Congress gets it: Geithner whips out his pocket Constitution

MoonHowler

 

After President Obama said he wasn’t going to second guess the Supreme Court Justices, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner was not as shy to put on his constitutional law professor hat:

Huffington Post:

At a Politico Playbook breakfast on May 25, Geithner was asked by host Mike Allen about the negotiations over default and the debt ceiling.

“I think there are some people who are pretending not to understand it, who think there’s leverage for them in threatening a default,” Geithner said. “I don’t understand it as a negotiating position. I mean really think about it, you’re going to say that– can I read you the 14th amendment?”

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Halperin in Time Out: Don’t call the Prez a D***

MoonHowler

It looks like my favorite morning show folks screwed up. I think Mika and Joe need to be sent to the corner also because they laughed. I heard it and laughed too but I out of reach of MSNBC.

According to Huffingtonpost.com :

WASHINGTON — The White House says an off-color remark about President Barack Obama by MSNBC analyst Mark Halperin was inappropriate.

Halperin said during an appearance Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that he thought Obama “was a dick yesterday.” The Time magazine editor at large was talking about Obama’s performance at a White House news conference on Wednesday.

White House spokesman Jay Carney said the comment was an inappropriate thing to say about any president. Carney also said he had expressed that sentiment to network executives.

Halperin quickly apologized on the air Thursday. MSNBC suspended him indefinitely hours later.

MSNBC also said Halperin’s comment was completely inappropriate and unacceptable. The network apologized to Obama.

It was inappropriate on the air. I think Halperin was set up though. I hope he isn’t suspended for more than a week. The difference between Faux News and MSNBC is that Faux walks up to the line on a continual basis but they don’t ever really cross it. They taunt it. MSNBC charges the position and crosses the line. Not often but often enough for someone to always be in time out, it seems.   Halperin apologized after the commercial break.  Apparently it wasn’t enough.

Jon Stewart is going to have a lot of material for tonight’s show.

2 am    Post Post:  And he did indeed use this incident as one of his skits. 

 

 

Glenn Beck’s Last Day

MoonHowler

Glenn Beck makes his final appearance on Fox New in the 5 pm slot today.  He ruled the roost for a while, with millions of viewers.  Many people felt he was a cult leader.  Beck started off with a bang–slamming the Obama administration and others associated as liberals.  He at one time credited himself with being a Tea Party founder.  He certainly was a cheerleader for the movement. 

What has happened?  As Beck got wilder and wilder with his accusations and inappropriate comments, moderates and those on the left complained more and more.  Groups and individuals complained to sponsors.  Beck lost many of his sponsors.  Apparently Fox News told him to tone it down because he has.  Then he just got boring and preachy. 

Media Matters tried to take credit for his departure:

Beck’s departure from his Fox show didn’t just happen — this moment is the result of constant monitoring, meticulous fact-checking, and our dogged exposure of Beck’s toxic falsehoods and attacks.

We’ve worked every day to make sure reputable journalists, political leaders, and potential advertisers understood what kind of poison Beck injected into the debate. In the end, Beck lost his ratings, his relevance and, as advertisers departed, revenue for Fox News. And we were able to show the world that hate doesn’t pay.

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Is Michele Bachmann the new Goldilocks?

MoonHowler

South Carolinian seem to be favorably impressed with Michele Bachmann.  They were somewhat put off by Romney, Pawlenty and Huntsman.   They felt they were too cold.  Conversely, Santorum, Cain, and Paul were too hot.  Conservatives just don’t think they can beat Obama.  Apparently Michele Bachmann is just right, for South Carolinians and they feel she can beat Obama.

That seems a bit premature.  The election isn’t for another year and several months.  There’s many a slip twixt the cup and the lip.  And lets not forget that Obama has been in office only 2 years and several months. 

It will be fun to watch.  Meanwhile, conservatives need to remember that moderates and Independents see Bachmann as very far right.  Huntsman and Romney (and Giuliani) are seen as more moderate Republicans.  What is going to trip up Republicans is the fact that those running in the primary have to pass the anti-Rino test.  Once they do that, they become too conservative for a general election.  Republicans need to rethink this catch-22 and perhaps put their eyes on the prize which of course, is the White House. 

How do conservatives overcome this dichotomy in reality?

Geithner Warns Sen. Johnson On Debt Ceiling

MoonHowler

Fr0m Huffingtonpost.com :

Geithner was responding to a letter Johnson sent President Barack Obama in May, signed by 22 other Senate Republicans, that argued the government would have enough revenue to continue functioning if the government hit the debt ceiling and suggested the White House should make contingency spending plans for that event.

Geithner said in his letter that many members of the GOP, including Speaker of the House John Boehner, acknowledge that raising the debt ceiling is the responsible thing to do, and he quoted Boehner saying, “I think raising the debt limit is the responsible thing to do for our country, the responsible thing for our economy … if we were to fail to increase the debt limit, we would send our economy into a tail spin.”

Geithner also noted that Senator Jim DeMint (R-S.C.), a favorite of the Tea Party, said in 2010: “You don’t have much choice if you charge something on your credit card. You have to pay for it, and that’s effectively what this debt limit is … we’ve already spent the money. The question is now, do we shut down the government or do we fund what we’ve already done?

Even conservative icon President Ronald Reagan spoke out against playing with the debt limit, according to Geithner. Reagan wrote in 1983: “This country now possesses the strongest credit in the world. The full consequences of a default — or even the serious prospect of default — by the United States are impossible and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic financial markets and on the value of the dollar in exchange markets. The Nation can ill afford to allow such a result. The risks, the costs, the disruptions, and the incalculable damage lead me to but one conclusion: the Senate must pass this legislation before the Congress adjourns.”

Why is this a political issue?  I don’t want to hear something stupid  Obama supposedly said 5-6 years ago.  It doesn’t really matter.  In fact, it is irrelevant.  Let’s put politics aside and do what needs to happen for the good of the country.  The money has already been spent.   If every American gave $5 bucks a month, think how we could reduce the debt.  Why shouldn’t we pay for it?  It is we who reaped the benefits.