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Tebowing and ‘Polarizing’
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SEQUESTER: The Horror!
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SOTU Preview: Human Props, Budget Fights, and Wedge Issues
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Hello, I Must Be Going
August 14, 2012 | 18 comments
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Weekend Political Wrap-Up, Paul Ryan Edition
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The Spectacle Blog
This proposal is a farce. Just like Republican versions of the same, it exempts the biggest categories of federal spending and requires broad budget caps touching every domestic discretionary program to be sustained for a longer period of time than we can realistically expect of Washington. There’s a benefit to the Rand Paul approach of beginning to cut spending and abolish programs now.
Worse, Obama is proposing to freeze federal spending at the elevated levels to which he has increased it. The Republicans have at least wanted to go back to 2008 levels while the Republican Study Committee has suggested 2006 — still too high and still with all the problems endemic in this “freeze” approach, but at least while making an attempt to roll back the Obama discretionary spending increases.
Remember when George H.W. Bush called for a “flexible freeze” on spending back in 1988? If you skate on a flexibly frozen pond, you’ll probably drown.
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More Blog Posts by W. James Antle, III
http://spectator.org/blog/2011/01/25/the-five-year-spending-freeze
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Mike| 1.25.11 @ 10:35PM
Listening to Paul Ryan. He is misrepresenting what the president said.
jersey mark| 1.26.11 @ 1:36PM
Really? You make a statement without any point of reference which is worse than making no statement at all.
Mike| 1.25.11 @ 10:55PM
Listening to M. Bachmann. She didn't listen to the president. Also, she lied about the economic crisis.
beebop| 1.26.11 @ 5:47AM
See? And here all this time I have been thinking that I didn't like Michelle. At least she has time management skills. And. I am not sure that you have a proper grasp of the "economic crisis." Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac should be sold to anyone willing to take them on.
jersey mark| 1.26.11 @ 1:38PM
Let's see. You mean that you don't know that her speech was prepared before Obama gave his and was based upon the previews provided? How about identifying the lie rather than making such a charge.
JmsA| 1.25.11 @ 11:06PM
Mike, another lefty taken in by lofty, leftist rhetoric. Ryan had it right: We're broke and can't continue borrowing and printing money, whether you call it an investment or not. The President's actions don't match his rhetoric. Wake up and smell the coffee.
"Everything he's said until now has not been true." That's a direct quote from an African American who voted from Obama, when asked if he would vote for Obama again by Frank Luntz during his focus group session in Georgia right after the speech.
Mike| 1.25.11 @ 11:21PM
JmsA
Can hardly wait until your post office is closed, your social security and medicare is cut and your health insurance is rescinded
Clint| 1.26.11 @ 12:49AM
"The USPS is projecting a $7 billion deficit for the fiscal year. It has almost tapped out a $15 billion line of credit from the Treasury."
"The Postal Service does not want to make the tough decisions, which include cuts in personnel, pay and benefits. Instead, they are relying on a generous taxpayer bailout that will not solve any of their mid- or long-term problems," said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
"Taxpayers should not be made to bail out a business-as-usual Postal Service," Issa said.
JmsA| 1.26.11 @ 12:52AM
What?! Snail mail still going? By the time I reach retirement age, it will all be gone. So I don't care.
Occam's Tool| 1.26.11 @ 12:03AM
Mike:
Troll much?
Mike| 1.26.11 @ 12:21AM
And, I will enjoy your bankruptcy when an accident or illness exceeds your insurance coverage. But, you will simply be enjoying what you are working so hard to achieve.
JmsA| 1.26.11 @ 12:54AM
Well, at least I'm working, which I suspect is a hell of lot more than what you're probably doing given the tone and tenor of your entitlement comments.
Mike | 1.26.11 @ 1:24AM
You're working. Congrats. Your employer paying your health insurance? Buying your own? If you answered "no" to both questions, promise me you will never go to the emergency room.
JmsA| 1.26.11 @ 1:55AM
Sorry, Mike; I'm not one of you entitlement babies. I'm self-employed and buy my own health insurance. The last time I sought care in the ER, my insurance covered it. By the way, my insurance just went up 27%, thanks to Obamacare. So go blow your horn somewhere else; you're nothing more than an ignorant parrot. Everyone is deadpanning the speech. Live with it. It's not going to get any better. Only dupes like you continue to buy the pablum.
Mike | 1.26.11 @ 12:28PM
Thanks to "Obamacare." Nothing to do with our fee for service health care system. Nothing to do with profit seeking insurance companies. It's all the president's fault. I see you drank the Kool Aid
jersey mark| 1.26.11 @ 1:53PM
Mike- If anyone has drunk freely of the Koolaid it is you. I see that you just don't get it concerning our financial situation. I also understand that as a Progressive, you have no clue about economic principles so your comments are consistent at least however disconnected from reality they are. Here's a fact you never considered about the unintended consequences of the Progressive agenda - back in 1960, the black family had a higher intact rate of 85% than white families did and then the "Great Society" came into existence and its "war on poverty" and now, the black family intact rate is 27% and nearly 3/4 of black babies are born "out of wedlock" which virtually guarantees poverty. GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR PEOPLE TO "WORK THINGS OUT TOGETHER" THEREBY MAKING THE PROBLEMS WORSE. As the fiscal principle says, "you get more of what the government subsidizes and less of what the government taxes."
JmsA| 1.26.11 @ 12:57AM
Don't take it out on me me, Mike. The speech was just a speech, and a flop at that, at least according to Frank Luntz' focus group panelists, including democrats, who referred to it as hopey but not inspiring. The mojo is gone, buddy; it was all a fabrication of the media. The guy's boring as hell.
beebop| 1.26.11 @ 5:49AM
Is this the "new civility" at work?
I may not agree with you, but I would never wish ill on you. You are not that much different from Jerad Loughner. I pray to God that you don't possess a gun and a clip. You really need to get a grip on your sanity before it is all gone.
Clint| 1.26.11 @ 12:09AM
Tea Party Senator Dr.Rand Paul's " Cut Federal Spending Act of 2011" trumps Obama's "Let's Fool The Suckers Again" SOTU Bloviation.
http://bluegrasspolitics.blogi.....dget-plan/
wodiej| 1.26.11 @ 8:24AM
Rand Paul's idea is excellent and would be a great start. I am encouraged by all the new constitutional conservatives we have serving in Congress now. I think most of the GOP would sign onto this and agree w Paul.
polistra | 1.26.11 @ 8:39AM
The proposal got exactly 3 claps from exactly 2 members.
I'd bet 10 dollars that the 2 members were both named Paul.
Chris| 1.26.11 @ 9:48AM
I have a question about the freeze:
According to Obama, last night, the freeze would save us $400 billion over 10 years.
However, hours before the speech his own White House came out and said that the freeze would save only $26 billion over the first five years?
How can the two statements jive together?
jersey mark| 1.26.11 @ 2:01PM
A freeze saves more money the longer it is in effect as it takes into account subsequent increases that won't take effect. I believe we should freeze all spending at 2006 levels, entitlements included. This would cause the entitlement benefits to decrease gradually which will allow the folks to make necessary adjustments. It will also force government departments to more seriously look at cutting waste and become more efficient gradually. Of course, I would first get rid of some Departments like education and energy.
Lawrence| 1.26.11 @ 1:57PM
The Dems count on two truths: The unquestioning support of the media, even of lies, and the lack of discernment by the public. These have been so consistent that the Dems don't even worry about being sloppy. They just say whatever might play and move on to the next manipulation.
Lawrence| 1.26.11 @ 2:02PM
Eighty percent of the USPS budget and budget deficit is related to labor costs.