maxiep asked what makes people think the Republican efforts are about bringing down Obama rather than principled stand. I explained what would give people that impression. Whether you think it's good that politics is more a sporting event than actual principled attempts to govern (which goes to both parties) is a matter of personal opinion.
START sounds like a no-brainer. It's had bi-partisan support in the Senate. Maybe Dems thought it was something they could easily get accomplished and actually be productive in this session.
2 things - 1. The GOP has proven once again it is about as unpatriotic a group as there is. 2. They didn't care about budget deficits while they were in power. Remember, Clinton balanced the budget. The Dems are the party of fiscal conservatism. Bush 2 didn't even include his wars in his budget.
I think it's all about counting the votes to get stuff passed. If defeating Reid shows a certain public opinion, the votes (among our representatives or senators) are easier to get for certain things. If the president stands in the way with the veto pen, the votes have to be super majority.
I give evidence and proof. Prove otherwise with facts, or don't say anything at all. It was Reagan, Bush 1 and Bush 2 that ran up the deficits. Clinton balanced the budget, and Obama added a trickle to the GOP debt river.
Again, thanks for the laughs! Hint - take a look at who controlled the House during Reagan and Bush 1, and then tell me who controlled the House under Clinton in 1995. Both parties are to blame. Calling Democrats fiscally conservative is absolutely priceless!
One of the reasons I'm not a Republican is that they haven't had the fiscal discipline over the past 30 years to cut the federal budget along with cutting tax rates. Reagan lowered tax rates dramatically and doubled the amount of revenue coming into the Treasury. Imagine if he would have had the disclipline to hold the budget at a relatively sane level; George HW Bush wouldn't have inherited a debt at all. That being said, the last Republican congress under George W. Bush posted a high deficit of roughly $160B. The last budget passed under a Democratic house under Barack Obama was over $1.3T. If that's a "trickle", so's this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaASyRFXTj4
BGrant Fan: Latest example - Conservatives in Congress want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the rich. Cost: $830 billion over 10 years (including the cost of debt servicing). GOP fiscal conservatism is a fiction. Where are YOUR facts?????
How on earth is a tax cut actual government spending? I posted this in another thread... If the government takes in $1T and spends $1T, the budget is balanced. If it takes in $2T and spends $2T, the budget is balanced. Etc. Spending is the problem, not taxing. If the government taxes 100% of GDP and spent 100% + $1, there'd still be a deficit.
You have to pay your bills. You do that through revenue raised by taxes. If the GOP is unwilling to ever raise taxes - let alone let a tax cut for the rich expire - then paying bills is lesser of a priority. That's fine, but call a spade a spade. The GOP does not care about paying the country's bills or fiscal conservatism, it cares about cutting taxes.
