On debt ceiling, Graham vows to 'play that game'

[TomCADem]

Source: Maddow Blog

With memories of last year's brutal debt-ceiling crisis very much on his mind, President Obama said last week, "We can't afford to go there again." He added, "The only thing the debt ceiling is good as a weapon for is destroying your credit rating.... I will not play that game."

This morning on Fox News, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) responded, "Yes, we will play that game." For those who can't watch clips online, Graham's on-air comments about the "rude awakening" awaiting the White House were pretty remarkable.

"In February or March you have to raise the debt ceiling. And I can tell you this, there is a hardening on the Republican side. We're not going to raise the debt ceiling. We're not going to let Obama borrow any more money or any American Congress borrow any more money until we fix this country from becoming Greece. And that requires significant entitlement reform to save Social Security and Medicare from bankruptcy. Social Security is going bankrupt in about 20, 25 years. Medicare is going bankrupt in 15 or 20 years. [...]

"Yes, we will play that game, Mr. President, because it's not a game. The game you're playing is small ball. You're talking about raising rates on the top 2% that would run the government for 11 days. You just got re-elected. How about doing something big that's not liberal? How about doing something big that really is bipartisan? Every big idea he has is a liberal idea that drowns us in debt. How about manning up here, Mr. President and use your mandate to bring this country together to stop us from becoming Greece."


Read more: http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/10/15821297-on-debt-ceiling-graham-vows-to-play-that-game?lite

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Besides the fact that Graham's statements are filled with falsehoods, the fact that Graham thinks it is entirely legitimate to threaten to default unless Democrats fulfill his wishlist is insane. Republicans think it is okay to publicly threaten to default unless Democrats agree to leave tax rates for the richest 2 percent alone because they insist that we have "spending problem, not a revenue problem." Republicans complain that we are like Greece, then go out and prove it by driving this Nation into an unforced default.

Yet, the media gives Republicans a free pass and accuses President Obama of overreaching by insisting that the top 2 percent pay more even though Democrats are agreeing to protect tax cuts for 98 percent of Americans.

Finally, Graham is saying that to "man up" President Obama needs to protect tax cuts for the top 2 percent at the expense of benefits for the middle class? It is an interesting view of what is masculine.

[zbdent]

1. When the RWers point out that Obama was against raising the "debt ceiling" back when,

why the (#&$$%^(%&() is it that the "liberally-biased media" won't point out to the miserable **** "making the point" that the "fiscal conservatives" were the ones in control, and if they actually were living up to their rhetoric, there would have been NO NEED TO RAISE THE DEBT CEILING UNDER THEIR WATCH???

[alfredo]

5. Are they trying to force him to take unilateral action to protect the economy, and then try to

impeach him for doing something they see as "unconstitutional"?

[sheshe2]

7. +1

[donco]

2. If i remember right

South Carolina has a few military bases that would look a lot better in a blue or even a purple state starting next year.

[Protalker]

6. We are thinking along same lines

[starroute]

9. I remember Nixon doing something like that

I had a friend who lost a job when Nixon pulled NASA funding out of Massachusetts. I don't recall the details at this point, but Googling turns up that in December 1969, Nixon closed NASA's Electronics Research Center in Cambridge, which he supposedly saw as a Kennedy pork project. That sounds like it.

I also find that Nixon later closed Westover Air Force Base and the Charlestown Navy Yard to punish Massachusetts for being the only state he didn't carry in 1972. And that he wanted to retaliate against MIT for something or other by not renewing their government contracts.

I'm not really sure we want to play the Nixon game at this point. But the precedent is certainly there.

[donco]

11. I'd play that card inna minute

especially against that sanctimonious twit.I wonder what kinda hoops you have to go thru to close a base. Theres a few more offshore that would save a few quid if they were closed as well.

[alfredo]

3. They seem willing to destroy their party and take the country with them.

Several wise men in the past have reminded us that the Constitution is not a suicide pact, but it appears the Republicans want a murder suicide pact. If that is what they are doing, I'd hope they do the suicide part first.

[Protalker]

4. Fight them President Obama

The Southern Strategy is on the wane. Kill as much of the defense budget as you can. Threaten the defense tit and see how things play out.

[FreeBC]

8. Thanks for the honesty Lindsey

Now there's no reason to pretend you and the republicans are negotiating in good faith.

[sheshe2]

10. Hey Lindsey...sweetie? Where the fuck were you when your party under GWB...

Ran two wars on a credit card...where were you conservative IDEAS when you...

At the beginning of the Bush presidency, the United States debt limit was $5.95 trillion. Despite promises that he would pay off the debt in 10 years, Bush increased the debt to $9.815 trillion by the end of his term, with plenty of help from the four Republicans currently holding Congressional leadership positions: Speaker John Boehner, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl. ThinkProgress compiled a breakdown of the five debt limit increases that took place during the Bush presidency and how the four Republican leaders voted:


June 2002: Congress approves a $450 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $6.4 trillion. McConnell, Boehner, and Cantor vote “yea”, Kyl votes “nay.”

May 2003: Congress approves a $900 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $7.384 trillion. All four approve.

November 2004: Congress approves an $800 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.1 trillion. All four approve.

March 2006: Congress approves a $781 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $8.965 trillion. All four approve.

September 2007: Congress approves an $850 billion increase, raising the debt limit to $9.815 trillion. All four approve.

Database searches revealed no demands from the four legislators that debt increases come accompanied by drastic spending cuts, as there are now. In fact, the May 2003 debt limit increase passed the Senate the same day as the $350 billion Bush tax cuts for the wealthy.

When Bush was in office, the current Republican leaders viewed increasing the debt limit as vital to keeping America’s economy running. But with Obama in the White House, it’s nothing more than a political pawn

.

You want Obama to "man up"! What the hell do you know about being a man.If you were a man and had one ounce of humanity in your rotten shriveled soul. You would stand up for your country and for every citizen in this country...not just the 1%.

You are a disgrace to this country...you are a disgrace to humanity!

http://thinkprogress.org/

[L0oniX]

17. This info needs to be stuffed down Lindseys throat and up the GOP's ass!

[ReRe]

12. "You gotta know when to hold em, and know when to fold em"...

...sing it with me now... "Know when to walk away, and know when to run..."

What was it Clinton said at the Dem Convention? He described someone, who was it, of having Brass B___s? That's what Graham thinks he has.

Yeah, it's time for little Lindsey to fold 'em and run away.

[DallasNE]

13. Bipartisan And Republican Is An Oxymoron

And Graham would force the country into default late this winter for something that is several years away? He can't sell that proposition because it has no merit. He is fighting the wrong fight at the wrong time over the wrong issue. The appropriation bills set spending levels so that is where the good fight should be waged. Just think what would happen if you or I would go into the store and put a 55 inch flat screen on the credit card, walk out the door with the TV then refuse to pay the credit card bill when it arrived. The courts would simply rip the amount of the credit card bill from your checking account or put a lien on your property and put it up for auction. The latter is what Graham is proposing and he thinks he can sell that?

[liberal N proud]

14. Lindsey doesn't get it,does he?

Keep riding that partisan rocket Lindsey



The missile is the republican obstructionism and the rider is Lindsey Graham

[L0oniX]

15. The Pentagon should be the one going bankrupt!