Obstructionism Means Defeat For Republicans This Fall

Once again, the Republican obstructionists stop us from getting anything done--the defeat they deserve can't come soon enough.

Republicans have blocked efforts to bring a global warming bill up for a final Senate vote after a bitter debate over its economic costs and whether it would push gasoline prices higher.

Democratic leaders Friday fell 12 votes short of getting the 60 votes needed to end a Republican filibuster on the measure. The vote was 48-36.

Majority Leader Harry Reid now must decide whether to pull the bill and push the climate change issue to next year with a new Congress and a new president.

Let's get something straight--the Democrats in the Senate needs to quit playing games with Mitch McConnell. Bare knuckles and shin kicks are the rule of the day, and decorum is a fool's paradise with such people. Any Democrat that votes with McConnell from here on out gets heaped with scorn and abuse, and the promise of funding for a primary challenger. The best thing that can be said of this is that it would be worse if they were accommodating and reasonable. The way they're acting now means there will be more material to use against them in attack ads this fall. The Republicans are more and more vulnerable each and every time McConnell pulls this crap because they need to start breaking with that clown, and all of the other clowns, because they are going to run into a buzzsaw in November. Reid MUST campaign in Kentucky against McConnell, and he has to keep exposing the Republicans for what they are--bitter, pathetic obstructionists.

--WS

Will Reid Campaign Against McConnell in Kentucky?

Senator Reid, they need to see you in Kentucky:

The Senate Republicans are expected to have a rough time of it this year, but even this is big news: A new Rasmussen poll puts Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) behind his Democratic challenger, businessman Bruce Lunsford:

Lunsford (D) 49%
McConnell (R) 44%
Sample size: 500 likely voters.
Margin of error: ±4.5%

[h/t to TPM Election Central]

Senator Reid, you MUST campaign in Kentucky against Senator McConnell. Here's why:

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist campaigned today against Minority Leader Tom Daschle. Reuters called it a “break with bipartisan traditions in the U.S. Senate,” because “Senate leaders have traditionally been reluctant to campaign against each other.”

The Senate historian’s office said it could not recall another case in the past half century where one Senate leader has campaigned against another on the rival’s home turf. However, things are different this election year.

The link takes you to a wingnut who delighted at the idea of Frist campaigning against Daschle. Hey, payback is a bitch, ain't it? Well, decency calls for it.

--WS

Senate to stay in Pro Forma session over the winter break

The Senate will stay in Pro Forma session during the winter break to deny the little idiot the opportunity to use recess appointments to put mendacious thugs like Sam Fox in positions that they wouldn't have a prayer of being confirmed to.

The Fox appointment might have been the proverbial straw that broke the donkeys back. Sam "Swift Boat" Fox was nominated for an ambassadorship, and withdrawn because the votes weren't there to confirm him. When Congress recessed for the Easter break, Bush made an end run around decency and installed Sammy-the-Swiftboat-liar via a recess appointment.

I have to give the devil his due here - I have been one of those Democrats screaming the loudest for real leadership. I would prefer that the feckless Republican bastards be treated exactly the way they insisted on treating the Democrats for the entire Bush administration. I want my pound of flesh, and I don't even pretend to deny it. I want the fuckers to bleed and sputter and whine like the little bitches they are.

So when I see a scintilla of spine, a modicum of moxie or even a dram of determination - I am happy for it. It fortifies me for the upcoming fight, and since I want more, and better - with the emphasis on better - Democrats, I will take all the fortification I can get.

Call Senator Reid Right Now!

He is on the verge of sticking a thumb in your eye on a Friday afternoon! Flood his office with phone calls and emails! Fill his voicemail! Run his staff ragged!

He is threatening to ask for a 'motion to Proceed" on FISA - the bill that Senator Dodd placed a hold on! Reid wants to let the Telecom's off the hook for breaking the law and spying on you!

The phone number to his office is 202-224-3542.

If you can't get through to his office, acll the Capitol switchboard. That number is 202-224-3121

Here is the link to his senate email forum:

reid.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm


Call right now and tell him just exactly how pissed off his fecklessness makes you!

(Can you say Majority Leader Feingold?)

Congressional Dems...have you been paying the least bit of attention?

Apparently not.

After weeks of posturing and tough talk, the Congressional Dems are set to bravely cave in to the bloodthirsty jackals of the Republican party.

But cave they will, because if we learned anything from FISA, it is that congressional vacations are sacred and can't be fucked with. Congress getting their sixty-ninth vacation break of the year will take precedence over the will of the people on this, just like it did in August when they simply had to get to the beach, and the hell with the Fourth Amendment.

Here is a sneak-peek at the plot-line for Pelosi's little scene-chewing operetta that will open this week:

• First, the House will pass a version of the omnibus spending bill that will not include any war funding.
• Next, it's to the Senate, where Majority Leader Milquetoast Reid will allow those craven fucks on the repugnant side of the aisle to attach a spending amendment to fund the war. It will have no timelines.
• After the amendment is attached, the bill will go to conference where compromise language for the legislation will be hammered out.
• Finally, Pelosi will allow it to pass quietly - without timelines - probably late on the last day before the Christmas break.

All this disgustingly transparent little ploy will be missing is a balcony and an overwrought anthem bleated out by Madonna.

Bloggers bitch, and sometimes Congress listens

Last month, before Mukasey was confirmed, there was talk about just giving him the gig in a recess appointment. Of course, we - meaning the left side of the blogosphere - went nuts.

My exact words were:

Probably so. Wouldn't put it past the sonofabitch for a hot second, but there is an easy way to thwart that possibility, and they damn well know it!

Don't officially call a recess.

A couple of Dems need to stay behind in Washington. Call the Senate to order every day of the scheduled recess, even without a quorum. I realize that this is the same party that was in a big toot to get their vacations started in August, so they caved on FISA, but damnit! Read the freakin' Jefferson's Manual! Mikulski and Webb live in close enough proximity to the Hill to employ the tactic and not even be greatly inconvenienced.

For every parliamentary maneuver, there is a parliamentary check. And if we don't have Democrats who know how this god-damned game is played, then we need some new god-damned Democrats.

Today, Roll Call is reporting that Reid is considering keeping the Senate in Pro Forma session over the Thanksgiving break, so the Resident can't use recess appointments to put his Loyal-Bushie cronies in positions of power (especially in the Department of Justice) without Senate approval.

About god-damned time that bastard Reid grew a pair. It's his responsibility to keep the fucking Senate in session until the end of the error in January 2009. Fuck Bush. Give him nothing, unless it's a stroke.

Reid offers an olive branch to anti-war Republicans

Accepting the contentious nature of the debate ahead over the approaching weeks, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has acquiesced on the “date certain” provision of upcoming legislation in an effort to build an alliance with a small-but-growing contingent of anti-war Republican lawmakers in an effort to find ways to draw down the occupation of Iraq. .

He acknowledged that his previous insistence on a withdrawal deadline had presented an insurmountable obstacle for many Republicans who have said they oppose continued involvement but who were unwilling to commit to timetables.

"I don't think we have to think that our way is the only way," Reid said of specific dates during an interview in his office here. "I'm not saying, 'Republicans, do what we want to do.' Just give me something that you think you would like to do, that accomplishes some or all of what I want to do."

Reid's unwavering stance this summer earned him critics who said he was playing politics by refusing to bargain with antiwar Republicans. In the interview, he said that his goal remains an immediate return of U.S. troops but that now is the time to work with the GOP. He cited bringing up legislation after Labor Day that would require troops to have more home leave, forcing military leaders to reduce troop levels, a measure that has drawn some Republican support.

On September 4, Congress returns from the August recess, facing an angry electorate and a desperate executive. The coming week will see the congress take the initiative on the assessment of the situation in Iraq by opening hearings into a GAO report that will be released Tuesday, and by taking up the issues raised by the report of another Blue Ribbon panel. The following week, Petraeus will bring his particularly insidious brand of spin to the Hill, where he will appeal for more time, blood and treasure to pour into the sand of Iraq.

After the Parade of the Viziers is done, and the Resident makes his own report, the debate will begin anew.

That debate screeched to a halt after the fake filibuster in July. All that stunt managed to do was piss everyone off, Republican and Democrat alike. The Republicans successfully blocked the withdrawal measure, because the advocates for withdrawal were unable to reach cloture and pass the legislation with only four Republican votes.

Reid wisely dropped the war debate after that, and attempted to shift the focus to the obstructionism of the Republicans.

This tactic gave the White House a toehold, and they set about building the case that the ridiculously-named “Surge™” strategy is working, in spite of all evidence to the contrary.

"I don't think we had any choice," Reid said, shrugging off past skirmishes. "I have no regrets about the way that I have tried to marshal the troops. It's been hard to keep all the Democrats together, but we've done that."

But looking forward, Reid said he will encourage new coalitions to develop, with a more bipartisan hue. "There is no reason that this be Democrat versus Republican," he said. But his GOP colleagues, he added, must be willing to stand up to Bush, as few have so far. "All these people saying September is here, September is the time -- they're going to have belly up to the bar and decide how to vote," Reid said.

Sen. Jack Reed, a close senate ally of Harry Reid on Iraq policy was circumspect. He noted that with every shift in the Iraq debate, "we've picked up more votes." But he quickly added that meeting the Democrats' ultimate goal of ending the war, well, "There's only so many things you can do."

One of the pieces of failed legislation that Reid will dust off will be the proposal by Sen. James Webb that would mandate that troops deployed to a combat zone get an equal or greater amount of dwell time after their rotation before being redeployed back to combat. This would not set withdrawal dates, but it would effectively curtail troop levels. When the issue came up for a vote earlier in the summer, it received 56 yes votes, but, again, obstructionist Republicans had invoked cloture, which requires 60 votes. Worth noting: Seven Republicans voted yes on the proposal last time, and Senator Johnson is returning to the Senate in September.

The month of September appears to be shaping up to be everything it was billed and more. It seems like every one of 535 congresscritters went to Iraq this month. It wasn’t all of 'em, of course, but it was eight sold out shows a week all month long in every house. Some fell victim to the Green Zone Fog.

Also worth considering is legislation offered by Senators Ken Salazar and Lamar Alexander that would make the recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group into official U.S. policy. The ISG, which was mostly ignored by the Bush administration, included defining specific roles for combat forces and far greater diplomatic initiatives, especially diplomatic initiatives involving the neighboring states. Under the Salazar/ISG legislation, if progress failed to occur, withdrawal would begin early next year. The Salazar-Alexander Bill has attracted 12 additional co-sponsors, at least half of them Republicans. "I respect that some Democrats want us out tomorrow, and some Republicans want a victory like Germany and Japan, but that's not going to happen," Alexander said. But he warned that, given the onset of the 2008 presidential campaign season, "September may be our last best chance" to force a legislative solution.

Re-election season is indeed upon us. All 435 house seats and 34 Senate seats are up this election cycle, and every last one of them will have to answer tough questions about Iraq, posed by an angry electorate. Brian Baird found out just how popular war support is at home. The bloodletting for 2008 is going to commence early. We only thought 2006 was contentious - 2008 is going to be absolutely brutal. It certainly isn't going to be politics for the faint of heart. I hope they are rested up, because the days on the other side of the weekend are going to be grueling (I myself have been on a training regimen for weeks in preparation).

Another year and a half of this? No thanks.

I wonder if the Republicans would continue with their obstructionist ways if Harry Reid pulled the “Nuclear Option” out of the dead-letters bin and blew the dust off it and reminded the Republicans how downright tyrannical they were about their treatment of the minority? Parliamentary procedures are one thing. Being obstructionist pricks just for the sake of being obstructionist pricks is another thing entirely, and I have grown utterly sick of it.

Watching this senate is like coming home to find the babysitter duct-taped to a chair, the kiddie-pool full of kool-aid, the good china being used for a tea-party in the treehouse, and god-only-knows what they did with your best percales.

As a parent, I am inclined to punish every last hooligan and miscreant about, including the babysitter who lost control. (Harry, that would be you.)

Can we get a real Majority Leader, please? Harry just doesn’t have what it takes.

So who is going to blink first?

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As they seek to reconcile two versions of the spending resolution to fund Bush’s not-so-excellent adventure, Senate Democrats are looking at making timelines and benchmarks “advisory” rather than binding.

They are also considering giving Bush the authority to waive troop readiness standards.

Sounds to me like they are folding like a bunch of cheap suits. Their compromise will cost them dearly with the staunchly anti-war members of the party, but will likely pick up some Republican support.

Bush claims he will veto any legislation that isn’t 100% to his liking, and insists he will never compromise. Timelines, to his way of – ahem – thinking – ahem – are a “date to surrender” you see. (Never mind that American forces are viewed as occupiers, and are caught in the crossfire.)

The haggling between congressional Democrats came as their leaders met at the White House with Bush to try to hash out their dispute. Both sides termed it a polite, productive meeting in which they restated their positions but emerged without an agreement. Democrats promised to send Bush their bill next week.

"We believe he must search his soul, his conscience, and decide what is best for the American people," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) told reporters on the White House driveway. "I believe signing the bill is that."

White House spokeswoman Dana M. Perino said later that Bush has not changed his mind. But she expressed optimism that after a veto, Democrats would pass legislation without conditions to provide $100 billion to continue operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It was clear that ultimately there will be a bill that can fund the troops, that the troops will get the funds they need," Perino said.

It is, of course, brinksmanship, pure and simple. This is all positioning for the post veto phase of the process. One Democrat was reported to have said that Congress might pass a 60-day spending bill, without conditions and continue the debate on the supplemental. . Rep. John P. Murtha (D-Pa.) said Democrats are treating June 1 as the final deadline for passage of a war-funding bill that would not be vetoed.

Bush offered platitudes, assuring the congressional leaders that he believes in benchmarks and has been pressing Iraqi leaders to meet them, he just doesn’t want them to be binding or anything he has to live up to. Democrats want to make the benchmarks binding.

Democrats were quick to cite Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates, who told reporters traveling with him in the Middle East yesterday that demands for withdrawal have been constructive. "The strong feelings expressed in the Congress about the timetable probably has had a positive impact . . . in terms of communicating to the Iraqis that this is not an open-ended commitment," Gates said.

When the House convenes tomorrow, Speaker Pelosi will have quite a task on her hands keeping the Democratic caucus together.

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When you are a delusional sumbitch like aWol…

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…negotiation means you all can come on up and listen to me tell you how it’s gonna be, see?

The president is in high dudgeon.

The Democrats are standing up to him on the war funding issue, and it is not setting well. Not wetting well at all. He has become increasingly shrill, going so far as to threaten the safety and well-being of the troops in the field.

Bush warned today that Congress's refusal to give him a "clean bill" without the timetables and the domestic spending will have "consequences." He said the military will shortly notify Congress that it will be "forced to transfer $1.6 billion from other military accounts to cover the shortfall" in war funding, taking money from "personnel accounts" and programs that affect readiness.

“The bottom line is this,” Mr. Bush said. “Congress’s failure to fund our troops will mean that some of our military families could wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines. Others could see their loved ones headed back to war sooner than anticipated. This is unacceptable.”

What is unacceptable, of course, is a president who wishes to subvert the will of the American people - who have had enough (except for the 25% hard-core war-hawks - who ain't fighting it by the way - and I could not possibly care less what these delusional stateside Schmendrick's think) the American people overwhelmingly support attaching benchmarks and timelines to further funding of the Iraq clusterfuck - But the Pinocchio president thinks he can just go on ahead and do whatever the hell he wants.

Congressional leaders are welcome to come to a meeting with him and listen to him tell them how it’s going to be, but discussion or compromise? Not a chance.

Meanwhile, the Senate was not chastened in the least. In fact, former golden-gloves boxer Harry Reid was scathing in his response to the presidents latest pedantic outburst. “We are speaking for the American people,” Mr. Reid said at a Capitol news conference. “He isn’t.”

“Democrats are united in our commitment to fully fund our troops on the ground in Iraq and here at home,” said Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “But we are also determined to provide our troops a strategy for success in Iraq, which President Bush has failed to do from the very start of this war over four years ago.”

Senator Russell D. Feingold of Wisconsin and several other Senate Democrats, meantime, appeared more than willing to one-up the lame duck, stating that if the president does veto a bill with a timetable, they will push for legislation cutting off most money for the Iraq war on March 31, 2008.

“Since the president refuses to change his failed Iraq policy, that responsibility falls on Congress,” Mr. Feingold said in a statement.

What’s not to get?

Americans. Hate. This. War.

Instead of bolstering support and getting things back on track, McCain and Graham’s stunt yesterday – and that is exactly what it was, it was a stunt - seems to be backfiring big-time. The six killed a mile away has not helped – and when Lindsey Graham talks about the killer deal he got on those rugs, I want to scream. How much, exactly, did that little juggernaut cost the American taxpayers? (I would think Lindsey is doing well enough as a Senator that he could have bought those rugs from a merchant at home and not cost the American taxpayers all that money, and potentially six troops their lives, but that’s just me, and I’m not a conservative, so I don’t understand...)

While I’m on the subject of visits by dignitaries, just let me toss something out there. I mean no disrespect (or maybe I do – it’s kinda hard to tell where that line is right now) but I gotta say this, as a former resident of multiple military bases throughout my lifetime –

We. Hate. Dignitaries.

We hate visits by potentates stateside, I guaran-damn-tee that none of those troops who swept the market and escorted the senators will ever vote for either one of them. If we could have harnessed the energy from the eye-rolling that most certainly took place…

I have never felt so hapless or helpless in my entire life as I do when I think about this clusterfuck of a war that these knuckleheads thought would be such a swell idea. Thanks a lot, Neocon assholes.

But there seems to be a faint glimmer of hope.

Today, Senate Majority Leader Reid joined Senator Feingold and co-sponsored legislation that will cut off funding in one year. From the Washington Post:

Reid had previously opposed setting a firm end date for the war, a stance he has backed away from in recent months as others in his party moved to increase pressure on Bush on the issue. He officially converted after visiting wounded soldiers last week at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

"Talk about a way to be depressed," Reid said yesterday in a talk-radio interview with liberal host Ed Schultz. "The American people, I repeat, have to understand what is happening, it is not worth another drop of American blood in Iraq. It is not worth another damaged brain."

Senator, I totally agree. What can we realistically accomplish? The Surge would be better described as a Splurge. Violence is going up, rather than down, and all the insisting in the world can’t overcome the reality of the grand cock-up.

Even close advisers are abandoning the sinking ship. Matthew Dowd – may his son who is soon to deploy come home safe and sound…and soon - spoke out yesterday in the New York Times . Vic Gold has had a similar epiphany without a child headed to Iraq.

The game is over, and we didn’t win. If we keep tilting at windmills over there, and that is what the plan seems to be, it will take decades to retstore our military. Personnel and materiel are worn out. What isn't worn out is broken. That is reality.

What I want, I can’t have – I want this never to have happened. I want my country to have never gone collectively insane and I want 3250 American troops resurrected, thousands of limbs reattached, and all those traumatic brain injuries undone. I want to wake up and none of this ever happened.

I want to wake up and know bin Laden is in a prison cell.

But since I can’t have that, I will settle for bringing them home.

In fact, it is the least I am willing to settle for.