Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts
Showing posts with label John Boehner. Show all posts

Monday, January 25, 2016

How will GOP Congress exploit Polish Jew Socialist as president?




A Republican Congress has done a commendable job of abusing an African-American President who was elected in a landslide in 2008 and re-elected in 2012 with another...landslide. Sen. Mitch McConnell said immediately in 2008, "My number one priority is making sure president Obama’s a one-term president." This dufus has been eating his words ever since. And he, along with dufus 2, former speaker John Boehner, have done everything in their power to thwart everything the President has undertaken.

But here is a list of Obama's accomplishments. Among the ninety by 3 Chics Politoco are Iraq troop withdrawal, passed The Affordable Care Act, Financial industry reform that prevented a second Great depression, killed Osama bin Laden, and obviously many more. You get the picture. But throughout this man's Presidency the beltway bunglers have dogged him on every issue, holding him in contempt for doing the things the American public wanted.

Enter a Polish Jew who is a Democratic Socialist and I wonder what Mitch McConnell will say about him, that is if he is still Senate Majority leader, or even in the Senate when Bernie Sanders takes over the White House? Apparently Obama being black was enough for Republicans, admit it or not. Bernie is Polish; will that bring back the Polish jokes of the 1960s? He is a Jew, but, wait, the GOP is desperate to wrest the Jewish vote from the Democrats.

So that leaves the fact that Sanders is a Democratic Socialist and I am sure the Republican hate machines will make the most of that. Sen. Claire McCaskill has already fired the first salvo saying “I think it would be absolutely impossible for a self-declared socialist to win states like Missouri." These shallow thinkers like McCaskill don't even realize that three of America's greatest institutions are Socialistic: The Post Office; Social Security; and Medicare.

A Gallup Poll in 2010 said that 36% of the American public viewed Socialism positively and that acceptance has grown over the last five years. So take your pick. He's Polish, he's a Jew and he's a Democratic Socialist. Who wants to bet on what the GOP will pick to try and bring him down after he is elected? Whatever that is it won't work with the Bern either.

Friday, December 11, 2015

Today's NRA Congressional Gun Whore



Toda's NRA Congressional Gun Whore is former Speaker of the House John Boehner, who took at least $4,950 from the National Rifle Assn. in 2014.

Monday, April 13, 2015

DOES HILLARY CLINTON HAVE TO BE MORE PROGRESSIVE FOR 2016?


Hillary Clinton says, well, maybe just that much. Whether or not she decides to move further left, that bunch of loafing Progressives out there who have not been voting had better step up to the plate in 2016 and bring home the White House to Democrats again. Aljazeera America has chastised this voting group for its propensity for staying away from the polls if it doesn't get the exact candidate it wants. This is about as immature as it gets when you consider the results of losing this vote. We now have a Republican-controlled Congress. If you people in this category can look at the shenanigans of a John Boehner and Mitch Mitchell and not start getting in line for the 2016 voting polls right now I guess you never will. Don't know whether it's laziness, or whether it rained that day, maybe you were hungover or some other stupid excuse. How is it that the GOP can rally its people to turn out, conservative to moderate, but Progressives just stay home. If you can't understand what you're doing to this country, you have failed as a liberal.

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

FANATICISM IS INHERENT IN REPUBLICAN GENES



In his blog Robert Reich said, "The Only Way Left to Beat Republican Fanatics: Call Their Bluff and Go Over the Cliff." That was in 2012 when John Boehner couldn't convince the very right House Republicans to raise taxes even on millionaires. He added, "...that fits the fanatic's strategy exactly." In 2013, when Sen. (now Presidential candidate) Ted Cruz was instrumental in literally shutting down the government, one of his fellow Republican Senators in a meeting among several more Senators, including Cruz, said, “It was very evident to everyone in the room that Cruz doesn’t have a strategy – he never had a strategy, and could never answer a question about what the end-game was.” Yet the man still wants to be president.

Friday, November 21, 2014

GOP "PARTY OF STUPID" BY ONE OF ITS OWN

I knew Richard (never call him Dick) Viguerie years ago when I was in the junk mail business. He was a simple broker of mailing lists consisting of conservative donors to various causes over the years. One of his employees told me once that Viguerie had exclaimed early-on that he had found a political hotbed of data that would someday help sway history. He was right. Using his names to fight what he considered the mainstream media then, Republicans were able to reach individuals that supported conservative causes and win elections. In my early days of junk mail, fund raising, as it was called then, was looked on as a step child and Viguerie was just another philanthropic data broker trying to make a living.

Richard began to put all those right-wing mailing lists together in a database that grew gradually in the beginning and then, once the GOP discovered the gold mine that Viguerie was creating, got on the band wagon while at the same time making the man very rich. Viguerie was one of the earliest in junk mail to discover just how valuable personal data could be in targeting the right household. Things like age, income, job description, where you lived as only a few. By using several of these selection factors, you could determine how much a person would give, when was the best time to reach them and how many times you could come back asking for more money.

But now he is taking on the mainstream Republican Party similar to how the Tea Party has reacted to House Speaker John Boehner and his gang of misfits. He claims their Presidential strategy is "insanity" and calls the GOP "the Party of Stupid." Rave on Richard and take the Grand Old Party down with you in 2016. Hey, 2014 was not a win for Republicans, rather a vote for change when no other choice was available. And Mr. Viguerie, who do you think Fox News supports, liberals? No matter that a majority of what they spew out is without fact, they are a huge voice in the media world. Did you forget them?

The conservative guru whines over Jim Lehrer's handling of the 2012 Presidential debates as if Mitt Romney would have been a debating challenger for Barack Obama under any circumstances. Viguerie has a new book out I will not help promote, thus, this new found publicity. It is noteworthy that a big promoter of the book is Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder and president of Tea Party Patriots. Now that does it for me and the millions of progressive thinking Americans who want this kind of political garbage placed in the landfill. With a brief spurt of fame Richard (not Dick) Viguerie will go back to fund raising obscurity.

 



Sunday, November 2, 2014

HOW DEMOCRATS WILL WIN BIG ON NOVEMBER 4

Michael Tomansky in the Daily Beast says, "How Can Dems Be Losing to These Idiots?" in an article that expresses amazement that, "They are running against a party that is as intellectually dishonest and bankrupt and just plain old willfully stupid as a political party can possibly be, and they have developed no language for communicating that to voters." I have said it repeatedly in this blog, citing the Tea Party as the leaders of this revolution of idiocy. Tomansky points out the fact of how few ideas the GOP has to make the country better like nothing on the economy, on immigration or healthcare. For months their only campaign was to get rid of Obamacare, until they realized it wasn't working. Even then, a brainless Tea Party didn't give up on the issue.

Why haven't the Democrats gotten this across to voters? My thoughts are that they have been reluctant to come out of the shadows of a party and its electorate that are bulldozed constantly by the Republican fear, hate and negativity onslaught against a President who is different. Play that any way you'd like. From Mitch McConnell's statement he wanted to make Obama a one-term president to John Boehner's support of a Tea Party that outwardly hates Obama. Look back in history and it's tough to find this kind of bitterness toward any other President. Now, the election is only two days away and it's too late to get the ball rolling.

EXCEPT, if the progressives admit just how lax they have been about the whole situation and come out on November 4, in a crush of voting power that not only retains the Senate but takes back, or at least cuts the majority of the House to manageable numbers.

VOTE ON NOVEMBER 4!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

How to fix a broken U.S. Government


 
I realize I am no expert on social science, wasn’t even really interested in the subject in college, but as a lowly progressive political blogger, I have become fascinated with our political system and its intricate workings.  Actually, the system isn’t working now and if we don’t fix it soon, this country’s downfall could make the decline and fall of the Roman Empire look like a Sunday school picnic.  We are no longer on the fiscal cliff, or curb as some described the problem, we are now headed toward a newly created political buzz word, “sequestration.”

Sequestration is defined by the HuffPost as, “referring to a series of draconian budget cuts, totaling $1.2 trillion, that {were} scheduled to go into effect on Jan. 1, 2013. These cuts are evenly split between defense and domestic discretionary spending (with some exemptions, such as Social Security, Medicare, and veterans' benefits).”  The GOP doesn’t want any more short-term fixes but refuses to budge on additional revenue mixed with spending cuts.  The President is standing firm on what he wants and is likely to win the battle in the long run.

Is the problem caused entirely by Republicans?  The answer is no and on the Democratic side, there is still the extreme left rallying for raising taxes and limiting spending cuts.  In some cases we have noticed House Speaker John Boehner shifting from his supporters on the right, particularly the fanatics of the Tea Party, moving further toward the middle for some reconciliation on the issues.  Sen. Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also seems conciliatory in his latest speeches.  So what is the problem?  I’m not sure anyone really knows.

The first thing that comes to mind is that the GOP hasn’t recovered from an election they thought they would win.  And Sen. McConnell has never retreated from his statement to make Obama a one-term President, which failed.  According to JoePalermo in November of 2012, “McConnell now promises the next best thing: Continue to abuse the filibuster as no Senate minority in American history has and gum up the works while demanding total capitulation on Obama's part before any bill can escape the clutches of his icy, deadening hand.”

Sam Rayburn, former Democratic Speaker of the house from Texas, was considered by many to be the great negotiator.  Lyndon Johnson was known to be good at bringing parties together in agreement on serious matters and even Barack Obama is looked on as a pretty good negotiator, considering the passage of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.  What happened to the art of negotiation, which almost anyone will agree is the only objective way to arrive at a governing solution?  Where did this political necessity fall by the wayside, almost into oblivion?

Looking back at George W. Bush, he had a rather diverse Congress with the majority swinging from one party to the other in his eight years.  Regardless, with GWB it was his way or the highway, thanks in part to his henchman, Karl Rove.  Going back a few years, Ronald Reagan was known as the great communicator and managed to get a lot of what he wanted.  George H. W. Bush was known for managing the end of the cold war.  Bill Clinton was able to get those in his party to vote for the largest tax increase in history in 1993. He also passed sweeping trade and welfare reforms in the face of withering fire from the left. 

Not bad on both sides, except for the tyranny of George W. Bush, who many say will go down in history as this country’s worst president.

Negotiation is defined simply as a “mutual discussion and arrangement of the terms of a transaction or agreement.”  Well it’s not simple, at least as far as this Congress is concerned, a body that closed out 2012 with a 14% approval rating.  In picking that definition apart, there are three basic ingredients that have to be satisfied.  The first is there must be a discussion; second, there must be agreement on terms to fix the problem; and third, you must arrive at an agreement.  Here’s how I sum that up: 

There are discussions that tend to lead nowhere, basically blamed on a GOP Congress of “NO” to anything Barack Obama proposes.  No one can come to terms because Republicans would rather obstruct Democratic legislation than present their own, except in rare cases.  There can be no agreement because of one and two.

In simplification, it reminds me of the kid that didn’t like the way the football game was going, so he picked up his ball and went home.  Sure, the Dems have to shoulder some of the blame in this standoff, but they might be more amenable to the conservatives if they weren’t constantly being stonewalled.  But there is one thing that the right had better understand and that is the fact that Progressives are here to stay, and Republicans no longer have a free ride.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Obama gets tough in opening second term


 
 
Mitch McConnell doing Obama
It looks like the President is tired of taking the crap that the Republicans have been dishing out for the last 4 years.  It started with a comment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell in October of 2011.  He said: “The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”   He wasn’t, and McConnell turns out to be the idiot he looked like for the last four years.  He and House Speaker John Boehner, since the GOP took over the house in 2010, have spewed a non-stop diatribe of what a failure Barack Obama had been.  They were wrong and the American people knew it.
 
And because the Republicans were trounced last November in the elections, Boehner now is taking a new approach.  He is saying that “Obama’sfocus is to annihilate the Republican Party.”  Actually, Obama doesn’t have to do anything.  The GOP, led by the Tea Party, is doing that all on their own without any help.  The remark from Boehner made at a Ripon Society luncheon was confirmed by the Speaker’s spokesperson.  Even with a Republican majority in the House that can block the President’s legislation, it is obvious that this gang of obstructionists is running scared, as they should be.
 
David Gergen, who has advised four Presidents, said: “Years from now, historians are likely to look back upon Barack Obama's second inaugural address as a rich treasure trove for understanding his presidency and possibly the course of American politics.”  It’s the sort of thing you say about a great President.  Another interesting comment by Gergen was that not only was Obama more confident, but that he was also “liberated.”  Gergen thinks that refers to the comfort of a second term and not having to run again, as well as showing that Republicans are not willing to compromise.  Either way it is very promising.
 
Obama’s inauguration speech reminds us of Lyndon Johnson’s brand of liberalism and the Great Society.  It is a welcome return to values that espouse equality with the emphasis off the wealthy and now directed at middle America, lower income brackets and the needy.  Another famous Mitch McConnell comment following Obama’s speech was: “The era of liberalism is back.”  How fitting that it comes at a time when we must pass new laws on gun control, comprehensive immigration reform and improving the environment.  The President also plans to work on his 2010 Obamacare.
 
Gergen says, “He emerged as an unapologetic, unabashed liberal -- just what the left has long wanted him to be and exactly what the right has feared.”     
 
Pulitzer Prize winner Historian Gary Willis writes about Lincoln’s maneuvering of the Declaration of Independence into the “founding creed of the country.”  In it, Lincoln says, we are all created equal, which was mirrored by Martin Luther King 100 years later in 1963, and what President Obama was talking about when referring to the declaration as our “founding creed.”  Gergen maintains that Obama has made equal opportunity the “central goal of his presidency.”  He adds that the GOP expected a plea for partisanship but received something of an ultimatum to cooperate, or else.
 
The question is whether Americans support Barack Obama in what he wants to accomplish in his second term.  According to a CNN/ORCInternational survey released Jan. 22, the percentage of those believing global warming is a fact resulting from cars, power plants and factories has doubled to 49%.  On immigration, 53% want a path for illegal immigrants to legal residents compared to 43% who want to deport them. Today, 51% favor all or most of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) with 44% opposed to all or most of it.  Is there any doubt why the President would demand cooperation from Republicans?
 

 

Friday, May 25, 2012

Obama must go to the trenches to win in November

During the middle of April, a CNN poll of registered voters showed the President leading Mitt Romney by nine points if the vote was held then.  Today, a Washington Post-ABC News poll reports that they are tied at 47 percent.  The latter does show that overall, 49 percent are actually in Obama’s corner with 46 percent for Romney.  The CNN poll was conducted just 2 days after Hilary Rosen said that Ann Romney hadn’t worked a day in her life.

Other polls found that the decision by President Obama to approve gay marriage could hurt him but nowhere is this proving to be a major barrier in voting for him.  Christians say he can have the gay vote and 2010 exit polls say he received 70 percent of it.  The GOP garnered 31 percent.  With 3.5 percent of Americans identifying themselves as gay/lesbian, that is just under 11 million potential voters that must be convinced that they can expect more from a progressive.

John Boehner
President Obama political strategy:
The CNN poll says that 55 percent of women are in Obama’s corner compared to 39 percent for Romney.  With an all-out assault against the ladies by the GOP, it’s hard for me to understand how any woman could vote Republican, except maybe Ann Romney.  House Speaker John Boehner continued the rage recently by pushing a House bill that “…seriously weakens the Violence Against Women Act.”  And there’s a lot more where that came from.

Abortion, the constant push to repeal Roe v. Wade.  Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a law recently moving the ban on abortions from 20 weeks to 18.  Many of these laws “…omit reasonable exceptions for a woman’s health or cases of rape, incest or grievous fetal impairment.”  All include criminal penalties and fines that make doctors reluctant to do an abortion.  Republican lawmakers, with the religious right on their backs, think only of re-election, not the pregnant woman.

Jan Brewer
Access to health care is also threatened as evidenced by another stupid move by Jan Brewer to eliminate funding in Arizona for Planned Parenthood.  These funds were already blocked from being used for abortions, now this dingbat has cut off care to women for care like cancer screening and family planning.  This is the only place these folks had to go.  Last year the House GOP tried to limit PP funding for birth control, cancer screening and other preventive care.

Equal Pay.  President Obama has been attempting for three years to improve on the “…1963 Equal Pay Act to enhance remedies for victims of gender-based wage discrimination…”  He wants to “…mandate that employers show that wage differences are job-related, not sex-based, and driven by business necessity.”  It is beyond me what possible difference it could make to a man that his female counterpart is making the same as him.  Unless it’s a masculinity thing.

Domestic violence.  The Senate tried to renew the Violence Against Women Act, designed to protect victims of domestic and sexual abuse.  But the House version omitted protections for gay, Indian, student and immigrant abuse victims.  In some cases this will make the abused stay with the abuser, ultimately resulting in more violence.  Of course this isn’t a Republican voting block so why should they care.

Romney is still seen as one who will likely change his position on issues to fit the situation with more feeling that Obama will stand up for what he believes than Romney.  Now if I was looking for someone to depend on doing what they said they would do after the election, it would be hands-down-Obama.  The president will hopefully have a more favorably stacked Congress after November so he won’t have constant GOP opposition to everything he presents.

The economy is the thing.  80 percent of Americans still think it’s bad but 54 percent feel positive about the future and 58 percent think their financial prospects will improve.  Obama has promoted tax breaks for small business, wants to end oil and gas subsidies and wants to allow the millionaire tax breaks to expire.  Romney is against the latter two, has recently touted the 100,000 jobs Bain Capital, his former company, created.  And of course, cut, cut, cut taxes.

The President has an edge on Independent voters with a differential somewhat favorable in age/income, but these numbers are hard to confirm and maintain.  My guess is still that the Hispanics will get their act together and it will be this vote that helps re-elect Barack Obama, and give the Dems. additional seats in the House and Senate in states where they have the numbers.  The question is what kind of campaign will Romney run.  On the issues or Karl Rovish??? 

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

GOP Congress masterful at blocking anything Obama

The GOP stonewall
The Republican merry band of stonewalling bunglers started out the new year with their same tactics of saying no to anything President Obama presents.  On January 18, the GOP Congress voted to block Obama’s request for $1.2 trillion in additional borrowing authority, indicating the same Republican reaction to “anything Barack Obama” would continue throughout 2012.  Oh, that’s right, it’s an election year. 

Tea Party flake, Jeff Flake, Arizona Republican representative, said, “Until we have a plan to deal with our fiscal crisis, we should not raise the debt ceiling any further.”  In other words, push the problem to as close to the November election as possible, and, by the way, I’m running for Senator.  He also voted against the temporary payroll tax extension back in December 2011, the bill to extend payroll tax deductions and unemployment compensation.

Following is a list of bills, appointments, etc. that this gang of obstructionists has stalled or stopped in their tracks:


And there are more that you can see here.

All of which brings us to President Obama’s proposed budget that he says is a "blueprint for how we can rebuild an economy where hard work pays off and responsibility is rewarded." 

At the same time there is the end of February deadline to pass an extension for the payroll tax cut and unemployment compensation which is sure to heat up the rhetoric since Obama wants to cover the cost with a “surtax on income over $1 million and eliminating some corporate tax subsidies, like those going to oil and gas companies.”  Republicans want to cover it partially byextending the current pay freeze on federal workers and requiring wealthier seniors to pay higher Medicare premiums,” according to CNN.



If we run into the same GOP barricade that we did in December, the result is that 160 million American families would pay an additional $1,000 in taxes per year.  The package will cost an estimated $160 billion and that is where the President wants millionaires to step up to the plate and pay their fair share.  New chief of staff Jack Lew would not predict passage but recounted the “ugly fight” this past December over the payroll tax, something we need to avoid this go around.

This past Saturday in his weekly presidential address, Obama urged Congress to "stop this middle-class tax hike from happening, period."  He also said "No drama. No delay.  And no ideological side issues that have nothing to do with this tax cut. Now is not the time for self-inflicted wounds to our recovery. Now is the time for common-sense action. And this tax cut is common sense."  Naturally Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, did his number to make the Dems the bad guys.

GOP House Speaker John Boehner wants to vote this week on a Republican plan to extend “…the payroll tax cut -- but not unemployment benefits or a delay of cuts in fees to doctors who treat Medicare patients,” as reported in USA Today.  The White House is wary and press secretary Jay Carney says there is still time to negotiate a settlement.  Not sure there are many Americans that would agree with Carney.

People throughout this country have become weary over the shenanigans of the GOP Congress, including some Democrats, and their lowest approval rating ever supports this.  It’s like they just don’t get it, and until this self-serving clan of taxpayer moochers decides that they do work for us, there will be no change.

We all have a chance to do something about this in November and it will be interesting to see just how concerned voters really are.  Or will it be business as usual?

Friday, January 6, 2012

Canada grades the U.S. for its 2011 politics

Do you care?  If you don’t, I wouldn’t bother reading this article.  But I think it is important to know what our neighbors to the north think about us since they are more progressive in their approach to issues like gun control, consumer rights and health care than we are.  Considering just those aspects of Canada’s government, you would be right if you assume their attitude toward American politics is that 2011 was, as they describe it, a year of “lowlights.”

Gabby Giffords
The article from the Montreal Gazette starts with the assassination attempt on Arizona Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, which one year holiday will pass this coming Sunday.  As the paper put it, the year began with good intentions by President Obama in his State of the Union Address but basically ended there.  If there was ever a time in recent history where a reevaluation of gun control was called for, and just might have been demanded by the American public, it was then.

It was soon after that a Republican controlled House decided that it would block anything the Obama administration did just for the purpose of insuring that he wouldn’t be a two-term president.  The dysfunction commenced and lasted right down to the last day of December, 2011.  GOP House Speaker John Boehner was quickly reigned in by the radicals of the Tea Party, led by Rep. Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader, and remained under their thumb until the end of the year.



The Keystone XL pipeline from Canada produced a flip-flop on the part of Obama, just when environmentalists thought they had won a major battle.  The President decided to allow earlier consideration of the project when the GOP became obsessed with its approval because of their claim it would create jobs.  Critics think Republicans did harm to its eventual passage by their insistence that it be included in the tax relief bill.

And then there was the birther controversy over whether Obama’s birth certificate was valid.  Canadians considered Donald Trump the “crackpot” he is when using the issue to discredit the President.  Even today there are still two fruitcakes pursuing this stupid theory after the President already provided evidence of his birth in Hawaii.  There was also Rep. Anthony Weiner’s tweeting photos of his genital to a woman.  A Democrat from New York, he first denied, then admitted what he had done, and the resigned in disgrace. 

Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin was around for a while, goading her pathetic followers into thinking she would run for President, when she had no intention of giving up the lucrative speaking engagements these feeble-minded people pay dearly for.  Canadians saw the sadness in the ineptitude of the 112th Congress to accomplish anything, including what they consider “one of the worst pieces of kitchen-sink legislation,” the 2-month payroll tax cut.

House Speaker John Boehner gets the nod as the “weakest political leader’ due his complete lack of control over the Tea Party in the GOP caucus.  He simply could not deliver the votes ending up in a loss of credibility with the White House, Democrats, even Republicans in the Senate.  It almost seemed at one time that Boehner wanted to work with President Obama on a range of issues, but then the Tea Party jerked him back to reality through moves by Eric Cantor.

Regardless of what Canada thinks of U.S. politics, the important thing is what do Americans think of their political situation.  With Congress at its lowest favorability rating ever, 9 percent, that seems painfully obvious.  Andrea Mitchell of NBC News said it best: she commented that only the military has a favorable rating in government.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

Tea Party massacred on payroll tax decision

Senate majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev) has brought the Tea Party to its knees once again.  He beat Sharon Angle, a TP favorite, for his Senate seat in Nevada just a year ago, and now he backed House Speaker John Boehner, backed by radical TPers, into a corner on the payroll tax bill until they had to lose face and give in to what had been the right thing to do all along.  The only upside to this whole bizarre episode is that the American public is finally seeing the real color of these right wing fanatics.

President Barack Obama signed the two-month extension of the payroll tax cut this past Friday, a victory for himself over a Tea Party that has targeted the President since its inception and his inauguration.  Independents and moderate Republicans should view this as an example of how Democrats and progressives in general can champion tax cuts.  Also included in the bill are a continuation in jobless benefits and a delay in decreased Medicare payments to doctors that could seriously affect Seniors.

Apparently Boehner, who was originally in favor of passing the two-month deal worked out by Senate Democrats and Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, caved to the TP lunatics led by head maniac Eric Cantor (R-VA) House Majority Leader.  Some have even questioned whether it is Cantor or Boehner leading the House, and if it’s Cantor, then, up until last Friday the Tea Party had definitely been in control. 

Political analysts view this defeat and turmoil leading up to the showdown as significantly hurting the GOP in their backbone Republican philosophy of tax cuts at any cost.  It clearly shows that when it comes to the wealthy, there is absolutely no concession on taxes, but they are willing to sacrifice the middle-class and lower income groups on the basis of demanding a year’s extension over the two-months that was finally passed.



Jon Summers, who was instrumental in Reid’s win over Angle, thinks that things will go much the same way at the end of the two-month extension as it did last Friday.  Democrats are on a roll and they will get what they want in February of 2012.  Harry Reid has already predicted that the Tea Party, spawned in hard times, will just fade away as the economy improves.  In the second phase of the payroll tax cut fight, even more damage could be done to the GOP by TPers that place extreme right ideology over their country.

If you want to know who to blame, you can take a look at the list of Tea Party caucus members here, led by presidential hopeful (?) Michele Bachmann, along with some other good info on the group by Wikipedia.  The list is a blueprint of House representatives and Senate members, some of which are running for office in 2012, that we progressives want to give the boot.  This is also the gang

that is apparently enraged at John Boehner after caving to Democrats last Friday.

When Congress reconvenes in January and the fireworks start, it will be interesting to see who is on the offensive and who is on the defensive.  If the Democrats and all progressives alike don’t take advantage of their current momentum to slay the ultra conservative dragon, the elections of 2012 could well be a complete toss up.

Monday, December 19, 2011

House Speaker Boehner freaks out on payroll tax cut. Is Tea Party to blame?


Speaker John Boener
 It was a slam dunk with a vote in the Senate of 89 to 10 to pass the two-month extension on the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits, also including a deal on the Keystone XL pipeline.  But House Speaker Boehner caved to the Republican caucus that Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer described as “…a small group at the extremetry to dictate every move this nation makes.”  This sounds like Tea Party extremists to me, and once again Boehner has reneged on an agreement.

Majority Leader Eric Cantor
Everyone involved agreed it wasn’t the best and should have instead been a plan to carry these programs through for a full year.  But Boehner had earlier left it to Senate leaders to come up with a deal, one that even Republican Mitch McConnell was in favor of.  But conservative extremists, apparently led by House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, turned their wrath on Boehner who once again changed his mind and went with the flow.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sen. Schumer question Boehner and the GOP’s ability to lead.

Reid has said repeatedly that the Dems. have supported the two-month deal because “that was the best we could get.”  A statement that seems to reflect a combination of the willingness to negotiate with Republicans—completely contrary to the latter’s refusal to raise taxes—and some degree of weakness that must be turned around soon if progressives are to win control of this country.  It has to start from the top down and we haven’t seen much of that from President Obama.

It is also clear that the GOP is insisting on including the pipeline issue in any payroll tax legislation because they back the oil industry as is the case with any big business.  This, even though there is some credible concern by environmentalists and the state of Nebraska where the pipeline is scheduled to cross.  But politics aside, it is incomprehensible that conservatives would make this demand in light of its opposition possibly scuttling the passage of the whole payroll tax bill, just to support the corporate world.

 

So what can you expect if the payroll tax bill is not passed?  A cancellation of the program means that individuals will pay from $700 with a salary of $35,000 to $2,341 if you earn $110,000 and up, the maximum.  But there are some questions re. just how much a continuation will spur the economy.  There are those who believe, because it takes such a broad sweep in income, there is not enough emphasis on low and middle-income households which are most likely to do the most spending in the marketplace.

But this whole fiasco is just another example of a dysfunctional government that has now taken on a life of its own.  These morons in Congress walk around in a state of denial, in delusions of grandeur actually believing what they are doing is right.  Power is king and being reelected the only goal of their actions.  However, if they think this goes unnoticed, the Pew Research Center shows discontent with Congress at record levels.  Right now two-thirds of voters believe lawmakers should be voted out of office in 2012.  Amen!

Monday, September 26, 2011

Are members of Congress descended from the caterpillar?


Science has discovered that caterpillars essentially talk with their butts.  That would certainly be an exact DNA match with Congress.  Apparently these creatures—the caterpillars, not Congress—scrape their rear ends on leaf surfaces to establish their territory.  Sort of like when the republicans took over the House in the last election.

It seems there’s a difference by age.  The old farts don’t scrape, they just push their opponents around.  Does that remind you of John Boehner and Mitch McConnell?  But here’s a surprise.  The young upstarts aren’t aggressive.  Looks like even the caterpillar doesn’t want to be associated with the Tea Party.  These little critters are also pests which fits the profile of most Republicans. 

A caterpillar is also on its way to being a beautiful thing…a butterfly.  You couldn’t attach that conversion to either side of the congressional aisle.  They also turn into moths that are naturally attracted to flame which would remind one of the suicidal tendencies of the GOP House that places partisan ideology over the good of the country and the American people.  These slinky insects also have poor vision, another perfect match with the Republican conservatives. 

I could go on forever.  Some caterpillars are targets of animal predators, but have learned to defend themselves with devious means.  The point is that we have a dysfunctional Congress, including Democrats and Republicans, that would rather argue between themselves rather than putting the U.S. on the road to recovery.  The GOP has been out to get President Obama from the day he took office, and they may very well succeed if he doesn’t stand firm on progressive issues.

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