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July 27, 2011 06:18 PM UTC

Tell Washington No Default

  • 131 Comments
  • by: Michael Bennet

( – promoted by Colorado Pols)

Washington’s partisan bickering is standing in the way of a solution to the debt ceiling crisis. Every day that we delay, we draw closer to defaulting on the full faith and credit of the United States. Washington’s fecklessness and its cartoonish debate are putting our economy and the creditworthiness of the country at risk. We need to put ideology aside and reach an agreement to prevent a default on the national debt.

Sign the petition now.

If 100 Coloradans were put in a room and asked to come up with a solution to our deficit challenges, I’m absolutely confident that they would get it done. In my town hall meetings Coloradans all across the state have told me they want a deficit reduction plan that materially addresses the debt and deficit crisis, ensures everyone is in it together and is bipartisan. It’s time Washington showed the same level of courage and common sense. But we need your voice.  

That’s why I am asking you to sign a petition urging Washington to reach an agreement to prevent default on our nation’s debt. Please take the time to pass this along to your friends and family too.

It is time to act. Let’s make sure Washington hears Colorado’s voice loud and clear. It’s time to get our fiscal house in order and work together to secure the country’s economic future.

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131 thoughts on “Tell Washington No Default”

    1. I would gladly call a Republican Representative if he or she was in my district, or I thought they would listen.

      But I am not interested in a plan that alters the CPI, raises the Medicare eligibility age, or reduces payments to states for Medicaid.  I won’t sign a petition that doesn’t clearly indicate that those kinds of changes are off the table.

      This is a game of chicken being played by House Republicans.  They think they can get anything they want by simply waiting it out.  (Which, BTW, I stated the other day in a post and someone thought I was being too pessimistic.)  This is designed to make the Democrats less appealing to their base next year, to damage the President – it’s not about debt reduction, or they would have agreed to the President’s plan.

      If this gets chaotic, they [the Senate] will fold like a cheap suit.
      –House Speaker John Boehner, 2011-07-26 on the debt ceiling increase

      (Source: Politico)

    2. Senator Bennet, I hope you have someone monitoring this blog. Increased revenue from corporate tax loopholes and extended into 2013 must be part of the deal.  Probably not a chance to let Bush tax cuts expire into the package but it should.

    3. Yes, we have some serious financial issues. Seniors did not create the problems. Senior citizens and that group, among those most impacted and least likely to benefit from a ‘cure’ is just one of the groups that should not be asked to sacrifice. Neither should vets.

      It is time for Wall Street to bail out the country. Wall St has been bailed out a number of times. It is their turn.

      Let us not throw out the best of America to cure our financial distress. Lets not give up on seniors, vets and students.

  2. I’m with Ralphie and PR on this. Sign a petition to tell Congress to stop acting like five year olds?!

    Tell you what – stop acting like five year olds.  There, that was just as effective.

    Also, the only way you would be able to get consensus from the 100 hypothetical people would be to be sure that no member of my HOA were in the room.  They make Congress look like grownups.

    Good luck. You ran for the seat, you’re the one with the vote.

  3. Because if it means caving to everything the Rs demanded in the first place, or signing any awful thing that makes it to the President’s desk in order to avoid default by extortion… no thanks.

    I am with the  plurality, if not majority, of the American people as evidenced by numerous polls as well as with all serious economists in preferring a clean debt raising bill now, attention to jobs immediately after and only then a return to formulating a debt reduction bill that would have to include revenue increases from those most able to afford them along with any take-it-in-the-shorts spending cuts, increasing burdens for the rest of us.

    If congress refuses to send a clean debt ceiling bill to run past the next election when sanity will have a better chance of prevailing (maybe, you guys are really acting crazy all the time these days) I would prefer the 14th amendment solution to another lousy “bargain” in which  we Democrats, all of us, not just unreasonable “liberals”, get nothing that matters to us. After your last post, will not be holding my breath for an answer.

  4. I don’t think that austerity measures are appropriate at a time when we want to spur our economy.

    I also shouldn’t have to sign a petition to urge Washington to hear Colorado’s voice. We are supposed to be able to do that by electing our Senators.

    Let’s be honest, you are Washington.

    I hope the staffer that has the job of reading these comments will help you hear my voice by passing along this message: Stop using the debt ceiling as cover to cut social programs, and start helping working families.

  6. That is not what this “people” wants.

    Worrying about deficits now is like worrying about your cholesterol when you are dying of a gunshot.

    We need to stimulate demand that means government spending and artificially low tax levels.

    Once we get the employment numbers up then worry about the deficit and address it by undoing most of what Bush did, taxing income masquerading as cap gains properly, and not capping payroll taxable amounts.  Wa-la deficit gone.

    If you get rid of subsidies to agri-business and oil companies on top of it we might be able to do some positive things as well. I’d even let it be tax cuts if it promoted more equity, but let it be EITC or payroll tax relief for the working poor.

  7. The polls tell you everything you need to know.  The American people are worried about jobs, not the national debt.  This whole “debt crisis” business is something the Republicans dreamed up to get people’s panties in a wad and score points against Obama.

    The debt ceiling is a separate issue from spending and revenue.  I’ll sign a damn petition that says “pass a clean debt ceiling bill and quit fucking around.”  Pardon my French, but with all due respect, that’s what I’d sign.

    As to debt reduction, again the American people have spoken in poll after poll: DO NOT cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.  DO increase revenue by increasing tax collections from corporate profits and individuals earning over $250,000 per year.

    That’s what we want.  Now, I supported you, voted for you, and expect you to get in there and do your job of getting this done.

    End of rant.  

  8. The American people need this crisis resolved. The American economy needs it solved without placing any more burdens on job creators. Please vote for a debt ceiling increase that gets our fiscal house in order and does not raise taxes. Thank you for your time.

    1. Wall Street is doing just fine, and in fact they are sitting on a lot of cash and half-empty factories. The problem in the economy is demand-side, not supply-side.

          1. My business depends on a middle class clientele. Due to the economic uncertainty, and loss of wealth in the middle class, my business is down.

            So, I have a mercenary self-interest in improving the economic situation of the middle class.

            1. And we don’t care if clients walk in with money from public or private sector jobs.  We just need more clients with money. Don’t see how draconian cuts and lay offs help with that. That’s because they don’t.  

        2. yes, people making over $250,000 a year pretty much count as “rich”.  As nice as it might be to live in your fantasy world with the middle class pulling in six figure salaries, the rest of the world does want people making over five TIMES the median U.S. family income to be willing to shoulder at least some part of the sacrifices the Republican party has arbitrarily decided to ask for right now.

        3. I’m 22. When I was growing up, Mom stayed home to raise my sister and me. Dad pulled in about 110k from Lockheed Martin.

          That money was enough to send me to amazing (PUBLIC!) schools, pay for some after school programs (debate, choir, etc.) and support Mom while she stayed home to read books aloud and help with our homework. Because of the opportunities my parents provided me, I earned a full ride Boettcher Scholarship to attend DU. My sister pulled in several scholarships of her own, and, with support from my parents, is attending Whitman College in Washington state.

          To recap: I didn’t work a job in high school. My sister only worked summers. Both of us were able to attend excellent universities because of the incredible opportunities that Dad’s salary provided us.

          So I’d say that a $110,000 salary makes a family extremely well off. I’m not sure where we’d spend another $140,000, but if we had it, we’d definitely be super-rich.

        1. George W. Bush gave tax breaks to those “job creators” in 2001 and 2003.  Those tax cuts added 2.6 trillion to the debt, yet the rate of job growth under bush was less than half of the rate of job growth under Bill Clintion.

          So yeah, the “job creators” got us into this mess and haven’t done a damned thing to get us out except sit on their money.

        2. Where are the jobs?

          Corporate profits are up; where are the jobs?

          The jobless creating ‘job creator’ class is doing quite well–so where are the jobs?

            1. Everyone gets a pony from the job creating rich.  And the Brooklyn Bridge.  Everyone gets the Brooklyn Bridge from the job creating faries er I mean rich.

              Some days I get wistful thinking about what a simple mind ArapaGOP must have.  I mean how simple must your mental makeup be to believe that the rich want to take care of the poor and give them good paying jobs.  Such a simple world of make believe.  Psst ArapaGOP, the rich really don’t have your best interests at heart and aren’t going to let you compete with them for our remaining resources.  In they real world, the rich play you for the sucker you are.

        3. Do you get how the flow of time works in this universe? This recession started, and the peak of job loss occurred during, the Bush administration — at the end of two Bush presidential terms.

          So in what sense do you accuse President Bush of laughting at “job creators” exactly?

          1. because the markets anticipated in 2007 that George W. Bush eventually wouldn’t be President anymore.

            That’s not parody. That’s the official Republican position. This is why political humor is dead.

  9. The American people don’t care about the deficit. They care about jobs, the economy and house values. They also want to protect Social Security and Medicare.

    Why is Everything Americans favor is off the table in debt talks?

    wapo poll, priorities

    With one exception, means testing Medicare, everything the public supports is off the table in in the debt ceiling talks, and everything they oppose has been on the chopping block. They want higher taxes on the wealthy, on hedge fund managers, and on oil and gas companies. They do not want cuts to Medicaid, Social Security COLA changes, or raising the Medicare eligibility age. At all.

  10. 1) Go to Polis

    2) Persuade him to introduce a bill in the House…a one sentence bill  – “Raise the debt ceiling until 2013.”

    I think this would cut through the crap; and get everyone something to vote for.  Then, when it passes the House, and I predict it would.

    3) You introduce it in the Senate.

    1. So why do you think that makes any sense at all as a suggestion? And how can you possibly say “when it passes the House, and I predict it would”?

      1. At this late date, I believe that a majority of the House would welcome a way out.  

        I think it would be an honest effort and I think it would work.

        Now,  you may well be right, but I meant it as a sincere suggestion.  I won’t speculate any further.

        Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

    1. is “Hey Washington, do whatever you want, we don’t care about the details because we aren’t paying attention.” It actively encourages the worst possible solution, as everyone else has said.

          1. but folding is so much more fun.  Having your elected Democratic reps espouse principles, and then throw them out the window once elected is awesome.  They got our backs.

            1. ” could you please not shut down the government if we agree to what you proposed last week and more ? ”

              Strong negotiation tactics.  Strong.

  12. telling you to do the job you were elected to do in Washington — represent your constituents, and be diligent and persuasive in your arguments to your colleagues to help them understand what is best for the country.

    Thank you, Senator.

  13. We should all be able to agree that defaulting on our debt will have real and painful effects for Coloradans, our economy and the country. If the debt limit is not extended, the revenue coming into the government will not be enough to cover its obligations-risking the disruption of at least some government services including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veteran’s benefits, military payments, student loan payments and many others. That’s not acceptable and it’s not fair for the American people, who are at risk of becoming collateral damage in Washington’s dangerous game of chicken.

    As for a plan to get the deficit under control, people don’t have faith in either party’s go-it alone approach like Cut, Cap and Balance. We need a responsible, bipartisan and comprehensive plan that ensures we’re all in it together and includes tax reform, like the one proposed by the Gang of Six. It isn’t perfect, but it represents the best possible solution to get our long-term fiscal house in order. I gave a speech on this exact subject earlier this month. For video, please click here.

    2. This is the entire text of your petition

      “As Washington risks defaulting on the full faith and credit of our nation we need courage from both parties. Coloradans want a common sense solution. Send a message to Washington that it’s time to reach an agreement to prevent default on our nation’s debt.  We cannot pass our problems on to our children and grandchildren. It is time to act.”

      To me it sounds like you are saying, “peace at any price”.  I think some of us are saying , “no we won’t go along with that.  History shows us that it never works.”

      If you reword your petition to reflect the values you state in your speech, I will be the first to sign.

      Yes, we are in a Hell of a mess, but sir, the poor, the weak, and the old did not put us there and did not gain from us being there.  They should not be asked to bear any part of the burden of digging us out.

      Again your role is to protect the weak and powerless.  The rich and powerful don’t need your help quite so much.

    3. Anyone collecting a paycheck for what’s going on in D.C. should be hugely embarrassed.  It’s a disaster, and one more illustration of how dysfunctional (actually nonfunctional) Congress is.  

      There are many LARGE ways to cut the deficit — bring all troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, stop the development of weapons we don’t need, end the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, stop huge industrial subsidies, etc, etc.  But do NOT try to solve our federal budget problems on the backs of the poor, the elderly and children.  

      What do the people need in their electeds?  Leadership and guts.  Big money sure isn’t electing leadership and guts.

      1. Social Security has nothing to do with the deficit anyway.  It has its own trust fund.

        Any potential insolvency can be solved quite easily by increasing the wage cap on payroll tax deductions.

        It doesn’t even belong in the discussion.

    4. Only Republicans and Conservative pundits.

      Economists say:

      The short term deficit is due to recession.

      The long-term deficit came from the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy.

      The American people want the economy to recover.

    5. what mythical bipartisan plan do you think is going to pass both the House and Senate? Unless by bipartisan you mean caving to GOP extortion again even though 10 years worth of evidence and many more years than that worth of history show their preferred policies to be completely discredited and certain to harm the middle class more than it has already been harmed by Democratic capitulation to bad GOP ideas.

      History teaches where peace at any price gets you. In this case it will probably get you minority status in both Houses come 2012 and the middle class, not the debt, deficit or government, shrunk to bathtub drowning dimensions.

      Sorry that this hasn’t been the love fest you may have expected on a Dem friendly blog. But then I guess we must all be unreasonable professional lefties. We and the polls can’t possibly reflect the majority, can we?

      1. voters see weakness and vote for Republicans. They may be nuts, they may be cruel, they may be stupid, but at least they know what they stand for. Nobody is impressed by Bennet’s “I’m too sexy for your party” stance.

        1. It’s because their own party isn’t serving their interests.

          Seeing weakness is but one consequence.  The bigger problem is Democratic elected officials not acting in the interest of their constituents.

            1. But just to recap, here’s what he actually said:

              When Democrats can’t bring themselves to support their own party

              voters see weakness and vote for Republicans.

              He could have used a comma in there to make it more clear.  But my reading of what he actually wrote said to me that he was talking about Democratic Pols.

              As an editor once told me, “If I didn’t understand what you wrote, then you didn’t write it very well.”

              1. then I’ll try harder to impress. But yes, I was talking about Democratic politicians like Bennet, and how his distancing himself from the party will hurt both other Democrats and ultimately him.

                1. Even though it wasn’t absolutely clear syntax-wise it made more sense that way to me, coming from you. I’ve been making all kinds of errors lately with the fast pace of exchange here over all this.

    6. What a stupid thing to say. The Democrats have already proposed $2.7 trillion in cuts and no revenues. That’s not even a compromise position, that’s what the Republicans wanted last month.

      We are now literally debating between the extreme conservative position from last month and the extreme conservative position of this week. So don’t give us any crap about “bipartisanship.” If you hadn’t rolled over for right-wing bullies we might actually be debating ways to decrease unemployment.

      You endorsed the Gang of Six deal which cuts taxes on the rich while raising taxes on the poor and middle class and cutting essential services for no other reason than petty meanness. You make me sorry I campaigned for you.

        1. As I recall it was less than eight blog inches away from this post. You are seriously talking out of both sides of your mouth on this and are not in a credible place to talk about consistency.

    7. the revenue coming into the government will not be enough to cover its obligations-risking the disruption of at least some government services including Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, veteran’s benefits, military payments, student loan payments and many others.

      I guess we need to lower the obligations. Cut, Cap and Balance, rinse and repeat.

  14. “Frankly, I don’t care who wins politically, either. What I care about is passing legislation that will stave off government default and a downgrade in our nation’s credit rating.  And at this point, the Reid plan is the only option that meets that criteria. Let’s get it done. Let’s get it done.”

  15. I think some adjustments in Social Security & Medicare make sense. People live longer which has a major impact on these programs. Adding some means testing and slowly increasing when social security kicks in are steps we must take.

    With that said, I’m with everyone else here – don’t reduce the deficit on the backs of the poor and middle class. Raise taxes back to Ronald Reagan levels. Rebuild infrastructure at FDR levels. Fund education as if you truly understand that our future depends on an educated workforce.

    You asked for this job. Stop complaining and get to work.

    1. CNN – Debt ceiling: Good going, guys

      Here’s what’s at stake: An entitlement system that Americans rely on but that promises more than it can afford; a tax code that is complex, inefficient and perceived to be unfair; and a projected growth trajectory for debt that is unsustainable and threatens the country’s economic future.

      How unsustainable? By 2025, spending on Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security and interest on the debt is projected to suck up virtually all federal tax revenue, with interest costs alone accounting for nearly half. By 2040, there would only be enough in federal tax revenue to pay for interest and most of Social Security.

      1. You’ve bought into the Republicn framong on this (as has CNN).

        Social Security needs a minor tweak to get past a one-time hump.  Placing it in with our budget problems turns it into a problem that it isn’t.

        Medicare needs more work, but not a benefits cut or age increase.  A new study shows increasing the age for Medicare saves the government 5.7 billion, but would cost the private sector (individuals and employers) 8.2 billion and raise everyone’s premiums by 3%.  Instead, we should negotiate drug prices and adjust our taxes to represent the rrue value of Medicare.

        Likewise we need to address issues with Medicaid such as long term care andget a handle on the true costs and benefits of the program.

        If we are not going to address the true causes of our financial problems, then the least we should do is start with an honest assessment of the programs and not some demonization of them coming from the GOP and other low-information elements.

        1. The #1 issue is to reduce medical costs. Not just pull it back to the rate of general inflation, but put it on a downward curve. And there is plenty of ways to do that.

          The #2 issue is to get the economy booming. Do that and tax receipts go up while government expenses drop. That means a heavy investment on infrastructure and education (K-12 and higher ed).

          Next comes returning taxes to the levels they were at under Reagan and removing all the egregious exemptions & shelters. Or even better, eliminate all deductions and special cases, lump capital gains in with personal income, and then reduce the rates to match what it would have been with the weirdness at Reagan levels.

          And finally (and last because it’s smaller than the others), adjust social security to match the changes in average lifespan.

          This is what is needed. It’s also items that neither side in D.C. wants to touch.

          1. but no, the middle class benefits from higher rates with more deductions. It’s only the rich who benefit from elimination of deductions and lowering of marginal rates.

            1. The games the rich play with deductions far surpass any advantage the middle class sees. But I would like to see, no matter which approach is taken, that the share paid by the rich goes back to historical levels (which was a larger share of payments).

            1. There’s no logical reason to let more than say 10 million get passed on to children. I know a lot of people living on inherited wealth and they not contribute nothing to society, but most are really lost unsure what to do with their life. No one benefits from this except the people managing the money.

    2. It’s worthwhile to respond to your post instead of Bennet’s, you might actually read it.

      Social Security is not the problem, it gets lumped in with health care because it’s an entitlement and many journalists in DC are lazy and simply repeat the current beltway jargon.  Yes, health care spending needs to be “curved down.”  That won’t happen with the proposals currently out there – those tend to transfer the payments from the govt to private citizens, similar to delaying coverage of seniors by Medicare.  They don’t actually change any costs.  They may actually make the situation worse.

      I might lose my “liberal pansy” union card, but I don’t have a problem with an adjustment to Social Security that uses CPI instead of wage inflation.  But, and this is a big but I haven’t traded away with the first sentence, I would include a change in the rates in the same bill that will raise the maximum (or get rid of it) taxable amount for FICA.

      My sense of the Senator posting on this blog… what a missed opportunity.  This blog is for engagement, not post and run.  Issue a press statement if someone can’t follow the posts and respond.  And I’m sick of petitions.  Is this a petition to yourself?  to Udall?  Do you think McConnell cares how many Coloradans sign the petition?

    3. Yeah, rich people do, by several years. Poor people, not so much–only a couple of years. You ought to know that. So those most in need of Social Security–the ones doing the backbreaking (literally) jobs who are least able to continue working for more years–will be hurt the most. And means testing changes SS and Medicare from a universal program to one for “those others,” the poor and unwashed, which further undermines support for the programs. You are falling for the standard Republican crap.  

      1. First off, if poor people live even 6 months longer on average – that adds up to a lot of money across the population of the U.S. But we should take that into account. Not sure how though.

        As to means testing, I’d like to see some because it’s nuts that I get as much as someone who’s worked minimum wage their whole life. Maybe that’s necessary protection for the system but I don’t need it and others do.

        1. Sorry, David, but if you spend anytime researching – or simply reviewing – the history of the 1983 Social Security bill you would know that the increase in longevity was taken “into account.”  This is the problem with politics in this country – no historical memory.  

          1. I thought the average payout over the life of a citizen had increased a bit since then. I don’t think we need a giant change, just what is proportional for any increases in longevity.

            And I totally agree that this is minor compared to the other items.

            1. and have projected life span increases into the future. The 1983 reforms that jadodd mentions already took into account projected improvements in life expectancy.

  16. It could be that we’ve provided you with a message to share with “Washington” after all. We’re just the ones who like to blog.  We all know tons of people who will tell you the same thing you’re mainly reading here and seeing in polls.  That’s the message.

  17. The gang of six option isn’t in play.  What is in play is a totally unacceptable House version and a more palatable version (to some degree) in the Senate.  It’s too late for a grand plan – let’s pass a comprise that extends into 2013 and leaves Social Security and Medicare alone.

    Sincerely,

    A former Republican turned Unaffiliated who voted for you.

  18. I cannot sign your petition.  First, it doesn’t say anything substantive.  Second, by signing your petition, I wouldn’t want you or anyone else to think that I support your endorsement of the Gang of Six proposal.  Nah – not guna do it – wouldn’t be prudent.

  19. The time to debate the deficit is when you’re deciding the budget. Don’t pass a budget that requires deficit spending if you’re not willing to borrow the money.

    As a Senator, you can introduce a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling. It seems to me that since it’s not an appropriation, it doesn’t need to originate in the House.  

      2. House Republicans 0n Wednesday morning were calling for the firing of Republican Study Committee staffers after they were caught sending e-mails to conservative groups urging them to pressure GOP lawmakers to vote against a debt proposal from Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).

        Infuriated by the e-mails from Paul Teller, the executive director of the RSC, and other staffers, members started chanting “Fire him, fire him!” while Teller stood silently at a closed-door meetings of House Republicans.

        http://www.politico.com/news/s…

          1. “It was an unbelievable moment,” said one GOP insider. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

            If this were happening in the Democratic Party, can you imagine Republicans not finding a zillion different ways to take full advantage?  Can you imagine how much fun they’d be having with it on Fox? Where’s your killer instinct, Dem pols?

            Oh, and apparently Bachmann bought a spiffy new house a few years ago with  a mortgage backed by Fannie or was it Freddie?  Where are the Dems screaming for explanations of this hypocrisy?  Remember when the story about Kerry avoiding taxes on his boat broke last year?

            Are Dems somehow genetically challenged when it comes to smelling blood?  With a Daley of the Chicago Daleys as Chief of Staff? Come on!  

    2. I agree with ajb.  We don’t have no stinkin’ crisis.  Pass a one line debt ceiling increase like has been done something like 102 times and then pass a JOBS BILL!  Cutting spending now with high unemployment will create the Depression that we only narrowly avoided.

      BTW – ending the Bush tax cuts on someone making $500,000 a year, after deductions, means they pay $11,500 more in taxes.  The Horror!

      1. If they make $500,000 they can probably figure out how to get out of a good chunk of that extra 11k, too. The top bracket actually averages considerably less than the middle in precentage of income they pay, regardless of rates.

    1. it doesn’t look like Bennet’s getting many signatures here, does it? And doesn’t look like the GOPT is giving Boehner much love either. Looks like both sides are trying to throw a party that nobody wants to go to.

  22. David Dayen over at FDL explains that the “real” debate may already be over.  Under the Senate rules, there is no way to get a bill passed by August 2.  If you are not out of the market by now, do so immediately before the everybody figures this out.

    From this point on, anything you hear is pure and unadulturated posturing – including this nonsense from our very own Senator Bennet

  23. not to get a “compromise.” As many others have stated here, I do not support selling out everything just to get the debt limit raised.

    Here is the question: Will the long term pain and suffering from defaulting on the debt (the litany of not just higher interest rates for the federal government but state and local governments and consumer/business borrowing; return to recession; etc.) be greater than the long term pain and suffering from permanently harming Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the whole safety net? That’s where the Republicans are heading. I think the long term loss will be greater than the (likely dire) consequences of a default.

    I do not sign petitions (like this one) that can be read to mean just about anything. And what’s the point of asking people to tell you what you claim you know you should be doing? This is a hostage situation, Senator. Don’t crumble to the hostage takers.

  24. While it is simple and ironic, I just watched John Stewart’s July 25th show. He said it best,

    My question to Congress, and a question that many Americans may be sharing as of tonight, is this:

    Do you want out of this relationship so bad but don’t have the balls to leave, so you all have decided to act like such giant a**holes you force us to break up with you? ‘Cause if so, just get the f**k out.

    1. He/she seemed like one of the more concerned Washington flacks staffers we’ve had visit this cycle .  .  .

      Maybe they’ll have more time for us when it comes time to donate?

      1. That’s why there are no additional comments allowed with a signature and why every email address gets added to Bennet’s campaign list.

        “Dear citizens, I am engaged in an act of utter political cowardice! Please donate!”

        2. Representative Paul Broun R-Ga. solves our problem in an interview with Andrea Mitchell

          Well, Andrea, the thing is, when someone is overextended and broke, they don’t continue paying for expensive automobiles; they sell the expensive automobiles and buy a cheaper one. They don’t continue paying for country club dues, they drop out of the country club.

          His idea of rough times. I guess those of us who don’t have a couple of Jaguars in the garage will just have to give up other things.  Like getting a better education, buying medicine, retiring…  

          http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

          2. Screw that, BlueCat.

            Just give me another whopping tax cut and I’ll be able to pay my dues (and save all those busboy and caddy jobs I’ve created).  In the meantime, granny doesn’t really need DAILY meds — every other week should do her fine.

        2. to make that comment. The Independence Institute is comedy so the stretch wasn’t too far.

          My kids’ schools are much more important than a made up political debate on how much money we spend.

          Look man, we can go round and round on the merry go round of deficit talks or we can both realize that this is a political game our leaders are playing with the public.

          As soon as the budget talks come around, we can discuss, with seriousness, how we are going to decrease debt and manage our economy over the long term.  

  28. And signed the petition.

    While I certainly respect my fellow polsters position of “hands off my” x, y, and z, if we do not compromise here, the whole country (huge numbers included that do not benefit from x, y, and z) suffers.

    If every policymaker took that stance we would get nowhere- which is exactly the battle that is playing out with the tea partiers in the House.

    So thank you again. Although this is less desirable for all of us, it is the best option we have right now.

    1. I’m frustrated at the bickering and political game playing, but compromise is what will move the ball at this point.

      The reason I didn’t sign Sen Bennet’s petition is there’s nothing there.  The good Senator does not need political cover of a petition to wave on the Senate floor saying ‘x’ number of Colorado constituents want me to do this.  

      I also took offense at his (or his staffer’s) statement:

      In my town hall meetings Coloradans all across the state have told me they want a deficit reduction plan that materially addresses the debt and deficit crisis, ensures everyone is in it together and is bipartisan. It’s time Washington showed the same level of courage and common sense.

      If this is the case – go forth and do your job. He does not need my name to do so, he has my vote, so go to work.  

      He is just perpetuating “Washington’s fecklessness and its cartoonish debate” by asking us to sign a meaningless petition, IMHO.

      1. And it’s not compromise.  That means both sides meet somewhere in the general neighborhood of the middle, at least on the outskirts of the middle. This is simple extortion by hostage taking.

    2. I suggest you look at a bill that is 33% Republican and 67% Democratic – or even 50-50, or 33-33-33 (i.e. 33% mutually agreed upon).

      The current proposed “compromises” are more like 85% Republican, 15% Democratic, or perhaps 60-10-30 (30% mutually agreed upon before negotiations began) – and that’s the Obama plan.  The rest, including Reid’s plan, are more like 60% Republican, 40% mutually agreed upon, 0% Democratic.

      I’d love to see compromise.  What I don’t want is to redefine “compromise” as “whatever we can get past the batshit crazy Republicans in the House”.

      If Boehner wanted to pass a bill tonight, he’d call in any Republicans he thought he could work with to pass the Reid plan and see if House Democrats would back it.  It is obvious from today’s debacle that there is no plan that will pass the House GOP litmus test that could make it past the Senate or White House.

  29. I support Senator Bennet, too. I’m very glad he represents us in DC and I am certain he is working hard on this and on many other fronts.

    I am sympathetic to the other Democrats here who say they have no idea what the Petition means. As written, anyone should agree with it, but it doesn’t tell us anything.

    As the comments here make clear, there is deep frustration among people who worked very hard to elect President Obama and other Democrats in the last two cycles. It is not always clear that the people we worked to elect are standing up for what we believe in. Republican leaders and Tea Party types spew myths and falsehoods: Obama’s spending created the debt and deficit, taxes are higher than ever, the stimulus was massive and job-killing, and public unions are the root of fiscal problems, among others. The myths and falsehoods sometimes seem to permeate the debate so thoroughly that many elected Democrats seem to take them as a given, a starting place from which to compromise, rather than push back on. So, for example, the prevailing wisdom has become that above all things, the deficit must be cut and it must be done right now.

    I am certain Senator Bennet is doing everything he can on this. As a practical matter, I suspect there is nothing he really can do. The debt ceiling has to be raised, we need compromise, and we need a solution that can pass both houses, but we at least want to know that President Obama and our elected representatives are actually out there fighting, and it isn’t always clear.

    1. http://bennet.senate.gov/newsr…

      He’s been campaigning against Obama on the deficit since last year and refused to support any more stimulus spending despite the economy still being a much more serious problem to normal people.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…

      He was one of those deficit peacocks whose only real purpose in the national debate was to serve as an “even the Democrat” to endorse Republican objections to actual measures to improve the economy.

  30. to both sides is as false as it is offensive.  Dems have not refused all significant compromise. Republicans have. To put it differently is just more of the pandering that has gotten us nowhere but stuck with the failed policies of the right.

    Yesterday Dem pol after Dem pol appeared on cable bragging that they had given the Rs everything they wanted but they’re still saying “no”.  They seem to think this makes them look just great.  More like completely pathetic.  And now a petition that can only be asking for even more concessions since we’ve already offered everything the Rs wanted a month or so ago? Pardon me while I go throw up.

    Please put our groveling Dem pols out of their misery, Mr. President, and use the 14th.

    2. … When he was busy more than doubling the deficit from $5 trillion to $11 trillion.

      I like the closing line in the FactCheck.org analysis (also explains why Mark G. falls for this crap all the time:

      Our recommendation: Don’t take this “Spenditol” ad on an empty brain. Side effects could include accepting bogus claims as true.

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