WH Spokesman Carney: Chained CPI "Something Republicans Wanted"

[bigtree]

Zeke Miller ?@ZekeJMiller (Buzzfeed)

Carney tries to say that Obama didn’t put chained CPI on the table. “This is something republicans wanted”

[ProSense]

1. This is exactly

what I suspected.

I think the media reports are exploiting leaks of the negotiations to push the GOP line.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2020588

[doc03]

2. Anyone that thinks Obama won't be blamed for cutting SS in 2014 is living in adream world n/t

[dawg]

3. We're just willing to agree to it, provided taxes go up on the $400K and above crowd .

Right?

[upaloopa]

4. In the end we are giving into right wing ideology

The tax cuts for the rich were right wing ideology. If we don't repeal them all we leave a bit of that ideology in place. Cutting Social Security is right wing ideology. Chained CPI means giving into that ideology. We are not turning left but staying right

[teddy51]

5. “This is something republicans wanted”. Yeah, but is he considering giving them this?

If he is, then he is capitulating and he does not need to do that. We won the election, he is not running again.

[nc4bo]

6. Not only won the election but polls continue to show where the majority of Americans stand

on this as well as the tax increases on the wealthiest.

[ProSense]

8. No deal:

White House Rejects Boehner’s Fiscal Cliff ‘Plan B’
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022020334

[Enrique]

10. that's a different issue n/t

[ProSense]

18. Not really, the

media reports were quick to claim that everything being discussed was proposed by the President.

In fact, the timing made no sense. Politico first reported Boehner's offer (http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014338270#post4), which was rejected by the WH. A couple of day later, Boehner's offer is being reported as the President's, with no confirmation from anyone. Boehner rejects the rumored, offer and then comes up "Plan B"?

Two things don't make sense: President Obama countering an offer he rejected, and Boehner countering an offer he rejects by proposing the same thing.

Take out those two and the timeline makes sense: Obama makes an offer (original). Boehner counters (original). The President rejects it. Boehner comes back with an offer (Politico's report), which is rejected. Boehner offers "Plan B."

It seems to me that between the time the WH rejected the offer in Politico's report and Boehner returning with a new offer, the media exploited leaks of the negotiation to conflate Boehner's offer with the Presidents.

It was curious that Boehner was rejecting an offer that was not on the record. Boehner's current offer, "Plan B," is on the record, and so is the WH's rejection of the offer.

That is where things stand.

[bigtree]

12. endless speculation? Or, are we going to just deal with this one apparently false report

. . . that has this as a WH proposal.

Hell, we can argue about what we think the WH might accept all day and attribute anything at all to them. But, we already have the President's statements on SS and Medicare as a guide. Reports that run contrary to those statements shouldn't be considered credible unless and until the WH actually comes out and says so.

[spanone]

13. amazing, ain't it.

[Fearless]

7. If he accepts it, he supports it. Period.

If anyone votes for it they lose my money and my support. Period.

[bigtree]

15. if he jumps off the WH roof he'll break his ass in the fall

. . . but the WH hasn't come out and said they'd accept anything of the kind.

Stay off of the roof, Mr. President!

[teddy51]

16. Then I wish the President would get out in front of these issues, instead of letting

his supporters wonder what he is really going to do.

[bigtree]

19. you want him to be led around by every rumor and every speculation out here?

. . . and respond publicly to them?

I don't think that's a smart way to negotiate.

[teddy51]

22. He shouldn't be negotiating, he should be telling them like it is and if they don't

like it let them drive the car over the "so called" cliff. We won the election and the confidence of the American people.

[bigtree]

28. and there's little beyond rumor to suggest the WH is doing anything but that

[DJ13]

9. "Something Republicans Wanted"

They also want Bush's tax cuts to be permanent, but (hopefully) you guys are smart enough to know better................ right?

[Bluenorthwest]

11. We know that Republicans want it. Did Carney do his job and say what the President

was doing about it? Does Carney think it is news that the GOP wants this?

[spanone]

24. it's news because democrats pounced on Obama like he brought it up.

[sabrina 1]

14. Why do we care what Republicans want? They lost, we won. Do Republicans

care what the people want?

This is utterly ridiculous and weak and infuriating and a lot of other adjectives that are not safe for work.

[former9thward]

17. Chained CPI is bi-partisan.

From 2011: Support for the so-called chained Consumer Price Index is proving to be a rare area of common ground between Republicans and Democrats in deficit reduction discussions, but some observers warn that adopting the alternative inflation measurement would lead to a stealth tax increase.
"It's a possibility, but no decision's been made," Senate Democratic Whip Richard J. Durbin of Illinois said of its inclusion in the deficit reduction package being negotiated in conjunction with raising the debt ceiling.

http://socialsecurity-works.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/Tax-Policy-Analysis-Article-on-Chained-CPI.pdf

[bigtree]

20. Durbin came out against it today

Jamison Foser ?@jamisonfoser

Durbin calls chained CPI “the wrong way to go.” “We ought to deal with Social Security in a separate conversation” http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2012/12/18/dick-durbin-no-cut-in-social-security-benefits/ …

[former9thward]

21. "deal with Social Security in a separate conversation".

That says it all.

[bigtree]

25. Durbin is an opponent of cuts in SS benefits.

that should 'say it all'

[Blaukraut]

23. He's not ruling it out, though

Durbin pointedly said that it would be a “hard ask” for many Senate Dems if the White House includes Chained CPI for Social Security in a final deal. But Durbin declined to rule out the possibility that Senate Democrats would ultimately support it if the White House insisted on it.

[Warren Stupidity]

27. It is a goddamn benefit cut.

Why are the elderly being asked to pay for the huge bush tax cuts that directly caused this alleged deficit problem when the primary beneficiaries of those huge irresponsible tax cuts were the 1%?

Huh?

And for a followup, why would any of us accept this bullshit?

[bigtree]

29. for the life of me, I can't see where the WH has accepted any of that

I'm left cold by these invisible sources. Other can certainly determine their own standard of facts.

I'm really not into knocking around strawmen and tilting at windmills.

[Warren Stupidity]

26. How about NO THE FUCK NO?

[madrchsod]

30. really? that`s it?

well it`s that really something......

[bigtree]

32. somehow

. . . infinitely more substantive and credible than 'details' from unnamed, unaffiliated sources.

[JHB]

31. So take it off.

[bigtree]

33. take it off the imaginary table?

. . . he'll need another invisible 'source familiar with the negotiations' for that.

He's not responding directly to rumors. Good for him.

[Enrique]

34. talk about dishonesty and misinformation

you claim in the other thread to be upset by "dishonesty and misinformation", but look what your quote leaves out:

But let’s be clear, this is something that the Republicans have asked for, and as part of an effort to find common ground with the Republicans, the President has agreed to put this in his proposal -- agreed to have this as part of a broad deficit reduction package that includes asking the wealthiest to pay more so that we can achieve the kind of revenue targets that are necessary for a balanced approach to deficit reduction.

[Melinda]

35. Something smells. WP reports it was President Obama's idea from the get...

When President Obama tried to reach a comprehensive bargain with Republicans to pay down the federal deficit last year, he floated the idea of changing the cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security benefits from the traditional consumer price index to something called a chained Consumer Price Index, or “chained CPI.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/2chambers/wp/2012/12/17/what-is-chained-cpi/

Look back at Simpson Bowles. Sorry, but Democrats protect SS, they don't collude to destroy it.

[jsr]

36. Lousy good-cop/bad-cop routine

FAIL.

[librechik]

37. Thank you and fuck you media!

please tell just the simple truth and stop straining for false equivalence.

[Autumn]

38. And the President did include it in his counter proposal,

that comes straight from the White House. Just because the pukes wanted it.

[reformist2]

39. This is good - they're already getting heat from the base. Let's keep it up!

[Oilwellian]

40. Well, here's one of the Republicans