DEAL WITH THE DEVIL

We're all discussing the Republican hostage plan -- the Senate GOP's letter, signed by the entire Republican delegation, which vows to block every bill in the lame-duck session until all the Bush tax cuts are renewed, including the ones on the wealthy. The specific hardball technique is a surprise, perhaps, but we all knew months ago that the GOP would be claiming a mandate after the midterms and playing hardball in the lame-duck; hell, we knew they'd be playing hardball even if they didn't have big gains in the midterms, just because that's what they do. So why are we even talking about this? Why are we surprised?

A day after the midterms, I told you that I think the Democrats should bow to the inevitable and make all the tax cuts permanent. I still feel that way. What the hell is the point of doing anything else? Democrats couldn't summon up the nerve to repeal the cuts for the wealthy when they had a 77-seat majority in the House and (for a while) a 20-seat majority in the Senate as well as the public's goodwill; they're not going to be able to repeal them now, or any time in the foreseeable future, so why even bother to fight for an extension that's temporary rather than permanent? What do Democrats get from that -- the chance to lose this fight again in a year or two, and then maybe again a year or two after that, and so on ad infinitum? Just acknowledge the inevitable and stop the bleeding.

That's what I think Democrats should do right now. Republicans want to hold the START treaty and DADT repeal and maybe a renewal of unemployment benefits hostage to tax cuts? Fine. Trip them up by giving them their damn tax cuts -- immediately. They're going to get them anyway, so what difference does fighting make? Dems should declare that they think Republicans are dead wrong, but say that the Democratic Party not going to let Republicans hold the rest of the people's business hostage. Do it so fast they'll have to scramble for another strategy.

It's ugly. It's a regrettable concession. But at least it might take control of the agenda from Republicans for a while, and suddenly put the onus on them to make compromises rather than just yammer about them.