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The Congressional Spectator
The Moment of Truth
Last week, Republicans took the first step away from bipartisan hypocrisy on taxes and spending. Will Democrats pull them backwards?
A good rule of thumb: Whenever leaders of both parties hail legislation that passed with bipartisan majorities as “historic,” hold on to your wallet. That seems to be the case for the historic spending deal Congress passed last week to avoid a government shutdown.
Although everyone from President Barack Obama to House Speaker John Boehner praised the deal for including the biggest single-year spending cut in history, the Congressional Budget Office now says its impact on the current fiscal year’s budget deficit would be too small to pay for a single week of bombing in Libya.
In a way, it is fitting that this was the closest the two parties could come to fiscal responsibility. While many things have contributed to our country’s deepening fiscal crisis, there is an informal bipartisan agreement that has been a major driver: ever since Ronald Reagan whipped stagflation, the country has essentially been paying for Democratic spending programs with Republican tax rates. Economic necessity has prevented Democrats from raising marginal tax rates back to their pre-Reagan heights. Politically necessity has kept either party from doing more than nibbling around the edges of the Great Society, even when struggling to bring deficits under control. David Frum once called this neat little trick post-Great Society government at pre-Great Society prices.
Demographic changes like the aging of our population plus the diminishing returns on post-Reagan tax cuts — slashing the top income tax rate from 39.6 percent to 35 percent just does not give the same bang for Laffer Curve buck — made this bargain untenable. Fiscal conditions have particularly deteriorated due to the profligacy of the past two administrations.
George W. Bush simultaneously splurged on guns and butter in a feast not seen since Lyndon Johnson was in the White House. He launched two wars, created a new entitlement program, and presided over a vast increase in non-defense discretionary spending, all completely unfunded. While regularly tut-tutting the mess his predecessor has left him, Obama followed up with a spending binge that made Bush look like Calvin Coolidge by comparison.
Yet last week may have marked the end of this bipartisan shell game. While the fiscal 2012 spending blueprint introduced by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is not without faults, it is perhaps the most honest long-term budget endorsed by a major party in years. It tells the truth that we cannot pay for the promises the federal government has made while keeping the tax burden at is historic levels. So the Ryan budget seeks to maintain that tax burden, roughly 20 percent of GDP, while paring down spending commitments to a level that tax take can pay for.
Democrats, by contrast, want to maintain the benefit levels promised by current law. But they are not honest about what it will take to pay for them. When the president unveiled his new deficit reduction plan, complete with 12-year budget windows, he pretended those benefits could be paid for simply by increasing the tax burden on upper-income taxpayers.
Unfortunately for the president, only about $800 billion can be recouped by returning to the Clinton tax rates on those earning more than $250,000 a year. And that’s assuming the static revenue estimates prove accurate. The rest would have to be raised by increasing taxes on the middle class — and that’s something the president and most Democrats in Congress have repeatedly said they will not do. Obama has said he would like to cut taxes for his non-rich 98 percent. Many Democrats are in favor of making the Bush tax cuts for the middle class permanent.
Of course, there are Democrats willing to go further than the president. The House Progressive Caucus introduced an alternative budget that slashed military spending and contained tax increases more ambitious than anything Obama will endorse ahead of next year’s election. Their plan got exactly 77 votes. To put this in perspective, more Democrats in Congress voted “present” on the Republican Study Committee budget — that is, a proposal to the right of Ryan’s budget — than were willing to support the Progressive Caucus’ handiwork.
Republicans are at least willing to try to shrink the federal government to a size their tax rates will pay for. Democrats are still insisting that their promised government benefits can be financed with Republican tax rates for everyone but the top two percent. The math just ain’t on their side.
The Democrats nevertheless hope that the politics may be. They are already in full campaign mode against the Republicans’ proposed reforms of Medicare and Medicaid. Instead of any tough medicine, they are promising to pay for the post-Great Society welfare state by raising taxes on somebody else.
Last week may have marked the end of bipartisan entitlement trickery. But old political habits die hard.
About the Author
W. James Antle, III, author of the new book Devouring Freedom: Can Big Government Ever Be Stopped?, is editor of the Daily Caller News Foundation and a senior editor of The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter @jimantle.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (86) | Leave a comment
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Erling| 4.18.11 @ 7:16AM
For those of us with at least a 5th grade education, last week sadly revealed perfidy by our guys, Boehner & Co. The short-term budget deal was a complete sham, as the CBO numbers reveal. Mr. Antle's puppy love with Rep. Ryan's budget resolution is exactly what the ruling class GOP wants from its supporters: no demands for results today- just high-minded rhetoric for tomorrow.
In the end, the borrowing and spending continues unabated. Rather than remain a debtor to the rest of the world, we should consider this admonition: "For the LORD your God will bless you just as He promised you; you shall lend to many nations, but you shall not borrow; you shall reign over many nations, but they shall not reign over you." Deuteronomy 15:6 (NKJV).
I Survived Arlen Specter| 4.18.11 @ 7:40AM
Erling, your post is absolutely correct. As for God blessing this nation as He promised I agree completely, but do not believe God, who is Holy & tolerates no sin will bless a nation whose government continues to send the taxpayers' money to organizations like Planned Parenthood (this name is a lie in itself) who are profiting from the senseless, selfish slaughter of His children. There will, to me, be no budgetary victories until organizations like this one are defunded entirely. If the left want to test God & continue slaughtering their children, let them pay for it in total. Take care Erling & may God bless you.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 11:03AM
The DEMOCRATS' I.R.S. TAX FORM:
1. HOW MUCH INCOME DID YOU RECEIVE LAST YEAR?
2. WRITE A CHECK FOR SAME AMOUNT AND SEND IT TO THE I.R.S.
==========
The above two posters are obviously/typically Justice Holder and WH Howdy Doody plants paid to create controversy among conservatives here by solely being critical of Republicans, and completely ignoring Democrats. Why is there no mention of Obama, Reid, Pilosi, Schumer, Rangel, Durbin, Conyers, Boxer, etc in their diatribe? Do they not understand Jim's references to THE GREAT SOCIETY legislation of the 1060's, and the social welfare governmental programs that resulted from same? Do they not know that same has been on the federal government's books [and incrementally increased since that time] requiring higher and higher income tax payments by taxpayers over the years, and which are major financial drivers of our current defecit and debt? Except for Bush's drug/Medicare legislation and Reagan's/Bush's war expendatures, the remaining governmental costs are ALL due to DEMOCRATS' social-welfare legislation throughout our recent history. Do they not understand this fact, or are they simply attempting to effect an EAT YOUR YOUNG agenda among conservatives, so that Obama can effectively waltz back into the WH in November of 2012?????????????
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.18.11 @ 11:18AM
Actually, the budget deal was a complete sham since it disguised a 3.3 billion dollar increase. In effect, there was no cut, but there was a deceitful budget deal.
Both political parties won, and the public lost a big round.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 3:54PM
The public will not only lose a big round if they don't begin to politically support the R's position, but their entire rear ends [financially speaking]. The S&P possible downgrade of US paper should be a final warning to the public that the D's position is about to bankrupt this nation. If the idiot public fools keep on bitchin about the R's lack of appreciable cuts, they'll allow the domestic terrorist D's to end run [as they did in November of 2008] with more spending, more tax increases,etc!!!!!!!!
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:08PM
Problem is most Rs are dirty, stinkin', friggin' liars. Especially the leadership, country club, tanning booth scum bags. We true conservatives will have to constantly decry these GOPers who dare to call themselves supporters of the Constitution. They smile and you just want to punch them right in the suck hole!
Franklin| 4.19.11 @ 5:12PM
You are right, the Republicans sold us out again. We need to kick more out of office and get rid of the RINOs ..
cavan1| 4.18.11 @ 4:25PM
I recently got a letter from the IRS. "We regret to inform you that all the money you sent us has been wasted. Could you send us some more?"
I Survived Arlen Specter| 4.18.11 @ 5:10PM
Your ignorance never ceases to amaze me & you need anger management help before you burst like a balloon. Pay close attention to the following: Republican DOES NOT equal conservative & the Almighty God of the universe will not bless a nation that funds the murder of His children with taxpayer dollars. I don't want a Republican majority that will roll over & play dead every time they're forced to put God & the American people before their own interests or fears. If Republicans won't do their job they do not deserve my vote or that of anyone else. If you put as much faith in God as you do in your fear & loathing of BHO you might actually start to think clearly. Putting political parties before God, the American people & this nation itself out of fear & hatred of one man is self-defeating & insane. Get a grip please before you have a heart attack.
Erling| 4.19.11 @ 8:30AM
As a Pennsylvanian, your pseudonym is apropos to this discussion: didn't Mr. Bush strenuously campaign for Specter in '04 to maintain a GOP Senate? And what conservative legislation passed in the last decade? I seem to recall red-ink borrow & spend, a new drug entitlement program, restrictive political speech law, increased federal control of local public schools, little protection of the national borders, and years of occupation in Iraq (where I served two tours) , Afghanistan (and Germany, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Italy, and more). GOP does not necessarily equate limited, constitutional government; in fact, those who have read the Constitution (not required where I studied law) and perhaps a Federalist Paper or two are few and far between.
Guilty Bystander | 4.19.11 @ 6:34AM
House Republicans just voted for taxpayer-funded abortions for the rest of the fiscal year,
thru Planned Parenthood and Obamacare. They
voted their own condemnation.
Gino | 4.19.11 @ 7:00AM
I have seen some posts hinting that Boehner is an alcoholic. Can anyone confirm or deny this?
old white guy| 4.22.11 @ 7:28AM
the repubs have already been pulled back. they have no spine. freeze the debt ceiling and things will start to heal. the givernment will not default on foreign debt but those at the trough in the u.s. might see their ration of slop reduced. that would be a good thing.
Carlos the First | 4.18.11 @ 7:17AM
The 59 Republicans who voted against this "deal" are a start...They need to form a caucus and begin recruiting more members...When they reach 100, they can make a change in House leadership, which is desperately needed. Paul Ryan lost alot of credibility by voting for this atrocity.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 11:05AM
Who did you vote for in November of 2008, or did you vote at all?
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:14PM
Here here and if you haven't called and emailed each and every one of them, shame on you. Support them, give a few bucks to everyone you can - directly - not via the RNC. These folks need to tell the leadership to stick it where the sun don't shine. No more bipartisan bs just do what is in alignment with the Constitution - have some guts, be a man (and that goes for the men too). :) So many of our ladies already have bigger metaphorical stones than the leadership. Is it just me or do you other guys find conservative, smart, tough, assertive, principled women HOT? :)
Clint| 4.18.11 @ 7:29AM
Indeed, The 59 Tea Party & Conservative House Members led by Dr.Ron Paul & Michelle Bachman rejected The Crap Sandwich Budget Scam that The GOP Ruling Elite Fops, including Paul Ryan & Democraps served up.
This Is A Punch In The Face To All Real Conservatives & The Tea Party.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 3:58PM
The crap sandwich is a hell of a lot better than load of welfare excrement that the D's have been selling the stupid public for decades. There are only two choices, no middle ground. The S&P are on the brink of downgrading our government paper, so everyone had better get their heads out of their rears and make a choice!!!!!
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:18PM
Huh? How is crap different from crap?
Clint| 4.18.11 @ 6:00PM
We Tea Party Patriots aren't playing "Lesser Evil Democrap Light" Beerfarte.
Do you take your Crap Sandwich with mustard and Cow Chips?
The Tea Party Rebellion Escalates.
Carpe Diem.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.18.11 @ 7:30AM
What the CBO actually stated was that the cuts may have been 325 billion, and that when all is said and done there was an increase of 3.3 billion. There was no cut.
You hit the nail on the head that bipartisanship is destroying our future and it's for that reason alone you won't see anything good come out of the swill pond on Capitol Hill.
The Gang of Six senators are quietly working on their own plan and it promises to significantly raise taxes by eliminating deductions. One of deductions slated for elimination is the mortgage interest deduction.
Members of both parties have been after this deduction since the 80's and if they had done it then I don't think anyone would have cared. Since then prices on housing has gone up 40% in some areas which makes that deduction a deal breaker on housing. It's not surprising that the Congress, who loves to tamper with things, may inadvertently prolong the housing crisis with their next bipartisan plan to save us.
Neither party appears to have the political will or courage to do what must be done. They simply go after one group or another who they think have funds, all the while proclaiming we must share the pain.
The pain will not be shared, at least in the beginning.
They will go after the working class once again with a vengeance, eliminating deductions and significantly increasing your taxes.
The bottom line is that neither party wants to give up their status as big spenders.
They will continue to lie their way to fiscal insolvency while they take and eat every crumb on the table. If you're starving at that point, well, it's a tough world.
richard ryan| 4.18.11 @ 8:18AM
We will never even come close to fixing this mess until the republicans take the white house and senate. Did anyone out there actually expect anything better than this joke of a cut? I understand the anger about conservatives who voted for it. But we need to do everything we can possibly do to ensure victory in 2012. Or the country is finished. Limbaugh has been talking about the Republicans' fear of the media. I think he is right on-they fear continued economic doldrums will be blamed on them and 2012 will be a disaster.
Erling| 4.18.11 @ 8:56AM
But didn't the GOP control Congress during most of GWB's presidency? Frankly, I thought this newly elected House would boldly pass a budget that spent not much more than federal revenues (thereby being only slightly irresponsible). The negotiations with the Senate would only occur during the conference committee AFTER the Senate passed its budget. Instead, Boehner & Co. lamely bargained from a position of weakness. Remember, our Constitution requires, "[a]ll Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives (Article I, Section. 7). The House must do the right thing regardless of the Senate's and president's reckless conduct.
Grzmlyk| 4.18.11 @ 9:26AM
Sadly, Richard, that will make no difference whatsoever.
Don't you get it? The GOP is IN on the scam.
The only way to win in politics is to grab fistfuls of dollars for yourself and/or your constituents/contributors. The GOP plays by these same rules. Free lunch for everyone!
The critical mass of our leaders in this country care more about maintaining the status quo today rather than risk losing an election. Destruction of this country - as long as they can keep kicking the can down the road such that it happens under some other schmuck's watch - is a small price for these bastards to pay for pretending the gravy train can roll on forever.
That's why the Fed keeps printing money. That's why we have the phony stock market surge, the phony recovery, the phony unemployment rates, the phony CPI numbers.
This is as far from the truth as anything the Soviet Union ever shoved down the throats of its citizens.
In the old Soviet days of empty bread stores, rampant alcoholism and universal misery, it was, "Who you gonna believe? Pravda/TASS or your lying eyes?" In America it's, "Who you gonna believe, Obama/Harry Reid/Nancy Pelisi?Austan Gooslbee/NY TIMES/CNN/MSNBC/
ABC/NBC/CBS/NPR or your lying eyes?
The only way Stage 4 cancer is stopped is when the patient dies.
We are there.
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.18.11 @ 9:36AM
Grz
Check out Sarah's speech in Wisconsin.
http://www.breitbart.tv/palin-.....s-in-2012/
Grzmlyk| 4.18.11 @ 10:42AM
Yes, Ken, it was a great speech, and I'd vote for Palin TODAY.
But what's happened to her? She's been demonized and marginalized by both Republicans and Democrats! She's not playing by the rules they agreed upon. Ditto Michele Bachmann.
As a result, she would never get the nomination. Someone like Romney or Pawlenty or Daniels will get it - and we know they'll play ball just like Nixon did, just like Reagan had to, just like the first Bush did, just like the second Bush did.
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.18.11 @ 10:44AM
I''m still praying earnestly that Sarah will run.
Folks, this lady is the real deal.
The keynote speech linked above in Wisconsin gives me hope that she will.
She provided the exact words and passion that we NEED if we are ever to hand off a decent country to our children.
I guarantee you she will carry Wisconsin and Texas.
She tore a piece off the GOP yesterday almost as much hide as she tore off of Obama and crew.
She speaks MY mind!
She will know by the first of June if she will have the financial support to run...and win.
If she does not, then she will shame every candidate who fails to measure up...to learn "to fight like a girl".
She will force..... whoever........to match her courage...or castrate themselves.
Folks,
Sarah declared war yesterday. If I read one remark about her screechy voice or other put-downs, I will remind you of one thing. Either we elect her or someone who will be forced to parrot her and follow through, or the bullets start to fly.
You read me correctly.
You know, until this day NO ONE knows who fired "the shot heard round the world".
(Heh, I have even heard it was a kid trying to get fresh powder into the pan of his musket. Oops!)
Bottom line, in our guts we know that "America" cannot survive four more years of scum-bags.
2012 is for all the marbles, folks, and perhaps even sooner than that!
www.americaalonesaidno.com
Anthony| 4.18.11 @ 11:23AM
Amen Ken.
Grzmlyk| 4.18.11 @ 11:47AM
The left will assassinate Palin before they let her run.
But it will not come to that - the GOP establishment won't let it happen. And even if they did, she'd be slandered, smeared, pilloried, libeled, demonized and ridiculed into oblivion.
The closer we get to 2012, the more relentless will be the mainstream media's push to destroy Palin, abetted by the complicity of establishment politicians of both parties.
Think we've seen the worst? They haven't even taken the gloves off yet.
Why will the American public stand for the lynching of Sarah Palin, Michele Bachman and any other conservative who won't play ball?
Well, as if I needed another one, I got a great real-life reminder just yesterday of why this country is doomed.
I met a middle-aged woman; I was an actor in a play that was produced locally where I live, and she was one of the people who volunteered her time to put the thing up. She's a pillar of the community, a do-gooder extraordinaire, a person who CARES as we in America have come to defined the word.
Well, we got to talking. She works for the state - the Department of Health, no less. Courtesy of the US taxpayer, she lives a very comfortable, "sure I can afford to buy a Prius" lifestyle, moving from state to state as her whims have dictated over the years, indulging her various dilettantish predilections because she can afford to. She listens to NPR. She talked about how she wants to rid the world of people who believe war is the answer.
In other words, she is the classic liberal of the early 21st century.
She was incredibly nice, intelligent, thoughtful and well-mannered.
And yet I couldn't help but think, talking to her, that she might as well be a bloodthirsty, homicidal Bolshevick circa 1917, or one of Robespierre's rampaging handmaidens, for the real-world effect of her oh-so-self-satisfied hammock of platitudes and the Bolsheviks' obsession are the same: The destruction of the middle class and the end of freedom for those who don't view the world through the NPR filter.
This attractive, sweet, wonderful woman sees a vastly different America than I do. She sees a land of lollipops, candy canes, money trees and plenty for everyone; total equality where the least among us will be rewarded with as much as the best among us - as soon, that is, as the faceless abstractions called "the rich" or "conservatives" are liquidated and their lucre (not her PERSONAL salary or pension, of course; she pointed out to me that she was one of the "good" people and, as such, no doubt DESERVES what she's got) is divvied up and doled out to whatever victim group is trendy that day.
There are legions of people like this women - Every single person I work with or am acquainted with in the arts is one of them. Every single one.
They are the enemy. Your friends. Your neighbors. Your co-workers. Your kids' teachers. Your local businesspeople. Local politicians.
Just like the pod people in Invasion of the Body Snatchers, their numbers grow daily, even as the country continues to all apart. It doesn't matter; their ability to believe the myth of an endlessly wealthy and perpetually "fair" America obscures the fact that, sooner or later, the music will stop and we'll all have to pay the piper.
I didn't bring up the topic of Sarah Palin; I didn't have to. I'm sure this serene, self-possessed woman, supremely content to believe she is all about "love," would become apoplectic, vitriolic and bilious at the mere mention of Palin's name. And I'm just as sure that the irony of her hypocritical self-image would be utterly lost on her.
When I mentiond that corruption is an immutable part of human nature and that we ought not plan for utopias but instead live in the real world, she took great umbrage; obviously, I was not one of those who would be in her next hand-holding, Marxist mantra-spouting kaffee klatsch/zumba class.
No, I was the dim image of reality - nothing more than a vague shadow, really - that she could barely see outside of her opaque, liberal cocoon; I was one of the great unwashed, a benighted soul, a Neanderthal whom she couldn't allow to sully her sunny world view, and so she ended the conversation abruptly.
It was this woman, anesthetized by her own moral vanity and ensconced in a cushy lifestyle thanks to hard working people who take home less pay than she does by far - and the legions like her, who are the reason we are doomed. As a group, they are as evil as Josef Stalin, for their goals are exactly the same. But by the moral values America now operates under, she is a saintly personage.
I am not optimistic.
Sam Levi| 4.19.11 @ 5:20PM
What I want to know is what happens when they run out of rich people because they made them all poor?
Margie| 4.18.11 @ 3:01PM
Go Sarah! Amen.
Just think, if the so called conservatives would have voted for McCain/Palin, she would have been the V.P.
How much easier would it have been then for her to then run for and get the election to President after that?
Clint| 4.18.11 @ 6:08PM
Speakin' Of Crap Sandwiches.
The Serial Traitor To Conservatism John McCain Of McCain-Feingold, McCain-Liebermman, McCain-Kennedy, Gang of 14, Opposing Bush Tax Cuts )f 2001 & 2003, Tarp.
Margie| 4.18.11 @ 10:12PM
Deeeeerrrrr.
Anthony| 4.18.11 @ 3:24PM
We're Here
We're Clear
I'm for Sarah, Dear.
Anthony| 4.18.11 @ 3:31PM
We're Here
We're Clear
Palin/Bachmann is Near
Margie| 4.18.11 @ 3:59PM
So you were for her before you were against her?
That's if you didn't vote for McCain/Palin, of course.
Anthony| 4.18.11 @ 10:14AM
I'm with you on that Grzmlyk. When you have Ds in congress insisting that their profligate spending is sustainable because " there is plenty of money, it just happens to be in the hands of the rich", an actual quote by the way, you know we are indeed doomed. The Marxist insanity is entrenched in Washington.
If the American people don't wake up, the 50% that is, that still pays income taxes, 2012 may be too late.
I'm all for involuntary assisted suicide for any Washington pol, D or R, who continues to engage in this suicidal behavior on behalf of the rest of America.
Calling Dr. Palin, Dr. Bachmann, you're needed in O.R. Condition critical!!!
richard ryan| 4.18.11 @ 10:53AM
good points. I suppose I'm holding out hope that the Repubs actually get it now in the era of the TEA party, and will behave like conservatives when the power is theirs. The sad truth, I'm afraid, is that those of us who pay attention and "get it" are a minority, and the ignorant masses will continue to vote us into destruction. When the tipping point is reached, I fear for my family.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:26PM
I suppose you believe more spineless GOPers in govt will fix things. We need more like the 59 who hung tough and looking at the presidential field right now I see more of the same old tired parasites we have always seen. I hope you are right but if we occupy all the branches and fail to get this mess cleaned up the only option left will be Jefferson's advice of Mossbergs to the cranium.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:20PM
Kiss me gang of six. More like gang rape of six. Bipartisan means GOP falls like pants in a whore house.
Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 4.18.11 @ 7:30AM
Actually the CBO stated the cuts were 325 million not 325 billion.. Correction to above.
Carol| 4.18.11 @ 7:38AM
Bipartisanship sucks.
If Boehner would get that through his head maybe we could move forward but as long as he's afraid to make drastic measures - like shutting down the government - we are done.
I was so glad to get a call from one of Boehner's lackey's on Saturday. She wanted a couple hundred bucks. I said no because I'm still angry about the outcome on April 8th. I told her Boehner can't compromise with the radical Obama. Then she asked for $50 or $60 bucks. I said no again. I told her until Boehner starts playing hard ball with Obama then I might reconsider.
I FINISHED THE CALL SAYING, "NO REPUBLICAN SHOULD COMPROMISE WITH THE COMMUNIST BARACK "INSANE" OBAMA!"
Obama and his goons are on a mission and if Boehner can't see that well then he is to blame as much as them for the demise of our country!
Grzmlyk| 4.18.11 @ 9:32AM
"Bipartisanship" is politic-ese for telling taxpayers that they're gonna get raped anyway, so they might as well lie back and enjoy it, and Republican leaders replying, "Take me, take me, I'm y0urs, you brute!"
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:34PM
Oh my God IF Boehner did that he might loose an election and then what he do to make a living? What would he do, what would he do? Maybe he could go on Oprah and be her designated crier. Maybe he could be a sidekick on a late night tv show; his tag line could be "alright now". Or maybe he could be a spokesman for a leading line of tanning beds. Or maybe he could bring out all those secret photos of Reid in compromising positions in a whore house in Searchlight, or maybe he could just get down on his knees and suck Obama's....oops hes already doing that. :)
martin j smith| 4.18.11 @ 8:07AM
thanks to our BHO, it cannot be any clearer that anyone who seeks Bi-Partisanhship ( meaning Conservatives cave to Socialists ) are not to be trusted. Boehner knows as does the rest of the RINO leadershit that they are under the magnifying glass. With regard to raising the debt
ceiling if there is not something of value that they
get in return--if they simply cave as they did with last years budget--then I think the first thing to do is that WE THE PEOPLE let Boehner and company know via phone calls,e-mails etc that we have NO CONFIDENCE in them.
Louis Jenkins| 4.18.11 @ 8:34AM
America has "done gone up." I had hoped that Ryan would get something done, alas, he has done fell in with the rest of the RINOs. As I have repeatedly said, start preping now if you haven't already done so. The people who could do something about the condition of government have looked the other way and attempted to cross the street. The rest is history.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.18.11 @ 8:46AM
I think if you go back and actually review the data you'll find Ronald Reagan had higher spending and deficits than George W. Bush. In fact, until Obama Reagan had the highest spending and deficits of any President as a percentage of GDP (most of the spending was rebuilding the military, expanding the Depts of Energy and Education, but definitely not punishing Muslim scum who murdered Americans).
The real problem for Bush and the nation was when profligate spenders like Blue Dog Democrat Jim Webb were elected to the Senate. These out of control liberals sped up spending under Bush, but went wild when their boy Obama occupied the White House (Bush's last yearly budget deficit was half of Obama's February 2011 deficit).
The best way to get spending and deficits under control would be to return to 2006 Bush/Republican spending levels. Had TAS' "we can afford to throw away an election or two" proponents allied with the Blue Dogs are "conservatives" crowd not gotten their way the country would be better off today.
Michael L. Hauschild| 4.18.11 @ 9:05AM
Do that last paragraph again, maybe I just have not had enough coffee yet.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.19.11 @ 3:09AM
From 2003-2008 gov't debt varied from between 2%-5% in 2009 the percentage skyrocketed to 11% and has not come down. The best way to get spending under control is to return to the levels of the last Republican President and Congress. Levels lower than the Reagan years and that were projected to balance the budget by 2015.
As for the part about "throwing away an election or two" some DC lawyer wrote that in TAS in 2006 and Antle himself is a major proponent of electing liberal Blue Dogs like Jim Webb. You know during the hysteria among the Sean Hannity's about profligate Republican spending that gave us a Democrat Congress and eventually Barack Obama.
PattyMor| 4.18.11 @ 9:21AM
The only way to constrain BOTH sides of the aisle is a balanced budget amendment coupled with a fixed percentage of the economy that feds can siphon off. Will they cheat on this control?Probably because human nature is what it is. But the Rats have proved in the past that spending can be constrained when there is political will to do so.
So keep on supporting the most conservative candidates in the primaries. Look to boot out the RINOs, especially Lugar and Snowe who are up for reelection.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:37PM
Someone please explain it to me again. The Federal Reserve is neither Federal or a reserve? :)
Oh that they really did have a reserve we could tap into.
Nunya| 4.18.11 @ 6:46PM
They can print all the money you want. Just ask 'em--they're doing it as I type.
Michael Tomlinson| 4.19.11 @ 3:10AM
Amen! I'm not a fan of Ron Paul (one of the worst pigs at the gov't pork trough), but I'm start to empathize with him about the FED.
Anthony| 4.18.11 @ 9:23AM
Erling and others are absolutely right. Mr. Antle joins Quin in his Pollyanish love affair with the perfidious and craven Rs on capitol hill.
Antle reads like a Harry Reid speech, Bush "launched two wars" and "splurged" on guns and butter. Wow, what a mindset coming from a supposed conservative.
Bush may indeed have spent way too much on entitlements, but to say he launched two wars is about as diningenuous as Chuck Schumer.
Of course, Bush did "pay" for his launched wars and splurged entitlements, by creating an economy that produced 5% unemployment and robust economic growth that so filled the Washington coffers with so much lucre, that even the whores in Washington were pleased.
Let's see what you have to say in the months ahead, Mr. Antle, when Boehner caves on the debt ceiling and does a number on the Ryan tax proposal. No matter, only 50% of us pay income taxes, just the way the Marxist-in-Chief planned it.
Maybe there's something in the D.C. water supply that makes people think this way, even with the folks at TAS hidden away in VA. Ya think?
Oh by the way, Palin and Bachmann are our only leaders, the rest are indeed "girliman". Even Sarah thinks the R men are sissies and called them out on it. Boehner is probably still hiding in his office crying.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 4:15PM
Antle is correct [and Trump is now saying the same thing]. Powell cautioned Bush not to get into a land war in Iraq [due to the old adage, IF YOU BREAK IT, YOU WON IT], and his doing so was the eventual straw that cause the idiotic public to go completely insane in voting in the current DRUNKEN SAILOR WITH A STOLEN CREDIT CARD-in-chief. The middle east should have been Hiroshima'd instead of initiating a land war. IMO Bush did an admirable job as president, except for the drug giveaway to seniors and the war, but sadly the D's were able to successfully use their playbook because of the war, and now we're all paying dearly after they Trojun-Horsed El Chosen One into the WH!!!!!!!!!!!
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:38PM
Nuclear heat and sand makes glass.
Nunya| 4.18.11 @ 6:48PM
I'm thinking it would become a tourist site...
Just a thought... ;-)
LFOD| 4.18.11 @ 8:27PM
"Nuclear heat and sand makes glass."
Think of all the heat it would reflect back into space. Global warming solved!
Melvin| 4.18.11 @ 9:53AM
I have noted this many times in the past. And many of the regulars here have also echoed these sentiments.
Neither Political Party can be trusted anymore. We get excuses, we get lies, and we get higher taxes disguised into bogus legislation that is presented to us as cutting spending and reducing the deficit.
The price of gasoline is skyrocketing and the Saudis just slashed 800,000 barrels of oil because the market is awash in crude oil, but we still pay $4.00 per gallon.
We are getting raped by Hedge funds, and speculators. Supply and demand is no longer a market force anymore.
I'm not saying anything that any of us haven't heard before.
What needs to be put into the equation and it very well may be, a work slowdown or national strike. The only way we are going to get the elites attention is to stop the flow of money to them.
At this point I don't know how we can combat the Hedge Fund Managers or reign or eliminate the speculators who are making our lives miserable.
I have really come to the conclusion that elections nowadays is just political theater. It just doesn't matter who we vote for the result is still the same.
Bottom line people, I just plain sick and damn tired of getting my butt kicked financially. I think it is very close of coming to the time that we do a some butt kicking on our own.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:46PM
My fantasy - just me and Obama - me and Boehner - me and Reid etc... one on one, no holds barred, no questions prescreened, no media mediators - in a room with 2 cameras. You know any of us could split them open in five minutes. Ambush journalism needs to be used on these scum and shoot the video all over the web showing them in candid moments for the scum they really are. Get them out of the bubble world they live in and see if they can survive out here in the real atmosphere. My guess is that they are so used to breathing atomized shit that they would die out here in the open.
Dave | 4.18.11 @ 10:21AM
Most posters here have analyzed the situation just about right. But for those of us who have some difficulty deciphering massive budget numbers and annual projections -- let me break it down with a simpler analysis we might ALL understand. Putting John Boehner and his posse in charge of Guarding the Gate has been kind of like finding out the Chicago Fire Department consists of a 95 year old man wearing DEPENDS.
Good luck when Mrs. O'Leary's cow shows up.
Incidentally, for those among us wondering where we might live out our remaining Golden Years in a modicum of peace, I understand Argentina can be nice in the springtime.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:48PM
Now it will take me all night to wash that Boehner diaper image out of my mind.
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.18.11 @ 10:47AM
Dave,
please see my comment above.
martin j smith| 4.18.11 @ 10:49AM
Let me re-iterate that a third party would be a mistake at this time. What needs to be done are the following: Let Boehner and McConnell know they are being watched, and not trusted. And if the skrew up again there will be a VOTE OF NO CONFIDENCE in their leadership. Vote out RINOS thru primaries as others have said and SUPPORT CANDIDATES WHO TALK THE TRUTH AND AND DO THE RIGHT THING.
That would include a direct debate with OBAMA. That means criticizing his policies and his SOCIALIST views as well.
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 4:20PM
I'm not disagreeing with you, but feel that the political emphasis should be placed upon targeting the blue doggish D's in states that are winnable by R's instead. If current R's [RINOS] are replaced only and vernerable D's remain in office, nothing has been accompolished. The target should be to increase the number of conservative R's in DC, and that will necessitate replacing some D's with R's!!!!!!!!
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:50PM
Yes take over the GOP, easier, quicker and cheaper. But get rid of any of them the moment they show any sign of caving. IF that doesn't work bring out the Mossbergs.
Nunya| 4.18.11 @ 6:50PM
I'm rather fond of my M1A, actually. LOTS more distance than my Mossberg, and it holds more rounds! ;-)
Andrew Keirns| 4.18.11 @ 11:14AM
Mr. Antle -- "Last week may have marked the end of bipartisan entitlement trickery" misses the real lesson of last week: 59 bolted.
Because you admit "old political habits die hard", you know the events of last week are no 'first steps', but just business as usual. Now the question is who will support the 59?
Oldefarte| 4.18.11 @ 11:18AM
From the Daily Caller ["....So let’s say you’re a family of four with $80,000 in income (you can head over there and input your real information, of course). In 2010, you paid almost $10,000 in taxes. About $5,000 -- the biggest chunk by far -- went to Social Security. Then came Medicare, at $1,160, and defense, at $1,015. Assorted other health-care programs (Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, COBRA, disease control and food safety, etc) ate up another $938, while job and income security programs (food stamps, unemployment insurance, the Earned Income tax Credit, housing assistance) grabbed about $850. Then there’s a big drop-off into the miscellany of the federal government: Education only cost you $185, because most of it’s paid for at the state and local level. Environmental and energy policy was $81. International spending -- including everything from foreign aid to keeping our embassies open -- was about $65. Agricultural programs were $30. Interest on the debt was almost $300]...."], it is seen almost $1800 of the $5000 that someone making $80000 goes to paying for GOVERNMENTAL WELFARE [and that, my dear friends, ia almost entirely due to DEMOCRATS]!!!!!!!!!!
Al Adab| 4.18.11 @ 11:32AM
So many Dems voted no because to them any cut is too big. So many Conservatives voted no because the cuts were in fact so small.
Clearly we need to increse Conservative representation in the Congress. Let us hope nonetheless, that even these miniscule reductions are in fact a first small step for Liberty and restraint in our government. Republicans need to understand that no matter what efforts they make toward spending reduction, they will be pilloried to the utmost. As that is the case, why not make major reductions? The outcry from the dependant Left will be no less for moderation. Remember, "Moderati0n in the pursuit of Justice is no virtue". Lets get real Republicans. Join the Conservatives and end the ongoing addiction of private agencies and government bureaus to other people's money. Now is the time for indeed this is the Hill to die on.
Nobody| 4.18.11 @ 12:30PM
Testing
Peppermint Tea| 4.18.11 @ 12:52PM
Last Friday I sat on my tractor feeling very sad without reason. Then I realized it was not for my individual shortcomings, it was for our leaders who can't even realize the debt and fight over molehills and can't see mountains.
I've been reading about the finances of the French Revolution. We are almost half way through.
So today I'm going to re-evaluate my plan for the year by moving things up. Probably quitting my day job and concentrating on my small farm, stockpiling fuel, and increasing the size of the garden by 10 times.
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:56PM
No no. You need 12 and 20 gauge pistol grip Mossbergs with a stockpile of buckshot for each. Birth control devices to keep the population down, a full library of the classics and a plan for a scorched earth if needed. Some single malt or rye? Oh it sounds so peaceful. :)
Ken (Old Texican)| 4.18.11 @ 1:17PM
Pepermint,
Good plan!
May I suggest you buy a couple of Four-ten pump guns, and a couple of .22 rifles and ammo to protect your garden and your farm?
three birds or one squirrell can provide the protein for one day and a family of four.
Oh, one other thing...buy a night scope.
Good luck.
Peppermint Tea| 4.18.11 @ 1:34PM
I don't have a night scope. Is that to hunt at night or defend at night?
Beer FMH| 4.18.11 @ 2:06PM
Possibly both!
mames| 4.18.11 @ 4:57PM
You and your wife strip naked and take turns using the scope! :)
Pat| 4.18.11 @ 4:04PM
Media People, we get it – Obama was just playing to his base when he said tax “the rich”. And no need to cite endless reams of statistics to prove the super-rich can’t make up for the budget shortfall by forking over additional taxes – we all know who Obama means by “the rich”. Besides, Obama and Michelle will become very rich from their presidential gig and they certainly have no desire to pay confiscatory taxes on their newfound wealth. Remember the Clintons and their road to personal fortune through the White House? Poor, barefoot lawyer Bill once made a mere $22,000 a year as governor of Arkansas – and hard-working Hillary was kept very busy peddling Bill’s legislative and regulatory influence to all comers. She even developed this sudden and mysterious expertise in cattle futures in order to keep the family in hamburger helper.
And even after that young intern lifted her skirt to display her new thong, the Clinton fortune didn’t crumble, despite the massive legal bills. The Obamas know there is gold in future speeches and book contracts, plus Michelle has no intention of holding job interviews for White House interns under the age of 50.
So, us Conservatives understand that we will now be classified as “ the rich”. And the unfortunate thing about being rich is that it can be very expensive. Not because we will be flying first class on United or paying $120,000 for the latest “C” class Mercedes – but rather because we will have to pay the Democrats’ tax penalty for being rich. And Conservative families now living in luxury on $70,000 a year are the “nouveau riche”, the Obamas have a plan for us and the truly rich can safely retire to their yachts with peace of mind to enjoy their vintage burgundy.
Glein| 4.18.11 @ 9:38PM
I try not to be cynical but the Democrats and Republicans give me reason to be. I have never seen a more sorry group of "leaders" in my life. The Democrats are the party of "It's all mine! Not Yours!" The Republicans are afraid of their own shadow. The party of " Please don't call me names I'll give you whatever you want" The President is currently stuck in the fourth dimension which involves ignoring ( I believe on purpose) the decline of the country that made him president. Now that he is as he said it would be easier to run the country if it were more like China. Well folks, when people finally wake up we will be like China controlled by persons whose only motivation is power. Freedom is slavery! All people are equal just some are more equal than others. Welcome to 1984 and Animal Farm.
rongordo | 4.19.11 @ 5:48AM
I would correct this writer by pointing out that Bush did not start two wars. The war against radical Islam is one war with a multitude of fronts; the largest two being the Bush offensives. This war was not started by Bush. It has been going on for decades. Bush's strategy was to finish it by opening it up and taking it head on, with Iran in mind, but he was dogged down by most of the "world community."
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