory. The bright idea here is to force Democrats to repeatedly vote to raise the debt ceiling during campaign season, and to repeatedly force Obama to lay out enormous budget cuts that have no purpose except to piss off interest groups. The whole thing is so patently, ridiculously political that it's breathtaking. It ought to be named the "Gratuitous Embarrassment of Barack Obama and the Democratic Party Act of 2011.

Does McConnell really think that he's being clever here? That his purpose isn't plain to everyone? The Republican Party has now passed from Alice in Wonderland to Lord of the Flies. It's like dealing with a bunch of kids on a playground. Are McConnell and Boehner trying to prove Obama's point that he's the only adult at the table right now?"

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2011/07/its-now-official-gop-party-sixth-graders

[TheDeadFlagBlues]

I think Republicans (and everyone in Washington really) drastically over-estimate how unpopular raising the debt ceiling is. Sure, hardcore teapartiers will base their vote on it, but otherwise it's not a huge game changer. I seriously doubt most Americans even understand what it is.

It's not even a minor game changer, people simply don't care all that much about the debt. Even with the huge amounts of media attention on the debt, 42% of Americans think the government should be focused on reducing unemployment as opposed to decreasing the debt.

The idea of Republicans running ads against Democrats for voting to increase the debt ceiling makes me lol. All it takes is one counter ad describing what would happen if the debt ceiling wasn't raised and any small advantage gained by McConnell electorally is dashed.