Good news from the GOP, Part 1

So while I was writing that the GOP was pretty quiet about their debt ceiling strategy, they were in Virginia discussing and changing that very strategy. I won't spend a lot of time discussing the new offer, but it's roughly this:

• The GOP will vote to extend the debt ceiling for three months.
• The intention is that during that period, the president will present his budget, and the House and Senate will debate it.
• If no budget is passed after three months, the Congress members no longer get paid.

That plan doesn't sound like much, but it's still quite a step forward for the GOP. For one thing, they recognized that they had a problem many weeks before breaching the debt ceiling.

The problem: They had no rationale for holding up a debt ceiling increase because they had no alternative plan on the table. So far, their new strategy is about as thin as it was before. The president will have to present his budget, which has almost no chance of passing, and then... Well, that's where the current non-plan looks like the previous non-plan.

So it's best for them to punt for a few months and build a strategy that they can present. Nonetheless, the Republicans have recognized the problem and seem to be working seriously on it. That's usually the hardest step. I'll be watching for them to deploy the rest of their new strategy.

The new GOP strategy? Obama's budget? Something even better?

Image: afuitbs.com

Extras. And here are some suggestions for the GOP from its own camp:

• Allahpundit sees the three-month as same-as-now.
• Our commenter, Truth > Spin,  pointed to this idea-- Hennessey's shrinking-room suggestion.
• Krauthammer recommends going with small demands so the Dems can't say no.
• The statement by Eric Cantor, who seems to be the point person for the change.

Preview of Part 2 -- I'm not completely sure. More ideas are percolating, some of which have already been written, edited out, and are likely to be tossed. But it was important to me to post about this significant development before it got any later.

Political reboot

Is that what's happening now? Everyone hit the Off button one day after the debt ceiling was passed. Now the political supercomputer is starting back up, but with some strange, unexpected new programming whirring around inside.

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I wrote that last night, and then came across this thesis:

The perception of how Washington handled the debt ceiling negotiation led to an immediate collapse of confidence in government and all the major players, including President Obama and Republicans in Congress....

We are entering a new phase of the American political dialogue that has been irrevocably shifted in a way that will prove difficult to predict.

Historically, though, this type of deep voter anger, unease, and economic pessimism leads to unstable and unpredictable political outcomes.

This is from the report by a Republican pollster. The collapse in confidence is both political and economic, and they have the potential to create a feedback loop that resembles a tornado. It's the secret knowledge that explains the odd behavior of Eric Cantor.

To show how different the political atmosphere is this week, compare it to last week's admittedly thin political news: the Repubs were floating some balloons about letting the 2% Social Security payroll tax cut lapse. Jim DeMint was blaming the nefarious media for the Tea Party's loss in standing. Same old, same old.

Now, Eric Cantor is trying to be cordial and welcoming. Take that as a weather warning, and check frequently for updates.

Photo:extremechasing.com