Biden is doing his job. “Hardball” has different versions. At some point what is in the McCarthy debacle (er…“Bill”) is going to have to be introduced to America.
The easy part to that is the fact that all the damage is laid out in plain English
28 Likes
It’s a class act, like with their party’s leader.
Is there any truth to the rumor Qevin’s having all the trim in his office refinished with gold leaf?
3 Likes
I’ll take the decisionmaking of an experienced politician who’s been in DC for 50+ years and has seen it all, over the rantings of an internet rando.
Ooooh, “hardball”. You invoked the power word, therefore you must be right. I am so covered with rue. Jesus, who gives likes to this self-indulgent crapola?
15 Likes
It’s OK, we saw how well tax cuts paid for the Iraq War, so now we know it works.
19 Likes
Um, you understand how a bill becomes law? (hint: key step is to have a majority of the votes in the House)
1 Like
Section 4 of the 14th Amendment is 100% crystal clear that the debt limit is an artificial hazard that is in opposition to the text. US debts authorized by law 'shall not be questioned." Everything the US owes is authorized by law, be it social security, tax refunds, farm subsidies, government workers salaries, pork-barrel defense contract, etc.
And the US CONTINUES to owe those debts whether it borrows money via treasury obligations, or just postpones paying those debts to other parties who don’t intend to loan the government the money, the debt accumulates no matter what Congress says about a so-called “debt limit”. IOUs are debts just as much as a T-bill.
The debt ceiling law may go back to 1917, but it was unconstitutional then and unconstitutional now. All revisions and arguments of how the government can’t legally borrow more than that amount all fail because those debts exist either way, are all authorized by law, and are not subject to question, much less debate.
Biden should just book TV time on all the major networks, tell the country that the debt ceiling is BS and the Rs attempting to use it as a hostage is untenable for our country. They should be ashamed of themselves but since they can’t be shamed, he’s going to fulfill his oath of office and enforce the Constitution’s mandate to meet all the country’s financial obligations. Further, he doesn’t care what Congress or even the Supreme Court has to say about it. He’s going to protect the Constitution and the country from the hostage takers and those who think they can gain politically by trashing the economy via their illegal actions.
Biden should ALSO say that he is instructing the justice department to investigate the motives of anyone who has questioned the debts to determine if they have violated their oath of office for personal or political gain. If Congress doesn’t like it, they can impeach him. If SCOTUS doesn’t like it, they should know the Constitution doesn’t say anywhere the SCOTUS alone gets to decide what is or isn’t Constitutional.
Further, Biden should remind the country that he’s running for re-election so if the voters don’t like it, and prefer to have the economy destroyed by bogus debt ceiling hostage takers, they can vote him out.
Enough of this pussy-footing around because of tradition or giving enemies within the benefit of he doubt. If we are going to have it out with a direction setting election for the next 30 years, let’s get on with it. Either the good honest guys will win and have a mandate, or the evil lying guys will turn this country into a fascist regime they’ve always dreamed of.
20 Likes
“The President can no longer ignore by not negotiating.”
OK. Lets negotiate, what part of the bills are you willing to take out Mr. McCarthy?
7 Likes
The GOP “offer” is just performative B.S. being staged for the “base”. Two things this proposal demonstrates is McCarthy’s impotence as Speaker and the complete takeover of the House GOP by MAGA fools.
It would be good to see the Democrats get some mileage out of this threat to the economy while treating it with the ridicule that it deserves. At some point, the GOP should pay a very high political price for undermining our governing system to this extreme degree.
14 Likes
What they all said was nice, but they each need to say something like:
“The Republican bill is like you telling your credit card company that you’ll pay the bill for all those purchases you already made, but only if they accept this wish list for future benefits to you and your friends. It’s absurd.”
That message or something like it needs to be hammered, hammered, and hammered again.
19 Likes
That’s nice. You want to be the banker who buys T-bills under the cloud of a 14th amendment dispute, and gets your bank declared insolvent due to a whim of a corrupt supreme court declaring the recent series of T-bills null and void? Bankers get fired for shit like that.
3 Likes
It strangely seems normal for a government to agree to honor its debts and spending commitments.
Of course, in honor of the Reagan Revolution, the reactionaries could repudiate all those debts in whose accrual they’ve been instrumental, like the Bolsheviks did during their revolution.
4 Likes
This should be said over and over.
7 Likes
Congress was very generous with the assistance they’ve offered to the DCC’s oppo research guys.
Presumably, they’re following in Sen. Scott’s footsteps.
I think they might be saving it up to drop on our doorstep.
If one wants to explain* what’s so ridiculous about the debt limit, explain it’s like a home equity credit line, except that instead of having an outstanding balance limit, you have a “how much have you borrowed in your life” limit with no consideration of how much you’ve paid back. It’s like, “yeah, the limit is $300k, but 20 years ago you borrowed $247k and paid it all back, so now your limit is $53k.” Makes no sense, but that’s really how it works.
*explaining wonkery doesn’t really work
9 Likes
I’ve seen “republicans don’t want to pay their bills” a few times this year, which I think is a big step in the right direction on messaging.
22 Likes
I agree, but the TIMING of taking this public stand is the crucial political question. Do it prematurely, and the whole game could blow up in our face. Don’t forget that the general public isn’t following this struggle as closely as you and I are, and counter-propaganda from the GQP, as well as mushy “bothsiderism” from the MSM, can really muddy the waters. Public opinion is only slowly taking shape, and public awareness of the historical (including constitutional), economic, and political context is still woefully deficient.
I trust Joe and his team to know when to bring down the hammer, and I’m confident that Joes has no intention either of capitulating to the MAGAt House or of defaulting on the national debt.
Cool it.
14 Likes
I like calling it the
Poison Pill Debt Limit Bill
5 Likes
Yeah, that works as an elevator one-liner, though it doesn’t accurately reflect what’s happening.
No, but it’s a lot closer to the truth than the bumper sticker slogans repubs make up. Sad to say, but we have no choice than to oversimplify for the mass communications and then get into the wonkier stuff for the targeted audiences who either have more time or a better attention span.
12 Likes