Debt Ceiling Dancing

Guess what!

• President Obama wants to raise the debt ceiling!
• Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D) wants to raise the debt ceiling!
• So does Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R)!
• House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D) wants to raise the debt ceiling! AND…drum roll, please….EVEN
• SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE JOHN BOEHNER (R – !!!) wants to raise the debt ceiling!

Matt Yglesias calls this a “deadlock,” but to the Bitch’s aged eyes, it looks like real bipartisan agreement, God help us all.  Too bad, too bad.

Boehner wants to raise the debt ceiling so much, he even trekked up to Wall Street on Monday to tell the Masters of the Universe and the BSDs that they really shouldn’t worry when he shows up on TV threatening to stifle all that necessary debt-ceiling-raising.  Because he really, truly wants to raise the ceiling.  He knows how vital raising the ceiling is — he knows what happens when the world’s single largest economy (country division) threatens to default on its obligations (see 2008 credit markets freeze/financial meltdown, USA).  HE KNOWS, already.

So why is he stalling?  Why is John Boehner not taking all that tasty-goodness knowledge to his caucus, whipping up some Dem co-sponsors in the House and Senate, and bringing a yummy piece of debt-ceiling-raising legislation to the House floor?

Because John Boehner is afraid of this guy, and these folks; and yeah, he better be afraid of her!

John Boehner knows he got taken in the government shutdown agreement in early April; therefore he needs to maintain his cred within his caucus — which, the Bitch would like to point out, is still not satisfied that the President was born in the United States of America, and resents being told to shut up about it.  John Boehner needs to maintain his credibility with his party’s energized nutjobs, because they are the Iowa caucus-goers and the primary precinct workers and the convention nominating committees of 2012.  They are his party’s base, and he has to show them he obeys or he knows they will dump his candidates for their candidates pretty damn quick in the next primary season; and he fears their candidates might not be able to guarantee a GOP hold on the US House of Representatives.  (Listen, don’t kid yourselves, all this “medicare reform” nonsense has opened a pathway for Democrats…indistinct, yes, but still a pathway.  They need to make some luck also.)  Especially since the Rs committed a strategic miscalculation when they thought the American public would be more upset at the thought of higher taxes over reduced Medicare spending.  Ooopsies!  Our bad!  Never mind!

So, John Boehner says all ceiling increases must be offset by budget cuts that exceed the difference between the old ceiling ($14.3 trillion) and the new number (thought to be somewhere in the realm of $16+ trillion), meaning he can say to the TP types, “see, I am one of you: we cut more than we raised.  Now get out there and support our candidates!”  And oh, by the way, ALL revenue increases (tax hikes) are totally off the table.  Utterly, totally, off the table.  That’s $2+ trillion in cuts, no revenue-raising, no new taxes.

Greg Sargent says this is all part of Boehner’s cunning plan to make any GOP compromises acceptable to the base, as it was in April.  This could well be true, but the Bitch doesn’t think Boehner has much room for such compromises with the extremes of his party.  It’s all or nothing at all for him…and if you’re thinking, “Bitch, that’s an awfully unreasonable position.  Who wouldn’t be thrilled with billions in cuts, if not trillions?” The Bitch points out, again, the inherent unreasonableness of the modern GOP.  They didn’t always use to be this way (sigh) but they sure as hell are now.

Sargent also points out that some of that $2+ trillion is going to have to come from Medicare (see “strategic miscalculation,” above); and that the GOP Senators are showing the whites of their eyes in fear…

So, as in April, look for lots of kabuki…and kabuki…and kabuki…This could be a long summer.

Spooking the Masses today…

Leading off from yesterday’s excellent quote — “Never spook the masses because if you do, they are likely to do crazy” — we have, in short order:

1. The Fed says inflation is going up (FT; register to read for free) but that’s not exactly news to anyone who’s bought gas or food lately; plus,
2. The dollar continued to slide, for all who pay attention to such things; plus,
3. Illinois is on track to end fiscal year with $8.3 BILLION “unpaid obligations;” plus,
4. Moody’s downgraded New Jersey (which the aesthetically-inclined have been doing for years); plus,
5. President Obama, the guy who was born in Hawaii two years and 25 days before the Bitch (who was born in a foreign country and is still a US-citizen-by-birth, for God’s sake) released his birth certificate, but “true birthers” aren’t satisfied; plus,
6. First quarter gun sales in the U.S. are up 12.5%, the largest year-by-year jump in the last three years; plus,
7. The Bitch would like to point out that people who feel safe and secure don’t buy guns at a record clip; she does not suggest armed insurrection is in the works, but see lede, above; EQUALS
8. Lots of crazy dollars floating around, looking for a suitable home, peeps.

Why Barbour Got Out…

Nate Silver wins the best headline contest with this honest entry: “On the Largely Irrelevant News about Barbour Not Running for President.”  It’s brilliant — funny, factual and withering.  Barbour’s out, and it doesn’t matter, except for what it tells us about one very smart pol’s reading of the race.

First of all, it tells us he doesn’t think he can win.  Duh, but bear with the Bitch: win what?  Win the nomination?  Or win the Presidency?  Apparently Haley thinks his party is too nutty for him to get their attention.

WaPo’s Dan Balz tells us

…friends of Barbour, speaking on the condition of anonymity to share insight about his decision, said he had come to the conclusion that Republicans can win only if they are totally focused on serious issues and not distracted by some of the side issues, such as Obama’s birthplace, that have arisen in the early going.

(So let’s just ignore Barbour’s ties to industry and those silly comments on civil rights…After all, he thinks a Civil Rights Museum is such a good idea!  Because “civil rights” is something From the Past!)

Howard Meyerson connects the dots and tells us the crazy base drove Haley from the field.  He’s got a point.  Meyerson reminds us that 45% of the GOP believe President Obama was born outside the US, and that this correlates with the 45% of the” Tea Potniks” who believe the same…leading one to conclude, perhaps erroneously, that 45% of today’s GOP are Birthers and by definition, nutty.

This jumpin’ off the crazy pier explains The Donald and the “Birther Bills” introduced in more than a dozen state legislatures (also the Palin, the Angle, et. al).  Arizona Governor Jan Brewer just vetoed her state’s bill, famously calling it “a bridge too far.”   The Bitch would like to point out that when Arizona sets the standard for sanity, we’re all in deep doo-doo.

A wise woman who studies US politics reminded the Bitch of a smart saying today: “Never spook the masses, because if you do, they are likely to do crazy.”

Doin’ some crazy indeed, boy howdy.