FOOL ME 182 TIMES, SHAME ON ME

"You've got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away and know when to run."

As E.J. Dionne says it's time for Democrats to leave the table:

That the president is fixing the Social Security reform game should be obvious. The most basic corruption of the process is the way the Republican congressional leadership has transformed the bargaining that once took place between the House and the Senate.

In the old days, when each house produced different versions of the same bill, a "conference" committee typically including members of both parties from both houses would thrash out the details and reach a compromise. Now the Republicans will concede whatever is necessary to get a bill out of the Senate, even as the lockstep-Republican House produces a right-wing version of the same proposal. In conferences, Republicans routinely freeze out all but the most pliable Democrats. The supposed "compromise" that emerges is not a compromise at all. Democrats who go along become enablers of a game being played with a stacked deck.
...
Walking away from a rigged game is hard for some people, especially when those running it and the respected opinion-makers who support them insist that this time the game will truly be on the level. But, especially when the danger involves gambling away the future of Social Security, the truly responsible thing is to leave the table.

UPDATE: Inspired by EJ, here's another whimsy (with apologies to Kenny Rogers:

THE DISSEMBLERS

On a warm spring’s evenin’ on a train bound for disaster
I watched the wheels go faster as it headed for the wreck,
And the train was filled with pigeons who kept sitting at a table
Where the dealers made decisions with a marked and sucker deck.

And the Democrats are pigeons, and Republicans the dealers
Who look out for the big-wheelers as they soak the middle class.
And the Dems just keep on sittin’ and their eyes are disbelievin’
As they watch the Bushies thievin’, and they take another pass.

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never trust no Bushie, or a Frist or Hastert neither
Should have learned that they’re deceivers who’ll see us all undone.

When the dealers come a-calling with their promises of fairness
Better keep up your awareness and doubt their every word
Be it foreign or domestic, their agenda is majestic
And it’s clear that its denouement will be a world of hurt.

You’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em,
Know when to walk away, know when to run.
You never trust no Bushie, or a Frist or Hastert either
Should have learned that they’re deceivers who’ll see us all undone.