(Some) Republicans sing a song of sanity on taxes, abortion UPDATED
(From upper left) Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina; Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona; Rep. Peter King, R-New York; Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia
Don’t look now, but there’s a sanity virus quickly spreading among Republicans on Capital Hill. Some of them are talking about ditching their pledge to Americans for Tax Reform, Grover Norquists’s outfit.
Sen. John McCain, meanwhile, is saying the GOP ought to quit talking about abortion rights during their campaigns, because that only gets them in trouble (Rep. Todd Akin, Richard Mourdock, anyone?).
Here are the highlights:
Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Georgia: “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge. . . If we do it [Grover Norquist's] way, then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that . . . But I don’t worry about that because I care too much about my country. I care a lot more about it than I do Grover Norquist.”
Rep. Peter King, R-New York: “I agree entirely with Saxby Chambliss. A pledge you signed 20 years ago, 18 years ago, is for that Congress. For instance, if I were in Congress in 1941, I would have signed a declaration of war against Japan. I’m not going to attack Japan today. The world has changed, and the economic situation is different.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina: ““I love being a senator and I want to be a senator that matters for the state of South Carolina and the country,” Graham replied. “When you’re $16 trillion in debt, the only pledge we should be making to each other is to avoid becoming Greece. And Republicans should put revenue on the table. We’re this far in debt, we don’t generate enough revenue.” (He wants to do it by capping deductions, though, not raising tax rates).
Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona: “As far as young women are concerned, absolutely, I don’t think anybody like me — I can state my position on abortion, but, other than that, leave the issue alone, when we are in the kind of economic situation and, frankly, national security situation we’re in. . .I would allow people to have those opinions … I’m proud of my pro-life position and record and if someone disagrees with me, I respect your views.”
UPDATE
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tennessee: “I’m not obligated on [Norquist's] pledge. I made Tennesseans aware I was just elected that the only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I’m sworn in this January.”
November 26, 2012 - 8:00 AM
Well some of them have learned. Good luck convincing the House.
The election is over. They must do what ever it takes to save the ship, nothing should be sacred. The 20 year old pledge is the past whats here now is move it or loose it. If taxes need to go up fine and the waste in all government programs is out of control. Take SSDI the average wait here in Roanoke is over a year just to get what people have paid for since they started working. This can be shortened and alot of waste can be ended. As far as Abortion the Republicans wave it to the massed in fact they have had times when they could have overturned it and chose not to. If they are really Pro Life then do something real don’t just use it to win Votes….
Returning Republican Reps. Mike Simpson (Idaho), Howard Coble (N.C.), Jeff Fortenberry (Neb.) and Scott Rigell (Va.), among others, all disavowed the Norquist pledge.
So the total pledge signers = 213 in the House and 36 in the Senate.
If the republicans are moderating, it is because they have to, not because they want to. Additionally, many of the signers will be up for re-election in 2014, and would otherwise be labelled, by their opponents, as being more loyal to Norquist than to their constituents.
They may be singing, but they have not passed legislation or voted yet. Sanity may win, but it will be a photo finish.
“If the republicans are moderating, it is because they have to, not because they want to. Additionally, many of the signers will be up for re-election in 2014, and would otherwise be labelled, by their opponents, as being more loyal to Norquist than to their constituents.”
Shrill is right. Many of them can see the handwriting on the wall. They know that:
1) If Congress does nothing, everybody’s taxes go up/return to Clinton-era levels;
2) After that, Reid will send a bill to the House that restores the tax cuts for the poor and middle-class (Republicans in the Senate won’t have the numbers to filibuster it);
3) Then it’s going to be up to the House (EVERY member of which is up for re-election in 2014) to a) negotiate; b) kill it; or c) bottle it up (which is the same thing as killing it).
And of B or C happen, things are going to be ugly on the campaign trial for politicians who allowed it to happen.
Re: Shrillary @ 10:22 am
“would otherwise be labelled, by their opponents, as being more loyal to Norquist than to their constituents.”
and
Re: Sandi Saunders @ 10:56 am
“Sanity may win, but it will be a photo finish.”
——————-
Yup & yup, IMHO.
For all the hand wringing about the deficit – the fact of the matter
is the federal deficit has fallen faster over the past three years than it has in any such stretch since the end of World War II.
From fiscal 2009 to fiscal 2012, the deficit shrank 3.1 percentage points, from 10.1% to 7.0% of GDP.
http://www.investors.com/image/WEBcaphill01_1120_600.gif.cms
The nonsensical “austerity” meme that republicans try to push, should be looked at through the European lens. England, Spain, Greece, Ireland, et al, tried it, and it was and continues to be, a resounding failure. England is now in a recession with a dropping GDP…their model failed, and if we try to emulate it, we will fail too.
John McCain is walking back his hysterical criticism of Susan Rice now. Maybe the right has given up on their knee-jerk rejection of everything and anything Obama might pursue. Hopefully this will point to a more productive 4 years coming up than have just finished.
I agree Hillary and it should also be looked at through the lens of those whose mission in life is to destabilize the safety nets and “entitlements” of this nation.
Here is our country’s prpblem in a nutshell— it is greed with corporate greed with corporate greed at the top of the list:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/25/deficit-reduction-council-fiscal-cliff_n_2185585.html?utm_hp_ref=daily-brief?utm_source=DailyBrief&utm_campaign=112612&utm_medium=email&utm_content=NewsEntry&utm_term=Daily%20Brief
John McCain needs to be asked bluntly why he gave a pass to Condoleeza Rice for her failure in the 9/11 attack. She held the position of national security advisor under George W. Bush when The Presidential Daily Brief of August 6, 2001, which was titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US”, was dismissed as of no consequence. We saw how inconsequential that memo turned out to be….
Rice was also the cheerleader for the Iraq invasion fully knowing that Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11…it was more about the junior Bush’s wish to avenge his father, and the oil men/women salivating over Iraqi oil.
With all of those failures, on January 26, 2005, Condoleezza Rice was confirmed by the Senate by a vote of 85-13 to become the Secretary of State… Both John McCain and Lindsey Graham voted for C.Rice – both John McCain and Lindsey Graham have blasted Susan Rice for using the CIA’s talking points on Benghazi – and have openly opposed her candidacy to become the new SOS saying she was “unqualified”.
Does anyone else think McCain and Graham should be the recipients of the Hypocrites of the Year award?
I think they would be perennial winners of that award Hillary! Their blatant hypocrisy here is just one of many in their long line of water carrying and flame throwing. They have no shame. After McCain’s hand in the S&L scandal, one would think he would wise up. He never has. They will twist every one of their stupid lapses into service to this nation and garner yet another pass but they are so irrelevant to reality they should not even get to speak on the issues. They are akin to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton always being the go to interview on all things race related, with the same outcome IMO.
Any thoughts on the POTUS saying that he would nominate Elisse Walter (who was put on the SEC by George W. Bush in 2008) for promotion to chair of the SEC?
Does Dodd-Frank enforcement come to anyone’s mind?
Re: Shrillary @ 12:19 pm
Could it be political gains in heading off John Kerry?
We have to reduce the deficit responsibly over a ten year period . And we need to ask EVERYBODY, to participate in solving the fiscal mess. Here is, I think, a sane approach to doing that.
1. Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire for incomes over 300000.
2. Increase the capital ghains tax back to 25%
3. Eliminate subsidies for oil companies, and giant agribsiness.
4. Get out of Afghanistan and reduce foreign aid bu 40% with no money to anybody for weapons of any kind.
5. Change the medicare presription drug program to allow for negotiation by medicare for prescription prices.
6. Increase ALL medicare premiums immediately by 5% and index future increases to the cost of living index.
7. Add a means test to medicare that increases premiums on a graduated scale for seniors whose total annual income including social security exceeds 50000. Increase by 5% at ten thousand dollar intervals up to 100000 in total income.
8. Extend social security payroll tax to incomes up to 150000.
9. Increase short term spending over the next five years for infratucture
and education and training to create jobs, get people trained for today’s jobs, and put more people back to work., thereby generating more revenue.
10. Put an end to tax shelters which allow corporations to move their money to offshore accounts to avoid paying taxes on it.
11. Instiute credits for businesses that hire more employees in the United States and end all credits of any kind for businesses that move jobs to China, India, or anywhere outside the boundaries
of the United States.
12. Reroute and build the Keystone Pipeline to satisfy the environmental concerns of the midwestern states that oppose it and with the qualifier that 50% of the production from the pipeline must be refined and sold in the United States instead of being shipped to China or elsewhere.
13. Cut the military budget immediately 50 billion dollars and maintain that level of spending for the next ten years at a savings of 500 billion dollars.
14. Instiute a national sales tax of one half of one percent, with the proceeds statutorily required to be used to pay down the debt (not he deficit). That gives evryone some skin in the game. It is regressive but it would go a long way toward showing the markets that we are serious about getting financial control and restoring confidence in the system, which I believe would loosen purse strings and get business moving again.
All of these things should be done and presented to the American people as the kind of scarifice we must all make to end trhe crisis and bring us back to a position of financial strength.
I do not believe we should raise retirement ages for eligibility for social security or for medicare. Raising them would make no difference to me. I am already there. But I believe there are occupations whose physuical and mental demands are tough enough for the people who do those jobs and they should be able to retire with dignity while they are still able to enjoy some of its benefits..
This program requires some sacrifice from ebverybody but enables us to maintain the safety nets and get control of the deficit. There also needs to be a thorough reexamination of all government programs at the state and federal levels to eliminate duplication, determine where economies are feasible, and eliminate as much corruption and waste as is possible in any large organization. There will always be some. That happens in any undertaking of this size just due to the difficulty of coordinating so many diffrent aspects and the work of so mqny different people. The same is true of the giants in the corporate world. But with the possibilities presented by toiday’s digital information syaytems, I think we can do a much better job than we are yet doing.
Having said all this, I am out of here until at least after Christmas and into the New Year. I’ll be back when the new civility rules are instituted. The tiresome and childish inanities of the Franks, matts, dotos, pammalas, leons, etc. have taken much of the joy out of this blog
and here at Christmastime I’m ready for more joy, not less.
Merry Christmas to you all and Happy New Year.
Dave Hicks – I think the Democratic party will not want Senator Kerry to jump ship and become SOS. That open seat would most assuredly be an open invitation for Scott Brown to try, try, again to get back into MA politics. Even though he lost to Elizabeth Warren, and depending on who would run against Brown, there would be a chance for Brown to become a Senator, something the Dems would not want.
Re: Shrillary @ 1:20 pm
I agree with you on the Dems.
I was speculating on John McCain’s (and to a lesser degree Graham’s) motives in reflipping. (Or is re-reflipping? I can’t remember.) What’s in it for them? The GOP?
Could it be assuming something about the next POTUS election?
Re: dave @ 1:11 pm
We’ll miss you. Be sure to come back.
Dave Hicks – it is probably more in the “Why is he still in the White House?” sour grapes. McCain has never forgiven the President for beating him in ’08 and tries to undermine the President at every chance. Graham has to appear hostile to the President as he comes up for re-election in the very red state of SC.
However, once they realized they looked out of touch with the Benghazi “faux” outrage, and then Petraeus testified about the Consulate raid, McCain and Graham had to walk back their criticism and opposition to S.Rice. I will be surprised if she is not confirmed as the SOS.
Excellent suggestions Dave #15! Enjoy the holidays and your break. It is good to get away sometimes. I enjoyed my weekend off recently. Your frustration is shared. I hope beyond hope the new rules really do change things at Roanoke.com and are not just leading us on again. Hope to see you back soon.
Dan, re: 10:59
Sadly, just as some R leaders are extending an olive branch, obama comes out with an “open letter” criticizing them and preemptively blaming them (for a lousy Christmas) should everything not be “his” way.
I suppose we know why he hasn’t called out Mursi to reign in his grandiose plans; they think alike.
This only reinforces the stupidity, arrogance and ineptness that has prolonged this situation.
It’s like trying to get a dinner date with a girl that has told you she might be interested, so you publicly tell her she’s a bit fat and somewhat ugly but you will take her back to your place for some “action”. These guys were open to “dinner” and obama basically has told them that dinner is not enough they are going to have to get “screwed” for him to consider a “date”… not a very intelligent way to start a negotiation (unless you are looking for it to fail).
Maybe Reid should send something to the house (God knows that the house has sent plenty to the senate that has been “bottled up”). If he does, I believe the R’s have shown they are ready to go to “dinner” and see where the night ends…
Also; kudos to Dave, he had some good ideas in his 1:11 post.
mikeO, I predict that dave’s post will be back Tuesday, as a Post of the Day.
Dave, I can live with your suggestions. I especially like your compassionate reasons for leaving retirement ages where there are. Enjoy the holidays, refresh, and return to a more civil blog!
I’m in favor of letting the sequestration go ahead. It would be great to go back to Clinton years tax rates and Clinton years budgets and Clinton years spending levels!! How can the democrats not like that? Weren’t the Clinton years the best? I am in favor of it!
It’s as predictable as the sun coming up that the leftwingers will say the GOP “needs to become moderate”.
Who controlled the GOP for the 2012 elections? That’s right it was the moderates. Who won all those House and senate seats in 2010? That’s right. It was the conservatives.
Assuming fair elections and fair media coverage could be had (which is becoming increasingly doubtful) only conservative Republicans have a chance of overcoming the communist-infiltrated MSM machine. But that’s getting harder too given the blown-up and distorted coverage of any perceived conservative misstep.
Those candidates who uphold the word of God and condemn abortions will prosper in the end. Those who decide to placate the evil elements and go with the pro-abortion view will lose.
You can’t go wrong by doing the right thing. The two people most likely to be canonized saints in my lifetime, Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul II, both spoke out vehemently against abortion at every opportunity. There is absolutely no doubt God sees abortion as a grievous abomination.
It’s time everyone here to open your eyes and see this hideous act for what it is.