[Image: Gustave Dore (1832-1883) The Inferno, Canto 13, line 120: “Haste now,” the foremost cried, “now haste thee death!”. Go have a look at the huge image file. It’s quite spectacular] [Cross posted at Sarah Proud and Tall.]Dear RedState Reader:
If you’ve seen the recent Harry Potter or watched any of a host of exorcism movies, you know that right before the demon dies, he lashes out most brutally and fearfully to try to get you to give up.
We’re seeing the demon of out of control government lashing out in spectacular fashion now before House Republicans kill it.
In one last spectacular bout, the White House and Congressional leaders are summoning Standards & Poor to Congress to scare the beejezus out of House Republican Freshman. They are bringing in the Grim Reaper to proclaim death if a deal is not reached.
House Republicans should first note that S&P did not see the financial crisis come and also note that the White House and Congressional leaders did the exact same thing on TARP.
Then House Republicans need to open their eyes, laugh at death, and finish the exorcism.
They are being asked by their leadership and the White House to embrace one of two poisons:
The first poison, McConnell’s Pontius Pilate Act, would let the President drive up debt by $2 trillion without any cuts.
The second poison, the Gang of 6′ Gangrene, would drive up debt by $2 trillion, not make cuts of $3.5 trillion for ten years and even then depend on subsequent Congresses actually agreeing to those cuts, and also foist on the American public the largest tax hike in American history while being dishonest enough to call it a tax cut.
Poison kills. And either of these poisons, despite what the S&P or any politician may say, will kill the long term prospects of this Republic being financially solvent.
Why?
Because the House GOP is performing an exorcism on government spending. It has the only plan that can pass by August 2, 2011, that cuts spending, caps future spending, and balances the budget. It has the only long term plan that meets the credit reporting agencies’ demands without relying on future agreements to do things Congress has never had the will do to.
The Senate and White House do not want to stop spending. They do not want to be restrained.
So they’ll bring in the S&P, claim disaster, beg for live, and hope the GOP in the House gives up the fight and stops the exorcism before the demon is driven out.
House Republicans: Hold the freaking line. They are trying to scare the crap out of you to prevent you from saving the Republic. Do you really believe the same people and the same bipartisan deals that got us to $14 trillion in debt will somehow get us out of it?
Hold the line.
Sincerely yours,Erick Erickson
Editor, RedState.com
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[…] [Cross posted at Balloon Juice.] […]
Gin & Tonic
Image re-sizing. How does that work?
Irving
…like that, apparently.
Ol' Dirty DougJ
Exorcism, really?
Sarah Proud and Tall - A Shameful Instance of the Coarsening of Discourse for over 93 Years
@ Gin & Tonic:
My three image choices appear to be huge, tiny and minuscule.
I love the WordPress.
cleek
stupid fuck should try proof-reading his missives before clicking Send.
“they’ll bring in the S&P”. doesn’t know the difference between Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency and “the S&P” (aka “the S&P 500”, a market index).
“Standards & Poor”. no, “Standard & Poor’s”
“beg for live,”
“did not see the financial crisis come ”
“to try to get you to give up.” clumsy.
jeffreyw
Get thee behind me, Erik.
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
Yes, sit right there and get destroyed in place.
Stealin’ it.
ETA: The line, not the hat, you lunatics!
qwerty42
Teh stoopid, it is strong with this one.
Chyron HR
SO LOOK OUT! BOOGA-BOOGA!
Because I’m Waiting For Your Love.
Gin & Tonic
@SP&T:
Gotta say, it was pretty scary when you had it on huge.
Linda Featheringill
The Revolution is just around the corner.
Meanwhile on dkos, I noticed last night a diary on How to Live Without Your Social Security Check. I question the practicality of some of the author’s suggestions but I certainly applaud him for trying to deal with reality.
Chris
Ahhh yes, GOP politics, where destroying your enemies (who are demons, doncha know) is so important that you’ll literally “hold the line” by destroying the economy and ruining the lives of millions if that’s what it takes.
I fucking hate these people so much.
Draylon Hogg
Doesn’t this wazzock know that Potter is blasphemous filth that invites Beelzebub into your heart?
WereBear
So here’s some news you can use:
Man buys house for $16
Now that’s practical.
And as for Erick the BrainDead; not a clue. Not even by UPS.
bemused
Exorcism, a dying demon lashes out most brutally and fearfully, poisons, grim reaper, laugh at death….rightwing extremists sure do love using violent, apocalyptic rhetoric. Tony Sutton. chairman of the MN Republican party said a compromise to the left is a compromise between good and evil.
A bat shit crazy cult has a stranglehold on this country.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
So the way to restore the country to fiscal responsibility is to refuse to pay its bills? Deeper thinkers there at Red State.
Mark D
Jesus H. Tapdancing Christ on a pogo stick … can someone please show me where the fuck all this wailing about the debt ceiling was during Dubya’s terms — ya know, when Congress raised it seven times without a fucking word of complaint from the likes of Erik Sonoferickson?
Because I seem to have missed that.
cat48
Xenos
Reminiscent of Peter Gabriel’s San Jacinto
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Wanna bet the guy who wrote that is him:
http://24ahead.com/images/get-a-brain-morans.jpg
Or any of a bazillion others like him out here in (un)Real ‘Murka.
joes527
Not to mention a really lousy movie.
Got dragged to it last night. DBox and 3D are killing the cinema.
I sat they in my unmoving chair in the 2D screen (to save a few bucks while not getting a debilitating migraine from the stupid3D or being made sick from the chair rocking)
The most memorable part of the movie was all the scenes where it was clear that the whole point was to give the folks watching in 3D something to jump out at them or the folks in DBox a chance to rock their chairs. The value add (extra $$) features that the theatres are selling are shaping the movies, and not in a good way.
Beyond the scenes that were set-ups for extra $$ features, I think it had a wizard or some such in the movie, but that part just wasn’t that memorable.
MBunge
And these are the sorts of people that Krugman and other Obama critics think would be better dealt with by being more confrontational.
Mike
comrade scott's agenda of rage
There was nothing to miss because….wait for it
IOKIYAR
Or as Darth Cheney said “Deficits don’t matter”.
Jude
Someone needs to sit this prick down and explain: Erick, honey, life is not the movies. Also, plunging the world into economic chaos to make a point is one of the dumbest and worst things anyone could do. It’s not a corageous stand against government spending. It’s just cruel and stupid.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Except, in reality:
Cars don’t blow up when they fall off a cliff.
Propane tanks don’t blow up when you shoot them.
People bleed.
Using movies as a reference for reality is not exactly reliable.
dan
@21.joes527,
Thanks. We need more people announcing how they are too cool to enjoy Harry Potter. Good for you.
artem1s
ya wonder when they are gonna wake up and realize its the GOP that’s in it’s exorcist death throes. look at whose heads are spinning out of control, spewing pea-soup bile all over the place.
a good friend of mine taught me this quote,
These are the acts of desperate men
Who know in the end they cannot win
Bill White
Richard Posner (of all people) offers this explanation of our situation:
http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2011/07/the-federal-deficit-messposner.html
Martin
You also missed when they passed the Bush tax cuts and raised the debt ceiling – both in the same day.
jrg
When these stupid assholes actually do succeed in damaging the credit of the U.S., it will take them five fucking seconds to start blaming Obama. The fact that they goaded each other to ignore the warnings will go straight down the memory hole.
Party of personal responsibility! Wheeeee!
Bulworth
This is just all kinds of awesomesauce.
I wonder who conservatives think will be able to pick up the pieces after a default? The Chamber of Commerce? The Home Depot?
scav
quick! Inform the Neilson rating agency! Harry Potter and not 24 is the audio-visual script for all true ‘mercan behavior! Is Scalia aware of this critical change and, if so, what are the legal implications?
Syphon
No, you’re right. I don’t believe the Republicans will somehow get us out of it. Erick Erickson is actually right for once.
MikeBoyScout
Son of the son of Erick sure likes his absurd melodrama.
But I applaud his attempt to extend Godwin’s Law in to the realm of Satan, proving, once again, Peak Wingnut Was a Lie!
ps. SP&T, please update your tags.
Chris
However, what made Nixon successful is that in addition to seizing the middle, he was able to emotionally invest a number of Americans in his newly rebranded Republican Party (the one that stood against liberal elitists and their minions in the other half of the country). Thus paving the way for Reagan and the madmen who followed him. Clinton wasn’t able to do any such thing.
Linda Featheringill
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/sustaining-the-unsustainable/2011/07/21/gIQAI6mtRI_story.html
George Will explains why I think the McConnell option is a bad deal George likes it, by the way.
Draylon Hogg
@26
I enjoyed Prisoner of Azkaban the movie but when I tried to read the books it was as if I was possessed by the spirit of amalgamated children’s literature and I kept hearing Enid Blyton arguing with E. Nesbit in my head.
dr. bloor
“Erik Erickson” appears to Norse for “Pol Pot.”
Bokonon
Does brave, brave Sir Erick really believe his own propaganda? Or is he just cheerleading the GOP lemmings to jump over the cliff … the way they REALLY WANT TO … because the resulting carnage will produce the correct political results?
Seriously. Erickson has been peddling this “everyone will blame Obama for a default, but nobody will really get hurt” brave talk very aggressively … leading from the rear as a sort of apologist and wishful-thinker-in-chief for the most extreme of the GOP’s house members. And the sad thing is that Erickson’s postings and rants and wishful thinking seem to be swaying opinion more than … oh, I dunno … the people who actually know something about about the subject?
Notice how between the cheap shots and insults (like using the word “Gangrene” – hey, can’t have modern GOP talk without gonzo stuff like that), Erickson’s focus is all on the political ends – which is killing the federal government, and screwing the political opposition? It is sort of like talking about how effective nuking an enemy city would be … without mentioning retaliation, the effect of producing a nuclear winter, and all of those trivial data points and externalities.
By any means necessary, baby. By any means necessary.
MikeBoyScout
Douche Bag should first note that Republican Glibertarians and Neocons were the thoughtful assholes whose policies and ineptitude brought down the global economy and wrecked the fiscal budget.
Of course, realizing anything is beyond Erick, son of Erick’s subterranean IQ, so maybe some kind witch could cast a mute spell on the SOB.
Judas Escargot
The Vikings never were known for their analytical skills.
JerseyJeffersonian
I have an alternative candidate in mind to be designated as a demon thrashing about doing maximal damage in its extremity and perpetrating evil while in its death throes.
Can you guess what entity I have in mind?
Bob
Wow, I thought this was a damn good snark piece until I scrolled down…
Bill White
@Chris comment #35
Yes.
I believe Perlstein explains this well in “Nixonland” with Reagan and later Rove adding increasing amounts of steroids to the basic Nixon-ian approach to politics.
Bill Clinton and now Barack Obama have been attempting to counter resentment politics with the politics of reasonableness. Unfortunately, unless we are willing to openly fight a civil war, continued attempts at being reasonable may be the only choice.
Brian R.
Save this email, and print out copies to distribute to Americans when the economy is destroyed by these idiots. Maybe with a map to Erickson’s house.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
I’m sorry, are we we for or against rating agencies before or after we are for or against rating agencies?
Nemesis
Derp overload, Eric son of Eric.
The Republic of Stupidity
Erick Erickson…
Oh yeah…
He’s the one who bragged he’d grab HIS WIFE’S shotgun, should a census taker come to his door…
Not HIS shotgun… HIS WIFE’S shotgun, mind you…
I wonder if CNN has ever felt any buyer’s remorse over THAT one?
Mike E
@Chris#35: Clinton assumed the void left by the evaporating moderate Repubs. DLC in yer pocketz, bitchez!
The Moar You Know
Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.
4tehlulz
Looks like I’ll need to take more money out of the bank soon.
Meg
Is he still employed by the CNN?
Sarah Proud and Tall - A Shameful Instance of the Coarsening of Discourse for over 93 Years
@ mikeboyscout:
Oh dear, what have I forgotten now?
ETA: Dearie me. I’d forget my head if it weren’t tied on.
Mike E
@Draylon Hogg#37:
Michelle Bachmann feels your pain, and needs to take a medicine-induced nap.
Major Mel Funkshun
Here’s another movie quote that eric son of eric would probably embrace:
“Shanna, they bought their tickets, they knew what they were getting into. I say, let ’em crash.”
Airplane! 1980
MikeBoyScout
@54 Sarah Proud and Tall,
I’m recommending this post be tagged with “Peak Wingnut Was a Lie!”. Please don’t exorcise me if you disagree.
The Other Chuck
I can’t wait to see the epic primal screams of them losing their shit if Obama invokes the 14th amendment. Not that I have any faith he’ll do it instead of giving the Republicans every last thing they want, but boy would it be Christmas come early if it did…
The Other Chuck
@Bulworth:
Nobody of course. The economy will be shattered into a million bootstraps, which we all know are perfectly capable of picking themselves up.
Jennifer
Question here: have any of the House Dems drafted and filed any bills to raise the debt ceiling? They can do a simple debt-ceiling raise proposal in a couple of sentences, and even if the Republican leadership won’t allow it to go anywhere, it can be filed. It would be a good thing for every single Democratic House member to sign on to as co-sponsor, actually. Then when the morons send the world economy crashing into ruins, and try to claim it was all Obama’s fault, there will be evidence to the contrary – a bill to raise the ceiling which was co-sponsored by every Dem in the House, and which the Republicans refused to consider or allow to be heard even in committee.
Come to think of it, it might put a little fear into Boehner et al just to have the thing filed.
Jennifer
Also, too: I wonder how much ol’ Rupert’s media empire will be worth if those elected by the idiots he whipped into a froth manage to send us over the cliff. Boy oh boy, won’t they be glad they sponsored that teabagger nonsense then?
Tony J
Well, d’uh. If you were as clued up as the average Red Stater you’d know that all that happened when America was engaged in an existential war for survival under a President who knew how high the stakes were. Freedom isn’t Free, dammit. You were just lucky the Bush Tax Cuts were so stimulative that the economy was able to take the strain.
It was only – after – this war was won by Operation Surge that Barney Frank and George Soros colluded to crash the world economy by forcing the financial industry to fund a vast program of Habitats for Halfricans. Combine that with Obama running up a $14 trillion debt in record time with his takeover of the Health Care industry and suddenly the money wasn’t there anymore. Democrats spent it.
Shorter Red State – “This is different!”
John
I don’t know about your specific question, but the House Republicans actually allowed a vote on a clean debt increase a couple of months ago. The House GOP voted against it to a man, and I think the majority of House Democrats voted against it as well, based on arcane political considerations I didn’t really understand.
cleek
@The Other Chuck:
as he always does, right?
so, how are you enjoying the Ryan budget ?
Matt
My only thought on the Standard & Poor’s saber-rattling about downgrading US debt: somebody should remind them that there’s no statute of limitations for RICO cases…
Felinious Wench
Wondering when Erick is going to call for vials of holy water to be sent to our representatives.
former ohio
so now we just x-post right wing things?
Julie Raffety
TG Chicago
Wow, Erickson is saying the stuff in the original post while simultaneously blasting Obama for taking away your Social Security.
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/shared-sacrifice-village-style.html
(see update)
That’s just amazing.
Mnemosyne
Sadly, no. Erick Erickson is a fucking CNN commentator. He gets big bucks from CNN to be a fucktard.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
“Benteen, come on, big village, be quick. Bring packs.”
Draylon Hogg
Erickson should hang himself from the nearest tree as a sacrifice to Odin and let the All Father sort out big government.
Lol
Dems voted against the “clean” debt ceiling bill because it wasn’t going to pass (so why take the heat?) and had a preamble to the effect of “the debt ceiling needs to be raised because the President is a lazy shiftless Negro who doesn’t know how to manage money”.
Cassidy
Okay.
slag
Scary stuff.
Well, I, for one, feel better just knowing that Erick has a good grasp on his wand.
Bruce S
We can’t “cut spending” AND “create jobs” – increasingly a large share of new jobs are being created in areas dependent on robust government spending. The “job creators” misnomer in defense of cutting social spending and cutting taxes so our economic elite can pocket the biggest share of the pie, ever and always, isn’t just bogus, it’s dangerous to the economy:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/is-there-hope-for-the-unemployed/#more-125759
Bruce S
Short version of #76 here:
http://titanicsailsatdawn.blogspot.com/2011/07/where-jobs-are-cognitive-dissonance-in.html
cleek
Pelosi SET US UP THE BOMB!
oh wait, there’s more.
agrippa
I love the smell of psychosis in the morning.
gene108
Squatters rights (all states have laws regarding this) is something very few of us really pay attention to anymore.
The instances of squatters actually grabbing land is pretty obscure, but if you look hard enough, I bet most states will give unclaimed property to a squatter, if they stay on the land long enough and no one tries to evict them.
On another forum, I pointed out to a right-wing real estate agent that services provided by the government include sheriffs to evict people, who don’t pay him rent and courts that allow him to sue people to evict them or collect unpaid rent.
He really didn’t have a comeback for that comment.
Regarding Erickson’s post…eh…government is teh devil is a religion with these guys now…
You can’t argue with people to change such deeply held beliefs. You just have to beat them badly enough in elections or in the court of public opinion (such as the KKK) that they get marginalized.
Jennifer
@ 73 – thanks for the reminder. I vaguely remembered that after John @63 brought it up…but couldn’t remember why they voted it down.
Still there’s value in what I suggested – filing a clean bill with all (or vast majority) of Dem members as co-sponsors. Certainly there’s no danger of them having to “take the heat” because the House leadership won’t allow it to come to a vote, but the party will be on record as having tried to be responsible adults – for when the teatard Urkel amnesia (did we do that?) sets in.
gonzone
I can see CNN swelling with pride whilst admiring their employee all the way from my front porch.
MikeB
Best post ever on Erickson from the cool Roger Ailes:
“Dear Republican Party,
Please do whatever Erick Erickson tells you to do. The man’s a genius.
Your pal,
Roger”
http://rogerailes.blogspot.com/
liberal
gene108 wrote,
Right-wing real estate agent? Pathetic. All real estate agents are rent collectors.
Furthermore, while you’re point as expressed above is correct, that’s all small potatoes compared to the massive transfer of wealth to landowners forced by government. And real estate agents live off that transfer (like parasites sucking off of bigger parasites).
liberal
@69 wrote,
And given past Republican behavior this is shocking?
JC
Cleek,
Why we don’t have the specifics, it does look like a crap deal. No revenue increases, all cuts.
And this is on what should have passed as a voice vote, raising the debt limit, with no drama, back in March.
89 times the debt limit has been raised. 9 times in Bush’s 8 years.
So it’s an absolutely crap deal.
FlipYrWhig
By right-wing logic, most “government spending” is perks for greedy lazy bastards, so all Obama has to do is cut that and everything will be hunky-dory. If Obama cuts _your_ stuff, well, that’s just more evidence of his refusal to stop the gravy train for Those People, nudge wink. _You_ deserve it; you play by the rules and bust your ass. _They_ just want a handout, the savages.
Sasha
Just think: In just over a week, the ideological descendants of the CSA will finally avenge Lee and Appomattox Courthouse.
Kane
We had better get used to this tea party crowd because they are going to be around for a while. Some might only survive one term, but others are in very safe districts where their only potential challenge will come from those representing policies even further to the right.
How things are currently unfolding on the debt-reduction plan is a sign of what we are in for on every policy proposal from here on out. Anarchy is the new normal.
gene108
The real-estate agent, who helped me buy the place I’m living in now did a good job.
I don’t see a reason to pooh-pooh the profession.
It’s just like law, accounting, medicine, HVAC repair, etc. and all the other professions that exist, because we can’t know everything about everything, so some people specialize in certain areas to because of this.
There’s nothing inherently wrong about collecting rent, if you own a property.
agrippa
“Anarchy is the new normal”.
I agree with that.
There are some angry and fearful people out there; nihilists who do not care what happens.
This will, simply, have to burn itself out.
Rihilism
When I started reading that first paragraph I thought it was some liberal activist describing the Repug party (I spaced on the Dear
Tea Party AssholeRedStateWeeklyReader). Little did I know…I believe this is the point in the cartoon that Bugs Bunny says, “What a maroon, what a nin-cow-poop” and shortly after that (on Aug. 2) Porky Pig says “That’s All Folks”…
burnspbesq
@Matt:
In order to show a pattern of racketeering activity, you need three predicate offenses. Whaddaya got besides big talk?
bcgister
I like the choice of illustration – the wood of the profligates and suicides – for the topic. It works on so many levels.
I hope the party of the profligates keeps pushing until it gets itself planted in the wood of the suicides. I, nonetheless, worry that our President’s apparent passion for that deal may lead him to beat out the opposition in that race.
cleek
so, if the thing that’s going to kill the demon/accomplish the exorcism is conservatism, i guess it’s fair to say that conservatism is a religion.
A Farmer
Is it possible for House Republicans to perform an exorcism after performing lobotomies on themselves?