That's the quote by John Boehner to CBS News this past week.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
It's at the 1:02 mark in the video:
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Ladies and Gentlemen, we have an anchor to hang around their necks.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
With respect to Edward G Robinson and Cecil B DeMille,
"Where's your AAA rating now, see?"
Here are some bits from the S&P statement:
“The downgrade reflects our opinion that the fiscal consolidation plan that Congress and the administration recently agreed to falls short of what, in our view, would be necessary to stabilize the government’s medium-term debt dynamics. More broadly, the downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges to a degree more than we envisioned when we assigned a negative outlook to the rating on April 18, 2011.”
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
The political brinksmanship of recent months highlights what we see as America’s governance and policymaking becoming less stable, less effective, and less predictable than what we previously believed. The statutory debt ceiling and the threat of default have become political bargaining chips in the debate over fiscal policy. Despite this year’s wide-ranging debate, in our view, the differences between political parties have proven to be extraordinarily difficult to bridge, and, as we see it, the resulting agreement fell well short of the comprehensive fiscal consolidation program that some proponents had envisaged until quite recently. Republicans and Democrats have only been able to agree to relatively modest savings on discretionary spending while delegating to the Select Committee decisions on more comprehensive measures. It appears that for now, new revenues have dropped down on the menu of policy options. In addition, the plan envisions only minor policy changes on Medicare and little change in other entitlements, the containment of which we and most other independent observers regard as key to long-term fiscal sustainability.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
And look at this last one:
Compared with previous projections, our revised base case scenario now assumes that the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, due to expire by the end of 2012, remain in place. We have changed our assumption on this because the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
You reap what you sow, Mr. Speaker.
Now, in all fairness, and I wouldn't be Liberal if I didn't go for some nuance, there's plenty of blame to go around. We know that a lot of the S&P statement focused on spending cuts. We know the statement talked about entitlements. We also know that this was a political move on the part of S&P as part of the Republican/Koch/Corporatist Vast Right Wing Conspiracy to destroy Democracy and America. We all know stronger Keynesian policies in 2009 would have prevented this somewhat. But that's another diary. This is all about the anchor John Boehner threw his entire party.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
The ads write themselves. Cue scary music:
"Millions continue to be out of work. Job growth stalls"
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
"Economic growth shrinks. The stock market tumbles"
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
"Our credit rating is downgraded, with worse to come"
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
Did he think no one would notice?
Go ahead. Try this argument out on your Teabaggy associates. I have.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
They RUN LIKE HELL away from this. Seriously. They don't even claim Boehner anymore. They say that the Republican Party doesn't represent them.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
We have a LOT of work to do in 2012. But let's put down the pie for a while and Make. Them. Own. This.
"I Got 98% Of What I Wanted. I'm Happy."
9:07 AM PT: If anyone has a link to video of Boehner, please let me know in the comments and I'll embed.