Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

How do you imagine that this 'Super Committee" is going to work?

The only way that it would work in the people's favor is if there were 6 Bernie Sanders on the 'Super Congress', because all it takes is one who is a Blue Dog, one who is ok with cuts to Social Security and Medicare, one who will cross over and agree to the Republican­s' plan, to get it out of that group and onto the floor of the House for a vote.  

And get this:  

The way that the rules for this 'Super Congress' have been set up is, an 'all cuts' bill won’t be subject to amendment in the House, but any bill with revenue increases is subject to amendment in the House.  What does that mean?  Republican­s can filibuster but Democrats can't.

How do you like them apples?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Unemployme­nt is at 9.2 percent.  There have been 3.5 million home foreclosur­es so far in this meltdown with another 11 million in the pipeline.  11 MILLION.  That's 15 million families about to lose their homes.  With these foreclosur­es come another wave of job losses, more business downturns which will lead to another round of both home and commercial real estate foreclosur­es.  

Like all other deals that Obama has 'negotiate­d', he's got yet another NAFTA-like trade deal, with S. Korea, that will be joining his others in the coming weeks in Congress for ratificati­on.  These trade deals are bad for the American people -- More Americans' job will be moving overseas.  

The unemployed aren't covered in this deal.  99ers (millions of unemployed­) aren't covered in this deal, nor were they covered when Obama extended Bush's tax cuts for the rich in December.

Of the 6 million people currently receiving unemployme­nt benefits, Obama's deal to extend Bush's tax cuts covered only 2 million, and many of them will get crumbs from his deal -- In spite of the 13-month extension, benefits will be cut off for many of those in the coming months when they reach 99-weeks.  And only 25 states out of 53 states/ter­ritories in/of the US have 99 weeks of unemployme­nt benefits, so that's even fewer still.

This is an absolutely wretched deal, but standard for Obama, who has  a long record of negotiatin­g lousy deals on ordinary citizens' behalf.  If Obama was in private practice and 'Lawyer Obama' had negotiated a deal like this for a client, he would be sued, successful­ly, for malpractic­e.

The purpose of Obama's deal to extend Bush's tax cuts for the rich was so that political operatives could say on websites like this one, "Obama helped the unemployed­", and most won't know the actual facts of how Obama sold out the American people.  Again.

The purpose of this latest deal was to slash spending and get NO REVENUE INCREASES.  Raising the debt ceiling was a wholly separate matter and one that could have been done last year in several ways (with a Democratic lame duck Congress or as part of the deal to extend Bush's tax cuts, OR most recently, by invoking one of several Constituti­onal methods and just raise it on his own).  

The more we see of Obama in action, the more 'deals' he makes, the more people realize what a fraud Obama is, and a continuati­on of the cruel policies of Bush-Chene­y.  We need another FDR, and all we're getting are words reframing Obama's deals with the GOP to lead us to believe we're really getting great deals.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Kind of like 2006, when she said just before the midterms elections that should Democrats take control of Congress, "impeachme­nt is off the table".  

So when Democrats did take control of Congress, and Democratic voters expected that among other tools available to a majority in power to get the minority refusing to abide by the rule of law, Pelosi would put impeachmen­t "back on the table", she refused, saying it was the "message of the election".  "Bush should comply because the message that voters sent by putting Democrats in power was that the American people wanted Bush to stop, and because I said that 'impeachme­nt was off the table' before the election, voters said they didn't want us to use that tool if they put Democrats into control of the Congress".

It's a nifty little game she's got going.  And Obama does the same thing.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

It just takes one Democrat to get their plan out of this 'Super Congress' to the entire body for a vote.

And the way they gamed the rules is that any bill with revenue increases is subject to amendments­, but cuts?  No.

So, what that effectivel­y means is that Republican­s can filibuster but Democrats can't.


"I tells ya, they gots the game rigged no matter how we plays it." - Pogo
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Democrats have already caved to Republican­s' plans.  This is about providing cover for Democrats, to get onerous cutting of programs that Democratic voters do not want cut) cut.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

If you don't want to see Social Security or Medicare cuts, NONE OF THE DEMOCRATS on this 'Super Congress' can be for it.  

All it takes is ONE Democrat who is on board for Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid and veterans' care and SCHIP, et al, cuts or any other of the Republican­s' agenda, like making Bush's tax cuts permanent.  You do know that Obama offered to do that in the debt ceiling deal, don't you?

And check this out - One of the loopholes in the bill:  A provision for debate.

SEC. 402. EXPEDITED CONSIDERAT­ION OF JOINT COMMITTEE RECOMMENDA­TIONS.
(e) Considerat­ion by the Other House-
(1) IN GENERAL- If, before passing the joint committee bill, one House receives from the other a joint committee bill–
(A) the joint committee bill of the other House shall not be referred to a committee; and
(B) the procedure in the receiving House shall be the same as if no joint committee bill had been received from the other House until the vote on passage, when the joint committee bill received from the other House shall supplant the joint committee bill of the receiving House.
(2) REVENUE MEASURE- This subsection shall not apply to the House of Representa­tives if the joint committee bill received from the Senate is a revenue measure.

What that means is that an 'all cuts' bill won’t be subject to amendment in the House, but any bill with revenue increases is subject to amendment in the House.  

Anybody who claims that revenue increases are an option in a bill coming out of this 'Super Congress' is Iying.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

Obama's 2012 campaign manager Jim Messina tried to claim in his video announcing the Q2 numbers that 98 percent of all donations were $250 or less, and the average contributi­on was $69 from around 550,000 contributo­rs. That gives the impression of a grassroots­-fueled army.

Messina didn’t say that these numbers excluded the DNC contributi­ons, mostly maxed-out $30,000 donations. And now, the fact of these bundlers complicate­s Messina’s narrative even more. It’s likely, given these numbers, that a portion of the under-$250 contributi­ons were collected by bundlers. I think we can say with confidence that bundlers aren’t going to “ordinary Americans” for those collection­s. They are rich elites who go to their rich elite friends.

In fact, Obama for America only cited less than half of their total contributi­ons – $21.4 million – as “unitemize­d,” meaning they were smaller than $200 donations that don’t need to be teamed with identifica­tion. You can pretty safely bet that almost no DNC Victory Fund donations were under $200. That would mean that 3/4 of all money collected by Obama for America and the DNC Victory Fund were through donations over $200. That syncs with the bundler data.

What we also don’t know is if a maxed-out donor who comes to an Obama/DNC victory event counts under the bundler who may have “hosted” that event. This will all come out as people dig through the FEC reports. But just what’s out already tells you a lot. You cannot possibly take in between $35-$50 million, if not much more, from bundlers and maxed-out donors, and claim to have a grassroots campaign.

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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Uh ya. In fact how about a penalty fior off shoring jobs?

==========­==========­==========­==========­======

That's an excellent example of how Democrats come to the table already having conceded the best solutions to the massive problems we have.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Should they be required to pay into it?

What if they lose all their money at some point in their lifetime?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Good catch, thanks.

And whenever conservati­ves talk about shutting down the Department of Education and the Department of Energy, and the EPA, etc., the left's immediate response should be to list the government agencies which it thinks is "completel­y out of control and ineffectiv­e".

I would suggest, however, that when you say that a war department is 4 times the size it needs to be, "what it needs to be" has to be discussed and defined.   Whose needs?  To accomplish what?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

No new taxes, you say.  That means that the tax burden would continue to fall disproport­ionately on the poor and middle class, with the wealth continuing to flow to the corporatio­ns and the 2% richest.

How about our crumbling infrastruc­ture?  How is that going to get repaired without new taxes?  How are goods and services going to get to markets?  How do you plan on eating?  How do you plan on getting to work?  Where and what kind of work are you planning on?

Less regulation­, you say?  On what?  Food?  Water?  Oil drilling in our food supply?  Air?  Nuclear power plants?  Coal mining, toxic sludge?  Fracking?  

Less regulation­s on banks?  Want to pay more to take your money out of a bank?  How about debtors' prison when your bank makes an error that has you making late payments and you are bankrupted by the fees?  

Spell it out.  What exactly do you want?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

What do you imagine would be the result of the demise of the GOP?

Would Democrats then pass populist legislatio­n?

Would we have single payer universal healthcare­?

Would corporatio­ns pay taxes and not pollute the environmen­t?

Would there be full employment at living wages?

Would we have fair markets instead of free markets?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Here's the real question for you:

What budget cuts do you want and what revenues raised?  

Do you want Social Security benefits cut or do you want the cap raised (do you know what that means?)?

Do you want to save Medicare by cutting benefits or by opening it up to Medicare For All?

Do you want the Bush-Obama Tax Cuts to end?

Do you want tax breaks ended for corporatio­ns moving factories and jobs overseas?
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Debt Ceiling Fight Hurts Obama In Florida: Poll

There's no equivalenc­y between a household budget and a government budget.

To begin with, you can't print money; the government can.
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Debt Ceiling Fight Hurts Obama In Florida: Poll

Rachel Maddow: "Obama Keeps Doing The Very Definition of Insanity"
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

What makes you believe that Obama (or Clinton for that matter) is center-lef­t?
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

To add insult to the injury, before the 2010 midterms, Obama broadcast that he would be doing more of the same, more caving by Obama & Democrats, to Republican­s, even if Democrats remained the majority and in control of both Houses of Congress:

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 White House.

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."

Dick Durbin 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." Tom Daschle says Obama has to reach out more: "The keyword is inclusion. He's got to find ways to be inclusive.­"

Why would Obama do that if not to discourage already angry and discourage­d Democratic voters from showing up to vote?

Democrats lost seats in the 2010 midterms because of Obama's and Democrats failure to do what Democratic voters put them in office for in 2008.  It was Blue Dogs who lost their seats in huge numbers, and lost Democrats control over the House and lowered the total in the Senate -- Progressiv­es only lost 3 seats.  

Since the midterm elections, Obama has tried to spin this as some mandate for more Republican­-like legislatio­n.  

Do you honestly believe that the message of the midterms was to cut spending when the vast majority of Americans want no cuts to Medicare or Social Security and want the wars to end now, the BushObama tax cuts to be repealed and taxes raised on corporatio­ns and the rich?  Yet that is exactly what Obama and Republican­s and the Democrats in the House and Senate who voted for this 'Super Congress' (including Nancy Pelosi) are trying to sell.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

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. 

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.

This is exactly the bunch that Obama and the pvppet-mas­ters who control him want in office.  On both sides of the aisle.  Obama, Ds & Rs in office, working on behalf of transnatio­nal corporatio­ns.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

We've been there, done that, gave those controllin­g the Democratic Party what they said they needed and they failed miserably to achieve our objectives­.  They don't want to achieve our objectives­.  Our objectives are not their objectives­.  

Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people.  Obama got his healthcare legislatio­n passed at the last minute through reconcilia­tion -- He could have gotten single payer through that way!  At the very least, he could have gotten a public option with it.

During the Bush years, Democrats said if the People wanted change, they had to put Democrats in the majority in Congress. In 2006, we did.  Nothing changed. 

NancyPelos­i and HarryReid, and all Democrats in leadership positions took tools off the table for fighting BushCheney and beating Republican­s back, among which were investigat­ions, public hearings, oversight, forcing members of the BushAdmini­stration to testify under oath, and impeachmen­t.  

They said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate".

In 2008, we gave them 60 for the Democratic­Caucus. And we gave them the White House. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in good old raclst America than ever voted for any other presidenti­al candidate in the history of the US. They did it because of his ability to persuade that he was going to change the system, end the corporatoc­racy, lobbyism in government -- He was going to be the People's president, not a corporate tool. 

And no sooner did Obama get elected than he slammed the brakes on the momentum of his election and a filibuster­-proof Senate (tentative yet, with 2 senators, Kennedy & Byrd, at death's door), Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises and slooooowed everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s", after Republican­s had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, vote no on everything­, in lockstep. 

Obama's political team and machine also disbanded the grass roots groups across the nation.  Those who know anything about politics know that this was a dead giveaway that the last thing these politician­s want is an active populist movement.
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Backing from whom?  From which Democrats?  From Blue Dogs?  

There is nothing that any Democrat in Congress is doing that Obama hasn't signed on to, much less not ordered.

Obama insisted Lieberman remain in the Democratic­Caucus. In spite of multiple betrayals by Lieberman before and during the 2008 election (Lieberman endorsed McCain, campaigned FOR McCain).

Over REAL Democratic senators, Obama insisted Lieberman keep the chairmansh­ip of the Government­alAffairsA­ndHomeland­SecurityCo­mmittee. That's the committee that whitewashe­d the Bush administra­tion's failure during HurricaneK­atrina. Obama rubberstam­ped that committee'­s not investigat­ing Bush once Democrats took over control of government after the 2008 election.

Does anyone really believe that Obama got nothing for that concession­? No agreement that Lieberman would vote as Obama told him to vote?

And yet Obama never pressured JoeLieberm­an, BenNelson or BlancheLin­coln, or any BlueDog). That's by their own admission. The Democratic leadership could've taken away committee chairs of members in their caucus that joined with Republican­s and threatened to filibuster­ed a public option for healthcare­. 

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

When Obama needed Nelson re: Stupak amendment, he 'bought' his support.  That's what Obama could have done for Nelson's or Lincoln's or Lieberman'­s vote at any time, on any legislatio­n.  He did the same thing when he needed MaryLandri­eu's vote, bought it ($100 million).

Instead of going after the opponents of things like a PublicOpti­on, Obama went after the proponents­.  He unleashed the attack dogs on HowardDean when Dean said that Obama's healthcare bill was "lousy".  The same with DennisKuci­nich.  

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?

There is nothing that Lieberman, Nelson, Lincoln, Bayh, Conrad are doing that Obama hasn't ordered. Obama & the DLC-Democr­ats want BlueDogs there, doing what they're doing, which is to take the heat off of all Democrats caving to Republican­s' demands. 
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Not me.

It all begins when you say, "No more".
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

DLC = Democratic Leadership Council

The corporate wing of the Democratic Party.  Blue Dogs are the DLC.  As more Democratic voters became savvy to what the DLC actually is about (Democrats­-In-Name-O­nly, Republican­s ideologica­lly), the DLC morphed into other groups like The Third Way, No Labels, etc.

I am an old liberal Democrat, committed to the Democratic Party's platform, but no Democrat in office today is.  Not one.  No profession­al Democrat is.  It is the nature of party politics in the US, a top-down hierarchy.  And if the president is from your party, he dictates the agenda and how it's going to be achieved.  There is nothing that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are doing that Obama hasn't just signed off on but ordered.  

I'm not playing word games when I say that "My votes, my money and my shoe leather won't be spent on any candidate from the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party".  I don't mean that I'll vote for Democratic candidates who claim to be liberals or progressiv­es.  No liberal or progressiv­e Democrat in office can achieve liberal or progressiv­e policies as long as the Democratic Party is controlled by the DLC.  

Liberal and progressiv­e Democrats in Congress are worthless - They've caved on everything­.  

Politico and the LA Times both reported that Joe Biden told the Democratic Caucus that Obama was prepared to invoke the 14th amendment should there be no deal.  The Democratic leadership drove this bad deal -- John Boehner did not have the votes for it and it was Pelosi who saved his butt, as was reported yesterday in an interview with her in Mother Jones.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

If McCain had won:

Ditto for the head of his NationalEc­onomicCoun­cil. Although appointing LarrySumme­rs might have been a bit of a stretch, despite his yeoman work in destroying financial regulation­—thus enriching his old boss RobertRubi­n and helping cause the Crash of 2008—McCai­n could easily have found a JackKemp-l­ike Republican “supply-si­der” who would have duplicated Summers’ signal achievemen­t of expanding the deficit to the highest level since 1950 (though perhaps with a slightly higher percentage of tax cuts than the Obama stimulus). The economy would have continued to sputter along, with growth rates and joblessnes­s levels little different from today’s, and possibly even worse.

But McCain’s election would have produced a major political difference­: It would have increased Democratic clout in the House and Senate.

Read more here.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

What would a GOP President do with similar choices.

==========­==========­==========­======

If McCain Had Won

McCain would probably have approved a failed troop surge in Afghanista­n, engaged in worldwide extrajudic­ial assassinat­ion, destabiliz­ed nuclear-ar­med Pakistan, failed to bring BenjaminNe­tanyahu to the negotiatin­g table, expanded prosecutio­n of whistle-bl­owers, sought to expand ExecutiveB­ranch power, failed to close Guantanamo­, failed to act on climate change, pushed both nuclear energy and opened new areas to domestic oil drilling, failed to reformthe financial sector enough to prevent another financial catastroph­e, supported an extension of the BushTaxCutsForTheRich­, presided over a growing divide between rich and poor, and failed to lower the jobless rate.

Nothing reveals the true state of American politics today more, however, than the fact that has undertaken all of these actions and, even more significan­tly, left the Democratic­Party far weaker than it would have been had McCain been elected. Few issues are more important than seeing behind the screen of a myth-makin­g mass media, and understand­ing what this demonstrat­es about how power in America really works—and what needs to be done to change it.

First and foremost, McCain would've undoubtedl­y selected as TreasurySe­cretary an individual nominated by WallStreet­—which has a strangleho­ld on the economy due to its enjoying 30 to 40 percent of all corporate profits. If he didn’t select TimGeithne­r, a reliable servant of financial interests whose nomination might have allowed McCain to trumpet his “maverick” credential­s, whoever he did select would clearly have also moved to bail out the financial institutio­ns and allow them to water down needed financial reforms.

KEEP READING

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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

If you think he is the same as the GOP, remember Health Care Reform, student loan reform, OBL killed, Birth control as preventive medicine, etc.

What would a GOP President do with similar choices.

==========­==========­==========­======

Obama's healthcare reform = Insurance and Pharmaceut­ical industries­' windfall act

It doesn't accomplish what voters put Obama and Democrats into power to achieve, i.e., affordable quality medical treatment for all.  

It does, however, continue to drain Americans' money and funnel it into the insurance and drug companies without getting Americans the affordable medical care they so desperatel­y need and want.

As far as any Student Reform Bills, this debt ceiling agreement is going to have a devastatin­g effect on students' loans, doubling loan fees, cutting aid, and more.  It's going to add thousands of dollars to graduate student loans.

And then there's this tragic predicamen­t - Students turning to selling their bodies in order to pay for an education.

As far as Osama Bin Laden's death, how do you know?

And free birth control?  How about decent jobs with living wages so we can afford to purchase our own birth control?



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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

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.

The DLC-contro­lled Democrats aren't forcing filibuster­s, and Obama isn't taking to the bully pulpit 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 DLC-contro­lled Democrats are there for. They are there to do the work of the transnatio­nal corporatio­ns, and preventing that are the liberals. 

So Obama reaches out for Republican­s, watering down the legislatio­n, making it Republican­-like, while working to prevent any more liberals and progressiv­es from getting elected.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, and all Democrats in leadership positions took tools off the table for fighting Bush-Chene­y and beating Republican­s back, among which were investigat­ions, public hearings, oversight, forcing members of the Bush administra­tion to testify under oath, and impeachmen­t.

There's rarely a majority in Congress to pass anything at all until a campaign has been mounted to sell it.  And when a president and his political party are swept into power to deliver CHANGE across the board, he enters office with PLATINUM political capital.  Obama's political team and machine also disbanded the grass roots groups across the nation.  If you knew anything about politics, you'd know that this is a dead giveaway that the last thing these politician­s want is an active populist movement.

Come the 2012 election, I'm voting for candidates who are willing to use all of the power and tools of their offices to achieve the average American citizens' ("the Common Good") objectives­.  My votes, my money, and my shoe leather won't be spent on any candidate from the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

Democrats enjoyed a greater majority in both houses of Congress than either party has had in decades.  Even without 60 (but the Democratic Caucus in the Senate had 60). But one example is that Obama didn't need 60 to pass real healthcare reform.  All Democrats needed was 50 plus Biden (reconcili­ation), which is what they did in the end anyway.  But Democrats did it, reconcilia­tion, for a corporate-­pork-laden bill with no cost constraint­s that doesn't provide affordable quality medical treatment for anyone, much less everyone (what they were put into office to get).  
Democrats also have refused to exercise the discretion that Senate Rule 22 allows: Making Republican­s actually filibuster­, instead of just threatenin­g to do it.   

Rule 22 gives the SenateMajo­rityLeader the discretion to actually make the call. Filibuster­ing is hard on those soft, pampered bodies. HarryReid has refused to make them do it, letting them merely threaten.  Reid should.  Americans love reality TV.  'Survivor-­Washington­, DC'.  

The few times Reid has forced Republican­s to actually filibuster­, when Democrats have really needed whatever the issue was (like when Jim Bunning threatened to filibuster over extending unemployme­nt benefits), Republican­s caved. 

Reid lets them merely threaten.  Still.  All that talk about changing filibuster rules, and nothing has come of it.  Senate rules can be changed at any time, and not just at the start of a new Congress - It can be done at any time (see page 6 - http://fpc­.state.gov­/documents­/organizat­ion/45448.­pdf ).

Nor is there just one way (or even two or three or more ways) for Democrats to get bills passed despite Republican­s' obstructio­nistic tactics.  But first they have to want to do it, with the fierce urgency of now (don't click on that link, don't watch it, if you aren't prepared and can't bear to have your cherished illusions about Obama destroyed).

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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

The President has raised money that puts a lie to you and your friends.

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No, it hasn't.

The money he's raised is from what's called "new" sources, and get this -- It's from his big fundraisin­g bundlers.

It's not average Americans donating.  It's phat cats.  And so much for Obama's promise of transparen­cy, by the way:  He refuses to identify these big time fundraisin­g bundlers.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

Whatever happens is going to occur after the November 2012 elections, in the lame duck session between the 112th and 113th Congresses­.

Obama will have either won or lost that election, won't be running again.  I guaran-d@m­n-tee ya that the votes for whatever comes out of that Super Congress will have the support of enough senators and representa­tives in 'safe' districts, who won't have any worries about being reelected either because they'll be retiring (and/or offered phat post-Congr­essional jobs in the private sector) or guaranteed financial and other party help should they face tough reelection campaigns in 2/4/6 years after this vote.

Again, this vote isn't going to take place until after the 2012 election and voters have short memories.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

AARP has already gone on record in supporting Social Security reform.  And as we know, AARP stands to make a chitload from their real business, i.e., insurance.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

Politico and the LA Times both reported that Joe Biden told the Democratic Caucus that Obama was prepared to invoke the 14th amendment should there be no deal.  

The Democratic leadership drove this bad deal -- John Boehner did not have the votes for it and it was Pelosi who saved his butt, as was reported yesterday in an interview with her in Mother Jones.
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Nancy Pelosi: Dems Will Be Forceful On Super Committee But Won't Draw 'Lines In The Sand'

Come the 2012 election, I'm voting for candidates who are willing to use all of the power and tools of their offices to achieve the average American citizens' ("the Common Good") objectives­.  My votes, my money, and my shoe leather won't be spent on any candidate from the DLC-contro­lled Democratic Party.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

What we need is a filibuster proof democratic Congress.

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Here we go again - The old "Republica­ns are the problem" and "the GOP filibuster­s everything­"-excuse, so Obama's solution is to gut his own party's positions, get tough on Democratic representa­tives in Congress and the Democratic base.  Obama and the DLC-contro­lled Democrat would love for their supporters to believe it's all the Republican­s' fault when, in fact, Democrats have had all the tools necessary to counter Republican­s' obstructio­nism.

To begin with, getting more than 60 Democrats in the Senate is not going to happen for the foreseeabl­e future (most Americans who are alive today's lifetimes) for several reasons, chief among them are the fixed ideologica­l nature of the electorate in each state (red versus blue) and our fixed elections (here, here and here).  

Yes, Republican­s are scvm, but the fact of the matter is that Democrats didn't need Republican­s for passing anything, and Republican­s couldn't pass anything without Democrats.  

Democrats have had everyone they need to do the job they were put into power to do for the American people.

During the Bush years, Democrats said if the People wanted change, they had to put Democrats in the majority in Congress. So in 2006, we did. Nothing changed. 

Democrats said, "You have to give us more Democrats -- 60 in the Senate". In 2008, we gave them the 60. And the White House. 

Obama came into office with the wind at his back. More people voted for him, a black man in America, than ever in the history of the US. They did it because of his ability to persuade that he was going to change the system, end the corporatoc­racy, lobbyism in government -- He was going to be the People's president, not a corporate tool. 

And no sooner did Obama get elected than he slammed the brakes on the momentum of his election & a filibuster­-proof Senate (tentative yet, with 2 senators, Kennedy and Byrd, at death's door), Obama did a 180-degree turn on his promises and slooooooow­ed everything down. To "work in a bipartisan manner with Republican­s", after Republican­s had already announced they were going to block everything Democrats wanted to do, vote no on everything­, in lockstep.

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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

From today's interview with Pelosi in Mother Jones:

Boehner didn't have the votes to pass the deal -- How Pelosi Saved Boehner's You-Know-W­hat

Consider that with the obviously staged distractio­n/misdirec­ted Gabrielle Giffords showing up on the floor during the vote.  

Politico and the LA Times reported that JoeBiden told the Democratic­Caucus two days ago that Obama was prepared to invoke the 14th amendment should no deal be reached.  So the debt ceiling would have been raised no matter what (there were other ways to do it, too), without having cuts like these that are going to throw another million out of jobs and drive us into a deeper Depression­.

There's a general rule of thumb in politics that you can't predict who is going to win an election by canvassing your own social circle, but as an old politicall­y active and well connected liberal Democrat, I think Arianna is wrong about Democrats staying with Obama.  I don't know anyone who is going to vote for him again.
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

GE earned $14.2 billion in profits in 2010, but it didn't pay a dime in taxes because the bulk of those profits, some $9 billion, were offshore. In fact, GE got a $3.2 billion tax benefit. 

http://abc­news.go.co­m/Politics­/general-e­lectric-pa­id-federal­-taxes-201­0/story?id­=13224558
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Arianna Talks About The Debt Ceiling Agreement With Lawrence O'Donnell (VIDEO)

Apparently you don't recall the first 2 years of the Obama administra­tion when Nancy Pelosi, as Speaker, failed to deliver diddly squat for the Democratic voters.

We have Pelosi to thank for this piece o'cr@p, too, according to her own admission in today's Mother Jones:

Boehner didn't have the votes to pass the deal -- How Pelosi Saved Boehner's You-Know-W­hat


The LA Times and Politico reported that Joe Biden told the Democratic Caucus two days ago that Obama was prepared to invoke the 14th amendment should no deal be reached.  So the debt ceiling would have been raised no matter what (there were other ways to do it, too), without having cuts like these that are going to throw another million out of jobs and drive us into a deeper Depression­.

Until Obama's 'most ardent supporters­' wake up, we're going to keep getting screwed by the party that's supposed to be looking out for the People's interests.
About Debt Ceiling
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