Politics: But We?re Superinnocent

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Politics But We're Superinnocent The surest sign that Republicans killed the supercommittee is their continued insistence that they didn't. By David Weigel Posted Tuesday, Nov 29, 2011, at 11:55 PM ET If you think that political leaders can't link arms and get things done, you haven't been watching the aftermath of the supercommittee. Sure, the 12-member team of rivals never came up with a deficit-shrinking plan. Its existence cheapened the prefix "super" more than anything since Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. But when the Gang of 12 died, the six Republicans who killed it formed a new pact: They would tell the history of the superfailure and the debt crisis the way it should be remembered. Oh, that embarrassing slapstick collapse? It was the other side's fault. Democrats absorbed the collapse and moved right along. After issuing a statement and giving a punchy press conference, respectively, Sens. Patty Murray and John Kerry basically stopped talking about it. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, co-chairman of the committee, signed off on the statement immediately before the Wall Street Journal published his woe-is-us op-ed. "Republicans were willing to agree to additional tax revenue," he wrote, "but only in the context of fundamental pro-growth tax reform." Alas. "The Democrats said no. They were unwilling to agree to anything less than $1 trillion in tax hikes—and unwilling to offer any structural reforms to put our health-care entitlements on a permanently sustainable basis." Three days later, Hensarling combined his powers with his five Republican cohorts; all six of them published an op-ed (this time in the Washington Post) blaming failure on the Democrats' wanting "$1 trillion in tax hikes." This week, as they returned ... To continue reading, click here. Join the Fray: our reader discussion forum What did you think of this article? POST A MESSAGE | READ MESSAGES Also In Slate Proof That Republicans Sabotaged the Supercommittee: They Keep Insisting They Didn't Humans Should Build a Beacon so Aliens Can Find Us. Here's How We Can Do It. Joke Thief Carlos Mencia Is Making a Comeback, but It's Hard To Cheer for Him	Advertisement
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