{"id":14655,"date":"2013-02-19T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2013-02-19T10:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?p=14655"},"modified":"2013-02-18T21:38:59","modified_gmt":"2013-02-19T02:38:59","slug":"the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of the Union & Mardi Gras"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

OK, this is rather belated, but still. . . .The quite liberal Dana Milbank takes the prize for best comments on the State of the Union Address:<\/p>\n

There is something entirely appropriate about holding the State of the Union address on the same day as Mardi Gras.<\/p>\n

One is a display of wretched excess, when giddy and rowdy participants give in to reckless and irresponsible behavior.<\/p>\n

The other is a street festival in New Orleans.<\/p>\n

There is, thankfully, less nudity in the House chamber for the president\u2019s annual address, and (slightly) less inebriation. But what occurs beneath the Capitol Dome is as debauched as anything on Bourbon Street. . . .<\/p>\n

But this spectacle, unlike the one in Louisiana, is not all harmless fun. Obama made clear that he is not entertaining serious spending cuts or major entitlement reforms. Republicans, in their responses, repeated that they are not budging on taxes. The hard choices will have to wait for another day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

The standoff gives new meaning to Fat Tuesday: The nation\u2019s finances are a mess, but \u2014 what the heck? \u2014 let\u2019s have another round.. . .<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Washington\u2019s version of Mardi Gras had begun early in the day, at the Capitol South Metro station, where members of a nonpartisan balanced-budget group, Bankrupting America, offered beads to passersby willing to \u201cshow us your cuts.\u201d<\/p>\n

By that standard, few necklaces would be distributed. Democrats and Republicans alike would sooner bare their private parts than come clean about what government programs they would cut. Even Ryan, who is drafting a budget that could slash domestic discretionary spending by 40 percent over a decade, doesn\u2019t like to be specific.\u00a0And House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi says, \u201cIt is almost a false argument to say we have a spending problem<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelosi\u2019s formulation is just as reckless as the Republicans\u2019 mantra: \u201cWe don\u2019t have a revenue problem; we have a spending problem.\u201d<\/p>\n

In reality, we eventually need both spending cuts and tax increases \u2014 and lots of them. But sacrifice will have to wait. In Washington, they\u2019re still partying like there\u2019s no tomorrow.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

via Dana Milbank: State of the Union and Mardi Gras \u2014 what a coincidence \u2013 The Washington Post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laissez les bons temps rouler!<\/h1>\n

\u00a0<\/p><\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

OK, this is rather belated, but still. . . .The quite liberal Dana Milbank takes the prize for best comments on the State of the Union Address: There is something entirely appropriate about holding the State of the Union address on the same day as Mardi Gras. One is a display of wretched excess, when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19,21],"tags":[657,1880,2092],"class_list":["post-14655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-government","category-holidays","tag-democrats","tag-republicans","tag-state-of-the-union-address"],"yoast_head":"\nThe State of the Union & Mardi Gras<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"OK, this is rather belated, but still. . . .The quite liberal Dana Milbank takes the prize for best comments on the State of the Union Address: There is\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The State of the Union & Mardi Gras\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"OK, this is rather belated, but still. . . .The quite liberal Dana Milbank takes the prize for best comments on the State of the Union Address: There is\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cranach\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/cranachblog\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-19T10:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-19T02:38:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gene Veith\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/\",\"name\":\"The State of the Union & Mardi Gras\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-19T10:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-19T02:38:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\"},\"description\":\"OK, this is rather belated, but still. . . .The quite liberal Dana Milbank takes the prize for best comments on the State of the Union Address: There is\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2013\/02\/the-state-of-the-union-mardi-gras\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The State of the Union & Mardi Gras\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/\",\"name\":\"Cranach\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/f9ca8670bcc51908a78994c0484dbfa1\",\"name\":\"Gene Veith\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/054d79faea5d476edd8f99e5f14fb17f?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gene Veith\"},\"description\":\"Gene Edward Veith, Jr. is a writer and retired literature professor, serving as Provost Emeritus at Patrick Henry College. 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