If Speaker Boehner's attempt to get his debt ceiling plan passed by the House last night was a referendum on his leadership, the results are in and they are clear--Boehner is not in charge, the inmates are truly running the asylum, and fully intent on running the economy over the cliff. As Ron Beasley at The Moderate Voice put it, Boehner's " not trying to herd cats, but lemmings."
Despite all the arm-twisting, coercing, and cajoling by the Speaker the extreme right-wing of his party remains unconvinced that failing to raise the ceiling will have any adverse consequences. As Lawrence O'Donnell said on the Last Word last night, these are people who take their economic advice from Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. Even the very conservative economist Thomas Sowell tried to convince the Tea Party that they should consider what they've achieved so far as "the best deal possible under the conditions" and go on to fight another day. He tried to appeal to their rationality, but to no avail.
On the Democratic side, Minority Leader Pelosi said this after last night's vote was postponed:
Here's where Sowell, Pelosi, and President Obama are making a mistake. You can't make rational appeals to irrational people. You can't get a balanced agreement from the unbalanced. If there are two reasonable groups of people who genuinely disagree on policy, they can sit down together and reach some sort of compromise position acceptable to both. That's not the case here.
Those who are holding the economy hostage have a dangerous combination of willful ignorance of the facts, unwillingness to give any credence to anything that doesn't fit their narrow point of view, and an ideological zeal that spills over into the belief that they are on some sort of mission from God to save the United States of America from the clutches of the evil, foreign usurper who somehow managed to become president. They have to stop him because God told them to.
This kind of ignorance:
No matter how many times it has been repeated, Bachmann and the lemmings she leads refuse to get it. Raising the ceiling has nothing to do with more spending, it's about paying the bills. They don't get it because they don't want to get it, and they never will.
Ignorance like not even being sure of how a bill becomes a law. Like paying no attention to market signals like this:
How do you deal with people who ignore that? And how do you appeal to the rationality of someone who believes God told them to vote no?
You can't.
Despite all the arm-twisting, coercing, and cajoling by the Speaker the extreme right-wing of his party remains unconvinced that failing to raise the ceiling will have any adverse consequences. As Lawrence O'Donnell said on the Last Word last night, these are people who take their economic advice from Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin. Even the very conservative economist Thomas Sowell tried to convince the Tea Party that they should consider what they've achieved so far as "the best deal possible under the conditions" and go on to fight another day. He tried to appeal to their rationality, but to no avail.
On the Democratic side, Minority Leader Pelosi said this after last night's vote was postponed:
"Hopefully, now the Republicans will come back to the table to negotiate a bipartisan, balanced agreement that is overwhelmingly supported by the American people," Pelosi said in a statement."
Here's where Sowell, Pelosi, and President Obama are making a mistake. You can't make rational appeals to irrational people. You can't get a balanced agreement from the unbalanced. If there are two reasonable groups of people who genuinely disagree on policy, they can sit down together and reach some sort of compromise position acceptable to both. That's not the case here.
Those who are holding the economy hostage have a dangerous combination of willful ignorance of the facts, unwillingness to give any credence to anything that doesn't fit their narrow point of view, and an ideological zeal that spills over into the belief that they are on some sort of mission from God to save the United States of America from the clutches of the evil, foreign usurper who somehow managed to become president. They have to stop him because God told them to.
This kind of ignorance:
"Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann again brushed off warnings from leaders in both parties that the country would face disastrous economic consequences if the government fails to raise the debt ceiling by next Tuesday.
"I do not believe for one moment that we will lose the full faith and credit of the United States," Bachmann said Thursday during a question-and-answer session at the National Press Club in Washington.
Bachmann, a House member from Minnesota, has been a staunch opponent of the debt ceiling hike for months, saying the move poses no threat to the markets or to the American public and would only give President Barack Obama license to increase government spending."
No matter how many times it has been repeated, Bachmann and the lemmings she leads refuse to get it. Raising the ceiling has nothing to do with more spending, it's about paying the bills. They don't get it because they don't want to get it, and they never will.
Ignorance like not even being sure of how a bill becomes a law. Like paying no attention to market signals like this:
"The reverberations of Washington's impasse over a debt deal are already being felt in the short-term credit markets, a key artery of the economy that daily supplies trillions of dollars of credit. Over the last week, big banks and companies have withdrawn $37.5 billion from money market funds that invest in Treasury debt and other ultra-safe securities, the biggest weekly drop this year."
How do you deal with people who ignore that? And how do you appeal to the rationality of someone who believes God told them to vote no?
"Adding even more drama to an already chaotic evening in the Capitol, several members of the South Carolina delegation retreated to an ornate, secluded chapel adjacent to the Capitol Rotunda to pray on the issue.
Asked whether divine inspiration might hit during prayer, Rep. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a freshman from Charleston, replied: "Divine inspiration already happened. I was a 'lean no,' and now I'm a 'no.'"
You can't.
AMEN!!! I agree, my brother from a different Mother.
14th Amendment, Section 4 says:
The U.S. Government MUST pay bounties for putting down insurrections and/or rebellions
Let's kill 'em all!
(as the Wasilla bitch would say...Speaking figuratively, of course)
Can I say that on...TV
If anyone decides to "blow off" voting in the next mid-term elections, I will show up at their door with a can of Whoop Ass. It's going to take a protracted battle to get those idiots out that we elected by default, and I am incensed!
Artemus' favorite was "VICIOUS blackhearted bastards". Oh if he were only here, to eviscerate these utter dumbasses with one fell swoop.
I just don't understand it....did they all take stupid pills? How can anyone be so unreasonable, so blind and so hateful?
Oh yeah.....let's keep in mind, many of them voted SEVEN times to raise the debt ceiling while Bush was in office. Let's keep in mind that many of these jackasses who are being so stubborn probably voted FOR the damn Iraq War and the war in Afghanistan. And probably voted FOR the Bush tax cuts AND for Medicaid Part D. So it's their effing bills we are trying to pay. They ran up the debt but they don't want us to pay for it.
And if I have to hear that whiny, screechy Wasilla bitch one more time, I'm going to throw something at my TV.
"jokeasses"........I like it!
What Boehner should do:
Talk to Nancy Pelosi and broker a deal.
What Boehner will do:
Sit on his butt, smoke cigarettes, and drink wine that is utterly ruined by the cigarettes. He feels about the nation the same way as he feels about the wine -- the cigarettes are more important.
better yet,
international jokeasses
international jokes...
Reprinted without the permission of Firedoglake:
(There's the one about the)...man who was born with a silver screw in his stomach instead of a belly button. As he grew up, he furtively searched for a way to have the screw removed; finally, at a monastery in Nepal, he found a monk who could make it happen. (The monk makes) a giant screwdriver appear out of a purple mist, removes the screw, and disappears out the window. Jubilant, the man jumps up, and his rear end falls off. The moral of the story is, “Don’t screw around with things you don’t understand—you can lose your butt.”... Congress is screwing around with things it doesn’t understand, such as the economy, and that’s why we are all losing our butts. Lawmakers may not realize they are becoming national jokes, but they are.
Interesting...
The TEA party and theri ilk remind me of one of my favorite movies from "A Few Good Men", "Galactically stupid". I'd like to amend that to read "Galactically stupid morons" (TM).
Sometimes, I even impress myself.
Republicans - "Despicable, blackhearted bastards"
(with credit to my esteemed late colleague Artemus)
TEA Party - "Galactically stupid morons" (with credit to Rob Reiner)
Democrats - "Useless and clueless"
Does anybody have the phone number to "Bartlett's???
Looks like it's just us THREE today boys.
This piece even better than yesterday.
This whole sad episode in Americsan history may well bode what we will be facing for years to come now that a significant portion of the country will not listen to reason. This shows how badly our government is broken when a group of just 25 or so legislaturds can totally shut down the country and do irreperable harm to America.
What is funny (funny strange, not funny ha-ha) is that the democratic party, when it had control of the WH, and both houses, couldn't seem to muster the same power and influenbce over government these 25 morons have been able to muster. One has to be impressed. PISSED, but impressed.
I think part of the problem is terminology.
When a governmental entity issues bonds, it's going into debt. There's nothing about the word bond that suggests debt, but that's what it is.
The bond-issuing process hides debt from citizens who don't use that terminology.
But debt is not necessarily bad.
I once played a game of simcity with the goal of not incurring debt. You know what happened? My city died.
Maybe they just need to get out more. You know, get some sun.
There's increasing research being done on vitamin D levels in autistic kids and their moms.
(Some moms are just feeding their kids vitamin D supplements and seeing amazing changes.)
If their position is their policy beliefs are correct and the Obama-democrat policies are wrong, then they have an argument.
If so, IMO, they have to be proven wrong or they will continue to exist to cause future problems.
How to prove? Rationale won't work. Invoking the 14th Amendment, IMO, won't work - just a form of future can kicking which doesn't do any good for the can either.
Is this one of those tv ads of pay me now or pay me later?
Other than letting the clock run along with tying these extremists into their responsibilities for this, is there any other solution?
Which approach will cause the least pain?
Since I'm on such a roll...
My theory is that it is part of the autism spectrum. Hey, maybe that needs to be investigated?
Hi bobo,
Here's what's interesting...I've talked with Tea Party leaners and one of the arguments they always bring up regarding fiscal policy is the danger of interest rates. So they are aware but obviously don't make the reality connection between that fact and their actions. Don't try to make sense of it because it can't be done. Even professionals are baffled by the process.
Disturbed personalities ALWAYS sound reasonable. That's why it's such an intractable disease. 'Cause they don't get it AND nobody gets them. Results: They win!
I will refrain from voicing my thoughts on how to deal with them. Let me just say, it ain't purty!
You're correct, they are not rational.
I've been listening to short NPR interviews with them.
They sound so very ordinary as they declare our real problem is spending and that they're there to stop the spending. Period.
They don't get that what they're doing will increase the country's debt through higher interests on loans -- and there will have to be more loans, as people don't have jobs and are not producing tax revenues.
I feel very vulnerable and I'm hating them right now.