Debt-ceiling crisis heads down the rabbit hole
A little update on recent developments, for those not paying close attention:
Yesterday, Eric Cantor again reminded everyone that he wants what he wants when he wants it, but a stern President Obama told him that he can’t have it and he better go clean his room or else.
Malia and Sasha giggled at the news, texting to their BFFs that Daddy always talks tough like that but almost never follows through on his threats.
Meanwhile, Eric pouted to Fox News that Mr. Obama was being mean to him. He also secretly texted Malia and Sasha, asking what they mean by “almost never.”
In the Senate, Mitch McConnell has blinked. Maybe he just got something in his eye. On the other hand, maybe he’s blinking like a nervous kidnap victim using Morse code to signal his rescuers. I’m not as sharp on my dits and dots as I was in my Boy Scout days, but he seems to be saying “save my brand.”
That can’t be right, can it?
Claire McCaskill, the Democratic senator from Missouri, has an alternative theory. “I think Mitch McConnell, frankly, has lost his mind,” she said this morning. Pressure will do that to some people.
In the House, Republicans have become so concerned that House Speaker John Boehner might also start blinking that they have begun taking extra precautions before each negotiating session, as the photograph to the right — leaked from a GOP caucus meeting — demonstrates.
I really don’t think such steps are necessary, though. Boehner already knows that he doesn’t dare to blink, because if he does that sneaky Cantor kid might come steal his speaker’s gavel. Where is that thing anyway?
Meanwhile, Moody’s has announced that it plans to review its Aaa rating on U.S. Treasury bonds. In China, a senior government analyst said his government needs to “seriously assess the risks” of its U.S. holdings, and a Foreign Ministry spokesman expressed hope that the Americans will adopt “responsible policy to ensure investors’ interests.”
Yup, you read that right. The ChiComms are lecturing the running-dog American capitalists on the importance of protecting investors’ interests.
Sigh.
As Alice said in Wonderland, “It would be so nice if something made sense for a change.”
– Jay Bookman
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566 comments Add your comment
ty webb
July 14th, 2011
10:20 am
Jay,
seems you’re getting alot of use out of that “hippie couch”.
Granny Godzilla
July 14th, 2011
10:22 am
T’was brillig, and the slithy toves,
did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogroves,
and the momoraths, outgrabe.
“Beware the Jabborwock, my son,
the jaws that bite, the claws that catch.
Beware the jubjub bird,
and the frumius bandersnatch!”
He took his vorpal sword in hand,
long time the manksome foe he sought,
so rested he by the Tumtum tree,
and stood awhile in thought.
And as in uffish thought he stood,
the Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
came whiffling through the tulgy woods,
and burbled as it came!!!
One, two. One, two,
and through and through,
his vorpal blade went.
“Snicker snack!”
He left it dead,
and with it’s head,
he went galumping back
“And hast thou slain the Jabborwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
Oh, frabjous day! Caloo, Callay!”
he chortled in his joy…
t’was brillig, and the slithy toves,
did gyre and gimble in the wabe.
All mimsy were the borogroves,
…and the momoraths…outgrabe….
Question: GOP or Jabborwocky?
Mighty Righty
July 14th, 2011
10:22 am
Jay, go back to your column when you were critical of Kantor for walking out of the debt ceiling talks. I can’t remember exactly but I think you used words like childish, petilant or something along those lines. This time substitute Obama’s name for Kantor’s. It will be a real hoot to see you treat Obama the same way you treat Republicans.
RedEye
July 14th, 2011
10:25 am
Jay, no mention on Obama pouting?
Fred
July 14th, 2011
10:26 am
Nothing like a little levity to brighten the day.
Thanks Jay.
Lux
July 14th, 2011
10:26 am
The March of Folly, 21st Century version. Let’s play Russian Roulette.
John
July 14th, 2011
10:28 am
Let’s see, the poor Dems have the White House and the Senate but can’t get anything done. Maybe time to look in the mirror and ask, “Am I a leader?”
The money is gone (maybe not as helicoptor Ben is hinting at firing up the old money press again), it is low tide and the lil’ emperors are not prepared. If only He could be King!
Normal
July 14th, 2011
10:28 am
Granny G.
Bravo!
Jay
July 14th, 2011
10:29 am
Mighty, your memory on that is just as good as it is on most other things.
In other words, it’s terrible. Once again, you fabricate facts and quotes to match what you wish had happened, with little regard for what actually did.
Here’s my post mentioning Cantor’s walkout:
http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2011/06/24/the-march-of-folly-toward-government-default/
RedEye
July 14th, 2011
10:29 am
John,
Don’t forget they controlled the white house, the senate, and the house for 2 years and couldn’t pass any tax hikes or even pass a budget.
Normal
July 14th, 2011
10:29 am
Lux,
It looks to me that the Republicans are playing russian roulette with
all chambers loaded…
Mighty Righty
July 14th, 2011
10:32 am
Aw, poor baby Bamster didn’t get his way and went home mad and wouldn’t play anymore hurling four letter words on his way out the door. Further he said he won’t play anymore until he gets someone to pay for his spending madness. He said he doesn’t care if it brings down his presidency. I have news for the baby Bamster, you have already brought down your presidency and much of the country with it. Jay is behind the curve. Msny of Bamster’s sychophants have already jumped ship. Come on Jay, better at least put on your life vest you don’t have enough fingers to stem the flow.
josef
July 14th, 2011
10:32 am
“When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the white knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen’s lost her head
Remember what the doormouse said
Feed your head
Feed your head”
Good column, Bruin!
stands for decibels
July 14th, 2011
10:33 am
The ChiComms are lecturing the running-dog American capitalists on the importance of protecting investors’ interests.
hang around long enough, you’ll live to see most everything, I always say.
Rightwing Troll
July 14th, 2011
10:34 am
“Don’t forget they controlled the white house, the senate, and the house for 2 years and couldn’t pass any tax hikes or even pass a budget.”
Yes and while we’re sashaying down memory lane we must not forget who had complete control from the years of 2000-2006 and where that got us… here…
Brosephus
July 14th, 2011
10:35 am
Is 2011 the Year of the Jackass on the Chinese calendar?
RedEye
July 14th, 2011
10:36 am
“we must not forget who had complete control from the years of 2000-2006″
Aw yes…the good ol days of more than 3% of GDP growth and sub 5% unemployment
I will agree that the 2 unfunded wars were unnecessary
However, the crash in 08 is largely due to the housing market and both sides are to blame for that
josef
July 14th, 2011
10:37 am
BROSEPHUS
Oh, no, that’s 2012!
Brosephus
July 14th, 2011
10:37 am
josef
Oy vey!!!
Recon (2nd.and 3rd.)
July 14th, 2011
10:38 am
Wake up America.
“The fact that we are here today to debate raising America’s debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the US Government can not pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our governments reckless fiscal policies. Increasing America’s debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that “the buck stops here”. Instead Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. America deserves better.”
-Senator Barack H. Obama March 2006
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
July 14th, 2011
10:38 am
Well, every time I see a picture of this Cantor guy I think of Elmo Bragg. He was the kid we slapped upside the head in 3rd grade just because he looked like he needed slapping. At least Cantor could try and look like a manly man, instead of one of them nerds you just want to slap upside the head.
Anyhow, seems to me we don’t need to raise the debt ceiling. My credit card company sets my debt limit. When I try and go above it they turn me down flat.
I say we stay with this debt limit and lay off all the guvmint workers first. Maybe we can keep one or two to pay the military people. Then we stop paying all the lazy old coots and tell them to go and find a job at WalMart.
Just keep the guvmint’s hands off of my Medicare. I bought and paid for that.
Have a good day everybody. And slap somebody upside the head if he looks like he needs it.
Mr_B
July 14th, 2011
10:38 am
And the one that Mother gives you
Don’t do anything at all…
Much like Congress
Peadawg
July 14th, 2011
10:38 am
Another day of childish blame games when both sides (GOP and Obama) are pouting that they won’t get there way.
Yawn.
RedEye
July 14th, 2011
10:39 am
Recon,
Shhhhh…you might offend someone here with that kind of language.
Mighty Righty
July 14th, 2011
10:39 am
Jay
July 14th, 2011
10:29 am
I was wrong and I apologize. Seemed to me your column was more of a put down. B
josef
July 14th, 2011
10:39 am
RED EYE
“However, the crash in 08 is largely due to the housing market and both sides are to blame for that”
True, but stay tuned…”your side was more responsible…no, it wasn’t, yours was…no it wasn’t….yes it was…”
Joe Cool~PRESIDENT Obama Tells CONs,"Don't Call My Bluff BI+CHES"
July 14th, 2011
10:39 am
@ Recon (2nd.and 3rd.) ,
When Prez O made that statement, HOW many time before then had the debt limit already been raised under Bush?
RedEye
July 14th, 2011
10:41 am
josef,
i hope i didn’t open a can of worms
Keep Up the Good Fight!
July 14th, 2011
10:41 am
Seems Cantor and his buddies keep pointing a gun at their own heads and saying “Don’t move or the country is going to get it”….only unlike Blazing Saddles, the President is smart enough to see whose finger is on the trigger and say “Right, are you that stupid?” They can spurt out “yes, yes, we’re stupid enough”.
josef – in case no one mentioned it before, in light of yesterday’s Marcus B discussion, you may want to check out the Daily Show from last night.
Joe Cool~PRESIDENT Obama Tells CONs,"Don't Call My Bluff BI+CHES"
July 14th, 2011
10:41 am
“At least Cantor could try and look like a manly man”
Actually, he cant! He doesnt know what one of those look like.
Doggone/GA
July 14th, 2011
10:43 am
Do I detect the sounds of hit dogs squealing?
josef
July 14th, 2011
10:44 am
And headed down the home stretch, Uppity Knee-grow pulls ahead on the outside, Snivveling Jew Bow, falls back…
BlahBlahBlah
July 14th, 2011
10:44 am
Had Obama not made that grandstanding speech in 2006 I think he might be in a better negotiating position right now.
But if it’s true that he would have been willing to raise the Medicare age to 67, in exchange for closing some big tax loopholes, the Republicans are CRAZY for not jumping at that deal. They are seriously overplaying their hand right now.
josef
July 14th, 2011
10:44 am
oops
Jew Boy….
Common Sense
July 14th, 2011
10:45 am
Meanwhile, to keep the press from being mean to Obama, the shout out questions have been eliminated….
Just imagine the outcry from Bookman had Bush done this. Oh the whining we would have heard.
Does Bookman have no end to his double standards?
Mr_B
July 14th, 2011
10:45 am
Note to the right wing. Could you guys agree on some sort single-key symbol to substitute for the Obama quote from ‘06? It would save wasting billions of good electrons on something everybody from here to the Greater Magellenic Cloud has already read several thousand times.
carlosgvv
July 14th, 2011
10:45 am
Big Business probably sent it’s top lobbyists to visit Boehner and McConnell and give them a message. They were told to stop this foolishness and make a deal or else, come campaign election and re-election time, they could look elsewhere for their cash. Money talks like nothing else. Count on it.
Straw Man
July 14th, 2011
10:45 am
“Yesterday, Eric Cantor again reminded everyone that he wants what he wants when he wants it, but a stern President Obama told him that he can’t have it and he better go clean his room or else.”
Wow…I hadn’t read that, Jay. I guess everyone has mischaracterized what was said except for you. Could you please point me to your news source?
Rightwing Troll
July 14th, 2011
10:47 am
Red EYE,
I can’t and won’t argue with you on that because you are correct.
The unemployment and GDP figures you quoted were a direct result from the housing market being gamed (by both sides) and don’t really reflect what was happening in those years. Free money was being handed out by the gubbimint willy-nilly in those years only instead of bailouts and extended unemployment, as is the case now, it was in subsidized mortgages and Home Equity loans…
Jay
July 14th, 2011
10:47 am
Do you want me to document Sasha and Malia’s text message too, Straw Man?
jconservative
July 14th, 2011
10:47 am
Since Jay brought Alice into the discussion, here is Alice describing the current plan being discussed by Obama, Boehner & Cantor:
‘If it had grown up,’ she said to herself, ‘it would have made a dreadfully ugly child; but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think.’”
Rightwing Troll
July 14th, 2011
10:47 am
Straw,
I beleive he was paraphrasing.
getalife
July 14th, 2011
10:48 am
Listening to cantor whine like a baby would make me go off too.
Eat your peas and go to time out cantor.
Sniveling con child.
If you wanted to be fiscal cons, you had your chance but failed.
Mighty Righty
July 14th, 2011
10:49 am
Rightwing Troll
July 14th, 2011
10:34 am
Yes and while we’re sashaying down memory lane we must not forget who had complete control from the years of 2000-2006 and where that got us… here…
Please, please God bring back those years 2000-2006 when we had a real president that LED us out of the 9/11 disaster. We had a strong growing economy, low unemployment and Obama was rabble rousing on the south side of Chicago. Those were the good old days. Who could have predicted the damage done to this country in such a short time since 2006 by the Democrat party and the Chicago hustler?
Tamika
July 14th, 2011
10:49 am
It indeed seems that Obama is serving Jimmy Carter’s second term. His hectoring, condecending arrogance is driving America toward a cliff. Who wants a nagging parent who seems to be above hard questions and tough negotiation to be president. Obama seems to lack the personal resiliency to be an effective leader.
His idea of being a uniter is for everyone to kow-tow to him. Rather than leading us toward a third way, Obama is just another tired liberal, pitching his redistributionist ideology to a populace increasingly tired of a leader who can’t lead.
Recon (2nd.and 3rd.)
July 14th, 2011
10:49 am
“Could you please point me to your news source?”
Probably media matters, the Huffington Post or maybe he got it from Paul Krugman.
Jimmy62
July 14th, 2011
10:50 am
Moody’s made warning after warning about our runaway debt BEFORE the debt ceiling talk got going. Obama didn’t seem to care about the possible downgrade then, because doing something about it would have meant making cuts. He doesn’t care about it now either, except that it’s currently politically expedient to care.
Why wasn’t he making a big deal out of how we needed to fix the debt when Moody’s was warning about possible downgrades, before the debt ceiling talk?
The dude has no desire to cut anything and “negotiations” were not conducted honestly. If they were, then his “plan” would include some real and immediate cuts, rather than reductions in increases and cuts that won’t happen for years, giving Congress plenty of time to reverse things.
Why haven’t the Democrats passed a budget in over two years? They are legally required to pass a budget, they are irresponsible lawbreakers who won’t budge on raising taxes even to the point of destroying the country.
Fletch
July 14th, 2011
10:50 am
Can’t we just get both sides of the aisle to participate on a special episode of Wipeout? It can be called “The Wipeout Debt Ceiling Special” For the final challange, they can shoot Obama and Boehner out of the cannon to complete the obstacle course. Whichever team is left standing at the end wins the argument. With Americans affinity for reality television paired with their inability to grasp complex issues, I think it would be a real crowd pleaser.
Straw Man
July 14th, 2011
10:50 am
Hey Jay, for three (count ‘em) subscriptions to The Weekly Standard (I’d have said the AJC, but don’t think you need that), tell me who said this yesterday:
“I’ve reached my limit. This may bring my presidency down, but I won’t yield on this. You either have to compromise on the dollar figure or the grand bargain”
FEAR (False Evidence Appearing Real)
July 14th, 2011
10:51 am
Thanks Jay – I needed the giggles! Larry, Moe and Curly (so-called GOP leadership team) has really torn their drawers during this sad, sad, course of events. Somebody pass the popcorn – we’re getting to the good part now..