The early, unconditional surrender in the House sends a message that these congressmen will throw good policy overboard at the first sign their re-election could be imperiled

◼ The GOP retreats into fear - Washington Times EDITORIAL

With a bully pulpit backed up by friends in the media, the president owns the agenda in Washington. If he can fool Republicans into voting for a tax and spending increase in return for gossamer spending reductions to take place someday, maybe in a future decade when many of the congressmen voting for it will be dead, anyway, there’s no limit to what he can do....

There may be more than mere populist politicking behind the president’s latest big idea. The unions, which don’t have to make a business work, are the No. 1 advocates of raising the minimum wage. There’s a simple reason for this. Buried in many union contracts are provisions that peg negotiated wages to the minimum wage. The collective-bargaining agreement with one particular union states that “whenever the federal legal minimum wage is increased, minimum wages … under this Agreement shall be increased so that each will be at least fifteen percent higher than such legal minimum wage.” The poorest may lose a chance to put money in their pockets, but union bosses won’t.

That might sound like a good deal to the president, but those struggling to survive his mangled economy know better. Republicans must man up when the administration increases the pressure for raising the minimum wage early in the new year. It’s a small hope, but it’s all we’ve got.

◼ Pat Caddell Slams Republicans: “They Don’t Know How To Finish The Kill!” (Video) - Nice Deb

Echoing what I have been saying since May, Caddell continued, “here’s the problem – when they have Obama on the ropes – look at Republicans! – They don’t know how to finish the kill – with him on the ropes with ObamaCare, that’s when these things would really kill him – but they surrender.”