The always useless Cokie Roberts was on NPR's Morning Edition a few seconds ago doing one of her usual useless insta-analysis. Most days I walk in and out of the room as I'm doing the usual morning events. (And Roberts always hurries me out of the room that much faster.) But this morning Cokie spoke of chafing and, out of concern that she might be having a problem with Depends, I stood still long enough (her insta-analysis doesn't take much time fortunately) to hear her pontificate in her usual manner.
Spending cuts, what spending cuts? Cokes isn't worried. These programs (domestic) are popular with Republicans. That was one of the "great lessons" of the Reagan years, she insta-informed. (Gee, we thought it was deny slaughtering in Latin America loud enough and the press will back down? But there are so many "great lessons" from that ignoble period, how can you pick just one?)
There's no talk of the people that would be effected (cuts will happen, Cokes more or less intones) because that's never of interest to her.
But she gets to toss out David Stockton's name and, in her ususal slippery way, refer to the "trifecta" in such a way that she leaves room for plausible denial when confronted on that. Her point: Bully Boy always spoke of war and a recession as reasons to run up the deficit.
Cokes probably realizes that such statements feed into the Bully Boy's big lie that in the 2000 campaign he spoke of the "trifecta." (He didn't.) But she tosses out two reasons, and does so in her insta-analysis manner, in a way that allows her to be able to later say, "Well I wasn't referring to his claim of a trifecta during the 2000 campaign which is obviously false, I was referring to the importance he placed on the trifecta by making false statements after he got into office."
Cokes has been divorced from reality for so long that it may be time to cut off the alimony checks. And NPR staff should have long ago made a point of bringing up the people (you know, the ones who are really effected) instead of allowing her to ruminate over the Bully Boy. NPR needs to clamp down firmly on Cokes because her insider D.C. trivia is completely useless when the topic is how cuts might effect the average citizen -- a topic Cokes never addressed as she spoke of Reagan, the Bully Boy, etc.
