The panel on Fox News Sunday did their best to ignore the fact that if Nancy Pelosi doesn't want the Bush tax cuts to be extended, she doesn't have to “hold” anyone. All she has to do is refuse to allow a vote to come to the floor of the House and they expire. Whether they give away the store to get them extended for the lower incomes, who knows but they love to pretend that Republicans are holding all the cards here when they're not.
The conversation then shifted to the Republican divide over earmarks with Chris Wallace asking Bill Kristol what he thought would happen on that front.
KRISTOL: I think the earmark banners are going to win in the Senate, at least for a couple of years. I think Mitch McConnell can make all the theoretical arguments he wants, earmarks aren't all that important. What's the argument against trying life without earmarks for a year or two? If it's a disaster, if the Obama administration is spending money in an irresponsible way using that discretion that Mitch McConnell is so worried about; and most of the money isn't a discretion of the Obama administration, it's formula, grants and the like. But I don't think his defense of earmarks is the right thing but if things go wrong they can reinstate earmarks in a year or two. They can make their case to the public.
So I think Senator DeMint will win in the Republican conference this week. Republicans will be against earmarks, President Obama will be against earmarks and we're going to have a wonderful moment of lots of bipartisan bliss. We're going to have agreement on extending current tax rates for three or four years I think. We're going to have an agreement that we shouldn't have earmarks. There will be an agreement on some spending cuts. They're will be an agreement on prosecuting the war in Afghanistan.
We're going to have the Obama-Boehner-DeMint agenda for the next three or four months and it's going to be good for the country actually.
WILLIAMS: Well in keeping with the spirit of bipartisanship...
KRISTOL: And Nancy Pelosi... and the one person who's going to be the most fervent opponent of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi.
WALLACE: Which wouldn't be bad for Barack Obama.
WILLIAMS: Exactly.
Yeah Bill, until the impeachment hearings begin. They do love to demonize Nancy Pelosi don't they? Let's just hope they're wrong on how much the Democrats are willing to compromise with them on this. They need to let the tax cuts expire for the upper earners, period.
