So whenever Herman Cain finds himself in hot water, he often resorts to this retort:
"I was just joking."
Whether it was the electrified fence or appointing Henry Kissinger as his Secretary of State (Kissinger, of course, is 88), when pressed on his idiocies, Cain falls back on the "Hey, fellas, it's a joke."
Not only is it insulting to us, it is revealing about Cain as Candidate, an unserious, often less than thoughtful, provocateur. A man not really interested in being President as much as getting our attention.
Like John McCain. And the majority of Congress. Who, last summer, seemed super serious about the debt Super Committee. The Super Committee sprung from the Debt Ceiling fiasco, where neither side ultimately would compromise. Instead, they punted the ball, giving the bipartisan group of Senators and Representatives a few months to come up with a proposal to deal with the growing national debt seriously.
So much so that they put in a pretty severe trigger if the Super Committee couldn't reach an agreement by next Wednesday: huge cuts in Defense and entitlements.
These cuts are so drastic that the Super Committee would have to take its responsibilities seriously. If they didn't have a plan by the deadline, the cuts automatically become the plan, and defense spending and entitlements would be cut by hundreds of billions of dollars.
In other words, get the job done or else.
And now, less than a week out from the deadline?
Just kiddin'. We weren't really serious.
John Cain, er, McCain, proudly admitted it at a press conference, telling us that the trigger wasn't written in stone, that Congress could do whatever it pleased.
His comment? "If there is a failure on the part of the supercommittee, we will be amongst the first on the floor to nullify that provision. Congress is not bound by this. It is something we passed. We can reverse it."
In other words, last summer, they were just joking.
But last summer, wasn't the joke on us? Didn't our credit rating get downgraded?
And if nothing happens here? Again, the joke's on us: Credit agencies are threatening to downgrade America's rating again.
And the comedians in Congress? C'mon, America, can't you take a joke?
Not when we're always the butt of them.
• Mike McClellan is a Gilbert resident and former English teacher at Dobson High School in Mesa.
Accuracy posted at 8:42 am on Sat, Nov 19, 2011.
Mike McClellan wrote: “And the comedians in Congress? C'mon, America, can't you take a joke?”
And it’s the Democrats in Congress who are intentionally causing gridlock and lack of movement — especially Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and the Democrats in the Senate. It’s been in Democratic hands for nearly five years now and they are making sure the Senate does nothing until after the 2012 election.
chatmandu002 posted at 11:36 am on Sat, Nov 19, 2011.
Mike, I think you should be really be offended by the Senate. The Harry Reid lead senate is a joke. No budget for over 900 days. Harry Reid sitting on house passed budget, economic and jobs bills while taking no action. The liberal/progressive/socialist democrats have turned the poor and middle class into the "Dependent" class. Dependent on the largeness and philanthropy of a Big Government.
mnjcpa posted at 12:19 pm on Sat, Nov 19, 2011.
In our 24/7 communications world, where everything is recorded instantly and the media firmly supporting the left I wonder how long it would take before something you would say would be interpreted different than the way you intended.
I look deeper to someone's position on matters rather than sound bites. Chatman is right. The joke is the current administration and it is on us....straight to the same fate as Europe.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 12:57 pm on Sat, Nov 19, 2011.
Too bad that....Mike McCain..oops...McClellan is just a ........."one trick pony"...he only blames the Republicans or the Tea Party............for everything.
It's just like his .."Messiah"....Barack Hussein Obama...who blames George Bush for everything..(are we seeing a Democrat ...."pattern" ....here, Folks ????
Obama was in New Zealand and Australia all this past week....(he ran out of "poo-dunk" towns to fly to on Air Force One at $189,000.00 an hour of flight time or on his $1,000,000.00 bus that was built in Canada)....telling the Whole World how ..."lazy and soft the American people had become and as usual....APOLOGIZED TO EVERYBODY IN SIGHT.....).
Mike.............the only ....."JOKE"...out there are..........OBAMA AND THE DEMOCRATS !!![wink]
Rich posted at 3:32 pm on Sat, Nov 19, 2011.
Money is power and McCain only told you that they aren't giving up any of it. If you thought they would you are tremendously naive about the character of anyone who actually wants the job. As a former English teacher you might remember this: "It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress." Mark Twain
Dale Whiting posted at 8:31 am on Sun, Nov 20, 2011.
Mike,
Nice to read you again.
I've heard that the cuts do not begin immediately. Not sure when the next round of the budgeting cycle sets in. But it's it fun to see both Jon Kyl and John McCain squawk about defense spending cuts. I guess they have forgotten about our need to "Beware of the Military-Industrial complex." Or too many $$$$ have flown their way, so they know first hand about this form or big government corruption, the form Neo-conservative approve.
samkat posted at 9:04 pm on Sun, Nov 20, 2011.
Maybe we should beware of folks who want to tear down our military as long as there a treats to our security.
Cerulean posted at 8:37 am on Mon, Nov 21, 2011.
So, so true Mike. Your observations are keen.
I have recently read an article that relates to defense entitlements and how some are proposing cuts in that area:
In Sept. of 2001 Don Rumsfeld “rose before a crowd of Pentagon worker to declare war . . .” He said, "an adversary that poses a threat, a serious threat" to the nation: "It disrupts the defense of the United States and places the lives of men and women in uniform at risk." He was not speaking of a foreign threat, he was talking about our military bureaucracy. He went on to say, “We're establishing a Defense Business Board to tap outside expertise as we move to improve the department's business practices."
The whole focus of the Defense Business Board has been to privatize pensions. The Board’s “ members have consistently advocated for the Pentagon to engage in fuel hedging—investing in oil futures to lock in a supposedly low cost for their long-term fuel needs. The board's fuel-hedging push was led by member Denis Bovin . . .. Bovin's team concluded that the Department of Defense should invest based on rising oil prices, even while he conceded that "as a whole, DoD is not highly exposed to fuel price volatility." Such deals, he noted, would incur investment transaction costs of "$10 to $250 million per year." Even though no federal agency currently engages in fuel hedging, the board tasked Bovin with another study on oil futures last January.
You can read the article here:
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/defense-business-board-pentagon-wall-street
I see nothing wrong with a choice between a traditional gov.guaranteed pension (even with reduced benefits) and a business type 401k, as long as there remains a CHOICE.
VofReason posted at 1:25 pm on Tue, Nov 22, 2011.
Why is it only ex Teachers and looney progressives who have no urguncy in the face of 15 trillion in debt. Oh wait, when a Republican thumps Obama in 2012, they will get real excited about it and it will be the Republicans fualt for the deficit. Liberalism is a mental disorder- so true.
VofReason posted at 1:30 pm on Tue, Nov 22, 2011.
I have a question for our freind Mike M: what % of you "working" salary are you now making in "retirement". 80% or higher? To what extent do you believe that tax dollars paid to you for this is money that cannot be used in the classroom to pay teachers who are actually teaching. Wonder how much money would maguically be freed up for education if teachers got the same 3-5% match given in profitable enterprises? Thing about that for a little while and get back to me.
mnjcpa posted at 10:24 am on Wed, Nov 23, 2011.
vofreason - you've hit the issue square where the problem is.
Liberals represent a minority of the country, but have the power of the media behind them. NO ONE in the private sector gets paid a portion of their salary and benefits for LIFE. The private sector pays these unrealistic and unsustainable labor union salary and benefit agreements.
For example - taxpayer dollars bailed out General Motors that is really a pension company - not a car company. Over $24 BILLION dollars sit on their books for unfunded pension liabilities for people that "retire" in their 50's expecting to be paid for the rest of their lives. The private sector pays for that burden just like they pay for the government educational system.
It's why Europe is in so much trouble - and we're right behind them unless something dramatic changes.
Wonder if Mike has asked his neighbor how they like paying this bill?
VofReason posted at 12:19 pm on Wed, Nov 23, 2011.
Doubtful. Teachers are taught the Union montra from the very beginning- we need more money for Education and if you say know you are against children. They don't want to hear any talk of facts and figures. It is all an emotional play.