Where is the compromise from Republicans in this "compromise" bill?

[pa28]

President Obama seemed to have finally learned his lesson in dealing with Republican extortion demands over continuing funding. He refused to deal with the extortionist last time by holding their demands up to public scrutiny. The extortionist folded.

Now we're back to negotiating and compromise. We're told that's the nature of politics in a divided government, that's how sausage is made in Washington and we all need to suck it up and deal with the result.

The problem is I don't see what we're "getting" in return for the massive giveaways to the lobbies of Wall Street and corporate America. At least not in any kind of scale normally considered a fair trade.

We're "giving" potentially hundreds of billions or even trillions in guaranteed bailouts that WILL be needed one day. We're making it legal to raid pensions and cut guaranteed earned benefits for working people and we're raising pentagon spending back to Iraq war levels. Levels that saddled us with trillions in debt.

I hear we're "getting" funding for the ACA. Huh? That was already a law. We already have that. If the Republicans want to choke the ACA to death make them explain their actions in public. As the party now responsible for governing MAKE Republicans be accountable.

Quietly giving what we already have in exchange for continued funding reminds me of some bullied schoolyard kid "giving" his lunch money in exchange for not "getting" a black eye. That's a losers way of thinking.

We "got" a couple of other relatively small tokens too. Great, but In no way can they be measured against the years of hard won progress and legislation we just gave away. With over a million dollars a day being spent on lobbying activities We're never going to win back ground on pensions or wall street regulation. At least not until after the next disaster that we are now culpable for.

There is another way of looking at this disaster. Maybe, to the Democrats who supported this bill, the massive giveaways were not something traded away. Maybe they were politically inconvenient policy objectives just waiting for an opportune moment to be quietly passed. Maybe it was time to re-pay Jamie and Lloyd.

Watching this fiasco unfold over the past few days I can't decide if we're hopelessly corrupt as a party or merely feckless and out of touch.

[arcane1]

1. "compromise" seems to often mean "giving them what they want"

Though I suppose they'll say we should be grateful they didn't include defunding the ACA in there

[old guy]

5. They didn't defund ACA in this bill,

but rest assured they will do something to defund ASAP. There is nothing good in that bill that can't be undone when they have time and believe me they will find time.

[Horse with no Name]

14. Yep. They got permanent tax cuts and we got 6 more months of not having to fight for ACA

woohoo!

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

2. Obama is a thinking, caring human being (way too much influenced by Wall Street, but still decent)

Teaparty are not, they do not function the same way a mature, intelligent adult does.

[Katashi_itto]

3. Whose signing the bill again?

[Fred Sanders]

10. The man being assailed by his own party on the torture issue is the one who ended the torture

program his second day in office and has released Gitmo torture victims because of compassion, th released prisoners say so themselves.....which is he then, an evil on par with Cheney or a compassionate man, can not be both?

[99Forever]

4. Ummmmmm....

They won't shoot us hostages right now?

[True Blue Door]

6. Elections have consequences. So stop fucking losing them.

[pa28]

7. A Democratic Senate will pass the measure and a Democratic president will sign.

When the banks line up to collect billions or trillions in taxpayer funded bailout money Republicans will point to this bill and blame Democrats.

And you know what? They'll be right.

[True Blue Door]

8. Because a Republican Senate in January would extort far worse.

Again, elections have consequences. Stop fucking losing them.

[pa28]

12. Why not make them answer publicly for their extortion demands?

They will be the party of government in the new year. Why not make them accountable for cuts in the ACA, bank bailouts codified by law and stolen pensions?

We've given two of those things without an argument. How is this a consequence of losing the election? To me the Democratic party's feckless and out of touch behavior is the reason we lost in the first place.

[True Blue Door]

13. Answer to whom? It's two years until the next election.

Two years.

And I agree that Democratic fecklessness lost the election, but here's the thing - we are the Democrats, not the handful of people who hold office.

[Cha]

15. Exactly but that matters not to those who need to blame this President for everything. Dems stayed

home in 2010.. and in 2013 the repigs shutdown the gov to the tune of $24 Billion$$ and they still stayed fucking home in 2014.

And, whined afterwards they saw no reason to vote and were supported by the usual crowd.

[True Blue Door]

16. Some people find an excuse more comforting than a win.

I'll never understand it, but I can see it.

[hifiguy]

9. They "let" the Democrats vote for it.

Can't think of anything else. Bastards all.

[COLGATE4]

11. In the Republican Dictionary

"compromise" means "be reasonable and do it my way".

[jmowreader]

17. They "compromised" by not filibustering it to death