Not much substance but still noteworthy.
Former GOP Sen. Alan Simpson blasted his intransigent GOP colleagues on the hill today for failing to reach a deal on the deficit. The expletive-prone co-chairman of President Obama’s bipartisan fiscal reform commission slammed Republicans for cow-towing to American for Tax Reform head Grover Norquist (“Republicans can’t be in thrall to him”) and pushed Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner to stand fast on the August 2 deadline. Surveying the lay of the current fiscal land, Simpson said “We’re at 15 percent revenue, and historically it’s been closer to 20 percent.” “We’ve never had a war without a tax, and now we’ve got two,” he added. “Absolute bullshit.”
Yes, he's not our favorite person. Yes, his deficit commission went too far to the spending side and not far enough to the revenue side.
But since Simpson is the Beltway's Very Serious Person for Deficit Control this ought to make a difference in what the talking heads talk about Sunday morning.
So, Sen. Simpson: thank you. Sincerely. This helps.
Your commission's non-recommendations are still a steaming pile, more or less. But thanks anyway.
Think Progress
BTW, "cow-towing" is in the original. I know that one kow-tows to a Chinese emperor, if you can find one. Evidently TP does not, or it's a spell-checker thingy.