One is struck by the continuing over reach of the iconic figures required for the smooth functioning of the Military Industrial Complex . The judo instructor would welcome the opportunity to use the weight of an opponent to throw them .

Yes, all too often they're proven right. Especially Obama.

And Steve Benen keeps pretending people like McConnell, Chambliss, and Graham don't understand the debt ceiling. They understand it and everybody else should pretending they're that stupid and instead illuminate what is really going on, i.e., intentionally misleading their audience. It's what the right does -- it intentionally misleads.

Allowing it to work exposes who truly is the stupid ones?

I think you're mis-reading Steve on that :

It's more likely that the Republican understands quite well that the "blank check" talking point is nonsense, but he's repeating it anyway in the hopes Americans will be confused by nonsense.

Like you I find him unnecessarily polite though.

Benen doesn't write. He types.

He is a milquetoast who confirms left wing confirmation bias that the Far Right is populated with fools. It is that kind of thinking that got us rolled in 2010.

Perhaps Benen could get off his mental ass and not simply repeat existing memes being tweeted incessantly. Let's assume those in leadership taking far Right positions are not all fools.

Let's take the right wing at their word- that they really want to starve the beast- to destroy big government by drowning it in a bathtub.

Look at this from their perspective. If you want to make it harder for the US government to borrow money, then it is in your interests to destroy the credit rating of the US government.

Benen- their rhetoric is nonsense. They are not choosing default as a weapon of negotiating leverage.

Default is their goal. High interest rates are their goal. It is their means of destroying big government spending: Social security and Medicare.

The conventional wisdom is that Wall Street considers this madness. Let's have the balls to question that assumption. Seriously- look at it from their perspective. The 2008 economic melt-down has been very profitable for the 1%, and no one has gone to jail. So really, the 1% has learned something startling from how Paulsen, then Summers and Gheitner "managed" the crisis. They learned that regardless who is in the White House, there is only upside to economic chaos. Default does good things for the 1% because liberal monetary policy has put tons of cash in their hands, but the rent they can get is too low due to the US government's sterling credit rating. High interest rates will be a windfall for bankers, the insurance companies and other corporations sitting on $2 Trillion in cash.

You lost me when you started your post with an insult to the host. I have read many of your words and most are smart and thoughtful, but today you reached the level of the guy who hangs out at a strip club but complains the girls asses are too big. It's disrespectful and petty and if there was any justice, we'd have a bouncer here to toss you.

Pardon me. Was I mistaken that Benen accused the Right of either being stupid or cynically evil?

So it is ok for Benen to insult the intelligence of Right wing leadership, but it is not ok for me to confront what Benen is doing, and suggest that it is less than intelligent not to confront the neat little boxes we like to put the Right in. It's ok for me to post here so long as I confirm everyone's biases of how right and good we are and how stupid ugly and evil they are.

That's the comic strip club of politics many of us dwell in, unwilling to think, unwilling to challenge assumptions. Gaining high popularity Likes and Tweets is about confirmation and repetition.

It's lazy pandering to preconceptions. This is less about how Benen thinks than the way we all think- the way we fall into mental traps and underestimate our opponents.

Lindsay Graham has a knife pointed at Medicare and Social Security and he is faithfully carrying out his ideology that these are bad programs and that any pain we suffer in the transition is necessary pain.

Maybe Graham is stupid, maybe he is evil. But maybe there is a third possibility. Maybe he really wants small government and is aggressively pursuing a path to a credit downgrade in order to achieve that goal.

Steve, please stop giving the GOTP an out by calling them "cynically dishonest or shockingly ignorant" - the GOTP specifically McTurtle, Bonehead, CANTor & Lyin' Ryan - have stated exactly what they want to do - demolish the economy so that they can shrink the government until it can go down the drain. They do this to allow for the Fascist corporate take-over of this nation by the Oligarchy with them being the holders of power and the rest of US as serfs. It's not difficult and it's not a conspiracy theory - it is the logical outcome of their actions to "privatize" everything for the corporate estates and to force working Americans into peonage/serfdom/debt slavery. Just look at the attempts to "privatize" Social Security, Medicare, the Post Office - it's not an accident and let US tell the truth here.

I have to agree with John here. This is the GOPs desire; to kill American government and to finally accomplish their 80+ year goal of doing away with the social safety net.

Added is this...let's ask; WHO loans money? Who is going to make a boatload of cash when the US interest rates increase? That is a lot of money to be had, because, after all, We The People are paying for it via taxes. As long as that interest goes into the pockets of the already uber wealthy, the GOP accomplishes all of its goals.

I disagree with Steve that they are cynical. This is calculated. Completely.

Who's asking for a "blank check"? What does that even mean?

its the Frank Luntz talking point , now the media will jump up and down with it like ' fiscal cliff " , or they may find another talking point that catches on

But no matter what , it still comes down to leadership , if obama starts dancing to it , then the gop get their way again , if he stands up to them and the msm , and simply points out how ridiculous it is and moves on , it will be left in the dust

obama has the legitimate power to excuse this joke , whether he uses it or not is up to him , his record shows he will move everything to the right tho , to appease the white man .... gut social programs , then let military spending pass completely untouched

JohnMesserly: ["Maybe Graham is stupid, maybe he is evil. But maybe there is a third possibility. Maybe he really wants small government and is aggressively pursuing a path to a credit downgrade in order to achieve that goal."]

And if your suggested third possibility were true, then doing that would cause extreme (and likely *permanent*) pain for the vast majority of US citizens, and quite possibly to the entire global economy. Either Graham doesn't understand that (stupid), or he doesn't care (evil). So your laughably ridiculous analysis changes nothing. It's not a third possibility, it's just an attempt to explain Graham's stupidity/evil.

The unwillingness of too many avowed non-conservatives to openly acknowledge the crass malice of those on the right is not a new phenomenon, and it most likely predates the early 1990s, when I became fully aware of what was going on. Too many avowed non-conservatives act as though demonstrating their Personal Virtue is more important than actually accomplishing something positive. To the Personally Virtuous, the aggressive malice of those on the right somehow means that good wittle wibewals must never state the blunt, unpleasant truth about those on the right. One time, some snippy thing stuck his/her nose in the air (figuratively speaking) and delivered the pronouncement "I don't find it useful to call people liars and bigots." Well, la-de-effing-da! I pointed out that it is always useful to identify liars as liars and bigots as bigots. If I remember correctly, I further observed that those who understand the difference between right and wrong and seek to do what is right (as distinct from what is right-wing), are morally obliged to identify liars as liars, bigots as bigots, etc.

The dangerously counter-productive unwillingness to treat those on the right as they deserve extends to this blog, where the staff seems extremely unwilling to rein in aggressive and obvious trolls.

@JM...Benen was referring to Graham who is both ignornat and willfully deceptive.

But overall the right is extremely shortsighted with so many self serving individuals looking out for their own personal interests that the result is always confusing and messy...the results of every republican adminstration so far. Dems are always having to clean up the mess they have created yet each mess has some individuals who make out well and others who don't.

Selfish self centered greed and power seeking lawmakers will always produce a situation which is not good for the public at large or the masses of a democracy. They are both deceptive and stupid because of their selfcenteredness and shortsightedness...ie Lindsey Graham

It seems to me Mr. Benen was simply exposing the next chapter of the Mitt's Mendacity reports we used to see on Fridays, except this goes to Graham's Grift exposed or Republican Denial and Disregard of Election Results #??? The important point really ought to be the exposure of the lies they continue to tell, the lies the media simply repeats instead of refuting, and the lack of major media figures to even question allowing such people to receive their attention. Not sure why some of you felt the need to attack through the blog and not in a personal email to SB.

The episode with Rice demonstrated how slimey Graham is. I am not saying that he is not worthy of demonization. I agree he has brought dishonor to the Senate and demonstrated how flawed a historical figure he is. What I was attempting to convey is that thinking about political players through the lens of demonization makes our analytical skills weaker. It degrades comprehension of the actions of the players, and causes us to under appreciate threats posed to policies we value.

The idiom "getting a blank check" means getting complete freedom to do whatever you want. The GOP base is horrified that the Dems think they have the power to do whatever they want, and Graham is more than happy to push that button with sound bites like this. He is getting out in front of that "opposition to everything" wave that washed up in 2010.

Benen used the literal meaning of the idiom and had fun with it.

My criticism of what I interpreted to be at best idle thinking and at worst pandering to confirmation bias should not be interpreted as a defense of Graham's tactics or his position.

I think his goal is default. Not the kind of apocalyptic vision that Ezra outlined in his piece a few days back- the gradual kind of downgrade where the markets have tons of time to absorb and adjust.

The way to put and end to it is to pre-empt any further drama.

Justice Department should assert its finding on the legality of the 14th, and the President can tell Boehner privately he has two choices- attempt impeachment or take it to the courts. Publicly though, the President will declare to the financial community that US debt will be honored regardless whether the US congress passes a debt ceiling extension.

Then the public focus is not on Obama getting a blank check. The focus is on whether Congress can constitutionally say they refuse to allow payment for purchases they authorized.

I agree with John M. 100%. Mr Graham and many others who identify with the Conservative/Libertarian mindset know exactly what they are doing. Whatever is necessary to bankrupt the federal govt.

Yes , yes , but I suggest that the entire operation has , like a hook in a pop tune , become tiresome to the target audience .

Did not the "target audience" keep the House full of these persons?

Local politics and gerrymandered districts kept "the House full of these persons," but fewer of the Tea Partying types were allowed to come back, even with their gerrymandered advantage - and that speaks a lot for Republican talking points "becom[ing] tiresome to the target audience." -Kevo

p.s. Tis true, an argument made regarding a deliberate attack on government itself by the Republican brand is not without merit to entertain as a feasible way to explain very observational and discernible political behavior by the likes of Graham and his Republican Tea Partyers!

To such evidence, as it presents itself, I say go for it Mr. Benen and call our the big fat liars among us!

Congress can cut future appropriations. It can eliminate or modify contracts with third parties a) to the extent the contracts have not yet been performed by the other party and b) to the extent the contract allows modification. Congress can prescribe that programs be eliminated or reduced as of the date of the law or later. But a law reneging on a contract the other party has performed is a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment, a law cutting off pay for employees for work they've already done or a law affecting benefits due citizens that have already vested is a "taking" under the Fifth Amendment.

At any rate, if Congress wants to cut spending, it should just cut spending. It has the power of the purse. It can cut anything it wants to cut. Threatening not to pay bills its already run up because it thinks it can somehow make people think the president is the one who's run up the bills is as stupid as it is wrong. Which, of course, is the definition of "Republican" these days.

Annie Oakley: Did you just simultaneously say that Obama is not a "player" in this, but that he gets to decide where tax revenues go??? I might sue for whiplash. If Obama decides where the money goes, why even have Congress? You need to decide if Obama is a bumbling fool or a cold calculated dictator.

"The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provides that the president may propose rescission of specific funds, but that rescission must be approved by both the House of Representatives and Senate within 45 days. In effect, this has removed the impoundment power, since Congress is not required to vote on the rescission and has ignored the vast majority of presidential requests."

So the law is clear on this, the President can not fail to spend money that the Congress has authorized.

So your talking point - "Obama gets to choose where the incoming tax revenues are spent" - is just more nonsense.

Either become better informed, or stop adding your false outrage to this nonsensical discussion.

When settled matters of state , and those free speech zone things appear in unauthorized locations , directed by another pipers tune , that is a good time to assess whose composing said airs , not after those amongst the unwashed have given a life to a less complicated form of simplicity .

Kevo: You left out one of their most overused talking points. "The job creators"

Don't forget "job creators" cousin, "job killing." I'm sure "tax and spend" is going to make a strong comeback now that some tax rates went up.