Haley Barbour: Grin and Bear It on Debt Bargain

[flpoljunkie]

Haley Barbour: Grin and bear it on debt bargain

By ALEXANDER BURNS
7/15/11 8:12 PM EDT

Haley Barbour, who has repeatedly impressed upon his party that ideological "purity is a dead-dog loser," tells AP that a grand bargain on debt reduction might need to include tax increases:

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, who strongly considered a presidential bid this year ... left the door slightly ajar for a possible compromise.

"I think a tax increase would be terrible," said Barbour, who once chaired the national Republican Party. But Republicans might have to grimace and accept a compromise, he said, if they can win deep spending cuts and cost-saving changes to Medicare and Social Security.

"At the end of the day," Barbour said, "you have to look at the whole package."

There are few Republicans with the stature to make that argument to the party, and it would be a mark of how dramatically the GOP has changed in recent years if Barbour isn't one of them.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0711/59155.html

[flpoljunkie]

1. Better yet what Montana Governor Schweitzer said at the Governors meeting about the debt crisis

In fact, some of the harshest rhetoric was heard this weekend in Salt Lake City, where the National Governors Association is holding its annual meeting.

At stake is "the full faith and credit of the United States of America, and we have Republican members of Congress that say 'Faith and credit, baloney. We don't care about that,'" said Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a Democrat.

He called those lawmakers "the same yahoos who didn't pay for two wars," a reference to the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions, which President George W. Bush launched while cutting taxes.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gHmxOk8bj4Z0_nOdhx9X-ALNQ9Ew?docId=fe612416f8cb47a0a41c2699fb8b6b74

[TreasonousBastard]

2. Governors have a much better handle on the problem, since they MUST...

balance their budgets and can't depend on a limitless credit card.

We might not like how they do it, but their job is to deal with it.

[wolfgirl]

3. So tired of the rhetoric that increasing revenues

is raising a tax on the American people, when we all know Obama is talking about closing loopholes & taxing the wealthiest among us...the same ones that have done nothing but reap the benefits & hoard the gold for the past 10 yrs.

As fo the "entitlements" being on the table, I firmly believe the compromises Obama is offering are things that will actually strengthen the programs (lifing the cap on SSN deductions so those making tons of $$ pay more, instituting the negotiation of drug costs, etc.)

In any event, we all know (or should by now) that the GOP/T-Party wants only to privatize everything, reward the wealthiest among us and retain power in DC. If those among that sat home last election had got out and voted in support of progressive candidates (or at least had voted against the GOP/T-Party), Obama could have actually dones something this past year that pushed the country forward and helped the middle class. As it stands, he put forth a budget for 2012 that was defeated by the GOP and none of the DEM jobs bill proposals have seen the light of day due to GOP stonewalling.

Unfortunatley, TN has a majority of GOP/T-P officials running our state (local, state, national) that are either loons, idiots or both - BUT that doesn't stop me from writing, calling & showing up to express my displeasure at their actions. It will take all of us making our voices heard in our neighborhoods, city councils, state legislatures & in DC if we want to save this country.

Obama told us - he can't do it alone and true change and progress must start with us!

[July16th-20th]

4. Wow.

Boss Hogg discovers Realism.

[OwnedByFerrets]

5. Fuck you asshole.