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Ezra Klein was filling in for Rachel Maddow this Tuesday night and after running down a list of recent stories on water main breaks across the country and the fact that our country's infrastructure is rated at a D or lower right now, Klein spoke to Sen. Bernie Sanders about the Republicans' continued obstruction on passing the transportation bill and their reason for it. And he's absolutely right with his conclusion. If something is going to make President Obama look good, they're not going to pass it.

Here's the latest from The Hill on the transportation bill: Reid 'not ready' yet to give up on passing a long-term transportation bill

How pathetic is it that you've got Barbara Boxer and James Inhofe managing to come to an agreement and John Boehner won't bring this thing up for a vote in the House? Their behavior ought to be criminal because it's going to continue to cost lives when you literally allow our roads and our sewers to crumble because you'd rather play politics than do what's right for the economy and for the country.

And as Klein and Sanders pointed out, these short term extensions are just as destructive as passing nothing at all because contractors have to be able to budget and plan for these projects, which you make impossible to do when you refuse to pass any long term funding. And as Sanders pointed out, in states like his, you've got weather considerations as well and if you're messing around like they are this far into the year, you're making sure projects are stalled and might not be completed in a timely or efficient manner, because by the time they plan them, the weather is too cold for all of the work to be done.

Republicans keep carping about "uncertainty" being the cause of businesses not spending and fear of new regulations causing them not to hire. Here's your uncertainty for you. Right here, and it's intentional. These Republicans literally would rather see our nation crumble than allow President Obama to be reelected. I've watched a lot of cynical things with these politicians in my lifetime, but this has to be right up there with some of the worst.

Anyone who is as sick of this stuff as I am can go find your elected Representative in the House here if you'd like to let them know how you feel as well: Find Your Representative. You can contact Speaker Boehner here. Or you can leave him a note on Twitter here: @johnboehner.

Rachel Maddow's staff has got a list of links to the recent news articles Ezra Klein went through before Sen. Sanders joined him on the air. You can check them out below the fold.

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On this Monday's Morning Joe, Hardball host Chris Matthews decided to go on a full blown tear at President Obama for not being bold enough with confronting the Congress and not getting out there and publicly demanding that the obstructionist Republicans do more to get people back to work and cooperate on investing in our public sector. While I agree with him on some of what he was ranting about here, I've got some issues with it as well.

Here's some of Raw Story's coverage of Matthews' appearance: Chris Matthews hits ‘pusillanimous’ Obama for ‘thinking small’:

MSNBC host Chris Matthews on Monday accused President Barack Obama of being too timid in his rhetoric and political agenda.

“I don’t understand why he thinks small,” Matthews, who is generally supportive of the President, said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

“Why doesn’t he say, ‘Look, we brought back the auto industry. Why don’t we bring back the highways?… Why is everything falling apart? Why don’t we invest in our public sector while interest rates are practically zero, and all of these unemployed people out there, this is a good time to do stuff.’” [...]

“You have an auto industry,” he continued. “Where are you going to run the car? I mean, he has to be big and noisy and loud like me, I guess, instead of this pusillanimous talking about Bain. That’s below him. Talking about Massachusetts? Who cares about Massachusetts 20 years ago? He’s got to focus on the future.”

Matthews was doing what we've seen so many in the media do when it comes to the Obama campaign going after Romney's time at Bain Capital, which is to be dismissive of whether those sort of ads might work and carp about the campaign being too negative.

What the Raw Story article did not include is one of Matthews' suggestions for Obama to campaign, which is embracing the now defunct Simpson-Bowles plan put out by their co-chairs after the committee could not come to an agreement, because we all know raising the retirement age, means testing and cutting Social Security benefits will be so popular with the public.

Matthews even acknowledged that what he was pushing for the President to run on would not be popular but thinks he should have done it anyway:

MATTHEWS: You know, you go back over the steps. Why didn't he back the Simpson-Bowles and say look, I hate it. I hate it. It does stuff I don't like, but we've got to start somewhere. I got eleven votes. I wish I had fourteen, but dammit I don't care about what votes I got. You've got my vote. He could have done that.

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House Democrats pushed back this week at Republican obstruction and the likelihood of a transportation bill having any chance of being passed, something that used to receive bipartisan support and at the Republican Party's unwillingness to do anything to solve the problems with job creation in the United States if it might mean that heaven forbid President Obama is reelected.

House Democratic leaders blame poor jobs numbers on GOP obstructionism:

Blaming GOP obstructionism for the lingering jobs crisis, Democratic leaders on Friday called on House Republicans to bring a long-term highway bill to the floor.

The Democrats — led by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) — noted that Friday's dismal jobs numbers included a steep decline — by 28,000 jobs — in construction employment. Reauthorizing transportation spending for two years, they argued, would help put those workers back on payrolls and stabilize the economy.

"With today's jobs report, it's clear that we have work to do," Pelosi said at a press briefing in the Capitol. "We have an answer to this, and that is to pass the [Senate] transportation bill."

Hoyer echoed that message, noting that the Senate-passed highway bill was supported by 75 senators — a rare show of bipartisanship in an upper chamber that's practically defined by gridlock.

"That bill has the votes on the floor of the House of Representatives," Hoyer said. "But unfortunately the Republican leadership won't put it on the floor."

The Senate approved a two-year transportation reauthorization proposal in March, but a number of House conservatives have objected to its size, and GOP leaders have declined to consider it on the floor. Instead, House Republicans passed a short-term extension to authorize highway funding through Sept. 30 — a bill President Obama has vowed to veto because it would automatically approve the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline that's currently under environmental review. [...]

Both Pelosi and Hoyer noted that the Senate bill was backed by a broad range of senators, highlighted by its sponsors, the liberal Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and the conservative Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.).

"You'd almost have to be a contortionist in order to cover the expanse of opinion between Sen. Boxer and Sen. Inhofe, and yet they've come together in a bipartisan way," Pelosi said.

Full remarks of their statements in the clip above via Pelosi's site:

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