QOTD: Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda

 

Spotted in Politico: 

"Looking back on the first two years of Joe Biden’s presidency, Tim Kaine has one big regret about a largely successful stretch of Democratic rule: That his party didn’t try to raise the debt ceiling on its own last year.

The Virginia senator believes that if Democrats had tried to hike the debt limit before the House GOP swept into a majority, even Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) might have gone along with it. But Biden’s party never moved on the issue. And six months later, Democrats are stuck doing exactly what they said they wouldn’t — negotiating on the debt ceiling with Republicans.

'If I could do one thing different,' Kaine lamented this week, it would have been a late-2022 debt hike. 'And I was saying it at the time … ‘hey, we got the votes.’”  (our emphasis)

That's the Dems' maddening modus operandi. The Republican / Shooters / Forced Birth party has been playing the debt ceiling hostage game for a decade, but the Dems always have wide-eyed faith in their opponents to do the right thing. President Biden even invites the corrupt and spineless Squeaker Kevin "Qevin" McCarthy to the White House for photo ops, playing into Republican efforts to legitimize their thuggish action as normal business as usual. Now, Dems are negotiating with the hostage takers.

You can be assured that if the Dems ever have the opportunity to safeguard the full faith and credit of the U.S., they'll pass on it because they never learn.

 

Stop Seeing Debt Ceiling Crisis As Normal

 

Across a variety of national media, we've seen the debt ceiling hostage taking by Republican extremists described as a normal way of doing business. In fact, it's used when those extremists control the Congress and Dems control the White House to bypass the budget and appropriations process to make radical cuts in popular, Dem-backed programs. Here's an excerpt from Steve Benen's take on the problem:

"There were debt ceiling talks in 2011 — though at the time, Barack Obama saw this as an opportunity to engage in budget negotiations, not ransom payments — which participants, including then-Vice President Joe Biden, soon recognized as a messy mistake not to be repeated.

Throughout the remainder of Obama’s presidency, he refused to engage in such discussions. Republicans grudgingly acquiesced and Congress received no treats for agreeing to pay the nation’s bills. During the Trump era, there was no need for debt ceiling negotiations — because Democrats didn’t ask for any. The same was true during George W. Bush’s two terms. [snip]

Let’s not miss the forest for the trees: The Republicans’ 2011 fight was the first time a major American political party used the debt ceiling to threaten to deliberately crash the economy. This year, GOP officials are doing it again. But in 'modern times,' at least in this country, policymakers have steered clear of such extortion tactics.

It’s imperative that observers stop seeing the Republicans’ debt ceiling crises as normal and start seeing them as scandalous.

GOP leaders are threatening to harm Americans on purpose, and to shrug one’s shoulders and see this as routine is to miss not only how U.S. politics has traditionally worked, but also how honorable elected officials are supposed to conduct the people’s business."  (our emphasis)

Benen cites a couple of examples, one from the New York Times and another from CNBC, of the media playing this extortion off as a routine function of Government, and not an illegitimate attempt by the far right to get budget concessions through extortion because their arguments can't win in the court of public opinion.

 

Letters We Wish We'd Written -- Debt Ceiling Dept.

 

In today's Washington Post:

The April 28 news article "Biden reiterates refusal to negotiate on debt limit as pressure mounts"quoted White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre as saying, "Avoiding default is Congress’s responsibility." She nailed it!

It is Congress that is responsible for how much money the government spends. Congress is also responsible for writing the tax laws that control how much money the government brings in. When government spending is more than its income, that is entirely Congress’s responsibility. The debt ceiling is an arbitrary construct created by a law passed by, you guessed it, Congress. At least one part of the original motivation for the debt ceiling was to stiffen Congress’s collective spine to deal with a much smaller debt problem than we have now. Obviously, that idea did not work out.

Now Republicans have weaponized the debt ceiling by threatening to do massive damage to the entire world economy, decrease America’s standing on the world stage and possibly endanger the role of the U.S. dollar as the world’s reserve currency.

My humble suggestion is that President Biden hold firm and not negotiate with extortionists. And if Republicans do follow through on their threats, then just ignore the debt ceiling and honor the debts that Congress has racked up, as the Constitution requires. Then, if you can find any reliable Republican partners, work together responsibly to come up with a plan to deal with the debt. Otherwise, there is always 2024, when we as a country need to kick every single MAGA Republican out of office so our government can get back to actually governing instead of performing to get attention and, of course, campaign contributions.

Randy Maddox, Alexandria

Once again, using the debt ceiling as a hostage in the 2024 budget proess (a budget which the MAGAts haven't bothered to flesh out because the specific cuts they would have to make are politically toxic) is something that only occurs when a Democrat is in the White House. Defaulting on debt already incurred under the full faith and credit of the United States is an unthinkable act of economic terrorism that Republican MAGAts regularly think about as a way of undermining Democratic Presidents and tanking the economy for political gain.

Mr. Maddox's final thought is one we heartily endorse for reasons beyond the current debt ceiling hostage- taking:  kick every single MAGA Republican out of office!

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

 

The good:

The electric red and green glow of the production facility resembles the Icelandic aurora borealis. Algae in their growth stage flow through hundreds of glass tubes that travel from floor to ceiling, all part of a multistep process yielding nutrients for health supplements. Soon, all parts of each alga will be used.

The facility, operated by Icelandic manufacturer Algalif, is a space of inspiration for Julie Encausse, a 34-year-old bioplastic entrepreneur. During a July summer storm, Svavar Halldorsson, an Algalif executive, was guiding her through a tour of the company’s newest facility on the Reykjanes Peninsula.

By the end of 2023, this new facility aims to triple its production. After Algalif dries the microalgae and extracts oleoresin, a third of this output then goes toward health supplements. Algalif has traditionally used the rest as a fertilizer. Now Encausse, founder and chief executive of the bioplastic start-up Marea, hopes to use that leftover biomass to create a microalgae spray that can reduce the world’s reliance on plastic packaging.

Her newest partnership with Algalif is part of a start-up network in Iceland that focuses on inventive and creative technologies to address the climate and sustainability crisis. The Sjavarklasinn (“Iceland Ocean Cluster”) network includes environmental entrepreneurs working across several industries...

These are the innovators, not certain fascist- curious tech billionaires, who are changing the world a little (for now) at a time.

The bad:

... Earlier this week, Representative Ralph Norman, of South Carolina, who is a member of the Freedom Caucus, called on McCarthy to “shut down the government rather than raise the debt ceiling,” adding that this demand was “a non-negotiable item.” In this instance, it would be a mistake to focus exclusively on the MAGA crazies: months ago, McCarthy and Senator John Thune, of South Dakota, both made clear that they favored using the debt limit to force big cuts in spending. But McCarthy’s humiliation has made clear how little flexibility he will have in managing his own caucus during the debt-ceiling brinkmanship.

A repeat of the 2011 debt-ceiling crisis, in which the G.O.P.-led House of Representatives defied President Barack Obama, now seems likely, and it could be a lengthy one. Ultimately, perhaps, even the members of the Freedom Caucus won’t want to be held responsible for a financial crash that tanks their voters’ 401(k) plans and endangers the mighty dollar, especially at the start of another Presidential-election campaign. But who really knows?

More immediately, McCarthy’s hollow victory opens the way for months more of G.O.P. performance art, which will likely encompass passing legislation that has no chance of being enacted by the Democratic-controlled Senate and holding innumerable conspiracy-theory-stoking hearings into the COVID-19 pandemic, Hunter Biden, and anything else that might garner favorable coverage on Fox News and Newsmax. Along the way, the enduring fealty of many House Republicans to Donald Trump is also likely to become clear...

That would be enduring fealty to this POS:

The ugly:

Former president Donald Trump’s fresh attacks towards a Georgia election worker could yet land him in further legal trouble, according to one expert. 

Mr Trump has used his social media platform, Truth Social, to fuel conspiracy theories aimed at Georgia official Ruby Freeman – who has been a repeated subject of the former president’s attacks since the 2020 election. 

In his latest posts, Mr Trump made several allegations and claimed there were “contradictions” in her testimony to the House Select Committee investigating the Capitol riot.

While Mr Trump repeatedly attacked Ms Freeman and her daughter Shaye Mose – two Black women – in the past, this time his posts could have more serious ramifications, according to Lisa Rubin, a legal analyst with MSNBC.

Ms Rubin wrote on Twitter that Mr Trump can be sued by Ms Freeman for defamation since he no longer has presidential immunity. Ms Freeman has already filed lawsuits against several conservatives.

We refer to this monster here as a "Malignant Loser," but "malignant" isn't even enough to capture his comprehensively evil presence.  Nor is POS.  Filing lawsuits against this evader of accountability seems nowhere near enough.

QOTD -- Letting A Ticking Time Bomb Go Off?

 

"There are two ways to de-risk the [debt ceiling] situation in the lame-duck session of Congress. One is regular order, which would require the cooperation of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a number of sitting Republican senators wise enough to join Democrats to address the issue now. But this may well not happen.

"The other option involves a new budget resolution, which would facilitate using the reconciliation process to raise the debt limit, as was done in 1990, 1993 and 1997. This approach would require two votes — the first on the budget resolution and the second on reconciliation. It would take up about two weeks of Senate floor time, but it could be accomplished with only 50 votes.

"Any Democrats averse to taking such a painful vote now should consider how much leverage their party will lose once Republicans control the House — and how much higher the risk of default will be then. It’s generally not a good idea to enter a negotiation with a ticking time bomb and a counterparty willing to let it go off.

"The next two years will be turbulent in any case. The president and Congress can make them less risky by addressing the debt limit in December." -- Peter R. Orszag, former director of the Office of Management and Budget and the Congressional Budget Office, concluding a WaPo op/ ed urging that the debt limit be taken off the table from the bomb- throwing, Christofascist Republicans about to take control of the House.  There have been disturbing, to say the least, signals from certain Democrats that they've "given up hope" of dealing with raising the debt limit in the lame duck session.  We earnestly hope that this is some sort of  head fake, and that the Administration is working with Congressional Democrats to avert giving Qevin McCarthy and his coup caucus a powerful weapon to use against it and the American economy at a critical time.  It's time to show some steel in the face of Republican nihilists.

It's also another reason to give Democrats perhaps a decisive cushion in the Senate by re- electing Georgia Sen. Warnock next month.

Budget And Debt Ceiling Deal In The Works? (Updated)

The White House and Congressional leaders appear to have a deal on the budget and raising the debt limit into 2017:

Just before midnight on Monday, congressional lawmakers and the White House tentatively agreed on a major budget deal that would end such standoffs in the Obama presidency and solve a potentially catastrophic debt default coming within days.  [snip]

Under the arrangement detailed by congressional aides, the debt limit, predicted to be hit on Nov. 3, would be extended into March 2017 -- well into the next president's term.

Additionally, over the next two years, government spending would rise $80 billion above the caps that sequestration currently allows. That money would be doled out evenly between defense and non-defense accounts, with $50 billion budgeted for the first year and $30 billion for the second.

On top of that, the bill would include $32 billion for the overseas contingency fund -- a veritable piggybank for administrations to cover the costs of wars -- split over the next two years. That would bring the deal's total spending increase to $112 billion over two years.  [snip]

... The deal would extend the sequester's cuts to mandatory spending through 2025, which mostly involves a 2 percent cut in reimbursements to Medicare doctors. That reduction was scheduled to expire in 2021 under the 2011 Budget Control Act, which put sequestration into place. It was extended to 2023 under Murray-Ryan deal.

The new agreement also would prevent a 20 percent cut in benefits next year to the 11 million Americans enrolled in the Social Security Disability Insurance program. The cut would be avoided by diverting some of the incoming payroll tax money from Social Security's much bigger retirement insurance program for six years, something Republicans previously said they wouldn't do without cuts to benefits.

If the deal passes, it would accomplish (at least on the fiscal side) what outgoing Weeper of the House John "Mr. Tangerine Man" Boehner promised as his "cleaning out the barn" before his retirement at the end of this month, removing some contentious issues from Weeper- to- be Paul "Lyin'" Ryan's to- do list.   It would also mean Congress wouldn't be sabotaging the economy, at least for the balance of the Obama Administration.

The bill may be brought to the House floor for a quick vote in the next 24 hours.  As a "tell" for who got the best of the negotiations, look for the percentage of Republicans voting against it versus the percentage of Democrats voting for it.

UPDATE:  At least the head of Social Security Works thinks "the hostage has been released" as far as Social Security and Medicare are concerned  -- good news for getting Democratic support.

Today's Cartoon

(click to enlarge)

(Tom Toles, once great Washington Post Bezos Bugle)

The hostage-taking threats continue, all the while those playing to the non-reality-based insist their fingerprints weren't on the last manufactured crisis.

Today's Reads

For your Sunday amusement and edification, we offer:

--  Whiskey Fire's look at the 2014 prognostications of Still Dead Breitbart.com's Ben "Dover" Shapiro,* our "Friends of Hamas" wanker.

--  Frequent blind squirrel Dana Milbank's take on Chief "Justice" John Roberts' complaints about an under-funded Judiciary, and why pro-business, small government right-wingers like Roberts have only themselves to blame.

--  John Amato over at Crooks & Liars wonders if tea baggers in Congress can be forestalled by the "Chamber of Commerce wing" of the Republican Party from staging another showdown over the upcoming debt ceiling vote when the yahoos still have no clue (or worse, don't care) how big a disaster a default would be.

BONUS:  Read about the late Florida Republican Rep. Bill Young's strange notion of what "family values" meant (hint:  hypocrisy).  What a man!

* Re Young Ben, it'll never get old.

Today's Republican Rout... and the Schadenfreude

As we prepare to see the New Confederate/ Republican/ Stupid Party surrender at Appomattox in the House, HuffPo has some of the media take, which over time will become the accepted, irrefutable  narrative of this Republican disaster:

Politico called Boehner's efforts a "disaster."

The Washington Post described it as a "humiliating failure," and said Boehner and his leadership colleagues had " lost all control of their majority."

An editorial from the arch-conservative Wall Street Journal board fumed about the GOP strategy, saying that the House caucus "might as well hand the Speaker's gavel to Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid" and urging Republicans to give up their fight.

Things were not much better on the morning shows.

"After a shutdown that lasted 16 days, a shutdown led by House Republicans...by the end of today, those Republicans may leave with little to nothing to show for it," NBC's Peter Alexander said.

"House Republicans are the clear losers," was how ABC's Jon Karl put it. "They pushed to the brink and have nothing to show for it.

If it hadn't affected so damn many innocent people and put the well-being of our nation at peril, you'd be tempted to pop the champagne corks.  Also, it's useful to remember, as we take pleasure in their misfortune, that these miserable clowns aren't going anywhere soon.  There will be more destructive mischief from them in the future, count on it.

But, because life is short and uncertain, and we may never see the likes of this again, allow us a little schadenfreude:

The Difference Between an "Epic Battle" and "Bad Governance"

When You've Lost (Cont.)...

Neo-con legacy hire wingnut John "Putz" Podhoretz, writing in Rupert "Arrrrgh" Murdoch's NY Post:

If ObamaCare had been as unpopular as conservatives believed, their plan for the shutdown — that there would be a public uprising to force Democratic senators in close races in 2014 to defund it — would’ve worked. It didn’t. Not a single senator budged.

Their tactic failed, and now what they are left with is House Speaker John Boehner basically begging the president of the United States to negotiate with him.

Right-wing PAC Heritage Action:

Michael Needham, CEO of the powerful group Heritage Action, said that he opposed conditioning a crucial vote to increase the government's borrowing authority on the group's main goal: defunding Obamacare.

 Astroturf tea bagger Matt "Kibbles" Kibbe, of FreedomWorks:

Matt Kibbe, the president and CEO of the influential conservative group FreedomWorks, also said in a Wednesday interview with The Huffington Post that the debt ceiling should be raised in order to keep the Obamacare fight focused on the continuing resolution.

It might be high time (pun intended) for someone to say "last call," take the bottle out of Mr. Tangerine Man John Boehner's shaky hand and run up the white flag.  It's unconditional surrender time boys.

(Photo:  Sideburn aficionado Kibbe)

Today's Cartoon

(click to enlarge)

(Jen Sorensen, via gocomics.com)

Monday Reading: "Boehner's Bunglers"

Take a look at Paul Krugman's essay on the bungling incompetents of the Republican Party, many of whom, unfortunately, haven't a clue as to the depth of their incompetence:

Unfortunately for all of us, even the shock of electoral defeat wasn’t enough to burst the G.O.P. bubble; it’s still a party dominated by wishful thinking, and all but impervious to inconvenient facts. And now that party’s leaders have bungled themselves into a corner.

Everybody not inside the bubble realizes that Mr. Obama can’t and won’t negotiate under the threat that the House will blow up the economy if he doesn’t — any concession at all would legitimize extortion as a routine part of politics. Yet Republican leaders are just beginning to get a clue, and so far clearly have no idea how to back down. Meanwhile, the government is shut, and a debt crisis looms. Incompetence can be a terrible thing. 

It's giving the "business wing" of the Republican Party severe gastric distress, and beginning to affect some of the tea bagger revolutionaries in their home districts.

Poll: Republicans May Lose House in 2014

According to Public Policy Polling, in polls conducted between October 2 and 4, the Republican government shutdown could lead to their losing the House:

For Democrats to win a House majority, 17 seats would need to switch to their party's favor. Results show that would be within reach, as Republican incumbents are behind in 17 of the districts analyzed: CA-31, CO-06, FL-02, FL-10, FL-13, IA-03, IA-04, IL-13, KY-06, MI-01, MI-07, MI-11, NY-19, OH-14, PA-07, PA-08, WI-07.

OK.  We know it's a year away, an eternity in politics.  But these results may represent an awakening by the part of the American public that too often confuses which party is trying to solve problems  versus which party is the problem.

As we note below, refusal by the tea bagger controlled Republicans in the House to accept defeat is what's really at play in the political terrorism going on in the government shutdown and debt ceiling battles.  The best way to change the dynamic of this farce is to change the participants -- at the ballot box in 2014.

Weekly Address: End the Government Shutdown

For your 10 reality-based talking points on the Republican government shutdown and looming debt ceiling battle, here's Kevin Drum.

Poster and Tweet of the Day

This looks good, doesn't it:

And capturing the essence of Republican "the mean Democrats won't negotiate" spin strategery:

(2 h/ts to Daily Kos)

When You've Lost...

Bloomberg BusinessWeek:

It’s part of the essential give-and-take of American politics. But the debate hasn’t amounted to much lately, in part because Republicans haven’t been holding up their end of the argument.

Instead, a vocal minority of Tea Party Republicans forced a government shutdown over its opposition to Obamacare, which passed a milestone on Oct. 1 when the first websites offering health insurance went online. It’s worth dwelling, yet again, on the quixotic nature of House Republicans’ demands that the White House and Senate Democrats defund or delay the Affordable Care Act.

And:

If Republican lawmakers were as responsive to business concerns as they once were, the chance of a prolonged shutdown would be slim. But that’s no longer the case. “Republicans are not the party of business anymore,” says Robert Shapiro, chairman of the economic advisory firm Sonecon. “They’re the party of antigovernment.”

 Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Effin' Blankfein:

Goldman Sachs chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, while stressing that the business leaders who met with Obama represented diverse political views, implicitly criticized Republicans for using their opposition to the healthcare law as a weapon that could lead to a U.S. default.

"You can litigate these policy issues. You can re-litigate these policy issues in a political forum, but they shouldn't use the threat of causing the U.S. to fail on its ... obligations to repay on its debt as a cudgel," Blankfein said.

Saturday Cartoon and Reading

(click to enlarge)

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press, via gocomics.com)

Companion reading, from the New York Times op/ed page:

Charles Blow, on the Crackpot Caucus' abuse of democratic institutions:

Set aside the fact that the [Affordable Care Act] law cannot yet be deemed a failure because its provisions are still being phased in and those that have gone into effect seem to be working.

Focus instead on the fundamental disagreement here: The president is saying that he won’t negotiate over a stunt that would destroy our economy and the world’s, while Republicans are saying they are willing to risk it all in order to derail him.

This is not responsible. This is not principled. This is not high-minded. This is personal and dangerous. This is an abuse of instruments of power in pursuit of reprisal.

Gail Collins, on the Crackpot Caucus' 2012 Republican platform wish-list:

This week the House Republican leaders were looking at a long, long list of must-haves that also included changes in regulations relating to coal ash, reduction in Civil Service pensions, restrictions on malpractice suits and an end to some greenhouse gas regulations.

And their members found that list too restrictive. Behind-the-scenes discussion continued about more things the Republicans could demand. A ban on late-term abortions? A trillion-dollar budget cut? Bring back the gold standard? Bring back the bustle? It’s 2013 and anything is possible.

So, what do you think is wrong with these people? Thanks to gerrymandered Congressional districts and the Tea Party, we do seem to have a surprising number of elected officials who actually don’t believe that raising the debt limit so the government can pay its bills is a good plan.

 But, as we all know, elections don't have consequences if they're won by Democrats.

The Stakes In "The Fight Of Obama's Life"

Jon Chait discusses the stakes in the showdown with the House Republican Crackpot Caucus over raising the debt ceiling:

If outsiders have failed to grasp the motivations of the House Republicans, puzzling at their odd redoubling of ideological fervor since November, they have likewise mistaken Obama. Everything I have seen from Obama suggests he understands that he cannot repeat his blunder of 2011, when he mistook the GOP’s debt-ceiling threat for an invitation to engage in normal fiscal bargaining.

Obama can’t tame the monster he created gradually; he has to kill it completely. Bargaining his way through this crisis would do Obama no good, even if he could get through it by offering up a meager or even symbolic concession. Anything that allows Republicans to believe they can trade a debt-ceiling threat for policy concessions simply creates a new hostage crisis the next time the debt ceiling comes up. This negotiation is Obama’s only chance to halt the routinization of debt-ceiling extortion.

Chait's piece should be required reading in the West Wing, though one hopes they've long ago internalized what the stakes are and why they can't cede an inch to the lunatics and anarchists in the Republican Party.

The Rethuglicans' Debt Ceiling Ransom Note

Stick 'em up, America!  The Rethuglicans will shoot the economy unless you meet their demands!

As Jon Chait summarizes, the Rethugs have their list of demands in order to extend the debt ceiling, but there's something oddly familiar about it:

It’s Mitt Romney’s 2012 economic plan. Almost word for word, in fact. True, Romney proposed to repeal Obamacare, while the House Republicans propose to delay it for a year. But the gambit there — extend the debt ceiling for a year while delaying Obamacare a year, so that the next debt ceiling hike lines up with another Obamacare delay — makes the two tactics essentially the same.

The rest of the list is Romney’s agenda on taxes, regulation of the environment, finance and other business, Medicare, tort reform. That’s their opening demand: implement Romney’s economic plan or melt down the economy.

It's quite a list.  And, like the Cruz fail-a-buster, it's all hat and no cattle because it's not gonna happen. 

Apparently, elections don't have consequences if Democrats win.