Budget talks: This is getting nasty

Is a balanced Budget Amendment a "fringe" idea?

The public doesn't seem to think it's "fringe":

The CNN Poll: http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/07/21/rel11b.pdf

 

More pressure on Dems to resist spending cuts:


@markknoller -- Mark Knoller

Urban League's Marc Morial urged Pres Obama today to go easy on deep budget cuts that would adversely impact nation's most vulnerable.

 

How fulfilling is it to spend your days doing this?

 

Most Americans are idiots who had 2.2 GPAs in high school and got C-minuses in Basic Economics.

And sit slack-jawed on the couch masturbating to Faux Noise.

 

I got a lot done today.

 

Why do people do this shit?

The blurb you cite is from 1997. Times change. People change. Conditions really change. It's idiotic as hell to hold someone on a certain issue forever regardless of the conditions on the ground.

In 1971, you could have cited examples of Ronald Reagan supporting Democratic policies for crying out loud.

And as for polls, they're usually done with no context at all.

As of a week ago, most Americans didn't support raising the debt limit because most Americans didn't educate themselves on the ramifications of not raising it. Now that the populace is more educated, the majority of them want the debt limit raised.

So, yeah, I'm sure in theory a majority of Americans would love a balanced budget amendment ... until they get into the devil of the details and what it would mean to them.

 

I would hope so. You were up at 4:30 a.m., if not before.

 

But when the President quotes a poll, Republicans should give in and vote with him.

 

Nah, that was just a bout of insomnia. Luckily, I was able to get back to sleep for a little while.

 

You should cut back on your coffee consumption.

 

Two double espressos, first thing in the morning. That's it.

Had a couple of beers right before bed though.

 

These little deals are getting closer and closer together, reminding us of the central flaw in the U.S. Constitution. If a President has 34 Senators willing to back his play, he can do anything. He can't be impeached because he can't be convicted. There's no other way to get rid of him/her until the next election. Given the partisanship (not a bad thing in itself, but ill-suited for our system) of today, that means the President has unlimited powers. Obama could declare the debt limit unconstitutional tomorrow if he wanted, and if 34 Democratic Senators backed him, so it would be. And face it, any Democratic Senator who voted to impeach Obama on this issue would be voting themselves out of office. The same dynamic worked for Bush. There weren't even HEARINGS on whether he lied, as he certainly did, the U.S. into a war, or ordered people tortured, as he's admitted in public.
There are only two options for a President -- you can be as much of a tyrant as your party will support, or you can be a chickenshit loser.
Again, a systemic problem, one the Founding Fathers saw, which is why their writings on parties are so vehement. But they, like all mortals, assumed the world wouldn't change much after they were gone.