Political Ruminations

Bob Woodward’s New Book

Woodward twisted himself into a knot to lay some of the blame at President Obama’s feet. But seriously, if you were paying attention at the time of the debt ceiling crisis, you know exactly why the whole debt ceiling mess happened in the first place, and you know that it was all a part of the takeover of Congress by the infusion of the Tea Party Crazy People, all of whom were eager to follow the directive of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to defeat Obama at all costs.

That said, I believe that Obama handled it as well as anyone could without simply giving in to the Tea Party terrorists (and the ENTIRE membership of the Republican House in 2010-2011 was on their knees to the Tea Party fearing for their jobs).

Bob Cesca on why Woodward is wrong:

Elsewhere, Bob Woodward is getting ready to release a new book which details last summer’s remarkably insane debt ceiling negotiation between the White House and the congressional Republicans (freshly infused with midterm tea party radicals). Woodward appears to be pushing a point of view that President Obama bungled his way through the proceedings.

He points to an event that occurred at the 11th hour when John Boehner refused to accept the president’s proposal for tax increases as an additional savings in the debt reduction package, even though the president had agreed to politically-damaging entitlement cuts. The talks collapsed and Woodward, echoing a Harry Reid staffer, blasts the White House for not having a “Plan B.” I’m not exactly sure what a “Plan B” might look like considering a Republican House that vowed to not only vote against everything the president has wanted, no matter how many concessions he makes, but to also bring down his presidency by sabotaging the economy.

The only two options beyond fair, reasonable, adult negotiation were 1) letting the default occur, or 2) letting the childish and destructive tea party have their way. The former is inconceivable to any responsible leader. In fact…….

Check it out for reminders of the debt ceiling crisis.

Stupid Quote of the Day

On Wednesday, President Obama was part of

a Reddit Q & A session where he said that he would support overturning the notorious Citizen’s United ruling via an amendment to the Constitution. When asked what he thought about that by a right wing media outlet, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s response was silly and outlandish:

“ It’s an act of genuine radicalism. ”

What is easily termed “radicalism” is the Citizen’s United ruling which declared that “corporations are people”. A ruling that turned our democracy into a plutocracy that can be bought. But no one doubts that that’s what you and your fellow Republicans are being paid for, Sen. McConnell.

Morning Quote: Sen. Mitch McConnell

“Hosting this seminar on the most important issue [the National Popular Vote proposal] in America nobody’s talking about. Everybody’s following the debt crisis in Europe, the presidential election in America, unemployment statistics, but nobody is paying much attention to the genuine threat to our country. That’s what I want to address this morning.”

- During a speech at the Heritage Foundation [a Koch brothers think tank] on Wednesday, Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) called the idea of using the popular vote to determine the outcome of presidential elections a “genuine threat to our country”.

Watch the video:

Think Progress:

McConnell and six Republican secretaries of state discussed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact (NPV), a proposed plan for using a popular vote in presidential elections. The NPV would guarantee whichever candidate wins the popular vote would also win the electoral college – preventing a repeat of the 2000 election when Al Gore won the most votes but still lost the presidency. It would do so by getting states to agree to collectively award their electoral votes to the popular vote winner, but the compact would only kick in once states with a majority of the electoral college sign on. Currently, eight states and the District of Columbia have joined the NPV, comprising 132 of the needed 270 electoral votes for the compact to take effect.

Rather than embracing the NPV as a way to solidify the Constitution’s guarantee of “one man, one vote,” McConnell lambasted the plan....

Video: Remarks by President Obama on the American Jobs Act in Cincinnati Ohio on September 22, 2011

Video: Remarks by President Obama on the American Jobs Act in Cincinnati Ohio on September 22, 2011

                               To read the transcript, click here.

Full Text Transcript: Remarks by President Obama on the American Jobs Act in Cincinnati Ohio on September 22, 2011

                               To watch the video, click here.

FULL TEXT TRANSCRIPT: Remarks by the President on the American Jobs Act -- Cincinnati, OH

2:55 P.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA:  Hello, Cincinnati!  (Applause.)  Well, it is good to see all of you.  It is good to be back in Cincinnati.  (Applause.)  I have to say I drove by the Bengals’ practice -- (laughter.)  And I was scouting out some plays in case they play the Bears -- (laughter.)  Did I hear somebody boo the Bears?

AUDIENCE:  Booo!  (Laughter.) 

Quote of the Day II

 After the debt deal was done, President Obama described the government as “dysfunctional”, while Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) apparently views the hostage taking during the debt deal negotiations as a blueprint for future debt ceiling increases:

“I think some of our members may have thought the default issue was a hostage you might take a chance at shooting. Most of us didn't think that. What we did learn is this -- it's a hostage that's worth ransoming. And it focuses the Congress on something that must be done.”

This is just one reason why, as Liberals, we must come together to defeat the right wing ideologues and elect Democrats in 2012.

Morning Quote: Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warns that Republicans will hold the debt ceiling hostage again:

“In the future, any president, this one or another one, when they request us to raise the debt ceiling, it will not be clean anymore. This is just the first step.”

 Not if we vote you all out of office.  But I digress.

Jared Bernstein describes McConnell’s threat as follows:

“We in Congress cannot be counted upon to come up with budgets that pay for the spending we authorize.  Therefore, we will have to borrow to make up the difference.  But if that borrowing hits the cap, we will not raise the cap to cover the appropriations on which we already signed off, unless we get the spending cuts we want.”

 

Quote of the Day

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on CBS’S “Face the Nation” today, insisting that the debt ceiling crisis hasn’t hurt the Republican Party:

“I don't think we've been hurt at all.”

Dear Mitch………..we are going to fcking MAKE IT HURT.

Via Politico

Morning Quote

Michael Tomasky, on the GOP’s “maximalist” bent, shortly after Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA) walked out of the Biden budget talks:

“Today’s GOP is about ideological maximalism on all fronts. Eric Cantor’s withdrawal from the Biden talks shows it again. They cannot negotiate, because negotiating means accepting something you don’t like, which the noise machine will not permit. And worse, because the noise machine wants Obama to fail and is so powerful, Republican office-holders inevitably arrive at that point too. Mitch McConnell in essence admitted Wednesday that Republicans were opposing Obama on Libya for partisan reasons. They can’t be quite so brazen about the economy, so they hide their political motives behind rhetoric about the deficit. It’s high time the Democrats started pulling back the curtain.”

We really need to begin shouting this from the rooftops. If the American public could see what we online see every single damn day, Republicans would never win a national election again.

GOP Economic Terrorism Contd.

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) brings the notion of Republican economic sabotage/terrorism in to the open, emphasis mine:

“We need to start asking ourselves an uncomfortable question. Are Republicans slowing down the recovery on purpose for political gain in 2012? Let's not forget, Senator McConnell made it clear last October that his number one priority, above everything else, is to defeat President Obama.
And now it's becoming clear that insisting on a slash and burn approach may be part of this plan. It has a double benefit for Republicans. It's ideologically tidy, and it undermines economic recovery which they think only helps them in 2012.”

Classic Disaster Capitalism

Republicans, in all their unrelenting and heartless glory, are still refusing to raise the debt ceiling unless Democrats agree to major spending cuts, preferably to Medicare and Medicaid.

(Emphasis mine)

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said “there will have to be a deal” on raising the nation's debt limit before August, when the country will be unable to pay its bills. But he said the deal will have to include significant spending cuts.

"To get my vote we'd have to do something significant both short term and long term and long term means Medicare and Medicaid" cuts, McConnell said.

They’re playing a game of chicken, and if Democrats lose this one, at risk are seniors, and the poor.

Ryan Budget “Twisting in the Wind” in the Senate

The much despised Paul Ryan budget plan for 2012 seems to be twisting in the wind on the GOP side of the Senate since Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (KY) has declined to whip his colleagues on the vote, and has indicated to them that they should vote as they see fit. This is purely a matter of practicality, because the fear is that those who vote for it will pay at the polls. Which, of course, they probably will.

The three top-ranking Republicans in the Senate, McConnell, Jon Kyl (AZ), and Lamar Alexander (TN), have all said that they will vote for the Ryan plan, you know, the one that would end Medicare as we know it.

An anonymous GOP senator’s observation on the Ryan plan caught my attention:

One GOP senator who spoke on the condition of anonymity expressed his belief that Ryan made a serious tactical mistake by spelling out Medicare reforms in his budget plan.

“All Ryan had to do was set an overall number and leave it up to the policymaking committees how to come up with the savings,” said the lawmaker. “The important number to focus on is that the federal government takes in $2.2 trillion and spends $3.7 trillion.”

Probably true, and a tactic that we’ll need to watch out for in future budget plans in order to avoid surprises.

The senate vote on the Ryan plan will be held next week, but can the Ryan plan clear the Senate? Not very likely, but never say “never”.

Morning Quote: Matt Taibbi

Rolling Stone’s Matt Taibbi describes the Speaker of the House, John Boehner [R-OH]:

The Democrats have plenty of creatures like Boehner. But in the new Speaker of the House, the Republicans own the perfect archetype — the quintessential example of the kind of glad-handing, double-talking, K Street toady who has dominated the politics of both parties for decades. In sports, we talk about athletes who are the "total package," and that term comes close to describing Boehner's talent for perpetuating our corrupt and debt-addled status quo: He's a five-tool insider who can lie, cheat, steal, play golf, change his mind on command and do anything else his lobbyist buddies and campaign contributors require of him to get the job done.

“K Street toady” is a term that could be used to describe many in Washington’s political class, but none more than John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell.

Morning Quote: Mitch McConnell is an Unmitigated Liar

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell [R-KY], on the Senate floor, preaching the GOP gospel of lies. When reading, substitute the word “regulated” for the word “nationalized” in order to have a better understanding of McConnell’s lies and nonsense.

Today, the Obama administration, which has already nationalized health care, the auto industry, insurance companies, banks and student loans, will move forward with what could be the first step in controlling how Americans use the Internet by establishing federal regulations on its use.

Ya gotta hand it to them [GOP] . They are very good at defending their corporate bosses, albeit at the expense of the American people whom they are sworn to serve.

Morning Quote: Steve Benen on Mitch McConnell

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell, has made it very clear that he intends to obstruct progress over the next two years, much as he did over the last two years, only in order to ensure that Obama is a one term president. Steve Benen’s scathing assessment of McConnell:

By some measures, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is an exceptional Senate Minority Leader. This may seem counterintuitive given his personal and professional characteristics: he's not honest; he doesn't negotiate in good faith; he has no real respect for institutional norms; he's proven himself willing to put his party's interests above the nation's interests; and he's never demonstrated any working knowledge of any area of public policy.

But if it's the job of the Senate Minority Leader to offer knee-jerk obstructionism, mindlessly oppose the majority's agenda, stymie the chamber's ability to function as a legitimate legislative body, and basically be an all-around pain in the arse, Mitch McConnell is very good at what he does.

Quote of the Week: Krauthammer on the Firebaggers & Obama

On Bill O’Reilly’s show on Tuesday, an unlikely source, in the form of Charles Krauthammer, pushed back on the “professional left” [Firebaggers], and said that Obama won the tax cut deal, just like it was an historic achievement that he got Obamacare passed, in spite of the bitter disappointment voiced by the Firebagger crowd. He also said that the “professional left” misunderstands” both Obama, and the magnitude of his achievements. I agree.

I think that this “professional left” misunderstands the president and what he's achieved in the same way that they totally underestimated and misunderstood his achievement in passing Obamacare, which from the point of view of the left, I think is historic.

Look, in the deal with McConnell over the tax cuts, Obama won. He just got the Republicans to agree to a near trillion dollar, 900 billion dollar stimulus. A second stimulus, all of it paid by Chinese money we borrow. None of it will be paid for, blowing a huge hole in the debt. And he did this with out even calling it a stimulus. And he does this, this is gonna  be 900 billion, almost all in tax cuts, some of it in unemployment benefits, which will be dispensed over the next 2 years, which just happen to be the 2 years in the run-up to Obama's reelection.

You gonna call that a defeat?

It's Obama's Fault if Republicans Shut Down the Government

Republicans double down on the stupid, and begin to lower the expectations of the people who foolishly voted to once again empower the ruthless idiots.

Just as Senate Minority Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has attempted to lower expectations in recent days by saying that Republicans can't really accomplish anything unless President Obama is voted out of office in 2012, so too did Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) set the stage on Sunday by declaring that any lack of progress in Congress -- including a possible government shutdown -- will be Obama's fault.

So, if the Republicans shut down the government, or don’t do what the people who voted for them want them to do, it’s all Obama’s fault? Yeah, and Republicans are really smart people.

Cantor also made clear that if there's going to be any compromise, it's going to have to come from Obama, who has said he is willing to work with Republicans. Cantor, however, said that Republicans will work with Obama only if he agrees with them 100 percent.

So, according to Cantor, Republicans are already refusing to compromise, stating that compromise will have to come 100% from Obama, not from their side.

Okay, well, it’s going to be a long and unfruitful two years thanks to a Republican Party which cares only for it’s power and not for the American people.

Miserable bastards.

Krugman on What Happens After the Election: Political Chaos & Economic Weakness

Krugman makes a good point about the outcome of Tuesday's vote when he states that future historians will "look back at the 2010 election as a catastrophe for America, one that condemned the nation to years of political chaos and economic weakness."

If you consider this hysterical/hyperbolic, you have only to wait to be proven wrong.

Barring a huge upset, Republicans will take control of at least one house of Congress next week. How worried should we be by that prospect?

Not very, say some pundits. After all, the last time Republicans controlled Congress while a Democrat lived in the White House was the period from the beginning of 1995 to the end of 2000. And people remember that era as a good time, a time of rapid job creation and responsible budgets. Can we hope for a similar experience now?

No, we can’t. This is going to be terrible. In fact, future historians will probably look back at the 2010 election as a catastrophe for America, one that condemned the nation to years of political chaos and economic weakness.

In an interview with the National Journal, Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell had this to say regarding the goals of the Republican Party:

The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

The ”single most important thing”.

We'll be lucky if they don't burn the country to the ground.

The Single Most Important Republican Goal

Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky), as quoted by the National Journal:

“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”

Never mind governing the country. Depriving President Obama of a second term is the “single most important goal” of Republicans.

Senate Republicans Will Filibuster Extension of Middle Class Tax Cuts if Wealthy Excluded From Extension

Kiss our collective derrieres, Senators. Republican Senators. Mitch McConnell.  F**king Bankster Politicians.

Is there a single Republican Senator who stands for the middle class? The answer is a resounding “NO”.

To a person, every Senate Republican has promised to filibuster an extension of middle class tax cuts if the Bush cuts for the wealthy are not also extended.

Meanwhile, a spokesperson for McConnell said today that every Senate Republican has pledged to oppose any attempt to extend the Bush tax cuts that doesn't include an extension of the tax cuts for the wealthy. McConnell himself has given similar remarks.

The Bush tax cuts are set to expire at the end of the year, and Mr. Obama has strongly urged Congress to extend them for everyone except for Americans making more than $200,000 or households making more than $250,000. Republicans, by contrast have called for a extension of all the tax cuts.

Yeah Mitch, let’s just hand another $100k of taxpayer money to every millionaire household.

Makes perfect sense, since they really, really need it.

A Republican plan to extend tax cuts for the rich would add more than $36 billion to the federal deficit next year -- and transfer the bulk of that cash into the pockets of the nation's millionaires, according to a congressional analysis released Wednesday.

New data from the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation show that households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011, for an average tax cut per household of about $100,000.

A millionaire bailout. In 2011, $31 billion out of $36 billion of the cost for this extension would go to the wealthy. Meanwhile, over the next ten years, we would add $3.5 trillion to both our debt and our deficit.

And, count on Republicans voting against another stimulus, or an extension of unemployment benefits. Cause, hey, you know, let them eat cake.

*Emphasis in blockquotes is mine.

Did Your Senator Stand With the People or With the Banks?

Dylan Ratigan nails it in his post, “Banksters Revealed Again!”:

Doc Holliday said, "My hypocrisy knows no bounds" in the movie Tombstone. The same apparently is true for our current crop of Bankster Politicians, many of whom today voted against extending unemployment benefits even after they voted in 2008 for a bank bailout.

Yes, these Corporate Communists not only voted for billion dollar bailouts for companies that were about to fail due to their own terrible decisions, but then subsequently have done nothing to prevent the ongoing and future theft. By destroying this very tenet of capitalism -- that the losers actually lose so that new ideas, people, companies can become winners -- they have now crippled our economy and kept millions out of work.

Now when faced with giving a pittance of support to many of the same people tossed from employment by their cronyism, they have all of a sudden found ideology. Of course, considering that many of these Bankster Politicians are going to lose their jobs for this, they will try to make excuses like the following:

The following list shines the light on senators who 1) voted for TARP, and 2) voted against the extension of unemployment benefits.

These senators are for the bankers, not for the people.

BANKSTER/REPUBLICAN PARTY [yes, they are all, with the exception of Ben Nelson¹, Republicans] Is your senator on this list?

Lamar Alexander [B-TN]
Robert Bennett [B-UT]
Christopher Bond [B-MO]
Richard Burr [B-NC]
Saxby Chambliss [B-GA]
Thomas Coburn [B-OK]
Bob Corker [B-TN]
John Cornyn [B-TX]
John Ensign [B-NV]
Lindsey Graham [B-SC]
Charles Grassley [B-IA]
Judd Gregg [B-NH]
Orrin Hatch [B-UT]
Kay Hutchison [B-TX]
John Isakson [B-GA]
Jon Kyl [B-AZ]
Richard Lugar [B-IN]
John McCain [B-AZ]
Mitch McConnell [B-KY]
Lisa Murkowski [B-AK]
Ben Nelson [B-NE]
John Thune [B-SD]
George Voinovich [B-OH]

¹Nelson is a "Blue Dog" Democrat, meaning he is representing a conservative state/district

Obama infuriates Republicans by recess appointing Donald Berwick

Republicans have been stalling the confirmation of Obama's Medicare - Medicaid Services chief¹, just because.........they can. And that appointment is just one out of 180 total appointments that they have been blocking for no reason other than to prevent progress.

Today, President Obama announced the recess appointment of said chief, Dr. Donald Berwick, via a press release.

It’s unfortunate that at a time when our nation is facing enormous challenges, many in Congress have decided to delay critical nominations for political purposes,” President Obama said. “These recess appointments will allow three extremely qualified candidates to get to work on behalf of the American people right away. With more than 180 nominees still pending before the Senate, it’s my hope that my colleagues in Congress will agree to put politics aside and move forward on these vitally important positions.

He also made 2 additional recess appointments, of lesser importance.

Republicans, predictable hypocrites that they are, are having a hissy fit. Mitch McConnell:

As if shoving a trillion dollar government takeover of health care down the throat of a disapproving American public wasn't enough, apparently the Obama Administration intends to arrogantly circumvent the American people yet again by recess appointing one of the most prominent advocates of rationed health care to implement their national plan.

Suck it, Obstructionist Republicans.

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¹Berwick’s official title is “Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Department of Health and Human Services”.
Berwick can serve for up to a year without Senate confirmation.