Lying Liars that Lie, Lie, Lie

As we await the news of the deal to avert the shutdown, let’s review what happened today.

We knew that both sides agreed to cuts in the ballpark of $30-$40 billion in cuts, but that the GOP were insisting on riders concerning EPA regulations and funding (or defunding) Planned Parenthood (and evidence that the EPA riders reflected good ol’ lobbyist influence).

Around 1 pm, the women of the Senate held a press conference where they swore before God and Everybody that they wouldn’t throw PP under the bus, like the GOP was trying to do.

Later that afternoon, the GOP House ladies held their press conference where they insisted this wasn’t about PP, women’s health, abortion or any other damn thing, it was about cutting government spending! Spending! Spending! Awk!  Spending!

No-0ne bought it.

We all entered the dinner hour (or rather, those of us that don’t have lives, entered the dinner hour) checking our blackberries (rendered illegal if used by federal employees once the gov’t shuts down) and our iPhones to see if a deal had been reached.

Rumors abounded; hopes were raised then dashed; one frustrated reporter tweeted, “How about we just designate one reporter to tweet about whether or not a deal’s been reached and everyone else starts drinking?” Finally, a little after 9 pm, the birthday boy @chucktodd tweeted that the negotiators had reached a deal, but that the respective conferences had to approve it, and that Planned Parenthood had been bought with a further $1 billion cut, which put the total cuts at about $37-$38 billion.

As the Bitch writes, the GOP Conference is meeting to review the deal, which may or may not include a three-day extention; BreakingNews.com is tweeting that John Boehner has told the conference “this is the best deal we can get out of them,” and “we are very close.”

Let’s be very clear on what went on here: the GOP, indignantly claiming “concern” for the country’s overspending, targeted discretionary spending (that only totals 1% of the total budget) and includes things like Title X and Planned Parenthood, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, etc., because they believe these programs run contrary to traditional GOP values.  This was never about money; it’s about using the budget process to achieve policy that can’t be achieved legislatively.  It’s smoke and mirrors; it’s lying, and the Bitch hates, hates, hates Lying Liars that Lie.

Paul Ryan Hates Poor People

The DC buzz this week is all about the looming government shutdown and the 2012 GOP budget, introduced today by House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan (R-01) from Wisconsin (a state you may have heard of lately).

Also, Rep. Peter King (R-NY-03), who firmly believes home-grown Muslim radicalization threatens America, received a bloody pig’s foot in the mail, with a note containing some anti-Semitic rantings from some confused citizen, who thought King’s anti-Muslim bias meant he had to be Jewish.  HAH!  You got that wrong, Mr. or Ms. Muzzyhead!  Rep. King is a Catholic bigot, not a Jewish bigot!

But I digress.

You can read about what Rep. Ryan’s budget does, here.  Early talking points focused on privatizing Medicare and turning Medicaid into a block grant program administered by the states.  Nothing was said about taxes, which both Matt Yglesias and the Bitch found odd, since Mr. Ryan’s 2010 “roadmap to prosperity” featured massive tax cuts for rich people and raised taxes on the rest of us.

Many things are being said in support of Rep. Ryan’s budget ( here, here and here, where critic Ezra Klein admits Ryan has guts) and many things are being said against it (here, here, here, here and surely more to come).  The Bitch doesn’t deny the deficit issue but she would like to point out that the 2010 “roadmap” called for a 12.3% TAX INCREASE for Americans making $21,000 a year — the poorest 20% — and a 15% TAX CUT on Americans making $460,000 or more.  This is supposed to work because the richest people will invest their money in job creation etc; the tide will rise and the boats, they shall lift.  The corporate profits, they shall rise and the deficits, they too shall rise, because there’s not a lot of space given to recapturing the lost tax revenue that could deflate the deficits.

Let’s be straight about what Rep. Ryan and the GOP is talking about here: They want to eliminate Medicare, Medicaid (as well as the Affordable Care Act) and cut taxes for the richest Americans, which we, the non-richest Americans, are to pay for.  Same old sauce: the GOP have chosen a sham prosperity for America, and they’ve chosen — again!! — to finance it on the backs of the poor.

The Bitch thinks this is BS.  If you agree, call Paul Ryan:

202/225-3031 (DC)

608/752-4050 (Janesville, WI)

262/654-1901 (Kenosha, WI)

262/637-0510 (Racine, WI)

Tell him the Bitch sent you!

What the HELL was Eric Cantor Thinking?

Or perhaps he’s cracking from the pressure…

Amidst a flurry of articles suggesting that all is not well in GOP-land, Majority Leader Cantor made the US Senate and President Obama superfluous as he introduced the “Government Shutdown Prevention Act,” which would do the following, according to the GOP press release:

1) The bill provides that if the Senate fails to pass a measure before April 6, 2011 providing for the appropriations of the departments and agencies of the Government for the remainder of fiscal year 2011, H.R. 1 (as passed by the House on Feb. 19, 2011 [BUT WAS DEFEATED IN THE SENATE-RHB]) becomes law.

2) It also provides that, in the event of a government shutdown in excess of 24 hours or the limitation on the debt of the United States being reached, no salary payments will be disbursed to members of Congress or the president for days on which that condition persists.

Are we clear on this?  The House Majority Leader’s official, prepared remarks for “The Government Shutdown Prevention Act” states that if the US Senate doesn’t pass a budget by April 6, then a bill that Senate Democrats defeated; did not pass; rejected; repudiated; and even refudiated, etc.; becomes law.

That ain’t how I learned it in Mrs. McCormick’s political science class in 9th grade.  But whatever.

When asked for clarification, the House Majority Leader’s office allowed as how Mr. Cantor “misspoke.”  But the Bitch is thinking it was more like a freudian slip that reveals a great deal about the collective mindset in the Office of the Majority Leader these days…And she is not reassured…