As Californians wait on the edge of the cliff for a single GOP vote that will keep the rest of the party from being the ones to push us all into the abyss, the current “last hope,” Abel Maldonado, is apparently throwing around a list of demands required to get his vote.Reportedly, he aspires to run for statewide office, and wants to guarantee his ability to survive a GOP primary, and so he is willing to overtly hold the entire State hostage to his demands!
This naturally makes me wonder how any Republican could possibly hold such aspirations in a predominantly democratic state, when they have stubbornly clung to a destructive ideology even after it became clear that it meant burning down their own house to prove a meaningless point.
Rather than giving in to Maldonado’s demands, the Democrats should call him out for what he is – an extortionist who is willing to sacrifice California for his own personal ambition!
Make it clear that Maldonado, and any other Republican who refuses to negotiate in good faith with efforts to salvage a dire situation with a difficult compromise, will never win a statewide office in California!
Make it clear that continuing to reject every possible solution to pull California out of an economic freefall is a direct affront to, and in fact an attempt to undercut, the ability of President Obama to carry out his national policy goals; and that any one of them who aspires to any elected office beyond their gerrymandered wingnut districts will face a fierce challenge based on their failure to consider California, and by extension the entire Nation, during this critical moment!
Only if Maldonado, and others who may have higher political ambitions, begin to see their obstructionism as an albatross that will hold them down forever, will they begin to release their grip on Grover Norquist’s member long enough to extend an open hand to their fellow Californians.
[Update] Now that the deal is done, with Maldonado finally agreeing to support it in exchange for some probably meaningless concessions, it's important to realize that Dan Weintraub is right when he points out that the GOP obstructionist tactics won!
The narrative has to continue to be driven forward that the budget process in California is broken, and the GOP took advantage of it - like the thief who steals your car stereo through an already broken window! They will do it again and again until we fix the window (and probably install a good car alarm too!)
Already, there are two ballot initiatives beginning to circulate that would follow John Garamendi's suggestion to reduce the required margin on budget issues from two-thirds to 55 percent (which is better than nothing, but still amounts to merely rolling up the window enough that they can't get their entire arms through!)
And now the Repugs are going to censure the 3 Senators that failed to drink the no-tax Koolaide! As those 2 dumbass SoCal shock jocks would say, "heads on a stick!" Don't you just love the smell of Republicans roasting their own? Smells like victory.
ReplyDeleteFrom the stinking bowels of State employment, this has been Lost Wages Joe