The Republican "Budget"

by hilzoy

I've been trying to figure out what to say about the House Republicans' new "budget". I think it's pretty neat that they decided to use those cute bubbles instead of numbers. Maybe next week they'll present their budget using interpretive dance or little animated jelly beans.

I also like the way they say serious-sounding things like this:

"Republicans believe that future generations should not be burdened by mountains of debt for the misguided choices made by Democrats today. Instead, working families should be able to keep more of what they earn and pass those savings to future generations." (p. 10)

-- and then go on to propose a whole raft of new tax cuts and only one specific spending cut, "ending the bailouts". The whole thing has a sort of Dada quality to it that's almost endearing. But I wasn't sure what level of ridicule could possibly be adequate to it.

Luckily, Nate Silver has the answer:

Via John Cole, a Fark thread has some interesting suggestions:

There are lots more where that came from. Enjoy!

Comments

[Warren Terra]

From quite early in the Fark thread, if I can get this to work, I rather liked the way this one adapted the original image:

[Warren Terra]

There's also an alternate version of the one you used, Hilzoy, which might be very funny to those people who aren't allergic to Lolcats:

(Although if I have my Lolcat grammar correct, that should be conjugated "I are serious chart.")

[hilzoy]

Heh. I also liked this one:

and this:

[ral]

For some reason, I think of Windstorm in Bubbleland.

There's never, never, never, never, never any trouble here in Bubbleland, Bubbleland, Bubbleland.

[Slartibartfast]

I am intrigued by the idea of eliminating Idaho and Delaware, and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

[liberal japonicus]

not a native speaker of it, but I think it should be

"I iz a serius budget"

[Fledermaus]

I still like the crayon drawing of the bald eagle hi-fiveing Jesus

[Dave C (the uppity newcomer)]

This one is simultaneously apt, hilarious and full of nostalgia if you were a pc-using kid in the early '90's:

http://i268.photobucket.com/albums/jj4/roscada/recovery.jpg" WIDTH="41" HEIGHT="41" BORDER="0">

[cleek]

what i really like is that the graph is not a directed graph - there's no indication as to which way the process is supposed to flow. in fact there is no process or flow; what they actually have is a set of vague sentence fragments which are somehow related; the graph doesn't tell us what the relation is, of course.

which is a perfect metaphor for modern conservatism.

[Slartibartfast]

Here's a cool and useful flowchart:

http://xkcd.com/518/

[monkeybars]

Another good flowchart. Note the easily understandable directionality.

http://incredimazing.com/page/Bacon_Flowchart