Another mortifying McConnell head-banging-against-the-wall moment
Longtime readers are familiar with our time-honored tradition of marking inevitable Senate GOP sellout moments with the head-banging-against-the-wall animated gif.
Well, it is time to resurrect it again to commemorate Mitch McConnell’s latest maneuver that would give President Obama new power to automatically increase the federal debt limit. It’s a convoluted way of abandoning the fight for fiscal sanity altogether and leaving the mess in the Democrats’ enhanced control.
No, really.
Here’s the AP newsflash: “WASHINGTON (AP) _ GOP Leader McConnell proposes giving Obama new power for automatic debt limit increase.”
Here’s Rich Lowry: “It’s beginning to get out on the Hill. It’s complicated, but here is the gist as I understand it: Congress authorizes in legislation the president to submit a request for an increase in the debt limit in three tranches over the next year or so, with corresponding proposals for spending cuts; when the president submits his request, Congress immediately considers a resolution of disapproval; if the resolution passes, the president can veto it and–assuming his veto is subsequently upheld–he gets the increase in the debt limit. Got it? More later…”
Here’s the Reuters bulletin.
Here’s WaPo blogger Jennifer Rubin’s take.
Here’s Erick Erickson:
In a nutshell, the President would get to raise the debt ceiling three times in the next year at several billion bucks a pop without making any spending cuts unless two-thirds of both houses of Congress disagree. In his press conference, McConnell says he would not give the President “unilateral authority to make spending cuts on his own,” but this plan would allow the President to raise the debt ceiling pretty much automatically.As the Politico notes,
Senate Republicans are actively pursuing a new plan under which the debt ceiling would grow in three increments over the remainder of this Congress unless lawmakers approve a veto-proof resolution of disapproval.
In effect lawmakers would be surrendering the very power of approval that the GOP has used to force the debt crisis now. But by taking the disapproval route, Republicans can shift the onus more onto the White House and Democrats since a two-thirds majority will be needed to stop any increase that President Barack Obama requests.
Yes, instead of putting the burden on the White House, McConnell would make it damn near impossible to block a debt ceiling increase. We’ve seen this before. The House once had the Gephardt rule that required the debt ceiling vote be attached to a more popular measure so members of Congress could escape a tough vote.
Consequently, the debt ceiling has gone up to $14 trillion without Congress ever having to make a tough choice about debt.
And now Mitch McConnell wants to make it even easier by allowing Congress to go through a dog and pony show of feigned cuts that never get cut while allowing escalation of our national debt. So much for accusing Barack Obama of smoke and mirrors.
We exasperated grass-roots conservatives don’t call the GOP the Stupid Party for nothing.
Three letters come to mind:
W.T.F.?!!
***
Jamie Dupree reports: “At a news conference, McConnell labeled this new automatic debt limit increase plan a ‘last choice option.’” And: “We think it’s extremely important that the country reassure the markets that default is not an option.”
Commenter Corkie: “Again, failing to raise the debt ceiling does NOT equal default! This statement alone is worth a head-banging-against-the-wall.”
In any case: Why is facing the consequences of government profligacy not an option?
Why is putting an end to government spending without end not an option?
Politicians seeking to “reassure markets” and protect defaulters gave us TARP and AIG and Fannie Mae bailouts.
When is enough enough?
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Don’t trust the politicians, because they see the accumulation of power and want it for themselves.
Whose side is he on? I heard this could happen but at least I thought the plan came from Obama.
Hey Mitch, thats kind of a dubious negotiating strategy you got going there.
from another thread:
Breasts on a Nun
Training Wheels on a Harley
Mission Pin on a Kamakaze Pilot
Mitch McConnell
Verbal Contract
Drogue Chute on a Pinto
Pretty nasty, and completely unwarranted, thing to say about the Tea Party Caucus.
I see a major flaw by Obama however. Everyone knows now that the first pawn he uses is SSN, then of course Military Checks. He is the guy who blinked and threatened that he would with-hold those checks. Its on him.
Today thanks to Boehner, incandescent light bulbs will still be illegal to buy after this year. The bill to overturn the cfl lite bulbs bill won by a simple majority but needed a 2/3rds since Boehner failed to follow procedure, what a dolt.
Boehner and McConnel two of the dumbest people in congressional history.
I think it is time (in true Beck fashion) for a million Tea Partier March on Washington BEFORE August 2, 2011. Anyone game? Arrange to have pitchforks trucked in to the center of town, one for each (paper if that makes the police happy). WE NEED A SHOW OF STRENGTH AND DISGUST AT THESE PEOPLE WHO CLAIM TO REPRESENT US.
Sigh. 4 more years of Obama. I better buy that gold now and get all my money out of the bank.
Agreed! I want the Tea Party to SHOUT LOUDER NOW.
So, when is the next 2 million march on DC scheduled?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Bueller?
This article at The Hill has a bit more information about this political ploy by McConnell.
I still think it’s a dumbass idea. Most things these critters pass as laws have horrible unforeseen consequences.
Pitchforks AND scythes AND torches, oh my……
WRONG! The split is between the Senate Republicans combined with the House leadership and a few others in the House, versus the Tea Party other House conservatives. Obama and the MSM have been very careful to portray GOP leadership as being honest, honorable and responsible while blaming their inability to cut a deal on the House conservatives. Are you paying attention at all to what is going on?
You’re spouting wishful thinking. America is fed up with Democrats AND Republicans. If you want your precious party to win in 2012, you better start doing a better job of making friends with us conservatives. Insulting us with your condescending remarks is not going to get the job done.
I’m going to see if this guy will sell this. Might be more fun.
WWII vintage 40MM full auto.
The Russian guy is a riot: “You operate here, you fire here… and everything down there has vedy, vedy bad day.”
Sounds like Boris Badenof.
yeah, but he makes the mistake of saying it’s the largest machine gun a civilian can own. Of course, I don’t expect a Russian to be familiar with the 2nd Amendment…
You fantasize about third party takeovers and I’m engaged in wishful thinking? There’s nothing “condescending” about anything I said, unlike your usual witless diatribe.
The Progressives like O’Really and Rove keep quoting Brit Hume about how they might cut FDA food inspections if we don’t raise the debt, and therefore the food industry shuts down.
No, what *should* happen is, the FDA can’t inspect? Too bad, the food goes out un-inspected, then.
That would be things that are useless!
Hiraghm said:
No jive, I’ll take my chances.
Excellent point Mr. P. He won’t be able to play the new sheriff in Blazing Saddles on this one? Before any gets raaacist ideas, it’s the -only- pop culture ref. where some threatens to do themselves in and gets away w/ it.
Another of your more stupid comments. Don’t you know anything at all about what’s going on? There are NO conservative independents in the House. As far as I know, every tea party backed candidate who won was a Republican. I was just being polite when I surmised that you’re libertarian. The simple fact of the matter is that you’re an anarchist. You don’t want a third party, you hate everybody and you just want to blow up the system. That will become abundantly clear to everybody on the board when in the fullness of time the “tea party” House members agree to any sort of deal, no matter what the terms, as they eventually must. Conservative?? YOU??? You don’t even have a grasp on what the word means.
And stop pretending to speak for the Tea Party. You don’t seem to understand what they stand for, either. I doubt that you’re even associated with them, much less a spokesman.
Gosh I thought Mitch McConnell was selling out the country, and destroying our chances to accomplish anything, and now I learn it has been Phil all along!
Those twist endings always get me!
What is ‘unreal’ is why any conservative gives the GOP the time of day on this issue among many others.
Then wouldn’t we want to hint about cuts in Obamacare?
I live in Kentucky and am embarrassed to admit it for the first time!Enough of the political games!Expose this political hack in the White House for what he is,an empty suit.I used to like Senator McConnell, but he is all about the “process” and my ‘friend across the aisle’.They are not our friends and the process has gotten us into the mess we are ALL in!These Republican “leaders” are driving me further away from the GOP Ronaldo Maximus attracted me to!
I expressed my opinion of McConnell earlier:
The Phil thing is completely different – if you read him over time, you’ll find that he almost never criticizes the Democrats for anything. It’s always the Republicans’ fault, even when they had no power at all. I’ve come to the conclusion based on long exposure to his “philosophy”, that he would be completely comfortable with a return to Democrat control of the government. In fact, it sometimes appears that the one thing that scares him most is that conservative Republicans will eventually win out. He most resembles the minority Republicans of yesteryear, in attitude if not philosophy, who were happy to be in the minority, because they could criticize to their hearts’ content, and not have to actually do anything to back up their talk. If Phil were serious about his claimed devotion to conservatism, he’d be doing something about his own district and state, instead of lecturing those of us who are.
Sure. Hint away.
Why is this not even remotely surprising?
Perhaps if McConnell and other republicans weren’t cowering at the feet of the media, they’d just do what’s right instead of trying to placate people who hate their guts by pissing off those of us whose vote they need.
A Winner!!!!!
To be fair, let me address this one more time (sigh). Just a few weeks ago the news was full of stories about Republican proposals to change Obamacare. The criticism on this board was to say the least scathing. Nothing would satisfy you but the complete rescission of the bill. If the Republicans once again start talking about changes or reductions in Obamacare instead, you will be among the leaders of the pack howling for their scalps. There is nothing that can be done until the Republicans control all branches of the government, if then. Personally, I think that it’s virtually impossible to roll back an entitlement once it’s in place. If people don’t like it, they should have thought about it before they helped elect Obama and a Democrat filibuster-proof Congress. (Remember, 20% of self-described conservatives voted for Obama.) Does that mean that I won’t be pushing my congressional delegation to work for repeal? Of course not – it’s just that the chances are slim at best.
Yeah, I read it. “McConnell is well-meaning, but inept, but Phil is nefarious.”
Why is Phil nefarious? Why can’t he be mistaken like you attribute to McConnell? You yourself admit McConnell ought to go but won’t. Why won’t McConnell pay a price for this betrayal which may well be unconstitutional and is at the least an abandonment of his duties? Because he’s a good Republican.
For years I believed that the Republican party had a problem with a few vipers that they had taken to their bosom. These repeated secret meetings preceding fruitless phony (self-destructive) compromise as our nation slides within a decade of complete economic collapse show that being a viper is the rule.
Obama is floundering. His position is unsustainable. But you could never tell that by the GOP leadership. Once again the “party of no” or more accurately, the “party of Noh” is desperately trying to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Looks to me like Phil has been right all along.
And yet without Olympia Snowe letting it out of committee, Obamacare would have been DOA. There’s always some knucklehead doing something (without consequence) to undercut the whole effort.
It’s sort of not done to refuse a meeting with the President, whether you agree with him or not, and they’re also not the ones to decide how much of the meeting is open. Thus far, there’s no indication that the Republicans have broken ranks and moved to the left, except for McConnell’s comment – and plenty of indications that they’re holding firm. Certainly Boehner has been kept on a short leash by the House Republicans, and without them nothing that McConnell says really matters. There haven’t been an “compromises” that I’ve heard of. In fact, all of the stories that I’ve seen say just the opposite. However, I can see why you defend Phil. Like him, you tend to blame everything on the Republicans in general, even though the only one saying anything particularly stupid is McConnell and to date I haven’t heard of any other Republicans in or out of the Senate agreeing with him (although I haven’t checked in the past few hours).
I don’t think Phil is “nefarious”, I think he’s a naive fool. And so are you, if you agree with him.
When the Captain invites you into his stateroom, it’s not a request.
Says the guy who thinks if we just had more of these Republicans in power, we could fix everything.
Did you sleep through the “government shutdown” farce?
And if people hadn’t already elected 59 Democrats, her vote wouldn’t have mattered. (Actually, 60 Democrats since we had to have Kennedy die in the saddle to get a shot at the 41st seat.) Have you seen anybody on here argue that Snowe isn’t a liberal RINO? You can blame the whole Republican Party because people in the northeast will only elect liberals like Snowe or Brown, but there’s really only one thing we can do about it – elect more conservative Republicans elsewhere in the country so that her vote no longer is the deciding factor. It surely won’t do any good for conservatives to walk away and let even more liberal Republicans and Democrats take office. You’ve already tried that and it got us Obamacare, among other things You can either fight or you can run away. All of you who are talking about a splinter party are just running away.
So says the guy who thinks that electing more Democrats is going to fix everything. I say, elect more conservatives. You can twist it any way you want, but that just makes you a liar.
I was speaking of the current situation, but of course you’re right, they had agreed to extend the deadline earlier.
By the way, I let this slip through and it deserves a response. Of course McConnell should pay a price. The voters in Kentucky should throw him out on his ear, and until then the Senate Republicans should force him to step down. They probably won’t. Explain to me how electing more Democrats will correct that.
I’m talking committee. They needed a Republican to vote “yes” to allow the bill to be debated by the full Senate. Not surprisingly, they got it.
Look, at some point we are going to have to look at the results the GOP keeps giving us. They may have the best intentions in the world, but be too stupid, cowardly, or poorly organized to oppose the Democrats. When do we finally hold them accountable?
Time is running out.
If this is what McConnell proposes to balance the budget, how long do we have to wait before another republican genius proposes making Obama a dictator to ‘quell the tensions’ within the US??
Geez!
You do, but the GOP masterminds don’t. That’s the problem. The leadership and the RNC are perfectly willing to give up a seat here or there if it means keeping conservatives from getting too influential. At their heart, they are still the old “opposition party 40 year minority” you referenced earlier.
I didn’t invent the system, and neither, as a matter of fact, did the founders. You have a chance every 6 years to hold them accountable. Don’t blame me if you don’t. We do ours, which is why KBH has suddenly gotten the urge to retire. Now explain to me how electing more Democrats is going to solve any of our problems.
Right. I had forgotten the details. Same difference. It still was passed out of committee by a whole potful of Democrats and one liberal Republican, and yet you still blame the Republicans.
If this seems a little disjointed, I’ve got a new computer and the damned thing is giving me fits.
The reason I emphasized this was that you seem to have missed it in my many previous posts on the subject.
It wasn’t the GOP establishment who defeated Sharon Angle – it was Reid’s well-organized machine, together with her own flaws. Like they say, if it ain’t close, they can’t cheat. Likewise, Christine O’Donnell turned out to be a fatally flawed candidate. Do I care if she played at witchcraft as a kid? Of course not, but obviously NJ voters disagreed.
The fact is, though, that even though they were essentially inexperienced beginners, they had legitimate shots at winning, which indicates that what we need to do for the next election is find more of the same – but let’s find Rubios, not Angles.
Sorry, that doesn’t fly. She’s still sitting on that same committee, and if I recall correctly if and when Orin Hatch leaves the Senate, she’s next in line for top Republican in the Finance committee.
There are never any consequences. This issue was a line in the sand for most Americans. This issue led to a huge midterm swing in both houses. Still, no consequences.
And again, if I recall correctly she got to piously vote “nay” from that point on because her treachery was already accomplished. Still again, no consequences.
We are doomed. Get ready. Collapse is imminent.
They left her to that machine, with no support from operatives. The RNC had no ground game in Nevada; they sent their resources elsewhere. Angle was a sacrificial lamb.
Angle was a Nevada state representative. She didn’t just crawl out from under a bridge. This is surely a MSM talking point.
Let me just sum this up a little bit, and then I’m outta here for the night. It is inevitable that sooner or later the Republicans are going to reach some sort of compromise. They have to, because all they control is the House, and no matter how much you might wish it, they can’t pass legislation into law all by themselves. Does that mean they should give in on the debt ceiling? Once again, sooner or later they have to – they have no choice. The only question now is the details of the agreement. Unfortunately, no matter what those details are, the Republicans will be accused of caving – with some justification, because, once again, altogether, “THEY HAVE NO CHOICE”. Immediately thereafter, you, Phil, and most of the rest of the board will be screaming in rage (and I’ll be shaking my head in disappointment) and demanding a splinter party. That is playing right into the Democrats’ hands, because there is nothing they’d like more than to see a strong third party to guarantee them total control of the government for the foreseeable future. It worked with Perot, although the results weren’t as enduring as they’d expected because they overreached with Hillarycare. But now Obamacare is a fait accompli, and they don’t have that hill to climb anymore. Not only that, they have an attorney general even more dishonest than Janet Reno, and a strong “grassroots” movement in the form of Soros’s Secretary of State project. They’re seriously intent on taking permanent control of the government, and in my eyes, people who believe as you do are helping them.
Frankly, I don’t care how many RINOs we have to work with and around, the alternative is unthinkable.
Even with control of the House, we couldn’t get something so obvious and sane as repeal of the incandescent lightbulb ban through. What hope have we have achieving anything else?
I recognize that something will happen with the debt ceiling, and that the number of conservatives are insufficient to prevent an increase. The devil will, as always, be in the details but my guess is the Republicans will once again be proudly clutching a handful of “magic beans” in exchange for the cow they had to sell for something.
And I could easily turn that around on you to say that endless, unwavering support of the same weak party that serves us poorly time after time- but I won’t.
I have argued against Romney as an example of a time when I couldn’t vote GOP, but I have always criticized Democrats, and never to my recollection attacked the party as a whole; just the leadership/RNC, and several RINO individuals like Grahamnasty.
I’m sorry, but this McConnell thing is just too much. He isn’t just one “liberal Republican”. He’s the party leader in the Senate, and he’s trying to give to our enemy the power the voters entrusted to him. Not this time. His betrayal will cost us all if he isn’t properly chastened.
One more time ….
McConnell’s (The Goblers) alternate plan is a political ploy nothing that will ever become reality as pointed out a few times.
If my neighborhood has a cholera epidemic I’m going to flush my own toilet before I clean my neighbor’s. That doesn’t make me a Cholerist, or in favor of squalor. Neither would I give up trying to get the poop out of the gutter just because I may not have enough help to get the job done on this attempt.
As if the alternative is really different from the RINOs…
Here’s the scoop on that bit of legislation…it was never had a chance to pass as it was an expiditited bill meaning it required a 2/3 majority vote to pass and the R’s do not have a 2/3 majority. The vote was 223 yes to 193 no with one present vote.
Marco Rubio needs to show Mitch to a nice rocking chair on the porch.
I become less and less concerned about this theater as time goes by. Let Obama try to hold Social Security checks to seniors. The House should then pass a bill tying a debt ceiling increase to repeal of Obamacare.
What, the president will starve Grandma to keep some future healthcare benefit that affects nobody?
By bye Democrats, forever.
Is he f#$%ing kidding me?
That statement is the economic equivalent of telling terrorists that we’ll be leaving the theater on day XYZ.
He just told the Dems how far he’s will to fight. So now they can relax and know that McConnell is guaranteed to back down at a particular point.
This guy and whoever is working with him has to be the most stupid f*&kwad in the Senate.
Not to mention that as Corkie wrote, no debt ceiling increase does NOT mean default.
By the way…. Why the hell is there a debt ceiling if there’s no chance that it will ever stop borrowing????????
Why does it exist?????????
None of this “theatre” has to do with a government shutdown nor social security checks not going out, nor is it Republican versus Democrat. This performance is Ruling Class Elitest versus sweating masses in the streets.Think professional wrestling or roller derby, it’s a scripted show featuring what’s best for the “colleagues” in power.
Barry went on CBS and brazenly lied about whether or not Social Security checks would go out August 3 if there were no debt ceiling deal. There is money to cover both interest on the debt and Social Security payments plus Medicare and essential defense with some money left over, as James Pethokoukis shows in this chart of the money the federal government will have in August:
http://betsyspage.blogspot.com/2011/07/obama-willing-to-lie-to-scare-seniors.html
This reminds me of living in California right while Prop 13 was debated. There was such gnashing of teeth as liberals and the media strained to try to portray the drastic cuts that would have to be made if property taxes weren’t kept at a high level. They always threatened the things that people cared about most – schools, firefighters, the police. Those were going to have to be the first budget items cut. And then it passed and lo and behold! we still had schools, firefighters, and police. Amazing how that worked out, wasn’t it? The tactic hasn’t changed in over 30 years. Threaten what people are most worried about and hold those fears hostage in order to score political points.
Democratic tactics in a nutshell.
Well said!
And yes, it’s been Obama, not Republicans, talking about holding people “hostage” and putting a “gun to their head”…
Mr McConnell, this white house bought millions of dollars worth of new limos for it’s posse, they raised the salaries of their posse by up to 80 grand per year, they go on vacations flying aposse of thousands to protect and serve them about 5 times a year, and YOU can’t figure out where to start cutting the budget! The U.N. spends american dollars nearly as fast as this president, and the state department can’t get along without a billion dollar booze budget, and you can’t figure out where to start cutting. The epa looks out their window at the cleanest air, water, and land that we have seen in 300 years and says we have to shut down coal power plants as they produce too much pollution, but nearly every home in New England heats using diesel fuel, not the clean diesel, but the bottom of the barrel diesel which causes chimney fires it pollutes so much,but does it mandate they all change to LNG or Propane, no! You want to cut, cut some of these partisan hacks. A line item by line item cut of old, broken, stupid programs we waste money on is where you idiots need to concentrate the next 2 weeks. Don’t pee on each others shoes, cut the crap we waste money on, and prioritize who gets paid first, second, and third when the money gets gone. You borrow and spend 40% more than you take in, so you have to cut 40% of the spending. I suggest you get started.
In East Texas it’s said ‘There ain’t 50 cents difference between democrats and republicans. Once they get to Washington they’re all on the same team. They oppose the American team.’ Folks, we have an uphill battle.
Not quite. The Pretender in Chief and the dems aided by their lackeys in media will pin the problem on the GOP as always, and the gullible among us will believe them, because the GOP willl fumble the ball in response.
You know how the GOP could get Obama to do away with the booze budget? Tell him it is part of a Muslim outreach program….
Well at least we know why Obama was telling the American public the other day at his presser that we need to just worry about going to work and let them (the politicians) handle the debt ceiling as it is just too complicated for the masses to understand.
As with what McConnel has shown us they wont just fumble the ball, but give the opposing team their playbook.
This absurd cowardly proposal confirms to me that Senate Repubulicans have no courage and no convictions. It also occurs to me that they have no grasp of the basic financial principals at work here.
The reason that politicians and “the markets” are eager for a debt ceiling increase and a return to the status quo is the very reason an increase is not needed: the power and robust nature of the American economy. That is what everyone has always bet on and that is why they all think trillions in debt is irrelevant. Eventually there will be a point of no return, a real collapse, but no one knows where that point lies. It is certainly not with this phony debt ceiling. Better to drop the hammer on the ceiling now and force the necessary cuts than continue this absurd game of avoiding balanced budgets.
Here is the problem, the conundrum: Should Republicans refuse the debt ceiling increase I firmly believe that Obama will drive us off the cliff, creating an artificial crisis, welcomed by “the markets”. That will scare the weak-kneed Republicans into an unnecessary debt ceiling increase. To win the day, the Republicans must absolutely force the $2T in spending cuts. If they do not have the courage to do it then we are all finished.
Address the latest profligacy first:
* Government payroll expansions
* Unspent TARP and stimulus monies
* ObamaCare
Republicans have got to ID the cuts, not the President, because he won’t do it. Trumpet the cuts to the American people as unnecessary new money spending that can be easily eliminated. Then when he drives us off the cliff, and he will, Republicans will have already laid out the solution. Lead the damn horse to water then use a claw-bucket trackhoe to force him to drink.
But look what Bernake is planning to do:
I have never trust either Boehner or McConnell. The day they are defeated will be the best day for the country.They helped get us into this mess and both support illegal immigration-only against it when the outrage gets too loud for their weak backs. I am not suprised if both are part of The New World Order and doing their part to make it happen.
See I’m Bi-partisan-I think both sides SUCK!
Which is why I emphasized the point that not extending the debt ceiling doesn’t equate to default. Not only do we have over 2 trillion in revenues, but the Fed will just keep right on printing money.
I don’t know how much good it’s going to do them to raise the debt ceiling, anyway. There is more and more reluctance around the world to buy it, which is why the Fed has been printing money and buying up treasuries – what a Ponzi scheme that is.
What McConnell is basically saying is that he will let Obama destroy America, but he won’t let the Republican Party be blamed for it.
Shows where his allegiance lies. 2012.
This is why and how the Federal Reserve will be revealed as the extraconstitutional entity that it is, and not some organization that is truly under Congressional oversight.
When they say not ‘extending the debt ceiling will be a disaster”, they mean a disaster for those holding US Treasury debt- including the Federal Reserve- which has willfully exposed themselves to it (through buying up Tresury bills, and thus releasing dollars into the money ‘market’). Let ‘em twist in the wind like other people who lose in the markets-no bailouts.
Michelle, you are a brilliant, principled woman, when will you STOP banging your head against the wall and realize the republican leadership is part of the statist cabal?
Mealy mouth McConnel is simply there to ACT like he is standing against the communist assault by the democrats.
They LOVE the consolidtation of government power in all it’s forms. They are part and parcel of Big Government and have ZERO INTENTIONS of limiting their own power and influence!
They are merely actors and must be demonstrated to be the frauds that they are. ENOUGH with the stuck on stupid nonsense! GET IN THEIR FACE and call them out for what they are, FRAUDS merely pretending to represent us!
Michelle, you are one of the only ones fighting for us in the mainstream, stop coping out with the idea that the Republicans can’t figure it out, they know damn well what they are doing!
Charlie Krauthammer, again.
Does Kraut have a little curl right in the middle of his forehead? Because when he’s good he’s very very good, but when he’s bad, he’s horrid.
I believe this is his idea…
Classic enabler. You are part of the problem, not the solution.
How to avoid reading several hours worth of debate. I may be an enabler for the Republicans, by your view, but you’re an elector of Democrats, and in my view, that makes you a traitor.
I vote as the Founding Fathers recommended, with my head, my heart, and my principles, yet you call me a traitor. So must they be also.
That was an excellent retort to txvet2 and such. It illustrates the silliness of his position.
Exactly !!!
Which is exactly where it should be.
Sorry, but MM got this one wrong. All the grimacing and breast-beating and fist-clenching and foot-stomping and ooga-booga in all these blogs about traitors and lynching is forgetting one thing: there aren’t a lot of alternatives. I am not saying that McConnell’s plan is the only one available, or even the best one or even constitutional, but it has the virtue of keeping its eye on the Big Picture. This skirmish is small potatoes. The only one that matters is 2012. There is not a snowball’s chance in hell that any conservative agenda is possible without the GOP taking the Senate or the presidency, preferably both, in 2012. Third-party folks, take a cold shower.
McConnell’s so-called “treason” requires the executive-option increases divided into separate stages so the issue will be front and center for the next year. It forces Obama to specify in detail (anything specific is difficult for this demagogue) offsetting spending cuts. While these may well never get enacted, the Dems will have had to put their reelection on the line by voting against them. The issue of reckless spending and out-of-control debt will if anything be greater next year once all this goes down. Things may well have to get worse before they can get better.
And what are the alternatives? Get a cuts-only agreement with Obama/Reid? They’ve already dug in–never going to happen. Vote down any increase in the limit? Seriously? This will ding the country’s credit, at best forcing us to pay higher rates. Of course it won’t necessitate default per se, but after the interest is paid, then what? Who gets to decide what gets funded and what doesn’t? Our good friend in the White House. And he will make those cuts the most public and most painful possible, and claim his hands are tied and blame the GOP. We’ve already seen a preview. How long will the most conservative congressman sit there and take the blame for closed parks, lost Social Security, declined Medicare? A year? A month? A week? Then it’s cave-in time, because we’ll have no leverage left whatsoever.
Maybe passing a short-term extension and daring the Dems to turn it down would be a better gamble. I don’t know. But the cavemen here need to stop the breast-beating, put down their spears and start thinking.
Sticking by your principles is fine. Cutting your nose off to spite your face is not principled. It’s dumb.
The point of a vote is to do the best you can by seeing to it that your principles actually get enacted, not to make yourself feel good because you were a pig headed dolt who did not compromise.
Yes. This should make McConnell an issue in GOP Senate primary campaigns across the country.
“Are you going to vote against McConnell to continue to lead the GOP in the Senate?” should be asked of every prospective Republican Senate candidate.
The wrong answer should automatically exclude them from getting our votes in the primary.
1) So do I, yet you call me an enabler and “part of the problem”. I guess, by your logic, that also applies to the Founders.
2) Congratulations. That’s two posts in a row that you managed not to plagiarize from some movie.
And, since you failed to anticipate my response, it illustrates the stupidity of yours.
No you do not. The Founding Fathers would find your casting aside of your principles for the party line LOTE vote abhorrent, as do I.
Let me see if I can find an appropriate movie quote for you.
Mr. Hand: What are you, people? On dope?
Look up the term “non sequitur”, moron.
I won!
You won, as in you’re too stupid to look up a term, or you won, as in you’re too stupid to know how it applies to you? You’re talking about the Founding Fathers who compromised on the issue of slavery, you idiot.
First I’m a moron, then I’m an idiot. Does that mean I’m getting better? I can never tell.
He’s a fool who cannot conceal his wisdom. -Ben Franklin
Boys, Boys, no farting in the cafeteria.
SC Hotline has great post entitled Mitch McConnell, the new Pontius Pilate. The title alone about covers it.