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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

John Boehner’s Line in the Sand

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  May 10th, 2011 at 05:00 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Last night, Speaker John Boehner addressed the Economic Club of New York and drew a line in the sand in the debt ceiling fight. It was a monumental game changer for the GOP and puts them back on offense.

Let me back up briefing and note that the Washington Post’s own left leaning editorial board came out swinging on Sunday against the Democrats’ opposition to the Republicans’ Medicare plans. Yes, *that* Washington Post.

It is with that buttressing him that Speaker Boehner gave last night’s speech. It was a doozy.

In it, he said,


Without significant spending cuts and reforms to reduce our debt, there will be no debt limit increase. And the cuts should be greater than the accompanying increase in debt authority the president is given.

We should be talking about cuts of trillions, not just billions.

They should be actual cuts and program reforms, not broad deficit or debt targets that punt the tough questions to the future.

And with the exception of tax hikes — which will destroy jobs — everything is on the table. That includes honest conversations about how best to preserve Medicare, because we all know, with millions of Baby Boomers beginning to retire, the status quo is unsustainable.

Now, we are talking about a Speaker who promised $100 billion, then $70 billion, then $35 billion, and got only $353 million in non-accounting gimmick cuts. But this sounds like John Boehner has figured out that he is going to have to lead from the right.

Assuming Boehner is serious here and wants to move forward without typical Washington accounting gimmicks, this is a solid and bold move. The Democrats have yet to offer up any real cuts in Washington’s budget. Every cut the GOP comes up with gets attacked for killing old people and kids.

It’s time for Barack Obama to get serious. With John Boehner drawing a line in the sand at trillions of cuts, Mr. Obama better come up with some solid suggestions

And if that was not enough, Jim DeMint is drawing a line in the sand too. You want his support? You must hold the line on the budget. I hope he applies this to incumbent Senators and not just challengers and Presidential nominees.

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COMMENTS

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  • bilduff45

    It’s time for Boehner to stand firm. As a fellow Ohioan, I have written to him several times in regards to doing his job and not worrying about re-election.
    This sleezy bunch that was just elected won’t have to worry about retiring from the House or Senate if they cannot follow their promises they made to Tea Party members.

    I will spend all of my time to defeat any candidate that has to co-opt with Democrats so that the media doesn’t say nasty things about them.

  • bk

    It’s been quite windy across much of the eastern half of the country lately. Let’s hope that doesn’t blow away his line.

    Recently Boehner accepted Obama’s line in the sand for Planned Parenthood. Obviously that’s not going to change, so how long will it take Boehner to wilt under the endless “they want to throw all the poor people out in the street and end all social programs” attack that’s sure to come?

    Will the various squishy Republicans in the House be willing to go balls to the wall and reject anything the White House comes up with unless it has REAL matching cuts while Geithner and the press are saying they are ignoring an emergency that will lead us to ruin?

    He’s saying the right things. It remains to be seen if he and his colleagues will stick to it or not. Pardon me if I’m less than optimistic about that.

  • romack

    Career politicians can’t be trusted.
    This is why we need term limits.
    When you know you only have so much time to perform the duties you were elected to do, playing political games is less likely to occur.

  • romack

    Career politicians can’t be trusted.
    This is why we need term limits.
    When you know you only have so much time to perform the duties you were elected to do, playing political games is less likely to occur.

  • barrowmrb

    I HAVE NOT SEEN ANYTHING FROM JOHN BOENER EXCEPT
    WEAKNESS.

    HIS LINE IN THE SAND IS GOOD FOR SAND CASTLES AND NOTHING ELSE.

    WE WILL LOOSE FOREVER UNLESS WE GET RID OF THE
    WASHINGTON INSIDERS AND GET TEA PARTY TYPE CONGRESSMEN INSIDE THE BELTWAY.

  • popster

    It should be a straight up NO.

  • renny

    The Reps. have got to take the bit between their teeth and say no debt limit raise unless—-and stick to it.

    Revenues have increased some, so the debt limit prob. has been moved to Aug. It could be moved into the fall. A good time to run into various election campaigns.

    On another note, see the NY Post today in Business, and read how John Crudele explains again the Dept of Labor;s hoaxing of unemployment stats so that unemployment rises to 9% again while the Dept boasts over 400,000 new jobs created. Half of them are made out of thin air.

  • dalexgo67

    The reality is Boehner does not have the votes in the House to pass a plan that will also succeed in the Senate. He will need Democrats to pass anything because he will lose his freshman class on any negotiated compromise.

    He knows this and so do the President and Senate Majority leader. His hand is further weakened by the Ryan budget disaster as Republicans in the Senate are abandoning him. Furthermore, his no tax pledge runs a foul of the majority of Americans according to major polls and risks making Republicans look less than sincere about the deficit.

    We should accept Boehner’s comments for what they are – rhetoric to advance his negotiating position and not a marker upon which expectations should be built.

  • mspector

    Someone in the Congressional GOP has to take and hold a strong stand, and Boehner is the House Speaker. It should be him. It has to be him. But if the recent budget shenanigans are any indication, it won’t be him. He showed qualities as a negotiator and a capitulator, but also that (like SNL’s Mr. Lubner) he was apparently born without a spine. Under his guidance “trillions” will almost certainly morph into “billions” and then into “millions” because, after all, it’s the best we can get for now.

    As things stand, the debt is about 94% of GDP. There is no reason to raise the debt ceiling unless one wants to allow more spending. But until we get a handle on spending the deficit/debt problem cannot be solved. Is Boehner going to grow a set this time around? It remains to be seen.

  • gunslingr45

    Say go a step further. Revise their self imposed retirement plan and take a hefty pay cut. Make them pass a law that basically says they are no better than us and they can pass NO laws to benefit themselves!

  • silentcal2012

    Boehner didnt figure anything out. Boehner is in it for the long haul. There are dozens of battles to fight and he has limited leverage to do anything about it. The internet snipers and micromanagers think they are holding him acountable, but are making themselves irrelevant by their incessant unrealistic, whining.

  • http://www.patriotactionnetwork.com/profile/semperfi sirjason

    ?Washington has also kept most of our nation’s vast energy resources under lock and key for decades, over the clear objections of the American people — the people who own those resources.” Speaker Boehner

    Au contraire Mr. Speaker, YOU and the other professional, political, parasites have authorised the federal government to ‘STEAL LAND’ from the states where ALL of America’s resources are located!

    WHY? Quite simple! This IS all part of the Grand Scam of the Zionist Bilderberger Group’s New World Order
    Agenda 21 to preseve ALL of the mineral and oil resources for their eventual control of the world!

    The links below are undisputed FACTS pertaining to America, Americans, American Resources and American enslavement!!

    http://www.nationalatlas.gov/printable/fedlands.html
    http://spinpolitico.com/video/global-governance16 >
    http://agendatwentyone.wordpress.com/
    http://4wheeldrive.about.com/b/2009/09/23/hr-1925-the-newest-federal-land-grab-to-snatch-up-9-million-more-acres.htm
    http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/25599
    www.Freedomadvocates.org’

  • johnt

    Time, as always, will tell.

  • Common_Cents

    “should” being the operative word here.

    So tough talkin Boehner will start out at trillions to end up eclipsing the $353M to maybe $354M in cuts.

  • ceili_dancer

    N/T

  • YnotNOW

    Will Boehner use the excuse of 1/2 of 1/3 of Government within his control (versus the reality that the US House has primiary reponsibility for budget proposals)? Will he accept promises of $2 Trillion in cuts over the next 10 years in return for increasing the debt limit $2 Trillion now? (we know that promises of future budgets never seem to work out the way they were promised). Will the $2 Trillion in cuts end up being more smoke-and-mirrors that cuts from an unrealistic baseline of future projections, and then we find out that the actual dollars spent will be a miniscule amount less than current spending?

    Boehner is talking a good line, but I have heard that before. Once again, I will give him some benefit of the doubt, but will continue to watch the details and hold all our representatives accountable.

  • YnotNOW

    Will Boehner use the excuse of 1/2 of 1/3 of Government within his control (versus the reality that the US House has primiary reponsibility for budget proposals)? Will he accept promises of $2 Trillion in cuts over the next 10 years in return for increasing the debt limit $2 Trillion now? (we know that promises of future budgets never seem to work out the way they were promised). Will the $2 Trillion in cuts end up being more smoke-and-mirrors that cuts from an unrealistic baseline of future projections, and then we find out that the actual dollars spent will be a miniscule amount less than current spending?

    Boehner is talking a good line, but I have heard that before. Once again, I will give him some benefit of the doubt, but will continue to watch the details and hold all our representatives accountable.

  • YnotNOW

    Boehner’s negotiating position is actually quite strong. While he may have to compromise some to get anything through the Senate, he can still refuse to raise the debt limit any more than the Senate agrees to cut spending. Remember that all funding bills have to start in the House.

  • YnotNOW

    Boehner’s negotiating position is actually quite strong. While he may have to compromise some to get anything through the Senate, he can still refuse to raise the debt limit any more than the Senate agrees to cut spending. Remember that all funding bills have to start in the House.

  • themarathonman

    …Boehner had to take his cue from WaPo to develop his sudden testicular fortitude to come out strong on the debt ceiling: “Oh, now that WaPo has come out in favor of the Paul Ryan position, I can now act tough!”

    It reminds me of the old Looney Toons Butch and Chester cartoon, with the little dog following the big bulldog around and only getting tough after the bulldog went first. Pathetic!

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    Take a look at the Republican Party committees in his congressional district. I have. He has no worries. Apparently the conservative Republicans in his congressional district do not care enough to take out Boehner in the primary election. Go here for more information:

    http://www.redstate.com/coldwarrior/2011/03/22/want-to-change-john-boehner-it%E2%80%99s-up-to-the-conservatives-in-his-district/

    The situation in Boehner’s district exists in most of the districts of the “squishy” Republican House members — not enough conservatives actually inside the Republican Party in the precinct committeemen slots where they can actually help to GOTV in their neighborhoods door-to-door.

    This is what needs to be done. It’s not hard. But it takes participation by conservatives in the actual political process inside the Republican Party, and, yes, that means actually going to your local Republican Party committee meetings and — egads! — maybe even knocking on a few doors in your precinct to help Get Out The Vote for conservative incumbent-challengers:

    http://www.redstate.com/coldwarrior/2011/04/10/what-we-need-to-do-as-soon-as-possible-why-we-need-to-do-it-why-it-will-work-if-we-unite-now/

    The “public interest group” strategy and “blogging” strategy is not going to change the behavior of the incumbents or change the outcome of the primary elections. But a “we the people” strategy, whereby “we the people” actually participate in party politics, can change the outcome of the elections — and that is what it’s all about, no?

    http://www.unifiedpatriots.com/2011/04/19/the-public-interest-group-and-blogger-strategies-vs-the-we-the-people-strategy/

    What will it take to get more conservatives involved in the actual ball game of politics — party politics? Wish I knew.

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior

  • bcochran1981

    …DailyKos or Code Pink or maybe, does Ahmadinejad have a blog? We don’t really do grand conspiracies around here. Other than the VRWC, of course.

  • texan4america

    have written numerous times to Boehner — obviously to no avail. Conservatives elected Boehner — but he is turning out to be “not so much as conservative” as we thought. Boehner “caved in” on the budget deal. I know, I know. He did the best he could. Bull! IF he had “drawn in line in the sand” then — we wouldn’t be where we are now — which is … having to start all over again. Time for some “real” conservatives to be elected.

  • texan4america

    have written numerous times to Boehner — obviously to no avail. Conservatives elected Boehner — but he is turning out to be “not so much as conservative” as we thought. Boehner “caved in” on the budget deal. I know, I know. He did the best he could. Bull! IF he had “drawn in line in the sand” then — we wouldn’t be where we are now — which is … having to start all over again. Time for some “real” conservatives to be elected.

  • aesthete

    Let’s see if he can match those words with actions. In the meantime, let’s look for someone with more spine and commitment than Boehner for Speaker.

  • texan4america

    Amen!

  • sarg01

    Congress did away with that little Constitutional requirement. Now they play a game where the Senate takes a House passed bill to name a post office or something and amends it, replacing the existing post-office-naming bill in its entirety and replacing it with say … Obamacare. Voila … the bill was now “initiated in the House”.

  • tulsajack

    Boehner can say whatever he likes. I don’t trust him. He’s late to the party: he does not seem to grasp the extent of the Obama disaster, or have the guts to deal with it. No applause until we see acts that evidence serious intent, and then only when he achieves meaningful results. Right now Boehner to me is just another drone politician.

  • http://theheartlander.wordpress.com/ heartlander

    “Every cut the GOP comes up with gets attacked for killing old people and kids.”

    That’s pretty rich — considering the Dem’s predilection for death panels (Obama: just give all those old white ladies a pain pill) — and of course the Dems’ pathological obsession for offing babies before birth.

  • rightwingmom52

    if people continue to get involved and elect more conservatives, Boehner will at least have to worry about his re-election as Speaker of the House.

    By the way, I have my second local Republican party meeting tonight. The Alabama GOP executive director is our speaker. I’ll let you know if I can drag anymore info out of anyone.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    to getting more conservatives involved at the precinct level so that we can elect more constitutional conservatives to public office, and that means making sure they first win the all-important, traditionally-very-low-turnout primary elections. I have my committee meeting tonight, too. I hope the speaker at your meeting does not “hog” the meeting time by droning on and that you ask him some hard questions.

    Good luck! And thank you for getting into the real ball game.

    CW

  • rightwingmom52
  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    and these questions come to mind for the Exec. Director:

    Why isn’t there any information on the Alabama Republican Party web site about:

    The bylaws of the state committee?

    How to become a voting member of the Alabama Republican Party?

    Why it would be a good idea to become a voting member of the Alabama Republican Party?

    How “the system” works, that is, how one becomes a precinct committeeman, how one becomes a member of the county committee, how one becomes a member of the state committee, etc.?

    Gee, it’s almost like they don’t want anyone to know how to get “inside” the Party itself, but, rather, just get people to donate time and money to the Party.

    Apart from the web site, how many precinct committeeman slots exist in each county and how many of them are filled and, across the state, what percentage of the slots are filled? (If he doesn’t know, ask him whether he thinks that might be something that the Exec. Dir. of the state committee ought to know.) What was the state-wide number of precinct committeemen in 2008? What percentage of the quota at that time was filled?

    What is the date of the state-wide primary election for the U.S. House seats, when do the ballots get mailed out, and what plan does the state committee have to help Get Out The Vote for that election? Same questions as to the general election.

    I hope that helps.

    Thanks,

    CW

  • rightwingmom52
  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    with the pap answers that “they’re looking into it” or “studying it.” It would only take a few minutes for them to draft a “how to become a precinct committeeman in Alabama” guide and post it prominently on the front page of their web site.

    I asked Reince Priebus the same question on the radio about two weeks ago and he gave this long drawn out blah blah blah answer about how the RNC was studying how it communicates with the grass roots using social media blah blah blah and how it costs money blah blah blah. I wasn’t able to interrupt and focus him back to the original question: when will you post information prominently on the GOP.com web site about the need for Republicans to take the next step and come on board as voting members of the Party? At the end of his non-answer he was at the end of his interview and he dropped off. It would cost virtually nothing to post on the web site the need for PCs and a brief explanation of how to become one.

    If he gives you excuses, let him know that you know that there are plenty of other Republican Party committees that “spill the beans” and tell the unwashed masses how to get involved inside the Party.

    We’ve got that information on our Maricopa County web site:

    http://www.maricopagop.org/precinct-committeeman/step-by-step-guide-to-becoming-a-precinct-committeeman-2/

    The AZ GOP web site also provides step-by-step information about how to become a PC:

    http://www.azgop.org/about/precinct-committeeman

    (I know this doesn’t cost anything because I wrote what most of the content at both of these sites and then got the webmasters to place it there; the webmaster of the Maricopa County committee is a PC I recruited and he volunteered to be the webmaster when I asked him to do so and he’s done a terrific job.)

    In 2008, the Minnesota GOP prepared a tutorial video starring its then-Chairman about how to become a voting member of the MN GOP:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=izryp_Q60vM

    Good luck!

    CW

  • freemanja1991

    At least plus defunding the automatic funding obamacare

  • rightwingmom52

    along with copies from the links you provided and The Precinct Project info. If he doesn’t have time to talk tonight, he’ll at least have my questions in hand, and I’ll hound him for answers.

  • ceili_dancer

    .

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    do, too. Hand something to them if you can’t get the questions in and then follow up.

    I hope you will do a Diary about how it turns out tonight. The important point is that you, by going to your local meeting, have an opportunity not only to eyeball your state party executive director, but you’ll also be able to see how he handles questions and, possibly, yours.

    Good luck!

    Thanks,

    CW

  • davidmadison

    Boehner’s blowing it. He’s not talking tough. He’s already decided to compromise, and do it the Democrat’s way. (Raise the limit and spend! My Liberal baby needs a new pair of shoes!)

    We elected Republicans to reign in debt spending: What happened to the balanced budget we wanted?

    We’ve gone and hired a RINO to decorate our dome (Capital building), so we could be more at ease here, and call the GOP home. But he’s thrown out conservative values, and decided to spend, and spend, and spend, with a neon sign to point the way to disaster at the tally of R-votes called.

  • davidmadison

    We?ve gone and hired some RINOs to decorate our dome (Capital building), so we could be more at ease here, and call the GOP home. But they’ve thrown out conservative values, and decided to spend, and spend, and spend, with a neon sign to point the way to our disaster in the end.

  • davidmadison

    We?ve gone and hired some RINOs to decorate our dome (Capital building), so we could be more at ease here, and call the GOP home. But they?ve thrown out conservative values, and decided to spend, and spend, and spend, with a national debt that points the way to disaster in the end.

  • http://uslibertyjournal.blogspot.com/ Daezy

    They key words here are “Assuming Boehner is serious…”

    If Boehner doesn’t stick to his guns, we are in serious trouble. This country is in serious trouble.

    If we have to wait until the last minute to get DeMint or Ryan in the race, I’m okay with that, just as long as either one of them runs.

    Oh, and for the record. Barack Obama will NEVER get serious, except for advancing himself, as he has done from day one. I have never seen anyone so full of himself and full of hot air.