Just about the only specific piece of the Gang of Six proposal, as explained well by Rep. Peter DeFazio in the video, is the move to chained CPI, a benefit cut for Social Security, veteran’s benefits and any program with a cost of living adjustment, along with a regressive tax cut. So that should give you a flavor for the biases of the Gang of Six, and where their proposal is headed.

Normally I consider myself pretty good at seeing through the political theater in Washington and figuring out what the maneuvering is really about. This time though, I’m really at a loss. What is going on appears to be less like a traditional PR political dance and more like a legislative mosh pit.

The headline progressives are in full retreat. They have found out the hard way that their bleeding heart pleadings — ‘yes, the financial markets might destroy us, but how can we cut this or that worthy cause’ — don’t cut it. They have fallen into the out of paradigm world that takes it as gospel that the U.S. is at imminent risk of becoming the next Greece; where financial markets can cut off funding and ability to spend and force the giving up of national sovereignty and begging for an IMF bailout, or else, face the option of default or printing money, which launches one down that slippery slope to hyperinflation… bla bla bla…

I was one of 2700 people who pledged to visit members of congress on July 19 and let them know I won’t vote for anyone who votes to cut Social Security or Medicare benefits. I went to Capitol Hill and visited some 40 offices with FDL readers weedpicker and Noel Q, who acted as cameraman. I gave each office a copy of our handout on Social Security and Medicare (PDF), and told them that 50,000 people had pledged not to vote for anyone who voted to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.

That 72% figure is oddly familiar.

Almost as astonishing is that it took them a year to determine the settlement terms. Now that we see it for what it is, you’re talking about hundreds of dollars per borrower, not thousands, on systemic abuses. Remember, Countrywide’s CEO Angelo Mozilo isn’t going to jail for any of this.

I find this almost unbelievable, and I expect a walkback anytime now, but Grover Norquist told the Washington Post editorial board today that letting the Bush tax cuts expire would not constitute a tax increase for the purposes of his anti-tax pledge.

I have been talking to numerous Hill offices trying to figure out what they’re hearing on the chaotic debt ceiling debate. Someone mentioned something last night that I found odd, so I’ve been calling around trying to confirm it. But basically, I can’t find anyone in the Senate or House who says the banks are whipping this.

There were conflicting reports yesterday about whether or not the White House and Congressional leaders were working on a short-term fix for the debt limit to buy more time for the ultimate solution. Throughout this debate, President Obama has said that he would never sign a short-term increase, but it wasn’t an entirely credible threat, because it would mean that, during an endgame situation, he would have to veto a bill and send the country into default, something I don’t believe he was prepared to do.

Former Secretary of Education and CNN contributor William Bennett joins the ranks of those seeking to deflect attention away from the News Corp phone hacking scandal by comparing the scandal to WikiLeaks. He also joins a cadre of people, who are using the scandal to whip up hysteria about the “unethical” conduct of the press in America when it comes to coverage of national security matters.