Democrats About to Overplay Their Hand, Need to Listen to Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”
February 23, 2011 4 Comments
As virtually everyone is aware at this point, the House Democrats have fled the state to avoid voting on the Right to Work bill. The road trip to Illinois was part two of the now three-day standstill in the House chambers. Democrats killed the Right to Work bill by not adopting committee reports by midnight last night so you probably thought things would get back to normal today.
Not so.
Late Tuesday night, the Democrats said they will not come back to session until a commitment is made not to attempt to bring the Right to Work legislation back and the vouchers bill is dumped as well. This is where the House Democrats begin to overplay the hand they were dealt.
With the Governor saying for months that Right to Work was too controversial for this session, Democrats had some cover in saying the legislation was extreme and killing the bill even if it meant a walkout. Extending their demands to the voucher bill, however, was not a smart move. The Governor is committed to education reform and the Democrats will begin to look like greedy children.
In addition to all this, the budget is on the same time constraints as the voucher bill. Staying away long enough to kill the voucher bill will also in all likelihood kill the House’s structurally balanced budget bill AND 23 other bills that have nothing to do with this squabble. Add those to the estimated 21 bills that were killed yesterday and the House Republicans have some serious ammunition.
Governor Daniels took some heat yesterday on the interwebs for not pushing harder on the Right to Work bill. It is misguided criticism but we’re sure he did not appreciate it. House Democrats may be handing him an opportunity to show the nation the temper that they did not see yesterday. It may not be wise to wake a sleeping giant.
Who knows what will happen in the next 24 hours but we’d say the House Dems may want to take a listen to Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”. They’ve walked away. They’ve run. It might be time to fold ‘em.
The “sleeping giant” should not have to be awakened. He shouldn’t have been asleep to begin with. Wimps don’t make good presidents.
He isn’t a wimp–he said it is a debate that should be had but the time was not this session. Mitch Daniels was standing up to unions before it was cool. Seriously, you should read this post:
http://www.capitolandwashington.com/articles/state-politics/daniels-takes-heat-for-caving-to-labor
How do you guys see this in relationship to the Mayors / CCC race? Will there be blowback on the Ds? because of this? Will their actions cause the candidates harm?
Local D’s are bragging that the walkout will strengthen their chances for CCC and Mayor’s race. I find that very hard to believe. Fleeing the state and avoiding coming to work and doing the job taxpayers pay them to do cannot be viewed in a positive light.
I think GOP/media needs to press Melina for a comment.