David Frum: “Whatever you do, don’t serve to his backhand.” Guess what? They just did.

[Pirate Smile]

One Republican - David Frum - says "oh, sh@#!" in response to President Obama's speech today:

Ryan’s Budget Gives Obama What He Wants

“Whatever you do, don’t serve to his backhand.”

“Don’t be nervous. I have the new Ryan serve. It’s bold!”

“Trust me on this. Don’t serve to his backhand.”

Thomp. Wham.

Here’s a basic fact of American politics. The American people like Medicare. They are not so enthusiastic about tax cuts for the rich.

-snip-
But we must never deceive ourselves: We are arguing for policies with a lot of political negatives attached to them. Which means we have to take some basic political precautions.
In the current Republican mood, however, precautions are for girlie-men. Republicans have succumbed to a strange mood of simultaneous euphoria and paranoia. Republicans have convinced themselves both that: (1) American freedom stands in imminent danger of disappearing into totalitarian night; and (2) that the vast majority of the great and good American people are yearning for a mighty rollback of big government, even at considerable personal sacrifice.
And so Republicans have united around Rep. Paul Ryan’s (R-Wis.) proposal that for the first time in modern conservative history explicitly joins a big tax cut for the rich to big cuts in health care spending for virtually everybody else. If this were a tennis game, the Republicans would be placing the ball in exactly the spot on the court where it must never, ever go.

-snip-
That’s not what happened. The Republican insistence on joining two negatives in hopes of producing one positive opened the way to President Obama’s speech Wednesday.
That speech was not so especially eloquent. It was, however, very effective. It frames the debate in a way that is maximally useful for Democrats. This framing was made possible by the efforts of Republicans themselves, blinded by their own hopes, misdirected by their own messaging.
It’s exactly like what happened on health care reform, where Republicans persuaded themselves they had Obama on the ropes even as he succeeded in enacting the most important new entitlement since 1965. We went for all the marbles, and ended with none. Now I fear we are doing it again.

http://www.frumforum.com/ryans-budget-gives-obama-what-he-wants

[jaxx]

1. WoW

rec rec rec rec damn I only get one!

This is very good!

[Historic NY]

2. check....

:popcorn:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

3. Love it! nt

[calimary]

4. Whatever upsets them and makes them say "Oh shit!" is undoubtedly going to be good

for the rest of us!

[Marsala]

5. Yep. Ryan's plan is fatal politically to the Republicans

Unless they can persuade the public to want to scrap Medicare and cut taxes for the rich... in which case, we're living in a far far right country and we never had a chance to begin with. This is not likely to be the case.

[FrenchieCat]

21. It should be......

[MsPithy]

24. Pithy!

I love pithy!

[AlbertCat]

25. Ryan's plan is fatal politically to the Republicans

It's fatal to reality. It's complete nonsense and it MAY be enough so that people actually notice the GOP, once again, is doing nothing useful.

[mwb970]

32. Oh, if only the GOP merely "did nothing useful"!

A 2x4 elected to Congress would "do nothing useful". These republicans go WAY beyond that, espousing policies that are totally destructive to America, its values and history, and 98% of its citizens. No 2x4 could do that to us. Neither could terrorists. It takes republicans to kill a nation in this way.

[lark]

46. Repugs swing and miss

Even their little ole home grown tea partiers will turn against them for this. Remember those stupid signs - keep government hands off my Medicare?. Well Ryan's plan explicitly destroys Medicare's promise to seniors.

They always over-reach.

[vi5]

6. Like Krugman said.....

If what he laid out today is a line in the sand then great. However if it's a starting point that everyone is going to call the left pole of what we're going to end up with.....then no.

[Scottybeamer70]

7. Any day that Mr. Obama can

make David Frum squirm, it's a beautiful day!

[flamingdem]

8. Ryan is their new Sarah Palin, they're so hot on him nt

[Left coast liberal]

9. Yes, like Rachel said last night, "Man crush". So true... Nt

[pacalo]

12. I have to admire how Obama gave them enough rope to hang themselves so spectacularly.

[MercuryRepeater]

10. game. set. match.

[pacalo]

11. I think this is SPOT ON!!!

[DCBob]

13. I suspect the Rethugs are scrambling at this very moment trying to figure how to back paddle..

from Ryan budget disaster. Love it!

[flamingdem]

14. Where was Rove? He must have known this would bomb .. nt

[DCBob]

15. I dont think Rove has much influence anymore.. old school..

not radical enough.

[loudsue]

22. Don't even for a minute think that Rove is out of play, or out of style.

Right now, he and the bush mafia still hold all the cards. They're just waiting like snakes in the grass to pull Jeb out so he can finish turning this country into a fascist state that his granddaddy would have gotten a stiffy for.

[paparush]

39. Upvote for Loudsue. Well said and spot on!

[AlbertCat]

26. I dont think Rove has much influence anymore.. old school..

Besides, Rove was no "genius". Lying and cheating do not a genius make. Any 4 year old can do it. And some teenagers are cleverer than Rove at it. If Turd Blossom is so smart, we'd not know about the lying and stuff.

[Uben]

34. I hate to belittle Rove, but.....

...that lying little anus-faced motherfucker is about the sorriest piece of shit I know of. If he was on fire I would buy some hot dogs!

[GOTV]

40. I'm betting they're doubling down on the Ryan budget.

[tridim]

42. The "It will only affect you if you're 55 or under" talking point is killing them

I've been watching all the repukes squirm while using it in the media. Their eyes tell the story, I don't think they buy it either. It's terribly cruel and everyone knows it.

[Action]

45. Think how

pissed off you'd be if you were 55, 54 53 etc? Pitting ages against each other, like one or three years makes a difference when you are in your 50s, is immoral.

[tridim]

48. Yea, if I were 15 years older and Republican I'd be switching parties right now.

Even Republicans like Medicare.

[uponit7771]

16. Yeap, Ryan set up the contrast Obama outlined it to no doubt

[rasputin1952]

17. A rational RW response...

am I in a parallel universe?

I think PO did a good job taking on the GOP...all I hear from the "usual" RW clowns that trot out and trip over their shoes is a high pitched whine...and it's music to my ears.

[tblue37]

18. Frum is persona non grata among the teabagger wing, because he

is not radical enough for them.

[rasputin1952]

19. Teabaggers gave up on Lincoln and Eienhower too...

It's all about the illusion of Reagan.

I once mentioned to a local Bagger that TR was a pretty good Republican president...I thought his head would explode...:D

[Sherman A1]

30. I believe that he was the last great one

Eisenhower might look to be pretty good these days.

[rasputin1952]

31. TR was a fascinating person...

his rise through the NY political system was fascinating. The Bosses tried everything to get him out of their hair, but he just kept moving up...and taking them on at every turn. When Boss Tweed came up with putting him up for VP, the NY Bosses thought they had it made...then, McKinnley got shot.

TR went after the Bosses like a lion on steroids, then took on monopolies, protected some fantastic wildlife areas...all kinds of great things came out of the TR Administration.

Yeah, he was self-aggrandizing, (not too many people have the gumption to lobby for the Medal of Honor on their own behalf), but he also had a heart and cared deeply about the principles of the nation and saw where it had gone and he had the morality to take on huge problems, and the saving grace of damn good luck in getting things done. He actually began the first "War on Poverty" while Police Commissioner in NYC. He saw the squalor, knew what would come of it and worked tirelessly with allies to get people working aging and into decent housing; he rallied wealthy sources in the city and brought together many different facets.

[Sherman A1]

33. Yes, he was fascinating,

he was a person that really stood up for his convictions. He was human and sometimes flawed like us all, but he never seemed to shy away from a fight and I don't think there was any doubt as to where he stood on anything.

[rasputin1952]

38. One of the more human elements came out when some potentate showed up

on time for an appointment w/TR. Unfortunately for said potentate, TR was involved with the game of horsey with his G'kids and a large dog in the Oval Office; the somewhat "offended" individual was forced to wait nearly half an hour for the kids to tire and go outside with the dog. In typical TR stride, he then opened the door offering entrance to said individual. After the meeting, a DC newsman asked if he was "offended" at having to wait for the president, to which he answered with a smile, "I have never been so delightfully offended before, what a fine man your president is."

I always thought that situation fitted TR to a tee, kind of reminded me of the JFK days when Caroline and John-John could often be found playing under the president's desk in the Oval Office.

[spooky3]

20. I love the smell of Rethug panic in the morning.

[Pirate Smile]

23. Ha - I wish I could add this to the OP - a tweet from Frum after the speech:

@davidfrum When Obama delivers his 2013 inaugural address, ,he really must open with a big thank you to Paul Ryan. http://bit.ly/gziX9A

http://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/58265807548981248

[Hoyt]

27. Good find.

[Tess49]

28. That's great. Hilarious, really.

[Inuca]

35. Too lovely!

Great tweet! Frum is a decent R and he uses his eyes to see and ears to hear, in other words he is not blinded by ideology.

[liberalla]

37. That was really fun to read - Thanks so much!

[hlthe2b]

29. Led "ably" by Ryan....

Come on guys... Just a few more steps... ;)

[bemildred]

36. I'm sorry, watching these timid fools jockey around amongst their own delusions is not amusing.

Frum does not have a good record for political insight, or any other kind of insight.

[Myrina]

41. ... If all this is is a game of 'speech vs. speech' One-Upsmanship ...

... rather than actually sitting the hell down and thinking about - and doing - what's best for the people of this country, then we're all well and truly fucked beyond recognition.

America isn't one enormous high school debate contest.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

43. I'd like to take this moment to say thank you Rep. Ryan for making this moment possible!

Now please, all you lovely lock-step Republicans be sure and vote for his budget today like good little lemmings. Put Americans seniors and all their votes right out of your mind. Think of the top 1% earners in the US and how you must spare them the injustice of paying a dime more in taxes. They're depending on you. Don't let them and their donation money down!

[Deep13]

44. Ha! nt

[katty]

47. another GOP amateur-Ryan, the know-it-all idealogue you just

love to hate, he's gulping his own kool-aid.

[StarburstClock]

49. Wow, a repub writer for Bush gets up to the #1 rec'd?

The guy's been discredited 1000 times, supported a criminal regime and is a propagandist. What the hell happened here?

[yodermon]

50. stopped clock, etc etc.

also he is persona non grata amongst the uber-right tea-party set.

[StarburstClock]

51. Oh boy, the tea-party doesn't like him, that really adds credibility

I guess the tea-party really has some legitimacy huh? Maybe to those who stopped thinking.

[Oceansaway]

52. K&R...n/t

[arrestblankfein]

53. If they want to fix the budget

they should liquidate goldman sachs for their ill gotten gains, and put it back in the treasury and put the goldman sachs bunch in jail!

Goldman officials, including chief executive Lloyd Blankfein, gave testimony that was “inaccurate,” Levin said. It is a crime under federal law to make a false statement to Congress or to obstruct congressional proceedings.
http://t.co/f0EFibj

The Times noted that twelve million homes will be lost by 2012. Home equity values are down by $5.6 trillion since the real estate crash.

[ProudDad]

54. Ryan's "Plan" is to the right

what Obama's "Plan" SHOULD HAVE BEEN on the Left...

But no...

While Ryan poses a "plan" that consists of the totalitarian right-wing's wish list...

Obama poses at best an "old line" conservative republican (a'la Bob Dole) "plan" to counter...

Punting on 1st down again...

One HAS to question his actual motives and character when he begins his negotiations from such an inadequate, weak position...

[Zambero]

55. I called my freshman Teabagger rep's office this AM

I told the staffer that Ryan's proposed 25% upper tax bracket had very little popular support and would not pass the laugh test, given that everyone else aside from the super wealthy are being asked to make considerable sacrifices in the name of deficit reduction. I noted that "trickle down" had been a collossal failure over the past 30 years, contributing mightily to the deficit under presidents who espoused it. Rather, I suggested that the congressman consider a "trickle up" policy, whereby the lower tax bracket drops down to 10% and the upper settles in at 38 or 40%. Then, once real consumers have added purchasing power, they will spend their money within their communities on necessities, supporting local small businesses, adding jobs which will generate more tax revenues and support for businesses, thereby improving the economy in general to the point that the well-heeled will ultimately benefit. She thanked me and said she would pass my comments along to her boss. Not holding my breath...