Saturday, June 20, 2015

In a Troubled World



Some things remain absolutely constant.

Like the fact that, come Hell or high water, Ron Fournier (the "former Karl Rove life coach, who now runs a shelter for orphaned political idiocy at National Journal" ) will go right on defying objective reality and eating Both Siderist paste for a living until someone takes his paste tureen away from him (emphasis added for my own amusement):
GOP Imperils Obama Legacy Via National-Service Cuts

Will Obama haplessly watch another priority fall victim to the political culture he vowed to change?

BY RON FOURNIER

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June 19, 2015 A national-service program seeded by President George H.W. Bush, launched by President Bill Clinton, and expanded by President George W. Bush faces drastic cuts under President Obama, posing a new threat to his legacy.

Republicans in Congress are taking an ax to the budgets of the AmeriCorps family of programs, and Obama seems unable or unwilling to protect them. More broadly, the culprit is a culture in Washington that abhors compromise—a Republican Party that won't raise taxes and a Democratic Party that won't tame entitlement spending to jointly lower national debt while protecting vital public projects.

In short: The problem is short-sighted, cowardly leadership.
...
yadda yadda yadda...
Some conservatives have been critical of AmeriCorps, associating it with Clinton and questioning the merits of even a modest stipend. Cole said those perceptions are "a factor, not a big factor" in the proposed cuts.

He said lawmakers are hamstrung by a tight budget, and blamed Obama for passing up a chance to strike a "grand bargain" on the budget after his reelection, when Republicans were bowing to demands to raise taxes on the wealthy. That may be, but the White House has good reason to point the finger back at Republicans, who seem unwilling to compromise on taxes beyond letting Bush-era tax cuts expire.

Truth is, they're both at fault. Due to a variety of political and social trends, there is little incentive for the two major parties to cooperate, little room to lead. Until the GOP raises revenue and Democrats trim spending...
Obviously Ron Fournier and I remember history very differently.

I am doomed to remember history as it actually happened...



...whereas Ron much more profitably chooses to chuck "history" altogether and just remember what he fantasized about the last time he slipped down to the basement to freebase Both Siderist paste and slap his wizened junk to the steamier excerpts from Newt Gingrich's  "Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America."

5 comments:

Seth said...

We are on the same page once again. These revisionist history morons are still getting paid though.

Unknown said...

OT but not - speaking of "journalists" - On MTP interviewed African American prisoners (and only African Americans) who regretted using guns and asked audience to not consider this a racial issue:

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/06/wtf-nbcs-chuck-todd-airs-color-blind-segment-with-all-black-shooters-to-address-charleston-massacre/

Eugene Robinson evidently called out Mr. Todd on this in a very diplomatic way (paraphrase would be Todd comparing apples to oranges) so I guess he won't be invited back because you know, the first rule of Meet The Press is that you don't question host of Meet the Press.

Unknown said...

I'm always struck by the fact that any conversation of "spending cuts" to reduce the deficit only include spending that liberals like, such as education, infrastructure, food stamps, Medicare, Social Security, etc. Spending that conservatives like, such as our bloated Defense Department's budget or corporate welfare are always off the table and never up for discussion.

As long as the Pentagon gets to keep it's massive Cold-War funding and oil companies get to keep their subsidies, the American people do no owe one damn dime in austerity cuts.

Unknown said...

Also, too, forgot to mention - David Brooks was one of the guests on Toddles' spew fest today.

Unknown said...

I posted the link to that video on the shithead's Facebook page.