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Morning Briefing
For December 12, 2013
1. The Ryan Budget Fight is Partly Bill Clinton’s Republican Legacy
I’m not even going to bother with an excerpt. Just trust me on this. Click here and go read to understand everything happening in the GOP today → BONUS: How the liberal press constantly gets Citizens United all wrong because of their partisan leanings. Go read now.
2. Dyslexic Priorities in Budget Deal
We already know that Ryan-Murray budget bill raises taxes and spending to fund Obamacare and the TSA. Tonight we learn that this deal contains a provision which allows the Senate to pass tax increases with just 51 votes. But there is another problem with the bill that has been overlooked. The priorities implicit in the smorgasbord of notional spending offsets are completely dyslexic. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
3. VIDEO: Boehner’s 36 Hour Budget
John
Boehner has made a lot of promises over the years about the type of
Congress he would lead as Speaker. As is often the case in Washington,
it seems that his actions aren’t lining up with his rhetoric. And so,
here we are faced with a major budget vote and yet members of Congress
are only being given 36 hours to read it, understand it and vote on this
important legislation. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
4. Paul Ryan Plays Us For Chumps
Before Ryan made this deal we essentially held a significant number of high cards. The most potent of them being the sequester. I
think the sequester is not good government. There are programs out
there that are useless, some, like Head Start, have been proven harmful,
and they should be killed outright while programs that are succeeding
are funded. Philosophy aside, none of us believe programs are going to
actually be wound down and therefore the next best option is simply
reducing all and the sequester did curb federal spending.
In
the battle against Obamacare this was critical as any money used to
develop and market that abomination had to come from other programs
creating institutional backlash as well as the political backlash from
those outside government. This, in the words of Joe Biden, is a big
f-in’ deal. Without the sequester we no longer have a bargaining chip of
any kind. . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
5. A Winning Issue: Abortion and Pascal’s Wager
Shortly
before Virginia Attorney General and gubernatorial hopeful was routed
by Clinton bagman Terry McAuliffe I posted The Abortion Truce Trap. In
it I noted that while Cuccinelli was being bombarded with, as it turned
out, several million dollars in ads attacking his position on abortion,
he was refusing to attack McAuliffe’s support for unbridled infanticide.
I
quote Maggie Gallagher who summarized the problem of conservative
candidates running away from an issue that has roughly 70% support in
the electorate . . . please click here for the rest of the post →
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