Patterico's Pontifications

2/23/2013

Sequestration Now, Sequestration Tomorrow, Sequestration Forever!

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 3:14 pm



OH MY GOD THAT SEQUESTER IS SO SCARY AND DAMAGING! Um, not really, as Bill Wilson explains:

But the current debate over sequester – an across-the-board $85 billion reduction of budget authority which translates into just a $53.8 billion cut to outlays this fiscal year ending September 30 – is notable for both its unfounded hysteria as well as a surprising role reversal.

. . . .

[T]he sequester would scale back just one of every six dollars in discretionary spending increases since 2008 – hardly a “huge blow.” Also, discretionary spending in 2008 was already tremendously inflated – having increased by more than 60 percent over the previous eight years.

In other words this isn’t even really a cut – “devastating” or otherwise – it’s a modest growth rate reduction following years of unnecessary, embarrassing and unsustainable excesses.

Where the sequester debate deviates from the norm is in its dramatis personae. Unlike prior spending debates, the sequester features Republicans attempting to shift the onus for cutting government onto Obama. U.S. Speaker John Boehner has repeatedly referenced “the president’s sequester” while decrying its “harmful cuts.”

What hypocrisy. Obama and Boehner both supported the sequester as an excuse for yet another unsustainable run-up of our nation’s credit limit – which exhausted its latest $2.1 trillion increase last December (after less than seventeen months).

They are talking about an increase in spending — but an increase smaller than the one they wanted — as a devastating set of “cuts” that are going to imperil the economy, delay plane flights, keep your checks from coming, blah blah blah.

It makes me sick, and the fact that Boehner is playing into it is a joke.

Via Drew M. at Ace’s:

I hear ya. But don’t get too excited, little guy. It’s not that much less, and you’re still screwed anyway.

108 Responses to “Sequestration Now, Sequestration Tomorrow, Sequestration Forever!”

  1. I can’t take it.

    Patterico (9c670f)

  2. Politicians suck. The MFM swallows.

    JD (b63a52)

  3. there’s a leadership vacuum in the house and there’s a boehner stuck in it

    happyfeet (acd614)

  4. 2. JD- toasting you with a cup of coffee.

    mg (31009b)

  5. I don’t want sequestration forever; I want responsible budgets passed which have reduced spending, the way that Congress ought to do their duty in the first place.

    The economist Dana (af9ec3)

  6. Sequestration? It is so bad,
    The Democrats all will be mad.
    Not true for me;
    I’m full of glee
    Cutting spending does not make me sad!

    The Limerick Avenger (af9ec3)

  7. i don’t really understand how they can bind future congresses to their fancy sequester

    probably cause they can’t and they’re just being silly

    happyfeet (acd614)

  8. I like Georg Will’s formulation:

    Because crises are government’s excuse for growing, liberalism’s motto is: Never let a crisis go unfabricated.

    I looked at the numbers on the “Let Us Hear No More of the Word ‘Cut'” thread.

    Lahood is saying that in 2013 if DoT has to eke out an existence on a mere 100.8% of the 2012 budget as opposed to the planned 102% of the 2012 budget then planes are going to start falling out of the sky.

    Kind of makes you believe the Democrats in general, and Obama in particular, believe what they’ve been saying. The federal government doesn’t have a spending problem.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  9. there once was this thing called Sequester
    the Media one collective court jester
    gave 0bama a pass
    when like a boil on His ass
    teh Sequester should have started to fester

    Colonel Haiku (bd0dce)

  10. Is this going to be the crisis that reveals finally the Crisismonger in Chief has no clothes?

    No one, not even public employees, has one ounce of sympathy for the federal employees. Even when I worked for the state, we had furloughs and late paychecks on a regular basis and no one really suffered.

    Patricia (be0117)

  11. Plus there is that segment, a year and a half, where Obama said he would act to prevent any avoidance of the sequester cuts.

    narciso (3fec35)

  12. This thing we call the sequester
    For Repubs will be a tester
    Will they make the grade
    Or will they just fade
    And the Dems of them get the bester?

    The Limerick Avenger (af9ec3)

  13. Our crises seem to be never-ending
    But it’s time; we have to cut spending!
    Repubs should stand strong
    To yield would be wrong
    But to the Dems I can see them bending.

    The Limerick Avenger (af9ec3)

  14. Well the bond vigilantes get the last word. Yeah, Holder is suing S&P for government/bank malfeasance, Egan-Jones already ordered by the SEC not to re-rate for 18 months, and Moody’s threatened but numbers guys tend to be pretty sharp.

    Bennie has no more bullets and the board is getting pissy. Tonite’s results from Italy bear watching, they have the least to lose dumping the euro. Their 10-year yield has been fairly stable tho, at 4.5% for months so it won’t be an earthquake outcome–yet.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  15. Have they threatened Fitch with anything?

    Steve57 (60a887)

  16. Holder is also asking SCOTUS to strike down the reason that DOMA was made to begin with. And here I thought the AG’s office was supposed to defend federal law.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  17. 16. OTOH, Holder is the enemy. He’s suing S&P over their rating toxic MBS too highly on behalf of the banks that sold them because they lost big in some instances.

    The goal is seemingly coercive, to intimidate the rating agencies to leave US Treasuries AAA rated. Many institutions are legally bound to buy only top-rated debt.

    The case being prosecuted is so poorly motivated one doubts it could prevail even in a liberal court.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  18. 15. No, not publicly. And indeed Fitch has warned that they need to see [a downward turn] in the [deficit|debt] not just ‘cuts’ or they will spank Unca.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  19. “But-you must complete this task! You must!”
    “Sorry- gone fitchy”

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  20. Itchy bum

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  21. itchy finger

    Elephant Stone (f0ee35)

  22. itchycoo park.comuoweme$

    have you been there?
    cuz u owe me

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  23. “Vanna, can I buy him some basic grammar, some punctuation, some capital letters, and some common sense ?”

    Elephant Stone (f0ee35)

  24. you stop it mr. stone you stop it right now stowaway that nonsense and zip it

    Mr. buttons has the floor

    carry on Mr. buttons

    you have the conch

    happyfeet (acd614)

  25. Yet here they come, sucking us in, roping us in. Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection, no cops, no teachers, no firefighters, no air traffic control.

    This is typical Rush Limbaugh hyperbolic exaggeration.

    In other words this isn’t even really a cut – “devastating” or otherwise – it’s a modest growth rate reduction following years of unnecessary, embarrassing and unsustainable excesses.

    Ask Leon Panetta how modest a cut he thinks this sequester is.

    Perry (329aa5)

  26. sounds like happyfeet has a sockpuppet

    or something

    but i thought e.e. cummings was deceased

    Elephant Stone (f0ee35)

  27. lady panetta

    chilrens at yer feets

    wonder how you manage to make ends meet

    happyfeet (acd614)

  28. This is typical Rush Limbaugh hyperbolic exaggeration.
    — You’re claiming that the president is imitating Rush Limbaugh?

    Ask Leon Panetta how modest a cut he thinks this sequester is.
    — A) Who says that Panetta is right?
    B) Tell Harry Reid to pass a budget with better targeted cuts.

    Icy (2468a9)

  29. sounds like happyfeet has a sockpuppet
    or something
    Comment by Elephant Stone

    — NO ONE socks the feets!!!

    Icy (2468a9)

  30. Mr. buttons-

    you have to unnerstan Mr. stone

    Mr. buttons makes the internet better

    while we but lean upon a coppice gate whilst Frost is spectre-gray

    happyfeet (acd614)

  31. 25. Ask Leon Panetta how modest a cut he thinks this sequester is.

    Comment by Perry (329aa5) — 2/23/2013 @ 8:48 pm

    Why ask that lying bastard first? All of the cabinet secretaries are in on it with Chicken-Little-in-Chief. Let him twist in the wind for a while.

    What they need to do is call in SecNav and CNO and sweat them; go line by line through the Navy’s budget and demand to know, of all things, why they delayed the Truman CSG’s deployment. They’ve already announced it weeks before sequestration was supposed to take place; a crude political maneuver of the most amateurish order. So, identify all the other things they could have cut first.

    The Navy was clearly dragged into the Preezy’s little hissy fit. And the Pentagon used what’s called the “Gold Watch” tactic. If DoD’s budget increases are ever threatened they look for the “Gold Watch;” the high profile expenditure, the shiny object, that’ll attract the most attention and then that’s the first thing to go.

    It’s the oldest trick in the book. I’m not surprised to you’d pretend not to see through it.

    Then you go through the other services’ books.

    Then, after that, you bring in Panetta under oath. Since the cuts are supposed to be equal across the board, demand (don’t ask) to know why he would have been fine with 102% of the 2012 budget but it’s a disaster if he only gets 101%. Why he decided to cut readiness and threaten national security first but only after he knows full damned well you’ve already identified all the waste, fraud, abuse, and fat he could have cut instead.

    Perry, are you really as smart as a sack of hammers or did you sleep in a Holiday Inn Express last night?

    Steve57 (60a887)

  32. It is a poorly thought out strategy, of course, Obama came up with it,

    narciso (3fec35)

  33. Moma said
    Momma said
    ” Never get buried in a Giraffe suit -‘dem [N_Orlean accent}
    El-ee-phont shrimp shrimp never leave you alone

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  34. 32. It is a poorly thought out strategy, of course, Obama came up with it,

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 2/23/2013 @ 9:07 pm

    Valerie Jarrett won’t let him off his chain again for a looong, long time.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  35. Why he decided to cut readiness and threaten national security first

    yes someone should ask this of the leon panetta before the nevada eunuch takes charge

    happyfeet (acd614)

  36. Mr. Feets, now we know why Obama picked Hagel to be SecDef.

    Panetta is really bad at playing dumb. So one day he was listening to Biden talk about the defensive use of a shotgun and a light bulb went off in King Putt’s head.

    “Hey,” he sez to himself, “let’s put a somebody in there who doesn’t need to play dumb.”

    After first considering nominating Bo the Portuguese Water Dog and some homeless guy who panhandles outside the Caribou Cafe where the WH staffers meet with the lobbyists so the big money bagmen don’t have to sign the guest book, they came up with Hagel.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  37. the Hagel is a War Hero though, not unlike Meghan’s coward daddy

    and don’t that just beat all

    like I know something y’all don’t know

    man that talk is gittin old

    happyfeet (acd614)

  38. Perry is as smart as a sack of MC Hammers.

    Icy (2468a9)

  39. [ spoiler- Wonderlic test]if Aliens had a like really important message
    who would hear it first
    Mr Giraffe
    or trunk extended on hind leg showing off Elaphant?

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  40. Well we thank Hagel for his service, but in his subsequent years like the late John Murtha he went astray, ironically it seems to involve Arabs as well,

    narciso (3fec35)

  41. happyfeet and pdbuttons not only type the same, but they think the same, too

    it reminds me of that michael hiltzik person who typed the same and thought the same as his sockpuppet, too

    time 4 circle the wagons

    Elephant Stone (f0ee35)

  42. Hagel DID serve his country honorably in The ‘Nam.

    No word yet on why he wants to go the other way now.

    Icy (2468a9)

  43. i’m so done with the thankful Mr. narciso

    i live in a risibly fascist cesspool of a lil country

    it curs to me someone really ought to be held accountable, no?

    maybe we should start with our political leaders

    war heroes and etc

    bastards the lot of them I think

    makes a pikachu wish he’d bought the steel-toes

    it really does

    happyfeet (acd614)

  44. Mr. stone you are not using your reading skillz

    Mr. buttons is brilliant and surprising and whimsical and insightful

    that would not be me

    compare and contrast

    happyfeet (acd614)

  45. Mail me clown shoes to stamp out hunger at my mail place
    @-Bjork Iceland.yodel.eafth

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  46. Silly me-I do declare! Earfth

    pdbuttons (631b6d)

  47. Mr. Feets, a buddy of my dad and the father of a girl I went to school with was a bonafide war hero. A Marine in Korea. After being relieved in place while in contact with the enemy they found out four men were missing.

    He went back to their position, rendered aid, and brought the living out. The round trip was umpteen hundred yards under fire. He did it three times to recover the living. He tried a fourth time to recover the body but given his wounds and the heavy fire he just couldn’t make it.

    He got the Distinguished Service Cross (yeah, Marine, Army award, joint command). Spent a year in the hospital because they shot his ass off. Literally. Not in the Biden sense of figuratively. Along with most of one leg. When he got out he built a business.

    I never knew about any of this growing up, but I always wondered why whenever there was a Knights of Columbus golf outing or dinner there was a Marine color guard. One day I asked. My dad told me. Once a Marine, always a Marine. They don’t forget. Not for 60 years did the Marines forget. All he had to do was make a phone call. Except for his funeral; then someone else made it.

    Nice guy. I don’t think I ever saw him 100% sober. But hey, you get the DSC and build a moving company and I’ll freakin’ buy you a drink or 10.

    Hagel, not so much. He’s got two Purple Hearts. But then, so does Kerry. Apparently you could get those for hangnails in ‘Nam. He’s got an Army Commendation medal. I’ve got three Navy Coms (and I ain’t no war hero).

    Hell, the Monsignor at my parish personally captured 9 NORKs.

    Just saying, not to denigrate his service, but I’ve seen more impressive men.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  48. i just

    i think we’re safe to utterly and completely divorce the concept of exemplary military service from any political dabblings what might follow that service

    they’re completely different animals

    peas and carrots so to speak

    happyfeet (acd614)

  49. No, Mr. Feets, you’re not reading me.

    What’d Hagel do to be called a war hero? I’ve heard Hagel called that from more than one source.

    Like in the NYT:

    President Obama’s chief of staff said Sunday that the White House had “grave concern” that national security was at stake, given the Senate Republicans’ delaying tactics in confirming both a new Pentagon chief and a director of the Central Intelligence Agency.

    …“It’s a grave concern,” Mr. McDonough said of the delay. “If you look at Chuck Hagel — decorated war veteran himself, war hero, Republican senator…

    Again, I’m not denigrating his service. I’m sure he did a fine job in Vietnam. I’m sure he served honorably.

    But a war hero? I’ve met war heroes. I’m not seeing it. It looks to me like somebody’s press office leaked to the press a little bit of somebody’s resume enhancement.

    An Army Commendation Medal sounds like just the thing they’d give an E-5 at the end of his year long tour for doing a decent job. Which is certainly something to be proud of. But it doesn’t make you a hero.

    I’m not even blaming Hagel for starting this. He’d probably just call himself a Vietnam veteran, not a war hero. Besides, he’s not even confirmed yet; he doesn’t have a PR flack.

    Clearly it’s President Prom Queen and his staff. What do they know about war heroes? We already know no one in the WH has a clue about ARs or shotguns.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  50. i think we’re safe to utterly and completely divorce the concept of exemplary military service from any political dabblings what might follow that service

    Mr. Feets, if my dad’s bud were still here I’d buy him an extra 10 drinks just because I know he’d have turned Obama down flat.

    I don’t even know how he’d have felt about Obama; we never talked politics. But if they tapped him because he had served and would be the historic first ex-enlisted guy to head the DoD he would have said:

    “What the hell are you picking on me for? I’ve got like 20 trucks and a warehouse. And you want me to run DoD? Are you crazy?”

    Or, something like that.

    Oh, by the way:

    Hell, the Monsignor at my parish personally captured 9 NORKs.

    He didn’t capture them at my parish.

    He was a chaplain in Korea.

    I just thought I’d make that clear, in case there was any confusion.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  51. Panetta is really bad at playing dumb.

    He’s not playing.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  52. if only someone had bought john mccain 10 drinks and got him a nice job down at the paper mill

    happyfeet (acd614)

  53. Republicans in the house have passed two bills that the senate is sitting on. The media spins it for the dems, blaming republicans for this. The republicans should be telling the media about the two bills over and over again, but they seem fine hugging and kissing the blame. Cry baby john could be rove’s twin.

    mg (31009b)

  54. 49. One of my families dearest friends passed a year ago. He landed in NA, then Sicily with Patton.

    Spent a winter in the Apennines without support. Returned from R&R a sergeant, took out machine gun nest with platoon providing cover.

    Lost an entire 2-week wonder platoon to machine gun crossfire in southern France. Spent the night in a creek.

    Ended as a Master in Berlin during the Peace.

    Best he did was a Bronze Star.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  55. So why is the price of gold backing up?

    http://directorblue.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-endgame-for-currency-debasement.html

    We’ve had weekly floods of the market with gold for sale to keep the price stanched.

    Along comes Germany demanding repatriation from NY and London. They will get around to it over the next six years.

    Gold prices begin to stumble.

    Worried about confiscation beside refusals to deliver? Move to stores of value more liquid than gold.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  56. Yet here they come, sucking us in, roping us in. Panic here, fear there: Crisis, destruction, no meat inspection, no cops, no teachers, no firefighters, no air traffic control.

    This is typical Rush Limbaugh hyperbolic exaggeration.

    In other words this isn’t even really a cut – “devastating” or otherwise – it’s a modest growth rate reduction following years of unnecessary, embarrassing and unsustainable excesses.

    Ask Leon Panetta how modest a cut he thinks this sequester is.

    Comment by Perry (329aa5)

    This should win a contest for unintentional irony. Somehow, Perry manages to make this a criticism of Rush for accurately describing the woe is me the sky is failing there will be blood in the streets and carnage across the land nonsense coming from Teh One.

    JD (b63a52)

  57. I was speaking with a high up military friend of mine at the Pentagon the other day. The Obama administration is literally not allowing the Pentagon to prioritize the “cuts”, they are saying they will be across the board. So basically they are doing their best to make the cuts as harmful as possible to the military, and not allowing military leaders to work with them.

    But it is OK cause that Obama guy is a good man who just wants to do what he thinks is best for the country.

    Mr. Pink (25b629)

  58. I s’pose heroes come as they are designed to come:

    New medal for drone pilots outranks Bronze Star
    The Pentagon is creating the Distinguished Warfare Medal to recognize UAV pilots.
    By Andrew Tilghman – Staff writer | Posted : Wednesday Feb 13, 2013 17:47:27 EST

    The Pentagon is creating a new high-level military medal that will recognize drone pilots and, in a controversial twist, giving it added clout by placing it above some traditional combat valor medals in the military’s “order of precedence.”

    The Distinguished Warfare Medal will be awarded to pilots of unmanned aircraft, offensive cyber war experts or others who are directly involved in combat operations but who are not physically in theater and facing the physical risks that warfare historically entails.

    The new medal will rank just below the Distinguished Flying Cross. It will have precedence over — and be worn on a uniform above — the Bronze Star with Valor device, a medal awarded to troops for specific heroic acts performed under fire in combat.

    The new medal is a brass pendant, nearly two inches tall, with a laurel wreath that circles a globe. An eagle is in the center. The ribbon has blue, red and white stripes.

    “This award recognizes the reality of the kind of technological warfare we are engaged in the 21st century,” Defense Secretary Leon Panetta told reporters in Washington on Wednesday.

    More at the link.

    The annoyed Dana (af9ec3)

  59. I suppose that I can understand; the people in the Chair Force need medals, too! But the notion that a drone pilot, sitting hundreds or thousands of miles away from any hostile enemy action, would merit citation for his duty performance ranking above those who have served with distinction and valor in the face of enemy fire is more that silly, it demonstrates a complete lack of understanding and appreciation by the civilian leadership at the Department of Defense of just what the military does for this country.

    That drone pilots perform a very valuable service for this country is undeniable; striking over the heads of defenders to kill enemy leaders is a very useful and sensible thing to do, and it is the way our military should operate in situations where it can. I would much rather that we strike our enemies with as little risk to our own personnel as possible, and it is far more valuable to take out the enemy’s leadership than the foot soldiers, if it can be done. But to say that such good service is somehow more meritorious than that of the soldier or Marine staring Death in the face to defeat our enemies is just monumentally stupid. SPC Ashley Pullen laid down fire to suppress insurgents and then “exposed herself to heavy AIF fires in order to provide medical assistance to her critically injured comrades,” for which she was awarded the Bronze Star. Perhaps her actions did not take out as many al Qaeda leaders as those of a drone pilot, but I see her actions as far more militarily meritorious.

    The Army-daddy Dana (af9ec3)

  60. Well said, Dana.

    Of course very dedicated and truly excellent troops who serve in peaceful situations should also be recognized… but that recognition is not superior to those who risked their lives. If this isn’t obvious to the Pentagon, things are really running off the rails.

    Dustin (73fead)

  61. As for Chuck Hagel, his service in Vietnam was honorable, and he won the Combat Infantryman Badge, which means he was personally under fire. (I wonder if we’ll soon see a Combat Drone Pilot Badge.) As Secretary of Defense, he won’t be setting foreign policy; Barack Hussein Obama will. As Secretary of Defense, he won’t be the highest-ranking official who doesn’t particularly care for die Juden; that would be our President. We could install Benjamin Netanyahu as our Secretary of Defense, and it wouldn’t improve our policy toward Israel.

    We have had two rather significant decisions concerning our military forces: the allowing of open homosexuals to serve, and the recent one which will allow women to compete for combat billets. The first was taken by President Obama, and pushed through the rump session of the eleventy-first Congress, and the second, though announced by outgoing Secretary Panetta, to remove that burden from his successor, was also a political decision, taken by the Commander-in-Chief, not the Secretary. Former Senator Hagel is willing to play the lickspittle toady to President Obama because he agrees with most of the President’s positions, but if his nomination is blocked, the President will simply nominate another lickspittle toady who already agrees with the President’s positions.

    The Dana who figures that it really doesn't matter all that much (af9ec3)

  62. Steve57 wrote:

    But a war hero? I’ve met war heroes. I’m not seeing it.

    Jennifer, on the Victory Girls blog, asked, and answered, the question, How Will I Know a Hero? It’s worth a couple minutes of your time.

    The blogger Dana (af9ec3)

  63. Dustin wrote:

    Of course very dedicated and truly excellent troops who serve in peaceful situations should also be recognized… but that recognition is not superior to those who risked their lives. If this isn’t obvious to the Pentagon, things are really running off the rails.

    Well, perhaps an enlisted combat veteran like Mr Hagel might actually help in that position. Right now, we have the sad situation that the Fort Hood killings, perpetrated by an Islamist-sympathizer and designed to deliberately kill American soldiers who were going to be sent to Iraq to fight the Islamists, is still being treated as “workplace violence” by the Obama Administration, and keeps the victims, both the survivors and the dead, from receiving the Purple Heart.

    The Secretary of the Army has the authority, upon written evaluation, to determine that the attack at Fort Hood meets the criteria for an “international terrorist attack.” He has not yet done so. This is not something which has gone exactly unnoticed; it has been reported nationally, and if the Obumble Administration does not want to call this a terrorist attack, it has to be for political, not military reasons.

    The very urinated-off Dana (af9ec3)

  64. No, it will not, because of the social and political circle, Hagel has been operating in;

    http://www.americanthinker.com/2013/02/the_bating_game_obama_doubles_down.html

    narciso (3fec35)

  65. Remember the J street dinner, the appearance on behalf of AIC at Rutgers, the staff ties to NIAC,

    narciso (3fec35)

  66. I don’t like the argument that we are stealing from the next generation. Most people think that is fine.

    I really think that this current level of spending will hurt me and my retirement.

    AZ Bob (c11d35)

  67. Steve57 wrote:

    What they need to do is call in SecNav and CNO and sweat them; go line by line through the Navy’s budget and demand to know, of all things, why they delayed the Truman CSG’s deployment. They’ve already announced it weeks before sequestration was supposed to take place; a crude political maneuver of the most amateurish order. So, identify all the other things they could have cut first.

    The Navy was clearly dragged into the Preezy’s little hissy fit.

    And they were dragged into the Prezzy’s little hissy fit because the President is Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces; when it comes to the military, and the policies that he wants set, what he says, goes. I might not think very highly of our current Commander-in-Chief, but I wouldn’t throw out the Constitution just because the American people elected, and re-elected, an incompetent twit.

    What would you expect? Do you think that Admiral Jonathan Greenert, who still has 2½ years remaining as Chief of Naval Operations, is going to buck the political decisions of the Commander-in-Chief? Would the Secretary of the Navy tell the truth and then resign in front of the committee? He’s a political appointment of President Obama, and yet another lickspittle toady.

    The Dana who supports the Constitution (af9ec3)

  68. this hagel fellow
    who’d he blow when he blow him?
    all I’m Hamasking

    Colonel Haiku (e36a23)

  69. All politicians are lying to us in order to serve their own interests. Obama came into the Senate with little in the way of personal assets. Today, he is worth MILLIONS!

    The only thing the man can do is lie and he does that poorly though so much of his audience is so stupid they believe anything he says.

    Unsustainable trends eventually cannot continue. It is not clear when this unsustainable trend will reach its end but it is going to because NOBODY in the Federal Government is willing to do anything necessary to remedy the situation. And far too many of them are doing everything they can to make things worse.

    WarEagle82 (2b7355)

  70. Barack Obama cynically chose Hagel (ostensibly a Republican) as defsec so he could tout his “bi-partisanship” initially, and then blame his military cuts and layoffs on “a Republican”. The president needs to instill fear and to blame sequestration “cuts” on “congressional republican intransigence and unwillingness to take a balanced approach” so that when the economy tanks even more –as it clearly is already in the process of doing– he’ll have the public and media lapdogs all primed for the accusations of who’s at fault. (Not him, of course.)

    The play has been written, the characters have been cast, the stage is set, and opening night is only a few weeks away. The American public is being shown the preview now and soon they will all be given free tickets to the show by the Obama admin. Who doesn’t like free tickets?

    Shakespeare would have a real field day with this plot, I think.

    elissa (679f61)

  71. Actually, Shakespeare, did do this type of whitewash, ie; Re Richard 111, relying on Thomas More, and Merton,

    Although as disingenuous as this;

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/23/on-the-sequester-the-american-people-moved-the-goalposts/

    narciso (3fec35)

  72. ==I don’t like the argument that we are stealing from the next generation. Most people think that is fine. I really think that this current level of spending will hurt me and my retirement.–
    Comment by AZ Bob 2/24/2013 @ 7:48 am==

    I think I’m kind of with you on this AZ Bob. It’s true that future generations will live in a vastly different and less free United States than the one most of us grew up in. But I worry that that marketing approach takes away much of the fierce urgency of now. Also, unfortunately, (at least to me) the largely clueless and needy Obama generation of yoot is becoming less and less sympathetic as it is seemingly more unappreciative and dismissive of –even hostile to– our concerns for their future well-being.

    elissa (679f61)

  73. I want responsible budgets passed which have reduced spending, the way that Congress ought to do their duty in the first place.

    Comment by The economist Dana (af9ec3) — 2/23/2013 @ 4:27 pm

    Mommy, what’s a budget?

    in_awe (7c859a)

  74. I think when we see the DHS working with Russky field engineers and interdiction trainers, we should start to worry.

    Until then, Succubus should be given the honor accorded his office.

    Total obeisance.

    gary gulrud (dd7d4e)

  75. Narcisco – Ezra the Wunderkind is aggressively mendoucheous. Always. It is his default setting

    JD (a9df10)

  76. JD–I’ve wondered for a long time how lil Ezra, as a callow 25-26 year old got his reputation set as a serious “wonk”, and got established in his first real job as a lead columnist and resident blogger at the Washington Post. That’s not usually the first step on a young career path. Obviously he had connections and a major sponsor. Does anyone know who that was? A family member or someone else? His very early “founding” of the Journolist and his ability to get already established lefty journalists signed onto the Journolist is another head scratcher–unless he was placed at the WaPo specifically for that purpose and given the good housekeeping seal by somebody quite important.

    elissa (679f61)

  77. He started out at Pandagon, then moved on the American Prospect, preceded by Myerson, followed by Garance Franke, it does raise questions;

    http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Peace/2013/02/24/Report-Obama-s-Secret-North-Korea-Talks-Failed-Hagel-Approach-Ineffective

    narciso (3fec35)

  78. ezra started the world’s first official propaganda slut collaboration network

    journolist

    the fascists love him more than pickles cause of he’s a very very pliable little whore for them

    happyfeet (acd614)

  79. oops sorry I got distracted and that comment went a different direction than it was supposed to

    happyfeet (acd614)

  80. I used to worry
    Now I love the sequester
    Pennies from heaven

    felipe (3243af)

  81. it was just to say that the journolist he started before wapo is all the explanation needed

    heffalump candy crowley is interviewing some fascist geezer senator from vermont

    he looks kinda like the poncey old vampire from that movie where kate beckinsale wears a lot of leather

    happyfeet (acd614)

  82. Have they checked ‘Leaky’ Leahy for fangs, although O’Hare doesn’t really do him justice,

    narciso (3fec35)

  83. Kate Beckinsale in leather is a good thing.

    JD (a9df10)

  84. Oh, you’re talking Van Helsing, even she couldn’t save that.

    narciso (3fec35)

  85. Believe me when I scream “sequester”!

    You’re going to get quite molestered

    What’s that you say?

    “We call B.S.today”!

    Don’t matter, for we’ll never test her.

    felipe (3243af)

  86. As has been pointed out, Obama will deliberately make headline to make sequester seem a disaster.

    SPQR (768505)

  87. Who cares if some people get madder,

    as our budget gets fatter and fatter?

    Most everyone’s “cool”

    Since we brain washed them in school

    Besides, what could it possibly matter?

    felipe (3243af)

  88. When the media declares the sequester a good thing, president scab will be first to claim victory.

    mg (31009b)

  89. Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 2/23/2013 @ 9:21 pm

    That was truly brilliant.

    Know, if you can only figure out the one that well in advance of his moves maybe we’ll get somethin’ going.

    Re: Unknown war heroes and medals. By all means, no drone pilot should get a medal higher than one in direct combat unless they have been targeted by the enemy for assassination and have had to duck at least once.
    The father of a friend I grew up with had all of his fingers and thumbs amputated after the first knuckle, from frostbite pulling pins out of hand grenades all night in Korea. We really had no idea growing up just what he had been through.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  90. when they kick out your front door
    how you gonna go?
    with your hands on your head
    or on the trigger of your gun?

    Colonel Haiku (0e6b08)

  91. Considering where the Koch hate has come from;

    “I think he’s just out to hurt people,” said Mr. Fang, who first tangled with Mr. Goldfarb when he was writing for ThinkProgress about the Kochs. “I don’t understand what his greater goal is; what would be the perfect solution to fix the most serious problems in America?”

    narciso (3fec35)

  92. Does anyone else think that the Sequester Rhetoric mimicks what we heard for years about what would happen if “Shall Issue” was implemented:

    It’ll be Dodge City….An OK-Corral…every fender bender will result in a shooting…etc.

    Typical of The Left, if they told us what they truly believed, nobody would support them.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  93. ‘dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria, human sacrifice,’ is that about the size of it,

    narciso (3fec35)

  94. 58- That, if accurate, is a DISGRACE!

    It should rank just ahead of a Good Conduct Ribbon.

    askeptic (2bb434)

  95. 61-
    To the many-suffixed Dana – no one WINS a medal.
    They are AWARDED!

    askeptic (2bb434)

  96. Well whoever ‘paints’ the target, should get the medal, because they are actually exposed,

    narciso (3fec35)

  97. As to Young Ezra:
    Is there an Axelrod in his past?

    askeptic (2bb434)

  98. 89. Know, if you can only figure out the one that well in advance of his moves maybe we’ll get somethin’ going.

    Comment by MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/24/2013 @ 11:56 am

    Doc, I do have him figured out. I’m not bragging; he’s got like 3 or 4 moves. A pretty thin playbook.

    He is totally predictable.

    The problem is his moves require suppressing the truth or lying about his opponents and they always play along.

    The problem isn’t figuring out Obama but figuring out how to get around the Praetorian press corps.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  99. Hey Patterico you douchebag, you don’t think losing 750,000 jobs is significant? Why don’t you pull your head out of your ass?

    Pinkbycrikey (29b8d8)

  100. That had to be someone doing a parody of a leftist troll.

    JD (4f721c)

  101. JD, its Maxine Waters probably.

    SPQR (47fc98)

  102. 98. Well whoever ‘paints’ the target, should get the medal, because they are actually exposed,

    Comment by narciso (3fec35) — 2/24/2013 @ 12:38 pm

    Whoever is painting the target probably the last guy who’d want want a few ounces of pot metal and a bit of ribbon.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  103. *Whoever is painting the target is probably the last guy who’d want…*

    I’m typing along and the optical mouse strikes. Highlighting and eliminating whole words and I can’t even keep up with the technological little marvel.

    Steve57 (60a887)

  104. One important point. If the tax increases as Jan 1 count here, then the sequestration should be reduced by the amount of money they will bring in this year.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  105. Anyway Barack Obama thought he had backed Republicans into a corner, but he may be backed into a corner when they pas sthe continuing resolution.

    Somebody on the Republican side has figured out the next moves.

    They will give Barcak Obama discretion (some Rep Senators do not like that) to move money around and either continue funding at the sequestration level or slightly higher.

    They don’t his consent – just enough Democrats to override a veto and if Oabam is too stubborn that could happen.

    Sammy Finkelman (d22d64)

  106. Excellent beat ! I would like to apprentice at the same time as you amend your web site, how could i subscribe for a weblog web site? The account helped me a applicable deal. I had been a little bit familiar of this your broadcast offered vibrant clear idea

    ремонт принтеров (61d0c2)


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