"Catfood commission and BS narratives" - otherwise known as - another false Anti-Dem meme exposed.

[Pirate Smile]

Catfood commission and BS narratives (update)

ShareNew 0by citizen k
Sat Aug 28, 2010 at 10:17:32 AM PDT

The pitch on July 1 was totally misleading.

FDL has learned that in a last minute move, Nancy Pelosi sneaked language into the rule that the House is voting on tonight regarding war funding.

Embedded in the rule is the requirement that the House will vote on the deficit commission’s recommendations in the lame duck session if they pass the Senate.

This is false: there was no "requirement". And discovering that fact was easy.

citizen k's diary :: ::
Here's the section heading.

(2) SENSE OF THE HOUSE ON DEFICIT REDUCTION.—
It is the sense of the House that—
http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/...

and a "Sense of the House" resolution has no binding force at all.
http://www.c-span.org/...

Indeed the other items in this Sense of the House list are pious declarations that the budget should be balanced, the budgets should be prepared in time- they could have added suggestions that the New York Knicks should play better and airline food should be less disgusting without making any difference.

But Netroots has a narrative, by golly, so FDL amplified the betrayal story on July 2.

and (in a controversial move) “Commits the House to vote on any Senate-passed recommendations of the bipartisan Fiscal Commission and that net savings from any Commission recommendations will go to deficit reduction.”

Speaker Pelosi had already promised on numerous occasions that the recommendations of the cat food commission would get a House vote. But adding statutory language is pretty obscene. If the package is particularly distasteful, say an all-cuts measure that lowers benefits for Social Security, Pelosi will be statutorily obligated to put up the vote even if a majority of her caucus disagrees with it.
http://news.firedoglake.com/...

And Americablog ratcheted up the righteous indignation at yet another Democratic betrayal.

here you have it — whatever the Pete Peterson–controlled Deficit Commission & Cat Food Industry Employment Club shoves through the Senate, that bill will automatically get a vote in the House. This means the "work till you're 70" recommendation, and the "don't ask for last year's benefits, 'cause Less is the new More" budget fix — already positioned as the "mildest" of the deficit fixes — is a near certainty.

Unless you're currently a senior (who always votes), you're had.

All thanks to Nancy Pelosi. So she's in it too. It takes a Democrat to kill Social Security, and that's what's going to happen.
http://www.americablog.com/...

And by now the story of this statutory requirement has been retold in thousands of comments on DailyKos alone. Sadly, David Waldman sounded a note of caution.

I say it appears to commit the House only because the language of H.Res. 1493 is styled as a Sense of the House provision, which is ultimately non-binding
http://www.congressmatters.com/...

And apparently in response Dayen added an undated update with a reluctant walkback.

UPDATE II: I’m getting some new information that the planned vote on the cat food commission isn’t quite statutory. It’s part of the one-year budget outline and isn’t really binding, just a statement that the House should vote on Senate-passed recommendations in the lame-duck session.

I love that "new information". Apparently, sources indicate that there may be a section heading in the text which is published on the web and that heading may indicate that all that "statutory" stuff was, well, not quite accurate.

Of course anyone could innocently make a mistake in the service of a compelling narrative like "We're betrayed and doomed", but even on this story there's not just one "mistake". Here's another "mistake" which shows how the Netroots "journalists" cooperate with MSM "journalists" to build the narrative.

Well this is encouraging. Dick Durbin is one of the “liberals” on the President’s Debt Commission, which is currently studying cuts to Social Security and Medicare as a way to reduce the deficit.

And he certainly has mastered the fine art of messaging to the Democratic base:

(Durbin) admonished “bleeding heart liberals” to be open to program reductions to restore fiscal balance.

Thanks, Dick. It is just so wonderful that the Democrats swept Congress and the White House in 2008. God knows what the Republicans would be saying about us.

While Durbin turns the hippie-kicking up to 11, Peter Orszag still nurtures his dream of cutting Medicare and Social Security in order to balance the budget and reduce the deficit.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/...

The speech is online too and the words "program reductions" do not follow "bleeding heart liberals"

"bleeding heart liberals need to open their minds to what it takes to inspire competition and real growth in our economy"

http://durbin.senate.gov/...
In fact, Durbin mostly talks about the problems of income inequality and how American workers are not being paid enough and he specifically cites the famous collapse in 1938 following premature scale-back of the New Deal as a lesson to be learned. So this "mistake" works like this:

(1)Durbin says "inspire competition and real growth"
(2) The New York Times says "open to program reductions"
(3)FDL says "open to medicare and social security cuts"

The NYT gives us their narrative that everyone sensible knows that programs need to be cut and the Netroots chimes in with their complementary narrative of how the Democrats have betrayed us again yadda yadda yadda. And see how little has to be fabricated? Nice. Grover Norquist must be so proud.

UPDATE:
Note that the very strong case Dick Durbin made for a progressive view of economics and social policy - a case that should have wide appeal - was totally suppressed by both the MSM and the supposedly "progressive" blogs. We get a lot of complaints about the Administration not getting a message out and this is a perfect example of why that is so difficult.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2010/8/28/896994/-Catfood-commission-and-BS-narratives-(update)

[ibegurpard]

1. proof is in the pudding

A commission that was not necessary was created by this president and staffed with people who are publicly on record as wanting to, at best, "tinker" with social security.

[depakid]

6. Ignoring reality generally doesn't get one very far...

but given the outlook, there's a lot of cognitive dissonance on the board- and people have to deal with it somehow.

[stevenleser]

79. No, the entire catfood commission meme is manufactured.

Its manufactured by people who have various agendas. Either getting people to read their blogs, or because they want to paint the administration a certain way.

A lot of the outrage coming from the administrations left is just like this.

[dflprincess]

2. I heard Senator Amy Klobuchar (BlueDog-MN) on local radio this evening

just gushing about how she totally supports an "up or down vote on the commission's recommendatations".

I doubt if Amy-kins came up with this idea all on her own.

[jefferson_dem]

3. Catfood Commission < = > Death Panels

Both are fantasies born out of political paranoia.

[SunsetDreams]

5. yes

[Historic NY]

9. I think a lot of this is being engineered intentionally.

[SunsetDreams]

13. me too

[Hekate]

35. I do too. Something doesn't smell right, and I don't mean the Tuna Friskies.

[katandmoon]

11. Except Obama named harsh SS critics to chair the catfood commission. Care to explain why?

[MannyGoldstein]

16. Don't wait up for the explanation

And they're more than harsh critics - they've both actively worked to slash it. Bowles cut a deal with Gingrich to slash it under Clinton, and Simpson's run around with a machete several times.

[katandmoon]

21. Oh, I won't.... I've asked it numerous times and have yet to get a response.

And here I am giving them the perfect opportunity to clear up all the misconceptions. Great big puzzled sigh!

[depakid]

19. One explanation I've heard is that the administration wanted to appease

Republicans and bond vigilantes, while setting itself up for a fight as a great defender of social security.

If that was the case, it's certainly backfired big time in the court of public perception.

[katandmoon]

20. I can believe the "appease" part. That's the Obama admin. in a nutshell. But the SS defense part?

That must have been the Obama administration in some other dimension.

[depakid]

23. That pretty well illustrates my point about public perception

Regardless of what happens or what the intent was, the perception's already been created and is reinforced every time one of the ideologues on the commission opens their mouths.

The latest (and perhaps most glaring of course was the contrast with Simpson & Sherrod).

[tsuki]

29. Same place the defense of the public option is. nt

[Whisp]

70. whats your source for this appease bullshit?

give me one credible source/article that supports your nonsense of Obama appeasing the repugs and secretly selling out social security, but looking good doing it!!!
It's the Plan!
offs.


:rofl:

[CTLawGuy]

36. my guess is to get a range of opinions

he has both conservatives, moderates, as well as liberals like Andy Stern, former president of SEIU, Jan Schakowsky and Dick Durbin.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

39. To make sure everybody has a chance to be heard....

Remember Dick Cheney's Energy Committee -- it's sort of the opposite of that approach.

And because even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

[eridani]

12. Because OF COURSE a commission stacked with people who want to do away

--with Social Security would never do anything to harm us. Right. Death panels in relation to HCR were just silly. But if Social Security is cut, people really will die.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

40. Did you read the OP?

It requires the House to pass a non-binding resolution should the Senate approve recommencations from the Commission. So in the remote chance that the Senate approves gutting Social Security (not going to happen), all the House has to do is vote on a non-binding resolution of support -- which is also not bloody likely.

But even if that did actually happen (take a deep breath here), it would NOT BE THE LAW.

You're getting yourself working into a lather over something that isn't likely to ever happen and would be meaningless even if it did.

[eridani]

48. If you represent the Dem resolve to avoid compromises on Social Security--

--God help us all. And Peterson and his sociopathic shitstain buddies aren't even giving your money.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

49. So to summarize....You didn't read the OP

The commission has absolutely no power to enact anything, and even if the Senate accepted their recommendations (which they won't), the House is only committed to a non-binding resolution. Nothing is going to happen.

[eridani]

56. Right. So a commission which isn't supposed to do anything was convened--

--because why?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

59. .....

Because getting out of this recession (it's far from over) and retooling American industry and creating renewable energy resources and paying for quality education is not going to come cheap. In the short run, it's going to require some massive spending and equally massive deficits.

To avoid the "Tax and Spend Liberal" tag that is bound to come along with it, the Obama Administration convenes this commission, so that Democrats can say, "See, we're not just spending money, we're being bi-partisan and looking at ways to be fiscally resonsible, too" so that the Democrats in Congress can do what needs to be done with regard to spending without committing political suicide.

[IndianaGreen]

66. You worry about spending? Bring all the troops home NOW!

Stop allying yourself with the GOP in bleeding our seniors and poor dry, while the motherfuckers enrich themselves at our expense.

[eridani]

71. Wonderful. And slashing the purchasing power of retirees will surely get us out of the recession

Why avoid "tax and spend" anyway? How fucking stupid do you have to be to let the Repukes continue to control the message. Geezus H fecking Keerist! Taxing and spending is the fucking JOB of the government. It's how you pay for public goods.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

73. Oh Dear...

You really don't understand politics much.


'Tax and Spend" is an anathema to moderate and independent voters -- the voters we need if we're ever going to win another election. Understand something -- less than a third of voters self-identify themselves as liberals. And less than a third is a whole lot less than a majority. We lose the support of those voters and we're the Green Party.

The knock on Democrats (one that works pretty effectively, I might add) is that they spend money (on frivolous stuff) and raise taxes. This Commission, which will probably do some good when it comes to government contracting, tax loopholes, and other genuinely wasteful practices, will give the Democrats the ability to go to voters and show that we've been wise stewards of their tax dollars and really ARE trying to do something about spending. Even as we spend massive amounts of money on what's needed.

[eridani]

82. Excuse me, but taxing and spending is the government's fucking JOB!

Being gutless cowards and giving in to Repuke framing is the only reason the accusation is any kind of an effective slur. If we don't fight back, it has to be true, right? Trashing "taxing and spending" is an outright attack on the very notion of public goods and that it is the government's job to raise the funds to pay for them. One public good that is extremely popular is Social Security, and 80% of the population doesn't want it cut. The message "I paid into it and therefore I am fucking well ENTITLED to payouts from it" works quite well with everyone, even most Republican voters.

And why in fucking hell is there no record of anyone on the commission saying that "government contracting, tax loopholes, and other genuinely wasteful practices" are on the table?

[Whisp]

15. yes. disgusting, isn't it?

[Exilednight]

72. Answer this question: The reality is that there is no problem with Social Security ............

funding, plenty of money in the kitty, so why create a commission to look into fixing something that is not broken?

[mkultra]

76. thats easy to answer

To answer political pressure. Although there is money, the is still public concern that the payouts will soon overrun the revenues(Which is possible.) Most people do not know that all previous excesses where used by the trust to buy government bonds.

So they put in a committee to complete a study, not to fix it.

[Exilednight]

77. Alright, but people have already studied it and discovered that ther is plenty of money ............

if what you're saying is true, then this is just kabuki theater and a waste of tax payer dollars.

[mkultra]

78. well, "people" can study what they want

and yes, this has an element of Kabuki. politics is Kabuki, least you have forgotten.

[Exilednight]

80. You're right, politics is kabuki, but governing is not. n/t

[mkultra]

75. both are right wing memes

[Name removed]

4. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[The Magistrate]

7. You Know, Ma'am, When The Rope Into Units To 'Save The Country' It Is Pretty Much The Last Gasp

And in such circumstances, some generals have had enough honor to go out to the line with a rifle....

[Wilms]

8. In other words, I'm just imagining that there's a commission threatening SS.

I feel much better. Thanks.

[SunsetDreams]

10. Have they made recommendations yet?

[Wilms]

26. In other words, I'm just imagining that there's a commission threatening SS.

I feel much better. Thanks.

[Name removed]

34. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MannyGoldstein]

14. Help me understand this wording

Pelosi put it in, and she's the Speaker. How else can we read this other than "we're going to vote on the thing once the Senate does"?

From:http://www.rules.house.gov/archives/98-825.pdf

"On domestic issues, agencies also monitor “sense of” provisions because they may be an early signal that Congress will alter formal statutory provisions, if the informal nature of “sense of” provisions does not influence agency policy."

[TheKentuckian]

17. How do you think you can debunk observable reality?

These people are making comments, have histories, have positions, and have been assembled with purpose.

Are you taking bets that no cuts will be suggested or made? Are you claiming their will be no recommendation to raise the age of eligibility?

Do you deny that nothing is off the table?

Misleading header for certain.

[AtomicKitten]

18. FDL fundraises off their jacked-up blog blather, the most fervent comply. nt

[katandmoon]

22. Don't care about FDL, just want to know WHY Obama appointed Bowles and Erskine.

[Radical Activist]

24. It's about time the left start calling itself out for BS.

I've been pointing out for a while that you can't accept everything without question. It's disappointing how gullible people are when it comes to anything that fits the narrative they want to believe about Obama.

Pressuring Obama to move left does not mean we need to lie and manipulate people.

[Cha]

25. The professional leftists

suppress good news and serve cat food up for their red meat in hopes the suckers will bite.

Freakin' fakes.

[IndianaGreen]

27. Liberals were not the ones that put crazy Alan Simpson as Catfood co-chair

Did you even read Simpson's latest outrage when he went after disabled vets? Do you support going after disabled vets? Do you endorse going after disabled vets? What do you have against disabled vets?

Aging vets' costs concern Obama's deficit co-chair

RALEIGH, N.C.—The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama's deficit commission said Tuesday.

Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson's comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.

"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess," said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2010/08/31/aging_vets_costs_concern_obamas_deficit_co_chair/

[Mimosa]

33. WHY Alan Simpson?

It really bothers me. He's not an expert in S.S. or economics.

[QC]

55. But he's great at playing Bad Cop.

That's the role he was cast for and he's a real Oscar contender so far.

[Enthusiast]

58. Yeah, he only has to play himself.

He's very convincing in that role.

[QC]

60. And just think how relieved we will all be

when Bad Cop scares us with all his scary badcoppery and then Good Cop tells us that, unlike Bad Cop, he is not proposing to eliminate Social Security but merely cut the benefits and make us work until we are teetering on the threshold of the grave before we can get anything.

Whew! That was a close one! Thanks, Good Cop!

[Enthusiast]

61. You get the same

impression I do. Unfortunately. I wish someone could give me a good argument to the contrary. The ones I've heard up to now have been lame at best.

[QC]

62. Statecraft is stagecraft, as they say. n/t

[Warren Stupidity]

43. the gratuitous broadbrush slam

[FrenchieCat]

28. But "Cat Food Commission" is such a catchy name,

how could anyone resist? :shrug:

[IndianaGreen]

30. Obama's "Cat Food Commission," Alan Greenspan, and the Dancing Grannies for Medicare

Obama's "Cat Food Commission," Alan Greenspan, and the Dancing Grannies for Medicare

— By James Ridgeway | Mon Aug. 9, 2010 8:04 AM PDT.

President Obama’s Deficit Commission is all smoke and mirrors. Its members are making a big show of laboring over "painful" choices and considering all options in their quest to bring down the deficit. But inside the Beltway everyone knows what’s going to happen: The commission will reduce the deficit on the backs of the old and the poor, through cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Some opponents have taken to calling it the Cat Food Commission, since that’s what its victims will be forced to eat once the commission gets done slashing away at their modest entitlements.

In fact, the true intent of the Deficit Commission was evident before it was even formed. That intent was only driven home when Obama appointed as its co-chair Alan Simpson, who is well known for voicing, in the most colorful terms, what Paul Krugman calls the "zombie lie" that old-age entitlements will soon bankrupt the country.

So why the big show? Because neither Obama nor Congress wants to get caught cutting Social Security and Medicare in public, certainly not before the November elections. (Medicaid will be cut as well, but politicians tend not to worry so much about poor people, since they don’t go to the polls in the numbers we geezers do.) So instead, they are foisting off this unpleasant task onto the Deficit Commission, showing what the lawyers call "due diligence," sucking their thumbs and pretending to study how to cut the deficit. They’ve got $1 billion in walk-around money to pay for propaganda so the PR industry ought to be plenty happy. So too, should billionaire Pete Peterson, as he and his foundation lackeys push on towards a victory in their longstanding attack on entitlements.

Quite frankly, if the Republican Right could get itself together and shove the tea party nuts back into their cave—as Reagan did with the crackpots hanging around him—they too could reap the benefits of the Cat Food Commission’s work. Ever since the New Deal, the Right has been kicking and screaming about Social Security. Things just got worse in the 1960s with Medicare and Medicaid. And now, thanks to our supposedly "socialist" president, they are within a few inches of cutting a nice hefty hunk out of the largest social programs this nation has ever known.

As one Capital Hill player recently wrote me: "Unfortunately, everyone in a position of power up here knows full-well the connection between Peterson, the commission and Simpson. They either don’t care or are too afraid to say anything because they’ll appear 'soft on deficits.' It’s no different than their Iraq war votes... they believe they’ll appear 'weak' if they don’t jump on the bandwagon. The Democrats, (with the exception of Nancy Pelosi and only a handful of others—including commission member Jan Schakowsky), have no intention of taking on Peterson’s crew. Congress may be a lost cause on this issue, if the voters don’t get pissed off about the Commission fast."

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/08/obamas-cat-food-committee-alan-greenspan-and-dancing-grannies-medicare

[Cha]

32. Catchy for

suckers.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

50. I know my cat LOVES it....

She says its about damned time!

[HughMoran]

51. Meow

[eridani]

57. I'd like to see Obama demonstrate a will to block any cuts to Social Security

--or Medicare. People who face age-related job discrimination actually do have to give a flying fuck, even though the overpriveleged don't.

[Mimosa]

74. Age-related job discrimination is real

I've seen well qualified people in the graphic design business get overlooked in favour of people 20 years younger who are far less experienced and knowledgeable. People over 55 in all fields are assumed to be over the hill.

[Name removed]

63. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Whisp]

69. I kind of like Dog Bone Commission

now That I would hang on every word here posted.
and Believe it!
:rofl:

[IndianaGreen]

31. What will it take for Obama to fire Simpson and disband Catfood Commission?

Aging vets' costs concern Obama's deficit co-chair

Source: Associated Press

RALEIGH, N.C. — The system that automatically awards disability benefits to some veterans because of concerns about Agent Orange seems contrary to efforts to control federal spending, the Republican co-chairman of President Barack Obama's deficit commission said Tuesday.

Former Wyoming Sen. Alan Simpson's comments came a day after The Associated Press reported that diabetes has become the most frequently compensated ailment among Vietnam veterans, even though decades of research has failed to find more than a possible link between the defoliant Agent Orange and diabetes.

"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess," said Simpson, an Army veteran who was once chairman of the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee.

The Department of Veterans Affairs has also allowed Vietnam veterans to get money for ailments such as lung cancer and prostate cancer, and the agency finalized a proposal Tuesday to grant payments for heart disease — the nation's leading cause of death.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5i51binYNGhTWqS0oMMp8itl20ZjgD9HUMB4G0

What will it take for Obama to fire Simpson and disband Catfood Commission?

Until this moment, Senator, I think I never really gauged your cruelty or your recklessness.

<snip>

You have done enough. Have you no sense of decency sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6444 /

The Army-McCarthy Hearings
Special Counsel for the Army Joseph N. Welch addressing Senator Joseph R. McCarthy (R-WI).

[Name removed]

37. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

38. The truth is not propaganda....

The OP puts a stake through the heart of the whole idiotic rumor that Democrats are planning the scrap Social Security. It should have been a notion preposterous enough on its face to be disbelieved.

But some people are (apparently) willing to believe anything.

[w4rma]

41. There you go again. Exaggerating your argument and avoiding the real one.

Almost every member of the Catfood Commission believes that stealing Social Security taxes, rather than resending tax cuts for the very wealthy, is how we should balance our budget.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

47. You really haven't read the OP, have you?

From the perspective of making laws, you could have Darth Fucking Vader on the Commission and it wouldn't matter. They have absolutely no power other than making recommendations which, even if approved by the House, are not binding.

Here's the deal.

The Obama Administration needs to do some SERIOUS spending in the next two years and it's going to create some TERRIFYING deficits. Every Democratic member of the House and Senate is going to be subject to the "Tax And Spend Liberal" meme that the Republicans are certain to trot out. The Commission provides them with political cover -- if we allow uber conservatives a place at the table, then we can be all bi-partisany and hopefully do what needs to be done without experiencing an electoral bloodbath.

This is Kabuki Politics at its best. Settle down.

[HughMoran]

53. There you go with the 'facts' again

:P

[Name removed]

45. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HughMoran]

52. Can you form a response without "DLC" in it?

[Warren Stupidity]

42. tits, and other parts of the anatomy

on social security:
"where it's like a milk cow with 310 million tits."

on veterans benefits:
"The irony (is) that the veterans who saved this country are now, in a way, not helping us to save the country in this fiscal mess"

on social security again:
Simpson believes that the purpose of the Social Security program is to "take care of the lesser people in society."

But indeed we should, in solidarity, shut the fuck up and sit the fuck down while this noble commission does its work.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

44. Why is everyone missing the part where a vote in no way means that it'll pass?

Just because they're going to vote on the recommendations, that doesn't mean it'll pass either the House or the Senate. Do people not know a dog and pony show when they see one?

Honestly, anyone going fucking crazy over the ridiculously so-called "catfood commission" needs to be sterilized so as to ensure that this world doesn't populate with any more complete fucking idiots.

[bread_and_roses]

46. Is Simpson still on the Commission?

Are the Ds talking about "tinkering?" All the squirming around minutiae in the world does not obviate the obvious.

[HughMoran]

54. I think in binary

[ibegurpard]

64. yes, we know

[HughMoran]

67. -0-

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

65. Duh.

[Uzybone]

68. and they didn't even need Dan Burton shooting watermelons this time

just allowed disingenuous bloggers to spout off lies.

[JNelson6563]

81. Lots of good stuff in here.

:toast: