Creamer: Why Last Week's Deal Reduces GOP Leverage in 2012 Budget Battle (it's about CEOs & the CoC)

[highplainsdem]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-creamer/why-last-weeks-deal-reduc_b_847216.html

Robert Creamer
Why Last Week's Deal Reduces Republican Leverage in 2012 Budget Battle
Posted: 04/10/11 05:16 PM ET

-snip-

Three separate factors were particularly important to Boehner's decision to throw in the towel on the Republican caucus demand that any deal eliminate government support for women's health clinics -- including Planned Parenthood.

-snip-

3). Most important for the future is the role of the real base of the Republican Party -- Wall Street and Big Business. The Republican CEO caucus -- and the Chamber of Commerce -- are hell bent on destroying unions, shrinking the public sector, lowering tax rates for millionaires, etc.

Frankly, they could care less about the right wing social agenda. In fact, they view social conservatives as cannon fodder to win elections. And once they had gotten all that they could on the economic side, they were not the least bit interested in jeopardizing their political fortunes or the economy simply to advance the Tea Party agenda.

-snip-

The bottom line is that both of these factions of the Republican establishment will do whatever is necessary to prevent the Tea Party crowd from blowing the place to smithereens. They didn't allow them to cause a simple government shutdown over their extremist social policy goals, and they certainly aren't going to allow them to default on the nation's debts and explode the economy right out where everyone can watch.

-snip-

And since "the CEO/Wall Street faction of the Republican Party -- and its political elite -- are not yet prepared to allow the inmates to run the asylum," Creamer argues, "the president and Democrats have much stronger hand than some believe."


If you're wondering how important Big Business was in stopping the Republicans from shutting down the government, see this topic I posted yesterday

In case anyone wonders why Reid thanked Chamber of Commerce prez Tom Donahue

explaining how Big Business intervened to prevent a shutdown.

[PM Martin]

1. There is an element of truth. The corporatists understand

that a government shutdown will slow down the economy (as there are contractors who do business with the government, contrary to what these teanuts believe).
Worst, for the world would be if the teanuts and their Republican brothers actually allow the US to default on it's debt obligations.

[drm604]

2. K&R

:kick:

[highplainsdem]

3. Thanks!

[drm604]

4. I thought that people should see this.

I've been fretting about crazy Republicans refusing to raise the debt limit and the disastrous consequences that would follow.

This makes me feel slightly better. It makes sense that the big corporations don't want those consequences so this is one thing, at least, that we probably needn't worry about. Not that their real agenda isn't worrisome, but they won't allow the equivalent of an economic nuclear bomb.