Isn’t that what this all is about at this moment in time?
We just have to last another 18 months and win the presidential election, and then our long national nightmare will come to an end. Until then, we’re just trying to limit the damage.
Until he put forth his “plan,” Mitch McConnell was on the right track.
You can’t make a “big deal” with this President and this Senate. The best you can do is limit the damage done by the (Nancy)-Harry-Barack tag team.
McConnell’s plan wasn’t damage control; to the contrary, it made Republicans participants in the continuing damage.
There is a way out, spending constraints short of an overhaul of entitlements and no tax increases. At the end of the day, Obama will have to take it.
And if he doesn’t, the damage is on him.
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Comments
I agree with your proposal. The fact is that the House Republicans have a veto over the terms of a debt ceiling increase. They should publish an easily defensible proposal, which includes a set of cuts, as you describe, and tell Obama and the senate to take it or leave it.
I like what Newt said yesterday: http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/07/gingrich-gop-push-obama-last-minute-deadline
There is a way out … At the end of the day, Obama will have to take it. And if he doesn’t, the damage is on him.
I’m not so sure. You’ll hold Obama responsible, and I will and so will some other similarly minded folks. But the American public? It seems to me that Obama holds the advantage here, considering the power of the MSM to control public opinion.
I agree. You have to throw your punches in combination, or all the opponent has to do is make you miss. You have to have hope, tactics and strategy.
Tactics could include a public sketch of the president’s plan as the public has heard it from him thus far. So far, I understood from the president that Social Security checks on Aug. 3rd are not guaranteed, thanks to CBS’s Scott Pelley’s “guarantee” question. As the public, I understand that the president has trouble with “jets” in some way. Is that the depreciation schedule or is it the Recreational Vehicle mortgage interest exemption or both?
A written plan apparently seems not forthcoming from the administration, so I suggest a 8×14 yellow legal pad and 3 columns entitled “Guaranteed” and “Not Guaranteed” and “No Comment”. Perhaps more effective, a sketch could be a constructed as a scrapbook page.
By the end of the day, the sketch of the presidents plan as revealed to the public could be put up next to the job and unemployment statistics and the debt clock. Get the focus where it should be: How is the leader leading? And, if scrapbookers can construct a picture of what Pres. Obama has revealed to the public on paper, why haven’t people that work in his administration?
McConnell’s remarks were both sickening and disheartening as well as a betrayal of those who wrongly held out some level of hope that maybe, just MAYBE the GOP got it.
Clearly, they didn’t. And with equal clarity, McConnell has got to go.
I have found over the years that it is best not to trust a man without a chin…..Assad and McConnell come to mind.
That’s what you for smoking that Blue Grass, Mitch..
If further confirmation was needed that McCon’s plan was ill-conceived and borderline disastrous, Dingy Harry Reid is on the wires complimenting it. That’s enough for me. Put me in the NFW camp.
My initial reaction was to hate McConnell’s plan. Then I read a bunch of blogs across the political spectrum. And while I never liked it, I was at least warming up to it. Now I’m back to hating it again.
McConnell is trying to force the House Republicans to accept it, knowing full well they were sent to Washington to cut spending, so they are unlikely to agree to it. If they don’t accept his terms, then McConnell thinks his clever plan will insulate the Senate Republicans from the public’s wrath.
It really is a very weasel move, rooted purely in his and Senate Republican’s self interest. It does nothing to address the most pressing issue facing the country, the out of control debt and deficits. McConnell’s plan is more “can abuse”. He just wants to keep kicking the can further down the road.
I agree that the GOP needs to hang tough and call Obama’s bluff. David Kupelian over at WND calls Obama’s threat “extortion,” similar to what many near-bankrupt cities across America threaten to do their citizens if the tax-paying slaves don’t agree to tax hikes. “If you don’t approve our tax proposal, we’ll have to cut police protection at night and let criminals ransack the city.”
Kupelian argues that there’s no way that Obama will really stop social security checks, since there are plenty of other wasteful spending programs he can cut. And if Obama really did stop social security checks (which I truly doubt), I think people are smart enough to hold him responsible for that decision.
Yes, there is great hope. Our nation is exceptional. Don’t give up that thought. And, don’t let the weasely wimps get you down. With men like Sen. Marco Rubio and Sen. Jim DeMint in the Senate, there is hope in that body politic.
Hang in there.
“But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has?” Romans 8:24 “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” Hebrews 11:1 (NASB) This is my perspective on hope.
Keep the faith. Keep on keeping on. Hope is alive. 🙂
Oh, another thing. Mark Levin was awesome last night, first hour, on this. It will not pass the House.
Mark had Jim DeMint on, and he assured the audience that the Senate will NOT run with this, it’s a non-starter with Republicans. It will fail. And, if McConnell pursues this, and Dems like Reid are touting it, his career is over. Bye bye McConnell. You are done.
I believe McConnell will withdraw it. Time will tell.
But you must continue keeping hope alive. There is promise, light, at the end of this tunnel.
Re: Legal Insurrection’s totally tubular Video of the Day
Excerpt from LukeHandCool’s soon to be released book:
Big-Wave Surfing Jewish Conservative Bloggers and a Promised Beach of their Own:
“Facts … like America’s debt problem and the ceaseless sting of nipple rash inflicted fighting the pernicious backwash of Banzai Pipeline’s 20-foot sets … are stubborn things, dude.”
–Professor William “Riptide Bill” Jacobson to Eric Boehlert, 2011.
Deep in the Bosom of every Rabbi Lies a Surfer
LukeHandCool (who, shameless name dropper that he is, still finds it hard to believe that within two blocks of his father’s flagship store on Wilshire Boulevard, one found not only non-surfer Andrew Breitbart’s dad’s steakhouse … but also world-champion surfer, and Jew, Shaun Tomson’s surf shop, “Surf Beat.” After his competitive surfing days were over, Shaun went to law school … Professor Jacobson went to law school first. And now, LukeHandCool is off to entertain his Japanese mother-in-law for the day … a woman who knows nothing about surfing or Jews, let alone surfing Jews).
Seems alot of people are under the misguided perception the GOP will have a fair chance to present their side. They won’t. Just look how the media covered Obama’s “no check for grandma”, no mention that if SS checks didn’t go out it would be because Obama refused to prioritize spending. If the debt ceiling is not raise Harry-Barry and Nancy will be allowed to tell everyone over and over again its because republicans didn’t want to tax jets. The truth doesnt matter, only people’s perception of it.
You are right on target. For that reason, we should not be so quick to condemn McConnell. If you really believe that the Republicans will get major cuts, including entitlement reform, out of Obama, fine, call his bluff. But, you must be prepared to really call his bluff; that means accepting the consequences of cash shortages from refusing to raise the debt ceiling. Sure, some disbursements could be made, but some couldn’t. That would cause very major disruptions. And remember, Obama would be in control at that point with the media at his back.
If you assume that big cuts are not going to happen, two alternatives come to mind (other than refusing to raise the limit). One is McConnell’s plan. The other is to pass a small increase in the limit along with an equal amount of cuts. There may be others.
The House should be able to pass legislation prioritizing spending. Do that – put Social Security, the Military, etc. at the head of the list and send it to the Senate.
The House could also do what Kevin Williamson @ NRO suggested – raise the debt limit only to the extent necessary to replace bonds as they mature (and limit the increase to that purpose).
http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/271793/debt-ceiling-bill-pass-right-now-kevin-d-williamson
Doing those things would still result in very major disruptions. You can’t cut government spending by 40% overnight without major disruptions. Cutting spending by 40% sounds like a reasonable goal, but it would have to be done carefully over time (at least a year or so). Moreover, I wouldn’t want Obama in charge of deciding where to cut.
Happy to see that you have come to this conclusion Professor….I was beginning to think of asking you to write “no deals” on the blackboard 2.5 trillion times 🙂
Obama says the Republicans won’t “budge”
and they say he won’t budget
soon we’ll all be saying “fudge”
as our politicians try to fudge it.
My best guess is the House Repubs will stand strong and O and the Dems will try to distract us from talk of the deficit and debt, the administration’s corporate cronyism and DOJ corruption with “Lookie over there, Murdoch and the evil conservative media are hacking criminals and liars!” (and “Murdoch’s private jets!”)
I said that wrong: “hacking” as an adjective doesn’t work in the above, does it?
Rush has come out with a good point, we are not trying to assign blame, we are trying to save the country. Thus, this proposal should be thrown out and Mr. McConnell asked not to come back. We need people who are just going to say no.
Assigning blame is inevitable whether we want it or not. The Republicans must win this political battle or Obama will get a second term. That would be disastrous for the Country. It looks like bad things are likely to happen. Republicans must make sure Obama gets the blame when they do. That will not be easy; Republicans must be very careful here.
McCain praises McConnell’s backup debt plan. What could possibly go wrong?
So did Graham. So there you have it. The “Gangs of McCain” unanimously support McConnell’s surrender without blame option.
“We just have to last another 18 months and win the presidential election…”
…Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Sure we have to win the presidential election, but we also have to win the election with a quality conservative. A simple “R” will not be sufficient.
We need to prevent the media from forcing a nominee on us who we do not want.
We need to make sure conservatives (not republicans) retain/win house and senate races.
We need a lot.
politics
We have a man in the White House who is acting like a tyrant.
He is creating law through executive order or through his puppets enacting regulation within agencies without actual law backing up these regulations.
He is going to war without even the pretense of going before Congress for declaration of War Powers.
And with the blessings of McConnell the President is assuming the Power of the Purse, Congress’ duty and obligation.
Our Founders threw off the shackles of a tyrant who at least had to go before Parliament to enact taxes. We are now coming to enthrone King Barry with the power to engage us in debt to foreign nations and spend money that doesn’t exist, wage war and create law, all without even a “by your leave” to Congress or the American people.
Are you sure that we won’t read next year in the Washington Post how scholars who think Sarah Palin is stupid see an interpretation in the 14th Amendment that gives King Barry the title of Tyrant For Life?
President Obama abruptly walks out of talks
“President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of a stormy debt-limit meeting with congressional leaders Wednesday, a dramatic setback to the already shaky negotiations, according to GOP sources.
“He shoved back and said ‘I’ll see you tomorrow’ and walked out,” House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) told reporters in the Capitol after the meeting.”
Pollutico
According to Michelle Bachmann a couple of minutes ago on Fox, paying the interest on our debt represents about 10% of all INCOMING REVENUES (not total expenditures) so default is not an immediate risk. And if we pay the interest on our debt, we don’t risk being downgraded by the bond rating agencies.
Then why is the entire GOP leadership adamant about the need to raise the debt ceiling? Let’s not and see what happens. And by the way, how about killing ObamaCare as one of the cuts in spending?