It appears that Senator Dick Durbin gave a press conference this past Thursday on the downgrade and the current economic mess in general. They let slip in Bill Kelly of the Washington Times. Kelly listened to Durbin blame the Republicans, Tea Party etc for the mess. Kelly asked Durbin if he accepted any of the blame. Watch below to see Durbin - with the assistance of the liberal reporters there - try to blow off Kelly. Here is more evidence why alternative media such as this blog is needed, and why the so-called "Fairness Doctrine" is a snake in the grass.
Oh, by the way. This is the same "catholyc-in-name-only" Dick Durbin with whom Cardinal McCarrick saw fit to rub elbows in his ill-advised campaign for the DREAM Act. The cardinal has shown a distressing propensity for hanging around immoral progressives - I wonder why!
Click here if you cannot see embedded video.
Maybe They Can Have a Bake Sale?
21 minutes ago
First of all, Bill Kelly is with Washington Times Communities. He is as much a part of the Washington Times as CNN iReporters can call themselves Anderson Cooper's co-workers. That's why he doesn't have press credentials, and that's why he wasn't welcome at a press conference. It's as if, for example, Ricky Gervais came to a Mass, was refused Holy Communion, and continued to disrupt the Mass by insisting that he really was a Catholic because he had memorized the Latin Mass, and thus had a right to consume the Host, the church would throw him out, and would be within its rights to do so.
ReplyDeleteSecond of all, his question, to be frank, is stupid. The GOP, and the Tea Party caucus in particular, own this downgrade. Read the following quote from an S&P conference call on 8/10/11:
"And the fact is, you know, we had a large proportion of not just anyone, but elected officials who seemed to be seriously advocating that paying US government debt in full and on time was less important than other domestic priorities that they advocated.
That's something that you don't see happen in AAA countries."
He was invited; he would never have been treated in that fashion if he had asked a question that made Durbin look good.
ReplyDeleteThat budget measure immediately preceding the downgrade was passed over Tea Party opposition.
I'm reminded of how another prominent person handled a fairly similar question. You can see it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRUbwnkEPqc
You're reinforcing the point. Tea partiers either don't believe in or don't care about the consequences of default, thus, as said in the quote I referenced above, advocating that the US default on its obligations. That's why they, by and large, voted against all the proposals that would have raised the debt ceiling, and also why S&P downgraded the US.
ReplyDeleteI'll see your Reagan quote and raise you another:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6nNJiJsm70
I don't understand "thomas": The boy who said the emperor has no clothes is responsible for the fact the emperor has no clothes? Isn't it the politicians who lied to the Emperor and told him he was buying social security with his 14% payroll tax every week, but then not only spent that cash but used the Emperor's name to borrow a whole bunch more and spend that too responsible for the fact that the Emperor is naked? It's not the credit rating, it's the facts behind the credit rating, i.e. the economy--and the Democratic Party owns that. Got a job, buddy?
ReplyDeleteDear Anon,
ReplyDeleteI do have a job. Do you have a community college near you where you can take refresher courses in allegory, metaphor, or rhetoric? Because I can't understand that inchoate mess you typed. The moderator of this blog is crazy, but she can at least state her crazy clearly. Here's what actually happened:
1) In order to service debt already accrued, Congress needed to raise the debt ceiling. The consequences of a government default are too numerous to list here, so I'll just list one: U.S. Treasury Bonds would cease to be the safest investment in the world. If you don't understand what that means, you've disqualified yourself from any serious discussion of economics. Read more, and talk less. To raise the debt ceiling takes a simple vote in Congress. It's been done over 70 times.
2) The administration, Democrats, and smart people said "Raise the debt ceiling." The GOP, led by the Tea Party Caucus, said "No! Do not raise the debt ceiling!" Many in Tea Party either did not understand, or did not care about the consequences of government default.
3) Even though the GOP (without Tea Party support) finally got a debt ceiling raise through Congress at the literal last minute, S&P observed:
"And the fact is, you know, we had a large proportion of not just anyone, but elected officials who seemed to be seriously advocating that paying US government debt in full and on time was less important than other domestic priorities that they advocated.
That's something that you don't see happen in AAA countries."
(Yes, I cut and pasted it from my previous comment, but apparently it bears repeating.)
To summarize, we have debts to pay. We had elected officials (such as Michele Bachmann) leading a movement that, if they had their way, would have jeopardized our ability to pay those debts, and led us to within a day of not being able to pay them. The people whose job it is to rate peoples' ability to pay their debts saw this, and lowered our credit rating. That's why the Tea Party owns this downgrade.