How The Democrats Could Have Avoided Caving In To The Republicans And Their Wild Attacks On The Poor

They could have passed a budget on time (or at all) last year.

There is no FY2011 budget for the United States, thanks to a deliberate dereliction of duty by the Pelosi / Reid legislature. All of the talk of a government shutdown that is going on now would have been avoided, had they executed their primary job - passing an annual budget. Now they're "caving in" to Republicans.

Senate Democrats conceded Tuesday that House Republicans won round one of the budget fight, but they are vowing a bigger battle later this month ...

(L)iberals worry that Democratic leaders will roll over and accept another deal on Republican terms in an attempt to bolster the reelection chances of vulnerable incumbents in red states.

They fear a reprise of last December when Obama and Republican leaders agreed to a tax-cut deal that was widely panned by the left.

By and large, GOP leaders want to keep negotiating short-term deals as part of a strategy to put pressure on Democrats and win concessions such as they did this week.

If they'd just passed a budget, they wouldn't be fighting to protect their favorite programs' funding in continuing resolutions now. Pathetic.