The Sundquist trap/ "Just say no!"

Bredesen is kicking it up a level on his attempt to dodge hard decisions and shift the blame to Ramsey and the Republicans.

It looks as if Ramsey may be taking the bait.

Bad political move.

It is the governors job to propose a balanced budget. By throwing out a bunch of unpopular tax proposals and then saying if you don't like taxes then you have to come up with your own budget. Well, that is passing the buck.

It is the bosses job to make the hard decisions. Bresesen can't say "The buck stops with the other guy". People are not going to buy it. No matter what he says.


If Phil no longer wants to be the top guy he should step down as governor. I am sure Ramsey would be happy to step up even at this late hour and make the hard decisions. Since I doubt Phil would do that, to turn the political tide back on Bredesen, Ramsey should say "Give us the no new taxes, no rainey day fund raided budget and we will fix it from there."

If Bredesen comes back with a terrible plan, Ramsey will look good for fixing it, for saving jobs or whatever. If it is OK but has some hard cuts in it then they can pass it, but the "bad" in it will still be from Bredesen.

Politically every time Ramsey Just says "No!" to taxes he wins. If Bredesen brings up 10 tax increases and Ramsey puts the now famous boots down on all of them he will grow in popularity for his governors race. Every time he says "No!", the people will say "Yes!" to his campaign.

In political warfare the longer Ramsey holds out the better his campaign will do. He will be in the headlines for fighting taxes and/or saving jobs for weeks. Either way he wins. He will only lose if he comes up with his own no new taxes budget first. Then it will all be his fault.