Games For The Insane

There's a difference between stupid and crazy, though we're not sure everyone is aware of it.

We'll agree with Washington Monthly's Ed Kilgore and Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia that what the GOP leadership in Congress is doing right now certainly merits that "stupid" label. It's clear to anyone not deluding themselves that if the massive Federal budget cuts scheduled for Friday do go through, Republicans in Congress will get the blame.

That shouldn't surprise anyone, as the Republican message about where they stand on the cuts has been as muddled and messy as it would be if all GOP leaders were staggering drunks.

We know for a fact that not everyone leading the Republicans in Congress is a drunken idiot - even if they are willing to play Russian Roulette with the economy of the country, and the financial stability of millions of Americans.

To a sane person, like Wonkblog's Ezra Klein, the Republican position on the sequester may seem somewhat insane. As Klein notes, Congressional Republicans seem to have five goals in their budget talks with Democrats and the White House. If Republicans compromise, they can accomplish four of those five goals. If they don't compromise with their Democratic counterparts and send the country into sequestration, they'll only get part of one of their goals.

The Daily Beast's Justin Green insists Klein is missing the point, that the only real GOP goal is to cut spending without raising taxes. This would inevitably raise both the debt and deficit, but whatever many Republican voters might have been led to believe, very few people in Washington, DC actually care about deficits - and certainly not Republicans currently in Congress.

The key item Green forgets, however, is the same one the nutty tea partiers currently controlling the GOP have never really understood: That elections have consequences. No matter what ideological label they attempt to slap on it, or  how they may attempt to justify their ideology, the goal EVERY member of Congress wants more than any ideological bauble is the same basic goal most American workers have for themselves - to keep their job. If they didn't? They'd stop fundraising once they got to Congress.

If Republicans in Congress continue this budgetary game, they won't be keeping their jobs in 2014 - and any supposed cuts tea partiers falsely believe they'll gain will be wiped out once the ballots are counted.

In fact, since we've seen this kind of political game play out before, we can pretty much tell you how this game is likely to end.

On Thursday, Congressional Republicans will either come back to the bargaining table where the Democrats have been the whole time and extend the sequester - again - for another month. Or Republicans will allow their tea party extremists to put hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work over the next 30 days.

After four weeks of what will likely be either barely static or growing unemployment numbers, Congress will come to the budget standoff at the end of March. At that time, after a month of job losses, caused unnecessarily by Republicans, GOP leaders will spin the cylinder on the political gun again. Then, they'll either come to a deal with Democrats, or shut down the government - and own sole responsibility for refusing to compromise, thereby driving the nation's economy further off the cliff.

Finally, in May, when the debt ceiling extension comes around again, either Republicans will pass the extension as they have so many times before, under Presidents from both parties - or they will hit a live political round, and blow away any chance they might have at winning anything in the 2014 midterm elections.

We have just one question for Republican leaders on the budget crisis, tinged with irony:

Are ya feelin' lucky, punks?

The Truth About The Sequester Stew

On a suggestion from Daily Beast contributor (and assistant to David Frum) Justin Green, a discussion one of our staff members got into over the weekend regarding sequestration was delayed for brunch, and a relaxing Sunday.

That meal was yesterday, however, and this discussion is long overdue.

The sequester that is scheduled to go into effect at the end of this week is not inevitable, contrary to the assertations of some pundits. Unlike many others, journalist & commentator Chris Hayes stated once again over the weekend, the simple truth - that Congress can stop these disastrous sequester cuts with a simple one sentence bill, if they desire.

That no one in Congress has come across that simple solution, or cooked up another solution to this sequester crisis is a very real problem - one made of denial and pure cowardice, on only one side of the great American political divide.

What's worse is that many of those unwilling to face the monster of sequestration - or their own tea party base - are also lying about what the effects of the across the board cuts will be, or how many Americans really have prioritized cutting the budget deeply right now, above all else.

The most recent Pew poll makes the truth very obvious: a majority of Americans from all political backgrounds are not in favor of cuts to any federal program or service. Even so, to reach both our short and long term economic goals,  Congressional Democrats and President Obama have made the hard choices, outlining compromise budget and spending plans that not only anger some on the liberal left, but also raise taxes and close loopholes.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the House and Senate have yet to release similar plans that dictate specifically which cuts Republicans would be willing to make, and what loopholes they'd be willing to close in a compromise deal. Therein lies the deeper problem.

This sequester fight has never been an issue of solving the problem of fiscal profligacy at the federal level. John Avlon's discovery of Speaker John Boehner's plan to use sequestration to strangle the federal budget proves that.

Instead, Congressional Republicans have lied, stalled, and - assisted by hacks like David Brooks - pointed the blame finger at Democrats, while never being honest with their base voters that both cuts and revenue increases will be required to go into the federal budget stew if we are to be fiscally responsible, as a nation.

As you can see, the truth about why the sequester is happening is very simple, actually.

One side of our polity is led by craven, spineless twits who refuse to do the hard things, lie about their dedication to fiscal responsibility, and misinform about what the outcome of their irresponsible actions will be on the economy.

One side is being led by those who are willing to make some very hard and ugly choices on the budget - as President Obama and Congressional Democrats are willing to do.

The long overdue discussion isn't over who the American people truly side with. As Ezra Klein noted this weekend, the American people made that choice in the 2012 election - an election overwhelmingly won by President Obama and the Democrats.

So why are Americans still allowing their economy - and their politics - to be grabbed by the monster of sequestration and held hostage, when even a simple one sentance bill could put this monster back in its proper container?

That's the discussion that's been long overdue.

Friday Funday: Getting Out Of Town

While the snow storm that was supposed to hit our home office in Lincoln, Nebraska turned out to be kind of a dud, it did give some of our staff and friends a chance to freak out about The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore being in town. It also gave a chance for a little snowstorm daydreaming on Thursday.

We are, after all, planning some trips this spring, around the country - and admittedly, we're a bit concerned about the latest airline merger announcement between American and U.S. Airways.

If you're like most Americans, when you hear the term "airline merger" you likely grimace as some kind of twisted image flows into your head, possibly resembling a cross between the movies 'Kramer vs. Kramer' and 'Airplane.' Given the less-than-stellar track record of airline mergers in the U.S., we understand your uneasiness.

We remember fondly the warm cookies and top-notch service of Midwest Airlines in years past. We also remember that Frontier Airlines nixed that consumer friendly touch when they took over Midwest - along with most other touches that could be considered consumer, labor, or occasionally human friendly.

Now, we're not saying modern airline service in the U.S. is like a fleet of drones, intent on screwing the passenger - even if that's an apt description of what goes on in most airline executive's suites.

There are still a few examples of high quality, high class airline service, and if you get a chance to experience them, we highly recommend it.

The best example in the U.S. is Virgin Airlines - the airline started by media mogul Sir Richard Branson. Flying on Virgin Airlines is generally the kind of experience that could almost make one remember what it was like when flying was glamorous. These days, Virgin even has some relatively affordable fares - and unlike certain other airlines, you won't worry about getting charged a fee every time the Captain cracks the mic.

Sadly, other than Virgin, no other airline company that flies inside the U.S. makes the list of the world's top airline companies - a fact that doesn't surprise us.

We realize that for Americans who fly often, the most important thing is often whether both you and your bags take off and land on-time, in one piece, and in the same place. If you had the time, you might drive or take the train - and we HIGHLY recommend taking the train, if you have the time.

Still, the most important thing about traveling isn't the ticket price, or getting warm cookies. It's not even making sure you don't end up seated between the man with B.O. and the lady with the screaming baby.

The most important thing is to get to where you're going safely, so you can spend time with the people you're traveling to see.

Of course, a warm cookie and a smile from a well-compensated flight attendant wouldn't hurt once in a while.