Epitaph

Multiply
Officials and aides said opponents had multiple misgivings about the measure, which Senate Democrats had already said they would reject as soon as it reached the Senate desk. (NYT, 7/29/2011)


Who exactly is rejectionist?  Who is intransigent?

Proud Of It
Arthur May, a laid-off computer programmer in this proudly liberal suburb of Boston, has been watching the showdown over the federal debt ceiling with growing revulsion — aimed mostly at Republicans. (NYT, 7/29/2011)


In a jaw-dropping article in today's Times, we learn that residents of Barney Frank's district - 80% of whom voted for Obama - are furious with Republicans.  Folks, we are in Pulitizer Prize territory here with this type of inciteful reporting.


Threat Level
I can think of no greater threat to our nation’s prospects than the GOP’s policy-by-anecdote crusade against government. The United States is falling behind other nations in infrastructure, education and health-care indicators such as infant mortality and life expectancy. (Eugene Robinson, Washington Post, 7/29/2011)


And yet - ironically - the Democrat strategy on any issue is exactly 'policy-by-anecdote.'  Witness: Why must healthcare be reformed?  Why it is because poor Susie Sadsack had a claim denied by her mean old insurance company.

On The Beach

Consensual
With the two sides both calling for big discretionary cuts, they should consent to phase them in gradually. And they must extend the debt limit through 2012. The country has more pressing problems to deal with.  (NYT editorial, 7/27/2011)


No actually it does not.  This is the biggest problem.  Like Obama, the Times wants this pesky little debt ceiling problem to go away so that liberals can get on with their task of "fundamentally transforming" the country (their words, not ours.)


Fake ID
In states across the country, Republican legislatures are pushing through laws that make it more difficult for Americans to vote. The most popular include new laws requiring voters to bring official identification to the polls. Estimates suggest that more than 1 in 10 Americans lack an eligible form of ID, and thus would be turned away at their polling location. Most are minorities and young people, the most loyal constituencies of the Democratic Party. (Katrina vanden Heuvel, Washington Post, 7/27/2011)


You have to produce a valid ID to buy beer, to get on an airplane, to enter an office building in  most major cities, to get a loan, etc.  But vanden Heuvel does not believe that this requirement should extend to voting. 

Five Hundred

Deserving
Of course Bachmann does not deserve to be in the presidential race. Legislatively, she has done little, she knows next to nothing and what she thinks she knows is wrong. (Richard Cohen, Washington Post, 7/26/2011)


After Obama - the junior senator who accomplished nothing and voted "present"- no liberal has the right to ever question the competence of any Republican presidential candidate.


Specifics
Obama’s last venture into public specificity was his February budget, which proposed accelerating the nation’s descent into debt. It was rejected by the Senate 97-0. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/25/2011)


Good reminder from Will.

Hats and Hooters

Swamp People
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) each issued statements Sunday night calling for the House Ethics Committee to open an investigation into the conduct of Oregon Rep. David Wu.  Wu is alleged to have had an unwanted sexual encounter with a woman in late 2010. (Washington Post, 7/25/2011)


Several years in, Pelosi's work on "draining the swamp" continues.


He Said What?
Mr. Reid, the Senate’s top Democrat, was trying on Sunday to cobble together a plan to raise the government’s debt limit by $2.4 trillion through the 2012 elections, with spending cuts of about $2.7 trillion that would not touch any of the entitlement programs that are dear to Democrats or raise taxes, which is anathema to Republicans. President Obama could endorse such a plan, even though it would fall far short of the ambitious goal of deficit reduction and entitlement changes that he says are necessary to shore up the nation’s finances. (NYT, 7/25/2011)


Great example of the daily deceit of the Times. Of course, Obama has been all about deficit reduction and entitlement reform. Just kidding! Read on for the truth....


Then again, it has long been clear that Mr. Obama isn't interested in spending reform. In February he proposed a budget that spent more than any in U.S. history. In April he demanded that Congress pass a "clean" debt ceiling hike that included no spending cuts whatsoever. Only after House Republicans unveiled their own sweeping budgetary reforms did the White House rush to also claim it wanted deficit reduction as part of the debt-ceiling debate. (WSJ, 7/25/2011)


Compromised
(Obama) denounces Republicans as uncompromising regarding tax increases but vows “I will not accept” a deal that does not increase taxes. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/21/2011)


Passages
With the passage of gay marriage in New York, it was inevitable that the New York Times would include an article or two about it.  We count six today. In other news, still no agreement on the debt ceiling.

Running Down The Road

Obama’s rhetorical floundering is the sound of a bewildered politician trying to be heard over the long, withdrawing roar of ebbing faith in a failing model of governance. From Greece to California, with manifestations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, Ireland, Illinois and elsewhere, this model is collapsing. Entangled economic and demographic forces are refuting the practice of ever-bigger government financed by an ever-smaller tax base and by imposing huge costs on voiceless future generations. (George Will, Washington Post, 7/21/2011)


Nobody says it better than Will.

Democrats in Disarray

Last week President Obama made an alarming statement to the nation's senior citizens. He told CBS Evening News anchor Scott Pelley he couldn't guarantee that $20 billion in Social Security checks will go out on Aug. 3, the day after the government would go into default if it doesn't raise the debt ceiling. "[T]here may simply not be the money in the coffers to do it," Mr. Obama said. (Thomas Saving, WSJ, 7/22/2011)


Obama and Vermont's own Colonel, Bernie Sanders, are just not on the same page.  Bernie claims Social Security has plenty of money while Obama says he can't pay seniors.  Who is telling the truth and who is lying?  RedStateVT demands an investigation....and the truth!


President Obama and House Speaker John A. Boehner rushed Thursday to strike agreement on a far-reaching plan to reduce the national debt but faced a revolt from Democrats furious that the accord appeared to include no immediate provision to raise taxes. (Washington Post, 7/21/2011)


Hold the phone!  The media has been telling us that it was the Republicans who were in disarray.

Tried to Warn You

Majorities of Americans see both President Obama and congressional Republicans as not willing enough to compromise in their budget negotiations, but the public views the GOP leaders as particularly intransigent, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. (Washington Post, 7/20/2011)

In a shocking new poll conducted by Liberals, Liberals view Republicans as less willing to compromise.