Fix the Debt using Frank Luntz. The campaign's website reveals that the Bowles-Simpson multi-million dollar promotion--supported by the Wall Streeters that drove the world economy over the cliff in 2007--are using Frank Luntz's analysis to prop up their propaganda. http://www.fixthedebt.org/...
Even worse, the site praises Blue Dogs-who, true to form, are at it again:
"Many lawmakers are demanding that both parties work together to replace the fiscal cliff with a comprehensive debt reduction plan. Voters are backing them up." (voters are backing Bowles-Simpson up? That's real news to me, but Luntz says it's so). http://mainstreetadvocacy.com/...
According to the fix it website, last week the New Democrat Coalition sent a letter to President Obama and congressional leaders
"calling for everything" to be on the table and no more kicking the can down the road.
“Now is the time to act,” says the letter. "We’re Ready to Deal," said New Democrat Coalition Chair Ron Kind (WI-03)."
"Vice Chairs: Representatives Jim Himes (CT-04), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Rick Larsen (WA-02), Allyson Schwartz (PA-13) and other New Dem Members are reaching out to President Barack Obama, Speaker John Boehner, and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi to work with them to secure agreement on a plan for the fiscal well-being of our economy."
“We must act now. We believe everything should be put on the table—an open discussion about spending cuts and revenue. The time is now.” ( I guess these 'Dogs' suffer from the same affliction as Republicans who are ignoring the results of the election. Let's wake them up: contact list of the New Democrat Coalitions is here: http://newdemocratcoalition-kind.house.gov/...
According to Fix the Debt, they have more friends in Congress they refer to as bi-partisans
~more~
"Another letter being circulated to colleagues by a bipartisan group of congressmen led by Reps. Steven LaTourette (R-OH), Jim Cooper (D-TN), Mike Simpson (R-ID), and Heath Shuler (D-NC) also demands that everything be on the table and that the deal be big enough to adequately deal with the mounting national debt.
"Voters are also sending messages to their elected representatives. According to a poll taken during election night, an overwhelming majority of voters want compromise in Washington. Half of respondents also said they favor the Simpson-Bowles plan, (Luntz poll reference again). Another poll taken just after the election had similar findings, with 88% supporting compromise and everything on the table to reduce the deficit. (88% my ass, lying Dogs, the 88% poll analysis was by Douglas Schoen: a political analyst for Fox News. He believes that lower taxes would be a successful Democratic strategy, opposed President Obama's Affordable Care Act, warned the Democratic Party to reject the Occupy Wall Street protest, and recommended that President Obama not run for reelection in 2012).
The fixers say Shuler hopes to build support for not just an alternative to the fiscal cliff, but a "Go Big" deal that would adequately address our unsustainable fiscal path. "[We are] working to gain the kind of support we saw in the last "Go Big" letter to the leaders of the Super Committee last November, when 45 Senators and 100 Representatives signed a letter calling for a deal large enough to stabilize and reduce the debt. Hopefully, a new letter will persuade the leaders against kicking the can down the road again," said Shuler: (Shuler is referencing the go big group, Senate members here:
http://crfb.org/...
"Everything is on the table. We should be able to send a really strong message to our leaders to let them know to come up with a really large deal and that we’ll have their back.... We all want to go big and we all want to do this right the first time. The thing we don’t want to do is do something small or kick the can down the road," Shuler said.
Well, maybe we should tell the lame duck Shuler to go coach football and leave the heavy economic lifting to the real voice of the people, the winning progressive Democrats.
Fix the Debt also disconcertingly claims by referencing the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi supports their Grand Bargain:
"A further development is that Pelosi has already indicated that she was seeking a $4 trillion deficit reduction package, giving us hope that this desire to "Go Big" on a grand bargain extends all the way to the top. She also said that the Friday talks showed the leadership as being on track for an agreement and accordance about how they would move forward to reach it.
"It's encouraging to see growing bipartisan support for a significant and large deficit reduction package. Maybe these Members of Congress are taking a hint from their constituents and the over 300,000 people who have signed the petition to Fix the Debt. A comprehensive deal with smart tax increases and spending cuts could protect the economy and the disadvantaged while sufficiently addressing the debt. We hope the leaders of both parties are listening."
http://crfb.org/...
Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said Friday that she's hoping to get at least $4 trillion in deficit reduction from the fiscal cliff negotiations that officially launched this week.
http://thehill.com/...
Pelosi's statement as reported by The Hill after meeting with the President troubles me, but it's taken out of context by the fixers; but to be sure, we must let the Leader continue to know our progressive position. You know, the position that has overwhelming popular support, the position that says tax the rich and leave the New Deal alone.
"The Campaign to Fix the Debt is an unprecedented and bipartisan coalition that seeks to mobilize members of business, government, and policy communities to urge Congress and the President to enact a comprehensive debt deal," their website states.
Beg to differ, the Bowles led group is promoting the same corporate welfare agenda as always under the guise of bi-partisian bullshit and supposed balls to do the right thing because, "greedy old bastards don't need Social Security," (paraphrased Alan Simpson.)
As I hope this diary points out, the Fix the Debt campaign's foundation is the long-standing Republican propaganda machine of think tanks and media with a few Blue Dogs thrown in for good measure; hardly a manifest destiny of bi-partisan support.
Fuck 'em. It's way past time for Wall street to pay back the American people who have already sacrificed; losing their homes, jobs, pensions, college educations, early childhood spots, healthcare and on and on.
Given the players, it's not ironic that a Wall Street transaction tax is not on the everything table. The tax could raise 1.6tn over ten years.
Over the cliff everyone or be prepared to eat catfood.
2:39 PM PT: Two former governors – Democrat Jim Hunt and Republican Jim Holshouser – will launch Fix the Debt’s N.C. chapter at a news conference Tuesday in Raleigh.
On Tuesday, Hunt and Holshouser will be joined by business leaders, including former GlaxoSmithKline CEO Bob Ingram. North Carolina will be the 17th state to form an active chapter of Fix the Debt, one of several groups that have formed to pressure Congress to act by raising public awareness of the issue. In North Carolina, the effort will use advertising and events such as round-table discussions.
“We intend to create a ground swell of local, state and national support that persuades Congress to pass, and the President to sign, a comprehensive debt deal,” said spokesman Jon Romano.
Read more here: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/...
Well, money talks, meet the new ALEC.