Chambliss says he'll break anti-tax pledge. attacks Grover Norquist

[Agorism]

http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/story/grover-norquist-the-billionaires-best-friend-20111109/1000x306/main.jpg
Saxby Chambliss: 'I Care A Lot More About' America Than About Grover Norquist (VIDEO)


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/23/saxby-chambliss-grover-norquist_n_2177333.html?utm_hp_ref=politics

[itshappening]

Big government conservative.

[RickyJ]

Insane! More taxes at a time like this will be all the force this economy needs to start free falling off the cliff it is balancing on now.

[realtonygoodwin]

Sounds like he wants to be primaried...

Trying to discuss some potential opponents over here:

http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?396541-Georgia-Senate-race-contenders

[Anti Federalist]

LoL - The O-Bomb-ya spanking sure has flushed out the wobblies.

Hell yeah, more taxes, let it all burn to the fucking ground, fuck you and your zombie constituents as well.

Ya'll are gonna get what you deserve.

This is the aftermath of 1996 all over again.

LOLOLOLOLOL

[juleswin]

Insane! More taxes at a time like this will be all the force this economy needs to start free falling off the cliff it is balancing on now.

Is he really insane? How is he any more insane than all those senators and representative who signed the no tax pledge and then voted a budget that increases spending. A budget that will be paid for by debt passed on to the next generation and money printing (hurts the poor, savers and people with fixed income the most). If anything, he should be commended for willing to actually raise the taxes for people living in the now and not try to kick the can down the road.

I wish he will raise the taxes of everyone to pay for every penny of spending increase. Balanced budget baby. Maybe and just maybe then, American will wake up and realize what is being done to them

[Zippyjuan]

Simple math. Vote to give people money via spending- more voters like you- try to cut programs and they vote against you. Promise they won't have to pay for anything by not raising taxes to cover the new spending- and they like you. But if you want to balance the budget you will have to both raise taxes and cut spending- both unpopular choices.

[juleswin]

Simple math. Vote to give people money via spending- more voters like you- try to cut programs and they vote against you. Promise they won't have to pay for anything by not raising taxes to cover the new spending- and they like you. But if you want to balance the budget you will have to both raise taxes and cut spending- both unpopular choices.

Exactly, everyone wants to go to heaven but nobody wants to die. I think Ron Paul has a budget with only spending cut but there is no way in this world that would pass. At this point, you gonna need to raise taxes a little just to get some dem vote to pass it.

[Zippyjuan]

When I checked Ron's numbers they used the assumption that revenues grew too -going off the top of my head but think it was about 25% over five years so even his wasn't all just from cuts in spending. But nobody else was willing to even try aside from Rand.

Link to pdf: http://www.ronpaul.com/media/RestoreAmericaPlan.pdf

In it revenues (tax collections) would rise from $2.476 trillion in 2012 to $3.069 trillion by 2016 (three years- not five- a 24% increase).

[Zatch]

Any of the primary challengers will be better than Saxby Chambliss. He voted for the bailout, he's a big time champion of farm subsidies, he fought hard against F-22 fighter cuts because Georgia would lose some jobs etc.

[GunnyFreedom]

Any of the primary challengers will be better than Saxby Chambliss. He voted for the bailout, he's a big time champion of farm subsidies, he fought hard against F-22 fighter cuts because Georgia would lose some jobs etc.

To be fair, the F-22 cuts were pretty stupid given that 90% of the F-22 project had already been spent, and then after canceling the F-22 they just turned around and started from zero on the ATF project. From a fiscally conservative perspective, we'd have been better off to let the F-22 go ahead and finish, and then let the Advanced Tactical Fighter project go away.

Of course, that's not why Chambliss took the position, he took it for home-town payola and jobs of course. So his position on this was clearly for the wrong reasons.

All I'm saying is don't just assume the F-22 cancelation was a good idea just because it was a cut. That 'cut' was more akin to paying 90% of the mortgage on a house, then with only 10% left on the note let the bank repossess the house only to turn around and buy another (different but similar) house. From a fiscally conservative perspective, we'd have been better off to pay the last 10% on the first house and stay there.

[matt0611]

It's not Grover Norquist who you'll need to answer to Saxby, its the voters of your state who will hopefully primary you next time around.

[Matt Collins]

Looks like he is going to try and raise taxes -

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/23/top-republican-senator-distances-himself-from-norquist-anti-tax-pledge/?test=latestnews




(http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/11/23/top-republican-senator-distances-himself-from-norquist-anti-tax-pledge/?test=latestnews)If you watch the video coming out of that link above you'll see FNC trying to give cover to Republicans who are about to cave

[Matt Collins]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLmWKSEXMeE

[juleswin]

At least he would be more consistent that those other republicans you only vote for increase in spending without voting for taxing increase. I dont support what he is doing but to me, he is better than the other type of republicans who only abide by the no tax increase pledge and not the no spending increases.

If you think I am wrong with my assessment, feel free to tell me why.

[Origanalist]

Polititian signs pledge, polititian breaks pledge. Same old, same old.

[Matt Collins]

Polititian signs pledge, polititian breaks pledge. Same old, same old.But this one is a lot more tangible than most. Meaning it's easier to get a politician unelected for breaking this particular pledge.

[Origanalist]

But this one is a lot more tangible than most. Meaning it's easier to get a politician unelected for breaking this particular pledge.

Well, that would be good. It does happen, sometimes.

[aGameOfThrones]

"I care more about this country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge,"


"If we do it his way, then we'll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that."


"Grover Norquist has no plan to pay this debt down. His plan says you continue to add to the debt. I just have a fundamental disagreement with him about that,"

http://news.yahoo.com/chambliss-latest-republican-break-anti-tax-lobbyist-014652789.html

[Keith and stuff]

The title of the article isn't accurate. Oh well. It isn't unusual for the Huffington Post to lie.

[Anti Federalist]

Simple math. Vote to give people money via spending- more voters like you- try to cut programs and they vote against you. Promise they won't have to pay for anything by not raising taxes to cover the new spending- and they like you. But if you want to balance the budget you will have to both raise taxes and cut spending- both unpopular choices.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j7EWBuQ13E&feature=endscreen&NR=1

[nobody's_hero]

LoL - The O-Bomb-ya spanking sure has flushed out the wobblies.

Hell yeah, more taxes, let it all burn to the fucking ground, fuck you and your zombie constituents as well.

Ya'll are gonna get what you deserve.

This is the aftermath of 1996 all over again.

LOLOLOLOLOL

I live in Georgia and Chambliss is not wobbly at all. He's a committed big-government RINO. Plus he's on the Senate Armed Services committee, so no one in Georgia wants to vote him out and risk losing all that neoconservative military spending and brown-people killin'.

It seems like God's the only one who can vote either of our U.S. Senators out of office.

[pochy1776]

Big government conservative.
damn they still exist.

[alucard13mmfmj]

Horray! More taxes along with inflation... we buy less with less worthless money! yay!! That'll show them small businesses. Make small businesses pay more taxes AND more taxes on customers so they get less business.

How come we never hear the republicans wanting to cut stuff anymore??????

[ProvincialPeasant]

Most people I see here attacking Grover Norquist and the Pledge don't understand it. It is only a TAX pledge, that is it. Norquist himself favours massive spending reductions (including in defense). However, he made the pledge a tax pledge because taxing and spending are the same thing. If you did increase taxes to pay for spending, there would be a medium-term recession and permanently slower growth, and people would get used to it. However, if you don't "feed the beast", then we have this rising national debt which is now a top-3 issue for Americans and plays favourably for conservatives and libertarians in elections. Norquist also wants to refuse tax increases so that eventually conservatives and libertarians can pursue comprehensive tax and spending reform.

[nobody's_hero]

Here's why Chambliss isn't going anywhere, and my state of Georgia is a lost-cause:

Comment from a prominent GA blog:


I’m one of those who believes that there is indeed great value in having your state represented by a senator with seniority. The Framers created this system you don’t like to ensure each state had an equal voice. What that means is there are two senators who are supposed to care a great deal about Georgia and 98 who don’t so much. I like the fact that Saxby is working across the aisle, building alliances and finding ways to solve big problems while also looking out for Georgia’s unique interests.

As I have pointed out in an earlier post, Georgia has an abundance of critical defense establishments and interests. That makes sense because Georgia is a great place for the Army, Navy and Air Force to train and for the Air Force and the Marines to repair their equipment. In the coming years, there will be significant miltiary reductions and when that occurs, decissions will be made that will affect that livelihood of hundreds of thousands of Georgians. Absent a strong voice like Saxby’s, those decisions will be made by the winners of the last election for political and not necessarily strategic reasons. That is just one example among many why it will be important to have Saxby Chambliss represent us and why seniority and knowing how DC works matters.

These people wouldn't replace Chambliss if he came and burned down their houses with the family pet still trapped inside. The best chance we had to replace him was after the '08 bailout, but now the minds of voters have returned to a state of complacency.

They also have no understanding here that military spending and domestic spending are two wings of the same bird of debt.

[ProvincialPeasant]

Here's why Chambliss isn't going anywhere, and my state of Georgia is a lost-cause:

Comment from a prominent GA blog:



These people wouldn't replace Chambliss if he came and burned down their houses with the family pet still trapped inside. The best chance we had to replace him was after the '08 bailout, but now the minds of voters have returned to a state of complacency.

They also have no understanding here that military spending and domestic spending are two wings of the same bird of debt.

The same attitude existed amongst some conservative activists and many on this forum regarding the Texas GOP Senate primary this year. If anything, it will be easier to unseat Chambliss because he is an incumbent with a poor record, while Dewhurst was more conservative and did not have much of a record to be attacked on.

Erick Erickson is Georgian and has wanted to get rid of Chambliss for awhile now. It has to be kept in mind that Chambliss only needs to be defeated in a GOP primary, where conservative and libertarian activists hold more sway than military Keynesians and hawks, despite it being a Southern state.

However, for a LIBERTY candidate to win, he would have to be styled like Ted Cruz (i.e. as a constitutional conservative). I don't think Erickson, Club for Growth, Freedom Works, et al. would endorse any of those rumoured to run, so if we can find a candidate or support someone we can win.

[lx43]

Norquist should have started a spending decrease pledge instead of a tax pledge.

[juleswin]

Norquist should have started a spending decrease pledge instead of a tax pledge.

That is because the whole pledge is a scam. See how the pledge says nothing about voting for increases in debt ceiling or any other real tool to reduce spending. See how it only addresses govt revenue and says nothing about borrowing. This is akin to taking away the TV remote controller from a child in an attempt to prevent him from watching TV.

The sad part is seeing how many people in this movement that fall for it. And oh yea, he said some nice things about Ron Paul but so did Kelly Clarkson.

[georgiaboy]

Well, Saxby already voted for all the Medicare drug plans, bailouts, and debt ceiling increases. The least he could do is vote to raise our taxes, too.

Salt, meet wound.

[Matt Collins]

That is because the whole pledge is a scam. See how the pledge says nothing about voting for increases in debt ceiling or any other real tool to reduce spending. See how it only addresses govt revenue and says nothing about borrowing. This is akin to taking away the TV remote controller from a child in an attempt to prevent him from watching TV.

The sad part is seeing how many people in this movement that fall for it. And oh yea, he said some nice things about Ron Paul but so did Kelly Clarkson.No, you focus on one thing and one thing well.

Now we need someone with a non-spending pledge and the clout to get people to sign it.

[juleswin]

No, you focus on one thing and one thing well.

Now we need someone with a non-spending pledge and the clout to get people to sign it.

When you consider how ineffective a no tax increase pledge is, you only have to wonder why out of the many pledges some one could come up with, it is this one that they arrives at. Even if every single politicians signed this pledge, it would hardly make a dent in spending. You know Obama did not raise any taxes prior to Obama care passage, but you can see how he was able to increase the debt by $5 billion in 4yrs.

[Matt Collins]

When you consider how ineffective a no tax increase pledge is, you only have to wonder why out of the many pledges some one could come up with, it is this one that they arrives at. Even if every single politicians signed this pledge, it would hardly make a dent in spending. You know Obama did not raise any taxes prior to Obama care passage, but you can see how he was able to increase the debt by $5 billion in 4yrs.Yes, it's one part of the equation, not the entire thing. And those who break the tax pledge to their constituents, tend to get unelected next cycle. Grover makes sure of it.