Tim Kaine and the U.S. Senate, Out of Step with 2/3 of the Country
By Ward Smythe | Friday, July 22nd, 2011 | Politics
Today, the Democrat-controlled Senate has killed the House-passed Cut, Cap and Balance Act by a party-line vote of 51-46. [H/T The Blaze].
In Virginia, we’ve known about Tim Kaine’s love affair with taxes and spending for a long time. Now that he’s no longer Barack Obama’s No. 1 Cheerleader he hopes to snooker Virginians into electing him to the Senate so that he can also vote against what the American public wants.
Kaine released the following statement:
KAINE STATEMENT ON “CUT, CAP AND BALANCE” VOTE IN THE SENATE
KAINE: “ALL CUTS, NO BALANCE” PROPOSAL ASKS EVERYDAY AMERICANS TO BEAR THE ENTIRE BURDEN OF SPENDING REDUCTIONS WHILE INSULATING BILLIONAIRES AND CORPORATIONS
Richmond, VA – In response to today’s Senate vote on the Republicans’ “Cut, Cap and Balance” legislation, Governor Tim Kaine released the following statement:
“I applaud the Senate’s rejection of the Republicans ‘All Cuts, No Balance’ legislation. By targeting programs like Medicare and Social Security for the deepest cuts while making it harder to ask wealthy individuals and companies to pay their fair share, the Republicans’ plan asks everyday Americans bear the entire burden of spending reductions while insulating billionaires and corporations from cuts.
“Instead, our country needs a truly balanced approach to fiscal responsibility that incorporates targeted spending cuts, increased revenue though closing tax loopholes on corporations who don’t need them and allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire for the wealthiest individuals and investments in education and infrastructure that will grow our economy.
“In 11 days, our country will reach its legal debt limit and, absent action in Washington, we will face drastic and lasting economic consequences. It’s time for Washington to put aside ideology-driven legislation like the “All Cuts, No Balance” proposal and do what is right for our nation: raise the debt ceiling to allow government to pay our bills and work toward a balanced approach to reducing spending and reducing the deficit.”
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The Senate voted and Kaine released that statement within 24 hours of CNN releasing a poll showing that 2/3 of the American people support the GOP’s Cut, Cap, and Balance plan. H/T Poor Richard’s News.
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Ward Smythe is a pseudonymous aspiring freelance writer from Central Virginia. Until late 2007 Ward blogged at the now defunct "Ward View" and was active in Virginia and national politics. Ward's signature style of snarkery gained him a unique following that he hopes to regain here at Bearing Drift. Ward uses humor, satire and sometimes photoshop to make his point. Ward is proud to be an equal opportunity offender.
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51 Responses to "Tim Kaine and the U.S. Senate, Out of Step with 2/3 of the Country"
Applause for Tim Kaine. Now what does George Allen have to say about it?
This proposal was not even a clean and clear balanced budget amendment!
Allen said the following on Facebook:
It’s disappointing that Senate Democrats are standing in the way of the serious reforms needed to rein in Washington spending and put our country on the road to getting our debt under control. In addition to ironclad spending cuts and caps on spending, we need long-term solutions like the Balanced Budget Amendment and Line-Item Veto authority that gets to the root of the problem – putting an end to the reckless Washington spending that made trillion dollar deficits the norm. Washington should have to live by the same rules that Virginia families and businesses do – within their means. Now is the time for us to come together and make the tough choices to stop spending money we don’t have so our children won’t have to pay for Washington’s failures today.
OK, we have heard from George Allen now. If the amendment went forth, where would he cut?
So Allen places himself squarely in the camp of the far right tea party extremists, that is, those who want default so we can go back into recession. Frankly, he appears not to be listening to the developing scenario which will produce the big deal. Kaine will be able to capitalize on that in the General Election. For as the polls clearly show, even most republicans are fed up with the obstructionism of their own party, and even when the deal gets done, those who placed our nation at risk of another great recession will be vulnerable, as they should be.
Mike, according to the CNN poll that would be squarely in the camp with 2/3 of the American people. You can’t even spin that as being FOX news propaganda.
And, y’all do know this post is about Tim Kaine…right?
Ward,
Please excuse me then. I didn’t understand that the intent of your post was not to discuss the issues but only to flog Tim Kaine. My bust.
Tim Kaine is totally out of touch. He ran Virginia the same way he would vote in the Senate.
BTW For someone who want to be elected to the Senate, check out Jamie Radtke’s last financial report. She has a lot more debt than she has money in the bank. Is this the way of a fiscal conservative ? Say one thing do another.
Keep up Ward; the polls are changing rapidly as responsible republicans around the country are condemning the House for its obstructionism and the placing of the nation on the precipice of fiscal disaster. As you purists continue to call for their heads, you may want to look around. The number of purists is declining so rapidly that there may no longer be a republican party, at least the way you define it. Pretty soon, the RINOs will out number the extremists. Gosh, I hope so.
You are traveling thru another dimension. A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind. A journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. Your next stop, the twilight zone.
Tucker Watkins,
I actually prefer where Tim Kaine tried to lead us in contrast to what we are reaping with McDonnell.
Let’s see. Instead of raising the fuel tax, US-460 is going to become a toll road. Due to McDonnell’s support for public private partnerships, they are going to not just impose tolls on the midtown tunnel, they are going to allow the rape of our economy with tolls on the bought and paid for downtown tunnel.
You voted for him. You got what you asked for.
since this post is about Tim Kaine, I want to understand what he is actually saying. does he mean to say that he doesn’t want to balance our federal budget?
Yes, for republicans who say they are no tax, the “tax” on an average person who will use the new midtown tunnel will go from $100 per year today to $1,100 per year when the tolls start to be collected next year. And voters will suddenly realize what they have done to themselves. Let’s just hope for cold winters so people can just walk across the harbor. Thank you Joannou, Howell, and McDonnell for treating us so well. Not!
@ Little David, discuss all the issues you want, but you and Mike B seemed to want to turn it into yet another chance to bash George Allen. Jamie Radtke has that market covered. At least comment on what Kaine said.
@ Mike Barrett, I am keeping up. That CNN poll was released yesterday.
Well Ward, Kaine’s release was exactly what a responsible candidate would say, that is, true but boring. On the other hand, Allen goes out of his way to put himself in a league with those on the far right, at variance with what seasoned centrist republicans are saying around the country the last few days. That is what makes Allen’s comment on Kaine statement so newsworthy. I mean, does Allen really believe that statement? Is he so unsure of gaining the nomination that he must continue to placate the tea party?
Ward, I refer to the CNN on line article of July 21st entitled “The Looming GOP Split” in which it stated….”
Five recent polls have shown overwhelming support for a “balanced approach” that includes a mix of tax increases and spending cuts.”
http://swampland.time.com/2011/07/21/the-coming-gop-split/#ixzz1SrXqWZWH
Ward,
Mike has been saying “keep it up” on this blog as a negative for at least two years and it has given us a conservative governor, LG, and AG then a majority in the U.S. House. So, I hate to agree with Mike, but, keep it up!
So, all we have are Democratic hacks “condemning” the House Republicans for what?… obstructionism? Who obstructed when the Senate tabled debate and killed the CC&B bill? The Dems are going to submit their “Spend, Tax & Raise the Debt” bill to “rescue the country” that will be scheduled for a minute before midnight on the August 2nd, in a crisis they have brokered and invented reminiscent of TARP, Stimulus, and Obamacare. Another weighty decision, not read, debated or presented to the American people and affecting hundreds of millions of Americans that is made in the vacuum of politics with no “transparency” and “open discussion”.
The politicians, especially Democrats are treating all of us like criminals. We haven’t been read our rights and have been found guilty without due process and by acclimation. Liberals, Democrats and RINOS have sentenced our country to death. We are all now strapped down on gurneys with the needles in our arms waiting for the lethal injection. Some of us are weeping as we hold hands with our innocent children who are strapped down next to us and will be the next to die. As the valves for the fiscal poison that will kill us are opened, they point, taunt and blame us for our own demise as they rejoice and watch the twitching carcass of what was our country slowly die and finally become still. They haven’t told us what they will do with the carcass once it is dead, and I guess we won’t be around to notice.
Mike Barrett sez: “So Allen places himself squarely in the camp of the far right tea party extremists, that is, those who want default so we can go back into recession.”
I fixed it for ya: “So Kaine places himself squarely in the camp of the far left socialist party extremists, that is, those who failed to produce a budget for the past 2 years.”
The problem with that comment above Mike is that Allen does not have a plurality of tea party movement support.
Well Tim J, it is not just democrats condemning the House republicans for obstructionism; in fact, the list of groups doing so is so long that I won’t bore you with it again. Today, 40 Mayors from the nation’s largest cities, republicans and democrats, added their voices the crescendo over the chaos default would cause, joining business executives, Governors, businessmen and women, et al about the need to get this deal done so we can move on. Only the Cantor led far right is standing in the way of a balanced agreement, which by the way, contains far more cuts than it does increased revenue. If we go down, the public is of one mind; the republicans caused the havoc.
Don’t think so. The “Obama Depression”, as it is now more frequently being called, is being linked to mass layoffs which are starting to accelerate. This week alone there were 23,000 job cuts at Cisco, Lockheed Martin and Borders, where there were “only” 41,432 job cuts in the month of June. Even Goldman Sachs is going to cut 1,000 fixed income traders in the next couple of weeks.
Howard Davidowitz has an animated and damning indictment of Politicians and the Administration (“pinheads”, “Butthead Biden”, “crazy”) based on these dire indicators.
http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/return-mass-layoffs-grim-sign-u-workers-190228219.html
Mike,
You link to an opinion piece from CNN while the link I provided in the original post shows the breakdown of CNN’s actual poll numbers. Those numbers show an overwhelming support for both CCB (66%) and the Balance Budget Amendment (74%).
Good catch, Ward. Mike is again making up his own truth by starting fires somewhere else and then blowing the smoke over the real truth.
Tim Kaine is going to find himself out of touch with 2/3 of Virginia voters next year.
the debt ceiling “crisis” is more about our debt than the debt ceiling. The GOP has used this line in the sand to draw their own line in the sand: balanced budget, reform entitlements & reduce spending.
this country takes in enough money monthly to pay interest on our bonds which would mean no default. However, in that situation, the President (& Timmy Geithner) would have to prioritize the other bills. & while I would like to see Obama show his hand in this situation, many people don’t want him to have this opportunity to not pay govt employees, military or military contractors.
but you know what? we here in the Commonwealth, by whatever means (& it aint always pretty, balance our budget so why can’t President Obama agree to it?
oops, this thread is about Tim Kaine. OK, why doesn’t Tim Kaine want a balanced budget.? he was Governor of state that requires it.
Ward – That’s why it’s a good thing the founders didn’t go for a direct democracy.
But how come this number is so significant to you.
Do you find polling that shows an overwhelming majority of Americans don’t want major changes made to Medicare and Social Security to be equally compelling?
kane…maybe heap big CROOK!! maybe warner too!!
Steve, it would depend on how that question is asked and what the “major changes” to Medicare and Social Security would be. Without changes, they’re going to fail.
But the point here remains that we’ve been told by the left and the media that the American public doesn’t want to balance the budget. CNN’s polling (along with others) shows otherwise.
No Ward, that is simply not the case. Americans want a balanced solution to the debt crisis, which means decreases in expenditures and increases in revenue. Now it is clear that the far right will do all they can to get more decreases in revenue, but in the end, Boehner will do the best he can and then compromise with the President. If he does not, and the havoc caused by default effects the lives of every american, there will be no doubt who caused the chaos; it will have been the republican party, gone awry trying to remake itself once again. Just a scant few years ago, Vice President Cheney, quoting President Reagan, said deficits don’t matter. How quickly things change.
If Boehner has all this power to take the country into default, then why is the president playing possum? Oh that’s right… no blame, no blame…
Ward,
If we follow the links you provided reporting about the poll you cite, when those surveyed were asked:
“If you had to choose, would you rather see Congress and President Obama agree to a budget plan that only includes cuts in government spending, or a budget plan that includes a combination of spending cuts and tax increases on higher-income Americans and some businesses?”
34% favored only spending cuts
64% favored both spending cuts and tax increases
Here’s another poll, this one by Gallup:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/148562/Americans-Including-Republicans-Debt-Compromise.aspx
In this poll the percentage who say the government should “Agree to a compromise plan even if it is a plan you disagree with” is”:
66% of all respondents
57% of Republicans
72% of independents
69% of Democrats
Both of these polls seem to be in line with a few other polls that have been released recently.
So is Tim Kaine really that out of line with the opinion of the majority or is it Boehner and Cantor?
War is peace. Slavery is freedom. An increase in federal spending is massive spending cuts.
“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”
In response to the depression caused by the housing collapse, the feds had a massive increase in federal deficits. That must stop.
Prior to 2008 fed deficits ran about 1/2 trillion per year. Fed income will be about 2.2 trillion in 2012 so add 1/2 trillion to that and you get 2.7 trillion. Which is why I keep saying the 2012 budget should be 2.7 trillion.
When the smoke and mirrors in DC finally stops, want to see what the 2012 budget is. That will tell me what I need to know.
And yes we are in a depression. I lost my job so I am unemployed. Actually it is pretty sweet.
Little D, setting aside the fact that those results are based on years of the fallacy of “raising taxes on the rich” sure the American people want Congress to act like grownups.
But, as we heard yesterday from the Speaker, the not-grownup in the White House moved the goal posts again after there was a deal.
We can disagree on how this should be done. But let’s not pretend that the blame for inaction lies anywhere else but the Senate, now 815 days without a budget/plan and the Bluffer in Chief.
Regretfully, when extremists and zealots are elected to office, no matter what end of the political spectrum they represent, they tend to over react. The House exemplifies that statement. Frankly, polls don’t seem to matter to them, nor does throwing the nation into default for the first time in history. Since they deny the results of default on the one hand, while on the other hand saying that we could live through one with little effect, one realizes how disconnected they are from reality. But when the daily expenditures of the federal government need to be reduced by some 40%, and choices to pay the troops, or Medicaid, or Medicare , or lay off the federal work force, or fail to pay state and local government, need to be made, then the effects of default will be clear for all to see and to react to. Listening to one zealot, a member of the House Budget Committee, on the radio this morning, I got the sinking feeling that he is really looking forward to creating fiscal chaos. God help us all.
Oh Really? “I got the sinking feeling that he is really looking forward to creating fiscal chaos.”
Letter to my Congressman, Representative Scott Rigell. Scott, I need advice. A few days ago it appeared a grand plan to cut the debt by $4 trillion was possible; now, it appears that we have to choose between a default, or another recession caused by the House agenda. Either choice for me, my family and the business I work for sounds terrible, so what am I to do?
Let’s focus on the business, dependent upon the circulation of dollars in our local economy. So we’re already stressed by failing businesses and decision maker indecision, so neither of the above alternatives sounds great. With default, we face higher interest rates, immediate closure of retail tenants that lease from us, continued failures of businesses dependent upon consumer income, and frankly, civil unrest from tenants who are forced to make insane choices.
To stay alive, most businesses in Hampton Roads will have to lay off employees. Since we had already done that, most companies are bare bones as it is, but with less business, layoffs are a certainty. Of course, that puts them on unemployment, but the Commonwealth likely won’t get federal money due to the default, so those dollars in the local economy are simply gone.
Of course since the automobile industry already got help, they may weather the storm for a few months, but with the fiscal chaos caused by default, few cars will be sold. Seniors not getting their checks will be so angry, if I were you, I would put the town meetings on hold. With businesses failing, you may want to hold off on the fundraising letters and robo calls.
Sorry to bother you Scott, but you have a decision to make. I respect you as a businessman, and I know you will understand that the scenario I paint above is right on. So Scott, will you be the cause of the first default in the history of the United States?
Actually only Barry can cause a default by refusing to follow the Constitution. If Barry and the demos choose to default on the debt, would hope Scott would vote to impeach.
Bought 10 pounds of rice yesterday for $5.69. The real poor in South America stay alive eating a lot of beans and rice. Tastes good but gets boring real fast.
Funny, without “draconian” cuts we’ve been deep in a recession and the economy hasn’t yet “recovered”. Quite the opposite to cutting, Bush and Obama have shown great talent in getting Congress to continual grow government and spend money we don’t have. So badly that the Fed has to print our currency to the point of the dollar becoming a joke. They ran out of options. “Business as usual” is over. Not because they agreed to make a positive change. The well is nearly dry. Our credit rating and cost of debt is in great peril.
Sure there were promises of “creating or saving” jobs. Look at the unemployment rate lately? The Democrats are no more trustworthy than Bush with our tax dollars. There is no THREAT of dire consequences. We are living through them. We are living through Obama/Bush policies and live with the disasters of Fannie & Freddie which Allen didn’t lift a finger to help Sen. Hagel -R reign in. The Democrats encouraged, even demanded credit be given to those incapable of handling such debt.
What is all this “happy talk” like our economy is hunky dory and the scary Republican cuts might wreak havoc. Hello? The poo has already started hitting the fan. Recession? Been there done that. Not with cuts! Stimulus and spending!
At least if something different is done, we might get a different result. Otherwise, we will go completely bankrupt, all your lovely programs will have no money anyway and your big government will starve to death as the next super power is born and replaces us.
We are in a dire enoug predicament now! Why? Corrupt and inept governance. We can’t stay on this course to self-destruction.
Britt Howard 2012!
No one has ever said that recovery from the Bush administration induced great recession would be easy. It has been tough, but that is what happens when cataclysmic fiscal disasters occur. We have not yet fully recovered as a nation, and the last thing we need is neither default nor the so called republican solution off forcing ourselves back into recession by extreme budget cuts. No, this effort by the right wing is not for the good of our country; it is simply a political strategy designed to make our President look bad so they can win the White House in 2012 and fully re-implement the disastrous policies that caused the great recession in the first place. That is what happens when right wing zealots put ideology ahead of pragmatic and necessary action for the good of the nation.
Mike, if you properly attributed your article to both dems and GOP it would hold water.. This bird is still flying in the same direction. You could exchange right wing for left wing etc and we still have massive DC disease.
Well James, any suggestion of shared responsibility for the fiscal disaster of the last decade is simply hogwash. President Bush created that disaster by massive tax cuts, fighting two wars on a credit card, and by an expensive Medicare drug benefit for which he would not pay. These three factors, plus his curtailment of financial regulation of Wall Street, caused the Great Recession. To the degree that democrats were complicit in these matters, they are gui9lty as well, yet clearly, the republican President, who made deficits his public policy, bears responsibility. The solution; reduced expenditure growth, increased revenue, and investment to spur growth in GDP. The time frame; the same decade it took to get into this mess. But republicans seems insistent on putting us back into recession and decline with with default, or their draconian budget proposal. I want neither of their proposals.
It’s getting to the point where proposals from either side won’t mean anything. If we default then Obama probably won’t get the blame for the default but he will have to prioritize spending and will still have to make draconian cuts. So, the Republicans will probably get blamed for a week, but that will be quickly forgotten as the kicking and screaming begins when Obama starts making forced cuts to his sacred cows. The Republicans can sit back and watch the circus as his constituencies revolt and his party rips apart at the seams.
Tim J,
Yeah right, only in your dreams.
In the 1995 four week shutdown of government due to Newt Gingrich (Republican Speaker of the House) and Bill Clinton’s standoff, the Republicans emerged victorious didn’t they? (sarcasm)
The polls show that even a majority of Republicans favor compromise, but some Republican politicians think that the last election gave them a mandate to destroy the nation.
LD, this isn’t just another “shutdown of the government”, it’s a default on debt, and reaching for a comparison of Bill Clinton To Obama is an insult to Bill Clinton. We all knew Bill Clinton, Bill Clinton was a friend of ours… and Obama is no Bill Clinton.
Tim J,
You are trying to describe Bill Clinton as a friend of yours? Did you vote for him?
I ended up voting for Obama. He was not my first choice by any means, nor even the second, but when it came time to cast my vote, he got it. The way things are looking, he will also end up getting my vote in 2012.
Perhaps if Republicans decided to nominate Jon Huntsman they could get me to reconsider, but there is not much chance of that happening.
I believe this debacle will be laid at the feet of the republican party, and the persistent view that this default will force the President to reduce expenditures, while true, ignores the effect of these actions on our economy, on our republic, and on the welfare of the american people. This effects will begin immediately and will be worse than the financial meltdown that occured in 2008. I and others have enumerated those effects herein. Frankly, I fear for continued civility in this nation after the full effects become clear for all to see. I guess the fact that the right wing is fully armed and ready gives comfort to some, but certainly not to most.
Bill Clinton looks pretty good right now compared to Obama because he was smart enough to compromise and pull to the center. It’s all about blame and who it ends up sticking to right now. And like I said, the Republicans will be blamed until Obama has to lie to some group about not getting their checks from the Government.
“I believe this debacle will be laid at the feet of the republican party..” No Mike, The independents view, which is as big as either the remocratic party or depublican party, lays it at your collective feet. You two have failed America as one. Both parties fail miserably one at a time depending on who hold the purse strings. You know it buddy. Deny it all you want.
Well James, the political outcome will of course be determined by the election, but the me=omentum in the nation appears to be shifting toward the President’s view that closing tax loop holes that benefit the rich has to be part of the picture, especially if reform of social security and Medicare are in the package. The basic political problem is that for the radical extemists in the tea party wing of the republican party, default is just fine; for them, reneging on obligations made by former legislators of both parties is simply no problem if it leads to immediate draconian cuts and smaller government. So the solution now is for centrist republicans and democrats to agree on a compromise of spending cuts and revenue increases that can pass each house without the tea party.
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