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Palin and admin wrangle over budget (Again, she's on the same level as the potus)
The Politico ^ | February 14, 2011 | Ben Smith

Posted on 02/14/2011 4:31:07 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet

A Democratic official points out that Sarah Palin's latest attack on the Obama administration's budget cuts is not quite accurate.

On Twitter, Palin writes "Here's how minuscule the White House's $775 million a year cuts are: less than 1/10 of 1% of this year's budget deficit," responding to an op-ed by Obama budget director Jacob Lew...

(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...


TOPICS: Issues; State and Local
KEYWORDS: budget; deficit; freepressforpalin; obama; palin; palinbachmann2012; sarah10pissant0
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To: Clyde5445

The “source” has it wrong as well. The $775 Million was NOT the total of proposed cuts, but merely the sum of three of those proposed cuts. I edit an online news site and I make an effort verify sources before publishing something so as not to discredit the conservative cause. Sarah is a potential candidate for President and should try and do the same thing. The internet is filled with sites that have incorrect information, so the best practice is to go back to the original source from which the numbers used came.


21 posted on 02/14/2011 5:17:19 PM PST by rob777
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To: rob777

22 posted on 02/14/2011 5:17:34 PM PST by stormer
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

President Palin has a nice ring to it.

Pray for Americans


23 posted on 02/14/2011 5:22:38 PM PST by bray (Vote Palin to make heads explode on both sides of the aisle.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Or Ron loop de loop Paul. Sounds like Rob is one of those holier than thou libertarians.

Oh, and Rob, one can really see Russia from Alaska. But let’s not let the facts get in the way of your “Palin is dumb” story line.

One other thing: I don’t pretend to know all that I should, so please tell me precisely where you think Palin has not “done her homework” in the past.


24 posted on 02/14/2011 5:26:46 PM PST by dools0007world
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Her status as the leader of the opposition is why the liberals and the Republican establishment hate her.


25 posted on 02/14/2011 5:49:03 PM PST by citizencon
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To: rob777

As usual Sarah is dead spot on. Total real reductions in current spending is 775 million. All the rest is either reduction in proposed spending increases, a favorite ruse of Democrats, or tax increases such as the end of the Bush tax cuts. The vaunted freeze is not a cut. It simply institutionalizes accelerated spending increases over the last 2 years. Show where there are actual real reductions in spending in the Obama budget in excess of 775mil. Social security, the original liberal sacred cow, is officially in the red next year. This represents a multi billion dollar increase in real spending. Does not sound like a cut to me.


26 posted on 02/14/2011 5:58:56 PM PST by Louis Foxwell (For love of Sarah, our country and the American Way of Life.)
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To: rob777

“Look bad?” She’s been nearly the only one fighting the Obama administration since 2008. You’ve got a lot of nerve!


27 posted on 02/14/2011 6:00:58 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet (Things may come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle. ~Lincoln)
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To: dools0007world
"Sounds like Rob is one of those holier than thou libertarians."


No, just someone who gets annoyed when supposed conservative leaders shoot off their mouth before doing at least a little basic research. This kind of thing reflects badly on the conservative movement.




"But let’s not let the facts get in the way of your “Palin is dumb” story line."


I am not the one who is having a hard time with the facts. I do not believe that she is dumb, but this is the kind of "speaking before thinking", which feeds that story line. Why do you think they are able to make it stick? They tried the same "story line" with Reagan and it did not stick.
28 posted on 02/14/2011 6:04:17 PM PST by rob777
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To: rob777

UPDATE: As J.D. Foster of the Heritage Foundation points out: “…the President proposes a budget that keeps the federal government on a thoroughly irresponsible and unsustainable course.” Please read the Heritage Foundation article and understand the $775 million in proposed cuts noted above are what the White House’s budget director Jacob Lew identified as reflecting what they perceive as some “tough calls.” Yet, as noted, they are a drop in the bucket; and the White House’s total proposed cuts for this year are still not at all enough to make us solvent.

- Sarah Palin


29 posted on 02/14/2011 6:04:42 PM PST by free me (Sarah Palin 2012? You Betcha!)
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To: free me
so Palin is correct again....sometimes I think she is just playing with people like rob777
30 posted on 02/14/2011 6:23:12 PM PST by unseen1
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To: Louis Foxwell
"As usual Sarah is dead spot on. Total real reductions in current spending is 775 million."


No, she is not right. The 775 number comes from a site she referenced. If you go to that site, it references a New York Times article by Jacob Lew, the director of the White House Office of Management and Budget. He starts out talking about how they had to cur programs that they normally would not because of the fiscal crisis:

"But to achieve the deeper cuts needed to support this spending freeze, we have had to look beyond the obvious and cut spending for purposes we support. We had to choose programs that, absent the fiscal situation, we would not cut."

These "difficult cuts" were held up in comparison to the obvious ones:

"This entailed finding programs that were duplicative, outdated and ineffective."

Examples were given of these "difficult cuts":

"Yet for the past 30 years, these grants have been allocated using a formula that does not consider how good a job the recipients are doing. The president is proposing to cut financing for this grant program in half, saving $350 million, and to reform the remaining half into a competitive grant program, so that funds are spent to give communities the most effective help.

Another difficult cut is a reduction of $125 million, or about a quarter of current financing, to the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, which supports environmental cleanup and protection. And a third is a reduction in the Community Development Block Grant program. These flexible grants help cities and counties across the nation finance projects in areas like housing, sewers and streets, and economic development in low- and moderate-income neighborhoods.

While we know from mayors and county leaders how important these grants are for their communities, and are very aware of the financial difficulties many of them face, the sacrifices needed to begin putting our fiscal house in order must be broadly shared, and we are proposing to cut this program by 7.5 percent, or $300 million."

The three programs listed here are examples of the "difficult cuts". That is were the $775 Million figure came from. $350 Million + $125 Million + $300 Million = $775 Million.

To get the actual total of proposed cuts, one would have to look at the budget, not a New York Times article where the WH OMB manager gives some examples of difficult cuts they proposed but did not want to. This is not rocket science.
31 posted on 02/14/2011 6:26:48 PM PST by rob777
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To: rob777

you are worng.


32 posted on 02/14/2011 6:29:26 PM PST by unseen1
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To: Louis Foxwell; rob777
Total real reductions in current spending is 775 million. All the rest is either reduction in proposed spending increases, a favorite ruse of Democrats, or tax increases such as the end of the Bush tax cuts.

Interesting. It appears Palin was correct and Rob was incorrect. One needs to be careful when reading Politico propagada, Rob.

33 posted on 02/14/2011 6:35:02 PM PST by FreeReign
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To: free me
Please read the Heritage Foundation article and understand the $775 million in proposed cuts noted above are what the White House’s budget director Jacob Lew identified as reflecting what they perceive as some “tough calls.”


Again, this makes my point, the $775 Million number reflects what Mr. Lew described as "tough calls" and came from a NY Times article. The number does not represent the total of proposed cuts. The President's proposed budget deserves a sound critique, as Mr. Foster of the Heritage Foundation did: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Reports/2011/02/President-Obamas-2012-Budget-Builds-on-Failures-of-the-Past Palin's confusion of the $775 Million with the total proposed cuts gave the opposition a chance to change the subject on a very important issue at a time when groups like the Heritage Foundation were making headway. Now the topic will be her problem wit the facts. This does not help our side at all.
34 posted on 02/14/2011 6:39:52 PM PST by rob777
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To: rob777
To get the actual total of proposed cuts, one would have to look at the budget, not a New York Times article where the WH OMB manager gives some examples of difficult cuts they proposed but did not want to. This is not rocket science.

Of Lew has real additional cuts above and beyond 775 million why doesn't he give us the total of these "real" cuts???

35 posted on 02/14/2011 6:41:38 PM PST by FreeReign
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To: FreeReign
"It appears Palin was correct and Rob was incorrect."


See post number 31. I would like to be wrong on this as playing fast and loose with the facts deflects the argument from Obama's anemic budget cuts to Sarah's speaking without verifying her information. This is a serious matter as groups like the Heritage Foundation were making progress in their critique of Obama's proposal. We cannot afford to have the waters muddied on this issue.
36 posted on 02/14/2011 6:48:02 PM PST by rob777
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To: rob777

If Lew has real additional spending cuts above and beyond 775 million why doesn’t he give us the total of these “real” spending cuts???


37 posted on 02/14/2011 6:50:26 PM PST by FreeReign
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To: rob777

Yep, I saw the error in her posting and knew she’d rightly take a hit for it. To me it says she still isn’t properly using staff to vet what she posts. Another unforced error and I don’t understand why.


38 posted on 02/14/2011 6:51:58 PM PST by 9YearLurker
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To: FreeReign
"Of Lew has real additional cuts above and beyond 775 million why doesn't he give us the total of these "real" cuts??? "


That is not the point. The point is that the number 775 million is not a solid number representing to total proposed cuts. By making this mistake, the door is opened for the opposition to deflect attention away from the budget. The story now becomes that conservatives are so eager to score political points that they do not even do their homework. There are many ways that this could have been handled, but throwing that number out there as if it represented the actual proposed budget cuts is a big mistake. Read the Heritage Foundation piece on Obama's proposed cuts. They make no mention of this number as it is a meaningless figure pulled from a New York Times article that sums up a few of the so-called difficult proposed cuts.
39 posted on 02/14/2011 6:56:51 PM PST by rob777
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To: 9YearLurker
"Another unforced error and I don’t understand why."


The left will spin this as another example of conservatives being so eager to score political points that they do not bother to do their homework. It really makes us look bad.
40 posted on 02/14/2011 7:00:13 PM PST by rob777
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