A couple days ago House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy used a scene from The Town (a crime movie about thieves who need to stick together to accomplish their mission) to inspire skeptical House Republicans to “get their asses in line” and go along with “Tammy Faye” Boehner’s deficit reduction plan.
According to reports, the tactic worked splendidly on Florida congressman Allen West, a Tea Party favorite who went from critic to enthusiastic supporter of the Boehner Plan.
Before voting today on Boehner Plan 2.0, West and House Republicans should seriously ponder the following exchange between Attorney General Gideon Young and FBI Director James Grace from the movie The Kingdom:
Attorney General Gideon Young: I’m gonna bury you.
FBI Director James Grace: You know, Westmoreland made all of us officers write our own obituaries during Tet, when we thought The Cong were gonna end it all right there. And, once we clued into the fact that life is finite, the thought of losing it didn’t scare us anymore. The end comes no matter what, the only thing that matters is how do you wanna go out, on your feet or on your knees? I bring that lesson to this job. I act, knowing that someday this job will end, no matter what. You should do the same.
Someday your jobs in Washington will end. The question is will you leave office on your feet or on your knees?
I.M. Kane
(H-T RS RedState)
By Michael E. Hammond
(1) House Republicans are walking into an enormous trap. The Boehner plan is sufficiently similar to the Reid plan, in virtually all important respects, that its passage will lead to the following compromise:
The adoption of Boehner’s ten years of sham cuts, which will be ephemeral beyond fiscal year 2012. Even John McCain said tonight that Gramm-Rudman (whose “sequestration” provisions are the enforcement mechanism for Boehner) became worthless because Congress just started declaring emergencies.
A commission which will report out large tax increases which cannot be filibustered. The “deciders” on the commission will be six Pelosi/Reid people and one squish Republican, who will be corralled into submission by:
A “trigger” which will make the pressure currently being applied to Congress seem small by comparison.
(2) Unless you can guarantee that it will go to the states, a guarantee of a losing vote on the balanced budget amendment is worthless.
(3) Dick Morris is correct that if Tuesday comes and goes, with only a shut-down of unessential government agencies, the American people will see Obama’s fear-mongering for what it is.
(4) Furthermore, as 2008 taught us, the GOP can sell all of its principles and spend the better part of a trillion dollars and the stock market will still continue to fall – particularly since Standard & Poor’s is about to downgrade the U.S. for being too timid in debt reduction.
(5) Finally, Obama is currently reeling from his poor stewardship. For Republicans to capitulate and give him a “compromise” will reset him on a glide path to reelection. The liberal media is currently “spinning” that Republicans have won, but, after they lose, their surrender will be reported for what it was.
Hammond was former General Counsel to the Senate Steering Committee from 1978-1989.
THE MILLSTONE DIARIES 
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