Spintested: 07/23/11

'Super Congress': Debt Ceiling Negotiators Aim To Create New Legislative Body

Saturday, July 23, 2011

This as the solution, but not the 14th amendment solution (or other solutions, like this one)?

Concern for Constitutionality has never been a consideration for these politicians.
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

I think that's an interesting observation.

Isn't it fascinating how just saying it over and over manages to discourage people from pressing for it?
About House Republicans
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Michele Bachmann and Migraines: Presidential Disqualifier or Sexism?

As the medical doctor for the House of Representatives explained yesterday, migraines "have known trigger factors" (e.g., wine and chocolate) and those can be avoided.

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Those are a couple of trigger factors for some people, and not all.

Hormones and stress are the most common and the fact that Bachmann still has migraines indicates she's not managing to avoid them.

She's missed votes on the floor due to migraines and wound up hospitalized.

Both Jefferson and JFK were of different times, when the information reported to the public about a president's or a presidential candidate's health was limited. National security threats to the nation during Jefferson's time were on a different timetable than they are today; it would take months for European invaders to reach our shores.

During JFK's time, it wasn't known that he had migraines, although it was known he had a chronic back condition and in pain "from time to time". The extent of pain ("constant and unremitting" we come to learn) and the medication he was on was never divulged to the public, and it did interfere with his functioning. His meeting with Krushchev was a disaster because of it.
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/social/Marcospinelli/debt-ceiling-talks-collapse_n_907446_98678385.html
About Deficit
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, even if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress. More caving by Obama and Democrats, to Republicans:

Aides say that the president's been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorming with administration officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the WhiteHouse.

And despite the predictions that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislating power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructive nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republicans] feel more responsible, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipated, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

DickDurbin says Obama's post-election agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." TomDaschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive."

About Deficit
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Obama never pressured BenNelson (or BlancheLincoln, or any BlueDog). The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs (BlancheLincoln's, too) of members in their caucus that filibustered a PublicOption for healthcare. They didn't.

The DNC could've taken away reelection funds. They didn't.

Reid could've actually forced Republicans and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster. He didn't (and doesn't).

The ProgressiveCaucus could have kept their pledge about not voting for a bill that didn't include a robust PublicOption. They didn't.

Obama DID unleash the attack dogs to go after HowardDean when Dean said it was a lousy bill. Dean was then forced to get back into line. Obama went after Kucinich, the last remaining holdout on the ProgressiveCaucus, for threatening to vote no on the healthcare bill, and we all know how that ended.

There is nothing that Lieberman (or Nelson or Lincoln) is doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama and the DLC-Democrats want Lieberman there, doing what he's doing, which is to take the heat off of Democrats.

And the proof of this is that (since you mention Nelson), when Obama needed Nelson re: StupakAmendment, he 'bought' his support. That's what Obama could've done for Nelson's or Lincoln's vote at any time, on any legislation.

There could be 100 "progressives" in the Senate and 435 in the House, and they and Obama would still find a way to deliver to corporations instead of the People and blame it on Republicans. Because they're DLC, aka Republicans-in-Democrats'-clothing.

Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressives/liberals from getting elected. Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressional committees behind BlueDogs, Republicans and Independents over progressives/liberals and real Democrats. Some, but not all, examples:

BlueDog BlancheLincoln over progressive Democrat Lt. Governor BillHalter.

Republican-turned-Independent ArlenSpecter over progressive Democrat JoeSestak.

Republican-turned-Independent LincolnChaffee over Democrat FrankCaprio (which, in turn, was an effective endorsement of the Republican JohnLoughlin over Democrat DavidCicilline for the congressional seat Democrat PatrickKennedy retired from, and all of the other seats up for grab in RhodeIsland).

Republican-turned-Independent CharlieCrist over liberal Democrat KendrickMeek.

Republicans, with the smallest minority, have managed to thwart Democrats, who've had the greatest majority in decades. You would think that with Republicans controlling the House, Democrats would've turned the tables and thwarted Republicans' continuing legislation like Bush's tax cuts for the rich? Are Democrats just stupld?
About Deficit
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

We have 'party government' in the US. We have since the 1790s. Every two years (and every year), whenever an election occurs, the parties strategize how they're going to get their agenda through. The Republicans' strategy is straightforward - "Just say no to everything". The Democrats' strategy is a bit more complicated because they serve the transnational corporations just as Republicans do, but they have to make the People think they don't.

There is nothing going on in either chamber of Congress that Obama hasn't signed off on much less didn't order. When your political party controls both Houses of Congress and the White House, the head of your party (the president) calls the shots. It's the only reason for having political parties.

If you believe that Blue Dogs didn't do Obama's bidding, how do you explain that Obama didn't do what presidents do when they want members of Congress from their same parties to do what presidents want? Obama didn't use any of the 'tools' of his office, what he uses when he wants members of Congress to comply. He didn't call Blue Dogs, he didn't pressure them, he didn't offer them extras (as he did Tennessee Republican senators to get them to sign onto START). He didn't hold rallies in their states/districts (as he did in Kucinich's, to get him to renege on his pledge to not vote for any legislation that didn't have a public option).

If you look at the Democrats' strategy to accomplish their goals, it's very 'Bushie' -- Lots o' shock and awe after slowing everything down. Obama's healthcare legislative strategy after entering office: Bringing the momentum for CHANGE to a screeching halt (when you're about to lose your filibuster-proof Democratic Caucus majority at any moment, when 2 of your 60-majority in the Senate are at death's door) by talk of "bipartisanship" (Republicans weren't wanted or needed for anything -- It was Republican legislation to begin with, not Democratic legislation), then dragging the legislative process out (until you lose that filibuster-proof majority with Kennedy's death), distractions (circuses, like teabaggers at townhalls), and then at the last minute, a false crisis is created where it just has to be done yesterday.
About Deficit
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

Why Medicare Is the Solution — Not the Problem by Robert Reich
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

The 14th amendment solution.

I would argue as Clinton suggested, "Let the Courts stop him."

But there are other ways for Obama to raise the debt ceiling on his own, aside from the 14th amendment:

Now's a good time to throw Bush's line into Republicans' faces: "The Constitution isn't a suicide pact."
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

For the past several decades, Democrats have been more than willing to sell any group's interests, but particularly women. Even the most pro-choice of Democrats in Congress, alleged stalwarts who've spent entire careers, decades in public office, have failed miserably to protect women's rights and have let it get to this point. One example would be Barbara Boxer.

In 2006, Democratic senators and the Democratic machine publicly supported Democratic candidate NedLamont who was running for senator in Connecticut against newly independent JoeLieberman. Privately, working behind-the-scenes, Democratic senators and former president BillClinton were working to help Lieberman raise money to beat Lamont, and Republican AlanSchlesinger. Before Lamont won the primary, when Lieberman was still a Democrat, Boxer stumped for Lieberman. She was asked how she could support him given that Lieberman supports hospitals receiving public monies refusing to give contraceptives to r@pe victims, and instead of dodging Lieberman, dropping him like the bad character he is, she dodged the issue.

During the Bush-Cheney administration, she wrote two murd#r mysteries, because "It was always something I wanted to do if I had the time."

In the 2010 midterm campaign, I asked rhetorically, "If Republicans win back control of Congress, do you think Democrats will be as effective at stymieing Republicans' agenda as Republicans have been the last two years at stymieing Obama's/Democrats' 2008 agenda?" Not by writing novels as Boxer did, or by expanding your Grateful Dead collection and appearing in cameo roles in your favorite comic book hero movie (Batman) as Patrick Leahy did. All on the public's dime.

Democrats in public office haven't been taking care of women. They're not vigilant about women's issues.
About Deficit
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Democrats and Obama have been real free and easy "compromising away" all of their base groups's interests, but notably women's. Obama's healthcare legislation opens the door to ending insurance coverage of all abortions).

Even after we on the left have compromised, after we have deals, Republicans renege and Democrats still cave some more. One example of that is the Capps amendment. That was the compromise AGREEMENT on abortion in Obama's healthcare legislation that Republicans reneged on, and in the end, with the StupakAmendment and Obama's executive order, Obama and Democrats have put us firmly on the path of ending all insurance coverage for abortions. More here.

Fairly soon, Roe and overturning it is going to be moot with all that Republicans have managed to get Democrats to "compromise" on, making getting an abortlon impossible. Why bother overturning Roe, outlawing abortion, when you've made it virtually impossible to obtain one?

We wouldn't be down to this horrifying situation where you can't get an abortlon in 92 percent of the counties in the US (and 3 states in the country have only one abortion clinic, and other states heavily restrict a woman's access to abortion, and ban abortions in clinics or any facility that receives public funds, and ban abortion counseling and clinic recommendations) if Democrats and Obama weren't so breezy with women's hard-fought for rights.

KEEP READING
About Deficit
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Debt Talks Break Up After 50 Minutes

I would argue as Clinton suggested, "Let the Courts stop him."

But there are other ways aside from the 14th amendment: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/opinion/22posner.html?_r=2&hp

Now's a good time to invoke Bush to Republicans and use his line, "The Constitution isn't a suicide pact."
About Barack Obama
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Debt Talks Break Up After 50 Minutes

He already has. The deal that he had Biden working on is something like 3 to 1, spending to raising revenues, with cuts to social programs and Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Invoking the 14th amendment solution is the best We The People can hope for at this point.
About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

Why is it that simple solutions for SS and Medicare are never mentioned or on the table?

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Because keeping SS and Medicare isn't the goal. Just like getting affordable, quality medical treatment to everyone wasn't the goal of Obama's healthcare legislation. Because if affordable, quality medical care for everyone is the goal, everything else pales next to single payer. And that's why Obama had to get it off the table.

This is about setting SS and Medicare up for ending. Obama's payroll tax holiday as part of extending Bush's tax cut is another leg along that journey, to end SS. A little here, a little there.

When politicians say that "Social Security is the third rail of politics", they mean it with a hostility that should be reserved for their Corporate Masters. You don't see politicians putting campaign finance and election reform on their agenda from year to year as you do their continuing assaults on social safety net programs for the People.

To the professional politicians, both Democrats and Republicans, We The People are the problem. If only they didn't have to deal with making us happy to get our votes that keep them employed. If only they didn't have to serve us, they'd be able to give and give and give to Big Business (privatize national resources that belong collectively to us, the People) and deregulate so that corporations wouldn't be constrained by anything, become profit-making machines, unobstructed by piddling voter concerns, such as health, safety, environment, etc. And for this, politicians would be amply rewarded, and perhaps would eventually be able to join the ruling class.

You can choose to think of Obama and his intentions in whatever way makes you happy. What you can't do is explain how any of what Obama's done these past two years has been in the People's and not the Corporations' interests.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

The People's Budget (read it here).

Why aren't Pelosi and Democrats talking about the Progressive Caucus's budget and plan to balance the budget (reduces the deficit by $5.1 trillion)? It beats Obama's AND Republicans' plans.

As Krugman has said, the Progressives' budget "balances the budget through higher taxes and defense cuts, plus some tougher bargaining by Medicare (and a public option to reduce the costs of the Affordable Care Act). The proposed tax hikes would fall on higher incomes, raising the cap on payroll taxes (takes care of Social Security's solvency forever)... and unlike the Ryan plan, it actually makes sense."

But Obama takes solutions that work for the People, the vast majority of Americans, off the table. Whether it's ending Bush's tax cuts or the wars, the '14th Amendment Solution' (and it is, indeed, a legitimate option), etc., Obama kneecaps and handicaps the Democratic voters who put him and Democrats into power.

That's Obama's style, taking solutions that work for the People off the table and out of consideration when we're discussing how we want to proceed. That's what he did during the healthcare debate -- He took single payer off the table before negotiations ever began. Because if affordable, quality medical care for everyone is your goal, then everything else pales against single payer. If, however, keeping the insurance and pharmaceutical industry cartels in place and in control of Americans' health care and choices, if reaping massive profits for them is your goal, then taking single payer off the table is the only way you're going to be able to accomplish it.

If Republicans are going to turn down anything Obama and Democrats put forth, why then aren't Obama and Democrats fighting for the BEST plan out there?
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

On the day prior to the Nobel committee's announcement giving Obama its peace prize, and after two courts had unanimously ruled that the American people have the right under FOIA to see the photographs of detainee t0rture and abuse suppressed under the Bush administration, Joe Lieberman successfully gutted FOIA, the 40-year-old law championed by the Democrats in the LBJ era and long considered a crowning jewel in their legislative achievements by inserting into the Homeland Security appropriations bill an amendment to provide an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act's mandates. The amendment empowered the Defense Secretary to suppress and destroy the photographic evidence of American war crimes.

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/10/08/photos/index.html

Then on 10/22/09, Congress passed legislation that gave the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct:

In an unprecedented move, Congress passed legislation Tuesday including an amendment which would maintain one of the most contentious hangovers of the Bush administration, allowing the Department of Defense to exempt torture photos of US detainees overseas from public access under Freedom of Information Act requests.

An amendment sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, slashes a huge hole in FOIA. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) was a key figure in stopping Lieberman's photo suppression bill the first time around. Slaughter explained that this time, the provision was slipped into the Homeland Security spending bill during the conference between House and Senate negotiators -- "apparently under direct orders from the Administration."

See here.

Obama signed the bill into law a week later out of public view, and when he was safely out of the country (in China), SoD Bob Gates permanently 'buried' the evidence. For those who don't recall, Obama ran on releasing those photographs for the American people to see just what was done "in their names" during the Bush administration.
About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Lieberman isn't doing anything that Obama doesn't want done -- That includes stymieing public healthcare.

Obama wanted Lieberman in the chairmanship of Homeland Security Committee to do this:

Do you remember the thousands of photographs of torture and abuse that Obama pledged he would release, then flip-flopped on?:

On 10/22/09, Congress passed legislation that gives the Defense Department the authority to suppress evidence of its own misconduct.

In an unprecedented move, Congress passed legislation including an amendment which would maintain one of the most contentious hangovers of the Bush administration, allowing the Department of Defense to exempt torture photos of US detainees overseas from public access under Freedom of Information Act requests.

An amendment sponsored by Sen. Joe Lieberman, slashes a huge hole in FOIA. Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) was a key figure in stopping Lieberman's photo suppression bill the first time around. Slaughter explained that this time, the provision was slipped into the Homeland Security spending bill during the conference between House and Senate negotiators -- "apparently under direct orders from the Administration."

http://www.truthout.org/1022095
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/143322/outrage:_house_sneakily_passes_bill_banning_release_of_photos_showing_detainee_abuse/

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About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

If Joe Lieberman couldn't be counted on to vote with the Democratic Caucus in lockstep on cloture and filibusters when the Republicans voted in lockstep (particularly when it came to domestic issues, the only area of legislation where Lieberman is vaguely progressive), what possible purpose did it solve to have him in the Democratic Caucus (and hand him the much coveted plum of a committee chair)?

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/us/politics/07cong.html?_r=3&ref=politics&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

http://thinkprogress.org/lieberman-not-progressive/

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/11/8/17349/2244

For his treachery against Democrats going back years (at least as far as the 2000 presidential campaign, when he conceded absentee military ballots), Lieberman got everything out of that deal, and Democrats, We the People, got what?

Without 60, without his voting on cloture/filibusters, on the legislation that Obama & Democrats had planned to put on the floor in the coming 2-4 years (which has all been what Lieberman would be expected to vote in the same way as the rest of the Democrats), what the h3ll is Lieberman needed for that you'd bring him into the Democratic Caucus (make him privvy to your strategizing) and reward him with a plum chairmanship, where he buried investigating the BushCheney administration over their failures during Hurricane Katrina?

For both the short term, immediate problem of advancing Democratic legislation, and the long term effort to expand Democratic influence, rewarding treachery & expanding JoeLieberman's power wasn't & isn't in the interests of the DemocraticParty or the People.

Do you really believe that Obama got nothing for that concession? No agreement that Lieberman would vote as Obama told him to vote? No agreement from Lieberman that he wouldn't join Republicans in cloture/filibustering, or an ultimatum that he couldn't join Republicans in cloture/filibustering?? No agreement that he would sign on to a public option?

Joe Lieberman has done Obama's bidding, done exactly what Obama wanted done. Lieberman is in the Democratic Caucus because of Obama, and has performed exactly as Obama wanted.
About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Neither SinglePayer nor a PublicOption have any chance of ever being the law of the land with Obama's legislation.

The only reason Republicans would want to kill Obama's health insurance reform legislation would be to reintroduce it with their own name blazened on top of it. It's Republicans' legislation to begin with! It's a boon to the insurance and pharmaceutical industries.

If you don't want to believe that the parties work in tandem, build upon each other's 'successes' (on behalf of corporations), just look at Bush's 2003MedicareReformAct and RomneyCare, both of which mirror ACA, and keep the problem in place (insurance companies as the gatekeepers to Americans getting medical treatment and employment-provided insurance, both of which EVERYBODY wanted ended, skyrocketing costs of medical care, no cost controls and not universal)? Then there's Obama's embracing of 'UnitaryExecutive' put forth by BushCheney? And Obama's expanding on it? And Obama's war on whistleblowers and journalists?

If you can't believe you were duped and insist Obama's really a good man, if you insist on deluding yourself, then consider our elections as a business plan where the 'Corporate Masters of the Universe' have charted out their plans years in advance (governments do them, too) and then they select the politician with the personality that's best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments.

If you want to lie the country into war for oil and war-profiteering, then GeorgeWBush is the man to front it, with DickCheney, the former Secretary of Defense who initiated the privatizing of the military a decade earlier, actually running the operation from the shadows (neither one seems to care if they're caught in l!es, are hated, and if history judges them harshly).

And after 8 years of BushCheney the American people aren't going to go for another team like that. They're going to want HOPE and CHANGE, with a persona they can believe in and trust. BarackObama. Obama's fans like the packaging. I'm not talking skin color, although that may be a factor for some of them; I'm talking about how a 'D' after the name is a brand they trust believe and trust in, despite the fact that it's the same 'soap' (product).
About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Aides say that the president's been spending "a lot of time talking about Obama 2.0," brainstorming with administration officials about the best way to revamp the strategies & goals of the WhiteHouse.

And despite the predictions that Democrats may relinquish a large degree of legislating power, including perhaps control of the House & even Senate, Obama isn't thinking of the next two years as a period that'll be marked with the same obstructive nature from the GOP.

"It may be that regardless of what happens after this election, [Republicans] feel more responsible, either because they didn't do as well as they anticipated, & so the strategy of just saying no to everything & sitting on the sidelines & throwing bombs didn't work for them," Obama says. "Or they did reasonably well, in which case the American people are going to be looking to them to offer serious proposals & work with me in a serious way."

DickDurbin says Obama's post-election agenda "will have to be limited & focused on the things that are achievable and high priorities for the American people." TomDaschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive."

KEEP READING
About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

I will vote for him again, because of what's become cliche, the alternative is too frightening.

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The old "lesser of two eviIs" argument.

In spite of the fact that Obama's continuing just about all the BushCheney policies, even going BushCo one better: How do any of Obama's 'most ardent supporters' explain Obama's doctrine that presidents have the right to k!ll American citizens with no due process, no oversight, and his push for 'indefinite preventive detention' and no transparency of anything a president asserts should be his secret? Pure Kafka.

And now, his willingness to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits??

As a Democrat, I don't know how any Democrat can get behind this.

At this point, I'd argue that Obama-Democrats are worse. BushCheney make no bones or excuses for what they've done and who they are, whereas Obama-Democrats ran on knowing better.

Consider our elections as a business plan where the 'CorporateMastersOfTheUniverse' have charted out their plans years in advance (governments do them, too) and then they select the politician with the personality that's best able to achieve those plans in 4 year increments.

If you want to l!e the country into war for oil and profiteering, then GeorgeWBush is your man to front it, with DickCheney, the former SecretaryOfDefense who initiated the privatizing of the military a decade earlier, actually running the operation from the shadows.

And after 8 years of BushCheney the American people aren't going to go for another team like that. They're going to want HOPE and CHANGE, with a persona they can believe in and trust. BarackObama.

Obama's 'most ardent admirers' just like the packaging better. I'm not talking skin color, although that may be a factor for some of them; I'm talking about how a 'D' after the name is a brand they trust believe and trust in, despite the fact that it's the same 'soap' (product).

You continue to support Obama-Democrats at the expense of your own best interests. As long as his numbers remain high, he does the bidding of corporations and establishment elites.

Why should Obama-Democrats do anything for you if they know they've got you over a barrel, that you're going to vote for them no matter what, because you're terrified of Republicans?
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Republicans haven't been filibustering anything; they've only been threatening to filibuster.

Harry Reid could've actually forced Republicans and turncoat Democratic senators to filibuster. He didn't and doesn't.

Harry Reid has had no problem forcing the GOP to actually filibuster when it's something that the DLC wants and perceives it needs. For example, when Democrats needed unemployment benefits to continue because the masses were becoming 'critical', Reid had no problem calling Republican Jim Bunning's bluff to filibuster. Reid said, "Bring in the cots, do it" and Bunning and the GOP caved. Benefits for unemployed workers continued.

Democrats could even have changed the supermajority rule (it does NOT have to be done at the beginning of a new Congress, as some argued). It can be done at any time (see page 6 - http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/45448.pdf ].

But Democrats put off their critics for not forcing the Republicans to actually filibuster and changing Senate Rule 22 during the session by assuring fed-up Democratic voters, "We'll change the rule come the beginning of the next Congress".

They didn't.

There's not just one way (or even two) for Democrats to get bills passed without Republican votes.

http://www.senate.gov/CRSReports/crs-publish.cfm?pid='0E%2C*P%2C%3B%3F %22%20%20%20%0A

http://yglesias.thinkprogress.org/2009/08/hertzberg-on-the-constitutionality-of-the-filibuster/

But Obama and the DLC-controlled DemocraticParty didn't and aren't doing that. Because it might actually work to get Democratic voters' legislative agenda made into the law of the land and do good for the People. And that's not what Obama and Company are there for. They're there to do the work of the transnational corporations. Along with the Republicans, as was clearly evidenced the time that Harry Reid kept the Senate open (pro forma) so that Obama couldn't make recess appointments, collaborating with Republicans to keep progressives and liberals out of government. It was another tag-teaming by Democrats with their partners across the aisle to scr3w over the American people on behalf of the corporations.

Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people. They don't want to do it.
About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

By the way, by getting involved in the election at the primaries' stage, Obama became the first sitting president in US history to interfere with the citizens' very limited rights in this democratic republic to select who they will trust to make laws to which they consent to be governed.

Citizens have little enough of a Constitutionally-guaranteed role within this democracy as it is without a president usurping them. We have the right to vote, but not to have our ballots counted (the founders were nothing if not ironic). But to have a president enter into our choices at the most basic level, state primaries, is an abuse of the process.

Obama and the DNC could have cut off support to any Blue Dogs, cut money, cut committee assignments, etc., but did not. Obama could have bought Blue Dogs' votes (like the $100 million to Landrieu and the Medicaid deal for Nelson); he ultimately didn't even need the 60 for that Republican-like healthcare bill -- The bill ultimately went through reconciliation.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the puppet-masters who control him want in office. On both sides of the aisle. Obama, Ds & Rs in office, working on behalf of transnational corporations.
About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

To believe as you do, you would have to believe that had Boehner taken the deal, Obama would have had to renege or be stuck with the cuts to Social Security and Medicare (4 to 1 cuts, spending to revenue). Of the different deals he's been working on through different channels, they each are variations of the Simpson-Bowles ('Cat Food Commission') plan, with draconian cuts to social programs.

Obama has already nixxed the 14th amendment solution.

Before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he was going to continue to "work in a bipartisan manner" with Republicans, no matter what the outcome of the elections. Whether Democrats gained seats or lost control of the Congress. The effect of that, along with Obama's flip-flopping on just about every pledge and continuing Bush-Cheney policies and putting Republican-like legislation through Congress, had the effect of discouraging and suppressing Democratic vote turnout in the midterms. The Democrats who did turn out thew Blue Dogs out in big numbers; progressives only lost 3 seats. Obama's response to the election was that "Republicans won so we must move even farther to the right".

Keep in mind that Obama and the DLC worked their butts off to PREVENT more progressives/liberals from getting elected. Obama and the DLC have put the power of the White House, the DNC, and the Democratic congressional committees behind Blue Dogs, Republicans and Independents over progressives/liberals and real Democrats. Some, but not all, examples:

Blue Dog Blanche Lincoln over progressive Democrat Lt. Governor Bill Halter.

Republican-turned-Independent Arlen Specter over progressive Democrat Joe Sestak.

Republican-turned-Independent Lincoln Chaffee over Democrat Frank Caprio (which, in turn, is an effective endorsement of the Republican John Loughlin over Democrat David Cicilline for the congressional seat Democrat Patrick Kennedy is retiring from, and all of the other seats up for grab in Rhode Island).

Republican-turned-Independent Charlie Crist over liberal Democrat Kendrick Meek.

To believe as you do that this is some strategy by Obama is childlike magical thinking. The only strategy is to dupe Democratic voters into believing he's on their side.
About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

Obama has signed on to cutting Social Security and Medicare:

Speaking to a half-filled room of reporters, the president laid out just how dramatic the cuts to the social safety would have been in the deal he was trying to give Republicans. He said that he couldn't believe Boehner walked away from the proposal he was offering: $3.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, smaller tax increases than those laid out in a bipartisan Senate plan and cuts to entitlement programs, something Democrats have pushed hard against. It also didn't include revenues that Obama has insisted be in a final package, namely via closing tax loopholes and ending subsidies for the oil and gas industry.

"In other words, this was an extraordinarily fair deal," Obama told reporters. "If it was unbalanced, it was unbalanced in the direction of not enough revenue."

About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

There's also the part of the deal where by extending Bush's tax cuts, the payroll tax "holiday" remains, which leads to Social Security's insolvency.
About Barack Obama
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Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

Because Republicans want big cuts to these programs and all social program spending, and Obama's proposal did that, in addition to wanting revenues raised.

By the Republican Party's base (lets just call teabaggers what they are, shall we?) refusing to accept increasing revenues by ending Bush's tax cuts, it killed any deal to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits.
About Barack Obama
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Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

It's comments like yours that unveil what Obama's 'most ardent supporters' are really all about: Ending Social Security and Medicare.

I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu. It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administration, by taking SinglePayer, a PublicOption, off the table, eliminating regulatory oversight from finance reform legislations, extending Bush's tax cuts, he's given pro-corporate, Republican-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government.

Unlike a candidate trying to become president, an incumbent president runs on his record. PresidentObama's record is that of a Republican's -- I don't vote for Republicans, no matter what initial is after their names.

I tell people that they're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republicans. There are other alternatives besides sitting out the election or voting for Republicans. There are other candidates running as independents, from Green to Libertarian, in just about every race.

A 'TeaParty'-like challenge from the left within the DemocraticParty would have been the obvious next step, but it's a waste of time which would accomplish nothing for the People. To begin with, no one in the DemocraticParty will do it. It would be su!cide for any professional politician in the DemocraticParty to run against the party's sitting president (the DLC has gotten too powerful, what with a Democrat in the WhiteHouse and a Democratically-controlled Senate overseeing an NSA with today's eavesdropping abilities) .

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the DemocraticParty (Republicans or Independents). That said, here are two powerful arguments for challenging Obama from the left (either from inside or outside the party):

MichaelLerner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

RalphNader's very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

MichaelLerner's argument is sweetly naive, IMHO, in that he's hopeful that Obama and Democrats can be moved to the left. I don't think that's true. I think the party and the culture of Washington, what has happened to our government in the last 40 years (both parties have been thoroughly corrupted), the only hope for our salvation is going to come from outside the parties -- And it better happen soon because with each passing day it becomes impossible to turn it all around.

Obama's 'most ardent supporters' need to get on the correct side, the real Democratic side of these issues, or join the RepublicanParty (and take the DLC and Obama with them).
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

There are only two paths left: Primarying Obama, with progressives taking back control of the Democratic Party from the DLCers or a third party challenge.

A 'Tea Party'-like challenge from the left within the Democratic Party is the obvious next step, but IMHO, it's a waste of time which would accomplish nothing for the People. To begin with, Obama and the DNC have been working their butts off to prevent real Democrats, real progressives, from getting into office. And no Democrat will challenge Obama as long as Obama's 'most ardent supporters' continue to keep Obama's approval numbers up; it would be suicide for any professional politician in the Democratic Party to run against the party's sitting president..

Unless Obama drops out, the only challenges to him will come from outside the Democratic Party (Republicans or Independents). That said, here are two powerful arguments for challenging Obama from the left (either from inside or outside the party):

Michael Lerner's very powerful case for primarying Obama.

Ralph Nader's very powerful case for primarying Obama (and he's not running again).

Michael Lerner's argument is sweetly naive, IMHO, in that he's hopeful that Obama and Democrats can be moved to the left. I don't think that's true anymore. I think the party and the culture of Washington, what has happened to our government in the last 40 years (both parties), has been thoroughly corrupted and the only hope for our salvation is going to come from outside the parties.
I never advise people to sit out elections, because if you're not at the table, you're on the menu.

It's what p!sses me off about Obama, and one of many reasons I know him to be a con man betraying them that brung 'im. Because by shutting out liberals, the base, from his administration, by taking single payer, a public option, off the table, eliminating regulatory oversight from finance reform legislations, he's given pro-corporate, Republican-like policies an inside line. The People's advocates can't even get in the door of this government.

You're not limited to voting for just Democrats and Republicans. There are other alternatives besides sitting out the election or voting for Republicans. There are other candidates running as independents, from Green to Libertarian, in just about every race. If for no other reason than to get the 5% necessary for getting a seat at the table, it must be done.

Democratic voters had better start doing it because with each passing day it becomes impossible to turn it all around.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Debt Ceiling Talks Collapse (LATEST UPDATES)

S Rowe's subtext:

There's nothing that Bush or Clinton got passed that Democrats didn't sign on to.
About Barack Obama
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

Obama: Debt Ceiling Talks Fell Apart, Boehner Walked Out

WASHINGTON -- Social Security and Medicare may have been saved by the Tea Party's refusal to accept President Barack Obama's "grand bargain."

That is worth noting.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

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Saturday, July 23, 2011

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