The Dick whisperer is very, very upset with Obama, because he did not lay out a specific plan in his stump speech yesterday:
I had high hopes for President Obama’s speech on the economy. But instead of going to Ohio on Thursday with a compelling plan for the future, the president gave Americans a falsehood wrapped in a fallacy.
The falsehood is that he has been serious about cutting government spending. The fallacy is that this election will be some sort of referendum that will break the logjam in Washington.
What has him very upset is that Obama has not cut social security and medicare to deal with the debt crisis. He won’t mention the two trillion in cuts that Obama did make (and that the Republicans are trying to wriggle out of because their defense contractor donors are going to lose some money). He won’t mention the fact that the easiest way to deal with our debt crisis would be to let the Bush tax cuts expire (other than to note Obama “complaining” about Republicans refusals to raise taxes).
I’m really not sure I can take six months of this. I wish Milbank would stick to topics he knows something about, like whether Obama looks good in a bathing suit or the optics of Bush’s Mission Accomplished banner.
Xecky Gilchrist
I’m really not sure I can take six months of this.
Sure you can! This is nowhere NEAR as bad as the 2008 Stupid Season, if only because then half of the Stupid was coming from inside the house.
ant
cole, did you see this story?
Former U.S. Senate Candidate Arrested after Clay County Shooting
kansi
I just can’t read that supremely smug idiot. And I will never get past him and his compadre Chris Cilliza in the short-lived Mouthpiece Theater. Never was anything so aptly named!
smintheus
Would be a good start if Milbank firgured out what “fallacy” means. But that would distract him from a bigger problem, figuring out that it’s the lack of jobs that needs to be fixed immediately.
Hunter Gathers
The line to suck off Broder’s mummified corpse grows by the day.
Redshift
And never mind that cutting spending in a weak recovery is a good way to deal with the economy and the budget only if you mean “deal with” in the same way the Mafia uses it.
arguingwithsignposts
Dear Mr. Milbanks,
You think you’re funny. You’re not.
You think you’re wise. You’re not.
You think you’re providing an important service to readers. You’re not.
Have you considered a career in the food service industry?
Thanks,
The American Reading Public
Frankensteinbeck
There’s a semi-hidden important point here. The punditariat LOVES the idea of gutting the safety net. They range from thinking it’s obviously good to zealous favor. This really alters our national media discourse. What the Hell is wrong with these people?
kc
Dana Milbank is a smug, useless asshole.
ChrisNYC
One of the things that is so sweet about the immigration order is that these people have been telling and telling Obama what he must talk about and how he must talk about it — it’s their campaign, not his and they’ll set the agenda thank you — and he just pulls that damn rug right out. Again.
Rob in CT
@Frankensteinbeck:
They’re mostly very well-off people working for extremely rich people, and it’s really easy to look at charts of projected Medicare spending and freak out?
Gregory
Note that he’s trying to create a false equivalence between Obama’s “falsehoods” and Romney’s daily cavalcade of lies. See? Both sides do it, so he’s justified in not pointing out that Mitt’s a serial liar!
Feh.
Afferent Input
As K-thug has repeatedly pointed out, we are experiencing the greatest contraction of Govt spending since the drawdown of military operations following the Korean war. But, according to Milbank, it’s a “fallacy” that govt has cut spending until Gramma is forced to eat cat-food. What a prick.
Mark S.
Next week, Dana pines for Michael Bloomberg to make a third party run.
Brachiator
Meanwhile the 1% make out like bandits all over the world.
What’s that thing again about capitalism rewarding success and punishing failure?
Also too, the problem (in Amercia or Canadia) just ain’t government spending, especially as morans like the Dick Whisperer misconstrues it.
We are in a deeper mess. There’s tons of tax provisions set to expire at the end of the year. When both Mittens and Obama say that this election will determine the direction of the country for decades to come, they are doing more than just spouting campaign rhetoric.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Frankensteinbeck:
I have a fantasy about TeeVee pundits being required to disclose their incomes in screen crawls, I’d also be curious to know what kind of circumstances they grew up in. Whenever I hear some soft-handed pundit who has to find time in his/her day to burn calories (my hands are soft, and I don’t sweat when I work) blithely talk about raising the retirement age, I wonder if they have ever had an actual conversation with someone who earns a living through physical exertion.
Does anyone watch Meet the Press? Does non-Fatcat David Gregory still uncritically refer to Obama’s economic agenda as “class warfare”? I know he’s done it at least twice.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
But you can only write so many articles about whether to use one-ply or two-ply toilet paper.
jl
Here’s the link the piece, which I cannot find in Mr. Cole’s post. Though I am not ept blog machinewise and may have missed the link. Apologies if this is redundant and the link is there.
Skip the falsehoods, Mr. President, and give us a plan
Dana Milbank
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-obama-needs-a-plan-now/2012/06/14/gJQAjvbXdV_story.html
On other hand, Cole may not have given a link because he judged it not worth the time to read. I hate to pass up any chance to heckle Cole, but I concur in his judgment this time.
rikyrah
Using ‘Dick’ makes me think of Halperin, but isn’t that a picture of dear dumb DANA M?
comrade scott's agenda of rage
The sooner we don’t click on links to the Dick Whisperer’s blatherings, the sooner he’ll go away.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@jl: Actually, it’s the second link in the post.
Ruckus
@arguingwithsignposts:
Just think what he could do to your mcnuggets.
Culture of Truth
sweet jesus
Washington (AP) — Spain should raise taxes and cut government workers’ pay to narrow its budget deficit, the International Monetary Fund said Friday.
The international lending group said that Spain’s deficit is likely to exceed estimates and the government should
therefore consider several measures to boost tax revenue.
jl
After reading the whole thing, the Milbank piece is so lazy and misleading, it is well into Brooks territory. Actually, even worse, it is misleading in ways that are into Robert (no relation to late Paul) Samuelson territory (lumping social security with Medicare and Medicaid together as one thing called ‘entitlement spending’ that supposedly threatens US solvency)
And, Milbank totally whiffs it on the only substantive point he makes in the piece, which is that the proposed Medicare plan is insufficient. All it does, says Milbank, is cut a few points of the growth rate off Medicare. But that is the whole game: can we get per capita medical care spending growth rates down further towards growth rates in per capita GDP? From what I can tell, that is the only substantive point he really makes, and if that is it, and he is going to get all wonky and talk about growth rates, maybe he should go dig up some analyses and give some numbers and show he knows what he is talking about. That fact that he doesn’t, and doesn’t even mention the ACA, casts doubt on that.
The only other substantive point Milbank makes is about repeal of the Bush tax cuts, but I think that is misleading too. I listened to the whole speech, and it is pretty clear that Obama wants most of the Bush II tax cuts on the wealthy to expire. Is Milbank saying that we need all of the Bush II tax cuts to expire for a realistic plan to reduce the deficit? Then he should say so and give some numbers, but he doesn’t.
Milbank implies that he thinks something along the lines of mythical Bowles Simpson plan is needed. That is a big assumption, so maybe Milbank should take his own advice and make a case for the these two old coot’s version of the non plan that they (IMHO) misleadingly foisted off as the commission’s work.
The column ends with an appeal to the phony debt crisis, backed up by IMHO patent recent liar and corrupt too big to fail bankster Dimon.
I think Dimon lied his ass off about his role in the Fail Whale Morgan deal. Who was the final authority on the deal? A lot of evidence says Dimon was, but read his statements on it and see where he admits it.
Some one needs to call out Milbank on this mess and see if he can demonstrate any grasp of the issues to back up this very misleanding column. Maybe Brooks will write something on Burke, or his new rich man’s manse this week, and Krugman can take time to respond, and name names if that is allowed.
Steeplejack
@rikyrah:
Dana Millbank is the dickwhisperer, as detailed in Cole’s third link.
Ruckus
@kc:
I think worse than utter useless asshole. Many(most) of the pundits are actively trying to undermine the financial safety net of millions of people. That’s not just useless, that’s utter dickishness. And at what gain for themselves? None or so little as to be insignificant. Now for the people who write their paychecks? No, doesn’t even rise to insignificant as well. Other than getting their hands on the funds, which seems unlikely, the only gain is power over workers. Wankers.
jl
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Dammit, how did I miss that? I scrolled! I scrolled over it looking for link. I did I did. I swear.
Sorry.
jl
Shorter Milbank: Bowles Simpson! Or you’re a liar.
He just should have had Alan Simpson write a deranged screed. At least that would have been a fun read.
schrodinger's cat
@jl: Sully is fluffing Dana Milbank. Obama has to embrace Bowles-Simpson, long term confidence, fiscal sanity and a lot of gibberish that makes no sense. I think he should go back to discussing religion or bears or views from the window or something like that. Idiot.
Vishnu Schist
@ruckus
Of course they want to undermine the safety net. All of those lazy fucking assholes who get some sort of assistance need to go. And I’ll be goddammed if all the benefits the most privileged generations this country has ever seen ie the baby boomers want to pass anything on to other generations, you see they worked their fucking asses of through fully funded public schools and publicly funded affordable universities to get where they are. They didn’t need no goddamn government help. Just like all those farmers in California didn’t need any fucking help from the government to irrigate their fields or all of those Iowa farmers don’t need help to raise all of that fucking corn that turns into those cokes those asshole libtards want to limit to 16 oz. you see it’s really quite simple, there are those that rely on government handouts to help feed themselves and there are those that are living on the streets.
LAC
@Belafon (formerly anonevent): Or the great debate with Chris” Lispy” Cillizza on boxers or briefs.
Scuffletuffle
@ant: Closet door flying open in 3..2..1..?
Ruckus
@Vishnu Schist:
You are absolutely correct, I just try to look for the motivation for things. That usually helps to find ways to counteract the craven dickishness. What’s in it for them? As far as I can tell there is, at best, an insignificant upside for the dicks. They pay the same amount in on WAGES(not investments, unless I’m incorrect. The best investment I’ve ever made was the ten bucks I’ve won in the lottery and that of course cost me a lot more than that overall) as everyone else and yes it is a sum but you do get about what, 96-97% back when you retire, if you live long enough. So if what they get out is peanuts then it is only about being dicks and power/control over their wage slaves. Fuck them.
BTW many of those boomers(I’m one and from CA!) I have talked to have no idea that that college they went to now costs dramatically more to attend than it did them. They don’t understand that someone entering the workforce today HAS to have a higher education just to survive, let alone prosper. Like most they have been in their little worlds, getting along, ready for retirement and don’t understand the world is not close to the same place they grew up in.
brantl
As a title for Dana Milbanks, “The Dick Whisperer” is one word too long. The last one.
Vishnu Schist
@Ruckus
I hear ya brother. I see it in my own family, suddenly unions are the BIGGGESTTT THREAT TO MANKIND GRRAAAHHHHH! to the lifelong IBEW member. Those unions have way too much powerrrrerrrr! Even though union membership is the lowest its ever been except may 1890 or something. But what does that matter. There’s FOX News which tells them the truth, each and every day. The truth being Self Loathing that would make Hunter Thompson look like Up With People. You are exactly correct that the self awareness of 49% of the population is exactly 0%, they all think I worked my way through, I’m a self made person when its 50% bullshit. Yes of course they took advantage of the opportunities given them (in some cases), in others they are just pissed as hell that someone somewhere might have something they don’t. Like the old saying fundamentalist religion is based solely on the premise of the overriding fear that someone somewhere might be having a better time than you. So you have basically a significant portion of the population living in Stockholm Syndrome essentially sympathising with their captors. But then what the hell does it matter to them? They got theirs and FU to everyone else.
Frankensteinbeck
@Ruckus:
Think of it not in terms of pure gain, but cost vs gain. As mentioned above, they’re rich and believe they’re utterly insulated from social infrastructure and safety net cuts. They’re wrong, but they’re still acting on that belief. If there’s no cost to consider, a non-practical gain like feeling like an awesome Producer surrounded by Moochers is a strong motivation. So is indulging their spite, or even whims. Never underestimate ego satisfaction as a gain.
xian
what’s in it for them is avoiding the tax burden they owe to replace the entitlement money bush looted and “refunded” to them.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Ruckus: Like most they have been in their little worlds, getting along, ready for retirement and don’t understand the world is not close to the same place they grew up in.
Oh, they’re well aware things have changed – or at least one thing: they’ll cheerfully tell you any music newer than about 1972 sucks.
And young people have gotten so much lazier.
tones
@brantl:
So you mean Dick Whisp ?
Ruckus
@Frankensteinbeck:
Except that there is a cost to them. As people become less and less enchanted with what life is like, they start to look for causes and cures. In the past that’s been rich heads on pikes. Now if the rich dicks who want to fuck over the majority of us for no other reason than they can(they already have a shit ton of money more than they can ever spend) feel that no one can touch them or their money machines then they can see it as no cost. History has shown eventually that to be wrong. My experience has been people with money always figure the cost of everything, be it monetary or otherwise. The go/no go point on spending it may be different for them from you or me but cost is always figured in.
@Xecky Gilchrist:
And I heard all the same crap when I was a kid. Same shit, different day.
They provided all kinds of labor saving devices, accessible to many more people, then complained when people used them, to save sweat and time. For which they provided many more diversions to spend that extra time.
I have discussed the cost in both money and effort of earning a living with others in my generation and many have no idea that things have changed anywhere to the degree they have.