In the end, I don’t think our Galtian overlords will allow Eric Cantor and his fellow insurgents to force a massive government default.
But other than that, I don’t see why the wingers shouldn’t do it. Create an economic calamity, blame Obama for it, put a bunch of editorials in Kaplan blaming Obama for it, publish a few think tank studies blaming Obama for it, run endless Crossroads-funded ads blaming Obama for it, etc. David Brooks and Gail Collins will agree that both sides are at fault here. Charles Lane and Ruth Marcus will conclude that it is mostly Obama’s fault. Andrew Sullivan will praise Cantor’s principled Thatcherite exuberance. Joe Klein will blame it all on the hippies and black panthers. Glenn Kessler will award Paul Krugman four pinnochios for blaming Cantor.
If there’s a way to sell our Galitan overlords on it (and I think there may not be), this would be a no brainer.
cathyx
Because our rulers, the bankers, wouldn’t like it.
trollhattan
@Doug J
Stop it, you’re making it sound too easy.
The Sheriff's A Ni-
Because if it was that easy, he’d be President McCain.
BO_Bill
Barack is a great President. Probably the best ever.
Joel
You realize that regular people hold US treasuries, not just the super-rich, right?
Rommie
If our Galtian Overlords talk themselves into making a Galtian Heroic Action (or so they feel) by letting the default happen, it’s on. If they can’t stand to lose even one penny from it happening, they’ll stop it.
It’s scary to think that’s what will control the process.
JonF
If they force it, the Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street and everyone around the world who holds US T-bills/bonds will be strapping on a big spiked dick to fuck the GOP with.
They’ll cut a deal. No one has a choice.
Mike Kay (The Base)
Seniors will stick pitchforks in cantor when their checks and medicare stop.
Corporate media (Klien, Chuck Todd, Jake Tapper) cheer leading is impotent. All their pom-poms didn’t convince seniors to adopt Vouchercare. All of Broder’s and Sally Quinn’s pearl clutching didn’t lead to Clinton’s removal.
Cat Lady
Create chaos then demand order. Works for Republicans every. single. time. Heckuva job media whores!
Jamie
They’ll have to destroy the economy to save us…apparently.
Montysano
Young Eric has painted himself into quite the corner. Does he fuck over the Speaker of the House, or does he fuck over the Tea Party? I started to say “You’d think he would have seen this coming”, but then I just stopped and laughed. Not to worry, though: Young Eric is the Weasel King, so I’m sure he’ll cook up some carefully parsed bullshit with which to extricate himself.
Clowns…
dr. bloor
With Cantor, you can be sure that fucking over the Speaker is a feature, not a bug.
harlana
Not in it for the Balloons-Juice.
Montysano
Great post, DougJ. The 2nd paragraph is full of win.
mclaren
Especially when the Very Serious Media and Fox convince everyone that the forthcoming financial meltdown actually occurred before the Republican-instigated default.
Impossible?
Please. Our Very Serious Media and Fox have already managed to convince most of America that the global financial collapse of 2007 occurred after Obama’s election, and that the failure of the inadequate Obama/Democratic congress’ stimulus in 2008 “proves that Keynesianism doesn’t work.”
Amazing, yet true…as though the fire department were to run out of water while trying to put out your burning house, and the press concludes, “Well, that just proves that water isn’t the right thing to use if you want to put out fires!”
We’re living in a country so insane that very soon everyone will be baying at the moon…
Cat Lady
Bieber plus Galtian Overlords apparently summons someone named Allen West who needs random internet posters to pray for him. Not getting out of the boat.
fasteddie9318
@Mike Kay (The Base):
And then in November 2012 they’ll mostly go out and vote for the Republican, so fuck ’em.
Frankensteinbeck
BO_Bill:
Man, pretty friggin’ close. After the first set of budget negotiations, I thank the Golden Calf every day that The Big O is my driver in this game of chicken.
J
What has Gail Collins done to deserve being lumped together with David Brooks?
Zifnab
The “party that hates government” has been kinda writ in the sand for a really long time now. I don’t think Republicans will do themselves any favors by defaulting, because it’ll just be open season on incumbent for yet another year.
That’s really the bottom line here. Everyone in office will grow increasingly vulnerable as the jobs issue drags on. Yeah, Obama will be more vulnerable. But everyone else will be too. Boehner and Cantor are gambling with their House majority on this one.
cursorial
What is it with political amnesia in this country? How do people not remember that the same people threatening an apocalyptic debt default now were arguing six months ago that the “uncertainty” around extending some tax cuts was paralyzing businesses and wreaking havoc with the economy.
BO_Bill
I like the way Barack stays cool and collected in the face of all this Galtian political crap from Cantor. Pure frickin’ stagecraft, this one. It is important for the President of the United States to be steadfast in his support for the Most Vulnerable Among Us. And in this respect, Barack is unwaivering.
I think I now need to send some money to DougJ.
Dave C
I think the word “Galtian” may soon be reaching its expiration date.
Maude
The Repubs have walked out of the Biden negotiations.
It’s going to be drama of the day until congress finally passes a raised debt ceiling.
Guster
Why would they blame Cantor if the Democrats fail to win over the Republicans by doing everything they ask?
Frankensteinbeck
BO_Bill:
Yeah, I also like how Obama is able to tell that if you find diamonds in a cow pasture that cows still don’t crap diamonds. With the GOP running around it’s nice to have SOMEONE in government who remembers how cause and effect works. Not to mention that he grasps that charity is a virtue.
Mnemosyne
IIRC, Young Eric wanted to be Speaker himself, so I think it’s a twofer — he screws Boehner, becomes the hero of the Tea Party Caucus, gets Boehner bounced, and gets himself elected Speaker with the Tea Party’s assistance.
Of course, the Tea Party darling is Michele Bachmann so he’ll still get screwed out of being Speaker, but I think that’s what’s going through his pointy little head.
Cathie from Canada
Catherine O’Hara in Beetlejuice said it best “I’m going crazy and I’m taking you with me.”
In this context, the United States is going crazy, and you’re taking Canada with you.
Unless Congress figures out a way to have a secret ballot, the Republicans are never going to vote in favour of raising the debt ceiling. And the resulting financial meltdown will easily be blamed on Obama because the debt ceiling wouldn’t have needed to be raised in the first place if not for that socialist Kenyan! Who was this “Bush” fellow you keep talking about?
IOKIYAR needs to be expanded: ANIERF — And Nothing Is Ever the Republicans’ Fault.
Comrade Javamanphil
You forgot that Halperin will run twenty headlines explaining why this is good for
John McCainSarah PalinMitt Romney.JPL
Doug.. I sent u an email about not quite 7 degrees of separation about whitey. Hope u read it..
jl
It’s nice to have a high quality troll visit now and again.
Edit: thanks, BOB, for the link. I’m sure that is the norm.
Elizabelle
Having read the NYTimes’ take on Cantor leaving the budget talks, I tuned in an hour later to liberal NPR and Mara Liasson’s take.
She said Cantor left because he thought Obama should take a role in the negotiations.
She did, about 4 sentences later, mention those pesky Democrats and their insistence on tax increases.
She did not, however, make the case that Cantor walked because tax increases were on the table.
Nooooo. It’s that Obama dude again. He’s shirking taking a role.
JPL
Back to the topic at hand..the repubs have already won over the media that the deficit is the president’s fault. The majority understand that life is harder under Obama so why not blame the debt default on him. MSM is not going to defend this president.
KG
@Montysano:
That’s easy, fuck over the Speaker so you can take his job. You can go to the base/caucus and say, “I said we shouldn’t have done this, but he forced it, he was wrong, I was right, pick me to be the new leader.”
Mike Kay (The Base)
Frankly, I and the vast majority of America are more concerned about the stale mate in the NFL lockout than debt ceiling kabuki.
Elizabelle
JPL: And reducing the deficit with an austerity program proves you’re an adult and will help create jobs.
I know, because the GOP and media tell me that, day in and day out.
=====
Anyhoo: here’s the lede on NYTimes website re Cantor walk:
Not Mara Liasson’s take, somehow.
KG
@Elizabelle:
you know, for jackasses who claim to love the constitution, you’d think one of them, just one, would have picked up on the part where it’s not the president’s job to write the laws. Other than occasionally suggesting laws, it’s the job of Congress to actually write them.
karen marie
But, Elizabelle, you shouldn’t pick on poor Mara Liasson. All she knows is what she learned from reading Cantor’s press release. Just because public radio is commercial free doesn’t mean their reporters can figure out that if you take two apples from this pile and put them with two apples from another pile that you have four apples. It’s hard enough for any top-tier journalist to even comprehend the fact that they’re apples.
JPL
Elizabelle Those are Sarah’s real americans.
Montysano
@ KG
Whatever we may think of Boehner, he does not seem like a pushover. Young Eric should proceed with caution.
Just Some Fuckhead
There’s an orange crush joke in here somewhere.
Davis X. Machina
Larry Sabato has a piece today on the Senate, with the most likely post-2012 scenario being a small (1 or 2 senator) Republican minority. (I’m no fan of the man, but I can’t fault his analysis much on this one…)
Boehner may wind up for all his troubles, with a demotion, from most important ‘Pug in town to #2 ‘Pug in town.
Martin
That’s the Necromonger way: you keep what you kill.
Just Some Fuckhead
OMG, the Mayans were right.
Elizabelle
I can see why people give up on following the news. It’s so discouraging.
JPL
Just Some Fuckhead there goes the filibuster ..
JPL
MSNBC.com
Republicans leave budget talks, blame Democrats
Pelosi: Cantor walkout interesting.
That’s your liberal media…
pluege
In the end, I don’t think our Galtian overlords will allow Eric Cantor and his fellow insurgents to force a massive government default.
they won’t have to, they know obama will be the one to blink – they know they can count on him, that the galtian dirtbags in Congress and obamadmin are really on the same side. The kabukie is all show for us, to keep the outrage underwraps.
Martin
It’s true. When I took a pay cut last year, I didn’t puss out and get a 2nd job or do some consulting on the side – no, I adopted a serious, adult solution: I stopped feeding my daughter. That’s what the Village is looking for in a politician.
Just Some Fuckhead
@JPL:
If that’s what it takes to get the economy going with more tax cuts and deregulation and fix all the rest of the ills of the nation with more guns and vouchers, it will be worth it.
Mike Kay (The Base)
Uh-Oh.
You know how some people got hysterical this weekend because Obama ignored the legal opinion of the OLC. There were endless ramblings about how “the rule of law” should always be followed.
Turns out it’s not the first time the administration ignored the OLC.
Back in April 2009, the administration ignored the OLC on DC voting rights.
Now why didn’t the usual suspect complain then? You didn’t hear a peep from them. Why wasn’t following “the rule of law” important when the OLC opposed voting rights?
The poutragers are hypocritical. Because they support voting rights, they didn’t whine when OLC was ignored. Now they scream bloody murder. This is why it’s so easy to mock the poutragers.
Just Some Fuckhead
Ok, after some thought I’d prolly go with an Orange Jewlius joke instead of orange crush.
Just Some Fuckhead
You know the blogosphere only comes here occasionally and never all at the same time, right?
stuckinred
Dave C –
Along with “overlord” and “masters”. So fucking trite.
Davis X. Machina
No one comes here any more. It’s too crowded.
Head Bulshytt Talker in Chief of the Temple of Libertarianism(superluminar)
It seems to coincide somewhat with when ABL posts.
danimal
Just for the record, in case anyone actually buys Can’tors spin….
There is no reason to believe that Joseph Biden, the President of the Senate and Vice-President of the United States, lacks the ability to close a deal. Boehner and Can’tor can have their little spat, but AFAIK, Biden operates with the full faith and confidence of the POTUS. Little Eric’s demand that Boehner and Obama join the negotiations is pure political cover for whatever political objective he cooked up.
It’s going to be fun watching the GOP squirm. They’ve painted themselves into a corner (again) and they really want presidential cover. And this president sticks the shiv in slowly, with malice aforethought. The GOP gets real cute with their red faces and angry eyes when they realize their schemes don’t work on Obama.
jfxgillis
Doug:
I hate to play 11th-dimensional chess here, but this is why all the caterwauling from lefty blogistan (from digby to MattY and beyond) about the Dems and particularly Obama “misplaying” this is wrong and has always been wrong.
If Obama knew–and why wouldn’t he since everyone else did–that the Republicans could never reach a deal between themselves about tax hikes, then he also knew that it didn’t matter whether he proposed the “strong” Democrat position or the “weak” Democrat position. There was never going to be a deal.
Thus, the only actual decision Obama had to make was which of two images, “willing to compromise” or “line in the sand” he wanted to project.
The Democrats are going to wind up making NO CONCESSIONS AT ALL because there’s not going to be a deal to make concessions in. Then the Galtian overlords will force the Repubs to pass a debt limit hike and that will be that.
Litlebritdifrnt
Mike @ 34 “Frankly, I and the vast majority of America are more concerned about the stale mate in the NFL lockout than debt ceiling kabuki.
Last night I was watching the twitter feed for the President’s Speech and there was some person complaining that it was cutting into her viewing of some bullshit reality show. I mentioned to her that perhaps a POTUS speech about a decade long war that it costing the country BILLIONS in money and more importantly lives was more important than her bullshit reality show. She tweeted back “I Love my country, I just don’t want the President to interrupt my shows”
I think there is still an imprint of my palm on my face 24 hours later.
Mike Kay (The Base)
@Litlebritdifrnt: Thank Buddha the President killed bin Laden during the off season. I would have joined the firebaggers had he interrupted Sunday Night Football.
JPL
Just Some Fuckhead @49 but but but but ..isn’t that how we got into this place???
Cliff in NH
This one Makes me quite angry. These fuckers are EVIL.
I am speachless.
The Latest FreeDumbWorks:
Frankensteinbeck
jfxgillis:
Looking at his history, he’s willing to compromise and scrupulously polite, but he also has a strong dedication to the importance of government services and he Gets Things Done. We’ll never really know what the negotiations are like, because by their very nature these decisions are made out of the public eye. But by now I’m confident that Obama will A) talk smiles and compromise and bipartisanship in public and B) get us the best deal possible, possibly better than I would have believed.
Cliff in NH
Just Some Fuckhead
@jfxgillis:
Why is the former better than the latter? Clinton had a “line in the sand” showdown with Gingrich that worked out very well for him.
danimal
@Cliff–What? You didn’t get the memo. We destroy American Civilization with our nefarious schemes in just a few days, as long as the righties don’t figure out the plot first. Gun confiscation should be starting any minute now, along with total activation of the lieberal media.
Shhhhh, Comrade Obama is counting on your silence so that the bloodless coup progresses as planned. We destroy liberty and bathe in the blood of innocents soon!
Frankensteinbeck
JSF:
Because Obama GOT the ACA and Clinton didn’t. Oh, and Obama’s poll numbers are great compared to most presidents’.
Cliff in NH
They Want a fucking Civil War.
They keep calling voters and people who get out the vote a ARMY.
They call for Violence.
They want to destroy this country.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
Cliff in NH
Yes, my vision of this country is far different than the founders: I’m against slavery, for voting rights for everyone 18+, allowing women to own property and to control their bodies. Far different.
Just Some Fuckhead
Huh? Can you elaborate on that a little more? Pretend I’m not enamored of Obama and need to hear more than Rah! Rah!
Roger Moore
@Cliff in NH:
They must be talking about some different bunch of Progressives from the ones I’ve been watching. I wish we were powerful enough to accomplish our nefarious plans, rather than turning into a circular firing squad at what should be our moment of triumph.
Elizabelle
Martin: re your comment 49: I hope you use that line if you are lucky enough to deal daily with any fiscal conservatives.
They should go rather quiet, no?
====
Interested to check in with one of Cantor’s hometown papers — the Richmond Times Dispatch (aka the Disgrace) and — very pleasingly — its readers commenting see Cantor’s stunt for what it is and are discussing the matter rather civilly.
You do have one dude with a “liberty” avatar and another named “myopinion” spouting tea party talking points, but otherwise an intelligent discussion.
In the capitol of the former Confederacy.
/www2.timesdispatch.com/news/news/2011/jun/23/cantor-pulls-out-of-deficit-reduction-talks-with-b-ar-1128574/
Just Some Fuckhead
@Frankenglennbeck:
Nevermind, the kids want to deathmatch and I prolly won’t be back to read whatever you write.
Martin, you are free to spout Republican dogma unchallenged now.
JMG
Wow, there sure are a lot of people who enjoy losing on this comments section! They’re wailing about the hopelessness of it all before anything has happened.
MomSense
I agree with you jfkgillis. And the cooler President Obama stays while the Republicans quit, infight, take their marbles and go home the better.
Bankers are freaking out and I’m sure they are putting the pressure on agent orange.
Frankensteinbeck
JSF:
Ooookay. Well, see, back during Clinton’s presidency he made this huge push to pass a comprehensive health care reform package. It was to be his legacy, his signature legislation, the great accomplishment of his presidency. It was really talked up. Failed miserably. His own party wouldn’t support him, much less the GOP. One man’s negotiating style worked, the other man’s negotiating style didn’t.
And Obama polls about 10 points higher than Reagan in popularity polls. Reagan is generally considered a very popular president, and certainly cruised to reelection. So one might gather that the American public also really likes talking bipartisan instead of aggressive ‘line in the sand’ talk.
Does it make sense now?
EDIT – It’s okay that you’re leaving. It’s always worth drumming into the heads of the more purist that talking tough is not a better negotiating strategy.
Elizabelle
MomSense:
Agree. jfkgillis’s comment 58 for the win.
I think Obama and allies might move in for the kill soon.
And I so wish he would start some primetime addresses from the Oval Office.
He needs to explain why the economy is so slow and that we’re in a bad spot, but didn’t get into this overnight and won’t get out of it soon or easily either.
And then please, please, please push for some big infrastructure projects, shovel ready or not. Give us a moonshot to work for, instead of the “no” and “no we can’t” and killing hope stuff that we hear ceaselessly.
Talk about jobs and small business; the President may not be able to do as much as some think, but at least address the subject. Again and again, without the media filter.
Know it’s not Obama’s style, but people pay attention and it’s not like we’re getting any smarter from network fare.
Frankensteinbeck
Elizabelle:
He’s already done it. You didn’t see the speech on a jobs bill last week? No? Probably not. There is no ‘without the media filter’. He uses exactly the language you’ve just described, but as Obama pointed out to the press at the birth certificate conference they won’t cover him if he talks about anything substantial.
jfxgillis
Just Some Fuckhead:
Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. The point is, neither is relevant to the outcome of the negotiations.
It might be relevant to positioning for 2012, might be a character quirk, might be sandbagging in anticipation of another negotiation later on. Who knows? The point is, this isn’t a case of pre-surrender because you can’t surrender in a deal that doesn’t exist and has no chance of ever existing.
Litlebritdifrnt
There is an advert running on my local RWNJ radio station right now for the Heritage Foundation. It is utterly (unintentionally) hilarious. It begins “conservatives rely on an informed electorate, educated people making educated decisions” (I am paraphrasing cause I can’t remember the exact wording), EVERY time I hear it I spew tea all over my dash. Errrrr no conservatives rely on a totally and utterly misinformed electorate, who really really are the most misinformed people ever. (As Jon Stewart pointed out). These people really do live in the land of make believe.
Brandon
@pluege:
Sort of like when he blinked on the budget deal and gave the Republicans everything they wanted…oh wait.
The frustrating thing about Obama to many people is that he cares little about the thing that the entire Village and most of the political blogosphere and blog readers seem to covet most, winning the news cycle. His messaging sucks balls and he and his advisors constantly adopt Republican framing. However, when push comes to shove, he does seem to have a way of accomplishing what he wants while providing high profile concessions that most of the time are to little affect.*
The key problem though that he has consistently had from the campaign to now is that he doesn’t mind getting pushed and shoved prior to the symbolic and high profile, but often empty capitulations. He relies too heavily on his jujitsu technique of allowing his opponents to take him to the mat so that he can win from his guard with a submission. He eventually wins, but not without the reputational cost of getting beat up first and looking weak. At least to the Village and political blogosphere, because as @Frankensteinbeck points out, the public at large actually approves of this strategy.
*This obviously excludes everything revolving around the National Security State and War Machine. And I can only assume that his craven economic team is exactly the team he wanted, or else he wouldn’t have picked the people he picked, gave them so much power, followed their advice and then allowed the people like Romer, who actually had a plan based on sound economic reasoning beyond fealty to our Galtian Overlords to leave and not replace them with the like minded.
joes527
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. Our Galtian Overlords are worshiped, but they are not in charge.
The IDEA of galtian overlords is what rules us. If actual rich people don’t live up to the Galtian ideal, they will be thrown under the bus faster than you can say “Capital gains tax cut.”
Folks counting on the CoC to prevent the crazy Republicans driving the whole country off the cliff are dreaming.
Elizabelle
Frank re comment 78: I know.
That’s why I suggest primetime speeches.
Our media is not up to the task. They’re into controversy and celebrity.
How much would FDR have accomplished without the fireside speeches?
If the networks won’t cover the speeches — God forbid they lose revenue — start up a viewers’ revolt.
They’re public airwaves, and we’re in terrible economic times with hard choices to make. Better to do so with good information.
Litlebritdifrnt
Have any of you seen the HGTV show “Selling New York” it should be required watching for every single minimum wage earner in the country. If that doesn’t get people out to the barns sharpening the pitch forks nothing will.
MomSense
Elizabelle, I agree with your comment. I also think that each of us must start asking questions of the Republicans.
I’ll start.
Ok Republicans, day 3,096 of your tax cuts for the wealthy. Where are the jobs???
Elizabelle
I am afraid Obama could very easily lose this election if he’s perceived as incompetent and disengaged.
Which is the narrative we are fed daily.
And that government cannot do anything right and costs too much.
People are worse off than they were 4 years ago, and for most of us that is not likely to change tremendously before November 2012.
Obama has the class to address a lot of concerns, publicly and without being overly partisan, although anything he says will be perceived as so — if left solely to the media filter.
bourbaki
@Martin
Did you really just quote Chronicles of Riddick?
Seriously?
(And yes I am aware of the irony that I recognized it…)
ruemara
Lilbrit
I adore NYC. I’m queens raised, Manhattan bred. I love it. When I watched ‘Selling NY’ I wanted to slaughter everyone on screen and raze all of Manhattan for encouraging such filth to survive. Had to turn it off within 4 mins. Normally, 3 things get me to watch, Jamaica, NYC, Giant rendered monsters/dinosaurs/robots, but that show could make a republican a raging anarcho communist.
Brandon
@joes527:
I think the key variable that you are missing is that first and foremost, money talks with these clowns. It is the core reason why we have the financial system we do and the economy we do. The rentiers are in charge now, they have rigged the system to perfect their rent seeking and wealth transfers and there is nothing that they want more than stability. What scares these Galtians more than anything is a lack of control. And the fact is, even the right wing noise machine is having trouble convincing anyone that a ‘strategic default’ will not create chaos and unforseen consequences. Additionally, there is nothing, nothing that strenghts the power of the Presidency more than crises. Republicans know that better than anyone after 8 years of scaring the beejeebus out of everyone with phony orange terrorist watch system alerts. There is not a chance in hell that these guys are stupid enough to precipitate a crisis with the most likely outcome of strengthening Obama’s hand. Especially after so many on their side are on the record saying that they are actively working to cause the crisis conditions and that the outcome would really be no big deal and actually a good thing. The Republicans cannot do this because after then, what? They will have played their last card, the nation will be looking to Obama for leadership (certainly not Cantor, Boehner, and McConnell) and any petty obstruction by Republicans to not go along with whatever plan Obama proposes to end the calamity will look similarly transparently childish as McCain’s campaign stunts when the economic crisis hit. Remember when the the Republicans were getting pilloried over their failure to pass tarp and how ridiculous they looked as they were engaged in making increasingly ridiculous excuses as to why they would not pass the bill and instead choosing to pander and posture to their 27 percenter base? It will look just like that. You think that they want to look that reckless, foolish and petty again as their comments are being split screened with a tanking stock market, chaos, turmoil and human suffering? On second thought, maybe they are that stupid as the recent special election in New York can attest, but at this point, if they will not listen to their Galtian Overlords, I have to expect that they will listen to their political consultants. They have backed themselves into such a corner again, just like in the budget negotiations, that certainly some face saving concessions will be made by Obama to give them the space to dig themselves out so that they can do another pyrrhic news cycle winning victory lap, but that is probably about it. The final deal is certainly not going to win Obama any accolades among the firebaggers, because I expect that there will be a good trillion in proposed cuts to regulatory programs and the only revenue measure that will be agreed is allowing the Bush tax cuts to finally expire and Ezra Klein, Paul Krugman, Duncan Black and the rest are going to wonder why Obama continues to negotiate against himself when they would have expired on their own, but thats how Obama rolls. I am not the biggest fan of his negotiating style but the man does love creating two halves of a dead puppy. This may or may not be one of those cases, like the stimulus was, but it is hard not to know if it is.
Triassic Sands
That entire paragraph sounds painfully familiar. I added a small correction for accuracy, but overall I have no quarrel with your take. So, you mentioned most of the major players. But you left one out. What would the president’s response to that be? After all, since the whole clusterfuck would be about him, shouldn’t we expect a response from Obama? I’m curious what you think it would be.
karen marie
@Brandon: Why do you think they would listen to political consultants in re debt ceiling when they refused to listen to them in re Medicare vouchers?
Martin
I live in Orange County. I’m fucking marinating in fiscal conservatives.
danimal
Count your blessings. The worst of the bunch migrated to Riverside County.
Elizabelle
I hear you Martin.
I am literally blocks from the Orange Curtain, in LA county.
I have seen the Cadillac Escalades with “Freedom Czar” license plates.
I see people driving minivans with “W” stickers, and their cars aren’t keyed.
We really must do an LA area Balloon Juice meetup.
Perhaps it should not be in the OC, though.
OzoneR
But the bully pulpit will certainly persuade her to support more trillion dollars jobs programs.
OzoneR
there is no other filter
Caz
Keeping the debt ceiling at its current level does not mean we will default on our debts. Either you are totally ignorant or you’re lying.
There is a very easy and proper way to fix our debt/deficit problems: cut govt spending. It doesn’t require tax increases, and it doesn’t require rasing the debt ceiling. It requires politicians who are moral, ethical, and wise enough to know that govt spending is at the root of our fiscal mess.
So either smarten up or stop lying. I don’t even really get why you would lie so much on this site. The only people that read it are people as dumb or as dishonest as you anyway, so you’re not swaying anyone. The only other people that read this blog are the occasional troll, like me, and these trolls are not likely to be duped by your illogical, inaccurate, dishonest, partisan rhetoric.
And I suspect that the other trolls (I can’t be the only one!) also read this site primarily for a good laugh. Not merely because the “substance” of the posts is akin to The Onion (except that this is meant to be serious, lol), but because some of you people actually believe what is being said here.
Words cannot begin to describe how pathetic the points of view on this site are, but I have tried my best!
I can’t wait for a republican to get elected in 2012 so we can start executing seniors, children, disabled people, and minorities. They are costing our country way too much money. And if we get rid of them, we can afford to further subsidize oil companies, rich people, and basically everyone who is successful, err, I mean evil.
Keep up the good work, juicetards!
Yutsano
Wrong. But try again. And keep in mind I happen to work for the agency that collects the revenue for the US Government. So I might know a thing or two here.
I’d be more than happy to cut the military budget in half and advance implementation of the ACA as those two things will do huge amounts for saving money in this country. Alas, it doesn’t cut off young bucks from their T-bone steaks. At least put up what you would want to slash. And news flash: no reputable economist says we can do it by cutting alone. And again, they just might know a wee bit more than you.
kimp
For the love of God, why can’t the Democrats be better advocates for us? I know what the other side offers, but, didn’t we have the House, a veto-proof Senate, and the Presidency, all rolled up into one? The crap that is happening now, everyone WANTS to happen.
JRon
Our Galtian overlords will be perfectly fine with a default if it increases their personal bottom lines. Wall St & the Chamber & others consistently support policies that are bad for the economy and good for consolidating personal fortunes.
This will be no different.
les
See Jron 100. The last crash resulted in a massive transfer of cash from you, me and the gov’t. to the banks and financial sector; they responded with record gains, bonuses,profits. Working people are fucked, corporate profits and Wall Street are fine. Do you really think they care if it happens again?