Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
An election cannot give a nation a firm sense of direction if it has two or more national parties which merely have different names but are as alike in their polices as two peas in the same pod. - Franklin D. Roosevelt
Remember the words “I won” and who said them? That was President Obama when he met with Republicans in 2009 while debating his stimulus package. Republican Eric Cantor wanted to discuss the longer term fiscal impacts of the plan. President Obama responded with a reason he didn’t have to consider Cantor’s important fiscal topic, by referring to the past election: “I won.”
It was a curt and cutting remark. And since “Burkean Reality” is the catchphrase of the day now, used to get Tea Partiers to lose their opposition to raising the debt ceiling, note well that Republicans did have to accept reality in 2009, swallow hard and fight another day. Obama did win, and he controlled both houses of Congress.
Elections mean things, right? In 2008 America put the Democrats in charge of our government. To the victors go the spoils, so Obama could closed-mindedly cut off Cantor’s debate and be painted in the press as a confident man in charge for his remark, “I won.” He passed ARRA.
Well in 2010, “I won.” My fellow Tea Partiers and I won so handily The President called his side’s loss “a shellacking.” The reason I won was a promise to cut spending, not a promise to raise the debt ceiling and spend more. This isn’t a “goes around comes around” thing. This is sound policy and a promise to the American people we have to keep.
Elections mean things. I won the election. I will win this debate and stop the government’s spending. Scoff at the people saying we only have one half of Congress and therefore no right to keep our promise. We have the half that controls spending and the ways and means committee. It’s no accident the electorate put us in charge of the money.
Voices such as Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan are now telling us to back off. To them I respond with a line pulled from the movie Avatar: “I see you.” I don’t say that with reverence. I see you standing with John McCain against the Tea Party. I see you channeling Cronkite by declaring our war unwinnable because you yourself don’t wish to stay in the fight.
Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan tell us we should revel in the victory of stopping tax increases and concede the debt ceiling. If I caught one of my Little League players after a game we lost reveling in his own home run, I’d bench him the next game for losing sight of why we play: To win.
Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan are gray. This is not their father’s Oldsmobile. Tea Partiers don’t make decisions on “Republicans” winning elections like they do. They should remember we picked off establishment Republicans in primaries has easily as we picked off Democrats in the general election.
If their friends lose elections, it won’t be because the other side voted for Democrats. It will be because we Tea Partiers didn’t vote for their friends. What was any of their prior Tea Party support based upon – an easy ride on some coattails? Perhaps Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan need to be defeated as pundits just as Boehner will need defeating if he cuts and runs.
The other thing Obama said in that 2009 meeting with Republicans besides “I won” was that it was “too early to talk about revenue and budgeting.” Yes, he said “too early.” Well time is up. The time is right now.
Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan channel the Cubs when they say, “Wait ‘til next year.” That’s why the Cubs haven’t won a World Series in more than 100 years – their flawed plan that teams will roll over for them next year. They won’t. Neither will the Democrats.
We won the election, so the time to win the policy debate is right now.
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May '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Yes! How is it we are told we have 1/3 of Government, but we are expected to keep coming up with plans. Obama killed the deal, the Senate won't even vote on what the house sent. Poll after poll shows the American people don't want the budget raised. The GOP was sent to do a job they are not doing.
Close up shop, and go home. Let the Senate and President hold the bag. They got the 2/3. What do they offer?
Tommy,
Didn't I open up talking on Ricochet with a running argument with you? Now we are in this small minority of radicals idealists.
What happened?
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Bryan G. Stephens: Yes! How is it we are told we have 1/3 of Government, but we are expected to keep coming up with plans. Obama killed the deal, the Senate won't even vote on what the house sent. Poll after poll shows the American people don't want the budget raised. The GOP was sent to do a job they are not doing.
Close up shop, and go home. Let the Senate and President hold the bag. They got the 2/3. What do they offer?
Tommy,
Didn't I open up talking on Ricochet with a running argument with you? Now we are in this small minority of radicals idealists.
What happened? · Jul 29 at 5:30am
Smart people always end up in the same place!
I know I get caught up in a good deal of libertarian discussions on personal liberties, and perhaps so much so that people may get the impression that is primary in my politics. Though it makes for fun discussions, it's not my calling card.
This is: Small government. It's the priority.
Nov '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
It strikes me that the cut and run bunch are afraid of one thing:consequences. I think they believe that if they hold fast it will mean defeat for them, because "the Republicans will be blamed." Well I say nuts to that. The Republicans are already blamed. My nephew came to my house the other day and said he heard on the radio that Republicans were going to take away all of the veteran's benefits. We are already demonized. The demonization is the weapon of choice for our political opponents. If we give up because they start saying what they always say anyway, what kind of pansies are we?
Here's a thought: go on your own offensive! Run your own ads! How about running some ads the aim of which is saving the country, rather than getting elected? Get the message out. Grab Saul Alinsky's book and put his tactics to work. Let's speak the way they do about these issues: we are right, and that is self evident. Don't even acknowledge they have an opinion. Let's call THEM stupid for a change.
Mar '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Tommy: I like your spirit, my friend, and we’ll need it to sustain us for the fight ahead.
And I hate to have to be the guy to tell you this, but “we” didn’t win the election of 2010. Republicans won in a landslide, yes, but with a coalition of candidates and not all from the Tea Party.
What we won in 2010 was, after a stunning disastrous defeat in all three branches in 2008, a second chance. A chance to govern soberly, and prudently. A chance to check the most destructive tendencies of this administration. Obama got rebuked, but the voters didn’t give us the levers of power to enact a positive agenda.
I can’t tell you much about being a Chicago Cubs fan. But I can tell you something about being a Boston Red Sox fan. Sometimes you work all season to get to the World Series, and fight tooth and nail to take home the prize. But it only takes one infamous unforced error to go home the loser.
Jun '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Yes! I'm with you, Tommy.
Lots of us on the Tea Party wing understood that job one was to take back the Republican Party. Then we take back the nation. Apparently, establishment Republicans didn't get the message.
As an aside I would like to mention John McCain. He might remember that hobbits were chosen to bear the ring because they wouldn't be corrupted by its power. So what does that make John McCain? Saruman, perhaps? Traitor to the cause? Check. Willing to compromise with the dark side? Check. Corrupted by his own desire for power? Check.
Jan '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Well said Crow's Nest, as usual. The Tea Party didn't win in 2010, the GOP did. Or rather, the GOP had a PARTIAL victory. Treating partial victories as overwhelming mandates is foolish. It's called overreaching and it always backfires. Anyone who is willing to let it all blow up and walk away cannot call themselves a conservative. There is nothing conservative about letting the chips fall where they may when you're talking about consequences which can really wreak havoc in real people's lives and seriously weaken the country. Unless the blow it all up crowd can lay out a very persuasive and logical forecast for how things will turn out just fine financially, economically, and politically they are simply playing Russian Roulette. Conservatives, by definition, don't play Russian Roulette.
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Democrat kool-aid that America will be on skid row August 2nd. We won't be.
Strengthen America by forcing them to stop spending by limiting the debt.
Jan '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
If you want to go there you've got to include Paul Ryan, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell, Laura Ingraham, John Campell, Thad McCotter, Jonah Goldberg, the entire editorial board of National Review, and of course our beloved benefactors Peter, Rob, James, and just about every guest they've had on the podcast for the last several weeks. They're all dupes of the dark lord, I guess.
Jan '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
That's not a logical persuasive forecast, Tommy. That's bravado.
Dec '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
BThompson
That's not a logical persuasive forecast, Tommy. That's bravado. · Jul 29 at 6:16am
Agreed. There will be consequences (not that we haven't earned them with such profligate spending), and there must be a plan other than to hold fast and let the wave crash over us. Getting time to fix it the right way seems like the lesser of two evils to me, but I'm one who could be missing a paycheck when Obiteme gets to decide who to pay and who to skip.
Edited on Jul 29, 2011 at 6:23amJul '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
The game is to kill the Leviathan, and that will require winning the next election, not the last one. We didn't win the last one; some of us won, but a huge number of our fellow citizens still are not convinced. The fight we're now having is educating millions of folks who were bystanders, and it's got to continue every week till Nov.2012. That's where our focus needs to be, not in winning an inning. Winning an inning isn't winning the game. The team has to stay on the field, and if that requires a sacrifice bunt to advance the runner, so be it. Hang in there, friends, it's a longer game. It took us decades to get here, it'll take some time to get out of this hole. A hunting analogy is better than baseball. We've got the prey in sight, but an early shot that misses can ruin the hunt. I say, stay in the hunt but get closer for the kill.
Sep '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
The Stupid Party cannot win the public debate. That much should be obvious by now.
Take the fake cuts, declare fake victory, and proceed into 2012 with Obama (and only Obama) attached at the hip to the worst economy in generations.
The longer this drags on, the more likely it becomes that Republicans start to take on some of the ecomonic blame. Then it becomes more likely that Obama stays in office.
The reason Wisconsin balanced its budget in one fell swoop with real spending cuts is because the Republicans, even the squishy ones (and there are quite a few), won all three branches and slammed the agenda through.
If we sabotage the 2012 election, we aren't getting any spending cuts. Period.
Jul '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
1. We did not win "the election." We won the House. The Senate stayed Democratic. The President remains a Democrat.
2. Do you deny that bad stuff is going to happen Tuesday if the debt ceiling isn't raised?
3. Signing on to a BBA with a 2/3 requirement for tax hikes and a ~20% of GDP spending cap is political suicide for liberalism. We may as well demand that Obama and Biden resign before the ceiling is increased.
4. We can argue all we want that we shouldn't be blamed for bad stuff that happens Tuesday. But we will be, in a way we won't be if we get a more moderate (but still conservative!) bill through to the Senate.
5. We need to stop making this about saying people lack grit. Paul Ryan, Krauthammer, Sowell, Ingraham, Keith Hennessey, NRO and TWS, Peter, etc. Not asking you to take their view on faith. Just requesting a bit of very conservative humility in the face of disagreement with good, reasonable people.
6. Rare is the battle that wins the whole war. Why can't we view this as Gettysburg, not Yorktown? Patience is a virtue.
Dec '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
The Tea Party will be demagogued into becoming a side-line freak show over this latest fiasco. It will be on par with the taking down of Sarah Palin concurrently by the left and the main stream media. Reasonable Tea Party participants will be reluctant to publicly associate themselves with the Tea Party as the Dems will hammer and hammer away in the next few weeks and months on the Tea Party as extremist and "the Party of No". I heard that over and over from Steny Hoyer just this morning. It will be effective take down messaging from the left.
Saying "We Won" in Nov. 2010 won't hold against this riptide. Charles and Thomas Sowell are right. We need to break this into a process, not try to take it all, at once, right now.
Oct '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
BThompson
If you want to go there you've got to include Paul Ryan, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell, Laura Ingraham, John Campell, Thad McCotter, Jonah Goldberg, the entire editorial board of National Review, and of course our beloved benefactors Peter, Rob, James, and just about every guest they've had on the podcast for the last several weeks. They're all dupes of the dark lord, I guess. · Jul 29 at 6:15am
They are not dupes of the "dark lord" They are dupes of their own history in Washington politics. For over 50 years they have played the game the way the Cubs have, and every year they get the same results. There's a lesson there.
Why do the Republicans not get ahead of the curve? Because they are TEPID, and that enthuses no one except those who are playing the beltway games. The rest of us long ago concluded that either conservatives take over the GOP, or look longingly for a T-Party (as in Tea or Third), to supplant them. There never was a future for the Rockefeller Republicans, and there never will be.
Dec '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Joseph Ashby at American Thinker makes the case better than Tommy does (sorry Tommy), and the title of his article alone is worth taking a look. There is more to consider other than just who won the last election and who will win the next.
Oct '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Not to change the subject or anything, but just to clarify: Bill Buckner didn't give up consecutive 2-out hits to Carter, Mitchell, and Knight. Bill Buckner didn't throw the wild pitch/passed ball that allowed the tying run to score. And Bill Buckner wasn't late getting off the mound on Wilson's grounder to the point that Wilson would've beaten Stanley to the bag, anyway, even if Buckner had fielded the grounder cleanly, and Knight would still have scored the winning run.
I'm just sayin'. And I won't even begin to try to match up those guys with today's Congressional Republicans.
Sep '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Where have you been for the past two years. This exactly what Dems. have been doing and from my vantage point then tea party has become stronger not weaker.
Jan '11
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
Tommy De Seno:
Elections mean things. I won the election. I will win this debate and stop the government’s spending. Scoff at the people saying we only have one half of Congress and therefore no right to keep our promise...
Sowell, Krauthammer and Noonan tell us we should revel in the victory of stopping tax increases and concede the debt ceiling. If I caught one of my Little League players after a game we lost reveling in his own home run, I’d bench him the next game for losing sight of why we play: To win.
Courage and tenacity are necessary but insufficient means toward victory. Given the circumstances -- with Republicans holding only the House -- we were never going to get something that we'd find satisfactory. What we have gotten, however, is acceptable and will let us live to fight in 2012. Let's take this stalemate for and get ready for 2012, when we stand a chance of getting what we want.
Oct '10
Re: Why Insist On Not Raising the Debt Ceiling? Because “I won.”
raycon
BThompson
If you want to go there you've got to include Paul Ryan, Bill Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, Thomas Sowell, Laura Ingraham, John Campell, Thad McCotter, Jonah Goldberg, the entire editorial board of National Review, and of course our beloved benefactors Peter, Rob, James, and just about every guest they've had on the podcast for the last several weeks. They're all dupes of the dark lord, I guess. · Jul 29 at 6:15am
They are not dupes of the "dark lord" They are dupes of their own history in Washington politics. For over 50 years they have played the game the way the Cubs have, and every year they get the same results. There's a lesson there.
Why do the Republicans not get ahead of the curve? Because they are TEPID
Ingraham, Lileks, Goldberg, Sowell...are tepid? Dupes of their own history? Really?? When you have a broad cross-section of conservatives/Republicans (or anyone, for that matter) on the same side of an issue, that should tell us something about the issue.
Remember, there was NO broad cross-section of anyone in favor of Obamacare. That told us something about that issue, too.