Here at Hope n' Change, we were initially skeptical of Barack Obama's claims that he could get politicians of both parties to "reach across the aisle" and meet in agreement. But that's exactly what happened Wednesday when the Senate voted on Mr. Obama's proposed budget and decided that it emitted such a pungent stench that not a single Senator, Republican or Democrat, supported it.
The president's $3.7 trillion budget, first proposed in February, was notable for making absolutely no attempt to rein in deficit spending or reduce our national debt. Still, you'd think that the president would have picked up at least a couple of mercy votes from his party, just to keep him from looking like a complete fiscal ignoramus.
Unfortunately, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has had his arm in a sling since injuring himself in a fall recently, and was thus unable to lift the ten-foot-pole he would have required to vote for the president's proposal. And other Senate Democrats didn't want to find any portion of their anatomies in a sling when having to answer to voters about how they could support a budget which seemed designed to make things worse.
So with a vote of 97-0, the president has managed to get the first and only unanimous negative Senate vote of this session.
In other countries, this would be referred to as "a vote of no confidence." Come to think of it, that's what we call it over here, too.
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38 comments:
I'm wondering how many votes like this are in the historical record. Do you think Duh Won was expecting this unanimous slap-down or does he not care because he didn't want his fingerprints on it anyway? I expect the fluffers in the media to greet this news with thundering silence.
"No Confidence"
Main difference being that in many countries, falling on your face THAT hard could cost you the job. Not in 2 years (Please, Please!) but right now. Further proof out system ain't perfect, I suppose.
Still, nice that the Senate could get together on SOME thing - now, if they could just PASS a budget that makes any SENSE....
Ouch.
Fine piece (as usual), but where, oh where did "reign in" come from? I do believe the term would be "rein in" as in riding a horse. e.g. "King Obama did reign in the White House until Congress finally decided to rein in this horse's ass of a president."
Thing I get a kick out of is that the Left and some Republicans decried Paul Ryan's budget, and screamed that he was a Right-wing radical for some of his common sense solutions to our run away deficit and out of control spending, but it was Mr "Spendaholic" Obama's budget that got crushed..with no one voting for it. Yes I know Paul Ryan's budget was also voted down but not by the overwhelming majority that the President's was.
Hmmm, overwhelming majority? Not really accurate since majority suggests a minority and an unanimous decision means there is NO minority.
I just hope that the dems didn't vote "no" because they thought there wasn't enough spending in it.
By the way, Stilt, I got my HnC watch this a.m.
Put it on and it fit perfectly and I looked at it all the way to work, laughing my ass off. So to speak. I like how the asses tail swings to the right and exposes the well...lets just say backside.
Have a happy Memorial Day weekend everybody!!
Why do I get the feeling that 1/2 the Democrats and a few RINOs were holding out for $4 Trillion?
@Robert and Jim Hlavac - precisely my thoughts. But, then again, maybe the Mighty Ducknocrats have a new, improved Savior in the wings and are grooming The One for a catastrophic fall in order to move The other One to the fore? As Fats Waller once famously queried: "One never know, do one?"
Personally, I don't believe the libs will be finally satisfied when all things earned in the US are earned by the government - for your benefit and the greater good... (Assuming they don't start usurping the earning of other countries to ensure they don't get money from other countries.... Oh, wait - they've already done that.)
Wow! That last bit is strange - I can only attribute it to the hot cup of coffee my @#$% dog knocked into my lap as I was posting that. Should have said:
(Assuming they don't start getting money from other countries in order to have MORE than all the earnings in the US.... Oh, wait - they've already done that. Loans form China...)
My apologies. Pants are dired, and dogs are outside.
Crap. I meant "dried". Enough. As my kids would say: "Wow, Dad! EPIC fail!" Logging off.
Boy, it sure didn't take long for the Bin Laden aura to wear off, didn't it?
The Democrats are just smart enough to know that most of the country is long over the hopey-changy stuff, and no longer buy the "I inherited this from Bush" narrative. A vote now for doubling-down on the Omabanomics would make for a very uncomfortable summer on the "town hall" circuit back home. Who needs that?
Their main hope now is that the GOP will blow it by next year. (which they usually and likely will) So they'll play along with the "fiscal conservative" agenda just long enough for the media and RINOs to select the next RINO candidate, and then pick up where they left off when the GOP falls flat on its face again.
Stilt- (and other regular posters) I've enjoyed coming to this site every morning for more than a year. I'm a conservative working in the TV industry, so I'm highly outnumbered in my profession. Most co-workers are scared to bring up politics around me! I ordered 5 watches and handed out four of them to other people, but the 5th I wore on-camera as I painted a kustom car. So, Stilt, your watch will be shown in an episode of MuscleCar which airs on Spike! every Saturday and Sunday. We're just about done shooting the episode, I'll post again when I know the air date. There's a couple good shots where you can see the watch very clearly... And very close up... :-) And Thank you everyone for your varied points of view! -Rick Bacon
@Angry Hoosier Dad- Sadly, this vote isn't being treated as any kind of slap-down for the president in the mainstream media because he gave a "deficit reduction" speech which, in their eyes, negated this budget...and earned him labels like "cost cutter in chief" even though he didn't propose any actual cost cutting. Maddening.
@Pete(Detroit)- When I wrote about the "no confidence vote," I was envying those political systems that allow the voters to cast the rascals out before their terms are up. Although I wouldn't really want that here, I suppose, as so many voters are rascals these days.
@Anonymous- Thanks for the spelling correction, and the self-inflicted slap mark on my forehead.
@Dave- The Dems were very vocal in originally describing Mr. Obama's budget as really responsible and just what we needed to get on sound financial footing. Until they had to attach their names to it and defend it to voters. What a bunch of whores.
@Robert- Mrs. Jarlsberg also got her watch yesterday, so apparently the watchmakers in Hong Kong have put in a second shift to handle all the orders.
And I'm glad that you appreciate the exquisite detail to be found in the horse's posterior. I actually touched it up to be slightly less graphic, but wanted to leave enough detail that there would be no doubt which end of the horse best represents Mr. Obama.
@Jim Hlavac- Especially after the "Mediscare" victory in New York, I think it's safe to say that the Dems want to spend more, not less - which could indeed explain their votes.
@Emmentaler- I enjoyed your multiple postings, especially because they distract nicely from my screwing up the word "rein" in the commentary.
@John The Econ- The GOP "Blow It" factor is indeed one of my greatest fears. Hearing that the GOP is now rethinking Ryan's budget because of the New York "Mediscare" vote reinforces my belief that many Republicans are only lesser whores than Democrats, but are still largely a waste of space.
@Rick Bacon/Anonymous- When I read your post, it gave me a good (and loud) laugh. At which point my dog started barking at me and my daughter suggested that I sounded like a mad scientist. Seriously, I'm delighted and can't wait to see you and your stylish watch on Spike! (the most testosterone intensive network on TV). You've made my day!
@ Stilton - you gonna send Rick beer money?
@Bobo- I think mailing beer money is a bit crass, but if a muscle car adorned with shrieking skulls and awesome flames roars up at the Hope n' Change office towers, I'm definitely picking up whatever bar tab follows!
What is Dingy Harry thinking!? How is he going to explain his vote to the Cowboy Poetry people? Oh, that's right... they don't exist anymore.
This vote really is incredible. I have to assume that (besides Harry) Barbara Boxer, Dickhead Durbin, Chuck You Schumer, Diane Feinstein, and Herman Munster Kerry ALL voted against their beloved BO!! These people are pretty much permanent fixtures and would get re-elected even if they all went on a mass murder spree through a children's hospital.
I'll bet the frowny face lasted for hours!
@ Stilton - LOL
Stilton,
Maybe the three Senators that didn't vote are from my list above?? wouldn't doubt it.....
Hey, my real name is Rick; can I have beer too?
@Stilton - I'm unable to research this right now, but were you this upset during the Reagan and either Bush Administrations regarding run up of Federal Debt? For those who aren't aware, Federal Debt grew larger under those Administrations than any other Presidential Term. And I think Reagan and G.W. had more debt added than all other Presidents combined. That last bit is from memory, so I may be incorrect.
Not claiming it was Reagan or the Bushes direct fault, they did have opposing parties to contend with at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave. But guilt-by-association seems appropriate.
But this outrage towards President Obama on this issue seems a little over-inflated if you are not just as outraged over the fiscal irresponsibility exhibited under those previous Administrations.
Then again, I'm beginning to sense that you just don't like Barry from Hawaii, but maybe that's just me. ;-)
Citizen H, I don't as much have a problem with people named Barry from any state; it's just the lying, narcissistic, egotistical commie bastard community organizers named Barry that I have a problem with.
@Colby- By all means you get free beer for being named "Rick." Go to any bar in America and tell them to put it on my tab. You're welcome. (grin)
@CitizenH- I wasn't as upset by deficit spending during the Reagan era because (as I've mentioned here before) I wasn't really paying attention to politics at the time - just like many people who still aren't paying attention. Becoming a father and homeowner changed that, and set me on the eventual path to conservatism.
I was upset at much of George W. Bush's spending (especially the unfunded Medicare prescription plan). It was (and is) my belief that a considerable amount of that spending was designed to placate the Dems (and by "placate" I mean "bribe") into going along with Bush's war efforts. Which was a terrible freaking idea.
But Obama's spending blows all of the others out of the water. And at this point, no one with an IQ above that of a rutabaga can doubt that our economy is going the way of Greece's unless huge changes are made soon. But Obama - who is undeniably smart - demagogues and refuses to participate in the budget reductions necessary to save our country.
That, to me, borders on treason at this point... though it's a treason shared by years and years of politicians on both sides of the aisle, at whom I'm equally angry.
And your senses aren't wrong- I really, really, really dislike Barry from Hawaii. Although fair is fair...if we meet and he's wearing a Hope n' Change watch, I'll pay for his beer.
@Bruce in KC- Well put!
CitizenH:
Harp all you want on past Republican presidents. I'm sure that blanket will keep you warm. The rest of us will continue to live in the here and now.
Citizen H, didn't zero run on a hope and change platform? Transparency and all that crap?
I despised Bush, and never thought there would be a president in my lifetime that I detested more than dubya.
But damn if I wasn't wrong. I HATE the muslim loving jackass who can't keep his lies straight. I HATE the media that fawned over this know nothing affirmative action loser.
I didn't drink the "juice" (is he so stupid he didn't know the saying was "drink the kool-aid?" Yes, I believe he is that stupid. And I really have a problem with voters that voted for this obvious flim flam man. It scares me how many stupid, ignorant people there are in this country.
Rather than rely on anyone's memory, Google "deficit graph by year" and get the facts. After poking around several of the resulting links, I think it's clear that what Obama and his dem fellow-travellers have done is well-beyond, significantly worse, than anything done under Reagan or either Bush.
The deficits under Reagan were a result of the Reagan tax cuts and the dems' - who controlled both houses of Congress - their intransigence on spending. The tax cuts got the country moving again after the stagflation of the Carter years and were necessary to that end.
The deficits under Bush were a result of his misguided sometimes seemingly RINO understanding of the role of government, government spending, and economics.
I was upset at the time by both deficits, but I am more upset at the current deficits because they are absolutely greater in magnitude, even as a percent of GDP, and because they are the first results of the intention of our current president to take us as far along the road to socialism as he possibly can.
I'm probably preaching to the choir, here, but the problem with socialism is that it has never worked anywhere it has ever been tried and, as Margaret Thatcher is reported to have said, sooner or later you run out of other people's money. No thanks!
Note that some of the deficit graphs project the deficit falling after next year's election under current plans, but those projections are about as realistic as the projections about the effectiveness of the great stimulus spending, since they do not recognize the period of stagflation which we are now entering.
And that is all true no matter where the president is from, what his name is, where his daddy was from, what his real religion is, or whether-or-not he inhaled.
OBTW: Note that the credit rating of the US was not downgraded to "negative" by S&P in those previous administrations, but it has been in the current administration. Surely there's a reason for the difference.
On a side note: @SJ, if you ever show up at the outer moat of Belchfire Industries, the lair of Doktor Paulie, I'LL buy the beer.
@CitizenH - why is it that so many of your arguments seem to boil down to "well, everyone else did it."?
"If everyone jumped of a bridge ..."?
BTW: I only answered “yes” to that question one time, in a moment of sheer stupidity ... but I did manage to live to tell the tale.
The problem with too many is that they see everything in shades of gray. If someone else got away with something, everyone ought to be able to. There is no right or wrong ... everything is relative. Sorry, but that is not true. There are absolute rights and absolute wrongs. And wrong is wrong no matter who does it.
@Chuck - "if everyone jumped off the bridge..." I would be so kind as to throw them BOTH ends of the rope! anyway, as I recall from years ago, Reagan made a deal with the dems on his tax cuts. IF the tax cuts worked and revenue increased, the dems were to cut spending to further help bring things under control. well, we saw what happened. revenue increased , but so did spending!
CitizenH -- and all -- yes, I was complaining about Ronald Reagan's $90 Billion dollar deficit on his $900 billion dollar budget in 1981. That's 10% of the total budget as deficit. Now it's 3.9 Trillion with a 1.5 trillion deficit -- what "grow larger" and what percentages are you talking? Do you know?
But yes, I certainly was complaining; I'm no reformed liberal. And I tortured my professors by buying a copy of the budget, when one could get it in two volumes in print, and then blue lined it, and I got the budget down to $90 Billion and no deficit right quick. Yes, there were many people complaining -- some come later to the game.
It's like the old yogurt commercial from the Reagan years -- all that time wasted.
@Stilt-Yes whores are whores...no matter what side of the isle they are on. I think the government should have to run its affairs the same way the average household does. I want to see the credit card company that is like oh, my you borrowed up to your credit limit again and your limit (deficit cap) is currently higher then your yearly household income (GDP), but that's ok we'll just increase you limit! Now I'm not sure about the rest of you but I want a new car, a new house, a new motorcycle, the biggest and best electronics, and anything and everything else, but I can't afford it! And the government can not afford all of these entitlement programs and wasted money on stimulus packages and bailouts. I can't even go and spurge on other pieces of equipment that would make my business money because of the absolute horror the current economy is in! So don't raise the deficit cap...learn to live within our means and stop forking over money to EVERYONE!
You wanna take a major bite out of deficit spending? Don't throw money away hand over fist to almost every country in the world!
It's time t get fiscally responsible in this country as a country.
You want to see the politicians stop throwing money into pork barrel projects and entitlements? Have a lottery including every person in a district that is old enough to hold office and MAKE them represent their district!
CitH - another one who was too young to notice at the time of Reagan's deficits (er, that would be ME, to be clear, have NO idea of your age). I *do* know, however, that those deficits were NOT as a result of tax cuts - Federal Revenue **doubled* from 1980 to 1990 - the problem is spending (ALL spending bills start in the HOUSE - koff koff) went up by a factor of 2.25...
Yes, GWB never met a spending bill he didn't like. He may be a republican, but he was NO kind of conservative.
THAT having been said, Fed Rev in 2000 (Bill Clinton's last year) BEFORE the tech bubble burst was $2T - and we had more money than G*d...
In 2006, after the bubble, 9/11, and the "disastrous Bush tax cuts" it was $2.4T ... hmmm
1) tax cuts (the right ones) work. EVERY time
2) we do NOT have a revenue problem, we have a SPENDING problem
3) Due to stupid spending habits, in his 8 years in office a failed Texas oilman expanded the debt by nearly $3.5T
A certain Barry from Hawaii has eclipsed that in slightly over **2** years.
Yes, as you are so fond of pointing out, "everyone has done it." (ok, recent exception of Bill C, who, due to cuts imposed by Newt et al, benefited from massive revenue increases as well as spending cuts, and managed to actually, briefly, run a surplus)
And it's "shame on us," ALL of us, for allowing that.
However, as has been pointed out, "THEY were all scumbags, why can't *I* be a scumbag" is the argument of a petulant 9 year old.
And the Current Occupant (thanks, Garrison!) is nearly a full order of magnitude worse than ANY one. (tempting to say 'than EVERY one', but that's not QUITE true)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P5yxFtTwDcc
It
Needs
To
STOP.
And it will - the hard way, w/ 'rational' cuts to waste (one can ONLY hope) and "unsustainable" spending, or the catastrophic way, when the Fed goes totally tits up to the queen, and can no longer afford to pay the guys who actually *control* the guns, the bombs, the missiles....
"defend the Constitution, against ALL enemies, foreign AND Domestic"
Interesting oath, no?
Just sayin'...
Dave - HAEL yeah! at the very LEAST there needs to be an 'excrement list' of countries that "hate" us. Eff 'em
Perhaps a 2nd teir, "probation" - you get some % of last year's "aid" - 50, 30, 20 - whatever. Shape up, or next year, you're on the Eff 'em column.
Unfortunately, that will hardly come up to make a difference - TOTAL foreign air (pulling a number out of my butt) is like $100B (and I'm sure some enterprising person will find the actual numbers)- but that's only like NEA, CPB, ACORN, and Nancy Pelosi's air/bar tab combined. Yes, like those others, it's a good start - but we need to get SERIOUS about the entitlements..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFV5Tx4LxBM&feature=relmfu
Especially this -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thzTXHSiBJk&feature=related
We NEED to reduce the pile on the left (mandated spending)
There Is No Choice
We ALSO need to reduce / eliminate borrowing - are you aware that the INTEREST payments we make to China roughly equals their entire military budget? That's right, the INTEREST on the debt owed to China PAYS THEIR MILITARY.
Active, reserve, research, new toys, pretty much ALL of it!
Don't you feel good?
Out of control spending will do us in FAR faster than "Global Warming" I assure you...
@Pete-I agree that just cutting foreign aid will not solve the deficit problem....but every little bit helps. While I don't have any children of my own, I do have nieces and nephews and would really like to see them grow up in the United States of AMERICA not the united States of China, or the United Obama America!!
Dave - ditto, all.
USSA - >shudder<
@Readers- Holy Smokes, I had to be away from this site for a few hours and there's just been an explosion of great and interesting comments!
I honestly don't think I need to add anything to your observations, so I'll just stand here on the sidelines and applaud!
yah, 34 comments - ya'd think you're becoming like Weasel Zippers, or some such...
Rawk Own, dude!
Stilton, I'm afraid that the only major difference between the GOP and the Democrats anymore is that the Democrats want to vote in a socialist utopia today while the GOP only puts up token resistance.
@John the Econ- I agree. When it's a question of "doing what's right" or "doing what's politically popular" there's never a question in either party which choice to go with. Which is why I sometimes believe that real change will only happen after a catastrophic crash of our economy and not before.
Now that's funny, linked at RR:
http://reaganiterepublicanresistance.blogspot.com/2011/05/reaganites-sunday-funnies_29.html
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