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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

The GOP Should Be Mindful Of August And Take Back Up Holding the Line

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  August 8th, 2011 at 04:46 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

A funny thing happens each August in Washington. The politicians leave and the press gets bored. It is the August silly season where stories start that sometimes snowball.

Monica Lewinsky started around August. The Chandra Levy story started in August. The “does Bush vacation too much” story started around August. The Cindy Sheehan stories started around August/ When the House GOP parked itself on the floor of the House with the lights out, that too was August.

These stories take on a life of their own with a bored press covering no news. So we can expect that the debt ceiling story and the credit rating will take on a life of its own. And we can already see online and in the press that the White House spin will be to blame the GOP and Tea Party.

The White House no longer has a commander in chief in charge, but a professional victim. Last week, it was the Arab Spring, those damn Europeans, Mother Nature, etc. Now it is all about those evil tea partiers.

For three years, Barack Obama has blamed George W. Bush for all his ills. Yes, it is true, Barack Obama inherited an economy sliding backward. But it is also true Barack Obama inherited a AAA credit rating from George W. Bush. Obama’s policies have exacerbated a bad economy and caused us to lose our credit rating.

But still, expect a full court press to blame the GOP and Tea Party.

So I have some quick advice for the GOP.

Back when S&P said it was considering a down grade, it set out two criteria to avoid losing the downgrade: (1) at least $4 trillion in cuts and (2) bipartisan support. Only the tea party movement came up with such a plan — Cut, Cap, and Balance.

It received bipartisan support in the House, came within five votes of a majority in the Senate, and not only cut $4 trillion, but put caps on future government spending and balanced the federal budget. No other plan, including the public grand bargain and Barack Obama’s own super-double-top-secret plan that no one has ever seen did that.

Were I in Republican Leadership in Washington, I would haul my butt back to D.C. right now and start fighting again for Cut, Cap, and Balance. 66% of Americans support the plan. It is the only plan that would have avoided a credit decline.

Go back and pick up the fight on the front lines for freedom. And if they just can’t, they they better point out to the new Super Committee that it was, in fact, possible to cut $4 trillion without enacting job killing tax increases and encourage them to send back as its package Cut, Cap, and Balance.

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COMMENTS

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  • bigredone

    No other comment necessary!!!

  • sowa1

    so they are demonizing the Republicans and the Tea party. If Cut, Cap and Balance would have been passed the U.S. would not have been downgraded. The main stream lunatic media constantly have Kerry and other Dems on bashing the Tea Party, which means they are bashing the American People. Those that watch those stations are being misled or I should say lied to.

  • bcomber38

    Get all the congress back to washington.These guys and gals don’t need a month off.It’s not like they’re laborers and need a rest.Is this a paid vacation?By the way no matter what the republicans do the msm will fight for democrats.I haven’t read much about townhall meetings.Are they having them?

  • radicalrighty

    Eric.

  • bigredone

    Where did all the “compromisers” go?

  • bk

    I rolled my eyes when McCain went from calling the tea party hobbits to heroes within a few days. But if it’s a sign that the establishment Republicans are coming to their senses, then perhaps it’s a positive signal.

    But I’m not holding my breath.

  • carolina

    Too much talk about cutting alarms some folks. Reagan didn’t talk about cutting govt spending – he exuded optimism about the future and economic growth. The GOP needs a positive message.
    The more economic growth (jobs!) that we have, the less cutting we need to do to get the decifit/debt in control. The country is looking for a positive vision of the future. Present a plan/vision for economic growth.

  • josephmn

    When you bowed to local deity and declared no other comments were necessary. I heard you, (“no descent tolerated, if you think otherwise; leave.)

    All of us wanted “Cut, Cap, and Balance”, I believe that a full infantry charge into the canon fire would produce no result other than a lot of dead soldiers lost in a vain glorious charge. But you disagree, and so does your god, therefore everyone else is a compromiser.

    It is not fear or timidity to count the costs, and chance of success.

  • dswardstrom

    I put this comment in another entry, but why not here also:
    Many years ago, I had completed the course work for a Ph.D. in Computer Science and was looking for a job. An interesting position was with the Civil Service at a fairly good rate. But I could not be hired because there was a Federal Civil Service Hiring Freeze.
    Question: Why haven’t we heard about a Civil Service Hiring Freeze?
    Why isn’t this part of any package?
    If a department really needs someone, get the person from elsewhere.
    How about an Civil Service Promotion freeze and a wage freeze?
    (I know that this would conflict with hiring across departments, but perhaps some kind of exception could be made for these cases.)
    This should be added to any new package, and could be done completely separately. I bet a lot of people who are not in federal government would support this, and probably some in the government.

  • paco12348

    Right now, the Gop needs to be among the people so they can go back to Congress knowing the people will be behind them as long as they hold the line. Even before the last election, the few GOP we had in the House were trying their best to hold down the spending. That’s why they were called the Party of NO. The election gave them the majority and strength. With our downgrade we must make sure they know we are behind them regardless of the press. Obama, his minions, and the press will blame them if they don’t give Obama everything he asks for so get ready for it. We must let them know we are behind them.