Tuesday, August 9, 2011
THIS IS FOR THE OBAMA-BASHING LIBERALS WHO HAVEN'T TAKEN THE TIME TO READ HISTORY OR UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS PRESIDENT HAS ACCOMPLISHED
It's bad enough to read and hear the lies and misrepresentations put out by foaming-at-the muzzle extremist TPers and GOPers. But to read and listen to some liberals attack and undermine the president without understanding how government works and how FDR had to compromise with the worst elements in the Republican Party is not only disheartening but unfathomable as well.
Here's some history from Steve Benen:
"I’ve mentioned this before, but I often think about Social Security at its origins. In 1935, FDR accepted all kinds of concessions, excluding agricultural workers, domestic workers, the self-employed, the entire public sector, and railroad employees, among others. And why did the president go along with this? Because Franklin Delano Roosevelt had to cut deals with conservatives, even in his own party — many of whom were motivated by nothing more than racism — in order to get the legislation passed.
When delivering red-meat speeches in public, FDR saw his Republican critics and “welcomed their hatred.” When governing, FDR made constant concessions — even if it meant occasionally betraying his principles and some of his own supporters — in order to get something done.
[skip]
Four years into Franklin Roosevelt’s first presidential term, the worst of the Great Depression seemed behind him. Massive jolts of New Deal spending had stopped the economic slide, and the unemployment rate was cut from 22 percent to less than 10 percent.
'People felt that there was momentum,' U.S. Senate historian Donald Ritchie tells Guy Raz, host of weekends on All Things Considered. 'Finally, there was the light at the end of the tunnel.'
So Roosevelt, on the advice of his conservative Treasury Secretary Henry Morgenthau, decided to tackle the country’s exploding deficits. Over two years, FDR slashed government spending 17 percent.
'All of a sudden,' Ritchie says, 'after unemployment had been going steadily down, unemployment shot up, the economy stagnated, the stock market crashed again. And now it seemed we’d come out of the Hoover Depression to go into the Roosevelt recession.'
Similar decisions Roosevelt made about spending and austerity are being discussed at the White House right now. In the long term, both political parties say they agree that austerity is a good thing. But what about in the short term, while unemployment remains high?
In other words, today’s emo progressives would have been savagely attacking FDR the same way they’re attacking Obama now. And they would have had more grounds, between the internment of the Japanese, FDR’s initial failure to respond to the slaughter of innocents by Adolf Hitler (it was the Japanese we ultimately went to war against) and his ongoing refusal to address issues of racial segregation, lynching and discrimination against African-Americans, including in the armed forces. That and the compromises FDR accepted as part of the New Deal, including explicitly keeping racial parity out of the equation, would have made Roosevelt as great a villain to the purist progressives of today as Obama has become. And their disappointment would have been just as great.
The bottom line: Roosevelt was no less a great president — even a great liberal president. But being president requires compromises, often unpleasant ones, and there is no 'perfect' example of caution to the wind liberalism for the purists to point to. They can feel free to demonize Obama, but not with the weight of history on their side."
And to those of you who insist that President Obama shoulda/coulda advanced his liberal/progressive agenda more aggressively, here's another reality check:
Barack Obama and the myth of the progressive ‘majorities’
Monday, August 8, 2011
TEA PARTIERS CHEER AMERICA'S DOWN-GRADING (video)
These TPers in Wisconsin on Sunday were happy to hear the news and even happier to hear that S&P blames them for the debacle.
Do we need anymore evidence of their lunacy?
I've read rightwing blogs that blame Mr. Obama for the Tea Baggers' financial jihad. That's to be expected from people who are too stupid to understand that the GOP just cut off their noses to spite America's face.
If it weren't hurting Americans, I'd be laughing the loudest at their complete lack of self-awareness and the damage they've inflicted on themselves.
h/t Crooks & Liars
Politicususa has an article on how the Tea Party's hatred of President Obama has driven the GOP to humiliate America.
And this is the sort of idiocy we find on rightwing blogs. Poor things. Too immersed in their ignorance to understand how stupid this makes them looki:
LOL! h/t to Southern Beale:
Do we need anymore evidence of their lunacy?
I've read rightwing blogs that blame Mr. Obama for the Tea Baggers' financial jihad. That's to be expected from people who are too stupid to understand that the GOP just cut off their noses to spite America's face.
If it weren't hurting Americans, I'd be laughing the loudest at their complete lack of self-awareness and the damage they've inflicted on themselves.
h/t Crooks & Liars
Politicususa has an article on how the Tea Party's hatred of President Obama has driven the GOP to humiliate America.
And this is the sort of idiocy we find on rightwing blogs. Poor things. Too immersed in their ignorance to understand how stupid this makes them looki:
LOL! h/t to Southern Beale:
Sunday, August 7, 2011
A WHOPPING 72 PERCENT OF AMERICANS DISAPPROVE OF THE GOP
The usual deluded rightwing bloggers are pretending that the current debacle--America losing its triple A rating--is President Obama's fault. But those are nothing more than transparent lies they're posting on their blogs, backed up by absolutely NO evidence.
The American people have decided that Mr. Obama is to be trusted with the economy, and NOT the GOP. The American people have also unequivocally decided that the Tea Party is a destructive element of the GOP. We on the left knew this, and predicted that their slash and burn method of governance would take this country to new levels of despair. And we were right.
A commenter over at conservative pundit, David Frum's blog, had this to say:
"Granted, it is our right to “throw the bums out” in a democracy, but I’m not sure what we’ve really accomplished in recent years with this approach. The past three Congressional elections have seen 69, 29, and 37 seats change hands. Compare that to the preceding five (1996-2004): only 7, 10, 6, 5, and 11 seats changed hands in those years.
The fact that each successive election seems to produce a landslide victory for one of the two parties says something very unflattering about the state of our political system. We’re not a group of concerned citizens voting with our heads and our hearts; we’re more like an angry mob with pitchforks and flames laying waste to whatever is right in front of us, tarring and feathering today the person who was leading us yesterday.
I think what’s most telling is that even a Fox News Poll conducted last week showed that more of the responders blamed Congressional Republicans for the debt issue than President Obama.
Of course, though, every poll that gives a result you don’t like is simply biased….."
--kuri3460
kuri3460 is correct. The extremist rightwing bloggers have put blinders on and refuse to face the facts. That doesn't change the truth. It only makes them feel secure in their ignorance.
WHAT AMERICANS THINK ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE TsEA PARTY:
"A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977
More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt-ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country.
Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.
The Republicans compromised too little, a majority of those polled said. All told, 72 percent disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the negotiations
The public’s opinion of the Tea Party movement has soured in the wake of the debt-ceiling debate.
The Tea Party is now viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the public and favorably by just 20 percent, according to the poll. In mid-April 29 percent of those polled viewed the movement unfavorably, while 26 percent viewed it favorably. And 43 percent of Americans now think the Tea Party has too much influence on the Republican Party, up from 27 percent in mid-April.
The poll found that Mr. Obama was emerging from the crisis less bruised than the Republicans in Congress.
Americans said that they trusted Mr. Obama to make the right decisions about the economy more than the Republicans in Congress, by 47 percent to 33 percent."
I think all the reports of President Obama’s political death are a bit premature. Pay no attention to the dissemblers on the right who are trying to put the blame for the Tea Party's calamitous behavior on everyone else but the toxic Tea Party. Happily, the American people are not so easily duped.
MORE ON THIS DISCUSSION OVER AT "SMARTYPANTS'" BLOG.
GREAT INSIGHT INTO THE RACIAL ASPECT OF THE TEA PARTY BIGOTRY HERE.
The American people have decided that Mr. Obama is to be trusted with the economy, and NOT the GOP. The American people have also unequivocally decided that the Tea Party is a destructive element of the GOP. We on the left knew this, and predicted that their slash and burn method of governance would take this country to new levels of despair. And we were right.
A commenter over at conservative pundit, David Frum's blog, had this to say:
"Granted, it is our right to “throw the bums out” in a democracy, but I’m not sure what we’ve really accomplished in recent years with this approach. The past three Congressional elections have seen 69, 29, and 37 seats change hands. Compare that to the preceding five (1996-2004): only 7, 10, 6, 5, and 11 seats changed hands in those years.
The fact that each successive election seems to produce a landslide victory for one of the two parties says something very unflattering about the state of our political system. We’re not a group of concerned citizens voting with our heads and our hearts; we’re more like an angry mob with pitchforks and flames laying waste to whatever is right in front of us, tarring and feathering today the person who was leading us yesterday.
I think what’s most telling is that even a Fox News Poll conducted last week showed that more of the responders blamed Congressional Republicans for the debt issue than President Obama.
Of course, though, every poll that gives a result you don’t like is simply biased….."
--kuri3460
kuri3460 is correct. The extremist rightwing bloggers have put blinders on and refuse to face the facts. That doesn't change the truth. It only makes them feel secure in their ignorance.
WHAT AMERICANS THINK ABOUT THE DESTRUCTIVE TsEA PARTY:
"A record 82 percent of Americans now disapprove of the way Congress is handling its job — the most since The Times first began asking the question in 1977
More than four out of five people surveyed said that the recent debt-ceiling debate was more about gaining political advantage than about doing what is best for the country.
Nearly three-quarters said that the debate had harmed the image of the United States in the world.
The Republicans compromised too little, a majority of those polled said. All told, 72 percent disapproved of the way Republicans in Congress handled the negotiations
The public’s opinion of the Tea Party movement has soured in the wake of the debt-ceiling debate.
The Tea Party is now viewed unfavorably by 40 percent of the public and favorably by just 20 percent, according to the poll. In mid-April 29 percent of those polled viewed the movement unfavorably, while 26 percent viewed it favorably. And 43 percent of Americans now think the Tea Party has too much influence on the Republican Party, up from 27 percent in mid-April.
The poll found that Mr. Obama was emerging from the crisis less bruised than the Republicans in Congress.
Americans said that they trusted Mr. Obama to make the right decisions about the economy more than the Republicans in Congress, by 47 percent to 33 percent."
I think all the reports of President Obama’s political death are a bit premature. Pay no attention to the dissemblers on the right who are trying to put the blame for the Tea Party's calamitous behavior on everyone else but the toxic Tea Party. Happily, the American people are not so easily duped.
MORE ON THIS DISCUSSION OVER AT "SMARTYPANTS'" BLOG.
GREAT INSIGHT INTO THE RACIAL ASPECT OF THE TEA PARTY BIGOTRY HERE.
"HOW MY GOP DESTROYED THE U.S. ECONOMY" by David Stockman, Ronald Reagan's director of the OMB
The GOP's sainted president's own financial advisor, David Stockman, explains how the fiscal mismanagement of the American economy during the Reagan years brought us to this disaster.
Get it? Not "destroying." The GOP has already "destroyed" the U.S. economy, setting up an "American Apocalypse."
Yes, Stockman is equally damning of the Democrats' Keynesian policies. But what this indictment by a party insider -- someone so close to the development of the Reaganomics ideology -- says about America, helps all of us better understand how America's toxic partisan-politics "holy war" is destroying not just the economy and capitalism, but the America dream. And unless this war stops soon, both parties will succeed in their collective death wish.
But why focus on Stockman's message? It's already lost in the 24/7 news cycle. Why? We need some introspection. Ask yourself: How did the great nation of America lose its moral compass and drift so far off course, to where our very survival is threatened?
We've arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican.
Please listen with an open mind, no matter your party affiliation: This makes for a powerful history lesson, because it exposes how both parties are responsible for destroying the U.S. economy. Listen closely:
Stockman rushes into the ring swinging like a boxer: "If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation's public debt ... will soon reach $18 trillion." It screams "out for austerity and sacrifice." But instead, the GOP insists "that the nation's wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase."
In the past 40 years Republican ideology has gone from solid principles to hype and slogans. Stockman says: "Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts -- in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses too."
No more. Today there's a "new catechism" that's "little more than money printing and deficit finance, vulgar Keynesianism robed in the ideological vestments of the prosperous classes" making a mockery of GOP ideals. Worse, it has resulted in "serial financial bubbles and Wall Street depredations that have crippled our economy." Yes, GOP ideals backfired, crippling our economy.
READ THE REST OF THIS DAMNING ARTICLE ON HOW THE GOP DESTROYED OUR ECONOMY HERE.
ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- "How my G.O.P. destroyed the U.S. economy." Yes, that is exactly what David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan's director of the Office of Management and Budget, wrote in a recent New York Times op-ed piece, "Four Deformations of the Apocalypse."
Get it? Not "destroying." The GOP has already "destroyed" the U.S. economy, setting up an "American Apocalypse."
Yes, Stockman is equally damning of the Democrats' Keynesian policies. But what this indictment by a party insider -- someone so close to the development of the Reaganomics ideology -- says about America, helps all of us better understand how America's toxic partisan-politics "holy war" is destroying not just the economy and capitalism, but the America dream. And unless this war stops soon, both parties will succeed in their collective death wish.
But why focus on Stockman's message? It's already lost in the 24/7 news cycle. Why? We need some introspection. Ask yourself: How did the great nation of America lose its moral compass and drift so far off course, to where our very survival is threatened?
We've arrived at a historic turning point as a nation that no longer needs outside enemies to destroy us, we are committing suicide. Democracy. Capitalism. The American dream. All dying. Why? Because of the economic decisions of the GOP the past 40 years, says this leading Reagan Republican.
Please listen with an open mind, no matter your party affiliation: This makes for a powerful history lesson, because it exposes how both parties are responsible for destroying the U.S. economy. Listen closely:
Reagan Republican: the GOP should file for bankruptcy
Stockman rushes into the ring swinging like a boxer: "If there were such a thing as Chapter 11 for politicians, the Republican push to extend the unaffordable Bush tax cuts would amount to a bankruptcy filing. The nation's public debt ... will soon reach $18 trillion." It screams "out for austerity and sacrifice." But instead, the GOP insists "that the nation's wealthiest taxpayers be spared even a three-percentage-point rate increase."
In the past 40 years Republican ideology has gone from solid principles to hype and slogans. Stockman says: "Republicans used to believe that prosperity depended upon the regular balancing of accounts -- in government, in international trade, on the ledgers of central banks and in the financial affairs of private households and businesses too."
No more. Today there's a "new catechism" that's "little more than money printing and deficit finance, vulgar Keynesianism robed in the ideological vestments of the prosperous classes" making a mockery of GOP ideals. Worse, it has resulted in "serial financial bubbles and Wall Street depredations that have crippled our economy." Yes, GOP ideals backfired, crippling our economy.
READ THE REST OF THIS DAMNING ARTICLE ON HOW THE GOP DESTROYED OUR ECONOMY HERE.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
STANDARD AND POORS DOWNGRADES US CREDIT RATING THANKS TO THE GOP'S DEBT CEILING DEBACLE
UPDATE I: [h/t from our friend Sue of "Hello...Mr. President"]
Quote from S&P:
"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. WE HAVE CHANGED OUR ASSUMPTION ON THIS BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS CONTINUE TO RESIST ANY MEASURE THAT WOULD RAISE REVENUES [emphasis added], a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."
UPDATE II:
National Journal: ‘It’s hard to read the S&P analysis as anything other than a blast at Republicans’ | The National Journal takes a close look at the S&P decision to downgrade U.S. credit. The conclusion: “It based it on the political game of chicken over the debt ceiling, a game that Republicans initiated and pushed to the limit, and on a growing gloom about the partisan deadlock. Part of S&P’s gloom, moreover, stemmed explicitly from what a new assessment of the GOP’s ability to block any and all tax increases.” Read the full analysis here.
The GOP causes the downgrading of America's rating:
For the first time in America's history, the debt ceiling was held hostage by the GOP until it got its demands; and less than a week after the GOP's terrorist tactics, for the first time in America's history, Standard & Poors downgraded America's credit rating.
"A day after Moody's Investor Service warned that the United States's credit rating was in danger of being lowered, Standard & Poor's followed suit Thursday.
S&P, one of the three major ratings agencies, said it "has placed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America on CreditWatch with negative implications."
S&P said the move "reflects our view of two separate but related issues. The first issue is the continuing failure to raise the U.S. government debt ceiling so as to ensure that the government will be able to continue to make scheduled payments on its debt obligations. The second pertains to our current view of the likelihood that Congress and the Administration will agree upon a credible, medium-term fiscal consolidation plan in the foreseeable future."
"We still believe that the risk of a payment default on U.S. government debt obligations as a result of not raising the debt ceiling is small, though increasing," S&P said."
From the NYTimes:
"The downgrade could lead investors to demand higher interest rates from the federal government and other borrowers, raising costs for governments, businesses and home buyers. But many analysts say the impact could be modest, in part because the other ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have decided not to downgrade the government at this time. "
[skip]
“The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenge,” the company said in a statement."
NYTimes editorial, 8/6/2011:
"Washington may be in denial, but the rest of the country knows what’s going on. A New York Times/CBS News Poll, released the same day as the July jobs report, showed that by a ratio of more than two to one, Americans say that creating jobs should be a higher priority than cutting spending.
The poll also showed that a record 82 percent of Americans now say they disapprove of Congress, a sentiment that is surely fed by the belief of an overwhelming majority who told the pollsters that the debt ceiling fight was more about gaining political advantage than doing what is best for the country.
[skip]
The American people understand what’s needed, even if Congress doesn’t. As Stanley Oland, 62, a Republican from Kalispell, Mont., told the pollsters: “Unless you have working people, you don’t have revenue from taxes. If you cut spending, jobs will be eliminated and you won’t get any revenue. Every dollar spent creates jobs.”
There you have it. The GOP's leaders have unequivocally stated that its number one priority is to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. We don't have two political parties. We have the Democrats and a party that believes only it has the right to govern and any other politician from the Democratic Party needs to be delegitimized and demonized. Before Mr. Obama took office, the radio hate mongers, i.e. Rush Limbaugh, told audiences that they hoped the newly elected president would fail. Mr. Obama won the 2008 election handily, but to the GOP, this was not legitimate because the American people voted in a Democrat--for the first time in America's history, a bi-racial president.
The GOP's apologists become indignant when anyone suggests that there are racists in the Tea Party, but the racist emails and photoshopping of Mr. and Mrs. Obama to look like apes, whores and pimps prove otherwise. It's not the Democrats who are sending around those disgusting images.
I hope voters--independents and moderates who want congress and the president to compromise; the ones who determine presidential elections--take a good hard sober look at the destructive, racist elements in the GOP and its determination to destroy this country so that they can remove Mr. Obama, a compromiser, from office.
If your 401(k) and your stock portfolio are losing their value, thank a Republican because it's the result of their plan to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. To hell with how it ruins YOU financially.
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post:
"Ever since Obama walked through the doors of the Oval Office for the first time as president, he has been beset by one crisis after another that would sap his support or raise doubts about him and his leadership. There was the imploding economy in early 2009 and the actions taken to prevent another Depression; the politically debilitating health-care debate and the law that helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party and the loss of the House; the response to the gulf oil spill and the swine flu epidemic; the struggling economic recovery and frustration over the lack of jobs; the debt-ceiling fiasco; the delegitimizing birther nonsense that gained traction; and a Republican minority in the Senate and then a Republican majority in the House that see their sole purpose as thwarting anything that might be viewed as a success for the president, even if it might do right by the country.
Given all that, a 48 percent approval rating is damned impressive."
Quote from S&P:
"Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. WE HAVE CHANGED OUR ASSUMPTION ON THIS BECAUSE THE MAJORITY OF REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS CONTINUE TO RESIST ANY MEASURE THAT WOULD RAISE REVENUES [emphasis added], a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act."
UPDATE II:
National Journal: ‘It’s hard to read the S&P analysis as anything other than a blast at Republicans’ | The National Journal takes a close look at the S&P decision to downgrade U.S. credit. The conclusion: “It based it on the political game of chicken over the debt ceiling, a game that Republicans initiated and pushed to the limit, and on a growing gloom about the partisan deadlock. Part of S&P’s gloom, moreover, stemmed explicitly from what a new assessment of the GOP’s ability to block any and all tax increases.” Read the full analysis here.
The GOP causes the downgrading of America's rating:
For the first time in America's history, the debt ceiling was held hostage by the GOP until it got its demands; and less than a week after the GOP's terrorist tactics, for the first time in America's history, Standard & Poors downgraded America's credit rating.
"A day after Moody's Investor Service warned that the United States's credit rating was in danger of being lowered, Standard & Poor's followed suit Thursday.
S&P, one of the three major ratings agencies, said it "has placed its 'AAA' long-term and 'A-1+' short-term sovereign credit ratings on the United States of America on CreditWatch with negative implications."
S&P said the move "reflects our view of two separate but related issues. The first issue is the continuing failure to raise the U.S. government debt ceiling so as to ensure that the government will be able to continue to make scheduled payments on its debt obligations. The second pertains to our current view of the likelihood that Congress and the Administration will agree upon a credible, medium-term fiscal consolidation plan in the foreseeable future."
"We still believe that the risk of a payment default on U.S. government debt obligations as a result of not raising the debt ceiling is small, though increasing," S&P said."
From the NYTimes:
"The downgrade could lead investors to demand higher interest rates from the federal government and other borrowers, raising costs for governments, businesses and home buyers. But many analysts say the impact could be modest, in part because the other ratings agencies, Moody’s and Fitch, have decided not to downgrade the government at this time. "
[skip]
“The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenge,” the company said in a statement."
NYTimes editorial, 8/6/2011:
"Washington may be in denial, but the rest of the country knows what’s going on. A New York Times/CBS News Poll, released the same day as the July jobs report, showed that by a ratio of more than two to one, Americans say that creating jobs should be a higher priority than cutting spending.
The poll also showed that a record 82 percent of Americans now say they disapprove of Congress, a sentiment that is surely fed by the belief of an overwhelming majority who told the pollsters that the debt ceiling fight was more about gaining political advantage than doing what is best for the country.
[skip]
The American people understand what’s needed, even if Congress doesn’t. As Stanley Oland, 62, a Republican from Kalispell, Mont., told the pollsters: “Unless you have working people, you don’t have revenue from taxes. If you cut spending, jobs will be eliminated and you won’t get any revenue. Every dollar spent creates jobs.”
There you have it. The GOP's leaders have unequivocally stated that its number one priority is to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. We don't have two political parties. We have the Democrats and a party that believes only it has the right to govern and any other politician from the Democratic Party needs to be delegitimized and demonized. Before Mr. Obama took office, the radio hate mongers, i.e. Rush Limbaugh, told audiences that they hoped the newly elected president would fail. Mr. Obama won the 2008 election handily, but to the GOP, this was not legitimate because the American people voted in a Democrat--for the first time in America's history, a bi-racial president.
The GOP's apologists become indignant when anyone suggests that there are racists in the Tea Party, but the racist emails and photoshopping of Mr. and Mrs. Obama to look like apes, whores and pimps prove otherwise. It's not the Democrats who are sending around those disgusting images.
I hope voters--independents and moderates who want congress and the president to compromise; the ones who determine presidential elections--take a good hard sober look at the destructive, racist elements in the GOP and its determination to destroy this country so that they can remove Mr. Obama, a compromiser, from office.
If your 401(k) and your stock portfolio are losing their value, thank a Republican because it's the result of their plan to make Mr. Obama a one-term president. To hell with how it ruins YOU financially.
Jonathan Capehart of the Washington Post:
"Ever since Obama walked through the doors of the Oval Office for the first time as president, he has been beset by one crisis after another that would sap his support or raise doubts about him and his leadership. There was the imploding economy in early 2009 and the actions taken to prevent another Depression; the politically debilitating health-care debate and the law that helped fuel the rise of the Tea Party and the loss of the House; the response to the gulf oil spill and the swine flu epidemic; the struggling economic recovery and frustration over the lack of jobs; the debt-ceiling fiasco; the delegitimizing birther nonsense that gained traction; and a Republican minority in the Senate and then a Republican majority in the House that see their sole purpose as thwarting anything that might be viewed as a success for the president, even if it might do right by the country.
Given all that, a 48 percent approval rating is damned impressive."
Friday, August 5, 2011
AMERICA OVERWHELMINGLY DISAPPROVES OF JOHN BOEHNER AND CONGRESS--GOOD GOING TEA PARTIERS
After dragging this country through days of brinkmanship and fear, John Boehner and Congress have earned the wrath of the American people. Worldwide financial markets are reacting to the reckless, disastrous blackmail the Tea Party foisted upon America. How's your portfolio doing today?
You can thank the Republican Party for not kicking the TPs juvenile asses to the curb for this unprecedented hijacking of our national debate. Americans are angry, and their anger is directed at the GOP.
President Obama's numbers, OTOH, are holding steady.
Today's GOP is not just the Party of NO! it's the party of "Let's Keep the Kenyan Commie Marxist Socialist Guy to One Term by Destroying America!" They believe in burning down the country in order to save it.
Remember that when you vote in 2012.
NYTimes/CBS Poll:
Well, Congress has done it. It's hit its highest disapproval ratings since the New York Times/CBS News poll was created in 1977. In the wake of the debt debate, a full 82% of Americans are displeased with the legislative branch, with only 14% approval.
It's not so much the deal that was struck on the debt ceiling increase, which Americans were split on: 46% actually approved of the deal versus 45%. It was the perceived motivations that have people upset. 82% of the poll's respondents said that disagreements between parties on the debt ceiling debate were due to "gaining political advantage," rather than "doing what's best for the country," which only 14% saw as the motivator for Congress. Those numbers perfectly mirrored the general Congressional ratings.
As was the case with other polling around the debt deal, some individual political leaders have taken a hit. In this case, House Speaker John Boehner's disapproval rating went from 42% in April of this year to 57% now, while his national approval rating only went from 32% to 30%. President Obama saw a slight increase in his disapproval rating over that time as well, from 45% to the current 47%, but his approval went from 46% to 48%.
In the end, the poll really shows that Congress, having never really been that popular individually, is reaching new lows. The percentage of respondents to the poll that thought this is either "dissatisfied" or "angry" with Washington was 84.
h/t Talking Points Memo
You can thank the Republican Party for not kicking the TPs juvenile asses to the curb for this unprecedented hijacking of our national debate. Americans are angry, and their anger is directed at the GOP.
President Obama's numbers, OTOH, are holding steady.
Today's GOP is not just the Party of NO! it's the party of "Let's Keep the Kenyan Commie Marxist Socialist Guy to One Term by Destroying America!" They believe in burning down the country in order to save it.
Remember that when you vote in 2012.
NYTimes/CBS Poll:
Well, Congress has done it. It's hit its highest disapproval ratings since the New York Times/CBS News poll was created in 1977. In the wake of the debt debate, a full 82% of Americans are displeased with the legislative branch, with only 14% approval.
It's not so much the deal that was struck on the debt ceiling increase, which Americans were split on: 46% actually approved of the deal versus 45%. It was the perceived motivations that have people upset. 82% of the poll's respondents said that disagreements between parties on the debt ceiling debate were due to "gaining political advantage," rather than "doing what's best for the country," which only 14% saw as the motivator for Congress. Those numbers perfectly mirrored the general Congressional ratings.
As was the case with other polling around the debt deal, some individual political leaders have taken a hit. In this case, House Speaker John Boehner's disapproval rating went from 42% in April of this year to 57% now, while his national approval rating only went from 32% to 30%. President Obama saw a slight increase in his disapproval rating over that time as well, from 45% to the current 47%, but his approval went from 46% to 48%.
In the end, the poll really shows that Congress, having never really been that popular individually, is reaching new lows. The percentage of respondents to the poll that thought this is either "dissatisfied" or "angry" with Washington was 84.
h/t Talking Points Memo
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
Yes, Tea Partiers. That's EXACTLY What You Are: TERRORISTS! Now Live with how America Perceives You.
"Be careful what you pretend to be because you are what you pretend to be."
Kurt Vonnegut
The Tea Partiers are shocked, shocked, SHOCKED! that they've been characterized as the slash and burn terrorists that they most certainly are. When you act like thugs, people will call you thugs, and the American people see the Tea Party as nothing more than know-nothing thugs who terrorized the country with the threat of financial disaster unless they got their way. This is the behavior of jihadists, not politicians.
And when the Randian Tea Partiers are faced with the fact that Americans and the world see them as destructive, incompetent fools--Hello Michele Bachmann!--they cry FOUL! It's not FAIR!
Well it is a fair and accurate description of how they've behaved and what their ideology is.
Live with it, Tea Baggers. You so richly deserve all the disgust and loathing America is feeling right now for what you put it through.
Meanwhile, the many times DEFEATED narcissist, Sarah Palin, has gone all postal because of the "terrorist" label that the Tea Party is stuck with and called that label "vile."
Really.
This monumental LOSER is a monumental hypocrite:
Palin has lobbed the “terrorist” claim against her own political opponents in the past: In 2008, she accused President Obama — then the democratic nominee for president — of “palling around” with terrorists.
Get lost, Palin. No one cares about you anymore.
Meanwhile this reality check from Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish:
Kurt Vonnegut
The Tea Partiers are shocked, shocked, SHOCKED! that they've been characterized as the slash and burn terrorists that they most certainly are. When you act like thugs, people will call you thugs, and the American people see the Tea Party as nothing more than know-nothing thugs who terrorized the country with the threat of financial disaster unless they got their way. This is the behavior of jihadists, not politicians.
And when the Randian Tea Partiers are faced with the fact that Americans and the world see them as destructive, incompetent fools--Hello Michele Bachmann!--they cry FOUL! It's not FAIR!
Well it is a fair and accurate description of how they've behaved and what their ideology is.
Live with it, Tea Baggers. You so richly deserve all the disgust and loathing America is feeling right now for what you put it through.
Meanwhile, the many times DEFEATED narcissist, Sarah Palin, has gone all postal because of the "terrorist" label that the Tea Party is stuck with and called that label "vile."
Really.
This monumental LOSER is a monumental hypocrite:
Palin has lobbed the “terrorist” claim against her own political opponents in the past: In 2008, she accused President Obama — then the democratic nominee for president — of “palling around” with terrorists.
Get lost, Palin. No one cares about you anymore.
Meanwhile this reality check from Andrew Sullivan's The Daily Dish:
"The deal that was reached over the weekend seems to be Obama giving the GOP the immediate field but redeploying to higher ground. The dynamics of the super-committee certainly favor the Democrats, and it could really damage the conservatives over the next year and a half. Who would have thought that raising the debt ceiling twice would be more politically dangerous for the GOP than Obama? Each time it gets raised, the most radical of the Tea Party express get more and more dissatisfied with their current batch of conservatives. This all adds up to more and more primary challenges next year, while Obama looks more and more like the sane choice to the general public."
Meep Meep.
ERIC ERICKSON OF RED STATE
Erickson compares Mr. Obama to Keyser Söze,
fictional character in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects. Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have acquired a legendary, and even mythical, status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike.
The use of the name in popular culture is a shorthand reference to being fooled, by an actual villain, into believing in a villain who does not exist." --Wikipedia
So Erickson, a shameless political hack, likens President Obama to a villian, when the whole world knows that the Tea Party Terrorists held America and the world hostage to their thuggish demands. Nice fantasy work there, Eric. Like all bullies and cowards, you deflect responsibility from yourself and the Tea Party Terrorists and blame the only adult in the room.
Fortunately, the American people aren't buying your bullpuckey.
But thanks for admitting Mr. Obama will come out of this better than will the Tea Party Terrorists.
Erickson writes:
He’s got the Democrats to take the fall with the base, convinced Obama is an inept negotiator.
He’s got the GOP befuddled thinking they’ve had some success.
Meanwhile, Obama himself gets several loose ends sewn together that could complicate his re-election, including the debt ceiling, spending cuts, and tax reform.
And if he pulls it all off and wins re-election, he’s also secured full funding for Obamacare, killed off the Bush tax cuts for good, and probably cut defense spending enough to be re-allocated elsewhere in 2013.
People saying the Democrats were big losers are right. On policy.
But politically, Obama is a massive winner and if he wins re-election will also have some long term liberal policy victories greeting him January 1, 2013.
fictional character in the 1995 film The Usual Suspects. Söze is an underworld kingpin whose ruthlessness and influence have acquired a legendary, and even mythical, status among law enforcement agents and criminals alike.
The use of the name in popular culture is a shorthand reference to being fooled, by an actual villain, into believing in a villain who does not exist." --Wikipedia
So Erickson, a shameless political hack, likens President Obama to a villian, when the whole world knows that the Tea Party Terrorists held America and the world hostage to their thuggish demands. Nice fantasy work there, Eric. Like all bullies and cowards, you deflect responsibility from yourself and the Tea Party Terrorists and blame the only adult in the room.
Fortunately, the American people aren't buying your bullpuckey.
But thanks for admitting Mr. Obama will come out of this better than will the Tea Party Terrorists.
Erickson writes:
He’s got the Democrats to take the fall with the base, convinced Obama is an inept negotiator.
He’s got the GOP befuddled thinking they’ve had some success.
Meanwhile, Obama himself gets several loose ends sewn together that could complicate his re-election, including the debt ceiling, spending cuts, and tax reform.
And if he pulls it all off and wins re-election, he’s also secured full funding for Obamacare, killed off the Bush tax cuts for good, and probably cut defense spending enough to be re-allocated elsewhere in 2013.
People saying the Democrats were big losers are right. On policy.
But politically, Obama is a massive winner and if he wins re-election will also have some long term liberal policy victories greeting him January 1, 2013.
Monday, August 1, 2011
THE LAST LAUGH
From TPM Reader RW ...
"Let me get this straight. The President kept revenues on the table, did not touch the sunset provisions in the Bush tax cuts, ensured that military cuts keep the GOP honest, protected Medicare by adding in only provider cuts in the trigger, made the reduction apparently enough to stave off a debt downgrade, got the debt ceiling raised, wounded Boehner by demonstrating to the world that he is controlled by the Tea Party caucus, took out the requirement that a BBA be passed and sent to the states and got the extension through 2012? What exactly is wrong with this deal?"
PRESIDENT OBAMA AS ATTICUS FINCH?
David Atkins over at Digby explores this in an analysis of the deal extorted by the extremist Tea Party thugs.
I've never been in the camp of progressives who believe Mr. Obama should act like a bully and double down on threats and intransigence. Atkins explains that we liberals/progressives never supported that style of governing.
"It is not our instinct to take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It is not our instinct to play by the rules of "The Chicago Way", where an act of aggression by an opponent is responded to with an act of equal or greater retaliation by your own side.
[skip]
When faced with an opposition willing to use lies, extortion and terrorism to achieve its goals, there are two possible responses. The first is equal and opposite aggression: to give as good as you get. But the second is to remain open-handed and and assume that by being the adult, turning the other cheek and giving way to your opponent even if only temporarily, you will seize the moral high ground and let the opponent's own momentum carry him over to his own destruction.
That is the essence of what can be loosely characterized as "Eastern" wisdom, a very Taoist or Buddhist approach. In the Christian tradition, this sort of counsel can be found throughout the Book of Matthew. In a more secular vein, it could be called the Atticus Finch approach. Insofar as one gives Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, he almost surely sees himself as Atticus Finch refusing to punch back even as the villain spits in his face."
I don't like the deal that the extortionist Tea Party Republicans extracted from the adults in our government. I'm angry with how they took us to the brink of disaster and at their incompetence in and ignorance about governing. What this capitulation to their threats and demands means will play out over the next year and a half.
Meanwhile, I tend to agree with the assessment written by "Smartypants:"
SMARTYPANTS: "As we hear rumors about what might be in the debt ceiling bill, I begin to wonder about that long game.
I've had one guess in the back of my mind for a couple of days. Its not like I have the greatest track record in these predictions. But its still interesting to throw this kind of thing out there. And then this morning I saw something that made it seem even more likely.
What I saw was an short note in Politico titled WH fine with no new revenue until 2013. It refers to something Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, said."
FACT SHEET ON THE DEAL HERE
The Daily Kos stands with President Obama. Link here.
I've never been in the camp of progressives who believe Mr. Obama should act like a bully and double down on threats and intransigence. Atkins explains that we liberals/progressives never supported that style of governing.
"It is not our instinct to take an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. It is not our instinct to play by the rules of "The Chicago Way", where an act of aggression by an opponent is responded to with an act of equal or greater retaliation by your own side.
[skip]
When faced with an opposition willing to use lies, extortion and terrorism to achieve its goals, there are two possible responses. The first is equal and opposite aggression: to give as good as you get. But the second is to remain open-handed and and assume that by being the adult, turning the other cheek and giving way to your opponent even if only temporarily, you will seize the moral high ground and let the opponent's own momentum carry him over to his own destruction.
That is the essence of what can be loosely characterized as "Eastern" wisdom, a very Taoist or Buddhist approach. In the Christian tradition, this sort of counsel can be found throughout the Book of Matthew. In a more secular vein, it could be called the Atticus Finch approach. Insofar as one gives Barack Obama the benefit of the doubt, he almost surely sees himself as Atticus Finch refusing to punch back even as the villain spits in his face."
I don't like the deal that the extortionist Tea Party Republicans extracted from the adults in our government. I'm angry with how they took us to the brink of disaster and at their incompetence in and ignorance about governing. What this capitulation to their threats and demands means will play out over the next year and a half.
Meanwhile, I tend to agree with the assessment written by "Smartypants:"
MICHELE OBAMA in 2008: "Here's the thing about my husband: even in the toughest moments, when it seems like all is lost, Barack Obama never loses sight of the end goal. He never lets himself get distracted by the chatter and the noise, even if it comes from some of his best supporters. He just keeps moving forward.
And in those moments when we're all sweating it, when we're worried that the bill won't pass or the negotiation will fall through, Barack always reminds me that we're playing a long game here. He reminds me that change is slow — it doesn't happen overnight.
If we keep showing up, if we keep fighting the good fight and doing what we know is right, then eventually we will get there.
We always have."
SMARTYPANTS: "As we hear rumors about what might be in the debt ceiling bill, I begin to wonder about that long game.
I've had one guess in the back of my mind for a couple of days. Its not like I have the greatest track record in these predictions. But its still interesting to throw this kind of thing out there. And then this morning I saw something that made it seem even more likely.
What I saw was an short note in Politico titled WH fine with no new revenue until 2013. It refers to something Gene Sperling, Director of the National Economic Council, said."
FACT SHEET ON THE DEAL HERE
The Daily Kos stands with President Obama. Link here.
Sunday, July 31, 2011
WHY THE DEBT CEILING CRISIS BELONGS TO THE GOP AND ONLY THE GOP
Robert Schlesinger of US News and World Report explains why the debt ceiling crisis belongs to the GOP and ONLY the GOP:
Robert Schlesinger
There are many times when “Washington” falls down on the job, when “Congress” can’t do its job, and when “both sides” are to blame for whatever the failure of the moment is. Blaming both sides is easier than thinking, but it also has the virtue of sometimes being true. This is not one of those times. Let’s be very clear: The current debt ceiling crisis is the deliberate creation of the Republican Party, especially its Tea Party wing of fanatics.
[See editorial cartoons about the Tea Party.]
Let’s start from the beginning. Raising the debt ceiling is a routine legislative matter. The debt ceiling was raised 18 times under Ronald Reagan; nine times under George H. W. Bush; six times under Bill Clinton; and seven times under George W. Bush. Sometimes the opposition party will use the occasion to score some political points (as when then-Sen. Barack Obama voted against raising the ceiling in 2006). But that was just political theatre because heretofore everyone understood that the United States could not default on its legal obligations, be they money owed to owners of maturing bonds or to Social Security check recipients, military personnel serving around the world, or border security guards expecting to get paid, or any other of dozens of functions of government that have been legally authorized.
It’s worth underscoring this point: The debt ceiling isn’t about new spending. It’s not about a “blank check” as GOP talking points would have you believe. It’s about paying bills that are coming due for goods and services that Congress and the president have already acquired. It’s as if you called your credit card and utility companies and told them that you were very sorry but in the name of fiscal responsibility you just wouldn’t be paying your bills. That’s neither fiscally conservative nor fiscally responsible. I can actually remember a time when conservatives stood for things like fiscal and individual responsibility. [See a collection of political cartoons on the budget and deficit.]
But powered by an angry base that, frankly, doesn’t understand the issue and actively opposes the very notion of legislative compromise, the GOP decided to deliberately manufacture a crisis around raising the debt ceiling. It was, in the memorable words of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a “leverage moment,” to extract policy concessions from President Obama. But the GOP’s hostage wasn’t some esoteric or super liberal Obama initiative. It was a routine measure necessary for the continued healthy functioning of the economy.
But even starting from the negotiating positions of a clean debt ceiling increase versus a debt ceiling increased tied to huge spending cuts, the GOP has been recalcitrant as Democrats have moved steadily in their direction. As Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen notes:
Of course Boehner’s bill didn’t pass because House conservatives, apparently having convinced themselves that it stood some sort of chance of becoming law (it didn't), were unsatisfied with the size of their legislative victory. These people are worse than the annoying sports radio fan who calls in and asserts that the home team should trade a couple of utility infielders, a couple of marginal prospects, an aging reliever, and a bag of balls to the Mariners for reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez … and cash. The Tea Party is in fact the next caller, the one who blasts that fantastical trade scenario as giving up too much.
The GOP chaos would be funny but for the fact that while they get on the same page regarding a bill that is a nonstarter in the Senate, time is ticking down to a point where the United States is not going to be able to pay its bills.
It may be true that no one here can play this game, but right here and now all the of the errors are being made by the GOP side of the field."
Robert Schlesinger
"Both Sides Aren't To Blame for Debt Ceiling Crisis
There are many times when “Washington” falls down on the job, when “Congress” can’t do its job, and when “both sides” are to blame for whatever the failure of the moment is. Blaming both sides is easier than thinking, but it also has the virtue of sometimes being true. This is not one of those times. Let’s be very clear: The current debt ceiling crisis is the deliberate creation of the Republican Party, especially its Tea Party wing of fanatics.
[See editorial cartoons about the Tea Party.]
Let’s start from the beginning. Raising the debt ceiling is a routine legislative matter. The debt ceiling was raised 18 times under Ronald Reagan; nine times under George H. W. Bush; six times under Bill Clinton; and seven times under George W. Bush. Sometimes the opposition party will use the occasion to score some political points (as when then-Sen. Barack Obama voted against raising the ceiling in 2006). But that was just political theatre because heretofore everyone understood that the United States could not default on its legal obligations, be they money owed to owners of maturing bonds or to Social Security check recipients, military personnel serving around the world, or border security guards expecting to get paid, or any other of dozens of functions of government that have been legally authorized.
It’s worth underscoring this point: The debt ceiling isn’t about new spending. It’s not about a “blank check” as GOP talking points would have you believe. It’s about paying bills that are coming due for goods and services that Congress and the president have already acquired. It’s as if you called your credit card and utility companies and told them that you were very sorry but in the name of fiscal responsibility you just wouldn’t be paying your bills. That’s neither fiscally conservative nor fiscally responsible. I can actually remember a time when conservatives stood for things like fiscal and individual responsibility. [See a collection of political cartoons on the budget and deficit.]
But powered by an angry base that, frankly, doesn’t understand the issue and actively opposes the very notion of legislative compromise, the GOP decided to deliberately manufacture a crisis around raising the debt ceiling. It was, in the memorable words of House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, a “leverage moment,” to extract policy concessions from President Obama. But the GOP’s hostage wasn’t some esoteric or super liberal Obama initiative. It was a routine measure necessary for the continued healthy functioning of the economy.
But even starting from the negotiating positions of a clean debt ceiling increase versus a debt ceiling increased tied to huge spending cuts, the GOP has been recalcitrant as Democrats have moved steadily in their direction. As Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen notes:
The Republican solution was to pass the radical “Cut, Cap, and Balance,” Tea Party pipe dream plan. Then last night they were supposed to pass House Speaker John Boehner's plan which would have--wait for it--mandated that we go through this whole exercise again in six months. Because, apparently, the Tea Party is the only group in America that has enjoyed this experience.
- Democrats asked Republicans to pass a clean bill, just as GOP leaders had supported many times in the past. Republicans said, “No.”
- Democrats invited Republicans to Biden-led bipartisan talks. Republicans quit.
- Democrats offered a $2.4 trillion debt-reduction package, 83% of which would come from spending cuts. Republicans said, “No.”
- Democrats sought a Grand Bargain, with more than $4 trillion in savings. Republicans said, “No.”
- Several Democrats offered some preliminary support for the “Gang of Six” blueprint. Republicans said, “No.”
- Many more Democrats signaled support for the McConnell/Reid “Plan B.” Republicans said, “No.”
Of course Boehner’s bill didn’t pass because House conservatives, apparently having convinced themselves that it stood some sort of chance of becoming law (it didn't), were unsatisfied with the size of their legislative victory. These people are worse than the annoying sports radio fan who calls in and asserts that the home team should trade a couple of utility infielders, a couple of marginal prospects, an aging reliever, and a bag of balls to the Mariners for reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Felix Hernandez … and cash. The Tea Party is in fact the next caller, the one who blasts that fantastical trade scenario as giving up too much.
The GOP chaos would be funny but for the fact that while they get on the same page regarding a bill that is a nonstarter in the Senate, time is ticking down to a point where the United States is not going to be able to pay its bills.
It may be true that no one here can play this game, but right here and now all the of the errors are being made by the GOP side of the field."
Saturday, July 30, 2011
THE WORLD WATCHES THE TEA PARTY DRAG AMERICA TO RUINATION
America, once the model of democracy for the world, has now become the reckless clown of the world, thanks to the extremists in the GOP. Political morons like Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin, and Alan West think that nothing disastrous will happen if Congress doesn't raise the debt ceiling. They think that because they are ignorant fools who know nothing about governing--only how to grab headlines and squawk like the bird brains that they are.
Here are some excerpts from around the world on what we look like to other countries. Nice going Tea Party ideologues. You've sullied America's reputation as no other political extremist movement has besmirched it ever before in our history.
World Reacts To Debt Ceiling Debacle: ‘Irresponsible,’ ‘Worst Kind Of Absurd Theatrics,’ U.S. Politicians A ‘Laughing Stock’
Our guest blogger is Ken Sofer, special assistant with the National Security and International Policy team at the Center for American Progress.
Conservative German Die Welt: “[T]here are few signs of self-doubt or self-awareness in the U.S. … [The Tea Party movement] sees the other side as their enemy. Negotiations with the Democrats, whether it’s about appointing a judge or the insolvency of the United States, are only successful if the enemy is defeated. Compromise, they feel, is a sign of weakness and cowardice.”
The German mass-circulation Bild: “What America is currently exhibiting is the worst kind of absurd theatrics and the whole world is being held hostage… Most importantly, the Republicans have turned a dispute over a technicality into a religious war, which no longer has any relation to a reasonable dispute between the elected government and the opposition.”
French newspaper Le Monde:”The American politicians supposed to lead the most powerful nation in the world are becoming a laughing stock.”
Chinese state-owned newspaper Xinhua: “Given the United States’ status as the world’s largest economy and the issuer of the dominant international reserve currency, such political brinksmanship in Washington is dangerously irresponsible.”
The founding documents of many nations around the world take their inspiration from and quote the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution. But now, foreigners don’t seem to be too inspired watching the intransigent wing of one political party that controls one house of one branch of the federal government hold the entire U.S. hostage. American soft power has taken a self-inflicted hit as a result of the debt ceiling debate.
Even if Congress manages to forge a deal against the wishes of the Tea Party and deliver a bill to President Obama’s desk raising the debt ceiling before default, the damage to our international standing has already been done. Other nations won’t forget how some members of Congress were so careless to allow the international economy fall into another financial disaster in order to score a few political points."
DEBT CEILING HIKES BY RECENT PRESIDENTS:
A Letter for Blue Voters Living in a Red District
Cross-posted from The Swash Zone by (O)CT(O)PUS:
The following letter was written in response to a request by fellow blogger, Nance, of Mature Landscaping. Having received favorable reviews in cyberspace, I decided to make this letter available to anyone who lives in a red state or red district and wants to send a message to their local Tea Thug. Please feel free to copy it, modify it, and send to the Republican reprehensible of your choice:
Dear Representative Posey (R-FL),
You and your Tea Party colleagues seem to suffer from one fatal flaw: A callous disregard for one of our founding documents that clearly states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …”
How does your no compromise, hostage-taking approach to governance square with these words? It does not. Like a bad marriage to an abusive spouse who violates personal boundaries, you and your Tea Party Republicans fail to distinguish between YOURS, MINE, and OURS. The United States is not just YOUR country; it is also MY country. It spends not only YOUR tax money; it spends MY tax dollars too. A public debate without compromise and consensus is not my idea of “consent of the governed.” The key word in this debate should be ‘OURS,’ not ‘yours.’
I have paid into the Medicare and Social Security system my entire life. It is MY money, not yours. And I resent your support of legislation that will gut or eliminate MY benefits. Tantamount to THEFT, you have no right to dismantle the social safety net that generations of my forbearers struggled for ... and died for!
I resent paying higher marginal tax rates than your billionaire benefactors who refuse to pay their fair share of the burdens of civilization ... thus creating a wealth gap at MY expense.
I resent the credit worthiness of MY country being held hostage by a minority fringe group that have demonstrated more anger management pathology than common sense or common decency. When you took your oath of office, you promised to uphold the U.S. Constitution which clearly states:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."
For some unfathomable reason, you think Grover Norquist’s No Tax Pledge holds more legal authority than your obligations as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
I resent the atmosphere of character assassination, bullying, and fear engendered by you and other Tea Party Republicans who have defamed and vilified every good citizen with whom you disagree.
No, Mr. Posey, you have disrespected us, verbally abused us, and now threaten to steal from us. No longer do you deserve the consent of the governed. Most of all, you have defiled our democracy. At election time next year, I want a DIVORCE!
THE KRAUTHAMMER DOUBLE LIE:
From Andrew Sullivan's blog:
From a stimulus loaded with tax cuts to an accession to leaving the Bush tax cuts in place in 2010, from winning the war on al Qaeda that Bush and Cheney were losing to managing the bank and auto company bailouts without losing vast amounts of public money, Obama is a moderate Republican. His health insurance plan is identical to one from the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, and to the right of Nixon and Clinton; his attempt at financial deregulation was modest and has been torn apart by lobbyists since. These truths are obscured in order to make this point:
The following letter was written in response to a request by fellow blogger, Nance, of Mature Landscaping. Having received favorable reviews in cyberspace, I decided to make this letter available to anyone who lives in a red state or red district and wants to send a message to their local Tea Thug. Please feel free to copy it, modify it, and send to the Republican reprehensible of your choice:
Dear Representative Posey (R-FL),
You and your Tea Party colleagues seem to suffer from one fatal flaw: A callous disregard for one of our founding documents that clearly states:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed …”
How does your no compromise, hostage-taking approach to governance square with these words? It does not. Like a bad marriage to an abusive spouse who violates personal boundaries, you and your Tea Party Republicans fail to distinguish between YOURS, MINE, and OURS. The United States is not just YOUR country; it is also MY country. It spends not only YOUR tax money; it spends MY tax dollars too. A public debate without compromise and consensus is not my idea of “consent of the governed.” The key word in this debate should be ‘OURS,’ not ‘yours.’
I have paid into the Medicare and Social Security system my entire life. It is MY money, not yours. And I resent your support of legislation that will gut or eliminate MY benefits. Tantamount to THEFT, you have no right to dismantle the social safety net that generations of my forbearers struggled for ... and died for!
I resent paying higher marginal tax rates than your billionaire benefactors who refuse to pay their fair share of the burdens of civilization ... thus creating a wealth gap at MY expense.
I resent the credit worthiness of MY country being held hostage by a minority fringe group that have demonstrated more anger management pathology than common sense or common decency. When you took your oath of office, you promised to uphold the U.S. Constitution which clearly states:
"The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned."
For some unfathomable reason, you think Grover Norquist’s No Tax Pledge holds more legal authority than your obligations as set forth in the U.S. Constitution.
I resent the atmosphere of character assassination, bullying, and fear engendered by you and other Tea Party Republicans who have defamed and vilified every good citizen with whom you disagree.
No, Mr. Posey, you have disrespected us, verbally abused us, and now threaten to steal from us. No longer do you deserve the consent of the governed. Most of all, you have defiled our democracy. At election time next year, I want a DIVORCE!
THE KRAUTHAMMER DOUBLE LIE:
From Andrew Sullivan's blog:
The Krauthammer Double Lie
"It's sitting right there in today's column. The first is this absurd notion:Obama won a great victory in 2008 that he took as a mandate to transform America toward European-style social democracy.Piffle. His record in office has been remarkably moderate.
From a stimulus loaded with tax cuts to an accession to leaving the Bush tax cuts in place in 2010, from winning the war on al Qaeda that Bush and Cheney were losing to managing the bank and auto company bailouts without losing vast amounts of public money, Obama is a moderate Republican. His health insurance plan is identical to one from the Republican candidate, Mitt Romney, and to the right of Nixon and Clinton; his attempt at financial deregulation was modest and has been torn apart by lobbyists since. These truths are obscured in order to make this point:
Obama faces two massive problems — jobs and debt. They’re both the result of his spectacularly failed Keynesian gamble: massive spending that left us a stagnant economy with high and chronic unemployment — and a staggering debt burden.This is so grotesque a lie it needs a correction. The vast bulk of the debt was inherited by Obama and created by the GOP under Bush and both parties before then; much of the rest is a function of a stimulus that prevented total collapse and the revenue implosion caused by the Great Recession. To pin the current unemployment rate and accumulated debt to Obama alone is so false, so misleading, so gratuitously disingenuous it belongs on Fox."
Friday, July 29, 2011
BOEHNER FAILS...
and so, here we are:
Joe Klein of Time explains:
"And so, here we are. Our nation’s economy and international reputation as the world’s presiding grownup has already been badly damaged. It is a self-inflicted wound of monumental stupidity. I am usually willing to acknowledge that Democrats can be as silly, and hidebound, as Republicans–but not this time. There is zero equivalence here. The vast majority of Democrats have been more than reasonable, more than willing to accept cuts in some of their most valued programs. Given the chance, there was the likelihood that they would have surrendered their most powerful weapon in next year’s election–a Mediscare campaign–by agreeing to some necessary long-term reforms in that program. The President, remarkably, proposed raising the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67.
The Republicans have been willing to concede nothing. Their stand means higher interest rates, fewer jobs created and more destroyed, a general weakening of this country’s standing in the world. Osama bin Laden, if he were still alive, could not have come up with a more clever strategy for strangling our nation."
SPEAKER BOEHNER'S FAILURE:
Joe Klein of Time explains:
"And so, here we are. Our nation’s economy and international reputation as the world’s presiding grownup has already been badly damaged. It is a self-inflicted wound of monumental stupidity. I am usually willing to acknowledge that Democrats can be as silly, and hidebound, as Republicans–but not this time. There is zero equivalence here. The vast majority of Democrats have been more than reasonable, more than willing to accept cuts in some of their most valued programs. Given the chance, there was the likelihood that they would have surrendered their most powerful weapon in next year’s election–a Mediscare campaign–by agreeing to some necessary long-term reforms in that program. The President, remarkably, proposed raising the age of eligibility for Medicare to 67.
The Republicans have been willing to concede nothing. Their stand means higher interest rates, fewer jobs created and more destroyed, a general weakening of this country’s standing in the world. Osama bin Laden, if he were still alive, could not have come up with a more clever strategy for strangling our nation."
SPEAKER BOEHNER'S FAILURE:
A bloody nose for Boehner as he fails to collect enough support for vote on Republican plan for debt crisis
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Republican Representative Joe Walsh: Major Arsehole
You've seen this loud mouth on Chris Matthew's show, "Hardball" and on other cable news stations. He's loud, he pushes the Tea Party agenda, and he's a galloping hypocrite who doesn't take care of his own family while haranging cable news audiences about fiscal responsibility. IOW, a major Republican arsehole:
"Fiscal Prudence Screamer Joe Walsh Sued For $100,000 in Child Support
Screeching famewhore Joe Walsh is a Tea Party congressman who is always thrilled to go on the teevee to blow snot about the fiscal irresponsibility of the Obama administration and not so much thrilled about the actual governing process. He is, like Michele Bachmann, mostly notable for being one of the loudest members of the zombie army of hillbilly barbie dolls elected by Teabaggers to perform the ignorant fantasies of disgruntled racist white constituents in front of cameras by yelling about the gubamint in half-baked sentences.
He is, however, pretty light on actual legislative accomplishments (which means zero). So is it much surprise that Walsh is accused of serially avoiding paying child support to his ex-wife and three kids to the tune of $117,000? Well here is Joe’s problem with that, he just does not like people asking for a “social safety net.” It is time to reform dependent offspring entitlements!
From an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times:
Time to start charging for those interviews, Joe! [Chicago Sun-Times]"
h/t Wonkette
A perfect example of GOP grandstanding hypocrisy and cable news whoring.
He is the face of the Tea Party--he along with Michele Bachmann and the loser, Sarah Palin and her narcissistic self-aggrandizing film that nobody spent money to see.
They're loud, they're everywhere, and they're hypocrites.
"Fiscal Prudence Screamer Joe Walsh Sued For $100,000 in Child Support
Screeching famewhore Joe Walsh is a Tea Party congressman who is always thrilled to go on the teevee to blow snot about the fiscal irresponsibility of the Obama administration and not so much thrilled about the actual governing process. He is, like Michele Bachmann, mostly notable for being one of the loudest members of the zombie army of hillbilly barbie dolls elected by Teabaggers to perform the ignorant fantasies of disgruntled racist white constituents in front of cameras by yelling about the gubamint in half-baked sentences.
He is, however, pretty light on actual legislative accomplishments (which means zero). So is it much surprise that Walsh is accused of serially avoiding paying child support to his ex-wife and three kids to the tune of $117,000? Well here is Joe’s problem with that, he just does not like people asking for a “social safety net.” It is time to reform dependent offspring entitlements!
From an investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times:
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.
'I won’t place one more dollar of debt upon the backs of my kids and grandkids unless we structurally reform the way this town spends money!' Walsh says directly into the camera in his viral video lecturing Obama on the need to get the nation’s finances in order.
Walsh starts the video by saying, 'President Obama, quit lying. Have you no shame, sir? In three short years, you’ve bankrupted this country.'In court documents, after his ex-wife, Laura Walsh, asked a judge to suspend his driver’s license until he paid his child support, Joe Walsh asks his ex-wife’s lawyer: 'Have you no decency?' ”
Time to start charging for those interviews, Joe! [Chicago Sun-Times]"
h/t Wonkette
A perfect example of GOP grandstanding hypocrisy and cable news whoring.
He is the face of the Tea Party--he along with Michele Bachmann and the loser, Sarah Palin and her narcissistic self-aggrandizing film that nobody spent money to see.
They're loud, they're everywhere, and they're hypocrites.
GET OVER IT. THIS IS WHO OBAMA IS.
Weary of this brinkmanship and stalemate over the debt ceiling? Is everyone watching the markets tank as the know-nothing Tea Party freshman insist on ideology over compromise? Will someone please tell Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin to shut up already with their ignorant statements about not raising the debt ceiling? Frustrated with President Obama and how he's handling the crisis?
Well...
JAMES WARREN SAYS: "Get over it. This is who Obama is."
"As President Obama is pilloried by the left, including by bloggers and editorial writers, for supposedly selling them out during debt ceiling negotiations, a reality check is desperately needed.
Get over it, guys and gals, and remember whom you're fuming over: a deal-making community organizer.
Recognize this man? In a showdown with ideological enemies, he fashioned compromises which made some Democratic allies apoplectic. Republicans weren't happy, either, with what he wrought but grudgingly realized there were few alternatives.
[skip]
Throughout he exhibited a preternatural calm, always seeking some common ground among disparate interests as if compromise was a goal in and of itself, not any diminution of principle as some Democrats thought.
[skip]
And, as you watch him, be reminded of his informative pre-law school days as a community organizer in Chicago. Recall how they inspired both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin to openly mock the term 'community organizer' at the 2008 Republican National Convention, with the former New York mayor unable to contain derisive giggling as he openly wondered what the term stood for.
Then, as now, he was also about seeking resolutions, not just bashing the rich. It was intellectual empiricism and street-wise practicality all at play. It was about doing a deal and moving on."
A sane Republican writes a letter to Speaker Boehneer:
"Dear Speaker Boehner,
As a Republican, I have followed your handling of the debt ceiling negotiations, and the future of the federal budget, with mounting concern. You appear to be engaged in a game of partisan brinksmanship with our nation’s financial future. Now is not the time for scoring political points or playing to the fantasies of the anti-government libertarian zealots within our Party.
Such a solution, coupled with spending reductions and entitlement reform, is just and equitable. It recognizes two fundamental realities: first, that corporate profits have increased during the present “recovery” even as wages, and hiring, have not. Second, that the top 1% of income earners in America have amassed an increasing share of our nation’s wealth over the past several decades while wages for most Americans have stagnated or declined.
In the Book of Genesis, God famously asked, “Cain, where is your brother Abel?” This question still resonates today — it reminds us of our duty to care for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the most marginalized elements in society. Does the Republican Party no longer see any role for government in providing for these groups? That certainly seems to be the case given the spending cuts proposed by Congressman Ryan. While some entitlement reform is necessary, the cuts in Rep. Ryan’s plan amounted to a repudiation of our collective responsibilities towards our fellow citizens. Speaker Boehner, do Congressional Republicans know where their brother Abel is today?
Every American understands that sacrifices are necessary. But sacrifices demand a balancing of benefits and burdens. Is it right and just that those Americans who have benefited the most from the economic growth over the past 30 years and from the recovery should see their burdens lightened in this time of fiscal crisis while those who have benefited the least — average Americans who have seen their jobs outsourced overseas, their wages stagnate or decline, their benefits reduced — are told to carry an additional share? I think the answer is obvious: it is not.
The debt, the deficit, the budget — these are grave matters of huge importance for the future of our nation. The pain created by addressing these issues cannot be disproportionately placed upon the poor, the elderly, and the middle class. Spending cuts and entitlement reform must be coupled with proposals to raise additional revenue and to create a more equitable balancing of the burdens created by the need for budgetary retrenchment and fiscal austerity. The rich can, and must, be asked to make additional sacrifices.
And remember, a political party that ignores the interests of the middle class, that eschews any notion of economic justice or responsibility for the common good, and that imperils the soundness of the public credit in dealing with these issues, faces a problematic future indeed.
Michael Stafford
Republicans for Responsible Reform"
h/t The Pragmatic Progressive Forum
Well...
JAMES WARREN SAYS: "Get over it. This is who Obama is."
"As President Obama is pilloried by the left, including by bloggers and editorial writers, for supposedly selling them out during debt ceiling negotiations, a reality check is desperately needed.
Get over it, guys and gals, and remember whom you're fuming over: a deal-making community organizer.
Recognize this man? In a showdown with ideological enemies, he fashioned compromises which made some Democratic allies apoplectic. Republicans weren't happy, either, with what he wrought but grudgingly realized there were few alternatives.
[skip]
Throughout he exhibited a preternatural calm, always seeking some common ground among disparate interests as if compromise was a goal in and of itself, not any diminution of principle as some Democrats thought.
[skip]
And, as you watch him, be reminded of his informative pre-law school days as a community organizer in Chicago. Recall how they inspired both Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin to openly mock the term 'community organizer' at the 2008 Republican National Convention, with the former New York mayor unable to contain derisive giggling as he openly wondered what the term stood for.
Then, as now, he was also about seeking resolutions, not just bashing the rich. It was intellectual empiricism and street-wise practicality all at play. It was about doing a deal and moving on."
A sane Republican writes a letter to Speaker Boehneer:
"Dear Speaker Boehner,
As a Republican, I have followed your handling of the debt ceiling negotiations, and the future of the federal budget, with mounting concern. You appear to be engaged in a game of partisan brinksmanship with our nation’s financial future. Now is not the time for scoring political points or playing to the fantasies of the anti-government libertarian zealots within our Party.
Your handling of the debt ceiling negotiations, and the prior budget proposals advanced in Representative Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity,” makes it clear that the GOP is more concerned with protecting the interests of America’s most wealthy citizens, even to the detriment of the rest of us, and to the common good. For example, it is farcical to frame the debt and the deficit as merely problems of spending — they are, in fact, issues created by both expenditures and revenues. Nor is taking an axe to the federal government an acceptable solution — traditionally, we conservatives have been in favor of a limited government, not an eviscerated one. In the end, we simply have to pay for the services we expect government to provide. As such, a discussion of raising additional revenue — taxes — must be a part of any long-term solution.
Effective tax rates for all income brackets in America are at or near historically low levels. Our corporations benefit from one of the lowest effective rates of taxation in the industrialized world. And yet, under your leadership, Congressional Republicans have dug in their heals and — for the most part — refused to consider closing tax loopholes for big business or, most importantly, raising income tax rates for the wealthiest Americans.Such a solution, coupled with spending reductions and entitlement reform, is just and equitable. It recognizes two fundamental realities: first, that corporate profits have increased during the present “recovery” even as wages, and hiring, have not. Second, that the top 1% of income earners in America have amassed an increasing share of our nation’s wealth over the past several decades while wages for most Americans have stagnated or declined.
In the Book of Genesis, God famously asked, “Cain, where is your brother Abel?” This question still resonates today — it reminds us of our duty to care for the poor, the elderly, the disabled, and the most marginalized elements in society. Does the Republican Party no longer see any role for government in providing for these groups? That certainly seems to be the case given the spending cuts proposed by Congressman Ryan. While some entitlement reform is necessary, the cuts in Rep. Ryan’s plan amounted to a repudiation of our collective responsibilities towards our fellow citizens. Speaker Boehner, do Congressional Republicans know where their brother Abel is today?
Every American understands that sacrifices are necessary. But sacrifices demand a balancing of benefits and burdens. Is it right and just that those Americans who have benefited the most from the economic growth over the past 30 years and from the recovery should see their burdens lightened in this time of fiscal crisis while those who have benefited the least — average Americans who have seen their jobs outsourced overseas, their wages stagnate or decline, their benefits reduced — are told to carry an additional share? I think the answer is obvious: it is not.
The debt, the deficit, the budget — these are grave matters of huge importance for the future of our nation. The pain created by addressing these issues cannot be disproportionately placed upon the poor, the elderly, and the middle class. Spending cuts and entitlement reform must be coupled with proposals to raise additional revenue and to create a more equitable balancing of the burdens created by the need for budgetary retrenchment and fiscal austerity. The rich can, and must, be asked to make additional sacrifices.
And remember, a political party that ignores the interests of the middle class, that eschews any notion of economic justice or responsibility for the common good, and that imperils the soundness of the public credit in dealing with these issues, faces a problematic future indeed.
Michael Stafford
Republicans for Responsible Reform"
h/t The Pragmatic Progressive Forum
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
THANKS
Pamela D. Hart and I share a birthday today.
Happy birthday to Pam.
To Bugs Bunny, Charlotte Corday, and me.
This poem by the American poet, W.S. Merwin, sums up how I feel today, even if it is quite bleak:
Thanks
by W. S. Merwin
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
Happy birthday to Pam.
To Bugs Bunny, Charlotte Corday, and me.
This poem by the American poet, W.S. Merwin, sums up how I feel today, even if it is quite bleak:
Thanks
by W. S. Merwin
Listen
with the night falling we are saying thank you
we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the railings
we are running out of the glass rooms
with our mouths full of food to look at the sky
and say thank you
we are standing by the water thanking it
smiling by the windows looking out
in our directions
back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging
after funerals we are saying thank you
after the news of the dead
whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you
over telephones we are saying thank you
in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators
remembering wars and the police at the door
and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you
in the banks we are saying thank you
in the faces of the officials and the rich
and of all who will never change
we go on saying thank you thank you
with the animals dying around us
our lost feelings we are saying thank you
with the forests falling faster than the minutes
of our lives we are saying thank you
with the words going out like cells of a brain
with the cities growing over us
we are saying thank you faster and faster
with nobody listening we are saying thank you
we are saying thank you and waving
dark though it is
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
SPEAKER BOEHNER BLAMES PRESIDENT OBAMA FOR WANTING TO COMPROMISE AND SOLVE DEBT CEILING CRISIS
Boehner is angry that the president and the American people want Congress to act like rational adults.
Boehner blames Mr. Obama for the mess he and the Tea Party extremists have made and for the threat of financial ruination he and the Tea Party have placed in front of the American people.
Americans aren't buying Boehner's nonsense. They've seen the president offer an unprecedented deal and seen that deal rejected. The American people are on Mr. Obama's side in this debate.
BOEHNER BLAMES OBAMA, but let's talk about blame:
ROBERT KUTTNER explains how this could play out:
Boehner blames Mr. Obama for the mess he and the Tea Party extremists have made and for the threat of financial ruination he and the Tea Party have placed in front of the American people.
Americans aren't buying Boehner's nonsense. They've seen the president offer an unprecedented deal and seen that deal rejected. The American people are on Mr. Obama's side in this debate.
BOEHNER BLAMES OBAMA, but let's talk about blame:
The Chart That Should Accompany All Discussions of the Debt Ceiling
This chart is based on data from the Congressional Budget Office and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Its significance is not partisan (who's "to blame" for the deficit) but intellectual. It demonstrates the utter incoherence of being very concerned about a structural federal deficit but ruling out of consideration the policy that was largest single contributor to that deficit, namely the Bush-era tax cuts.
ROBERT KUTTNER explains how this could play out:
"Here are a couple of things to keep in mind as the great contrived national debt crisis enters its final week.
First, the Republicans are starting to lose whatever credibility they had with the broad public, as regular people finally start focusing on this story. The economic stakes are very high, President Obama was willing to give them most of the loaf, and they still wouldn't make a deal.
Second, no matter what the White House and Speaker Boehner claim, there is no way to do a big complex budget agreement between now and next week. The details are far too complex. Even the Gang of Six proposal was nothing more than broad outlines.
Third, as this drama goes down to the wire, and financial markets begin to contemplate the possibility that the United States will actually default on its debts, the pressure on the Republicans by their Wall Street allies will only grow.
At some point this week, stock and bond markets will begin to start swooning, and the usual wise guys will begin making high-risk bets at the expense of financial stability as a whole. Credit rating agencies, which should be accorded zero credibility after their role in causing the financial collapse by blessing junk sub-prime securities as Triple-A, could start downgrading the debt of the United States.
And then things will get really interesting. The President of the United States will be revealed to be holding more of the cards -- if he has the nerve to start playing his hand well (for a change)."
REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO MAKE A DEAL--ANY DEAL UNLESS IT'S THEIR DEAL.
REPUBLICANS REFUSE TO MAKE A DEAL--ANY DEAL UNLESS IT'S THEIR DEAL.
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