[quote name='lilboo']Yet, on the other party, it's all about spending money we don't have. But wait "no it isn't". The more people get so hype to be anti-republican (simply because it's trendy), the more you don't realize how much you sound just like them on the other side of the spectrum. Oh wait "no you don't".[/QUOTE]
I don't think that's fair. A business case cannot be made for defense spending or a massively regressive tax system. A business case can be made for education and single payer health care. Topically, sure, all advocates sound about the same. But I don't think it's hard to see the argument comes down to a Keynesian vs. Hayekian world view and at this point, Hayekians are basically promising that if we just give all the rich people all the money and call it "austerity" then they'll shit magic rainbows made of jobs and a middle class.
I'd love to see data that changed my mind. It's the only thing interesting about politics. I genuinely try. I don't see it.
During the super committee that just ended, Democrats offered cuts to Social Security, Medicare, a partial extension of the Bush tax cuts, and payroll tax cuts. That's a platform to the right of Republicans
just two years ago (srsly, look at Baucus's super committtee offer vs. Boehner's opening position with Obama on the debt debate). What did the Republicans offer?
Nothing.
That's why I'm radicalizing against Republicans. I used to think they had ideas worth mashing together with Dems. I used to think the best form of American government was a Dem president and Repub Congress. I don't think that anymore. They need to be locked in a padded room.
So now "we're" going to mop the
ing floor with the Republicans' faces. Obama has already said he will veto anything that tries to undo the debt deal. That means massive cuts to defense and a total revocation of the Bush tax cuts (which expire by themselves).
Think about how we got here. Democrats have been negotiating against their own interests this entire time. All they had to do was nothing. And still they offered enough to piss people like me off. And still the Republicans said no. That is the definition of idiocy.
Or, in other words:
Last summer during the debt ceiling hostage crisis, Obama appeared to be the loser, but yesterday Republicans woke up to the reality that they lost Big Time--that we were going to get $1.2 trillion in deficit reductions, with 50% of the cuts coming from the military and none of the cuts from Social Security and Medicare. The Congressional water carriers for the Military Industrial Complex are in a panic.
Republican lawmakers moved quickly Monday to protect the Pentagon from automatic budget cuts that will be triggered by the supercommittee's failure, with the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee saying he'll soon introduce legislation to repeal them.
President Obama immediately threatened to veto any attempt to undo the spending cuts. That means that Republicans would have to get a 2/3 rds majority to undo the first meaningful cutback in the Military budget in 60 years. In addition, if Obama also threatens to veto any attempt to restore the Bush Tax cuts in 2012 (they expire automatically on January 1, 2013), progressives will have totally changed the inequality dynamic, without having to pass a single piece of legislation.
That more than 60% of our discretionary budget flows to the Military Industrial Complex is just the most egregious example of Crony Capitalism. If you had suggested to me last spring that a Republican House would pass a bill cutting $600 billion from the Pentagon budget over ten years, I would have called you crazy. But that is just what happened.
So there is only one election that matters a year from now. And that is that President Obama will be reelected and able to keep his veto threat. There is no possible 2012 electoral realignment of the Senate and House that would give the Republicans a 2/3 rds majority.
This is an amazing victory and all we have to do to hold on to it is reelect the President.
Surprise assholes! We just grew a spine. Welcome to the America where Dems, after being beaten to death with bullshit for 4 years, are telling Repubs to go
themselves.
And at such a lynchpin moment when they need a candidate that can fully elucidate their position, the best they can do is Romney, Cain, Newt, and Perry. Hope you like higher taxes, dumb
s.
This will go down as one of the craziest fails in US political history. Hope those incumbent Republicans have jobs at Chick-Fil-A lined up.
I'm pretty sure a re-elected Obama isn't going to be very interested in bipartisanship.
edit: I just can't help myself. The coup de grace:
The supercommittee’s failure does mean that $1.2 trillion in spending cuts are automatically set to go into effect. But when asked whether they’d support keeping the triggered defense cuts in place, some of the same conservatives quickly changed their tune, echoing Republican protestations and vows to reverse the defense spending reductions.
“It was a disastrous and unbelievably stupid idea to go along with a provision that would cripple military during time of war,” said Bozell. “Something has to be done and done quickly. We cannot penalize military during time of war.”
“It was stupid to put military cuts of the amount that they were in the sequester idea. We cannot hollow out military,” said Meese, formerly Reagan’s Attorney General. “The cuts in military spending demanded in order to try to raise taxes is unpatriotic and contrary to the needs of the country as anything I’ve seen.”
Instead, both argued there was plenty of room for spending cuts elsewhere. Bozell suggested that there were certain Democratic sacred cows that could be given up instead. “Cut the abortion mills of Planned Parenthood...X out the absolutely unnecessary spending of PBS,” he said.
Planned Parenthood and PBS.
...
Someone take Old Yeller out back and be done with it.
to the police keeping these animals in line.
