Oh, the things we will see if we look long enough at the illogical machinations of far-right nut-jobs. I've received the following from Richard Bennett, who dodges any acknowledgment that his claim that no other states are in fiscal trouble was trounced and who prevaricates when confronted with proof that the cause of the California energy crisis and budget crisis are deeply related:
You made the specific claim that the California budget deficit was caused, in large part, by the energy contracts, a claim that I've seen in many far-left quarters. As the energy contracts weren't part of the calculations of the $38B deficit, I felt it was worthwhile to refute it. As to whether your repetition of a false charge that was apparently minted on the far left makes you one of them, I'll leave that exercise to the reader.As to your "everything's fine" strawman, I don't think that voting for radical change in the state government is generally consistent with that point of view; and unlike you, I'm for change, not for the status quo. Do the math.
RB
My reply:
You're a funny little man...I actually claimed the California budget crisis was the result of the combination of the energy crisis, which as I've explained did contribute to lower revenues and higher costs in state borrowing, and the mismanagement of U.S. domestic and foreign policy by the Bush Administration, for which I have offered evidence. You, on the other hand, said no other states were in trouble and have been soundly rebuked by the evidence.
As for the recall being "radical change" when its result has been a return to the very administration that caused this economic disaster, I think you need to recognize this isn't about math, but political choices. You choose backwards, a return to the "status quo" while both California and the nation need to step firmly forward. It's idiotic to reward the political party that caused the California disaster with another chance to pillage the public weal.
Mitch Ratcliffe
Yes, I love baiting an ideologue, because they end up doing backflips like a chihuahua on speed when they dodge the truth. Dance, little man, dance! Ah, I am a sadistic son of a bitch, even if I am not, as Bennett has claimed, a "Marin County-esque hot-tubbing, partner-swapping left-wing Democrat who thrives on self-deception." Do I think Californians are idiotic for electing Arnold Schwarzenegger? Not all of them, nor even all that voted for Arnold, because many voted for Schwarzenegger out of sheer desperation. But that does not excuse them from having made a bad decision? I'll leave that for the reader, Californians and history to decide.
The vast radical middle in this country is going to wake up and recognize that the polarized debate spawned by the extreme right versus everyone else has taken us to the brink of self-destruction. Our liberty, our economic security and our national security are severely imperiled and when the center wakes to that fully, sanity will return. I have every confidence that the American people will act well over the long run. It's precisely the fact that we have tried so many experiments that makes America great and that has forged a vast center that recognizes all Americans are in for the long run together rather than counting on elite cliques to make our decisions for us.
Until the great reawakening (in about four months, if I read the economic tea leaves correctly), the only option is to poke the skunks until they meltdown like Bill O'Reilly on Fresh Air. All you have to do is ask questions that call on them to prove what they are saying and they lie worse than Bill Clinton caught with his pants around his ankles. Unfortunately, when the far right lies, they kill hundreds of American soldiers, betray CIA operatives in the field and massacre thousands of innocent citizens in other countries while failing to catch or kill the leaders of those nations.