The “Tea Party Downgrade”
So, I’m sitting watching the Democrats throw fingers everywhere but at each other for the Standard and Poor’s downgrade of our Treasury paper. John Kerry and David Axelrod use the phrase “Tea party downgrade” in separate interviews yesterday…as if it had been coordinated or something;
“I believe this is, without question, the tea party downgrade,” Sen. John F. Kerry, Massachusetts Democrat, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, a day that also saw mounting anxieties in world markets over the downgrade among myriad other economic woes worldwide. Some of the world’s top financial ministers issued a joint statement Sunday night committing themselves to preserve the stability of financial markets and their economies.
David Axelrod, a former senior adviser to President Obama, used the exact same phrase in dubbing the credit rating drop the “tea party downgrade,” as Democrats tried to position themselves as reasonable, pragmatic leaders and conservative Republicans as irresponsible ideologues who caused the downgrade by refusing to accept any new taxes.
Meanwhile Barney Franks blames…who else…the military;
Frank says the military establishment has always had this “great momentum” in politics, but says the credit reversal “could change our thinking.” Frank calls the military a logical target “if we’re looking for something that breaks the mold” on spending.
I guess they couldn’t think of blaming the people who controlled government purse strings from 2007 until last January – the same people who couldn’t pass a budget despite being in the majority in both the House and the Senate. The people who passed the health care bill without reading it and used fuzzy math to justify doing the healythcare bill when we couldn’t afford it. The people who only now admit that the “shovel ready” jobs didn’t exist and they knew it when they were funding them.
But it’s the tea party’s fault suddenly.
Category: Congress sucks, Economy
From Powerline:
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/08/tea-party-downgrade-they-cant-possibly-sell-it.php
‘Tea Party Downgrade – They Can’t Possibly Sell It’
“Fannie and Freddie are basically sound…” -Bwaney Fwank (Buttboy-MA)
Please help the new cash for clunkers program – sent a contribution to Obama, Pelosi and Reed
Not that I’m a fan of O, but do any of you think that this would have happened if the Tea Party didn’t have a presence our government? Now before anyone has an aneurism, I’ve read the Tea Party manifesto and do agree with some of their points, but my question still stands.
If the Tea Party wasn’t around they would have passed something where they spend more and tax us more with no real way of getting out of the deficit. That’s just what I feel though.
Barney Frank needs to stay with doing that which he is good at – sucking dick and getting fucked up his fat ass. And helping to fuck up our economy through Fanny and Freddie.
#5 I agree with you but I’m still conflicted. A downgrade means pain today. Additional spending means pain in the future. My professor said it best when he said, “The only people who benefit from excessive spending today are the lawmakers. They are not the ones that are going to be footing the bill in 20-30 years.”
John, if the T.E.A. party was not there, NONE of the progress towards financial reform would have happened. The demcong as well as Obama have made it clear that our money is theirs to do with as they see fit, and made it as clear as they possibly could that they have no intention of changing unless forced to do so, or fired as happened in the last elections. And it is gonna bite them in the ass again in 2012. Both old line republicans and democrats are going to suffer and a new more intelligent breed will be ascending, one which actually places our interests first.
#8 You didn’t answer my initial question, but I appreciate and agree with your statement about putting people in office that actually place our interests first.
John, let’s put it this way:
–Obama and the Dems have not passed a budget for TWO YEARS. This is not by accident.
–ONLY the TEA Party had a realistic plan for reduction of the deficit and debt with Cut/Cap/Balance. Reid wouldn’t even let it come up for debate in the Senate.
–$2T in spending “cuts” might SOUND good until you realize that 1–it’s over 10 years, 2–it’s based on CURRENT spending levels, meaning instead of a $1.6T/year deficit, we’re looking at “only” $1.4T/year. There are no “cuts”. Spending continues unabated.
–So when S&P or Moody’s or Fitch downgrade the debt further, as S&P has already hinted at, whose fault will it be then?
Sparky
Thanks for the points, especially the third one.
lets see do the math here. We are what 14 trillion in debt. lets say just for shits n giggles that the Tea Party has been around for 15 years. So they are responsible for the downgrade the math doesnt work for me. The dems have been in control of congress for the greater part of the past century. Congress controlls the purse, the purse is EMPTY so whos fault is it ?
To #6. Barney sure was a guy who spread his Fanny for Freddie.
Except that bill won’t come due in 20 -30 years; it’s coming due NOW. How long is the debt crisis bill that was just signed going to hold us? What will the debt be when it runs out? If the Tea Party comes into power, and actually attempts a balanced budget, they will become the most maligned political party that ever existed in this country. Why? Because to cut any program where we give someone money is almost gauranteed to throw them into another political camp; they will fly there to keep that money.
What gets me is that a spending freeze (i.e. – same amount as the last amount they got) is considered a “cut” in Washington-speak. I’m not surprised one tiny bit with the downgrade, as the debt-limit kabuki did nothing to address the unlying problem of SPENDING.
John Curmudgeon,
The downgrade was not about the debt, but about the spending which increased the debt. As the TEA Party had no influence on spending (if one reads what was signed into law by the POTUS), then the TEA Party had no power in deciding to downgrade the US of A.
You may as well have asked why the temperatures in Oklahoma created the downgrade.
What you will find are indicators of the long game: Democrats being positioned to force DOJ into accepting the new legislative districts that came from the results of the 2010 Census, and the many newly conservative state legislatures. That’s a game changer.
Another indicator of the long game is a re-written tax code. Democrats will pounce on increased tax receipts like tweaker to meth; and while not copied and pasted from the Flat Tax and Fair Tax manifestos – the law will be fairer and flatter. With more Americans having skin in the game – that forces changes to the essential political infrastructure of the US of A.
So the squealing and gnashing of teeth over evil TEA Partiers is an attempt to villify a group of Americans is not about the debt, the spending, or the down-grade. It’s to incite their footsoldiers to give more cash to the Obama re-election campaign (and to protect those 20 Democrat senators) in 2012.
What gets me is that a spending freeze (i.e. – same amount as the last amount they got) is considered a “cut” in Washington-speak. I’m not surprised one tiny bit with the downgrade, as the debt-limit kabuki did nothing to address the unlying problem of SPENDING.
Which is why a flat tax, VAT, or “redistribution” of the income tax rates (including elimination of that fucking EIC) and making the 50 percent who currently have either ZERO or a NEGATIVE tax burden part of the game. Of course they’re going to clamor for “free” shit, but if they have to start paying some of the freight, you don’t think that gravy train mentality will dry up mighty quick?
Case in point: Look at the stats from the 2008 presidential election based on income levels. I’m using CNN’s exit polling as my source. At almost every income level, it was within a couple of points of 50-50 UNTIL you get down below $50K/year income, where it then swings wildly to Obama’s favor.
http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2008/results/polls/#USP00p1
$30-50K favored Obama by 55-43 percent.
$15-30K favored Obama by 60-37 percent.
$0-15K favored Obama by 73-25 percent.
Those groups comprised of 37 percent of the voters in 2008. It wasn’t “moderates” who elected Obama, it was lower-income people who were promised the moon with Obama and the Democrat’s class warfar rhetoric, and don’t think for one second they aren’t going to pull that card out again.
Barney Franks wants to raid the military allocation to cover his ass for the rules changes he helped enact which destroyed Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac. I harken back to the days when the only Barney we had to worry about was Barney Fife.
Thanks for that post DaveO.
#4 John,
I’m sure it would have happened and much more violently. All rating agencies would have downgraded immediately….because the borowing:cut ratio would have been worse than the turd that was served up.
#16 DaveO,
Bingo, it’s just about finding someone to blame and the Dems are scared as heel of the Tea Party because 1; they’re right and 2; Americans are figuring that out…..
heel=hell….
“but do any of you think that this would have happened if the Tea Party didn’t have a presence our government”
Considering the demographics of the Tea Party members it seems highly unlikely they would not have a “presence” in our government.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127181/Tea-Partiers-Fairly-Mainstream-Demographics.aspx
Remove the label and what you will find is the back bone of this country. Those that foot the bill. Citizens in their middle years that actually work for a living. Those that have played by all the rules, paid their taxes, invested in their 401Ks, saved their money to buy their own home. They darn well deserve a “presence” in our government in light of the fact that they are the ones funding the whole show.
And not much of a show at that.
I’m not a tea party member and have no family members that claim the name but I do have two children in their middle years, playing by all the rules as they watch the destruction of our country. They get up every day and do what good people do. They go to work, take care of business, they vote and to their credit they keep a good attitude.
I attended one tea party rally that was not far from my home just to observe the crowd. I’m in fly over country. It was held at high noon in a city park. There were 3,000 people there in a city with a population of over 300,000.
The majority of those in attendance were working people on their lunch hour, the same age as my children or a bit younger. All of them worried about their future and the future of this country.
I went away from there satisfied that we were not in any danger of having a violent revolution from this segment of society. They are to busy paying the bills for the rest of the country. And they darn sure deserve to have their voices heard and have a “presence” in our/their government that spends money like a bunch (I won’t insult our Sailors) drunks on a never ending binge.
DaveO
Thank you for your posts on this thread. I have to say for the first time in a long time I see light at the end of the tunnel regard the future of our Republic.
I have gone to TEA Party rallies over the last couple of years and I find a wide swath of people from social liberals, libertarians, conservatives, white, black, hispanic, but the one thing they all have in common isn’t that they’re rich, but rather that they all know that we need to reel in spending and that the government needs to become much better stewards of our money. None of the people I met were “rich”, even by Obama’s standards.
As the saying goes “We don’t have a tax problem, we have a spending problem”.
There was a plan to hold spending limits at 2008 levels, but the wailing and gnashing of teeth over that was incredible. Well, the ones doing the wailing were the entitlement crowd and their leftist overlords. The scare tactic of granma being thrown into the street with nothing was trotted out, even though I’m pretty sure that granma wasn’t tossed into the street in 2008, either.
The only group that didn’t offer up a plan was the democrats and Obama. We hear about a plan without seeing it (kinda like John F-ing Kerry’s “plan” in 2004). Congress votes on bills without reading them; but it’s all the TEA Party’s fault? Nope.
Well, 95 dems seem to have joined the TEA Party, at least for the vote on this “plan”. That’s opposed to 66 No Rep votes in the house. Someone may want to point that out to the alphabet networks, and Jawn Effin’ Kary, Bawney Fwank and the rest.
Oh, that’s right, Kary is looking for a new berth for his yacht, and Bawney is looking for another part of the budget to steal from.
Last week, there was a new lexicon introduced by a caller on a local talk show down here: “Financial Pedophile” to describe the Demonrat Party. I’m going to use it every time I turn around, these left loons like sKerry want to flap their gums then I’m willing to use it on them. Also, Melony sent me a link to a Rasmussen poll….Check this out!
Hello from Boston. First I was born & raised in Boston which I love very much,love the Sox,Celtic,Pats & Bruins but one thing I cannot stand is that its is liberal capitol of the U.S.! Can’t stand Kerry and especially can’t stand the Kennedys(when I bring that up, I get lots of crap for it but I don’t care) I own a Bar Restaurant, mioddle of the road nothing fancy and boy do I get killed in taxes here in Mass. Anyway I used to have this group of liberals who would come in,order drinks,food and so on and run up a high tab and then would argue that they didn’t order that many drink. Ok, being in this business the customer is always right so I took off 30% thinking I was doing the right thing (But a mistake)and didn’t even tip my server. Next time they came in I told my server I’m going to keep an eye on them, so they ordered drinks after drinks, alot of food and heard everything. My server gave them the check and of course they said that they didn’t order all of that. I’ll told them that I heard everything they ordered and have to pay. Well they got all huffy and demanded that I take 30% off, my server is overcharging them and so on. I told them no. Well they go on house lousy my place is the food sucks the drinks are weak and the service is slow and I said to then why did they comeback? Anyway they walked out. I was going to call the cops but thought it wasn’t worth it so I took the loss but at least they wont be back. I have alot of good customers who partonize my place of business so I don’t need assholes like that. Funny thing with liberals, they want to spend everyone else’s money but not their own. BTW I knew they were liberals because they were wearing Obama buttons.
One more thing, as I said , Boston is liberal democrat capitol of the country but there are some good conservative republicans like also. Unfortunetly we have to put up with a sea of liberalism here.
Dave from Boston:
You have my sympathies, brother. I find it interesting that your experience with the Liberal turds looking for freebies – at your expense – seems to dovetail with my impression of the breed over the years.
They ALL – in three decades of watching – are real big on spending our money on touchy, feely crap and moaning about the “little man”. But I have NEVER, not even once, seen a limousine liberal get their hands dirty volunteering in a soup kitchen, volunteering in Haiti, Sudan, the refugee camps by the Burma border in Thailand, Cambodia, Laos … any of that – unless the cameras are rolling.
They are as fake as a three dollar bill and there is NO love in their heart.
You know in this debate we talk about free shit. I’d like to point out something ol Barney might have misses, all of the Veteran Benefits” are worked for, paid for, in blood sweat and tears.
With the VA we’re talking about something EARNED, but when we talk about who pays taxes, and more importantly who does not, we’re talking about OWED. I’m poor, I’m OWED a program to help me. Well no, we help you because its the christian thing to do. I think the main problem isn’t the argument of dollars and cents, its the mentality. The Dems have fostered the “poor baby” and the “oppressed” long after no one really wants them oppressed. They keep harping on that mentality, and the message is a constant “you’re a victim”. Really though, the victims are really everyone. We all pay for this idiocy. people dependent on that Gub’ment check will starve when it stops coming in, and everyone else will be too broke and pissed off to help them. FTW Dems FTW
Another Debt Crisis Solution.
Tax refunds and Social Security are taken from paychecks earned by workers.The real debt solution is balance;cuts with revenue. But the Tea Party applies”Taxed Enough Already” only to the richest 5% of the population,not the middle class, so we have cuts without revenue,and none for the rich.It’s doubly unbalanced. I have two better ideas: #1)The Americans First Tax:For every job,especially union jobs,Big Business outsources overseas (which is “unpatriotic”),tax them triple an American’s salary plus all the benefits. #2)The Giffords Tax; raise taxes on guns,bullets,clipsmagazines,etc.,but make gun safety and smart-gun technology tax free. I know many on here will disagree but I’m a liberal and proud of it and come next year in 2012, Pres. Obama will be re elected by us “smart people” and democrats re take congress and then we’ll have true economic recovery.
To Dave In Boston:
You were born and raised in Boston and a republican conservative? You can’t stand the Kennedys? You sir definitely deserve to get crap for disliking the Kennedys,America’s greatest family. The Kennedys have done more this country than any conservative republican combined in our history. I’ll bet your story is backwards. You were trying to rip off those good people because they were wearing Obama pins and they caught you and you can’t stand it. Plus why do they have to tip your server? You should be paying your server excellent money and benefits. I’ve been to Boston and its a great city due to it being liberal. I think the City Of Boston should be ashamed that one of their native sons dislike liberal democrats and the Kennedys.
Somebody left the door open again.
Blame It On The Reign:
I ncan’t conceive what voters were thinking last year when they elected the current crop of Republican freshmen to Congress,most of whom were spouting nonsense throughout the campaign season and proving ignorant of basic civics. Anyone who complains about “Washington” being broken can look to the Teas Party Republicans and their supporters,first and foremost.The sooner they’re out of office and replaced by Democrats,the better for the rest of us.
To Dave In Boston, Mr Smith is absoulutely right about you. Shame on you being from Boston and being a Republican Conservative!
To Mr J Andrew Smith, Right on my fellow liberal! I always come here just to see all the lies from the right spewed here and was afraid to rebuttal but you sir have opened the door for me and other liberals who come here nad can rebuttal with smart answers and the truth to these right wingers!
Oh Christ Almighty! I cannot believe it. I found this blog which enjoy very much the other night and already its starting to get infested with flaming liberals! Why is that every conservative blogs gets flaming liberal trolls? To the two flamers above, go back to CNN or MSNBC blogs and leave us real people alone.
>other liberals who come here nad can rebuttal with smart answers
Joseph, please provide a link where you rebutted anything…. You came on here called called a few names and gave an opinion..
The above douchenozzles are prime examples of why I can’t stand most liberals and Massholes. Kennedys did more for America? Such as? You mean starting the ball rolling on Vietnam? Fat Ted leaving women to drown? The Big Dig, which is already starting to fall apart? C’mon, I bet if we looked in a Chicago graveyard somewhere we might find your name, registered to vote at least 5-6 times no doubt.
The sock puppets forgot to wash their feet again…BTW…How long has Teddy Kennedy been clean and sober this time…
>Fat Ted leaving women to drown?
The fact that the people from Massachusetts could elect a man who killed a woman and then keep electing him says all I need to know about the liberals in their state….
Mr Andrew Smith,
So you are saying that because I’m a born & bred Boston native, I’m suppose to be a liberal democrat? Who the hell are you to tell me I have to be something just because I’m from a certain area? Also how dare you accuse me of ripping off customers. I worked hard to build my business and in all my years in the bar restaurant biz, I never tried to make checks bigger and charge them more. In fact I have regulars who come in and like my place and on their birthday,anniversaries,etc., I will comp them a drink and a meal to show my appreciation for their business. Also when I have left over food which I didn’t sell that day,by law Ican’t sell the next day even though its still good so I donate it to a homeless shelter and drive it there myself. So as a liberal,what have you done to help? Absolutely nothing I’m sure of. As I said I love my hometown but cannot stand the liberal politics and as NHSparky says about the Kennedys, he is right about them. Nothing but a bunch of crooks. I never voted for that fat douche bag Ted Kennedy and its shames me that people in Massachussetts continued to vote for him for 45 years. At least we now have Scott Brown. I was happy to see a Republican get fat Ted’s seat. I’ll bet he was turning in his grave!
Everyone, sorry about my rant but Mr Smith here just pissed me off with his accusations.
Sock Puppets is right, Old One. All of these new names are either the same person or at least they’re all crowded in someone’s basement using the same computer. The IP addresses match.
Remember, OFA is paying their bloggers by the post.
Gives the term “multiple personalities” a whole new meaning!
Alright Jonn! You got me. It was me making those multiple posts. I was just stirring the pot to get some things stirring around. Very smart move checking the IP addresses to see if they matched.
It proves one thing, conservatives are alot smarter than liberals. I’ve done the same think on liberal blogs and had them going crazy. I always thought ” Why don’t you check the IP addresses and you’ll see its the same person?” but they were too stupid.