Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I do not care for the writing of conservative columnist "Lord" Byron York, but damnit, even a broken clock can be right twice a day, am I right?
Last week "Lord" Byron, in an opinion at the Washington Examiner, explained the schizophrenic GOP messaging on the sequester:
In a Wall Street Journal op-ed
Wednesday, House Speaker John Boehner describes the upcoming sequester
as a policy “that threatens U.S. national security, thousands of jobs
and more.”Which leads to the question: Why would Republicans support a measure
that threatens national security and thousands of jobs? Boehner and the
GOP are determined to allow the $1.2 trillion sequester go into effect
unless President Obama and Democrats agree to replacement cuts, of an
equal amount, that target entitlement spending [Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid are exempt under the sequester plan]. If that doesn’t happen —
and it seems entirely unlikely — the sequester goes into effect, with
the GOP’s blessing.
…
Could the GOP message on the sequester be any more self-defeating?
Boehner could argue that the sequester cuts are necessary as a first —
and somewhat modest — step toward controlling the deficits that threaten
the economy. Instead, he describes them as a threat to national
security and jobs that he nevertheless supports. It’s not an argument
that is likely to persuade millions of Americans.
Of course, "Lord" Byron then drifts off into conservative lala land to argue that deep cuts to spending are a good thing (he is wrong), but still, he makes a salient point on the schizophrenic GOP messaging on the sequester. The GOP is trying to have it both ways: "sequester bad, spending cuts good."
Bonus: Here is the GOP's alleged by genius, Ayn Rand fanboy Paul Ryan, over a period of years saying how much he so badly wants a sequester for government spending, and "we got that" in the debt ceiling agreement in 2011. Only in the last frame does he change his tune to the GOP talking point that "its bad."