1 President Obama: Carter Redux, Or Diabolical Genius?


Malevolent retard out for revenge against the US and the West.

2 The question is moot.  WE.DON'T.HAVE.THE.MONEY.

3 I can see the strategy here, which is why I think the GOP should just disregard his budget entirely, and act independently. 

4 This is the same point the WSJ has been making today. 

Obama's budget?  Vote present, let the GOP do the lifting then fuck them.

Axe is not an idiot, but this story is starting to get old and it must be RACIST!

5 Obama is not carter redux or a genius. He is a communist idiot who has the press in his back pocket.

If the GOP is smart they will throw his budget in the trash because they already campaigned on what they were supposed to do with the 2012 budget.

THEY WILL WRITE SEVERAL SMALL BUDGETS BY INDIVIDUAL DEPARTMENT.

How many times do we need to repeat that. However I will agree with one thing. If the GOP doesn't deliver this time, they will be finished as a Party.

6

 ...Obama gets reelected, the GOP is finished as a political party,

Can we stop the premature declarations of "Permanent Majority" and "Finished as a Party" crap every election cycle? Chicagoboyz (s) need to find some historical perspective.

Yes, each bloated budget moves us closer to fiscal catastrophe. It also moves us closer to the ultimate confrontation between those dependent on government, and those paying for government. Even if the latter is a minority, they win that battle.

 

7 This is bullshit.  Obama isn't that smart, both short-term and long-term thinking.  He's a lazy idiot incapable of strategizing beyond yesterday.  Everything he touches eventually deteriorates and crumbles.  We're seeing it in ObamaCare, Gulf drilling, AZ lawsuit.

Nothing's permanent with this moron, so brilliant enduring strategy is simply beyond his capacity.

8 I'm not sure what he wins here.  I know it's been discussed to death here and elsewhere, but there is no way that we borrow/print another three or four trillion dollars that we don't have before the next election without collapsing Western Civilization.

Yeah, I think Obama hates us all enough for that to be a win, I just mean that topic seems to imply that this is a run of the mill political issue where one side or the other will get their way (or muddle on indecisively) and things will otherwise continue normally.

9
"Obama plans to destroy the GOP reform wave of 2011"

Forgetting that many of the newly elected members are not "go along-get along" sycophants, but serious members of the unwashed proletariat who went to the Kremlin on the Potomac for the express purpose of de-funding this behemoth. 

Hang the Czars!

10 Whether Obama is an evil super genius or not reaally doesn't matter because he lives in a bubble of unreality, the same type of unreality that says, "You did not see me bow to the Saudi king," when he clearly did.

11 Ogabe has done stuff so far out of the box that I wonder what his game plan is as far as all the Chinese debt.  I get Cloward & Piven and collapsing the US system, but Zero & Co.  can't be so naive as to think that China will be happy to see the US default -- unless Ogabe doesn't intend to pay them back.  The only way that would fly on the part of the Chinese is if the Chinese don't exist.  I know it's ludicrous, but these are thugs we're dealing with.  What would be the best way to take care of a debt?  Don't have anyone you need to pay back. 

12 the jokes on him. The government can't sustain this forever. So in the end we win out. It's gonna collapse someday

13 It's ddd that our newly deficit-reduction-focused President's budget again increases the projected deficit in 2012.

14 Obama is lazy and Carter redux.     

15 or it's odd

either or

16 It will implode on itself. History doth repeat itself.

17 He is choosing not to be the President in favor of being a perpetual campaigner and sandbagger.

You are the government, Pubbies. Send his joke of a budget to the ditch where it belongs (leave a couple of coupons for slurpees at a reduced price). Get to work straightening out the mess that is the federal government. Find whatever Dimbulbs that you can win over, but make it clear to them that compromise == surrender your position isn't in the mix.

18

Diabolical Genius

Yes.  This.  As soon as I heard $3.73T, and not something in the neighborhood of $3-$3.3, I knew he was doubling down.

Now, the GOP will make "draconian" cuts to get the number down to slightly more than it was last FY.  The GOP gets killed in the BLM and Obama still gets a budget increase, further murdering the future of liberty in the world.  Feed the pig, and all that.

19 3 I can see the strategy here, which is why I think the GOP should just disregard his budget entirely, and act independently. 
Dude.  about 60% of the GOP is in favor of this budget, or something near it.  They've gotta bleat to the base like they don't like it, but they do.

20

...Obama gets reelected, the GOP is finished as a political party,

Just because somehow the Obamunist is re-elected in 2012? No matter how many gains the GOP racks up in the House and Senate in the same year? Let's not panic, people. We have been here before, in 1996. Funny how to me that seems like the day before yesterday.

21 I vote for Carter Redouche If this retard can not be beaten, then there's no point to Western civilization. Time to figure out in which direction Mecca lies...

22 Well, as far as having the majority of Americans dependent on the government: that ship has left the port already, or soon will. If you factor in all the various federal, state, and local entitlement and aid programs -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, AFDC, WICC, etc. -- then more than half of Americans already depend on the government to a greater or lesser degree.

And less than half of all Americans pay federal income taxes. 

While we don't have the money and this whole she-bang is slated to end only in tears, the people living off of government largesse won't surrender the benefits they feel they "deserve" without a fight.  Just look at the riots in Greece.

23 Green's point is that Obama's laughable budget is simply a way of handing the GOP enough rope to hang itself with, a trembling lamb staked out in a clearing waiting for the wolf to come while the hunters lurk in the trees. Pull quote:

I don't think this strategy will work for him though.

When things were much better, and the federal budget was half of what it is now, Clinton could demagogue cuts.

Now the Republicans still have to be cautious of where they start the cuts, but this budget is yet another nail in Obama's "moderate, post partisan, technocrat" image.

24 Ebola's plan could work if we can endure hyperinflation and 30% unemployment. All this talk of getting the GOP and the TEA Party to crush themselves is just plain stupid.

25 And here's a nice article about INTEREST-GROUP LIBERALISM, the game both parties play to get re-elected, and the reason why the federal budget will never, ever shrink.

26 6
Can we stop the premature declarations of "Permanent Majority" and "Finished as a Party" crap every election cycle?
Posted by: CJ at February 15, 2011 10:18 AM (9KqcB)

Amen to that! The track record for all who have made such declarations is dismal. They have no sense of the ebb and flow of history. They are the truest believers in unbounded exponential growth, a concept that nature slaps down each and every time the latest bandwagons touting its certainty get rolling.

27 I think he's great because he's a real revolutionary.  Power to the People!!  Down with the pigs! 

28 The good news is he went to Harvard. So there is that. The Congress should just ignore him. Work on their priorities and let the media spin it. There is no way they can win if they take Sparky's direction, so better to chart their own course and force Sparky to react. With all the Foreign Policy triumphs and vacations he might not have that much time to devote to domestic policy. It would be really nice if they could just start zeroing out programs from the 1930s through 1960s. Lets see if these constituancies actually have any muscle or are just historical phantoms.

29

Do you think the general public pays attention to these inside baseball things?

Write it down because I'm gonna tell you how it is.

If Unemployment is below 8% Obama is getting elected no matter who we nominate.

If unemployment is over 8% then there is a much much better chance we take the White House.

By 2012, there will be people who have been out of work for 4 years. There will be a lot of baby boomers who go into retirement earlier than they had planned because they lost their job and very few companies want to hire someone in their 60s who doesn't have some specialized skill that is in demend.

This will increase the burden on our budget.

30 While we don't have the money and this whole she-bang is slated to end only in tears, the people living off of government largesse won't surrender the benefits they feel they "deserve" without a fight.  Just look at the riots in Greece.

Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at February 15, 2011 10:30 AM (9hSKh)

And here is where clustering all the liberal dependents in big cities is a problem for the left.

If the Republicans actually enact real cuts and rioters destroy parts of LA/NYC/etc...who cares?

Arguably part of the problem we face is there clusters of government dependents in areas were there are few jobs and lots of agitators. Let them self correct that.

31 Ebola is betting America is a junkie that would rather OD than kick the habit.

32

 can see the strategy here, which is why I think the GOP should just disregard his budget entirely, and act independently. 
Dude.  about 60% of the GOP is in favor of this budget, or something near it.  They've gotta bleat to the base like they don't like it, but they do.

I agree, while fiscal cons made great strides in 2010, we're still not the majority in our own party let alone the house and senate.

A lot of senators and representatives just want to "get stuff done for the people" and if that means making minor cuts and giving Obama a political victory then they will happily do so.

33

Chicago Boyz article is based on a failed premise - that there are TWO parties

There is only One Uniparty Bought and Paid For Cohort of Irish Setters

[Irish Setter: nice hair / lotsa noise / notootbright ]

This reality explains the response of the UniParty to true conservatives. CPAC tries to foist uberDweeb Daniels and George Romneys' lesser Son onto conservatives. Cain ? West ? Christie ? Palin ?!! .... Nyet !  Fringe, all.

We've already seen Issa back down, RINOP demeanor toward the Illegal Alien mellow, and reappearance of accomodationists such as MushMouth McCain and his acolyte Linda Graham. .... the Peasantry has had their outburst, now go away and let We the Ruling Klass resume our scientific Socialist Path to a Glorious Future, yo !  LibProgs always bring their A-Team, RINOs not

The political process will not yield any rescue for this devolved nation

UniParty gavnoyeds will not change their souls. PC cultimulcheralism and radical egalitarianism are dogma. Znayu ? 

Prepare Accordingly

34 If unemployment is over 8% then there is a much much better chance we take the White House.

That's been the general pattern.

Economy is good and the incumbent gets re-elected: Reagan, Clinton, Bush 43.

Economy is bad and the incumbent loses: Carter, Bush 41.

I would stipulate it has to be around 8% real unemployment though - 8% which is really 14-16% won't cut it.

Keep in mind as recently as 2006 real unemployment was around 5%...

35 meh.  Odipstick probably is playing a game, but this is not the 1990's.  People talk about the debt and deficits alot more.  Last election was almost entirely a message on cutting govt.  He is just as likely to give the repubs enough rope to build a bridge.

(although I am still pessimistic any reasonable budget will occur).

36 If Obama wants to punt, which I think he does, then just cut the budget x% across the board, save Defense, and blame it on Obama.

37 His base is made up of the weakest members of society. All those weapons and all that ammo purchased in the last two years were not bought by the 52%. It's a self-cleaning oven. Go ahead, have some riots.

38

"Nothing's permanent with this moron, so brilliant enduring strategy is simply beyond his capacity"

Indeed.

What I would say to the aforementioned:  "You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity"

39 The GOP gets killed in the BLM

Butt-licking media?

40 Barry is playing a game of chicken in a car which is about to run out of gas. He can't win, the economic reality doesn't support the game plan. Economics are ALWAYS the undoing of leftist loons like him. All the rhetoric and gaming in the world can not change the basic underlying rules of economics.

41 Ignore me at your peril.

42 I don't understand why anyone thinks that the Indonesian's budget was ever going to be anything even worth consideration by sentient beings.  He's an idiot and it was obvious that his budget was always going to be a non-starter - as is true for every "idea" that crosses his pea-brain.

The GOP has a job to do that has nothing to do with any retarded budget suggestions from the guy who thinks that he can reduce health insurance premiums by 3000% or talks about "profit and earnings ratios".  What sort of fool would ever take that retard seriously?

What the GOP does need to do is stress how Medicaid must be cut, and cut deep, as the first "entitlement" to go.  But, in order to do that, ObamaCare must be killed, since it forces HUGE future expansion of Medicaid, which is a total killer.  That's why the repeal of ObamaCare must be attached to any debt-limit bill, to assure its passage.  Otherwise, let the debt-limit stay where it is and let entitlements be forced to cut expenditures as there just be no money for them.  Either way, that is how it has to go.

But the notion that anything that comes out of the Whine House is something that reasonable people would take seriously is seriously mistaken.

43

We're still 2-3 election cycles away from having a "fuck-you" Congress who will spend only what we have and damn the BLM.  And that's only if the trend continues like we saw in 2010.

 

It won't.

22 Democratic Senators are defending. 11 or more will hold serve no matter what.  It's not that we're ignoring the ebb and flow of history; it's that every time there's a crisi point, the left moves us closer to socialism and the abyss.  We will be lucky to hold serve on the fiscal or social issues for the next 8-12 years.  After that?  With all the old people and crimmigrants and lazy douchebags?  We're fucked.  Forever.  You can't unscrew a pregnant woman and you can't unscrew a liberal, Western democracy.

Never happen.

44

Or... someone who really has a delusional worldview, who truly believes he is trying to help.

He is surrounded by syncophants and people with their own agendas, who feed both his ego, and his false worldview, but are supporsed to be "experts".

His economic team, tells him he can spend his way out of debt... his energy and EPA people seem the believe that if you put enough pressure on the American people, they will come up with a magical solution, AND he is a true believer in perfect saftey which needs the government to regulate everything in life to make us safe.

Put these together with an Administration who does not beleive that there are limits to its power? and we have the current mess.

45 UniParty gavnoyeds will not change their souls. PC cultimulcheralism and radical egalitarianism are dogma. Znayu ? 

So when are you planning to suck off a Winchester? After all, we're doomed and nothing can ever change that, right?

(Just let us know before you do it. I want to see what happens when a skull that vacuous is ventilated.)

46

Obama does not get re-elected in 2012, period.

Why?  Because, nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing he has done/proposed/thought/or uttered a platitude about will create a single job.  No president will win if he comes into the election with high unemployment.

He can fudge the figures but everyone will know the actual numbers.  They will see them in the price of food, the price of gas, the forclosed and vacant homes, etc.

The MFM cannot cover up things like they used to and each year the number of people who get their news via the Internet grows.

Who will win in 2012?  Whomever is not Obama.

(And I hope it's Herman Cain...)

47 Two of americas all time worst presidents CARTER and OBAMA and both of them are liberal demacRATS

48

I don't understand why anyone thinks that the Indonesian's budget was ever going to be anything even worth consideration by sentient beings.

Yes! To believe this is a genius plan, you have to accept the idea that he could have done something useful but chose not to. Riiiiight.

49 Ogabe has done stuff so far out of the box that I wonder what his game plan is as far as all the Chinese debt.  I get Cloward & Piven and collapsing the US system, but Zero & Co.  can't be so naive as to think that China will be happy to see the US default -- unless Ogabe doesn't intend to pay them back.  The only way that would fly on the part of the Chinese is if the Chinese don't exist.  I know it's ludicrous, but these are thugs we're dealing with.  What would be the best way to take care of a debt?  Don't have anyone you need to pay back.

It's pretty simple: the worse the better.

Obama's core values are anti-American. That's how he was raised. It's who he is. He doesn't have the same metrics for "success" so none of his solutions will look like they will bring success.

He doesn't care if China gets mad. He doesn't care if Israel gets mad. He doesn't care if the UK gets mad. Why would he? He doesn't view our alliances as valuable, and moreover he doesn't care if they did bring value to the US in the first place.

Continuing to assume good faith with Obama is exactly how we got in this situation.

50 Well, how about we just cut the fucking budget already and find out?

Am I the only one sick of the endless excuses for not even trying?  And this is what Lexington's article is-another excuse.

51 To #32:

It doesn't really matter who we have in the GOP right now; they can still act entirely independently from Obama's budget.  Even if we don't have a majority of fiscal cons in the party, let the party battle itself rather than give Obama anything he's asking for.

52

Three points:

1. It's the former. Even still, B+ makes Carter look like a member of Mensa.

2. That said, I don't put it past him that this is all smokes and mirrors.  It's how he's always lived his life. By my take his only life accompilshment has been to master the art of maniuplation so this theory actually makes a bit of sense.

3. Lexington Green sounds like a fictitious porn name.

53 I think the genius part is right BUT it's not Obama. It's soros.

54 Or... someone who really has a delusional worldview, who truly believes he is trying to help.

Pretty sure the only person Barry ever tried to help was Barry.  All that "we'll pay your mortgage and give you free kollij and health care" garbage was about him, not about other people.

55 President Obama: Carter Redux, Or Diabolical Genius?


I have to go with diabolical idiot.  He does as he is instructed.  This will be much worse.

56 Butt-licking media?

Or ball-licking media.  Either one works.

57 Weren't we hearing how the Republicans and conservatism were finished after Obama was elected in 2008? Wasn't it James Carville who predicted a new, 40 year utopia for Democrats and progressivism? Two short years later, what happened?

58

Foo!  Sock off, homies.

 

59 We have to cut the budget to find out what's not in it.

60 We will see multi-generation families once again all living in the same house, or sharing income. It's the only way to cut SS payments and keep folks alive. SS disability payments will disappear.

61

I'm afraid the whole system will have to collapse before any real reform on spending is done.  The 2008 financial crises was the perfect opportunity for a massive reset. Banks should have been allowed to fail, housing allowed to find equilibrium, and congress should have cut spending. 

Would it have hurt?  Yes.  Would we be on a better track for growth going forward ? Hell Yes.  Instead, gov't intervened in the market place, passed the mother of all entitlements (healthcare), and have turned on the money printing presses.

From the Politicans point of view(both Dems and Reps), there have been no, repeat, consequences for their reckless spending reflected in the marketplace.  Therefore, they will continue on this path until there is.

 

The system will have to fail first and be assured, it will. The only question is the timeline. 

62 I'm afraid the whole system will have to collapse before any real reform on spending is done.

Agreed

63

So when are you planning to suck off a Winchester? After all, we're doomed and nothing can ever change that, right?

(Just let us know before you do it. I want to see what happens when a skull that vacuous is ventilated.)

OK, while you and I disagree with the doom-and-gloomers, why must you be so insulting?

The guy's analysis was spot on. You and I just don't agree with the doom and gloom conclusion.

64 Get ready for MFM stories of families locked out of National Parks. Crying kids and pissed-off soccer Moms. Look closely and you'll see the SEIU t-shirts underneath their outfits. The MFM will try 1995 again.

65 Well we could always just transfer whole departments back to the states and let them do what they will with it. The Federales were hired by the States to provide Foreign Policy, National Defense and Common Currency. There really is no need for "big box" retail marketing of nice to haves within a Constitutional Government. If NY wants a wet dream socialist utopia, let them pay for it. Dittos CA. If MT wants to go without a welfare society so be it. 50 States, 50 different solutions. Lets see which ones actually work.

66

Hey...If you need 2trill, ask for 3trill...then blame the republicans for giving it to you!  Eeezy-peezy lemon squeeeeezy.

Works every time!

Repubes=Charlie Brown, Democrats=Lucy

 

  

67 @64  What analysis?  It's all fonts tricks and gibberish.

68 Speaking of BLM, the AP reported exactly the opposite of what was said at a press conference here in WI.

69 50 States, 50 different solutions. Lets see which ones actually work. Posted by: Tigtog at February 15, 2011 10:51 AM (Q5+Og) That's just crazy talk!

70 This is not 1995.  If Obama wants to try to fight the last war, let him.

71

Obama does not get re-elected in 2012, period.

I'll take that bet. If the GOP trots out Romney or Huckabee, Obama is going to cruise. It won't even be close.

And as far as the budget goes: nothing matters if the Feds won't tackle Social Security and Medicare. Defense spending needs to be cut too, and it will be, but the real battle -- as ever -- is over SS/Medicaid. And that huge bolus of 60-something Boomers who are about to retire will go from being payors into the system to being beneficiaries...and if you don't think that'll impact their voting habits, think again. We have at most 10 years to deal with this; after that, collapse is a mathematical certainty.

 

72 @70 More like 45 states, 45 solutions.  I can think of five right off the top of my head that should be in receivership.

73

Get ready for MFM stories of families locked out of National Parks.

Crying kids and pissed-off soccer Moms.

Look closely and you'll see the SEIU t-shirts underneath their outfits.

The MFM will try 1995 again.

The Commiecrats already tried this with Gabby Giffords as the Murrha Building.

I think we should use the Kruggie Index. The more hysterical Krugman gets, the better.

74 The biggest threat to the GOP is their inability to shoot straight with the American people. They really need to do a Chris Christie. Take the time to explain the hard choices, and why we have to make them. People instinctively know you can't spend more than you make, and eventually Visa, and Amex gotta get paid. If they do that, they can make Obama look like a clueless wastrel unfit to govern.

75 Well, as far as having the majority of Americans dependent on the government: that ship has left the port already, or soon will. If you factor in all the various federal, state, and local entitlement and aid programs -- Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment insurance, food stamps, AFDC, WICC, etc. -- then more than half of Americans already depend on the government to a greater or lesser degree.

And less than half of all Americans pay federal income taxes.

The crash is inevitable and it will make the 1930s look like boom town.    Democracy cannot survive without free markets.  Free markets cannot exist without private property.  Private property cannot exist when the non-owners can make laws that take it from the rightful owners and give it to those who have not earned it.  

There are simply not enough politicians with the courage to do anything meaningful to prevent the coming collapse.   For a long time in this country, only property owners who paid taxes could vote.   We are finding out the hard way that there was a good reason for that rule. 

Obama cannot be blamed.  He told us over and over again that, if elected, he and his followers would turn this country into a third world hell hole.  Well, they are on schedule to do just that and there is no one to stop them. 

There are 47 republican senators.  That should mean that every bill sponsored by a democrat should be dead on arrival.  But, it doesn't.  Because there is nothing more useless than a republican senator.  Every single one of those pork barreling, ear marking, log rolling, treasury looting, back room dealing, double talking, pontificating, smoke blowing, aisle crossing, back scratching, quid pro quo ing, bribe taking, yacht cruising, leather chair sitting, whiskey sipping, country clubbing, junket riding, media whores will stand by and watch the country go right down the tubes so long as they can have their little pet rock. 

76 @72 The problem with the "defense spending needs to be cut" routine is that is doesn't need to be cut-it does need to be re-programmed a bit, but unless we also scale back the missions we expect the defense department to fulfill, there is not a lot of room to cut-especially given the Navy's complete cock-up of their shipbuilding plan.

It is going to take an awful lot of money to unfuck the Navy.

77 77 Ol'Gates has already informed his master he is willing to cut even more than asked.

78 Ebola will get 100 Electoral votes in 2012, that is if he even runs. Rahm didn't leave because he loves deep dish pizza.

79

And as far as the budget goes: nothing matters if the Feds won't tackle Social Security and Medicare.

Posted by: Monty at February 15, 2011 10:53 AM (4Pleu)

MediCAID is the most important federal budget item to cut and must be cut first, and cut deepest.  But, Medicaid cannot be dealt with so long as ObamaCare is around, since Medicaid is the program that ObamaCare empowers beyond all reason (and forces the states to expand, too).

No budget battles have any meaning without MediCAID being cut very, very, very deeply ... and that requires a repeal of ObamaCare.

No offense meant to you, Monty, since everyone does this, but SS and Medicare shouldn't even be discussed until the axe falls hard on Medicaid and ObamaCare is reduced to dust.  Without that, there will be no budget control, as Medicaid would be expanded (far beyond their silly projections, now) to eat up any savings from cutting other programs (that people actually are specifically taxed for, adn will continue to be taxed the same for - or more - even as their benefits are drastically cut).

This is the most important point.  Medicaid must go and it must go first.  In order to do that, ObamaCare must go.

80 61 We will see multi-generation families once again all living in the same house, or sharing income.

It's the only way to cut SS payments and keep folks alive.

SS disability payments will disappear.

Posted by: eman:Victorious People's Front of Logprof at February 15, 2011 10:45 AM (gZVTR)

Its already happening, at least in my Family... my older Sister has our Niece living with her.  I'm in the process of moving back to the Family home to take care of my Mom (and no, not the basement LOL).

We're all downsizing because we see whats on the horizon, and it aint pretty.

81 I remember it well. The country was outraged by the shutdown

No he remembers it wrong, the country was outraged by the spineless republicans who caved and funded the "essential" parts of the government going during the so called shutdown.

82 I agree, while fiscal cons made great strides in 2010, we're still not the majority in our own party let alone the house and senate.

So team up with the Social Cons.  But you'll have to really team up with them, not ask them to put their beliefs on a shelf.  There are a whole lot of us who look at Huckabee (for instance) and think "What is he doing claiming to be conservative?"

Social Cons are a perennial source of power for the Republicans at least since Reagan, and we're here for the wooing: the problem is we tend to get stuck with the choice of a Huckabee or a Romney.  When there is a 3rd candidate who isn't "as bad," we go that way *ahem*McCain*ahem*.  So meet us half way- stop trying to shut us up on our issues (not you, specifically, necessarily- mostly referring to Mitch Daniel's "truce"), and instead help us out- point out how doing things like ceasing to fund Planned Parenthood will help the budget, or how increased drug use tends to cause additional unemployment/homelessness, etc.

Between those two wings of the Republican Party, we could nominate anyone we wanted, and we'd get most of the rest of the nation to go along.

83 The problem with shutting down the gubmint is that the MFM will easily convince the mouthbreathers that the R's are mean and icky.

84 Please stand by for an important message about the chocolate ration.

85 I remember being thrilled with the shutdown eventhough it interfered with my kid's 5th birthday party trip to the dinosaur exhibit at the Smithsonian. Seemed like the republicans were growing balls. Alas.

86

The crash is inevitable and it will make the 1930s look like boom town.    Democracy cannot survive without free markets.  Free markets cannot exist without private property.  Private property cannot exist when the non-owners can make laws that take it from the rightful owners and give it to those who have not earned it.  

You rang? 

87

No offense meant to you, Monty, since everyone does this, but SS and Medicare shouldn't even be discussed until the axe falls hard on Medicaid and ObamaCare is reduced to dust.

Medicaid is a state program, not a federal one. States are at liberty to cut Medicaid at any time they want (if they're willing to forgo the federal copay, which so far they're not -- ObamaCare may make believers of them, though). Medicare is the big dog, with SS only slightly behind. I get into this argument with other people all the time too: if you're going to insist on this cut or that cut before SS or Medicaid, then you might as well just do nothing and wait for the crash.

Do you doubt me? Check out this chart, and then you tell me how we're going to get anywhere without substantially cutting SS and Medicare. (Actually, Medicare is so terminally screwed that I almost don't worry about it any more -- it's going to fail pretty soon no matter what we do. That's why SS is a bigger worry to me.)

 

88

>>> I'll take that bet. If the GOP trots out Romney or Huckabee, Obama is going to cruise. It won't even be close.

Monty - Really?  Romney?  I know it's old hat to blast the shit out of Romney here at the HQ and I'm no fan of his either but think about how he would look to the rest of the country.  I think if he runs a really good campaign he could win.  I mean next to obama - he would crush him in debates - tall handsome blah blah blah - just conservative enough. 

I think that Indies and fed up dems would fall in love with him.  Again look at him through the countries eyes (Indies especially) and not Hard Core Conservative eyes.

 

89 86 I was thrilled too.Than we got our asses kicked.

90

President Obama's budget isn't fiscally irresponsible, it is fiscally insane.

91

I remember it well. The country was outraged by the shutdown

No he remembers it wrong, the country was outraged by the spineless republicans who caved and funded the "essential" parts of the government going during the so called shutdown.

Actually, he doesn't remember it wrong. The Demunists and their MFM apparatchiks were engaged daily in what a talk show host, Ken "The Black Avenger" Hamblin, called "The Dead Baby Chronicles" (What happened to him? He was a great host.)

The key question is does the MFM have the power in 2011 that it had in 1995.

92 Posted by: Roadking at February 15, 2011 11:06 AM (g9G+e)

Except that "Hard Core Conservative eyes" are the base, and if Romney gets the nod, there's at least a 40% chance (better, really) that they'll just stay home.

There aren't enough Independents to win the election without your base.  The trick is not to move to the Independents, but to get them to move toward you.

93 92 The answer is:yes to a degree.The ignorant still rely on the MFM.What percentage would you put them at?

94 @90  OK, what would you have us do then?

95

Medicaid is a state program, not a federal one. States are at liberty to cut Medicaid at any time they want (if they're willing to forgo the federal copay, which so far they're not -- ObamaCare may make believers of them, though).

Posted by: Monty at February 15, 2011 11:06 AM (4Pleu)

That's incorrect.  There is a huge FEDERAL expenditure on Medicaid, and ObamaCare forces states to increase their Medicaid rolls.  That's the vehicle they will use for eventual socialization of health insurance, and thus, health care.  It should also be noted that health care "for the poor" is what generally drives out-of-control health care expense, as with KikiCare or the other state health insurance disasters.

Medicaid should be nothing but state programs, with no participation or funding from the feds, but that's not how it is.  Medicaid's budget at the federal level is very close to that of Medicare.  The difference, of course, is that we are specifically taxed for Medicare (and will continue to be, even as money is siphoned out of it and given to Medcaid - that's half a trillion in ObamaCare magic, to start) and Medicaid goes to those who don't pay taxes.

96 A few things:
1) submit one budget for each department; force him to fight a 30-front war as he tries to defend the spending of each department.
2) Submit the Clinton Budget of 1996; slap a "GOP" label on it and don't tell him who's it really was and let him rail against that "irresponsible, draconian, clear-cutting"' why not further alienate him from the only part of his coalition that we have a chance of picking off in 2012?
3) Do unto him as he has done unto us; submit a budget with wholesale cuts in liberal programs that you know he wouldn't dare cut--NLRB? Gutted. Planned Parenthood? Gone. NPR/PBS? Just enough money to fund children's programming only. And increase taxes on his constituents/voting blocs; a $20 "fee" for public transportation riders to "fund" additional public transportation, a $500 per hybrid car fee for green tech research, a $100 per union member fee for retraining of unemployed workers; and on and on--it doesn't take much to think of a way to slap a fee on some liberal interest group all in the name of furthering their cause; let them squeal that they don't want to really further their cause through the efficiency of the federal government.

Get in their minds and play their game.

97 Ok so Romney had romney care. Maybe we could flog him or something. His other drawback is that he is from the northeast which makes the South cringe and want to haul out the 'ol squirrel rifle. I also know he's persona non-grata here BUT he would go a lot father than a 4'11" bald guy just because women vote more often than men. I keep saying this and it pisses off Y-not. I always qualify it with not moronettes and a few others but women DO NOT follow the issues, or care to. Their understanding is limited. Even conservative women, for the most part, do not understand the WHY. Put up a guy who is a conservative AND looks good and you'll do alot better. I still think McCain could have won if he didn't look like grandpa and didn't run such a fucking piss poor campaign.

98 93 I can't imagine being "hard core" and staying home.I never would,shit,I drummed up enthusiasm for McClame and I'm pretty hard core.

99

Do you doubt me? Check out this chart, and then you tell me how we're going to get anywhere without substantially cutting SS and Medicare.

Posted by: Monty at February 15, 2011 11:06 AM (4Pleu)

I never said not to cut SS and Medicare.  That has to be done.  What I said was that Medcaid at the federal level has to be cut FIRST and DEEPEST, and that requires a repeal of ObamaCare.

100 Posted by: Jimmuy at February 15, 2011 11:11 AM (ygOR/)

Cut.  Jib.  Newsletter.

101

 I know it's old hat to blast the shit out of Romney here at the HQ and I'm no fan of his either but think about how he would look to the rest of the country.

RomneyCare will kill him -- he's never come up with an adequate defense of it, nor really is there one. Add that to the fact that he's basically just a boring, middle-of-the-road, mediocre middle-manager type...he's a loser. His fiscal-con background (even forgetting RomneyCare) isn't particularly exciting. He talks big, but his background doesn't give me much confidence that he has the will or the ability to do what needs to be done.

And Huck is about as "small government" as Obama is.

 

102 95 Do what needs to be done.Try to convince the masses,try to explain why things have to be done.

103 82
No he remembers it wrong, the country was outraged by the spineless republicans who caved and funded the "essential" parts of the government going during the so called shutdown.
Posted by: Follower of Cthulhu at February 15, 2011 11:01 AM (F/4zf)

I remember one of the MFM's (at that time) Big Three interviewing some cow at Yosemite who blubbered and wailed that they were "suffering" because they couldn't stage their annual how-de-do / do-si-do pageant over the end of the year holiday season.

I so wanted to strangle both her and the broadcast crew ... slowly ... all the while asking how that suffering compared to her make-believe suffering.

104 I'll take that bet. If the GOP trots out Romney or Huckabee, Obama is going to cruise. It won't even be close.

This; and you can throw Rudy or any other RINO in that mix as well.

105

I have no doubt Opie iWon Kadopie's plan is to throw out some weak BS budget, let the Republicans lay into it and impose serious cuts that Americans will feel, then he will demonize the evil Republicans and try to get a bounce from the people's anger at the cuts and ride the wave into 2012.

But this time, I don't think people are going to be too angry about facing cuts since the economy is in such disastrous shape.  Anybody paying attention will realize that we are on an unsustainable path, with a total economic collapse coming if things don't change.  All the Republicans have to do, and this is the shaky part, is explain what the likely scenario is if we tax and spend at the level projected by Obama's joke of a budget.

So my vote on the question is that Obama thinks he's a genius by going with the tried and true formula of casting the Republicans as the bad guys, but he's so out of touch with the sentiment of the people, that it will backfire big-time.

106

Except that "Hard Core Conservative eyes" are the base, and if Romney gets the nod, there's at least a 40% chance (better, really) that they'll just stay home.

Then they need to get out of the fucking country. Is it the mormon thing? What is wrong with these complete and total retards? WTF? They would really rather have Obama in there again than offend their fucking delicate sensibilities. I believe I hate these retards more than I do the far left because of their obstanant mulish stupid didactic sactimonious prim outrageous tantrum throwing.

107 Posted by: dagny: logprof lives! at February 15, 2011 11:11 AM (l3g1A)

Yeah, but there are such better candidates who don't have Romneycare and D*mn Yankee hanging around their necks (just to sum up your points).

Posted by: steevy at February 15, 2011 11:11 AM (NGIQo)

Not that it mattered here in Texas, but I know a lot of people who were so angry at the Republicans that they voted Bob Barr.  So maybe not staying home, but close enough to it.

108

It's what I have been saying all along.

When are you morons gonna wake up?

See my comment here as an example.

109

Except that "Hard Core Conservative eyes" are the base, and if Romney gets the nod, there's at least a 40% chance (better, really) that they'll just stay home.

Stay home so they can have 4 more years of obama?  Not buying it.  That's my point Romney will look like a fucking wet dream next to this disaster of a POTUS.

There aren't enough Independents to win the election without your base.  The trick is not to move to the Independents, but to get them to move toward you.

Totally agree with you here - but I believe that that's is what you would be doing with Romney.  But dude he's squish!  To you and me and the HQ yes he is - to a lot of indies and dems - not so much.

110 If this comes to pass, it would be a heck of a distraction for the GOP to slip their passed House budget up to the Senate.  It's what the commies in charge would do.  Never let a good crisis...

111 I'm as hard core as they come. Social and fiscal con. I campaigned for that old fool McCain because the alternative was horrific.

112 if you're going to insist on this cut or that cut before SS or Medicaid, then you might as well just do nothing and wait for the crash.

I disagree strongly.  "Preserving SS/Medicare" should be our wedge issue to get the Feds out of our business and to get the economy going, which is the only thing that can give us a softer landing on our debt.

Before you go to the pensioners, insist on cutting everything else.  No DoE (either one), no Federal EPA, no NEA, CPB, voting assistance, legal assistance.  Nothing.  Free the economy and if that's not enough, after rallying the Seniors to our side, then propose a no-cola policy, then a minor increase in retirement age etc.

113

What I said was that Medcaid at the federal level has to be cut FIRST and DEEPEST, and that requires a repeal of ObamaCare.

And what I'm saying is that by the time you get done pissing away a lot of valuable time trying to enough states on the same page (which you're never going to do) to make a financial difference to the Federal portion of Medicaid, SS and Medicare are going to careen off the cliff and take us with it. It's like worrying about a leaky roof when the house is burning down around you.

I cannot fathom why people think we have all this time to dick around before we get serious about SS and Medicare.

 

114 Honestly, if the GOP were to actually nominate the guy who provided the model for Obamacare - only a few years after a popular uprising against the bill led the GOP to retake Congress - it would definitely signal the end of the GOP as a conservative party.

On the bright side, I would enjoy the sheer irony of listening to Rush and Hannity pimp Mittens to their listeners on a daily basis...

115 Yeah, but there are such better candidates who don't have Romneycare and D*mn Yankee hanging around their necks (just to sum up your points).

WHO???? For God's sake who? And don't give me the name of a guy that every woman would scurry away from in a bar.

116 108 I don't doubt it,but as dagny said they need to get real.I'd bitch and grumble and hate it(and God forbid) still vote even if Fuckabee was the nominee.

117

Then they need to get out of the fucking country. Is it the mormon thing? What is wrong with these complete and total retards? WTF? They would really rather have Obama in there again than offend their fucking delicate sensibilities. I believe I hate these retards more than I do the far left because of their obstanant mulish stupid didactic sactimonious prim outrageous tantrum throwing.

Dagny - right on.  Romney is not my favorite (BIRM) but next to obama he is 31 Floavors of Pure Awesome.

118 This plan has been in the making for years.  O is the tool.
Many times I read very insightful comments here, and then
I wonder how many of you call the congress critters as often as you post on this and various other blogs...
Keep the heat on the Congress critters.  Don't let up, have the numbers in your speed dial and give them via email to all your friends. 
If you dont participate, then you don't get to piss and moan.

119 On the bright side, I would enjoy the sheer irony of listening to Rush and Hannity pimp Mittens to their listeners on a daily basis...


Compared to Obama? Go for it. They can pimp my neighbor's dog's ass for all I care.

120 I remember one of the MFM's (at that time) Big Three interviewing some cow at Yosemite who blubbered and wailed that they were "suffering" because they couldn't stage their annual how-de-do / do-si-do pageant over the end of the year holiday season.

Heh, don't know about Yosemite. Grand Canyon National Park was open during the shutdown and there were no park rangers.  Got it for free, camped wherever I wanted, and it was awesome.

121 Or here.

122

And Huck is about as "small government" as Obama is.

To his credit, Huck realizes he stepped in it back in 2008 and he walks back on his Fox News show daily. If Mitt would do the same w.r.t. the Romneycare debacle.

I don't fault those who screw up as long as they make amends. I would still prefer somebody new in 2012, but I will gladly support Mitt or Huck over the Obamunist.

123

Before you go to the pensioners, insist on cutting everything else.

It won't work. Look at the chart I posted upthread. You could cut everything else and still not make much of a dent. It's got to come out of SS, Medicaid, and DoD spending. (And if you cut defense spending too much, you leave us open to even greater existential threats.)

SS and Medicaid are going to gobble up every Federal dollar before long. If you're not willing to even consider cuts to those programs...well, sit back and wait for the end, because it won't be long. We have a decade, maybe (maybe) two. We can't grow our way out of it, we can't tax our way out of it, and we can't print our way out of it.

 

124 Posted by: dagny: logprof lives! at February 15, 2011 11:15 AM (l3g1A)

No, it's not "the mormon thing."  Thanks for asking though.  You know, until others jumping to his defense in the '08 tried to preempt the issue, I didn't even know that Mitt Romney was a Mormon.  And I don't really care.  Just like I wouldn't have cared that JFK was Catholic.  I might (might) oppose someone who was specifically Muslim, but that would not be because they happened to be Muslim as much as it would be opposition to what Islam represents- if you get the difference.

We don't like Romney for a lot of reasons- he's not really all-that fiscal conservatism wise (okay, he was in MA, and deep conservatism doesn't sell there: I still only have his record to go on, and it's just not as good as I want).  He's not super hot on Social/Moral issues (see disclaimer above).  He's STILL got RomneyCare around his neck, and not once (that I've seen) has he admitted his mistake in signing the stupid thing (I don't care that he vetoed it 8 gajillion times: if it was going to get past his Veto signature, it probably would have by time #2 or 3).

So, no, Romney is, more-or-less, a non-starter for me.  Am I one who'd go so far as to stay home?  Probably not, but it could happen.  I'm not picking "least of evils" again.  I'm done with that game.  We get someone who is actually conservative, or it doesn't matter anyway.

125 I don't consider myself a "hard-core" conservative.  I just don't think the state should be able to use coercion to control every aspect of the health care system.

Unfortunately, that puts me well to the "right" of the Mittster.

And I don't think the government should be in the business of telling people what types of food, beverages, chemicals, etc. they should put in their bodies.

So that puts me to the "right" of former larda$$ Mike Huckabee.

With conservatives like these guys, who needs progressives? 

126 If Obama wins, then the GOP / Tea Party effort is over and the Democrats have won the whole ball game. Obama gets reelected, the GOP is finished as a political party, and we have a mess for some number of years while a new party forms. But odds are it will be too late by then. A majority of people will be dependent on the Government. Why would any of this be inevitable? Clinton was reelected handily, and it didn't spell the end of conservativism, the GOP, or the nation. The reelection of Obama would not mean the death of the GOP or even the Tea Party movement, any more than the reelection of Reagan meant the death of the Democratic Party and liberal activism. We accept that liberals won't go away just because our side wins. Why, then, do we assume we will go away if the other side wins?

127 124
SS and Medicaid are going to gobble up every Federal dollar before long. If you're not willing to even consider cuts to those programs...well, sit back and wait for the end, because it won't be long. We have a decade, maybe (maybe) two. We can't grow our way out of it, we can't tax our way out of it, and we can't print our way out of it.
Posted by: Monty at February 15, 2011 11:21 AM (4Pleu)

Ain't I a bitch?

128

>>> To his credit, Huck realizes he stepped in it back in 2008 and he walks back on his Fox News show daily. If Mitt would do the same w.r.t. the Romneycare debacle.

Romneycare was/is stupid but I did hear him say that it is what the people of the state wanted and that he believes that it is a state and not a federal issue.

129 119 My congress critters are Jim Moran, Jim Webb and Mark Warner. I pestered Webb all the time because I saw him as vunerable. Hubby thinks that's why he quit (lol). The other two might as well be Obama himself.

130 It won't work. Look at the chart I posted upthread. You could cut everything else and still not make much of a dent.

Do it last.  You can't do shit if you lose the election and going after SS before 2012 will doom the country because we will lose.  Politics matter. 

Plus, if we could get 3 or 4 million people working again, the numbers improve by themselves.

131

--And what I'm saying is that by the time you get done pissing away a lot of valuable time trying to enough states on the same page (which you're never going to do) to make a financial difference to the Federal portion of Medicaid,

You don't need the states to agree to the feds cutting their Medicaid expenditures.  This is like the federal dept of education.  The feds can cut their expenditures on education (which are not Constitutional, anyway, just like Medicaid) without any input from the states, who are the parties truly responsible for education expenses.

--SS and Medicare are going to careen off the cliff and take us with it. It's like worrying about a leaky roof when the house is burning down around you.

--I cannot fathom why people think we have all this time to dick around before we get serious about SS and Medicare.

Posted by: Monty at February 15, 2011 11:18 AM (4Pleu)

Because ObamaCare is a death sentence for America, for many reasons.  Medicaid cannot be cut in any way with ObamaCare existing.  In fact, Medicaid (federal and state) is forced to expand under ObamaCare.  

If you don't stop this forced future expansion of Medicaid (and the expansion would really be much greater than what is now planned on paper, which is already huge) then cutting SS and Medicare to the bone will have little effect.  You might look at Medicaid now, at the federal level, and see that it's a little smaller than Medicare, but that is going to change dramatically, and there is no limit to how much can be spent on health care.  That's why no health care expenditures ever belong at the level of government where money is created.

I would make serious, deep cuts to SS and Medicare (raising retirment ages more than people are discussing, etc.), but only once the absolutely insane position of our federal government - to expand Medicaid hugely in the future - is done away with.  Otherwise, it's all for naught.

132 RomneyCare will kill him -- he's never come up with an adequate defense of it, nor really is there one.

There's one: It was a shit sandwich that Romney vetoed many times.  He finally tried to do something rather than be railroaded.  It was a disaster.  From that, I learned that such a system is unsustainable.

I know it is very tough, especially for a frontrunner, to admit making mistakes.  It takes off the aura.  But Romney has to make two cases about Obamacare: (1) That it is unconstitutional and (2) it's a bad idea besides.

He won't be able to make (2) unless he repudiates Romneycare.

133 Posted by: dagny: logprof lives! at February 15, 2011 11:18 AM (l3g1A)

Off the top of my head?

Herman Cain
Rick Perry
Sarah Palin
Some of the other Governors (still haven't seen enough of Haley Barbour, for instance).

134 Hey, I'm no Romney lover but I don't see anyone else who has enough presense to win. Maybe Caine, I haven't see him yet. We have to avoid the old white grandpa thing. I will not sell. And I would love to be ideologically pure but we've decided to hate Palin because she cannot win. Well, neither can these old bald short guys. Sorry.

135 So, if you don't like a guy who signed into a law a bill MANDATING that all citizens purchase health insurance, you're a "retard"?

I guess that all of us "conservatives" are pretty boned, then. 

136 No he remembers it wrong, the country was outraged by the spineless republicans who caved and funded the "essential" parts of the government going during the so called shutdown.

Coincidentally, for some unrelated research, I've recently been listening to just about every surviving nationally syndicated radio news broadcast from 1995 and '96. (I have a boring job.)

Conservatives were certainly pissed off by the failure of politicians they'd recently elected to do any conservative shit; I remember that from real life. But that wasn't the Story.

During the time of the "shutdown," the Story was a relentless, wave-after-wave, refreshed-hourly series of outraged and/or crying sufferers from GOP fiscal brutality—children weeping at the locked gates of parks, teachers in line at food banks, families of victims of too-late police responses, etc.—presented as exemplary citizens of Gingrich's America.

The GOP was beholden to the press, not to conservatives, so they caved. Nothing was cut.

The post-"shutdown" GOP Story was about the primaries being overrun by the evil proto-teabaggers who'd led them astray, and the necessity of their being shunted out of the Party so it could run a proper, Romney-like candidate who'd appeal to non-evil voters.

The GOP was beholden to the press, not to conservatives, so they caved. Dole in '96.

We do not live in a different time from fifteen years ago. The news is repeating itself. So will the Party.

137 Posted by: AmishDude at February 15, 2011 11:25 AM (T0NGe)

I would certainly have accepted that 3 years ago.  Maybe 2 years ago.  I'm not so sure, now.  He'd have to have a real "come to Jesus" moment for me to believe, at this point, that such a stance was anything other than pure political posturing.

138

So, no, Romney is, more-or-less, a non-starter for me.  Am I one who'd go so far as to stay home?  Probably not, but it could happen.  I'm not picking "least of evils" again.  I'm done with that game.  We get someone who is actually conservative, or it doesn't matter anyway.

So if McCain won do you think we would be in the mess that we are in right now?  To some degree no doubt but come on man.  Nad done with that game?  WTF are talking about?  This is not fantasy football - it's real life so this game as you call it is pretty damn real. 

I like you Allen - fellow Lonestar and all but come on man!

139

Ok, I googled Rick Perry's image and that's a good one. Sarah is out although I love her. Cain, I haven't see enough of yet and he's a maybe. Barbour would never sell, sorry, he's great but won't work.

We have to be able to sell the candidate to women. Hate that but it's true.

140

me Me ME Meeeeeeeeee

do re ME FAA SOO La ti da....

 

141 Why do I feel the need to remind people that O HATES AMERICA.  All of the other squishy candidates put together could not muster a fraction of the abject hatred for America and Americans that O has for us.  That alone is enough for me  to run to the polls to vote against him, just like I did in 08.  And, yes, voting for McShame and working in his horrific campaign was not the way I wanted to get active in politics, but I did it then and I'll do it again.  For anyone but B.O.  Does it suck? Yes.  Is America worth it? Yes.

142 Some of the other Governors (still haven't seen enough of Haley Barbour, for instance).

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 15, 2011 11:26 AM (8y9MW) 

Yea, about that...

http://tinyurl.com/472xs2d

143 @137 So, what do you suggest we do?

144 "He won't be able to make (2) unless he repudiates Romneycare." I'm not a fan of Romney, but I would undoubtedly vote for him in the general if he is the nominee. I think Romney has room to make a state-level vs. federal-level case against Obamacare, and he can do so using a will-of-the-people argument that takes a swipe at Obamacare. Romneycare had majority support of the MA public. Obamacare was underwater when it passed.

145 >>Romneycare was/is stupid but I did hear him say that it is what the people of the state wanted and that he believes that it is a state and not a federal issue. He's actually said it many times, including during the last election. And it was a wildly popular idea when it was first presented to the people of MA. Of course, the idea and the implementation have varied a great deal thanks to our overwhelming donkey legislature. I get that some people don't like Romney and will never like Romney but he has said this was a specific state plan for a specific state and not a federal plan many times. Some people just don't want to hear it.

146 I will support Mitt Romney in the general if he says the following:

"I was a f**king idiot.  I should have never signed that Massachusetts health care monstrosity.  Even straight-as-a-dog's-dick smart guys with presidential hair do occasionally make mistakes.  Forgive me."

147 147 Does he have to use those exact words?

148

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 15, 2011 11:26 AM (8y9MW)

My current dream ticket...

Allen West for Commander in Chief.

Chris Christie as VP, AND does his Constitutional duty as President of the Senate to reign in its idiocy... with a mandate to cut the budget...

Sarah Palin, Dept of the Interior, with the mandate to turn as much Fed land over to the States as is possible.

John Bolton, Sec of State... nuf said...

Stormin Norman Schwartzdopf, Sec Defense.

149 I will support Mitt Romney in general unless the Democrats dig up Harry Truman and run him.

150 143 Some of the other Governors (still haven't seen enough of Haley Barbour, for instance).

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 15, 2011 11:26 AM (8y9MW) 

Yea, about that...

http://tinyurl.com/472xs2d

Posted by: KG at February 15, 2011 11:31 AM (DeCj1)

Problem with Haley Barbour is that he is an old style politician... and admits it.  This next election cycle is still going to hinge on the anti Washington/ Anti Politician vote...

151 Posted by: Roadking at February 15, 2011 11:29 AM (g9G+e)

I'm sure we wouldn't be anywhere near where we are today if we'd gotten McCain in 2008.  The problem is we didn't.  And what typically happens is that the Democrats move further left, and Republicans keep things to the "new normal" until a Democrat gets in office and moves things yet further left.

If that happens, we're boned.  So a Romney (or a Huckabee, maybe even a Trump (shudder)) don't improve our position any- and we're on a deteriorating glide-path to DOOM!

In a way, it's my argument about the bail-outs all over again: which is better, sustain the current status quo- which will only delay the inevitable and cause more pain over the long term, or let it go off a cliff: catastrophic, but over more quickly?

If the question is Romney/Huckabee v. Obama, that's the decision (as I see it).  I want someone who changes that decision to "Deteriorating glide path or Accelerate and pull out of the dive?"  I don't see that Romney or Huckabee have that in them.

152

Sarah Palin, Dept of the Interior, with the mandate to turn as much Fed land over to the States sell as much Fed land to private citizens as is possible.

153 Any chance that Bolton could get the nomination?Is he attractive enough to the wimmins?

154

Plus, if we could get 3 or 4 million people working again, the numbers improve by themselves.

This is a fallacy, and one the Democrats hope to confuse people with. This is a variant of "we can grow our way out of this!", and it's a lie. The best case growth curve for the next decade for GDP is around 8%; I think the real number is closer to 3-4%. Maybe less, depending on what happens in the Eurozone and China.

You, and everyone else, needs to understand the hyperbolic curve our debt is on right now. The debt-service is outstripping our ability to pay down the principal, in other words -- it's like an interest-only loan that adjusts upwards every year by 1% or more. Not only will you never pay off the principal amount, your ability to even service the debt eats up an ever-growing part of your income. And SS is basically a debt-funded program from here on out (as is Medicare, really, given that our government is living on borrowed money).

So this leaves us with an unpalatable choice -- we cut our spending to keep the debt from completely crushing us, or we keep on borrowing and spending and ultimately default on our creditors, which means a collapse of the dollar and an uncontrolled collapse throughout the world economy.

There is no magical "if only we did x and y" solution to the SS problem. The program is flawed in its basic design. It cannot be fixed. Our only choices are to fix it now, while the debt is still manageable (maybe), or wait for a decade or two, when it will simply crush us. We don't have time to dick around with anything else.

 

155 So you guys are more worried about whether or not Romney can "make the case that this was a state vs. federal level issue"  than about the actual implications of Romneycare? 

Doesn't it worry you that Mitt saw Romneycare as a viable way to "fix" the health insurance system (as opposed to say promoting HSA's)?

Doesn't it worry you that Mitt was pro-choice right up until the moment he decided he wanted to be President?

Do you really believe that Mitt Romney will be anything other than another corporate Republican, pandering to the base when it's time to gin up votes? 

Any evidence that he'll be anything other than what he has always been - a political opportunist?

Honestly, if signing Romneycare DOESN'T disqualify you for the Republican nomination, what does? 

156 Any chance that Bolton could get the nomination?Is he attractive enough to the wimmins?

Posted by: steevy at February 15, 2011 11:36 AM (NGIQo)

He's my first choice, but I think he will be like Duncan Hunter (who was my first choice in the 2008 primaries).  It's a shame, really.

157 154 Possibly

158 Our only choices are to fix it now, while the debt is still manageable (maybe), or wait for a decade or two, when it will simply crush us. We don't have time to dick around with anything else.

Then we're boned.  If you go after SS in the next two years we lose.  It's as simple as that.

159 Posted by: Romeo13 at February 15, 2011 11:35 AM (AdK6a)

That's why I was saying I hadn't seen enough of him.  So I'm not sure.

My problem is that we've preemptively disqualified Palin because "people don't like her" and I think she's the best package we can offer.  I have substantive problems with Huckabee and Romney, but I haven't seen anyone against Palin whose argument doesn't boil down to "people don't like her."  Even the resignation thing usually comes down to "but we expect..." (that is, a perception thing).

Honestly, as much as I'm horrified to say it, if Donald Trump has his stuff together and hits the Conservative check-marks (or enough of them) I'd even be willing to support him in the general.  Probably not the primaries, though, unless it was down to him and Mittens or Huckster.

160 Yeah, this is for all the marbles and the game is rigged in Obama's favor.

This is not the time to fight fair. Every dirty trick. Every tactic of demonization that the left has employed has to be used against them.

Fuck the traitor Obama. Fuck the Left.

If Obama wins in 2012 he'll get 2 or 3 more hard-left Supreme Court nominations. (Will somebody please help Scalia lose some weight!)

If Obama wins in 2012 America is basically over.

161 Before we start throwing out any of the "new" candidates we at least should wait until after the first debate in May.

Not only will we know more, but we will actually know who the candidates are.

162 144 @137 So, what do you suggest we do?

What we're doing right now- ignore the MBM, keep the heat on congress, vote the scumbag libs out.  I just read what real trouble the Nelsons are in,(FL and NE) and have yet to read what the polls are saying about the other Odeathcare supporters.

 

163 If Mitt uses those exact words, I will rename my two sons Mitt and George. 

And I'll convert to Mormonism.

164 154 Any chance that Bolton could get the nomination?Is he attractive enough to the wimmins?

Posted by: steevy at February 15, 2011 11:36 AM (NGIQo)

I luvs me some Bolton... but I don't think he has the chops on the Economic front...

As I see it there are TWO existential threats to the US... the Economy being strangled by the Government, and the Cultural War we are fighting with Islam...

Bolton has the War part down pat... but we have the Government killing the eocnomy threat as well.

165

Our only choices are to fix it now, while the debt is still manageable (maybe), or wait for a decade or two, when it will simply crush us. We don't have time to dick around with anything else.

Should have said "get rid of it now" rather than "fix it now", because, as I said, SS cannot be "fixed". It must be replaced with something more sustainable (though how this can be done without something similar to personal accounts still escapes me).

 

166

If the question is Romney/Huckabee v. Obama, that's the decision (as I see it).  I want someone who changes that decision to "Deteriorating glide path or Accelerate and pull out of the dive?"  I don't see that Romney or Huckabee have that in them.

So you would rather crash and burn sooner than later to:

A. Get it over quickly so you can

B. And start the rebuilding

Not being snarky as I understand that angle as well although I would rather believe that someone could pull us up before we slam into the side of the hill.

167 157 158 I'm hoping that when he starts campaigning he shows a grasp of all policy areas.Obviously he is a foreign policy guy,noone who isn't batshit would question his knowledge of that.I'm hoping he isn't a one note(like Duncan Hunter).He's clearly a very smart man so I'd think he could pull it off.

168 Posted by: Romeo13 at February 15, 2011 11:41 AM (AdK6a)

I've heard some stuff from Bolton on the radio that makes me think he may have a better handle on that than we'd think.  He could also shore that up by publicly naming his Econ policy advisor(s) (Thomas Sowell as Sec Tres, anyone?)

169 My Current Dream Ticket:

President Palin
Vice-President Cheney
Secretary of Fuck You Next Question/Foreign: John Bolton
Secretary of Fuck You Next Question/Domestic: Pat Caddell
Secretary of War: Victor Davis Hanson
Secretary of the Treasury: Thomas Sowell
Secretary of Homeland Security: Joe Arpaio
White House Press Secretary: Chris Christie

170 "Honestly, if signing Romneycare DOESN'T disqualify you for the Republican nomination, what does?" Massachusetts put Kennedys onto the national stage. Their current senior senator is Kerry. Barney Frank hails from there. If these people are so damned sure of what they want, then they deserve to get it good and hard.

171 Posted by: Roadking at February 15, 2011 11:42 AM (g9G+e)

I believe there are people who can pull us out of the death spiral we're in.  I just don't believe that Romney or Huckabee are them.

In that case, yes: get it over with and start the rebuilding.  Better to just lance the boil and drain it than to let it grow until it bursts.

172 Posted by: A Balrog of Morgoth at February 15, 2011 11:44 AM (0IPsJ)

Presuming you mean: Cheney, Liz: I'm right there with you.

173 We don't need a damned economist to tell us we need to cut spending and regulations.

174 Right now, I'm leaning toward Daniels, but I think he has a "bad habit" of speaking honestly, so his chances of winning an election might be nil.

175

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 15, 2011 11:40 AM (8y9MW)

Trump... Sec of Treasury??? LOL...

He's another of the one facet Candidates... he has foreign trade and finance down pat... but we don't know about his stances on other issues, especially about things like Global warming, or the Islam issue.

And, he does not give inspirational speeches... and its going to take not just someone with the right "outlook", but someone who can inspire as well...

Thats why I keep coming back to Allen West.  His CPAC speech is well worth a listen.

176 173.  Sure.  But I would rather have the old guy back at an undisclosed location plotting pure evil.  It comforts me.

177
Before you go to the pensioners, insist on cutting everything else.  No DoE (either one), no Federal EPA, no NEA, CPB, voting assistance, legal assistance.  Nothing.  Free the economy and if that's not enough, after rallying the Seniors to our side, then propose a no-cola policy, then a minor increase in retirement age etc.

Posted by: toby928™ at February 15, 2011 11:17 AM (GTbGH)

Agreed. I think if the choice the voters see is more goodies or less goodies they will vote D. If they see it as a choice of saving SS versus saving the NEA they will vote R.

Then, after we've reined in all the "discretionary" spending that we can, we make the case that it still wasn't enough.

178

It's a bit premature to hammer on the potential candidates that will run against Obama.  After all, back in 1998, who the hell was George Bush?

With the way Obama is trying to inflate away the debt with the printing presses are going, expect inflation to rise and wages to remain stagnant.  When the average Joe starts to really feel the squeeze every time they buy gas or food and they will be ready for change.  You can spin unemployment and inflation however you like but that's one turd the MFM simply cannot polish.

There is no way the voters will want more of  diabolical Carter 2.0

 

179

Honestly, as much as I'm horrified to say it, if Donald Trump has his stuff together and hits the Conservative check-marks (or enough of them) I'd even be willing to support him in the general.  Probably not the primaries, though, unless it was down to him and Mittens or Huckster.

Dude now you have lost me and if "filing for bankrutpcy to get out of yet another upside down business only to turn around and do it again" is one of the Conservative check marks why he will have those in Spades.

Teh Donald is a train wreck and the MFM would make everyone well aware of that fact.

180 I'm calling bullshit on the "genius." They always say this about Toonces. For proof, Cuomo has 77% approval ratings in NY, according to a recent Siena poll, because he promised $1.5 billion cut from education this year and then a billion cut from Medicare. His most notable fan was state GOP chair Ed Cox, who gave Cuomo credit for for his "fiscal conservatism." Crazy Carl Paladino said, "Cuomo is walking the walk, but will he talk the talk?" Check's on the dresser, buddy. But New Yorkers want the debt tackled, and we're very blue. Chris Christie is getting our business, and Texas is getting our tax refugees. Also, even the Puerto Rican lady at the liquor store this morning (husband's birthday today, and I picked up some champagne) who was watching Obama's press conference on CNN laughed at how long Obama put off the budget. He is very vulnerable, but that is not to say just anyone will defeat him.

181 He's clearly a very smart man so I'd think he could pull it off.

Posted by: steevy at February 15, 2011 11:42 AM (NGIQo)

Bolton is one of the few, truly smart people in the public arena.  I have no doubt that he can get up to speed on any of the other policy details in no time.  He has the right set of fundational axioms of governance, the proper concept of the nation-state, and a mind able to derive the proper detailed policy positions as he needs.

182 180 Agreed.

183

I've actually floated this idea before... but ONE way a candidate could really bolster public confidence, AND get votes??

Put their cabinet together DURING the campaign, and make it a campaign issue.  Run as a TEAM...

This way... if someone is not sure of Palin being able to deal with Foreign nations, or the UN, but she has Bolton as Sec State?

Or not sure of her handle on the economy, but people know Thomal Sowell is on her team...

I think that if people had known Obama's team? He never would have won election.

184 Look at it this way:  McCain was probably about as "moderate" of a Republican as possible.  And if McCain was President:

No way we would have had a 1 trillion dollar "stimulus" spending bill.

No way we would have had Obamacare.  My guess is that (even with a Democratic House and Congress) we'd be moving the other way on health care - moving toward eliminating the employer tax deduction and replacing it with a personal deduction.  That idea actually had a bit of traction (even with Democrats) prior to Obama's election, which emboldened the left to go for the full-on destruction of the insurance system in order to usher in single payer.

No way we would have Sotomayor and Kagan on the Supreme Court.

185 185 No way we would have Sotomayor and Kagan on the Supreme Court. That,right there,is the best reason to pull the lever,even for McCain.Those two dumb bitches will be fucking us for decades.

186 Trump is a joke candidate treating a presidential run like selecting Perez Hilton as a panelist in the Miss Universe pageant, in other words, a publicity stunt. I would vote for Obama over Romney or Huckabee, because both are essentially the same, just one with a middle manager hat and another with a phony piety. Both are tax and spenders; one has Romneycare, the other let a serial killer loose and supported tuition for illegals. Fuck the GOP if they nominate either of these shitstains.

187 Honestly, I think McCain was the best candidate we had last year, since Fred didn't really campaign.

188

Posted by: stickety at February 15, 2011 11:53 AM (FUDwf)

No, but I bet we'd have Amnesty by now.

I bet there would be more "campaign finance reform" legislation on the docket, limiting Free Speech.

And I bet there would have been government growth, just not as much as now.

189 To Hell wif' it- I'm goin' fishin'...

190 Posted by: Roadking at February 15, 2011 11:49 AM (g9G+e)

Like I said, it horrifies me.  But:
The man knows PR better than any other candidate (not really a pro or a con, but true nonetheless)
He knows money- yes, he's lost it all twice, but he's made it all three times.

The rest of the stuff he'd have to convince me, and I doubt he'd be able to do that enough for me to support him in the primaries.  But I already said that.

Posted by: Romeo13 at February 15, 2011 11:52 AM (AdK6a)

That would be awesome, but is there anyone running for President (and I'm including Palin) who is that humble?  Because that would be a huge sign of humility: "I am admitting right now I don't know all this, so I've selected the best people I can find as my leadership team to ensure the best possible decisions are made." 

191

Put their cabinet together DURING the campaign, and make it a campaign issue.  Run as a TEAM...

I think that if people had known Obama's team? He never would have won election.

Asked and answered your Honor.

 

192 No way we would have Sotomayor and Kagan on the Supreme Court.

Posted by: stickety at February 15, 2011 11:53 AM (FUDwf)

The GOP should have filibustered those utterly ridiculous nominations anyway - in addition to never having let the votes come up in the judiciary committee ... thanks Lindsay, you piece of shit.

The "empathy" nomination went against the whole idea of a modern, civilized society, and Kagan was on the wrong side of a unanimous SCOTUS ruling (being anti-American and anti-military in the process) which clearly proved how far out of the mainstream she was.

193 Obama's strategy is too obvious to bear comment and no it cannot be successful.  Unbeknownst to Strap-on, Bennie has lost the reins,  the wagon is bound for the cliff and only the wealthy can jump off.

194 Honestly, I think McCain was the best candidate we had last year, since Fred didn't really campaign. Posted by: Tattoo De Plane at February 15, 2011 11:57 AM (mHQ7T) Palin was the best. But she showed up too late and for the wrong spot on the ticket.

195 Bolton is a good choice.  I dont know how he would be at campaigning, but he dealt the the UN, so he knows the filthiest tricks in the book and would be able, I think, to call BS and offer substantive alternatives.  I would definately give him a look.  And as for Palin, she said she would run if no one "shows up".  Have we seen anyone "show up" yet?  She should run. After all, it is the MBM who says she's unelectable... wtf do they know?  Add to that they are scared to death of her, I say Run Sarah Run.

196 Obama's strategy is too obvious to bear comment and no it cannot be successful.  Unbeknownst to Strap-on, Bennie has lost the reins,  the wagon is bound for the cliff and only the wealthy [or well armed] can jump off.

Posted by: gary gulrud at February 15, 2011 11:59 AM (/g2vP)

Fixed.

197

170 My Current Dream Ticket:

Perfect except for VP, although the vein, Cheney, is also dead-nuts on mark.

Bachmann,  Cain, promote Bolton?

198

>>> He knows money- yes, he's lost it all twice, but he's made it all three times.

I know you already know this but Romney knows money (dude has made fortunes) and has not had to repeatedly fucked his creditors to keep it rolln'.

Having said that Trump would be painted as the Ultimate Evil Capitalist Republican. 

199 @196: I've heard Bolton on the radio a couple of times, and I've read one of his speeches/essays in Imprimus.  I think he could do very well on the campaign trail.  If he followed the idea mentioned above (select his entire Cabinet first and run on the Team) I think he'd be nigh unbeatable.

And, I mostly agree with you on Palin.  The only two I see as credible alternatives to Palin are Bolton and Perry (yes, I know he's too squishy for most of us in Texas.  But we're frickin' Texas- only OK is as Conservative as we are, and sometimes they rank higher on that scale than us).  And Perry has said he isn't running.

I've seen a lot of people tout the virtues of Herman Cain, but I don't know enough about him and tend to think that the lack of name-recognition could doom him.

200

Having said that Trump would be painted as the Ultimate Evil Capitalist Republican. 

Posted by: Roadking at February 15, 2011 12:03 PM (g9G+e)

Which is EXACTLY why I want him in the race... this really is a time of choosing between Socialism, and that Evil Capitalism...

I don't want him to get the nomination, but he sure could help frame the debate...

201 Having said that Trump would be painted as the Ultimate Evil Capitalist Republican.

At least the campaign would be entertaining.

Yeah, like I said, he'd have to convince me.  What he doesn't have is RomneyCare.  That's really big.

Even so, he's on my list of contenders, but so far down I don't think he'd get the nod even if he ran.

202 The NYT interactive graphic on the budget is very useful (ducks).  I had forgotten about that pernicious euphemism, the earned income tax credit (EITC), which costs roughly $50B.  This would be an easy one.  Zero it out.  I don't need to refund tax money to someone who doesn't pay taxes. You can find it under another lovely euphemism, "Income Security".  

203 I do think Bolton would make everybody-everybody else look like a fucking idiot.

204

Posted by: KG at February 15, 2011 11:31 AM (DeCj1)

Ha, ha, ha.  You must've missed his answer to Chris Wallace on Sunday about his lobbying days.  He said that he didn't decide the issues that he lobbied for; he did what the company told him to do.

What a stalwart patriot.

205  If Mitt uses those exact words, I will rename my two sons Mitt and George. 

His given name is Willard.  Still game?

206 I have no interest in seeing Trump run for anything, but I would like him to keep talking about our government working for the interests of American citizens, exclusively, America standing tall in the world and not bowing to anyone, Obama being a total disgrace, and his attacks on OPEC and China.  But that's about all I'm interested in with Trump. 

That said, I'd vote for a dried turd over the Indonesian, as I did in 2008.

207 I've seen a lot of people tout the virtues of Herman Cain, but I don't know enough about him and tend to think that the lack of name-recognition could doom him.

Posted by: AllenG (Dedicated Tenther) at February 15, 2011 12:04 PM (8y9MW)

Cain would also have a name problem as its too clos to McCain... and brain dead voters might connect the two...

My problem with Cain is the Way in which he gives speeches... he has the pattern and cadence of a preacher preaching... not of a Leader inspiring... he speaks in Parable, not declarative sentences (or at least thats MY opinion).

208 187 Trump is a joke candidate treating a presidential run like selecting Perez Hilton as a panelist in the Miss Universe pageant, in other words, a publicity stunt. I would vote for Obama over

Dude, that is just wrong.  Really wrong.
That mentality is what I fear most.

209 Bolton/West?

Palin Sec of Interior,

210

There is no way the voters will want more of  diabolical Carter 2.0

We have a tendency to romanticize the 1980 election. Yes, Jimmy the Dhimmi sold out the shah and allowed the mullahs to seize power. That was unpopular with many Americans, but it also royally screwed the people who put Carter in office to begin with. He underestimated heir influence. The hostages being released the first day Reagan took office was no coincidence, and neither was the show Countdown. As much as Carter's media allies ridiculed Reagan. He had built a coalition and formerly served as SAG president. The right people recognized his potential and worked behind he scenes to put him in power. Don't expect too much from the voting public.

211 Check out Fox News Homepage  http://www.foxnews.com/

The Republicans should have a cable channel that just shows the Debt chart, alternating with all those DOOOOM charts.

212

He's not so much an evil genius as he is an ideologically driven zealot.

He doesn't see himself as being evil and probably does think he is some sort of savior.

But his ideology is pure, triple distilled, elemental evil.

He really is the anti-Reagan.

All of his investments are ticking time bombs, designed to explode when he is no longer in office, but strategically position to be the true agitator in chief.

Oh yes. He is brilliant.

The only thing that can save us is if his IED blows up in his face. This is what usually saves us from these ideologues. But don't count on it.

My cabin in the hills is ready for me to use if things do go all pear shaped.

213

>>> Yeah, like I said, he'd have to convince me.

That among many other things is big with him because to me he would just treat it as a big publicity stunt all the while you would wondering if he's gonna roll footage of his campaign stops into a new reality tv show.  It would be impossible to take him seriouslyy in my mind. 

214

Betty Crocker/Russel Stouffer 2012

Me ME me MEEEEE!!!

 

  

215 Palin was the best. But she showed up too late and for the wrong spot on the ticket.

Posted by: eman:Victorious People's Front of Logprof at February 15, 2011 12:00 PM (gZVTR)

I am in full and total agreement. Palin in 2008 was a rock star and was more qualified than Obama for the presidency. Since she was the veep, it would've been nice if the McCain staffers had said as much. He trusted the Dems and his media buddies too much.

216

Posted by: stickety at February 15, 2011 11:38 AM (FUDwf)

This.  And the fact that he has not said he would repeal ZeroCare because that would confirm his poor judgment about RomneyCare.

217 210 Bolton/West?

Palin Sec of Interior,

Posted by: Off ur arse and on the phone at February 15, 2011 12:11 PM (HqFeB)

A president must be both clear, AND inspirational... if you watch their speeches from CPAC, West comes off as much more Inspirational...

Reagen was great because he could both Inspire, and Educate... Bolton has the smarts IMO... and the Fire... but has not shown the ability to get others to follow his lead...

218 Right now, I'm leaning toward Daniels, but I think he has a "bad habit" of speaking honestly, so his chances of winning an election might be nil.

Posted by: stickety at February 15, 2011 11:46 AM (FUDwf)

Rush did a job on him yesterday.  It wasn't a good job.

219 The more the gop ignores Obama and acts as if his office is empty, the better we will be. "We don't want to do this, but there is nobody else."

220 How about "neither"? He is just a naive true believer of the socialist/marxist model.  Obama seemed to really believe that his words could really change the world.

We the people have erected a rubber bumper around him in the form of a republican House to keep him from hurting us and himself. When he is no longer president, he will still be a "true believer" but not in a position to hurt us. If he becomes the post-presidential equivalent of Ramsay Clark, well, he's only hurting himself.

221 Dude, that is just wrong.  Really wrong.

These self-funding candidates with no experience have no idea how to run a campaign. Trump wasn't even good at running a business. He just didn't piss through what his father left him. Also, voted against Obama, because my own white guilt is insufficient to compel me to install a street hustler who hates the US into the presidency. However, if the Republican alternative is pretty much the same, then at least keep the dreamers happy. Then they won't revolt.

222

Put their cabinet together DURING the campaign, and make it a campaign issue.  Run as a TEAM...

This way... if someone is not sure of Palin being able to deal with Foreign nations, or the UN, but she has Bolton as Sec State?

_{Word is that this is exactly what she's doing.}

223 but I think he has a "bad habit" of speaking honestly,

Quite the opposite. Daniels came out in favor of end-of-life-counseling rather than repeal. He has ties to PHARMA and was Bush's budget director when he passed Medicare D and exploded he deficit. His own calls for tax hikes were overridden by his own party's legislature, except on two occasions. When we have SCOTUS justices retiring, Daniels calls for a truce with so cons. He is so bad and so wrong and so full of shit, it's not funny.

224

@221

If you think he will go away after 2012 (or 2016 omg) I think you are very wrong.

Like I have said before, I believe that Carter is a piker compared to this malignant marxist in sheep's clothing.

He is setting himself up for the main attraction when the wheels fall off after his term. He will save us capitalism. 'Cept it will be called evil bankers or wall street.

225

#155:

I doubt we even have a decade. In terms of federal debt, we're partying like drunken house flippers in 2006 living interest-only loan to interest-only loan. When the flippers missed a payment or the rate ballooned, they were boned....instananeously and with a vengence. That's where we are headed, a collossal 500 year boning. We aren't paying off debt, only servicing the interest between the incestual fuck going on between the evil trio (Treasury, the banksters and the Fed). The minute interest rates tick up, we're fucked, just like the flippers. This clusterfuck going on between the evil trio cannot go on indefinitely. The only solution is radical austerity, like a 30%-40% cut in the federal budget so we can actually retire some of this debt. The problem is between the government mob and the moocher/entitlement mob, this austerity will never, ever happen internally or willfully. It WILL be imposed by outside global influences and we'll collapse. And it will make Greece and Egypt look like 1st grade T-ball.

226 Obama's strategy--such as it is--is as follows:

Hmmm... I think I'll double the size of government and quadruple the annual deficit, while telling people I'm doing some cost cutting.

The media will run stories about my "budget cuts" and 52% of the retards will believe exactly the opposite of what the reality is.

That's it. That's all he's thought things through because that's all he's ever done--do one sneaky, pernicious thing after another while saying he's doing exactly the opposite.

And you know what? As simple and as childish as this is, it has always worked for him because the media reinforces the lies over and over and over until the dimwitted among us believe it because so many "trusted" people say so.

227 He's a lazy idiot incapable of strategizing beyond yesterday.

I think this is where the evidence points. I see him making policy out of his wish list and then escaping for a round of golf.

228

I've actually floated this idea before... but ONE way a candidate could really bolster public confidence, AND get votes??

Put their cabinet together DURING the campaign, and make it a campaign issue.  Run as a TEAM...

----------

Heh, I've floated that idea about Palin so many times I was afraid to do it again (I'm so egotistical -- as if anyone notices).

But yo, rushbabe -- you heard that's what she's doing?

229

Is it better or worse to beat this guy in '12 and have the collapse happen on the GOP's (or worse) the Tea Party's watch?

You do start to wonder if the best course, at present, wouldn't be to let Maobama have every spending goodie on his list; put up Romney or Daniels or some other loser RINO to lose with dignity to him in 12; and let it all come down in O's second term--all the while planning for a new non-socialist USofA to emerge from the flames. Dire I know, but it may be too late for anything but assigning blame.

230 Fred Thompson on twitter: MSNBC's Matthews: "it took Obama" for Egypt to happen. Yup, every revolution needs a guy on the sidelines asking "what's going on?" #tcot ha.

231

#116, once again, I would like to mention my cat as a potential Presidential candidate.

Born 2003, so he's approaching eight (x5 for cat years)= 40 years old, where the Constitutional requirement is 35.

Born in Nashville, Tennessee. No birth certificate though, so he might have a Birther problem like Obama.

I would remind everyone that the Consititution does NOT specify the President has to be a human being. But he is a staunch conservative with excellent advisors and a sure-fire platform.

 

 

232 Anyone who takes Obama for an idiot or radical mouthpiece should be careful. He IS a very calculating man. His goal is to destabilize America as best as he can and in every form possible because the radicals are at the pinnacle of power. Remember, Saul Alinksy's son said of Obama & "Rules For Radicals", "When executed meticulously and thoughtfully, it is a powerful strategy for initiating change and making it really happen. Obama learned his lesson well."

 He's doing it domestically by burying this country into such catastrophic debt that it will take decades to dig out of, in turn, those who correct it will be politically crucified by the voters and cause massive unrest. Internationally, Obama reaching out to the Muslim Brotherhood is an obvious tell. Have the radicals take over the Middle East and wipe out our allies, creating a serious problem for the U.S and Israel for a long time. The radicals have finally taken over the White House. This is their chance. They are firing on all fronts and "you don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind blows."

233

Posted by: SGT Dan at February 15, 2011 01:25 PM (GgXZc)

Sorry, we don't need a Pussy as President when we are fighting a war or three... heck... we already have one don't we?

234 "Dire I know, but it may be too late for anything but assigning blame." It will not matter on whose watch the collapse happens. Blame will be meaningless. No matter how you slice it, the collapse will be extreme, soul-crushing misery for the entire country but rapid (matter of weeks) death for just about everybody living in a densely populated area because of hunger, poor sanitation, and human-on-human predation. Please have a look at any recent electoral map that is broken-down by county. When (if?) the dust settles, there will no longer be any blue states.

235 He IS a very calculating man.

Posted by: bill at February 15, 2011 01:27 PM (lHTRr)

No, he's not.  He's an idiot.  He likely can't even do simple arithmetic with fractions and certainly doesn't have a really strong grasp of the concept of percentages.  The Indonesian is just lucky that:

1) destruction is easy.

2) He gets away with tons of shit because of his skin.  The left and the MFM push him more than they've ever pushed anyone, by orders of magnitude, and there are so many on the right who are scared to challenge him on much - though, after two years of idiocy and destruction some on the right have gotten some balls. 

This is how he was able to get away with holding his biggest campaign rally in friggin Germany, for Germans.  That's illegal, and mind-numbingly un-American.  But, he got away with that (not that it was secret or anything) because of what I wrote above.  His illegal campaign fundraising made Watergate look like a kid's game.  But he slid right through that, even though the dipshit who gave us the un-Constitutional (and insane) McCain-Feingold campaign law was running against him.  No one had the guts to call the Indonesian what he clearly was.  And that equally applies to the fact that he's an idiot.

236

#234, if that is your only objection, I would put forth another one of my cats, a 21 pound Maine Coon death machine for whom actual bloodshed is his way of saying "Good morning."

"The President demands a can of tuna and the nuclear launch codes. Somebody's going to get badly fucked up before lunch."

 

237

I'm all for voting Sgt. Dan's cat (either of them) over this guy.

I also don't want to hear anymore "welll maybe we should let him win again...that way a new conservative...arise from the flames...yada yada" bs.  I have come to believe that it is crucial, in an existential way, for this country to be rid of this administration; it must be voted out.  He has to be gotten out of office -- otherwise all you will get is the flames, but doubtful some new, coservative, GOP/TP led utopia will be arising out of them...just the flames part.  So no more thinking like this.

Diabolical evilgenius or Satan's goofy, incompetent sidekick -- at this point it doesn't matter, none of it is good and will destroy our country (plus possibly get a lot of our countrymen killed and/or living as serfs).  I'm getting increasingly disheartened with any group that wants to play around with that just for some perceived phoenix that will arise from the wreckage -- that's wishful thinking.

238

Not to rain on everybody's parade, but I think it might be unconstitutional to name cabinet members before one is elected.

Now, Palin could go the *wink wink nudge nudge* route by having Bolton appear with her at her campaign rallies and acting as a media surrogate . . . but a lot of candidates do that as well. McCain was basically running Phil Gramm out as his TreasurySec until Gramm's comments in June 08.

239

"Not to rain on everybody's parade, but I think it might be unconstitutional to name cabinet members before one is elected."

There's nothing unconsitutional about saying "if I win I intend to nominate X" and having X say "if nominated I will accept."   

 

 

240

Not to rain on everybody's parade, but I think it might be unconstitutional to name cabinet members before one is elected.

Now, Palin could go the *wink wink nudge nudge* route by having Bolton appear with her at her campaign rallies and acting as a media surrogate . . . but a lot of candidates do that as well. McCain was basically running Phil Gramm out as his TreasurySec until Gramm's comments in June 08.

Posted by: The Q at February 15, 2011 02:15 PM (AXHCj)

Uh.... nothing in the Consitution to prohibit you saying, "If I am elected I intend to put X up for Sec of Def, and they have agreed to serve in that capacity".

241

#241, or sending those future Cabinet appointees out for media appearances in their lane of responsibility. Your future SecState for foreign policy meets/interviews, the SecDef to the AUSA or NDIA conferences, and so on.

Knowing the prospective President is securing the services of responsible and experienced people, unlike Obama's insane clown posse of czars, might sway some of those muddle-headed independents we unfortunately need.

242

224. ted by: Tattoo De Plane at February 15, 2011 12:28 PM (mHQ7T)

Hmmm, I agree with every word.  WTF?

243

242 As one of those "muddle headed independents" who you so unfortunately need, can I make the comment that I grow increasingly weary of excusing/defending myself to certain conservatives who would appear to rather have the country go down in ruin so as to keep themselves "pure" from any collusion with said independents? 

Running your battles off before the big push is probably not a wise strategy; neither is deciding that since the circumstances aren't ideal one should just take ones marbles and go home -- not when so much is at stake.

244 Yeah, but what if he loses? If he wants to go all in I say we call. Ill take my competent conservatism over high unemployment and Obamacare.

245

245 You're perhaps misreading me: I say that he does need to be called, raised and called; anything, just do something rather than hemming and hawing about "maybe letting him win would be better in the long run for true conservatism".

As an independent, I'm rather appalled that anyone would be thinking that rather than "this so and so needs to be beat", rhetorically of course.  The finer points of ideology can be ironed out later; for now this should be the focus -- imho of course.

246

@58: "Weren't we hearing how the Republicans and conservatism were finished after Obama was elected in 2008? Wasn't it James Carville who predicted a new, 40 year utopia for Democrats and progressivism?

Two short years later, what happened?"

Can't tell yet.  Maybe it is a conservative resurgence, but it might also be the Right's 1944 Ardennes Offensive.

 

247 I think Huckabee and Romney should get married--Romney could be the wife in the relationship.  Like Bill and Hillary, you'd get two for the price of one.  And we'd still attract the value voters (Huckabee's lot) as well as the imagist Republicans (Romney).   

248 thanks for sharing