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Reagan Was Clearly An America-Hating Libral

“The full consequences of a default or even the serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the cost, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.”

– RONALD REAGAN, 1983.

Ronald Reagan also said, back in 1987: “The United States has a special obligation to itself and the world to meet its obligations.”

All the folks who are willing to take this country to the brink and think it’ll be OK for the U.S. to default on its debt have one thing in common – all of them love Ronald Reagan and think of him as nothing short of a conservative god. Yet the debt ceiling was raised SEVENTEEN TIMES during his presidency. Plus Reagan raised taxes several times while president.

I think it is hilarious that if Ronald Reagan showed up on the political scene today, the Tea-Baggers would instantly brand him as a socialist-commie Amerika-hating fascist/marxist evil-doer and then proceed to beat the crap out of him in an alley somewhere. Reagan was more liberal than even most Democrats are these days.

This Has To Be One Of The Seven Signs Of The Apocalypse

From the Washington Post:

WITH A HANDFUL of exceptions, every Republican member of Congress has signed a pledge against increasing taxes. Would allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire as scheduled in 2012 violate this vow? We posed this question to Grover Norquist, its author and enforcer, and his answer was both surprising and encouraging: No.

In other words, according to Mr. Norquist’s interpretation of the Americans for Tax Reform pledge, lawmakers have the technical leeway to bring in as much as $4 trillion in new tax revenue — the cost of extending President George W. Bush’s tax cuts for another decade — without being accused of breaking their promise. “Not continuing a tax cut is not technically a tax increase,” Mr. Norquist told us. So it doesn’t violate the pledge? “We wouldn’t hold it that way,” he said. * * *

Stunning.

By the way, you know things are screwed up when a piece in The Onion sounds more like real reporting than it does satire:

Members of the U.S. Congress reported Wednesday they were continuing to carefully debate the issue of whether or not they should allow the country to descend into a roiling economic meltdown of historically dire proportions.

"It is a question that, I think, is worthy of serious consideration: Should we take steps to avoid a crippling, decades-long depression that would lead to disastrous consequences on a worldwide scale? Or should we not do that?" asked House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA), adding that arguments could be made for both sides, and that the debate over ensuring America’s financial solvency versus allowing the nation to default on its debt—which would torpedo stock markets, cause mortgage and interests rates to skyrocket, and decimate the value of the U.S. dollar—is “certainly a conversation worth having.” "Obviously, we don't want to rush to consensus on whether it is or isn't a good idea to save the American economy and all our respective livelihoods from certain peril until we've examined this thorny dilemma from every angle. And if we’re still discussing this matter on Aug. 2, well, then, so be it.” At press time, President Obama said he personally believed the country should not be economically ruined.

Asshole of the Week

"The time has come for a balanced budget amendment that forces Washington to balance its books. If these debt negotiations have convinced us of anything, it’s that we can’t leave it to politicians in Washington to make the difficult decisions that they need to get our fiscal house in order. The balanced budget amendment will do that for them. Now is the moment. No more games. No more gimmicks. The Constitution must be amended to keep the government in check. We’ve tried persuasion. We’ve tried negotiations. We’re tried elections. Nothing has worked."

-- Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY).

There's one thing you haven't tried, Mitch, and that is acting less like a dick. Only 21% of the country approves of how you and the rest of the GOP are handling this debt ceiling/budget negotiations process -- 71% disapprove. I guess you can expect numbers like that when most Republicans appear to have lost their fucking minds.

From Mike Keefe of The Denver Post (W/ Update)

UPDATE: Only 21% of Americans back the GOP resistance to raising taxes. 71% disapprove of how Republicans are handling the Debt Ceiling/Budget negotiations.

Quote of the Week

"The Republicans who control the House and have a lot of votes in the Senate have now decided -- having quadrupled the debt in the 12 years before I took office and doubled it after I left -- that it's all the sudden the biggest problem in the world."

-- Bill Clinton