Simpson-Bowles Zombie Army

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From digby:

This is the man who has been living on TV for the last few weeks, especially MSNBC, speaking for the Democrats:

“If President Obama loses the election — and I’m not sure he will, I like to say he’s a slight favorite — but if he loses he lost it because when the Simpson-Bowles Commission report [came out], he didn’t do anything with it initially. … He didn’t grab it by the horns and go with it,”

source: Hullabaloo.

Rendell, Sullivan, Scarborough are some of the many Simpson-Bowles zombie Army appearing on TVs near you. They are always running around saying 2, 3 or 4 to 1 spending cuts to tax increases is the thing Obama should have done in the first term to guarantee re-election to a second term and because he didn’t do that, he basically let Mitt Romney into contention. Why is this wrong headed?

  1. Who the hell are Simpson Bowles? Is it that TNT hour long show after Zack Morris and Breckin Meyer’s show Rizzoli and Isles? No it’s well…wait who the hell are Simpson and Bowles? No mass group of Democrats, liberals or potential Obama voters is mad they didn’t get Simpson-Bowles. There’s no commercial with a family around a kitchen table where the wife says: “these bills keep coming in. we may lose the house honey” and the husband says: “If only they would listen to Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, now those guys who no one knows have the prescription we asked for”. It’s just the debt. Even if Obama had passed Simpson-Bowles, the debt would be fixed in out years.
  2. Who the hell is Sista Souljah? And what are those two dudes from that TNT show Simpson-Bowles doing running around with her? Remember when George HW Bush raised tax rates? It was the right thing to do. It was politically courageous and it actually kneecapped his campaign. He didn’t get extra credit for being right. He got slayed for it. So they keep saying Obama should make a Sista Souljah moment by embracing raising the retirement age for folks currently under 55 from 67 to 92 or something. The thing is, Bill Clinton in the “Sista Souljah” moment was berating a rapper. The equivalent, all the Republican chest beaters telling the Dixie Chicks to STFU when they said George W Bush was an embarrassment. See, the Dixie Chicks and Sista Souljah are easy marks: pick someone who is an entertainer or non-elected public figure that said something that is unpopular with like 75% of the public but looks like they should be on your side. Then smack them down with indignation as if what a rapper or country trio has to say matters. Ta-da: a Sista Souljah moment and an undeserved but never forgetten reputation for independence. Actually pass a bill that is against your base’s wishes and isn’t popular, lose your damned election because of your actual independence.
  3. Wait, What the hell is Simpson-Bowles? Can you just break it down one more time? No one outside of people that care to know can tell you what the fuck Simpson-Bowles is. The fear mongered the debt. Passing Simpson-Bowles, like health care would have to force Obama to explain Simpson-Bowles. among other things. and re-explain them. Like the Recovery act has to explained and re-explained. Like the American Jobs Act has to be explained and re-explained. Like Obamacare has to be explained and re-explained. Like Dodd-Frank has to be explained and re-explained. Like the auto industry rescue has to be explained and re-explained. Like why Afghanistan War was an Obama 08 campaign promise while getting out of Iraq was also a promise has to be explained and re-explained. Get what I am saying? No one would remember Simpson-Bowles except for Romney saying: zomg he cut your medicare to old people in Boca Raton.
  4. Why the hell did Obama run that Simpson-Bowles hail mary? Would they say there is no mandate for Simpson-Bowles if Obama wins? These guys think Simpson-Bowles is so important to the American voter, that If Obama loses it’s because he didn’t commit to Simpson-Bowles never passed recommendations. Well, Obama wins, is it because he chose not to do Simpson-Bowles, but if he
  5. “Simpson-Bowles” the commission wasn’t behind Simpson-Bowles. What elected person running for POTUS or VPOTUS embraced Simpson-Bowles? Not Obama. Not Joe Biden. Not Paul Ryan. So who the hell was all: let’s do this. Not even Simpson-Bowles commission was behind them.
Obama and Biden had to bring in Clinton to re-explain his Jobs act, the stimulus. Michelle Obama was there to re-explain health care and her husbands biography. Biden is a conduit to re-explain to people: GM is alive, Bin Laden is dead and that Mitt Romney’s course of action would have resulted in a decimated US auto industry. This is not because Obama hasn’t explained them, it’s because most people don’t give a sh*t what politicians have to say and then turn around and say that politicians never say anything after listening to talking heads say that the politician isn’t saying anything. If you don’t believe me, read Buzz Bissinger’s endorsement of Mitt Romney or surveys of undecided or even decided voters.

The only thing to come out of Simpson-Bowles was zombies who believe Simpson-Bowles is good because it was a bi-partisan failure.