Glenn Beck to Michele Bachmann: Are you seriously voting against the debt ceiling?

Ryan: Debt Ceiling Will be Raised
MSNBC.com reports: Even as it exposes fault lines in the new Republican Caucus, a looming clash over the Federal Government’s borrowing power could serve as a major bargaining chip for Republicans hoping to force President Barack Obama to green light major Spending Cuts. Some conservative Republicans have urged their GOP colleagues to resist raising the ceiling — which currently clocks in at $14.3 Trillion — under any circumstances. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is collectin...

Raise the debt ceiling but with conditions
The National Debt is the amount of money that the United States owes. It is exactly like our own household Debts, reflecting the amount of money coming in versus the amount of money going out including paying off debts previously incurred (like car loans and/or Credit Card charges, etc.) It also includes interest on those debts and, oh, those interest charges! The nation has always been in debt except for a brief stint under President Andrew Jackson who made it his mission to eliminate the natio...

Rep. Michele Bachmann Says She's Found $450 Billion in Budget Cuts
thehill.com As House Republicans seek upwards of $100 billion in Spending Cuts, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) said Friday that her staff has found about $450 billion to slash from the federal Budget — about half of all Discretionary Spending. "My staff and I sat down, we've looked at the federal budget, and just our first swipe across the budget, so to speak, we've come up with about $450 billion worth of cuts,” she said on ABC’s "Top Line ." She didn't outline specific cu...

Tax group asks lawmakers to pledge spending cuts alongside debt limit raise
A conservative tax group is keeping pressure on lawmakers to couple any vote to increase the Debt Limit with major Spending Cuts by asking them to sign a pledge to do just that. Americans for Tax Reform, a group advocating a single national flat tax run by conservative Activist Grover Norquist, has drafted the pledge and plans on sending it to every lawmaker. The pledge states, "I promise to my constituents not to vote for any expansion of the federal Debt Limit unless it is preceded or accomp...

Jane Fonda Blames Giffords Shooting on Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and the Tea Party
Jane Fonda has blamed Saturday's tragic Shooting Spree in Tucson, Arizona, on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, conservative Talk Show host Glenn Beck, and the Tea Party movement. Actually, Giffords is not a Progressive. Wikipedia lists her as part of the Blue Dog Coalition. It would be nice if Fonda knew how to spell Beck's first name, but since she's likely never seen his show or read anything he's written, it's not surprising. Nice job, Jane. You're quite a rocket sc...

Kucinich: No better place to start cutting spending than at Pentagon
If Congress is serious about wanting to cut spending, there is no better place to start than with the Pentagon, according to Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio). Kucinich called for an end to "waste and unnecessary spending" in the defense Budget in an interview on the Fox Business Network. "With the United States approaching a Debt Limit, with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan dragging on with a cost projected amounting to Trillions of dollars, what better place for us to start to end unnecessary spe...

The Speaker of the House clarifies his approach on spending
When John Boehner ran for a smaller more accountable government in 2008, he was talking directly to residents of southwestern Ohio where he has resided his entire life. No one thought then that he would be posing for pictures of holding the gavel as Speaker of the House two years later just as he did this week. No one predicted that Congress would immediately decrease the spending in their own offices and committees by $35,000.00 as the 112thCongress began, because voters took the issue of the n...

DISGRACE: Krugman Blames GOP For Attempted Assassination Today (Before We Found Out Hes a Leftwinger)
What a disgrace. Paul Krugman immediately attacked Republicans today after the “Assassination attempt” by Arizona shooter Jared Loughner. If the New York Times was a respectable news organization Krugman would be reprimanded or fired. ¶A Democratic Congresswoman has been shot in the head; another dozen were also shot. ¶We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering...

Paul Krugman wastes no time in blaming shooting on political opposition
We don’t have proof yet that this was political, but the odds are that it was. She’s been the target of violence before. And for those wondering why a Blue Dog Democrat, the kind Republicans might be able to work with, might be a target, the answer is that she’s a Democrat who survived what was otherwise a GOP sweep in Arizona, precisely because the Republicans nominated a Tea Party Activist. (Her father says that “the whole Tea Party” was her enemy.) And yes, she was on...

Bloggingheads: Corn and Pinkerton on Bill Daley, John Boehner, and Michele Bachmann
Fri Jan. 7, 2011 8:25 AM PST Mother Jones' David Corn and Fox News' James Pinkerton were on bloggingheads.tv again this week to talk Obama's new Chief of Staff Bill Daley, new GOP House Speaker John Boehner, and potential Presidential Candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.). Watch: And on Obama, too. Bloggingheads.tv: Glenn Beck—Artist or Idiot? Beck's recent attack on George Soros--with its anti-Semitic taint--brings up this perennial question. Bloggingheads.tv: How Did "Stimulus&q...;

Why the Right has to run from its rhetoric
As Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) fights for her life along with the other survivors of the bloodbath today at a Tucson public forum, we also mourn those who died today. The Federal Judge who was killed, federal Judge John Roll became "a hate figure for the US right last year after he presided over a law suit brought by immigrants against a ranch owner. He had had death threats issued against him." Giffords' father, Spencer Giffords, 75, said: when asked if his daughter had any enemies said...

Palin: Obama 'Hell-Bent' on Weakening America
Palin, interviewed Friday by radio Talk Show host Laura Ingraham, said the president of the United States was "purposefully weakening America." During the exchange, the conservative Ingraham, apparently wishing to make sure she had heard correctly what Palin was saying, asked, "So his (Obama's) goal is to weaken America?" "On this issue, it has to be," Palin said. "Otherwise, what did he mean back in March of '06 when he said he understood that raising the Debt weakens America." The former Alask...

You Say Sarah Palin's Just Not Extreme Enough? How About Michele Bachmann for President?
It is no secret that the most enthusiastic encouragement of a presidential bid by Sarah Palin comes from the Obama White House. No Republican with her level of name recognition polls worse than Palin in a head-to-head race with the Democratic president. Indeed, fresh surveys by Public Policy Polling suggest that in much of the country Palin "would would lose by the biggest margin of any Republican Presidential nominee since Barry Goldwater." This, of course, only makes Palin more appealing to th...

Greenspan Warns of Risks From U.S. Debt
By JEFFREY SPARSHOTT WSJ WASHINGTON—Former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan said the U.S. could face a bond-market crisis if politicians don't act soon to start cutting the nation's Debt. In an interview with Kelly Evans, Alan Greenspan discusses the dangers of current fiscal policy while challening his critics to prove him wrong on any decision he made as Fed Chairman. In an interview Friday with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Greenspan said that eventually Congress would pass a Budget that includ...

Bachmann 'stunned' by Giffords shooting
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) reacted to news of the shootings in Tucson Saturday saying she is "stunned" and "angered" by the violence. “My tears are flowing, and I am stunned and angered that Gabby Giffords was savagely gunned down while performing her congressional duties," Bachmann said in a statement. "We came to Congress together and I had the privilege of knowing her as a friend and colleague. It is my hope and expectation that the coward who carrie...

GOP embrace of violent rhetoric: A chicken coming home to roost
Count on this: over the next few days, you will see and hear the Right Wing desperately scramble to distance themselves from the violence today in Arizona. Don't let them. It does not matter whether the perpetrator of these acts had a political motive - that is utterly irrelevant (although early evidence does suggest that there was some Tea Party-like philosophy/Libertarian political aspect to the shooter, it is, at this point, somewhat obscure). What is relevant is that since the election of...

Bachmann: Liberals also welcome at legal summits
Minneapolis—U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann said Friday that liberal commentators and legal experts would be just as welcome as Conservatives to participate in a series of constitutional discussions she is organizing for members of Congress. The Minnesota Republican and founder of the congressional Tea Party Caucus drew criticism after Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, one of the most conservative members of the High Court, agreed to appear at the first event Jan. 24. Some legal experts no...

Why debt limit must be raised
Excerpts from a Jan. 6 letter from U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geitner to Congressional Majority Leader Harry Reid on the Debt Limit. Never in our history has Congress failed to increase the Debt limit when necessary. Failure would precipitate a default by the United States. Default would impose a significant, long-lasting tax on all Americans and all U.S. businesses and could lead to the loss of millions of jobs. Even a very short-term or limited default would have catastrophic economic con...

'Debt Ceiling' For Dummies: An MSNBC Exclusive
Wait, does the stooge in the t-shirt represent spending? Or is he the Debt ceiling? And what does the "T" mean next to those fancy numbers? Gosh, I'm still confused. h/t: Viral Footage. Cross-posted. Labels: morons, MSNBC ...

Democrats still trying to sale health care monstrosity
Image via Wikipedia Washington Post: The debate over repealing the landmark Health Care overhaul offers Democrats something rare in politics: a do-over. Democrats, who were widely perceived to have blown the political messaging over President Obama's signature law, are revving up for a campaign-style offensive in an attempt to get it right the second time around. In the run-up to Wednesday's scheduled House vote on Repeal, Democrats are staging Press Conferences and rallies outside the distric...

National tragedy: The shooting of Gabrielle Giffords
But I would also add that neither does the red-hot, gun-loving Rhetoric employed to express displeasure with national policies and national leaders. Twitter is abuzz with retweets of Sarah Palin's infamous message, "Commonsense Conservatives & lovers of America: 'Don't Retreat, Instead - RELOAD!' Pls see my Facebook page." Twitterers are also reminding people about Palin's infamous SarahPAC map with 20 gun sites targeting House Democrats who voted for the Health Care bill. Giffords, who won reel...

Gabrielle Giffords Shooting: Latest Updates
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords survived a gunshot to the head on Saturday afternoon after a single gunman opened fire at her and others at a congressional event outside a Grocery Store in Tucson, Ariz. Get the latest on the breaking story here. 5:56PM Flowers at Giffords D.C. office as staff gathers Nearly all of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' Washington staff huddled Saturday in the Longworth House Office Building, coping with the tragic news unfolding in their boss’s Arizona district. Continue Re...

Reactions to shooting of Rep. Giffords
These politicians have released the following statements on the shooting of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, and others at a political event in Arizona on Saturday: "This morning, in an unspeakable tragedy, a number of Americans were shot in Tuscon, Arizona, at a constituent meeting with Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.  And while we are continuing to receive information, we know that some have passed away, and that Representative Giffords is gravely wounded.
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Methinks Greg Ip Pulls His Punches...
Greg Ip writes: Paul Ryan and American fiscal policy: Paul Ryan, Deficit hawk or dove?: FOR politicians, power is usually its own reward. But doing the right thing sometimes comes at the expense of power, which means they need other incentives, too. This seems to be the thinking behind the "FI$CY", awarded to policymakers who lead "on confronting our fiscal challenges." The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Comeback America Initiative and the Concord Coalition handed out the awar...

War of words rages on Twitter
Almost immediately after the shooting of Arizona Democratic Rep. Gabrielle Giffords some Democrats and liberals pointed fingers on Twitter and the web at the Tea Party movement and Sarah Palin, while Republicans and Conservatives urged people not to rush to judgment or politicize the ghastly shooting before the facts were in. Either way, the political discourse was already taking shape solidly around whether the often-angry Rhetoric of the past two years had played a role. Liberal Blogger and ...