I’m still not interested in the debt ceiling debate. Congress should raise the debt ceiling,already. Everything else is political posturing and it’s bipartisan posturing.
I’m still not interested in the debt ceiling debate. Congress should raise the debt ceiling,already. Everything else is political posturing and it’s bipartisan posturing.
I’m down with hating on both parties and all, but there are times when one is more wrong than the other. This is one of those times.
In order for me to take any stance other than the one I’m taking I’d need to defend people I don’t want to defend (Republicans) and attack people I don’t want to attack (President Obama). Suffice it to say that I think the Congressional Republicans are jerks, I think the Congressional Democrats are jerks, and I think President Obama has not acted in such a way as to promote comity with the opposition going back to the beginnings of his presidency which I acknowledge would have been difficult with his best efforts.
Dave your inability to grasp reality is disturbing. :p
I know how you feel. I see it all as brinksmanship by both sides. The Democrats are a bit more flexible, but really there are no commitment mechanisms in any agreement put forward regarding cuts. They could be undone at a later date once the Dems get control of Congress again, and eventually they will. The commenting over at OTB is just plain partisan and stupid.
Now if the Democrats said:
Here, here are tax increases, and spending cuts, oh and to change this we’ll need a super majority (say 2/3rds for N years).
I’d be much, much happier saying, “Now the Democrats are being rational and realistic.” The Republicans position of no tax increases is indefensible.
Being gratefully out of touch with reality is sort of the uniting theme of my posts today.
Congress should eliminate the debt ceiling, already. All it’s good for is political theater.
I see it all as brinksmanship by both sides.
I don’t – sorry. I almost wish I did. I see Obama as a mediocre (and to this point, very lucky) President, and I can certainly imagine the Democrats torpedoing any agreement that does emerge for their own purposes.
But it’s the Republicans who decided to turn this ceremonial shaming ritual into something far more dangerous. And they’ve clung onto that despite the fact that 2/3 of their own voters think tax increases should be some part of the deal.
They have agency, and their decision to use it in this way speaks volumes. And it may have serious ramifications.
I agree. The debt ceiling just needs to go away.
You wimpy negotiators……..
Maxwell,
Yes, Obama is engaged in brinksmanship too. If he really truly felt the best solution was raising the debt ceiling then he’d fold and fight the tax fight another day. Instead he is ready to risk default an the American economy on his position….just as the Republicans. He is the more flexible of the two, but he is still playing the same game, but with a different strategy.
Somebody at OTB says that the President’s last proposal was 83% cuts and 17% tax increases.
Anyone who sees that as an inability of a progressive democrat to compromise … needs recalibration. Your baseline is off.
Secondarily, anyone who distracts from that to say “no, don’t look at that proposal, look at Pelosi” …. needs medication.
(Seriously, when it is 83:17, and you want to say “a pox on both houses” the problem is with you, not the moderate proposal on the table.)
This applies to every law ever passed by congress which was not also a constitutional amendment, right?
So to attack this agreement, you attack the entire history of US legislation. None of it was real. Gotcha.
Totally sane buddy, totally sane.