(unpolished rant. which means the facts are probably shaky, even though the emotions are running high. be warned).
guess who called my house RIGHT after Obama finished his speech? the RNC. no lie. asking for money :D we gave them an earful instead. get to work already, congress. and can someone please get those freshmen republicans to see reason? good grief. what’s the whip doing anyway? the way i see it, the compromise that’s needed is ideological. but congress, dear people in both parties in both houses, you are going to have to do it. you’re going to have give in on some things. a lot of things, probably. yes, the debt ceiling will have to be raised. yes, cuts will have to be made. and not just to the wealthiest 2% of americans. if you don’t find a way to give a little, the repercussions will be huge, terrible, and you’ll be blamed (make no mistake about that). do i need to find you a therapist?
i also have a message for the pain-in-my-party’s-butt freshmen republicans: hi, welcome to america which is a republic. you’re a republican, for crying out loud. stop acting like you think this is a direct democracy. just because your constituents tell you they don’t want compromise doesn’t mean you have to be stupid enough to think lawmaking is possible without it. this is what will happen if you don’t compromise: someone else will. and you’ll get voted out anyway. because, let’s face it, standing your ground is only good when it’s not the ground sinking beneath you. if this was a moral issue, i would feel differently, but this is economic. and people’s livelihoods are at stake. stop being such show-horse politicians. learn to play nice. or seriously, you will get voted out. not by the tea party perhaps — but by moderate republicans like me who would rather you not sink the whole ship with all that (self-)righteous indignation.
david brooks (my favorite republican :)–and someone who, unlike me, understands the issues and probably has his facts straight–makes the interesting observation that congress IS working, that the white house is now on the side-lines, and that last night’s speech was basically too little too late. i mention that in a (weak) effort to be fair, and to sort of maybe give congress the benefit of the doubt. that being said, i don’t know if i can believe brooks 100% — until i see some kind of deal, nobody is off the hook…
you might as well know, i’m a 
