He'll Sign It And Like It

The WaPo reports on the debt ceiling kabuki:

White House signals openness to short-term debt extension if tied to ‘larger deal’

President Obama would consider a short-term measure aimed at raising the nation’s debt ceiling and avoiding a default by Aug. 2 if Congress agrees to a larger, long-term deficit-reduction and debt-ceiling deal and needs “a few days” to finalize the legislation, his spokesman said Wednesday.

Oh for heaven's sake - is Obama really going to hold the economy hostage if Congress can't deliver him a bit of legacy by early August? If the Gang of Six claims they need a three month extension while they search for votes in the House (Good luck!) will Obama veto it?  Please.  Obama will sign anythig that reaches his desk, and smile and say thank you.  Then the press will hail his leadership.

Comments

[Not_Bubarooni]

Kinda makes you wonder how vetoing 'Cap, Cut and Balance' is polling internally at the WH.

[Danube of Thought]

The Gang of Six thing faces a rough road in the House--26 GOP votes are needed.

Anyhow, as a lawyer (right), Obama should know that "an ageement to agree is not an enforceable contract."

The House could checkmate the guy right now with a six-month extension and cuts. Why theydon't do it beats me, but unlike with Gingrich and Denny Hastert I believe Boehner knows what he is doing.

[Extraneus]

Bingo, N_B.

Btw, for those wondering why the latest James O'Keefe videos haven't received any media attention [cough; ahem], there still seem to be some repercussions:

Within 24 hours or launching our latest investigation on Medicaid fraud, government officials on the state and local levels responded with serious concern and action:

In South Carolina, the state's Health and Human Services Director has vowed to "fully investigate the situation and involve the Attorney General if needed."

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine has seen the videos and called them "outrageous" and said his Medicaid fraud unit would be investigating.

Even Ohio Governor John Kasich weighed-in over Twitter telling me, "We owe it to taxpayers. Govt officials are taking fraud, waste, abuse seriously."

We're just about doomed without Drudge, who I don't believe ever featured this on his site.

[anduril]

So Obama will veto a short term extension and cause a default, just because there's no long term deal? Uhhhhh, color me skeptical. As Capretta at NRO suggested today, a show of resolve by the GOPers in the House could well carry the day: pass a minimalistic extension to show they're responsible. Hey, maybe agree to talk about the long term--in the long term.

[Pops]

I hear Obama asked Boehner the Brewer question:

What are you, Speaker of the House?

Why yes, I am. What are you..twelve?

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/07/20/do-you-have-a-degree-in-economics/

[Appalled]

O'Keefe;s guerilla theatre this time reminds me of Michael Moore. Some low level schmuck is caught being naughty, and exposed to the humiliation of a nation. In this case, I prefer the low exposure.

[Threadkiller]

I will gladly reduce spending on Tuesday for a debt increase today.

[Pops]

You would think at this point if we really were contemplating default, maybe they would start selling off some assets to pay the debt?

They own millions of acres, propoerties etc. Certainly they could raise billions.

[Captain Hate]

I think despite all his dipshit bravado and MFM complicity, it's dawning on the JEF that he's screwed on this, particularly for that dumbass stunt when he mentioned the social security checks. I'm a minority on this, particularly at AoS, but I think McConnell has been a cool customer throughout this; although I still reserve the right to be wrong about that. I think the Repubs have the facts on their side regarding default and all they have to do is unleash Ryan to explain them to the public if Bammy goes full retard on this.

[Jane says obamasucks]

I've been doing tea party stuff since 5:00 and I have the radio tomorrow at 8:00 AM. Has anything happened I should know about on the debt ceiling?

[Clarice]

The air conditioner is operating at half mast. I wonder how long before the East Coast starts having massive brown outs.

Jane, the President has signalled at TM notes, that he'll accept a short term deal. I think that means he didn't bluff anyone.

[Stephanie]

Back from the depths of hell... the modem died and it took Comcast three days to come confirm and replace. I have a new found respect for British Pet Shop bird shoppers.

Anywoo. Speaking of O'Keefe's guerrilla theatre...I have a friend that has recently been granted whistle blower status. She used to work for the WIC/Food stamps local branch here in Georgia and finally got fed up. She took the story to the local newsers. She kept copies of emails documenting that they aren't supposed to ask for income, immigration status, and a whole bunch of stuff. That plus the newsers showing the parking lot at her particular facility loaded with Hummers, Beamers and Lexus driving women clutching Coach, Fendi and Kate Spade pocketbooks headed in to 'get their fix' got the governor's office to grant her that status and launch an investigation. Amazing what it takes to get wholesale fraud investigated...

[Clarice]

Well, he's prefaced it on acceptance of a longer term deal by Congress, but I say he's not got the hole card and he's bluffing with a pair of deuces.

[Jane says obamasucks]

Clarice,

I heard that as breaking news about 2:00 this afternoon, and then at 4:00 they said he had once again changed his mind.

I suspect you are right, he got nowhere today.

[MayBee]

Obama wants to have his big fund raising birthday party. No deal by August 2 will put a crimp in his style.

[Stephanie]

If I were in DC, I would throw the short term bill into the hopper, get the vote, get it passed and kick his and the gang of six's follow on 'long term solution' into a black hole and double down on more CCB. Every time the crisis arises, I'd double down again. Double down by doubling the amount of cuts required, I mean.

You are supposed to split aces and bet progressively (heh), right?

[Rick Ballard]

CH,

The Jug Eared Fellow is following the rock solid advice of the other two members of the leadership troika. We're very fortunate to have folks with the intelligence and wisdom of ValJar and the Wookie constantly guiding the President through the very thorny thickets which might disrupt and impede his confident stride towards a certain outcome.

That darned McDonnell guy just refused to stick to the troika script. He actually had the nerve to inject a proposal that was sufficiently complex so that it broke the tempo of meme development regarding Republican intransigence. Developing that meme was the centerpiece of the troika's plan. Then Coburn jumped in and revived the moribund G6, driving another nail in the intransigence meme's coffin. Tan Man's passage of actual legislation dealing with the situation appears to be the final straw. The Republican's now have three avenues of approach to the problem wide open before them (with at least some bipartisan support each of the three) and the President has been reduced to asking to be led from yet another phone booth.

I don't get it. Didn't the Republicans understand the President's instructions to not call his bluff? It's really very cruel of them to reveal him as a fool. Again.

[narciso]

William Daley, must be thinking, why didn't he sign on to more dependable work, 'like
liontaming'.

[glasater]

You are supposed to split aces and bet progressively (heh), right?

That's Blackjack Stephanie and you never split aces with a ten showing:-)

[Jane says obamasucks]

I left for my meeting as downtrodden as i have been to date about this debt ceiling thing, as even Fox was declaring it was all the republicans's fault.

It doesn't sound like you are suffering from the same pessimism Rick.

[Danube of Thought]

O'Keefe;s guerilla theatre this time reminds me of Michael Moore. Some low level schmuck is caught being naughty,

Examples of comparable material from Moore?

Do you acknowledge that Moore, unlike O'Keefe, has affirmatively sought to mislead and indeed has made such efforts the essence of his films?

Or are the two just pretty much morally equivalent, as you certainly seem to be suggesting. (If indeed you are suggesting no such thing, by all means disabuse me of my conclusion in as forceful a manner as you can muster.)

[Rick Ballard]

Jane,

RCP Obama Approval Average

RCP Congressional Approval Average

I'm fairly indifferent to the default aspect. Actual default might cause folks to actually consider the possibility that they might not be able to have their cake and eat it too. The US should have been downgraded already and the EU and China should be as well. The rotten core of the progressive vision can't be buried until the fact that the OPM crop has failed is formally acknowledged.

[Janet]

Double down by doubling the amount of cuts required, I mean.

Heh! When my kids whined about a midnight curfew we'd make it 11:30!

[Jim Ryan]

Coburn was on Hannity's radio show today, saying that the Gang of Six's revenue increase is due to increased business activity, not tax hikes.

[Stephanie]

I know it's blackjack... just seems to me with all the plans floating around suddenly and screwing with the talking points, he's beginning to realize that even though he's dealing from the bottom of the deck that it's stacked. And not in his favor.

He may have a 10, but per his response "call my bluff" he knows he doesn't have an ace in the hole. So yeah, I'd split it. And call.

[Clarice]

Pls take a few minutes to go here and cheer for bgates.http://pajamasmedia.com/lifestyle/wp-admin/post.php?post=1194&action=edit

[Captain Hate]

Rick,

Yes, Fellow is what I meant. What is most disturbing about the Fellow is his laziness on this. Doesn't a President have ample wherewithal to amass a crew of specialists who could come up with something to make him look like he actually has the aptitude for the demands of the job. I realize the difficulty of that but surely Turbo Timmy could spare some experts that could come up with something better than the budget that was rejected 97 to zip. As it is now, Richard Holbrooke's dead body could suffice for his complete staff with no loss of efficacy and a significant saving for the public. Win the Future! At least Carney could report on him having done something on the way out the door.

[Ignatz]

clarice,
When I click the link it asks me for my Wordpress password.

[Clarice]

Dang. I keep doing that.

Here we go
http://pajamasmedia.com/lifestyle/2011/07/20/bgates-on-the-culture-war/

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Here';s the link for Clarice's piece: http://pajamasmedia.com/lifestyle/2011/07/20/bgates-on-the-culture-war/

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Yeah, like she said.

[Chubby]

((dependable work, 'like
liontaming'.))

more like herding jello

[Janet]

I linked it on FB & it put up a picture of Bill Gates! Hah!...I deleted it & put it up another way & checked "no thumbnail".

[Jim Miller]

Off topic, but possibly amusing:

I have a question for cooks. At the Telegraph, Xanthe Clay says that, if you must pie someone, you should make the right kind of pie.

Naturally, being a food writer, she provides a recipe.

(Of course, she objected to the attack on Murdoch because he is old and fragile. I'd generalize and say that you should only pie someone who can give you a good fight.)

So, cooks, what do you think of her recipe, given its intended purpose?

Are there any store-bought pies that would be good choices?

[Danube of Thought]

Henninger has a very thought-provoking piece re Paul Ryan in the overnight WSJ.

[Chubby]

((What is most disturbing about the Fellow is his laziness on this. ))

he's lazy on a lot of stuff, even projects that would employ a lot of people in good jobs

From The Hill:

((House looks to force administration's hand on Canadian oil pipeline decision
By Pete Kasperowicz - 07/20/11 10:00 AM ET

LUN

The House in the coming weeks is expected to consider legislation that would require the Obama administration to decide by Nov. 1 whether to approve the expansion of a TransCanada oil pipeline to the U.S.

H.R. 1938, the North American-Made Energy Security Act, was just listed on the House Rules Committee website as an "active" bill, although no action is scheduled so far this week.

Republicans who support the bill argue that the State Department has had enough time to examine TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline. TransCanada applied for a permit for the project with the State Department in September 2008, but no decision has been rendered in the 33 months since.))

[Clarice]

Thanks, narciso. I'm trying my best to build the ranks of the bgates fan club.

[So funny he induces amnesia.]

He and Elliott and Cap't HaHa are as funny as the Onion and sometimes rival that car guy from Chitown.
=======================

[Stephanie]

DeMint has put out a BAT SIGNAL!

Time to dust off the protest signs and converge on capitols and/or congressional offices all over the country.

LUN

[matt]

rick;

we cannot be cavalier about the budget. The red flags are flying and it is gale force 3 right now. Tomorrow is D day for the Euro and it isn't going to be pretty any way we slice it.

Either Germany, France and the other responsible countries take a bullet for Greece et al or the spendthrifts are left hanging in the wind. Either way, it's going to suck.

In the meantime, China, Argentina and other responsible parties are criticizing people like Paul Ryan as crazies for demanding fiscal responsibility. it is an evil Spock universe moment in history.

steph, I came to the same conclusion about an hour ago. Not that the idiots will listen, but having protests at places like Loretta Sanchez' office might clarify thinking, as they say. I linked Ryan's Youtube post on my Facebook.

We are at a defining moment, my friends whether we wanted to be here or not. Based upon the decisions made in the next 48 hours we will see either statism/cronyism or democracy/traditional values as a winner. The Germans used to call this a schwerpunkt. Gott mit uns.

[Granny]

I posted this at the Gang of Six link, but that page seems to have died out, so I'll repeat myself:

Late to the party, but if, as the AP is still reporting this evening, the Gang of Six proposal is the loss of tax deductions for health care, home ownership, charitable giving and retirement savings, I can't think of anything that could be better designed for breaking the backs of middle class families. NO NO NO

[Stephanie]

Got Mittens? oh gosh, I hope not. OH wait... God with us... we can only pray.

Granny: the home mortgage deduction scaleback alone will kill the middle class. Home values will plummet further, sales will falter, construction will cease and walkaways will exponentially increase. Which will just about kill the banking industry... which will kill the private sector when cash flows can't be financed which will throw more folks out of work which will... you get my drift. It's a bad, bad idea. $400K in many locales is a starter home. Not here, but the adjustment will trickle down to all levels of housing and all areas of the country.

We just got our new appraisal and the county says we are down $30K in the last year and that appraisal is probably six months or more out of date. We didn't lose more than $20K 2008-2010, so with the latest appraisal, most of my neighborhood is now underwater where it wasn't before. We are upper middle, what used to be $224-400K neighborhoods.

I'm seriously trying to figure out why continuing to stay in an overvalued asset is a good idea. It feels like throwing good money after bad at this point. Plus there is no incentive to sprucing up or even putting too much $$ into maintenance.

Better to cut the loss and rent. Particularly when a similar house in some of the more depressed markets (like Florida) rents for approx 1/2 of my mortgage payment. Plus a move to Florida would add an additional $300 just in state income tax savings on our retirement alone. Combine that with the lower rental cost and my discretionary spending per month almost triples. And I have no other debt other than the house. Did I mention that I'm still current on my mortgage and seriously thinking about walking away?

Decisions...

[matt]

D Day in Europe and its effects on the United States. LUN

[daddy]

Granny,

Sounds like the Gang of 666.

Matt,

Thanks for that column. I appreciate the education.

[daddy]

Stephanie,

I see from your LUN at 10:25 above that you're a Bird Watcher.

Today I took the 2 dogs on a hike way back up a local valley to The Williwaw Lakes. Was a beautiful blue sky day and the hottest of the year so far at 70 degrees.

About 4 miles back my 7 month old female English Lab pup (Scout) suddenly disappeared into the trailside bushes hot on the trail of something, and immediately I heard birds squawking and saw them flying around. Then she popped back out and had one of these in her mouth; An Alaskan Ptarmagan.

I was amazed, and she aggressively ate the entire bloody thing, wings and feet and head and all, right in front of me as her big brother, Fry, ran around her trying to get pieces of it out of her mouth.

On the way back I bumped into some Park Rangers. They explained what type of bird it was, and they got all excited about little Scout (she's very cute) and like me were very impressed at her unexpected kill skills.

Anyhow, a fascinating fun day and thought you might find that bit of murder and carnage interesting:)

[daddy]

FOX News tonight had a decent segment on "Fracking" of Shale Gas.

The story discussed its benefits but also discussed its Eco challenges. I thought this interesting because today on a local early morning Talk Radio Show, Dem Senator Mark Begich mentioned "fracking." I missed his segment (no Podcast till tomorrow) but a later Shows host said that in the discussion of developing Alaska's Energy Resources Begich told the early morning Host that he was confident that the EPA and Enviro's would effectively ban "Fracking" in the US, which would ultimately benefit the Energy situation in Alaska.

I'll try to catch the Podcast tomorrow, but since Begich is a big lefty my guess is he actually knows the EPA nix-fix is in, and inadvertently let the cat out of the bag while sucking up to the Host about Alaska's Energy potential.

Just thought I'd pass that on.

FWIW the later Host I listened to was also discussing Alaska's Energy woes, and mentioned that Alaska is reported to have enough Coal reserves to provide all the electrical energy needs for America for 500 years.

[Lesley]

Daddy

I take it you are not planning to use Scout as a hunter/retriever?

[TeaDrinker]

Great story Daddy!

I hope Scout comes around me off leash sometime so I can kick it to death.

[narciso]

Ah, daddy, Begich is so 'fracking' stupid, doesn't he get that Obama doesn't want us to use any of those resources, 'that's the bug,
not the feature'

[Janet]

I think TeaDrinker lives in my neighborhood. :( ...and don't kid us. You wouldn't "kick it to death"...you'd call the city & report a dog off leash. The police aren't "pigs" to leftists when they're enforcing some nanny state micromanaging rule.

[Jack is Back!]

Jim Miller,

A worthy pie but I still prefer a stock, cooled, Spotted Dick with lots of whipped cream on top. But Wendi did demonstrate to all future pie throwers that there is some danger involved. For example, anyone up to pieing some one like James Harrison or Nmadonguh Suh??

[Ignatz]

--Great story Daddy!

I hope Scout comes around me off leash sometime so I can kick it to death.--

So your mentality and level of self control is the same as a 7 month old Lab?
Or are you saying they are the equivalent of a ptarmigan?

[Threadkiller]

PeeDrinker, would your foot be out of your ass long enough to perform such a heroic beatdown?

[Melinda Romanoff]

daddy-

If that's Fagan's show on 700AM, I bookmarked it and am waiting for them to post the podcast.

What time do they usually put up the day before's show?

[Ben Franklin]

Fox does 'Fracking'? Must have dug that one out of the Tombs. You know, the place they send stories someone killed?

I question teh timing.............

[Appalled]

DoT:

Do you acknowledge that Moore, unlike O'Keefe, has affirmatively sought to mislead and indeed has made such efforts the essence of his films?

Or are the two just pretty much morally equivalent, as you certainly seem to be suggesting. (If indeed you are suggesting no such thing, by all means disabuse me of my conclusion in as forceful a manner as you can muster.)

I put the words "this time" in my original post for a reason (the NPR and ACORN stuff I look at differently), and I also indicated what the Moore-like quality was in O'Keefe's current series is. One of Moore's typical approaches, in stuff like Roger and Me was to find some low level corporate bureaucrat, and make them look stupid or mendacious on film. I think you really need a good reason to make some obscure person the face of stupidity or malevolence, and I think that if the goal is to prove there is "waste, fraud and abuse" in government programs (um, duh!), there is a fundamental meanness in scamming some low level flunkie who has a process he needs to follow in processing a claim, and is probably not allowed to flag potential criminal activity by the nature of regulations, or is discouraged because of the weight of the bureaucracy he has to go through to flag such activity.

I don't think O'Keefe and Moore are morally equivalent or inequivalent. I haven't seen a lot of Moore's movies. I think in this instant, O'Keefe showed a callousness towards a non-public figure that is the equal of Moore's, in the movies of his I have seen.

YMMV. I hope that's clear.

[Ben Franklin]

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Euro zone leaders were set to give their financial rescue fund sweeping new powers to prevent contagion and help Greece overcome its debt crisis, according to the draft conclusions of an emergency summit on Thursday.

The leaders met in Brussels after the European Central Bank signaled in a policy reversal that is now willing to let Greece default temporarily under a crisis response that would involve a bond buyback, a debt swap but no new tax on banks."

"sweeping" new powers? Sounds ominous....

http://ca.reuters.com/article/topNews/idCATRE76I5X620110721

[MayBee]

O'Keefe showed a callousness towards a non-public figure that is the equal of Moore's, in the movies of his I have seen.

O'Keefe is showing a person who is wasting taxpayer money. Your money. My money.
That is a huge difference between him and Moore, no?

[Jane]

The power elite has been promising to clean up waste, fraud and abuse forever and never do a thing except make it easier to commit waste, fraud and abuse.

I referred someone this morning to O'Keefe's website because I want him to undergo O'Keefe's training. We are the only people who are going to weed out that stuff, because the people who are supposed to, don't.

And for every sordid low-level low life who is revealed, his supervisor, manager and on up the line should be fired too.

[squaredance]

Oh of course it is designed to "break the back" of the Middle class.

They are the only people really left to sock, and they are a source of political independence. The Democrats really destroyed "the rich" as a political class in the New Deal and WW2 years.

At a crossroads with the Gang of 6? Not really, we crossed the Rubicon quite some years ago.

This is not a "deciding moment", though it could be a "moment of rebellion".

Fat chance of that though. The Gang of 6 proposal? It is wrapped in obscuring lies and rhetoric. It amounts to a massive tax raise--what looks like the largest in our history--and will result in a massive spending rise. Obama is asking for, and is likely to get, more money that we went into debt for to win WW2 (inflation adjusted).
("close loopholes", indeed--what sophistry! What lies!) You will not see any "spending cuts"; the new revenues will be spent on securing the Democrat's positions. How many times does the nation have to go through this to get it? This is just Porkulus 2 and TARP on a wider scale. (And I bet you right now that some of that money goes to bail out budgets in key blue states.)

It will somehow get through unless the GOP in the House somehow shows some manhood.

I would not hold my breath.

It is quite simple: if we are to continue funding the Big Government Nomenklatura, their clients and their political machine, the Middle Class has to go down, and I mean down-kaput! Gone forever. Simple as that. All you need do is listen to their propaganda. Who have they been vilifying the last 45 years? Well not just "the Rich", and if you listen closely enough you will here that it is not really "the Rich" at all that has been slandered,libeled and pillaged. In fact it has been the dread "bourgeoisie" who has been vilified and victimized. The Democrat Party is in fact the party of "The Rich", such as they exist as a political class anymore. They were completely co-opted by the end of the the 1950's.

All you need do is look at the urban blue hells. The middle classes are long gone in most of the big ones. It is the Rich, their servants and the lumpen prots. The Dems are running the nation just like it was a urban political machine. This is really what we mean by the "Chicago way."

You say, well, what will they do when they have killed off the middle class too? They do not care. They do not think that far ahead, or, if they do, they believe that they can then have full blown communism. In any event, they are so filled with hatred of anything close to the Good and the Decent that the notion of rational economic choices are out the door.

This has been the whole gambit of the Obama years: wildly ratchet up spending, provoke a contrived crisis and wildly raise taxes--and in the process make it even more difficult to ever lower them (They also mean to ruin the DoD while they are at it.) They are doing t right out in the open and thus far are getting away with it.

It is going along right according to plan and with the assistance of the GOP as well.

At a crossroads? At a defining moment? well one hopes so, but their is every reason to believe that the decisions where made long ago. Most of the work involved is just findng a way to con the rubes.

My guess: Argentina, here we come, and that is if we are lucky.

The Democrats are not on the ropes; they are deftly playing their end game. Goodness, Fannie and Freddie are grinding away and with even more power than before. America can no longer even send a man in to space! "Crossroads" indeed.

Just think where the country was 4 years ago and where it was today and the talk about :Cross roads or a "defining moment".

[Ben Franklin]

yes, because the destruction of the middle class just started 4 years ago...............

[glasater]

Not true Ben. It started under Clinton and CRA.

Dare you to read Reckless Endangerment.

[Not_Bubarooni]

Kinda makes you wonder how vetoing 'Cap, Cut and Balance' is polling internally at the WH.

dang! i've never quoted myself before but after seeing the cnn poll where about 2/3 of americans are in general agreement CCB/BBA, i'm gonna gloat a little.

[Howie Long Jersey]

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