GOP Senator: Sequester is Going to Happen

In their quest to placate the most insane elements of the Christofascist/Tea Party base of the GOP, members of the Congressional GOP - economic saboteurs in my view - are Hell bent to see sequestration take place.  The message to average Americans?  Bend over and hold your ankles while we rape you and your families and send the U.S. economy back into recession.  How the GOP can think trashing the economy when it will be clear to all but the simple minded (or the insane GOP base) that the GOP is responsible for the ensuing economic damage will burnish the GOP's popularity is mind boggling, but such is the irrationality of today's GOP.   A piece on CNN looks at the GOP prediction that sequestration will become a reality.  For local Kool-Aid drinkers in Hampton Roads - which will be severely hit by cuts in federal spending - I wish the economic pain could be focused on these fools.  Here are highlights from the CNN piece:

Republican Sen. John Barrasso said Sunday the country should be prepared for the sequester and its massive spending cuts to kick in next month, despite Democrats' proposal last week to avert it.

"Let me be very clear - and I'd say this to the president as I say it to you - these spending cuts are going to go through on March 1," the senator from Wyoming said on CNN's "State of the Union."

With less than two weeks to go, lawmakers face another countdown before the largely dreaded cuts are scheduled to begin. Senate Democrats on Thursday proposed a $110 billion measure to once again delay the cuts.

Democrats want to replace the budget cuts, which Pentagon officials say will have drastic effects on the military, with a combination of increased tax revenue from millionaires through the closing of loopholes, ending agriculture subsidies, and reducing defense spending after the war in Afghanistan ends.

But Barrasso, along with other Republicans in the Senate, was not so pleased with the proposal, especially the provision dealing with tax revenue.  "Taxes are off the table," he told CNN's chief political correspondent Candy Crowley. "The American people need to know tax cuts are off the table and the Republican Party is not in any way going to trade spending cuts for a tax increase." The senator said there are "much better ways to do these budget cuts," though he did not mention specific proposals.

Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York sounded optimistic about the issue.  "I think that Democrats have the high ground both substantively and politically and we will win on this issue," he said on "State of the Union."

He argued Republicans have no choice but to "come on board."  "Their arguments are untenable and don't meet the favor of hardly anyone other than themselves and the few whose special interests they're protecting," he added.

It is no surprise that Barrasso would not identify the preferred GOP spending cuts - they all impact the poorest of Americans, social security and Medicare and Medicaid.  Once again, we see the total disconnect between the GOP's claimed championing of Christian values and the total rejection of the real Gospel message.