US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

starting to wonder how much these assholes stand to make if the US defaults. salon says Cantor's got money in ultrashort securities

http://www.salon.com/news/eric_cantor/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/06/27/eric_cantor_conflict_of_interest

x-post- Mcconnell does not always tell the truth as the item Tracer posted shows. What's Ezra talking about? It's kind of like when Ezra was on the Paul Ryan is brave meme.

In this case the headline is wrong but the column is terrific.

i think it's the exact opposite! xp

Klein is in part just summarizing the obvious (but and maybe I read the piece too quickly--but under-emphasizing the smell of the Mcconnell contradictions and hypocracy). Mcconell alternates between truth-telling (I want Obama to be a one-term President) and slickness and lies (stop giving money to "Washington") and controls the Republican message in the Senate, all in a effective manner for a politician.

in re: the story goole posted, anybody who leans even a little left needs to get real with themselves and jump ship from the Democratic party. Absolutely nothing, especially not the joke build-internal-coalitions-and-improve-gradually approach, is going to fix that ship. Well-meaning progressive coalitions eventually cough up candidates who, surprise surprise, threaten to jail reporters for protecting their sources.

wait so instead we should support other well-meaning progress coalitions?

progressive

aero u should run for president

he's my secretary of state.

Shakey's already got Defense.

Morbs is my Haldeman, kevin k my NSA.

Shakey's already got Defense.

I can't wait for his news conferences where he exhibits zero regret about our forces wasting some d-bag.

it's actually probably good that I went to jail a couple of times in my youth or my narcissistic ass might actually have political ambitions, which would be bad for everybody & most bad for me & my peace of mind

i thought i saw you yesterday. but then the guy opened his mouth and asked for a sandwich with "tomahto"

that is true, by the way!

"get real with themselves"

I love this worldnet daily article (and i did receive e-mails regarding various public interest groups such as moveon.org banding together to create a progressive anti-tea party tea party)

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Look who's launching anti-tea-party group
And you thought you were through with Van Jones ...

By Aaron Klein
© 2011 WND

A new movement led by communist revolutionary group founder Van Jones seeks to counter the tea party while petitioning for a progressive agenda that includes "making Wall Street and the super-rich pay their fair share."

The organization, dubbed "The American Dream Movement," is partnered with a slew of radical groups funded by billionaire George Soros.

As WND first reported, the movement was introduced using subversive tactics, particularly a hoax Youtube video in which it appeared the ticker outside News Corporation's Manhattan headquarters had been hacked and reprogrammed with an anti-Fox News script calling for revolution

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=316001

radicals!

A new movement led by communist revolutionary group founder Van Jones

looool

subversive tactics

subversive tic tacs

http://freetheapps.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/tic-tac.jpg?w=320&h=480

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/06/meet-the-iowans-who-gently-disapprove-of-sarah-palin/241142/

ha, my hometown. i know some of the ppl quoted.

Bernie Sanders is trying (now if only Obama would support his proposal! I'm dreaming I know):

Washington Post-

Sen. Bernard Sanders, a Vermont independent with socialist leanings, delivered a 90-minute address Monday outlining his plan calling for 50 percent of all savings to come from tax increases. “The wealthiest Americans and the most profitable corporations in this country must pay their fair share,” Sanders wrote Monday in a letter to Obama.

Such a proposal has no chance of passing because Republicans and many Democrats believe steep tax increases are both politically unpopular and potentially harmful to the struggling domestic economy.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-enters-debt-talks/2011/06/27/AGdCzBoH_story.html?hpid=z3

The Republicans won't even accept the current Dem proposal that is skewed towards cuts:

In the Dems’ latest effort to pay the ransom, they’ve offered to slice $2.4 trillion from the debt over the next decade — $2 trillion in cuts and $400 billion in increased revenue.
from Washington Monthly

potentially harmful to the struggling domestic economy.

It's the Republican all cut plan that would be harmful

http://rortybomb.wordpress.com/2011/06/28/the-debt-ceiling-fight-continues/

good summary of where we are, where we could be going, none of it pretty

Sounds right. Is it possible Reid and some of the Senate Dems and Pelosi and some of the House Dems in the House could show some backbone and stand up to Obama (if he tries to accept a horrible offer re the debt deal from the Republicans and re the future of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security)

have a hard time envisioning that w/out hallucinogens

Pelosi maybe, Reid no way

have a hard time envisioning that w/out hallucinogens

otm

a decade ago, i would've rejected out-of-hand j0hn's call to abandon the Democratic Party. FWIW i'm much closer to that view now.

if Obama acquiesces to the destruction of SS, Medicare and Medicaid, then i'm off the reservation for good. whether or not i am a Democrat any more, i damn sure ain't no Republican.

From the NYT "tea party can't agree, big surprise" article today:

“We can’t, as a Tea Party organization, allow anyone to speak for us,” said Lisa Esler, a Tea Party activist who opposes the bill. “That’s the lesson.”

Brilliant strategy in a democracy!

Others were mildly more huffy--in a reserved, Midwestern sort of way.

goole, that article is making me all nostalgic for the homeland of my people. Everyone in it is being quietly, politely otm...that is, if you don't mind.

that article is hilarious, I don't think I realized how much I miss that aspect of upper midwest culture

bernie's letter

http://sanders.senate.gov/petition/?uid=c1fd7f9b-abd8-4e7a-a370-1867881259d8

He's all alone on this, sadly. If only even a handful of Dems could stand beside him.

Meanwhile the House is leaving for a 4th of July weekend but is not adjourning for recess, in an effort to keep Obama from making Elizabeth Warren and others recess appointments.

only a matter of time before they swear there are weapons of mass destruction buried beneath his desk

1.3 million signatures to recall Ohio's anti-union law sb5

http://www.thenation.com/blog/161746/democracy-coming-ohio-13-million-voters-force-referendum-restore-labor-rights

oops not recall exactly but

Ohio does not have a recall provision. But it does allow citizens to force a vote on legislation recently passed by the legislature

seems pretty ridiculous but hey state politics

suck on this, teabaggers

Nice

Obama talked tough at a press conference this morning about wanted a balanced approach on the debt crisis. He did not endorse Sanders idea of balance but he did at least push for ending some tax breaks for millionaires and corporations. It's good to hear this but we'll see if it's just another bark is louder than his bite situation. Plus, does he really think the Republicans will accept this?:

from Washington Monthly :

“If you are a wealthy CEO or hedge fund manager in America right now, your taxes are lower than they’ve ever been. They’re lower than they’ve been since the 1950s. And you can afford it. You’ll still be able to ride on your corporate jet. You’ll just have to pay a little more…. My belief is that the Republican leadership in Congress will hopefully sooner rather than later come to the conclusion that they need to make the right decisions for the country, that everybody else has been willing to move off their maximalist position. They need to do the same. My expectation is that they’ll do the responsible thing.”

The phrase of the morning is “corporate-jet owner.” I started keeping count of how many times the president used the phrase, and I think I noticed four separate instances. The point was to highlight a $3 billion perk available to those who buy these jets — a perk Republicans won’t touch because it would count as a (cue scary music) tax increase.

wanting a balanced approach

The first excerpt is from Obama and the second is from Steve Benen of Washington Monthly

goddamn corporate jet owners

here we go guys

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/how-you-know-the-negotiations-have-truly-failed/2011/05/19/AG13r5qH_blog.html

The best advice I’ve gotten for assessing the debt-ceiling negotiations was to “watch for the day when the White House goes public.” As long as the Obama administration was refusing to attack Republicans publicly, my source said, they believed they could cut a deal. And that held true. They were quiet when the negotiations were going on. They were restrained after Eric Cantor and Jon Kyl walked out last week. Press Secretary Jay Carney simply said, “We are confident that we can continue to seek common ground and that we will achieve a balanced approach to deficit reduction.” But today they went public. The negotiations have failed.

“The primary goal of President Obama’s presser, which just wrapped up, was obvious,” writes Greg Sargent. “He was clearly out to pick a major public fight with Republicans over tax cuts for the rich.” That’s exactly right. But he didn’t want this fight. He wanted a deal. And he wasn’t able to get one that the White House considered even minimally acceptable. After putting more than $2 trillion of spending cuts on the table, they weren’t even able to get $400 billion — about a sixth of the total — in tax increases.

http://www.unconditionalconfidence.com/mt/mt-static/FCKeditor/UserFiles/Image/nervous.gif

That's why I didn't criticize him for staying out of the NYC marriage debate! Endorsing the legislation would have killed any chances of GOP support.

“He was clearly out to pick a major public fight with Republicans over tax cuts for the rich.”

Giv'em hell Barry