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by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Purveyor of Truth

Is anybody, and I mean ANYBODY in either party really serious about controlling the explosive rate of debt growth we have experienced since the 2008/2009 meltdown? I really think not.

Mitch McConnell talking to Chris Wallace about raising the debt ceiling.



Below the fold THINKPROGRESS weighs in. Content as expected from a far left publication.

Meanwhile, over at CBS and Bob Schieffer's FACEtheNATION Ted Cruz chimed in and actually made a bit of sense. Assuming of course he, and anyone else is really concerned with debt control or reduction.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, now, just a minute. Just a minute. The government is approaching another deadline February 7, when it will run out of money unless Congress agrees to raise the debt ceiling. Will you agree to raise the debt ceiling, or will you demand something in return.

SEN. TED CRUZ: Look, of course, we should do something. We shouldn't just write a blank check. Five years ago, the national debt was ten trillion dollars. That took 43 presidents over 200 years to build up ten trillion dollars in debt. Today, it's over 17 trillion dollars. It's grown nearly 70% with one president in five years.

And if you ask any American outside of Washington, "Should we just keep raising the debt ceiling while doing nothing, to have fundamental structural controls on spending to get Washington's spending problem under control," it doesn't matter if you're talking to a Republican, a Democrat, an independent, a libertarian.

Anyone outside of Washington says, "Of course." And it's worth noting in the past, the debt ceiling has been the most effective lever point for real structural reforms, whether it was Gramm-Rudman, which did a great job of restricting government spending, getting it under control or whether it was the Budget Control Act.

Both of those came through the debt ceiling. And what the president is saying is he just wants a blank credit card to keep growing and growing the debt, and I think that's irresponsible. I think it's irresponsible to our kids and grandkids to stick that debt on them because we can't live within our means.

We'll just have to wait and see. Both the dems and the repubs are certainly going to paint it in a way that makes their opposing party look bad. It is after American politics and these days the nation herdly ever seems to be the top priority. Of course there is lots more below the fold.

On a most telling note top Presidential advisers are telling the media and the people that the President will work with the Congress when he can but will do an end run around them if he must. Translation, the president will work with Congress when they agree with his agenda but will circumvent Congress when they don't agree with his agenda.

Nothing new there folks, and as noted above, really, no one is concerned about controlling the debt explosion much less in reducing the debt. Certainly not the President.

abcNEWS - President Barack Obama will work with Congress where he can and circumvent lawmakers where he must, his top advisers warned Sunday in previewing Tuesday's State of the Union speech.

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"I think the way we have to think about this year is we have a divided government," said Dan Pfeiffer, a longtime Obama adviser. "The Republican Congress is not going to rubber-stamp the president's agenda. The president is not going to sign the Republican Congress' agenda."

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"The president sees this as a year of action to work with Congress where he can and to bypass Congress where necessary," White House press secretary Jay Carney said.

"The president has sort of hung out on the left and tried to get what he wants through the bureaucracy as opposed to moving to the political center," said Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the GOP Senate leader.

Added Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.: "It sounds vaguely like a threat, and I think it also has a certain amount of arrogance."

Sure seems like the battle lines have been drawn, again. It also sounds like the President is in the mood to try the Imperial Ruler route and he may actually try it this time as he and his advisers probably believe he has enough public support to pull it off. You know, to hell with the Constitution and all.

Anyway, there is more below the fold. One thing is certain, the SOTU Address should be interesting and the republican response even more so.

It is truly unfortunate that we exist in the political environment we do today where the interests of the parties and their agenda are continually put ahead of the greater interests of the Nation.

Via: Memeorandum
Via: Memeorandum
Via: Memeorandum

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

Questions: Do you trust this man? Do you think this issue is resolved? Is it just me or has the Tea Party left reason for the realm of wishful dreams?



Then there is the following from FDL ... "It would seem that Senator Cruz should be in a more sour mood given that his plan to stop Obamacare is set to be thwarted. Things really seem to be going poorly for Cruz as the Houston Chronicle, one of his home state’s most prominent papers, took back its endorsement of him."

Houston Chronicle - "When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November’s general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation – that he follow Hutchison’s example in his conduct as a senator.

Obviously, he has not done so. Cruz has been part of the problem."

And this.

"In three week period following Cruz’s speech — even as GOP’s national approval ratings plummeted — conservatives frantically built their fundraising lists and campaign coffers. In the last quarter, Cruz’s political action committee raised in $797,000, nearly twice what it pulled in the quarter prior, and Heritage Action — which has pressured conservatives to vote against any bill that does not undermine Obamcare — collected $330,000."

And finally, again from FDL, this truth. "So while the country got taken for a bumpy ride and the Republican brand collapsed in national polls – Ted Cruz smashed fundraising goals and posed for the cameras to raise his national profile. A party of one?

No wonder Cruz’s Republican colleagues hate him. His tactics have benefited no one but himself."

Of course there still remains some Senate Republicans trying to at least retain some sense of reason and rational thinking.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

One thing of which we can all be sure. Neither the ugly intra-party republican battle or another partisan battle is yet over. The battle(s) just finished is unlikely to deter the next onslaught by the loonies who believe in their mission to change America back to 1776, 1787, or 1860. The nation has not heard the last of Cruz, Gohmert, Palin, Bachmann, Lee, and legions of complete and utter Malcontents who support them. Via: Reason

by: Les Carpenter
Rational Nation USA
Liberty -vs- Tyranny

This from the Queen of gimmickry.

The Hill - House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Friday rejected the House GOP’s three-month plan to increase the debt ceiling.

A spokesman for Pelosi said that the bill coming to the floor next week, which would raise the debt ceiling with the condition that Congress will not get paid if the House and Senate fail to pass a budget, is a "gimmick."

“This is a gimmick unworthy of the challenges we face and the national debate we should be having. The message from the American people is clear: no games, no default,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said.

He called for a “clean” debt-ceiling increase without conditions.

“We need a clean debt ceiling increase and a bipartisan and balanced budget that protects Medicare and Social Security, invests in the future, and responsibly reduces the deficit,” he said. “This proposal does not relieve the uncertainty faced by small businesses, the markets and the middle class.”

Democrats want a budget that has a “balance” between spending cuts and tax increases.

GOP leaders said Friday that they will hold the debt-ceiling vote next week and that they are backing down from a previous demand that all debt-ceiling increases be accompanied by an equal amount of actual spending cuts.

Instead of concrete cuts, the GOP plan tries to force the Senate to pass a budget for the first time in four years. The GOP is banking that cutting off an unpopular Congress's pay will poll well with the public and be hard for Democrats to oppose.

The Pelosi reaction to the plan is more negative than that of the White House and Senate Democrats.

President Obama’s spokesman said Friday it is encouraged by the GOP shift.{Read More}

Ya know the person is out their when even their own progressive party is in opposition at certain levels.

Via: Memeorandum