On PoliticsNation Monday, Rep. George Miller accused congressional Republicans of sabotaging the American economy in order to deny President Obama a second term.
"I don't think there's any question," the veteran California Democrat told Rev. Al Sharpton. "They are absolurely purposely trying to keep the recovery from continuing to grow."
Even in these polarized times, it's rare for lawmakers to accuse each other quite that plainly of seeking to harm the interests of the American people for political gain. But Miller said there's plenty of evidence to support that take.
Miller pointed to Speaker John Boehner's recent threat that his party might once again refuse to raise the U.S. debt limit—consequences to the economy be damned. As Miller noted, after the GOP pulled that stunt last summer, America lost its triple A credit rating, and consumer confidence took a major hit.
"A year later, it's not a coincidence that they've decided to reignite that discussion around the debt limit," Miller said. "They're engaged in sabotage of the recovery of the American economy."
As additional evidence, Miller cited House Republicans' refusal to act on a bipartisan highway bill that passed the Senate in March, and would bolster spending on infrastructure projects.
"What they're seeking to do is to deny the American workers those jobs this construction season," Miller declared. "Those jobs would be on the streets today."
"This is a conscious decsion that this president will have no successes," Miller concluded.
It's hard not to agree. As Steve Benen noted last week over at The Maddow Blog, May's dismal jobs numbers were in part the result of Republicans' flat refusal to act on any of the jobs proposals that President Obama put forward last fall.
For Republicans, the strategy of utter intransigence appears to be working nicely—indeed, it's the main thing keeping Mitt Romney almost neck-and-neck in the polls right now. But for Americans as a whole, the results aren't quite as positive.