I found this Up with Chris Hayes segment both interesting and incredibly frustrating. As Chris points out at the beginning, the GOP's "no revenue" stance is deeply unpopular and hurts the GOP's image. Most Americans will blame them for the sequester, regardless of the "Obamaquester" spin.
Chris quickly notes that the GOP is succeeding in setting the terms of the debate in Washington and in achieving their substantive goals. But then the conversation kind of switches over to Chris and the three liberal guests lamenting the fact that the GOP and centrist beltway media won't acknowledge how much spending has actually been cut.
This is fine, but I really wish they had spent more time dwelling on the fact that the House GOP's strategy of not compromising and taking the economy hostage over the debt ceiling has been a massive success. Discretionary spending has completely plateaued! And as Chris' conservative guest acknowledged, conservatives don't really care about the deficit--its all about the size of government. The GOP is nominally unpopular and Mitt Romney lost the election, but does that really matter if you are able to pursue your agenda through political obstructionism?
There has been a lot of discussion lately on the need for the GOP to change, in order to be competitive in future presidential elections. But if I were a conservative I would be totally satisfied with the last two years--Obama has been unable to undertake any additional progressive initiatives, while spending has been drastically cut. Would Mitt Romney really have stood a better chance if the GOP had cooperated with Obama? Would a Republican in the White House really have lowered the trajectory of federal government spending?
The GOP should avoid rape gaffes and maybe ease off gay marriage as an issue. But as long as they can hold the gerrymandered House, i'm not sure if being more reasonable and compromising is the correct strategy. Their intransigence has worked wonders in achieving many of their aims. The truth is that in the current American political system it is better to be the party that won't blink first than being the party with the more popular platform.
I wish Chris had spend more time discussing the Republican's substantive victory and what that means for our political system.
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