From Real Clear Politics, more evidence that Republican attacks regarding “sequestration” are ALL about playing politics and the blame game. #FAIL
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are scrambling to find a way around the deep cuts — about $100 billion in defense and domestic program reductions would be triggered next year — before the November election because of the likely fallout associated with heightened job losses. Republicans are at odds over whether revenue increases should be included in any solution, but given that neither Kaine nor Allen is currently in the Senate and won’t be bound to current votes, messaging will be key in Virginia.
If Congress fails to reach a deal, “a lot of people are going to be blamed for it and Allen is going to make sure Tim Kaine gets his fair share of it” by tying him to support for the sequester, says Virginia-based Republican strategist Chris LaCivita. LaCivita says that by airing ads, Allen has gotten ahead on the issue, and it conveys that “[Kaine] defended the cuts, defended where we are, and Allen is saying this is bad and going to hurt Virginia’s economy.“
What a bunch of garbage. Not to mention 100% cynicism and pathological lying. Remember, most Republicans voted for the sequestration deal, after they themselves forced Congress to that point after refusing to pass a (normally) routine increase in the country’s debt ceiling (something that Allen had voted for multiple times when he was in the Senate).
Meanwhile, even through George Allen likes to say “oh god no, don’t EVER play politics with defense cuts!!!”, recall that just last summer, Allen was ranting about how Republicans should use sequestration as leverage, and about how holding the U.S. economy hostage was an “opportunity”! In Allen’s world, partisanship trumps patriotism, apparently. In this case, Allen was perfectly happy to risk a catastrophic default on our debt just to score political points. Sadly, this is the type of behavior we’ve come to expect from Tea Party Republicans these days. What’s truly insufferable is when they pretend they didn’t do what they did, and even try to blame Democrats for the messes they themselves caused. The question is, will the media ever call them on this or not?
P.S. Actually, speaking of the media, the AP says that George Allen “is airing a new ad that deftly fosters a false impression that his Democratic opponent, Tim Kaine, supports potential deep military spending cuts under a debt-reduction compromise.” Nice job.
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