The Charlie Brown Party ...

Charles Krauthammer often said the difference between Republicans and Democrats was that Republicans think Democrats are wrong, but Democrats think Republicans are evil.  

I’d like to suggest that Democrats not only think Republicans are evil, but also naïve.  I don’t agree about the evil part, but I believe Democrats are right about the naïve bit.  And Democrats and the media keep displaying the gullibility of Republican legislators at every turn.  

Republicans might as well have Charlie Brown as the symbol of their party.  The Democrats always make promises to Republicans in the House and Senate in exchange for something they want.  Republicans believe Democrats will keep their word. Like Lucy, Democrats never do. 

Yet Republicans keep getting fooled. They keep getting humiliated. They keep letting Democrats push through awful legislation.  

The passage of the “Inflation Reduction Act” is a perfect example. 

Democrats promised they wouldn’t use reconciliation to pass a multi-billion-dollar tax and spend bill if Republicans wouldn’t filibuster the “chips” bill for billions in subsidies to chip manufacturers.  As usual, Republicans upheld their end of the bargain and helped pass the chips bill. 

Democrats didn’t keep their word.  Because they never intended to. 

They outplayed Republicans again. The only reason Democrats didn’t want use reconciliation then was because they can only use it once each fiscal year.  They wanted to save the filibuster-proof reconciliation process for something much bigger with all of their favorite things:  a $700-billion blowout for social spending, climate change activities, environmental “equity,” subsidies for the rich to buy electric cars and appliances, 87,000 new IRS agents to add to the government employee unions, and higher taxes for just about everyone and every small business.  

This is what they always planned. Passing Build Back Better, part by part.  

Shortly after the chips bill passed with Republican help Democrat Schumer started working with Joe Manchin to do precisely what they’d promised not to. And because they’d already gotten what they wanted in the chips bill, they could use reconciliation this time and pass another monstrosity – deceptively named the Inflation Reduction Act – with a straight party-line vote.  

Two wins by deception.  They couldn’t resist gloating.  

Biden did a victory lap when he signed the Inflation Reduction Act and lied about how it would bring down inflation. The media claimed it as a great victory for Biden and signaled a turning point in his popularity.  This would reduce inflation and only tax the rich.  

This, despite their own supporters, and Joe Manchin as well, conceding that this new tax and spend bonanza wouldn’t do anything to reduce inflation. At best, analysts reported, under the very best circumstances it might cut inflation by less than one percent.  Other analysts said it would actually increase oil and gas prices through new taxes on production and increase inflation, as well as raise taxes on everyone, including those making far less than $400,000, by about $20 billion. 

Democrats are not above lying to other Democrats, either.  Including Joe Manchin. Manchin bought in to the Inflation Reduction Act for only one reason: Schumer promised that in return for his vote by the end of September Schumer would introduce a bill to fast track permitting which would let a natural gas pipeline to West Virginia held up for years go ahead. 

Just the other day, progressive Democrats in the House promised to oppose that bill if indeed it’s ever introduced because it would betray their climate change agenda. And since Manchin and Schumer already screwed the Republicans and the progressives, good luck getting the bill ever passed in the House or the Senate. Honestly, I bet Democrats never intended it to pass.  

This would all be moot if Republicans hadn’t gotten suckered in the first place. I have two theories why they got taken on the most recent bill. And will probably get fleeced again soon.   

First, Republican leaders like McCarthy and McConnell are stupid, a distinct possibility given their recent track record.  By now they should know better than to trust Democrats.  

Or, perhaps more likely, Republican leaders today simply don’t care what Democrats do, as long as they can keep raising millions by pretending to fight Democrats. In short, Republican leaders find it more profitable personally and much easier to be in the minority. There’s less pressure to perform.  When you’re in control you actually have to do something other than bitch and whine.  

Right now, most voters – not just Republicans – are appalled at Democrats’ priorities. Inflation is raging hurting the poor and working class most.  Food prices are insanely high.  Gas prices are still high, and high home heating oil and natural gas prices this winter will pummel families even harder.  Diesel prices are driving up shipping and distribution costs that affect everything from produce to construction materials. Our borders are being overrun.  And crime is surging.  

But Democrats keep focusing on climate change, gender identity, trans rights, social justice, abortion rights and promoting critical race theory.  Still, Democrats are climbing in the polls before the midterms and may very well keep control of the Senate, if not the House as well. 

There are several reasons.  

#1: Republicans got lazy believing they had the midterms in hand. They were so sure Democrats would defeat themselves they didn’t bother to tell voters what they would do instead.  

#2: Trump’s personal vendettas over the 2020 election pushed out eminently electable Republican primary candidates and replaced these with nitwits and sometimes whack jobs he selected solely because they echoed his claims about the 2020 election.  

#3: Republican loons in several state legislatures used the overturning of Roe v. Wade to reinstate long-forgotten draconian bans on all abortions passed decades or more than a century ago. Others introduced new laws effectively banning abortions shortly after conception.  

Earlier this year I told a friend to never underestimate Republicans’ ability to screw up a sure win.  They do it all the time. Now is no different. Like Charlie Brown they never learn.   

Sorry to say, I told you so.