You’ve won, Republicans
For years (well, OK, ever since George W. Bush left office, leaving a gaping hole in the budget and a giant deficit), Republicans have argued that the government has to stop spending so much — but that tax increases to fill the budget hole are verboten.
And now Democrats have mostly bought in to that argument. From President Obama on down, they say they’re prepared to rein in spending, including on entitlement programs. In return, all they want is to raise the tax rate a bit on well-to-do Americans, while keeping taxes the same on the middle class. …
C’mon, fellows, get a clue: You’re the reason we’re even having this discussion about spending and taxes. You don’t think Democrats would prefer to go back to the hefty tax rates on the rich of the Eisenhower years? Or heck, even of the Clinton years? …
For now, Republicans, face reality: You lost the election, but you’ve won the debate. You’ve got everyone talking spending cuts and fiscal responsibility. If not the whole loaf, you’ve got three quarters of it.
Blowback
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That’s hysterical.
John_Locke on November 29, 2012 at 10:58 AM
This is one of those Reverse Psychology things ain’t it? My Dad tried this on me once to get me to cut the grass.
Rocks on November 29, 2012 at 10:58 AM
Whimpy Liberal: For a hamburger today…I will gladly pay you Tuesday.
Republican: Really, you would do that for us…ahhhhhhhhhh.
trs on November 29, 2012 at 11:01 AM
Raising tax rates does not raise tax revenue in today’s economy. How many times does this have to be proven before the LSM gets it?
Christian Conservative on November 29, 2012 at 11:03 AM
91%. Seriously?
ctmom on November 29, 2012 at 11:03 AM
Lol
Idiot
cmsinaz on November 29, 2012 at 11:04 AM
Get back to me when the Dems actually cut something, anything, meaningful. I’ll be in a little cemetery in rural CA.
antipc on November 29, 2012 at 11:04 AM
It’s the impending debt problem that has everyone talking about spending cuts and fiscal responsibility.
That’s like saying your mother (who was always nagging you to take care of yourself) won the debate because you started talking about taking care of yourself because you’ve caught the flu.
blink on November 29, 2012 at 11:05 AM
Another great post from the Onion
gatorboy on November 29, 2012 at 11:05 AM
I can’t wait to taise taxes on those top 2% fatcats. Paying for 6 days or so of federal spending with the revenue it generates is going to be awesome. Take that you rich @ssh0les!
Kataklysmic on November 29, 2012 at 11:06 AM
↑ *raise
Kataklysmic on November 29, 2012 at 11:07 AM
This statement is mathematically indefensible. Of course we can cut our way out of this mess.
How on earth do these idiots not get laughed at for writing this idiocy?
Even if one wants to raise taxes, one must admit that it’s most certainly possible to cut our way out of this mess.
blink on November 29, 2012 at 11:07 AM
So we conservatives won? Now when the economy completely implodes it will be our fault? See how this works.
filetandrelease on November 29, 2012 at 11:08 AM
Yes, you can. But his statement is the Big Lie that has been widely accepted and is why the Republicans have not, in fact, won the debate.
First, these massive “draconian cuts” that we’re supposedly getting ready to push through, that prove that we’ve won, are largely cuts to projected growth in entitlement spending that don’t even kick in for 10-20 years. In other words, they’re a fabrication. There are no cuts. There will be no cuts. The “cuts” are just a PR mechanism to make the Republicans look like they haven’t caved. It’s a “wink, wink” agreement between the Democrats and the Republicans. It’s all lies.
Second, what our country does need is massive, draconian cuts. Cut it massively, and cut it now. I want the federal budget balanced this year, not 20 years from now, not 10 years from now, not even next year. The current fiscal year. And I am prepared to slash it all. Slash Medicare, slash Social Security, slash the military, slash every single corner of the government. Now. From this day forward, we should not spend $1 more than we take in through tax revenue. Period. No debate. No compromise. End of story.
Until that happens, we have not won.
Shump on November 29, 2012 at 11:09 AM
Well bho is so upset about all this cliff thing, he is plum worn out and will be going on a three weeks vacation to Hawaii the last of Dec.! It is to cost around 4M, just an estimate I am sure?
Guess he thinks this mess will be over so he can go vacation? Or if not, he will just hop on AF1 and fly back to dc at even more cost to us if he has to come back to sign/veto the bill?
L
letget on November 29, 2012 at 11:09 AM
It’s about spending cuts and lowering tax rates.
Anything else is bollocks.
Akzed on November 29, 2012 at 11:12 AM
Let the debt ceiling hit its statutory limit, and you instantly cut your way out of this mess, without raising a dime in taxes.
JohnGalt23 on November 29, 2012 at 11:13 AM
Their mindset is much easier to understand once you accept that their goal is not a healthy economy. Their goal is to make sure there is no private wealth to challenge big daddy government.
Kataklysmic on November 29, 2012 at 11:14 AM
Meh. Let Barry have his recession wish.
Punchenko on November 29, 2012 at 11:15 AM
Attempted rhetorical jujitsu. Or reverse psychology. Perhaps both.
22044 on November 29, 2012 at 11:17 AM
You’re a hundred grand in debt, you’ve maxed out half a dozen credit cards… so the debt intervention service says “The way out is to make more money!”
*snort*
Bat Chain Puller on November 29, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Same goes for the ObamaCare implosion. Conservatives can’t be blamed for that, but the GOP most certainly will.
visions on November 29, 2012 at 11:18 AM
http://www.whitehousedossier.com/2012/11/29/obama-slated-hawaii-cliff/
Yep – same old, same old
Economy on the verge of melt down and Obamasite off on another vacation. Elections have consequences.
rsherwd65 on November 29, 2012 at 11:18 AM
Show me the cuts, son. Show me the entitlement reforms before you even sniff any tax raises on anyone.
Dash on November 29, 2012 at 11:18 AM
The reason for this charade about marginal rates is that if revenues can be kept artificially low, while govt spending on the growing dependent subculture grows, the yawning gap must be filled with borrowed money.
So, Occam asks, who has the most skin in that game? Answer that question and you’ll discover who’s hand is up Obooba’s arse moving his lips.
Akzed on November 29, 2012 at 11:20 AM
Dems are making this about politics when it’s purely economics. Compromise isn’t going to magically fix the economy. The only way to fix the economy is to do what Romney and Ryan were talking about.
Cutting taxes and spending being the solution is true irregardless of popularity. Voters don’t control reality, they only control who is in power. This guy needs to get a clue and fast.
DeathtotheSwiss on November 29, 2012 at 11:20 AM
I would ask for whatever this guy’s smoking. But I don’t want to OD.
Doughboy on November 29, 2012 at 11:21 AM
Actually, you can cut your way out of this mess. We did it after WW II, and FDR fired all his anti-market New Dealers then too.
Result? The post-war boom!
PattyJ on November 29, 2012 at 11:25 AM
since when does winning feel so much like losing? Oh, when you’re a republican…
gatorboy on November 29, 2012 at 11:26 AM
Like Charlie Sheen WINNING
22044 on November 29, 2012 at 11:27 AM
You don’t think Republicans would prefer to go back to the spending of the Eisenhower years? Or heck, even of the Clinton years?
ChrisL on November 29, 2012 at 11:28 AM
So we conservatives won? Now when the economy completely implodes it will be our fault? See how this works.
filetandrelease on November 29, 2012 at 11:08 AM
~~~~~~~~~~
Yep! That’s what I was thinking!
ellifint on November 29, 2012 at 11:34 AM
This is more of the same thing I’ve noticed since the election. Obama supporters do not seem happy with their victory. Maybe some of them are starting to realize what they’ve done. All the things they said were Obama’s mistakes in his first term are being repeated. Obama is hands off during these negotiations, taking no responsibility for whatever happens, while democrats desperately try to get one Republican to vote for this crap so they can call it bipartisan. A$$holes.
Night Owl on November 29, 2012 at 11:39 AM
According to estimates used by Wikipedia, the entire offshore banking economy, which includes mostly assets on which the United States cannot plausibly make any claim, is at most approximately 32 trillion dollars converted from pounds sterling in the article to US dollars.
This is assuming seizure, not taxation of these assets. Taxation would be considerably less. Our entire national debt is about half this amount. And again, most of these assets were never touched by American hands, and cannot be claimed by any one nation. Offshore banks are where the Lefties are convinced the super-rich are hiding all their assets. The total value of all the gold ever mined is only about 10 trillion. Looks like there aren’t enough assets for all the spending in all of existence. We don’t have a revenue problem.
Sekhmet on November 29, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Nope. They are attempting (successfully) to move the overton window. They are attempting (succesfully) to make ‘no tax increases’ a radical idea that is only discussed by wackos and not discussed in polite company. They are attempting (successfully) to have the discussion all be about how much taxes are raised and not what spending gets cut.
ChrisL on November 29, 2012 at 11:46 AM
VICTORY!!! Yeah..oh…huh…?
NeoKong on November 29, 2012 at 11:47 AM
OMG – what a hoot!
Pork-Chop on November 29, 2012 at 11:49 AM
This is the dead-giveaway right here. If the Dems were serious about increasing revenue, they would advocate for lowering the Capital Gains tax rate yet again. History shows that every time it is lowered, Fed Gov revenue increases – heck Charlie Gibson even made that point while interviewing Sen. Obama about 5-6 years ago!
But nooooo. We are going to RAISE tax rates on the wealthy. Lunatics!
Jack Slade on November 29, 2012 at 11:58 AM
I want to see them pass a law that renounces the national debt and see how well that works in reality. That’s the subtext of most Democrats’ beliefs anyway, and it would be a good test for whether the conservative faith that you have to repay loans eventually, really applies.
flataffect on November 29, 2012 at 11:59 AM
How can I put this delicately?
Horse shit.
davidk on November 29, 2012 at 11:59 AM
Way too delicate, David.
Jack Slade on November 29, 2012 at 12:03 PM
You read it wrong. He is right that they SAY they are prepared to rein in spending, but apparently just getting those words to cross the lips of the Dem party should be enough to get us to fold.
cptacek on November 29, 2012 at 12:31 PM
You are quite correct. I didn’t apply the dhimmicRAT 1984 meaning filter.
davidk on November 29, 2012 at 12:46 PM
What the Dembeciles say they’re willing to do and what they actually do are in two different universes.
stukinIL4now on November 29, 2012 at 1:02 PM
Both miss the point.
It doesn’t matter which blend of each is the direction we go in, nothing will change until the government is cut and cut drastically.
Does anyone actually believe that, any but a few in politics, or the jobs, benefits and pensions that exist because of politically generated “need”, will vote to kill their own personal golden goose?
That is what we’re facing.
Mimzey on November 29, 2012 at 1:29 PM