"Against the Boehner Plan"

[Darius871]

501 East Ben White Boulevard, Austin

You live in a booth at a strip club? I suddenly have newfound respect for you.

[Riesstiu IV]

It's the first Christian themed strip club in Austin.

[Zevico]

I'm somewhat disappointed. The entire purpose of the article is to argue for cutting spending, and decreasing the debt, but no one seems to even bother discussing that. Oh well.

it's always hilarious to see right wing americans say obama = hard left.

He suggested a budget that increased the federal debt by $1.1 trillion dollars: a plan that the entire Democrat controlled senate voted against. If your own party unanimously votes against your budget, is that a sign that you are (a) aligned with the centre, mainstream wing of the party; (b) not aligned with the centre, mainstream wing of the party? You get one guess.

EDIT: This post previously stated the deficit for the Obama 2012 budget at $2 trillion. This figure was incorrect and has been corrected.

[C0ckney]

i was laughing at the idea that obama could be described as hard left, as many idiots, including the author of your article, do. if you want to make the argument that he is, be my guest...

also i noticed this gem at the end of the article.

Andrew C. McCarthy, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute, is the author, most recently, of The Grand Jihad: How Islam and the Left Sabotage America.

[DaShi]

Yes, because all the Democrats care about is increasing the federal debt.

[Tupac Shakur]

Honestly, the people who call Obama "liberal" or "socialist" or "communist" make me feel very neck-stabby.

Obama is clearly a liberal. He's just not very good at achieving his preferred policy goals.

[Guynemer]

I'm way more liberal than he is, and I'm not exactly a socialist.

[Tupac Shakur]

I'm judging him compared to the average Democratic congress critter. He's no Pelosi, but he's definitely to the left of center.

[Tupac Shakur]

Actually, I'm wrong. Obama is pretty much exactly as liberal as the average Democratic House member...

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/29/how-liberal-is-president-obama/

That still probably makes Obama left of center compared to the average Democratic member of congress given that Democrats in the Senate are generally more conservative than their House counterparts, but I think comparing Obama to just the House membership is a fair comparison.

[giblets]

I'm somewhat disappointed. The entire purpose of the article is to argue for cutting spending, and decreasing the debt, but no one seems to even bother discussing that. Oh well.




He suggested a budget that increased the federal debt by $2 trillion dollars: a plan that the entire Democrat controlled senate voted against. If your own party unanimously votes against your budget, is that a sign that you are (a) aligned with the centre, mainstream wing of the party; (b) not aligned with the centre, mainstream wing of the party? You get one guess.

When did Obama propose a federal budget with a $2 trillion deficit?

[Zevico]

When did Obama propose a federal budget with a $2 trillion deficit?

Correction: The estimated deficit is in fact $1.101 trillion.

Regardless, this happened in May. Link:

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/163347-senate-votes-unanimously-against-obama-budget

[giblets]

My mistake: $3.7 trillion. But the numbers, in a sense, matter less than the actual fact of rejection.

And this happened in May. Link:
http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/1...t-obama-budget

Ohh you're saying that a $3.7 trillion budget will increase the federal debt by $3.7 trillion? You know the government collects taxes, right?

Also, maybe you should read this part:

Democratic aides said ahead of the vote that the Democratic caucus would not support the plan because it has been supplanted by the deficit-reduction plan Obama outlined at a speech at George Washington University in April.

The Democrats voted against it because.... Obama had changed his mind and didn't want it anymore?!?!? Clearly this is proof that Obama is too far left for his own party!

[giblets]

Hey, this seems nice:

The emerging agreement calls for raising the $14.3 trillion debt limit by up to $2.4 trillion in two stages, with the debt limit rising unless two-thirds of both chambers of Congress disapprove, according to officials in both parties familiar with the talks. That would extend the Treasury’s borrowing authority into 2013, satisfying President Obama’s demand to avoid another showdown over the issue in the heat of the 2012 presidential campaign.

The first stage would pair an increase of roughly $1 trillion with cuts to government agencies of about the same magnitude over the next decade. In the second stage, a special congressional committee would be created to identify additional savings later this year. The size of those savings would dictate the size of the second debt-limit increase, giving Republicans the dollar-for-dollar matchup they have demanded between spending cuts and the debt-limit increase.

The focus of talks Saturday was a mechanism to force the committee to act and to ensure that Congress adopts its recommendations. Late Saturday, McConnell and Biden appeared to have settled on a trigger that would cut most government spending – including the defense budget and Medicare — by as much as 4 percent if the committee failed to produce a plan to tame the spiraling national debt, the officials said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politi...I_story_1.html

[Zevico]

Ohh you're saying that a $3.7 trillion budget will increase the federal debt by $3.7 trillion? You know the government collects taxes, right?

I corrected that, actually. I was too hasty in my reply post, and have a habit of editing posts after making them. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

The Democrats voted against it because.... Obama had changed his mind and didn't want it anymore?!?!? Clearly this is proof that Obama is too far left for his own party!

Indeed. And why would Obama present a budget and then reject his own budget? I put it to you that the reason is political convenience: to save face, in other words.

Edit 2: But you may be right. Perhaps that is not a good argument. I will think on it.

[giblets]

I corrected that, actually. I was too hasty in my reply post, and have a habit of editing posts after making them. My apologies for the misunderstanding.

I accept your apology.

Indeed. And why would Obama present a budget and then reject his own budget? I put it to you that the reason is political convenience: to save face, in other words.

Your argument was that this was evidence that Obama is somehow more extreme than all of the Democrats in the senate, when in fact they were voting the way Obama wanted. I don't know why Obama presented a budget and then decided to reject it but I don't see the relevance.