What about McCain's blather about a spending freeze?

[bigtree]

McCain's proposal to eliminate all spending except for 'defense' and 'entitlements' was nothing other than Reagan and David Stockman's wet dream of 'starving' the government and bleeding it dry.

I liked Obama's response about McCain wanting to use an axe or cleaver instead of using judgment and setting priorities.

[godai]

1. Obama correctly pointed out that many programs deserve more funding. n/t

[Wetzelbill]

2. That was just stupid, as soon as he said it I thought "WTF?"

[bigtree]

4. It sounded almost like 'flat tax'

Why isn't that being highlighted as a potential (astounding) tenet of McCain's economic policy? Maybe later . . .

[Wetzelbill]

5. yeah who knows what McCain is thinking

It was a bizarre moment. I give credit for Obama to keep his cool and give a straightforward answer, I probably would have yelled and called him an effing idiot. It makes no sense either because he rattled off all the huge parts of our budget, freezing the rest of the budget to curb spending is like trying to stop a tidal wave by sticking out your hand like Superman.

[jayfish]

3. It Was A Dumb Comment But For A Different Reason.

He admitted he would not cut entitlement spending. If the RRwingers were listening carefully they will eat him up for it.

Jay

[cling2reality]

6. It was just a bullshit answer

that he does not intend to implement or ever talk about it.
He just said something to "be a mavrick"

[YDogg]

7. he pulled that out of the depths of his ass

[bigtree]

8. He's getting flack for this

from The American Prospect: http://www.prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=09&year=2008&base_name=mr_freeze

Mr. FREEZE.

Here's why it might matter: McCain has always talked about reducing spending, but has safely dodged almost all specifics on actual spending cuts, other than "earmarks" (which are not cuts at all, whatever the percent of the budget) and some defense systems like "Future Combat Systems," and some vague nonsense about savings from "victory" in Iraq. A spending freeze, on the other hand, is a very specific thing -- some programs will be in the freeze, some out. In a recession, programs that would normally cost more automatically -- like Food Stamps or Unemployment Insurance -- will be unable to respond.

Over the next few weeks, Obama (as well as the press, if it's not to much to ask) should pound relentlessly on the spending freeze: What's frozen, and what's "several other vital issues"? In a recession, are Food Stamps frozen? Student loans? Unemployment benefits? Pell Grants? S-CHIP? Low-Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP)? The list is long, and different states and constituencies naturally have their own programs that they would like to know whether McCain would freeze them or not . . . more


from HuffPo: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/marian-wright-edelman/tonights-debate-will-our_b_129797.html

Since 2001, we have spent hundreds of billions on two wars, and that doesn't even take into account anticipated further spending requests throughout the next few years to sustain these wars. Yet tonight, Senator McCain called for a federal budget freeze that would literally leave millions of children and families out in the cold . . . more

[ColbertWatcher]

9. Good point, but ...

... then again, "that's John!"