Further Meltdown on the Hill:
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s increasingly public disagreements with President Barack Obama are a reflection of something deeper: the seething resentment some Democrats feel over what they see as cavalier treatment from a wounded White House.
For months, the California lawmaker has been pushing Obama hard in private while praising him in public. But now she’s being more open in her criticism, in part because she feels the White House was wrong — in the wake of the Democrats’ loss in Massachusetts — to push the Senate health care bill on the House when she knew there was no way it would pass.
Earlier this month, Pelosi criticized the president’s State of the Union call to exempt defense spending from a budget freeze. And in a White House meeting with leaders of both parties this week, she questioned the effectiveness of his plan to give small businesses tax breaks to hire workers.
“What you’re seeing now in public has been building in private,” said a top House Democratic official. “House members did their work — they did everything the president asked of them. And it gets stuck in the Senate. Or the Senate screws it up.”
via Family feud: Nancy Pelosi at odds with President Obama – POLITICO.com.
That is what happens when Democrats overreach and make promises that they cannot keep. Another Example:
“He wants a jobs bill, we get a jobs bill,” the official said. “He wanted health care, we got health care. Then the answer is, ‘You just need to twist enough arms to pass the Senate bill.’ You can twist arms if you’ve got a handful of them to twist. You can’t twist over 100 arms. There needs to be some reality check there.”
“Both ends of the Capitol — the House and the Senate — are starting to wonder if they’re on their own,” the official continued. “You have a lot of frustration there. And the White House’s reaction to all of that seems to be, ‘Run against Congress’ — which, as you can imagine, doesn’t go over very well with House members. The White House reaction seems to be, ‘Position ourselves against Congress.’”
See, the problem is this here. The President seems to forget that the Congress; that being the House and Senate, have people running those offices, and not robots. Those people actually have to answer to their constituents, and going around doing the will of the President and ignoring those who elected you, can lead to one’s ouster from his office. You would think that the President would be smart enough to know this. No, I am not saying that President is outright dumb; I just think that the President had some sort of crazy idea of some sort that when he took office and the Democrats got the majority that the Democrats and Republicans would just roll over and let him run roughshod over them. We see now that this just was not the case. This is a good thing, I believe this is why the America people’s involvement in politics is very necessary in this time of great uncertainty.
Others: Wall Street Journal, Left Coast Rebel, , Hot Air,Wake up America
….and does his best flip flop ever!
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid led colleagues and the White House to believe he supported a bipartisan jobs bill — only to scuttle the plan as soon as it was released Thursday over concerns it could be used to batter Democratic incumbents, according to Senate sources.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) worked for weeks with Reid’s blessing and frequent involvement to craft an $85 billion jobs bill, a measure that seemed destined to break the partisan logjam that has ground the Senate to a halt.
But as Baucus, Grassley and President Barack Obama were preparing to celebrate a rare moment of bipartisan Kumbaya on Thursday, Reid stunned a meeting of Senate Democrats by announcing he was scrapping Baucus-Grassley, replacing it with a much cheaper, more narrowly crafted, $15 billion version.
“Grassley and three to four Republicans would have voted for it, but all the other Republicans would have beaten the living s—t out of us [during the 2010 midterms], claiming the bill was too bloated,” said a Democrat who supported Reid’s decision, explaining the leader’s logic.
Few felt as good about the decision: Republicans say the about-face will only add to an already poisonous partisan atmosphere, liberal Democrats think the bill is too small to do much good and the powerful negotiators of the bipartisan package were left embarrassed, demoralized and befuddled.
What further proof do we need that Democrats do not have the ability to lead? If this is not a sign that the Democrats are fearing the worst in November, I do not know what is. The election is going to be a very interesting one. I cannot wait till it happens.
Others: Hot Air, Michelle Malkin, The Lonely Conservative, , Left Coast Rebel, QandO, Commentary, Wake up America,
As you all know, Obama spoke of a supporter, who succumbed to Cancer. Well, he could not remember her name and predictably, my fellow Conservatives mocked Obama and insinuated that he was lying about it.
Well, here she is:
Dear MoveOn member,
Earlier this week, we received incredibly sad news. Melanie Shouse, a devoted MoveOn Council leader in St. Louis and tireless health care advocate, passed away after a battle with breast cancer.
Melanie was a true fighter. While she was involved in many issues with MoveOn, she always said health care was her heart—and even after treatments began, she came to every single health care rally, speaking out about the injustices she was suffering under our broken health care system.
Melanie’s story is a painful reminder of why we need to fight as hard as we can to get real health care reform passed, now.
Our friends at TrueMajority are gathering messages of condolence to deliver to Melanie’s family this weekend. The email they sent is below. To add your message, just click this link.
http://www.truemajority.org/MelanieShouse/moveon
Thanks for all that you do.
–Kat, Keauna, Ilya, Lenore, and the rest of the team
Melanie Shouse has died.
Melanie was a small business owner from Missouri battling stage four breast cancer, who also had to fight with insurance companies who didn’t want to pay for her treatment. She didn’t take that lying down—she spoke out, she protested, she became a leader in the movement for a more just health care system. Maybe you remember the video thank-you she sent to you and other TrueMajority members last October for being part of that movement.1
The cancer took Melanie’s life last week. To her family, we can only express our deepest regret and sympathy. If you’d like to send your sympathy as well, you can sign our guest book, and we’ll deliver your messages to the family this weekend.
http://www.truemajority.org/MelanieShouse/moveon
We’re sorry we didn’t get health care reform done sooner. Sorry that insurance coverage isn’t more affordable and accessible for millions of Americans who need it. Mostly, we’re sorry to lose our friend.
But Melanie would not have wanted us to stop fighting for reform. In fact, she asked that those attending her memorial service wear their activist t-shirts. So tomorrow, in lieu of flowers, let’s deliver our condolences, put on a campaign t-shirt and remember why we fight and who we are fighting for.
-Matt
Matt Holland
TrueMajority / USAction1—http://www.moveon.org/r?r=86397&id=18852-8669653-2Jelyyx&t=1
Shame on my fellow Conservatives for not getting the full story, before going to press.
Others, who screwed up: Sister Toldjah, Gateway Pundit, The Greenroom, sara in italy, Flopping Aces, Hot Air, Another Black Conservative, The Jawa Report, The Lonely Conservative and Pundit & Pundette
History will record that these remarks from his State of the Union address were the only case legendary barrister Barack Obama ever argued before the Supreme Court. And he lost.
Even when presented with a short, straightforward, simply stated question by Rep. Mike Pence, Obama couldn’t help but to formulate a different question.
Pence asked: “Mr. President, will you consider supporting across-the-board tax relief, as President Kennedy did?”
The question Obama wanted Pence to ask was: Mr. President, will you join Republicans in cutting taxes of billionaires?
Luckily, Obama’s reformulation gave him an opening for a killer answer: “What you may consider across-the-board tax cuts could be, for example, greater tax cuts for people who are making a billion dollars. I may not agree to a tax cut for Warren Buffett.”
Republicans should take that answer and run like a thief in the night! OK, let’s cut taxes on everyone except billionaires. I’d even support a specific tax expressly on Warren Buffett. Now, son, how much will you give us for these magic beans?
If only Republicans could maneuver Obama into answering a question on abortion, we could probably get him to agree to ban all abortions –– except in the case of teenage girls who have been raped by their fathers. (This is how I assume Obama would rephrase the question.)
No conservative argues like this. To the contrary, we’re morose that Nexis archives are not more complete, so we can’t quote liberals directly more often.
Recently, there were a series of videos that were shown on the website Big Government.com, they were of a union boss by the name of Javier Contreras, cursing at the union rank and file. Here are the videos in question:
One of the persons who commented on the videos, ID’ed himself as the old gent in the second video, that the union boss swore at, the older guy with the red jacket. Anyhow, I contacted him and asked him to give his side of the story. Here is what he wrote back:
Hello, Yes I really am the guy that Javier swore at. Back in June of last year Old Gm told us that they were getting out, and did so in 2 weeks. Gm gave us nothing, just left. Then in August of last year Toyota announce that they would be leaving too, but they are still here, still employing us, providing pay checks, overtime, vacation, holidays and medical insurance. NUMMI ( toyota) has been trying to reach a retention/ severance agreement with our union since then, but our union leaders have been very uncooperative with NUMMI in the process. Thus, We the workers have been enduring months of not knowing what is happening, what is going to happen. The union has been out of touch with the workers, telling us nothing specific. We live in a whirlwind of rumors, generally all bad. We are losing our jobs in two months, and still we do not have a deal with the company, and haven’t even been told why. I ask my commiteeman regularly, ” What’s up, what’s happening”, and always get the same answer, ” I don’t know”. The union leadership are supposed to be elected representives of us the membership. The union leadership has become what I see as a dictatorship, with Javier as the dictator. The union leaders do not ask us what we feel, think, believe or want.
The union leaders tell us what they are going to do, and what we will get from them. The union complains about the retention package that has been offered to us from the company, but the union has not offered us any type of severence package of their own. The members have been paying union dues into the union for 25 years, some say totaling up to $72 million. Why does the union not offer some sort of package? The union wants to demonize Toyota. The union is running a petition against Toyota. NUMMI ( Toyota ) is still employing us providing pay and benefits. The problem came from GM leaving. Why doesn’t the union petition GM? The UAW international now owns 18% of the NEW GM. The UAW international has an investment that they are not about to create trouble for, so the international instucts our local union to run a petition against it’s former partner. Toyota is not the problem here, GM and the UAW international, which is one in the same now, they are the problem. Our local 2244 union leaders have aligned themselves with the international, doing their bidding.
They are supposed to be our elected representitives, doing our bidding, answering to us. The union is run like a dictatorship, with Javier as the dictator. Javier needs to set down from his office, and whom ever takes his place needs to listen to us, the membership. In closing, I would like to apologize to everyone in attendance that day for the ruckus that evolved from it all. It has been a very difficult time for all of us here at NUMMI, as well as most everyone else here in this country in it’s current economic condition.
Stress is running high with this very uncertain time, facing a devistating change to our lives. It would be nice if our leadership could provide us with some sort of facts and certainty. perhaps then we may be able to plan a course of action for our selves. Let’s all take a look at the devistation of Haiti, and then try to put ours in perspective to that. Thank God we are living in California, USA.
Take care and god bless you all.
I wrote him back and asked him if it were okay if I published this, this is what he said:
Yes, please do. No action has been taken yet as far as I know, but I’m considering suing Javier, Surgio and the UAW. I’m a union supporter to the extent that they do some good for the person who is paying dues to them. But these guys collect dues to fund free vacations for them, family and friends. If the Union was earning the dues taken, then way am I and all the rest of the union workers losing their jobs. If you pay for services, then you should receive the services that you pay for, one of which should be continuing to work. I’m a conservative as well, I feel that if I work for my money I should be able to keep it in my pocket and decide for my self how to spend it, not have the government help them delve to it, because they feel they know better than I how to spend it. The working man and woman is getting screwed by everyone around them. There is a new slave in this country, the working class people.
Nothing in the replies was edited, changed or modified. Except for some misspellings and grammar errors, which I fixed for him.
As the late great Paul Harvey would say……”and now; you know the rest of the story…..”
This week the US Senate is debating whether to raise the national debt ceiling by $1.9 trillion, totaling a whopping $14.3 trillion, which is about the same size as the nation’s overall economy. Some estimate the cost of national healthcare would be in the ballpark of $1 trillion. The initial relief donation to Haiti by the US government was a relatively measly $100 million while the cost of the Iraq war alone has been estimated at $3 trillion dollars. Regardless, our government, and the debt to maintain it, keeps growing astronomically.
The old fashioned, biblical concept of charity is that it begins at home, and once a man has taken care of his family, property and immediate surroundings he can then afford to address greater concerns. Increasingly and sometimes tragically, America can no longer afford to address greater concerns—not that affordability will prevent our government from continuing to do so. The conservative’s task should be to prevent it from doing so, or “limiting” government–and not promoting its unlimited use at home or abroad, and certainly not to save the world.
For once; I actually agree with Jack Hunter. I am very glad that he spoke out on this. I mean, we’re fighting wars and our economy is in the toilet. But yet, we are sending millions of dollars into a Country that is so damn corrupt that they cannot even feed their own people? Give me a break. We need to deal with our own and stop trying to be the World’s rescue dog. It is not like those people even appreciate what we are even doing there. Because we have already been accused of occupying the Country.
Bottom Line: Jack Hunter is correct, Let private industry deal with that problem in Haiti and stop using the United States Government to deal every little situation that comes up.
Countdown to being called a RAAAAACIST!!!!! in 5……4…..3…..2….
Hmmmm, I didn’t know Michael Moore got around that much:
Osama bin Laden, the al-Qaeda leader, has condemned the US and other industrial economies, holding them responsible for the phenomenon of climate change.
In an audio tape obtained by Al Jazeera, bin Laden criticised George Bush, the former US president, for rejecting the Kyoto pact and condemned global corporations.
“This is a message to the whole world about those responsible for climate change and its repercussions – whether intentionally or unintentionally – and about the action we must take,” bin Laden said.
“Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury – the phenomenon is an actual fact.”
via Al Jazeera English – Middle East – Bin Laden deplores climate change.
Wow. Talk about someone’s role being diminished to that of a Barking Moonbat.
The News article goes on to say:
In the new recording, bin Laden says “all the industrial states” are to blame for climate change, “yet the majority of those states have signed the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to curb the emission of harmful gases”.
He continued: “However, George Bush junior, preceded by [the US] congress, dismissed the agreement to placate giant corporations. And they are themselves standing behind speculation, monopoly and soaring living costs.
“They are also behind ‘globalisation and its tragic implications’. And whenever the perpetrators are found guilty, the heads of state rush to rescue them using public money.”
The Kyoto Protocol, a UN treaty aimed at combating global warming, was adopted in December 1997 and has since been ratified by 187 states, but not by the US congress.
Although a signatory to the agreement, the US under Bush refused to ratify the treaty, saying that it should contain binding goals for developing countries to reduce emissions as well as those for industrialized nations.
Sounds like that could been written by say, Keith Olbermann, Rachel Maddow, or Ron Paul or Pat Buchanan. I mean, Liberals, Paleo-Cons and radical Muslims do have quite a bit in common. All of them, believe that the attack on 9/11 was justified. All of them believe that the United States is an imperialistic Nation, so, they could be working together for a unified cause. As they say, great minds think alike, right?
But Moonbats, Anti-Semite Racist bigots, and Anti-American Faux Conservatives aside. Is this not like a big step down for this so-called “leader” of the Arabian radicalized Muslim World? It seems so. Maybe MSNBC can use him or something. Can you see it now? “Countdown with Keith Olbermann with Special Guest Star Osama Bin Laden”
Others: Left Coast Rebel, AmSpecBlog, The Long War Journal, Another Black Conservative, Sweetness & Light, JammieWearingFool, YID With LID, Stop The ACLU and RedState
That was quick:
The White House ordered the Justice Department Thursday night to consider other places to try the 9/11 terror suspects after a wave of opposition to holding the trial in lower Manhattan.
The dramatic turnabout came hours after Mayor Bloomberg said he would “prefer that they did it elsewhere” and then spoke to Attorney General Eric Holder.
“It would be an inconvenience at the least, and probably that’s too mild a word for people that live in the neighborhood and businesses in the neighborhood,” Bloomberg told reporters.
“There are places that would be less expensive for the taxpayers and less disruptive for New York City.”
via White House asks Justice Department to look for other places to hold 9/11 terror trial.
I think the word Cluster Fark would be about the right word to use. 😛 Glad to see the White House coming to its senses on this one. What really needs to happen is the President needs to say, “Never Mind” and let the idiot be tried in a military court.
Others: Michelle Malkin, Big Government, , Tammy Bruce, Hot Air, Gateway Pundit, New York Times, The Lonely Conservative, Weasel Zippers, Don Surber (H/T Memeorandum)
