re: #249 sagehen

It’s why Susan Eisenhower, Colin Powell, Charlie Crist and Linc Chafee all endorsed Obama.

It’s also, conversely, why even quasi, stealth GOP moderates can no longer be trusted to do what they explicitly say they’re going to do. It’s why Mark Kirk couldn’t honor his own promise to vote for and not support a filibuster of a clean CR on the debt ceiling.

On Oct. 7, a Kirk’s office confirmed Kirk would vote for a “clean” Senate bill to lift the debt ceiling, that is, one with no strings attached and would vote for “cloture,” that is, making a bill filibuster-proof so it could advance for debate. The Saturday vote was on the “cloture” question.

After making the statement the and putting himself out there Kirk had clearly hoped that some other GOP Senators would support him, like McCain, or Collins. Instead the party voted in lockstep and Kirk, forced to choose between his own personal integrity and adherence to his party, chose the latter.

And the irony is that the 14 month clean extension of the debt ceiling was easily the best option for the GOP, period. Because now, in going for a short term deal, they’ve put themselves in a situation where they’re guaranteed to piss off the electorate again just as primary season starts. Then probably again for the general. They had a clear opportunity to put this behind them, but they let their own ideology, again, totally fuck up the battlefield for the foreseeable future.