Sabotage!

[Howey]

We've spoken about it here. Apparently, the topic's hit the mainstream.

Republicans are sabotaging economic recovery efforts because it will help them win in 2012, Senate Democratic leaders charged Wednesday.

"Unfortunately our Republican colleagues in the House and Senate are driven by putting one man out of work -- President Obama," Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) declared at a Capitol Hill press conference called the day after Senate Republicans blocked an economic development bill that they have backed in the past.

Durbin pointed to remarks made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), in which he said the top goal of Republicans should be to make Obama a one-term President.

"You can see in the way that the Republicans are acting on the floor of the Senate and the House, that is their goal -- their only goal," Durbin argued.

"They want to play political games at the expense of getting this economy back on its feet," he said. "They believe a weak economy is their best chance of winning the next election."

Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the number three Democrat in the Senate, seconded Durbin, noting that the GOP is opposing infrastructure investment that's favored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce -- a major GOP ally. He also noted that Republican leaders recently derided a White House proposal to offer a new temporary payroll tax break as a "gimmick" when they'd supported such measures before.

"Now, all of a sudden, they're coming out against it," Schumer said. "Do Republicans really oppose a tax cut for businesses that created jobs? This is sort of beyond the pale."

[Howey]

http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/senate/167679-another-jobs-bill-sinks-in-the-senate

Another 'Jobs bill' sinks after Senate vote

 By Josiah Ryan - 06/21/11 06:01 PM ET


Sen. Boxer, the bill's sponsor, noted that it was the content of the amendments that ensured the bill’s demise.

 A bill to fund the Economic Development Administration (EDA), a measure Democrats characterized as a “jobs bill,” was stopped from advancing in the Senate Tuesday in a 49-51 vote...

On Monday, Reid recounted a list of some 40 amendments that dealt with subjects including immigration reform, E-Verify, the estate tax, right-to-work laws, gainful employment regulation, endangered species and light bulbs.

Democratic leadership has grown increasingly frustrated in recent weeks as Republican senators have gummed up the Senate’s processes by taking advantage of a deal forged early in the year that allows unlimited amendments to any legislation on the floor.

Earlier in the year a bill that would have funded the Small Business Administration (SBA) also died on the floor under similar circumstances.

[Howey]

Mitch McConnell, Senate Republican Leader, in early November:

"Our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny President Obama a second term in office."

Harry Reid, Senate Democratic leader, around the same time:

"Despite the changes, our charge remains the same. Our number-one priority is still getting people back to work. And the most important change we can make is in working more productively as a unified body to help our economy regain its strength."

E. J. Dionne, respected Washington Post columnist:

For the moment, Republicans have no interest in moving the nation’s debate toward investments in job creation because they gain twice over from keeping Washington mired in discussions on the deficit. It’s a brute fact that Republicans benefit if the economy stays sluggish.

[ekg]

I wonder how far they will let it go.. If their hatred of black so deep that they will destroy every facet of this country to make sure he is not elected, what will happen if he is re-elected anyway?

[Howey]

The optimist in me hopes they leave.

[ekg]

I used to have optimism.. 

but it died..

HA!

[Howey]

I used to have optimism.. 

but it died..

HA!

Apparently along with your ability to recognize sarcasm.

[uselesslegs]

Kell and I, within 2 months of Obama being in office, noticed this.  I believe even before he was inaugurated we had joked around along the lines that the Repubs would make his life an extra special hell...over and above the normal Capitol Hill ideological hazing.  Man, we should of kept our mouths shut.

I wondered how far they would go, how dismal they'd let the landscape become (and when I say this, it becomes convoluted with the addition of Dem's who won't speak up and Blue Dogs who love their campaign fund donations as much as the Repubs) and it's becoming more and more apparent that the suffering and hardship of 10's and 10's of millions of Americans are inconsequential...when it comes to making sure Obama is a one term President.  They must rid the stink of him from the hallowed grounds of political divide.

I know it's never as simple as it seems and that posturing is always part of our fucked up political process...but this is just fuck'in scary.  We're being held hostage against the ethereal notion that, "once he's gone, things can get back to normal, that we no longer need to be punished for our transgressions."  But it will only get worse.  What little resistance there is against Corps. will be completely gone in a Repub led Executive Office, Senate and House.  We'll be eaten alive for a buck.

I swear to all that is holy, if it weren't for my checkered past, I'd run for congress and be Alan Grayson on steroids.

[Howey]

The optimist in me hopes they leave.

Aha! I get it now!

This is what you meant; right, lilMike?

Sarcasm, my friend, mere sarcasm. 

[Howey]

Democrats request some kind of stimulus (jobs) as part of the debt ceiling deal now unnecessarily being worked out.

Mitch McConnell's response?

"What planet are they on?"

http://www.rollcall.com/news/Eric-Cantor-Pulls-Out-of-Debt-Talks-206737-1.html?pos=hftxt

[ekg]

Apparently along with your ability to recognize sarcasm.

HA!

yours is funnier..

[ekg]

Kell and I, within 2 months of Obama being in office, noticed this.  I believe even before he was inaugurated we had joked around along the lines that the Repubs would make his life an extra special hell...over and above the normal Capitol Hill ideological hazing.  Man, we should of kept our mouths shut.

I wondered how far they would go, how dismal they'd let the landscape become (and when I say this, it becomes convoluted with the addition of Dem's who won't speak up and Blue Dogs who love their campaign fund donations as much as the Repubs) and it's becoming more and more apparent that the suffering and hardship of 10's and 10's of millions of Americans are inconsequential...when it comes to making sure Obama is a one term President.  They must rid the stink of him from the hallowed grounds of political divide.

I know it's never as simple as it seems and that posturing is always part of our fucked up political process...but this is just fuck'in scary.  We're being held hostage against the ethereal notion that, "once he's gone, things can get back to normal, that we no longer need to be punished for our transgressions."  But it will only get worse.  What little resistance there is against Corps. will be completely gone in a Repub led Executive Office, Senate and House.  We'll be eaten alive for a buck.

I swear to all that is holy, if it weren't for my checkered past, I'd run for congress and be Alan Grayson on steroids.

here's a good place for this..

http://www.rawstory.com/rawreplay/2011/06/chris-hedges-global-revolution-must-begin-in-america/

it's about 20 mins.. I haven't been able to watch it all yet, but the snippet is pretty interesting..

His conclusions are chilling, but not entirely hopeless.

“We will have to take care of ourselves,” he wrote. “We will have to rapidly create small, monastic communities where we can sustain and feed ourselves. It will be up to us to keep alive the intellectual, moral and cultural values the corporate state has attempted to snuff out. It is either that or become drones and serfs in a global corporate dystopia. It is not much of a choice. But at least we still have one.”

sounds about right IMO..  The disgust of the election of Obama ushered in this new kind of conservative.. the kind that will side with corporations as long as it means an end to this country and it's Black (D) President...This is a new type of Pol. Before their priorities were self,party country.. today it's all corp,party,self and we really don't care about  the country.. They've said they have to destroy it to rebuild it to their wishes, they are only making that happen a lot faster than it would had had a white man been elected.. They were able to take that hate, turn it into fear and then use it to further their goals...  they've actually turned those who loath Obama for no other reason that his skin and/or party, into their minions.. minions that actually attack teachers and firemen as the root cause of all this countries problems.. and say they are attacking them in the name of freedom and the prosperity of this country.. and scariest of all, they have them believing it all..

Michelle Bachman is their leader.. and if we're not careful, she will win on election day.. and then it's only a matter of months before that little snippet goes from fiction to daily suburban life..

don't think she'll get elected?  Ask Rick Scott how easy it was..

[Howey]

don't think she'll get elected?  Ask Rick Scott how easy it was..

**shudder**

Rick Scott's done a great job. Haven't you read all those letters to the editor he wrote?