There could not be a more apt demonstration of just how insensate our traditional news media has become than an article published Thursday by Jim Tankersley of The New York Times, regarding Republicans’ refusal to raise the debt ceiling, and its impact on President Joe Biden. But in order to properly understand and appreciate it, a reader must first internalize some conceptions still commonly accepted by corporate news outlets.
First, such outlets accept that the formerly routine and unremarkable action of lifting the nation’s debt ceiling is now intrinsically tied to—and must necessarily accommodate—Republican ideology and tactics, even when those tactics manifest themselves as pure extortion. Second, these outlets accept that any ideologically driven effort by the GOP, no matter how violative of established norms and the totality of our country’s economic history, and no matter how arbitrary, self-serving and anti-democratic, must by its very nature put Democrats “on the defensive:” RELATED STORY: Biden needs to go it alone on the debt ceiling
From Tankersley’s story:
In the next paragraph, Tankersley allows the minor point that Biden has already made his position on the issue quite clear. Namely, “that he would not negotiate spending cuts or other efforts to reduce the federal debt as part of discussions over raising the nation’s debt limit.”
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Seems like a fairly straightforward position on the president’s part: the country will not bow to hostage-takers. Republicans’ conflation of their most rabid budgetary fantasies with the plain fact of the country’s duty to pay already incurred bills does not merit or deserve serious consideration. End of story—or so it should be.
But this is The New York Times! So the sub-headline to Tankersley’s story instead places Biden in peril and the GOP in power: “After Republicans passed a bill that pairs spending cuts and fossil fuel support with raising the nation’s borrowing cap, the president must decide when and how to negotiate.”
Not whether to negotiate, but when and how. Why? According to Tankersley there are important considerations at stake:
“Business groups, fiscal hawks, and some congressional Democrats” are urging Biden to “begin negotiating in earnest” in response to this baldfaced, cynical Republican extortion tactic. This tactic, once treated as legitimate, will doubtlessly be wielded again and again, year after year.
But how exactly does one “negotiate in earnest” with a cabal of MAGA fanatics completely uninterested in governing, the majority of whom already voted to overturn a fair and lawful election? What sort of “earnest” effort might be made with Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, just to pick a few?
RELATED STORY: Two-faced McCarthy on full display in debt ceiling showdown
And if there’s no answer to those questions forthcoming, then let’s ponder who these “business groups” might be. Why, it’s our friends, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, two of the most powerful lobbying groups for the Republican Party!
Quelle surprise! The most anti-regulatory, anti-government paladins of free enterprise in this country want Biden to “engage” with Republicans who just submitted a bill decimating Medicaid and gutting nearly the entirety of the president’s legislative accomplishments thus far.
Not whether he should “engage,” but how quickly. Because of course, he must engage, right?
And just who are these “fiscal hawks” calling on Biden to make nice with the Republican bomb-throwing caucus? We don’t know. Tankersley doesn’t enlighten us. They go mysteriously unnamed in his article.
OK, how about those “congressional Democrats?” The ones who are “calling on” the President to negotiate with these extortionists? Who are they? Again, none are named by Tankersley.
But I digress. I noted at the outset that to appreciate articles like this, one has to internalize certain fixed principles about “fair play” and “good faith” commonly accepted by the traditional media. Helpfully, Tankersley incorporates several of them in a single paragraph:
The “nation” is not “barreling” toward default. The nation’s already-incurred debts aren’t “bumping up” to anything they haven’t “bumped up” to in the past century. They’re deliberately being held hostage by a group of fanatical, MAGA-deluded Republican members of Congress who have collectively decided that imposing their unwanted ideology upon the country is worth the price of also inflicting economic calamity on all Americans. So rather than do what Congresses have previously done 78 times, they’ve decided to dangle the terror of an unforced and unnecessary default over all of our heads—since they can’t rely on the normal legislative process to do it.
Someone please enlighten me here. Why should President Biden care about “the delicate politics of House leadership,” when the entire economic future of the country is being held hostage by the Republican Party? Should he be afraid of negotiating with the wrong terrorists?
But we are told President Biden is forced to endure a “cascading set of decisions” in an effort to find “common ground” with Republicans who don’t “share his preference.” It all sounds so genteel, doesn’t it? Nothing about the decision by Republicans to subvert the entire purpose of Section 4 of the 14th Amendment, which declares that the “validity of the public debt” of the United States “shall not be questioned.”
Tankersley refuses to acknowledge that this is not normal.
All of this raises the question: Is this how the media will frame things if Kevin McCarthy and his pals somehow succeed in their economic terrorism? When the economy tanks from collapsed foreign investment and consumer confidence, the stock market crashes, peoples’ retirement funds are shredded, and companies start to dry up and shed workers, leaving millions without health care to fend for themselves, will reporters at The Times and beyond still be quoting unnamed business leaders who cluck their tongues while prattling on about “earnest” negotiations? Will they regard the default on our nation’s debts as some type of fait accompli, and mutter “Gosh, Mr. President, you should have negotiated with those terrorists?”
Or will they blame the people actually responsible for the calamity? RELATED STORY: Kevin McCarthy's spending bill is about wrecking the economy
First, such outlets accept that the formerly routine and unremarkable action of lifting the nation’s debt ceiling is now intrinsically tied to—and must necessarily accommodate—Republican ideology and tactics, even when those tactics manifest themselves as pure extortion. Second, these outlets accept that any ideologically driven effort by the GOP, no matter how violative of established norms and the totality of our country’s economic history, and no matter how arbitrary, self-serving and anti-democratic, must by its very nature put Democrats “on the defensive:” RELATED STORY: Biden needs to go it alone on the debt ceiling
From Tankersley’s story:
In the next paragraph, Tankersley allows the minor point that Biden has already made his position on the issue quite clear. Namely, “that he would not negotiate spending cuts or other efforts to reduce the federal debt as part of discussions over raising the nation’s debt limit.”
Campaign Action
Seems like a fairly straightforward position on the president’s part: the country will not bow to hostage-takers. Republicans’ conflation of their most rabid budgetary fantasies with the plain fact of the country’s duty to pay already incurred bills does not merit or deserve serious consideration. End of story—or so it should be.
But this is The New York Times! So the sub-headline to Tankersley’s story instead places Biden in peril and the GOP in power: “After Republicans passed a bill that pairs spending cuts and fossil fuel support with raising the nation’s borrowing cap, the president must decide when and how to negotiate.”
Not whether to negotiate, but when and how. Why? According to Tankersley there are important considerations at stake:
“Business groups, fiscal hawks, and some congressional Democrats” are urging Biden to “begin negotiating in earnest” in response to this baldfaced, cynical Republican extortion tactic. This tactic, once treated as legitimate, will doubtlessly be wielded again and again, year after year.
But how exactly does one “negotiate in earnest” with a cabal of MAGA fanatics completely uninterested in governing, the majority of whom already voted to overturn a fair and lawful election? What sort of “earnest” effort might be made with Reps. Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, or Marjorie Taylor Greene, just to pick a few?
RELATED STORY: Two-faced McCarthy on full display in debt ceiling showdown
And if there’s no answer to those questions forthcoming, then let’s ponder who these “business groups” might be. Why, it’s our friends, the Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable, two of the most powerful lobbying groups for the Republican Party!
Quelle surprise! The most anti-regulatory, anti-government paladins of free enterprise in this country want Biden to “engage” with Republicans who just submitted a bill decimating Medicaid and gutting nearly the entirety of the president’s legislative accomplishments thus far.
Not whether he should “engage,” but how quickly. Because of course, he must engage, right?
And just who are these “fiscal hawks” calling on Biden to make nice with the Republican bomb-throwing caucus? We don’t know. Tankersley doesn’t enlighten us. They go mysteriously unnamed in his article.
OK, how about those “congressional Democrats?” The ones who are “calling on” the President to negotiate with these extortionists? Who are they? Again, none are named by Tankersley.
But I digress. I noted at the outset that to appreciate articles like this, one has to internalize certain fixed principles about “fair play” and “good faith” commonly accepted by the traditional media. Helpfully, Tankersley incorporates several of them in a single paragraph:
The “nation” is not “barreling” toward default. The nation’s already-incurred debts aren’t “bumping up” to anything they haven’t “bumped up” to in the past century. They’re deliberately being held hostage by a group of fanatical, MAGA-deluded Republican members of Congress who have collectively decided that imposing their unwanted ideology upon the country is worth the price of also inflicting economic calamity on all Americans. So rather than do what Congresses have previously done 78 times, they’ve decided to dangle the terror of an unforced and unnecessary default over all of our heads—since they can’t rely on the normal legislative process to do it.
Someone please enlighten me here. Why should President Biden care about “the delicate politics of House leadership,” when the entire economic future of the country is being held hostage by the Republican Party? Should he be afraid of negotiating with the wrong terrorists?
But we are told President Biden is forced to endure a “cascading set of decisions” in an effort to find “common ground” with Republicans who don’t “share his preference
Tankersley refuses to acknowledge that this is not normal.
All of this raises the question: Is this how the media will frame things if Kevin McCarthy and his pals somehow succeed in their economic terrorism? When the economy tanks from collapsed foreign investment and consumer confidence, the stock market crashes, peoples’ retirement funds are shredded, and companies start to dry up and shed workers, leaving millions without health care to fend for themselves, will reporters at The Times and beyond still be quoting unnamed business leaders who cluck their tongues while prattling on about “earnest” negotiations? Will they regard the default on our nation’s debts as some type of fait accompli, and mutter “Gosh, Mr. President, you should have negotiated with those terrorists?”
Or will they blame the people actually responsible for the calamity? RELATED STORY: Kevin McCarthy's spending bill is about wrecking the economy