George Rebane
At Tom McClintock’s 22mar11 town hall meeting our congressman 1) acknowledged my characterization of the spending cuts and related continuing resolutions as being insignificant pinpricks on the country’s fiscal gangrene, and 2) politely stated that my assessments were in error.
Now that the mother of all CRs, citing $38.5B spending cuts, has been trumpeted across the land by both parties, it turns out that I, and others who take a more careful look behind the curtain, were right and continue to be so. The cited amount is nothing but feathers and hot air composed of accounting gimmicks that in their most hopeful application still wind up showing that we are spending more this year than last, and that the long-term benefits – if any, since the jury is still out – will be less than $20B annually. (For a quick summary of the “hokum” see the editorial in the 13apr11 WSJ.) Talk about flys#%t. (Apologizies for my more crude characterization of congressional output that bespeaks of its backwater origins. But then, we do communicate a bit more clearly here in the mountains.)
I strive with all the hope and reasoning power within me to believe that our congressman has not been turned by the Washington cesspool in which he now labors. His predecessor was weak and became just another posterboy for the Democrats making fun of Republican hypocrites on spending. In a private meeting Doolittle personally handed me a shovelful of BS on how congressional pork was dispensed. We all have our moments and areas of ignorance, and that is what I will chalk up Tom McClintock’s misunderstanding of what he was describing and voting for, and not that he intended to deceive us.
So, now as the battle on the debt limit and the FY2012 budget shapes up, we have the Republicans under Boehner’s leadership having in the main caved on spending reductions for FY2011 and their effective shadow into the future. If Congress passes last Friday night’s bamboozle then we have essentially achieved nothing. And President Obama’s mendacious speech today is beyond my willingness to refute; let the national commentators who are paid for their labors dissect that septic tank.
As a tea party member, I cannot yet put anything that we support, in principle or substance, into the congressional Win Column. Paul Ryan’s FY2012 budget proposal remains in the Hope Column.
[14apr2011] Congressman Tom McClintock's NO vote on the FY2011 budget travesty restores my long held view of Tom as a man of principle. The compromise budget turned out to be even more putrid than originally advertised. The actual FY2011 spending reductions reduced down to the order of $300 million and change. The Democrats won this one walking away. Boehner knows how to wear a suit pretty well, but he doesn't negotiate worth a crap. Add to that Paul Ryan's YES vote, and then we really have a picture of a confused Republican Party. Thank God for Tom's vote, he is not a Doolittle. Complete vote tally here.
rebanesruminations.com 
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