Category: Politics

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Politics

The Real Alan Grayson Returns – We’re Less Popular Than Dog Poop – Video

If you don’t know who Alan Grayson is, then you must have had your head under a rock! Please allow me to me to remind you.

On the House floor on Wednesday, Grayson educated his fellow House colleagues on just how popular the American people think they are, especially after the Republican Government Shutdown. Explaining the meaning of the word “dignity,” Grayson educates;

If dignity means what the dictionary says it means—the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect—then surely the honor and worthy of honor or respect of this house has been called into question.

When only 7 out of 100 Americans approve of what we do – the lowest approval rating ever – then surely our dignity has been diminished and is actively being called into question. If we are to be called obstructionists, practicers of partisan petulance, if we are called an establishment that is rotten to the core, if we are leaving Americans wondering why there is so much poison in the system, then surely our dignity as a body has been diminished.

If we’re accused of willingly provoking crises that suspend public services and decrease economic growth, then surely our dignity as a body has been diminished. If we cause international media outlets to refer to us as politically bankrupt and responsible for breaking America’s dignity, as a body, as a House, is being called into question.

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Politics

Sen. John McCain – The Teaparty Republicans Did It

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) blamed tea party Republicans for the government shutdown during a CNN interview on Wednesday, saying Congress never had a shot at defunding Obamacare.

“We started this on a fool’s errand, convincing so many millions of Americans and our supporters that we could defund Obamacare,” McCain said.

While McCain didn’t name names, he faulted members of Congress — “tea partiers specifically” — for wrongly telling “millions of Americans” that Obamacare can be defunded.

That “obviously wouldn’t happen until we had 67 Republican senators to override a presidential veto,” McCain said.

McCain denounced the fight to defund Obamacare at the cost of a fiscal impasse even before the govenrment shut down last week. McCain called out Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) for his anti-Obamacare speech, and said “the people spoke” when they reelected President Barack Obama in 2012

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Politics

Koch Brothers Throw Republicans Under the Bus

We all know that the Koch brothers are financially responsible for the Teaparty and all they stand for. And we all know based on reporting from the New York Times that this government shutdown was planned months ago by the Republican leadership and their Teaparty brethren.

Their government shutdown to defund Obamacare plan however, has not panned out the way they expected, as more and more Americans continue to blame and abandon the GOP’s crazy antics. New Polling data shows that Republicans are paying a huge price for shutting down the government and now the financial foundation of the Teaparty wants nothing to do with the shutdown.

In a letter from the Kochs, the brothers are saying that that a government shutdown was never their idea, and that Republicans and the Teaparty were on their own.

“Koch believes that Obamacare will increase deficits, lead to an overall lowering of the standard of health care in America, and raise taxes,” the letter said. “However, Koch has not taken a position on the legislative tactic of tying the continuing resolution to defunding Obamacare nor have we lobbied on legislative provisions defunding Obamacare.”

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Politics

Republican Shutdown Adding Unnecessary Costs to Treasury

A lot of the market indicators of how much the financial world is worrying about a debt default have been quite calm over the last week. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, for example, is only about 1 percent below its close eight days ago, when the government shutdown began.

But in the less widely followed — but in many ways more important — market for Treasury bills, things are starting to get scary. These are short-term IOU’s of the U.S. government, bills issued for 30, 60 or 90 days. They enable Uncle Sam to manage cash flow much the way a homeowner might use a credit card. They also form the backbone of trillions of dollars in transactions: Major corporations and banks use them as a place to park short-term cash; they are held by money market mutual funds; and they serve as collateral for millions of transactions in markets around the world.

Normally, the interest rate the government pays on bills is around the same as the short-term interest rates in other money markets (for example, the interest rates banks charge each other for overnight cash, or the interest rate that the Federal Reserve targets). Both of those are near zero right now, which is why on Sept. 30, eight days ago, the interest rate on Treasury bills maturing Oct. 17 was a mere 0.03 percent. Nothing, in other words.

But since then, the possibility that the Treasury might have trouble paying or might not be able to pay its bills over the next few weeks has grown — and the interest rate has skyrocketed. It was at 0.16 percent at Monday’s close. On Tuesday the rate so far has been almost double that, as high as 0.297 percent.

There are reports, including this one from Reuters, indicating that some of the biggest money managers in the world are starting to avoid U.S. government debt that matures in the near future out of fear they will not be repaid promptly.

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Politics

Poll: Republican Favorable Ratings at Record Lows

If it wasn’t  for their families, Republicans’ favorable ratings would be hovering somewhere around 1%.

Only 28 percent of Americans have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party, according to findings from Gallup released Wednesday.

That number represents a nadir for either party since Gallup began asking the question in 1992 and a 10-point drop for the GOP from a month ago. Sixty-two percent said they have an unfavorable opinion of the Republican Party.

Conversely, Gallup found that Americans are more split when it comes to Democrats. Forty-three percent said they have a favorable opinion of the Democratic Party, compared with almost half — 49 percent — who said they have an unfavorable opinion.

According to Gallup, which recently found support for the tea party dropping to a record low, about one in four Americans view both of the two major parties unfavorably.

The chart below tracks the public’s views of the two parties in Gallup’s polling since the early 1990s

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Politics

Poll: Americans Prefer Hemorrhoids and Toenail Fungus Over Congress

There is a cysts on the ass of Congress, and the scientific name for it is Republican.

This Republican cyst is so freaking annoying, that given the choice, most Americans would prefer to deal with a hemorrhoid or toenail fungus.

This is what the new PPP poll found.

Voters say they have a higher opinion of hemorrhoids than Congress, by 53% to 31%. More than seven in 10 voters say they view jury duty more favorably than Congress, which musters only 18% support in that comparison. Even toenail fungus rates 3 percentage points higher Congress.

Overall, voters in PPP’s telephone poll gave Congress an 8% approval rating. Nearly nine in 10 voters, or 86%, say they disapprove of Congress — which is in line with a recent CNN survey.

“Congress having an 8% approval rating tells us one thing about how unhappy voters are,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling. “But it’s even more telling that voters have a lower opinion of it than annoyances like the DMV and jury duty, health issues like hemorrhoids, and even witches.”

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Politics

President Obama To GOP – “We’re not going to pay a ransom for America paying its bills.” – Video

President Obama on Tuesday said he’s willing to sit down and talk with Republicans over anything they wish to negotiate after they re-open the government and drop the threat of letting the nation default on its loans, if only for a few weeks.

“I will not eliminate any topic of conversation, and I’ve shown myself willing to engage all the parties involved, any leader on the issue,” Mr. Obama said from the White House press briefing room. “The only thing I will say is that we’re not going to pay a ransom for America paying its bills. That’s something that should be non-negotiable.”

After eight days of a government shutdown, with the deadline to raise the nation’s debt limit less than two weeks away, Washington has found itself incapable of overcoming their partisan disagreements. The stalemate stems from the Republican Party’s insistence on dismantling or delaying parts of the Affordable Care Act as part of these fiscal policy matters.

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Politics

Death Benefits to Military Families Withheld Because of GOP Shutdown

(Left to right) Pfc. Cody J. Patterson, Sgt. Patrick C. Hawkins, 1st Lt. Jennifer M. Moreno and Special Agent Joseph M. Peters were killed by an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan on Sunday.

In what veterans call an outrageous slight after the ultimate sacrifice, the shuttered federal government is withholding a $100,000 payment normally wired to relatives of fallen soldiers — including the families of five killed in Afghanistan over the weekend.

The payment, known as the death gratuity, is typically sent to families of the fallen within three days to help them cover funeral costs or travel to meet the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones.
The families of five American service members killed over the weekend in Afghanistan have been notified that they will not receive the payment. A relative of one of the five called it “devastating.”

The families of five U.S. troops killed overseas this weekend will not receive the usual “death gratuity” due to the government shutdown. A typical $100,000 compensation is wired to families within 36 hours to help with funeral and other expenses.

“Impacting grieving families when they are at their absolute weakest point is just disgusting,” said Joe Davis, a spokesman for the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest organization of combat veterans in the United States.

“Veterans, military personnel and now their families are not to be used as leverage in this political game of blame,” he said. He called on leaders in Congress to “put the country ahead of their politics.”

Congress passed a law last week to pay the military during the shutdown. Pentagon officials studied it to assess whether it might cover the death gratuity and determined that it was not possible, a defense official told NBC News on Tuesday.

Republican aides in Congress said that they were drafting legislation to restore the death gratuity, and that it could be put to a vote as early as Wednesday. The aides also said that they believed that last week’s law had covered the payment.

But for now, the $100,000 payment, meant to tide families over until military survivor benefits kick in, is being withheld for relatives of the killed over the weekend in Afghanistan, four from the Army and one from the Marines.

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Politics

New Ad: Chicken Boehner – “Tell John Boehner to grow a spine.”

The ad by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is being played mainly in John Boehner’s district in Ohio. John Boehner has been adamant over the last few days about not bringing a clean Continuing Resolution to the House floor for an up or down vote, because as he sees it, the votes are not there to pass such a bill.

Democrats on the other hand and even some Republicans say there are more than enough votes in the House pass the clean CR which will bring the Government back to full operation, but John Boehner is insisting everyone is wrong.

“Tell John Boehner to grow a spine,” the ad says.

President Obama has urged Boehner to bring the clean CR for a vote, stating if he is right about there not being enough votes to pass the Resolution, then he should prove it with the vote!

So far, Boehner would is not budging.

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Domestic Policies New Jersey News Politics

Chris and Steve’s Excellent Campaigns

Let’s just make this clear from the outset: Steve Lonegan is not going to defeat Cory Booker in the New Jersey Senate election next week. Yes, I know that only having a 13 point lead puts Booker in the endangered category, and his wealthy, powerful allies are worried about hum not winning by 20 points, but they need to get real.

He’s winning and he will win, but in the meantime he’s not running a stellar campaign and there’s something about Steve Lonegan that makes you want to watch him for a while. Like a really bad car accident or a singer who’s so off key you smile while listening to them or someone who reminds you of a character out of 1984. After a time, though, you realize that he wants to be taken seriously and that’s when you disengage. That will happen next week.

Lonegan probably isn’t saying it now, but he’s got to be unhappy with Chris Christie’s choice to schedule this election separately from the gubernatorial election in November. Christie’s original argument was that having the Senate election on the same date would pull in more Democrats, who would support Booker, to also vote for Barbara Buono. The real loser, though, will be Lonegan, who would otherwise gain some supporters who are showing up to vote for the governor. Or maybe Christie really doesn’t like Lonegan and cares not whether he wins. In any case, this openly helps Christie, who has made a Trenton career by making sure that his needs are taken care of.

This will be the last election that Christie will win, so in the end, he and Lonegan will end their elective political careers the same way. Meanwhile, Cory Booker will have six years to sharpen his running skills before he too considers a national campaign.

For more, go to www.facebook.com/WhereDemocracyLives and on Twitter @rigrundfest

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ObamaCare Politics

Kentucky Governor Makes a Powerful Case For ObamaCare – Video

Good to know there are still some sensible politicians out there who see the needs of their constituency and do whatever they can to help. After all, that is the most basic function of a politician – to institute laws that would make the lives of the people who voted them into office, better.

Ladies and gentlemen, Governor Steve Beshear. Would you be surprised to learn that he is a Democrat? You expected that, right? I know…

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Politics

Remember When Boehner Said “Obamacare Was The Law Of The Land?” – Video

It wasn’t that long ago! As a matter of fact, Boehner said it right after President Obama won re-election in 2012.

Back in November, when Americans went to the poll and overwhelmingly reelected President Obama who ran his entire campaign on his signature law, John Boehner gave an interview to ABC. Host Diane Sawyer asked if there would be any more votes to repeal the law and Boehner answered that “the election changes that.” He then went on to proclaim, “Obamacare is the law of the land.”

That was then. Today, Republicans have attempted to repeal Obamacare over 41 times. Unable to do so, they have now shut down the government hoping the President would somehow take away this life saving healthcare provision from millions of Americans.

Let’s take a short stroll down memory lane.

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