THE RIGHT IS THE LEFT:

[W]hat is the first order of business now in the Ways and Means Committee of Paul Ryan and Senate Finance Committee of Orrin Hatch?

"The first thing we ought to do," says Ryan, "is pass trade promotion authority." Trade promotion authority, or "fast track," is a synonym for Congress's surrender of all rights to amend trade treaties, and a commitment to confine itself to a yes or no vote on whatever deal Obama brings home.

Watching the GOP's reversion to form calls to mind the term the neocons gave the French for refusing to join Bush II's big march to Baghdad: "cheese-eating surrender monkeys." With the huge Trans-Pacific Partnership in negotiations, Obama wants Boehner and McConnell to agree in advance not to tamper with it. "Hands off!" he demands. If this GOP agrees to this, it will, in its first great decision, be engaging in an act self-castration.

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