Getty Images
There was an exchange yesterday between Fox News' Chris Wallace and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) that was hard to watch, but nevertheless illustrative of a larger point.
WALLACE: You know that if we go into the sequester the president is going to hammer Republicans. The White House has already put out a list of all the things, terrible things that will happen if a sequester kicks in: 70,000 children losing Head Start, 2,100 fewer food inspectors, small business will lose $900 million in loan guarantees. And, you know, Senator, the president is going to say your party is forcing this to protect tax cuts for the wealthy.
GRAHAM: Well, all I can say is the Commander-In-Chief thought -- came up with the idea of sequestration, destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk. Here's my belief: let's take "Obamacare" and put it on the table.... If you want to look at ways to find $1.2 trillion in savings over the next decade, let's look at "Obamacare". Let's don't destroy the military and just cut blindly across the board.
Now, the first point is obviously ridiculous. Republicans are heavily invested in the idea that automatic sequestration cuts were something President Obama "came up with," but reality shows otherwise. It's trivia anyway -- what matters is resolving the threat, not imagining who created it -- but what Graham chooses to overlook is every relevant detail: the sequester was part of the ransom paid to the Republican Party when it took the nation's full faith and credit hostage for the first time in American history. GOP leaders, at time, bragged that this policy was their idea, not Obama's.
If Graham doesn't like the sequester -- and he clearly seems to agree that it's a serious problem -- he can support scrapping the policy or coming up with a bipartisan alternative. For now, he's opposed to both of those options, making his whining yesterday rather unpersuasive.
But Graham turning his focus to the Affordable Care Act serves as a reminder of just how unserious he is about public policy.
Let's be clear about what the South Carolinian is saying here. About $1.2 trillion in automatic cuts are set to kick in, doing real harm to the economy, the military, and the country overall. Lawmakers could cancel or delay the policy, though Republicans aren't interested in either of these options, or they can come up with a bipartisan alternative that replaces the sequester with something else.
With 11 days to go, Lindsey Graham's contribution to the discussion, in effect, is, "I know! Let's take health care benefits away from millions of Americans!"
It's worth noting that even the most reflexive partisans should realize their anti-"Obamacare" preoccupation is quickly becoming laughable. Republican governors are implementing the law; House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) recently conceded the Affordable Care Act is "the law of the land"; public support for repeal is evaporating; and when folks like Orrin Hatch and Michele Bachmann unveil repeal bills, even most GOP lawmakers ignore them.
Graham, in other words, really needs to get over it.
But more important from a substantive perspective is that the South Carolina Republican still doesn't understand the basics of the fiscal debate. The point of looking for a sequester alternative is to find a new policy on debt-reduction. If policymakers scrapped the Affordable Care Act, it would make the debt worse, not better.
In other words, Graham thinks Washington can produce smaller deficits by producing larger deficits. That doesn't make any sense.
Leave a Comment:
Lindsay Graham - a threat to the American people! And, being an Ass too boot!
And the conard about being the president's sequester = Bullshyt! -Kevo
Obama is the real threat to the American people....
Dude has run through over $4 trillion tax payer dollars..
Thanks Odummy for running up the debt..
My unborn grandchildren will need real good jobs to pay this debt back, thanks again.
And how about that unemployment at 7.9%, geeees it was only 7.7% in Jan 2009, thanks agian Ojobkiller for the high unemployment rates, and the plople on food stamps.
The great food stamp president Obummer.
Amazing how proficient you are at whining, but absolutely unable to name one single thing that Obama has done to hurt jobs. And of course, you can't come up with a single idea on how to improve the situation. The typical repub response is to claim that cutting taxes would spur job growth. Bush did that twice, and he created fewer jobs in his 8 years than Obama has in his first 4. If massive tax cuts worked, then why did the economy literally crash under Bush? How about reducing taxes and regulations on business? That's another typical repub response. US businesses are raking in record profits, and sitting on over $2 trillion in cash. Business is doing quite well according to their own ledgers. When we have seen businesses pull back on hiring has been when repubs have held the nation hostage over the debt ceiling. In other words, repubs are the true danger to this country, and they never tire of demonstrating what can only be described as treasonous behavior. They are acting like spiteful 3-year olds, deciding that if they can't run things and get their way all the time, they will wreck the country in any way they can. I'd call them idiots, but that would give idiots a bad name.
We know Obama couldn't have been responsible for the sequester. If he was, there's no way Republicans would let it happen.
Well over half of the Republicans in the Senate voted for the sequester. Just about 3/4 of Republicans in the House voted for the sequester.
Graham did not (neither did a handful of Senate Dems), so I guess he's allowed to moan all he'd like. However, he's not allowed to say that the idea is owned by Obama.
The troll is gone, all the roads are clear. I'm guessing this one had bright orange hair. I can rhyme.
When are republi-can'ts going to realize that for one, statements like "food stamp president" are what lost the election and that the debt was inherited but it is a 100% true fact that it has been nearly cut in half?!! Also, when will it be realized that it was the biggest recession since the Great Depression that the president inherited that has been repaired significantly?!! The real threat to the American people.... half of the American people.... 2 wars, tax breaks for the rich and everyone that the country could not even near afford... a surplus that vanished so quickly that nobody could say "STOP" before it turned into debt. ho-lee-cow indeed...
Typical republican, it's better to have a military that can go around the world killing people than it is to have health care that saves peoples lives.
The USA spends more money pre person on health care than any other country in the world..
Next when have you ever heard of a hospital refusing treatment to anyone???
The most expensive health care is the one that denies pre-emptive health care - like the ER policy. Give everyone a health insurance and costs will go down just because people qualify for pre-emptive health care.
That's how every other civilized nation does it.
@ ho-lee-@sshole
There are many, many documented cases of hospitals refusing treatment to people. Their only 'legal' obligation is to provide stablization of 'emergencies' and then they can transfer those persons to other hospitals or kick them out in the street.
You had better go read what hospitals can and can not do.
Hosptials can not refuse you treatment..
That is a law.
And thank you for calling me an @!$%#!!
ho-lee-cow,
Please, please explain to me how an emergency room is gonna help me manage my type 1 diabetes?
hollo-cow....Next time you have cancer, check into the emergency room and see what you get.
Hey ho-lee-cow, there is a law that says hospitals have to treat people in emergency rooms. The emergency room treatment is paid for by you and me-well me anyway, I doubt you have a job or pay taxes. Emergency rooms were never designed to provide long term care. One of the real reasons for Obamacare is to get emergency rooms out of the business of treating long term illnesses like diabetes so they can return to providing emergency care.
Here is something you might not have heard the various hospital associations around the country support Obamacare and expanded Medicaid because they know if the current system continues and emergency room support budgets are further cut, a lot of hospitals, especially hospitals in rural America are going to go bankrupt. Tea party faithful like you will have to drive hundreds of miles to see a doctor. If you have a heart attack and you live in a small town in a red state, well you are @!$%# out of luck. You will be dead before the interstate carries you to the nearest hospital in the big city.
ignore the troll...he is just another of the sociopathic throng that make up the vocal part of conservative America. He knows his position is despicable and indefensible but he doesn't care...much like Sen. Graham
Look, hospitals have to treat you no matter what.
A hostpial can not refuse you treatment.
You people and your mad up bull$hit.
No wounder you love the maddcow show, all bull$hit.
*facepalm*
Stop feeding the trolls, please.
Someone is feeding you?
A ER will not refuse For life threatening issue's, Active labor. Go in for what may be considered Non- life threatening issue, Feeling crappy, Vital's are taken, assesment by a Doctor, Patient is Stable, ABC's are Normal, See ya later, Come back if you feel worse. http://www.ehow.com/info_7906529_can-hospital-refuse-treatment-insurance.html
Another hemorrhoid, folks. You know what scratching does.
Hospitals DO refuse to treat people. it happens all the time.
to elaborate on 2.14--
The ER will provide you with acute care, but chronic care.
Need chemo-- you will not get it. Need kidney dialysis-- you will not get it. etc.
Want a flu shot-- you will not get it at the ER. etc.
ho-lee-cow is a less than smart person.
Please put him/her on "ignore".
clicking 'no value' (under the little !, lower right corner) = troll repellant.
Every comment, he has earned it.
Leave it the maddcow blog and benen to keep the hate alive..
All anyone needs to do is win a contest on a local radio station and next thing you know you have a TV show on MSLSD!!!!!!!!!!!!
@ ho-lee-@sshole
Are you a new troll to this site or just a rebranded Pooper242 or RobDick?
Look dude take a time out already..
Sad: Holey- cow is just another Foxnot News robo dummy.
I do not watch FOX news, thanks just the same, oh by the by, MSNBC is not news and the maddcow show is about as fare from news as you can get.
It's "opinions" no facts, no truth just her views.
It's hard to watch Faux Noise when you're living in mommy's basement and can't afford to pay rent, much less buy a tv. Someday he may decide to get off his lazy *ss and get a job. If ignorant whining pays, he has a future. Come to think of it, that's enough to qualify to be a repub politician. Seems to be working for folks like Graham and McCain and Preibus and Romney and.......the list is endless.
I bet you know all about living in mommys basement don't you.
I make more money in a year than you will make in 10, so I could buy mommy and her basement if I wanted. If I did, I'd make sure all the trash in the basement was sent to the landfill, starting with you little boy.
@ SadOldVet! I love your responses! LOL!!! :p
Pretty soon Lovely Lindsay will be reduced to his last hole card- Articles of Impeachment.
-becuz, ya know, whatevah. . .
that isn't even a hole card...it's a joker and the rest is all bluff
Graham and the Republicans are mad because they got snookered and have no bartering chip. Their position is Dems should restore the defense cuts and then the Republicans and Dems can figure out which domestic programs they will cut to make up the difference. Republicans are not offering up any tax increases so the Dems have nothing to discuss because the big three SS, Medicare and Medicaid are protected from cuts with the sequester. There is no hostage for the Republicans and they are offering Dems nothing of value to stop the sequester. All the Republicans have left is to whine in public and blame the president.
The trolls are out early this morning.
One of the problems with having a good memory, I can actually remember when the sequester was passed. At the time Republican leaders were taking credit. They crowed that sequester was so bad come the end of 2012 the President would knuckle under to their demands for cuts in Medicare and Social Security.
If the Republicans want to shut down the government, then we should let them. They will suffer at the polls next year. The sequester cuts they want to domestic programs and to Social Security and Medicare are far worse than the domestic cuts in the sequester budget and our Defense budget needs a real trimming.
The trolls are out early this morning.
It is President's Day, and the adult day care centers are closed.
Ron, this is what gets me really hot under the collar. The people pulling the strings in the GOP are a bunch of liars. Trying to re-write history that Iraq was justified, the sequester was "Obama's idea," ERs work just fine for treating the uninsured, letting the auto companies go bankrupt would have given a better outcome, the last four years have seen an unprecedented growth in government, and the government is heading toward insolvency.
All these myths are repeated over and over on the Sunday shows, on Fox programs, and by Limbaugh and Drudge, until the party faithful believe it as fact. Their followers are a bunch of gullible losers, and party leaders are playing them for all they're worth.
The trolls and their nonsensical comments mirrors the nonreality shared by the GOP they support. I would like for any of them to explain why the sequester is the only thing the GOP agrees with Obama on after going against everything else. Do they honestly believe it is a good idea? No, they know it is a terrible idea but falsely believe they can "hang this around Obama's neck" by blaming him for what they in fact did.....it is called transference! The trolls should be ignored simply because arguing with stupid is an exercise in futility!
If the Repubs hate the Def. cuts part of the sequester enough,
they could pass a bunch of equal size cuts that are more thoughtful. - . [The current bunch of Repubs love that word, "thoughtful". As if that makes them smart.]
I bet Obama would sign such a bill.
he's captive to a party, particularly a deranged part of that party (south carolina) that is the nearest thing to a collection of loons since they closed bedlam. what do you expect of him? common sense? reasonableness? integrity? not bloody likely.
The GOP is controlled by two factions, the wealthy that pulls their strings and tell them what to do and say and the inmates in the asylum that have gained strength and vote for them because they identify with crazy....birds of a feather, if you will. Hatred, bigotry, crazy, ignorance etc. follows those that espouse same just as intelligence, reason, common sense, reality, historical facts follows those that espouse same...not rocket science. The GOP created the hell they now live in and it is not only difficult to get out of, it may be impposible!!!!
"South Carolina is too small for a repuiblic and too large for an asylum." James Pinkney, 1860, upon the secession of South Carolina.
Graham proves every time he opens his mouth that we should have done to that state what Rome did to Carthage.
He's just another war monger, our military is solid and always will be. He lied about being in the gulf war, maybe he was dreaming. He supposedly went to war to protect Americans, what happened to his philosophy. Don't the good ole' boys get it, no more wars. It's time each country took care of themselves, we should no longer be in a position to defend countrys who are instigating wars. War wasn't even really a fun game when we played it as children. How many toy guns did these men receive for Christmas. We were happier children when we clothespinned baseball cards on our bikes to make them sound like motorcycles or we played with our model cars, not war , one child always managed to get hurt, it was wrong then and it is wrong now. We have progressed into a more intellegient human race who are able to settle our disputes in a democratic society, never forgetting about the children.
Oh yes the fine people on the maddcow blog..
Oneway is the only way with these outstanding people.
How come the President or any of the people interviewing the Repub Obstructionist Party members Never ask them to show us the plan they propose to the American People ?
I mean every single time I see Rep Obstructionists speak they always say We Have not SEEN a Plan By the President .. GIVE us a plan and we will Consider It ...
We never see the tables turned ? Because it is a Democrat President does that mean that Dems have to propose all the plans now ? I am not sure how the Rules run here so I am in the dark a bit.
If America could Look at the line by line proposal by the Repubs We might be able to see how to Help them ? To See where they are getting it wrong ?
I can tell by this article that the Health Care Reform that is passed into law and is a start to a good Thing for all parties is ONE of the points they do not like ..
I would have thought after Obama was elected to his Second term, it would have laid to rest the Repeal nonsense on the Health Care Reform ..
After all the Promises the Romney Team Made about Their Plan to Abolish Health Care Reform On DAY ONE, if they Became the New Presidential Team ...
THEY LOST that platform was Rejected by the Majority of America .. now Repub Obstructionists need to get on with it and pass the agenda that is helping America.
Obama Needs to Step up on National TV .. Radio .. Internet and Call Out these Republicans to Demand they send to HIM Their written Proposal on HOW they would frame the bill needed to end the sequester deadline ... Then, after he gets them to draft something, and it turns out to be worse then a 8 year old would come up with .. release that document as exhibit A' to the American people ..
Of have they ? and We the people have not seen it ? OR maybe I have not seen it ?
I just feel that Dems are always being slammed into the wall by Repubs on the issues of having to come up with plans that will make Republican Obstructionists happy. They never have to show WHAT they are FOR but just what they are Against .. it is not really the SAME ..
How often are these interviews conducted through the Republican propaganda mouthpiece of Fox News? Republicans are never challenged only enabled.
Not just on FOX, SA. When has any Sunday host from ABC, CBS, or NBC confronted the statements made? It's the Meet, John McCain, Face Lindsay Graham, and Good Morning, Newt, and neither DG, BS, or GC EVER counter their statements with facts. Why their corporate bosses encourage the continuance of this ignorance ought to be the topic of Rachel's next documentary? Why should we allow them the protection of the First Amendment if the news media refuses to tell the truth, and not the propaganda of one group? We know the influence of the Bob Woodwards and Judy Millers in pushing the Bush trope to go to war then, but what and who are those pushing the same neo-con and corporate control now?
Agreed. The Sunday shows are little better.
Lindsey Graham need to get on the Bus with McCann and go home... I am sure he was a good soldier, but he is clueless..
Yes Obama is very clueless, he thinks taxes will cure everything, even gout!!!
His plan for affordable heathcare, jack up the tax rate on the medical manufacturers.
Cook medical has already stop an expastion that would have put over 2500 people to work all due to Obummers new tax.
Thanks Ojobkiller.
If a 2% tax is enough to cause Cook Medical a problem, I'd say that they aren't being managed very well. The price I pay for gas has gone up more than 2% just in the last few days, and it doesn't have me filing for bankruptcy. Maybe the CEO of Cook Medical could think of his company instead of himself, and take a cut in his undoubtedly outrageous pay and benefits package.
Cook is not the only company that has stop.
Who do you think pays these taxes??? We do..
It drives up the cost of goods.
Wake up and put that glass of Obama Kool-Aid down and think for yourself for a change
Sure, you sound like a real math whiz like Lindsey Graham. Bet you want to get rid of Obamacare so the deficit will grow by an extra $1 trillion over the next decade. CBO figures, not mine.
$1 trillion is what Ospend-O-lot runs through every year he has been in office...
Your rascism is coming through loud and clear, Ba Bye!
Where do you live Holey? The Smokies or Ozarks.
Right door to you..
Do you have a chip on your shoulder?
Angel#77: more like a stick up his @ss.
Always nice to have an ignorant Southern piece of something one scrapes off their shoe come along like Ho-ho and demonstrate that every problem this country has had since it was founded has come from the South.
Now, the first point is obviously ridiculous. Republicans are heavily invested in the idea that automatic sequestration cuts were something President Obama "came up with," but reality shows otherwise.
Bob Woodward put this to rest before. Steve, Go read the book. I know it has worked well for the democrats for years that if you keep telling a lie then the sheeple will start to believe it, but you aren't helping yourself by doing this. That being said, The sequester should happen. When everything is cut then the powers that be in the government will actually have to do something. Cuts in the most needed programs can and should be offset by closing unneeded programs that are full of waste, abuse and fraud. I can't remember the last time a politition actually came through on a promise to get rid of waste. These morons on both sides only add it to the debt instead of fixing it.
^^^Debt bed-wetter^^^
Actually Woodward called bullshhit on your sequester nonsense, Mr. Sheeple.
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2013/02/17/wash-posts-woodward-debunks-foxs-effort-to-blam/192709
I guess you need to work on comprehension skills.
Exact QUOTE: WOODWARD: The White House -- and they really don't want to talk about the origins of the sequester now. But the Republicans definitely have a role in this.
Woodward restated the claim that the whitehouse came up with the idea. But he said that republicans are to blame also for taking the deal in the first place. I never said in any post I've made that the republicans were innocent. But I stick by the statement I made regarding the sequester.
P.S. Never use a link from Media Matters. It is no more useful than a link from Fox.
We need represemtatives who are more avid in their people skills. Time to throw the anchors overboard without any ropes, that are weighing us down. We slowly are making our ascension, we don't need those who would hold us back, they need to be put in their corners wearing their dunce hats.
Disgusted,
Media matters is like sunlight, holy water, and a crosses to trolls. They just can't stand to see light of truth.
According to my information [which is not as complete as that of many here] the White House came up with a sequester idea that had domestic cuts and tax increases.
The Repubs didn't like that and proposed the Def. cuts to replace the tax increases.
To me that means the whole idea is THEIRS. They made the last change, so it is theirs.
Are my facts wrong?
Steve fitt: The sequester is all Republican, hatched out of their hostage taking in raising the debt ceiling. The Democrats simply wanted a clean bill. To think otherwise is a complete capitulation to right wing nuttery...
Sorry, Mr. Sheeple aka Debt Bed-Wetter aka inspector. The sequester was a response to allow Republicans to sheepishly save face and come down off the debt ceiling hostage-taking limb they climbed out on. Had the Republicans not climbed out on that limb, there would be no sequester.
The sequester, like the debt-ceiling hostage-taking is 100% Republicans' fault. End of discussion.
Mighty bad case of projection you got there D. I really think I'll take the words of Bob Woodward (notice the pulitzer prizes) End of discussion.
Jan 2009 unemployment rate 7.7% today it's 7.9%...
So Obummer has yet to add one job, in fact he is killing job growth.
Ask any company.
I make more money in a year than you will make in 10,
LOL stick you chest out more there hard azz...
Who cares how much foodstamps eeerrrrrrr money you make..
So, were you just bored and decided to try and play with us? Why don't you use your money for a good purpose, how about a face lift, you really need to stop looking down. You should not discuss your finances on line, not very smart. Oops, I think I heard a knock at your door.
clicking 'no value' (under the little !, lower right corner) = troll repellant.
So when something important needs to be done, the repukes take a vacation.
It occurs to me that the only time Republicans really want accountability for how money is expended is when it doesn't affect their sacred cows. The ACA wants proof that money spent for treatment is effective - "Nope! Can't have that, might impact bottom line of hospitals and drug companies. So they must be death panels" The Administration wants to cut waste in military spending. "Nope! Can't have that, might impact the bottom line of aerospace companies. So it must threaten national defense."
But pre-K education? We need proof there's value, after all "everyone knows" Headstart was such a failure... "Until we get 'proof' that it's effective in dollars and cents, we can't fund it."
Senator Lindsey Graham is not acting in the best interest of the nation or his state. He is frightened of a Tea Party primary challenge and is acting out of fear for his seat.
He is coward, not a statesman, and should lose his seat on that basis alone.
The Democrats should take this as a real opportunity in South Carolina. Surely there are a few people in South Carolina who would like a sane, responsible person to vote for. The right candidate with good financial backing might be able to turn the state blue.
And the path to a Democratic Senator from South Carolina was blazed by the Tea Party in Indiana and Missouri.
So, when Senator Lindsay Graham loses to a Tea Party wing-nut in the primary, please let the good voters of South Carolina ask the wing-nut questions about rape and abortion until he opens his mouth and lets his views come out.
The rest, as they say, will be history.
Can't handle the truth can you leftwingunts...
Maybe maddow will show you all how to make pitty party drink...
Now pass that Kool-Aid..
Please don't tell me you can't spell pity...
How can anyone pass the kool-aid when you are bathing in it?
Oh look duh spelling police.. you ever heard of a "type-O"?
clicking 'no value' (under the little !, lower right corner) = troll repellant.
Thanks, John. A nice little tip that I have just put to use on our local troll.
"...destroying the military and putting a lot of good programs at risk"
So it's cut defense spending or cut programs?
I say cut defense. We already spend more than the other top 9 combined and all for a country that has not had an unprovoked attack on it's shores since...the 1800s?
Think about it. Pearl Harbor? Not on the continental USA and also not in a state at the time. 9/11? Response from a culture for us defiling that culture and religion.
Just cut defense. End o' story!
Defense spending needs to have a meat cleaver taken to it, the most corrupt, fraudulent, bloated single area in the budget. Graham and the repubs want proof that the spending is effective before spending more money? Apply that to almost every single big defense project, and they will fail. The F-22, F-35 and LCS would be poster children for not only ineffective spending, but probably fraud in the highest degree.
Homeland security should also be run through the budgetary ringer. It's budget was force-fed for years, and large portions were off-limits to the public. Ideal conditions for corruption.
Kidney function v. Spring Cleaning v. GOP Austerity.
Our kidneys job is to clean the blood of accumulated junk. It starts by pretty-much throwing everything away and then picking through the trash and reclaiming the good stuff. A failing kidney may stop bothering to reclaim the good stuff and you then just piss yourself to death. If we used this approach for spring cleaning, we would first quickly throw away everything in our house until it was mostly empty and then spend the remainder of the day picking through the giant heaping pile in our front yard looking for the microwave and TV set, and, and, etc. And of course one of the neighbors would probably call the cops, fearing you had flipped your lid. GOP austerity looks just as sane. They wish to empty the house of government and leave the computer and stereo out on the lawn. Kidney failure = GOP austerity ? Or I did not think this through?
I for one would love it if I never saw this man's face on television again. A futile wish to be sure. This man, as well as the Republican Party is so irrelevent! I just hope they fade into the sunset never to appear again. Get over it LG. Please go away!