Remember This Moment

Right now is as good as it's going to get for many years to come.  Remember this moment.  

When the lemmings all start blaming the "obstructionist Republicans" in January for taking us off the fiscal cliff, remember this:

To be fair to the Secretary and the President, we didn’t just put together a bill that included his $2 trillion tax increase – we also added the almost $400 billion in new tax stimulus measures he wanted as well. This bill contained a continuation of the payroll tax holiday, a 10 percent credit for new wages that will go to businesses big and small, and it included a fix to one of the many flawed provisions of Obamacare – an expansion of a tax credit for businesses that no one uses. This proposal reflected exactly what was in the President’s budget and his various submissions to Congress.

That is Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell venting a little frustration as he explains that Harry Reid would not allow Obama's fiscal cliff plan to come up for a vote on the Senate floor.

Apparently, near total capitulation by the Republicans is not enough.

This screen shot from Drudge just about tells it all:

Go.  Let.them.go.  Hurry up, even. 

Bernard Goldberg wrote the most delicious rant about this.  He fully acknowledges that those nasty, obstructionist republicans will be blamed no matter what:

We know that you, the American people, will blame us, the Republican Party if we go over the cliff.  We know you will blame us when we slip into another recession and millions of Americans lose their jobs.  We know that if a giant meteor falls out of the sky and kills a pussy willow in Wyoming you will blame us for that too.  Good thing we no longer care what you think.

There's no question.  Never mind that Obama has increased government spending to unheard of levels.  It's the Republicans fault!  George Bush's fault! 

I swear, they still say that.  They do.

More Goldberg:

 Sure, this will cause a lot of pain and suffering.  Too bad I’ve reached the point where I don’t care anymore.  Barack Obama doesn’t understand how the economy works and neither do the slugs who voted for him.  They deserve each other – and the consequences of their actions.

That's truly where I am with this - just let it go.  We're all going down the tubes together whether we want to or not.  

And it won't matter whose fault it is when it's all over.  They'll still blame the Republicans, of course, but it won't matter.  You can remind them that obstructionist majority leader Harry Reid didn't even have the cajones to bring Obama's plan to the floor, but they won't care.

Just as long as the millionaires those making over $250,000 are taxed to hell and back.

Find a Lifeboat

The fiscal cliff negotiations have left me totally cold.  As far as I'm concerned, let it go.  Just let it go.  Do a complete Thelma and Louise at warp speed and hang on.

This is what America voted for in November - at least, enough to maintain the status quo, anyway. 

On November 6, Americans affirmed their willingness to pay higher taxes, grow government, demonize the successful, and support the 48% who won't or can't work. 

So let them have it. 

All you can do at this point is to find a lifeboat.  Face it: the Titanic is taking on water faster than we can bail it out now, and all you can do is figure out how you can best survive.

It won't be any better in four more years, either.  By then the Democrats, if they haven't already, will have cemented their dependent-voter bloc and the progressive agenda will be irreversible. 

I'm watching many of my conservative blogs gnash their teeth and continue to try and hold the line for conservatism, but I think it's over.  I'm not "disheartened"; it's just the reality we now face. 

You can expect Republicans in Washington to continue to "compromise" and bail on their principles; you will continue to hear people like tax cheat Tim Geithner blame the Republicans for what is about to happen, and you can expect Obama to continue to do nothing in the way of leadership. 

I've been working for the past four years to pay down my debt and make preparations for the economic apocalypse that we now face.  I'm not ready to go into the bunker with the bottled water and canned tuna fish just yet, but I think it's time to start looking for a lifeboat.

We're up to our asses in alligators right now and the worst is yet to come.

Cat and Mouse

Watching Rubio grill Geithner is like watching a cat toy with a mouse before he eats it.

Hope 'n Change 'n More Taxes

Pay close attention because I think you're about to see this one expire. Technically, it already did; as soon as BHO signed the SCHIP expansion and raised the tobacco tax, this one was a goner.



However, Whizkid Timothy Geithner is now allowing for the possibility that middle class tax increases are coming. In an interview with George Stephanopoulos, Geither said the administration will "do whatever is necessary" :

To get the economy back on track, will President Barack Obama have to break his pledge not to raise taxes on 95 percent of Americans? In a “This Week” exclusive, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner told me, "We’re going to have to do what’s necessary.” Geithner was clear that he believes a key component of economic recovery is deficit reduction. When I gave him several opportunities to rule out a middle class tax hike, he wouldn’t do it. “We have to bring these deficits down very dramatically,” Geithner told me. “And that’s going to require some very hard choices.”

Who didn't see that one coming? The numbers guys have been saying for weeks that you can't do everything BHO wants to do and not raise taxes on everybody. The rich can't foot the bill for all of it.

Hope 'n Change. Right.

Newt Points Out....

Newt on Twitter:

"Didn't geithner host the first meeting on aig at the ny fed? Wasn't he advising as paulson cut the deals which made the bonuses ok?"

"Hasn't geithner approved every step of the $170billion bailout of aig? Doesn't this indicate the dishonesty of efforts to shift blame?"

Makes you wonder.....

Random Morning Thoughts

I finally caved in and bought an iPhone; I spent all last night playing with it which is why no blogging has been happening here, much. I'll settle back in soon!

I did notice though that Mr. Obama is venturing out of Washington today as he goes to a resort in Williamsburg to discuss issues with U.S. House Democrats during their annual retreat. He'll fly back to Washington tonight. No time for a quick visit to Kentucky to check on those freezing folks down there. He's got bigger things on his plate, like regulating how much money people can earn.

Lots of folks were buzzing about the Victor Davis Hanson piece in the National Review yesterday. I read it as well and it filled me with gloom. But I couldn't argue with one word of it.

I'm still watching the Porkulus boondoggle and read where there may be a vote on it this week. Good lord. I don't see how that's even possible. But, Mark Halperin says "CNN cites sources saying the president believes he has the votes to push the legislation through by Friday." Push through would be the right phrasing. Nuance.

And if you missed it yesterday, check out the NRO piece on Geithner and Daschle. The errors made by Geithner were much more egregious than those of Daschle, so why does he get to stay? Overall, this cabinet selection business has been a rotten mess filled with three withdrawals and multiple ethical issues (can you say THIRTEEN lobbyists?!) to be sure. Not that anyone expects that sort of thing to be perfect, but the media has built this up to be the smoothest transition EVAH and quite simply, who could possibly live up to that? But the Obama team failed in a big way on its "vetting process." Guess that multi-page questionaire they had to fill out had some gaps in it.

Obama signs yet another executive order today, this one on Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships which will impose potential restrictions on the hiring practices of religious groups that receive taxpayer dollars, among other things. Well, we all need a little faith right now, but I don't think that's what this order has in mind.

Geithner Goofed

NRO is encouraging Senate Republicans to vote against Geithner based on this new and detailed evidence of his failure to pay taxes. It wasn't a "common mistake" and Geithner cannot blame his accountants. He might be "brilliant" but I bet we can find a brighter bulb in the box.

Random Round-Up of Stuff

I am getting a cold and feel like crawling under the bed for a week. Whenever I feel a cold coming on I break out the Zicam because it really works. I hope it works this time. Bleh.

We have Monday off so I am looking forward to a long three day weekend. I'm making as few plans as possible except for catching up on reading, blogging, and spending time around the home front. On Tuesday, I learned today, we will showing the inauguration. Bleh. Wasn't planning on watching.

I know I have readers that loathe and despise Bush, and I surely don't agree with everything he's done, but I think his farewell address was a class act.

I'm really interested in seeing what BHO is going to do with Club Gitmo. I've been reading and researching a lot about the issue lately, especially since he's said he's issuing the Executive Order to shutter the place next week. That alone just puzzles me, as I've posted recently, because that's just a symbolic statement. He can't close Gitmo next week because he has nothing to do with the prisoners that are there. They don't want 'em in Kansas, at Leavenworth. They don't want 'em in San Francisco. Pretty much NOBODY is stepping up to take charge of a bunch of hard core jihadists. We can't just let them go free. For some of them, their own countries don't want them back and in some cases, we don't want to send them back because they'd be tortured or killed. Or rejoin the jihad.

There are no good answers on that one. All the options are bad. Which is why Bush kept it open. There are bad people there.

The confirmation hearings this week have held few surprises really. I was a bit surprised that our Louisiana Senator Vitter was the lone vote against Hillary; glad he didn't cave to pressure. I've been disappointed in the Republicans as a whole for not being tougher in their questioning and especially for so many even being absent in the Hillary questioning. That was just a schmooze-fest. The Holder hearing went as I expected with no shockers there, either.

The Geithner thing remains a puzzle for me but I think he'll get a pass on the deal. How can you not pay your taxes then say "Oh I forgot?!" and get away with that? And THEN slide into this plum position in the BHO administration? He gets a no confidence vote from me. Not that it matters.

Ah well. It's cold out and I'm going to hunker down under blankets with my puppy and get some rest. Somebody send over some chicken soup.

Hope it's warm wherever you are.

Joe and Tim

Can someone please explain to me why when it is discovered that Joe the Plumber owes $1,200 in back taxes he is vilified and totally discredited but when Timothy Geithner is discovered to have not paid some $32,000 in back taxes and had an illegal in his employ, it's an "honest mistake"?

Hmm. What, media bias? You think?