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100 Billion Dollar Backlash

By: Ali A. Akbar (Diary)  |  January 8th, 2011 at 11:07 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Promoted from the diaries by Dan Spencer.

“We will roll back government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, saving us at least $100 billion in the first year alone,” plainly reads a section now under much scrutiny in the House Republican’s ‘A Pledge to America.’ It was a section that was written by the now Majority Whip, Rep. Kevin McCarthy of California’s 22nd district.

Unfortunately an “aide” is credited with telling the media the figure will likely be $50 to $60 billion. This was the House GOP’s first hit job and the media didn’t even wait for the a committee hearing.

While the earliest I can seem to find legitimate media coverage appears in The New York Times’ Jackie Calmes, ABC News too followed before the video feed even began for the House. It was an open party after that. Media institutions started reporting on the story without citing a source, passing it off to the public as fact that had already happened. Let’s pretend that liberal blogs didn’t lead off with the unsourced claim.

If you were watching CNN the meme began with Wolf Biltzer and Dana Bash, after they were done attacking Oversight Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa for using the word “corrupt” back in the fall, seriously. Every single show, hosts and correspondents, during this historic shift in the balance of power packaged focused on the $100 billion day one “broken promise.”

John King interviewing Rep. Tim Scott from South Carolina’s 1st district brought up this issue and this issue alone. Scott said the House should go after $300 billion and at least try, which would also allow the House to prevent raising the debt ceiling, and the war that would ensue. He went further to concede that it would be a broken promise if Republicans couldn’t find at least $100 billion this year. Democratic operatives leaped for joy as the media began collecting what will eventually be sold to the public as “conflicting” statements on the $100 billion “broken promise.”

The DCCC should be indicted for inciting a riot.

Tea party activists, groups like One Nation PAC, good representatives like Scott, and even the general public believe there is at least $100 billion that can be cut out there. If the House leadership fails to deliver, it’ll create some significant blow-back.

Was Calmes approached by a Republican staffer? Highly unlikely. With the Washington liberal blogs leading the story, it’s more likely that there’s some talent at one of these Democratic campaign committees that deserves a gold star.

This tactic is among the best you can use in the business. Create underlying murmur, give a credible media institution a tip and a link, that media institution follows up with a mid-level staffer, and you got the opposition playing defense.

Worse off, while the many GOP freshmen present a unique communications challenge, they’re already falling into the media construct. Accept the diversity of opinion within the caucus, but show some discipline.

The House Republicans got beat to the punch.

The first response is less than acceptable. House Republican leadership is pushing back asserting that half the fiscal year is already over, which it’s not-it’s closer to one fourth, and that the Democrats failed to pass a regular budget eliminating the opportunities Republicans thought they’d have, which they didn’t-running on the fact that Democrats refused to pass a regular budget. I predict the Republicans will regret backing themselves into this even shorter time-frame to find the cuts.

The Pledge was useful, but it is time to stop so heavily promoting it, lest Republicans fall by it. Tea party movement leaders are just looking for an excuse to rile up their base.

Maybe conservative bloggers were right. Erick Erickson of RedState said the Pledge lacked substance, while Ed Morrissey of HotAir gave it a little more credit with possibly “getting the process started,” while acknowledging it was a little “gimmicky.”

Washington politicos tend to stick to something even when it’s beyond salvage. Cling to the promises and principles of the Pledge, but the constant attempt at promoting it isn’t being grasped by the general public but it’s flaws will be portrayed as a “broken promise” by the mainstream media.

Even the following morning, the House’s most trained communications weapon and the newly minted Majority Leader Rep. Eric Cantor is on CNN responding. His approach is simple, avoid assigning a figure and salvage the language around it. Jon Ward of the Daily Caller points out that powerful Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan’s, known for being able to hold his own, responses are “technical and legalistic-sounding.”

It’s not a winning strategy and 241 House Republicans are not going to be able to do it. Find the $100 billion or accept the meme. Use the government domain to publish simple and savvy infographics showing the cuts as we progress throughout the year. Put the public on notice that Democrats too should be responsible for finding $50 billion in cuts of existing funding.

The public wants a reduced and less financially-bloated federal government. Republicans can win this, but moving the goal post this early will result in failure.

——–

Ali A. Akbar is a Republican political online communications strategist and formerly President of Republic Modern Media. An activist and veteran operative in the field with roles in notable insurgent campaigns, Akbar is a key voice on the tea party, new technologies, and web design and development.

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COMMENTS

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  • speciallist

    we have multiple fronts in this battle

    http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0111/47223.html

    • victrola

      Something like a balanced budget rule that Rand Paul has been suggesting would be a much better way to frame the argument.

      • msctex

        . . .for which I would support an Amendment to the Constitution. It is easily that important, and would prove a wonderful unintended legacy for Barrack Obama.

        A forcibly balanced budget, combined with a revamped, equitable tax system, would be the end of the Democratic Party. They ran out of reasons to exist long ago; now it is only a matter of cutting off the funding which allows them to spend enough to pretend they are necessary.

        • writeblock

          The House needs to stop worrying about the media and Dem opposition and just do it. If they can’t cut radically, then these guys are not up to doing what needs to be done to curtail the ever-expanding socialist state. We would then need to turn to a Constitutional convention for a solution.

      • rsjt

        They need to target and announce specific agencies, overlapping and obsolete programs and any other part of the federal bueracracy that is better handled by the states. This is where real and permanent savings can be achieved. A balanced budget rule would force such cuts. Make the President veto it if necessary.

        The President ran on a promise to make these kind of cuts but now everyone knows he did not mean it. I can’t name a single program the administration has announced will be cut outside of Defense.

        • izoneguy

          Here is $10.5 Billion:

          The Fiscal Year (FY) 2010 Budget request represents the highest level of funding for EPA in its 39-year history.

          The EPA

          • http://republicmodern.com Ali A. Akbar

            Amen

        • reddog53

          The MSM and Democrats will be doing everything they can to discredit the new majority and Speaker, and everyone knows this is so. Let them try, and do your best to ignore them — they’re craving attention, so we should deny them what they seek.

          By throwing rocks this soon, they hope to spark some fights within the Republican caucus and pick off some of the ardent supporters who want “everything done yesterday.”

          I have confidence that they will find $100B this year and even more in the next couple of years. We need to watch carefully and be ready to hold some folks accountable, but I think that some of the criticism is way premature.

          • earlgrey
          • carolina

            I think the media and dems look stupid at this early date. The repubs have had a variety of responses to this premature question. One repub said he was confident they would cut 100 bil within a calendar year. Others have mentioned a possible lower cut from the 2011 FY which ends Sept 30 (and is already funded through March 1)
            A totally consistent reply to this question would be nice…….. but, the question is premature. The ‘best’ answer might be: “wait and see”!

          • http://republicmodern.com Ali A. Akbar

            That’s the point of half of the article. It’s a premature and constructed criticism largely. However, there is disagreement within the caucus and amongst people like me who make up reliable Republican voters.

            If your entire leadership is saying we won’t find $100B this year, there’s no need to “pause and catch a breath.”

            Thanks.

          • reddog53

            If they come up with $92B in cuts will you be disappointed enough to become a Democrat?

            The old saying is that politics is the art of the possible, and frankly, trying to cut funds for a fiscal year that is already in progress is just tremendously difficult.

            Cutting funds in the government is largely about cutting people. Government Civil Service Rules make eliminating positions within weeks a very difficult thing. Canceling government contracts for services is likewise a difficult thing to do quickly. In short, it isn’t easy, and doing it too quickly may well waste more money than it saves.

          • writeblock

            with the announced 100 billion. It needs to be five times that. Funny how Congress never has a problem spending that amount when it feels the call to do so. It spends trillions with far less controversy than it encounters cutting a measly 100 billion.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    Failures for cutting programs, failures for underfunding democrat payoffs, failures for [insert favorite reason].

    They’ll also try to lay the problems of the country totally at the feet of the Republicans for “having totally been in charge the last two years” or “being obstructionist to progress” (more likely both and more) for the 2012 election cycle.

    If they keep the spending from going UP much or manage to cut some they’ll have moved a pretty doggone huge mountain as far as I’m concerned.

    • writeblock

      is the apparent lack of urgency on the part of Speaker Boehner. When asked what programs he would cut, he answered he couldn’t think of any off the top of his head. That’s not acceptable.

      We need leaders who “get it.” It’s too early to tell if Boehner does or not, but I’m starting to worry. The level of anger and sense of outrage that the rest of us feel is simply lacking in establishment Republicans. They will sometimes say the right words but the music is missing. It’s one of the reasons I personally am impatient with present field of presidential hopefuls, Sarah excluded. I want to see some sparks of impatience, some visceral response to the outrages of the past two years. Most seem like more of the same old same old to me–too lacking in the warrior spirit. Yet this is the time for battle, a time of a cold civil war between two visions for America, one of which is a push for a socialist state. When all is said and done, this is about serfdom or freedom. If government is not cut down in size, America will no longer be America. This means cutting government down to size, even eliminating whole departments. If Republicans don’t feel this need in their gut but fear upsetting the opposition party more than the tea party, then the real revolution is yet to come.

  • Ausonius

    …the budget is now over 3Trillion!

    Which means we are talking about cutting under 3% of spending!!!

    Cutting 3 cents out of every dollar: sounds almost impossible, does it not? :)

    Think of how UNFAIR it is to cut that much out of the budget, without raising taxes on “the rich” by say 10%!

    • avgjo

      last year totaled $413 billion, and it becomes clear what a joke $100 billion in cuts is. And then they can’t even manage that, from the looks of things. Sheesh.

      I do hope that the pressure is big on them to do this until they do, so that the charge of not keeping their word to their base is not true. Then they need to up the ante and make SERIOUS cuts which will actually dent the debt.

      • izoneguy

        Then what do these wankers do???

        Spend more?

        The only way out is to drill, mine & sell as much oil & coal as the world will buy.

        Sorry folks, but the US ain’t got nothing else to offer.

        The Chinese now make almost everything you buy at WalMart & BestBuy. China now produce superior fighter aircraft that the Iranians will gladly buy with money from their oil sales. All those toys you buy at ToyR Us has funded China very well.

  • Common_Cents

    Will they ever realize that much of the MSM are their enemies? Baiting them in interviews? Mischaracterizing, misquoting to make them look bad?

    Every REP should have in the back of their minds that nearly any MSM reporter is their enemy.

    You can never put the genie back in the bottle. The MSM will always destroy you with the big lie headline and cover their butts days months years later with a sectionD page 22 correction if they are called out and caught.

    I am disturbed that being in CONgress is much more about media celebrity these days. They shouldn’t be treated as celebs, but rather servants and grunts on behalf of America. We need to do something about the threat of limiting media access by the administration. This is a big problem behind getting real checks and balances by the media back.

    • http://www.dirkworld.com dirkbelig

      Rush Limbaugh spoke to the Class of 1994 about how the media wasn’t their friend and to not get swept up by the glitz of Disneyland-on-the-Potomac. That worked, didn’t it? Perhaps another talk, with the failure and gone-nativism of Newt’s troops highlighted, along with a reminder that the Tea Party people that put them there are perfectly happy to primary and whack any who go wobbly, would do them some good.

    • http://republicmodern.com Ali A. Akbar

      I agree. Representatives relish in it all. They need to do more legislating, less media appearances.

      • http://charlemagne-the-hammer.blogspot.com/ DerKrieger

        There are millions of engaged, aware, and active members of the Tea Party and general public. The GOP should post the entire US budget online for We the People to scour for opportunities to slash the budget. The budget of each and every department and agency should post their detailed budgets down to the paper clip. Obvious exceptions can and should be made to the CIA, State Dept, and other entities engaged in national security.

        I guarantee you that with that level of transparency and public scrutiny at least $100 billion in cuts can be found.

        How hard really would it be to put the budget online?

  • nae32

    but in my book when you “Pledge” to do something that means you do it. Don’t tell me that your fairly concise list of policy proposals (The Pledge to America) was just a set of amorphous guidelines. This is an especially flip flop since the promise wasn’t “maybe 100B if we’re lucky”, but “at least 100B in the first year”. That really isn’t an impossible number to reach. If the Democrats block it with a negligible amount of support from Republicans then so be it, we’ll see what happens in 2012. But if the Republicans don’t even try to reach 100B, which is chump change if you’ve ever looked at all the crap in our budget, then a pox on them and they should be replaced.

  • http://www.buckforcolorado.com bjwilson83

    Why is the house GOP quibbling over whether it hast to cut $50 or $100 billion? We need cuts on the order of 1 TRILLION dollars. If they can’t even do 10% of that, whether in a year or half a year, they’re not really being serious about the debt.

    • http://republicmodern.com Ali A. Akbar

      We need to put a fire under their rears. We need to get serious and radical.

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