ow, my balls!

Then spake Atrios of Eschaton, and said:

Nobody actually cares about the deficit, least of all the people that claim to. Even though it makes no sense at all, deficit fetishism is primarily a way to push tax cuts (this only works because of the Bluto Blutarsky level of intelligence of people like Dancing Dave) and secondarily a way to cut the small bits of money we spend to help desperately poor people.

(Note to the uninitiated: "Dancing Dave" refers to David Gregory, host of NBC's Sunday-morning political gabfest, "Meet the Press," or "Press the Meat" as it's sometimes known. Bluto Blutarsky was a drunken, oafish buffoon played by the late John Belushi in the film "Animal House.")