GOP Tries To Shift Blame For S&P Downgrade Of U.S. Creditworthiness

[ProSense]

GOP Tries To Shift Blame For S&P Downgrade Of U.S. Creditworthiness

Brian Beutler

An ABC News report suggests U.S. officials are prepping for the credit rating agency S&P to downgrade the country's AAA bond rating to either AA or AA+. This would be a slight reduction stemming from the Congressional circus over the debt limit fight.

According to the initial report, S&P sees the GOP's intransigence on taxes as a reason to suspect the country will not be likely to reduce deficits in the years ahead, and Republicans are already trying to get out from under the blame.

"Dear Mr. Obama, while you blame the GOP for the downgrade, your party controlled all of Washington for two years & extended the Bush cuts," tweeted Red State founder Erick Erickson.

Sen. Jim DeMint's (R-SC) top communications adviser Amanda Carpenter likewise noted, "(y)ou guys may remember that @JimDeMint called the debt hike compomise a 'downgrade deal.' This is why."

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[MichiganVote]

1. Freshmen GOP- they put the boot to the backside of the entire USA

[liberal N proud]

2. In the GOP's eyes, they are never to blame for anything

But they will be the biggest beneficiaries of being downgraded because voters and DUers will blame Obama.

[flamingdem]

5. Americans will see their 401k go down, interest rates on debt go up, and blame Obama

Nice strategy for Mittens, but he is so unlikely to win..

[flamingdem]

3. S&P - whose agenda are they pushing with this downgrade talk

last week they were saying we need at least a 4 trillion deficit reduction or else... now they are saying it's a problem due to the tax cuts for the wealthy... so it looks like it will all be dumped on Obama... bingo?

[ProSense]

7. Yes.

It's clear that missing the deadline would have been a huge win for the RW. The media and Republicans would immediately blame the President, and then a week after celebrating Obama and Democrats for standing up to Republicans, those celebrating would blame Obama for creating the mess. In fact, the billions incurred for the crisis would be laid at his feet for being inflexible or for being unable to get Congress to pass a clean bill. In response, Republicans would ramp up their calls for impeachment, and the "Obama brought this on himself" logic would fuel them.

The President did the smart thing. S&P can fan the flames for a little while to try to help out Republicans, but the GOP are on record for wanting default.

[flamingdem]

13. Yes, it would have been an unmitigated disaster if default had occurred

That 500+ point drop in the market would have been nothing compared to the fireworks display and then 24/7 talk of impeachment. They want chaos, that's for sure.

[Dawson Leery]

11. The ratings agencies need to be investigated for their role in the

economic crisis.

[flamingdem]

22. The White House just called them amateurs

Just caught the end of that story on Rachel's show

[vaberella]

4. I say this is to be expected. Obama has been blamed from both the left and right for everything.

It's fine another one added to the list. History knows otherwise.

[RC]

6. The Right will blam Obama regardless, The Left will blame him

as long as he governs from the Right.

[patrice]

9. That's a good formulation of the situation.

[peacebird]

15. exactly

[Qutzupalotl]

8. Dear Mr. Erickson, you are confused.

Obama doesn't work for S&P. They're the ones who cite Republican intransigence on taxes as a reason to downgrade.

And the Democrats didn't control "all of Washington" when the Republicans could filibuster everything. In fact it was the Republicans who held unemployment benefits hostage to their demand to keep the Bush cuts.

[patrice]

10. 1+++

[AtomicKitten]

12. Boehner: "I got 98% of what I wanted so I'm pretty happy."

[flamingdem]

14. Boner got it all and then his approval rating dropped like a rock

I forget what it is but it's no more than 30% or something.

[AtomicKitten]

16. He's at 57% disapproval, up 16 pts since the debt deal.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60704.html

[flamingdem]

21. His national approval rating only went from 32% to 30%.

That's what I remembered - I like the lower number better

As was the case with other polling around the debt deal, some individual political leaders have taken a hit. In this case, House Speaker John Boehner's disapproval rating went from 42% in April of this year to 57% now, while his national approval rating only went from 32% to 30%. President Obama saw a slight increase in his disapproval rating over that time as well, from 45% to the current 47%, but his approval went from 46% to 48%.

http://progressiveerupts.blogspot.com/2011/08/america-overwhelmingly-disapproves-of.html

[CakeGrrl]

17. The DNC and Congressional Dems need to tie this to him with a quadruple knot.

[treestar]

18. That's rich

"extended the Bush cuts" like the Republicans were against that.

[craigmatic]

19. Wow Erickson is almost attacking him from the left. They must be scared.

[Dad Infinitum]

20. "your party controlled all of Washington for two years & extended the Bush cuts"

He failed to mention the GOP holding a gun on the head of the country.