Allahpundit talked about Pelosi’s real motivations for shooting down the relief package and having Democrats come up with one of their own last night. If you hadn’t already come to the same conclusion yourself, it will seem immediately obvious when you read it. This is the old rule about never letting a perfectly good crisis go to waste. And when you know that virtually the entire mainstream media will provide cover for you, what have you got to lose?

But at least the Speaker is attempting to be a little bit low key about it. Others have been blunter. The best example would be James Clyburn, who, as we recently learned, came right out and described the coronavirus pandemic as, “a tremendous opportunity to restructure things to fit our vision.” The gall of these people defies description.

Getting back to the insanity of the proposal being put forward by the Democrats, have you seen the laundry list of liberal dream initiatives that are being demanded as ransom before Pelosi and company agree to help all of the people being put out of work by the pandemic? Fox News provided a partial list and it’s jaw-dropping.

The bill proposed by Pelosi, D-Calif., additionally seeks to eliminate debt held by the U.S. Postal Service, require same-day voter registration, pay off $10,000 in student debt per person, mandate that airlines reduce their overall carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050, and force federal agencies to explain to Congress how they are increasing their usage of “minority banks.” And, the legislation would provide for the automatic extension of nonimmigrant visas and restrict colleges from providing information about citizenship status “People are dying and all Nancy Pelosi and Democrats can focus on is ripping off the American taxpayer to help pay for their liberal wish list of government handouts,” National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) spokesman Michael McAdams said in a statement.

Wait. We’re going to forgive the debt held by the U.S. Postal Service? Does anyone think that people struggling for breath without a ventilator are losing sleep over same-day voter registration or getting $10,000 knocked off of their student debt? The airlines are in the process of laying off most of their workforce, but you want to include a demand that they reduce their overall carbon emissions by 50 percent?

If you don’t mind us asking, what in the Sam Hill does any of this have to do with ending the pandemic and making sure everyone doesn’t lose their homes because the economy is shut down?

Oh, and there were even more liberal goodies buried in there. There’s a provision to require a labor union representative on every airline’s board of directors. And the bill would permanently raise the minimum wage to $15 for any business that receives federal aid for COVID-19. (Credit where due, the Democrats finally got around to at least mentioning COVID-19 in the minimum wage section.)

Again… this has nothing to do with coronavirus relief. None of it. This is a note from a kidnapper holding your future hostage. And as I was writing this at around 6:30 Tuesday morning, the talking heads on CNN are praising everyone involved for being “willing to spend some money to stop the economy from falling off of a cliff.” Not one word is being said about the progressive demands having absolutely nothing to do with saving the economy or ending the epidemic that festoon this garbage bill like a Christmas tree.

And why did the original bill fail to reach cloture? Was it Democratic obstruction and hostage-taking? Not according to CNN. It was a bipartisan failure to agree on the underlying principles. As if we weren’t already being pushed close enough to the edge. Watching the cable news networks provide cover for Pelosi and her gang of thugs has me ready to throw something through my television screen. And I’ve already been through two TVs in the past six months.