How Tea Party Absolutism Cost The GOP A Huge Win On Entitlements

[applegrove]

How Tea Party Absolutism Cost The GOP A Huge Win On Entitlements

by Sahil Kapur at Talking Points Memo

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/how-tea-party-absolutism-cost-republicans-a-huge-win-on-entitlements?utm_content=buffere204d&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

"SNIP.....................................




The GOP's long-held dream of slashing the retirement safety net faded this week.

Back in the summer of 2011, Republicans had it within their grasp. A dejected President Barack Obama placed the crown jewels of liberalism on the chopping block, offering Republicans hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Social Security and Medicare benefits.


House Speaker John Boehner wanted to seal the so-called grand bargain, and was willing to reciprocate with the $800 billion in new tax revenues that the president sought in return. Democratic leaders were grudgingly willing to support Obama on what they feared was a lopsided deal for conservatives.

But the Ohio Republican, facing a tea party mutiny that threatened his Speakership, and loyalty issues within his own leadership team, was forced to walk away from the table. By many accounts, he was eager to make it happen, but the pressure from the anti-tax tea party movement was too strong to overcome. And so the deal was dead, never to be resurrected.




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[gordianot]

1. I sent both letters and emails to the White House complaining about SS and Medicade cuts.

As a person that detests Republicans I am sure I would be detested by Republicans. They really had wedge and blew it. It appears to me Republicans have taken a page from Democrats, how to lose when you could be winning.

[world wide wally]

3. Welcome their hate...

and take comfort in knowing we love you

[applegrove]

2. Cut the whole GOP loose obama. And stand

back and let Americans watch the GOP destroy themselves.

[Fumesucker]

4. Title implicitly accepts the frame that SS is an "entitlement"

Wonderful.

[blkmusclmachine]

5. +1

[wocaonimabi]

6. Our own Party Leaders call it an entitlement

If you are a Democrat and call SS an entitlement I will not vote for you; you are too stupid to hold elected office.

[Freddie]

7. Technically "entitlement" means

"You paid for it, therefore you are entitled to it." They are using the term correctly. It's the Repugs who turned the word around to mean (to some) "you lazy moochers getting something you are NOT entitled to." Yet another example of them redefining terms to suit their agenda.

[calimary]

8. The Post of the Day!

It's about time we all do more of this, Freddie.

CORRECT THE RECORD - EACH AND EVERY TIME the bad guys attempt to distort it! Reiterate the TRUE meaning of the word so it is more accurately used, heard, and understood. Entitlement does indeed mean you paid into it so that entitles you to the benefits from it. As in - those benefits that you've already paid for, in advance.

That's why whenever assholes like ted cruz say they've listened to "the American People," someone must ALWAYS question - "um, 'the American People'? WHAT 'American People'? Because obviously you aren't listening to MY kind of 'American People.' Someone ALWAYS needs to clarify - "WHICH 'American People' are you referencing here, sir? Because most Americans from coast-to-coast disagree with you."

That's why you ALWAYS need to check them on their statements - "oh, 'the American People' believe this? Which ones? Because the polls and studies and other research tell the opposite story. Please cite me some of that research." (Then, of course, that research needs to be questioned as well because more often than not it'll come from some biased source like the Cato Institute and the American Enterprise Institute and the Heritage Foundation, OR they'll have found it on the utterly unreliable breitbart.com or newsman.com. "Oh, 'it's in the Bible?' Where, exactly? Where did they carry on about how God favors the rich? Where does it quote Jesus as saying 'Blessed are the rich?' Where does it say we're entitled to impose some capitalistic empire around the world by force? Where does it quote Jesus as saying 'Blessed are the war-makers?'"

I've actually enjoyed debunking outfits like breitbart.com. He was a walking hatchet-job with an agenda axe to grind. And just about all I ever have to detail is the time he ran out toward the cameras by an Occupy camp, yelling about how Occupy rapes people and there's a police file a mile long! "Seventeen incidents of rape involving Occupy!" OMGOMGOMGOMG! Well, wanna know the truth? About the only thing true is the number 17 - because there were 17 incidents. HOWEVER the victims were almost entirely Occupy members. THAT'S how this involved Occupy. The instance that did not directly involve Occupy members who were raped, was a rape that happened at the same time as Occupy was going on - but a couple of blocks away from the Occupy gathering. It was unrelated to Occupy. Just happened to be geographically close. But ol' breitbart tried to drape the "rapists!!!" charge on Occupy and was foiled. You really wanna trust THAT source? 'Cause even though he's dead and gone, his name and "sterling" traditions continue.

You ALWAYS have to check these people. Fact-check them. Get a second opinion - that'll be a lot less biased than any corroboration they're apt to offer. AND YOU HAVE TO SAY SO. OUT LOUD.