Politico to go: Kamtzas and other parties

In a few days we observe the fast of Tisha B’Av, mourning the loss of the two Jerusalem Temples. The Talmud tells us the cause of the Second Temple’s destruction was senseless hatred and political insults. A man threw a party and intended to invite his good friend Kamtza. His servant erred, mistakenly invited the host’s enemy, Bar Kamtza. This led to the insulting of Bar Kamtza, his slandering of the Jewish people to Caesar, and Bar Kamtza’s wounding of an animal Caesar sent to the Temple as a peace offering. The sacrifice was rejected as unfit, which Caesar took as a political insult and rebellious move so he invaded, resulting in the destruction of the Holy Temple.
The story of the Kamtzas is apropos for Tisha B’Av but should also be a warning for America following two months of a debt ceiling debate riddled with personal insult and hateful rhetoric.
Despite the insults, the compromise deal gives a political victory for some and more importantly has the potential to result in victory for America, provided that our leadership consider this a starting point.
The big winner in the debate is the tea party movement. As recently as June 22nd the Democratic Party was talking about a new stimulus package, that conversation is long gone. The tea party movement switched the debate from “spending vs. cutting,” to “how much should be cut and/or from where.” Major tea party demands going into the talks were achieved.
Speaker Boehner and Minority Leader McConnell were also winners. They held to the no new taxes pledge despite rumors they had folded. Boehner gets more credit as he was the face of the opposition, took all the heat, and showed himself willing to compromise not only with Democrats but with his own coalition, to make a deal happen.
All polls reflected a public demand for the two sides to play nice, but the progressive strategy ignored the public will. They tried to falsely brand the tea party movement as evil, stubborn terrorists whose only desire was to push granny off a cliff and ride their private jets to the yacht club.