Category: Mitch McConnell

Categories
fail Mitch McConnell Politics

An Almost Impossible New Low For Congress, And We Have Republicans To Thank

When President Obama became President of the United States, something got triggered in Congressional Republicans. They all decided that this particular president must not succeed. Before Mr. Obama’s moving truck drove up and delivered the Obama’s personal merchandise to the White House, Republicans had already began their game plan – to fight, to argue and to disrespect the office of the President like no other time in this nation’s history.

So they fought and continue to fight. And they set new records for filibusters. And they criticize  President Obama, for everything from the price of gas and oil – that has everything to do with market speculators and nothing to do with the president – to jobs lost in a recession that began primarily because of Corporate greed and the policies of Mr. George Bush.

Yes, the Republican’s game plan was, and is, in full effect. Every time they succeed in stopping a jobs plan, and every time they filibuster tax cuts for businesses, and every time they try to cut American’s rights, or manage to take away benefits that Americans have paid into, Republicans believe that Americans would blame the President.

Well Republicans, your game plan is flawed. Yes, you’ve managed to create an atmosphere in Washington of no coorporation and no compromise, but your expectation that the public would blame the president is not working out the way you planned it.

This new poll shows the disgust Americans are feeling about the job both Democrats and Republicans in Congress are doing.

Only 10 percent said they approved of the way Congress was handling its job, down from 13 percent in January.

The previous all-time low from Gallup was 11 percent in December of 2011.

Congress’s approval rating averaged 17 percent in 2011, peaking at 24 percent in May — it has been slowly declining since.

But don’t expect Republicans to stop now. Don’t expect them to do the job of the American people who sent them to Congress. Republicans would continue pushing against and fighting this particular president because there is something inside them that commands them to do so. And what ever that something is, Congressional Republicans are prepared to go down with the ship if it means Americans might think the president is a failure.

But their game plan is not working. We the people are paying attention…

 

Categories
Barack Obama Domestic Policies Mitch McConnell Senate United States

Big Up! To The Heroes

On the day before Veteran’s Day, The Senate overwhelmingly approved a provision of President Barack Obama’s  Job Act that gives companies tax credits for hiring unemployed military veterans –  a proposal which had rare bipartisan appeal.

A month ago, President Obama’s job’s plan was killed the second it hit the congressional floor, but as promised,  he began sending portions of the bill up to Congress in hopes of getting them enacted separately,  but until yesterday Republicans voted unanimously to knock them down as well.  But Thursday, Republicans joined Democrats in passing this bill with only one dissenting vote, that belonging to  Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) explaining that the amendment only created loopholes that benefited veterans over regular citizens for jobs (WTF?!).

President Obama urged lawmakers to “pass additional jobs proposals in the weeks ahead to help the millions of other Americans who are still looking for work.” After weeks of publicly campaigning against Republicans for failing to act on portions of his $447 billion jobs bill, President Obama said Thursday they “did the right thing.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY.) said the bill offered a welcomed opportunity to break the  gridlock on the Senate. “We’re going to legislate,” he said, before predictably ranking on Democrats for not advancing more jobs ideas Republicans could back.

The 94-1 vote for the legislation came as the jobless rate among Iraq and Afghanistan vets are  in the double digits. The bill  awards companies a $5,600 tax credit for each veteran they hired who had been unemployed for at least six months and $2,400 for hiring a veteran who has been out of work a month.

On his jobs plan stump, Obama has emphasized that taking care of our Veterans is not a Democratic or Republican issue, it is an American responsibility.

Big Up! for our military women and men and  President Obama’s bill.

 

Categories
Mitch McConnell occupy wall street Politics

Occupying Mitch McConnell’s Office

Too close for comfort, as Occupiers take their message directly to the enemy – Republican Senate Leader, Mitch McConnell.

WASHINGTON — Roughly 30 jobless protesters from D.C. neighborhoods occupied Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s office in the Russell Senate Office Building Thursday, saying they wanted to talk to him about jobs.

But McConnell was busy at the Capitol Building, where he led Republicans in blocking a $60 billion infrastructure bill. The protesters said they supported the measure.

McConnell’s legislative director offered to sit down with the group, but they declined, saying they’d rather wait for the senator himself. So they sat in his office, taking up every chair and lots of floor space while McConnell’s staff went about its business. A Capitol Police officer scoped the situation and said her heart went out to them for losing their jobs.

McConnell is known for saying that Republicans only priority is to make president Obama a one term president.

Apparently, the 99% of Americans think their priority should be what Republicans promised when they won the House of Representatives – Jobs!

Categories
Medicare Mitch McConnell paying taxes Politics Republican

Remember When McConnell Said The Rich Should Pay Their Taxes?

It was not that long ago, but when you look at what he said then and compare it with what he’s saying now in Washington, Mitch McConnell’s statement sounds like it came from a different dimension.

The year was 1990, and Mitch McConnell – the present Senate Republican Minority Leader – was in his campaign mode when he made a political ad referring to taxes, saying, ” Unlike some folks around here, I think everyone should pay their fair share, including the rich.” But McConnell didn’t stop there. He went on and took a position on Medicare that, when taken in conjunction with his taxing-the-rich statement, it prompted the Associated Press to say that he sounded like a “populist Democrat.” He called for the protection of Medicaid recipients.

Here is the transcript of Mitch McConnell’s full ad.

I’m sure you’ve been watching this mess in Washington.

I’d like you to know how I feel about it.

I haven’t voted for one of these lousy budget packages for years and I won’t vote for this one.

It would raise taxes on the wrong people.

Unlike some folks around here I think everyone should pay their fair share. Including the rich.

We need to protect our seniors from Medicare cuts too.

I don’t care if the President or Congressional leaders twist my arm. I won’t support any deal that isn’t a fair deal for the working families of Kentucky.

Those were the days when Democrats and Republicans were afraid to make their true motives known, and although they may have felt differently, putting the people first was always  the politically correct thing to do.

Today however, McConnell and his band of Congressional Republicans have made a pledge to Grover Norquist to never raise taxes on the rich, and they are in the midst of instituting some of the biggest spending cuts in our nation’s history. And yes, McConnell now wants to cut Medicare into non-existence.

Categories
Mitch McConnell Nancy Pelosi Politics Republican

Polls Show Americans Are Really Disgusted With Congressional Republican

John Boehner brags in all his interviews that he got 98% of what he wanted in the debt ceiling debate, but this new poll by CNN proves that what the Republican House Speaker wanted, was not what Americans want.  The poll was conducted after the debt ceiling debacle in Washington, and it finds that overwhelmingly, Americans really don’t like Congressional Republicans.

A lot of that anger seems directed toward the GOP.  According to the survey, favorable views of the Republican party dropped eight points over the past month, to 33 percent. Fifty-nine percent say they have an unfavorable view of the Republican party, an all-time high dating back to 1992 when the question was first asked.

The poll indicates that views of the Democratic party, by contrast, have remained fairly steady, with 47 percent saying they have a favorable view of the Democrats and an equal amount saying they hold an unfavorable view.

“The Democratic party, which had a favorable rating just a couple of points higher than the GOP in July, now has a 14-point advantage over the Republican party,” adds Holland, CNN’s polling director.

Americans are also disgusted in the Republican leaders themselves. Both John Boehner and Mitch McConnell’s unfavorable numbers have increased, and those supporting the two leaders have dropped since the debt ceiling fight.

House Speaker John Boehner’s favorable rating has dropped 10 points, and his unfavorable rating is up to 40 percent, a new high for him.  On the Senate side, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell isn’t faring much better – his unfavorable rating is 39 percent, a seven-point increase since July.

The poll also shows that Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid have maintained the level of favorable and unfavorable support they had before the debt ceiling began.

Categories
Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

McConnell Signals President Will Give Up More For A Deal

We’ll hope not, but hearing McConnell’s statement today, and seeing his jubilant mannerism is telling. The message I gather from his and Boehner’s press conference is that the President and Democratic Congressional members are beginning to give up even more to the Republican minority.

The press conference happened about 3:45PM today, and it featured Boehner and McConnell making a brief statement about their commitment on ‘no compromise’. But when McConnell took the podium, he broke the news that he’d been talking to President Obama “within the past hour.”

Of course, that could be a  good thing, but when McConnell, in the midst of telling reporters how strongly he feels about holding his ground and criticizing the plan the Democrats have brought forward, then says he has spoken to the President and is “optimistic” that a deal is going to happen real soon, it is hard not to think the President is again, going to yield to the minority demands.

Meanwhile, news broke that the President summoned Democratic Senate Leader Harry Reid and Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to the White House for a private meeting.

With 3 days left before a deal is reached, we will find out exactly what McConnell knows about this “deal” that’s making him so happy.

Categories
Medicare Mitch McConnell Politics Republican South Carolina United States

Lindsey Graham Blames His Fellow Congressional Republicans

Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina has a message for his Republican friends in Congress. Don’t blame the President or even the Democrats. Don’t blame anyone else for the mess over raising the debt ceiling, blame yourself.

“Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months. How many Republicans have been on TV saying, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit.’ You know, Mitch [McConnell] says, ‘I’m not going to raise the debt limit unless we talk about Medicare.’ And I’ve said I’m not going to raise the debt limit until we do something about spending and entitlements.’ So we’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.

“We shouldn’t have said that if we didn’t mean it.”

The Republicans are beginning to break.

With the President holding his ground in the negotiations over raising the debt ceiling, and with Americans looking at the Republicans as obstructionists whose only goal is protecting the rich while the rest of the country slides into default, Republicans are beginning to wonder out loud why they intentionally mislead the American people over a very routine matter – raising the debt ceiling. On Tuesday, Senate Republican minority leader Mitch McConnell proposed a feeble detour to get the debt ceiling raised, and now this from Lindsey Graham.

The American people are keeping track of what’s going on, and the Republicans are beginning to see the writing on the wall… in the form of a political suicide note that is.

Categories
Barack Obama Democratic Party Mitch McConnell Politics United States

Mitch McConnell – “I Refuse To Help Barack Obama Get Re-Elected!”

For the 3 people in the entire world, who think Mitch McConnell is sincerely trying to work with the President to set America on solid economic ground, this one’s for you. Today, the Republican Senate minority leader clearly stated his reasoning for coming up with a “solution” to the debt ceiling, saying, ” I refuse to help Barack Obama get reelected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy.”

“We knew shutting down the government in 1995 was not going to work for us. It helped Bill Clinton get reelected. I refuse to help Barack Obama get reelected by marching Republicans into a position where we have co-ownership of a bad economy. It didn’t work in 1995. What will happen is the administration will send out to 80 million Social Security recipients and to military families and they will all start attacking members of Congress. That is not a useful place to take us. And the president will have the bully pulpit to blame Republicans for all this disruption.

“If we go into default he will say Republicans are making the economy worse. And all of a sudden we have co-ownership of a bad economy. That is a very bad position going into an election. My first choice was to do something important for the country. But my second obligation is to my party and my conference to prevent them from being sucked into a horrible position politically that would allow the president, probably, to get reelected because we didn’t handle this difficult situation correctly.”

Meanwhile, America’s economy moves closer to the brink of a second Great Depression. But no surprise here. This is the same Republican leader who said his number one priority was making sure the  President is a one-term president.

Categories
Barack Obama Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

Mitch McConnell Raised The White Flag On The Debt Ceiling…Or Did He?

When President Obama earlier stated that “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon”, no one really understood where the President was going in terms of the negotiations concerning raising the debt ceiling. Later when he put forth his plan for a massive $4 trillion dollars in spending cuts – if Republicans agreed to ending the tax loopholes for the wealthy – the connection between his statement and his plan still wasn’t realized.

However, when the Republican Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell yesterday told the press, that he is willing to “authorize” the President to submit a request to congress to raise the debt ceiling, a light bulb went off in the Host of MSNBC’s The Last Word – Lawrence O’ Donnell‘s head. The President’s statement on a $4 trillion spending cut proposal finally began making sense.

The way O’Donnell explains the connection is like this: President Obama is winning the debt ceiling argument with Republicans. By making the statement, “nothing is agreed upon until everything is agreed upon,” the President put Republicans on notice, that to have a deal, both parties would have to agree to major sacrifices. He then announced a huge spending cut proposal, with the knowledge that Republicans were too much against imposing any taxes or ending the loopholes on the wealthy. With this in mind, the President essentially called the Republican’s bluff. If they were really serious about deficit reduction, they would have jumped on the opportunity to cut spending by ending the tax loopholes.

Then yesterday, Mitch McConnell came out and basically handed the President the win. What Mitch wants is a resolution to allow the President to raise the debt ceiling all by himself. The President would request congress to raise the debt ceiling. Congress would then vote to “disapprove” the request, which the President would then veto. With that veto, the debt ceiling would automatically be raised on the President’s terms.

This move by McConnell, basically giving up the fight and allowing President Obama to make the decision, brought it all home for Lawrence.

Of course, we are talking about Mitch McConnell – the same Republican who said his primary goal is to see Obama fail. It is therefore wise to look at this “plan” by McConnell from that perspective and realize the politics behind it. McConnell realizes that the Republicans have taken a dangerous position. Any default by the United States government by not raising the debt ceiling would be political assassination for the GOP. With this move, McConnell removes the Republicans from the decision-making process, that way, the President makes the decision and avoids America going into default.  McConnell can tell his Teaparty constituents that he voted against raising the debt ceiling.

The punk’s way out if you ask me.

Categories
Chuck Schumer Mitch McConnell Politics Republican United States

Republicans – Flushing The Economy Down The Drain For Political Gain

“Do they simply want the economy to go down the drain to further their political gain? They seem to be against anything that may create jobs, because they view a weak economy as key to their political chances in 2012.

“It’s an uncomfortable question, to be sure. Are they trying to undermine the economy on purpose, for political gain? Harry Truman had a do-nothing Congress. The Republicans seem to be trying to make this a do-nothing-on-the-economy Congress.”

Better late than never. Finally, Senator Chuck Schumer and other Congressional Democrats are beginning to believe what the rest of America has known since Rush Limbaugh’s  admission a few weeks after President Obama was sworn in: “I want this president to fail”. And ever since then Congressional Republicans have been on a mission to make sure Rush Limbaugh gets his wish.

The Republican leader in the Senate, Mitch McConnell also expressed Limbaugh’s sentiments when in October 2010, he explained what his number one priority was. No, it wasn’t fixing the economy. No, it wasn’t finding ways to put Americans back to work, and if you thought his number one priority was making sure America recovers from this recession, then you’ll be wrong again. McConnell, the Republican’s leader,  said his party’s  number one priority was to make sure President Obama was a one term president. In an interview with the National Journal, this was the exchange with McConnell;

MCCONNELL: We need to be honest with the public. This election is about them, not us. And we need to treat this election as the first step in retaking the government. We need to say to everyone on Election Day, “Those of you who helped make this a good day, you need to go out and help us finish the job.”

NATIONAL JOURNAL: What’s the job?

MCCONNELL: The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.

President Obama was sworn in on January 20th, 2009, and now, a little over 2 years into his presidency, Congressional Democrats are finally seeing the light. Schumer continued;

“If there’s one thing the GOP has stood for throughout their history, it’s free trade. When Senator Baucus unveiled an agreement to proceed, you would have thought Republicans would jump for joy. Instead, Republicans took us down the rabbit hole once again.”

“Are Republicans opposing yet another measure they once supported simply because that measure might be good for the economy?” Schumer asked, also citing GOP opposition to recent measures like a payroll tax cut and to small business development programs.

Pressed by a reporter on whether he really believes the GOP wants to destroy the economy on purpose, Schumer went further than ever before, taking things out of the realm of the hypothetical.

“It’s a thought you don’t want to believe,” Schumer said, “but every day they keep giving us more and more evidence that there’s no choice but to answer Yes.”

With Republicans like this in government, who needs terrorists? We’ve  got our own, and they’re actively working to destroy the very foundation of this country.

Categories
Democratic Mitch McConnell Politics Republican

Is The Teaparty Turning On Scott Brown?

He seemed to be just another ordinary man, driving a pick-up truck, cruising around Massachusetts shaking hands and kissing babies. He was endorsed by the Teaparty and was poised to go down in defeat in a state that was often referred to as a liberal county – and after all, he was running a campaign to replace one of the most liberal members of Congress, the late Ted Kennedy.  At a time when Republicans only controlled 40 seats in the Senate and embraced the label “the party of NO,” Brown was seen as the automatic 41st vote against a Democratic controlled majority. The Teaparty powered his campaign with what seemed to be an unlimited amount of cash, and with the lack-luster effort of his Democratic rival Martha Coakley, Scott Brown won the Senate seat controlled by Democrats for almost 50 years.

The Teaparty rejoiced. Their 41st “NO” vote was in place and this was supposed to be the beginning of the revolution to “take their country back!” But something was different about Brown. He seemed to be putting the people of his state before the wishes of his party. He was not the rubber-stamp they expected and he even sided with Democrats on some very important pieces of legislations, like the New START Treaty, repealing Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, Financial Reform and the Jobs bill in 2010 – bills geared to increase America’s security and economic standing, but vastly different from the Teaparty’s ideas on where they wanted America to be.

Now, because of his stance on these and other issues, the Teaparty is trying to unseat Brown.

Scott Wheeler, a Republican activist whose Political Action Committee invested “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in Brown’s election campaign is livid! In a recent article Wheeler wrote called, “Why Scott Brown Must Be Defeated,” Mr. Wheeler said;

An organization I run, The National Republican Trust PAC, raised and spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to help Scott Brown win the Massachusetts special election to fill the seat vacated upon the death of Ted Kennedy. That organization will now do everything possible to see that Brown is defeated by a primary opponent when he faces reelection in 2012. Why? Because there is no difference between him and a Democrat.

Brown is caught between a rock and a hard place. His party is turning against him, his Teaparty supporters are turning against him, and with his re-election coming up in 2012, Democrats will prefer seeing one of their own reclaim the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. Mr. Brown is feeling the uprising from all sides.

In a meeting with his constituents, Newsweek describes Brown’s opening statement to the audience as he explains the dilemma he faces;

The strain of walking such a fine line must be getting to Brown, because as soon as he finishes his initial round of pleasantries, he launches into a peevish rant about how unfair conservatives are being when they criticize him. “The Democrats are in charge!” he shouts, his voice reaching the high, strained register that teenagers typically use when they don’t want to take out the trash. “Does that mean I’m supposed to do nothing? That I’m supposed to vote with my party every single second of every single day? Why? I haven’t done it for 15 years in the state legislature. All of a sudden I’m supposed to be an ideologue? I’m not quite sure what the mystery is, folks. When I hear some of the comments…I don’t know what the mystery is. I said I was going down there to be a Scott Brown Republican, not someone who works for Harry Reid—or Mitch McConnell!” It’s as if Brown is no longer addressing the people in the room—again, they’re mostly Democrats. Instead, he seems to be fending off foes in Washington, real or otherwise. Unsure of how to react, the crowd quietly pokes at its meatloaf.

This dilemma is real, and Scott Brown knows it. If he fights for the people and does what he believe is right, then the Teaparty and the Republicans in Congress will continue to do all they can to take away his GOP membership card. If he becomes a Republican rubber-stamp, then it is very likely the citizens of Massachusetts will make their voices heard in 2012 and reward the seat to someone who puts them first. And if he aligns himself more with the Democrats, then Democrats accuse him of playing politics, just to get re-elected.

Scott Brown doesn’t need any advise from me, a simple blogger, but if I were to advise him, I would tell him to continue doing what is right for his constituents. Let the Teaparty, Republicans and Democrats fight among themselves. But knowing how the Republicans demand their caucus stick together in opposition to President Obama’s initiatives, its only a matter of time before they make Brown fall into line.

Categories
Healthcare Mitch McConnell Repeal Republican Senate United States vote

Senate Votes on Health Care Repeal

After the Republican controlled House of Representatives approved a measure to repeal the Health Care Reform passed by President Obama and the Democratic controlled congress in 2010, Mitch McConnell, the Republican Senate Leader promised a vote will be held in the Senate as well.

Mr. McConnell attached the repeal bill to another legislation for aviation as an amendment, and the vote was held yesterday needing 60 votes to pass. It failed along party lines, with all 47 Republicans voting for repeal, and all 51 Democrats voting against it.

McConnell however, promised to continue his efforts to deny Americans the very same health coverage he and the rest of Congress has, saying;

“This fight isn’t over, we intend to continue to fight to repeal and replace Obamacare with sensible reforms that would lower the cost of American healthcare…

This issue is still ahead of us and we will be going back at it in a variety of ways”

The Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, pleaded with Republicans to work with Democrats on finding “common sense” ways to improve the bill;

“It’s time for Republicans to set aside the battles of the past. It’s time to move on from extreme, ideological plans to repeal a health care law that is lowering prices, expanding access to care and lowering our deficit.”

There was one area of bipartisanship where both Democrats and Republicans agreed overwhelmingly. One provision of the Health Reform Law was repealed through an amendment, and received a vote of 81-17. The provision required businesses to file a 1099 form for every purchase they made over $600.00. That provision has been under heavy attack, and criticized as unnecessary and burdensome additional paperwork. Both parties voted, and the amendment was adopted.

Exit mobile version