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I know that some folks are in a tizzy about alleged proposals by the Obama administration to cut Medicare and Social Security spending. The programs would remain intact, but benefits would be reduced, which combined with revenue increases and spending cuts, will shrink the deficit. This will be unacceptable to Republicans.
Why? Because Republicans do not care about the deficit!
Look at California. The odd thing is that Governor Brown is held as a great example of standing up to Republicans because he passed a budget without any Republican support, yet this budget was one hundred percent spending cuts. In contrast, President Obama has been pushing for more taxes, rather than settling for a 100 percent spending cut deal to increase the deficit. Current day Republicans are essentially unreaonable, partisan and hypocritical. The worship at the ideological alter of tax cuts.
The corporate media hails Republicans as master strategists, yet their own partisanship causes them to fear making any deal or any concessions with Democrats. In California, the fact of the matter is that Governor Brown was willing to cut a deal to limit public pensions in return for an agreement to merely extend revenues. Again, we are not talking about a permanent tax increase, but an extension. Republicans in California could have easily gotten a deal that substantially rolled back public pensions that they would never have gotten otherwise. But, due to the power of their anti-tax pledges, they could not bring themselves to accept the concessions that Brown offered. The cuts hit Republican areas of the State particularly hard, so they lost their leverage.
Now, President Obama is essentially calling the Republicans bluff that they are really concerned about the deficit. They are not. Members of DU, do you believe your own rhetoric about Republicans or do you think that Republicans are acting the way they do because they want to cut the deficit. What Republicans want to do is privitize Social Security and Medicare, not make it more solvent over the long term. Look at Ryan's proposal to turn Medicare into voucher plan. Look at Bush's proposal to privitize Social Security!
Republicans will not accept the cuts that has President Obama has informally floated because they do not really care about the debt! Look at Eric Cantor's incoherent proposal to balance tax increases with offsetting tax cuts. Republicans want to win the White House and/or end Medicare and Social Security, not merely trim benefits. Trimming some benefits while increases taxes undermines Republican arguments about out of control spending.
My belief is that contrary to corporate media reports about the naivette of Democrats, the White House is betting that the Tea Party simply will not allow any compromise with the White House. Even worse for them, despite their alleged concern about the debt, their real ulterior motive is to privitize Medicare and Social Security and making these programs more solvent is directly contrary to this goal. Republicans like Bob Dole and Alan Simpson would have jumped at these proposals, but not current day Republicans.
This is why conservative commentator David Brooks and former Republican Senator Alan Simpson are going ape shit about Republicans. They know that current Republicans in the house are on some idealogical jihad, and their purported concern about the debt is bullshit. The last thing they want to do is make Medicare and Social Security more solvent over the long term.
This is why it is safe to say that Republicans will sabotage the deal. As Boehner says, the votes aren't there. Well, he's right, because the Republican party does not really believe in the B.S. they are publicly selling. Their ulterior motive is kill medicare and social security, not just trim it in a way that makes both programs more solvent over the long term.
Now, some folks on DU may actually believe Republican rhetoric about being concerned about the debt, but I do not. As McConnell admitted, his primary goal is Democratic control of the White House, and reaching a huge deficit cutting deal with any tax increases at all with the President would be seen as a sell out by Republican partisans.
Thus, like California where Democrats ended up passing a 100 percent spending cut budget that is seen as Democratic victory because Republicans were exposed as self-destructive idealogues, the same will be true for the federal government. Republicans will sabotage any deal. The corporate media will try to portray such failure as a Republican victory, but conservatives like David Brooks and Alan Simpson who actually are concerned about the deficit will know that Republicans actually threw away an opportunity to really cut the deficit in a meaningful way, because of their own partisanship.
In other words, I think President Obama shares David Brook's view of the current Republican party. They are not fit to govern, because they have no real interest in governing, just spouting inane talking points for partisan effect. Modern day Republicans would oppose President Obama's proposals on Medicare and Social Security even more strongly than liberals, because such trimming would amount to validating these programs, and their ideology does not permit this.
Republicans want to tank the economy. They do not want to reach any deal with President Obama, which is why debt limit talks will fail. The question is whether Republicans will be held accountable as they essentially reject proposals that they paid lip service to in the past. Look at cap and trade. Look at the debt commission. As Rachel Maddow pointed out in a recent segment, Republicans will vote against proposals that they allegedly endorse to cut the debt, because they really do not have any interest in cutting the debt. If Republicans were sincere, I might worry, but I don't think they are.
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