Category: politics

Deal might be in the works to end shut down

This might be a good sign. (Via Ace)

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are offering to pass legislation to avert a default and end the 11-day partial government shutdown as part of a framework that would include cuts in benefit programs, officials said Friday.

Republicans also seek changes in the three-year-old health care law known as Obamacare as part of an end to an impasse that has roiled financial markets and idled 350,000 federal workers.

President Barack Obama has insisted he will not negotiate with Republicans over federal spending — or anything else — until the government is reopened and the $16.7 debt limit raised to avert the possibility of default.

Yet, regarding benefit programs, Obama has previously backed an increase in Medicare costs for better-off seniors, among other items, and that idea also has appeal for Republicans.

The White House appeared briefly to wobble on the issue of negotiations on Thursday, until Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid emerged from a meeting with the president to reaffirm it emphatically.

via AP: New GOP shutdown/debt plan, but no agreement yet.

Speaking of Harry Reid, he might be getting cut out of the loop.

Via The Corner – H/T to HotAir:

Staff-level talks between House Republicans and President Obama over a government funding bill are entering into day two after no decisions were made last night, according to two sources.

But one of the most interesting shifts is in who’s not involved: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

Back before the government shutdown and before the fault lines of the current situation became clear, many Republicans viewed Reid, not Obama, as their most likely negotiating partner on both the continuing resolution and the debt ceiling. As evidenced by their public bickering over who wronged whom in the 2011 debt-ceiling fight this week, Speaker John Boehner and Obama do not have a history of fruitful negotiations.

As time wore on, though, Reid made clear not only that he himself wouldn’t budge, at all, on either debate, but that he was actively taking steps behind the scenes – like sidelining Vice President Joe Biden from any role – to ensure Obama toed the line as well.

Reid took several steps that unnerved Republicans who began to fear his healthy self-esteem had turned to hubris, among them his decision to leak e-mails from Boehner’s top aides.

“We thought we would be dealing with Reid, now it looks like we’re going to have to deal with Obama,” says one House GOP aide, describing the situation.

Many of the bloggers on the right are crying betrayal. I happen to disagree with that; because the Republicans in the house played the wrong game. They should have just waited things out till 2014 and then, once the Republicans routed everyone out, then they could have made some changes. But, instead they tried the old obstructionist routine and you know what it got them? This: (via AP Poll – H/T to HotAir)

WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans are finding little they like about President Barack Obama or either political party, according to a new poll that suggests the possibility of a “throw the bums out” mentality in next year’s midterm elections.

The AP-GfK poll finds few people approve of the way the president is handling most major issues and most people say he’s not decisive, strong, honest, reasonable or inspiring.

In the midst of the government shutdown and Washington gridlock, the president is faring much better than his party, with large majorities of those surveyed finding little positive to say about Democrats. The negatives are even higher for the Republicans across the board, with 4 out of 5 people describing the GOP as unlikeable and dishonest and not compassionate, refreshing, inspiring or innovative.

Negativity historically hurts the party in power – particularly when it occurs in the second term of a presidency – but this round seems to be hitting everyone. More people now say they see bigger differences between the two parties than before Obama was elected, yet few like what either side is offering. A big unknown: possible fallout from the unresolved budget battle in Washington.

I am really thinking at this point that the Republicans had a good chance for 2014 and 2016; and have most like blown it. I mean, polls don’t lie folks:

Things are not looking good at all. 🙁

Hmmmmm: NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots

Looks like the Obama administration is continuing with the same stuff that the Bush administration did.

Quote:

The head of the National Security Agency (NSA) admitted before a congressional committee this week that he lied back in June when he claimed the agency’s phone surveillance program had thwarted 54 terrorist “plots or events.”

NSA Director Keith Alexander gave out the erroneous number while the Obama administration was defending its domestic spying operations exposed by whistleblower Edward Snowden. He said surveillance data collected that led to 53 of those 54 plots had provided the initial tips to “unravel the threat stream.”

But Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Wednesday during a hearing on the continued oversight of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that the administration was pushing incomplete or inaccurate statements about the bulk collection of phone records from communications providers.

“For example, we’ve heard over and over again that 54 terrorist plots have been thwarted by the use of (this program),” Leahy said. “That’s plainly wrong,” adding: “These weren’t all plots and they weren’t all thwarted.”

Alexander admitted that only 13 of the 54 cases were connected to the United States. He also told the committee that only one or two suspected plots were identified as a result of bulk phone record collection.

via Controversies – NSA Director Alexander Admits He Lied about Phone Surveillance Stopping 54 Terror Plots – AllGov – News.

New lies for old. There is no difference anymore. Hence why I am not voting Republican come 2016, unless something changes drastically on that side of the fence; and I know darned well I am not voting for a Democrat, ever again. 😡

Video: Republicans are turning on Ted Cruz

As I wrote on here before — twice, the Republican picked the wrong game to play here and now, they’re paying for it. Not to mention that the Republicans have been utter hypocrites on the entire Obamacare issue.

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The Story:

A Republican congressman said Monday that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) is largely responsible for the first government shutdown since 1996.

Rep. Charlie Dent (R-PA) told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that while he believes many individuals are at fault, including President Barack Obama, he said Cruz and others who bought into the quixotic campaign to defund the Affordable Care Act “took a lot of folks into the ditch.”

“But if I had to cast blame anywhere, I would say it was Sen. Cruz and those who insisted upon this tactic that we all knew was not going to succeed,” Dent said. “What he did essentially, Sen. Cruz, basically, he took a lot of folks into the ditch. Now that we’re in the ditch, you can’t get out of the ditch, the senator has no plan to get out of the ditch, those of us who do have a plan to get out of the ditch and will vote to get out of the ditch will then be criticized by those who put us in the ditch in the first place.”

Dent said that he will continue to urge House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to bring a “clean” continuing resolution — one that includes no language to undermine the health care law — to a vote.

via GOP Rep Blames Cruz For Shutdown: ‘He Took A Lot Of Folks Into The Ditch’ (VIDEO).

The White House blinks?

(H/T Ace)

Depends on who you ask.

Via HotAir.com:

After weeks of insisting it won’t negotiate on either the budget or the debt ceiling, a top White House adviser said this morning that Barack Obama would sign a short-term lift in the latter to gain more time for a longer-term agreement.

Via WaPo:

President Obama would accept a short-term increase in the federal borrowing cap , rather than one lasting a year or more, a senior White House official said Monday. The statement was an acknowledgment by the administration that it may not be possible to reach a deal on a long-term increase in the debt ceiling before a critical Oct. 17 deadline.

Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, said members of Congress ultimately have the responsibility to decide how often they want to raise the debt ceiling, although he argued that an extended hike is preferable. …

The Treasury says it will run low on cash in as little as 10 days, placing the nation at risk of a historic default. Some Republicans have suggested that if Congress can’t reach an agreement by Oct. 17, they might try to forge a coalition to support an interim measure to increase the $16.7 trillion debt ceiling for as little as six weeks.

Sperling’s comments Monday suggested that the White House would accept such a measure. The statement was notable because administration officials had rejected a short-term debt ceiling increase during a similar impasse in the summer of 2011, when the White House insisted that the debt limit be increased to cover borrowing through 2012.

Boehner is staying on message. Check out this video via CNN, and notice how they attempt to make the Republicans look like the bad guys?:

National Journal explains why Obama and the democrats have to work with the Republicans:

Obama has at least two incentives to talk. First, there is the matter of optics. Voters want to believe that their leaders are open-minded, a trait they particularly expect in a president who promised to change the culture of Washington. Obama simply undermines his credibility by stiff-arming the GOP. Their obstinacy is no excuse for his. During the last protracted government shutdown, President Clinton talked almost every day with GOP rivals Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole.

Second, Obama has an opportunity to deftly steer an embattled and divided GOP away from Obamacare and to an issue worthy of high-stakes negotiations: The nation’s long-term budget crisis. While it’s true that the deficit has dropped in recent months, nothing has been done to secure Social Security and Medicare beyond the next 10 years. Punting this red-ink quandary to the next president would mar Obama’s legacy.

In April, I wrote that both the White House and the GOP House had incentive to strike a deal that would both raise taxes and trim entitlement spending. The story traced the outlines of such a deal, but the moment was lost. Boehner doesn’t trust Obama and is worried about a revolt from his no-compromise caucus. Obama doesn’t trust Boehner and is worried about a revolt from his no-compromise caucus. The House speaker reportedly raised the idea of a so-called grand bargain at a White House meeting last week, and got laughed at. That is the exact wrong response.

So, we’ll see. Hopefully this shut down ends quickly. As I am sure these people; like my friend John —- would like to get back to work. I say this because of this right here: I am all for political principles. However, stopping Government for the sole purpose of furthering those principles is just unacceptable in the real world. James Antle has it correct; Republicans need to play the long game, and not this sort of stupidity. It is only hurting people that have nothing to do with the political process.

There is a fine line between political principles and blatant idiocy; wise is the man that knows the difference between the two.

Excellent Reading: Jim Antle asks: “What’s Wrong With the Republican Right?”

This is some excellent reading here. I just wish more of the Republicans AND Tea Party types would read it and listen:

No longer will it suffice for Republican politicians to come to Washington and compile respectable, or even stellar, ratings from conservative groups. If federal spending is ever to be restrained as the baby boomers enter retirement, we will need politicians who are willing to employ unconventional methods in the fight.

Conservatives need rebels and boat-rockers, not conformists and time-servers. So I argued in my recent book on the political prospects for limited government. Sen. Ted Cruz would seem to fit the bill. The Texas Republican has been a one-man demolition crew, aiming his wrecking ball squarely at Capitol Hill’s customs and conventions.

But, surveying the scene in Washington, is Cruz an example of the old saying about being careful about what you wish for?

via What’s Wrong With the Republican Right? | The American Conservative.

One part that I really like in particular:

To be sure, in politics it sometimes pays to consider the long game. Barry Goldwater lost in a landslide in 1964, giving the Democrats the supermajorities they needed to usher in the Great Society. But in time, the GOP became Goldwater’s party to a far greater extent than Nelson Rockfeller’s.

Ronald Reagan lost the fight against the Panama Canal Treaty, just as he failed to win the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 or 1976. But Reagan’s subsequent victories are remembered long after most of those who had earlier beaten him were forgotten.

It would be premature to count Cruz out over a fiscal impasse that has yet to reach a decisive conclusion. But it might be worth asking a few hard questions.

Is the current confrontation likely to reverse or materially change the Affordable Care Act? Is it moving public opinion against Obamacare or against the Republicans? What is it accomplishing?

Perhaps if the answer is simply that it is raising Ted Cruz’s profile, it will still benefit conservatives over the long term. Since Goldwater and Reagan retired, the right has long lacked figures who can compete on more or less even terms with the Doles, Bushes, McCains, and Romneys of the world.

But it should not simply be assumed that this answer is good enough. Conservatives once fought Republicans whose “dime store New Deals” were only incrementally different from what the Democrats proposed.

Over time, they began to rely on things like American Conservative Union scores to assess lawmakers’ fidelity to principle. Groups like the Club for Growth emerged, challenging the business interests that had traditionally run the Republican Party for influence in the primaries.

Today it is no longer enough for most conservatives to have a Republican who will vote with them most of the time. Conservatives insist on politicians who will fight when it counts most. And they realize that some fights—Obamacare, the Wall Street bailout, the Gang of Eight immigration deal—matter more than tax breaks for hedge fund managers.

There is one more step in this evolution: evaluating whether conservatives are actually producing results. Too often, conservatives measure that by the volume of liberal outrage a Republican political figure inspires.

I believe that every last person that even remotely thinks about getting into politics of any sort; ought be tied to a chair and forced to read that part right there until he can recite it by memory!

I suggest you go read the rest of that one; it’s good. I don’t want to quote the entire thing here. We need more thinkers and less reactionaries in that party. Plus too, I said the same thing, when it comes to the long game. Jim Antle gets that; and that’s a good thing. 😀

Video: Democratic Party Senator public relations FAIL!

When I saw this, I simply said one thing: HOLY MOSES! 😯

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The quote, via the Washington Free Beacon:

DANA BASH: You all talked about children with cancer unable to go to clinical trials. The House is presumably going to pass a bill that funds at least the NIH. Given what you’ve said, will you at least pass that? And if not, aren’t you playing the same political games that Republicans are?

HARRY REID: Listen, Sen. Durbin explained that very well, and he did it here, did it on the floor earlier, as did Senator Schumer. What right did they have to pick and choose what part of government is going to be funded? It’s obvious what’s going on here. You talk about reckless and irresponsible. Wow. What this is all about is Obamacare. They are obsessed. I don’t know what other word I can use. They’re obsessed with this Obamacare. It’s working now and it will continue to work and people will love it more than they do now by far. So they have no right to pick and choose.

BASH: But if you can help one child who has cancer, why wouldn’t you do it?

REID: Why would we want to do that? I have 1,100 people at Nellis Air Force base that are sitting home. They have a few problems of their own. This is — to have someone of your intelligence to suggest such a thing maybe means you’re irresponsible and reckless –

BASH: I’m just asking a question.

Right about now; if I were anything closely related to the Democratic Party — leadership, strategist or whatever — I would be ordering a double of some very strong liquor. The Democrats will never, ever live that one down; ever.

Update: Now a memeorandum thread.

Others: Weekly Standard, Hot Air and The Lonely Conservative

This is why the GOP needs to wise up about this shut down

Because we are going to lose businesses. Government shutdowns hurt everyone, not just those in Government employment.

The Story:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Business leaders have failed to persuade their traditional Republican allies in Congress to avert a government shutdown. And they fear that bigger problems lie ahead.

That’s driving business leaders to take sides with a Democratic president whose health care and regulatory agenda they have vigorously opposed.

President Barack Obama is embracing the business outreach. On Wednesday, Obama is set to host chief executives from the nation’s 19 biggest financial firms.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has sent a letter to Congress signed by about 250 business groups urging no shutdown and warning against a debt ceiling crisis.

The partial closing of the government and the looming confrontation over the nation’s borrowing limit highlight the remarkable drop in the business community’s influence among House Republicans.

via Associated Press.

This is why I sort of thought that this shutdown was a bad idea. What the Tea Party Reps in the house forget is that the Republican Party’s biggest constituents are business owners; big and small. This could hurt the GOP in a huge way. Now, while I think that Obamacare was a bad idea; I happen to know that the GOP lost the battle, it is now law, affirmed by the supreme court.  So, why not play the long game, and try to actually win elections in 2014, and 2016 — including the White House? Then, once that happens, try to tweak the Affordable care act to make it a bit less intrusive and get rid of the mandate.

What the Republicans are doing now in the house is basically going to undermine any attempts to win any sort of an election come 2014 and 2016. In other words, the Republicans in the house are playing the wrong game for the situation. However, the truth is that Harry Reid could bring up what the house sent, for a vote;  which wouldn’t pass. But he is playing political games and keeping the government shut down to make a point. This will work against the Democrats in senate and the house and will play against whomever is running in 2016.

Simply put, this is an game of political brinkmanship, which is putting a good deal of people, like my friend John; out of work. It is not like the shutdown is going to stop Government totally, that is a farce. Simply Put, the Governmental employees who ARE out of work, should not be punished, because of the idiot divide, between the House and the Senate; it just does not make any sense and it is going to hurt those who actually campaigned to serve their Country as public servants.

In other words: Let’s cut the stupid stuff and get back to work.

 

The New Republic calls for Democrats to BOMB the Capital Building!

No, I am not kidding….

Via Twitter:

Unreal. I don’t agree with what the Republicans are doing; but this is over the top.

(removed tweet) Sorry, that was a bit harsh, even for me…

Update #2: TNR now has a posting up and it is a memorandum thread now too.

Others: National Review, Hit & Run, Weasel Zippers, VodkaPundit and The PJ Tatler