I will not vote for you if you vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid. Period. I have never voted for a Republican and I doubt I ever will, but I will not vote for you if you vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid. The president won't draw a line in the sand, but I will.
I won't accept parsing and clever phrasing and nuancing the difference between a cut and a slash. We all know better. And I just want each of you to know: I will not vote for you if you vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid. Period.
I also want each of you to know that the Supreme Court will prevent me from taking such a hard line against the president himself, as I am generally pleased with his two appointees, and think we can't afford to have any more GOP appointees. So the pressure is on you: I will not vote for you if you vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid. Period.
I will close with the words of Andrew Leonard:
The realpolitik of the situation is that in this game of debt ceiling poker, the Republican bluff has yet to be called. Time is getting tight, but we're still a ways from a crisis. And not only is the bond market not yet freaking out, but GOP hardliners also have no reason to believe that Obama will play his hand to the limit. So why should they compromise? Obama is very likely to decide that it would be the height of folly to risk "the full faith and credit" of the United States in a showdown over the debt ceiling. He has huge economic incentives to make a deal. Meanwhile, the longer House Republicans can successfully pretend that they are willing to go over the debt limit precipice, the better the ransom they can extort.
That may change if enough political heat is generated. And if we want to be optimistic, maybe it's possible that the events of the past few days could start focusing the nation's attention on exactly who it is in Washington that is behaving most irresponsibly. Much as it made progressives nervous, Obama's offer to put big cuts in Social Security and Medicare on the table did expose how shallow House Republican allegiance is to making a meaningful difference in the budget deficit.
But it's going to take more than rhetorical gestures and "grand bargain" offers to get House Republicans to crack. Ultimately, the only way I can see for Obama to win this battle is to go over the precipice himself.
The president clearly won't go over that precipice and call the GOP bluff. It's up to you. And I will not vote for you if you vote to cut Social Security, Medicare and/or Medicaid. Period.
[UPDATE] Via slinkerwink, here is the Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121. Call. Let them know how you feel.
[UPDATE 2] A suggestion from Pager:
Folks need to call their Senator and Representatives regional offices, not just the ones in DC.
Local offices tend to be more responsive and let's face it, they get nervous when their phones start ringing off the hook because they don't normally see as much action as the DC office does.