And the Republicans stand for what, exactly?

It's been a revealing day, I guess.

First off, we all learned that Rob Portman, the conservative Republican who spent most of last year campaigning for Mitt Romney, has decided he's in favor of marriage equality, and all it took was learning that the issue personally affects his son, who is gay.

We also learned something important about other Republicans.

You might have seen the story in the New Yorker about Paul Cantor, the nasty piece of work in charge of the Republicans in the House (actually, he's only Number Two, but he doesn't take a back seat to anyone in being a nasty little prick).

What I thought was very striking was this line about Ramesh Ponnuru: He argued that too many voters believe that the Party’s economic agenda helps nobody except rich people and big business.

Read more: http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/03/04/130304fa_fact_lizza#ixzz2Nf7re15Z

Wait. "Too many voters believe"? So they believe they have an image problem? Well yes, that's exactly what Cantor believes. Or, as he explained it with an analogy to Domino's Pizza, when Domino's realized their problem was that their pizza sucked they decided to fix it so it wouldn't suck so bad.

If the Republican Party is the pizza, here's Cantor's solution:


Since the 2012 elections, the Republicans have been divided between those who believe their policies are the problem and those who believe they just need better marketing—between those who believe they need to make better pizza and those who think they just need a more attractive box. Cantor, who is known among his colleagues as someone with strategic intelligence and a knack for political positioning, argues that it’s the box.

Maybe today was the day for the new box, and what better packaging to prove that people are wrong, that the Republicans are not just for the rich people and big business. The vote was to increase the federal minimum wage, surely an opportunity to show whether the Republicans are purely on the side of rich people and big business.

227 Republicans voted against raising the minimum wage. How many voted in favor of it? Well, that would be none. Zero. The Republicans were unanimous in opposing an increase in the minimum wage.

Where's that new pizza box?

And using Rob Portman as an example, I guess we know that none of the Congressional Republicans have kids trying to live on minimum wage.

Finally!

Those of us who have been wanting to see Obama show some fight have to be happy tonight.

I wish I'd blogged this at the time, but it really is true that when I heard about the deal Obama cut with McConnell to extend the Bush tax cuts last year the first thing I thought to myself was, "I hope he got an increase in the debt ceiling as part of the deal."

Well, as we now know, he didn't, and we are now being held hostage by Republican terrorists.

But if the press reports are accurate, today's the day Obama decided to stop negotiating with terrorists.

Here's what he reportedly said at today's meeting with Cantor, McConnell, and the other Republicans:

"I have reached the point where I say enough," Obama told the leaders, according to the account. "Would Ronald Reagan be sitting here? I've reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I will not yield on this."

He's right. Enough is enough.

It will be very interesting to see what happens at their meeting tomorrow.