With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.
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Comments (51) (Please sign in to comment)
greenbrd said, 6 months ago
Well the two men took to fightin’
And when they pulled them from the floor
Boehner looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone
Basqueian said, 6 months ago
He’s still worried about his cushy job as speaker, not about what is good for the country. Just like all the Republicans, who care more about themselves than the country. Didn’t they used to call that “treason”? You can shout patriotism all you want, but it’s still treason to me. The germans insisted that that was patriotism back in the 30s, didn’t they?
mikefive said, 6 months ago
I really have no idea what budget differences between Obama and Boehner have to do with patriotism, but in using your logic both men must be ;unpatriotic since neither seem willing to compromise for the good of the country.
Tigger
said, 6 months ago
How soon we forget.. From January 2007 to December 2010. The Democrat Controlled House led by Ms. Nancy Pelosi failed to Pass a Budget.
Where is the ire from Liberals over Democrats failing to pass a Budget from 2007 to 2010?
Ransom D Stone said, 6 months ago
@Tigger
Spilt milk.
Ms. Ima said, 6 months ago
The cliff is coming. O will be vacationing in Hawaii blaming the Republicans.
Christopher Shea said, 6 months ago
Well, if the Republicans would name a single cut they want to make or a loophole they want to close instead of demanding Obama do the work for them…
mikefive said, 6 months ago
@Christopher Shea
I can see no reason that Obama couldn’t say that he is will to make cuts in X, Y, and Z if you guys are willing to raise taxes on A, B, and C. It would display leadership.
Doughfoot said, 6 months ago
Don’t forget folks, the fiscal cliff was created by the GOP: it is entirely artificial. There is a long-term debt problem: there is no debt crisis except one made up for partisan purposes. No, we are not on the verge of “becoming Greece.” Simply a lie.
Not to mention the fact that going over the cliff we have few immediate consequences. Going over it will be an expensive nuisance, but it will be easy enough to climb back up if it is done in a month or two.
You want to make serious cuts spending? Okay! Where? Defense? Law Enforcement? Maintenance of infrastructure? Support for the elderly and sick? Abandoning our air and water and soil to contamination by people who can afford to live upwind? Cutting means suffering to somebody. Who do you want to suffer?
It is no surprise that the GOP refuses to make any specific offers. They want the cuts to be made — but only if they can coerce the democrats into making them, so they can then blame the democrats for cutting the wrong things.
Some folks say liberals are people who just want free stuff at other’s expense. Yet all the liberals I know are perfectly willing to get less and pay more if that’s what the country needs. I don’t hear many conservatives saying that, but perhaps they are out there. They’ll talk about hard choices and painful measures, but only for the other guy to suffer.
Once again, my challenge to all deficit hawks: Tell us what spending or programs (or tax deductions or subsidies) THAT BENEFIT YOU PERSONALLY do you want to cut? Or do you only want this “terrible problem” to be solved if you don’t have to lose a dime solving it?
I’ll start. I’ll give up my itemized tax return in favor of the standard deduction. No more deductions for my mortgage interest or my charitable gifts. What I won’t give up are those things that support folks who aren’t as lucky as I have been. Your turn.
lafayetteann said, 6 months ago
@Tigger
And from 2001 to 2008, President Bush squandered our money and ran up an immoral deficit. That’s where the ire is.
dannysixpack said, 6 months ago
^ well said. you’re obviously a communist! (<— sarcasm).
i’d like to see government waste in defense cut, as well as the perpetual wars. It’s not right to make obscene profits on wars.
ARodney said, 6 months ago
Um, Obama DID say he was willing to “make cuts in X, Y, and Z if you guys are willing to raise taxes on A, B, and C.” His original proposal, combined with the more than one trillion dollar cuts not balanced by ANY taxes in the original deal that set up the austerity bomb, contain a lot of detail, and the things in his new proposal are good economics as well. Top tax rates go up, dividends and interest taxed as normal income (none of that will affect the economy, since the rich will still invest), $400 billion in cuts to Medicare (you can do that without hurting benefits by just letting Medicare negotiate drug prices like private insurance does), $50 billion in infrastructure improvement bank support to get the economy moving again (another of those conservative ideas that the Republicans are disavowing because it’s good policy and Obama supports it). The Republicans have said no, give us something we can live with, but we can’t tell you what that is. Since their constituents, corporations and the rich, are off limits; they;ll only accept things that hurt the poor and middle class, so they want Obama to propose it, so that even though he knows it’s horrible policy (and it is), the Republicans want to be able to blame him for it later. Remember the “Obama cut Medicare,” and “Death Panels” lies? The failure of leadership is not on the Democratic side!
Omnius said, 6 months ago
Crybaby Boehner wants Obama to name cuts in spending so that he can then turn around and blame Obama for spending cuts. Crybaby Boehner has no courage to name the cuts he wants, nor do any of the recalcitrant republicans who are playing petty partisan politics instead of working to help lift up our country from the bushwhacked economy they wrought upon us.
Fourcrows said, 6 months ago
@Doughfoot
Thank you, Doughfoot. Very logical post. Now lets see the one line, inane and childish responses it gets.
I Play One On TV said, 6 months ago
@Doughfoot
What he said. Well done.
I’d be more specific about cuts to the military. First I’d find out how GE and other defense contractors reduce their taxes, and eliminate as many of those deductions as possible. Hey, we pay them; they earn money in the US. They should pay taxes like us ordinary folks. I think that will hurt the populace the least.