The Commentariat -- September 15

Note: Internal links have been removed.

How to Get $345 Billion. Kate Pickert of Time: eliminate tax cheats. The problem is how.

What Deficit? Lori Montgomery of the Washington Post: "Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan ... that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period.... The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts..., rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples." ...

... NEW. The editors of the Lexington, Kentucky, Herald-Leader are unimpressed with McConnell's crocodile tears for his rich friends & demonstrate that his tax cuts for the rich argument doesn't make sense. ...

... Sara Murray of the Wall Street Journal: "Efforts to tame America's ballooning budget deficit could soon confront a daunting reality: Nearly half of all Americans live in a household in which someone receives government benefits, more than at any time in history. At the same time, the fraction of American households not paying federal income taxes has also grown—to an estimated 45% in 2010...."

Mary Williams Walsh of the New York Times: Neil Barofsky, "the special inspector for taxpayer bailout funds, is looking into whether the Obama administration pressed General Motors in bankruptcy to backstop the pensions of the union retirees of a former division, Delphi.... Barofsky ... said he intended to find out 'whether political considerations played a role in favoring hourly over salaried retirees.'”

Well, bless his heart. You know, we love our friends there in the machine, the expert politicos, but my message to those who say that the GOP nominee is not electable ... or that they’re not even going to try, I say buck up. buck up.... We need to go forth and conquer for the American people. -- Sarah Palin, on Karl Rove's comment that Christine O'Donnell is not electable because she's too nutty & her past too checkered

What we're seeing in the Republican Party is that they invited the Tea Party in and it's turning into the Donner Party, in some instances, because they're turning the energy and the ferocity against each other. -- Tim Kaine, DNC Chair, via Amanda Terkel at HuffPost

... Oh, look, Even Christine O'Donnell agrees with Kaine:

... Mike Allen of Politico: "Christine O’Donnell, the tea-party backed GOP nominee for Joe Biden’s Senate seat, on Wednesday morning attacked 'Republican cannibalism' and said she doesn’t need the GOP establishment to win her Delaware race in November." ...

... After she won the primary, that paragon on honor & fair play Karl Rove whacks O'Donnell for "a lot of nutty things she's been saying." "Republican cannabalism"? Oh, yes:

... Wall Street Journal: "The National Republican Senatorial Committee does not plan to spend money on its Delaware Senate nominee, Christine O’Donnell, an NRSC official said tonight." ...

     ... Update: What a Difference a Day Makes. Ben Smith of Politico: NRSC reverses itself, sends O'Donnell at $42K check.

... Gene Robinson: "Christine O’Donnell’s victory over Rep. Mike Castle in the Senate primary ... comes pretty close to wiping out the possibility of the Republicans taking control of the Senate in November." ...

... Republican party leaders agree with Robinson:

Sarah Skidmore & David Runk of the AP: "... many food stamps users still don't know they can shop at [farmers'] markets, lack transportation or time to get to them or simply believe they can spend their benefits better elsewhere. Advocates say the issue is important because one in eight Americans now receives food stamps, and low-income communities often have higher rates of obesity, diabetes and other health problems."

Nobody gets to write your destiny but you. Your future is in your hands.... Nothing will have as great an impact on your success in life as your education.... Your success in school will also help determine America's success in the 21st century.... Excelling in school or in life isn't mainly about being smarter than everybody else. It's about working harder than everybody else.... Life is precious, and part of its beauty lies in its diversity.... It's the things that make us different that make us who we are. And the strength and character of this country have always come from our ability to recognize ourselves in one another, no matter who we are, or where we come from, what we look like, or what abilities or disabilities we have. -- Barack Obama

President Obama speaks to school kids at the beginning of the academic year:

...  The text of the President's prepared remarks.

CW: Akhilleus' comment on David Brooks' column is so fine & got so buried among the other comments that I felt obliged to post it here. It is an excellent short-course in American history:

Where to begin?

I am so sick of listening to this pap about the innocence and virtue of conservatism being destroyed by big government Democrats.

Since we're talking history, how about this? First the country that Misters Ryan and Brooks (both Brookses I would wager) weep for, that small government, Don't Tread on Me, stay out of my way America, was a small, largely agrarian nation straddling the Atlantic seaboard. The population was relatively small, though growing, industry was sporadic, and in many areas, slavery was a vital support to a system in which only rich, landed, white men had a say. I realize this is still an enormous pipe dream for many right-wingers, a return to the halcyon days of yore but those days are gone.

This little country grew quickly. By the middle of the 19th century industrialization came hard and fast. The rich got richer and the poor led lives of meager hope and soul-killing desperation. The kind of plutocrats STILL supported wholeheartedly by the likes of Ryan and Brooks did all they could to secure enormous wealth and power on the backs of their less well off, less well connected countrymen and women.

At this juncture, the moral imperative became so great, and the dangers of big business overrunning all in their way prompted many politically minded citizens, including a Republican president, Theodore Roosevelt, to stand up and use the power of government to try to strike a balance between overweening greed and the needs of average working class Americans.

This, of course, was considered an outrage by Republicans and their wealthy, robber baron cronies. Years later, after the greed of a later generation of robber barons pushed us into a depression, another president, Mr. Roosevelt's cousin, saw fit to use the power of government to strike back at the forces that were destroying the country. FDR is still reviled by the right for taking their candy away and making them play nice.

The fact is that that little nation that could function with a small government, one not concerned with interstate trade, child labor abuses, uncontrolled and dangerous products being sold, unsafe working conditions, the moral blight of slavery, and citizens who would starve and live horrible existences all because they weren't smart enough to be born, like today's Wall Street Masters of the Universe, into wealth and privilege, is long gone. It lasted perhaps a generation or two. The country, as it grew up, developed problems that required solutions only a strong government could provide.

Who, after all, was going to end slavery or prevent unscrupulous business owners from putting young children to work for a pittance? Who? The predecessors of the plutocrats Ryan and Brooks moan about?

Right.

Sorry, Mr. Brooks, yet another imploding right wing fantasy. As for virtue and innocence, I don't believe either of those fine qualities apply to many on the right today. There is, however, virtue in attempting to make life better for the vast majority of Americans. If that means that Ryan and Brooks and their buddies can only have three vacation homes instead of four or five, well, too bad.

Reposted with permission of the author.