GOP Rep. Mary Bono Mack: Holidays Are 'Tough Time For Politicians'

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Over the past several weeks, political talk on cable news has devolved into a cup of full of Yahtzee' dice etched with the same rotation of fiscal cliff boilerplate ' Republicans gutting social safety net programs, Republicans being willing to raise taxes without calling it raising taxes, Republicans failing to come up with more than one synonym for 'not serious,' Republicans trying desperately to unsail the Obamacare ship, President Obama coolly checking his watch ' shaken up and thrown down for the viewer's enjoyment, so any deviation from those scripts is a welcome change of pace. On Monday morning's Starting Point, Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) provided such a distraction when she opined that the holidays, marred by uncertainty for 98% of Americans, are a 'tough time for politicians.'

Host Soledad O'Brien endured something of a Mack attack Monday morning, when she was joined by Rep. Mary Bono Mack and Rep. Connie Mack (R-FL) for a discussion of the ongoing fiscal cliff negotiations.

'You're surrounded, Soledad,' Rep. Bono Mack joked.

'I'm used to it on this show!' Soledad responded.

O'Brien then asked both Representatives what chance they thought there was for a deal before year's end.

'I think, first of all, the timing of this probably couldn't be worse for negotiation purposes from our perspective, to some degree,' Rep. Bono Mack said. 'Right before the holidays, which is a tough time for politicians anyway. In some terms we feel like it's light years between now and the new year. It's really not. It's right around the corner.'

As tough as life is for members of Congress, millions of Americans might find a hard time sympathizing with a body that refuses to even vote on a bill, already passed by the Senate, that would extend tax cuts for 98% of them. President Obama has a pen all ready to sign it, and that shouldn't eat up too many of the 28 days that remain until the fiscal cliff arrives.

Rep. Connie Mack then offered the tried-and-true wisdom that 'It is the same people negotiating the same deal all over again. And so when you get into that ' what is the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result?'

No, actually, that's not the definition of insanity, no matter how many times you say that same thing over and over again. Please stop.

Then, out came those Yahtzee dice. 'We'll find revenue, but not through tax increases,' check. 'We'll make spending cuts to programs that the government and the people of this country don't need, don't want, don't deserve,' and that Republicans can't speak out loud. Check. 'Affordable Care Act.' Yahtzee!

Just when my eyes were almost too welled-up over sadness at the holiday hardships of the U.S. Congress, though, Rep. Mack (Connie) threw a curveball. After promising not to raise taxes himself, Mack said 'This is where leadership counts.'

Oh, God, here it comes. 'And so Speaker Boehner needs to work with the conference to find Republicans that are willing to go along with that.'

That, I'm pretty sure, is a new one. I'm still trying to figure out if that translates to 'raising taxes is the wrong thing, so Boehner better do it,' or 'raising taxes is the right thing, so the ell with that,' or both, but I'm pretty sure it's the definition of insanity.

Here's the clip, from Starting Point:

• It's lovely for both Macks that we will have plenty of time to enjoy the company of one another. Even if they're both too superficial to have an intelligent conversation with a third grader. Still, they probably challenge one another. It's good for the American people that they have this time together as well.

• yeah it must be horrible. They actually work less than 200 days a year legislatively. The rest is spend fundraising while collecting a hefty salary plus benefits.

  she is right, it must be really hard ' says a woman, who's nepotism helped her get elected.

• and yet no mention of the House bill that the Senate and Harry Reid are sitting on TC'..how accurate of you..lol