It was, to put it mildly, a crowded media landscape last night. President Obama's State of the Union address was obviously the big story, but there was also quite a bit of interest in Sen. Marco Rubio's Republican response, the developments in California surrounding Christopher Dorner, and for some reporters on Capitol Hill, Ted Nugent's thoughts on the evening.
That left Sen. Rand Paul, delivering the third annual "Tea Party" response to the SOTU, as the odd man out. That was generally good news for Republicans, who didn't want the distraction in the first place, but bad news for the junior senator from Kentucky.
If you ignored -- or more likely, forgot about -- Paul's speech, I'm afraid you didn't miss much.
"We are in danger, though, of forgetting what made us great. The president seems to think the country can continue to borrow $50,000 per second. The president believes that we should just squeeze more money out of those who are working.... Ronald Reagan said, government is not the answer to the problem, government is the problem. Tonight, the president told the nation he disagrees. President Obama believes government is the solution: More government, more taxes, more debt."
Hmm. Reagan increased government spending, raised taxes seven of the eight years he was in office, and nearly tripled the national debt. He's Rand Paul's point of comparison when it comes to fiscal restraint?
Paul added that one of the great things about the United States is that everyone is "guaranteed a chance to succeed based not on who your parents were but on your own initiative and desire to work" -- said the self-accredited ophthalmologist who got elected because of his famous father.
The entire speech was a poorly delivered, predictable mess. Paul wants to eliminate nearly all public investments, change the Constitution to make deficits impossible, impose term limits, cut foreign aid, and privatize education. He's convinced the job market will flourish just as soon as corporations get another big tax cut.
Paul's entire pitch was just tired, more likely to generate eye-rolling than outrage. The speech effectively served as the opposite of its intended goal -- it made the Tea Party "movement," such as it is, seem stale and unnecessary.
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Do any of these hacks realize that under Obama spending has decreased?
You're trying to muddy the waters with facts, Marty. The GOP, especially the Tea Party, doesn't recognize any fact they they or Fox News hasn't made up themselves.
They probably don't realize spending has decreased because it hasn't. Having spending grow at a slower rate than your predecessor does not equal a decrease. Government spending as a share of GDP is the highest in US history outside of WWII and we're currently borrowing $.40 of every $1 spent. This isn't a left or right argument, it's just numbers. Plenty of people in this country are worried about these numbers. The left used to be until their guy got elected. I guess this doesn't surprise me since the left also used to be anti-war and pro civil liberties, too.
ianfs, if you're going to use numbers, you should get your numbers right. The $0.40 borrowed for every dollar spent was in 2009.
You may recall that the U.S. economy was in free-fall starting in 2008, and Congress enacted TARP to prevent a total collapse on Oct. 3, 2008, before the election. FYI, the trigger for that collapse was an unregulated market that allowed traders to employ credit default swaps on collateralized debt obligations, siphoning off value and leaving the dregs. This is a debacle the Obama administration inherited from Bush, but those TARP funds ($700 billion allocated, but reduced to $475 billion by Dodd-Frank) were spent in 2009, the 40% year. Add to that the bailout of the auto industry and unprecedented increases in unemployment payouts, and you'll see where additional government spending was unavoidable. This year's revenue shortfall is estimated at 23% and next year's 17%.
From Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic, Oct. 12, 2012:
Perhaps you would answer "no" to these questions, and if so, your side lost the 2012 election. So blame the American people, not Obama.
Greg House obviously meant these guys, when he said: "Somewhere out there is a tree, tirelessly producing oxygen so you can breathe. I think you owe it an apology!"
Love it
Sorry, Steve, that's not possible. The TP had already seemed stale and unnecessary since about September 2011.
Kentucky must be proud.
I agree! Kentuckians can marvel at their wondrous ability to elect an unenlightened fool who believes he's a self-made man!
I just hope they don't go blind while relying on his self-professed talent! -Kevo
In the land of the blind, a one-eyed man shall be king. Describes Kentucky perfectly, not to mention a list of other states. You know which ones.
Being from Kentucky, and completely disagreeing with everything that the Tea Party stands for, I am appalled that such seemingly intellectual and open-minded individuals, such as yourselves, would be discriminate enough to generalize an entire state because someone, that trust not everyone here, somehow got voted into office. Unfortunately, it is assumptions such as yours, yet reversed, that keep our local and national government, from moving forward. A bias is a bias, regardless who has it. Content prior to investigation. Pathetic.
I disagree, Hopester. I would put my state on the same list and yet don't consider myself one of the hopelessly deluded. It doesn't mean that every single person in Kentucky cannot think. But there must be a slew of people that swallow that hogwash whole. Otherwise, you wouldn't have those representative legislators.
So you're a Blue Dot in Kentucky. Good for you for sticking it out. You must find other charms that outweigh the political climate. I certainly do.
Offhand, that's likely why Rove is preemtively attacking Ashley Judd as she may bring a lot of moderates and liberals who have had no reason to even come to the polls before. Loudest voices do get the most attention, even when they are in the minority.
Seriously, while I didn't see Randy boy, both he and Rubio were selling the "fear factor - everybody freak out"! WE have had enough of that! Despite rethugniCon obstruction, obfuscation and down right ignorance of the issues - this nation is moving forward! Gee, imagine how much farther down the road to recovery WE would be if they actually behaved like adults and tried leadership, governing, doing their dayum jobs!
Whomever decided that this clown who parrots FoxNews Benghazi conspiracy theories that get laughs from Hillary deserves a microphone is sorely mistaken. It's so strange that he gets support from anyone, because the truth is the truth, once you are willing to ignore it you lose anyone with objectivity.
"Reagan increased government spending, raised taxes seven of the eight years he was in office, and nearly tripled the national debt."
Steve, he also said, "There you go again!" Shame on you for bringing facts to the gunfight!
My favorite thing about Rand Paul is the way his eyes spin when he talks. Some people simply look crazy, and this guy takes the cake. He doesn't even have to talk. Just watch him for a few moments.
Poor guy. More than a little scary, too.
Has everyone on the GOP side lost their minds? Since when is the President responsible for passing budget legislation? These morons have been acting as though we are a monarchy, not a republic, since the GWOT started, or roughly five seconds after 9/11. Let me type slowly, so that even Republicans understand; the President proposes, the Congress disposes. Just because Mitch McConnell and the Orange One don't want to do their jobs does not mean Mr. Obama is not doing his. But, the lies, fear, uncertainty and doubt continue. Heckuva job, GOP!!
They damn well do know how government works. What they're counting on is their idiot base not knowing.
They're just keeping US political waters muddied, keeping citizens stirred up, using anger and fear to win elections instead of truth and hard work, especially instead of hard work.
YES they have lost their minds! It all started when an African American won the Presidency... then lost a little each day, while trying to cause the failure of our President, and when you think of it, the failure of our country. I guess the GOP/Teabag nutjobs would rather our country have been in a Depression rather than a recession, because it would make Obama look bad. Don't they remember, the recession started wayyyyy before Obama was elected? Pure hateful, pitiful, idiots!
Exactly. The GOP leaders complain that Obama hasn't been a leader because he hasn't proposed a budget. Of course, if Obama had proposed a budget, they would be howling that he was usurping the power of Congress.
No, no, NO! That's their fiction. President Obama has filed a budget proposal every year since he was elected. Then each house of Congress has to make modifications and vote on a final version. It just hasn't been passed in timely fashion. But the budget is only a guide, anyhow. Each discretionary outlay must be approved in an appropriations bill.
It's the conservative blogosphere that has perpetuated the myth that the President has failed to propose a budget. Check it out on Wikipedia for more info.
So I guess Rubio would be the Aqua and Paul would be the Buddha?
(No offense to the Buddha)
I'm really getting tired of the libertarian talking points. And that's all they are, talking points. They don't even amount to a valid argument for a different policy position.
Libertarianism is not a serious governing philosophy, not for a nation as complex, diverse, and globally intertwined as ours.
How did the nation become complex, diverse and globally intertwined? Did the government make it that way or did the markets and capitalism? Economies aren't diverse, complex and global because government's made them that way. They are that way in spite of government intervention. Believe in the invisible hand...it's what puts food on the shelves at your grocery store.
It's not an either/or proposition. Both government and business played a role in the evolution of the United States. Business needs government, and vice-verse, for both to function properly. And quite frankly, you are demonstrating exactly what's wrong with the neolibertarian view...it's far too simple.
Business is not all good, and Government is not all bad. Even Nozick and Freidman knew it...you might want to go read their books.
I thought he was a self-accredited optometrist.
Rand Paul is an opthamologist/surgeon not an optometrist. He received his MD from Duke University.
“When men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon.” Thomas Paine
Rand Paul is just another Teabag crazy, loon. How clueless can one party be?
I am afraid to ask that question, because they might provide the answer in a spectacularly appaling fashion.
Paul is emblematic of the Tea Party. the TP is composed of those who really bought into the idea of American execptionalism, sure that white Americans were the most important beings on the planet. Now, their delusions have sickened and have become classic paranoia. They are still sure that they are ever-so special, but now everyone has to be against them since they simply couldn't have been wrong.
Ronald Reagan was partially correct.
"Ronald Reagan said, government is not the answer to the problem, government is the problem."
Government is not the problem. The politics of government is the problem. It's how government manages and handles things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPKNqNnXL9Y
Thanks for the video! Interesting that the NGOP/Teabags refuse to admit to their hand in increasing the national debt. Listen to them and it's all Obama's fault. Delusional frauds!
I see that I did not miss much last night.
When we were in high school, my friends and I were very fond of "Momma" jokes. But we used to always discuss how the "Momma" from the jokes was not a reference to anyone's actual mother, most of whom we all knew, liked and respected. Rather, it was a fictional construct, created for the sole purpose of having a laugh at your buddy's expense.
The same is true of Republicans and Ronald Reagan. The Reagan that they have elevated to near sainthood bears very little resemblance to the actual man who governed from 1981-1989. If any of them would take a moment to reflect on his record, they would find it sorely lacking, from the point-of-view of the "true believers". Ironically, the Tea Party members who love to invoke his memory so often would ensure that he stood absolutely no chance in a modern GOP primary.
This is hardly a new observation, and yet the Teapublicans keep on with their veneration of St. Ronnie. If he were active in politics today, they would call him a "socialist" and a "RINO" and that would be the end of it. Same for Bush I, and probably Ford and Nixon as well.
Nixon basically was a socialist. He instituted wage and price controls after he cut the last link to the gold standard. I agree Reagan is unjustifiably raised to Sainthood. He was really just much less bad than the people who preceded him (Carter, Ford, Nixon, and LBJ.) He was a big part of turning around a downward spiral by compressing the tax structure and putting a freeze on new regulations.
Politicians should not be looked up to in general. Look at how people have glossed over Obama. He didn't pull the troops out of Iraq immediately like he said he would, didn't close Gitmo, signed the NDAA, has killed American citizens without trial through the drone program, etc. Also his economic illiteracy is inexcusable. The stimulus, auto managed bankruptcy, Lily Ledbetter, Cash for Clunkers and the new big LOOOOOL is wanting to increase the mimimum wage instead of eliminating it.
People tend to see what they want to see in politicians unfortunately.
If it were up the Republicons/Teabags.... the minimum wage would never be raised... and to do away with it, would allow the Republicons/Teabags to pay lower wages than they pay in Mexico! Get real!
Minimum wage laws lower employment. Wages are like any other price. When you keep a price artificially high you get less demand for it. High wage floors are going to eliminate very low skill workers from the workforce, making it much more difficult to break through the initial barrier to gain the skills to move up.
Teenage unemployment is already as high as 50% in some areas. It was low teens pre minimum wage.
No way Reagan would be elected today. A former union member and president of the same union, a Democratic governor, someone who changed to the Republican party would be primaried out almost immediately. We are indeed a long way from the rational Republican party of the past.
@Dr.EB --- only thing you missed was the GNOP and Teabags making bigger fools of themselves. Nothing unusual!
The Republicans, and especially those Tea Party nut jobs, wouldn't recognize the truth if they fell over it. Sadly, neither do the people who vote these horrible people into office. Of course, if you only listened to Fox, Rush and Glenn,or you were a gun toting racist, or your name was Ted Nugent,I can see how you could vote for the low life politicians that are destroying our country. It is so sad that these few have made life so bad for so many. The bar has been lowered so low as to allow more people into government service that would never have been allowed before, mainly because of money, money, money. Sometimes they have been so terrible even mountains of money couldn't get them elected. The Republicans/Teabaggers should be ashamed, deeply ashamed of themselves, but their not. Lies, gerrymandering, obstructing the vote throughout Democratic districts only of course, and every other low handed trick they could come up with still saw them losers in 2012. Of course, they won't accept loss, such sore losers can only fight back using their low life tactics to make us "pay for voting for Obama", and they have done quite a job of it. It's too bad politicians like McConnell, McCain. Cruz, Graham, Cantor, and the rest of the lowest low life's in the Congress and the Senate can't be forced out of office because of the gerrymandering disgrace. The American people overwhelmingly re-elected President Obama, poll after poll shows the majority of the same American people agree with his vision for America, but that's not good enough for the Republican/Teabag Crowd. They say "to hell with the American people" we don't care about the American people, well maybe 2% of them is all. Maybe it has always been this way, maybe we have always had to fight the devils that would destroy us for their own gain, maybe.....maybe not. It seems worse to me although many things have been accomplished to make life in America a better place for some. We must put an end to the massive destruction the Republicans/Teabaggers have wrought against 98% of the American people. They are attempting to completely gerrymander and obstruct the voting process to insure their election, and re-elections, for years to come, we MUST stop them from accomplishing their horrible agenda. Please wake up America, no matter your political affiliation, you are an American first, please remember that and put your country ahead of politics. Stop the lies, obstructionism, filibustering, racism, political hatred, gerrymandering, bigotry, and every detrimental action of every detrimental politician who would, for the sake of party or power, destroy our beloved country. Your home is America, and surely you don't want people like these in your home.