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Farewell to the Spectator
December 16, 2011 | 8 comments
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Tentative Praise for Ryan’s New Bipartisan Medicare Plan
December 15, 2011 | 3 comments
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The Day Ahead: Thursday, December 15
December 15, 2011 | 0 comments
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Examiner for Romney, National Review Against Gingrich
December 14, 2011 | 39 comments
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Paul Ryan to Introduce New Medicare Plan with Democrat Ron Wyden
December 14, 2011 | 4 comments
The Spectacle Blog
Will the debt ceiling deal solve our debt problems? No, it won’t, and it doesn’t even address the driver of the increasing debt, which is government spending on health care.
That being acknowledged, it’s useful to put the deal in the right perspective. This graph from Alex Tabarrok, showing federal spending over the next 10 years with and without the deal, is not the right perspective:
The graph makes it seem as though the cuts are negligible. If it compared the cuts to the 10-year deficit, as opposed to spending, though, it would make them seem much more significant.
Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson and Paul Ryan have this right: the deal won’t fix our problems, but it does mark a change in the overall direction of government, from irresponsibility to an awareness that something needs to be done at some point.
Furthermore, it’s important to realize what would have happened without the influence of the Tea Party: there would have been a clean debt ceiling hike. In the big picture, the spending cuts in the deal are an important development and a big win for the Tea Party.
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More Blog Posts by Joseph Lawler
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Al Adab| 8.3.11 @ 11:37AM
After the battle of El Alamein Churchill said, " This is not the end, it is not even the beginning of the end. But it may perhaps be the end of the beginning."
Stay focused, wait and work for the coming new majorities and new administration and remember the goal is to drain the swamp. It took almost a hundred years to get into this morass, it may take a while to climb out.
DC| 8.3.11 @ 12:18PM
AA--good WW2 & Churchill reference, but the operative word in the last sentence is "perhaps." And per Nick's comment below, I'm afraid that there is no amount of makeup that can make this ugly bitch pretty. Mark Steyn makes some good points today elsewhere--until entire federal government agencies and programs are eliminated (not "rate of increase slowed," not "cut"), most Americans and our worldwide creditors will know that the U.S. government is not serious about reducing its catastrophic debt.
Yes, there's only so much the House can do right now. But if advantage was gained at all, it must be pressed immediately. Votes must be forced on entitlement and other "untouchable" government programs (start with all foreign aid, farm subsidies and food stamps, work up from there), and agency eliminating legislation. If the Senate won't vote, highlight it. Make Il Duce Nero actually veto something. If this isn't the path forward for the House leadership, then again I have to agree with Nick--they are liars and frauds.
Al Adab| 8.3.11 @ 3:06PM
Thank you DC. I'm a firm believer in the theory that there exists a quote or song lyric for every contingency.
Oldefarte| 8.3.11 @ 11:48AM
As stated, we all have a big debt of graditude to the tea partiers for their patriotic efforts, and must all join with them between now and next November to elect more conservatives Republicans. The other/Democrat party is simply way too radicalized to be of any benefit to us in their longterm effort at reducing government and its expendatures!!!!!!!
TB| 8.3.11 @ 2:36PM
You missed the point completely. This change of direction was done IN SPITE OF the tea party toddlers throwing their little tantrums. They voted against it. The adults had to step in, take the sharp objects away, and give the toddlers a time out.
Now here you are suggesting that the GOP needs to join forces with them. It's the other way around. The tea party toddlers need to either grow up or get out. They won the chance to show that they could eat at the big table and all they did was try to dump the whole bowl of spaghetti on the floor.
Gregory Baum| 8.3.11 @ 11:50AM
These graphs, and with all due respect, your post are meaningless. Government spending has not been cut 1 penny. It is increasing every year. How does this help anyone? If they really wanted to control spending they would have frozen spending with no increases. Or better yet try zero based budgeting. Only in Washington is a 7 trillion + increase in spending classified as a cut. These people are nuts.
martin j smith| 8.3.11 @ 11:59AM
It would really help if McConnell and Boehner held a Town Hall Meeting for the purpose of voters asking questions to get direct and perhaps straight answers from these fellows about their doubts and upset about this bill. Instead we get s/he said this or that. Not good enough. People are more likely to have confidence in their leaders if they ( B and McC ) were more candid with their voters.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 12:02PM
Mr. Lawler,
Quit trying to put lipstick on this pig. We know better. We can think for ourselves. And, Boehner is a liar.
See my comment in the Now For a Dozen thread.
CalMark| 8.3.11 @ 12:56PM
I can't improve on Nick's statement.
What he said.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 2:04PM
Thanks, CalMark.
Here is my comment from the other thread. I figured out a way to copy it with both links:
John Boehner is a liar and broke his word. He promised in the
2010 Pledge to America (remember that GOP?) to give
Americans THREE DAYS to read legislation
before a vote.
"Americans should have three days to read all bills before
Congress votes on them."
- John Boehner, Oct. 30, 2010
He's only been Speaker of the House for seven months, and he is
already breaking his word. How is this any different than when
SanFran Nan Pelosi did the same thing?
It's not like Boehner is incapable of keeping his word. That is, for
democrats. Remember H.R. 1, earlier this year? He let democrats
offer hundreds of amendments to keep "the Pledge’s commitment to an
'open process that makes it easier – not harder' to cut spending
[...]."
I guess we conservatives can just go pound sand, huh?
By the way, this grand deal has cut $4.5 billion from
national security spending for Fiscal Year 2012. These are
real cuts, $4.5 billion less spending
than FY 2011, not the phony C.B.O cuts from baseline
budgeting, which only reduce the growth of spending.
Thanks to this cry-baby Oompa-Loompa, we no longer have a veto
over that incompetent boob in the White House. Thank
you, sir, may I have another!
Clint| 8.3.11 @ 12:04PM
The S & P Hits A New Low For the 2011.We're At 1244, At The Moment.
Derek Leaberry| 8.3.11 @ 12:47PM
Nick has it about right. It is condescending for official conservadom to declare Tea Party victory on the budget and the debt. The budget wasn't cut and the debt is schedule for enormous increases well into the future, a future as bleak as an Antarctica winter's morning. The Lawrence Kudlows of the conservative biosphere are actually patting the Tea Party on the head for the "Tea Party victory" hoping the Tea Party will shut up and go along with John Boehner, Mitch McConnell and the rest of the Republican big shots. Boehner, McConnell and company have more in common with Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama than they do the Tea Party. That must be understood.
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 12:55PM
Thank you, Mr. Leaberry. And, also DC.
I just cannot abide liars.
CalMark| 8.3.11 @ 12:59PM
Well said, sir.
I think this was a bad deal done on purpose, to put a thumb in grassroots conservatives' eye: they hope to get us disgusted enough to sit out 2012.
Of late, we unwashed flyover country peasants have been far too active and engaged for the Ruling Class's liking. We must be put back in our place, or at least silenced.
Clint| 8.3.11 @ 1:37PM
We Tea Party Patriots Don't Buy This False Praise.
At Last Night's Meeting, We Tea Party Patriots Discussed Placing Our Committee People, Vetting Our Candidates, Recruiting College Students, Etc.
Nobody Was Buyin' This Praise Horsecrap.
Michael Hawke | 8.3.11 @ 1:16PM
Boehner, McConnell, and the GOP establishment sold us out. The Super Congress holds a gun to the head of the nation. Expect sprawling legislation that must be passed or rejected on an up-or-down vote. The Washington establishment exploited the debt ceiling crisis to create the Super Congress, and the Super Congress will exploit the next debt ceiling crisis to exercise ever greater power.
Rick V.| 8.3.11 @ 2:01PM
Re: "The Deal." The best that can be said is, it could have been worse. Imagine the economy as a drowning man to whom our Supreme Leaders have thrown a bowling ball. "It could have been worse," they tell him. "It could have been a cinder block. Or a Chevy Volt."
randyinrocklin| 8.3.11 @ 3:16PM
not buying any of the spin....we are not stoooopid like the Repub leadership. It was a bad deal period. We lost.
fwb| 8.3.11 @ 3:51PM
There is one fix. Honor and integrity, neither of which exist to any great extent in the US and neither of which exist at all in DC.
99.99999% of all federal government spending is ILLEGAL. The feds can't send 1 red cent to any particular state. The Constitution requires ever penny spent to be spent for the ENTIRE United States, as in ALL THE STATES, not for some, not for one. The requirements are there in black and white but NO ONE want to follow the law.
Honor and integrity require adherence to the supreme Law of the Land, the Constitution. None of the three branches of government has any authority to decide what the Constitution means BECAUSE all three branches are created by and therefore SUBORDINATE to the Constitution and to We the People
Get off you butt and vote out EVERYONE of the Baztards that are in office. IF you do not you support their ILLEGAL and UNCONSTITUTIONAL behavior.
There is no middle line.
No foreign aid.
No armies on foreign soil.
No welfare/support/disaster aid.
No block grants to states.
No alphabet soup of agencies.
We are in trouble because the American people are IGNORANT.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.3.11 @ 5:06PM
Look on the bright side folks. That 43 trillion $$ will be CHEAP inflated dollars.
Ken (Old Texican)| 8.3.11 @ 5:09PM
You guys have to check this out.
http://www.theonion.com/articl.....hoo,21059/
Have you considered| 8.3.11 @ 6:29PM
Ken, is this article for real? Is it satire?
I've never been to The Onion before, so I must ask.
martin j smith| 8.3.11 @ 5:14PM
When Boehner and McConnell stop hiding in the closet and face their critics--then we will see what happens. In the meantime we have been had Period. And I have to asky myself this question: WHY WOULD A GROUP OF PEOPLE WHO SUPPOSEDLY BELIEVE IN FREE MARKET AND DEMOCRACY ALLOW OBAMA TO CONTINUE HIS DESTRUCTION OF OUR ECONOMY WHILE CLAIMING THE "TEA PARTY WON"? WHAT WOULD BE THEIR MOTIVATION>? Then too, why would this same group pressure Tea Party reps to vote a bill that is sooooooooooooo bad for all of us ? Who do Boehner and McConnell really represent ?
Nick| 8.3.11 @ 7:56PM
"'The American people are in charge of this country, and they deserve a Congress that acts like it,' said Boehner. 'Americans should have three days to read all bills before Congress votes on them--something they didn't get when the "stimulus" was rushed into law. We should put an end to so-called 'comprehensive' bills that make it easy to hide wasteful spending projects and job-killing policies. Bills should be written by legislators in committee in plain public view--not written in the Speaker's office, behind closed doors.'" (All emphasis minne.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting John Boehner
"'Americans have lost trust with their government, which has too often ignored the will of the people in favor of party loyalty and a desire to pass partisan bills at any cost,' said the introduction to that part of the Pledge to America. 'Backroom deals, phantom amendments, and bills that go unread before being forced through Congress have become business as usual. Never before has the need for a new approach to governing been more apparent than under Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her leadership [ARRRRRRRGH!]. Americans are demanding change in the way Congress works, and we are fighting to bring much-needed sunlight to the process and give the American people a greater voice in their Congress.'" (All emphasis mine.)
- Penny Starr, CNSNews.com, quoting the GOP's Pledge to America
$*@!#%*#! HYPOCRITE!!!!!!!!!
Am I the only one who is outraged by this betrayal?
Erling| 8.3.11 @ 10:01PM
This week's complete surrender was the last straw: I just left the GOP today and registered as an Independent. My RINO congressman is more concerned with Beltway values than Constitutional liberties, but my vote for him in '10 was the last.
Claypoole| 8.4.11 @ 8:14AM
FYI: If you live in a state that has closed primaries, as I do, you are not permitted a primary vote--either Republican or Democrat--if you are registered as an Independent.
Oldefarte| 8.4.11 @ 11:33AM
"You missed the point completely...." No I did not do so, TB! The one/only reason why the turnaround in direction of this budget fight was accompolished was due to the tea party movement [just as was the political successes of the 2010 Republican capture of the House]. Sure, the TP is possibly obstinate/intrangent, but if left to their own political inertia of times past, none of the spending reductions would have been achievable without the political pressure put upon the Republican Party by the tea party [and thankfully so]. The tea partiers simply need to stop acting like the radical Democrats, use a carrot-like approach toward instructing/convincing Republican belt-wayers of their conservative agenda, and they and the country will continue benefiting from their efforts. The tea party movement is the greatest thing to happen to this country in my lifetime, but they simply need to reform the RP from within!!!!!!!!!!!!!