Well, it looks at though we're in for a weekend of political theater. As Lawrence O'Donnell noted when talking to Sen. Kent Conrad about the latest coming out of the Senate tonight, it appears Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is not done pulling political stunts. Apparently McConnell just told Leader Reid that he will not negotiate directly with him, and will only negotiate with President Obama.
McConnell also told Reid that he would not allow Reid's bill to pass with a simple majority vote, so in other words, he's going to allow the Senate to filibuster. This means that the Senate would not be allowed to vote on Reid's bill until Sunday at 1am and in the mean time, the House would be voting on Reid's bill sometime tomorrow.
If McConnell wants to filibuster Reid's bill, I say it's time for them to break out the cots, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen since the Senate already adjourned tonight. It would be nice to see a clean bill pass that simply raises the debt ceiling instead of these bills they've been negotiating passing. I guess we'll find out shortly if that's too much to hope for or not. In the mean time, they're taking this dangerous game of chicken with our economy right up to the wire with more stalling from Republicans.
UPDATE: Here's more on the latest from The Hill -- Reid alters debt plan to attract GOP support:
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has revised his plan to raise the debt limit in a last-ditch bid to attract Republican support.
The biggest change is that Reid would give the president almost unilateral power to raise the debt limit, borrowing an idea introduced by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).
Reid would have President Obama request a $2.4 trillion debt-limit increase in two installments of $1.2 trillion each. The requests would be subject to congressional resolutions of disapproval, but these would do little to restrict the president.
Obama could override any resolution of disapproval, and it would take a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override him.
According to a Senate Democratic aide, Reid also increased the total level of spending cuts from $2.2 trillion to $2.4 trillion, in part by using the January baseline -- a budget maneuver House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) used on a previous version of his debt-limit plan. The January budget baseline does not count cuts Congress implemented in legislation passed this spring to avert a government shutdown.
So far Reid has had trouble attracting Republicans to his bill. Moderate Republican Sen. Scott Brown (Mass.) said he would vote for it, but otherwise it has received scant bipartisan support.
Reid filed a motion on Friday evening to end a GOP filibuster of his plan, setting up a vote for early Sunday morning. Reid would need 60 votes and support from at least seven Republicans to advance his proposal.
Reid accused McConnell of filibustering at the "worst possible time" by not allowing a simple majority vote, while McConnell said Republicans would support an immediate vote with a 60-vote threshold. Read on...
Holy Cow - Mitch! What iz up wit you? Take a look in the mirror Baby.
Who's side ya on? Sorry - I forgot..
But really then - take a good look in the mirror - again.
How can you be - like - this --- whats wrong with you.............
The wonderful state of Kentucky - deserves better.
Who do you serve ~ Sir ??
even if somethings going in their eye
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/i...
Is it the 21st century yet?
but he sure as hell wants a compromise. His two latest press conferences I mistakenly thought he was going to announce he was going to invoke the 14th ammendment. Boy was I mistaken.
The longer he waits the better case he will have that he isn't resorting to the sort of 'imperial' Presidency that Bush/Cheney pulled on us. The last moment will be soon enough to override the t-publicans. That we we will also know just how insane they really are, and it will be on record.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
"The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president."
McConnell simply wants to pin the blame for the debt ceiling vote, pass or fail, on President Obama even though it's a Congressional obligation to raise the debt ceiling.
Congress, just pass a clean bill to raise the debt ceiling, please, and then you can all go back to loudly accomplishing nothing.
That's good , McConnell won't negotiate with Reid , only with Obama , the President of the United States , the man who McConnell said they want to sabotage and make fail , their mission , their number one priority . These F'ers are insane . "Kentucky deserves better ?" Do they ? The morons have voted this guy back again and again ! This country deserves better .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
"Hey, I just shot your dog and I'm fuckin' your wife. Let's do lunch".
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
"I shot your wife and I'm fucking your dog. Let's go to church."
(With all due respect to the GOOD people here from Kentucky...)
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Since it's
KYMcConnell--FIFY
me-oww!
Damn AA crap has me trying to be too damn inclusive...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Just go with the flow , take what you can get out of it , what works for you , and just let the rest of it go . Saved my life .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
meeting last night. Lots of good energy. But I can only do so many meetings a week. Papa John's pizza is not a great substitute for a Tanqueray and tonic, but it's what I've got for tonight...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Isn't the same but I don't feel nearly as bad the next day after eating pizza as I do when I get plastered . I do not miss the fog either .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
Sundaes, malts, sodas...same sorts of carbs or sugars or whatever...but it works. Gets the gin off your mind.
Don't try to confuse the issue with half-truths and gorilla dust.
.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
...
me-oww!
yep , you summed it up nicely .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
But everyone better keep his d*ck away from my dog. She's a 12 y/o little tramp, but at least she can't get knocked up...
;)
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
It's time for the president to declare a national emergency , invoke section 4 of the 14th amendment and issue a presidential executive order raising the debt ceiling.
Just curious.
Humpty Dumpty was pushed.
Ignore the "debt limit". It only exists to provide theater like this every so often. It's not like it's some founding principle of the country or a sacred tradition. And since this theater is enabling really irresponsible behavior, there's no reason to even pretend to raise it.
And while he's at it, Obama should have some of the Justice Department lawyers making the case for overturning the law as unconstitutional. Then maybe we could stop playing this game.
He knows he's easier to roll than Reid.
Chip 'N Dale have more balls than those two Dims.
The debt ceiling is unconstitutional anyway and should be challenged in court. Read that section and it states emphatically that the "debt of the United States shall never be questioned..". The very act of a debt ceiling "questions" the integrity of US treasuries. Clinton said that he would do it in a heartbeat if something like this occurred. I'm not sure or current president has the guts to make that decision though... he's too much like Millard Filmore (the great compromiser) right before the civil war. We don't need him, we need Lincoln.
Or FDR...
We had to struggle with the old enemies of peace—business and financial monopoly, speculation, reckless banking, class antagonism, sectionalism, war profiteering.
They had begun to consider the Government of the United States as a mere appendage to their own affairs. We know now that Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob.
Never before in all our history have these forces been so united against one candidate as they stand today. They are unanimous in their hate for me—and I welcome their hatred.
That is correct sir.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
McConnell has made it clear his sole goal for this Congress is to destroy President Obama.
If he filibusters this bill, there is no way anyone but those drowning in TeaParty swill (and the MSM) will be able to blame Obama or the Democrats for sinking our economy.
Fuck 'em all. They have destroyed my 40 years of retirement savings. And they are still in power.
The United States aspires to democracy, but no true democracy is attainable when the process is determined by economic power.
You are not alone . I feel bad for my wife mostly , bothers me a lot , I'll be dead and gone and I don't know what she will do now . We don't talk about it as there is no solution ( she knows it ) , it's too late to recover , I am sure she worries . I never used to hate , but that has changed .
"The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all."
As an American of Latin descent, I was asked the question; if Mexico and the US went to war, who's side would you be on? My American friend of Irish descent queried me soliciting his definition of the expected patriotic response. I told him, " if America went to war with Mexico, I would do the patriotic thing that myself and other Americans of all ancestries and cultures would do. I would do what all other Democrats, most Independents and most apolitical Americans would do; we'd be on side against the Republicans that somehow manipulated and started this war to begin with; by the way, so would most Canadians.
I realize I could do some research and find the answer, but I figure someone reading this blog can answer this much quicker:
McConnell also told Reid that he would not allow Reid's bill to pass with a simple majority vote, so in other words, he's going to allow the Senate to filibuster.
Since when does the minority leader dictate what type of vote will suffice? Why is it that Democrats always seem to be on the wrong side of this issue...........when they want something passed, it requires a super majority. When Republicans want something passed, all they need is a simple majority?
What are the rules of the Senate that determine whether something requires a simple majority or a super majority? Finally, who put this dumb ass super majority rule in place?
In order to end debate on a bill, it requires a motion for cloture, which is a 60 vote threshold. Once cloture is invoked, a simple majority is enough. It used to be that debate actually required someone to stand at the podium and talk, like Mr Smith Goes To Washington. Now, that requirement for some reason has been waived, and any coalition of 41 votes can bring the Senate to a screeching halt.
That explains it, but it certainly doesn't seem logical. Gives the majority way too much power. Especially, when they are assholes like Republicans!
not majority.
Yeah, but otherwise the majority would just roll the minority every time, especially when they have good party discipline like the republicans do. In the House, there is no super majority rule.
Now the threat of a filibuster is all they need to do, because the Dims piss their pants at the slightest mention of the word. They could force the Rethugs to actually do it, but they don't.
I can't vote for those cowards anymore. Just can't.
Who needs Survivor?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Even that's a gap that could have been bridged by better bands with better songs, IMHO.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Time is fleeting, Madness takes it's toll..
Hasa Diga Eebowai
even if it's just to get away from this other madness for 1 hour a week.
at the bar...
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Well, it looks at though we're in for a weekend of political theater.
It fills the gap The Guiding Light left. A new kind of soap opera.
far left loon >.<
burns?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
McConnel may have a clue.
How many rank-and-file-democrats are prepared to follow Barack Obama into a fight where their best interests are on the line?
Well, it looks like America may pay for its sins of complacency and ignorance in spades.
The GOP is content to burn down the whole country. We'll see what the fallout is over the next two years.
It's quite possible that peaceful political change in this country may be coming to an end.
Let's all chant again...Middle Class first!! USA! USA! USA!...now the unions! USA!! USA!! USA!!...ok...now you Reagan Democrats! USA! USA! USA!...Blue Dogs...let me hear it! USA! USA! USA!...Old people! USA! USA! USA!...all you real conservative Americans living in your mother's basement! USA! USA! USA!
Whoo hoo. Hot damn, I get to live during America's declining years. Lucky me!
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
I can't tell any of them apart any more. they are just so fucking indifferent to what they are wreaking on the american people. ALL OF THEM! NOT A SINGLE EXCEPTION. #fuckuwashington
Some stuff you can't make up!
Congresses have had lower ratings than Presidents since forever.
All they are doing is solidifying his reelection. Yes, you heard it hear first...reelection.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Trying to milk even more political theatre. McConnell clearly has his eyes on the Bagger Prize - OBAMA AS ONE TERM PRESIDENT.
McConnell already had his negotiations with the President -- several times over the last few weeks, why does he need to only negotiate with him now?
Then, he follows it up with a filibuster against the Reid bill, as bad as it is.
Based on his statement that he wants Obama to be a one-term President, it would seem to me that these facts lead me to one conclusion: McConnell, Cantor, Bachmann, Walsh and the rest of the Teabaggers are actually angling for a political coup against the government of the United States. The kind where they depose the legally elected Presiden, become a junta and dissolve the Congress and the Supreme Court to get their way.
Call it conspiracy theory if you like. McConnell is an old-school Southern Kentucky colonel type, racist, overbearing and hungry for the Old South that the Civil War destroyed. These type of aristocratic oligarchs love to incite the redneck types so prominent in the Tea Party to rise up and destroy all the gains African-Americans have made over the last 150 years. Southern "gentlemen" ruling over their estates and now they want "their" country back.
As far as I'm concerned what McConnell, the neo-cons and the half-wit Teabaggers are doing is unconstitutional and treasonous. If they had any balls Obama and his Justice Department, under their oaths to "Preserve, Protect and Defend the Constitution of the United States", would declare them as traitors to our democracy and begin prosecution.
Democratic Party progressive, Vietnam veteran and proud Union member for 41 years
The TEA party would never go with any revenue increases even if it was 100 to 1 cuts vs revenue. I really hope Obama invokes the 14th Amendment at the end. However, the very next day the Republicans in the House will try to impeach him on grounds that he violated the Constitution by overriding the House which has the purse strings.
Boehner did mention he would accept revenue increases, but I wonder really how much he accepted before walking out. Since Obama kept mentioning taxing private jets, I would assume that Boehner agreed to very few revenue generators.
Obama handled this crisis all wrong. He needs to be more demanding and tell them what he wants and not negotiate as much as he did. He did not bring up that Clinton balanced the budget without all the drama.
prepare to veto and invoke the 14th amendment..This is a WORLD EMERGENCY! Even Rieds bill is a nonstarter...no more hostages of the American people!
call the repubs out..1.866.311.3405 or 1.866.338.1015
I guess NONE of these idiots are interested in being re-elected or are very interested in being recalled. They have all drawn a line in the sand and not interested in talking with each other. And we are going to end up suffering for it.
The party that caused the Great Depression
AND
The Great Recession
Has not set us on the brink of
Default
Great Job --- GOP
BLOCK AND BLAME REPUBLICANS
Caves again you mean
Barack Obama: Change we can only imagine
McConnell, you uttered the phrase “I won’t negotiate with Dems” at a very critical time for the Country. You obviously don’t know what America is really about. You would do the Country the most good if you would just pack your bags and go home.
Boehner, you have wasted valuable time on a fool’s errand. You crafted a partisan bill that you knew had no chance of becoming law and yet you decided to go through the exercise anyway. You did this apparently only to appease the far right fringes of your already far right constituency. You have shown a lack of concern for your Country. You would do the most good now if you just pack your bags and go home.
Reid, you’ve allowed your opponents to set the parameters of most every issue. You have shown that you would rather move to the right than put up any kind of a fight. This country is filled with millions of people that could do that. Why not pack your bags and go home and maybe the people can find someone that could be effective.
President Obama, although the Right has left you standing at the “altar” several times you never bothered to show up for those that helped get you elected. You have caved on some issues that are very important to your progressive base, incredibly even before any negotiations started. Among many issues, your lack of union support is deafening. You are not the person I voted for.
The Supreme Court who have shown that they can not or will not interpret laws in a nonpartisan manner. The Citizens United decision is all anyone needs to now about this groups utter abandonment of the fair justice system of America. Do the Country a favor and pack your bags and go home.
To the group of people that needed to go to the chapel to pray for guidance on how they should cast their vote. What an utterly cowardly strategy. Not that you went to the chapel to pray but rather that you felt a need to share this with everyone. As I pondered why you would even mention doing this, God began speaking to me (he doesn’t really speak, it’s more like a voice you hear in your head) and he said that he would not look too kindly on those that invoke his name in order to try to justify their lack of courage of conviction. He mentioned that he gave us all minds and expected us to use them. As for praying to him on which way to vote on an issue, he said you already know how he wants you to treat others. If you need help, ask yourself "is this good for the least of your brethren?". He stressed that he doesn’t back anyone for any office anywhere but hopes that those that are elected to lead do so in a manner that treats everyone with respect. He doesn’t need the “show” because he already knows what is in your heart and that is all that is important to him.
He also asked me to reiterate to those “Christians” that get involved with government that he sent his son not only to save mankind from sin but also to convey several messages one of which was to keep religion and politics separate. The reason for this is because, he said, once you start mixing these, both will become corrupted. He has given mankind so much proof of this that he is surprised that mankind has not moved beyond this. He reiterated that His kingdom is not of the Earth. His intent was to leave governing to the people but still not have those who believe in him becoming corrupted by government. Mankind botched this up right from the beginning. He also wanted me to mention that he is absolutely disgusted with all the wars, the greed, the power grabs that have been done in “His” name. His hope was that mankind would develop to where everyone was genuinely concerned about the welfare of their neighbor. He mentioned that he is losing hope. And lastly, he wanted me to tell those that keep saying the end is near that maybe it is and maybe it isn’t. You may force the world into Armageddon but if it is forced it is not “my” Armageddon . Only he knows and he is very unhappy with those that keep bringing this up in an attempt to scare people into believing in him. He said you can’t scare people into believing in him – he knows what is in your hearts.
So please, all of you, pack your bags and go home so that our Country can move forward.
McConnell stated, at the beginning of his term, that his top priority was to make Obama a 'one-term President'. that basically means that NOTHING else matters, even if the country is dragged down with him. it's also a violation of his oath to the Constitution and his duty to the country and his constituents.
he just doesn't care. . .
Reality ain't.
once a snake in the grass, always a snake in the grass. mcconnell had this planned the whole time. i was wondering what he was up to, working with the enemy. know we know why. remember, it was mcconnell who decided after obama won that he was to be a one term potus. before obama was even sworn in, mitchie and his croonies had decided to say no to everything obama did.
what mitchie did not bargain on was the american voter become angry at the TP. they blame them for this mess, not obama. i reid gets the votes, then i say the end game is near. obama signs the bill into law while the toddlers and babies are asleep. bonehead saves face and live in his world committed to the belief that orange is good. the bill will have what obama wanted, and there is nothing the babes in norquist land cando about it.
First: this is not about the party nor its constituents. This horrible moment in history is NOT about Americans. This is about special, private, financial interests. Greed on a colossal scale.
This campaign by the republicans has been about destabilization and destruction of America. "In Chaos There is Opportunity". They have strategically exploited every avenue to undermine the office of the President, destabilize the entire economy and repress those in need in order to create anarchy in this nation.
This is not just malice, but a complete dereliction of duty to this nation. There is zero moral conscience. There never will be going forward. The Absolute-Wealth special interests have eliminated the truth in every discussion, and controlled the messaging with precision and volume.
Moving forward, the REAL expectation is: Republicans tactically aim for default, they want Americans to scramble, they want to create a million reasons to sue the administration and impeach the President of the United States. And in doing so, maximize the amount of money transfered into the hands of private wealth.
And last, Republicans and Tea spokespersons hide behind the flag of The Party, hide behind the flag of The American People. They hide behind religion, they hide behind anything that can be an easy distraction away from the real issue: America is being destroyed by Absolute-Wealth interests.
Knowing this, how do we respond? How do we step up? How do we serve lawsuits and block fillibusters?
How do we defend our nation knowing that those who impelled the economic collapse are the very people orchestrating this default through tactics by Republican and Tea representatives?
Comments are closed on this entry