Surprise! Andrew Malcolm doesn't know what discretionary spending is

LA Times reporter Andrew Malcolm (R-CA) snarks about that which he does not understand:

So the president's firm federal freeze covers every single dollar of discretionary spending -- except for all Medicare spending and except for all Medicaid spending and except for any and all national defense spending. Everything else is frozen. Like the streets of Wasilla, Alaska. Oh, no, one more. Also excluded from the freeze is all Social Security spending.

Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security are not “discretionary spending.”

Insert your own punchline relating to Malcolm's previous employment as a Bush press secretary.

And take a look at how Malcolm refers to the President:

Spending and also deficits have shot up as voter concerns in recent polls, even as the hallowed healthcare legislation went on life support. This is because the community organizer's claim that giving health insurance coverage to 30,000,000 more Americans would actually save money sounds about as likely as those late-night TV commercials promising an extra $20,000 a month with a simple 800-phone call.

Next he'll start snarking about Barack Obama's birth certificate. Oh, wait: Nevermind.