Aside from the fact that the Republicans are terrified of what would be said of them were they to go after an “historic” President (pro tip: bring articles of impeachment only against his white half!), and aside from the fact that Senate Democrats are lockstep with the President in favor of his violations — or at the very least, find it in their best interests to lend him cover.
By now you’ve all heard of the release of illegal immigrants as part of the phony notion that the US government has no room for spending cuts, lest potentially violent offenders need be released back into the population. This is a dereliction of federal law enforcement duty — though I’m sure John Roberts would remind us that the President doesn’t have to do his job, and no one else can step in and do it for him, it being his duty and his alone.
And of course you’ve all heard how Obama’s own sequester plan, which he is now against, railing tirelessly at those who had the temerity to agree to it, will lead to terror in the skies, with the furloughing of air traffic controllers, TSA agents, etc. (even as the government continues to hire federal workers in other departments, and of course with cuts to the compensation of any non-furloughed federal employees off the table), not to mention a rash of homelessness, starving children, anarchy from the suspension of law enforcement, et al — even though the modest “cut” is about a third of what the government itself notes it loses in waste, fraud, and abuse each year, and about an eighth of what is expended in redundant programs and departments, again according to the government’s own accounting.
But today the demagoguery has reached new heights — and this particular gambit to pressure likely surrender targets like John McCain into caving is, I must say, stunning in its brazenness, and unprecedented in its potential for danger to US interests.
From US News, “Navy to pull aircraft carrier from Persian Gulf over budget worries”:
Budget constraints are prompting the U.S. Navy to cut back the number of aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region from two to one, the latest example of how contentious fiscal battles in Washington are impacting the U.S. military.
According to Defense Department officials, the USS Harry S. Truman, which was set to leave for the Persian Gulf region on Friday, will now remain stateside, based in Norfolk, Virginia.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ordered the change to the department’s “two-carrier policy” in the Persian Gulf region early Wednesday.
The U.S. has steadily kept two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf for much of the last two years. In 2010, then-Secretary of Defense Robert Gates issued a directive to keep two in the area given the volatility of the region.
The cutback is largely a result of automatic spending cuts, known as sequestration, passed by Congress during the summer of 2011. Congress has failed to pass a budget for the fiscal year, and has instead opted on passing legislation that will keep spending at the same level as last year. But that means the Pentagon has been operating with less money and is unsure of what the future holds for its bottom line.
Under sequestration, the Navy would lose $4 billion over the next six months, the last half of fiscal year 2013. The Navy was already $4.6 billion in the hole for this year because the continuing resolution for 2013 was budgeted at 2012 rates.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta tells NBC’s Chuck Todd if a sequester is allowed to happen it will “badly damage” the readiness of the U.S. military.
This is, of course, horseshit — Obama will gut the military with or without sequestration — but it shows once again just how progressives are willing to try to harm US interests, and US citizens, in order to blackmail taxpayers into surrendering more and more money to the government.
Obama could move to curtail waste, fraud, and abuse; he could move to strike redundant programs. But the truth is, he doesn’t care about cutting spending, and in fact is demanding even more revenue in the form of new tax increases. He is stressing the system to bring about its collapse — and the sequestration, while hardly anything more than a pitiful stop gap — delays those plans.
We now know that Obama believed that when the time came he’d be able to demagogue the sequestration until the GOP folded. And they still may. So the deal itself was predicated on the President’s belief that he was dealing with a weak GOP, and that the press would provide cover for his reversal, pinning blame on Republicans for “draconian cuts” that are not and never were.
That the GOP has not yet folded is causing our Narcissist-in-Chief to step up the blackmail and the tantrums both. This latest move, which weakens our own security and holds our safety hostage to Obama’s demands of more tithing, is deplorable, and should be grounds to bring some sort of charges against the administration.
Because though Obama has certain discretion about where and what to cut, he doesn’t have the discretion to jeopardize national security in order to force our hands on consistent revenue increases.
Or at least, he shouldn’t. Though perhaps John Roberts can fix that for him.
(h/t JohnInFirestone)
I still don’t understand the “deep painful cuts” BS. If your budget went up 4% you got a 4% raise, even if you were expecting an 8% raise. You didn’t get a 4% cut (or slashed by 50% if you want to be dramatic about it).
The mere failure to initiate articles of impeachment puts the stamp of confirmation on the abandonment of the Constitutional structure. Not that such articles alone are needed to understand the political condition of the nation, which we already have in hand, but that such a stamp points indistinctly into the future.
If we can pass an “emergency relief bill” will $33 billion in unrelated spending, don’t you think we can make $88 billion in cuts without affecting the military? Srsly?
I love the demagoguing of the TSA not being able to hustle people through the airports. (Like that ever happened, anyway.)
This could have the effect of seriously backfiring on the Administration. The most hated agency in the country, besides the IRS, is the TSA.
speaking of impeachable offenses
washington dc is the only place the median household can afford a fucking car?
fucking fascists
Sad to say, I think it has come to pass that yes, we really are that stupid.
Just the fact that the government has more money for this years budget (never mind there hasn’t been a budget since Obama entered office) than last years budget, same as ever, should be a huge red flag that essential services don’t need to be cut (much less cut first). But there will be no waving flag for most of the country. I predict this will less of a big deal than F&F even.
I say bring it on. Cut your nose off to spite your face. I don’t care, I’m ready.
In order to avoid the redundancy explaining there is no budget, we can simply call what the Federal government apparatus does “spending”. Because that’s all it is in the absence of a budget.
Rush Limbaugh meanwhile, bless his heart, stumbles upon his own philosophical ignorance, or perhaps incapacity, as he attempts to explain the importance of morality in the national character. It’s a goddamn shame, if only because he happens to be onto something profoundly important, yet can’t comprehend the breadth and depth of his subject for want of an education. And this isn’t a characteristic confined to Limbaugh, but rather, a commonplace in practically all the political commentators we might happen to see voicing opinions in the mass media today. Hell, it’s become nearly a national characteristic unto itself, in effect, the flip-side of Adam’s projection.
Despite all of Obama’s efforts, I fully expect the sequester cuts on Friday to be a big nothingburger to the average low info voter.
Here’s hoping that enough of those people look at the steps being taken by Obama to deliberately increase the pain (i.e. releasing illegals, cutting TSA thugs at airports, not sending a second carrier group to the ME, etc.) and ask themselves (and others) “WTF is that guy doing?”.
Just heard it on Rush: The White House and the DHS did not order and were not aware of the mass release of illegal immigrants.
Who knew? Jedi mind tricks are real. (They work on the Lickspittle Media, at any rate.)
you’re fucking shitting me
bloomberg propaganda slut John Detrixhe must be reading the Fitch copy wrong
he has to be
In California Jerry Brown did not meet the requirements to be Attorney general yet, he held the position. Now he is serving his third term as Governor when there is a two term limit.
Law doesn’t matter if no one is there to enforce it. This senate would never impeach Obama.
I like your new handle, rjacobse.
When the evidence of duel murder points to O.J., the prosecutor surely isn’t going to make the decision to charge or not him based on the conclusion that “this Los Angeles jury isn’t going to convict him”.
you’re right sdferr, I got it backwards of who brings the articles of impeachment.
Although I doubt this Senate would convict Obama of anything, that should not stop this House from drafting the articles of impeachment.
Thanks, Slarti. Seemed appropriate.
[…] […]
IIRC, that is a relative of Piglet ;)
happy,
Fitch, Moody’s, and S&P are all looking to Congress to get the nation’s structural deficit in order. Publicly, they mostly remain agnostic about the balance between “revenue enhancement” and spending cuts, though almost all of them will admit off the record that there’s no fucking way revenues can ever be enhanced enough to make a difference.
To the extent that sequestration cuts spending, it’s a minor boost to the federal credit rating. But that boost is more than countered by the fact that Congress still can’t get its shit together. Every time they kick the can down the road (and this is just one more can-kicking), their creditworthiness erodes that much farther.
If the ratings agencies weren’t so terrified of what the Feds would do in revenge, they’d have de-rated the United States until such time as it passed an actual budget. Can you imagine a private company with no budget getting any rating at all, much less an investment-grade rating?
i agree Congress is pitiful but I still don’t get how the sequester will “erode confidence” of achieving deficit reduction
not that there should be any confidence extant for to erode
hail, hail proggtardia
Under the bus: Homeland Security official resigns over release of illegals from detention centers; Update: Retiring, not “resigning”
“Retiring, not ‘resigning'”
Taking one for the progressive team and landing in the daisies of generous retirement benefits and likely a nice “no show” job with some foundation or NGO.
Oops, he just happened to retire, it had nothing to do with anything else.
Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.