<http://schema.org/articleBody>
" The past fortnight in American politics has been remarkable. Republicans in the Senate killed a defense bill because it contained a provision repealing Don&amp;#039;t Ask, Don&amp;#039;t Tell; were poised to kill the new START treaty; killed the 9/11 Responders bill; and were poised to let the Bush tax cuts for all Americans end rather than end the tax cuts for millionaires.  As of an hour ago, Republicans in the Senate helped pass the defense bill; helped repeal DADT; helped pass the 9/11 Responders bill; and helped extend the Bush tax cuts for all, handing a couple hundred billion dollars to the extremely wealthy and roughly twice that much to the middle class and to stimulus projects. In other words, to the Obama administration and to Democrats in general, it&amp;#039;s been a great two weeks.  And as a corollary, to Republicans it&amp;#039;s been a disaster. The temptation is to focus on the short-term optics of the situation, which will be read as total capitulation by God&amp;#039;s Own Party. But it&amp;#039;s the long-term effects of these Obama/Democratic victories that will really count. The GOP has not simply &amp;quot;gone along&amp;quot; with Democratic desires; in fact, it received significant concessions on defense and the 9/11 Responders bill. But it has compromised \u2014 and in so doing, it has frittered away one of its major bargaining chips: its insistence that the president and the Democrats are the intransigent ones. That is now demonstrably false. In a month, the House will be controlled by Republicans and the Senate will have a slim, filibuster-vulnerable Democratic majority. But the Republicans will no longer be able to claim credibly that the president and his party are the ones preventing things from happening in Washington. They have, for all the nation to see, assumed at least part ownership of that label. I think that explains shrewd tactician Lindsey Graham&amp;#039;s hissy fit over his party&amp;#039;s actions of the last week. I think it means both parties&amp;#039; extremists are on shaky ground. And I think this all bodes well for the country. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/news/a9074/12-22-2010-gop-died/>