SOUNDS SUSTAINABLE: Using GAAP accounting principles, annual federal deficit increased 30 percent in 2012

The term Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (or GAAP) refers to the standard framework for financial reporting that most U.S. corporations employ. The act of intentionally producing false GAAP statements is a crime.

John Williams, writing at ShadowStats.com (subscription required), used the Treasury Department's latest financial statements and calculates the true 2012 federal deficit, which includes the net present value of unfunded liabilities like Social Security and Medicare) at:

$6.9 trillion

In 2011, using GAAP accounting, the federal deficit was:

$5.0 trillion

Which means the annual deficit grew at a rate of nearly:

30 percent in one year

Anyone who thinks this level of fiscal irresponsibility can last much longer, raise your hand.

As for you Democrats: history will not treat kindly your support of the people who are quite literally stealing our children's futures.

And why the feckless, cowardly, and pathetic Republican "leaders" aren't shouting these numbers from the rooftops at every opportunity remains a mystery for the ages.

Counsel for the Surrender Monkeys in the GOP

As Erick Erickson wrote earlier today, the feckless RINO leadership appears prepared to throw in the towel before the debt ceiling fight has even begun.

...I can only assume that because House Republican leaders and those close to them have been whispering about [wanting] to move on.

They want the next fight. So desperate are they to move on, in January of 2013, House Republicans want their base to know they think they’ll lose the House in November of 2014 unless they cave now so please let them cave.

Idiocy. Sheer, unvarnished idiocy. Speaker Boehner and Skippy Cantor, here are the facts:

a) You'll get blamed by the media no matter what

b) Your last series of surrenders, in the kindest words possible, eh... failed to inspire the electorate

c) The country faces an existential finacial crisis

d) There are great ideas for dealing with Obama (see below)

e) So how about doing what's right, for a change?

Stanford's Keith Hennessey offers the weak-willed RINO leadership a simple strategy for dealing with Barack Obama on the debt ceiling. President Subprime McDowngrade wants a five-year increase on the debt ceiling or, by my calculations, enough to get us to a Grecian-style financial implosion.

To neatly handle the problem, offer the Foodstamp President two choices:

Choice 1: A long-term debt-limit increase along with significant present and future spending cuts

Choice 2: A short-term debt-limit increase if he refuses to cut spending, continued ad infinitum to highlight his fiscal irresponsibility

In other words, act as a responsible creditor. Act in the country's best interest, for a change.

Or should I send this via fax to John Boehner's favorite lobbyist, so I can be sure he gets the message?

CROOKED FRIENDS IN HIGH PLACES: The Top 10 Crony Tax Breaks in the "Fiscal Cliff" Deal

I know that regular readers require no additional proof that Washington is irreparably broken. But if you want to see just how filthy and disgusting the Beltway really is, just peel the onion on the "Fiscal Cliff" tax deal: doing so reveals roughly $40 billion in payoffs to every special interest with a connected lobbyist.

The top 10 crony tax breaks in the package:

10. “An accelerated tax write-off for owners of NASCAR tracks (cost: $78 million).”

9. “A tax credit for companies operating in American Samoa ($62 million), including a StarKist factory.”

8. “A $222 million rum tax rebate.”

7. For “businesses located on Indian reservations . . . $222 million in accelerated depreciation.”

6. A $12 billion “wind production tax credit.”

5. A $59 million “algae-based fuel” tax credit.

4. A $7 million “plug-in motorcycle” tax credit.

3. A $154 million tax credit for “builders of energy-efficient homes.”

2. A $650 million tax credit for "manufacturers of energy-efficient appliances."

And your winner is:

1. A $430 million giveaway to Hollywood and its “film and television producers"

As The Objective Standard observes.

Congress avoided the so-called “fiscal cliff” only by passing tax hikes and leaving out-of-control federal spending practically untouched. But, to those with friends in political places, Congress rewarded special tax breaks.

Disgraced ex-Senator Chris "Sweetheart Loan" Dodd, a man so crooked you can open wine bottles with him, deserves special dishonor: he was responsible for the payoffs to Hollywood.

We are headed for economic collapse and the politicians -- Democrats and establishment Republicans -- are more interested in preserving their power and doling out favors than saving the country.

YOU CAN THANK ME LATER: A very special, hand-picked gift for your new member of Congress

If you've been struggling to find that special gift for your new member of the 113th Congress, may I be so bold as to suggest the following?

Yes, it's an exclusive, pre-packaged tar-and-feathers kit hand-selected by Doctor Ross.

Which is the only fitting gift for the tools that operate like this.

REPORT: Tomorrow, John Boehner will either resign or be fired

Ron Meyer of CNS News has the latest dirt in the Boehner soap opera:

I have confirmed with a group of Congressmen that House Speaker John Boehner will not be reelected Speaker tomorrow.

He will either resign or be forced out tomorrow.

Only 17 members are needed to block Speaker Boehner's election tomorrow. A Speaker needs an absolute majority of all votes cast for a specific person.

If no one has a majority, the House is speakerless. I've confirmed these rules with the House Parliamentarian.

Boehner may be a competent ladder-climber but he is a horrible Speaker, especially in times as dangerous as these.

• Instead of forming alliances with the Constitutional and Tea Party conservatives who brought him to power, he instead waged war against them.

• Instead of taking advantage of the GOP's historic, sweeping victories in 2010, he bypassed the new Congress and cut a secret deal with Democrats that led to yesterday's "Fiscal Cliff" debacle.

• Instead of standing on first principles, he became the leader of the "Democrat Lite" movement, which can no longer be substantially differentiated from the Marxists running the Democrat Party.

• Instead of eloquently explaining to the American people the fiscal abyss we are facing and the certain impact of "financial repression", Boehner instead bumbled through a series of public appearances where he seemed to be negotiating with himself.

• And rather than operating as a strategist, a leader, and a statesman, Boehner allowed himself to be bullied by antique media and the Democrats (but I repeat myself).

We need a fighter as Speaker. I nominate Allen West, Paul Ryan, Sarah Palin or Jim Jordan.


Update: Close your eyes and imagine having a Speaker who can articulate his principles like this.

THE CHUCKLEHEAD FACTOR: Whatever you do, don't blame Boehner, Cantor, or LaTourette for the demise of "Plan B"

Guess who's to blame for the embarrassing failure of John Boehner's "Plan B" to avoid the fiscal cliff?

You are. The Constitutional Conservatives and the Tea Party movement that brought Boehner into power:

Republican Rep. Steven LaTourette said that Boehner is not to blame for the stalemate, the Tea Party is.

“I don’t know what the number is but say the number is 40 out of 240 – that’s not a repudiation of his leadership. That’s the same 40, 50 chuckleheads that all year … have screwed this place up. And he has done everything in his power to make nice to them, to bring them along, to make them feel included, but it hasn’t mattered,” he said.

It's not because of Boehner's secret negotiations with Obama, bypassing the traditional committee process in formulating a deal:

House Speaker John Boehner reportedly had another secret meeting with President Barack Obama on fiscal cliff negotiations on Monday. This is the latest in a series of behind-closed-doors talks between the two.

On Friday and over the weekend, Boehner caved on the debt ceiling and on taxes enraging conservatives while failing to delight the president enough to cut a deal...

[This] was “their third conversation in the last five days.”

It's not because Boehner jammed a secret plan down the throats of the majority without even soliciting other opinions from Republicans:

...Leadership never worked with members in crafting Plan B. "We walked into conference" on Monday, one Republican member told me, "and we were told, 'Here it is. Here's what we're going to do.' "

"I don't think they ever really gave members an opportunity to weigh in," one House chief of staff told me. One Boehner ally suggested that rather than reach out to the rank and file, Boehner used Majority Leader Eric Cantor and Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan as "proxies," to gauge conservative sentiment.

The conservative Republican Study Committee wanted a floor vote, during consideration of Plan B, on an amendment to permanently extend all Bush tax rates. Boehner quashed that idea...

It's not because Boehner purged fiscal conservatives from all positions of power a few weeks ago:

In a discouraging sign for conservatives hoping the GOP will stay true to the fiscally conservative Tea Party message that won in 2010, House Speaker John Boehner has reportedly removed several of Congress’s most outspoken fiscal hawks from committees dealing with fiscal matters, citing their unwillingness to be “team players.”

...With fiscal cliff negotiations at a stark impasse, this could signal that Speaker John Boehner believes he will be forced to accept a deal that contradicts fiscally conservative principles, possibly to a degree that the grassroots would see as problematic.

It's not because of an intransigent president who has no interest in negotiating in good faith.

This morning, the Wall Street Journal provides a detailed account of how the fiscal cliff talks “hit the wall.” The entire article is a must read, but one blurb really jumps out:

At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, “I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?”

“You get nothing,” the president said. “I get that for free.”

We’ve said all along that President Obama’s offers on the fiscal cliff were outrageous. That may have been an understatement.

No, it's not John Boehner's fault. It's the fault of the chuckleheads.

And what chucklehead got us into this mess in the first place? Oh, that's right: John Boehner, who squandered the historic Tea Party victories in the midterm elections of 2010. He rushed into a deal without even waiting for the new Congress to assemble, as then reported by The New York Times.

In every way, John Boehner has demonstrated a complete lack of vision, will and strategic thinking when it comes to facing the true economic cliff that this country faces.

But whatever you do, don't blame Boehner. Blame the chuckleheads.



Private Message to Steven LaTourette: You're a disgrace. We have an acolyte of Saul Alinsky who is trying to destroy the economy and you're talking about a tax increase that won't do anything to address the deficit nor save this Republic. Get your nose out of Boehner's kiester and think of your country for once, you hack.

FINALLY: House GOP Circulates a Plan to Oust Boehner

Matthew Boyle, writing at Breitbart, offers the best description I've ever seen on the inner workings of the House.

A coup appears to be in the works after John Boehner's two-year track record of failed leadership: repudiating the conservative base that brought him the Speakership; punishing Tea Party Republicans; abandoning first principles; and failing to address America's catastrophic spending problem.

[House s]taffers have compiled a detailed action plan that, if executed, could make this a reality.

The Republicans, both conservatives and more establishment members alike, are emboldened after the failure of Boehner’s fiscal cliff “Plan B” on Thursday evening. Dissatisfaction with Boehner is growing in the House Republican conference, but until now there hasn’t been a clear path forward...

...[T]he first step is to re-establish the election of the Speaker of the House by secret ballot, rather than by a public roll call vote. That’s because the members who would oppose Boehner, if there ended up not being enough votes to achieve their desired result or if Boehner scared via threat or coaxed via prize some of the opposition into voting for him, would be sitting ducks for retaliation in the near future.

...To establish a secret ballot election for Speaker of the House, one Republican member will need to step forward and introduce a resolution on the House floor on the morning of January 3, 2013, before any other business takes place. Those close to this plan are convinced that a member will step forward and introduce this resolution... the first order of business is for the House to elect a Speaker...

...[I]f a member introduces that resolution for a secret ballot, the whole House will vote on that first. That vote will need to have a public roll call, meaning the American people, the press, and Boehner will know who voted which way. Even so, those who are considering this path forward to unseat Boehner know that Boehner and other establishment Republicans can’t legitimately oppose the concept of a secret ballot election for a leader of a political body [because of widespread GOP opposition to union "card check" tactics].

...If a secret ballot election for House Speaker is established, step one of this plan against Boehner is complete.

...The second step of the circulated plan would require enough GOP members to band together and vote for somebody other than Boehner as Speaker... [for] someone to win the Speaker election, they’d need to secure 217 votes – or a majority of everyone voting... The House would continue having multiple elections throughout the day on January 3 until it agreed upon a new Speaker.

Republicans need not worry about handing the Speakership over to Nancy Pelosi or some other Democrat in this process, either. “Don’t worry about Speaker Boehner losing GOP votes in a secret ballot..."

It is still not possible for Pelosi to become Speaker even with 100 % of Democrats united behind her and a split GOP vote. The reason is to become Speaker it is not enough to win a plurality. One must win an absolute majority of all votes cast for an individual.

...even if all 201 Democrats vote Pelosi, Boehner gets 1 vote, and the remaining 233 Republicans each vote for a different individual, Pelosi does not win. Pelosi would need 218 to reach a majority of the 435 votes cast for an individual. Since Republicans have a 33 vote advantage in the House, the only way Pelosi wins is if 17 Boehner opponents affirmatively vote Pelosi or abstain rather than simply vote for an alternative candidate. Both these scenarios are easily avoided...

Rumor has it that Paul Ryan's name is being circulated. I believe he is one man who gets it; and who could unite the conservative base as well as the establishment.

SEASONS GREETINGS FROM BARACK O'BOEHNER

Relayed by The Looking Spoon.

And could someone please -- pretty please? -- ask John Boehner to stop negotiating with himself?

THE NEGOTIATION: Selling John Boehner a Car

Salesman: Welcome to District Chevrolet, can I help you with something?

Boehner: Lookin' for a sedan (*cough*). One with four doors.

S: Power ashtrays?

B: You know it, sonny.

S: How much you lookin' to spend?

B: Ehhh, unnngh, maybe... six... six hunnert a month, tops.

S: Well, we have several sedans in that price range. How much you lookin' to put down?

B: Fifteen grand, tops.

S: How 'bout mileage? Good gas mileage important for ya?

B: Damn straight it is.

S: Well, based on those precise criteria, I got just the ride for you then. This beauty right here (points to a shiny black sedan) is the 2012 Chevrolet Volt, which by most accounts is a collector's item.

B: I thought you couldn't sell any of those things.

S: That's a damn lie! Eh, pardon my French, sir, but we get that a lot. The Volt is one of our top sellers, plus they fixed the kersplodin' battery problem and the melting power cord issue, best we can tell.

B: You say it's a collector's item?

S: That's what all, eh, most, uhm, some of the, er, experts say.

B: Must say it looks purty sweet. What's one of these bad boys run?

S: Well, with a fifteen grand down payment... (whips out calculator, starts clicking keys)... 'bout $675 a month.

B: Hot damn, that's pretty close to what I wanted.

S: Tell you what (looks to either side, starts talking in a hushed voice)... you look like a real pro at negotiating --

B: Damn straight.

S: Don't tell my manager, but I can get you into the Deluxe model for an extra $14 a month if you sign tonight.

B: What's on the Deluxe model?

S: Couple of really nice items: you get the rustproof undercoating and the luxury, deluxe floor mats in plush velour. Softest damn floor mats in the world, guaranteed.

B: Sounds pretty good. You sure it's only $14 extra a month?

S: Like I said, don't tell my manager.

B: Hell, I won't! Do I look like a punk to you? I can smell a good deal when I see one.

S: Alright! You wanna me to write this puppy up? I got another guy who was lookin' at this car an hour ago and just went to get his wife...

B: Well, hell -- I better do it. Why don't you write it up.

S: Sure, enough. You can't get a better 84-month lease deal than this one, as far as you know.

B: Just hurry up. That other guy may come back with his freaking wife!

JAN 2013: The Statement the Next Speaker of the House Must Give

As Ned Ryun suggests, with some luck January may bring a new Speaker of the House. A conservative Speaker. And this is the kind of plain talk -- the truth --- that the American people need to hear.

We're not going to raise the debt ceiling without spending cuts that address the so-called "Stimulus" package, which was sold as a one-time, emergency measure. We're not going to raise the debt ceiling without these necessary cuts, because our entire system faces a fiscal disaster without them.

By the way, we don't live in a dictatorship. We live in a Republic with checks and balances.

If the President attempts to illegally raise the debt ceiling without Congress and thereby violates the Constitution, there are remedies and we will hold him accountable.

Furthermore, we are not going to raise the debt ceiling without three questions being answered by Senator Harry Reid and the President:

1. At what point will Democrats have borrowed enough from America's young people and from future generations? Is there a dollar limit or a percentage of GDP they can point to and say, "That's it! That's the limit!"?

2. At what point will Democrats have spent enough? Is there a dollar limit or a threshold of GDP that, once surpassed, they admit their central planning in the housing, health care, retirement, banking and other markets have failed?

3. How much longer will Democrats operate the country without a budget? For the first time in modern American history, Democrats have refused to pass a budget for three years in a row, an act which no country, no state, no city, and certainly no family would ever tolerate.

Because if they can't identify any limits on their spending -- if they recognize no constraints to their policies nor learn from the past -- then they are tacitly admitting that they intend to poison, through bankruptcy and fiscal chaos, the American system of government.

None of America's young people should tolerate this fiscal destruction and I pledge that this Congress will stand up for America's youth. We will not tolerate Democrats poisoning the wellspring of freedom any longer.

FLUSH HIM: We Only Need 16 Votes to Depose Boehner

Great idea from Ned Ryun:

While the caucus has already voted in support of John Boehner as speaker of the 113th Congress, the final floor vote doesn’t happen until early January.

Everyone thinks it’s a fairytale, but the Conservative Movement is capable of firing Boehner with just 16 votes.

The House rules demand that a Speaker receive a majority—218 votes—to be elected speaker. If no nominee for speaker receives 218, the House remains speakerless—as it did during parts of the Civil War.

If 16 House Republicans were to abstain from voting for Speaker, Boehner would only receive 217 votes.

Once we depose Boehner and cause a firestorm, the Republican caucus will get the memo: Pick someone else! These 16 Republicans only need to hold out until the caucus chooses a new leader.

For Speaker, I suggest members who are anti-establishment, but still have broad support. Congressmen Jim Jordan of Ohio would be my pick. He just finished leading the Republican Study Committee and proposed the best budget we’ve seen come out of Congress.

Republicans and conservatives deserve a more articulate, more conservative leader. In fact, we need one if we want to keep the House majority and take the Senate. Boehner has been Obama’s punching bag and has lost every public battle with the President. Now, he’s waging an internal war on conservatives.

Remember, we lost seats in the House under his leadership. He has failed as spokesman for the movement. Boehner has been in Congress for 22 years, and he looks like and embodies the typical DC politician. Can’t we find someone fresher to lead the party forward?

I'll say this about Jim Jordan: he ain't gonna be anyone's punching bag.

My only fear about this idea is that House Democrats will join with the RINO establishment to keep the Weeper Speaker in power.

QOTD: Sarah Palin Shreds John Boehner and the Miserable Failures in the Establishment GOP

Now this is what I call speaking truth to power:

Please read and pass along this article.

We send good conservatives to D.C. to fulfill the promises they made to the electorate, and yet when they stay true to their word the permanent political class in their own party punishes them.

This won't be forgotten come 2014.

Right now the GOP establishment is more concerned about the opinion of the media and the Georgetown cocktail circuit than they are “we the people” who hired them. For all this new talk of how the GOP needs a “populist movement,” it would do them good to remember they already have one; it’s called the Tea Party movement, and it won for them the majority they now enjoy in the House.

John Boehner needs a primary challenger in Ohio. The qualifications are simple: he or she must be able to fog a mirror.

JUST PERFECT: John Boehner Purges Conservatives From Prominent Committee Spots

John Boehner is the Speaker of the House thanks to Tea Party and Constitutional conservatives. But instead of embracing the principles of the base that put him in power, he has purged anyone who doesn't agree with his feckless leadership.

Speaker John A. Boehner initiated today a small purge of rebellious Republicans — mostly conservatives — from prominent committees; it’s the latest instance of the Ohio Republican’s clamping down on his fractious conference.

The decisions were made by the GOP Steering Committee at a Monday meeting, which reviewed a spreadsheet listing each GOP lawmaker and how often he or she had voted with leadership, three sources said.

Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Walter Jones of North Carolina were booted from the Financial Services Committee. Reps. Justin Amash of Michigan and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas were removed from the Budget Committee... According to a source, Schweikert was told that he was ousted in part because his “votes were not in lockstep with leadership.”

All of the lawmakers other than Jones were rebellious right-wingers. Huelskamp and Amash, for instance, both voted against the budget proposed by Budget Chairman Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin in committee and on the floor, because it did not cut spending fast enough. They also voted against the current continuing resolution that is funding the government through the end of March.

...The decisions came as a major surprise to Republican members. When first contacted about the changes, several of the lawmakers’ offices said they had not yet been notified.

Complete classlessness. As Jimmie Bise, Jr. observes:

This sort of move — summary dismissal from important committees for which you leak to the press before you notify the affected members — is a big, fat backhand to the face, a reminder that John Boehner is in charge of the GOP House caucus and not we upstart conservative Tea Partiers... It’s what happens when a besieged leader wants to secure his position to hold off a siege. Make no mistake, conservatives have gotten very close to positions of real influence inside the ranks of the professional Republicans and that just won’t do. And so, a purge of the problem children who believe conservatism is more than a suit you put on to gull the rubes during an election year.

Here's my advice: Don't give a single penny to any official Republican organization. Not a cent to the RNC. Not a nickel to the NRSC. Not a dime to the NRCC. Not a quarter to Karl Rove's idiotic "grassroots" fund, American Crossroads.

Instead, give your money and support to conservative candidates directly and to organizations proven to support conservative principles like Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund.

CHART: The Financial Impact of Raising Taxes on "the Rich"

I created this chart to put the "fiscal cliff" discussion in perspective.

The overall pie represents total federal outlays since Barack Obama took office, including next year, which is the subject of all the hullabaloo.

The red represents the amount of debt -- borrowing, which must be repaid along with interest -- that the federal leviathan has rung up on our children's behalf.

And that tiny green sliver? That represents the impact of allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for the top two tax brackets, er, I mean: "The Rich".

Those additional taxes mean nothing to the yawning chasm of debt. It's a spit in the bucket. Bupkis.

So, where are your spending cuts, Mr. President?

DEAL! Let's take that "$10 in cuts for every $1 in tax increases" the Democrats have been talking about for years

I just wish a single Republican leader could speak coherently about the fiscal cliff. To wit:

• Since 2002, Democrats have opposed all -- every single one -- of the Bush tax cuts. Every year. Until this year. What changed their minds?

• And if some tax cuts are good, why aren't more cuts better?

• Lastly, for years -- years! -- Democrats have been screeching about the supposed intransigence of Republicans in refusing a deal that offered $10 in spending cuts for one dollar in tax hikes.

Well, Democrats say they want a tax hike on "the rich" (actually, the "rich" include any sole proprietor or small business that grosses -- not nets -- as little as $200,000 a year).



That "10-for-one" deal would trade an $85 billion tax hike on America's top two percent for $850 billion in spending cuts. Coincidentally, that's the size of the so-called "one-time, emergency Stimulus" that gets spent each and every year as part of the baseline budget.

Hey, Republicans: could you ask the Democrats where the list of spending cuts are that meet their vaunted 10-for-one deal? That would take the $850 billion Stimulus out of each year's insane levels of borrowing and deficit spending?

Hey, Republicans: can you ask President Obama and the Democrats where their list of spending cuts is? Because I haven't seen one.

Can't anyone here play this game?

CHART: The Democrat-Lite Party's Amnesty Delusion

The Democrat-Lite Party is what I call the RINO establishment. With data from Pew Research (hat tip: Free Republic), let's examine the historic trend line of Hispanic support for Democrats and Republicans.

Please note: whether Republicans support amnesty or not, the share of the Latino vote captured by Republican candidates stays in the same narrow band.

Because, as has been explained over and over and over again, Hispanic support for Democrats has nothing to do with "amnesty".

Hey, Boehner: you listening?

HEY, BOEHNER AND KRISTOL: Yes, by all means, let's go back to the Clinton-era tax rates!

I want to address the rocket scientist RINOs typified by House Speaker John Boehner and commentator William Kristol, both of whom have expressed a willingness to "compromise" with Democrats and raise taxes on "millionaires". And by "millionaires", they of course mean any individual making over $200,000 and any family making over $250,000. And, as everyone knows, a substantial number of these folks are small business owners, who account for roughly half of all the jobs created by small business.

I would like to unleash a rant on these two, but first, please read this item spotted while surfing the web.

I’m a California Republican (I know, masochistic, right?) and the local talk radio is full of small business owners calling in and discussing their plans.

One man, owner of a trucking firm in Ventura — 75 employees, $6 million payroll — discussed how even as times have been tough over the last few years, he’s made it a point to make his payroll, even dipping into his own savings.

He was walking by the breakroom and heard some of his employees snickering about the election and they had wanted Obama to stay President to make sure the rich pay. He then thought “what am I putting myself at risk?" He then went and canceled his order for six new trucks (approximately $600,000 worth of an order) and is planning to layoff 20 or more people.

What Mr. Kristol and Mr. Boehner don't understand -- aside from basic arithemetic, logic, history and reason -- is that small business doesn't need to tighten its belt. Government does.

But why, asks the President, can't we go back to Clinton-era tax rates? That seems reasonable, right?

Oh, sure. We can go back to Clinton-era tax rates.

Just as soon as we go back to Clinton-era housing prices.

And Clinton-era college tuition prices.

And Clinton-era health insurance premiums.

And Clinton-era state, local and property taxes.

You starting to get the picture, geniuses? Democrats are never satisfied! Never! In good times and bad, government grows like an enormous, metastasizing tumor, eroding our liberty and eating away at our private property rights.

Democrats tamper with housing prices (see: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and they destroy the housing industry. They back student loans, making it easy for colleges to raise tuition prices far faster than the rate of inflation. They nationalize health care for the elderly, indigent (and now, everyone) and health care prices skyrocket.

Democrats grow the government. That's what they do.

In other words, Democrats constantly try to evade the very Constitution they took an oath to uphold! They incessantly evade the very document that was explicitly designed to check their own corrupting ambitions!

And accomplices like Boehner and Kristol don't have the common sense to even figure out that they are being played. In fact, guys like this aren't real Republicans. They are Democrats Lite. They're a slightly watered down version of the Marxist Left; they are so addicted to the concentration of power in Washington that they can't even see the diminishing circle of liberty -- a veritable noose -- tightening around our collective necks.

Boehner, Kristol, Rove, and the rest of these Democrats Lite must be ridiculed at every turn. They must be mocked. They need to be shunned. And they need to be cast out from the real Republican Party.

They're not statesmen, they're not thoughtful, and -- worst of all -- they're not leaders. They are useless and they need to be ignored.

SUICIDAL IDIOCY: Boehner, GOP Establishment Ready to Deal on Amnesty, Creating a Democrat Vote Factory

As if we needed more proof that John Boehner has all of the intellectual firepower of an addled goldfish, not only did he begin negotiating against himself this week, but he also floated the idea of an "amnesty" deal.

This is the brainchild of a panicked Republican establishment, suddenly concerned that demographic changes are responsible for Mitt Romney's shocking loss.

Sean Trende, writing in Real Clear Politics, has already done an excellent job of debunking that assertion.

In the 2008 final exit polls (unavailable online), the electorate was 75 percent white, 12.2 percent African-American, 8.4 percent Latino, with 4.5 percent distributed to other ethnicities. We’ll have to wait for this year’s absolute final exit polls to come in to know the exact estimate of the composition this time, but right now it appears to be pegged at about 72 percent white, 13 percent black, 10 percent Latino and 5 percent “other.”

Obviously, this surge in the non-white vote is troubling to Republicans, who are increasingly almost as reliant upon the white vote to win as Democrats are on the non-white vote. With the white vote decreasing as a share of the electorate over time, it becomes harder and harder for Republicans to prevail.

This supposed surge in minority voting has sparked discussions about the GOP’s renewed need to draw in minority voters, especially Latinos, usually by agreeing to comprehensive immigration reform... [But] I think these analyses are off base. First, there are real questions about the degree to which immigration policies -- rather than deeper issues such as income and ideology -- drive the rift between the GOP and Latinos. Remember, passage of Simpson-Mazzoli in 1986 was actually followed two years later by one of the worst GOP showings among Latinos in recent history...

...in terms of the effect on the electorate, [any demographic shift] is dwarfed by the decline in the number of whites. Again, if our assumption about the total number of votes cast is correct, almost 7 million fewer whites voted in 2012 than in 2008. This isn’t readily explainable by demographic shifts either; although whites are declining as a share of the voting-age population, their raw numbers are not.

As The Manhattan Institute's Heather Mac Donalid explains, pandering to Hispanic voters on the issue of immigration reform is a suicidal strategy for the Republican Party.

It is not immigration policy that creates the strong bond between Hispanics and the Democratic party, but the core Democratic principles of a more generous safety net, strong government intervention in the economy, and progressive taxation. Hispanics will prove to be even more decisive in the victory of Governor Jerry Brown’s Proposition 30, which raised upper-income taxes and the sales tax, than in the Obama election.

And California is the wave of the future. A March 2011 poll by Moore Information found that Republican economic policies were a stronger turn-off for Hispanic voters in California than Republican positions on illegal immigration...

...And a strong reason for that support for big government is that so many Hispanics use government programs. U.S.-born Hispanic households in California use welfare programs at twice the rate of native-born non-Hispanic households. And that is because nearly one-quarter of all Hispanics are poor in California, compared to a little over one-tenth of non-Hispanics. Nearly seven in ten poor children in the state are Hispanic, and one in three Hispanic children is poor, compared to less than one in six non-Hispanic children. One can see that disparity in classrooms across the state, which are chock full of social workers and teachers’ aides trying to boost Hispanic educational performance.

The idea of the “social issues” Hispanic voter is also a mirage. A majority of Hispanics now support gay marriage, a Pew Research Center poll from last month found. The Hispanic out-of-wedlock birth rate is 53 percent, about twice that of whites.

Mac Donald concludes that amnesty for primarily low-skilled immigrants -- most of whom are dependent upon government services -- will create what I call a "Democrat Vote Factory".

Furthermore, aside from those simple truths, an idiotic deal by Boehner and the GOP establishment would serve only to enrage the Republican base of Constitutional Conservatives.

Writing at Protein Wisdom, Jeff Goldstein offers the only rational course of action for Republicans:

It’s clear the left wishes to keep an open border in order to bring in future Democratic voters — specifically, those who make most use of government services and whose lack of social capital, from struggles with the language to poor education, from the start prevents them from moving into higher-paying jobs. That is, the left is importing future clients, whose votes can be had for a growing of the welfare state.

That the tone-deaf leadership in the GOP and the “conservative” opinion outlets are even considering the pragmatism of identity politics pandering is already quite depressing. But even more so is that they are in such a rush to copy the left’s playbook that they can’t even be bothered to understand what their own should be telling them. That goes for the editorial board at the WSJ, too, whose open borders stance is less about principle than it is about cheap labor.

The way forward with the Hispanic vote is to seal the borders, preach first principles, reaffirm the necessity of assimilation, show the way out of dependency, and reject things like “comprehensive immigration reform,” which won’t help you with Hispanics and will most certainly cost you what’s left of your base.

And I'll add the following:

John Boehner needs to go. He is an intellectual midget, the antithesis of a statesman, and has proved to be an utter disaster at building on the momentum of the 2010 midterms that shoved him into power.

I will support (and marshal friends) to support anyone who opposes him for House Speaker.


Hat tip: Mark Levin.

"Represent or be gone"

Ripped from BS Footprint:

All my life I've heard about our leaders. About failures of leadership. About the need for electing leaders.

Bulls***.

This is a representative republic with democratically elected representatives.

Children need to be led. Cattle need to be led. Pack animals need to be led.

Free people don't need or want to be led.

So Represent. Or Be Gone.

I can't add anything to that.

Hey, don't worry about the Dept. of Injustice interfering in Wisconsin's election: John Boehner just put Eric Holder on 'Double Secret Probation'

What will it take for House Speaker John Boehner to go after the most malevolent and lawless attorney general in American history? Not, apparently, helping directly facilitate the murders of two U.S. law enforcement personnel and 300 Mexican nationals.

How about Eric Holder dispatching his Department of Justice to the racist hotbed of... Wisconsin for a bogus "election monitoring" stint?

Typical Democrat strategy, why wait until the votes are counted? We already know we want a recount, if we don't win! "Wisconsin recall: Democrats prepare for recall recount" That's the mark of a sore losers party; Democrats are that. Sadly, their whiny persistence does pay off on the margins. Politics is getting increasingly worse in America.  

Today is the day and I can't say I'm thrilled about this development. The right doesn't have much faith in Holder's DOJ for good reason. Can you say, Fast and Furious?  

...Frankly, the entire thing is a fiasco, with much of it going ignored beneath the headlines.

John Boehner is a coward and a disgrace.

And he must be replaced as House Speaker by a conservative in November.