The Speaker's Scoring (Wait, So What's in My Sausage?)

As newly minted Speaker Paul Ryan begins officially presiding over the House (as well as the illusion of a unified Republican caucus), all eyes are on the looming slugfest over government spending. Even with a shutdown-stymying budget proposal moving through Congress, the GOP will continue to push for conservative-flavored budget policies. Ryan himself has made reformative budget proposals a hallmark of his political career, being known for authoring "annual budgets that make hard choices about where money is spent (and not spent) by the government." But Ryan's figures have increasingly relied on an analytical process known as "dynamic scoring," and to say "the devil's in the details" would be overstating these particular details' tangibility.

There is a quote often attributed to German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck which compares the legislative process to sausage making. The basic premise is that, like sausages, if you knew what went into making your laws you would find them, shall we say, unpalatable.
Dynamic scoring is perhaps the most offensive of ingredients in the current legislative sausage. In essence, it is the metric used to substantiate supply-side economic theory a la GOP policy. Dynamic scoring seeks to predict the theoretical increase in government revenue that would come from spending cuts and other Republican favored economic reforms (such as the re-consolidation of tax brackets and the elimination of the capital gains tax).

As is often with a pungent ingredient, dynamic scoring does have its use in small doses. It can be useful and even necessary for anyone attempting to project the effects of certain variables on economic policy, such as the amount of spending by undocumented immigrants. Beyond such considerations, the accuracy and effectiveness of dynamic scoring in projecting economic growth is highly questionable. Yet, starting with Reagan, it has continued to be used by Republicans in justifying the trickle-downability of their proposed policies. Now Paul Ryan has made dynamic scoring a buzzword again, using it throughout his succession of budget proposals like Paula Deen uses butter. The whole thing makes one wonder if Paul Ryan is stealing a little of his ideas from Amway brochures.

Certainly, the next few months leading into election season are sure to be filled with dramatic displays of economic tug-of-war in the House. As for Paul Ryan, his position as speaker is still too fresh to predict exactly what cards he’s holding, but if his past proposals are any indication, prepare for the wurst.

Spocko on Shootings & Spin

Crooks and Liars’ resident writer Spocko has recently written an interesting editorial on gun control entitled “How To Get More Than ‘Routine Media Coverage’ From Your State’s Mass Shooting.” In it, Spocko argues that the key to changing our national perception on gun control is by seizing control of how mainstream media represents the controversy. This has been argued vehemently before, by Spocko in particular as well as many others writing for Crooks and Liars, but Spocko has found a pragmatic approach to reversing the public numbness towards continual mass shootings.

The idea is to sell the story to the media as sensationalism, since only profitable drama trumps the naive objectivity practiced by much of today’s mainstream media. Spocko advises liberals to keep the political opponents of gun control center stage in the court of public opinion. The goal is to scandalize the American public, creating a viral backlash much like what has befallen certain over-scrutinized celebrities. In a way, this echoes the tactics of Andy Parker, the father of a slain Virginian journalist who has seized the media’s attention by calling out politicians by name, labeling anti-gun control politicians as “cowards.”

It really is not surprising that Crooks and Liars is openly arguing to propagandize gun control and demonize its opponents, since the blog is a bit of a repository for the most unabashedly biased of liberals. That being said, Spocko’s suggestion has the potential to be very effective. As mainstream media turns more towards soft journalism to keep profits coming, it might be worth a trojan horse or two getting through to get the public talking about the welfare of our country. Whether morally dubious or simply practical politics, Spocko’s advice is worth a read.