The question is - how many people and their families have NEVER taken from a government assistance program of some sort? From education loans to medical assistance to housing subsidy to food stamps - how much of the "no more socialism" talk is actually unintentional(?) hypocrisy?
Don't forget mortgages. The "typical" 30 year American mortgage is also a subsidy-fest, the bill for which was (basically) TARP. And don't forget fuel - the bill for lower gas taxes than rationality calls for is a few hundred billion blown in Iraq, every year, for a decade (and counting). We are all guilty.
Re means testing. Can the people have their principle back? C'mon, if you paid in, now you don't need the money, I'm fine with that but if you've been paying in for 30+ years, you don't want the people to get their own money back?
But we are NOT all guilty of spreading disinformation that "all those other guys" have been the ones that have taken those government subsidies. Sure there are degrees of it - repaid student loans vs welfare queens - but both are beneficiaries of government "socialism" nonetheless.
I agree with that. There are many, many people who are not willing to acknowledge the plain fact that they, too, are taking advantage of gov't largesse.
And exactly what is that stand ? And as of 13:00 Central time on July 29 there is NOTHING on paper from the Dems. Like we used to yell out in the pit, "put a number on it !!" And how exactly is promising to not even debate or table a bill from the other legislative body you must deal with and declaring a bill 'dead on arrival' somehow pass muster as not being obstructionist ? Explain please.
Both sides have to put something - ANYTHING - onto the table before the fight begins between TWO sides and they end up with SOMETHING. Is it ALL going to be sh!t? Better believe it. But there are at least THREE sides now - and 2 of them are on the Republican end of the aisle.
To achieve their goal - which is to place a TP nuke time bomb in the GOP's election plans - they don't have to. In fact, they shouldn't. It's politics. And they're doing it very very well right now... The way out of this trap was for the mainstream part of the GOP to actually back the aborted TP plan, and extend it further. That would have drawn a sharp distinction and given voters a legitimate choice. The problem with THAT is the TP (declared) approach of real, deep cuts is unacceptable to most US voters, and mainstream GOP knows this full well. What Obama and the Dems have done very effectively is show that the GOP is as much about Politics As Usual as everyone else. They had done this by showing just how narrow the difference is between Dem and GOP ideas on gov't spending.
+1 http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...hner-proposal/2011/07/27/gIQAWPwncI_blog.html Both "plans" are going to be fantasy anyway. Come election time they will all say anything to get (back) into office.