How did it go when Reagan negotiated with Tip O’Neill on taxes and amnesty? Reagan got punked by the Dems. So did Bush I with “read my lips…”; he got schooled too.

We just don’t like to think about our heros like Reagen getting his butt handed to him. Unfortunately, Boehner used the same stale tactics in response to the same Dem strategies and got the same results.

Maybe Boehner has finally wised up with his pledge of no more one-on-one negotiations with Obama.

We’ll see soon enough.

Sad that we didn’t lose out country in battle. We gave it away to libs who would spend our kids and grandkids money to push their evil regime and principles. May they all rot in hell.

weaselyone on January 4, 2013 at 2:41 PM

It’s not generational theft anyway – it’s something an order of magnitude much worse.

There is too much debt to be paid off – literally, you need think about how big that number – $17 TRILLION is. Then – you have to realize that, by 2020 – we will be spending more $$ on the dead horse interest payments than we will our military.

Somehow – the debt has to be “wiped” off the books. But how? Forget about “forgiving” debt – that creates winners and losers. The only way to equalize the pain and make sure everyone pays is to MONETIZE.

You can then pay the debt off – but what’s the impact of MONETIZING $17T in debt? Well, that is a massive undertaking and would leave our currency in a shambles. Currency values will collapse catastrophically and the price of goods will shoot through the roof. It will be an economic “dark age”.

The cool thing is … WE, the people who have to endure that pain – don’t have to worry about it!! Our kids will! They’ll pay it for it with an America that is economically bankrupt with skyrocketing unemployment and never before seen levels of poverty.

BUT THANKS TO THE RINOS AND THE DIMS – WE WON’T HAVE TO SACRIFICE JACK SH1T – THAT IS …

UNLESS MAYBE WE’RE SPENDING MONEY SO FAST THAT WE’LL GET CAUGHT IN THIS TSUNAMI ALSO!!

I bury my face in my Ipad, but it is usually to come lurk here.

I am beginning to think that the only cuts that will work will have to be an across the board (including entitlements, defense, and discretionary spending) cuts. Any other way makes it too easy to demagogue proposed cuts. If our “leaders” are incapable of prioritizing spending as a group, then they don’t have to. Cut it all.

weaselyone on January 4, 2013 at 4:49 PM

Sequestration would have been broad cuts, particularly in defense.

Byron York continues the same argument today

Yes, yes, Byron the big conservative journalist. Explain this idiotic nonsense, Ed? 10 to 1 spending cuts, my ass. What a joke.

And this will play into messaging war well. If many Americans just saw their withholdings increase recently, they won’t be as likely to support ANOTHER tax increase.

blink on January 4, 2013 at 1:03 PM

I really want to share your optimism on this…

Baxter Greene on January 4, 2013 at 1:18 PM

I’m not claiming to be optimistic about this. I’m just saying what will help in the messaging war.

Has leverage switched to Republicans on spending cuts?

No.
Any cuts will actually be increases in spending.

Daemonocracy on January 4, 2013 at 4:20 PM

I bury my face in my Ipad, but it is usually to come lurk here.

I am beginning to think that the only cuts that will work will have to be an across the board (including entitlements, defense, and discretionary spending) cuts. Any other way makes it too easy to demagogue proposed cuts. If our “leaders” are incapable of prioritizing spending as a group, then they don’t have to. Cut it all.

The fact is, politicians are holding future American people hostage with ever increasing debt. When everyone finds out that our debt is unsustainable, the politicians will be given or take more power and authority than ever before.

weaselyone on January 4, 2013 at 2:49 PM

I agree, but I’ve come to the conclusion that the american people are holding themselves hostage by burying their faces in their ipads and gossip mags and expecting everything to just work itself out magically in the end.

This is why the GOP should have held firm on the fiscal cliff and demanded spending cuts over tax hikes, because all the hysteria would have forced at some people to get their faces out of their ipads for at least a few moments.

“Why the hell are you guys talking about raising taxes on the richest Americans again? We just did that at the beginning of the year! We haven’t even reached the annual tax-filing deadline of April 16, and your calcified one-track minds are coming back with the exact same policy recommendations that you insisted would fix the problem before!”

Have every member of the GOP in the House and Senate call a press conference separately, and repeat this phrase everyday until the end of time itself…

I don’t think Generational Theft will play with the uneducated voters. If someone is going to vote based on what they get for “free”, there is no way they are going to be concerned with burying future generations in debt. Those voters are far too selfish. You could hold up a photo of their own kid and their response would probably be “I got mine, I raised them, they will have to figure out how to get theirs.”

weaselyone on January 4, 2013 at 2:41 PM

Exactly! 52% of Democrats would rather pass on trillions of dollars of debt to their own children and grandchildren than make ANY changes whatsoever to Medicare or Social Security. Half of Democrats also believe that America’s fiscal problems can be solved by just taxing the ‘evil rich.’

This will be a big deal.

The majority of people had NO IDEA that the Tax Increases for the Rich that the Republicans were opposing because they are heartless bastards who don’t want people to Pay Their Fair Share were actually for everyone reguardless of their income levels.

They will know now.

The fact is, we had to hold the American people hostage with the fiscal cliff.

Daemonocracy on January 4, 2013 at 2:46 PM

The fact is, politicians are holding future American people hostage with ever increasing debt. When everyone finds out that our debt is unsustainable, the politicians will be given or take more power and authority than ever before.

The Republicans gave up their leverage and sold their soul, they are now a party of tax hikes. It doesn’t what they were trying to do or how good you think their intentions are, all that matters is the easy political rhetoric. We once again raised taxes before cutting spending, we learned nothing from the mistakes of Reagan and Bush.

Obama will run more ads of Paul Ryan tossing grandma off a cliff, and he will win. The fact is, we had to hold the American people hostage with the fiscal cliff.

Happy Nomad on January 4, 2013 at 2:20 PM

I don’t think Generational Theft will play with the uneducated voters. If someone is going to vote based on what they get for “free”, there is no way they are going to be concerned with burying future generations in debt. Those voters are far too selfish. You could hold up a photo of their own kid and their response would probably be “I got mine, I raised them, they will have to figure out how to get theirs.” Another way to think about it. A voter who can’t see the effects of the last 4 years and can’t see the looming issues for the next 4 years can’t possibly buy into effects seen 20-30 years down the road.

Although, I like the overall idea and message, I just don’t see that messaging being effective with Low Info voters.

I say push a message to the moderately interested voters and educated voters and let them filter the message to the lower information voters. Having a few conservatives who could break the liberal monopoly on pop-culture and education wouldn’t hurt either.

I have yet to hear of a big winner at my local store. But what I do see is, if someone wins $5 and is paid on the spot, he buys more tickets.

Liam on January 4, 2013 at 2:16 PM

This is the reason why I’m against the lottery. The only people who play are the poor and they “reinvest” if they win anything. At the same time, I have yet to see any benefit to schools or whatever come out of the lottery systems despite all the hype that you’re scratching or quick-picking for the children.

I know optimism is a flamable offense on this board, but since when has that stopped me?

One thing that happened in the 2012 election is that we finally understand that we can’t get 0bamaphone Lady out to vote for us, and any sympathy for her plight is wasted. The Hispanic electorate as currently composed wants free stuff, not freedom. We can’t win their votes, we have to make them apathetic again, or not voting. And scrambling for what to do after their manicure budget is cut helps with that apathy. We no longer hope to win their votes. In the face of economic disaster, they will vote for Santa Claus.

So every sob story poster child needs to have an 0bamaphone Photoshopped into their hands. The percentage by which X hurt demographic voted D in 2012 should be part of the story as well. They are bought and paid for Democrats, and Republicans now understand we have no interest in their struggles for taxpayer subsidies. I think the holdup with Sandy is a good sign. What have Northeastern Yankees ever done for the GOP in the last 100 years? Start caring about us, oh, Pahkahs of Cahs in Hahvahd Yahd, and we might start giving a damn about your paaaaiiiin and suffferrrinng.

Sekhmet on January 4, 2013 at 2:06 PM

Found this hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.

I agree it is a tough sell.
Instead of raising the debt ceiling ad infinitum, we should have a message to be repeated ad infinitum:

The current debt limit is higher than the entire GDP of the entire United States…Repeat…The current debt limit is higher than the entire GDP of the entire United States…Repeat…
Gotta start somewhere. The major problem with the public’s awareness of the debt, is that half the republicans aren’t really fiscally conservative and the other half can’t come to a coherent message to get through to the general public.

Just remember, Stephanie Cutter and DWS were an asset to the Obama campaign strictly because of their ability to repeat a message over and over again regardless of the question. The fiscally conservative half of the GOP should be taking notes.

weaselyone on January 4, 2013 at 2:10 PM

Repeated messaging is important but you aren’t going to get low-information morons excited about GDP rates or debt levels unless you can figure out a way to weave them into Honey Boo Boo or American Idol. BUT I DO SEE A WAY FORWARD. Generational theft. Have Republicans constantly hold up pictures of little children and explain that the rat-eared wonder and his party want to harm children. It’s not an orginial idea to me but I think it makes a whole lot of sense. The left continually holds up pictures of the moocher class and cries how much cutting spending will cost the takers. How about holding up the pictures of sweet young children and explain how much each of them already owes thanks to reckless spending. They might even be able to get a Honey Boo Boo tie-in with that approach!

Gee, a lot of good those far-right candidates did. Chuck Hagel got primaried out of Indiana…

Steve Z on January 4, 2013 at 12:42 PM

That would have been D!ck Lugar, who hasn’t had a legal residence in Indiana in 3 decades.

As for Hagel, he’s such a swell guy….

Report: Hagel Worked to Shut Down USO Port in Haifa, Israel

Former senator Chuck Hagel, said to be on the short list to succeed Leon Panetta as secretary of defense, reportedly tried to shut down a USO port in the Israeli city of Haifa when he served as CEO of the USO. The Washington Free Beacon reports:

“He said to me, ‘Let the Jews pay for it’,” said Marsha Halteman, director for military and law enforcement programs at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA), which led the battle to keep USO Haifa operational.

Hagel’s campaign to close the storied USO port struck many observers, including the U.S. Navy and congressional leaders, as misguided. Those same critics argue today that Hagel’s animosity toward the Jewish state leaves him unsuited to be the nation’s next defense secretary.

“He essentially told us that if we wanted to keep the USO [in Haifa] open—and when I say ‘we’, he meant ‘the Jews’—he said the Jews could pay for it,” said Halteman, who recalled being taken aback by the comment.

“I told him at the time that I found his comments to be anti-Semitic,” she said. “He was playing into that dual loyalty thing.”

Hagel has been accused of anti-Semitism for charging that lawmakers on Capitol Hill are intimidated by the”Jewish lobby,” and of homophobia for remarks he made in a 1998 confirmation hearing, for which he has since apologized. Outgoing representative Barney Frank, as well as senators Tom Coburn and John Cornyn have publicly expressed their opposition to his nomination.