Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Scenes from today's debt talks

With both sides far apart, House majority leader Eric Cantor advocated for a smaller package to get past the looming Treasury deadline and calm the markets:
That’s when Cantor said he would be willing to abandon his own insistence on having just one vote on the debt ceiling if they could agree to a smaller package of cuts in exchange for a shorter-term hike that would require another increase before the 2012 election.
As Charles Krauthammer noted, "long-term" planning for this President is one day after Election Day. So, no, we can't have another vote that might put Obama on the spot again.
But Obama said he wouldn’t do the debt-limit increase incrementally and that he would veto a short-term bill.

“That’s when he got very agitated,” Cantor told reporters.

“Obama lit him up. Cantor sat in stunned silence,” said an official in the meeting. “It was incredible. If the public saw Obama he would win in a landslide.”
And there's your White House mentality on bald display. Job #1: Getting Obama re-elected. Job #2: everything else.

Extra - Hot Air: "I don't want to get my hopes up but we might be in store for another 45-minute lecture tomorrow on corporate jets." Oh boy.

13 comments:

This is fun to watch. said...

Boys playing against a man.

Phil Gramm knew it long ago: "Never take a hostage you're not prepared to shoot."

Eric said...

Quite true: I don't think the GOP will allow a replay of the 1995 debacle. But they also cannot ignore the last election and raise taxes. So it's going to be on Obama and we'll see how the market reacts when that debt keeps climbing at a record pace.

Anonymous said...

Which GOP would that be? You've got two of them nowadays.

Bram said...

Pass a small rise in the debt limit and some real cuts. Put the ball in their court. Either Reid can kill it or Obama can veto it.

Either way, it would be their problem.

America needs to decide who's team it's on said...

Right. By making it their problem we win. Then we parlay that tactical victory into broader victories in upcoming elections.

If we play this right we can regain control of the White House and Congress. It'll be like back in the good old days when government actions and policies were guided by conservative principles.

If we were still in charge we'd have this situation under control. We'd end Obama's War in Afghanistan and we'd balance the budget.

Anonymous said...

Sounds good. Maybe wrap up Lybia and Yemen too.

Republican who's not the least bit delusional said...

Yeah, baby! We've so totally got Obama and the Dems on the ropes! Day by day, hour by hour, this fight is improving our electoral chances! Victory is thisclose! Isn't that right, Mr. Unicorn?

Democrats Don't Surf said...

Bush was brilliant. Set the whole thing up. Passed unsustainable tax cuts, started a couple of wars and went nuts with the credit card.

The market collapse couldn't have been timed better. The beast is being starved. When it dies the stench of its rotting carcass will smell like...victory.

It's going to be awesome. Can't see a downside.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Unicorn speaks!

Anonymous said...

Mr. Troll types.

Legislate... with extreme prejudice. said...

Democrats Don't Surf said...
The beast is being starved. When it dies the stench of its rotting carcass will smell like...victory.


"We went into a camp to inoculate the children. We left the camp after we had inoculated the children for polio, and this old man came running after us. He was crying. He couldn't see. We went back there, and they had come and hacked off every inoculated arm. There they were in a pile. A pile of little arms. This formed the basis for the Republican health care plan."

The poo piles up so fast you need wings to stay above it said...

... In this war, things get confused out there, power, ideals, the old morality.. Because there's a conflict in every human heart between the rational and the irrational, between good and evil. The good does not always triumph. Sometimes the dark side overcomes what Lincoln called the better angels of our nature and we decide it's more important to make the other side lose than it is to work together for the good of the country and come up with a rational plan that combines increases in revenues with decreases in spending to minimize the pain to everyone.

You understand, Captain, that this debt-cutting mission does not exist, nor will it ever exist. said...

OBAMA: They told me that you had gone totally insane, and that your methods were unsound.

CANTOR: Are my methods unsound?

OBAMA: I don't see any method at all.