Rep. Allen West: Steadfast and loyal
... and stone cold stupid
Add Rep. Allen West (R-Of course), the self-appointed "Steadfast and Loyal" monitor of Not-a-Lady behavior in the House, to the growing list of Republicans who are blaming Obama for the Standard & Poors downgrade of the nation's credit rating. Via Think Progress:
Tea Party Rep. Allen West (R-FL) blamed Standard & Poor’s downgrade of U.S. debt squarely on Democrats, saying this morning on Fox and Friends that “they are the ones that are totally to blame.” West added that the downgrade “has nothing to do with increasing revenues by tax hikes,” saying only spending mattered.
This is, no doubt, news to S&P, which last week explained its downgrade:
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.
And, as Jed noted earlier, this downgrade came on the heels of Speaker John Boehner getting 98 percent of what he wanted. Which made him "pretty happy."
So completely contrary to West's claims on Fox, the Republicans are totally to blame and it has everything to do with their resistance to raising revenues. In other words, West is wrong. Completely, totally wrong. But that's West for you: steadfast and loyal … and stone cold stupid.