Posted by Bob Lord
Thsi is what happens when your efforts to appear "centrist" are over the top.
From Kyrsten Sinema, per Arizona Eagletarian:
A government shutdown is an abandonment of Congress' basic duty, and that’s shameful. Arizonans are angry and I don't blame them. I am angry. Time has run out and both parties are responsible. Every single effort by the House and Senate must be a step towards finding common sense and middle ground.
Both parties? Really?
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
These ignorant people make you want to cry for the future of our country. And these low information voters maybe will vote, if they remember its election day. the LA Times reports, Jimmy Kimmel: Do you prefer Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act?:
Jimmy Kimmel, the late-night talk show, has become known for his
man-on-the-street interviews where he exposes people's ignorance on
music, fashion, current events and other trends.
So on the eve of the Affordable Health Care Act rollout, he
dispatched a camera crew to ask people in Hollywood: Which is better —
The Affordable Care Act or Obamacare?
Hilarity quickly ensues.
BTW, Republican support of President Obama’s healthcare legislation rose by
eight percentage points when identified as the Affordable Care Act
instead of “Obamacare,” in a new Fox News poll.
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
The so-called Hastert Rule, the "majority of the majority" to bring a bill to the House floor, is frequently cited by Tea-Publicans. It is an extra-constitutional and undemocratic GOP Caucus rule.
The Hastert Rule empowers a Tea Party minority to engage in a tyranny of the minority. Byron York writes at the Washington Examiner, How 30 House Republicans are forcing the Obamacare fight:
There are 233 Republicans in the House. Insiders estimate that three-quarters of them, or about 175 GOP lawmakers, are willing, and perhaps even eager, to vote for a continuing resolution that funds the government without pressing the Republican goal of defunding or delaying Obamacare.
On the other side, insiders estimate about 30 House Republicans
believe strongly that Obamacare is such a far-reaching and harmful law
that the GOP should do everything it can — everything — to stop it
or slow it down. That includes precipitating a standoff leading to a government shutdown.
"This isn't just another bill," Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., one of
the most vocal of the 30, told me. "This isn't load limits on turnip
trucks that we're talking about. This is … an extremely consequential
bill that will impact every American, and that's why you have such
passionate opinions."
Another 20 to 30 GOP members sympathize with that position but might
be willing to compromise, except for the fact that they fear a primary
challenge from the Right.
In the continuing resolution fight, it is the 30 most committed
members, along with their 20-30 allies in the next-most-committed group,
who are setting the House Republican agenda. The ones pushing for a
fight over Obamacare, even if it leads to a shutdown, are controlling
what the House does.
by David Safier Travis Manning, an Idaho teacher and director of The Common Sense Democracy Foundation of Idaho has penned a column linking the for-profit online education corporation K12 Inc.'s past practices of outsourcing student essays to India with its ongoing corporate policy of putting profits ahead of students. Travis begins by writing about my … Read more
Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Just how bogus is the GOP's gambit to send the CR to a conference committee? It is just another GOPropaganda PR stunt. That's all they do. Steve Benen reports, Congressional Republicans debate empty chairs, lose:
As a last-minute stunt, House Republicans, who've spent the last six
months refusing to enter budget negotiations with Democrats, announced
late last night that they're ready for budget negotiations with
Democrats. Early this morning, GOP leaders selected the eight members they'd like to send to these negotiations, known as a "conference committee."
True
to form, Republicans chose eight middle-aged, far-right white guys,
most of whom are from the south. They then put the eight GOP lawmakers
in a conference room across from empty chairs, and tweeted the picture
in the hopes of making it appear that they, unlike those rascally
Democrats, are "ready to negotiate."
And if there's one thing Republicans are good at, it's debating empty chairs, right Clint Eastwood?