Congress Strikes a Budget Deal, Averts Shutdown

[formerlurker]

Oh so you were looking for a mother-may-I call the white house thumbs up from Boehner and that would have been "true leadership."

Totally get it now.  




  .........  or more appropriately  

[formerlurker]

You are absolutely right. In order to a wave a magic wand around a wand, one must have sort spine to be able to remain upright.

Where is an instance where he has shown and real and inspired leadership?

Yesterday when he walked away with 39 billion in cuts.   Next.

[formerlurker]

I am also thoroughly unconvinced by the notion that somehow Republicans “blinked” by cutting a deal rather than shutting the government down. From what I can tell, there are two assumptions behind this line of thinking. One is that Republicans could have won a better deal, could have gotten more of what they wanted, refusing to move an inch off their original $61 billion and allowing the government shut down. How would that work exactly? President Obama would say ‘okay, you guys are serious, here’s another $21 billion.’ Really? If that were such a fail-proof strategy, why stop there? Why not demand the full repeal of Obamacare, the immediate enactment of Paul Ryan’s budget and the resignations of Pelosi, Reid, Obama et al?

The second is that Republicans would have won the “hearts and minds” debate in the public over who caused the shutdown. Polls suggest that voters are split in that regard, but a majority of independent voters favored a compromise. If a shutdown had occurred, I can’t imagine a scenario in which independents would have overwhelmingly rallied to the Republican cause. In 2010, they voted against “extreme” Democrats, not for “extreme” Republicans, which to Chuck Shumer’s credit, is almost certainly how any shutdown scenario would have played out, and with the help of a gleeful mainstream media who have been champing at the bit to blame the Tea Party for a shutdown since Nov. 3, 2010. It’s not fair or accurate, but that’s the reality.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264322/re-youre-kidding-right-andrew-stiles

[formerlurker]

Boehner Secures the Futures of D.C. Children
April 9, 2011 3:01 P.M.
By Lindsey Burke
In a momentous victory for D.C. schoolchildren, Speaker John Boehner succeeded in reauthorizing the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program in the long-term continuing resolution to which the Obama administration agreed just before midnight. As Kathryn noted late last night, “John Boehner just walked Barack Obama into being a civil-rights leader.”

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264323/boehner-secures-futures-dc-children-lindsey-burke

[Duke Nukum]

Yesterday when he walked away with 39 billion in cuts.   Next.

And what is 39 billion? Where are we now with are debt?

ObamaCare has yet to be defunded/repealed. Do you realize how much that is going to cost? And if Boehner negotiates like he did on this. Why there may be another $39 billion. Wow.

I guess some people are impressed with tiny things.

Do you want to know what leadership looks like? Look to Scott Walker.

[Duke Nukum]

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/264323/boehner-secures-futures-dc-children-lindsey-burke

This, I admit, is good. But we still have the debt ceiling fight and next year's budget.

[formerlurker]

And what is 39 billion? Where are we now with are debt?

ObamaCare has yet to be defunded/repealed. Do you realize how much that is going to cost? And if Boehner negotiates like he did on this. Why there may be another $39 billion. Wow.

I guess some people are impressed with tiny things.

Do you want to know what leadership looks like? Look to Scott Walker.

Oh dear God -- HOW WAS HE GETTING MORE?????     How about an answer this time instead of blessing yourself every time you write the word Bachman?

[formerlurker]

This, I admit, is good. But we still have the debt ceiling fight and next year's budget.

Which is exactly Stiles' point which you curiously skipped over. 

[Duke Nukum]

Oh dear God -- HOW WAS HE GETTING MORE?????     How about an answer this time instead of blessing yourself every time you write the word Bachman?

Again, he skated to the speakership in a historic election. The country was behind him but he hasn't been.

And again, he telegraphed again and again what he wouldn't do!  That is nuts.

What if the police where in a hostage negociation and they said, "no matter what, even if you guys kill all the hostages, we won't use deadly force against you." 

You get more by playing things close to the vest.

And you don't go on Barbra Walters and cry.

[formerlurker]

Do you want to know what leadership looks like? Look to Scott Walker.

Wait a minute...

Republican Governor and statehouse vs. Democratic President/Senate against GOP House?    TOTALLY the same.  

You don't even understand the difference do you?







 

[formerlurker]

Again, he skated to the speakership in a historic election. The country was behind him but he hasn't been.

And again, he telegraphed again and again what he wouldn't do!  That is nuts.

What if the police where in a hostage negociation and they said, "no matter what, even if you guys kill all the hostages, we won't use deadly force against you." 

You get more by playing things close to the vest.

And you don't go on Barbra Walters and cry.

One is that Republicans could have won a better deal, could have gotten more of what they wanted, refusing to move an inch off their original $61 billion and allowing the government shut down. How would that work exactly? President Obama would say ‘okay, you guys are serious, here’s another $21 billion.’ Really? If that were such a fail-proof strategy, why stop there? Why not demand the full repeal of Obamacare, the immediate enactment of Paul Ryan’s budget and the resignations of Pelosi, Reid, Obama et al?

Understand yet?

[Duke Nukum]

Understand yet?

http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/mark-levin/john-boehners-strategy/10150150597165946

John Boehner has said over and over again that the Republican House is only 1/2 of 1/3 of the government - even though, by the way, no spending or taxing bill can pass without the House, period.  He has also said that the Republicans will not shut down the government.  So tell me, what is his strategy going forward with the debt ceiling and the 2012 budget?  If he is already saying House Republicans are too weak to do much, and that we are not going to shut down the government, what is his leverage when these big battles take place?  I don't think the man has a strategy at all.

Understand yet?

[formerlurker]

Patience Pays
One of the reasons Obama did not get a bigger bounce out of his December deal to maintain the current tax rates for another two years is that he caved in too soon.
Eager to end the discussion about a looming tax increase for all Americans at the end of the year, Obama unhappily cut a deal with Republicans, who he compared to “hostage takers,” and then lashed out at liberals who were critical of the deal as “sanctimonious.” It was an ugly way to handle what should have been a happy occasion.
One of the problems was that Obama cut the deal two weeks before the deadline. The consequences of waiting until the 11th hour to do the tax deal would have been worse than those of a temporary government shutdown. Too much brinksmanship might have terrified Americans into closing up their wallets in the midst of the Christmas shopping season and spooked investors. A deadline deal could have weakened the already anemic economy.
All that said, Obama still went too soon. The liberals who castigated Obama for flip-flopping on one of his central campaign promises wanted him to stay in the fight longer and get more in exchange for his acquiescence. At a moment they wanted to follow their leader into battle, Obama signed a peace treaty.
It may have been a very logical thing to do, but how arguments are resolved are often just as important as the resolution itself. Democrats felt betrayed and Republicans felt empowered, which set the stage for the president’s defeat on Friday.
Boehner, on the other hand, rode the spending debate for as long as he could. By waiting until the last dog was hung, the speaker demonstrated to even skeptical members of his caucus that he was all in and increased the pressure on his counter negotiators.
The turning point in the whole affair was Tuesday when Boehner managed to get support for a one-week continuing resolution to fund the government and keep the troops paid no matter what happened. Tea Party House members had vowed to refuse any such plan, but because of the goodwill he bought by allowing members to set their own level on the cuts and by giving Ryan’s budget his blessing, Boehner got the final tool he needed to beat Obama and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
With military paychecks hanging in the balance, Boehner was able to hold fast in negotiations because his team had passed their own troop funding bill. If Obama and Reid refused it would be they who left military families in the lurch.
Plus, by waiting so long, Boehner limited the amount of time for dissident and publicity hungry members of his caucus to second guess the plan. Every hour before midnight that deal was done would have been an hour for the naysayers to more fully express their unhappiness and draw the attention of reporters looking for the Tea Party rebellion they have been promising for months.
It will get harder from here for Boehner. The stakes will be higher for the president’s request to increase the federal borrowing limit from $14.3 trillion and for the 2012 budget. Plus, Boehner’s success in this opening fiscal skirmish will raise expectations for future fights.
But, Boehner will also go forward with his caucus behind him and Obama trying to play catch up. Not bad for the Weeper of the House.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/04/09/did-keys-boehners-budget-victory/#ixzz1J4fO41OY

[formerlurker]

http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/mark-levin/john-boehners-strategy/10150150597165946

Understand yet?

That has been answered and more in the excerpts I have posted, which you clearly have not read.

[5412]

One last thing, saying Reid played like a master is a bit over the top. How much mastery is required when you know you are playing against a chump? Boenher is a chump. I would love to play high stakes poker against him. I don't even know anything about poker but I know I could masterfully play a chump.

Hi,

Duke I am with you on Boehner.  Think Gingrich would have done things differently??

Damn right!

5412

[5412]

That has been answered and more in the excerpts I have posted, which you clearly have not read.

Hi,

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.  Sure we can publish one opinion after another.  Regardless of what was agreed upon it is going to get tougher as the year goes on.

Reid, and Biden repeatedly tried to divide Boehner from the tea party candidates saying that he has to forget the tea party radicals and do what is right.  Did you hear Boehner screaming at the top of his lungs that it was tea party candidates for the most part that kicked their ass, sent people to Washington to implement change?  Did you once hear him reminding the democrats the tea party candidates ate their lunch?  

Perhaps he could have mentioned that the tea partiers might just be right, massive cuts must take place and now, but no I never heard that.  

One thing I do know is the negotiations was not over when Obama broke his word with Boehner and told him no in the article I sent you.  Boehner could easily have said "sorry Mr. President, am I correct in understanding that you gave me your word and you are now going back on your promise?"  Then shut up and let the room be quiet and see what happens.  Boehner could easily have said, "Mr. President that is not going to cut it, let's discuss some more cuts."  At least the article I read said instead he caved.  

No one is arguing with you about the fact that battles remain ahead.  The discussion is many feel Boehner is weak, a poor negotiator, not a committed conservative and should have done much better.  My feeling is he did the best he could, which is why he needs to be replaced as speaker, he does not represent my best interests nearly as well as someone like Gingrich would have.

regards,
5412

[Janice]

Yes it is an assumption.
The simple fact is there is no way Paul Ryan is going to get that budget he proposed through the Senate much less get Obama to sign it into law.
Ryan is going to have compromise and the people complaining now, will say we were sold out again.

To quote Will Pitt, bank on it.

Of course hes going to compromise. Are you serious? Have you ever 'bargained' with adversarys before?

You think its wise to start at a low figure? Wow.

Glad your not in charge.

[Janice]

Reid, and Biden repeatedly tried to divide Boehner from the tea party candidates saying that he has to forget the tea party radicals and do what is right.  Did you hear Boehner screaming at the top of his lungs that it was tea party candidates for the most part that kicked their ass, sent people to Washington to implement change?  Did you once hear him reminding the democrats the tea party candidates ate their lunch?  

regards,
5412

Amen.

[Janice]

I see that liberal media outlets are praising Boehner.

Meanwhile the Marxist in Chief does a Victory Lap at the Lincoln Memorial.

Nuff said.

[Freeper]

Of course hes going to compromise. Are you serious? Have you ever 'bargained' with adversarys before?

You think its wise to start at a low figure? Wow.

Glad your not in charge.

And I am glad you are not in charge. This whole all or nothing approach will get us no where.
Right now the best thing to do is fight for and take what we can get until we can gain more power and then be able to start forcing change.

The simple fact that they got Obama to agree with a single dime in cuts is bordering on being a miracle.

I'm done with this debate, I get it you don't like Bohner, he's not pure enough for you, blah blah blah.

[5412]

Hi,

Consider this.  I am soon to be 71 years old.  In my lifetime we have had a republican president with a republican congressional majority something like 4 of those years.  The republicans, with the exception of Ronald Reagan have been pretty much democrat lite not wanting to get the media or public against them.  We got a little different flavor with a terrible result.  

Our military is in shambles.

Our defecits have destroyed the country.

Our borders stink.

I could go on and on, you get the picture.

There is an old saying, if you continue with the same type of behavior, expect the same type of result.  Well damnit it is time that the Republicans change their behavior.  We sent a very clear message to the party during the election.  To many of us it does not look like much of a behavior change.  Whoppee, we have a president that is bankrupting the nation, passed a health care law that MUST be repealed, got us into a war without congressional approval and we should be happy with budget cuts that are a fraction of a percent.

Naaah, I am sick and tired of it.  Would much prefer a speaker that responds with some real solutions like the governor of Wisconsin and some of the other governors.  I worked too long and hard to help Marco Rubio get elected to put up with the same old song from the RINO's.  We are going to need to create conflict and win in the arena of ideas.  The only time the democrats scream comprimise is when they know they have to and they start high, get their way, then praise the republicans when they cave.

Enough of that stuff, where does it get us and our country???

regards,
5412

[rich_t]

They should have shut down the government.  This ain't 1995 and I don't think it would have hurt the GOP as much as some seem to think it would.

That said, I was surprised that they got the cuts that they did.  They went in asking for too low of an amopunt to begin with.  They should have gone in demanding a full 100 billion and settled for 50 - 60.

[Splashdown]

The repub majority in Congress controls 1/2 of 1/3 of the federal government. The deal was far from perfect, but it's a start.

This can't be Boehner or leadership, but I'd like to see some Republicans continue the message that the Dems care more about funding Planned Parenthood than they do America's brave troops.

[formerlurker]

Hi,

Duke I am with you on Boehner.  Think Gingrich would have done things differently??

Damn right!

5412

Newt Gingrich is giving John Boehner some high marks for his performance as speaker leading up to Friday night's near-government shutdown.

"I think John Boehner did a very good job getting a total of $70 billion in cuts," Gingrich told POLTICO ahead of his speech to the Spartanburg County GOP convention. "When you score them out over a ten year period they will be hundreds of billions lower in the baseline."

Read more: http://www.seattlepi.com/default/article/Gingrich-praises-Boehner-after-budget-battles-1330085.php#ixzz1J7ZC7sxh

Gingrich disagrees with you.

[formerlurker]

Hi,

I guess we are going to have to agree to disagree on this one.  Sure we can publish one opinion after another.  Regardless of what was agreed upon it is going to get tougher as the year goes on.

Reid, and Biden repeatedly tried to divide Boehner from the tea party candidates saying that he has to forget the tea party radicals and do what is right.  Did you hear Boehner screaming at the top of his lungs that it was tea party candidates for the most part that kicked their ass, sent people to Washington to implement change?  Did you once hear him reminding the democrats the tea party candidates ate their lunch?  

Perhaps he could have mentioned that the tea partiers might just be right, massive cuts must take place and now, but no I never heard that.  

One thing I do know is the negotiations was not over when Obama broke his word with Boehner and told him no in the article I sent you.  Boehner could easily have said "sorry Mr. President, am I correct in understanding that you gave me your word and you are now going back on your promise?"  Then shut up and let the room be quiet and see what happens.  Boehner could easily have said, "Mr. President that is not going to cut it, let's discuss some more cuts."  At least the article I read said instead he caved.  

No one is arguing with you about the fact that battles remain ahead.  The discussion is many feel Boehner is weak, a poor negotiator, not a committed conservative and should have done much better.  My feeling is he did the best he could, which is why he needs to be replaced as speaker, he does not represent my best interests nearly as well as someone like Gingrich would have.

regards,
5412

Go back and read the articles I posted which explained how the compromise came to be -- Boehner did what no other speaker has done in allowing his freshman tea party caucus to write the script.  He consulted and included them right up to inking the deal.

Enough of this nonsense.   Hate the man, I don't care.    Boehner got the job done, and we are moving forward to the next battle.   

Purists do nothing aside from whine from the sidelines -- they are quite proficient with that.    Congressional members like Rand Paul put forward plans that have no chance whatsoever at coming to fruition, but the party can't help themselves when the dog and pony show is in town.