This is kind of fun. Maybe Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy is crazy like a fox, no? If he can’t wear you out, he’ll wait you out.

A couple of days ago I posted about how McCarthy had gotten the framework for a debt ceiling bill banged out with his fractious bunch of coconuts. In a speech given at the New York Stock Exchange, the Speaker put forth the meat of the GOP proposals, said they would have a bill to vote on “in weeks,” and, again, asked the president to please meet in good faith negotiations.

The answer was the classic Democrat MAGA MAGA MAGA boilerplate from both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and the White House toadie they rolled out to talk to the press, as POTATUS had called a 9 a.m. lid that day.

It’s been quite a while since Biden met with McCarthy over something he supposedly finds so critical.

For 77 days, President Biden has ignored the impending debt ceiling crisis.

Instead of leaving town today to give a speech, Biden should sit down with me, find agreement, and avoid the prospect of his administration bumbling into the first default in our nation’s history.

— Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) April 19, 2023

Joe Manchin ripped Biden up and gave McCarthy props for continuing to work on a solution that would both raise the ceiling and start to peel back the out-of-control spending that’s been indulged too much and too often.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) blasted President Biden on Thursday for refusing to negotiate with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) over the nation’s fast-approaching debt ceiling crisis — while praising the Republican leader for putting out a proposal to cut federal spending.

“While it is reasonable to sincerely disagree with any specific debt ceiling approach, we will achieve a historic default, and the economic whirlwind which follows, if President Biden continues to refuse to even negotiate a reasonable and commonsense compromise,” Manchin, 75, said in a statement.

“To that end, I applaud Speaker McCarthy for putting forward a proposal that would prevent default and rein in federal spending,” he added. “While I do not agree with everything proposed, the fact of the matter is that it is the only bill actually moving through Congress that would prevent default.”

Up to that point there hadn’t been anything much heard from members of the Democratic side of the House, as if they preferred to let the Senate and President do battle for them. But McCarthy’s doggedness and the vocal support of his caucus, even when they don’t agree on every aspect yet, seems to be having an effect on Democratic unity.

There’s some squirming starting.

…Most attention so far has been on House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s perilous effort to unite his fractious party and preserve his tiny majority. But the White House and top Democrats are insisting that they won’t engage with McCarthy’s demand for sweeping spending cuts in exchange for the House agreeing to lift the government’s borrowing limit to avert a disastrous debt default and a possible financial crisis this summer.

The administration’s logic is that if hostage takers get concessions they will just demand more.

But the first signs of skittishness are emerging among some Democrats on Capitol Hill in a worrying sign for the administration ahead of tense weeks that could define Biden’s domestic legacy and decide whether McCarthy can keep his slender grip on power.

Dem house types have even used the “negotiate” word in public.

…Several House Democrats on Thursday expressed the hope that the president would negotiate with McCarthy. Their concerns appeared to undermine Biden’s position and raised new questions about how long his reluctance to bargain can be sustained.

“I think Joe Biden should be talking to Kevin McCarthy, even if those conversations right now prove nothing productive,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz, a freshman Florida Democrat, told CNN’s Manu Raju. Michigan Democratic Rep. Debbie Dingell warned: “We have to get this figured out,” adding, “The United States cannot default.”

And they’re right. It doesn’t look good for the basement dweller to hide out from one of his main responsibilities as president – keeping the country running. It’s even worse when his administration isn’t doing all that great a job of it and Dems in the House know it.

SHOCK: Despite (or perhaps because of) Democrat tax hikes, tax revenues are down a shocking 35% from last year. The shortfall means the US will run out of money far sooner than previously estimated making Biden’s refusal to negotiate an increase in the debt ceiling even more… pic.twitter.com/shyvkONR6N

— @amuse (@amuse) April 21, 2023

NOW they’re worried about what the American people might think – that perhaps Biden’s making a bad impression – so panic time!

…But a growing contingent of Democrats are acknowledging that Biden’s blanket refusal to engage with McCarthy may need to change — especially if House Republicans manage to pass their bill as planned next week.

Should McCarthy accomplish that step, several House Democrats said this week that Biden would need to meet with the speaker. Not doing so, they worry, could make it appear to voters that the White House isn’t working with requisite urgency on an issue with potentially drastic economic consequences.

“They’ve got to do it soon,” Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.), a close White House ally, said of a Biden-McCarthy sitdown, adding that while she believes there will ultimately be a clean debt-ceiling increase, the administration “can’t keep waiting.”

Democratic lawmakers have already pressed that point in private, according to two people close to the discussions, urging the White House to lay out plans to meet with McCarthy for fear that public opinion would turn against the party. And swing-seat lawmakers stressed there’s no harm in starting a conversation, even as they all oppose McCarthy’s opening bid.

I WANNA KEEP MY CUSHY JOB WAAH

Even Congressional Democrats know Biden is WRONG for refusing to negotiate with us on the debt ceiling.

America’s fiscal future is simply too important. https://t.co/mOA5YWzA7w pic.twitter.com/NdcJ0TPxia

— Congressman Byron Donalds (@RepDonaldsPress) April 21, 2023

It’s pretty funny. They’re gonna have a whale of a time coordinating naps and Delaware weekends with the White House to get POTATUS free for an hour with McCarthy.

They’d better start now.