Transparency! Obama signs debt ceiling deal in secret

Remember those calls for a more transparent government from Obama in 2008? Here's some change for ya:

Why in secret? This is probably it: Poll: Majority of Americans disapprove of debt deal

Just 44 percent of Americans approve of the agreement between Democrats and Republicans to “raise the federal government’s debt ceiling through the year 2013 and make major cuts in government spending over the next few years,” while 52 percent disapprove.

Republicans and independents are driving this disapproval. Democrats approve of the agreement, 63 percent to 32 percent. But only 35 percent of Republicans and independents approve of the agreement. More than three-in-five independents disapprove.

Specific elements of the agreement are more popular than the agreement overall, however, suggesting the tumultuous and often times messy process had a negative impact on Americans and their perception of Washington. One measure of that: the percentage of Americans who approve of the way Congress is handling its job has shrunk to an abysmal 14 percent, easily the lowest measure in five years of CNN polling.

You can't, after all, solve a debt problem by piling on more debt. And from the NY Daily News via memeorandum: Pols all ‘look like idiots’ during debt crisis, but President Obama takes biggest hit of them all

...even Obama loyalists on Capitol Hill privately say he didn't exactly burnish his leadership credentials in this process. "At the end of the day, voters expect their President to bring people together," one of them said. "He hasn't been able to on this."

Or anything else I might add. His form of bipartisanship is quite unilateral.

UPDATE: From Gallup: Poll: Obama weekly approval hits new low, but liberal support stays high

Ron Paul on non-cut cuts: "this is the type of math Washington uses to mask the incriminating truth about their unrepentant plundering of the American people"

Via memeorandum: When a cut is not a cut

...the "cuts" being discussed are illusory, and are not cuts from current amounts being spent, but cuts in projected spending increases.  This is akin to a family "saving" $100,000 in expenses by deciding not to buy a Lamborghini, and instead getting a fully loaded Mercedes, when really their budget dictates that they need to stick with their perfectly serviceable Honda.  But this is the type of math Washington uses to mask the incriminating truth about their unrepentant plundering of the American people.

It's along the same lines as Paul Ryan just the other day:Video: Rep. Paul Ryan Destroys Reid Bill Proposal in Blistering Speech; ‘Let’s Cover the Moon with Yogurt!’

More from Paul:

The truth is that frightening rhetoric about default and full faith and credit of the United States is being carelessly thrown around to ram through a bigger budget than ever, in spite of stagnant revenues.  If your family's income did not change year over year, would it be wise financial management to accelerate spending so you would feel richer?  That is what our government is doing, with one side merely suggesting a different list of purchases than the other.

In reality, bringing our fiscal house into order is not that complicated or excruciatingly painful at all.  If we simply kept spending at current levels, by their definition of "cuts" that would save nearly $400 billion in the next few years, versus the $25 billion the Budget Control Act claims to "cut".  It would only take us 5 years to "cut" $1 trillion, in Washington math, just by holding the line on spending.  That is hardly austere or catastrophic.

Except to the ruling class.

Rush Limbaugh: The White House Is Beside Themselves With Joy Over This Deal

Well of course it is. They have been given $2.4 trillion that is stolen from our children and grandchildren. It is generational theft. And it gets Obama beyond the 2012 election which was his only real priority here:

The debt deal is a stinker and the sane know it: Johnson On Greta: Debt Deal "Totally Inadequate" 

You can't solve a debt problem by incurring more debt, any more than you can cure alcoholism by drinking some more. Speaking of debt, via Instapundit: THE SPENDING IS NUTS: First Prize Winner In the Power Line Prize.

Palin Decides She Doesn’t Like McConnell Plan, Immediately Invents A Reason For Why It Is Unconstitutional

By Ian Millhiser/think progressEarlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed an odd way to end the debt ceiling crisis: Republicans will stop holding the economy hostage and effectively allow the debt ceiling to be raised without requiring any budget cuts, if Obama gives them 12 opportunities to bash his fiscal policies.McConnell’s plan to accept political theater as

Palin Decides She Doesn’t Like McConnell Plan, Immediately Invents A Reason For Why It Is Unconstitutional

By Ian Millhiser/think progressEarlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed an odd way to end the debt ceiling crisis: Republicans will stop holding the economy hostage and effectively allow the debt ceiling to be raised without requiring any budget cuts, if Obama gives them 12 opportunities to bash his fiscal policies.McConnell’s plan to accept political theater as

Palin Decides She Doesn’t Like McConnell Plan, Immediately Invents A Reason For Why It Is Unconstitutional

By Ian Millhiser/think progressEarlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed an odd way to end the debt ceiling crisis: Republicans will stop holding the economy hostage and effectively allow the debt ceiling to be raised without requiring any budget cuts, if Obama gives them 12 opportunities to bash his fiscal policies.McConnell’s plan to accept political theater as

Palin Decides She Doesn’t Like McConnell Plan, Immediately Invents A Reason For Why It Is Unconstitutional

By Ian Millhiser/think progressEarlier this week, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) proposed an odd way to end the debt ceiling crisis: Republicans will stop holding the economy hostage and effectively allow the debt ceiling to be raised without requiring any budget cuts, if Obama gives them 12 opportunities to bash his fiscal policies.McConnell’s plan to accept political theater as

Democrats Highlight Possible Perils Of Default: No Border Patrol Agents, Student Loans, Food Inspectors

By Marie Diamond/Think ProgressThis morning, a group of Democratic senators came together to warn the country about the disastrous consequences of defaulting on our debt for the first time in U.S. history. Their Republican counterparts are still denying the country would default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2, and insist the Treasury hasplenty of money to pay all of our bills. Several

Democrats Highlight Possible Perils Of Default: No Border Patrol Agents, Student Loans, Food Inspectors

By Marie Diamond/Think ProgressThis morning, a group of Democratic senators came together to warn the country about the disastrous consequences of defaulting on our debt for the first time in U.S. history. Their Republican counterparts are still denying the country would default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2, and insist the Treasury hasplenty of money to pay all of our bills. Several

Democrats Highlight Possible Perils Of Default: No Border Patrol Agents, Student Loans, Food Inspectors

By Marie Diamond/Think ProgressThis morning, a group of Democratic senators came together to warn the country about the disastrous consequences of defaulting on our debt for the first time in U.S. history. Their Republican counterparts are still denying the country would default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2, and insist the Treasury hasplenty of money to pay all of our bills. Several

Democrats Highlight Possible Perils Of Default: No Border Patrol Agents, Student Loans, Food Inspectors

By Marie Diamond/Think ProgressThis morning, a group of Democratic senators came together to warn the country about the disastrous consequences of defaulting on our debt for the first time in U.S. history. Their Republican counterparts are still denying the country would default if the debt ceiling isn’t raised by Aug. 2, and insist the Treasury hasplenty of money to pay all of our bills. Several

Chris Matthews Clowns Steve King, Forces Iowa Congressman To Admit He Doesn’t ‘Trust The Words Of Any Source’

By Faiz Shakir /Think ProgressReps. Steve King (R-IA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced a bill today that they claim would help manage a government default if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2. The legislation is motivated by the right-wing triumvirate’s view that the default would not have severe repercussions on our economy. “I think we have plenty of money to

Chris Matthews Clowns Steve King, Forces Iowa Congressman To Admit He Doesn’t ‘Trust The Words Of Any Source’

By Faiz Shakir /Think ProgressReps. Steve King (R-IA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced a bill today that they claim would help manage a government default if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2. The legislation is motivated by the right-wing triumvirate’s view that the default would not have severe repercussions on our economy. “I think we have plenty of money to

Chris Matthews Clowns Steve King, Forces Iowa Congressman To Admit He Doesn’t ‘Trust The Words Of Any Source’

By Faiz Shakir /Think ProgressReps. Steve King (R-IA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced a bill today that they claim would help manage a government default if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2. The legislation is motivated by the right-wing triumvirate’s view that the default would not have severe repercussions on our economy. “I think we have plenty of money to

Chris Matthews Clowns Steve King, Forces Iowa Congressman To Admit He Doesn’t ‘Trust The Words Of Any Source’

By Faiz Shakir /Think ProgressReps. Steve King (R-IA), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), and Louie Gohmert (R-TX) introduced a bill today that they claim would help manage a government default if the debt limit is not raised by Aug. 2. The legislation is motivated by the right-wing triumvirate’s view that the default would not have severe repercussions on our economy. “I think we have plenty of money to