Elizabeth Warren is Unhappy with Mitch McConnell Over Blocked Student Loan Bill

Image from source, PoliticsUSA

I make no secret around here that I love Elizabeth Warren. I'd vote for her for any office she'd run for up to and including (wishful thinking ) president. I think she actually and honestly cares about what she's doing. And her big student loan bill came this close to actually passing. In fact, it passed by a majority about as large as Eric Cantor's loss on election night, but didn't quite make it to supermajority. Yes, Senator Mitch (duck and cover) McConnell mounted a filibuster threat, and that was that. Not because the bill was bad, but because it a) was a Democrat's idea and b) was paid for by raising taxes on the super-rich. Oh, woe is them.

Here's what I've got to wonder though. Every time Republicans block legislation that is popular with broad swaths of the electorate, students, minorities, women, aren't they just shooting themselves in the foot electorally? I mean, I know that Americans have notoriously short memories, and that they are unfortunately easily misled. But in this era of the Googles, John Stewart and Bill Maher, I've got to think voters are going to be reminded come election day.

[Excerpt]
 
Elizabeth Warren Declares War on Mitch McConnell After He Blocked Her Student Loan Bill
 
"Well, accountability is exactly the right word. I plan on fighting back on this, and I hope that everybody else does too. One way, I’m going to start fighting back is I’m going to go down to Kentucky and I’m going to campaign for Alison Lundergan Grimes, . She’s tough. She’s feisty. She endorsed the student loan bill, said she wanted to bring down interest rates for Kentuckians, and so my view is, I’m going to get out there and try to make this happen for her. . ."

Read more (with video) at: PoliticsUSA

Rick Perry's History Lesson: Mitch McConnell's Letter Home (Rocky Mountain Mike Comedy)

I'm still up to my eyeballs in upgrades and minor problems (for the record, my MacBook Pro is finished, the Windows 8.1 has one minor issue I'm still working on). So, thank goodness Rocky Mountain Mike keeps making fun new comedy bits. It feels like a bit of a cheat that I don't have to do any work to have such stellar content. But hey, Mike has "share" enabled on his bits, and doesn't seem to mind! Also: be sure to buy his new album, Politically Incoherent if you're enjoying his stuff here on my blog. I'm anxiously awaiting my own copy.
 

Millennials Find GOP "Closed Minded, Racist, Old Fashioned"

Tragically unhip, uncool and just mean. Image from TPM.

People give the millennials (what we're calling young uns these days) a lot of crap. Yes, they're always plugged into a screen, don't seem to care about anything that happened before they were born, have terrible grammar and punctuation, and. . .whoops! There I am giving them crap. But give them a little credit. The see the GOP for what they are: xenophobic fuddy-duddies with a mean streak. Good on you, kids! But seriously, pull up your pants.

[Excerpt]

GOP Report Warns Of Party’s Apocalypse With Young Voters

The Republican Party’s troubles with young voters are well known. But a new internal report virtually elevates the threat level to apocalyptic, declaring that the GOP needs a “fundamental re-thinking” of its approach in order to remain viable with the younger generation. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Fiscal Cliff Averted (For Now). . .Can We Talk About Something Else Now?

Image from source, Politico

Well, my 12-day (unpaid, but well worth it) holiday break is at its end. And so is my blogging break. I'll be back on my more usual schedule now. It's funny that when I have more time to blog, I do it less. But let's face it, Since Christmas, the only stories were the FISCAL CLIFF!!! and Hillary Clinton's blood clot. MSNBC was showing Lockup Raw and a few repeated year-in-reviews, CNN was on the afore mentioned stories, and I refuse to watch anything beyond FOX "News" Sunday on GOP-TV, and that is just for opposition research.

Anyway, the whole fiscal cliff dealie has been solved, more or less. At least until March, when they're all going to go stupid on us again. And while you may be able to say that both parties are partially responsible for the ridiculousness of it all, I just don't see how anyone could call it equal. John Boner Boehner and Mitch McChinless McConnell are just such ridiculous, unserious tool bags. I honestly have no idea how they manage to hold onto leadership, or why they are the best the GOP can put up there. Embarrassing man. I'm just hoping we can talk about this today and maybe tomorrow--and of course on the Sunday shows, and then be done with this shit for a while!

Oh, and Happy New Year!

[Excerpt]

The fiscal cliff deal that almost wasn't

House Speaker John Boehner couldn’t hold back when he spotted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the White House lobby last Friday.

It was only a few days before the nation would go over the fiscal cliff, no bipartisan agreement was in sight, and Reid had just publicly accused Boehner of running a “dictatorship” in the House and caring more about holding onto his gavel than striking a deal. . .

Read more at: Politico

Senate Strikes Tentative Deal On Payroll Tax

Harry Reid and Yertle. Image from TPM.

My first thought when I saw this story? What's the catch? There has to be a catch. The GOP in both houses of Congress don't tend to compromise, or make nice. Maybe I'm cynical, but I'm expecting the other shoe to drop, and then we'll have a couple of weeks of squawking about that damned shoe.

[Excerpt]


Lawmakers Strike Tentative Deal On Payroll Tax Package

Top Democratic and Republican negotiators have struck a broad tentative agreement to extend the payroll tax cut, unemployment insurance and Medicare physician payment rates through the end of the year, aides from both sides who are familiar with the deal tell TPM. Some of the details have yet to be ironed out, but Congress appears to have had a critical breakthrough in negotiations to prevent the three provisions from lapsing. . .

Read more at: Talking Points Memo

Mitch McConnell Wants Obama to Stop Picking on FOX "News"

Mitch is coming out of his shell. Image from Raw Story

Honestly. It's funny how conservatives like Mitch McConnell love their FOX "News" because it is fair and balanced. Why, it's the only news you can get that isn't liberally biased. Which is a little like saying that your kid is the only one in the parade marching in step.

[Excerpt]

McConnell: Obama unleashing ‘liberal thugs’ on Fox News 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Thursday painted conservatives as victims of President Barack Obama and other “liberal thugs.”

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), McConnell said he always loved the event “because conservatives are just simply more fun” than liberals. . .

Read more at: The Raw Story

Debt Ceiling Deal Reached

Image from source, ABC News

Thank goodness. Now there will be several days of post-mortem on this thing (assuming something doesn't derail it), and then we can hopefully drop the whole issue for a while. I'm sick of it, you're sick of it, let's just be done with it.

[Excerpt]


Obama, Congress Reach a Debt Deal

Racing the clock to avoid a government default, President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts. . . 

Read more at: ABC News

Bachmann Disproves GOP's "Obama's Blank Check" Line

"Whoops!"

A couple of weeks ago, I commented in this space about Karl Rove's CrossroadsGPS "Obama's Blank Check" attack ads. The bit about a blank check has been used in politics forever, but of all the charges against Obama, it's kind of a weird one. And since those ads started running, we've been hearing the line from (of course) FOX "News" and right-wing talk radio. Worse, John Boner Boehner used it in his tragically lame, fact-free "rebuttal" to President Obama's address the other night. And now, Mitch McConnell.

Along with the blank check charge, is the "Obama's spending binge" line. What? When? The stimulus? The one most economists agree worked, but would have been much better if it was bigger? WTF are they talking about? Well, I can only say it's a nice bit of kismet that Michele Bachmann herself has disproved the entire notion!

[Excerpt]


Whoops! Michele Bachmann inadvertently proves key GOP talking point false

. . .Of course, if Congress ultimately determines spending — which of course it does — there’s no way raising the debt ceiling would constitute giving President Obama a “blank check,” as John Boehner and other Republicans keep falsely insisting. . .

Read more at: The Plum Line

Mitch McConnell: Jobs Schmobs, We Want Obama to be a One Term President!

Somebody give this guy a piece of lettuce,
and maybe he'll go away. Image from
Think Progress

Every time I see Sen. Mitch McConnell on the TV machine, I'm a contorted mess of reactions. First, I can't stop seeing the man as a turtle, and then I feel bad. But then I remember that I myself am not a particularly photogenic human, and therefore am sort of allowed to poke fun at the likewise challenged. Second, I get irritated because McConnell is the embodiment of a pandering, posturing, talking point machine who will say whatever is on this weeks list of Things That Republicans Are Saying This Week. Like whomever happens to be leading up the DNC or RNC, or whomever any given president trots out on the Sunday shows, McConnell is just reading from a script. He may have written part of it, but it's a script.

Not every person interviewed on Meet the Press or Face the Nation is a partisan parrot, but McConnell surely is. So the third thing that hits me is, "If I were a Republican, how would I react to this man?" And I simply can't imagine it. He has to be one of the least charismatic, least inspiring politicians in Washington, this side of Lindsay Graham. And he's still openly admitting that making Obama a one-term president is his A#1 priority, ahead of jobs, ahead of everything. And gee, how could you make that more likely? Crash the economy on purpose! Think he can do that, and escape notice?

[Excerpt]

In Midst Of Debt Ceiling Standoff, McConnell Reaffirms That Defeating Obama Is GOP’s ‘Single Most Important’ Goal

Last October, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell confessed that his “single most important” objective was to make “President Obama to be a one-term president.” In an interview on Fox News Sunday this morning, host Bret Baier asked McConnell if his motivations in the midst of the debt ceiling negotiations are still to defeat Obama. McConnell reaffirmed that it is indeed his “single most important political goal” next year. . .

Read more at: Think Progress

House Republicans Vote Against Raising Debt Limit

Aren't these guys inspiring? Cantor, Boner Boehner and Yertle McConnell.
Image from source, Huffington Post

Yeah, I know this was a "test vote" all for shits and giggles and political posturing. But is this really something we should be playing chicken with? Do all parties involved realize that people can see what they're doing? I'm just wondering, because tampering with world markets just to score points seems to be an incredibly foolhardy game.

[Excerpt]

House Debt Limit Vote: Republicans Vote Against Raising Debt Ceiling

House Republicans dealt defeat to their own proposal for a $2.4 trillion increase in the nation's debt limit Tuesday, a political gambit designed to reinforce a demand for spending cuts to accompany any increase in government borrowing. . .

Read more at: Huffington Post

Republican Plan for Everything: Start Over!

When the GOP isn't saying "NO!" they're saying "Start over!" About just about everything.  Now, when I hear Sen. Mitch McConnell or John Boner Boehner say something, my spidey sense always starts tingling. But when you hear the very same words echoed by the lesser lights in the Senate and House, and then by FOX "News" and Karl freakin' Rove, I automatically know it's b.s.

Sunday Update, Part II: Repetition and Talking Points

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tx.) is on my DVR at the moment from FOX "News" Sunday. He's repeating a couple of phrases that I just heard Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell say on Meet the Press. If you pay attention--and believe me, that can be difficult on these cerebrally numbing shows--you can catch what the new talking points are.

A "step-by-step" reworking of health care reform, after "starting over" from scratch. Those two phrases were worked in by Cornyn in exactly the same fashion as McChinless. Several other things he said were nearly verbatim as well, along with conclusions drawn about Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts this week. And of course, the fictional assertion that Republicans are ready to work with Democrats if they're only "given a seat at the table." They've been sitting at the table! They've just been saying "no!"

Sunday Update: Politics, Politics, Politics

Here I sit again. . .I said I wouldn't do it. . .but here I am. Watching Meet the Press with David Gregory. First up, Valerie Jarrett for the President's team. Milquetoasty, whisper-voiced, jacked up with political jargon: ineffective. Next was Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (Shelley the Turtle). He's so annoying. Very repetitive, though he's working in a new response to replace or supplement his claim that the American people are saying "please don't pass this bill." Now he's adding, "let's start over, start from scratch, step by step." He won't answer a direct question--even if it is posed three times (Gregory's limit)--but he will pretend that a) Republicans haven't merely opposed everything from Democrats, and that b) Republicans will work "in a bipartisan" manner if only the President would move to the center, and not from the "far-left."

This is such a load of hooey. There is no "far-left" in this country. There is far-right, right, right-center, center, left-center and left. There is quite simply no counter-balance--at least no vocal one--to far-right voices. I'd love to see a list of "far-left" voices. Rachel Maddow? Nope, fairly straight-down-the-line liberal. Olbermann? Same thing. The political spectrum is so skewed due to the fact that far-right voices like Rush Limbaugh have been proclaimed to be mainstream.

And this President has moved to the center. His approval rating is low because liberals are pissed that he's drifting rightward. I got into a brief argument with my mother the other day, saying my problem with Obama is not that he's done too much, it is that he hasn't done enough. She was incredulous. Because she watches FOX "News" and thinks Obama is far-left. Horse pucky.

I may be back with a part II if I don't throw something through the screen.

Thanksgiving Frivolity Break: Politicians Who Look Like Turkeys

As a double-chin sufferer myself, I have a little compassion for these politicians. After all, as the years take their toll, I'm sure to have that chin turn into wattles too (unless the plastic surgery fairy visits). Meanwhile, there is still some fun to be had here. As a graphic artist and sometime cartoonist, nature's unkindest cuts are a caricaturist's dream. And, to be fair, I think Mitch McConnell looks more like a constipated turtle than a turkey.

Politicians Who Look Like Turkeys

Is it just us, or is the political scene overrun by guys who look like turkeys? It's probably just us, but we thought we'd compile our favorites.

Source: Huffington Post

Saturday Night Live Skewers GOP

Saturday Night Live had a better than average outing this weekend, with frequent host Alec Baldwin. It wasn't hilarious, but was pretty funny most of the way through. The cold-open was great, with alumnus Dan Aykroyd portraying John Boner Boehner leading a group of obstructionist Republicans, trying to flex what muscle they have left. Darrell Hammond was pretty good as Mitch McConnell too, though the makeup department can't quite muster the "constipated turtle" look. It's pretty funny stuff. Take a look.

Barack Obama Blasts GOP Stimulus Ideas

Photo from source, Huffington Post

Tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. That and "smaller government" have been the mantra of the right for as long as I can remember. And that's it. There doesn't seem to be any more to their economic ideas. And no evidence that it works. I mean, that was their policy for the last eight years, and look how well that turned out.

I'm no economist. . .in fact, back in college I struggled with Macroeconomics. I hated it, in fact. Nobody should have to try to learn that stuff at 8:00 am. And I don't know if this economic plan is the best one. But it is pretty clear that something needs to be done, and that the GOP seems to want to do nothing. And when they get all lock-steppy, and their front line--John Boehner, Lindsay Graham, Mitch McConnell--start a-yappin', I'm pretty sure they're wrong. And I totally dug what Barack Obama had to say about it:

[Excerpt]

Obama Stimulus Speech: "Time For Action Is Now" (VIDEO)

". . .So let me be clear: Those ideas have been tested, and they have failed. They've taken us from surpluses to an annual deficit of over a trillion dollars, and they've brought our economy to a halt. And that's precisely what the election we just had was all about. The American people have rendered their judgment. And now is the time to move forward, not back. Now is the time for action."

Read more (with video) at: Huffington Post

More GOP "Outings" on the Horizon?

Photo montage from source, PensitoReview.com

Gossip time! Are more prominent GOP leaders about to be dragged kicking and screaming from the closet?

[Excerpt]

Four More Top GOP Outings Could Be in the Offing

In the wake of closeted Sen. Larry Craig’s self-outing in an airport men’s room this summer, Mike Rogers, the Washington-based publisher of blogActive who outed Craig, is threatening to reveal the secret sexual identities of two leading GOP senators, while two allegedly gay Republican congressmen are making headlines and drawing unwelcome attention to themselves, the timing of which could not be worse.

The senators are Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Mitch McConnell, the Senate Minority Leader, from Kentucky. More about them below but first let’s look at two allegedly closeted members of the House, representatives Patrick McHenry and David Drier, who have been in the news lately. . .

Read more at: PenistoReview.com