The Village On Display

With more and more progressive bloggers coming around to the conclusion that the GOP is invested in the long term failure of the stimulus and the economy itself, naturally I expected to see the same evidence on the Village Papers like Monday's front page of the WaPo, to instead form a piece glorifying the Republican obstructionism "insurgency".

Three months after their Election Day drubbing, Republican leaders see glimmers of rebirth in the party's liberation from an unpopular president, its selection of its first African American chairman and, most of all, its stand against a stimulus package that they are increasingly confident will provide little economic jolt but will pay off politically for those who oppose it.

After giving the package zero votes in the House, and 0with their counterparts in the Senate likely to provide in a crucial procedural vote today only the handful of votes needed to avoid a filibuster, Republicans are relishing the opportunity to make a big statement. Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) suggested last week that the party is learning from the disruptive tactics of the Taliban, and the GOP these days does have the bravado of an insurgent band that has pulled together after a big defeat to carry off a quick, if not particularly damaging, raid on the powers that be.

"We're so far ahead of where we thought we'd be at this time," said Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), one of several younger congressmen seeking to lead the party's renewal. "It's not a sign that we're back to where we need to be, but it's a sign that we're beginning to find our voice. We're standing on our core principles, and the core principle that suffered the most in recent years was fiscal conservatism and economic liberty. That was the tallest pole in our tent, and we took an ax to it, but now we're building it back."

The second-ranking House Republican, Rep. Eric Cantor (Va.), put it more bluntly. "What transpired . . . and will give us a shot in the arm going forward is that we are standing up on principle and just saying no," he said.

The Party Of No sounds like a great idea: no ideas, no hope, no stimulus jobs, no end to the economic death spiral, no chance of escaping the black hole.

It's a testament to just how stupid the Village is they honestly believe that the GOP voting against millions of new stimulus jobs in the worst economy in generations will somehow make them popular with the masses.

If the Village is right, we deserve the consequences. They're not. The Village message is clear: the GOP is always in charge. Obama can't win if he plays their game. He has to play his own game and take it to the people.