Lately Bill O'Reilly has been trying to convince his Tea Party base that Michele Bachmann is too extreme and dangerous as a GOP presidential candidate and that Congress must raise the debt ceiling. If you missed his interview with Michele Bachmann from last week, check out the above video.
It would seem that the grand Wizards of the GOP are using BillO to now try and rein in the Tea Party hardliners they've created. Last night he revealed that on his own website his viewers voted against raising the debt ceiling by a 60-40 split. No matter how hard he tries, they ain't buying his sales pitch for sanity.
Do you believe the economy will be harmed if a debt deal is not reached?
He quickly announced the results of his poll as an afterthought. Bill again made the case that the debt ceiling must be raised. He's been very mindful to include his usual 1930s view opposed to government spending and sprinkled in that Obama wants to take all their money and give it to the poor, all so he wouldn't lose too much favor with his base.
On paper, the debt thing is boring, and many Americans are not paying attention. But the controversy will define the future of the USA.
On one side, President Obama and the Democratic Party want America to become an entitlement state that compels social justice, financially supporting Americans who can't or won't support themselves.
We're all lazy welfare queens who want nothing more than to live off unemployment and raise family. In Bill's eyes working in Texas in below-minimum-wage jobs like those Rick Perry is creating is such a beautiful alternative. The hell with real job creation.
The debt ceiling vote was always a formality vote until Obama took office. We all pay into Social Security and Medicare, so it's not a handout from rich people, but the word entitlement conjures up that illusion. That's why I try to stay away from it and use the term 'social safety nets.'
And Bill is very shrill about the reality that President Obama is proving his bully pulpit is still strong, since he's turned all the earlier polling on the debt ceiling debate around completely to his side. Remember when all the polling looked like the latest one from Pew?
By a 53% to 30% margin, most Republicans say that it will not be a major problem if the debt ceiling is not raised by Aug. 2
Now poll after poll is coming out much like the latest Gallup which has flipped that dynamic around.
I've been writing that I had wished Obama's approach from the the beginning of his tenure would be to explain why Keynesian policies are needed at this time of a massive financial meltdown rather than the "tightening our belts" approach which is dominating the debate now.
Back to O'Reilly; He's agreeing that the R's are losing the PR wars, but cleverly pivots away from that into a man-crush on Marco Rubio.
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A new CBS poll says that Democrats are winning the PR war. When asked how the debt negotiations are being handled, 43 percent approve of the way President Obama is going about it; 31 percent say the Democrats in Congress are doing OK; and just 21 percent believe the Republicans have the correct position.
That either means that the GOP is not getting its message out or the vast majority of Americans want a Western European-style entitlement state.
"Talking Points" does not believe that most Americans want that, so the message seems to be the problem. Enter Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, who absolutely destroyed CBS newsman Bob Schieffer on Sunday.
Rubio didn't destroy Bob Scheiffer, he just didn't answer his questions and scowled his responses, which to BillO and Bernie Goldberg are not questions journalists should be asking anyway. Here's the transcript. See, it's not allowed for any journalist or Villager to bring up the name George Bush since he put this country into the hole we now face, because that hurts the GOP. Alas, it must be an Obama planted question.
BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, aren’t you going to have to concede, though, Senator, that maybe the
previous administration might have had a little something to do with--SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): Sure. But--
BOB SCHIEFFER: --the bad economy that the President inherited when he came into office. I
mean, and-- and the other part is, when you say--SENATOR MARCO RUBIO (overlapping): So when does it start getting better, Bob?
We've discussed Obama's policies ad nauseum here, but Rubio doesn't have a plan himself.
Sen. Rubio believes that if unemployment drops dramatically, government revenues will rise because more people will be paying taxes. He went on to say that he does believe in closing some tax loopholes that corporations and wealthy people use.
Now, this is not a partisan analysis here. This is the truth. Sen. Rubio put forth his party's position clearly and efficiently. If the Republicans want to win this vital debate, they need to follow Rubio's lead.
And that's "The Memo."
Cutting the deficit is not a job creator and Rubio's position of closing loopholes is not the GOP's position at all because they consider that a tax increase. Rubio, the King of the Tea, is actually in opposition to their sacred cows.
O'Reilly is quite crafty how he presents his views. He carefully trashed Michele Bachmann as often as he can, he attacks government spending as much as he can and he's for raising the debt ceiling. At the same time he's trying to turn Marco Rubio into the next Chris Christie.
