Collecting their bile in gallon jugs

I got a reply from my friend and debate partner referring to my post yesterday about the views of Andrew Sullivan and Keith Olbermann on the debt ceiling "compromise." My friend lamented it was not one of my better posts. Many statements were unclear (even to me when I read them again) and several more didn't make sense. Some of that was my faulty condensation of the original, some was in the original.

Alas, it was a long post and I don't want to tackle going over it all again to clarify and comment on his rebuttals. I'll comment on a some things and share a few things he said.

I wrote that the debt ceiling battle is over until after the next election and deprived the GOP of its biggest weapon. My friend responded:

True, but the debt ceiling was never the issue. Spending cuts (defunding govt) vs. higher taxes was the issue. … The 2012 budget is dead ahead -- our Titanic's iceberg for sure. I assume the "members" are collecting their bile in gallon jugs for use in the next battle. Short-term continuing resolutions are likely to fund the govt for the entire year, each one the occasion for yet another vast tantrum. I am already exhausted -- and ready to fill out my 2012 ballot RIGHT NOW!

I wrote that if the 2012 campaign is about low and high taxes, the GOP wins. If it is about poor and wealthy, the Dems win. My friend didn't understand that. What (I think) it means is if the GOP is able to harangue endlessly that taxes are too high and must never be raised, then the GOP wins. However, if the Dems are able to change the debate to talk about how the poor are struggling and how those tax savings aren't prompting the rich to spend to help the economy recover, then the Dems have a chance at winning.

I wrote this debt deal, without taxes on the rich, "confirms again that the rich have free license to buy Congress…" My friend replied, "Here we are in complete agreement."

In spite of his criticism of my writing (which in this case was deserved), my friend and debate partner most definitely remains my friend with a license to continue to debate me as necessary. We had a lovely lunch together today, talking of many things. That included this post. He wondered if any members of the Tea Party caucus were caught throwing a tantrum, complete with pounding fists and drumming heels in the floor like a three-year-old.