tagged w/ Partisan Politics
-
WASHINGTON—U.S. House and Senate Republican negotiators said they were pulling out of the bipartisan budget talks headed by Vice President Joe Biden for now because the group has reached an impasse over taxes that only President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner could resolve.
House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R., Va.), in an interview after a negotiating session he described as bitterly contentious, said he would not be attending Thursday's scheduled meeting of the bipartisan deficit-reduction leadership group. Mr. Cantor said he believed it was time for the negotiations to move to a higher level.
"We've reached the point where the dynamic needs to change," Mr. Cantor said. "It is up to the president to come in and talk to the speaker. We've reached the end of this phase. Now is the time for these talks to go into abeyance."
An aide to Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R., Ariz.) also said the lawmaker was withdrawing from the talks. The two have been the GOP representatives in the negotiations for the last six weeks.
"The White House and Democrats are insisting on job-killing tax hikes and new spending," Mr. Kyl said in a statement. "That proposal won't address our fiscal crisis, our jobs crisis, or protect and reform entitlements."
Continue at:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304569504576403522729881988.html?mod=WSJ_hp_MIDDLETopStoriesWASHINGTON—U.S. House and Senate Republican negotiators said they were pulling... more
-
-
The elections are over. Bart Stupak did not run. After nine terms in Congress, the Democratic representative from Michigan’s 1st District is walking away to the winter of his discontent, sadly wondering what happened to the public service he entered 18 years ago.
“It’s so hateful now,” says Stupak, 58. “My colleagues tell me, ‘You look smarter every day for leaving.’”
It’s wisdom he could do without. Bart Stupak may be Exhibit A of Anger in American Politics. He has long been pro-life. At the same time, he’s championed health-care reform. This year, those two issues came to a head. Stupak bucked his party over President Obama’s health-care bill, concerned that abortions might be publicly funded. Only when the president promised an executive order forbidding such funding did Stupak make the tough choice to vote with his party.
After this, he was called a “baby killer” on the House floor. A Republican colleague screamed those words as Stupak spoke. Stupak was thrown into the media’s hot spotlight. His family received death threats. He took venom from both sides of the aisle.
A month later, he announced he was leaving politics—even though he easily won his last election. Stupak says he quit to spend time with his family, but he will not miss the divisiveness.
“Every boundary of decency has been crossed,” he says. “The ‘baby killer’ thing? Within 24 hours, there were websites up designed to make money off it. That’s how far afield we’ve gone. The more personal you make the attack, the more money you can make to defeat your opponent.”
Stupak sees no end to this pattern. “As much as people say they don’t like negative campaigning, it moves the numbers.”
When did we become so nasty? Former president Jimmy Carter has suggested that we are more divided than at any time since the Civil War. And between talk radio, 24-hour TV and Internet news, and the collapse of civility from town halls to the floors of Congress, it’s hard to argue.
I ask Stupak if only the mean or thick-skinned will now enter politics.
“Add one more element: the very rich,” he answers. “So many good people would be proud to serve, but they wind up saying, ‘If the other guy spends $3 million, what chance do I have?’ The most money and the sharpest attacks tend to win.”
Stupak sighs. “Remember Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? Those days are gone.”
And soon Stupak will be, too, leaving the nation’s capital for the small town in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where he and his wife, Laurie, live. The former Eagle Scout and police officer insists he doesn’t regret his vote. But he looks forward to quieter days.
“I’ll be home soon,” he says. “And if someone stops me in the grocery store and starts yelling at me over health care, I’ll just say I think it’s good for the country and move on.”
Never mind if you disagree with his voting record. What happened to Bart Stupak can happen to anyone now—right or left. As a result, Mr. Smith no longer dreams of going to Washington. He dreams of leaving it. That cannot be good for America. The irony is that at the end of the Frank Capra movie, Mr. Smith, the senator played by Jimmy Stewart, becomes a shining example of the difference one man can make.
Can we become real-life Mr. Smiths and change the ugly tone of our national conversation?The elections are over. Bart Stupak did not run. After nine terms in Congress, the... more
-
-
Wedge issues are just that. Issues used to divide and control us.
-
-
asherp
-
added this
-
2 years ago
- |
-
Much has been made about Senate Republicans’ abuse of the filibuster, which has skyrocketed in recent years. But less attention has been devoted to how Republican obstruction has held up hundreds of other important pieces of legislation, many of which passed the House with overwhelming majorities and strong bipartisan support.
Because the way the Senate operates allows the legislative calendar to be consumed by extended debate, Republicans’ obstruction does not just hold up the immediate bill in question — it also holds up every other important piece of legislation waiting to be considered, and prevents the Senate from considering legislation that it would otherwise be inclined to pass.
At the end of February, The Hill reported that there were 290 bills passed by the House of Representatives in the 111th Congress that the Senate had yet to consider. Since then, the Senate has passed or tabled eight of those bills, but an analysis by the Center for American Progress Action Fund found that many of them passed the House with significant bipartisan support: of the 290 bills, 139 bills passed by voice vote, and another 105 bills passed with a majority of House Republican support, meaning at least 90 House Republicans voted “yes.”
Here are a few of the bills that passed the House with a majority of Republicans voting “yes,” but are currently stalled in the Senate due to Republican obstruction:
– The TARP Accountability and Disclosure Act (HR 1242): This legislation would make TARP funds provided to financial institutions more transparent and hold those institutions more accountable. The bill would create a single publicly available data base to track TARP funds. It had the support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, as well as other conservative organizations such as Americans for Tax Reform. The House passed the legislation 421-0 on Dec. 2, 2009.
– A Child Is Missing Alert and Recovery Center Act (HR 1933): This legislation would provide help to federal, state and local law enforcement agencies find missing children. It passed the House 417-5 on July 21, 2009.
– COPS Improvements Act (HR 1139): This legislation would increase funding to the COPS programs that help put more police officers on the street to keep us safe. It passed the House 342-78 on April 23, 2009.
– Small Business Financing and Investment Act (HR 3854): This legislation would provide assistance to small businesses so they get the credit the need to obtain loans to make payroll and expand. It passed the House 389-32 on Oct. 29, 2009.
– The Homes for Heroes Act (HR403): This legislation would expand and improve housing for homeless veterans. It passed the House 417-2 on June 16, 2009.
It may be the case that the Senate would not consider every one of these 290 bills under ordinary circumstances. However, one could assume since many of these bills passed with significant bipartisan support in the House they would be able to find enough bipartisan support in the Senate to break a filibuster. Yet given the nature of the Senate, many of these bills will not come up for debate as Republicans continue to obstruct and delay for political reasons.Much has been made about Senate Republicans’ abuse of the filibuster, which has... more
-
-
YPNation contributor Will Schirano talks about the state of politics today, the need to end the status quo and the lessons that continue to go unlearned by both parties:
"...But if you were marching in that protest on Sunday afternoon, chances are you wouldn't have been tuned into just how much this country wanted to part ways with President George W. Bush and his defenders.
You see, this group of individuals doesn't see the Bush years for what they were to everyone else. In their mind the Bush administration was doing the "right thing" -- the always popular defense of scoundrels. During the time when Bush was President of the United States, these individuals would defend just about anything the administration did, whether it was dumping buckets of money on farmers, creating a whole new Medicare entitlement, wiretapping Americans, or simply ignoring Afghanistan to the point where the Taliban has once again become a threat.
And they are still defending those disastrous years, because they can only view them through the lens of the current administration. In other words, because certain things are worse than they were during the Bush years, that somehow makes those years successful. As a psychology major, I can understand that kind of thinking--it's similar to what Russians went through following the collapse of the Soviet Union when they told the Western press they yearned for the days of Stalin."
http://www.ypnation.net/state-politics-brave-new-worldYPNation contributor Will Schirano talks about the state of politics today, the need... more
-
-
Can you actually believe this crud?
Okay, I get it Democrats, you don't like Republicans because they oppose your social ideology - so just have your leftist media promote violence against them?.. Are you really showing your true colors (SEIU purple?) as the progressive and tolerant political party which you claim to be ?
Two of the most popular liberal news sites are calling for violence against Republicans for obstructing the radical agenda of President Barack Obama.
CNN and Huffington Post have each published op-eds this past week by regular contributors with headlines that explicitly call for Obama to use violent gangland tactics against his political opponents.
CNN published a column by Roland Martin on February 11 with the headline, Time for Obama to go ‘gangsta’ on GOP.
Martin concluded the article with a plea for Obama to emulate the violent tactics of the Prohibition-era Chicago mob boss Al Capone.
Obama’s critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let ‘em know that if they aren’t with you, they are against you, and will pay the price.
The Huffington Post followed-up with their own call for gangland violence against Republicans with the publication on February 14 of a column by David Bourgeois with the title, Obama Better Start Breaking Kneecaps.
http://biggovernment.com/ktaylor/2010/02/15/cnn-huffington-post-urge-violence-against-republicans/
P.S. - to follow the topics thread in its entirety, follow the high-lighted links within the link here.Can you actually believe this crud?
Okay, I get it Democrats, you don't like... more
-
-
ahiguy
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
Too many of our fellow citizens have chosen to outsource our civic responsibility to be engaged and informed to the partisans who seem to care more about their poll numbers, ratings and page views than about national security. And we are leaving ourselves vulnerable to another attack.
Tell us what you think. Are you tired of the partisan pageantry? Is it time to 'tune the demagogues' out and to start more productive discussions that are based on fact, not emotion and misinformed notions?
Here's an excerpt from the latest column on this subject by YPNation's Will Schirano:
"Despite wishful thinking to the contrary and nearly a decade of costly operations, these striking variables point to a network that, while certainly wounded, has not been in its “last throes.” And it is that conclusion the experts find to be the most troubling.
But at a time when things seem to once again be getting worse, we find ourselves falling into an all too familiar pattern. In the wake of Master Abdulmutallab’s capture and subsequent detention, we have chosen to concentrate our efforts on fighting ideological battles that have little, if anything, to do with the challenges we continue to face.
For example, while I remain perplexed regarding the claim that our founders intended that all people, regardless of nationality, be bound by our Constitution, I cannot imagine that the incredibly stupid act of reading a Nigerian terrorist his Miranda rights is a significant contributing factor to al Qaeda’s recent gains in faraway lands."
Read more: http://www.ypnation.net/national-security-partisan-pageantryToo many of our fellow citizens have chosen to outsource our civic responsibility to... more
-
-
My gawd, just look who's calling who partisan...!
Hey, let's be non-partisan, and just agree, you guys suck and are being too partisan.
"I'm just sayin'."
It's funny how our Post-Partisan President only gets around to addressing Republicans when he needs their votes. Funny how he didn't do that for a year.
The anger here is pretty palpable.
One point he makes is just stupid: He claims Republicans' rhetoric has denied them the tactical room to maneuver or compromise on this issue, because their brain-dead, bitter-clinger supporters are so stupid as to believe these horror stories and so of course will not permit them to compromise.
First of all: The GOP was, we all kinda know, ready to roll over and compromise, or at least enough of our Reps and Senators were to give Obama his win. It was only agitation from the grassroots that put some steel in their spine. And not, how Mr. Top-Down Command-and-Control You-Little-People-Listen-To-Your-Leaders would have it, the other way around, wherein our "leaders" told us what to think and what to say.
Second of all: The complaint he makes actually applies ten times as much to himself. It is this asshole who's telling everyone WE'RE ALL GOING TO FUCKING DIE, this asshole telling tales of foot-hungry amputating jigsaw surgeons, this asshole who sold his nutroots on the notion that the public option was the only path to single payer, and single payer is the only path to equality and wonderfulness.
And it is this asshole -- President "I Won" -- who has staked his young and now failed presidency on nothing but winning and steamrolling the opposition and ignoring critics and demonizing dissenting voices, all to "win" on this issue, to prove he could win, and so to prove that he was El Supremo Jefe and we all had to buckle under his benevolent dictatorship.
It is this asshole who has denied himself the wiggle room to compromise, and so it is this asshole who is now attempting to persuade us to compromise, because he can't.
http://rpc.blogrolling.com/redirect.php?r=bc5d873da3944b887b5912dba164612b&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneoneocon.comMy gawd, just look who's calling who partisan...!
Hey, let's be... more
-
-
ahiguy
-
added this
-
3 years ago
- |
-
But will people use it? And even if they did - is there a difference?
-
-
Maybe a "minor revolution" would be for the better. How far do you think Americans are willing to take their anger over health care? Where were your guns when we invaded another country?Maybe a "minor revolution" would be for the better. How far do you think... more
-
-
The White House on Monday accused one of the key Senate Republicans working on health care legislation of abandoning efforts at crafting a bipartisan bill.
While criticizing the GOP's overall approach to the debate, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made a point of singling out Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), one of the three Republicans in the Finance Committee's negotiating "Gang of Six."
"It appears that at least in Senator Enzi's case, he doesn't believe that there is a pathway to get bipartisan support, and the president thinks that is wrong," said Gibbs. "I think Senator Enzi has clearly turned over his cards on bipartisanship and decided it is time to walk away from the table."
Gibbs's comments came after Enzi told a Wyoming town hall audience last week that would not compromise with Democrats. And in a radio address on Saturday, Enzi accused Democrats of proposing health care reform that "will actually make our nation's finances sicker without saving you money."
"I think the radio address over the weekend by Senator Enzi, repeating many of the generic Republican talking points that Republicans are using, that have bragged about being opposed to health care, are tremendously unfortunate, but in some ways illuminating," said Gibbs.
In targeting Enzi, Gibbs offered the strongest hint to date that the White House is fed up with the process and progress of bipartisan negotiations in Congress. Asked whether he thought Republicans were negotiating in good faith, he shot back:
"That is a question you should ask them. I think, again, some of the comments that have been made certainly seem to suggest to anybody who reads them that they see to be less interested in the bipartisanship they talked about only a few weeks ago."
The press secretary called the recent slew of largely negative health care-related comments from Republican senators "tremendously unfortunate."
"It looks like Republicans are stepping away from seeking a bipartisan solution," said Gibbs. "It is bad for this town but it's worse for this country."The White House on Monday accused one of the key Senate Republicans working on health... more
-
-
"Now that the Broadway producer Rocco Landesman is officially chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts — he was confirmed on Friday — his straight-talking style, Missouri roots and affinity for baseball and country music are expected to give him a leg up with many legislators.
But in his first sit-down interview since his nomination by President Obama, Mr. Landesman’s comments suggested that he may nevertheless raise hackles on Capitol Hill after he is sworn in in the next few days. Speaking recently in his office above the St. James Theater on West 44th Street, where Tony Awards abut baseball trophies — testament to his prowess as a producer and as a pitcher in the Broadway Show League — Mr. Landesman, 62, made clear that he has little patience for the disdain with which some politicians still seem to view the endowment, more than a decade after the culture wars that nearly destroyed it.
He was particularly angered, he said, by parts of the debate over whether to include $50 million for the agency in the federal stimulus bill, citing the comment by Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts, on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” in February, that arts money did not belong in the bill. That kind of thinking suggests that “artists don’t have kids to send to college,” Mr. Landesman said, “or food to put on the table, or medical bills to pay.”
In American politics generally, he added: “The arts are a little bit of a target. The subtext is that it is elitist, left wing, maybe even a little gay.”
On the subject of the endowment’s budget, too, Mr. Landesman did not hold back. Though he would not put a dollar figure on his own fiscal goals, he called the current appropriation of $155 million “pathetic” and “embarrassing.” And he seemed to imply dissatisfaction with increases proposed by Congress and by the president, which both fall short of the agency’s 1992 budget of $176 million.
“We’re going to be looking for funding increases that are more than incremental,” he said.
As for grants to individual artists — which were eliminated in 1996 after years of complaints from conservative legislators about the financing of controversial art — Mr. Landesman said he would reinstate them “tomorrow” if it were up to him. (It’s up to Congress.)
He was less clear about the details of this ambitious agenda, though he talked about starting a program that he called “Our Town,” which would provide home equity loans and rent subsidies for living and working spaces to encourage artists to move to downtown areas.""Now that the Broadway producer Rocco Landesman is officially chairman of the... more
-
-
Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi has publicly threatened to reject money included in the recent stimulus bill that will extend and expand unemployment insurance benefits. These benefits will help thousands of Mississippians, including part-time workers. Governor Barbour says that extending benefits will cause an increase in business taxes. He is wrong.
As the poorest state in the nation, Mississippi can least afford to put partisan politics ahead of people’s basic needs. Mississippi desperately needs its rightful share of the stimulus package. The money that Governor Barbour is rejecting will help 39,600 hard working families weather this recession.
Please stand proudly with the people of Mississippi by signing this petition to tell Governor Barbour to put the needs of our hardworking citizens ahead of partisan politics: http://standingwithmississippi.org/.
You can also show your support by joining the Facebook Cause here: http://apps.facebook.com/causes/266831/33917124?m=6d54c0aaGovernor Haley Barbour of Mississippi has publicly threatened to reject money included... more
-
-
Congress is voting right now whether or not to adjurn for President's Day, and guess how the voting is split. Democrats want to take the day off, Republicans want to stay in.
WHAT THE FUCK? If Congress can't break rank to take a holiday, how are they supposed to get together to make the best choices for the rest of us???Congress is voting right now whether or not to adjurn for President's Day, and... more
-
-
Watch this video which shows how right-wing idiots are trying to declare a hyper-partisan tone and undermine a president that has not taken over the reigns yet.
In one of his shows Limbaugh actually calls the current economic problem an "Obama recession", he goes on to add that although Obama has not done anything yet, Obama's "ideas" are killing the economy. Can someone please ask Mr. Limbaugh which ideas are not killing the economy? His ideas? Doesn't seem to have worked for the last eight years. What do u think?Watch this video which shows how right-wing idiots are trying to declare a... more
-
-
pshira
-
added this
-
4 years ago
- |
-
In 1949 the Fairness Doctrine was passed into law because the United States saw how Joseph Goebbels had used German radio and media to scapegoat Jews, Communists, Socialists, and Catholics.Through daily indocrinations the German people were told these Jews and sympathizers were out to destroy their nation, and it worked. The Final Solution killed millions, and the German people looked the other way.
In 1949, it was also noticed how the Soviet Union used the state run media to uphold its views and keep people in line with Communist Ideologies without any dissent.
Today, conservative radio does the same, only its Minorities and Liberals who are the scapegoats and there are no chances of Rebuttal. Thats because Ronald Reagan destroyed the doctrine so Rush Limbaugh could turn community AM stations into repeater stations for his propaganda mill. He was soon joined by the likes of Sean Hannity and Glenn Beck.
When Rush Limbaugh called Hurricane Katrina, urban renewal, the people who lost family and property, didn't even have a chance to give their side to this ignorant remark.
When Mike McConnell literally ragged a family who sued a major theme park when a ride killed their four year old, the family did not evn have a chance to fight back.
When Glenn Beck criticized CNN for covering a murder of a whole family on the Bee-Line Expressway in Florida instead of the robust Bush economy (theres a joke) in 2006, the relatives of that family had no way of saying how they felt about Becks insensitive remarks.
The Fairness Doctrine gives these people a chance for equal time when Conservative Talk Radio Hosts show not only no absence of malice, but as much spirited bigotry as possible.
Well enjoy boys! Its time to cut off the head of a snake that could not be fair if it tried. Why can Conservative Radio not be fair? i just gave examples!
You decide!In 1949 the Fairness Doctrine was passed into law because the United States saw how... more
-
-
Threat of collapse forces Democrats to work fast with GOP
Democrats began the week with a you-break-it-you-buy-it approach to the financial crisis: It's President George W. Bush's fault, let him fix it.
But disarray approached a meltdown and possible collapse of the entire economy. Only then did the Democrats, who control Congress, and presidential candidate Barack Obama pledge to work with Republicans on a bailout that the Bush administration puts at $700 billion.
They also are seeking help for the unemployed and people who are at risk of losing their homes. Bush is admonishing them that "the cleaner the better" for legislation he hopes Congress approves in the week ahead.
Threat of collapse forces Democrats to work fast with GOP
Democrats began the... more
-
-
The first high-profile political debate since the bailout of American International Group foreshadowed what the upcoming presidential debates might sound like. Hint: Get ready for discussion about bailouts and regulation to drown out talk of “experience” and “change.” The first high-profile political debate since the bailout of American International... more
-
