But here's what Greg said on Tuesday:
Senate Republican aides are hoping that the letter doesn’t amass more than 50 signatures, since presumably most GOPers who do sign it are likely to vote No on the McConnell proposal. Walsh’s goal is to get more than 100 signatures on the letter, which would be a major statement of opposition to the McConnell plan in the House and would raise doubts about whether it can pass.
Well, Rep. Walsh apparently has got 80 signatures...and counting.
Greg does the math here:
If the letter does get around 100 signatories, that would mean there are around 140 remaining Republicans. Even if all of them voted for the plan, that would mean you’d need roughly another 80 House Dems. That is probably gettable, though it may be difficult, given all the noise Dems are suddenly making against the proposal. One Dem aide tells me the question of how many Dems will support it turns heavily on the complexion of the $1.5 trillion in cuts that would be packaged with the McConnell proposal.
That all sounds pretty ominous. But it’s also possible, as Senate GOP and Dem aides are hoping, that there will be a drop dead moment of terror next week that will, shall we say, persuade people to rethink their positions a bit.
This would be the same Joe Walsh who...ahem...distinguished himself on Hardball yesterday:
Hell, even I don't know how big the U.S. Economy is...
...oh, that's right. I'm not an elected Congressman, trying to scold the rest of the country into ending entitlement programs, while keeping all the tax cuts for my true constituency, rich folks and corporations.
