Morning Joe 7/11/2011 - Scarborough back from woodshed

It appears that Morning Joe's Joe Scarborough was taken to the woodshed by his bosses for being too negative regarding Obama's performance in office. This morning, Joe S. praised Obama for "putting everything on the table". I wish congress would pass a law dealing with cliches and trite phrases, but, Joe S. was really excited that Obama says he is willing to deal with Medicare. Medicaid and SS, as was John Heilemann, Mika and everyone on the show except Pat Buchanan. Chuck Schumer was on the show to nail down the talking points. Joe S, in touch with his inner-David Brooks, believes Republicans are foolish for not agreeing to close loopholes for the richest corporations like GE and Big Oil companies -- why, they could get entitlement reform if they would only agree to close loopholes on evil corporations.

Nevermind that it's the tax code written by government which allows "evil" companies to write off enough to pay very little in certain taxes, let's single out the least popular companies and play a game of class warfare depending on which group hates which company. But it's all a game, even Scarborough's happy horseshit, because Democrats will not allow any reform to entitlements which reduce the benefits or change the structure, and politicians are not going to simplify the tax code or reduce rates. The best Republicans would do if they went along with a Brooks/Scarborough compromise is get money from some corporations without any significant cuts in government spending. The Big Deal Obama is talking about is an illusion, yet the media pretends it's real in order to force Republicans to accept a phony deal that raises revenues but fails to address spending. If Republicans take the bait thinking that Obama and the Democrats will agree to entitlement reforms, Democrats will renege on entitlements, leaving the Republicans in the position of trying to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly and sickly poor, and we'll be pushed up to the time limit on default. Republicans will then react by calling off the tax revenues, and the media will excoriate Republicans for being obstructionists and Big Business patsies. Obama will say he tried, but that Republicans insisted on Medicare and Medicid cuts and other cuts that were too severe.

The reason we don't know the specifics of Obama's Big Deal is because it's an illusion. Obams has no plan to reform Medicare and Medicaid that can't be nixed in the future -- there are no immediate cuts on the table. The table is even an illusion.