U.S. Politics

This whole “seniority” thing in the Senate has always been a bunch of garbage and helped contribute to the “good ole’ boys” club mentality that surrounds the chamber. Now it looks like it could be coming to an end:

During a question-and-answer session with progressive media, video blogger Mike Stark asked lawmakers why the Democratic caucus hasn't yanked Sen. Blanche Lincoln's chairmanship of the Agriculture Committee, considering her opposition to Democratic legislative efforts. In Arkansas, her gavel is a top selling point as she battles a progressive primary challenge.

"We're going to elect committee chairs next year," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). "The current chairs that are sitting there now understand that we'll be electing chairs next year," he added, saying the idea had been cleared with Senate leadership.

Under current rules, members of the caucus can weigh in by objecting to an overall Senate organizing resolution, but don't have an up-or-down vote on each chair.

That’s exactly how it should be. Take Lieberman as an example. The only reason he is still a Democrat is so that he can keep his seniority and have his Homeland Security chairmanship. It doesn’t matter if Jack Bauer himself became a senator, Lieberman would still be chair because of his seniority.

It’s practices like this that have made the Senate a laughing stock of the free world. I’m glad to see talk of ending it. If these people really think they should chair committees, then let them fight for it. It’s time for our senators to prove their worth.

I was just reading this article in Politico talking about how Eric Massa is now a conservative media hero. Yeah – it seems like red meat to them. A Democrat claiming that he is being pushed out of Congress by his own party for not supporting their agenda. But hey – Massa lasted 6 years in the Democratic Party! Remember – he was a Republican until 2004. But that isn’t what has got me going.

Politico did a recap of what Massa said occurred on the night that lead to the sexual harassment charge:

“I danced with the bride, and I danced with the bridesmaid. Absolutely nothing occurred,” Massa recounted. “I said goodnight to the bridesmaid. I sat down at the table where my whole staff was — all of them, by the way, bachelors. One of them looked at me and — as they would do after, I don’t know, 15 gin and tonics and goodness only knows how many bottles of champagne — a staff member made an intonation to me that maybe I should be chasing after the bridesmaid. His points were clear, and his words were far more colorful than that.

“And I grabbed the staff member sitting next to me, and I said, ‘What I really ought to be doing is fracking you,’ and then tousled the guy’s hair and left, went to my room, because I knew the party was getting to a point where I shouldn’t be there.”

First thing that really sticks out at me if 15 gin and tonics, plus an unknown amount of champagne. I used to be a bartender and if someone had 15 gin and tonics they would be beyond that point of being cut off, and that’s without the added little boost of the bubbly.

Charlie Rangel just held a press conference and announced he will temporarily step down as chairman of the Ways and Means committee following his ethics problems.

Nate Silver did a post yesterday taking down the meme that FDR would have been able to push through healthcare. Of course FDR had a much bigger majority as Nate points out:

It’s amazing to see the size of FDR’s majority, but I believe there is another reason why Obama isn’t FDR.

Tomorrow Obama will lay out his compressive healthcare plan. That’s only a year into the debate and when healthcare is on life support. Obama decided a long time ago to play it safe in the world of politics, rather than taking a firm stand. That is something FDR would never have done.

No – we really need a new FDR and not someone who puts politics ahead of national interests. Sadly though Presidents like FDR are an extinct species. Both parties champion candidates who prefer politics over principal, and that is what’s helping destroy America today. We need to get back to a time when national interests took a precedent over the game of politics, and that won’t happen until there is a real populace movement based upon these feelings and not upon racism or hatred like the tea party.

Harold Ford on Morning Joe today was saying that people were wrong saying liberals wouldn’t support his Senate run. Yeah – just like conservatives would vote for Russ Feingold.

Rep. Steve King is trying to justify the attack on the IRS in a discussion with Think Progress:

TP: Do you think this attack, this terrorist attack, was motivated at all by a lot of the anti-tax rhetoric that’s popular in America right now?

KING: I think if we’d abolished the IRS back when I first advocated it, he wouldn’t have a target for his airplane. And I’m still for abolishing the IRS, I’ve been for it for thirty years and I’m for a national sales tax. [...] It’s sad the incident in Texas happened, but by the same token, it’s an agency that is unnecessary and when the day comes when that is over and we abolish the IRS, it’s going to be a happy day for America.

TP: So some of his grievances were legitimate?

KING: I don’t know if his grievances were legitimate, I’ve read part of the material. I can tell you I’ve been audited by the IRS and I’ve had the sense of ‘why is the IRS in my kitchen.’ Why do they have their thumb in the middle of my back. … It is intrusive and we can do a better job without them entirely.

Here is why the GOP is so against the health care bill. Health care has been a corner stone issue of the Democratic platform for years. When they control everything they try to get reform through.

Now take the Republicans. Abolshing the IRS has been one of their big issues for years, but when have they actually tried? They had control of the entire government for most of the last decade and not once did they try this. It’s like banning abortion – they never try and most likely never will.

The GOP is the party of rhetoric, and again we have someone in the GOP justifying a horrific attack against Americans to justify the very beliefs they never even act on. It’s the same as when abortion doctors get murdered.

Rep. King – you are a member of the United States Congress and in a position to get rid of the IRS, so why haven’t you done anything? I can’t find any legislation you have put forwards to do this. It’s easy to say you are for something, but action speaks louder than words. If this is such an important issue then go ahead and put legislation in. If you don’t want to do that then just keep your damn mouth shut.

Without the help of Ben Nelson, Democrats were able to break the GOP filibuster on the jobs bill with the help of Kit Bond, George Voinovich, Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Scott Brown.

The final vote was 62-30, with Frank Lautenberg missing the vote because of his chemo.

As Aravosis points out, Conservatives are on fire going after Brown. It appears the honeymoon is officially over:

it wasn't just the people of MA who put you where you are. Next time you vote like that I expect to be kissed first!

Well, I guess we worked our tails off to get another RINO elected. I'm so disappointed in Scott Brown

Hey, Massachusetts! How do you like Scott Specter?

You dont understand - We Americans Had Drawn A Line In The Sand With @scottbrownma - Its All Gone Now. #traitor

Michael Savage totally called it... @SCOTTBROWNMA sucks!

Read more of the angry tweets at AmericaBLOG.

Adding…. This bill is mostly nothing but tax breaks for small business. Again we see a large number of Republicans voting against reducing taxes. What platform do they have now besides being the party of no?

Another blue dog bites the dust:

Sen. Evan Bayh will not run for re-election, a decision that will shock Democrats and Republicans alike in Indiana.

In prepared remarks, Bayh, 54, cited excessive partisanship that makes progress on public policy difficult to achieve as the motivation for his decision.

“After all these years, my passion for service to my fellow citizens is undiminished, but my desire to do so in Congress has waned,” he said.

“My decision was not motivated by political concern,” he added. “Even in the current challenging environment, I am confident in my prospects for re-election.”

Joe the Plumber has finally seen the light:

Joe, also known as Sam Wurzelbacher, told an audience in Pennsylvania this week that McCain "is no public servant."

"McCain was trying to use me," Wurzelbacher said, according to public radio correspondent Scott Detrow. "I happened to be the face of middle Americans. It was a ploy.”

"I don’t owe him s—," Wurzelbacher continued. "He really screwed my life up, is how I look at it.”

In fact, Wurzelbacher's dislike for McCain is so strong that he no longer supports Sarah Palin simply because Palin will campaign for McCain's re-election.

It only took 1 1/2 years for Joe to realize that he was nothing but a sock puppet for the McCain campaign. I guess that beats having to take that pesky plumbing test to become a true plumber.

It took the President himself going after Mitch McConnell, but finally he has some of his nominees confirmed:

The Senate confirmed a huge group of administration nominees on Thursday, following a tense exchange between President Barack Obama and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

At a White House meeting with bipartisan congressional leaders on Tuesday, Obama warned that he would make recess appointments if the logjam over nominees wasn’t broken before the Senate left for the Presidents’ Day break.

“Mitch, this is unprecedented,” the president said, gesturing forcefully on the Cabinet Room table, according to aides. “If you don’t move any, I’m going to do some [recess] appointments.”

The Senate GOP’s obstructionist games they have played over the past year have been unprecedented. You wouldn’t know that listening to the mainstream media though. They try to portray it as “politics as usual”. That’s a big difference from a few years ago when Democrats were blocking one Bush nominee and the Republicans got all the face time in the world to blast the Democrats as obstructionists.

Yesterday it was Kit Bond, today we have Richard Shelby:

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has put an extraordinary "blanket hold" on at least 70 nominations President Obama has sent to the Senate, according to multiple reports this evening. The hold means no nominations can move forward unless Senate Democrats can secure a 60-member cloture vote to break it, or until Shelby lifts the hold.

So this is the Republican games being exposed? They will do what they can to really run up government spending, then blame it all on the Democrats. It’s time to stop trying to play nice with these assholes and go nuclear. President Obama should hold a prime time press conference and call these Republicans out by name for their games. The American people need to be made aware of what is going on and if the RNC and tea party want to support these assholes, then they also need called out. It’s time to fight back.

This is the kind of news that should be plastered on every network tonight:

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly on Thursday to confirm Martha N. Johnson as head of the General Services Administration, nearly 10 months after she was first nominated to head the federal agency.

Upon assuming office, Johnson "will become the first permanent Administrator of the General Services Administration in nearly two years."

Earlier in 2009, Johnson was unanimously approved by members of the Senate Homeland Security Committee. But a single senator, Republican Kit Bond from Missouri, has used his symbolic 'privilege' to hold up consideration of Johnson's nomination since last summer. The delay was meant to pressure GSA administrators to approve a $175 million federal building project in Kansas City.

A nomination held up for 10 months because a damn Republican wanted his pork. Why isn’t the tea baggers or Republicans calling out this crap? Because they are damn hypocrites – every single one of them.

Now it looks like the Republicans have found a loophole that will let them block items in reconciliation:

Republicans say they have found a loophole in the budget reconciliation process that could allow them to offer an indefinite number of amendments.

Though it has never been done, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) says he’s prepared to test the Senate’s stamina to block the Democrats from using the process to expedite changes to the healthcare bill.

Experts on Senate procedural rules, from both parties, note that such a filibuster is possible. While reconciliation rules limit debate to 20 hours, senators lack similiar constraints on amendments and could conceivably continue offering them until 60 members agree to cut the process off.

The Republican platform – screw governing and do nothing but block, block, block. There is a way around this though:

Or  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) could use a tactic similar to the so-called nuclear option to quash the GOP tactics.

Yeah like that would happen with King Useless the majority leader.

Markos has just released a new poll with some very interesting numbers. These are from self-identified Republicans:

Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?

Yes 39
No 32
Not Sure 29

I would love to know what high crimes and misdemeanors they believe he has committed.

Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?

Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16

Again – a total myth. President Obama is to the right of Hillary Clinton and they still think he is some socialist. Why? Because of the bank bailouts? Those were enacted under Bush and heavily supported by John McCain – the Republican nominee at the time.

Markos has much more on this madness.

Yesterday on Meet the Press John Boehner continued the same old line that President Obama was the most liberal member of the U.S. Senate.

He also seems to be throwing out the idea of ever working together:

MR. GREGORY:  Does he have a point?

REP. BOEHNER:  No.  If, if you think about what I said, I was referring to the--all the president's policies.  Wasn't demonizing him, wasn't demonizing the White House.  And I'm usually very careful about dealing with the subject at hand.  Listen, there aren't that many places where we can come together. The president is--well, he was the most liberal member of the United States Senate.  You don't get there by accident.  And if you look at the policies that we've seen over the course of this year from the administration and his Democratic colleagues in Congress, they're all these leftist proposals.  And the people of Massachusetts, the people of Virginia, the people of New Jersey are sending a pretty loud signal, just like the other 47 states, to the--to Washington, saying, "Stop!  This is, this is way more than we ever wanted Washington to do."

Again – this is a flat out lie and John Boehner knows it. Let’s see how “liberal” Senator Obama really was. Here is a graph that automatically rates members of Congress based upon their voting records, which is generated by GovTrack.us:

(Click for the full Congress view)

Yes Obama is not a “centrist” Democrat, but he is far from being the most liberal person we had in the Senate. Hell, even Hillary is more to the left of Obama, but these are facts John Boehner seems to totally ignore.

There’s no way we will ever see bi-partisanship when we have people like John Boehner, who never worries about governing and instead chooses to live on the campaign trail. Perhaps the Democrats should start saying that John Boehner is the biggest neo-con in the House. He wants to get rid of government, tell you how you should have sex, not give you any help if you hit on hard times, believes that insurance companies should make huge profits off your hard times and make Americans subservient to big business and destroy America by creating our own caste system.