-
Obama’s Drone War
May 23, 2013 | 16 comments
-
How Long Is This War?
May 20, 2013 | 15 comments
-
Next: The Benghazi Select Committee
May 13, 2013 | 94 comments
-
Nobody Died in Watergate
May 9, 2013 | 148 comments
-
Benghazi Bullchips
May 6, 2013 | 184 comments
Loose Canons
All-Drama Obama
But House Republicans are providing plenty of drama of their own — and avoiding what needs to be done now.
(Page 2 of 2)
All-Drama Obama not only isn’t budging on tax hikes, he’s spinning a narrative that is entirely false.
For Obama and his media cohort, the only allowable question is how to make tradeoffs between tax hikes and debt ceiling increases. But that’s not the federal spending equation millions of Americans voted to impose on Congress last November. The formula they voted for — and which Republicans have so far respected — is an equation that requires massive federal spending cuts to be balanced against small debt ceiling increases.
Obama’s newest “bottom line” is another bluff, and Republicans must call him on it. It was only a few days ago that Obama indicated that he would sign a short-term debt extension if it was the premise for a long-term deal. He’ll obviously go for a short-term deal if the House Republicans pass a good bill quickly and leave it on Harry Reid’s doorstep.
Which Republicans may not do. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) reportedly wants a vote on a “balanced budget” constitutional amendment this week. That will be time wasted, just like the time last week was wasted on “Cut, Cap and Balance.” But there are no more days to waste, and precious few left to use productively.
It’s now only eight days before the government will either be authorized to borrow more or begin defaulting on its obligations. And it will be less than that before the rating agencies downgrade America’s debt.
This week, Republicans can — no, must — draft and pass a relatively simple bill to raise the debt ceiling by — as Charles Krauthammer suggested — about $500 billion to carry through the rest of calendar 2011, coupled to at least that much in spending cuts and without any tax hikes. They can do it, and jam it through the House in quick time. It will give the Dems one final chance to stave off default.
It would be an enormous mistake for Boehner to waste more time trying to get a bipartisan deal or to allow the House to spend days debating and trying to pass a balanced budget amendment (which will probably not even pass the House because constitutional amendments require a 2/3 majority. To reach that, Republicans would have to gather about 48 Democratic votes, which simply won’t happen).
A balanced budget amendment will only consume time that must be spent disposing of the debt ceiling problem in decisive fashion. If House Republicans are serious about avoiding a default — and they bloody well have to be — it’s time to write and pass a simple bill. They were elected to accomplish things, not spend time on emotionally satisfying bills that don’t solve the immediate crisis we face.
About the Author
Jed Babbin served as a Deputy Undersecretary of Defense under George H.W. Bush. He is the author of several bestselling books including Inside the Asylum and In the Words of Our Enemies. You can follow him on Twitter @jedbabbin.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (210) | Leave a comment
More Articles by Jed Babbin
More Articles From Loose Canons
http://spectator.org/archives/2011/07/25/all-drama-obama
Follow us:
ADVERTISEMENT
SPONSORED LINKS
FLASHBACK TO: 1995
-
Pope Culture
A man of faith in a godless age is hitting Americans where it hurts.
-
Why the GOP Does Not, Like, Totally Suck
Mr. and Mrs. American Spectator Reader, let P.J. O’Rourke talk sense to your kids.
-
Dames at Sea
-
In the Absence of Guns
In Britain, defending your property can get you life.
-
The Metaphysical Martini
-
Counting the Costs of Clintonism
The debacle of this president’s administration is both a cause and a symptom of the decline of American values. Unless Congress impeaches him, that decline will go on unchecked. An eminent jurist surveys the damage and assesses the chances for the recovery of our culture.
-
Chuck McHagel
It won’t take long for conservatives to scratch this presidential wannabe off their 2008 scorecard.
-
The Legacy of Old John and Mother Fresh-Roasted
-
It’s the Best Time of the Year
The American Christmas, like the songs that celebrate it, makes room for everybody under the rainbow. Is that why so many people seem to be hostile to it?
-
The Bush Crack-Up
Was the President done in by the economy, or by the politics of the economy?
Clip of the Day
H/T to National Review Online
ADVERTISEMENT
John Daniel| 7.25.11 @ 6:27AM
We are now engaged in a great civil war testing whether a nation conceived in liberty can long endure.
The contest is in conference rooms rather than on battlefileds, but the consequences are no less dramatic.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 7:37AM
Yes, and if McCain had been elected, the stagnation of the last decade would have continued.
old white guy| 7.25.11 @ 8:23AM
stagnation?? obama voted against raising the debt ceiling when w was in office. i say freeze the debt ceiling now and force a realingment of government spending. necessities not wants.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 8:49AM
But now things will change one way or another (for better AND worse); if McCain had been elected we wouldn't be going anywhere.
However it depends whether you like change or not:
I do not like change, but know things have to change, which means pain-- preferably someone else's.
No matter what anyone says, economics is a zero-sum game.
Brian Mc| 7.25.11 @ 9:18AM
Tell that to your recipients sucking the government teat. Your compassionate safety net is dragging us under, we can not sustain the swamping much longer.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 9:37AM
Then things will change!
But when you run or elect candidates such as the ones you have been running or electing, you end up with four empty years of Bush 41; eight empty years of Bush 43; tepid Dole and McCain campaigns. the old ploy of saying
'statist' 'statist' 'statist'
'government teat' 'government teat' 'government teat'
doesn't work anymore if too many of you aren't all that serious about changing the situation, if you secretly want your well-off elderly kin to get large sums from that teat. The ploy doesn't work today because too many know what is going on-- secrets only work if they remain secrets, naturally.
Do you or do you not want change? you have to choose.
Wayne | 7.25.11 @ 10:49AM
Why don't you try defending Obama instead. It seems all you can do is go back to the tired old meme about Bush or Dole or Mc Cain. Bush only won because the Dems offered us Gore and Kerry. But now Obama is president and you have no defense for him.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 11:53AM
"Why don't you try defending Obama instead"
It's based on CHOICE.
Freedom of choice.
Unless you run someone better next year, I will vote for Obama. Since it is a year until the GOP convention, we will see.
Margie| 7.25.11 @ 2:43PM
The Lefty Libertarians agree with you, Alan. You're on their side!
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 9:24PM
You're A Slandering Liar RINO-CINO Israel Firster Apocalyptic Crank Lady Victor-Margie-Sybil-Sandy
ObamaBoy Brooks Is An Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Just Like You RINO-CINO Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Victor-Margie-Sybil-Sandy.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:37PM
That's really superb, Clint. Strip of insults, semantic content 0. Superb 302 neural cell work, C(lint) Elegans.
Nice job of avoiding antisemitism, too.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 9:48PM
Read Our tea Party Mission Statement.
There's Not Anything About Your Israel Firster Agenda In It.
And Speaking Of Bigotry Occam's Tool, Interesting That You Use The Name Of A Catholic Heretic For Your Moniker.
You're A Creepy Little Dude.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:37PM
It's a principle of logic that I name myself after, something you never use. That he was a Catholic heretic I careth not about, as I do not follow the Papal conflicts save where they kill or torture Jews, and that hasn't happened for a while. Ask most people and William of Ockham (or Occam) is known for his logic, not his heretic nature. Incidentally, he was rehabilitated after death by Innocent VI. Do you make a habit out of telling the Pope to screw off, Clint?
That's quite a stretch for the SandMonkey dude.
The Tea Party has no comments about Israel, true. You, on the other hand, are obsessed, as is Ron Paul. Only 13 million people in the world, such a small number, and yet they seem to outdo you all the time? Maybe it's because you have no wife or kids to sublimate your perverse urges into something useful.
Margie| 7.26.11 @ 12:43AM
Hey, that's all he knows. Hate filled superlatives and kies.
His ilk is out to destroy conservatives (real ones). His his mind is so perverted he thinks he's actually a conservative, but conservative men don't spew hate filled lies at other conservatives.
Anyhow~ it's an agenda that they have.
Read his idol~ Michael Scheuer's own words. It's where he gets his talking points.
These hate filled people are destroyers:
"5.) Israel-Firsters, Evangelical leaders, and Neoconservatives: Each of the above problems is worsened by these U.S.-citizen-dominated but fundamentally anti-U.S. and Islam-hating entities; indeed, they also are fundamentally anti-Israel entities. Safely ensconced in North America with family, employment, and bank accounts safe, these groups champion a maximalist position for Israel vis-a-vis the Palestinians; hunger for America to be at war with Iran — a non-threat to the United States; and work for an ever-increasing level of Western hatred for Muslims. These individuals are both war-lovers and cowards, ready to push others into fighting and dying for their selfish objectives, while they remain unctuously self-righteous and personally safe far from the front. Together these three groups are one of the main reasons America is facing an endless war with Islam, and the loyalty of each to a foreign nation — and their effective lobbying for that nation — will drive increases in defense and intelligence spending.
These areas, it seems to me, are going to require significant infusions of money to address legitimate and expanding U.S. national-security concerns. The debt negotiators may for the moment ignore the fact that America is in a worldwide war because of their policies, but whatever defense-related cuts they implement eventually will have to be much more than restored when the reality of war again sinks into their heads.
At day’s end, relentless U.S. government interventionism cultivates more and more lethal enemies and sheds allies. The ultimate cost of this war-with-Islam-causing interventionism will much more defense spending not less."
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:09PM
The head of the Osama Bin laden catching department, Michael was. We didn't catch him under Michael. He has excuses, but they all boil down to idiocy and incompetence.
Margie| 7.26.11 @ 8:44PM
Hey Occam~ after reading what Scheuer really believes, I think I know why he didn't hey Osama.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:47PM
I thought you were a Conservative Libertarian, nematode.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 9:50PM
I'm An American Freeman,You Israel Firster Traitor Bastard Neo-Chickenhawk Coward,Tool Job.
The Tea Party Rebellion Ramps Up For The 2012 Elections.
Carpe Diem.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:07PM
Lovely non-existent semantic content, nematode.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:09PM
You're an American Asshat, more like.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:35PM
Hiya, Margie---if you go back to the 16 year old marriage article, you will find some tasty neuroscience supporting you. G-d Bless.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 9:55PM
Smoke This Israel Firster traitor Bastard Neo-Chickenhawk Coward,Tool Job.
Obama 41%, Ron Paul 37%
Friday, July 22, 2011
Congressman Ron Paul may be a long shot to win the Republican presidential nomination, but he runs competitively with President Obama right now.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Paul picking up 37% of the vote, while the president earns 41%.
Only The RINO-CINO GOP FOP Mittens Romney Is Closer.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Gonna Step On Your Traitor Bastard Face Tool Job.
Carpe Diem.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:39PM
I am so looking forward to the day Paul pulls out of the Presidential race, Clint. I plan to torture you with that for YEAAARRRS, self-fertilizer.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:40PM
One, I'm a Tea Partier (I support BTO), and two, go screw your self like your namesake, C. Elegans.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:10PM
I don't smoke, do drugs, or drink, nematode.
Margie| 7.26.11 @ 8:46PM
I did, and posted another not so lovely one, keeping with my disdain of the man in question.
Mr. Know-it-all-but=really=knows=nothing.
Sorry, the man's a hater of Christians.
Red Route 1| 7.25.11 @ 4:02PM
Brooks, you sound like a broken record.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 8:12PM
main point: it is 100 percent certain you want lower taxes;
yet there is some doubt as to whether or not you really want less spending. We can't go by your say-so. In 1955 one could pretty much go by Ike's promise and a handshake-- not so in 2011.
Today you need something in writing, notarized.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 9:52AM
In The Free Market:
"Economics, on its most basic level, is the study of the allocation of scarce resources. Adam Smith famously explained that in order for a transaction to take place, both parties must benefit. Therefore, it is true that in order to buy a stock, someone else must sell the stock. However, this is not a zero sum game because I value the stock more than the money I paid and the seller values the money more than the stock. We are each better off. This is a basic fundamental of economic theory. "
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:06AM
Economics is not a science, Clint. Whether it's communism or capitalism, it is rigged for the benefit of those who run the show.
In fact,' social science' is an oxymoron, there is systematic study involved, but nothing comparable to hard science.
skip| 7.25.11 @ 10:21AM
Adam Smith
Friedrich Hayek
Milton Friedman
Walter Williams
Alan Brooks
Everything anyone ever needs to know about economics can be obtained through reading the output of these five prodigious giants.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:32AM
STILL, you wont admit economics isn't a science?
Texastele| 7.25.11 @ 10:44AM
Who cares if economics fits your definition of a science. The bottom line is that the laws of economics are are real as the laws of gravity. People cannot make up their own economic laws--they are what they are just like things in nature are what they are. You seem to think that people create economic laws. Free market capitalism follows the basic laws of economic; whereas, Marxism and all its forms lives in non-reality and does not follow any laws of economics, and that is what it has failed throughout history.
simon templar| 7.26.11 @ 11:32AM
Alan, when you admit socialism is a lie and economics is not a zero sum game....
Kishego| 7.25.11 @ 11:09AM
I only see four economists and one dumbass. I think the fifth prodigous giant would be Von Mises.
SpiralArchitect| 7.25.11 @ 6:58PM
Win
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 10:44AM
You're An Argument Against Yourself, ObamaBoy Brooks.
Then, It's Not A Zero Sum Game.
Austrian School Economics Versus Keynesian Economics.
Uncle Joe| 7.25.11 @ 3:44PM
"You're An Argument Against Yourself, ObamaBoy Brooks."
So are you, Clint.
Seig Heil!
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 6:08PM
Dear Alan:
Maimonides noted that man is a selfish animal; not necessarily evil (but selfishness will predispose). With this in mind, the best economic system turns this potential vice into as much of a virtue as possible. That system is Capitalism. Unfortunately, Obama is at his best a Socialist, and quite possibly a disguised Communist.
The biggest problem with Clint is that even when you agree with him, he bites. Thanks Uncle Joe for existing.
Uncle Joe| 7.25.11 @ 9:57PM
Occam's Tool Is My Little Apparatchik.
Vote For Bibi.
Uncle Joe| 7.25.11 @ 9:27PM
Vote For Bibi.
The Hell With America.
Israel First.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:39PM
Thanks Clint. More accurately, it is:
Ignore Sharia law.
Put America in a bubble.
Be absorbed into the Dar -al-Harb and die or submit.
See Catholicism in America be destroyed.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 10:00PM
We Catholics Don't Trust A Jewish Dude ,Who Uses The Name Of A Catholic Heretic For His Moniker.
The Tea Party Rebellion Is Gonna Step On Your Traitor Bastard Face Heretic Boy.
Carpe Diem.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:05PM
You don't have to trust me. Are you familiar with the background of the Battle of Lepanto, nematode?
And I have lots of Catholics as friends, because I don't think of the faith as a problem in redemption. In Judaism, there is a concept of a Righteous Gentile, but you wouldn't qualify in any way.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:46PM
Uncle Joe,
I like to think of you enjoying yourself with college cheerleaders not your nieces at Petticoat Junction. You certainly deserve it.
Uncle Joe| 7.25.11 @ 9:58PM
I'm You Occam.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 10:09PM
Who Is The Israel Firster Agendist ,Who Started The Elron H. & Uncle Joe Poseur Posting ?
Hmmmmmm !
Tool Job & Brooks & Dr.Reich Are All Suspects With Victor-Margie-Sybil-Sandy.
Don't Leave Town.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:43PM
Not me. I'm leaving town next week to listen to a lecture. Screw you.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:50PM
Dr Reich? I don't ever recall an antisemitic comment from Dr Right, nematode.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:02PM
Lot's of people think you're a scumbag, Clint.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 6:06PM
Sorry, Clint. That should be "lots of people think you're a scumbag AND asshat."
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:42PM
No, he's not. I never use a pseudonym or steal someone's identity, unlike some assholes I know.
Again, Occam was rehabilitated by Pope Innocent VI in the 14th Century. Bit late out of the station, Caenorhabditis elegans.
Margie| 7.26.11 @ 8:48PM
Hey O.T.~ the man can't deal with reality. It matters not a whit what anyone says.
He's so hate filled he's blind.
Southern_Comment| 7.25.11 @ 11:18AM
McCain wasn't elected. Your point is moot.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 11:57AM
"McCain wasn't elected."
Which is why I am slightly more optimistic than i would have been if he had been elected. But economics being based on a law comparable to gravity-- does Texastele expect anybody to actually believe that?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 8:20PM
I only perseverate on McCain 'n' Bush because of concern the mistake(s) will be repeated.
Talk about broken record.
If the record being played at the GOP convention next year is the same song over and over many consumers in November wont buy the album.
Southern_Comment| 7.26.11 @ 6:57AM
Again a moot point, your arguments all have to do with 'what ifs', but I'm unconcerned with the what ifs unless they are to move America forward. Your what ifs are not. It does no good to say 'what if you elect another McCain or Bush', especially when McCain was not elected, so we can not have predicted whether or not he would have been a disaster, still he would not have been the same as the current disaster - maybe you should be asking that - why didn't we elect someone who at least would have been better than the moron in chief now? As far as Bush, I'll take his stance - yes he spent too much especially with a Dem Congress, but considering the libs tend to tear him apart like rabid cannibals - I won't discuss Bush at all with a progressive, not until they show some modicum of the traits they claim to possess. Compassion, intelligence, rational though - until we see one iota of any of those three traits - well there isn't much point to discussing anything with a progressive as they are nothing more than argumentative two year olds who are just as self involved.
simon templar| 7.26.11 @ 11:30AM
"No matter what anyone says, economics is a zero-sum game." - Alan Brooks
Thanks again. You have just stated the ESSENTIAL underpinning and the MAJOR LIE that is the foundation stone for Leftist thought and Liberalism. You summed it ALL up in one sentence.
Conservatives:
See? This why we believe they are essentailly criminals who see the need to steal from others to make it more equal and redistribute the finite (as they see it) economic bounty, preferably at someone else pain and expense. This view is the essential and core belief of communism. This useful idiot is so ignorant and deluded he can not see it.
Judy G| 7.25.11 @ 5:51PM
It's all a farce...They will raise the debt limit with no real spending cuts.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 8:15PM
Now there's a honest woman: her name is Judy G.
RCV| 7.26.11 @ 12:25AM
You're right, Judy. The drama is just for the benefit of TAS types, so the GOP can play-act for the Tea Partiers.
Texastele| 7.25.11 @ 10:46AM
Well I would prefer the "stagnation" that you speak of over what Obama has produced. Are you better off now than you were before Obama got elected? I doubt anyone would say yes to that question. Game over.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 10:56AM
"It seems to me that socialists today can preserve their position in academic economics merely by the pretense that the differences are entirely moral questions about which science cannot decide."
Friedrich August von Hayek
Cosmo| 7.25.11 @ 5:49PM
Boehner and McConnell have already caved.
The only question is when are Republicans going to wake up and get a new speaker and Senate
Republican leader?
carnot| 7.26.11 @ 2:50PM
better stagnation than ruin that is the current trend!
Chef Schnauzer| 7.25.11 @ 10:33AM
The problem with conference vs field is that the devious liberals won't simply die. They employ every lie, slight of hand every deciet before during and after any victory or loss on the conference-field-of-battle. Liberals have no honor, ethics or honesty; their world is one of the ends justify the means and what's your is mine for the greater good - sucker. I would happily enlist for the real battlefields.
Elgordo| 7.25.11 @ 11:39AM
GO AFTER THE VULNERABLE DEM SENATORS, UP FOR RE-ELECTION, FOR CAUSING THE DEBT DEFAULT
The Dems, including Pres. Obama, have never come up with a plan to reduce the deficit........The Republicans in the House passed a plan to cut the deficit. Sen. Reid would not even let it come to a vote or even a discussion in the Senate. He "tabled" it....So if we have a default, it is the fault of the Dems in the Senate and the Republicans should advertise and campaign on this.
There are 11 vulnerable Dem Senate seats up for re-election in Red States or states that went Republican in 2010.......6 of these Senators are especially vulnerable: ; Ben Nelson of Nebr. Bill Nelson of FL, Claire McCaskill of MO., Jon Tester of Mont., and from the coal rich states of W.Va. and PA. respectively, Joe Manchin and Robt. Casey.....
In other states such as Wisc., VA., No. Dak., New Mex., Haw., their Dem Senators many sensing defeat, are retiring. Also NJ's Gov. Christie is making voting for Republicans more popular in the Garden State , so their Dem Senator in 2012, Robt. Menendez, may also be vulnerable. ......
The Republicans should advertise heavily in these states blaming these Dem Senators for the default and for hiding behind Harry Reid's refusal to discuss the plan passed by the House Republicans.....
Pressure the VULNERABLE Dem Senators to pressure Reid to bring House bill to floor for a vote now and pass the buck to Obama.....
irish19| 7.25.11 @ 11:52AM
As someone pointed out on another blog, it would only take 4 to 5 Senate Dem defections to force a bill to zero's desk. At that point, he would either be forced to sign it or take blame for a default.
I like your idea.
axbucxdu| 7.25.11 @ 12:57PM
Let's not stop there, though. Focus must be maintained on the proper target. The MSM's feigned interest in the Republican presidential circus is intended to distract the right from what should be it's primary goal in the next election: full control of Congress.
This is also probably why your thought appears here in a blog, rather than it first being issued from Rethug HQ. Leaders? We've got no steenking leaders...
irish19| 7.25.11 @ 6:58PM
"Focus must be maintained on the proper target. The MSM's feigned interest in the Republican presidential circus is intended to distract the right from what should be it's primary goal in the next election: full control of Congress."
Ding! Ding! Ding! We have a winner!
If we can take full control of Congress, zero will have no say in what legislation is sent to his desk.
Additional damage will be stopped.
Ken (Old Texican)| 7.25.11 @ 6:37AM
Jed,
As a business man I have employed thousands of people for many years. Not only did I pay my own Social security fees, but I paid half of theirs as well.
Millions and millions of dollars in due to my own efforts, .....and my SS check is less than $1,500 per month.
What is wrong with that picture?
To hell with it! Let's just bring the house down...clean the ground...and rebuild honestly.
Michael L. Hauschild| 7.25.11 @ 7:07AM
We will certainly have to do that parcel and part anyway, might as well do it as our own decision. You are correct.
chuck| 7.25.11 @ 7:07AM
Spot on Ken! Force Obama's hand. Force him to make the choice between paying Social Security or the Dept. of Energy. Shut down 40% of the government, and prove to the American people that we just don't need this much government. 40% less government means twice as much freedom!
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 7:39AM
"Jed,
"As a business man I have employed thousands of people for many years. Not only did I pay my own Social security fees, but I paid half of theirs as well."
Soros does too; so it depends whose ox is gored.
tj| 7.25.11 @ 12:26PM
allen you remind me a my arrogant narcissistic brother. You both have that same attitude of I am better than you and talk down to people.
He is quite twisted in his thinking as he feels me to be a threat. Of course I was always mom's favorite!
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 12:58PM
"allen you remind me a my arrogant narcissistic brother. You both have that same attitude of I am better than you and talk down to people."
If he is your brother, perhaps there is something wrong with your family? with your gene pool?
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 6:10PM
I don't recall Soros directly employing that many people. He also destroys much more than he builds.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 8:27PM
"Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 6:10PM
[Soros]
"He also destroys much more than he builds."
So has the GOP, 1990 to 2011. However it is not the past that is at stake; it is that you have one year 'til your candidate is nominated at the GOP convention-- going by past record it does not appear promising.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:40PM
The GOP created until 2006. Then it was the House of Soros.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:13PM
No, the GOP created until 1989.
As soon as the Berlin Wall fell, so did your ideology.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:18PM
...Reagan's/the GOPs (they are synonymous) reason for existing ended with the Cold War.
Margie| 7.26.11 @ 2:01PM
"The House of Soros".
Good one!
And some here would rather see them re elected rather than vote for a Republican.
The nasty Paulbots are are for destruction of our side just as much as the House of Soros is.
Purpleguy| 7.25.11 @ 9:14AM
waaa, waaaa - so if you made millions, why do you need a Social Security check at all - give it back so more seniors can eat.
Brian Mc| 7.25.11 @ 9:20AM
Go look in the mirror; your greed is showing.
cowgirl| 7.25.11 @ 10:11AM
If you are soooooooooooo concerned about seniors eating Purpleguy, then you get your checkbook out and start writing the checks to feed the seniors. Until then all you are is a hippocrite.
Wayne | 7.25.11 @ 10:50AM
Its his money, not yours.
Kishego| 7.25.11 @ 11:16AM
When people such as yourself, Obumbler, Joe BiteMe et el.. suggest that they don't need the extra money the current tax rates would leave them, why do we never see you or your brother Allen Brooks suggest they just send it in any way. They do have that option.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 12:00PM
Why don't you vote libertarian if you are so free market?
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 6:10PM
Purpleguy:
You're awfully free with other people's money.
loulou| 7.25.11 @ 10:21AM
Why is Jed so frantic?
The boil needs to be lanced and the poisonous cancer removed. Then we heal.
Skippy| 7.25.11 @ 5:43PM
I like Jed, but he has bought into the idea that we will be irreparably harmed if the magical witching hour comes and goes without a deal.
It won't, and that sort of Y2K armaggeddon thinking empowers the spenders.
If they think we are afraid to pass the drop-dead date, all they have to do is wait for us to cave.
Kinda like Al Queda and Prince Bambo.
He names the date, they simply wait.
Dai Alanye | 7.25.11 @ 6:01PM
Jed frantic? Ridiculous!
It's Obama who's frantic.
SpiralArchitect| 7.25.11 @ 7:04PM
Rebuild? Who holds the security of the land while you and (who?) 'rebuild'?
Will all the world sit idle while watching this rebirth of a nation?
Agitation & anger do not provide for sound judgement...
Granny Jan | 7.25.11 @ 6:47AM
The theatrics of that press conference were so bizarre. Is Obama becoming unhinged? The press play along with him laughing at his stupid jokes. Anyone who has watched for years know he has never cracked a decent joke .
I was inspired by the press confernce to make this parody.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWQDGR1UFMM
Barack Obama Suffers From Golf Withdrawal Syndrome: GWS
Timothy L. Pennell| 7.25.11 @ 6:49AM
I can explain to HIM why we're about to default. It's because HE spent more money than all of the Presidents, before him, COMBINED. It's because HIS Economic Policies of "Spread the Wealth Around" have achieved HIS stated goals. It has made things FAIRER. We no longer have so many more HAVES, than we do HAVE NOTS. We're ALL Have Nots, these days. We ALL have NOTHING.
These are HIS Deficits. HIS Debt. HIS Economy.
Record Unemployment, Foreclosures, Bank Failures, Bankruptcies, Homelessness.(Ya ever notice that HOMELESSNESS never makes the NEWS, when the Democrats are running the show?)
HIS EPA is shutting down the retrieval of Oil and Natural Gas, and Coal, and the THOUSANDS of JOBS that this would create. His NLRB's blatant attack on a Private Business (BOEING) for seeking to expand in a State that is NOT beholden to HIS Union Brownshirts, is a blazing RED FLAG, to any Foreign Company thinking about doing business over here, and one more reason for AMERICAN Companies, to get outta Dodge.
HE is shuttering NASA. HE is about to GUT Defence.
HE is destroying jobs all over this country.
HIM.
He wants to know how we got here?
Simple.
Like all of the Socialists that came before him, HE ran out of OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY.
Economics 101.
Purpleguy| 7.25.11 @ 9:21AM
Well aren't we filled with a pack of lies, misinformation and right-wing talking points.
Bud - we ran out of money long before Obama was even heard of ... you can blame your boys for that ! and the shipping of jobs overseas, and the mess the airlines are in with deregulation, and the financial collapse in 2007-8 with deregulation again, and the loss of millions of jobs on Bush's watch, and the largest deficit in history (1.4 Trillion) from GW Bush's last budget .... and the loss of capturing Osama bin Laden, and the disbanding of the Iraqi Army which led to the Insurgency in Iraq, and the horrible response to Katrina on the Gulf Coast, and the BP spill due to lax regulations and regulators literally in bed with their charges, and a Supreme Court that is beholden to their Corporate masters, and illegal water boarding and torture ... and, and, and ... Republicants don't care about anything but their own party and their corporate pig masters.
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 9:49AM
Right, Purpleguy. Everyone in DC has their cronies - their private clients, as I like to call them.
So, where does the Tea Party fit in? They don't have any cronies. And, so far, their people in the House are behaving very well.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:10AM
You were careful to qualify your praise of the Tea Party by writing "so far".
Sue| 7.25.11 @ 10:10AM
You really like the Kool-aid don't you. 1) Unions; 2) Unions; 3) Community Reinvestment Act (Democrats) 4) Barney Frank; 5) 3,000 Americans dead by terrorists; Clinton's billion dollar missle up a camel's ass; I'll take Bush's wars anyday; that's what the government is supposed to do; 6) whine, whine, whine, Obama got 1, Bush got thousands; 7) "This war is lost Reid" and "Our miliary personnel are Nazi-like Durbin"; Katrina - ha, ha, ha; a democrat governor who couldn't find her way out of a paper sack; BP oil spill - another ha, ha; Supreme Court? - you've really gone over the edge; loss of property rights, speech rights, racial preferences for 25 years O'Connor; pig masters? echos of Charles Manson and the '60s; it was sick then and even sicker today. Just how old are you? 70 and still whining for the sixties?
George S| 7.25.11 @ 11:10AM
The 2008 budget deficit was 239 billion. The federal government collected 2.7 trillion. Unemployment rate was about 6% (seasonally adjusted), even with those "jobs shipped overseas". The BP oil spill was caused by mother nature; its cleanup was purposefully slowed by Obama hoping to create a photo-op crisis (to back up his order to close drilling platforms, unconstitutional on its face and he ignored a federal judge's order lifting the ban. So Obama is a criminal by disobeying a court, no? Explain why not.)
The horrible result to Katrina was by the state and local governments -- they had all the resources on hand but failed to use them. It is the state government's responsibility to have a storm evacuation plan in place in flooding areas (see Florida, Mississippi, Alabama). Also, the federal money earmarked to repair the levees were spent elsewhere. Which brings up WHY Katrina was a disaster -- the post storm flooding. Had the levees been maintained and the school buses and National Guard been mobilized early, it would have been a mess instead of a disaster. Plus, it didn't help when the residents were expecting a government van to pull up to their house and take care of everything instead of rolling up their sleeves and taking charge of their survival (see: Joplin). So just how did the federal government overrule or trip up the state and local guys -- when they weren't even called in right away?
There is no torture, never was. That "fact" was borne out of Abu Ghraib. Parading prisoners around with lady's underwear on their heads is actually kinda funny (it's what liberals do for fun in Frisco, I thought). Waterboarding was used by Obama to find Osama (but that's okay?).
Airlines are deregulated? What do you call naked scanners and sexually assaulting pat downs?
Disbanding the Iraqi Army... leading to "insurgency"? Talk about misinformation -- that doesn't even make sense.
Financial collapse from deregulation? Exactly which act signed into law by GW Bush caused the collapse and exactly how did it do it? What was legal or illegal prior to that act that was overturned? And then explain by using a time-line from the law being signed to the collapse. S-p-e-c-i-f-i-c-a-l-l-y. (We are blue in the face with data, history and analysis on how the Democrat's affordable housing program, along with Fannie and Freddie, caused the collapse. There's even a book on it and the data and information in that book was barred from being entered into the record during the "hearings" into the collapse).
Lies, misinformation and right-wing talking points... also known as inconvenient facts.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:42PM
Actually, disbanding the Iraqi army DID lead to insurgency. Put thousands of men in an anarchy like situation. Have their only saleable skill be following orders. Refuse to employ them in that skill. See what happens.
Personally, I would have shot the bastards to encourage the others.
skip| 7.25.11 @ 11:12AM
Pimplepus
Tell us again about the plan for running America, presented as recently as three months ago, the budget proposed by Odiva that was narrowly voted down in Reid's democrat controlled senate by a slim 0 - 97 margin, the one that the CBO stated couldn't be scored because the only detail in it, besides a speech, was that it proposed an increase in the deficit of 1.65 trillion dollars.
While you're at it, tell us again how harmless it is to increase taxes on the rich, how it would not affect anyone else, as the rich pass the cost of the tax increase they incur to the consumer, who either pays more for products, or doesn't, in which case the rich cease production, with the resulting increase in unemployment.
Idiot.
carnot| 7.26.11 @ 2:57PM
right on!
and when can be expect your next post on how the Republicans have opposed all socially beneficial programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, welfare, Obamacare....you know the programs that are bankrupting America.
Can't have it both ways...transparency...thy name is Purpleguy.
Mimi| 7.25.11 @ 7:05AM
Well TIM..... What more is there to say, YOU said it all! Every Republican running for President needs to take your words and repeat them over and over at their every STOP across this GREAT LAND!
chuck| 7.25.11 @ 7:10AM
TIM PENNELL 2012
TELLING IT THE WAY IT IS!
bennyhavens| 7.25.11 @ 7:13AM
51% of American households pay no income taxes. Which means that 49% of American households are paying income taxes.
So who is the president speaking about when he says “they are getting a raw deal”?
Shamus| 7.25.11 @ 7:15AM
If spending levels were returned to 2001 levels there would be no need to raise the debt ceiling.
SpiralArchitect| 7.25.11 @ 7:16PM
Fascinating how the concept of don't spend what you do not have is so far fetched.
coal carrier| 7.25.11 @ 7:26AM
Two things will happen when the debt ceiling and taxes are raised.
1. Politicians will continue to spend more and more of our money, like they have done in the past.
2. Come 2012, all we will hear from Obama and the media is that the Republican Congress raised taxes.
Remember “read my lips”?
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 9:09AM
EXACTLY!! "H" Bush fell for the raise tax and cut spending plan only to find they never fulfilled the cut spending. Regan before him got screwed by Tip O'Neil in the same way. Why should be believe that lie a 3rd time?
Purpleguy| 7.25.11 @ 9:23AM
Bush lost because Perot took 20% of his voters away, and because he looked at his watch during a debate as if he couldn't be bothered to be there - not because of the "read my lips" made him lose myth.
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 9:57AM
1. Correct in the fact that Perot was the death stroke, however "Read my lips" turned public favor against him.
2. I notice you didn't disagree about the promised spending cuts never being fulfilled by the Democrat controlled Congress during either his or Regan's years.
Sue| 7.25.11 @ 10:26AM
Bush lost because he wanted to be on both sides of the fence; he could have easily neutralized Perot by adopting some of Perot's points. He wanted to appeal to Democrats. The watch looking didn't help him much, but the "read my lips" sunk his ship deeper. It's the democrat party way - "rope a dope" and to hell with the Constitution. Think Tammany Hall, the Chicago machine, the prohibition gangs (Kennedys) and now the drug cartels with fast and furious. The American killed by the drug cartel on Falcon Lake and the lack of any kind of humanitarian response from Obama says it all. He was more than likely killed with one of the ATFs planted guns.
The democrat party is where the party of evil likes to reside. You see, evil doesn't want to play both sides of the fence, it wants to stay on top of the fence come hell or high water. Evil never holds to principle because it doesn't have any. That's how you can tell goodness and American patriotism from evil and American destructiveness.
Which side of the fence is Obama on or does he want to stay on top of the fence?
Better yet, which side of the fence is Purpleguy on?
The party or America?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 1:00PM
Conspiracy crank.
carnot| 7.26.11 @ 2:59PM
and I will limit my consumption even further...as will millions of others.......and unemployment will continue its Obama inspired upward march.
Erling| 7.25.11 @ 7:28AM
"This week, Republicans can -- no, must...raise the debt ceiling..."
Tell me why spending MORE helps us stop spending beyond our means and just as important, starts to pay back the $14+ trillion we owe today?
Try that line of reasoning with your bank manager.
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 8:09AM
I agree. The only response to the fear mongering by Obama et al is... "Let me put it to you this way... no."
Where was Obama's concern about the deficit when he was shoveling out billions to foreign banks to bail them our of our mortgage crisis?
russel| 7.25.11 @ 9:31AM
Right , raise the debt ceiling and it tells the world we're not interested in solving our debt problem . When we can't borrow any more , then the s#^* and fan have it out . This whole ' default crisis ' is blown way out of proportion . Enough $ comes in to pay bills . NO MORE BORROWING when 188 mil / day is paid in interest on what we already owe . We voted to stop this nonsense and start running the program responsibly . We're watching , you're either with us or not , and you can be replaced .
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:13AM
as Bush was replaced in '92.
JP| 7.25.11 @ 7:28AM
Here's what the Prez has wanted all along:
A debt ceiling increase that would take him through the 2012 elections (ie authorize $2 trillion in new debt)
At least $1 trillion in new taxes
And a means to put all of the blame for the economy on the GOP.
Thus far, his strategy appears to be backfiring.
tsd| 7.25.11 @ 7:42AM
In history this guy is and will be the poster child for the biggest bungler ever...bar none. It takes a real believer in some warped reality to keep digging, who voted for this guy.... who would not vote against him...who could be worse than he is??
Teaghan| 7.25.11 @ 8:10AM
Who would vote for him again? Ohhh, I have several democrat aquaintances that will! They think he's doing a fine job. He cares about people , don't you know? Is liberalism truely a mental disorder?
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 8:31AM
Yes, it is...
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:14AM
it also depends who you nominate at your convention next year.
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 10:24AM
Your a regular one hit wonder lately aren't you?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 12:02PM
Put up or shut up said the Gipper.
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 12:39PM
Why, your going to vote for Obama anyway? Your stated logic is this, "Unless you guys put up a better canidate than in the past (more conservative) I am going to vote for Obama". Care to explain the logic in that or are you just working on your professional sh*t disturber resume?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 1:03PM
"Unless you guys put up a better canidate than in the past (more conservative)"
Conservative? where? there is no conservative--or are you thinking libertarian, perhaps?
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 1:46PM
Answer the question, do you want a conservative, a liberal or even a libertarian? What kind of candidate do you want the Republicans to run that will keep you from voting for Obama? Answer the simple question or add professional sh*t disturber to your resume.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 4:57PM
I think ideology is dead, so I'll vote for the best person next year.
SpiralArchitect| 7.25.11 @ 7:26PM
Meaning anyone that adopts an animal from a shelter?
The better person.... giving me a side cramp as I can't stop laughing!
You are genuine, no doubt, as not the best wit nor highest intelligence combined could fabricate what flows effortlessly from your head.
Unfortunately, the content of what you dole out is so unexplainable ( read: non-sensicle) as not even your brilliance can shift any TAS reader from thinking you speak anything other than BS.
RJ| 7.25.11 @ 7:43AM
Let's play a game: "Get even with Whitey!"
pineapple| 7.25.11 @ 7:51AM
This game is played everyday in BRA.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:16AM
"Let's play a game: "Get even with Whitey!"
But you wont let blackie compete; you lock him in the cellar and say:
"now don't you go breaking down that door, Boy"
Kishego| 7.25.11 @ 11:27AM
"but you won't let blackie compete". You really are a vile piece of sh!t aren't you ?
Southern_Comment| 7.25.11 @ 11:32AM
You're pathetic. Blackie? And who's been locked in a cellar? Certainly not the black population and certainly not the inner cities, unless that door was locked from the inside. Every opportunity is extended to them, playing fields have been hugely and unjustly restructured so they could be offered every opportunity - and have they taken it? At all???? No. By the way, I'm in Alabama and nobody says boy to a black person, unless they use boy as an affectation of speech, as in they call every male boy (good ol' boy).
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 12:07PM
So you are saying there is something wrong with liberalism; or are you saying there is something wrong with blacks?
Both?
skip| 7.25.11 @ 12:23PM
Both.
Liberalism's policies are overtly bigoted and racist, as every major U.S. city proves beyond all reasonable doubt, and Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell have repeatedly proved, over and over and over, prodigiously.
Blacks, continually suffering under Liberalism's bigoted racist policies, in every major U.S. city, continually vote liberal, in spite of all the prodigious proof, over and over and over.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 1:07PM
"Blacks, continually suffering under Liberalism's bigoted racist policies, in every major U.S. city, continually vote liberal, in spite of all the prodigious proof, over and over and over."
Are you writing:
a) blacks are hypnotized?
b) they are genetically disadvantaged?
C) seeking revenge?
d) evil?
all of the above?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 1:10PM
... if you are saying liberalism is evil, then blacks are evil due to liberalism? you did tacitly write blacks have something wrong with them by your answering "both".
Drunken Sailor| 7.25.11 @ 1:48PM
A large portion of them do have something wrong with them if they simply keep voting the party line without seeing what effects liberalism has had on them. Same goes for Union thugs not seeing how the Unions are not what they used to be.
SpiralArchitect| 7.25.11 @ 7:31PM
"Something wrong with them"
- lack of education as to genuinely not know any better or indoctrination so as to believe that ( the same ) one side is always better ?
-freebies for me, don't mess up a 'good thing'
skip| 7.25.11 @ 2:31PM
Read what Walter Williams has to say about this.
Read what Thomas Sowell has to say about this.
I stated Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell have provided prodigious proof.
Idiot.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 5:00PM
"A large portion of them do have something wrong with them if they simply keep voting the party line without seeing what effects liberalism has had on them. Same goes for Union thugs not seeing how the Unions are not what they used to be."
Then you are not optimistic about next year, are you?
skip| 7.25.11 @ 5:47PM
Did you manage to find out anything on the topic from Walter Williams or Thomas Sowell yet, or are you still every bit as stupid as you were over five hours ago?
The day Rick Perry announces his candidacy is the day any election uncertainty whatsoever evaporates, and my guarantee (not confidence, much less optimism) Odiva will lose is etched in stone.
Get back to me after you've read Walter Williams and Thomas Sowell and have a question about what you read that isn't asinine.
Skippy| 7.25.11 @ 6:11PM
Try willfully crippled by their plantation Massa's.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 9:44PM
No. I am writing that Blacks are socialized to vote Democratic. Look at how Chicago's Democratic party under Daley treated the Blacks. Mike Royko was hardly a Conservative, but his Boss is still a classic.
RCV| 7.26.11 @ 12:35AM
Maybe, just maybe, Blacks are better able to rive their own interests than you and Skippy. Or is that just an ability reserved for whites?
Reprobate Charlatan Vomitus| 7.26.11 @ 11:00AM
I don't bother with silly 'blacks better able to tear apart their own interests' on just another post lacking temperament and judgment while at least belonging to the party that destructively harms blacks at least AFTER they're born matters.
carnot| 7.26.11 @ 3:03PM
yea. right on. and as your unwittingly racist post implies....they all think the same!
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:48PM
RCV,
I'm from Chicago. Cabrini Green was designed by Democrats. Some Jews will vote for Ron Paul. We enter our professional territories, now---please explain the reason for the seperation of Powers, and I will explain that humans usually do NOT behave logically except as an afterthought.
By the way, if you haven't read Boss, do read it if you can. It is not a Conservative masterpiece; it it a Journalistic One. Really, really good.
Occam's Tool| 7.26.11 @ 5:48PM
By the way, RCV, you are a wonderful guy. I disagree a lot, but I hold you in highest respect.
skip| 7.26.11 @ 8:07PM
The Ten 'Cannots'
William Boetcker (1873 - 1962)
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away man's initiative and independence.
You cannot help small men by tearing down big men.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot keep out of trouble by spending more than your income.
You cannot establish security on borrowed money.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they will not do for themselves.
* * * * * * * * * *
This isn't rocket science. Or even brain surgery. It is simple common sense.
Odrama is zero for ten. RCV just referred to Odrama as the only adult in D.C. Both are equally deserving of respect.
W| 7.27.11 @ 5:02PM
When The Reverend Jackson moved to Chicago he went to Daley for a job, Daley offered the position of toll booth operator . Jessee was offended, and went on his own to establich the Race Hustler Franchise. Daley was a perceptive judge of talent, and it is our misfortune that Jessee did not accept the job and accept his limitations.
Dave Williams| 7.25.11 @ 3:01PM
Obama's WHITE half is a slimy, treacherous typical-Chicago-pol POS TOO.
Occam's Tool| 7.25.11 @ 6:14PM
Alan: My Favorite candidate for President is Allen West. My second fav is Michel Bachmann. My third Fav is Herman Cain.
Black, Woman, Black. Yup, I'm keeping the minorities and women down.
Teaghan| 7.25.11 @ 8:05AM
Did anyone hear Krauthammer after The One did his I am the frustrated King speech summoning the leadership back to the White House?
"Who does he think he is?" Indeed.
He comes across to me as a man backed up into a corner and not able to talk his way out of it. He comes across as weak and useless. No wonder he's been booted from the debt talks. Next booting is next year.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:18AM
"Next booting is next year."
So yet another RINO takes his place? No THANKS!
Don L| 7.25.11 @ 10:39AM
I suspect that the game plan has been to give Obama the re-election shot-by gaming the usually wimpy Boehner. Having failed at that, they now will hide the president so that his failure won't be noticed and then he can come out later to claim his victory, when he signs any deal -even if he transparently loses everything -he'll claim victory. A large part of America will sigh and applaud his messiah-like powers of unity and re-elect him.
Sad, but, these people have no scruples and will destroy anything to acheive their end -the neutralization of capitalist God-fearing America.
Much of America doesn't want to preserve their freedom (dollars yes) as badly as they want to take it away. That usually means losing it.
POST American| 7.25.11 @ 8:17AM
-----Tavistock/Rockefeller false front ALERT!----
These aren't even sideshows.
Keep your eyes on:
-that unmentioned 1.5 quadrillion in FAKE derivatives debt
-the 'missing' 'Banker Bailout'
-the broad daylight stealth RED China
TREASON op
-the agendas and antics of the private Globalist
EUGENICS administrative authority ---UN
(Agenda 21/ Codex Alimentarios etc.)
-the inner maneuverings of the deadly sinister
Milner/Rockefeller/Ford/Carnegie et al
TAX FREE, 'chair-irritable' EUGENICS and
Globalisation/TREASON fronts
-and, our 'fave' essential sideshow,
the actuarial psychopaths at the
private, ILLEGAL 'Federal' Reserve
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:19AM
You are crazier than Alex Jones on meth.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:21AM
"the inner maneuverings of the deadly sinister
Milner/Rockefeller/Ford/Carnegie et al"
Ford? is that the deadly-sinister Gerald Ford, or Henry Ford?
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 10:28AM
oh wait, you meant to write FIORD, as in norwegian fiord?
The Norwegian Fiord Terrorist Who Attacked The Camp On The Island, Gilligans Island, Globalist EUGENICS administrative authority ---UN (Agenda 21/ Codex Alimentarios etc.) run by the Professor and Mary Ann (paid for by Thurston Howell, Lovey, TAX FREE, 'chair-irritable' EUGENICS and
Globalisation/TREASON fronts
"a Three Hour Tour"
The weather started getting rough, the tiny ship was tossed; if not for the courage of the fearless Norwegian police, the Minnow would be lost...
Skippy| 7.25.11 @ 6:13PM
Guitarist Robben Ford?
His brothers Mark and Patrick?
junkyard infidel| 7.25.11 @ 2:28PM
and your comments are ignorant and irrelevant as usual ! ssdd !
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 8:19AM
It’s now the eleventh hour. This is the point when Republicans usually sell out with their reach-across-the-aisle routine. Then they step up to the microphone, surrounded by their Democrat “colleagues,” and croak their prepared statement that’s loaded with the usual bipartisan/consensus BS about it being the responsible thing to do.
Boehner would dearly love to do this, but, apparently, Tea Partiers in the House have enough clout to hold is feet to the primary fire. It appears they’re keeping their campaign promises. Like the Spitfire pilots in the Battle of Britain, we may end up owing a lot to those few. God bless them and the horse they rode in on.
Rob Roy| 7.25.11 @ 8:29AM
I am holding my breath waiting for a Boehner sell out. If we stand frim and win this issue, we Conservatives must clean out the leadership of the Republican House and when the election cycle allows the Senate and get leadership that has spine and will stand firm inspite of poor press. Our country is at stake.
P.S.
T. Pennell, you said it all!!
John Hinds | 7.25.11 @ 8:43AM
Mr. Babbin put a good piece together but his insistence on making a deal ruins it. That attitude is the reason conservatives always lose these battles. Isn't Ronald Reagan still waiting for the promised tax cuts when he went along with a tax increase? I say increasing the debt ceiling is caving in to the statist/collectivist agenda. The house has the power of the purse what they don't have is the balls to use it. The GOP leadership, including the ilk of Mr. Babbin, are a castrati cabal. The voice of the neuter is heard throughout the land. We don't need a cut in the growth of spending; we need a real cut which is what refusing to raise the debt ceiling would be. At the least the GOP should say here is the CC&B bill. Take it or leave it. Period.
PCC| 7.25.11 @ 9:43AM
Yes, I agree Mr. Babbin wrote a fine article, but I disagree that "his insistenc on making a deal ruins it".
I think it would be plainly irresponsible to risk default (or downgrading) on the country's bonds and I hope and expect that the GOP congressional leadership will take its responsibilities in this regard seriously, even if it means political compromise.
CopyKatnj| 7.25.11 @ 11:27AM
Winning this battle but losing the war is worse. As conservatives we must keep our sights on the goal. We do not have to lose our principles to achieve the goal. Get the best we can and build on it. I disagree about bringing up the Balanced Budget Amendment. Perhaps now is bad timing but after the deal we should keep bringing this up and use it to inform the public what has to be done and why.
Alan Brooks| 7.25.11 @ 12:11PM
"castrati cabal"
Now there's an image.
Pecos Pete| 7.25.11 @ 8:44AM
King O is approaching the debt ceiling negotiations exactly as he would negotiate a community organizing effort. And that has worked well in Detroit and Chicago. Right?
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 9:56AM
Maybe so, but a political thug in the White House is up against all of middle America. He's used to intimidating his opponents. It ain't workin' this time. He's up against decades of pent up anger.
JMA| 7.25.11 @ 8:49AM
America will NOT be in default on 8/2, and I'd expect a conservative publication to tell us that. There is MORE THAN ENOUGH money to service the debt, pay socialist security, medicare and medicaid plus the military. I'd expect this kind of hyperbole the Associated Propagandists, but not Spectator.
John Hinds | 7.25.11 @ 11:29AM
JMA, You are absolutely correct. Talk of default is a red herring and in truth tells our opponents that when push comes to shove we will give in to their demands - again. Seems to me it is all a show to calm the nerves, to co-opt, those unwashed, angry, tea party rubes.
winterhawk| 7.25.11 @ 9:09AM
Why is it alright for obama to play politics but not for the Repubs? I don't understand that. Contrary to what the left wants you to believe, it's obama's fault. He's threatening vetos if it isn't his way. You cannot trust obama. His agenda proves that.
Anthony| 7.25.11 @ 9:16AM
I don't agree with you at all Jed. You fall for the Washington carnard that failure to acheive a "deal" will result in a default.
There will be NO default. The government has over a hundred billion $$ coming in each month to service the debt and prioritized services.
Why do you and the rest of the media insist on perpetuating this lie?
I also don't agree that the balanced budget amendment is a waste of time, that's more Washington beltway blabber. Boehner, by walking out on Obozo has finally shown some balls. Cantor and others have demonstrated real responsibility, while Obozo and Reid play games with the backing of the corrupt LSM.
Where's your budget Harry, you reprehensible reptile?
No Jed, this is the time to take the stand necessary to save America, no more kicking the can down the road. These guys don't have enough guts for a second go round. They must act now, with the guts they've mustered.
John Hinds | 7.25.11 @ 11:35AM
Default is only possible if the administration chooses NOT to pay the interest on the debt, $29 bil., first. But that would be political suicide and no sane person would do that, right? But wait, maybe we're not dealing with sanity. Nevertheless, if it were me I'd say here's your CC&B bill. Take it or leave it.
Von Mises Jr.| 7.25.11 @ 9:51AM
While I agree with Jeb Babbin that the House Republicans must present a short-term deal if for no other reason that to put the monkey on the Democrats backs.
But we must understand that we have been insolvent and inflating our way out of debt for a year. Ben "The Bank" Bernenke bought 75% of the Treasuries over the last year. This created a false financial picture of activity while slowly defaulting on our obligations through inflation.
The "Chicken Little" Democrats claim the sky is falling, when in fact the clouds have already enfulfed us in the fog of insolvancy.
Gary B| 7.25.11 @ 10:01AM
Von Mises Jr.,
I respectfully disagree. But, let's watch the securties markets for a day or so. Let's see what the world really thinks about this. Isn't that the real acid test?
Could it be that investors around the world agree that now is the time for the US to get its house in order? A temporary debt deal is just that - another kick-the-can deal. It may send the opposite signal that Obama et al think it'll send.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 10:01AM
Dr.Ron Paul,
"Default will be painful, but it is all but inevitable for a country as heavily indebted as the U.S. Just as pumping money into the system to combat a recession only ensures an unsustainable economic boom and a future recession worse than the first, so too does continuously raising the debt ceiling only forestall the day of reckoning and ensure that, when it comes, it will be cataclysmic"
Michael L. Hauschild| 7.25.11 @ 10:17AM
Oh my Lord, we are going to get downgraded.
Has it ever occurred to you boneheads that maybe we are getting downgraded because we have doubled the National Debt in the last four of five years? Or maybe we are borrowing four out of ten dollars we need to pay our bills? Or that our legislature has no concept about reigning in spending, only posturing the best way to assure re-election? Can you people be so naive and so egocentric that the USA is exempt from basic economic principles?
One last question; do you think drawing the line is due or that our failure to rationally address spending and will not be detrimental?
The only thing at this stage that will demonstrate to the world that we are serious is to NOT RAISE THE DEBT CEILING and elect representatives that will begin the process of shrinking government and start to pay off the debts.
Continuing to rely on borrowing, not holding our representatives responsible, and not exhibiting a willingness to shrink government and spending is what will drive down our ratings. We are not deserving of AAA ratings, to simply say we are despite all the evidence is delusional.
Regaining our credit will be easier if we admit to our additions, and accept the responsibility for our irresponsible behavior. We made it through the Carter double digit interests, we can make it through this.
Clint| 7.25.11 @ 11:02AM
Dr. Ron Paul,
"The Austrian School’s theory of the business cycle describes how loose central bank monetary policy causes booms and busts: It drives down interest rates below the market rate, lowering the cost of borrowing; encourages malinvestment; and causes economic miscalculation as resources are diverted from the highest value use as reflected in true consumer preferences. Loose monetary policy caused the dot-com bubble and the housing bubble, and now is causing the government debt bubble. "
Margie| 7.25.11 @ 2:47PM
Oh no, Micheal. You're the ONLY one who understands... blechh.
TruthSayer| 7.25.11 @ 10:20AM
Poor Mr Babin, all worried about default. WE'VE ALREADY DEFAULTED, YOU MORON! It's a slow, meandering default but real nonetheless. This gargantuan suck hole we call the federal government will never stop devouring liberty, private wealth, and prosperity until it is destroyed. Might as well get it over with.
Don L| 7.25.11 @ 10:32AM
One thing is true -the left wants this crisis -it was manufactured (like AGW) for a purpose (2012) and blaming the GOP with their shameless media mice was the plan.
Truth, it is said , will set us free. Silence, and the usual non-communication doesn't help the GOP a bit. Go public now, internet, ads, programs, education, propaganda (truthful) need to be their biggest weapons. Accuse, accuse, accuse, them of doing the evil that they full well know they are doing. For once -make them do the defending. Letting their scurrilous congressional buddies think they may get fired may be the best weapon available. Turn up the heat. Like Obama -double down. Dont back down -no matter what!
Susan Foster| 7.25.11 @ 11:18AM
Obama should take advice from AA and save the drama for his momma. . .the American people need leadership in permanently cutting this out-of-control spending that Washington deems necessary.
George S| 7.25.11 @ 11:29AM
Obama is finding out that presidents do not lie on a bed with slaves fanning them with palm leaves while being fed grapes. This is how he was treated in 2009; now that he has to govern he is completely lost. You want him to cave, Mr. Boehner? Just keep subliminally whispering "vacation" every other word.
Elgordo| 7.25.11 @ 11:33AM
GO AFTER THE VULNERABLE DEM SENATORS, UP FOR RE-ELECTION, FOR CAUSING THE DEBT DEFAULT
The Dems, including Pres. Obama, have never come up with a plan to reduce the deficit........The Republicans in the House passed a plan to cut the deficit. Sen. Reid would not even let it come to a vote or even a discussion in the Senate. He "tabled" it....So if we have a default, it is the fault of the Dems in the Senate and the Republicans should advertise and campaign on this.
There are 11 vulnerable Dem Senate seats up for re-election in Red States or states that went Republican in 2010.......6 of these Senators are especially vulnerable: ; Ben Nelson of Nebr. Bill Nelson of FL, Claire McCaskill of MO., Jon Tester of Mont., and from the coal rich states of W.Va. and PA. respectively, Joe Manchin and Robt. Casey.....
In other states such as Wisc., VA., No. Dak., New Mex., Haw., their Dem Senators many sensing defeat, are retiring. Also NJ's Gov. Christie is making voting for Republicans more popular in NJ , so their senator in 2012, Robt. Menendez, may also be vulnerable. ......
The Republicans should advertise heavily in these states blaming these Dem Senators for the default and for hiding behind Harry Reid's refusal to discuss the plan passed by the House Republicans.....
Pressure the VULNERABLE Dem Senators to pressure Reid to bring House bill to floor for a vote and pass the buck to Obama.....
YeloStalyn| 7.25.11 @ 12:17PM
Why won't anyone in the GOP get up and point out that LOWERING TAXES will result in ENHANCED REVENUE?
There are numerous places in history that bare this out. They can meet Zero's demands of "revenue enhancements" by LOWERING taxes. Then, they can CUT SPENDING per the public mandate. Then... finally... they can extend the debt ceiling for the rest of the year to allow us a time to shift from this central planned disaster of an economy to one that will actually grow and provide all the "enhanced revenue" they could ever need.
Drives me crazy that they let the Dem's get away with "revenue enhancements" without pointing out that the way to do that is to lower taxes.
Hate to say it, but the GOP is stupid.
Rich Fisher| 7.25.11 @ 1:31PM
I would at least hope that the American Spectator would take the chance to explain that the U.S. is NOT going to have to default on it's obligations. We are NOT out of money. The IRS takes in tens of millions every day. We CAN pay our debt. Sure, some programs might have to be cut, some NON ESSENTIAL workers might have to be furloughed and we could even cancel the ridiculous tax incentives for ethanol, high speed rail and other government boondogles. DO NOT accept the premise that the U.S. will default as your starting point. We will pay the interest on the debt, our credit rating will not be affected and government will finally be forced to live within its means. Come on, Spectator, grow a pair and tell it like it is. Stop reading from the Democrat play book.
detrators| 7.25.11 @ 4:37PM
Fair tax for all including those who have plenty. The myth is only a myth that they add jobs. Let them be taxed like any of us. Obama is not raising taxes but asking the wealthy to share the burden.
Rich Fisher| 7.25.11 @ 4:57PM
So, detrators, the fact that the top 20% of wage earners already pay over 70% of the taxes while the bottom 47% pay no income taxes and get an earned income tax credit back to make up for the social security taxes they pay isn't fair? You are right, that isn't fair. No the producers should be supporting 47% of the population. But, just for grins, what do you consider fair for the top 20%? 80%, 90%, just take it all. I mean it sounds so good rolling off your lips that the rich need to pay their fair share, but just what is that in your eyes?
Rich Fisher| 7.25.11 @ 4:59PM
Sorry, that should be "no way the producers..."
Dan Mckay| 7.25.11 @ 6:38PM
America, your government has put itself in a hole and I'm afraid those who rely on them for current lifestyles are in a hole too. We, in the workforce, paying taxes to government, can only hope we aren't outnumbered. Day after day, private companies are incorporating massive lay-offs , while the government continues to grow and those on the government programs, also, grow.
Dan Mckay| 7.25.11 @ 6:46PM
Obama's first speech as president , " It is the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours."
Government is using this strategy all over, to increase their numbers.
Brian| 7.25.11 @ 9:14PM
Repubs will cut SS/Medicare but will not touch the special tax rates they give to their cronies like GE/MSNBC. Try competing against a corporation that gets billions from the Government!
CopyKatnj| 7.25.11 @ 10:16PM
Comrade Brian, Jeff Immlet(sp) of GE is president Obama's chairman for the jobs commission. GE has not paid federal taxes for years, that would mean zero, 0, not a penny although they has 14 billion in profits, yet you finger the Republicans. Until a while ago GE under Jeff owned MSNBC also.
Care to make a correction on your facts?
Also, a billionaires tax by definition does not include anyone making less than $1 billion such as those making 250K. Maybe it's the new math.
Excuse me, Will someone please change the president's teleprompter scroll sheet, he gave this speech last week.
Brian| 7.26.11 @ 5:07AM
Right comrade. GE paid no taxes. If any other schmuck made $14 billion they'd pay billions in taxes. And yes, I blame the Repubs for shielding them from taxes. In fact the Repubs shield corporations/unions from $4 trillion a year in taxes. You apparently think the Gov shielding them from taxes is nothing.
Kingofthenet| 7.25.11 @ 9:41PM
The speaker of the House SHOULD of said, I am going to shrink Government, starting RIGHT here; that's right... My 'Boehner' is shrinking.
Von| 7.26.11 @ 12:15AM
Just watched Obama's speech. I don't really listen to what he has to say, because he is full of Sh!t but, is it me or is his lisping of his S's getting worse? It is literally painful to listen to, my ears hurt.
jackjones| 7.26.11 @ 4:02PM
Good
Von| 7.26.11 @ 12:36AM
"the money was spent on trillions of dollars in new tax cuts" Will someone explain to this idiot that you cannot spend money on tax cuts. Is he really this stupid? This guy is supposed to be the smartest president ever, more like the stupidest person in any room he walks into.
Elroboto| 7.26.11 @ 7:29AM
The correct terminology is important in this debate. Misuse of the term "default" is nothing more than deliberate propaganda. There will be no default as threatened here. Or not mailing most entitlement checks. A government shutdown is possible, but not necessarily right away. And raising the debt without spending cuts is just as likely to lead to a debt downgrade, but we will not "default on obligations". The hysteria on this 'crisis' generated by the WH and ratings hungry media, is greatly exaggerated. Shame that such hysteria isn't evident over the real crisis, size of government and spending.
artark| 7.26.11 @ 4:00PM
I don't care about Jed Babbin's sons, whether they will get Social Security, or be able to buy a house.
Osamas Pajamas| 7.29.11 @ 12:07AM
Email to OhBummer posted at White House website 07-25-11pm
I watched your speech tonight, while vomiting. Yours was a well-crafted pack of lies, half-truths, distortions, misrepresentations, innuendo, and demagoguery. Did I leave anything out?
You mentioned a "balanced" approach 6 or 7 times, which, when translated from Orwellian to normal human language, means "unbalanced" --- rather much like yourself, in fact. You are pathetically pathological, on the one hand, and a dangerous nut, on the other hand. Your Josef Goebbels --- David Astroturf --- must have spent a lot of time spit-polishing your shxt.
I like Boehner, who, unlike you, engaged in no character assassination, tonight. By the way, there's nothing impressive about your intelligence or even your IQ.
In your youth you absorbed the leftist propaganda of the sort spouted by the bad characters in the Ayn Rand novels, which pretty much explains why you have publicly despised her novels and other books.
I know that some flack will read this email and I doubt it will ever pass under your nose. Even so, "speaking truth to power" --- as the current leftist bullshxt phrase goes --- can be quite cathartic. And that, sport, is why I crapped on your tie, tonight.
Osamas Pajamas| 7.29.11 @ 12:14AM
ROUNDS COOKING OFF
The Democrats have this "enemies list" --- denominated in epithets aimed at the people whose wallets they wish to hijack and take up residence inside. You can be a “Racist!” and you can “wear a tinfoil hat” and you can be a “Homophobe!” and you can be a “T-bxgger!” --- a homosexual man taking his partner’s scrotum into his mouth. You can be “Selfish!” and you can be a “Wacko!” and you can be a “Hick!” and you can be a “Rube!” and you can be “Uneducated” and you can be an “Extremist!” You can be a “Right-wing-nut!” and you can be “Mentally Ill” and you can be “Deranged!” and you can be a “Flake!” and a “Warmonger!” and you can be "Unenlightened!" and you can be a “FatCat!” and you can be a “Nazi!” and you can be a “Fascist!” --- although no one more closely approaches the precise description of “Nazi!” or “Fascist!” than the usual Democrat propagandist --- either official, or self-appointed.
Lies, after all, are the heart and soul and the sword and shield of the Democrat party.
So all you have to do to occupy multiple epithets on the Democrats’ enemies list is to insist that they take their hands off yourself, off your wallet, off your property, off your kids, off your diet, off your healthcare, off your household appliances, off your car, off your bank account, off your weapons of self-defense, off your liberty, and off your freedom of speech. Insist on all these good things - and that qualifies you to be spat upon by nasty, mean-spirited scXm --- by The Friends of All Mankind --- by a gang of lying, thieving, dope-smoking, pill-popping, coke-snorting, sticky-fingered, bloodsxcking, tax-eating, gun-stealing, predatory humanitarian thugs --- by the Democrat party, in other words. No political party in the history of America more profoundly deserves absolute and outright destruction.
Osamas Pajamas| 7.29.11 @ 12:14AM
THE AGE OF OHBUMMER
OhBummer is a b00b and a fool for attacking the American Tea Partiers. Heck, he thought that he had all of us hoodwinked, hornswoggled, and bamboozled. He’s annoyed that the Tea Partiers are not grateful to him for hijacking the American healthcare system --- the greatest act of vandalism perpetrated upon the American people since a gang of jihadi frootloops and loonytoons hijacked some planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center towers --- and the Pentagon, and made a failed attempt to crash into the White House --- and instead drilled a hole in a Pennsylvania farm thanks to some very courageous American passengers.
And --- now widely seen for what he is --- the president presents a problem for the Democrat-captured media. They pump out his propaganda for him --- and, like the opinion monitors in Ayn Rand’s novel, “Atlas Shrugged” --- they are dodging brickbats and rotten vegetables.
He’s pompous, pampered, and pretentious --- a pseudo-intellectual fop. He’s a glorified, smooth-lyin’ dandy, and slicker than Sick Willie Clinton. He’s a dictator-on-the-make, a bloodsxcking, predatory humanitarian thug, and a low-down skunk.
He’s a fraud and a swindler. He lies when he inhales and he lies when he exhales; his oxygen is the falsification of reality. He lies, placidly and laconically, as if deception were a soporific drug.
He’s a friend of the poor and the downtrodden --- indeed, you can hear the milk of human kindness sloshing around inside of him when he walks.
He declares himself the post-racial leader --- “Let me be clear!” he intones --- and he hides behind his race, daring his critics to put their reputation for fairness at risk.
He pauses to ponder the portent of his propaganda --- and it is fakery; he smiles and his mendacity comes shining through. Shake hands with Barak Hushpuppy OhBummer --- “The Mistake of ‘08” --- the illegal alien squatter in the White House until his “papers” have been lab-tested for age and chemicals, etc --- the King of The Republic of Lies --- and America’s first and last Arab president. Now count your fingers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch_p.....SWSzY#t=28