Morning Joe 2/16/2011 -- Cynical arrogance

The reason I report on the Morning Joe show is because, as I've said before, it's a microcosm of the sorry nature of our political culture. Morning Joe is not revealing the sorry nature -- they represent in many ways what's wrong with the political class, the State, the media and our statist two party system.

For some reason, many political thought leaders come on the show, and how they view current political events is revealing, plus, how Joe Scarborough, Mika and the regulars respond reveals the media's views. This morning they started out with Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University. Joe S. briefly acknowledged that Paul Ryan has said Republicans will tackle entitlements, then when on to imply that it was Morning Joe's "goading" that brought the Republicans around, which is ridiculous. It's true that Scarborough has talked about the problem of entitlements and blamed the Republicans for punting, and Joe S. criticized Obama for punting, but let's look at what Joe S. has supported. Just like Jeffrey Sachs, a progressive, Joe S. supported raising taxes on the rich, and Joe S. thought it was good political strategy a little while back for Obama to force the Republicans to make the first move on spending cuts and entitlements, and Joe S., like Jeffrey Sachs, supports spending on education, infrastructure and green energy. So Joe S.'s integrity on this is less than sterling. Sachs believes all we need to do is raise taxes on the rich, cut military spending and depend on Obamacare. I agree with cutting military spending, as does Joe S., but not just willy nilly cuts -- we need a non-intervention doctrine that deals with the problem of militarism and the establishment of a strong national defense at home -- miltarism, no, defense, yes.

The big story today that the Morning Joe crew and their guests brushed over is that the Republicans have committed to tackling entitlements. Joe S. still made the claim several times that the Republicans are "punting" on entitlements. The other Left-leaning commentators said Obama is being politically smart by not putting entitlement reform in his budget, and that the Republicans will be hammered for making cuts that hurt people in a recession. The Democrat strategy is unfolding, but so far the Republicans are being brave. Again, I'm not a Republican, just an objective observer who refuses to play the political game -- the game played by Dems is cynically arrogant and it will backfire on them. The centrist game played, playing both sides, by Joe S. will also backfire. The Democrats are also praising Obama for starting the conversation regarding spending and entitlements and suggest that Obama is forcing the Republicans to the table. The truth is that refreshmen Repubs have been eager to cut, and they waited on the budget in order to respond with their budget -- plus, experienced Repubs like Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan have also been eager to cut and address entitlements. The truth is that Obama and his backers want to spend more money which will add to the debt and create a boondoggle in green energy production. The Dems want to paint the Repubs as enemies of the poor, sick and elderly. This cynically arrogant ploy will not work. 

Raising taxes is always a bad idea, but especially so when spending is out of control. Obamacare will destroy the quality of healthcare and raise the cost of healthcare for decades to come. "Investing" in education, infrastructure and green energy is just another wasteful stimulus effort like the almost trillion dollar stimulus before. Not touching SS, Medicaid and Medicare will lead the nation to bankruptcy, This is what Democrats are pushing while they frame Republicans as destroyers of the public safety net. There can be no safety net if there is no money to fund it.