Credit where credit is due. Rs have successfully spun media into believing raising debt limit is concession on their part.
— Greg Sargent (@ThePlumLineGS) September 26, 2013
Isn’t that the sad truth?
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cmorenc
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Gloria Borger being prime examples of selling the notion that “both sides do it” and that the public sees it that way too.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Isn’t it tho? It has to be hard on them not to be able to blow up the world twice in a short 5 years.
dmsilev
Maybe someone should explain to Chuck Todd et al. that if the Republicans take us over the default cliff, their investment portfolios will get hammered. Self-interest seems to be one of the few ways to get through to these nitwits.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
you should read the replies, too. Stuart Stevens, Mitt Romney’s genius, says if Dems were in charge, America would be Detroit! Cause Republicans shrink The Deficit! Wait…. what….?
Yatsuno
@dmsilev:
Meh. Doesn’t affect their ability to get cocktail weenies at Sally’s next party. The. Village. Does. Not. Care. They have enough squirreled away in banks in the Caymans and Switzerland to ride this out. Who cares if it will be virtually worthless when they withdraw it?
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Apparently there needs to be a reissue of that infamous “Math is hard” Barbie, only this time dressed as a Republican.
Baud
Spinning the media to adopt the Republican point of view isn’t really that hard.
Suffern ACE
@Yatsuno: They probably think that they’re perfectly hedged. Hopefully, they’ll lose money no matter what happens. Like the rest of us fools.
Suffern ACE
Perhaps Obama is making a major concession by not rounding up a dozen Congressmen and shooting them.
Jeremy
People need to realize that the Beltway press is working with the GOP. All you have to do is listen to one of the press briefings where most of the questions are framed in a conservative way.
Davis X. Machina
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The Republicans will be ‘the party of fiscal probity’ until every last voter who can remember Eisenhower is dead.
And Democrats are soft on defense, despite this. (Note this is from the king of the granny-starvers’ pet project….)
Zombies. Because ideas can be un-dead, too.
Yatsuno
@Baud: Easier than journalanimism, certainly. Just print the press release and get dressed. Sally shan’t be kept wanting.
@Suffern ACE: There are no consequences for the Village. Ever. Of course there is absolutely no way to short the entire market exploding, but hey, some life lessons are best learned the hard way.
jl
And blame where blame is due. The GOP is lying its ass off. I guess, as per Todd, a journalist’s job is to kibbutz without worrying about the truth. And looks like Sargent is operating in Todd mode today.
If you or I watched a con man running a long con on an old lady until he go her bank account number and then we swanked around in a self-satisfied way relating the artistry of the con man, we just might meet some disapproval of our amoral behavior.
But, alas, we are not journalists. We are not special.
Sargent should get back to doing some journalism instead of sending out dumb twits.
Edit: I can never remember how to spell kibbutz, kibbitz, kibbets? Anyway, nice word. Describes our failed corporate media experiment well.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Do’h! This is the Sargent tweet that drew out Stuart Stevens
Villago Delenda Est
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Stuart Stevens is a fucktard, but you knew that already.
Who resumed deficit spending when we had surpluses in 2000 and 2001?
Obviously, Clinton did it in his third term.
Villago Delenda Est
@Baud:
Not difficult to do at all, seeing how they’re predisposed to the Rethug point of view in the first place.
Which is why we need those huge guillotines.
Jeremy
@Villago Delenda Est: Yeah and Clinton was to blame for 9/11 happening though Bush was in office. And the financial crisis started on Obama’s watch though it started in 2007.
The democrats are to blame for everything.
jl
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: thanks,. you got me to click and see Sargents tweeter twit stream. He is doing good work,. I flew off the handle on that one tweet in the post, which pissed me off.
pliuege
sorry, spinning vile unreality never deserves credit. Its like saying Attilla the Hun and all the other slaughtering maniacs through history were efficient at what they did.
? Martin
Maddow is doing a great job tonight airing Reagan’s dressing down of his party over debt limit hostage taking.
Obama really should just take Reagan’s speeches and air them unaltered. See, both sides think not raising the debt limit is just the stupidest fucking idea ever.
El Cid
Well, if you define “concession” as “anything less than 100% of GOP fantasies,” it’s a concession.
Phil Perspective
@Jeremy: Of course. Who owns the different papers/magazines and TV stations?
raven
@Phil Perspective: So are these rich people not going to take it in the ass if the debt limit crashes and burns?
kc
It’s Obama’s fault. He hasn’t done his job of selling the concept that financial havoc might not be a good thing.
kc
@raven:
God, I hope so.
Yatsuno
@kc: BULLY PULPIT!!! Y OBUMMER NO USE??? IMPEACH HIM NAOW!!!
John O
The whole thing is depressing beyond belief and comprehension.
Strange times, for sure.
kc
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
It’s my distinct impression that when wingnuts of my acquaintance invoke Detroit, what they really mean is “OOGA BOOGA N****R N****R!”
Suffern ACE
OT, but kind of related. If you have a chance at some point, check out the Art of Killing. It is not the easiest documentary to digest. But on topic, one of the minor characters in the documentary is a reporter who worked for a newspaper whose publisher was running a torture chamber where accused leftists were sentenced to die. They weren’t actually killed there (or so they say), but the publisher was a leader of the militias that were forming. The denial of the reporter who says he knew nothing of what was going on in the office building where he worked just reminds me of how fricking weak and self-isolating our reporters can be. The gangsters actually call the reporter out on his “you were good at hiding all this from me.”
kc
@kc:
Of course, I could be mistaken.
Chris
@Jeremy:
And the fact that most people still think it’s “liberally biased” is a testament to their success.
It boggles my mind, though, that the stream of media personalities falling all over themselves saying “the media is liberally biased!” doesn’t raise a few eyebrows.
raven
@efgoldman: k
Suffern ACE
@kc: Imagine if Detroit could have made it’s bonds the backbone of the global currency markets and could print the money used to pay them off as a last resort. Yeah, sure, chaotic inflation. But no, defaulting on the debt is poltical and if we don’t pay, I’m expecting that the elected officials will be replaced with folks who will.
Yatsuno
@kc: Hmm…if it walks like a dogwhistle…
? Martin
Huh. UN resolution on Syria looks likely to be passed tomorrow. Would send UN in to seize and destroy all of Syria’s chemical weapons. Being drafted under Chapter VII which means it’s binding and enforceable, which means the UNSC can authorize the use of force for failure to comply.
So, Obama as warmonger – wrong.
Obama making huge blunder on ‘red line’ – wrong.
Obama as foolish on middle east diplomacy – wrong.
Did anyone, anywhere other than Obama/Kerry/etc. get this one right? And it looks like Iran is slowly creeping toward something positive as well.
raven
@? Martin: Morning Joe will be here soon to tell us that it was blind ass fucking luck and Obama LOOKED bad doing it!
Suffern ACE
@efgoldman: I will find it interesting to see what happens if the ratings agencies take us down to BBB with a note “Until you get rid of your D- Congress, your grades will suffer.”
Linnaeus
Feel like drawing up a “first up against the wall when the revolution comes” list.*
*No, I will not actually do this. I also denounce Stalin.
Davis X. Machina
@? Martin:
See, Obama does get his war, and a UN figleaf to cover it!
No dick left un-swung! Quagmire! We’ll have troops in there forever, just like Libya.
Suffern ACE
@? Martin: But the Iranians would listen to Obama speechifying and therefore the fact that he didn’t immediately send in the Secret Service to arrest their diplomats is a snub of a weak man.
raven
Hang on Hokies!!!!!
Yatsuno
@? Martin:
The Iranians certainly are hoping so. The real problem with Iran is determining who is doing what and under what authority they are doing it. Watch what the Supreme Leader says over the next couple of weeks, because that will dictate for sure if there is a new course. Then he has to get the Revolutionary Guard to cooperate as well. Iran is just so damn byzantine sometimes, but what do you expect from the folks who invented bureaucracy?
Yatsuno
@Linnaeus: I see no denunciation of Hitler or the broccoli mandate. I therefore question your intentions here. I think we need to inspect your countertops.
Suffern ACE
@Yatsuno: So why to the East Romans get such a bad rap for complicated systems.
NotMax
There is an argument to be made that what the Rs are proposing is unconstitutional (and thus a direct violation of their oath of office), as the 14th amendment states that the validity of the public debt, as authorized by law, shall not be questioned, and the raising of the debt ceiling is done to cover already existing debt authorized by law. Refusal to honor the debt, IMHO, falls under the category of questioning its validity.
raven
@NotMax: Impeach Obama!
Linnaeus
@Yatsuno:
Formica. From 1960. Yes, really.
RareSanity
@raven:
I think I’ve mentioned to you before how much I loathe Paul Johnson. His whole schtick is getting old.
The big bad service academy coach with all of his discipline…all night, nothing but penalties, fumbles, sacks, blown coverages, missed tackles and failed 3rd (and 4th) down conversions.
He’s as big a joke as the GOP.
raven
@RareSanity: I wondered if you were around. I couldn’t believe they went for that 4th down!
I’m glad we didn’t drive over, with my wife’s recent back surgery it would not have been a good idea.
Yatsuno
@Suffern ACE: Marketing. But a lot of the Byzantine Empire was the old Persian one, so their adopting their government structures is not a huge surprise.
@NotMax: This is also why there is a legal theory that Obama can raise the debt ceiling or eliminate it unilaterally, but Congress would draft articles of impeachment the day after. The US used to not have a debt limit in fact, but it was the opposite: the government literally could not spend money that was not appropriated and this did not work for when the government needed to deficit spend for crises or foreign adventures and such.
Figures it would be Woodrow Wilson who fucked us over.
Suffern ACE
@NotMax: That’s why I was dumbfounded by Paul Ryan’s crippling proposal that would forbid the government from issuing new debt, making it impossible to roll over t-bills. That is actually quite mad, but would seem like a serious proposal to nincompoops.
RareSanity
@raven:
That’s another part of his “system”…he regularly goes for it on 4th down.
He’s pissin’ away whatever credibility that program had before he got there.
ETA: Hope your wife feels better…this win should help a bit. :-)
Yatsuno
@Suffern ACE:
Holy shitballs. How did I miss this stupidity from the Zomie-Eyed Granny Starver?
raven
@RareSanity: You sure don’t need me to rub it in. I’m bookin my fishing trip for Thanksgiving, I’ll catch it on the tube.
thanks, she’s better but that back surgery takes time to heal. Take care.
Suffern ACE
Whoopwhoo. Up to 40 whole followers in tumblr. I’m on my way to being a social media maven. This must be what Cole felt like when he got his first blog comment who wasn’t his mom.
Anya
@John O: It’s all too depressing. That’s why I am going to my happy place — hoping that Chris Rock was right about this being one long last temper tantrum bigots are throwing before they just go away. By the time President Hillary takes the helm they will accept the inevitable.
I say this becasue we all know the reason for all this craziness. When your society faces deep, complex existential crises, the only place to go is crazytown with it’s simple black and white solutions, the kinds that ultra-conservative politics provide. The conservatives see their world changing around them (gay marriage, a black family living in their Whitehouse, and women actually being in charge of their bodies) so they’re freaking out. They will go to sleep soon. Unfortunatly, the media will continue to suck.
RareSanity
@raven:
I think I’ll just skip “Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate” this year…there’s nothing fun about it when there’s not even a hope that it’ll be a good game.
I hate Paul Johnson so much…
mdblanche
@Suffern ACE: There he goes, making pre-concessions again.
Citizen_X
@Yatsuno:
Glen Beck was right!
Anya
@? Martin:
We will know if this is a “positive” development when Netanyahu throws a tantrum. He really wants his war with Iran.
Chris
@Anya:
The problem is, they’ve been throwing it for fifty years.
Chris
@Anya:
Indeed. “His” war, which we’re supposed to fight for him.
Yatsuno
@Chris: Well duh. Why should Bibi risk his military assets and personnel when he can just send in ours? Plus no budget worries back home since Big Brother US can just come in and knock a few mullah skulls for him.
Jane2
I am so sick of this. We had a local (Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada) referendum on whether the City should go with a traditional bid process for a waste water treatment plant, or the new conservative policy darling, P3. The City hired a firm out of Ohio that does a lot of GOP campaigns. The City won the referendum.
What I learned from it is that people buy lies, distortions, and bullshit if they’re repeated enough, and even more disheartening to me, are not the least interested in hearing any facts or views to the contrary.
Now I understand why the GOP does what it does, why people believe them, and why the simple message resonates.
However, none of that excuses a lazy media. None of it.
Anya
@Chris: Don’t be a buzz kill, man!
@Chris: Precisely and he can always count on our useful idiots to make that happen.
Yatsuno
Holee shitballs. Bibi just shit himself.
Yatsuno
@Yatsuno: FYWP.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/politics/us-iran/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
Frankensteinbeck
@Davis X. Machina:
Mclaren DID warn us that Obama already had us embroiled in ‘3-4 permanent, unwinnable wars’.
Suffern ACE
@Linnaeus: You know, you shouldn’t be so dismissive of the value of lists. When the troubles come, you are only going to have a very short window to act or the same people who were in charge of our silly discourse will be put back in charge again later. What we want is a new set of fools and seizing the opportunity to rid us of fools when it presents itself might be your actual vocation.
Mike E
Robin Williams on The Daily Show, talking about Canada: You are the nicest country! You’re like a really sweet apartment above a meth lab.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
We’re gonna need a bigger guillotine
Posted by Doug Milhous J at 9:35 pm
The Clash?
trollhattan
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
“Jaws” baby. There’s a reason Charlie don’t surf.
Omnes Omnibus
@trollhattan: Jaws Defarge.
Jane2
@Mike E: We really are…except for crazy, unpredictible uncle Stephen Harper in the spare bedroom.
Yatsuno
@Jane2: I miss Jack Layton. But I’m hoping Trudeau can make some headroads here and maybe turn just enough ridings to force an election or something.
fuckwit
@Anya: True. Michael Moore put forth this theory in Stupid White Men, in 2001: all this spittle-flecked, neck-vein-popping, red-in-the-face screaming and howling is the rage of old white men at last losing their power and throwing a tantrum about it.
BTW this was seen in the South during the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. The last holdouts were the most vicious. Then they lost.
BillinGlendaleCA
@fuckwit:
Fixed it for ya.
Jane2
@Yatsuno: Trudeau is an empty suit and the Liberals haven’t learned their lesson yet. I think we’re in for a rough ride the next four years, regardless of who wins, because Trudeau is getting way too much traction, not the least of which is due to the fact that the current Opposition leader is from Quebec.
YellowJournalism
@Mike E: That entire interview was hilarious. His throwaway about “Mork riding a bike” made me laugh so hard that I snorted.
Yatsuno
@Jane2: I look at it this way: if Harper loses his majority in any way that’s still a win. A coalition might temper the worst of his wingnut ideas at the very least. If he has to fight to get what he wants that’s better than Parliament being a rubber stamp like now.
Jane2
@Yatsuno: Minority government is the only way to go until they come to their senses.
PIGL
@Jane2: RatFCKING Bastards. It makes me sick, and nothing short of killing people will ever stop it, and they’re probably ready for that too. Welcome to the permanent Harper majority.
Skippy-san
I nominate Ted Cruz to be the first to ride the Bascule.
JGabriel
@pliuege:
I feel relatively sure that the History Channel has already made that documentary.
Debbie(aussie)
@? Martin: sadly none of the UN’s resolutions involving Isrsel are ever followed thru. Garenteed this one against Syria will be. Hypocrisy thy name is………?
jake the snake
@Yatsuno:
You are insulting Sally’s hospitality by saying she serves cocktail weenies. Sally would serve only the finest quality caviar and chocolate truffle to the very serious people she hosts.
jake the snake
Doug, I am totally stealing your post title.
artem1s
yes, of course, once again, Doug J is arguing that the Rs forever branding themselves as RINOs is good for John McCain.
remember the party cannot fail you, you can only fail the party.
Once again they have painted themselves into a strategy that leads to conceding that they cannot stop Obamacare and their constant yammering about debt is a false flag. Surely all those hopey changy Obots that got fooled in 2008 and 2012 will see the light and accept their new austerity overlord, Paul Ryan… this time it will happen, really.
Boehner’s opportunity to actually be the Speaker and lead is gone. Start packing dude.