With Kathleen Sebelius resigning the Right Wing's most rabid attack dog goes after her replacement.

Courtesy of the Tundra Twattle's Facebook page:

You just can't make this stuff up. 

President Obama just appointed Sylvia Burwell to take over Obamacare, the disastrous beast under which our entire health care system and 1/6 of our nation's economy is forever fundamentally transformed. (Yeah, let's not bother to mention the millions of people who now have access to health care.)

Remember last year when America's war memorials, national parks, patriotic amenities, student White House tours, etc. were shut down because the Obama administration's spending priorities are so out of whack?  (Okay is she talking about when Ted Cruz and the Republicans refused to vote to raise the debt ceiling and forced a government shutdown?) Americans were told the Federal government didn't have enough of our tax dollars to allow WWII vets to walk across a public sidewalk to visit a statue honoring these heroes. This, during the "shutdown" when crony capitalism, earmarks, and waste and fraud continued to fill the swamp. This, while the first family continued to live elaborately large and some in Congress had the gall to whine that they aren't paid enough. This, while the people's will continued to be arrogantly ignored. 

What a cold and callous bureaucrat it was who'd direct that quite revealing fiasco, an episode over which the Obama Administration never recovered in the court of public opinion. (Actually this is only true in Palin-world, in the real world the administration suffered virtually no backlash, and the blame was laid squarely where it belongs. At the feet of Ted Cruz, Sarah Palin, and the Right Wing agitators.)

Who would do such a thing? Who would punish patriotic Americans? (Oooh, ooh, I know, I know. The Teabaggers.) Who sent the email initiating all this? 

The political operative Sylvia Burwell. 

It's Sylvia's stain on the ash heap of history. And along with Sylvia's stain comes her disturbing, punitive priorities as she takes over our health care coverage. Yeah, nothing can go wrong with that. 

You can't make this stuff up.

 - Sarah Palin

I like how she says, "you just can't make this stuff up" right before she essentially makes this stuff up.

Salon referred to this attack as  "The dumbest thing the right is saying about Sebelius’ replacement," which kind of makes sense considering who it taking point on this.

Of course the Republicans are not even close to unified on this scurrilous and desperate attack.  Here is what John McCain tweeted after Burwell was selected.

Sylvia Burwell is an excellent choice to be the next #HHS Secretary
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) April 11, 2014

At this point the attacks from the rabid Right Wing have become so infantile and immature that you almost think that they would all benefit from a diaper change and a good nap.

Of course Sarah Palin's immaturity is part of her brand, so I don't expect that to change any time soon.

Perhaps the biggest winner in the Tea Party's failed attempt to get the government to default is NOT President Obama or even the American people. Perhaps it is a certain ex-Secretary of State.

Courtesy of the National Journal:

 In the innermost sanctum of Clintonland, it is difficult to imagine that Hillary and Bill, two of the savviest politicians in the country, are not pinching themselves to make sure that it's all real. Perhaps they're dancing a jig together, or knocking back shots and howling at the moon out of sheer, giddy joy at their good luck. (OK, Hillary's not howling, but Bill might be.) Or maybe they are just quietly kvelling over the latest turn of events. 

Because the trend lines are unmistakable, and they're looking better all the time: If she wants to run in 2016, Hillary Rodham Clinton could have the easiest walk into the White House of any candidate in either party since, well, one has to go back a very long way. Maybe to Reagan in '84. LBJ in '64, or Eisenhower in '52, or even FDR in 1932, 1936 and 1940. The presidency is looking like it's hers to lose, more than ever. 

The reasons are becoming more obvious with each passing crisis of Republicanism, but are even starker now in the wake of the GOP's embarrassing implosion over the shutdown and debt-ceiling fight. This is an opposition party in such a state of extreme dysfunction that talk of a third-party split in 2016 is almost irrelevant. Why would you need a third-party split to win—as Bill did, recall, cheating George H.W. Bush out of a second term in 1992 thanks to the Ross Perot candidacy—when the base and establishment of the GOP are no longer on speaking terms? 

The demographic numbers tell a grim tale for any potential GOP candidate at the same time as they look like manna from electoral heaven for Hillary. The Republican Party, still in the grip of tea-party extremism, is more and more becoming the party of disaffected and aging white voters. Even many Republican strategists are conceding that no GOP presidential nominee can win that way. But the party is not building itself a bigger tent fast enough: Strapped down by House extremists who can't think beyond the demands of their scarlet-red districts, or beyond the next two years, the GOP is not likely to embrace immigration reform despite Marco Rubio's efforts, thus continuing to alienate the burgeoning Hispanic vote that so doomed Romney. As my colleague Ron Brownstein wrote recently: "Absent big GOP gains with minorities, [Clinton] could win, even comfortably, just by maintaining Obama's showing with whites … [But] the first 2016 polling instead has generally shown her trimming Obama's deficit among whites both nationally and in key states." 

GOP strategists will say they're changing the rules, cutting the number of primary debates so the next Republican nominee is not subjected to the same "traveling circus" (as national chairman Reince Priebus called it) that Romney was. But that's not going to change the tenor of those debates, in which the candidates will have to outflank each other on the right. They also say, well, you'll see, the tea party movement is fading, or at least becoming more manageable. But it's not, as we saw when 144 Republicans in the House voted against the reopening of the government and extension of the debt ceiling Wednesday night, costing John Boehner the support of most of what used to be known as "his" caucus. More to the point, several of those who might be considered serious GOP 2016 contenders for the presidency also voted in favor of the first default in American history in order to stay in the tea party's good graces, including Paul Ryan, Cruz, Rubio and Rand Paul (supplying the first fodder for those Hillary 2016 attack ads). We'll no doubt see a resumption of GOP extremism in coming months when the two parties battle over spending cuts leading up to the next debt-ceiling deadline on Feb. 7. The tea party is still dictating terms to the GOP establishment, and those terms are just too conservative for the general electorate. And who is now the point man for the GOP in budget negotiations? Ryan.

You know I had this very same thought earlier this morning. 

We have already seen the Republicans losing support among virtually every group in America besides older white guys, and essentially every move they make only causes their poll numbers to fall off even further.

In fact I think that the one thing I kind of worried about concerning the Clinton campaign, the ability of the Republicans to dredge up tons of ugly oppositional research about Bill and his lady friends, the impeachment, and possibly some financial irregularities within the Clinton Foundation, are now, in my opinion, far less of a concern.

I mean let's face it, who would do that research? The Heritage Foundation? The Club for Growth? Freedom works? They have all seen their reputations damaged by this shutdown deal, and if they go on the attack it will be quite simple to connect the dots to demonstrate just how underhanded they are and to what lengths they will go to destroy a politician that they don't like.

So when the attacks come all we have to do is say "Consider the source," and move on to a real issue.

So yes I think that the White House is Hilary's for the taking, now more than ever.

Sarah Palin suggest that the politicians who "caved on the debt" should start drinking, and then attempts to compare running the country to her son Track running a lemonade stand. Wait, what?

When life gives you lemons, at this point make margaritas. Caving on debt could drive one to drink. This photo... http://t.co/iofNyTVbUB
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) October 16, 2013

That tweet linked to this photo:

Well somebody's been spending sleepless nights combing through old picture albums.

And this ghostwritten Facebook post:  

When life gives you lemons, at this point make margaritas.  Caving on debt could drive one to drink. (What kind of fucked up Margarita recipe calls for lemons?)

This photo of my son and nephew ran in our local newspaper about 15 years ago. I’m betting dollars to doughnuts our president skipped this universal childhood lesson in Economics 101, and perhaps that explains his problem understanding the tragedy to befall us as America drowns in debt. Running a lemonade stand teaches you to progress by the sweat of your brow and live within your means. It taught these boys that it was unacceptable and self-defeating to keep coming back to mama for more money for ingredients needed to concoct a product to sell to the public. Obviously more debt means less progress and opportunity to expand. Anyone who has run a business knows more debt equals less profit, and less profit means less ability to grow operations, employ more people, and even hold your head high above shortsighted economic decisions that history proves lead to failure. (Is she seriously comparing the running of  child's lemonade stand, to the running of a country the size of the United States? She was the Governor of Alaska, she HAS to know better than that, doesn't she?)


All these lessons about the kids’ lemonade stand and economic freedom apply to our families’ budgets, our businesses, and most certainly our government. We cannot borrow our way to prosperity. (Perhaps, but if the Republicans had not made taxes a four letter word we could raise enough revenue to pay the bills that we started to accrue the minute that George W. spent all of the Clinton surplus and then started two unnecessary wars.)  We’re in a deep hole; quit digging. We cannot ignore the economic realities of bankruptcy. (And there is nothing to suggest that the President is doing any such thing.)


President Obama is giddily enthused now about growing more debt, but just a few years prior when he was still a senator, he scolded America, proclaiming: “The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure.…Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally.” And on July 3, 2008, he declared, “driving up our national debt from $5 trillion dollars to $9 trillion is irresponsible. It’s unpatriotic.” If it was irresponsible and unpatriotic at $9 trillion, what is it at $17 trillion? 

Was he lying then or now? 

(The President defends that vote here: There is no daylight between his vote against raising the debt ceiling as a senator in 2006 and his call for Congress to increase the limit in the next 10 days, President Barack Obama said Wednesday. 

“Nothing has changed,” Obama told WFLA in an interview. “I voted against a debt ceiling increase at the time because I had some concerns about what President (George W.) Bush was doing.” 

The president said he has “no problem” if members of Congress choose to vote against raising the legal borrowing limit now, but took issue with House Speaker John Boehner’s choice not to bring a clean bill to the floor. And to be fair the President was signalling his dissatisfaction with the amount of spending done by the Bush administration and simply cast a protest vote, but he certainly would NOT have allowed the country to default no matter how indignant he was.)


Mr. President, boys and girls all across our great nation would no doubt share their lessons learned about the danger of debt. It’s our posterity you've made insecure when you doubled our national debt since taking office, which violates the preamble of our Constitution which speaks of securing “the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity.” How can we secure our liberty when we’re hopelessly in debt to foreign nations? (Okay WHERE was this idiot when George Bush was borrowing money from China hand over fist?)You said today that the cool thing about being President is you can “pick up the phone and call anyone in the world and they’ll answer.” Call Track and Payton. I’m sure your NSA and IRS have their numbers. 

-Sarah Palin

I love how she keeps bringing up the NSA spying program as if it was Obama's creation and not Dubya's.

Look running the Federal government, keeping the country safe, and paying its creditors is so far removed from running a sidewalk lemonade stand that to suggest otherwise should be an indication of mental illness.

Sarah Palin may be a discredited has been today but at one time she really WAS the chief executive of the largest state in the union. However perhaps because Alaska is awash in oil money, and currently has a 21 billion dollar surplus, she is simply not aware of what it takes to run a country not bought and paid for with money from giant energy companies.

However I think Palin actually knows this, I don't think she is this stupid, she just assumes the paint chip eaters who still listen to her ARE that stupid.

And considering what we have seen of them, she is very likely right.

Thankfully the majority of the American people are not.

Rick Santorum explaining the Republican strategy for dealing with the debt ceiling.

You know, that's kind of what I thought.

P.S. By the way, speaking of Rick Santorum, he has decided to one up Sarah Palin's Christmas book, by releasing his own Christmas movie. 

Sarah Palin blames the looming debt default on the President, and then says if he does anything on his own to solve it he will be impeached, and if he does nothing, he will be impeached.

Phony hair, phony patriotism, and phony Facebook posts. About sums her up.

Courtesy of the Painfully Puerile Political Pinhead's ghostwritten Facebook page:

Obama’s Debt Default is on His Shoulders While We Shoulder His Impeachable Offenses 

Apparently the president thinks he can furlough reality when talking about the debt limit. To suggest that raising the debt limit doesn’t incur more debt is laughably absurd. ( It does NOT directly incur more debt. Only allows the debt already owed to be paid on time. Moron!) The very reason why you raise the debt limit is so that you can incur more debt. Otherwise what’s the point? (The point is to pay your bills on time and not default, which would send the message to the world that America is not trustworthy to do business with. Does she not remember what happened in 2011 when we DID eventually raise the debt ceiling but the argument leading up to it resulted in the lowering of our credit rating for the first time in the country's history?)

It’s also shameful to see him scaremongering the markets with his talk of default. There is no way we can default if we follow the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, requires that we service our debt first. We currently collect more than enough tax revenue to service our debt if we do that first. (No that is called "Prioritizing" and in this case it is essentially unworkable:"The U.S. government’s payment system is sprawling. It involves multiple agencies. It involves multiple interacting computer systems. And all of them are designed for only one thing: To pay all bills on time. The technological challenge of trying to adapt that to some other system would be very daunting, and I suspect that if we were forced into a mode like that the results would be riddled with all kinds of errors.") However, we don’t have enough money to continue to finance our ever-growing federal government (with our $17 trillion dollar national debt that has increased over 50% since Obama took office). That’s why President Obama wants to increase the debt limit. He doesn’t want to make the tough decisions to rein in government spending. So, he’s scaremongering the markets about default, just as he tries to scaremonger our senior citizens about their Social Security, which, by the way, is funded by the Social Security Trust Fund and is solvent through 2038. (Might be a good place to mention that Ronald Reagan raised the debt Ceiling 18 times, more than any other President. Was he also "scaremongering?")


It’s time for the president to be honest with the American people for a change. Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense. A default would also be a shameful lack of leadership, just as mindlessly increasing our debt without trying to rein in spending is a betrayal of our children and grandchildren who will be stuck with the bill. 

- Sarah Palin 

So to be clear, in Palin's stunted and ill informed point of view, the President is damned if he does, and damned if he doesn't. Apparently Palin's only solution is for the President to surrender his presidency and hand it over to the Tea Party.

Go ahead bitch, hold your breath.

The possibility of this President being impeached for the political malpractice demonstrated by the Republican party is an outlandish fantasy dreamed up by a band of politic sore losers who simply cannot accept that they lost, and the President and the American people won.

Every day the Republicans lose ground in the polls, and every day the President looks more and more like the only adult in the room.

And don't forget, HE is not up for reelection ever again. The same cannot be said for those who are actively trying to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States of America. 

With the debt ceiling fight looming this is how the argument over default is shaping up.

Source

You know if the Republicans will not listen to the Democrats or White House concerning the importance of raising the debt limit, perhaps they will listen to one of their own: 

This brinkmanship threatens the holders of government bonds and those who rely on Social Security and veterans benefits. Interest rates would skyrocket, instability would occur in financial markets, and the Federal deficit would soar. The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility—two things that set us apart from much of the world. 

Oh by the way that was some fellow named "Reagan." Ronald Reagan I believe.

Another one of those liberal rags, this one called "The American Conservative," has blamed Ted Cruz for damaging the Republican party. Wait....

Source

Courtesy of The American Conservative:  

Jonathan Bernstein considers what the pointless shutdown fight has done to Ted Cruz’s political prospects: 

"It’s one thing to have a reputation as a loudmouth; it’s quite another to have a reputation as a loser. That’s what the shutdown fight has done to Cruz. Among true believers he’ll be the one who was a leader in a fight that surely would have won if the squishes hadn’t sold them out. But for most party actors, including many sympathetic to Tea Partyism, he’s going to be the guy who ran up the wrong hill."

It would have been different if Cruz’s gamble had been over a minor issue that drew little attention, but the purpose of the gamble all along seems to have been to turn Cruz into a national figure and link his name to some of the most important issues available. It succeeded in making him better known, but in every other respect it has backfired badly. More important, Cruz didn’t just misread the political landscape and support a strategy that had zero chance of success, but he did so in a way that maximized intra-party divisions, burned bridges with most of his colleagues, and distinguished himself as a self-seeking bomb-thrower who ended up helping to blow up his party’s own standing. Granted, Cruz didn’t do this all by himself, and there are many others that contributed to the mess the GOP finds itself in today, but he very much wanted to be identified as the leader of the effort, and now he will pay for it. 

Cruz’s error was almost the exact reverse of the one that Rubio made on immigration. Rubio was paying too much attention to what people outside the GOP thought and wanted from an immigration bill, and for that reason he failed to see how much resistance there was in the House to any bill that Democrats would support. Cruz was so determined to ignore the views of anyone outside the party and even the views of many of those inside it that he led fellow Republicans into a disaster while remaining oblivious to the danger. Cruz’s debacle has been much more significant for the GOP because the party’s leaders ended up going along with his losing strategy.

Okay so with the American Conservative now piling on with the many others within the Republican party now speaking out, does that mean that the Republican party is now ready to clean house and rid itself of their teabagging insurgents?

(According to Rolling Stone that may be virtually impossible at this point.)

Or are the self inflicted wounds simply too deep, and rife with infection, for anything to save the patient? And do we now find ourselves at the pivotal moment when the country becomes a three party political system?

At least 60% of the country believes that introducing a third party is the only way to fix our broken political system. Though of course similar calls for a third party have cropped up numerous times in the country's past.

If that were to happen you KNOW that the energy for such a party would come solely from the rabid Right Wing which believes the Republicans are far too willing to compromise with the Democrats, in other words do their jobs, and would rather send representatives to Washington who were driven by stubborn ideology and complete distrust of government.

That does not exactly describe a viable framework for a third party, so perhaps despite rumblings for change and disgust with the status quo, things will continue in much the same fashion, until the Republicans finally get their unruly new members house broken, or the party devolves into a permanent minority party spending all of its time bitching about government but having little actual impact on governing.

Either one works for me.

After their year long plans to shutdown the government have been made public, the Koch brothers attempt to deny culpability. Too late!

Courtesy of the Atlantic: 

The Kochs appear to be distancing themselves from the movement they've helped to create. In a letter released Wednesday, Koch Industries' chief lobbyist, Philip Ellender, says the company does not favor the House's push to defund Obamacare as a condition of keeping the government open. Koch Industries would prefer to see Congress focus on fiscal issues: "We believe that Congress should, at a minimum, keep to sequester-level spending guidelines, and develop a plan for more significant and widespread spending reductions in the future," Ellender writes. 

Ellender's letter came in response to Democrats' attempts to pin the shutdown on the Kochs. Speaking on the Senate floor on Tuesday, Majority Leader Harry Reid said: "Very rich people in America who don’t believe in government have used Obamacare as a conduit to shut down the government .... This has been led by, according to the news article, a former attorney general of the United States, Ed Meese, and the Koch brothers, who have been raising and spending hundreds of millions of dollars to get us where we are right now," Reid said. He added, "By shutting down the government—and that is what has happened—we are satisfying the Koch brothers and Ed Meese, but millions of people in America are suffering." Reid cited a front-page New York Times article on Sunday that traced the government shutdown's origins in a network of right-wing pressure groups opposed to Obamacare, many of them funded by Charles and David Koch. 

But Ellender, in his letter, accuses Reid of distorting Koch's stance. "Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care in America, and raise taxes," he writes. "However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacrare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare." 

In addition to keeping spending at sequester levels, Ellender adds, "We also believe that Congress should work to rein-in rampant government spending so that it becomes no longer necessary to continually raise the debt ceiling." 

Even as the Kochs attempt to disavow the defund movement, their money has supported it. The brothers have given half a million dollars to Heritage Action, which toured the country rallying support for defunding Obamacare over the summer, Politico reported Wednesday. Heritage Action continues to insist the way to end the shutdown must be defund or nothing: Talk of a fiscal deal constitutes "losing focus," according to a Heritage Action blog post on Tuesday, and "the House should use its leverage to battle President Obama's failed health care law." The Koch-funded group Americans for Prosperity officially supports repealing Obamacare, not defunding it, but state chapters in New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, and Virginia have voiced support for defunding. 

Just like Victor Frankenstein, there comes a time in every madman'[s life when they realize that the creature they have created must die.

The question is, will it die quickly, or will take on a life of its own and ultimately leave a path of destruction in its wake?

Actually to be fair the destruction is already taking place:

During the impeachment of Bill Clinton, Republicans were pretty unpopular. After eight years of George W. Bush, same. But never in the history of Gallup polling has the party been more unpopular than it is right now.

Good job Koch brothers.  No really, good job!

A graph to explain why during this government shutdown President Obama does not go with Republican plans to fund individual programs one at a time to relieve political pressure.

Courtesy of the Atlantic:  

The government is still shut down, as thousands of workers go without pay, food goes without inspection, and sick patients go without clinical trials. Meanwhile, Republicans have offered to restore funding on a piece-by-piece basis that would pay some of those workers and treat some of those patients. 

The president has said no. But why, CBS White House Correspondent Mark Knoller asked at the press conference today. 

Obama responded that while he's "certainly tempted" to take up the GOP offers, he didn't want to fund slivers of the government, one at a time. On the one hand, funding the discretionary budget bit by bit spares the most headline-y victims and lessens the pain of shutdown. On the other hand, the piecemeal approach ... well, spares the most headline-y victims and lessens the pain of shutdown, prolonging the crisis, itself. 

So, depending on how you look at it, the piecemeal approach is both a plan to fund government as soon as possible and a plan to leave government unfunded as long as possible. 

There is a graph for this (Seen up at the top.), of course. Michael Linden counts up the six piecemeal non-defense appropriations bills passed by the House (and unsigned by the president) and the eight other bills the House wants to pass in the coming weeks. "Together, these 14 bills allocate approximately $83.1 billion in funding," Linden writes. That would leave 82 percent of the $470 billion non-defense discretionary government unfunded.

Actually I did not need a graph to understand why it was a stupid idea to fund the government ONE PROGRAM AT A TIME! And when that guy from CBS asked the President that question during the press conference I yelled "NOOOO!"

The President needs to, and in my opinion will, hold firm until the Republicans do their damn job and stop holding the country hostage.

However, just like the Atlantic article says, that will NOT happen if the Republicans can ease the pressure on them by getting a few of their pet programs funded and look like they are being reasonable, when they are being anything but.

If he allows them to pressure him into give even an inch, all of this hardship will be for nothing, and for some it will continue indefinitely. 

But if he holds tight, I think this cartoon sums up the outcome nicely.

The internal split within the Republican party widens as the powerful pro-business Chamber of Commerce offers to help politicians battle against Tea Party challengers if they will vote to raise the debt ceiling.

Courtesy of TPM:  

The letter circulated by the Chamber of Commerce urges lawmakers to raise the debt ceiling "in a timely manner and remove any threat to the full faith and credit of the United States government." It also acknowledges Republican fears over the unsustainable growth of major benefit programs such Medicare and Social Security and the need for a more business-friendly tax system. 

But in a rejection of the tactics of House Speaker John Boehner, the letter urges Congress to pass first a short-term spending bill, then raise the debt ceiling, "and then return to work on these other vital issues." 

That advice is being ignored by the GOP-led House. 

"There is an element of the more independent, tea party coalition Republicans that, frankly, don't listen to very many people," said John Engler, the former Republican governor of Michigan and now president of the Business Roundtable, one of the groups that signed the chamber letter. "They are on a mission, often defined on the basis of their view of the world, and they aren't paying very much attention to what this means beyond maybe their own districts." 

Concerned, the Chamber of Commerce is preparing to participate in political primaries, protecting friendly lawmakers from conservative challengers. "Clearly we're getting to a point where we need a Congress that's going to be productive, proactive and create a stable environment for economic growth and job creation," said Scott Reed, a Republican political consultant who is advising the chamber on its strategy.

Well this is certainly going to get a certain Arizona based political pundit's panties in a twist. 

It is really only the threat of uber conservative primary challengers that is keeping a number of these Republicans in line due to the fact that they are too afraid to cross Ted Cruz and his Teabagger minions. If the Chamber of Commerce has the funds on hand to actually accomplish this tactic of funding primaries around the country that will surely inspire the Koch brothers and Heritage Action to up the ante, and we could see local elections spending multiple millions of dollars for seats in relatively small districts that were once conservative strongholds.

Which by the way might leave coffers somewhat depleted when it came time for the general election against a democratic challenger.

Gonna need some more popcorn I see.

The Republicans are once again holding the debt ceiling hostage in order to force the President to delay the implementation of Obamacare. Here let the Newsroom's Sloan Sabbith explain why that is a dangerous plan.

(Caution this is HBO so you can expect at least one F word.)

And people wonder why I love this show.

As many of you will undoubtedly remember that the Republicans ONLY acquiesced when the President signed the Budget Control Act of 2011 which stipulated that if the two sides could not reach an agreement on the budget by late November then Sequestration would take affect. At the time they believed that despite their differences they were not quite THAT entrenched.

Unfortunately for all concerned, they were.

And during all of this political posturing and threatening Standard and Poor's downgraded our credit rating for the first time in history, dealing a blow to America's reputation and our standing in the world's economy.

Which is just what Sloan Sabbith is warning about in the above clip.

Yes I realize the scene was written after all of this had already happened, giving writer Aaron Sorkin the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, but what is happening right now is ALSO taking place after all of that has already happened, which means that the Republicans and Congress should ALSO be benefiting from 20/20 hindsight, and yet it is increasingly looking as if it is all about to happen again.

What Sloan Sabbith is suggesting the American people do in that clip, is exactly what they, what we, should be doing right now.  I only hope that we can be heard over the rattling of their partisan swords.

Frontline presents: Inside Obama's Presidency.

Watch Inside Obama's Presidency on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

You know I typically do not post videos that are five minutes or more, because I realize that most people do not have time to watch them.

However THIS report is absolutely excellent, and well worth the fifty three minutes and thirty nine seconds it takes to watch it.

Personally I came away with a deep appreciation of what this President has accomplished and an even more negative perception of the Republicans and some real anger at how hard they worked to destroy Obama at every turn.

I do have to admit that I cringed more than a little during the report on drone strikes, but overall this is a very informative and fascinating look at the last four years of our country's history.

P.S. If for some reason this video does not play please click here and watch it over at PBS.

Sarah Palin accuses the President of issuing a "slap in the face" to the American people by offering promises of a better future. Yeah WHO does that in politics?

Click anywhere to start video, but watch the precariously perched roadkill wig.

Hannity starts off accusing the President of breaking his promises and of a laundry list of failures. So who better to bring in to talk about being a failure than the Lunatic from Lake Lucille herself?

However apparently out of fear that the dipshit will say something truly stupid again Fox only had her on for a grand total of about five minutes, with plenty of video interspersed throughout to cut down on her ranting time. (The Palin word salad begins at the 3:00 mark)

Hannity starts off asking Palin whether or not we should hold the President accountable for his old promises (You know the ones the GOP keep blocking him from keeping) before believing in his new ones.

Batshit -crazy Barbie:

(Starts off barely audibly) "Well we do. And those repeated promises, and then as you are suggesting, a whole host of new promises..um really is a slap in the face of the electorate. There's an estimation of an unintelligent voting block out there I think that...uh...President Obama is assuming will continue to want to get free STUFF, despite free stuff will replace freedom. And he's just assuming that that voting block will be large enough to get him back in there, but I just pray that Americans will open their eyes between now and November when they know that they'll have to make that choice between free stuff and freedom, you can't have both."

So in a nutshell the woman who charged the state of Alaska a per diem to stay in her own house, and often demands bendy straws, free airfare, and hotel accommodations for family members before agreeing to give a speech, is accusing Obama supporters of wanting "free stuff?"

Okay I was either just overcome with irony, or the home studio lights reflecting off that cheap gaudy Star of David just blinded me. Hang on.

Okay I feel better now let's move on to Hannity accusing the Democrats of putting on, and these are HIS words, a "boring," "stale," and "uninspiring" convention. (Sorry it took me awhile to finally stop laughing out loud at that. Hey Hannity have you HEARD Jennifer Granholm?) And then asking Palin which "adjectives" SHE would use.

Blank stare Barbie:  

"Uhhhh, well last night it was very painful to watch ("Painful" THAT'S an adjective, right?) the President's speech. (That's cause it was full of all those big wig elite words and such!) And..and..not just because we knew he was not telling Americans the truth, with his suggestions of how well things were going and how well things will go if we gave him four more years of these repeated felled (sic) policies. But you're right there was a lack of enthusiasm, and a lack of passion for this country. A lack of sincerity when it came to, for instance, his claims of supporting our troops and yet many of us look back just a number of months ago and remember a specific about the troops, for instance, where he was ready and willing to throw our troops under the bus if he didn't get his way on budgets and debt ceiling increases, he was going to withhold, or was willing to, the troops paychecks! So as he talked about the support that he has for, again for instance, the troops, all you have to do is go back in time to the very recent past and realize that he contradicts himself  he really is...uh the antithesis of consistency that you would hope would be in a President."

Okay first off all of that is bullshit! The reason that the debt ceiling almost did not get raised was due to obstructionism from the Teabagggers that SHE helped to get elected. But what can one expect from a woman who set the very standard for avoiding the truth that the current GOP seems to have adopted as their most important political platform?

What is more telling here is that Palin and Hannity are clearly doing their level best to deny the reality of how well the Democratic convention came off as compared to the steaming pile of political malfeasance and crazed elderly antics that represented THEIR convention.

They are essentially urinating all over the President's parade, but the fact is he, and the rest of the Democratic party, won't even bother to take notice as they march toward certain victory in November, leaving a fuming Sean Hannity, and soon to be unemployed Sarah Palin, choking on their dust.

Hey I have an idea. Maybe if Palin plopped an even LARGER fright wig on her pointy noggin, while wearing an even MORE obnoxious religious symbol against her bony anorexic clavicle, somebody might actually pay attention to her bullshit.

Hey, it's worth a try! After all, what ELSE does she have to offer?

Three reality based charts you can use to shut that Right Winger in your family up for good. Assuming of course that they understand charts.

Courtesy of The Smirking Chimp:

Notes, this chart includes Clinton's last budget year for comparison. 

People who claim that Obama "tripled the deficit" are either misled or are trying to mislead.

And finally a chart that many of us may seen once or twice before in the past, but on that still remains quite relevant and informative.

Yes I know that for most of these ignorant knuckle-draggers, even making the numbers in the form of a pretty picture will not convince them that all of the country's ills are not solely the responsibility of the Islamic Socialist anti-white racist currently living in the White House.

But hey at least you can give it a shot. I mean somebody has to start somewhere, don't they?

Rachel Maddow points out that the downgrading of the US credit score by S&P means little, but that the blame for any harm it might cause rests solely with the Republicans.

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I believe this is the same point that I have been attempting to drive home over and over this weekend. I appreciate Rachel Maddow's gift for breaking a complicated issue down and making it much more digestible for the public at large.

Just a reminder as to how we got here.

Courtesy of the Political Animal:

1980: Ronald Reagan runs for president, promising a balanced budget

1981 - 1989: With support from congressional Republicans, Reagan runs enormous deficits, adds $2 trillion to the debt.

1993: Bill Clinton passes economic plan that lowers deficit, gets zero votes from congressional Republicans.

1998: U.S. deficit disappears for the first time in three decades. Debt clock is unplugged.

2000: George W. Bush runs for president, promising to maintain a balanced budget.

2001: CBO shows the United States is on track to pay off the entirety of its national debt within a decade.

2001 - 2009: With support from congressional Republicans, Bush runs enormous deficits, adds nearly $5 trillion to the debt.

2002: Dick Cheney declares, “Deficits don’t matter.” Congressional Republicans agree, approving tax cuts, two wars, and Medicare expansion without even trying to pay for them.

2009: Barack Obama inherits $1.3 trillion deficit from Bush; Republicans immediately condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

2009: Congressional Democrats unveil several domestic policy initiatives — including health care reform, cap and trade, DREAM Act — which would lower the deficit. GOP opposes all of them, while continuing to push for deficit reduction.

September 2010: In Obama’s first fiscal year, the deficit shrinks by $122 billion. Republicans again condemn Obama’s fiscal irresponsibility.

October 2010: S&P endorses the nation’s AAA rating with a stable outlook, saying the United States looks to be in solid fiscal shape for the foreseeable future.

November 2010: Republicans win a U.S. House majority, citing the need for fiscal responsibility.
December 2010: Congressional Republicans demand extension of Bush tax cuts, relying entirely on deficit financing. GOP continues to accuse Obama of fiscal irresponsibility.

March 2011: Congressional Republicans declare intention to hold full faith and credit of the United States hostage — a move without precedent in American history — until massive debt-reduction plan is approved.

July 2011: Obama offers Republicans a $4 trillion debt-reduction deal. GOP refuses, pushes debt-ceiling standoff until the last possible day, rattling international markets.

August 2011: S&P downgrades U.S. debt, citing GOP refusal to consider new revenues. Republicans rejoice and blame Obama for fiscal irresponsibility.

Any questions?

The True Villian of the Economic Meltdown.

Courtesy of The Daily Beast:

But Obama is not the villain in this story. Every time I step back and ponder this sordid history, I am amazed that the Republican Party has any credibility and even 100 members of Congress, let alone a sizable House majority and enough juice to be driving the nation’s agenda as it is.

The Boston Globe ran a chart last Sunday that I’d buy billboard space to reproduce in every decent-size city in America, if I were running the Democratic National Committee. 

 (Here's the chart  to save your the trouble of searching for it.)

The premise of it was very simple: It showed how many trillions each president since Ronald Reagan has added to the nation’s debt. The debt was about $1 trillion when Reagan took office, and then: Reagan, $1.9 trillion; George H.W. Bush, $1.5 trillion (in just four years); Bill Clinton, $1.4 trillion; Obama, $2.4 trillion.

Oh, wait. I skipped someone. George W. Bush ran up $6.4 trillion. That’s nearly half—44.7 percent—of the $14.3 trillion total. We all know what did it—two massive tax cuts geared toward the rich (along with other similar measures, like slashing the capital gains and inheritance taxes), the off-the-books wars, the unfunded Medicare expansion, and so on. But the number is staggering and worth dwelling on. In a history covering 30 years, nearly half the debt was run up in eight. Even the allegedly socialist Obama at his most allegedly wanton doesn’t compare to Dubya; and Obama’s debt numbers, if he’s reelected, will surely not double or even come close as we gambol down Austerity Lane.

The GOP and the Teabaggers are going to use every one of their pet media outlets, from Fox News to Right Wing radio, to try and hang this debt crisis, and the lowering of our debt rating, on President Obama.

It is up to all of us, and what remains of the so called "liberal media," to continue pointing out who is REALLY responsible for this disaster.

And those responsible are the Republicans who increased the debt by 6.4 trillion dollars between 2000 and 2008, the Right Wing media that provided cover for them while they were doing it, and the Teabaggers who are now determined to fight this President every step of the way so that he cannot repair the damage, in the hopes that they can blame him for the whole mess in 2012 and put another GOP asshole in the White House to finish the job of bankrupting this nation once and for all.

(H/T to the Obama Diary.)

D.C. Douglas thanks the Tea Party.

This guy gets better and better all the time.

Rachel Maddow and Ezra Klein discuss the downgrading of the US debt by Standard and Poor's for the first time in history.

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In my opinion this black eye on America's reputation is solely the fault of the Teabaggers, and it is important that the media drive that point home over and over again, so that the voters know exactly WHO is unfit to serve in Congress.

I would also hope that recall petitions are being written, and that activists are preparing to head out to the streets to gather signatures first thing in the morning. In my opinion this is a situation which simply cannot be allowed to continue.

Jon Stewart points out that the Teabaggers are unhappy with the debt deal because "government still exists."

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Yeah I guess these so-called "patriots" simply will not be happy until there is nothing left of the country but a smoldering crater.

You know like the one that sits between their ears where their brains are supposed to be located.