...Media shouldn’t get rolled by GOP debt ceiling spin

[ProSense]

The Morning Plum: Media shouldn’t get rolled by GOP debt ceiling spin

Posted by Greg Sargent

The papers are filled with articles reporting in a matter-of-fact way that Republicans plan to use the debt ceiling fight to extract major spending cuts from the White House and Democrats. Mitch McConnell is out there this morning calling for a quick resolution to the standoff — one that exchanges a debt limit hike for deep cuts...you can read through reams of the coverage without learning three basic facts about this fight:

1) Republican leaders will ultimately agree to raise the debt ceiling, and they know it, because they themselves have previously admitted that not doing so will badly damage the economy.

2) Because of the above, a hike in the debt ceiling is not something that Democratic leaders want and that Republican leaders don’t. In other words, it is not a typical bargaining chip in negotiations, in the way spending cuts (which Republicans want and Dems don’t) or tax hikes (which Dems want and Republicans don’t) are.

3) And so, if and when Republicans do agree to raise the debt ceiling, it will not constitute any kind of concession on their part — even though they will continue to portray it as such to demand concessions in return. It will only constitute Republicans agreeing not to damage the whole country, which does not constitute (one hopes) them making a sacrifice.

Without these facts, it is simply impossible for readers and viewers to understand the basic situation that’s unfolding here....It’s true that some Congressional conservatives say they don’t want a hike in the debt ceiling. But when they say that, all they really mean is that they want to cut spending, which we already know. As Paul Krugman recently put it, “raising the debt ceiling only empowers the president to spend money that he’s authorized to spend by Congressional legislation; nothing more.” In the current context, conservatives and Republicans who hold out against a debt limit hike are, in practical terms, only threatening the full faith and credit of the United States — and threatening to damage the economy — in order to get what they want. Any accounts that don’t convey this with total clarity — and convey the sense that this is a normal negotiation — are essentially misleading people. It’s that simple.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/01/03/the-morning-plum-media-shouldnt-get-rolled-by-gop-debt-ceiling-spin/

[DJ13]

1. I agree, but the MSM isnt "getting rolled"

They are active participants to create the desired atmosphere of fear thats needed to force through legislation that would never be allowed by the public in a normal climate of rational debate.

[ProSense]

2. True. n/t

[spanone]

3. the media is already playing this for all it's worth.....

they will spend the next 2 months treating this like the superbowl of politics.