Once more, with feeling: There was no 'deficit commission report'

The Very Serious People seem to be Very Seriously Committed to Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson and their catfood commission. To the point that they continue to spread Very Serious Lies about that commission.

There was no report from President Obama's deficit commission. The rules under which the commission could issue a report were very clear. It had to have the support of 14 of the 18 members in a vote that took place by December 1, 2010. There was no vote taken by that date, although 12 of the 18 members did indicate their support for a report produced by the commission co-chairs, Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, on December 2.

This means that there was no commission report. Therefore, when Dan Balz tells Washington Post readers about the recommendations of the deficit commission, he either has no clue what he is talking about or he is deliberately deceiving Washington Post readers. If he wants to be honest, he is welcome to refer to it as a report of the co-chairs and to even point out that the report had support of 12 of the 18 commissioners, but it is simply not accurate to describe it as a report of the commission.

It's not just Dan Balz and his buddy punditry. It's every politician who wants to sound Very Serious about the deficit, so that they can do things like raise the eligibility age for Medicare, or the retirement age for Social Security. But that doesn't mean it's not a lie.

Source: http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/FAqCYJNJ2uc/-Once-more,-with-feeling:-There-was-no-deficit-commissionreport

Alvin Green John Mccain