As the heat continued to rise in negotiations over whether (and/or how much) to increase our national debt limit, President Obama tried to scold Republicans into being more cooperative by suggesting that they needed to act more like Reagan and be willing to compromise.

"Ronald Reagan repeatedly took steps that included revenue, in order for him to accomplish some of these larger goals," Obama told CBS in an interview.  "And the question is if Ronald Reagan could compromise -- why wouldn't folks who idolize Ronald Reagan be willing to engage in those same kinds of compromises."

Of course, as you can imagine, Obama is clearly (and intentionally) misleading in how he characterizes Reagan, and what he would have done.  And the article doesn't do much better.  It goes on to report:

He (Reagan) was known for adopting aggressive tax cuts, but amid a burgeoning deficit agreed to several measures designed to raise revenue for government coffers such as closing loopholes and cutting tax breaks.

In a parallel with today's drama being played out between Democrat Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner, Reagan forged a budget with Democratic speaker Tip O'Neill despite their political and ideological differences. read more »

There's a wonderful new video out that offers a simple, easy to understand visualization of President Obama's proposed "cuts" to the federal budget.  It demonstrates how ridiculously insignificant and insincere they truly are.

Take a moment and help educate others by promoting a link to this page, or forwarding it to others via email.

(The video is here...)

From the long list of ironies when it comes to our government and how it operates, comes the news that Obama's bipartisan deficit commission is about to run out of operating funds.

If you remember, this was the commission that Obama created by executive order back in April because he didn't want to go along with a congressional version being pushed by Republicans that would have taken tax increases off the table in terms of recommendations that the commission could make (and force to a vote in Congress).

From the Fiscal Times:

The 18-member commission faces the daunting challenge of coming up with proposals by Dec. 1 to tame the federal government’s trillion-dollar budget deficit.  But the panel’s own budget is only $500,000, barely enough to cover office rent and the salaries of four staff members.  read more »

In years past, most major political blowups over American fiscal policy that altered the political landscape were over the revenue side of the equation, meaning taxes.  People begin to feel the pinch of higher taxes and they fight back, demanding that elected officials cut taxes, and supporting political candidates who promise that they will do just that.  In some states, they've even been able to get initiatives on the ballot and push tax cuts themselves - California's prop 13 comes to mind.

But as Michael Barone points out, the new Tea Party related political activism over fiscal issues is different from the fiscal fights of the past.  Now it's about spending.

What we are seeing is a spontaneous rush of previously inactive citizens into political activity, a movement symbolized but not limited to the Tea Party movement, in response to the vast increases in federal spending that began with the Troubled Asset Relief Program legislation in fall 2008 and accelerated with the Obama Democrats' stimulus package, budget and health care bills. read more »