This week we saw the logical, albeit unseemly outcome of the Republican obstructionist strategy as one man held the entire nation hostage.  Sen. Jim Bunning R-KY, an odd, quirky, bitter little man stalled for days a 30 day extension of unemployment benefits to millions of Americans.  Finally, The Senate on Tuesday passed a $10 billion measure to maintain unemployment benefits and provide stopgap funding for highway programs which had come to a screeching halt thanks to Bunning.  Tuesday's extension of the expired program will also give Congress time to pass a yearlong fix.
I find several things interesting about this stunt Bunning pulled.

The first is Bunning’s hypocrisy.  Bunning pretended to be taking a stand for fiscal responsibility but is a hypocrite:

·    He voted against pay-as-you-go spending rules and against the establishment of a deficit commission. 
·    He has also, in the past, voted for the extension of unemployment benefits that are financed in the same way as this measure that he’s objecting to
·    He voted for tax cuts for the wealthy which wasn’t paid for
·    He voted for two wars which weren’t paid for.

The second thing I find interesting is how Senate Democrats were taken completely off guard by this act of callousness.  Hadn’t they witnessed every initiative proposed by this administration stalled by the Republicans?  Hadn’t they peeped at the Republican memo that states from now on their strategy is to holdup, stall, lie about and attempt to kill every proposal that comes from the administration?  Hadn’t they bore witness to the loud, anti-democratic blowhards of the Tea Party movement as they provided Republicans an excuse to further attempt to gum up the democratic process?  I guess not.  Perhaps they should, along with their leader, be made to sit in a room while someone plays back the events of the past year.  I personally volunteer to gather the footage and replay these events for them.
And what of the Bunning’s fellow Republicans…? 

At first, Republicans didn’t seem to know whether to pat Bunning on the back or to condemn him. After all he was opposing something that the President supported and isn’t that the most important thing – not the millions of unemployed, not federal highway workers, not a 21% cut in Medicare payment to doctors Bunning’s delay act caused.  Sen. Cornyn of R-TX, went out of his way to praise his colleague and said he understood.
On the other hand, stupidity has its cost and some of his fellow Republicans like, Sen. Susan Collins R-ME, began to see that this stupid act reflected poorly on the entire Republican Party.  When asked Tuesday if Bunning was hurting the Republican Party, Collins said, “He's hurting the American people.” 

But is Bunning just a Republican whipping boy?  After all, he was fulfilling the Republican Party mantra of delay and obstruct at any cost (that is at least troops can arrive after the midterm elections).  I say this bitter, mean-spirited horse’s hiney read the memo and took it to heart.  How then can any Republican condemn him for it?  Why then should any Democrat have been surprised by it?  Why should Democrats expect any other outcome when they and their leader act as if bi-partisanship is a means to an end?

The reality is that bi-partisanship is simply one way of achieving legislative goals.  It is not necessarily the goal in and of itself.  The President is paralyzed as he waits for his kumbaya, pie-in-the-sky moment with the Republicans that will never come.  (For example, even after the spectacle of the Healthcare summit, the President a few days ago said he would still be open to leaving Republican proposals in the Healthcare bill.)

Imagine what will happen if, as a result of the midterm elections, a bunch of Bunnings proceed to stall the country in the way this Bunning did.  I say that his fellow Republicans will be emboldened by this outrageous stunt.  I say that we have gotten a mere taste of what is to come.  I say that if the ranks of the Republicans party are increased after the midterm elections, as everyone thinks they will be, then the paralysis, the damage caused by Bunning will seem trite in comparison.  Wait for it cause it’s coming.