Opinion: April 28 buzz: Budget and ‘birther’ battles
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Most viewed: The right budget battle to watch
Forget the royal wedding. Back in the real world, we’re worried we’ll fall back into another recession, which could happen if Congress doesn’t lift the debt ceiling. Michele Bachmann, Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty are among the Republicans who don’t wish to raise the debt ceiling, writes Doyle McManus in his Thursday column, which assures readers not to worry quite yet. Here’s when the sparks will fly:
How that deal comes out will affect voters’ perceptions of the two parties, and their seriousness in addressing a deficit problem that a growing number of Americans want solved. It will produce winners and losers, affecting Obama’s chances of winning reelection and the GOP’s chances of taking control of both houses of Congress. And it will serve as prelude to the renewed budget negotiations that will take place after the 2012 election is concluded. Those negotiations will almost certainly include yet another showdown over the debt ceiling, this time under a new balance of power.
Most commented and shared: Enough of ‘birther’ baloney
From the editorial board, which is as exasperated as President Obama about the rumor that he wasn’t born in the United States:
Boehner and other political figures should make it clear to their constituents that for them the case is closed. They should treat birthers with the same contempt visited upon ‘truthers,’ who claim that the U.S. government was implicated in 9/11. Conspiracy theories have long lives, especially in the age of the Internet. But they shouldn’t be abetted by leaders who know better.
Commenter TimBowman agrees:
As a Republican, I declare that I believe both the President and the evidence, and I call on all Republicans to do the same, along with renouncing those who won’t let go of this. We have better and real things with which to disagree with the President and it is time and effort better spent.
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--Alexandra Le Tellier
