Sponsored Content




Intermarkets' Privacy Policy
Support


Donate to Ace of Spades HQ!



Recent Entries
Absent Friends
Bandersnatch 2024
GnuBreed 2024
Captain Hate 2023
moon_over_vermont 2023
westminsterdogshow 2023
Ann Wilson(Empire1) 2022
Dave In Texas 2022
Jesse in D.C. 2022
OregonMuse 2022
redc1c4 2021
Tami 2021
Chavez the Hugo 2020
Ibguy 2020
Rickl 2019
Joffen 2014
AoSHQ Writers Group
A site for members of the Horde to post their stories seeking beta readers, editing help, brainstorming, and story ideas. Also to share links to potential publishing outlets, writing help sites, and videos posting tips to get published. Contact OrangeEnt for info:
maildrop62 at proton dot me
Cutting The Cord And Email Security
Moron Meet-Ups

NoVaMoMe 2024: 06/08/2024
Arlington, VA
Details to follow


Texas MoMe 2024: 10/18/2024-10/19/2024 Corsicana,TX
Contact Ben Had for info





















« Yes, They Do Want To Go Door-to-door Confiscating Weapons | Main | Good News: If a Planet-Killing Asteroid Doesn't Get Us, a Subatomic Viral Universe Will »
February 20, 2013

Obama: Congressional Republicans Are Endangering The Country By Supporting The Sequester.
John Boehner: The President Is Right.

Yesterday Obama did his traditional dog and pony show when he wants to show he's serious about something without actually doing something about it. The most recent human props were first responders that Obama claims will be laid off if the mean GOP doesn't cave in and raise taxes.

Today John Boehner responds with an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal that agrees with Obama.

A week from now, a dramatic new federal policy is set to go into effect that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs and more. In a bit of irony, President Obama stood Tuesday with first responders who could lose their jobs if the policy goes into effect. Most Americans are just hearing about this Washington creation for the first time: the sequester. What they might not realize from Mr. Obama's statements is that it is a product of the president's own failed leadership.

The sequester is a wave of deep spending cuts scheduled to hit on March 1. Unless Congress acts, $85 billion in across-the-board cuts will occur this year, with another $1.1 trillion coming over the next decade. There is nothing wrong with cutting spending that much—we should be cutting even more—but the sequester is an ugly and dangerous way to do it.

By law, the sequester focuses on the narrow portion of the budget that funds the operating accounts for federal agencies and departments, including the Department of Defense. Exempt is most entitlement spending—the large portion of the budget that is driving the nation's looming debt crisis. Should the sequester take effect, America's military budget would be slashed nearly half a trillion dollars over the next 10 years. Border security, law enforcement, aviation safety and many other programs would all have diminished resources.

Boehner's larger point is apparently that Obama should agree to the plans the GOP aid out last year to achieve the same savings but in ways that aren't so ham handed and injurious.

The problem as Byron York notes is that's not really the overall impression one gets from Boehner's piece.

The effect of Boehner’s argument is to make Obama seem reasonable in comparison. After all, the president certainly agrees with Boehner that the sequester cuts threaten national security and jobs. The difference is that Obama wants to avoid them. At the same time, Boehner is contributing to Republican confusion on the question of whether the cuts are in fact “deep” or whether they are relatively minor.

Could the GOP message on the sequester be any more self-defeating? Boehner could argue that the sequester cuts are necessary as a first — and somewhat modest — step toward controlling the deficits that threaten the economy. Instead, he describes them as a threat to national security and jobs that he nevertheless supports. It’s not an argument that is likely to persuade millions of Americans.

Boehner is relying on some double jujitsu move that relies on people accepting the argument that yes the cuts are by the GOP's own admission are dangerous but they can't be turned off because....um....that's why.

Did Republicans learn nothing about the tyranny of low information voters last November? You can't have these 3D policy chess arguments and expect people to side with you, especially when Obama is offering a simple, if false, substitute.

All viewers of Honey Boo-Boo hear is....Everyone agrees sequester is bad, Obama has a plan to stop it, Republicans are saying no to that plan.

I'm sure the GOP will win the messaging war this time because voters have gotten smarter or something since November. And if you believe that, you're qualified to be the GOP Speaker of the House.

FTR: I don't think sequestration will happen. The GOP will cave. Maybe not before March 1 but within a week or so of it.


digg this
posted by DrewM. at 11:07 AM

| Access Comments




Recent Comments
Come and see : "264 There's just too distressingly much I don't un ..."

Pudinhead: "How do climb a mountain of pure Obsidian? ------- ..."

naturalfake: "Shocka! In a show of their reverence for Christ ..."

Minnfidel: "The WaPo Sunday Style section does an annual peeps ..."

Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden: "I saw Blue Shithole open for Boxcar Willie at The ..."

Diogenes: "Thank Biden for 'busy work' before the Presidentia ..."

Sponge - F*ck Joe Biden: "[i] If Obama was a mountain of pure Obsidian, the ..."

Polliwog the 'Ette: "Posted by: XTC at March 29, 2024 10:51 AM (UnA8+) ..."

Pudinhead: "Not much of a middle class left in blue city shith ..."

TheJamesMadison, fighting zombies with George A. Romero: "293 I cannot wait until the state raises taxes on ..."

Thomas Bender: "@282 >>There's nothing funny about Joe Biden! ..."

Wolfus Aurelius, Dreaming of Elsewhere [/i] [/b]: "[i] Washington state has passed a law offering cas ..."

Recent Entries
Search


Polls! Polls! Polls!
Frequently Asked Questions
The (Almost) Complete Paul Anka Integrity Kick
Top Top Tens
Greatest Hitjobs

The Ace of Spades HQ Sex-for-Money Skankathon
A D&D Guide to the Democratic Candidates
Margaret Cho: Just Not Funny
More Margaret Cho Abuse
Margaret Cho: Still Not Funny
Iraqi Prisoner Claims He Was Raped... By Woman
Wonkette Announces "Morning Zoo" Format
John Kerry's "Plan" Causes Surrender of Moqtada al-Sadr's Militia
World Muslim Leaders Apologize for Nick Berg's Beheading
Michael Moore Goes on Lunchtime Manhattan Death-Spree
Milestone: Oliver Willis Posts 400th "Fake News Article" Referencing Britney Spears
Liberal Economists Rue a "New Decade of Greed"
Artificial Insouciance: Maureen Dowd's Word Processor Revolts Against Her Numbing Imbecility
Intelligence Officials Eye Blogs for Tips
They Done Found Us Out, Cletus: Intrepid Internet Detective Figures Out Our Master Plan
Shock: Josh Marshall Almost Mentions Sarin Discovery in Iraq
Leather-Clad Biker Freaks Terrorize Australian Town
When Clinton Was President, Torture Was Cool
What Wonkette Means When She Explains What Tina Brown Means
Wonkette's Stand-Up Act
Wankette HQ Gay-Rumors Du Jour
Here's What's Bugging Me: Goose and Slider
My Own Micah Wright Style Confession of Dishonesty
Outraged "Conservatives" React to the FMA
An On-Line Impression of Dennis Miller Having Sex with a Kodiak Bear
The Story the Rightwing Media Refuses to Report!
Our Lunch with David "Glengarry Glen Ross" Mamet
The House of Love: Paul Krugman
A Michael Moore Mystery (TM)
The Dowd-O-Matic!
Liberal Consistency and Other Myths
Kepler's Laws of Liberal Media Bias
John Kerry-- The Splunge! Candidate
"Divisive" Politics & "Attacks on Patriotism" (very long)
The Donkey ("The Raven" parody)
Powered by
Movable Type 2.64