For The Good Of The Country

Madness rules in the House Republican Caucus.  The government shutdown is at 16 days and the default deadline is midnight tonight.  Most of us cross our fingers and hope that reason will prevail, for the good of the country.  But with these Bozos, who knows?

Allow me to give you two authentic examples of putting the best interests of America ahead of personal ambition and ideology.

In 1974, Gerald Ford pardoned the unforgivable asshole Richard Nixon.  Ford's decision was controversial and effectively killed his political future.  But Ford believed it was time to end the national nightmare and move on, for the good of the country.  In retrospect, he was right.

Al Gore conceded the Presidency to George W. Bush after a 1-vote margin on the Supreme Court stopped the Florida recount.  Although Bush's 2000 election was highly suspect, Gore accepted the Court's decision and understood it was time to put partisan rancor aside, for the good of the country.  He was right.



Those were Big Moments with Big Decisions made by Big People.


There's nothing "big" about the GOP-manufactured crisis we've been enduring, other than the damage to our economy and national reputation.  Petty, small-minded people have taken a small, routine issue and made a great big wrong-headed mess with it.

Many believe there will be a last-minute agreement.  Let's hope so.  If there is, you can bet your bottom dollar that a lot of Republicans will quickly grab air time to insist that they heroically, patriotically did us all a huge favor by voting for the deal, which had to be done "for the good of the country."

These Republicans will be full of shit.  Any agreement is likely to be short-term, and some time in January or February they'll pull the same stupid tricks again.  The good of the country will have nothing to do with it.