Associated Press
Fairly early on last night, debate moderator Jim Lehrer asked Mitt Romney about deficit reduction. It's an issue the Republican talks quite a bit about, but he's offered no details and presented no plan on how he'd address the problem.
Romney replied:
"What things would I cut from spending? Well, first of all, I will eliminate all programs by this test, if they don't pass it: Is the program so critical it's worth borrowing money from China to pay for it? And if not, I'll get rid of it. Obamacare's on my list.
"I'm sorry, Jim, I'm going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I'm going to stop other things. I like PBS, I love Big Bird. Actually like you, too. But I'm not going to -- I'm not going to keep on spending money on things to borrow money from China to pay for."
For now, let's put aside the fact that China only holds about 8% of the nation's debt, and Romney's suggestion to the contrary is dishonest. Instead, let's consider the proposal at face value -- Romney intends to lower the deficit, and here are two specific ways he intends to make that happen.
First, he'll destroy the Affordable Care Act. In terms of fiscal responsibility, this is insane -- "Obamacare" cuts the deficit to the tune of about $109 billion over the next decade. It's simply incoherent to say you'll cut the deficit by eliminating a law, which would in turn increase the deficit. That's like promising to put out a fire by using more kerosene.
Second, he'll cut off the Public Broadcasting System. How much does PBS get from Congress? In the most recent budget, $444 million. That's "million" with an "m." The deficit is $1.1 trillion with a "t." PBS, in other words, is a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the federal budget.
There's a very strong case to be made it's in the nation's interest to keep PBS intact, but even if we overlook the merit of the system, claiming we can balance the budget this way is plainly ridiculous.
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President Obama is actually a nice and polite person that does want to work with and help people. As a teacher it shows that President Obama is very much about helping people and is very much unlike Romney. As Romney’s real actions have shown volumes of his lies just so he can crave power, greed, arrogance, hypocrisy, corruption, and deceiving. Anybody who is foolish enough to vote for someone to the likes of Romney and Ryan have got to be the biggest ignorant and blind people around. But from this debate, President Obama is going to have to re-emphasize what the real facts are and how Romney is so full of crap. Right a long with how these Republicans are just as bad.
Now Lehrer and Big Bird perhaps understand the Travon Martin situation better.
There were a couple of predictable red meat opportunities that GOP candidates used in their debates.
The President could have had a witty zinger in preparation for the entirely predictable assault on PBS and news figures. It's true, the President neither runs from nor does he aggressively confront such empty posturing. He has little regard for silly encapsulations of complex subjects into one liners.
From Romney's side- Were these sorts of one liners enough to keep the base fired up? Romney's side was openly honest they would perform an etch a sketch. Last night Romney was red lining their support, crossing several of the right wing bright lines:
So does blasting big bird give the T Party lunatics enough red meat that they ignore the slaughter of their stands on Romneycare or presenting a plausible case for deficit reduction?
The past weeks of dread the extremist right has been indulging in may have put enough fear into them that they satisfy themselves on the scraps of meat Romney tossed them. It will be curious to see how many of the AM talk shows dwell on the substance of Romney's promises about health care reform.
I doubt any of them will bother. They understand all too well that Romney will do part A: repealing Obamacare, and that part B will never happen: passing a replacement Romneycare.
So they don't care and will dance on Big Bird's and Jim Lehrer's body.
All I can say is that Romney a liar, arrogant,and no word of honor, who don't deserve to be a president.
So true, I believe that last night he showed that he has no respect for anyone, is a control freak, and can lie with a straight face.. Talk about saying something enough that people will believe it.. I dont buy that he was presidental. Do we want the likes of him running Washington?(with a republican majority? Do you like all that comes with electing him? Talk about not being diplomatic. I thought he was rude and proved that he will say anything to get elected.. Yes lie..I would gander to guess that he has a major phsyic problem.. like 9 faces of Romney..what person is going to show up??
Marc Bolin will not be happy that was his favorite T.V. show, my favorite was Prince Charming,... Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair. Man, it is true they hate the Muppets, maybe that was a secret message to Wall St.
What arrogance! Cutting services because his party borrowed from China to cover two unfunded wars and tax cuts for the rich, and now they don't want to borrow any more? Simple-minded GOP arrogance!
Romney is like one of those "Concept Cars" that Detroit loves to roll out every year at the auto show.
Lots of style and glitz, but no engine, no transmission, no drive train. (It does, however, have a Pinto gas tank. . .)
Perhaps this will be Mitt's 'ketchup is a vegetable' moment ala Reagan.
I was thinking 'Dukakis moment.'
But ...but...PBS is a Librul outlet pushing Big Bird Librul Ideas . Just ask Cokie Roberts renowned librul and Dicknose Lehrer who just proved he couldn't moderate a eighth grade debate with help.
Besides that with programs like Nova and Front-line and Bill Moyers , they use science and facts n $hit .
If they were a good teevee station they'd have ads
Try again when you learn how to spell.
Sorry, Joe, but I believe he was pandering to the Fox News crowd. That kind of spelling works quite well there.
Joe, when one is new to a venue, it is best to lurk and listen, until one know the players- and the difference between sick-n-effin and the flaming
a$$holebasketball.How Robme was able to get away with all of the LIES that he told is an abomination to the American people. Cutting PBS, and gutting Medicare, SS, tax cuts for the middle class, while raising taxes on the poor - all to enable further cuts for the wealthy is treason against US all!
Yes Zora Renee you are right, so what do you make of the people who believe him?
Who said he got away with them? Everything he said is now on video and is already being fact-checked, stamped as false, and passed around the interwebz. Mittens didn't get away with anything last night. The President, contrary to what some believe, did the job he needed to do last night.
Kill Big Bird?
Say it isn't so!!
In truth the GOPpers have been trying to kill true journalism for years if not decades.
I've found NPR and PBS the most trustworthy sources, home grown programs, Canadian Broadcasting and the BBC are on my affiliates.
I believe the elimination of anything but the official party line which serves the GOP is one of the Republican goals.
If they cant stop the source they can at least close the conduit,
.
They're too late. There are no more secrets.
I promise this is not sour grapes-Romney clearly performed better than Obama last night. However, did anyone notice Romney return to his lecturn (after the families had gone onto the stage) to retrieve some notes? He attempted to put the notes into his coat pocket, but was unable to do so. He then turned to his son and had his son put the notes into his own coat pocket. I watched the debate with a group and it looked to all of us that the notes were type written. I was just watching Thomas Roberts (MSNBC) and he noted that Romney tossed a hankerchief onto the lecturn before the debate. We are all curious as to whether that was actually a hankerchief or the notes referred to above. Is there anyway to check any of this out?
No, Romney didn't perform better than Obama. Obama did what he needed to do - he stayed calm and cool and appeared Presidential. And he let Romney run on and on and on with all those lies. Lies which can now be hung squarely around his neck. Love it!
How fast does the economy have to grow with new jobs adding new taxpayers so that the tax cuts Mr. Romney proposes will have no influence on overall tax revenue? And don't those new jobs and taxpayers enter the system sometime after the tax cuts so we do add to the deficit for a while until...when????
Benen, is there any way you can get yourself invited to be on the Prez debate prep team? Your country needs you.
Just thinking aloud... If Obama's supporters don't get traction off the PBS thing, they need fired. He said that he wants to cut an American institution when he said he would cut PBS. No more Victory Garden, Antiques Roadshow, Masterpiece Theater, Ken Burns documentaries, This Old House or even Sesame Street. Killing funding for PBS has traction for the President, if they use it.
You forgot the two nediest programs in nerdom.... Nature and Nova...
The right wingnuts would love to cremate those two because they sometimes have programs on "evil-lution" and have been known to champion an environmental cause or two...
I watched MSNBC last night for the debate coverage and response.
As an old political junkie, and a Nader's Raider, I have to say it was some of the funniest TV I have seen in a while.
You guys gave Saturday Night Live a run for their money.
Thanks for the laughs
I watched MSNBC as well. The only ones who reacted with cool was Al Sharpton and Lawrence. The rest were just rambling on and out of control.
PBS's money is peanuts in the overall budget, sure, out here in the real world. But you surely understand that romney- and gop-bots just know that PBS, like foreign aid and the NEH and Amtrak and endless rows of thumb-twiddling do-nothing government bureaucrats each cost us billions, even trillions, every year.
PBS will be just fine. There are tons of 300-400 million dollar gifts going around...well you know what? They add up and add up fast. There is no reason for the Gov. to be involved in PBS.
You may equate the same amount of money given to PBS as a drop in the bucket, budgetwise. It’s very nearly the same amount given to solyndra, another drop in the bucket?
How many of these drops can be ignored while the flood continues? If PBS wants to keep open the members can pare their budgets by 16% to donate to the underserved areas to keep them open.
PBS really can't exist without public funding...hence why it's the Public Broadcasting Station.
But what I love is the argument that "drops in the bucket" add up. Let me guess you're one of those same people who argues that increasing taxes on the rich won't pay off the deficit, even though it would pay off most of it.
Drops in the bucket only matter when they're about things you don't care about; otherwise it's necessary spending.
Romney got Pinocchio nose and a pants-on-fire awards for those dishonest 'Green Energy" claims.
Three of three dozen of those enterprises failed; Bain had a worse track record...
Bain bought those companies that were already in distress with their own money (borrowed or not they were responsible for paying it back), not the taxpayers. This "green energy" crap is payed for by working people. There was never any intention By these Green crooks to pay the government back. You don't take money for a service you don't plan to produce unless you are a crook. Really tired of hearing about Bain Capitol.
I'll pretend inspector's comment made sense
I don't know, that would take a LOT of pretending!
First of all Inspector, you do realise that you're talking "apples and oranges" right? Bain bought (buys?) companies with primarily borrowed money. And no, they do not intent to pay it back, they either make the purchased company pay it back or, if it fails, declare bankrupty so no one pays it back. You seem to think that when Bain invests in a company and it goes south, "that's just business" but when the govenment invests and it goes bad, it's "green crooks". You must be one of those people that wants to wait until every last gallon and CF of fossil fuel is burned up before we start looking into alternatives.
Get used to hearing about Bain Capital because it needs to be brought up. If Mr Romney gets elected and he runs the country the same way, we are ALL in deep trouble.
Inspector,
You may be tired, but Bain is the premier example of Mitt Rmoney's "business expertise" he claims qualifies him for the presidency.
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/greed-and-debt-the-true-story-of-mitt-romney-and-bain-capital-20120829
His claims of the business experience, yet we are not allowed to delve into it just shines the spotlight on his wish to keep us in the dark on specifics. You are falling for the tricks of listening to paid advertisers to sell you an invisible shape shifter that is far from the transparency needed to make informed decisions.
But I know people like that, close friends base their vote on feelings-yikes. What feelings are they feeling? Who knows, they won't say.
Dave
Are you listening to yourself? You say Bain BUYS the company That means they OWN it. The loan is repayed BY Bain because the company is now OWNED by Bain. I don't have the exact percentage right now but, more than 80 % of the loser companies that Bain buys are fixed and sold for a "profit"(something that escapes most readers in this forum). Bain is /was in business to make profit. If a person has a good idea for a business but is not capable of implementing it properly, In comes Bain, Buys the company, fixes the problems with it then sells a profitable business at a profit. Here is the deal, The government should not for any reason invest in a private business. Government should not pay for studies on shrew mating habits. The government should not pick winners and losers in the private sector IE: GM/ UAW Hell GM is repaying loans from the government with government grants for gods sake. Ford Motor Co. did not take any money from the government And WOW look how well they are doing. The bailout was a repayment scheme for the UAW for getting Obama elected. Paybacks plain and simple. With my friggin money.
And BTW Dave
The government should not for any reason subsidize ANY private company. Even big oil. If there is a need for something like renewable resources let the private sector fill it. The government should stick to building roads and taking care of REAL social problems.
How to become a feudal lord:
Eliminate early childhood educational tv programming, and HeadStart and public school preschool programs, and cram 40 kids into a classroom with an underpaid teacher who will soon leave for a better job. Make college affordable only for the wealthy. Keep the masses as uneducated as possible.
Control the situation so that people will have many children by eliminating contraception, and eliminate minimum wage & nutrition programs & medical care for the poor. Tax those paltry wages. Have a large and hungry workforce. Scare people into submission.
Forget the 18th or 19th century, get back to the 11th century or maybe even earlier, when the rich lords had all the power and everyone else was a serf.
Thank you! I am surprised that more people do not recognize the patterns. I agree.
wstarn ; You nailed it . A permanent underclass so we can bring manufacturing back from China. They'll all be working for Chinese wages and we can put up dormitory flophouses just like the companies we bought.
Agreed. All of these atrocities can be categorized as human rights violations. Remember when America used to condemn China's treatment of its people, and demand that China rectify its practices? Now American corporations gleefully take their companies to China specifically to engage in those same inhumane employment tactics, and then laugh their merry way to the Cayman Islands.
I watched MSNBC last night for the debate coverage and responce.
I must say as an old political junkie and and old Nader's Raider, this was some of the funniest TV I have seen in a while.
You guys gave Saturday Night Live a run for their money.
He was trying to sell his inconsistent policy based on lies to Americans. And those who are dumb enough to believe him, should get the fact straight.
Romney was rude. He lied about everything he said. He said that we didn't need teachers, firemen, police then he said he wants more teachers. Romney had no regard for the moderator.
Most of us still realize that president Obama is a brilliant man who surrounds himself with brilliant people. This was strategy people nothing more nothing less. Obama stood there all night and let Mitsybil tie his own noose. Everything Mitsybil said was a complete flip flop and a blatant lie from what he said not more than 2 weeks ago. We all know Mitt will say whatever he needs to say depending on who he is talking to.
Obama was never going to get him to admit to his lies and he played him just like he wanted him. Watch for it...watch for it New Obama Ads on debate night “Mitsybil it said this, but all during his campaign this is what he really said”.
Obama was never meant to be on the attack dog that's Biden’s job. Believe me Joe Biden is going to rip lying Ryan a new one. He needed Mitwit to lie.
Don't jump ship now people, if you think for one moment the tea party is going to go along with what Romney was shoveling to night? No way but they needed to get up there and do what he does best lie and flip flop. So he will have the elusion that he would make a good President otherwise they don’t stand a chance in hell of him getting into the White House.
I have to omit it was hard to watch at first lol. Then I started to see it being played out. Obama had this sort of smile on his face as if to say OK that was a lie, check, next." It was almost like a chess game and he was setting up the board.
All you MSNBC talk show host I was disappointed with your comments afterwards, calm down and just keep putting the true Mitt out there everyday like you have been.
Oh btw Mitwitty Big Bird and his pals want to know if you can come out and play today.
http://youtu.be/K9njHHyRI7g
Gloria, this is exactly how I saw this debate. I hope more viewer will realize this.
This just gets funnier and funnier.
But I know better this is the chance you take when entering the blog world.
Lots and losts of words from the great unwashed masses who believe they like know stuff.
You people are a hoot.
Over and out I can only take this silliness for so long.
Again I congradulate MSNBC for their hilarious coverage.
Nader Raider signing off.
Ah yes, Ralph Nader...
The fellow who offered up the opening act for the Supreme Court and Bush v. Gore in '00...
No?
THANK YOU!!! Too many people are upset that he wasn't a liberal firebrand. It's sad and disturbing to see how many folks have no idea what the purpose of this debate was for the President. There are two more debates, people - take a chill pill and trust the President. Last night was about doling out rope and Romney gladly accepted it.
@Gloria, I think you are
rightcorrect. Obama and his team are too media smart and they have been doing a great job so far. It will be interesting to see what happens.Mitt would have made George Costanza proud last night. But is the Repub method of lie and then lie louder still going to work?
It will be interesting to see what happens with the VP debate. Do they release the Biden? I think Biden has the ability "to rip lying Ryan a new one." It seems the logical thing to do, but I thought BO would have come out swinging last night.
It will be interesting.
@ Gloria Whatley, et al:
I also believe that President Obama quietly emboldened Governor Romney by not bludgeoning him with accusations of falsehood. This way, Mr. Romney's "assertions" are forever on the debate record, and can be analyzed in depth, instead of with a snappy (and short-lived) comeback.
also just remember how docile and quiet the President was just before he took out bin ladin-
If I've done the math right, the PBS budget would represent 0.04% of the deficit -- four-hundredths of 1%.
Who was those mask men!!! Obama or Romney?? I didn't see my president nor the Romney I have heard in the past few weeks...Will the real candidate PLS STAND UP!!
I don't know. People may be saying that Romney "won" last night. But it's hard for me to see it now that he's been branded by the Internet as the guy who wants to kill Big Bird. I don't think he understands how many 2012 voters grew up on Sesame Street. Some of us may not get the budget, and may not understand how taxes work, but you don't touch our Muppets!!!
Exactly! I'm going to just keep saying this - last night was about the President doling out rope and Mitt Romney gladly accepted it.
I don't give a damn how slick and prepared Romney was, I care about his crazed philosopy and total lack of details on just how his fiscal fantasy plays out.
For the majority of the night, he pandered to the base, AKA " Preaching to the choir " on such silliness as Presidents effecting gas prices and killing Big Bird.
Mitt's goal was to make you like him. Do you? If not, he lost.
Romney is a snake-oil sales man. Anything to win is what Romney goal, hell with the 47% and GOP his out to win only and if lying helps he will lie and flip-flop just to get your vote. Afterwards, Romney will follow his cronnies and ruin this great nation!!!
Watching Sesame Street right now.
Leave Bird Bird alone!
"Cutting PBS support (0.012% of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500Gig hard drive." —Neil deGrasse Tyson