As if the Republican's demand that any legislation needs a super-majority to pass the Senate was not enough of an outrage, this morning Speaker Boehner blamed the outcome of that demand on Democrats.
But before he got to that ridiculous claim, Boehner lied. Following in the discredited footsteps of David Brooks, he claimed that neither the Democrats nor the White House had a plan for replacing the sequester. In a move that surprised everyone...David Gregory called him out on that one.
The Speaker responded by saying that was "nonsense." Since "moving the goalposts" seems to be the meme of the week, Boehner tried his hand at it by moving from "they don't have a plan" to "the Senate didn't pass a plan." This time, Gregory failed to call him out. Because just 3 days ago, the Senate voted on a Democratic plan to replace the sequester.
...the Senate blocked a Democratic plan to replace the sequester with a set of smaller spending cuts and new tax revenues. That plan won a simple majority, with 51 senators voting for it and 49 against. But it failed to cross the 60-vote threshold to break a filibuster.So you see what they're doing here...Senate Republicans use a procedural move to block a bill from passing - even though a majority voted for it - and then Speaker Boehner comes along to suggest its the Democrats fault that it didn't pass.
And then there are the things Speaker Boehner didn't say. Like the fact that the House passed a sequester replacement in the previous Congressional term means nothing. That bill is dead unless he brings it up again this year - which he won't do because he won't be able to get the votes. But perhaps even more importantly, even if he could get his replacement bill passed, the cuts it imposes are even more draconian than the ones that went into effect on Friday.
I'm going to admit that I'm in a bad mood today. This kind of bullshit the Republicans keep dishing out is getting on my last nerve. And the fact that the press seems too congenitally stupid to challenge them on it sends me over the edge.
Anybody got any "good news" stories to cheer us up?
Boehner is looking worse for the wear.
ReplyDeleteYes, lots of good news. It's a beautiful day and I'm going to bust out my mandolin and honky tonk with my cohort this evening. I finished a book.
I suppose that the best I can say about these developments in national politics is that it is becoming increasingly difficult for the GOP to keep up appearances, and that this will be felt in elections. They clearly are trying to do damage before they go, and it's awful. They're like the tenants who, knowing eviction is coming, trash the place out of spite.
Gregory...
Part of our problem is that the system with which we govern ourselves (however problematically and unequally) requires a flow of information, but the conduit for that information, our media, skews it almost beyond recognition. We know that "traditional" media are going the way of the dinosaur, but at this point Meat the Press is still important. We haven't fully developed an alternative way of knowing things we need to know to run things. Internet at this point functions either as a new conduit for the old media, or of (frequently illuminating) commentary on that old media. We need to develop better than this.
As for good news to cheer you up, Albert Brooks has some funny tweets worth looking at... https://twitter.com/albertbrooks
DeleteGood news - we HaVe President Obama. Sorry for tHe random Caps; my Cat just walked aCross tHe keyboard and apparently turned some lower Case letters off.
ReplyDeleteOne of the obvious follow-up questions should have been "then what is the House passing?" The answer, of course, is nothing. Technically, all bills like this are supposed to originate in the House anyway, so Boehner's not only trying to pass responsibility to the other party, he's passing it off to the other side of Congress. It's an admission that they can't do anything in the House.
ReplyDeleteHere's your good news: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/category/sunday-shows Almost nobody watches Meet The Press.
ReplyDeleteNobody really gives a rip what Boehner says.
It's not hurricane season in the West.
Why do my comments keep disappearing? Am I being censored?
ReplyDelete