Morning TV Pundits Driving Me Crazy

Watching Morning Joe today as I get dressed, listening to Pat Buchanan and crew talk about the deficit, and I just keep wanting to throw something through the television as hear all the misinformation:

• Yes, it's a good point that non-defense discretionary spending is only 12% of the budget and can't be used solely to solve the budget deficit.  I'm glad that point is now made all the time.  And then pundits rightfully point out that Defense spending has to be confronted.  But then we hear about "entitlements"- we have to "do something about Medicare and Social Security".  Actually, Medicare and Social Security are very different issues and need to be discussed separately.  Social Security is a simple program with a simple funding scheme- all we have to do raise revenues (in some way) or cut benefits (in some way) moderately and the problem will be easily solved.  Medicare is the real problem in the long term, which is why it's really about health care.  So I'd like to see pundits hold the budget hawks' feet to the fire on their plans for health care spending, because that's where the real challenge is.
• Nobody talks about tax increases as part of the solution to the budget problem, except when trying to draw a false equivalency.  Here's Joe Scarborough in Politico today:

There are elements of the GOP spending plan that cause me great concern. The belief of some on the right that America can balance the budget by cutting education, infrastructure, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and home heating assistance to the poor is tantamount to budgetary witchcraft. Also, enough with the argument that eliminating earmarks will balance the budget. That is as ignorant as liberals believing that all problems will be solved if we raise taxes and cut defense. Those left-wing “cure-all’s” won’t solve our structural debt problem any more than some Republicans’ plan to simply slash domestic spending.

Yeah, that causes me concern too, but look at how he characterizes liberals: they think you can balance the budget by raising taxes and cutting spending!  Whereas conservatives believe we can balance it by cutting just discretionary spending.  One side is pretty close to accurate, the other side is living in Wonderland.

Alright, got that off my chest, off to work now.