President Obama Plays The GOP Yet Again
Republicans are preparing to go into full OUTRAGE MODE over the Obama Administration’s request to the Treasury to raise the debt ceiling another $1.2 trillion. The debt ceiling deal worked out earlier this year gives the Republicans a chance to pass a resolution of disapproval, but the President would have to sign the resolution after it somehow passed a Democratically-controlled Senate in order to stop the debt ceiling hike. In other words, there’s nothing the Republicans can really do other than complain loudly.
Except President Obama has outfoxed the elephants once again: the GOP may not even get the chance to do that much, because they’re on winter break until January 17. Brian Beutler explains:
The key issue is the 15-day deadline Congress has to vote on a resolution of disapproval of the President’s request to raise the debt ceiling. The timing of the administration’s planned certification implies that the 15 days would be up before Congress returns in January from its holiday recess. Whether this was an accident or not, we’re told that the calendar issue created a behind-the-scenes mess — with Republicans threatening to return early from recess — and that the administration is trying to figure out a way to keep it from spilling out into the public.I’ve reached out to the administration for further guidance on both questions. It’s still unclear whether this was a hardball political move, a dumb mistake, or just a misunderstanding — or what, if anything, can be done to avoid a public clash with the GOP over the timing.
The size of the debt hike—easily getting the country through 2012 without having to bring it up during the election—and the timing seems to indicate to me that A) this was done on purpose, B) it was done to pants the GOP, and C) most importantly the Obama administration understands full well that raising the debt ceiling was going to be portrayed by the GOP as an impeachable offense no matter what the President actually did about it. So the White House is looking to get this out of the way.
Pretty sure this was the plan all along, and the GOP is now facing having to blow their vacation or miss their big chance at portraying the President as the most vile of all villains when of course previous Presidents jacked up the debt limit all the time, including Dubya’s seven times and Reagan’s 18 times. Your move, Republicans. You already lost that fight once.
If you ask me, President Obama’s got them by the short hairs. Again.
December 28, 2011 6:42 am
Posted in: Decline and Fall, Election 2012, hoocoodanode, OBAMA IS WORSE THAN BUSH HE SOLD US OUT!!, Republican Stupidity
81 Comments
81 Responses
Soonergrunt - December 28, 2011 | 6:46 am · Link
Leaving aside the fact that the debt ceiling is entirely artificial and probably unconstitutional, yeah, I’d say he maneuvered the republicans into a corner and then dry-fucked them.
On another note, Ben Nelson, who kept us all safe from government-sponsored health care, will now get government-sponsored health care at our expense, for the rest of his useless life.
debbie - December 28, 2011 | 7:14 am · Link
How long until Republicans freak out over Obama’s nomiations for the Federal Reserve Board?
BO_Bill - December 28, 2011 | 7:15 am · Link
There comes a time when this stops being a game. Recognize that government debt is necessarily being monetized. ‘M3’ or money supply including long-term deposits stopped being publically reported by the private banking concern, the Federal Reserve, which creates money for its owners, the private banks, in 2006, because it was ‘not important’. Key Jews understand the consequences of this. Most Americans do not.
So, anyway, before that private banking concern the Federal Reserve stopped keeping public record of ‘M3’ (it has even been scrubbed from Wikipedia) it was increasing at a rate of 19% per year. Again, this is the banks giving themselves money. M3 was $10 trillion in 2006 when it became too much of a bother to track any more.
Continuing with our Logic, Barry has increased the debt from $10 trillion to $16 trillion. So this means, when everything pans out, the money supply has increased 60%, while the supply of sun-acres has stayed steady, and the supply of oil has decreased. The supply of gold has gone up slightly through mining, although the supply of gold reserves has gone down by an identical amount, yielding no real change.
The end consequence is that if you had $10,000 in the bank, Barry and Company has taken $6,000 from you. Thus the power of the Presidency and the execution-style killings of all of the gays in Barack’s church in the months leading up to the presidential push with no press coverage, and the Weekly Standard’s hatred of Ron Paul. Barry’s team plays for keeps. I don’t think he understands this.
SiubhanDuinne - December 28, 2011 | 7:22 am · Link
@BO_Bill:
Say whut?
NobodySpecial - December 28, 2011 | 7:22 am · Link
@BO_Bill: Your Stormfront is showing.
Console - December 28, 2011 | 7:25 am · Link
@BO_Bill:
There’s a reason real economists measure inflation by price increases instead of money supply increases. Otherwise you just get dumbassery like this statement: “The end consequence is that if you had $10,000 in the bank, Barry and Company has taken $6,000 from you.”
Propaganda only works when it doesn’t dramatically conflict with common sense. Lying eyes and all that.
Phylllis - December 28, 2011 | 7:30 am · Link
@BO_Bill:
And you learned of it via the radio signals coming in through your fillings?
BO_Bill - December 28, 2011 | 7:31 am · Link
*** Donald Young *** Larry Bland *** Nate Spencer ***
Gay Obama acquaintances from church, all murdered November-December 2007. Bullets to the brain. I don’t get Stormfront. It is banned as hate-speech.
Money is a very powerful thing. People go nuts over it. Especially those who say they don’t.
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 7:36 am · Link
Is there a reason that Brick Oven Bill is not banned here?
magurakurin - December 28, 2011 | 7:38 am · Link
come on John, surely this is reason enough to ban the IP address. Fun is fun, but seriously…gay murder plots??
Fuckin’ man up, John. Don’t let this become a nut job haven like TPM. I’m beggin’ ya here.
amk - December 28, 2011 | 7:40 am · Link
@BO_Bill: You know jacksquat about what economy is and how it works, do ya ?
Baud - December 28, 2011 | 7:41 am · Link
@Napoleon:
Yeah, I’m pretty sure this:
qualifies as a ban-able offense.
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 7:44 am · Link
@Baud:
Not to mention he just basically accused a sitting president of murder.
SGEW - December 28, 2011 | 7:44 am · Link
De-lurking to request that Brick Oven Bill be banned (again!) for overt bigotry and general craziness.
ant - December 28, 2011 | 7:44 am · Link
yeah, brick head loves to mention the jooz…. dont he.
put the pipe down man, it aint good for ya.
Raven - December 28, 2011 | 7:47 am · Link
Get this motherfucker out of here.
Baud - December 28, 2011 | 7:47 am · Link
@Napoleon:
Well, they did that with Clinton too. It’s so loony that I find it less offensive than the antisemitism. I say we compromise and suggest that John ban him twice.
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 7:48 am · Link
@Baud:
Deal
Ron - December 28, 2011 | 7:50 am · Link
I had never heard of these gay murder plots before, but they exist out there on the internets. A short google search found references. They seem to rest on Larry Sinclair’s claims, and he isn’t exactly a credible source.
dmsilev - December 28, 2011 | 7:51 am · Link
It’s the GOP’s own damn fault. First, they insisted on this silly “let’s embarrass the President” structure to the debt ceiling bill, and then they gave themselves a month of winter vacation. If they had scheduled themselves to come back to work right after New Year’s Day like normal people have to, they’d have had plenty of time for their hissy fit.
amk - December 28, 2011 | 7:52 am · Link
@Baud: Don’t the FP’ers here also get to ban the trolls in their threads ? I think mm banned some in his posts.
Baud - December 28, 2011 | 7:54 am · Link
@amk: I think the FP’s can force a “time out.” I don’t know if they can also ban.
geg6 - December 28, 2011 | 7:58 am · Link
While BOB is reliably consistent in some things (oh noes! The Joos are coming to take your children for blood sacrifices—and, yes, that’s a slight exaggeration but not really), he can often surprise me. Gotta say the Obama gay murder plot came outta left field.
BOB really is a vile mfer.
Emma - December 28, 2011 | 7:58 am · Link
@BO_Bill: I’ll have to deduct points from this performance. It was going well until the last paragraph, but then it just disintegrates. 6.6 out of 10.
(edit) Jesus Christ on a Harley. I looked the names up and sure enough… is there nothing the morons won’t swallow these days?
JPL - December 28, 2011 | 7:58 am · Link
B.O.B tends to rant more in the morning when the boss man is fast asleep. He thinks he can get away with it.
Has Boehner shed tears about the President’s latest move?
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 7:58 am · Link
@Ron:
No joke:
http://www.politico.com/news/s.....11164.html
Melton - December 28, 2011 | 7:59 am · Link
This is sad if this is what constitutes a victory.
Ben Cisco (mobile) - December 28, 2011 | 8:00 am · Link
Whatever “entertainment ” this mook has provided for some on this blog is well past the expiration date, particularly for mobile users who cannot make use of Cleek’s troll-be-gone script-fu. Time for him to go, John.
Omnes Omnibus - December 28, 2011 | 8:01 am · Link
@dmsilev: Well, come on now. Be fair. It wasn’t very nice of the President to fight back against them. Especially when they are on vacation. Everyone knows that.
KJ - December 28, 2011 | 8:20 am · Link
Actually Congress is not on recess. Remember they are in session to prevent President Obama from making any recess appointments.
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 8:27 am · Link
@KJ:
I have never been one to think that Obama and his people play 11th dementional chess, but your post and the one before it made me think just for a second that he is this time.
First the Republicans, stupidly (a la Jack Kingston mode) complain that they are on vacation and that it is unfair for him to make them come back to save civilization from the communist Kenyan, then once that gets plenty of airplay he makes a ton of recess appointments and then they complain that he can not do that because they are in session.
Nah, too good to possibly be true.
Elizabelle - December 28, 2011 | 8:27 am · Link
And BO Bill has played the Balloon Juice commentariat once again.
Who needs a pie filter to know “just scroll on past.”
dmsilev - December 28, 2011 | 8:27 am · Link
@Omnes Omnibus: Oh right, I forgot about that. My bad.
Of course, we all know that these same halfwits will turn on a dime and accuse Obama of taking too much vacation time. They project more frequently than the local multiplex.
WereBear (itouch) - December 28, 2011 | 8:29 am · Link
It’s stuff like this that will cement the “Republican = Clowns” meme in a whole generation. If anyone is unswayed now, they will probably have to die off before they vote D.
The Other Bob - December 28, 2011 | 8:30 am · Link
How do I know there is nothing to the “gay murder plot”? Dan Choi hasn’t said anythign about it.
Xenos - December 28, 2011 | 8:32 am · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
I think ol’ bricky (or whoever writes him) slipped that in there to see if anyone was still reading him by the third paragraph. If not for your ‘Say whut?’ it would have breezed right by me.
Cheap jim - December 28, 2011 | 8:32 am · Link
What do Jews of Key Largo know that they don’t in say, Sarasota or Tallahassee?
SiubhanDuinne - December 28, 2011 | 8:35 am · Link
@Napoleon:
Nice!
MikeBoyScout - December 28, 2011 | 8:36 am · Link
@3 brick oven:
“‘M3’ (it has even been scrubbed from Wikipedia)”
Not only has M3 not been scrubbed from Wikipedia, the page is rarely edited.
Now, run along and replace your hat.
Napoleon - December 28, 2011 | 8:40 am · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
That is what lack of coffee and proof reading will do.
rlrr - December 28, 2011 | 8:50 am · Link
@Napoleon:
It’s OK. Many conservatives (Jerry Falwell, for example) accused Bill Clinton of murder without any negative consequences…
rlrr - December 28, 2011 | 8:51 am · Link
@BO_Bill:
A large, awkward, random assemblage of sentences…
SiubhanDuinne - December 28, 2011 | 8:52 am · Link
@Napoleon:
I wasn’t sure whether it was a typo or deliberate. Even if it was due to lack of caffeine, it’s really a brilliant construction. I would own it proudly if I were you.
Calouste - December 28, 2011 | 9:04 am · Link
In other debt-related news, Italy has managed to borrow money at 3.5%, half the rate it was last week or so. It seems the eurocalypse has been averted for the moment.
Schlemizel - December 28, 2011 | 9:16 am · Link
@Calouste:
If I were a rich man – The ECB was loaning money at 1% a couple weeks ago so people could buy Italy at 7%. You could have made 6% for just sitting there. Now you could sell at a premium, pay off the ECB loan and have a tidy profit left over. All you needed was the wealth to play in those circles.
rikyrah - December 28, 2011 | 9:18 am · Link
hee hee hee hee he
The Mahablog » Stuff to Read - December 28, 2011 | 9:36 am · Link
[...] Oh noes! Another debt ceiling hike! [...]
redshirt - December 28, 2011 | 9:38 am · Link
Trolls sure are good for thread hits!
Also, I don’t know why anyone on this site would be surprised at anything Obama does – the man’s a genius, with a spirit and personality to match. He’s going to play every card he has as well as can be played. Is it enough? Who knows, but I feel a bit better every day knowing we’ve got Obama on the side of logic, justice, and everything that’s good up to and including kitties and puppies.
Dave - December 28, 2011 | 9:43 am · Link
good to know Obama will play hardball for liberal priorities like the debt ceiling.
burnspbesq - December 28, 2011 | 9:48 am · Link
@KJ:
“Remember they are in session to prevent President Obama from making any recess appointments.”
It would be kind of amusing if the Republican House members who are perpetrating this ridiculous stunt were to show up at the Capitol one morning to find all the doors locked.
burnspbesq - December 28, 2011 | 9:51 am · Link
@The Other Bob:
This gay murder plot must be the root of Manning’s psychological problems.
burnspbesq - December 28, 2011 | 9:54 am · Link
@Calouste:
“Italy has managed to borrow money at 3.5%”
Unpossible. The Invisible Bond Vigilantes would never allow that.
kindness - December 28, 2011 | 9:54 am · Link
People, people….C’mon now. Censoring nut cases & trolls isn’t how one wins a fight with them. You win a fight with them by pointing out their errors every chance you have. Let the trolls become your own attack ads as to why the crazies are wrong.
Why any one here thinks it’s their place to tell anyone in authority here what they should do because there is an idiot in their midst is really on par with what the crazy righties want as a response. Don’t play their game. Play your own game. It’s the only way to win.
Craig - December 28, 2011 | 10:01 am · Link
To Hell with these jerks. Congress is in session right now; if they took a recess, Obama could actually appoint some people to do the work of the government. And we couldn’t have that, could we? But if Congress is in session, it is entirely appropriate for the President to send them anything he wants. If they wanted to take a recess, that’s what they damn well should have done.
More like this, please.
kdaug - December 28, 2011 | 10:05 am · Link
@BO_Bill: Agreed. Further, the Illuminati’s cornering of the aluminum market is a direct bid to deprive us of the means to create our hats. It’s the last line of defense, people!
pablo - December 28, 2011 | 10:09 am · Link
Now, let the FUCKING RECESS APPOINTMENTS FUCKING BEGIN!
MomSense - December 28, 2011 | 10:19 am · Link
@Emmma “Jesus Christ on a Harley” is right. I wish my workplace had an eyewash station.
Thank goodness for @kdaug #54
Please blog master on high, please ban BO_Bill.
Marc - December 28, 2011 | 10:26 am · Link
@kindness:
It isn’t censorship. Half of the damn posts in this thread have been about an outrageous set of claims. If you don’t moderate discussions you end up with pure garbage. Trolls will post twenty, thirty, forty posts…enough to make sure that no one else can talk about anything but them. Or they’ll drop exceptionally vile and disgusting nonsense, like BoB did here, and enjoy getting the reaction that they did.
You have to quickly ban these people for the same reason you have to quickly get rid of graffiti. The vandals stop bothering if no one sees their work.
kdaug - December 28, 2011 | 10:28 am · Link
@MomSense:
C’mon. Blushing ain’t my strong suit.
Cris (without an H) - December 28, 2011 | 10:34 am · Link
“I would get Stormfront if my company’s firewall allowed it.”
Because he’s a spoof?
Jerzy Russian - December 28, 2011 | 10:40 am · Link
@Emma:
I have never heard the “on a Harley” part before. Let’s start a fundraiser to get this guy a suitable motorcycle so it can become true: http://www.masslive.com/news/i....._mino.html
To get back to your question, the answer is “no”.
rea - December 28, 2011 | 10:50 am · Link
@dmsilev: You’re right, this is something the GOP did to itself. After all, the government has to make end-of-year interest payments on bonds, particularly those held by the social security trust fund. So, of course, now is when the debt ceiling has to be extended. The GOP just got caught not paying attention.
boss bitch - December 28, 2011 | 11:00 am · Link
@Napoleon:
I really wish people would stop using that term. Obama thinks and plans for the long term. There’s nothing uber sneaky or 11th dimensional about it. Pundits, MSM, bloggers are all focused on scoring political points and winning the day or news cycle. Obama just keeps it moving, shaking his head at the carnival barkers, and gets shit done. Eventually the rest of you catch up and sometimes even have the nerve to take credit for his work.
Linda Featheringill - December 28, 2011 | 11:10 am · Link
Morning, folks.
I pied BOB a while ago so I don’t know exactly what filth he is spewing today but I take his sputtering as a sign that Obama won this particular little game. That’s good to see, sweet even. Obama akbar!
[There’s some really cute stuff on the pie filter. Kudos to all who have contributed to that. You’ve increased the amount of peace in the world.]
The Moar You Know - December 28, 2011 | 11:11 am · Link
This blog has done just fine for years without wholesale banning of people or any form of moderation whatsoever.
I see no reason that should change. Frankly, I kinda like the Brick Oven guy, he reminds me of some of my more senile relatives.
Larv - December 28, 2011 | 11:12 am · Link
@Cris (without an H):
Yeah. I don’t know if this is the original BOB, but whoever is posting as him now is almost certainly spoofing. His comment at #3 really makes absolutely no sense, and seems to be just a bunch of crazy accusations strung together to demonstrate his craziness. In my experience, real conspiracy theorists are only too happy to explain the intricate connections between the various components of their theory du jour. But BOB is just throwing bizarre shit out there and hoping for a reaction – I mean, seriously:
That components of that sentence don’t have anything to do with each other, and none of it has anything to do with the rest of the comment. It’s just BOB (or the person playing that role) jumping up and down saying “hey everybody, look how crazy I am!”
It’s even mildly amusing sometimes, but it inevitably results in dozens of comments responding to him as if he’s for real, which gets tiresome.
kindness - December 28, 2011 | 11:12 am · Link
@The Moar You Know: And Rush Limbaugh.
liberal - December 28, 2011 | 11:27 am · Link
@BO_Bill:
You don’t understand how modern banking works. Banks are not reserve constrained; at best, they’re capital constrained.
And given the risk of deflation, and the fact that there’s simply no way that all this private sector debt is ever going to be paid off, it would be a good thing if we had a bout of inflation. I say that as someone who has always saved and saw the dot com and housing bubbles in advance. It’s a bad outcome, but it might be the least bad.
Brandon - December 28, 2011 | 11:27 am · Link
I thought people here were cognizant enough of all internet teaditions to recognize high trollery at its finest. But I guess not. B.O.B., Brick Oven Bill and the latest incarnation are playing ya’ll for fools if you get worked up enough to respond. My word.
I have to give B.O.B. full credit here because he won the thread.
Aaron - December 28, 2011 | 11:40 am · Link
How can I apply for one of these “Key Jews” positions that BO Bill speaks of?
Does it pay well? it certainly sounds like it should.
DanielX - December 28, 2011 | 11:55 am · Link
About – fucking – time. D’you suppose Obama has finally figured out, after three years, that congressional Republicans are never going to negotiate in good faith? Their version of negotiation is where the other party surrenders up front, and then the terms of the surrender are negotiated. Another fight over the debt limit would be another disgusting and pointless exercise in capitulation by the Democrats in which the more they surrender the more the Republicans demand.
DanielX - December 28, 2011 | 12:03 pm · Link
OT but…
Also, too – “Hitler hears that Gingrich is leading the GOP race” is second only to “Hillary’s Downfall” in Downfall political parodies.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=laU6PfdgW44
shortstop - December 28, 2011 | 12:15 pm · Link
@Emma: When Benen had The Carpetbagger Report, there was a particularly nutso PUMA who was convinced that Larry Sinclair was a normal, likeable guy who spoke gospel truth. In between her incessant whining about Obama’s sexism, she managed to fling around enough racist and homophobic rhetoric to top off a landfill. And she was a CalTech psychology professor.
Emma - December 28, 2011 | 12:31 pm · Link
@DanielX: You know, looking back to what Obama has managed to accomplish in spite of Congress, I would have thought people like yourself would have realized that he usually wins. But I guess that you won’t be satisfied until he acts like a Democratic version of a Republican.
RalfW - December 28, 2011 | 1:31 pm · Link
It doesn’t hurt the administration that this is about the most black-hole week of political news in the entire year. Very few people are tuned in to news, especially arcane debt-limit news, between Xmas and New Year’s eve.
And if people are tuned in to political news, the Iowa horse race wins out.
I nominate this as a smart assed pantsing of the GOP.
KarenJ - December 28, 2011 | 1:41 pm · Link
@debbie: It’s a wonder a dozen or so GOPsters in Congress haven’t already keeled over dead from brain aneurysms, the way they go into tailspins every time President Obama does ANYTHING to progress this country.
ShadeTail - December 28, 2011 | 1:52 pm · Link
@shortstop:
“Mary”, correct? She followed us to Washington Monthly for a little while, but I haven’t seen her for a few years now.
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937 - December 28, 2011 | 2:15 pm · Link
@Napoleon:
Comedic effect?
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937 - December 28, 2011 | 2:18 pm · Link
@BO_Bill:
If it wasn’t ‘banned’ as hate-speech, you would ‘get’ it? (whatever that means)
opie jeanne - December 28, 2011 | 3:30 pm · Link
@Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937: His mother must have figured out what he was doing in the basement, set up some parental controls.
priscianusjr - December 28, 2011 | 8:18 pm · Link
@SiubhanDuinne:
Yes, the Key Jews saw to that.