Starving the beast

MANIFESTO

Steve Benen points out this morning that "Republican officials are slowly chipping away at the ability of our institutions to function," and nowhere is this more apparent than in their obstruction to a jobs bill with $10 billion to save school teachers' jobs.

Because the bill would add $5 billion to the deficit, the now deficit-panicked GOP will never vote for it. Of course, as Benen points out, "If it were tax cuts or Pentagon spending, $5 billion would be considered a rounding error."

And so, situations like this continue, while the Republic twists slowly, slowly in the wind.

Meanwhile, for those of us in Connecticut who have the good fortune to actually possess jobs, the future doesn't look too bright, either.