Republicans Have `a Bomb Strapped to Their Chest’
They might not have a real bomb strapped to their chests, but they are willing to crush the innocent just to grandstand another week.
Republican outrage continues this morning over this quote from White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer to CNN’s Jake Tapper:
The White House “is for cutting spending. We’re for reforming our tax code, for reforming entitlements,” said senior White House adviser Dan Pfeiffer.
“What we’re not for is negotiating with people with a bomb strapped to their chest,” he added.
Republicans claim this constitutes comparing them to terrorists. I agree with Steve Benen here: “As a rule, regardless of where one falls on the political divide, officials should resist the urge to compare their rivals to terrorists. I don’t care how radicalized congressional Republicans have become — they’re not al Qaeda. Period. Full stop.”
Ultimately, though, as Steve also notes, this gives rise to a more fundamental debate about the true nature of what Republicans really are doing right now. The GOP outrage about Pfeiffer’s quote — even if somewhat warranted, and let’s face it, expressing outrage about such stuff is standard currency in politics - gets to a core contradiction, and a core truth, about this whole situation, both of which many observers are refusing to reckon with.