Fundamentally Unserious

Facing an astronomical national debt and a potential sovereign debt crisis, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader actually complained that a GOP bill would result in the end of a cowboy poetry festival.  According to Politico (full article here:  Save the Cowboy Poets!):

“The mean-spirited bill, H.R. 1 … eliminates the National Endowment of the Humanities, National Endowment of the Arts,” said Reid. “These programs create jobs. The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist.”


Of course, one could argue that Reid was complaining about the fact that Republicans want to eliminate the NEH altogether and illustrating some of the good works of the program.  Even accepting that, the argument speaks volumes about the mindset of Democrats generally.  You are simply not a fundamentally serious person if in a budget environment like this, cowboy poetry is on your radar screen.  That is the lowest of the low fruit, and when you can't even muster the will to take that on, what hope is there that you could ever address Medicare, Social Security, or the Defense Budget?  


What is even more striking is that the Republicans are not riding this like the gift that it is.  There are many ways a budget battle can be perceived -- ask Newt Gingrich.  If Republicans end up looking like the group that wants to protect the rich by balancing the budget on the backs of the poor, they will have no one to blame but themselves.  Between the President's inaction on the budget and statements like this, Republicans have a golden opportunity to seize the mantle as the party of the grown ups that is willing to get serious.  The independent voter will view a party that defends cowboy poetry as not ready for prime time.  But there is a lot of noise out there, so how many independent voters will even remember this in six months, much less two years?  


Republicans should use this as a point of derision every day for the next month and should continue bringing it up as long as Reid is the Majority Leader.  They literally can't bring it up enough because it's that bad.  It sums up their contrasting world views in a way that voters can really understand.