Who deserves the most blame for the S&P downgrade? It all depends on how you spin it!

[Poll_Blind]

Because there are no clear political winners and almost everyone has dirty hands. But definitely not everyone. Who comes out ahead? Who comes out behind?

Spin The Wheel Of Blame and let's see who comes up!

Spin 1: The American People
Lookit that- I did say not everyone had dirty hands. Yep, the poor American people. That's you and me and we're going to have to eat whatever happens on Monday and thereafter. The American People are the most innocent but they're the ones who will take any punches squarely on the chin. It's Tradition.
Blame Factor 1 to 10: 2 (but you could go higher if you want to blame them for electing Tea Partiers/Repukes in the first place)

Spin 2: The Tea Partiers
Exact opposite. If there are any clear losers, it's them. Viewed rightly as nutcases by most of America, the media and by their own words and actions. Not looking good for these fucks, and that's fine by me.
Blame Factor 1 to 10: 9 (if you factor in Boehner and GOP leadership), 10 (if you don't)

Spin 3: Standard & Poors
Hrm...Let's spin again and come back to them in a bit.

Spin 4: President Obama
Tough call. One one hand he played games with the Democratic Leadership, making deals with Repukes behind their backs, putting Social Security cuts on the table during negotiations when the Republicans hadn't even asked for it. But on the other, even with the sweetest deal the Repukelickans could possibly ever get, they still dug their heels in like assholes.
Blame Factor 1 to 10: 5, 7 if you grant him a bonus as an enabler by taking the folks like Boehner "At their word"

Spin 5: Congressional Republicans
Not quite as bad as their Tea Party members but because of their bastardry on the national stage at a time of crisis, they will be clearly remembered for their role in the game of scorched Earth the GOP played with the country. They took the Tea Party ball and they ran with it. That's going to be a tough one to make go away!
Blame Factor 1 to 10: 9, and 10 if you read the quote from S&P specifically calling the GOP out for being a deciding factor in the downgrade (see below)

Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act. Key macroeconomic assumptions in the base case scenario include trend real GDP growth of 3% and consumer price inflation near 2% annually over the decade.

Spin 6: Congressional Democrats
What can you say that doesn't come down to a grab-bag of high points and low points for our party. Not to absolve them of all guilt but they had a gun to their heads and even with a gun to their heads, some of them still didn't vote for it. Most of the time they were on TV explaining that the Democratic Party would never support giving up x or y, only to have to reverse their position after being let in on the next new "deal" the President had worked out with Boehner or McConnell.
Blame Factor 1 to 10: 3

Spin 7: Standard & Poors
Tough call. The S&P is going to become infamous if markets meltdown Monday, especially with the White House almost certainly calling bullshit on their reasoning about the Bush Tax Cuts not being let to expire. They'll be vilified by both Democrats and Republicans, both for political reasons and also for the fact that they have a record of doing a shitty job. Normally, their shitty job works in Washington and Wall Street's favor and so it doesn't come up much. But in this case they have kicked the hornet's next. On the other hand, though, their grim outlook is absolutely reasonable if you read their explanation. On the third hand, as it were, one can criticize them for stuffing so much politics into their report. And on the fourth hand (I guess I'm using your hands now, too), such politics are an inescapable climate in which the debt negotiations took place.
Blame Factor 1 to 10: YOUR CALL depending on how much responsibility the above should take for the situation

:shrug:

Am I missing anybody? If so, add your section on the wheel and the blame you think they merit.

PB

[LonePirate]

1. This downgrade would never have happened if the Bush tax cuts had not been extended back in Dec 2010

Place the blame on that on whomever you wish as there is plenty of it to go around.

[indurancevile]

4. yep.

[Poll_Blind]

5. I agree- it all does come back to the Dec 2010 deal: Extension of Bush Tax Cuts + No Debt Ceiling...

..Raise while they were at it.

PB

[AndyTiedye]

12. Yes They Would

The teabaggers are trying to cause as much economic contraction as possible.
Letting everybody's taxes go up would have unwittingly assisted them in this goal.

We still would have had this circus when the debt limit came up
but the double-dip would have started earlier.

[kenny blankenship]

2. Let's investigate and audit S&P and just see whose credit dries up and vanishes first

The United States of America's or Standard & Poors'.

[RaleighNCDUer]

3. it's not about credit, or number crunching.

It's about the fact that the oppositional party was able to bring the country to the edge of default, and we let them do it. Not only that, but the way things are structured it could happen again, and again, and again. It's not that we CAN'T pay our debts - but that some assholes will decide they WON'T pay our debts.

If somebody borrowed a hundred bucks from you, and when it came time to get it back he said "I don't feel like it - I'm in a bad mood" - even though you KNOW he was fully capable of paying it back - would YOU advise anyone else to lend him money? He has a great credit rating - plenty of money to cover his debts - but he is a BAD RISK.

[kenny blankenship]

8. You can repeat that S&P faults the Republicans for obstructing the routine payment

of debts already incurred until you're blue in the face, but the political impact remains that the US was slapped with a credit downgrade while a Democrat was President. The Republicans are already running with this and claiming that the downgrade validates what they've always said about Obama, the supposed Socialist, and about the Democratic Party not being capable of handling the economy.

Go ahead and try to counter their message, and lots of luck to you. You will be arguing the fine print versus the headlines.

[Ruby the Liberal]

9. Unfortunately, you are right.

In this bumper sticker, microwave mentality country, this will be remembered as happening on his watch.

He should have fought them. Sad it had to get to this. For the good of the country, congress needs to heed their warning (when they come back from vacation in 5 weeks).

He needs to get in front of this immediately.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. He should convene Congress and he can

now should and would, two different stories.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Actually they are telling you a message that is correct

even if you do not like the messenger.

And the message is, we cannot be relied as a stable political system.

[JDPriestly]

11. I'm with you, Kenny.

[Ruby the Liberal]

7. I applaud S&P for calling them out

Lord knows they aren't listening to anyone else. 80% of the country wanted tax increases on corporations and the wealthy. It took this gutsy move by S&P to bring the cold hard facts to the forefront of our national conscious: Austerity in a wounded economy is the kiss of death and we need to RAISE TAXES.

They couldn't have been any clearer as to the reason for their rating decision.