“I would say … that symbolically, that agreement is moving us to the point where we are having the final interment of John Maynard Keynes,” he said, referring to the British economist. “He normally died in 1946 but it appears we are going to put him to his final rest with this agreement.” – Huffington Post
Some quote, isn’t it? Sen. Durbin said it just before his entertaining colloquy with Sen. McCain, which I saw on C-SPAN and tweeted this afternoon.
We’ve got a congressional Committee with powers beyond what any hand picked pack of legislative jackals should have.
Oh, and while cuts are found, Republicans get to play new games to prove Democrats don’t stand for much. Tea Party politics is crazy awful, but they stand for something and can go back to their district with proof.
…and Mitch McConnell, he’s looking awfully smart tonight. So, remember the people who hailed Pres. Obama when Mitch came forward with his devious little idea? We’ll be visiting it a lot between now and 2012.
Nothing is agreed to until everything is agreed to.
“Nothing is agreed to unless everything is agreed to.” – Lawrence O’Donnell
As deal rumors float above the swamp stench around Washington, based on McConnell’s devious plan(I told you so), whether it’s ABC or Major Garrett, the above O’Donnell quote is our foundation. That considered, from Garrett:
President Barack Obama and Press Secretary Jay Carney walk along the Colonnade of the White House towards the Oval Office, July 29, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
Other component parts of the tentative deal include:
$2.8 trillion in deficit reduction with $1 trillion locked in through discretionary spending caps over 10 years and the remainder determined by a so-called “Super Committee.”
The Super Committee must report precise deficit-reduction proposals by Thanksgiving.
The Super Committee would have to propose $1.8 trillion in spending cuts to achieve that amount of deficit reduction over 10 years.
If the Super Committee fails, Congress must send a balanced-budget amendment to the states for ratification. If that doesn’t happen, across-the-board spending cuts would go into effect and could touch Medicare and defense spending.
No net new tax revenue would be part of the special committee’s deliberations.
None of this fazes Obama loyalists and die hard fluffers, as they continue their fan politics parade. Whether in emails or in comments here and across the web, with many sites banning Obama dissenters, Obama’s reelection cheer leaders continue to be focused on defending the indefensible, without ever caring one whit about the people impacted by Pres. Obama’s craven collapse to Republican economics, which starts at the state and local level. Peggy Noonan called Obama a “loser” last week, without blinking an eye for the millions of Americans who will be hurt by the austerity fetish, as the super wealthy and corporations get a pass, because Pres. Obama extended the biggest budget buster around, the Bush tax cuts, then, so impressed by the establishment and middle mush applause, decided to double down, leaving us where we are today.
It reduces strong Democratic members of Congress and progressives stuck up against it. Because with Obama’s sights set only on a second term, the entire media establishment is either talking about the Tea Party extortionists or “over spending,” while absolutely no one is giving credence to the progressive economic model, which represented by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Reps. Raul Grivalja and Keith Ellison is now considered not serious enough to consider.
All I can wonder is what might have happened, going all the way back to health care, if progressives knew how to play hardball as well as the Tea Party crazies, who ended up making Sen. Mitch McConnell the man of the hour and actually more important than Pres. Obama; this was a result of progressive Democrats caving to Obama back when they should have fought to the end. The result of the Left’s compromise from Stupak to the Bush tax cuts was the 2010 midterm results, as well as the war on women playing out across America. So no one should be surprised Pres. Obama has expanded it to economic policies that hurt the unemployed, poor, middle class, minorities, women and, potentially, even seniors.
The establishment press, new media and old has an excuse to ignore the solid ideas of progressive economics: If Pres. Obama is ignoring progressive economics, considering he’s the “leader” of the Democratic party, embracing Republican economics instead, anything having to do with aggressively making the case for growth and jobs, which in a recession can only come through dynamic stimulus spending, is now a fringe idea.
There is almost no serious discussion about growth, jobs and how badly austerity will impede getting people back to work. The stupidity is that our talking head class and Democratic zombie fan politics voters don’t get that it’s the middle class that provides the demand to inspire companies to hire. Pres. Obama won’t make that case. He won’t make any case for Democratic economics. Evidently he doesn’t understand anything but money wingnuttery, because it expands his fluffer base.
After the debt ceiling is raised, everyone will simply go back to the 2012 horse race, preparing for an embarrassing Obama birthday spectacle, while people once again start babbling incoherently about Independents and the middle, led by the Obama loyalists, who couldn’t care less about the unemployed, elderly or minorities, as long as their man wins in 2012.
Anyone thinking that Obama being reelected matters, versus, let’s just say, Mitt Romney, is too far gone to deserve serious rebuttal. Now that Pres. Obama has adopted right-wing austerity, now known as Obamanomics, whatever difference there was in the two parties has vanished, so who wins the presidency in 2012 is totally irrelevant, but also reveals the cancer of partisan politics to the health of American prosperity, but also to the average American middle class family trying to keep food on the table and a roof over their head.
But what’s been largely ignored is how the very solution to the debt-ceiling crisis could also squeeze state and local governments that are already strapped for cash. … [...] Local governments will try to raise property taxes to raise revenue, which could be yet another drag on a housing market that’s yet to recover. Those who fail to meet their fiscal obligations could see their credit downgraded, making it even harder for them to borrow money to build basic local infrastructure, while both the president and the GOP have threatened to pull funds for state infrastructure. What was once an ideological abstraction — “austerity” — will have very real effects on everyday life for average Americans. Some state and local officials are already bracing for the worst. As the Pew Center on the States notes, Virginia’s Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) has proposed borrowing money fromthe state treasury to cover federal Medicaid funds, and the California state treasurer is considering a Wall Street loan to help the state make ends meet in August. – Why any debt-ceiling deal will squeeze the states, by Ezra Klein
“Tell your henchman to stop saying nice things about me,” McConnell, the Senate minority leader, told Reid earlier this week, according to people familiar with the conversation. “It hurts me.” Even as he’s sought to project immovable unity with House Speaker John Boehner, the prospects for an eleventh-hour deal rest largely on McConnell’s shoulders. For weeks, he’s kept an open line of communication with Vice President Joe Biden, with whom he struck a deal with in December to extend Bush-era tax cuts, and he heard from President Barack Obama on Saturday, too. In the meantime, he’s been trying to keep anxious Republican senators at bay. – Mitch McConnell’s moment: Debt ceiling deal maker or deal breaker?
All eyes are on Sen. Mitch McConnell, since he “conceded” the point that no deal can happen without Pres. Obama, who is now fully engaged in the final stage. McConnell is also Speaker Boehner’s lifeline, with the letter signed by 43 Republican senators saying Reid’s bill is dead quid pro quo for Reid’s letter on the Boehner bill.
The details of what’s going on between McConnell and Boehner are being kept among a select few. Let’s face it though, McConnell cannot be trusted by Democrats or the White House, a point that is close to irrelevant at this late moment, which is exactly why McConnell waited so long to get involved. He wants to force Pres. Obama into a situation where he feels he has no choice but to make deals no Democrat should make.
So, McConnell and Biden are talking, while anyone watching this spectacle can see Reid and McConnell are not.
Sen. Mitch McConnell’s original plan is now part of the Reid bill, with the triggers at issue on how to force a second round of budget cuts if the bicameral congressional committee being concocted to work on the austerity plan can’t come to an agreement. As Politico and other outlets are reporting, many Democrats believe McConnell is pushing for the second round as a set up for the inevitable and planned breakdown of any committee, so he can get more cuts upon failure. Republicans also want to make Social Security part of their triggers, which went over with a thud, with Chuck Todd reporting there are other triggers beyond entitlements.
Democrats want the trigger to include tax increases, but that’s a line House Republicans won’t cross, so it all depends on finding moderate Republic—, yeah right. Only four senators refused to sign McConnell’s letter stating Republicans intend to vote down Reid’s bill, a vote which was scheduled for 1:00 a.m. Sunday, but that was moved because Sen. Reid was told the White House talks are progressing.
God only knows what that means.
The target is $1.6 – $1.8 million in cuts before year’s end.
[...] The Democrats bigger worry is Boehner, who shows signs of simply running-out-the-clock, playing hard-to-get with Obama and hoping the White House will give into his demands. The speaker and McConnell are in regular contact, but having pushed the fight this far, the GOP has reason to fear it will lose support from its traditional business allies if there isn’t more progress before markets open Monday, one day before the threat of default. – GOP leaders ‘fully engaged’ with W.H., but Dems skeptical on debt deal
No doubt you’re sick to death of reading this from me, but the 14th Amendment remains a shot for Pres. Obama, regardless of the legal imbroglio that would follow. Because what people keep forgetting in all their prognostications is that Pres. Obama simply cannot allow the U.S. to default. One can only guess the fight that would ensue over which House Republican would serve up impeachment if it happened.
With the tension building and the last moment approaching, as McConnell bet on all along, which is why he offered up his devious plan in the first place, the bigger worry for Democrats is that Pres. Obama will offer any number of compromises to stave off a dismal Monday on Wall Street.
So, the question is how much further to the right will the McConnell-Boehner-Reid bill have to go before the White House cries “uncle”? …and will House Democrats balk for the first time and channel their own inner Tea Party rage if what comes back to the House is political poison on entitlements?
The painful negotiations to resolve the crisis have caught the attention of troops in Afghanistan, where Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was quizzed repeatedly on Saturday by soldiers and Marines worried about their paychecks. In Kandahar and Helmand Provinces, Admiral Mullen said it remained uncertain where money would be found if the government defaulted. Regardless of budget talks in Washington, the mission for American troops in Afghanistan would not halt, he said. – New York Times
Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.
Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Houston), and others rally against cuts on the backs of the poor and middle class at the Capitol this week.
Congressman Conyers (D-Mi) held a press conference with other progressives and laid into the GOP and Obama over this debt ceiling grand bargain on the backs of the poor jargon. Some very quotable stuff here from a very important member of congress:
Focusing on Obama, .. “We want him to know from this day forward that we’ve had it. We want him to come out on our side not to watch and wait… We’re suffering,” Conyers said. Several members of the CBC, including, Reps. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas), Bobby Rush (D-Ill.), and are beginning to speak out more publicly on jobs and the White House policy. Many have called for a targeted approach to the problem.
Conyers and others appear to really have finally had it. This is scathing:
“We’ve got to educate the American people at the same time we educate the President of the United States. The Republicans, Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The President of the United States called for that,” Conyers, who has served in the House since 1965, said. “My response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this,” Conyers said.
Read and watch the whole thing. Conyers notes every proposal he has sent to Obama, some of them were items he passed with Sen. Humphrey, have of course been ignored.
Liberal groups, under the umbrella of Rebuild the Dream, held protests at the Hill over proposed cuts to programs. MSM didn’t cover it of course:
…liberal organizations and unions gathered outside the Capitol Building to demand Congress not gut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while keeping the U.S. from going into default.
Van Jones, co-founder and president of the new group Rebuild the Dream, introduced speakers at the rally including Reps. Keith Ellison (D-MN), Shelia Jackson Lee (D-TX) and Donna Edwards (D-MD). Also in attendance were representatives of the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE), MoveOn.org, Planned Parenthood and Jobs with Justice.
A clip:
While MSM props up the Tea Party, Rebuild the Dream’s rally had some 500 protest at the Capitol. You would not know it watching CNN however. Oh and some 20,000 liberal activists showed up at congressional offices pushing for a clean debt vote.
As the national MSM ignored what progressives were doing at congress members’ offices, local media has picked it much of what Rebuild the Dreamers were doing. I’ve bold faced the towns were scores showed up with fury:
In conservative Kingwood, Texas, progressives outnumbered Tea Partiers:
Protestors in opposition of the U.S. debt-ceiling stalemate are lined up outside of Congressman Ted Poe’s Kingwood office. By noon Tuesday, around 46 people were lined up outside Poe’s office for a protest and counter-protest.
In Winchester, Virginia, protestors stood outside Republican Frank Wolf’s local office even though staffers appeared to have hidden in the back of the office:
A group stood holding picket signs expressing their views and demands, which included protection of Medicare and Social Security. One participant noted none of the congressman’s aides were in the office when they gathered for about an hour.
In downtown Casper, Wyoming, protestors called out Republican Cynthia Lummis for her refusal to look at tax increases on the wealthy:
Protesters complained that Republicans have steadfastly resisted taxing the wealthy while pushing for cuts in programs that help low-income Americans. They criticized Sen. John Barrasso as well as Lummis.
“We have to raise revenues,” said small business owner and Democrat Forest Irons. “Any economist worth their salt will say that.”
Protesters said they were frustrated with Lummis for what they described as her unwillingness to compromise with Democrats.
Rallygoers in Norwich, Connecticut asked the district director for Democrat Joe Courtney if he would sign on to the CPC letter pledging to defend Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid in any budget negotiations:
The group stood on the sidewalk soliciting honks of support for Medicare, Social Security, jobs and public education at noon today. Then they marched up the two flights of stairs at the Thames Plaza on Water Street and into Courtney’s office.
Contois told the group she could not answer whether Courtney would sign the Progressive Caucus letter, but he did sign a letter with 32 other members of the Congressional Task Force on Seniors on July 15 urging Obama to reach a deal to avoid defaulting on U.S. loans while keeping a “commitment to the well being of older Americans.”
In eastern Pennsylvania and southern New Jersey, rallygoers and callers inundated local offices:
“Time for Washington to grow up and do its (expletive) work.” That was a typical posting that appeared on a Twitter feed.
All over Capitol Hill, members of Congress reported that their websites were slowed or even knocked out by the flood of emotion.
More than 50 people of sharply-varying political stripes massed outside of Republican U.S. Rep. Jon Runyan’s office in South Jersey.
In northern New Jersey, people lined up in front of Republican Rodney Frelinghuysen’s Morristown office:
About 40 members of the Morris Council for the Rebuilding of the American Dream, an affiliate of the liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org, carried signs outside the Schuyler Place office reading “Rodney, Will You Stand Up for the Middle Class?” and “Frelinghuysen Don’t Default on Us.”
“We want the Republican Congress to vote to make a compromise,” said Truscha Quatrone of Montville.
In Franklin, Tennessee, people stood out in scorching summer temperatures to ask Republican Marsha Blackburn to stop holding the federal credit rating hostage:
Many chanted “raise the debt ceiling,” while others waved signs reading “Holding America Hostage” and “Save the American Dream”.
Linda Lee is a 65-year-old teacher. She said she’s afraid because she’ll soon be eligible for Social Security, and she’s uncertain how it would be affected if the debt ceiling isn’t raised.
“My mother … would not be able to make it if she didn’t have hers (Social Security),” Lee said. “It’s a scary time. I’ve got our country in my prayers.”
As the Left is being hit with it’s “epic migraine,” talk of growing angst amongst the base is growing. Senator Sanders called for Obama to face a progressive primary challenger. Meanwhile angry Dems have formed a organization to field progressive primary challengers against Obama in the Democratic Party due to his violations of key party principles.
On Current’s July 29 edition Nader is interviewed on plans to have progressives primary Obama to try and push Obama away from the Right. Watch the lively back and forth between Shuster and Nader :
It is not surprising we are seeing among elite Dems in the media attempt to discount what is going on within the party. Glenn Greenwald refutes the elites and shows us polling clearly indicating major problems for Obama going forward from the most important part of his base and thus re-election. He notes Washington Post/ABC’s poll this week and its finding that 69pct of liberals disapprove of Obama on the economy. Moreover:
The Post-ABC poll found that the number of liberal Democrats who strongly support Obama’s record on jobs plunged 22 points from 53 percent last year to 31 percent. The number of African Americans who believe the president’s actions have helped the economy has dropped from 77 percent in October to just over half of those surveyed.
Another poll of interest Greenwald highlights is from December. It shows 41pct of Dems wanting a primary challenger. And who most wants this?:
… a majority of Democratic-leaning independents, 56 percent, want him challenged, while 33 percent don’t.
Among pro-Democratic voters who want him challenged: pluralities of women, voters younger than 45, and those without a college degree. Those who don’t want him challenged include majorities of pro-Democratic men and college graduates, and a plurality of those 45 and older.
Gallup also showed a downturn among liberals for Obama, and CNN. CNN showed a uptick in liberal disapproval as 1 in 4 say he is not liberal enough. Due to the “grand bargain” talk Obama’s disapproval is at 54pct largely due to liberal angst.
So Greenwald concludes that yes, most on the Left will fall in line for Obama in 2012. He notes how many on the Left have been silent on Obama’s talk of cutting the Big 3. But, Obama will need every vote and as he continues down this austerity path he surely will enrage more and more of his base, perhaps enough to cost him the 2012 race.
Kudos to the 11 rabbis and others clergy who got arrested protesting austerity!
Real Democrats are fighting the good fight in the states. On the good news front North Carolina Dems stopped the GOP controlled legislature from overriding Governor Perdue’s veto of the just passed voter i.d. bill.
Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer.
Over a couple of days I suddenly saw the phrase “tipping point” show up, as related to progress toward LGBT equality. Not that it hasn’t been used before, but it was interesting to see it several times in so short a period.
We are in the midst of a cultural tipping point on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues and our job is to push the scale as far and as fast as we can toward fairness. The tour will serve as a powerful visibility tool and support the work of creating real and lasting change in these communities.
Congress held its first hearing on repealing the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) …. Same-sex marriage became legal in New York …. And the certification of (DADT’s) repeal means that gay, lesbian, and bisexual servicemembers will be able to serve openly beginning Sept. 20. Add to those victories a new poll … confirming the trend that more people support allowing same-sex couples to marry than oppose, and it seems the times couldn’t be rosier for the LGBT movement, especially compared to where things stood 15 years ago. But this spate of successes does not necessarily indicate snowballing momentum. While there is plenty of reason to be optimistic that future victories might come more easily because of the progress that’s been made, there is a more immediate concern about backlash as conservatives continue to fight a very well-financed campaign against equality.
In it’s current July/August issue, The Atlantic laid out the 14 biggest ideas of the year … the magazine included the radical idea that being gay is normal. …
… with marriage equality in New York and New Hampshire, the repeal of DADT and President Obama stepping away from DOMA, 2011 really does feel like a tipping point. …
The feature also makes another, more disturbing point: That anti-gay forces have flipped the script and now portray themselves as the ‘oppressed majority.’
Well, “tipping points” are inclining or leaning, not firmly planted and forever settled. Back-lashing is inevitable, as those opposed to Queer equality find themselves in the smaller side of poll results.
The twelve week HRC Equality Bus Tour – well, it’s a bit ironic, given the “under the bus” language used by many, including in Queerdom, to describe how it’s felt at times. But I also think it may be somewhat helpful. The release included information from a recent, nationwide poll that “found Americans widely support LGBT equality issues but more work remains to be done – particularly in the South and Midwest where support lags other regions.” The tour “will travel to 17 cities in 11 states and D.C., with particular emphasis on the Midwest and South where there are limited legal protections for LGBT people and living openly and honestly can be difficult.” In order of visit: Utah, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Texas, Arkansas, Kentucky, DC, Georgia, Alabama and Florida. Of these states,
none has a state-wide non-discrimination law including sexual orientation or gender identity. Additionally, none has any form of state relationship recognition and all have passed discriminatory constitutional amendments to ban marriage for same-sex couples. Many have laws prohibiting the positive discussion of gays and lesbians in schools and few have safe-schools laws that include LGBT students.
Note two things here: the efforts from the anti-LGBT groups, who have indeed whipped up an old argument, that they are, in fact, the victims. And second, HRC is taking the fight to the states where rights and protections are weakest. For that move by HRC, I give the activists at state and local levels all the credit, because they are the ones who have kept up “home” efforts, while simultaneously screaming for help from national organizations. This isn’t the first time such help has come. But that “the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization” is highlighting such efforts is significant.
Which leads me to another potential “tipping point” for Queerdom: Broader recognition that confirms LGBT equality is not just for Blue states and atheists. Okay, I’m over-stating. A bit. It is not unusual to have been told: We have to use the resources we have in places where we have a better chance of winning, i.e., not in a too Red state. Sometimes that line of thinking includes another – anyone who lives in a Red state basically deserves what they get. Which logic, if followed, presumably means all the people who marched in the Civil Rights Movement in “the South” had it wrong – they should have just moved, rather than fight for their equality. That, of course, is ridiculous.
Perhaps in the case of LGBT equality, the “tipping point” in our nation as a whole is accompanied by one within Queerdom.
Of course, some of those on the anti-LGBT Right still have the will and the resources to get the attention of good numbers of Electeds, local, state and federal. So the fight continues. And one of the best responses I’ve seen to claims of victimization is from Jonathan Rauch, an Atlantic editor:
In a country where evangelicals outnumber self-identified gays by at least 10 to 1, and where anti-gay bullying is endemic in schools, and where same-sex couples cannot marry in 45 states, and where countless gay Americans cannot even get their foreign partners into the country, much less into a hospital room-here, we’re supposed to believe that gays are the bullies?
Well yes, that’s what they want folks to believe. But here’s a tip: did you notice the photo at the top, the two ladies in blue? Phyllis Siegel (76) and Connie Kopelov (84) were the first lesbian couple to marry in NYC. Anyone who can look at them and not understand what the fight for equality is about is hopeless.
TM NOTE: Good Saturday morning and welcome Daniel! Get your favorite wake up drink and have a chat while thinking about how to treat yourself this weekend. Daniel’s passion is baking, so I’ve asked him to share his delectables on the weekends to remind us all that the joys of cooking and the splendor of Julia Child can be ours with just a little effort (and love). This all began when Daniel tweeted he was thinking about starting a blog and I tweeted back that he should try Tumblr, which is a fantastic platform and worked perfectly for “Dash of Dan.” His recipes are sure to delight and distract, as well as remind us that our kitchen is a wonderland of possibilities for us personally and those we love. Daniel’s “Dash of Dan” will give you great ideas for your Sunday brunch, too!
Firstly, thank you Taylor for having me here! And for those of you here today!
With all the hoopla of politics I find my escape is over a stand mixer, leveling flour or rolling out dough.
Many people think baking is too difficult or don’t know where to begin. I hope the recipes I post here will have you sharing and eating baked treats you’ve created.
Debt ceiling got you down?
Let these cinnamon peach scones lift up your day. (I couldn’t resist)
These scones feature the yummy summer fruit, peaches, and a delightful sugared cinnamon top. Unlike most scones which are dry and crumbly these are moist yet retain their shape.
Recipe:
2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour 2 large eggs
1/2 cup of granulated sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons baking powder 2 cups freshly sliced peaches (about 4-5 of medium size)
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, cold
Topping: Mixed in a bowl
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter an 11 inch diameter circle in the middle of a baking sheet. Mix 2 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl, set aside.
In a small bowl stir together the eggs, milk and vanilla. Set aside.
In a large bowl stir together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut butter into small cubes and distribute them over the flour mixture.
Using a pastry blender, two knives, or a fork cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.
Pour the egg mixture over the blended flour, stir to combine. Mix in the peaches.
Flour your hands and put the batter on the buttered baking sheet, patting it down a 9 inch diameter.
Using a serrated knife cut the dough into 8 wedges, and sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool on wire racks. Recut the wedges if needed.
Enjoy!
Now sit back, relax and have a chat, even share what you’re reading this morning. Consider this a Saturday morning open thread about whatever’s on your mind.
But the man who has occupied the Oval Office since January, 2009 is… — a man seemingly without a compass, a tactician who veers rightward one day and leftward the next, an inside-the Beltway dealmaker who doesn’t explain his comprises in light of larger goals. … But instead of explaining this to the American people, he joins the GOP in making a fetish of reducing the budget deficit, and enters into a hair-raising game of chicken with House Republicans over whether the debt ceiling will be raised. [...] – Robert Reich
by Boris Rasin
Sen. Majority Leader Reid, Sens. Schumer and Durbin came out to a smattering of press to excoriate Sen. Mitch McConnell employing a filibuster that will have the Senate voting at 1:00 a.m. Sunday morning on the latest disaster bill to come out of the debt ceiling debacle. Sen. Reid made an open plea for Republicans to join Democrats, so a catastrophe can be averted. Continue Reading →
President Obama’s job approval rating is at a new low, averaging 40% in July 26-28 Gallup Daily tracking. His prior low rating of 41% occurred several times, the last of which was in April. As recently as June 7, Obama had 50% job approval.
[...] Obama’s job approval rating among Democrats is 72%, compared with 34% among independents and 13% among Republicans. In the prior three weeks, his average approval rating was 79% among Democrats, 41% among independents, and 12% among Republicans.
One thing Barack Obama, David Plouffe and Mr. Axelrod obviously haven’t learned is the lessons of George W. Bush, but also 2010. Those coveted Independents the White House is bending over backward to reach are a lot more impressed with strong leadership and someone who sticks his or her neck out than someone who keeps asking for Americans to call Congress, as if the President has no power at all.
Our political culture is so wrapped up in moderation, centrism, capitulation and compromise that the Tea Party extortionists are the only political class in this country who stand for anything, albeit a whole lot of crazy. Whereas, Democrats and Republicans are basically different sides of the same corrupt coin, with Mr. Wonderful at the top, whether you’re talking about Obama or Romney; both men nothing to behold when it comes to leadership or standing on a line. Mitt Romney’s learned well from Obama’s straddling stance of non-declaration and is basically following his “present” political state of mind.
It’s not 2012, so there’s a lot of time for Pres. Obama to recover. In fact, being down now might work in his favor, because he’s one hell of a political athlete when pushed up against it.
However, Pres. Obama’s biggest opponent isn’t the sorry-assed Republican to be named later. It’s the economy, which should worry everyone, whether you intend to support Barack Obama or not.
Joyce L. Arnold: Liberal, lesbian, Independent, equality activist, writer.
When it comes to our two party political and governing systems and structures, we’re way beyond “dysfunctional.” With realization that challenges, from within and without the institutionalized two party system, face huge obstacles, I nevertheless think those efforts are not only worthwhile, but essential. And not necessarily impossible.
This is the first in a series of columns about various reform efforts and projects, primarily from the more or less Left side of things. Before getting into some of the specifics, a bit of background and context. Agree or disagree with “third party” organizing, with efforts internal to both parties to hold Electeds accountable, or with efforts like that at Fair Vote to reform the Electoral College, the fact that so much is happening is significant.
My observations, or more accurately, my interpretations, aren’t unique. But from my perspective: Our two political and governing party system is fundamentally flawed. It works quite well for the Electeds and the Elites they serve, but for the vast majority of us in grassroots reality, it doesn’t. It’s not designed to. We are like the extras playing the crowd scene. We’re supposed to appear, cheer, and vote on cue, then quietly go back to our grassroots’ habitations until we get the next call.
It’s the classic David vs. Goliath situation, though in this case, it’s a lot of little Davids, usually acting in un-coordinated ways, facing a very well coordinated, two-headed Goliath. The few very powerful people for whom Goliath works have near endless resources and great motivation to maintain their very high status quo. The large numbers involved in little Davids efforts have great motivation, but in comparison, their financial resources are miniscule. But still, they work at it. That’s how “movements” usually begin – a relatively small number of people who challenge the entrenched status quo.
One of the other players in the drama: the majority of folks who pay little to no attention, and when they do watch, it’s usually for short periods of time. Many of them are simply worn out and worn down by the seeming impossibility of the two-headed Goliath ever being changed or replaced.
Generally, I think the Republican and Democratic parties operate as fronts for the oligarchy – the power to govern is held by a relatively small number of people. Or as you also see it described, the two parties form a duopoly, an economic term (and economic terms are appropriate when considering DC Electeds and Elites) that basically says the market has only two sellers, or at least, two that are in firm control. To stay with the economic framing, an oligopoly basically says there are only a few sellers who essentially control the market.
Applying this to our two party system, you can focus on those two controlling players – Democratic and Republican duopoly parties – or see them as fronts for the few in ultimate control, the oligarchy. In either case, if we accept the game plan from above, the majority of us are the “bit players,” or the pieces to be used, often against each other. It’s a great distraction – get the little people fighting among themselves, repeating the lines provided by the parties.
For a few examples of current thinking:
Writing at Salon, David Sirota argues against what he describes as the pretense that “gridlock” and “partisan fighting is ruining our country.”
1) There is barely any real ‘gridlock’ and almost no lack of consensus in American politics, and 2) There is no lack of a third party in America – there are viable, powerful third parties operating …, just not ones that represent the wildly unpopular brand of elitist corporatism that the Third Party Fetishists dream of.
National Public Radio, on the other hand, recently aired a report which used the “gridlock” framing to describe the DC dysfunction, though the report itself focused more on the struggles of “third parties” than on a resulting “gridlock.” Don Gonyea reports “Political Gridlock Renews Call for Third Party,” which in the online transcript is introduced with:
Political gridlock. Dysfunctional Congress. Debt-ceiling debacle. Times like this have many Americans wondering why we’re stuck with just two political parties. While several political entrepreneurs are trying to gin up a new party, more than a century of history tells us success is not likely.
“Consumer activist Ralph Nader said Tuesday that he’ll launch an initiative soon to field primary challenges to President Obama in key states. …
‘It’s an initiative to scan the possibilities of people who may run,’ Nader said in a phone interview. ‘My guess is that it’s almost 100 percent sure there’s going to be a primary challenge to Obama from somebody or somebodies — plural — in some states.
Nader’s effort follows comments over the weekend by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.), a liberal independent who caucuses with Democrats, that it would be a ‘good idea’ for Obama to face a primary challenge in 2012. …
(Nader) acknowledged that a candidate running against Obama from the left was unlikely to be successful … . But he said it would help ensure the president doesn’t get a ‘free ride’ from Democrats. …
The possibility that liberal Democrats will just stay home on Election Day 2012 has been a worrying one for the administration. …
The two parties have tied themselves into such complex knots that while the bigger picture is both are intimately tied to Corporate Rule, they also both need to present themselves as holding the line against the “evils” of the Other Party. In general (there are always a few exceptions), they serve the same Master, but that doesn’t mean they don’t fight to be the Master’s favorite – blue jerseys vs. red jerseys, as if those are the only options. Ever.
Next time I’ll turn to some of the current projects and campaigns. In case you’re interested in doing some reading, the links below reveal something of the wide range of efforts. And I’d very much like to know what you’re thinking, hearing and seeing, including at state and local levels.
Photo of the Day: President Barack Obama talks with staff during a Domestic Policy Council meeting in the Oval Office, July 28, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
As Speaker Boehner pitifully massages a House bill into further irrelevance, after failing to heard the Tea Party anarchists to vote on his raising the debt ceiling bill, humiliating his speakership.
Pres. Obama has his own problems, after criticism began mounting that he’s been reduced to the sidelines.
In an effort to prove he’s still very much in the game, today, just a few minutes ago, Pres. Obama spoke in the Diplomatic Room, with Washington watching over him, slamming Speaker Boehner and Tea Party members for continuing to work on a bill that everyone knows is D.O.A. in the Senate.
Since Pres. Obama has refused to use the power of the presidency and the U.S. Constitution, invoking the 14th Amendment as Truman did [Update: There is some disagreement on this one, as he utilized an emergency clause in what precipitated the "Steel Seizure" case.], he once again turned to begging the American people to keep calling, emailing and even tweeting Congress.
Never has the presidency looked so small.
But Mr. Obama did get one thing right. Whether we have a AAA credit rating or not, we definitely do not have a AAA political system. He’s proven that all on his own.
BREAKING – 10:30 pm: GOP Majority Whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy announces no vote tonight.…as soon as the lights go out Eric Cantor is going to start measuring for drapes.
House GOP leadership announced abruptly on Thursday evening that they were suspending a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt ceiling proposal, signaling in the process that the GOP lacked the votes to pass the package.
CNN is reporting the vote is still planned for later this evening, with Speaker Boehner’s job on the line.
P.S. Everyone I talk to still believes in contested primaries.
Of course they do, because the people Sarah talks to don’t have to actually govern the country and be held accountable for what happens with the decisions they make.
On a day when presidential candidate Michele Bachmann delivers her crazy at the Press Club, Sarah is relegated to talking about the “little people” way “out here in proverbial politico flyover country.”
Abortions are still legal in America, but you wouldn’t know it today.
Women requiring an abortion are now forced, because of lack of access to doctors, to utilize telemedicine to effectively terminate a pregnancy, which is a legal procedure according to U.S. law. This has come about because of right-wing zealots and religious quacks, who are not only still a danger to our country, but specifically to women’s freedoms, partly because politicians have stopped standing up for hard fought rights we’ve won in the courts, allowing wingnuts to break the law and force women into an impossible situation.
The good news is that abortificients are effective and studies have shown they are also physically safe. The other positive sign is that telemedicine seems to work, which when you’re up against matters.
Using an abortificient like mifepristone, it’s what emergency reproductive health care for women looks like in rural Iowa and some other states, with Arizona, Kansas, North Dakota, Nebraska and Tennessee already jumping in to impede women’s freedom to control their own life.
… As states increasingly enact laws that restrict women’s access to legal abortion and a dwindling number of doctors choose to perform them, women who live in rural states like Iowa have found it more difficult to terminate their pregnancies. But now, women who might otherwise travel hundreds of miles to see a physician have another option: telemedicine.
A woman seeking an abortion via telemedicine has an ultrasound performed by a trained technician, receives information about medical abortion and signs a standard informed consent for the abortion.
Once that is complete, a physician steps in via teleconference. The doctor reviews the woman’s medical history and ultrasound images, and once it is determined that she is eligible — up to nine weeks pregnant and not an ectopic pregnancy — she has time to ask questions.
Then, the doctor enters a computer passcode to remotely open a drawer at the clinic containing two pills. She then swallows the mifepristone, under the doctor’s supervision, and then is instructed to take four additional tablets of misoprostol within the next 24 to 48 hours. The actual abortion happens at home. [...]
There’s really not a lot to add on this one that I haven’t written before, except to emphasize the opening paragraph:
As states increasingly enact laws that restrict women’s access to legal abortion
and a dwindling number of doctors choose to perform them, women who live in rural states like Iowa have found it more difficult to terminate their pregnancies. But now, women who might otherwise travel hundreds of miles to see a physician have another option: telemedicine.
What’s come to America that denies women a legal procedure due to the zealotry of a determined group to impede women’s freedoms, without the Democratic president and every single member of Congress on the Left standing up to demand women’s court-won rights be honored upheld?
NBC’s “First Read” has a devastatingly blunt headline on the Democrats this morning: “in retreat.” But Democrats contend they will win the “longer-term war.”
But when you take a step back from the hour-by-hour movements in this debate, it’s obvious how much ground the White House and Democrats have conceded. First, they retreated on their push for a clean debt-ceiling raise. Then they retreated on the size of the spending cuts (now both sides say the cuts must equal or exceed the eventual debt-limit hike). Then they backed away from insisting that tax revenues be included in the final package (both the Boehner and Reid plans exclude them). And now it seems that their final line in the sand is insisting that the debt ceiling must — in one step — be raised beyond 2012, versus Boehner’s two-step approach, which would guarantee another debt showdown early next year. – First Thoughts: In retreat
Would Pres. Obama really veto a short-term debt ceiling deal or one that demands another round of debt ceiling wrangling in 2012?
Or will Mitch McConnell re-emerge with another version of his devious plan to put the debt ceiling lift element in the President’s hands?
What is needed is a simple, clean debt ceiling one-pager.
Many questions, with Democrats trying to convince everyone that in the end they’ll come out the winners. Perhaps, but right now I’m just not seeing that, though you certainly can say Pres. Obama bent over backward to give Republicans every reason to make a deal, because he gave in on taxes and revenue, which actually began in 2010, plus embraced right-wing austerity with both hands.
But if you’re one of those who believe Pres. Obama is bluffing on putting entitlements on the table, perhaps you do see a way for Democrats to win the “longer-term war.” Then you also believe Barack Obama is an ideologue who thinks the tenets of the Democratic party are non-negotiable. The trouble is there is absolutely no evidence Obama’s an ideologue, unless you’re sucking up right-wing talking points with a very large straw. (Oh, or maybe you’re a believer in Obama’s mythical 30 dimensional chess?)
So, it’s hard to see how Democrats win in the end on this one, unless you think Pres. Obama winning a second term is the only priority. That’s decidedly 20th century thinking, long before the cable, new media and social media explosions gave people an avenue to get their voices heard and respected.
Pres. Clinton would have gone through the same hell in the ’90s over welfare, NAFTA and his banking deregulation antics if media had been what it is today back then.
But then again, there really isn’t much difference between the two parties in the age of Obama, so we really are splitting hairs on this one. Obama and the Democrats changing the social safety net as it’s been known would, however, put any doubts to the grave.
Times are tough these days, so it’s not surprising that some divorced fathers are having tough times paying child support. But when you’re an outspoken austerity, cut, cap and balance bloviator, the news of allegations that Joe Walsh is a dead beat dad is at least a bit ironic. From the Sun Times:
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December. [...]
Walsh admits he is not wealthy. Some of his financial problems — including losing his Evanston condo to foreclosure — were documented before his out-of-nowhere victory last fall in the 8th Congressional District in Chicago’s north and northwest suburbs.
But court documents examined this week by the Chicago Sun-Times during research for a profile on the increasingly visible congressman showed his financial issues also included a nine-year child support battle with his ex-wife.
Before getting elected, he had told Laura Walsh that because he was out of work or between jobs, he could not make child support payments. [...]
Art offers his perspective as a movement progressive activist.
This is a important breaking story. The Congressional Black Caucus has come out this afternoon in opposition to the Reid Plan, which includes trillions in cuts that would devastate minorities the most. Recall Pelosi backs the Reid Plan, so this is a blow to her as a leader of the Democratic Caucus.
More:
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D-MO), the Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said the over 40 members of the CBC will be voting ‘no’ on any plan that cuts government services — including the plan put forward by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV). Cleaver says the caucus insists on a clean vote to raise the debt ceiling — the same kind of vote “we’ve done repeatedly since 1917.” Cleaver explained, “we can deal with the deficit questions later, but let’s not send the most powerful nation on the planet into default.” Rep. Allen West (R-FL), the one Republican member of the CBC, has said he will support Speaker Boehner’s (R-OH) plan.
There are 40 Black Caucus members, a significant block of the congress. All this search for a grand bargain is tearing apart both parties. Good for the Black Caucus for pushing for reason.
Here is their statement of opposition to all “deals” to simply raise the debt ceiling:
The Congressional Black Caucus’s Position on the Debt Ceiling No Cuts, No Cap, Just Raise
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 4:50pm
Washington, DC – Today, the Democratic Members of the Congressional Black Caucus officially took a position in support of a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling. Chairman Emanuel Cleaver released the following statement below:
“Let us remove every partisan reason to fight. Every rational American understands the need to pay our national debt. It is reckless to play Russian Roulette with our economy and with the solvency of our great nation. Democratic Members of the Congressional Black Caucus support a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling. We have run out of time between now and August 2nd to hash out a well thought out plan to address the debt ceiling, deficit reduction and revenue increases. Members of the Caucus are disappointed that some have used this debate as a distraction from the real crisis Americans continue to face every day— joblessness. We must reduce the deficit with a fair, and balanced approach that includes both revenues and spending cuts. Until we can achieve such a plan, we must raise the debt ceiling to give the markets certainty, avoid more disarray and prevent irresponsible cuts. We cannot in good conscience support bills that require draconian cuts that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable communities. Yesterday we learned of the ever-widening wealth gap between white Americans and minorities. We cannot support anything that will further handicap those in our community. We all agree that we have to responsibly to reduce the deficit but not on the backs of hard-working American families, all while protecting special interests and the wealthiest Americans. People of color, seniors, and children heavily rely on vital programs like Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Deep cuts to these critical programs would devastate our community.
“Now is the time for real work to be done, jobs to be created, and to protect and uplift our citizens. It is not the time for ideological wars. It is time to cut and cap the political games!”
Was it because Elizabeth Warren is a woman, which could have been part of it? Or is it because Pres. Obama simply wouldn’t fight for her, because he certainly did not?
Frank did not say who he blames for gender bias – the White House for not nominating her or Republicans in the Senate for promising to block her nomination.
“Ms. Warren encountered from some people, maybe unconscious on their part, the notion that very strong-willed women with strong opinions might have a place but not in the financial sector,” said Frank.
A spokesman for Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee pointed out that Warren could easily have been nominated by the White House over Cordray.
But then again, as far as I can tell Pres. Obama doesn’t fight for anything.
Something tells me Ms. Warren will find a platform, because there are too many people who trust her and want to continue to hear what she has to say.
These aren’t the sounds of a Republican revolt. By the end of Wednesday, Republicans were totally on message about how they chose the best of three plans (the others being Harry Reid’s plan or default) and would push it through. Democrats obsessed over which conservative groups were most annoyed, and they were whipping their own votes to make the GOP’s job harder. But it looks increasingly like the only win Democrats got was the Republican back-down from a “grand bargain” that would have raised the eligibility age for Medicare. – The Day the Tea Party Grew Up
Speaker Boehner started this day by telling his caucus to “get their ass in line.” …and it looks like they have, according to David Weigel’s piece above. But Boehner held the line on taxes and revenues, plus got spending cuts.
Pres. Obama served up raising the Medicare eligibility age as part of his “grand bargain,” so the Obama fans will just have to accept it, though there are plenty in his blue doggie pack who will applaud that, too.
So when Paul Krugman pointed to a Bruce Bartlett piece from last week on Twitter today, which I hadn’t seen when it initially was published, I thought I’d share it, because it perfectly casts Obama’s conservatism, something I’ve been writing about for years now. Here’s one graph:
Conservatives will, of course, scoff at the idea of Obama being any sort of conservative, just as liberals scoffed at Nixon being any kind of liberal. But with the benefit of historical hindsight, it’s now obvious that Nixon was indeed a moderate liberal in practice. And with the passage of time, it’s increasingly obvious that Clinton was essentially an Eisenhower Republican. It may take 20 years before Obama’s basic conservatism is widely accepted as well, but it’s a fact. – Barack Obama: The Democrats’ Richard Nixon?
Another important section deals with Bill Clinton, though I must note here I never thought Clinton or Gore were liberals. I felt Clinton was important, because since Jimmy Carter, Democrats were considered losers. Clinton coming in after 12 years of Reaganism was a lot different than the wave Obama came in on after the years of Bush-Cheney. Segue to Bartlett:
Liberals initially viewed Bill Clinton the same way conservatives viewed Eisenhower – as a liberator who would reverse the awful policies of his two predecessors. But almost immediately, Clinton decided that deficit reduction would be the first order of business in his administration. His promised middle class tax cut and economic stimulus were abandoned.
By 1995, Clinton was working with Republicans to dismantle welfare. In 1997, he supported a cut in the capital gains tax. As the benefits of his 1993 deficit reduction package took effect, budget deficits disappeared and we had the first significant surpluses in memory. Yet Clinton steadfastly refused to spend any of the flood of revenues coming into the Treasury, hording them like a latter day Midas. In the end, his administration was even more conservative than Eisenhower’s on fiscal policy.
And just as pent-up liberal aspirations exploded in the 1960s with spending for every pet project green lighted, so too the fiscal conservatism of the Clinton years led to an explosion of tax cuts under George W. Bush, who supported every one that came down the pike. The result was the same as it was with Johnson: massive federal deficits and a tanking economy.
Thus Obama took office under roughly the same political and economic circumstances that Nixon did in 1968 except in a mirror opposite way.
That’s why when I wrote in 2007 that Obama was going to serve up entitlements, then followed my analysis up consistently saying our President is a conservative, I knew others would take a while accepting it, but I think now everyone’s finally on the same page.
“If that’s what lands on his desk, a short-term lifting of the ceiling, the debt ceiling, he should put it on his desk next to an executive order,” Clyburn said at a press conference. “He should sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment to this issue.” The Associated Press reported that he was applauded when he suggested the idea at a caucus meeting earlier in the day. “I believe that something like this will bring calm to the American people and will bring needed stability to our financial markets,” Clyburn added, noting that President Harry Truman did it once during his presidency after Congress was unable to pass a bill to raise the debt ceiling. – Obama urged to invoke 14th Amendment as debt ceiling deadline nears
UPDATE: 3:35 p.m. — White House Press Secretary Jay Carney again ruled out the possibility of Obama using the 14th Amendment to resolve the debt dispute. “Our position hasn’t changed,” Carney said during his Wednesday briefing. “There are no off-ramps. … Only Congress has the legal authority.”
I still contend the debt ceiling will be raised, though I still hope not with anything more than the language required to raise it like has been utilized throughout history, on which Lawrence O’Donnell has done the bulk of the education.
However, after it’s all over what’s been learned is sobering, especially on the Democratic side of the equation where leaders have bought into Obamanomic Republicanism, jettisoning every principle important to Democrats and the middle class.
Rep. Pelosi has done another cave to Pres. Obama, this time to the President’s austerity fetish. It’s not getting any attention, but it proves she’s no longer the person to lead Democrats in Congress.
“It is clear we must enter an era of austerity; to reduce the deficit through shared sacrifice.
“The President has called for a ‘grand bargain,’ which provides long-term deficit reduction based on shared values and sends a message of confidence to the markets. [...]
The only thing that’s clear is that establishment Democrats can’t be trusted to protect the basic underlying principles of what it means to be a Democrat. I walked away from then Speaker Pelosi when she and Pres. Obama sold out women for the Stupak amendment, plus an executive signing statement, so her latest collapse to Obama’s conservatism comes as no surprise at all to me.
With House progressives losing Nancy Pelosi to Obama’s austerity craze, Democrats are in a principle tailspin.
The only light so far, besides Welch and Grivalja, is the House Democratic caucus’ response today, invoking the 14 Amendment, which you know by now makes my heart sing, even though Pres. Obama will never utilize it. Melissa Harris-Perry did a terrific segment last night while subbing for Rachel Maddow, but evidently it’s too hot for MSNBC videos so they didn’t upload it. You know, can’t be too outsiderish, now can we?
From the transcript of the press availability from the Democratic House leaders today:
Caucus Vice-Chairman Becerra: When the President says he’s not interested in invoking the 14th Amendment, I think the President’s saying I’m not interested in being the first in the history of this country of doing something that has not been tested.
Clearly, the 14th Amendment says that our debts are vowed and therefore we live – we will live and follow through with paying – we will honor them, we will pay them.
There’s going to be some hangover after the debt ceiling debacle ends and what lies ahead looks like the mother of all political migraines for anyone on the Left.
Mr. Boehner now has the GOP positioned in sight of a political and policy victory. If his plan or something close to it becomes law, Democrats will have conceded more spending cuts than they thought possible, and without getting the GOP to raise taxes and without being able to blame Republicans for a debt-limit crackup or economic damage. If conservatives defeat the Boehner plan, they’ll not only undermine their House majority. They’ll go far to re-electing Mr. Obama and making the entitlement state that much harder to reform. – The GOP’s Reality Test – Republicans who oppose Boehner’s debt deal are playing into Obama’s hands.
The devil is now the possibility of the U.S. being downgraded, with no details on how to stop it at this point. But with the Tea Party caucus showing Ben Affleck’s “The Town” to get psyched up it’s clear Boehner and Obama are dealing with the an alternate reality on the Right.
Avoiding financial downgrade is now Pres. Obama’s biggest problem. To become the first president in history to preside over a financial downgrade of the U.S. AAA rating is not going to help Obama’s 2012 marketing or his already sliding support on his handling of the economy. Frantic to avoid this calamity, it’s all hands working behind the scenes:
In a recent interview with POLITICO, David T. Beers, head of sovereign ratings at S&P, said the July 14th report was not a major shift and simply reflected an increased concern that there is no clear path to significant deficit reduction.
“What we are focused on is not the debt ceiling but the underlying state of public finances,” said Beers, a London-based executive who has conducted multiple meetings with administration officials.
In order to maintain a triple-A rating, Beers said, “what would have to emerge would be something that has a material impact on the underlying fiscal issues.”
“None of us know what this agreement is going to look like,” Beers said. “For us to think it is credible it would first of all have to show some choices about what the fiscal priorities are and be actionable in ways that would give us confidence that it is going to be implemented.”
Pres. Obama and the White House pushing aside a simple debt ceiling increase is now looking like a colossal error. Floating the “grand bargain” without getting support on the Democratic side comes close behind, because the furor behind the debt ceiling talks and the failed attempts at tying it to future deficit reduction has helped trigger wider doubts about the ability of Congress to come to any agreement at all.
This is the type of thing that could inspire S&P and rating agencies to lower the boom.
As the White House does all it can to avert a credit downgrade washing over Obama’s presidency, which would log the wrong kind of history for Democrats.
Establishment Republicans are freaked out over what the Tea Party is accomplishing at their expense, which is rendering everyone powerless to manage what used to be an easy bet.
This will give you an idea of just how out of control the Republican Tea Party caucus has become and the cost of letting amateur ideological zealots have keys to the kingdom (h/t Yglesias).
House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), the party’s vote counter, began his talk by showing a clip from the movie, “The Town”, trying to forge a sense of unity among the independent-minded caucus. [...] After showing the clip, Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.), one of the most outspoken critics of leadership among the 87 freshmen, stood up to speak, according to GOP aides.
“I’m ready to drive the car,” West replied, surprising many Republicans by giving his full -throated support for the plan.
However, a leading conservative lawmaker, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), said enough Republicans appear to oppose Boehner’s plan that it would not be able to pass the House on GOP support alone.
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