It's Not About Labor, or Teachers, or Debt

For some of you, this post will be old news. For others, it may bring a little clarity. And I suppose for some, it will be revelational.

Here's the deal: Republicans don't care about out-of-control pensions. They don't care about ineffective teachers. They don't care about cutting government. And they sure as hell don't care about debt.

Why, then, are they attacking teachers and public workers all across the country? Why are they busting public employee unions and teacher unions? And why, after TRILLIONS of new debt under "Watch This Drive" Bush, are they NOW so concerned about debt?

Here's why -- it's about destroying the Democratic base.

Unions are a key part of the Dem coalition. If they lose members, jobs, and money, they can't raise money or turn out campaign workers for Democrats.

Teachers, too, often lean Democratic. (Probably because they usually know how to think clearly and for themselves ... but, I digress.) If teachers lose their jobs, they, too, will not be able to support Democratic candidates with money and time -- they'll be too busy saying "Welcome to Walmart."

And what is the debt cry all about? While there IS a debt problem (not a crisis ... not yet), it is Republican frugality that is driving Mitch McConnell to shake his jowls menacingly. After all, this is the party that was okay with shipping cash on pallets to Iraq.

No, it's much simpler than that: Debt is the cleaver you use to slash everything you don't like out of government, AND to cut your opposition's base off at the knees.

So, get ready -- no matter how much debt relief Obama and the Democrats offer, at the national and state and local levels -- it won't be enough. Republicans will not be happy until THEIR base is swimming in billions of loose cash that can be donated for 2012, and the Dems' base is out of work and out of options.

As my friend Jeff Noble famously says, "There's the public reason -- and the REAL reason."

So, the next time you hear a Republican leader bloviate on and on about debt, and out-of-control public workers, and those lousy teachers, just realize it's all about the Benjamins -- in THEIR re-election accounts.