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The Not-So-Fine Art of Backpedaling

Who says you can’t have it both ways? After spending the last few months insisting that we drastically cut all social programs (like Medicare, Social Security, etc.), the Republicans have figured out that voters might not like that very much.

So I guess it is no surprise that now that the debt ceiling deal is done, the GOP would not waste any time trying to blame cuts in social programs on Obama. And sure enough, the latest Republican talking point proclaims “For The Record… It Was Obama Who Offered To Cut Hundreds Of Billions In Medicare During The Debt Debate“.

Yeah, right.

Do they really think we are so stupid that we will forget that the Republicans mounted an all out attack on Medicare, even wanting to dismantle it and replace it with vouchers? Or that the original deficit reduction talks broke down because Republicans insisted on “extremely deep cuts in Medicare“?

But what makes this truly hypocritical is that until now, the Republicans kept repeating the lie that Obama and the Democrats never proposed a plan. But now that the deal is done, suddenly they are complaining about the plan put forth by Obama (which, according to them, never existed). So which is it?

If the Democrats were as cynical as the Republicans, they would bring up the fact that Speaker John Boehner briefly proposed a plan that included increasing revenue by $1 trillion, under the headline “For the Record… It was Republican leader John Boehner who proposed raising your taxes during the debt debate”.

UPDATE: Watch Boehner admit that he put raising taxes on the table, while simultaneously accusing Obama of not making any proposals:

UPDATE 2: The coordinated GOP attack has been set in motion. Today Grover Norquist tweeted “Todays bad unemployment numbers courtesy of Obama’s job killing “stimulus/bailout” spending spree. This must stop.” What’s really hilarious about this is that today’s unemployment numbers were actually better than expected — unemployment went DOWN from 9.2% in June to 9.1% in July. Not much, but certainly not “job killing” since 117,000 jobs were created. Besides, if Norquist really believes that stimulus spending kills jobs, then he is an idiot.

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15 Comments

  1. ThatGuy wrote:

    Of course Republicans think that people are that stupid. They rely on that stupidity to get elected.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 9:57 am | Permalink
  2. TENTHIRTYTWO wrote:

    What you don’t understand is that Obama is a sinister mastermind, carefully exacting his vicious plan with his invisble army to instill socialism in America…dismantling our great country brick by brick.

    Also, that Obama is a lazy dimwit of an ex-community organizer with no leadership skills who hasn’t done anything since being in office except put his feet up on the Oval Office desk and bow down to evil Muslim leaders.

    Get it?

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:05 am | Permalink
  3. Dave wrote:

    Just play this video at the :43 mark, where Boehner says that he put revenue on the table. Turn about is fair play.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGM4j4PKxMw

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:12 am | Permalink
  4. Iron Knee wrote:

    Thanks Dave, I added that to the original post.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:20 am | Permalink
  5. Anonymous wrote:

    The lower your income, the more likely you are to switch to the Republican party so you can vote against the needs of the lower income people:

    http://pewresearch.org/pubs/2067/2012-electorate-partisan-affiliations-gop-gains-white-voters

    I think it is called brainwashing.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 10:55 am | Permalink
  6. Arthanyel wrote:

    Republicans have raised hypocrisy to an art form. I only hope the majority of indepedents are finally starting to see it. The Limbaugh wingnuts will never admit it.

    I was just debating this with some of those wingnuts on the CBS comments site – one of them claimed there were “liberal facts” and “conservative facts” about the same events and they were different. I poited out the a fact was an “objectively verifiable statement about reality” and that while he was entitled to his own opinion, he was not entitled to his own facts.

    AND THEY STILL DISAGREED.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 11:35 am | Permalink
  7. Sammy wrote:

    “Some people in the town can never say yes.” Ha! That’s fucking rich coming from a Republican.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 12:16 pm | Permalink
  8. Iron Knee wrote:

    Even funnier coming from Boehner, Mr. “Hell No” — https://www.politicalirony.com/2009/07/13/auto-tune-the-news/

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 12:36 pm | Permalink
  9. David Freeman wrote:

    Thanks for the link back to that particular auto-tune-the-news. It’s timeless.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 12:43 pm | Permalink
  10. Dan wrote:

    I’ll read TENTHIRTYTWO’s comment as sarcasm, but have had conversations with people that actually think that way. For people that don’t pay attention, what the speacker is saying could be the absolute truth. Dick Durbin did an intersting interview on the daily show that is well worth a watch. Perhaps the “Super Congress” will use what the gang of six came up with. From what I’ve seen many of the cuts in safty net programs start happening at the end of the period the bill covers.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 1:01 pm | Permalink
  11. Anonymous wrote:

    This is all very Orwellian.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
  12. Patricia wrote:

    “Do they really think we are so stupid that we will forget that the Republicans mounted an all out attack on Medicare, even wanting to dismantle it and replace it with vouchers?”

    I guess you are looking either for the short answer or the long answer?

    The Short answer is “yes.” The long answer is not worth repeating! 🙂

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 3:43 pm | Permalink
  13. Tony wrote:

    LOL Arthanyel,

    “I was just debating this with some of those wingnuts on the CBS comments site – one of them claimed there were “liberal facts” and “conservative facts” about the same events and they were different. I poited out the a fact was an “objectively verifiable statement about reality” and that while he was entitled to his own opinion, he was not entitled to his own facts.”

    I was on CBS website earlier today and I think I read your post and I was like “heck yeah!” You’ll never convince them, but you have to keep pointing out their hypocrisy for the disinterested and uninformed observers. Independents hear this stuff and it affects how they vote.

    Friday, August 5, 2011 at 8:31 pm | Permalink
  14. jonah wrote:

    Regarding taxes
    http://blog.turbotax.intuit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/110620.TurboTax-heavily-taxed-countries.png

    Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 7:16 am | Permalink
  15. ebdoug wrote:

    Jonah: so as proven over and over: wealth redistribution contributes to more people thriving in a country.

    Saturday, August 6, 2011 at 11:37 am | Permalink