Posts
"[GOP] campaigns soliciting money know exactly what buttons to push. They send urgent emails with emotional triggers that make you feel part of something bigger. Like Bachmann's 'Join the Fight,' Pawlenty's 'I can't do it alone' and Herman Cain's 'Give me five dollars and I'll punch a Muslim.'"
---Stephen Colbert
"They say the price of gas could soon be under $3 a gallon. Do you know what that means? You can now afford to drive by the house you used to live in, go by the job you used to have, and go see the bank where you used to have money."
---Jay Leno
"New reports say that President Obama’s re-election team is going to try to portray Mitt Romney as 'weird.' They’re also going to try to portray Michele Bachmann as 'Michele Bachmann.'"
---Conan O'Brien
"There's a rumor that Joe Biden called the Republicans terrorists this week. And they were furious about this. They were so upset about being called terrorists, they went out and took the FAA hostage."
---Bill Maher
"A restaurant here in New York is serving a grilled cheese-flavored martini. Or as parents put it, 'Finally, a way to get my kids to finish their martinis.'"
---Jimmy Fallon
"A new poll shows that disapproval of Congress is at an all-time high. Eighty-two percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing and the other 18 percent weren’t home when the question was asked."
---Jimmy Kimmel Source
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Saturday Satire: Late Night Talk
Labor Unions sitting out 2012 Convention: Obama's Reelection Less Likely
By DSWright Fri Aug 12, 2011 Original Article
On the heels of a piece that ran overseas - usually a better place to get news about America - about buyer's remorse among Democrats over Obama, comes another point against the possibility of Obama being successfully reelected.
Labor has had enough of Obama's broken promises:
About a dozen trade unions plan to sit out the 2012 Democratic convention because they're angry that it's being held in a right-to-work state and frustrated that Democrats haven't done enough to create jobs.
But why? This president said he would get his walking shoes on and stand with labor whenever their was a dispute and when the Wisconsin union busting started he.... oh that's right became the coward he always is. Did Obama know he wouldn't have to negotiate with congressional Republicans in Wisconsin?
"There is broad frustration with the party and all elected officials, broad frustration with the lack of a union agenda," said Michael Monroe, chief of staff of the building trades division. "People are looking for outlets to express that frustration."
Well, it's hard to have a union agenda when you are doing Wall Street's bidding and making sure you can protect Bush's tax cuts and keep the defense racket's wars going.
Obama's busy! After his power breakfast he has to eat the middle class for lunch!
The International Association of Machinists, which is not part of the building trades, said it has also decided to skip the convention after participating for decades.
"This is the union that came up with the idea for Labor Day and this convention starts on Labor Day in a right-to-work state," said IAM spokesman Rick Sloan. "We see that as an affront to working men and women across this country."
Of course Obama believes in labor! How else are we going to pay for the Wall Street bailout if we don't slave each day for stagnant wages and piss poor benefits. God, be pragmatic.
But moving from labor to inter-party dissent:
Mr Obama's capitulation to Republicans in the recent tussle over deficit reduction is being seen as the lowest point of his presidency and the latest in a series of blows to the liberal agenda.
Faced with the staunch opposition of the Tea Party contingent of the Republican Party, he agreed to widespread cuts in government spending without winning any revenue increases in exchange.
Not an accident, that Obama caves more than a West Virginia mine - same people own both.
Finding it hard to defend his often listless and repetitive performances, Democratic strategists and commentators are privately agreeing with Republicans and comparing Mr Obama to Jimmy Carter, another Democrat who remains the post-war benchmark for a failed president
Who would have thought to make that reference?
Morris Reid, [a Washington consultant and former Clinton official] added that the president remained a formidable campaigner and fund-raiser and should not be ruled out of the fight in 2012. But he said some Democrats were feeling "buyer's remorse" for selecting the president in his epic battle with Mrs Clinton for the 2008 Democratic nomination.
"The notion everyone is talking about is 'is he Jimmy Carter or will he be a one-term president'," he said.
Everyone is talking about that exept in certain Obamacrat strongholds where some refuse to recognize reality.
An article in the New York Times by Drew Westen, a professor of psychology at Emory University and a specialist in political messaging, summarised the dismay at Mr Obama's performance and was rapidly circulated online by liberals.
"Those of us who were bewitched by his eloquence on the campaign trail chose to ignore some disquieting aspects of his biography: that he had accomplished very little before he ran for president," he wrote.
Yes we did and YES WE CAN make a change. It's not too late.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Friday Funnies: Presidential Jokes
These are quotes from our past keepers of the White House, with one editorial cartoon from the present thrown in for the hell of it.
During a sound check before a Saturday radio broadcast, Reagan said, "My fellow Americans. I'm pleased to announce that I've signed legislation outlawing the Soviet Union. We begin bombing in five minutes."
Reagan was unaware, however, that the feed was live. Word quickly made its way to the Soviets, who put their military on high alert. Those Ruskies never did have much of a sense of humor. Source''In the next hundred days our bipartisan outreach will be so successful that even John Boehner will consider becoming a Democrat. After all we have a lot in common. He is a person of color--although not a color that appears in the natural world.'' President Barack Obama, at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner
''What makes him think a middle-aged actor, who's played with a chimp, could have a future in politics?''
—President Ronald Reagan, on Clint Eastwood's bid to become mayor of Carmel
''For seven and a half years I've worked alongside President Reagan. We've had triumphs. Made some mistakes. We've had some sex...uh...setbacks.''
—President George H.W. Bush, in 1988
''In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.''
—President John Adams
''Recession is when your neighbor loses his job. Depression is when you lose yours. And recovery is when Jimmy Carter loses his.''
—President Ronald Reagan
''If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River, the headline that afternoon would read: 'President Can't Swim.'''
—President Lyndon Johnson
Technorati Tags: Friday Funnies,Politics,Political Humor,Barack Obama,Ronald Reagan,Jimmy Carter,Humor,Jokes,Current Events
''I must confess I really did not want to be here tonight. But I knew I had to come. That's one more problem that I inherited from George W. Bush.''
—President Barack Obama, at the 2009 White House Correspondents' Dinner
Mitt Romney’s Tax Increases/Massachusetts Credit Rating
Gov. Mitt Romney lobbied the credit ratings agency Standard & Poor’s in 2004 to raise his state’s credit rating in part because Massachusetts had raised taxes during an economic downturn two years earlier.
The claim was part of a presentation to the ratings agency obtained by POLITICO under a state freedom of information law from the Massachusetts Executive Office of Administration and Finance.
It was just recently that Romney ( weird guy ) stated that President Obama should meet with the S&P.
"The president really ought to personally sit down and meet with S&P. I did that when I was governor; I met with the ratings agencies and talked about our future and tried to instill confidence in our future because, look, how they rate our debt and how they rate our future as a nation will affect the interest costs that we end up paying and will affect homeowners and borrowers all over the country,"
One more little tidbit.
“When you’re talking to ratings agencies, you are trying to emphasize your fiscal strengths irrespective of what might be your long-term policy,” said Kriss, who said Romney had been “vehemently opposed” to the tax increases despite their role in balancing the budget.
Go and read the entire story here as it is an interesting article.
Tax increases and spending cutbacks work for a state, but they wouldn’t do the same for the entire United State? Bullshit.
That Iowa Republican Debate…
…had some interesting moments, to say the least.
It was GOP verbal wrestling in some spots between Michele Bachmann and Tim Pawlenty,and then Newt Gingrich went off slightly on host Chris Wallace because Wallace asked him about the state of his campaign after the resignations of all of his staffers. Gingrich did not care for the question.
"I took seriously Bret's injuction to put aside the talking points," Gingrich began, referring to a request from Fox New moderator Brett Baier at the beginning of the debate that the candidates not waste time with canned answers. "And I wish you would put aside the 'gotcha' questions."
Wallace sat, silent and smirking.
"I'd love to see the rest of tonight's debate asking us about what we would do to lead an America that has a president that has failed to lead instead of playing Mickey Mouse games," he said."I think that there's too much attention paid by the press corps about the campaign minutiae and not enough paid by the press corps to the basic ideas that distinguish us from Barack Obama." Source
Poor old Newt.
For whatever reason, Fox News video never embeds on this site, so the best that I can do is to provide the links for you.
Rick Santorum vs. The Tenth Amendment
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Schakowsky's Awesome Jobs Bill
By Nulwee for Anti-Capitalist Chat Thu Aug 11, 2011
Jan Schakowsky, a high-profile Progressive Caucus congresswoman from Illinois, has released a jobs bill. In her statement, she announced to America that the "worst deficit this country faces isn’t the budget deficit. It’s the jobs deficit. We need to get our people and our economy moving again.”
And her bill does precisely that in a very noble and brave step forward.
Schakowsky scathingly rebuked Washington corporatist policies in her statement.
"If we want to create jobs, then create jobs. I’m not talking about 'incentivizing' companies in the hopes they’ll hire someone, or cutting taxes for the so-called job creators who have done nothing of the sort. My plan creates actual new jobs."
Her proposal would lower unemployment by over a percentage and, even better, match expenses to revenues by raising taxes on two different groups, millionaires and billionaires. She was wise, it seems to me, to avoid more Beltway silliness over the $250,000 tax bracket. It's much harder to advocate for the rich having to use the words millionaires and billionaires.
According to the Huffington Post:
The School Improvement Corps would create 400,000 construction and 250,000 maintenance jobs by funding positions created by public school districts to do needed school rehabilitation improvements.The Park Improvement Corps would create 100,000 jobs for youth between the ages of 16 and 25 through new funding to the Department of the Interior and the USDA Forest Service’s Public Lands Corps Act. Young people would work on conservation projects on public lands including the restoration and rehabilitation of natural, cultural, and historic resources.
The Student Jobs Corps would create 250,000 more part-time work study jobs for eligible college students through new funding for the Federal Work Study Program.
The Neighborhood Heroes Corps would hire 300,000 new teachers, 40,000 new police officers and 12,000 new firefighters.
The Health Corps would hire at least 40,000 health care providers, including physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and health care workers to expand access in underserved rural and urban areas.
The Child Care Corps would create 100,000 jobs in early childhood care and education through additional funding for Early Head Start.
The Community Corps would hire 750,000 individuals to do needed work in communities, including housing rehab, weatherization, recycling, and rural conservation.
In addition, the bill would give priority to the longterm unemployed -- the so-called "99ers" who have exhausted both their state and federal unemployment benefits. Federally extended unemployment benefits are set to expire this year, even though nearly 14 million Americans remain out of work and it takes the average worker nine months to find a new job.
It would be very difficult for me to disagree with the items in the proposal in any meaningful way. Public lands spending is severely restrained in a nation of our size. We have multi-billion dollar losses from invasive weeds, from wildfires, from poor water and soil conservation. This is subsumed under green energy interests even in the best of times. Many of the items clearly focus on young people, who are most likely to be unemployment and, what's more, from being suppressed economically, cannot restore the broken housing market or raise national consumer spending.
Beyond that, Federal Work Study (FWS) is lifeblood for students who struggle to pay for college. Without it, many students cannot stay in, or will graduate with a ton of debt and far less experience than they could have in their fields.
It's so nice to see actual proposed legislation that incorporates elements of things suggested by myself and other kossacks for some years now.
99ers will need new skills (1+ / 0-)
As I understand it, a lot of the 99ers have job skills for which there is no longer any demand--because industries have vanished, etc. Many of these people will require job training--the stuff the Pres. has been talking about for years. But overall, the positions discussed in this bill (save some education positions) are attainable with only moderate training. Getting 99ers back in the market no matter what is the right priority.by bigkens on Thu Aug 11, 2011 at 07:31:48 AM PDT
Originally posted to Anti-Capitalist Chat on Thu Aug 11, 2011 at 05:35 AM PDT.
Also republished by Progressive Policy Zone and Young Kos.
New Hypersonic Glide? Isn’t The U.S. Broke?
It is downright funny how our members of the government get on television and tell the population that we ( the middle class and the poor) must all sacrifice during this time of our bad economy because the United States has no money to spend on social services needed by the working/non-working poor in this country. Hell, our government harps that we need to cut back on Medicare, Social Security, and anything else that would help us. Yet, we can still find the money to finance the corporations which build weapons for our military, and not even bat an eye at the cost?
Our newest toy is a hypersonic glider which runs at 13,000 miles per hour. That’s something that I have always felt that we needed. Not!
So they took this thing up to the edge of space and then let it fly back down towards the planet and into the ocean. Wonder how much that little task cost us?
A rocket carried the agency's Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle-2 to the edge of space, where it separated from the booster to maneuver through the atmosphere at 13,000 mph. Minutes into the flight, the agency said the mission was on track in its glide phase. The mission will end with a plunge into the ocean.
The U.S. military is trying to develop technology to respond to threats around the globe at speeds of Mach 20 or greater.
How about taking the money that this glider cost and then responding to some of the threats in the United States. You know. Things like unemployment, a jobs program, and some real healthcare for everybody.
Verizon Workers Continue To Strike …
…as well they should since the company posted a 2nd quarter revenue increase of 2.8 percent to $27.5 billion. Hell, the 1st quarter was very good for Verizon as well, with earnings of $27 billion and they even added 2.2 million iPhone activations.
The strike, by the Communications Workers of America and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers is over the usual suspects;health care, pensions and work rules
Consolidated
- 57 cents in diluted earnings per share (EPS), compared with a loss of 42 cents per share and adjusted EPS (non-GAAP) of 51 cents in 2Q 2010.
Wireless
- 6.6 percent year-over-year increase in service revenues in 2Q 2011; data revenues up 22.2 percent; 27.1 percent operating income margin and 45.4 percent Segment EBITDA margin on service revenues (non-GAAP).
- 2.2 million net additions, excluding acquisitions and adjustments, includes 1.3 million retail postpaid net customer additions; 106.3 million total connections, includes 89.7 million retail customers.
- Retail postpaid churn of 0.89 percent, the lowest in three years.
Wireline
- 189,000 FiOS Internet and 184,000 FiOS TV net additions.
- 9.4 percent year-over-year increase in consumer ARPU; FiOS consumer retail revenues represent approximately 57 percent of total consumer revenues.
- 17.8 percent increase in strategic services revenues, representing approximately 48 percent of total global enterprise revenues.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
What The Public Wants From “ Super Committee “
According to the latest polling done by Gallup, Americans do want some tax increases along with some compromising on the issues by both Democrats and Republicans who will be sitting on this committee.
Right from the beginning, Sen. McConnell has stated that he will put no Republican on the committee that would consider any tax increases. Once again, that leaves the Republicans at odds with the wishes of the American people. Would you expect anything different?
The federal budget legislation passed last week mandated that defense and Medicare would be cut back if the new super committee is not able to reach an agreement on a different plan, and if a balanced budget amendment is not passed. A majority of independents and Democrats would accept cutting defense spending, but Republicans would not. On the other hand, less than half of any political group other than the Tea Party favors cutting back on Medicare and Social Security.
This super committee will in all likelihood turn out to be nothing more than the same bickering that we have grown accustomed to over the past few years with nothing getting done at the tax payers expense once again.
Tuesday, August 09, 2011
Republican’s Jobs Bill: Corporate Friendly…
… and worker/consumer deadly. Once again, the GOP American Taliban will be pushing through their version of a “ jobs “ bill which will do away with many worker protections as well as consumer protections because as you and I know, regulations keep business from hiring new workers, as do higher taxes.
Reposted from Daily Kos Labor by Laura Clawson
Republicans want you to know they're preparing a jobs plan. In fact, not content with corporate tax breaks and tax breaks for the wealthy and small fry like that, they're going the extra mile and proposing a "jobs" plan that involves making you less safe, by making it virtually impossible to impose new government regulations or change existing ones. That would include the regulations that protect you from poison in ordinary consumer goods, keep you safe on the job, prevent Wall Street from crashing the economy every 10 minutes, and keep the air and water clean; to Republicans, the noteworthy thing about these regulations is that they stifle entrepreneurship. (Even if encouraging entrepreneurs was worth poisoning children, by the way, the allegedly dampening effect of regulations on business is significantly overblown by Republicans.)
The key piece of this so-called jobs push is the REINS act, which Republicans (and Evan Bayh) have been pushing for a while now. Noah Sachs wrote about it in February:
The bill would apply to any agency regulation with an expected annual economic impact of $100 million or more. Between 50 and 100 of these “major rules” are issued annually. Boehner dismisses them as “red tape,” but most are critically important, governing everything from food safety and housing discrimination to airline pilot training, accounting standards in financial statements, and air pollution control. Under the REINS Act, if just one house were to reject a rule, or simply didn’t act on it within the prescribed time period—70 legislative working days—the rule would be dispatched to the regulatory graveyard. Or, put another way, the bill would provide one house with veto power. [...]REINS Act supporters know full well that Congress would never be able to debate and vote on 50 to 100 major federal regulations each year (certainly not within the 70 day window for each one). Already, budget negotiations drag on for months, while battles over confirming a single federal judge can rage for a year or more.
People want jobs, so the claim is that this is jobs legislation. But if people wanted more yellow-haired clowns, Republicans would be out there selling this as a bill that would prevent the Obama administration from writing regulations that would force all clowns to have purple hair. Mostly, this is yet another case of Republicans trying to make the case that government doesn't work—by breaking the government by giving corporations free rein.
Teabaggers: F**k You
The following post contains language that some may find unsuitable. Tea Party asses most certainly will not like it, if they can even read it. The poster and I share the same view concerning the TeaPotters Party.
Harry Reid speaks to the TeaPotters?
By xxdr zombiexx for DFH Local No 420 Original Post
One is supposed to be patient and polite and tolerant of the rights and beliefs and values of others.
I generally try to be and I think I do a pretty good job.
But I have taken offense to some absolute horseshit that has fallen out of the scream-hole of some teabag organizer, shooting his mouth off, not knowing what in the fuck he prattles on about.
And I am not fucking having it.
Check this shit:
At a Wisconsin rally on Saturday, Judson Phillips, CEO of "Tea Party Nation", one of the many tea party splinter groups, claimed that "the left" has "killed a billion people in the last century".I have adjusted to the fact that MOST teabaggers - I'm not about to refer to you politely you fucking dimwits - are dumber than dogshit but this really just takes the fucking cake.
At least until the next full-of-shit statement
Phillips and other speakers heated up the rhetoric around Tuesday's historic recall elections, with one speaker referring to Democrats as terrorists who struck at a Republican "Ground Zero". Vince Shmuki, leader of another tea party group, the Ozaukee Patriots said, "This is ground zero. You remember what the term ground zero means? We have been attacked."This is like super-concerntrated stupid. I must break it down.
Democrats as terrorists
Since when do we call a group of people who couldn't make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in a timely manner "terrorists"? This is so laughable and over the top.
Republicans are the terrorists in America. Republicans have destroyed the jobs OBAMA had created with the stimulus.
Republicans systematically have turned doen thousands and thousands of jobs. That fuckhead Eric Cantor cut out thousands of FAA people and went on vacation.
These geniuses BELIEVE that by buttfucking people in their wallets and killing their jobs and their hope that they will - mysteriously - all vote for the GOP.
Dems as terrorists. God that's a fucking laugh.
If they were more like terroists they'd have a media apparatus (like FOX news, for example) and they'd shove that job-killing shit so far up your rich old flabby white asses you'd taste train tracks.
But Dems aren't terrorists. They are lucky to turn on a TV properly.
Ground Zero: We were attacked
Again, if brains were gunpowder you morans couldn't blow your nose.
Aside from the unmitigated stupidity, how offensive is this? Have you really not one shred of decency, you sheep fuckers?
Ground Zero is where an attack takes place. Nobody attacked you, you twits.
AND... it's so grossly offensive to use that "Ground Zero" term because most Americans now associate "Ground Zero" with the 9/11/01 Attacks. NOTHING like that has happened to you from "lefties or liberals". You are un-fucking-hinged.
Teabaggers attacked the Unions, the schools, the government, and a mural. You attacked peoples jobs and incomes. You have DAMAGED the country and you want to call DEMOCRATS terrorists? Fuck off!
AMERICANS got MAD and used the rules to fight back against this brazen horseshit. They organized and they protested and it was fucking BEAUTIFUL!
And it worked: thats why you numbnuts are out whining about Obama this and Democrats that. You are fucking losers and sore ones at that.
You weren't ATTACKED, you freaks. You attacked America with your teabagging ideological bullshit. You did that.
Not Muslims.
Not Mexicans.
Not illegal brownskinned people.
Not Obama.
Not Democrats.
YOU FUCKING BAGGERS.
And now it's payback time and you're whinin'.
Where are you going?
I'm not done with you yet.
Earlier this week, Judson Phillips compared protesters who opposed Governor Scott Walker to Nazi storm troopers. On Saturday, he said, "I detest and despise everything the Left stands for. How anybody can endorse and embrace an ideology that has killed a billion people in the last century is beyond me."I swear if your asswipes were any stupider you'd simply drop over dead.
Who, exactly, did all that killing?
Lefties didn't start the wars you fucking worship (and that you won't go fight).
Lefties are on their well-financed TV station encouraging near-psychotic losers to shoot up rightwing establishments. Noooooo - that's you all.
S&P didn't directly blame "liberal" or "Democrats" for the credit tating downgrade - the focused on the GOP, which means TEABAGGERS, since the GOP bends over backwards to kiss your delusional asses.
But YOU want to pretend to be The Victim????
Educated people have a word for this crap : disingenuous.
1. Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating: "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who ... exemplified ... the most disagreeable traits of his time" (David Cannadine).As far as the second definition, I and many of my fellow liberals in the Vast Leftwing Conspiracy wonder if you all are pretending to be so abjectly moronic, or if this is just an act.2. Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf.
I think it's not an act:
I think you all are stupider than a bag of hammers and it's not an act.
I have seen your tour bus with "SETPEMBER" written on it and later corrected. You had the money - courtesy of the Koch Brothers - to paint that expensive bus but you couldn't spell correctly! Hysterical.
You all are FAMOUS for your ignorantly misspelled protest signs.
And you have no clue what you all are really talking about.
Mostly that's because your "ideology' such as it is is a cobbled-up mess of rightwing talking points from the last 40 years. Talk radio, Rush Limbaugh libertarian, anti-government shizzle is all it is. And you dummies act on it like it's real.
You all believe this shit SO much you were willing to fuck the entire country by killing our credit rating. Even al Queda didn't attempt anything like that.
Next time ANY of you UnAmerican assholes want to harp on about 'terrorists who hate America", go look in a goddamned mirror, you fucking treasonous pigs.
God, you suck.
Also republished by Three Star Kossacks.
Voting Day In Wisconsin
Today is the day that the recall elections take place in Wisconsin in a move to replace 6 of the Koch brothers purchased Republican politicians, with an eye toward recalling Taliban governor Scott Walker, enemy of the middle-class worker.
Get out and vote Wisconsin and show some love for your teachers, and all of the other public workers in the state.
Monday, August 08, 2011
On Rick Perry's Quest For President
Another fake Christian from Texas running on a record that is not as stellar as he would have the public believes, especially when it comes to all of those jobs that he takes credit for creating. "Here's a thought to think about take a Bush ad from 2000 copy the sound paste it to a Rick Perry ad and what do you have? Bush Jr the second"-- Cano a commenter at HufPo
Rick Perry’ Prayer Palooza…
….brought to you by Bill Maher.
It is hard being a Christian and having to criticize other “ so-called “ Christians. The problem is that people like Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann, and most of the GOP along with many Democrats, along with many Americans, know nothing about true Christianity. Not that I do it all to often, but this group of Christian frauds never asks, “ What would Jesus do?” If they did, then healthcare for all would not be an issue, and government funding for ALL of society in need would not be an issue, and they would not be cowing down to the wealthy as much as they do. Taxes? “Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s,..”
Sunday, August 07, 2011
It's Official: The Tea Party Downgrade
By Vyan Sun Aug 07, 2011 Original Article
Well, looks like the Tea Party has accomplished their primary mission - Destroying America's Credit Rating -- and correctly they are being blamed for it, as they should , starting today with Senator John Kerry on Meet the Press.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Kerry: I believe without question, this is the Tea Party Downgrade. I think this is one of most telling important moments in our history, right now. What we need is a Washington that stops this bickering, that stops these hard positions. Barack Obama put a $4.7 Trillion Deal on this table, three time he was refused that deal because there were some people in the Republican Party, and Mitch McConnell even admitted this, who wanted to default. He said there were some people in his party who were willing to shoot the hostage, in the end they found that the hostage was worth ransoming
Well said, Sir.
Kerry is echoed by the National Journal.
The National Journal takes a close look at the S&P decision to downgrade U.S. credit. The conclusion: “It based it on the political game of chicken over the debt ceiling, a game that Republicans initiated and pushed to the limit, and on a growing gloom about the partisan deadlock. Part of S&P’s gloom, moreover, stemmed explicitly from what a new assessment of the GOP’s ability to block any and all tax increases.”
Even more than the National Journal, or Kerry comments what the S&P have said themselves made the cause of this downgrade directly and absolutely clear.
[...]The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy.[...]It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options.
[...]The act contains no measures to raise taxes or otherwise enhance revenues, though the committee could recommend them.
[...]Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.
It couldn't be much clearer, S&P Downgraded America's Credit because of the Political Intransigence (Cantor walking out when Revenues were put on the table, Beohner walking out when Revenues were put on the table) leading to a Lack of Revenues and continued extension of Tax Cuts we can't afford.
They've said quite explicitly they would restore our AAA stabilize our rating if The Bush Tax Cuts are allowed to Expire in 2013.
– The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the Administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics.Our revised upside scenario–which, other things being equal, we view as consistent with the outlook on the ‘AA+’ long-term rating being revised to stable–retains these same macroeconomic assumptions. In addition, it incorporates $950 billion of new revenues on the assumption that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for high earners lapse from 2013 onwards, as the Administration is advocating. In this scenario, we project that the net general government debt would rise from an estimated 74% of GDP by the end of 2011 to 77% in 2015 and to 78% by 2021.
S&P wants the Bush Cuts to Expire, and if they do we get our Credit Rating Back - how's that for Hostage Taking?
In the upcoming August Town Hall's, every Congressperson, particularly those in the GOP should be asked - why was any of this phony "Debt Crisis" necessarily when the last two times America has a Budget Surplus (under {President's Clinton and Eisenhower) cuts like this weren't on the table and Taxes were Higher?
During both of those periods America's Economy was amazingly healthy, under Clinton we created 22 Million Jobs and under Eisenhower the top marginal tax rate was 91%!
Why exactly can't we just do that again? More Here
