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When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

Compromise? There is no middle ground between a firefighter and an arsonist.

The real work of an opposition party is to oppose.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Innocent people do not delay justice.

The way to stop violence is to stop manufacturing the hatred that fuels it.

the 10% who apparently lack object permanence

Cancel the cowardly Times and Post and set up an equivalent monthly donation to ProPublica.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

So many bastards, so little time.

Wait, what?

I really should read my own blog.

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

The National Guard is not Batman.

Everything is totally normal and fine!!!

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

One of our two political parties is a cult whose leader admires Vladimir Putin.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / What Exactly Are They Studying?

What Exactly Are They Studying?

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This is destined to be an instant classic. Under pressure to list specific cuts, The Republican Study Committee has announced that they will cut a program that… expired several months ago. So I guess they can throw that in the “Win” column!

Truly awesome. Can’t you just feel the fiscal discipline?

Reader Interactions

51Comments

  4. 4.

    Martin

    Oh, and TANF was the program that every single governor, including douchebags like Barbour wanted Congress to save. It was the single most cost-effective employment program out there.

  5. 5.

    El Cid

    That the program has already (unfortunately) ended (i.e., was destroyed by default) has nothing to do with whether or not Republicans should scream against it.

    What, is reality expected to intrude to Republican planning? Is it likely that the people listening to these rants will doublecheck the basic assertion that the program under fire exists?

    Of course not.

  6. 6.

    Violet

    @Martin:

    Next cut: withdrawing all of our troops from Vietnam!

    Withdrawing all our troops from Germany and Japan might actually save money. And that war ended first.

  7. 7.

    RalfW

    There is no reality, there are no facts, there are only assertions. Lots and lots of assertions, repeated endlessly, until we all go home and pour over spreadsheets comparing the relative benefits of 5 different trash haulers.

    Or pour 5 fingers of some concoction. Good night.

  11. 11.

    electricgrendel

    Oh my God!! The November election’s results were such a wave that they have caused intention to ripple back through time and nix programs that Republicans are just now thinking of cutting! WIth this newfound power we’ll have the budget under control in no time.

  13. 13.

    electricgrendel

    @sherifffruitfly:

    Yep. Which is why there is a very perverse part of me that is going to enjoy the next two years. Americans have consistently chosen to be ruled by the mindless, to punish the sensible and then decry the consequences of doing so. And that’s just the majority that voted. The rest have sat on their asses and then been shocked when their lack of participation brings hell down upon them.

    So- I’m just sort of done being nice about it.

  15. 15.

    General Stuck

    Can’t you just feel the fiscal discipline?

    They are filled with religious like fervor fancying themselves on a mission from gawd of sorts. To rescue the realm from glutinous liberals, and I hope everyone understands where this is headed. I doubt Boehner or any other semi sane winger in the House can stop it, even if they wanted to. They are going to play the mother of all games of chicken with Obama, at least with shutting down the government, and truly insanely quite possibly facing off with Obama over raising the national debt ceiling in February next year. And that is very very tricky business, and quite dangerous. Because there are some fairly strict time lines for doing that raising, and even if they are bluffing, dithering around with that requirement could end up being an accidental national suicide, with global consequences.

  16. 16.

    KG

    Let me get this straight… there is a government program that has helped create private sector jobs. a program that has been praised by even the most conservative Republican governors. It has expired, meaning there is nothing to cut. some people wanted to renew it, but they didn’t get their way. and the Republicans are saying they are cutting the program as proof that they can be fiscally disciplined?

    I need some more of the Mississippi Mud Black & Tan I was drinking earlier

    +not nearly enough

  18. 18.

    IrishGirl

    @Judas Escariot – love it!!!! John, what do you think? A new category for wingnut fiscal nonsense? “Smells like fiscal discipline”…If you don’t use it on Balloon Juice, I’ll use it on my blog.

  19. 19.

    kdaug

    @General Stuck: Yurp. Let’s dance. The teabaggers will finish what GW started, unless the remaining sane Repubs are able to bring them in line.

    If not, all bets are off. Upside: The ones who will take the biggest financial hit if we default on our debt will be billionaire hedge-fund managers and bankers. But the rest of us are screwed either way. And I, for one, would eat my quota of dog food to see some ex-billionaires whimpering in the streets.

  21. 21.

    handy

    Man, all we need is the failed drunk back in the White House and it’ll feel just like 2005 again! Awesome times!

  22. 22.

    mclaren

    See? The Republicans are already accomplishing their goals. Unless those useless stupid Democrats.

    Here’s a list of suggested cuts the Republicans can make:

    [1] They can cut those inefficient biplanes from the United States Army air corps. Instant savings!

    [2] They can eliminate government subsidies for slaveowners. Not only cuts wasteful Washington spending, but also a big win for human rights!

    [3] They can slash government support for the buggy whip and scrimshaw industries. Big savings there.

    [4] Privatize the whale oil lamp industry. This will not only save tons ‘o bucks, it’ll supercharge American entrepreneurship during this economic downturn!

  24. 24.

    Redshift

    Whenever I hear “Republican Study Committee” I can only think “study group” in the worst sense — a bunch of slackers getting together in hopes that someone smarter will show up so they can copy the answers off him.

    Which, come to think of it, isn’t too far from the truth…

  30. 30.

    KG

    @kdaug: one way this plays out is that the saner portions of the GOP say, “screw it, we can get a majority with the Dems” and ignore the teabaggers. I don’t know if that could actually happen without some statesmanship… and I’m not sure we have much of that left.

  31. 31.

    kdaug

    @KG: Nope. That bridge’s been burned. It’s between the baggers and the Repubs now. Let’s see how many of them are psycho enough to let the country slide into default.

    Either way, the Dems wash their hands. Cold comfort, because that shit’s gonna be nasty worldwide.

  33. 33.

    John - A Motley Moose

    The Dems need to hammer at this day after day.

    The first program the Republicans singled out to cut was one that helped poor people work at productive jobs. Unfortunately, that program is no longer funded, so there are no savings to be had. However, it is interesting to note who will suffer the most under Republican cuts. More alarmingly, the Republicans are threatening to shut down government, including funding for the military and homeland security, unless rich people keep the 3.5% cut in income tax rates that is set to expire. Oh yeah, that shutdown may also delay or cancel Social Security checks and Medicare payments to doctors and hospitals.

    Today’s GOP – reverse Robin Hood. Take from the poor and give to the rich.

  34. 34.

    Martin

    @Bill Murray: Gates and Buffet are both lobbying for higher taxes, including keeping the estate tax.

    It’s just stunning that the GOP can keep pulling this shit year after year.

  35. 35.

    FlipYrWhig

    @mclaren:

    [4] Privatize the whale oil lamp industry. This will not only save tons ‘o bucks, it’ll supercharge American entrepreneurship during this economic downturn!

    Keep your Big Government out of my spermaceti!

    @Judas Escargot: Mystical Fiscal? Obfiscation? Let’s Get Fiscal? Fiscal Graffiti? Fiscal Therapy?

  36. 36.

    Dennis SGMM

    “Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle merite.”
    (“Every nation has the government it deserves.”)
    -Joseph de Maistre

    America became a fat baby with a fat baby’s simplistic demand for “more” and a fat baby’s inability to understand that sometimes “more” is not good in the long run. The Republicans appeal to the fat baby because the baby is not a deep thinker and has a very short memory.

    More!

  40. 40.

    stuckinred

    Sesame Street is produced in the United States by Sesame Workshop, formerly known as the Children’s Television Workshop (CTW). It premiered on November 10, 1969

  42. 42.

    JPL

    @stuckinred: Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you..
    I didn’t need to click on the link above to realize that’s my representative. I’m so proud. Maybe he’ll even end up on Colbert or Stewart for his ability to slash the imaginary budget.

  43. 43.

    SRW1

    What Exactly Are They Studying?

    What other programs have expired in the recent past or are about to expire in the near future. They will cut them all, to the absolute bone. Which will have to satisfy the rubes for the time being.

    In 2012 they will then again run against the wasteful spending of bloated bureaucracies because despite all that cutting there’s still going to be a huge deficit. Those tax and spend liberals at the head of all these government departments never give in. It’s kind of an eternal struggle really.

  45. 45.

    El Cid

    @SRW1:

    In 2012 they will then again run against the wasteful spending of bloated bureaucracies because despite all that cutting there’s still going to be a huge deficit. Those tax and spend liberals at the head of all these government departments never give in. It’s kind of an eternal struggle really.

    Why not? They got away with blaming the housing collapse on undeserving poor people lying for mortgages they couldn’t afford, and the government gave all this to black and Latino people because of Jimmy Carter and the CRA, and Republicans couldn’t overcome Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and Nancy Pelosi even when Republicans had a majority in all both elected branches of government and a Supreme Court majority.

  46. 46.

    chopper

    lolz. it’s like you’re unemployed and underwater on your mortgage but you’ll totally balance out your finances by no longer buying that weekly lottery ticket, which you already stopped buying a month ago.

    we are so boned.

  47. 47.

    Joshua

    Why can’t he just say he is going to de-fund the NEA or something? That’s always popular with that crowd. It doesn’t matter if it’s true.

  48. 48.

    Ash Can

    Hey, I’d just as soon they didn’t have any plans for cost-cutting, because those assholes always cut the wrong things.

  49. 49.

    Mnemosyne

    Steve Benen noticed that they’re claiming they would save $25 billion by cancelling a program that cost $2.5 billion.

    Fucking decimals, how do they work?

  51. 51.

    Nancy Irving

    Whether the program still exists or not is irrelevant to GOPers. It’s just a dog-whistling talking-point (“welfare queens!”) that they can continue to use to pander to the tea-baggers.

    Have you noticed that GOPers no longer mention ACORN, because ACORN no longer exists? No? You didn’t notice that?

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