The Super Committee ShamNovember 16, 2011
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RUSH: I want to move on to the super committee. I have a couple of stories here on the super committee. The Republicans and Democrats who have until next Thursday, a week from tomorrow (or I guess it's today) to come to a deal or else, as it always is, it's Armageddon of the United States economy. First up is a story here from TheHill.com: "Democrats Gain Upper Hand in Deficit Reduction Negotiations." Now, I just want to tell you that this story, everything in this story is confirmation of what we've been saying here from the get-go on this: This whole super committee thing has been an obvious trap. It's almost -- if I didn't know better, I would have to think -- that the Republican leadership wanted it, because this way they can tell the Tea Party types that they have to raise taxes to avoid destroying the military.
Nobody in their mind wants. Nobody wants the military to be destroyed. Not even the liberal Leon Panetta wants that. Now, here's this story: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Tuesday that Democrats will block Republican efforts to torpedo cuts to the Pentagon should the super committee on deficit reduction fail. Reid’s threat is yet another signal that Democrats are preparing for a super committee flop, and are largely comfortable with the cuts that would be triggered if there is no bipartisan agreement. As Republican leaders vow that failure is 'not an option,' Reid is growing increasingly pessimistic and already looking ahead to the consequences of missing next week’s Nov. 23 deadline."
Now, you have to know how to read this stuff: In TheHill.com "pessimistic" means "giddily optimistic." This is exactly what they want. They want no deal. They want no deal and they wouldn't care; $500 billion in defense cuts, fine and dandy with the Democrats as they're constituted today -- and the Republicans being blamed for it, why, icing on the cake. This has always been the plan. This whole super committee deal was Harry Reid's idea from the start, and he fully intended things to turn out this way. In fact, if you doubt me, let me give you another piece of evidence. Now, if they've got you on the edge of your seat out there -- if you are waiting for, if you are hoping for, if you are expecting some grand compromise at the last minute from this super committee -- keep something in mind.
The man who has the most to lose from a compromise is the Democrat: David Axelrod and David Plouffe, the two guys behind Obama. The brains behind the Obama reelection campaign. The last thing they want is a Congress that does anything because they're running against a "do-nothing" Congress. So if a deal is struck here that everybody gets giddy about and starts applauding, "See what we did when we worked together? We can come together and we can come up with a deal. Both sides compromised and the country moves forward," that's the last thing that the Obama campaign wants. Because then they would have a do-something Congress. They don't want a do-something Congress. They need a do-nothing Congress.
What did they tell us that the campaign spending is going to be? What's the total Obama campaign spending gonna be, a billion? All right. All right, then they're putting a billion dollars behind no deal. A billion dollars is what the campaign spending is gonna be and the campaign theme is a do-nothing Congress. Well, if Congress comes up and does something here at the last minute it blows the whole campaign, it blows a billion dollars. That would be a huge waste of money. Back to TheHill.com story: "That dynamic has Democrats saying they have the upper hand in the negotiations, with some liberals privately rooting for sequestration cuts to be triggered.
"Unless Republicans cave on tax increases, there is little reason for Democrats to strike a deal because sequestration does not call for structural reforms to Medicare, Medicaid or Social Security. Automatic cuts to Medicare would be capped at 2 percent and limited to insurance companies and healthcare providers while Social Security and Medicaid would be exempt. The Defense Department is slated for $500 billion in cuts if the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction does not produce an agreement with at least $1.2 trillion in spending reductions." So there is literally no desire on the part of the Democrats for there to be a deal.
All the while, this is being presented as, "The Democrats are eager, willing, ready to compromise; but these rascally Republicans, they are fighting over tax increases! They don't want tax increases, they don't want the rich to pay their fair share, they don't want any more money coming in to Washington." Never mind the fact that the Republicans have proposed all kinds of tax reform. They have proposed alternatives to the Bush tax cuts being extend. They have proposed tax rate reductions that have been scored as increases, total increases in revenue to the Treasury. All rejected. But that isn't being reported.
What's being reported is, "The Republicans are being obstinate! They will not deal, they won't talk, they won't raise taxes." The real question is raise revenue. The Republicans have all kinds of proposals that they have put forth involving tax reform that would raise revenue. All of them have been rejected. Paul Ryan was even on Fox this morning saying this and pointing it out. A Fox reporter said, "Well, aren't the Republicans...?" I was struck. I was driving in and I was listening to Fox on the radio, and the Fox reporter (I don't know who it was, 'cause I wasn't watching so I couldn't tell who the voice belonged to), asked the question, "Well, aren't the Republicans gonna propose anything?" and Paul Ryan said, "What do you mean? We proposed things. We detailed the various proposals that they put forth and have been rejected." Nobody knows about it, hasn't been reported.
Republicans don't know how to do PR. They think that the mainstream media won't report it, so they don't make any effort to get it out. It's been out there for a month at least, one of these proposals. Well, all of them have been floating out there in one form or another for a month. But you don't have a story from TheHill.com about that. You don't have a story from any Washington publication, Politico, you name it, on the Republican reform proposals involving the tax code that would generate more revenue. The Democrats are stuck on tax increases, which will reduce revenue to the Treasury, will kill job creation, will create more of the idiocy that we are living with now. But in the end they don't want a deal.
Here, from the Washington Post by Anne Kornblut, this is from yesterday. "Obama Administration Quietly Bracing for Debt Super Committee Failure." Yeah, what that means is the regime is quietly planning a celebration if the so-called super committee fails to reach an agreement. Obama's entire reelection strategery is to blame Congress for not producing legislation that he wants, that will create jobs, that will reduce the deficit, all this smoke and mirror stuff, all these lies coming out of the White House. Obama's entire strategy is no deal. That equals a do-nothing Congress. Legislation that will drive the country further into debt and put billions into the pockets of public sector union campaign donors and foot soldiers, that's what Obama wants.
If Republicans don't bend to greater spending demands, the president has an entire campaign strategy to accuse them of being a do-nothing Congress, and the Republicans, all they have to do to fall into it trap is have no deal. Obama's praying for super committee failure. His $1 billion campaign requires it. Now, this article by Anne Kornblut is either naive or she's a highly skilled partisan liar. You roll the dice yourself on that. "White House officials are quietly bracing for 'super committee' failure, with advisers privately saying they are pessimistic that the 12-member Congressional panel will find a way to cut $1.2 trillion from the deficit as required. In public, however, the official administration stance is that failure is not an option." That's a lie. Not only is failure not an option, failure is the goal.
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