Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Other than being a lightning rod for the right (which any Democratic speaker, let alone one from San Francisco, would be), I don't think she's to blame for this particular debacle.

This falls squarely on our Coward/Capitulator/Whatever You Want To Call Him-in-Chief, Barack Obama.

 

Those positions are done by seniority as much as anything else. The next in the seniority line after Pelosi is Steny Hoyer. Do you want that?

 

No chance in flaming hell.

The first round of trigger-cuts will further tank the economy, send us into a full-bore Depression (no more euphemisms about the 'great recession') and drive UE to 15-20%. Then the SS and MC cuts will start to hit and Senior America (among others) will be rioting in the streets.

The 24/7/365 narrative on Faux Fascist Teevee and the rest of the corporatist-dupe MSM, will, of course, be that it's all the Dems' fault, and it will be, since they willingly bent over and went along with the deal.

GOP takes 275 House seats and wins 20-23 of the 33 Senate seats up for grabs.

That's what happens when you bend over, and bend over, and bend over.

When you live your whole life like you expect to be kicked, somebody's going to kick you. And you deserve it.

 

When Obama was elected, he had the "mandate" of a historic nationwide victory.

He campaigned on the promise of real health care reform -- pointing out what everyone knew, that the system we have makes absolutely no fiscal or moral sense to anyone other than drug and insurance companies.

We all know about the sellout plan that eventually puttered its way through both (Democratically controlled) houses.

So, after that failure, Obama's lack of backbone or fighting spirit on the debt ceiling should be no surprise.

Significant cuts to federal spending? Yes. Accompanied by an increase in tax revenue? Yes. Everyone sacrifices something.

How hard is that to sell, Mr. President?

[/twocentsworth]

 

To rational people, on both sides of the aisle, I think it's a relatively easy sell.

To the entire Tea Party and some liberals, it's somehow equal to humiliating death.

 

"Shared sacrifice".

Republicans were successful with this catchphrase in Wisconsin, Ohio, and a couple of other places. I don't know why Obama shied away from using it here.

"Shared sacrifice". "Shared sacrifice." "Shared sacrifice." Repeat it until the GOP surrenders.

Nope, not going to happen.

I keep hoping that Obama is trying to do this as some sort of great elaborate trap on the GOP. Like he's trying to give them what they want. Bush tax cuts extended. No taxes with the raising of the debt ceiling. All in the hopes that the GOP continues to act like children and fuck it up, to the point where he gets reelected in 2012, then spends the second term in full FU mode, absolutely hammering them.

But I don't have my hopes up right now. Don't get me wrong. I'm not suddenly going to vote for a Republican. But I've been disappointed that Obama hasn't been as liberal as I thought he was.

 

First, that's inaccurate.

Second, you don't understand context. When Sarah Palin - the face of the Tea Party movement for many months - was appearing on every nationally syndicated radio show and FoxNews almost daily, just think about what that did to several primary races.

Third, local conservative shows take their marching orders, often times, from a larger conglomerate ownership station that surrounds the local shows with the syndicated shows. Local shows are, at times, even more venal and cutthroat than the national stuff.

You don't understand this particular issue very well. The Tea Party is, if you will, a human front for specific corporate interests that put them there. Those interests include news organizations. They now have a human proxy of principle they can champion that embodies their belief system better than a presidential figure ever did.

 

Actually, according to CNN and WaPo, Boehner is the one holding up the deal. Demand it of yourself, Speaker Boehner.

Fuck, what's he whining about at this hour? The Democrats didn't put a cherry on top for him?

 

To build off a previous point:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/31/tax-cut-memories/

 

I'm still dreaming the wild dream that this is the rope-a-dope of all time, outdoing Rocky in Rocky III and Muhamamad Ali in Zaire, that Obama is gonna wait until Tuesday night, go in front of the cameras and say:

"Good evening. I have four words for the debt ceiling deal:

One: Veto.

Two: Fourteenth Amendment, bitches."

Then wheel on his heels and march out of the room.



But that would enrage the Republicans and make it really really unlikely they would ever vote for him, : : : : : so we can probably forget it. Because he wouldn't want to make them unhappy.


The rope-a-dope consists of two parts:

1) Cover up like a whipped dog, allow your opponent to hammer you mercilessly for the huge majority of the fight;

2) After they have pounded you into pulp to the extent their fists are sore and they're about to collapse from the sheer exertion of pounding you into the aforementioned pulp, come exploding out of your crouch and land a thunderbolt knockout blow right to their head, leaving them in an insensate heap on the floor.


Unfortunately Obama apparently never learned about Part 2, and all we're left is the "dope" part.

 

Democrats Will Lose Now. But They Can Win Late [Bush Tax Cuts Expire=$3.6T Taxes/10 Years]
Washington Post ^ | July 30,2011 | Ezra Klein

Posted on Sun 31 Jul 2011 03:27:30 PM GMT+6

Democrats Will Lose Now. But They Can Win Later. By Ezra Klein

Democrats are going to lose this one. The first stage of the emerging deal doesn’t include revenue, doesn’t include stimulus, and lets Republicans pocket a trillion dollars or more in cuts without offering anything to Democrats in return.

The second stage convenes a congressional “Supercommittee” to recommend up to $2 trillion in further cuts, and if their plan doesn’t pass Congress, there’s an enforcement mechanism that begins making automatic, across-the-board cuts to almost all categories of spending. So heads Democrats lose, tails Republicans win.

It’s difficult to see how it could have ended otherwise. Virtually no Democrats are willing to go past Aug. 2 without raising the debt ceiling. Plenty of Republicans are prepared to blow through the deadline. That’s not a dynamic that lends itself to a deal. That’s a dynamic that lends itself to a ransom.

But Democrats will have their turn. On Dec. 31, 2012, three weeks before the end of President Barack Obama’s current term in office, the Bush tax cuts expire. Income tax rates will return to their Clinton-era levels. That amounts to a $3.6 trillion tax increase over 10 years, three or four times the $800 billion to $1.2 trillion in revenue increases that Obama and Speaker John Boehner were kicking around. And all Democrats need to do to secure that deal is...nothing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/democrats-will-lose-now-but-they-can-win-later/2011/07/11/gIQARfWOlI_blog.html?hpid=z2