Yesterday I watched Joe Scarborough of “Morning Joe” throw a hissy fit because the president's first offer to the republicans was a nonstarter. This morning he called John Boehner's counteroffer ridiculous but he left it at that. The panel kept reminiscing about the glory days of negotiations between Tip O'Neill and Ronald Reagan. Joe Scarborough wants President Obama and John Boehner to lock themselves in a room at Camp David and hammer out a deal. He discounts the fact that the president tried that method but came out on the losing end of the deal. The president wants to use his strength and take his case to the American people where he's winning public opinion, even though it doesn't necessarily get him the 218 votes he needs to pass a bill.
Political posturing is called “sausage making” because it doesn't look pretty but it's a necessary step to get the job done. Republicans are calling for the president to step up and lead in the negotiations but that is just a way of them saying that this president does not have any leadership skills. The president's plan was put on the public airways and it's on the White House web site, so the starting point has been established. It's fairly certain that the president will be front and center when the serious negotiations start.
It was mentioned that the republicans might let the 98% of Americans tax plan to pass without their help. They will vote “present” and allow the democrats to pass it thinking it will keep their hands clean because the marginal rate for the top 2% will be raised. That way they could tell their constituents that they allowed the bill to pass under protest. There's that other plan that Nancy Pelosi might use to get a bill to the floor if she can garner the necessary 218 votes. Either plan would get John Boehner off the hook with his more conservative caucus because it will be seen as being out of his hands.
There is strong talk that a deal may be made by the 23rd because it would look bad if Congress went on Christmas vacation while the fiscal cliff crisis loomed ahead. Some think it John Boehner will hold out to last possible minute (Dec. 31st) before surrendering the marginal rates saying he chose country over party loyalty. That might get him through the day but everyone knows he wants to be the speaker of the 213th Congress but he won't get if he is seen as caving in to President Obama too soon.. His base can read the tea leaves but they want him to fight to the end.
You might ask why it has to be so difficult and the answer is polarization. The final vote tally is in and the president will end up winning by 4.6 million votes. The president only won 23 counties, the red states got redder, so at the current pace that means that the gerrymandered districts will always favor a GOP controlled house but the democrats will have the senate and the presidency, unless there's a dramatic shift. I don't see any changes anytime soon and it might get worse before it gets better. For example, the runner up to Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, will now write articles for the extreme right wing conspiratorial website WorldNetDaily (WND). Then there is the Grover Norquist threat of a Tea Party 2.0 if the president gets what he wants. Grover is one on those people who thinks he is winning no matters how many times he loses. He reminds me of a spoiled brat.
8 comments:
After listening to the daily back and forth arguments about going over the fiscal cliff; I’m finally beginning to understand both sides of the argument….I think…:-)
Conservatives believe that a tax is an automatic impediment to growth, so they think it’s useless to even argue about raising the tax rates. They believe that the top 2% are the job creators, so taxing them is equivalent to shooting ourselves in the foot. You can show them the gains from the stock market and healthy profits and losses during this economy by the job creators but they will say it could have been more and we would have all prospered. They hang that “a rising tide lifts all boats” sign above their newborn’s crib.
Today’s conservatives will say that those republicans who voted for two wars and a huge prescription drug bill that wasn’t paid for, are impostors; even if they were part of that group. They say that entitlements will bankrupt our country, so our entire focus should be on reining in the spending on those programs but those same people do not see defense spending as a problem; in fact quite the opposite.
It’s next to impossible to deal with today’s ultra conservatives republicans, when 49% of them think ACORN stole the election for Obama, according to a PublicPolicyPoll that was recently conducted. If you can’t convience someone that ACORN has been out business for at least three years, they will never be convinced they lost the election fair and square.. I guess there is some hope because ~ 52% of republicans thought ACORN stole the election in 2008.
Look at what happened yesterday when the black helicopter wing of the GOP senate voted “NO” to a United Nations treaty on the rights of the disabled that is modeled after the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act.It was a supposed to be a 100-0 vote in favor as former senate majority leader Bob Dole looked on. “Republicans objected to taking up a treaty during the lame-duck session of the Congress and warned that the treaty could pose a threat to U.S. national sovereignty.”
"I do not support the cumbersome regulations and potentially overzealous international organizations with anti-American biases that infringe upon American society," said Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla.
http://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=255878
Hopefully, the senate will come to their senses and bring it up for another vote in the new session next year.
You won’t get one conservative republican to agree with liberals, moderates, and progressive democrats that savings from the ACA we’ll bring down the cost of Medicare, Medicaid, and healthcare overall. Conservatives want to see draconian cuts right now because they think the ACA is the primary factor in Medicare and Medicaid costs being unsustainable.
I think they have ALL lost their minds!
I got a notice that my rent was going up 8% because of Obamacare, effective January 1st. I just had a 10.5% increase in July bring my rent 'in line with the rates in the community'.
Then did you see Myra take a jab at the government when she was pissing and moaning about staying in the black at her husband's office? I would say that the short side of the ledger might be due more to kind of medicine he practices (his practice thrives on urine tests) rather than government influence.
What I want to know is when did so many Americans get so stupid? And, I do mean uninformed stupid.
President Obama doesn't have to do anything and I hate to say this, but if Republicans cannot make a deal, he should just let the tax cuts expire. That alone will have Republicans working overtime to kiss President Obama's behind to get something done. The voters that voted him in are not in a giving mood right now and will not accept him giving in this time.
Speaking of insanity ,I just switched to Fox news watch a little bit of Hannity just to see how crazy he and Liz Cheney could get.
The Muslim brotherhood are starting to abuse women in Egypt. Sean Hannity asks "Where are the feminists? Where is Sandra Locke?
There's rumors that the Syrian army is starting to load up on nerve gas and Liz Cheney was blaming Obama for not reacting quick enough.
Sean Hannity says it's probably Saddam Hussein's WMD that he smuggled in this area..... There's actually an audience who believes that nonsense..lol
Why do we pay Congress? The house left today and won't be back until the 17th...They could be called back but I doubt it....I just saw next years schedule...the house will be in session 127 times and only 60 full days...Divide that by $175,000 a member makes it a pretty good part time job.
Did anyone see 60 Minutes Sunday? It was about a major hospital group putting pressure on Drs. to hospitalize at least 20% of their patients;especially those on Medicare,so they could get the payments.
That Medicare issue is what's wrong with Medicare. Too many tests, too much duplicate testing, and basically milking Medicare for all they can, knowing that it will get paid for.
Yesterday, the president promised that the republicans will not get to use the debt ceiling as a weapon ever again. He has a couple of controversial options but our financial well-being should override them. We’ll see.
If the republicans threaten not to raise the debt limit until they get more draconian cuts, the president could invoke the 14th amendment under this provision “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payments of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion,” the critical sentence says, “shall not be questioned.”….. I would hate to see the executive override the legislative body because it destroys the very nature of our 3 co- equal bodies of government…. It certainly would be challenged and it would divide our country even further; if that’s possible.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07
/25/us/politics/25legal.html
The other is a very obscure law which is equally controversial… Despite the myths of a continuing printing press, there’s a law on how much money can be printed at any certain time and the same applies to gold, silver and copper coins.
The treasury can mint platinum coins and assign any value that he wants to them. For example, he can mint two coins and assign them each a value of a trillion dollars. He could then move the coins to the Federal Reserve and they will apply them to our debt.
http://tinyurl.com/cjk7mzr
We don’t have to play this game and both parties have, we need to stop voting whether we pay our outstanding debts or not. That’s what budgets are for.
I think it’s way too early to talk about 2016 presidential election but the candidates are already making their moves….. The GOP has been bragging about their deep bench but Hillary Clinton may put a damper to that… If she enters the race, there are rumors that she might bring in San Antonio’s mayor, Julian Castro to be her running mate. That locks up a couple demographics and leaves the field to only two GOP potential heavyweights, Jeb Bush and Chris Christi.
The media wants us to believe that Paul Ryan has changed his ways, so he’s going to concentrate on poverty. That’s all well and good but words are one thing and legislation and votes are another.
I love It when Mary Matalin gets he head handed to her by Republicans,democrats,journalists, etc....
Post a Comment