You Gotta Give It To Republicans

I'm no natural fan of either party based on their representation in Washington, though I certainly align myself with more conservative principles, which is generally aligned with Republican stated values/goals. I say stated because they've tended to drift from that path considerably over past years.

That being said, they have just played a deft move regarding Cash for Clunkers (or CARS). As you may or may not know, the program is being reviewed in the Senate for continued funding. They're looking to expand it by 2 billion and it looked yesterday like it was full steam ahead. However, a new amendment proposed by Tom Harkin (D-IA) is throwing it for a loop. Ironically enough, it is playing right into the Republicans' hands. Let me explain.

Harkin's amendment wants to limit participation in the program to those earning $50,000 or less; basically making the program a low-income handout. In ordinary world, Republicans would oppose based on conservative principles and Democrats would approve based on social justice principles. However, in this case it's exactly the opposite. Republicans are totally in favor of this, but Democrats are opposed to it because they don't want any amendments. Amendments at this point would mean a new vote in the House, and the House is adjourned for August. They won't be back for weeks. If the Dems throw their weight behind this, it will pass and they will have to suspend the program until the House can re-adjourn and vote. They don't want that, so they have to oppose the amendment in order to keep the program alive *now* rather than *later*. However, by doing that, the Republicans are the champions of the poor and the Democrats come off looking like they don't care about the poor.

I don't know who came up with this plan, but it's frickin' brilliant, politically speaking. I doubt Harkin is in on it because he has always been for the program, even months ago, and even then was talking about it being able to help the poor. However he is against rushed votes and regrets TARP and the like. It doesn't really matter, and while I don't approve of political games at the expense of citizens, I don't feel any citizen is being maligned by continuance of this program. Perhaps cooler heads can prevail after a month of recess.