The Extent of Democratic Policy of Change~Cry

Via HotAir:

Actually, this is practically a paint-by-numbers primer on the Democratic strategy on entitlement reform. Step 1: Declare that the Republican plan will kill people. Step 2: Denounce demagoguery. Step 3: Offer no plans of your own. Step 4: Feign offense when challenged on strategy. And finally, Step 5: Walk off in a huff without doing anything. The “walking off” part of Step 5 is actually optional; I call it Fleebagger Style, but Democrats should feel free to do nothing while staying in place, kind of like Harry Reid does in the Senate.

Former Clinton adviser Simon Rosenberg was kind enough to demonstrate the technique, with optional snark added for good measure. Radio host Ben Ferguson provides the post-game analysis at the end (via Greg Hengler):

Medved Talks About the Budget Concessions Following the Averted Shutdown of Government

From the video description:

Michael Medved has a way of putting into perspective good news. This is often overlooked in the the political skirmishes that often make up the political junkies world — good news that is. Medved also takes disagreeing calls from the listeners as to what we won/lost in this most recent budget battle. These calls from concerned conservative allow for deeper understanding as to what we won in this first step to dealing with our fiscal crisis. And it is a crisis.

This audio should be parred with another audio portion hours before the proposed shutdown on Friday (vimeo.com/​22149435), as well as an understanding that all involved have their eyes set on bigger cuts (hotair.com/​archives/​2011/​04/​11/​boehner-next-fight-will-be-trillions-not-billions/​).

For more clear thinking like this from Michael Medved… I invite you to become a Medhead: medvedmedhead.com/​

Bigger Fish To Fry-2012

The following is from the guest filler to the Michael Medved Show from the afternoon before the averted shutdown who took the reigns of the show due to Medved running late because of travel delays. He made a point with a caller that was very, very forceful:

This from FoxNews Election Headquarters:

While Republicans wanted to cut more spending in Saturday’s early morning compromise to keep the government open, they think they got the better of the deal.

Here’s why: HR1 was originally to seek spending cuts of $32 billion until Tea Party conservatives insisted on more than $ 60 billion. House Speaker John Boehner won more cuts than he originally sought and got the Senate to agree to votes to defund the health care reform law and groups like the nation’s largest abortion provider Planned Parenthood – once votes Senate Majority leader Harry Reid said he’d never allow to come to the floor.Back on February 3, Reid called $32 billion in cuts “extreme” and “draconian.”

At a news conference New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., agreed, “I happen to think some of their cuts are extreme and go overboard. But every week they keep upping the ante and proposing extreme cuts.”

Over the next decade the cuts are expected to save hundreds of billions of dollars.

The deal mandates a host of studies and audits of Obama administration policies. It also blocks additional funds for the IRS sought by the Obama administration and bans federal funding of abortion in Washington, D.C.

The history of offers on this bill goes something like this. Democrats first offered no cuts, then $4 billion, then $6.5 billion, then $33 billion, then settled at $38.5 billion.

Boehner made numerous adjustments to his offer in recent days too, but started at $32 billion, then with a Tea Party push went to $62 billion, then dropped to $40 billion, then $38.5 billion.

Democrats claimed they met Republicans halfway after the $10 billion in cuts that already passed this year were approved. They settled late Friday night at three and a half times more.

Boehner came in $8.5 billion higher than the halfway point between his high offer of $61 billion in cuts and the Democrats opening bid of zero cuts.

It was not a totally lopsided bargain. Dems have some silver linings. There were no votes on defunding the EPA or PBS and NPR. Democrats fought for and won a $2 billion cut from the Department of Defense, knocking the military appropriation for the rest of the year down to $513 billion.

But the GOP had to be able to see this as a win in the end, because it is puny compared to what they want to do next.

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan’s 2012 budget resolution proposes cuts of $5 TRILLION in the next 10 yrs.

But the resolution is a non-binding roadmap for the committees to use as they approve tax and spending bills for next year, the resolution will never be signed into law by the president.

The next battle with consequences begins in a matter of two short weeks when the accumulated U.S. debt will be nearing it’s $14 trillion legal limit.  So Congress will have to vote to raise the ceiling so Uncle Sam can borrow still more money.

The administration has said it will need to be raised between April 15 and May 31 or the U.S. could default and create a new fiscal crisis of unknowable magnitude. Fiscal hawks plan to demand strict, enforceable spending caps, triggers for across the board cuts, and austerity measures in exchange for raising the debt limit.

This short-term agreement was just a beginning.

Hopefully this is the micro of the macro to come.