;)
The Commentariat -- Oct. 15, 2013
CW: Sorry about not posting yesterday. I clocked 1,400 miles on the road in 31 hours (Sunday pm to Monday pm) & couldn't fit in much else. Came home after three months away to a series of minor disasters, which is to be expected. Luckily, I didn't arrive home till -- too late to begin trying to mitigate any of the disaster Monday night. So for now anyway I'm back in business here. One thing that's working, to my surprise -- my Internet connection!
NEW. Jonathan Weisman, et al., of the New York Times: "House Republican leaders struggled late Tuesday morning to forge a new proposal to reopen the government and change the president's health care law, after a plan presented behind closed doors to the Republican rank and file failed to immediately attract enough support to pass. About two hours after the plan was presented Tuesday morning, Republican leaders backed off it. Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters that there were 'no decisions about what exactly we will do.'" ...
... CW: BTW, I saw Chuck Todd on the teevee saying he couldn't understand why House Democrats were so upset by the House blowing up the Reid/McConnell plan. Even Luke Russert, who is a pretty dim bulb, gets it. ...
... NEW: Jonathan Weisman & Jennifer Steinhauer of the New York Times: "In a Senate still dominated by men, women on both sides of the partisan divide proved to be the driving forces that shaped a negotiated settlement." ...
... Lori Montgomery & Rosalind Helderman of the Washington Post: "House Republican leaders plan to put forward their own plan to reopen the federal government and raise the debt ceiling, lawmakers said Tuesday, casting new doubts on efforts by a bipartisan group of senators as they tried to finalize a deal that could be approved by both houses of Congress and the White House." ...
... Rosalind Helderman, et al., of the Washington Post: "In a long-awaited breakthrough, Senate leaders closed in on a deal Monday to raise the federal debt ceiling and end a two-week-old government shutdown as Washington scrambled to avoid the nation's first default on its debt. With leaders of both parties optimistic that they will soon come together to end the political crisis that has paralyzed Washington, details of the possible agreement began to emerge. It would raise the debt limit until Feb. 15 and fund federal agencies until Jan. 15, with the two sides holding budget talks before a new round of sequestration budget cuts take effect in January, according to people in the Senate familiar with the talks. The deal would also make minor tweaks to the new health-care law, though nothing along the lines of what some conservative Republicans have been demanding. It would require additional safeguards to ensure that people who receive federal subsidies to purchase health insurance under the law are eligible to receive them, the people said." ...
... The New York Times story, by Michael Shear & Jeremy Peters, is here. The Politico report, by Manu Raju & others, is here. ...
... Update. In their latest report, Shear & Peters write, "Republican senators prepared to meet on Tuesday morning to hear from their leadership about a potential deal with Democrats that could resolve the standoff with President Obama, reopen the government and lift the threat of an American default by raising the debt ceiling." ...
... Robert Costa of National Review: "... the approximately 50 Republicans who form the House GOP's right flank [are] furious with Senate Republicans for working with Democrats to craft what one leading Tea Party congressman calls a 'mushy piece of s--t.' Another House conservative warns, 'If Boehner backs this, as is, he's in trouble.' But that's unlikely to happen. As of 8:30 a.m. [Tuesday], House conservatives believe the leadership is well aware of their unhappiness, and they expect Boehner to talk up the House's next move: another volley to the Senate, which would extend the debt ceiling, reopen the government, and set up a budget conference, plus request conservative demands that go beyond the Senate's outline." ...
... Jennifer Epstein of Politico: "President Obama's meeting with congressional leaders [scheduled for Monday afternoon] has been postponed to allow Senate leaders more time to work out an agreement, the White House said in updated guidance." ...
ThisAP photo appeared in Politico over the caption: "President Obama puts sandwiches into bags with volunteers as he visits Martha's Table, which assists the poor and where furloughed federal employees are volunteering, in Washington, Oct. 13."... Whaddaha think? Rubbing Republicans' nose in it, OR bad optic of pathetic, helpless Leader of the Free World with nothing to do except hope Ted Cruz doesn't blow up the world? ...
... Joshua Green of Business Week: "... Ted Cruz (R-Tex.), who basically forced the shutdown and whose own private polls have convinced him that it has been a glorious success, at this point could probably force a default and global economic calamity on his own -- if he were so inclined.... the Senate can move quickly when necessary, but only by unanimous consent. Let's say Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) strike a deal today [Monday].... Cruz surely won't like it and has said repeatedly, 'I will do everything necessary and anything possible to defund Obamacare. If he's true to his word, he could drag out the proceedings past Thursday and possibly well beyond." Green provides the particulars. CW: Hope Ted & his staff don't read this. ...
... Oops, Too Late. Ted is already thinking about forcing a default. Burgess Everett of Politico: "Ted Cruz is waiting to decide whether to hold up a potential deal in the Senate that would reopen the government and avert a breach of the debt ceiling. With the debt limit deadline looming Thursday and quick Senate action needed to beat it, Cruz would not divulge whether he'd allow a quick vote on an emerging deal to reopen government and raise the debt ceiling." Neither Cruz nor his ally Mike Lee (RTP-Utah) would reveal to reporters whether or not they will cause the Treasury to go into default. Rand Paul (RTP-Ky.) said he would not obstruct a vote. CW: If Cruz & Lee pulls this stunt, McConnell should strip them of every committee assignment & -- if he can -- strip them of their seniority. Enough is enough. ...
At a Saturday session, Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, protested a Republican-imposed rules change to a standing rule that allows any member to bring matters to the floor for a vote. Under the "new rule," no member can exercise the standing rule unless the Majority Leader or his designate approved it:
Chris Wilson of Time posts "Uncle Sam's Bank Statement," an interactive chart that exposes how low the account is. "As one can see, there is only $25 million left on the federal government's credit card before it hits its current borrowing limit of $16,699,421,000,000 -- a drop in the bucket. The U.S. had $36.5 billion in its account as of Thursday evening, but it is difficult to say exactly when this reserve will run out since new cash flows in every day. That amount may last a few days beyond the widely cited Oct. 17 deadline for a deal to raise the borrowing limit. But it won't last long." ...
... Gene Robinson: "A crazy thing is happening in shuttered, dysfunctional Washington: Democrats are pushing back. This phenomenon is so novel and disorienting that many Republicans in Congress, especially the tea party bullies, seem unable to grasp what's going on." ...
... That's because, according to conservative Michael Gerson of the Washington Post, the Tea Party has abandoned "the contours of reality." The latest Republican maneuvers represent an "effort [that] had little to do with governing and everything to do with positioning -- the ideological maneuvering of tea party leaders." ...
... CBS DC: "Frustrated veterans and their friends and families gathered at the World War II and Lincoln Memorials on the National Mall [Sunday], pushing past barriers to protest the memorial's closing under the government shutdown before turning their attentions to the White House." ...
... Evan McMurry of Mediaite: Apparently the organizers of the march are upset that Ted Cruz (who caused the shutdown) & Sarah Palin (she called for President Obama's impeachment) were among the uninvited speakers & "hijacked" the march for "political gain." I guess the organizers also weren't crazy about Confederate Flag guy & "Freedom Works' Larry Klayman [who] told Obama to 'put the Quran down' and leave town [as] the crowd invoked 'brown shirts' and Kenya...." Just your average Wingers Sunday in the Park. ...
I will not be timid in calling out any who would use our military, our vets, as pawns in a political game. --Half-Gov. Sarah Palin (RTP-Alaska) using our military, our vets as pawns in the political game during the veterans' protest
A good example of what I mean by sociopathic behavior: When I do it, it's noble and just; when you do it, its reprehensible & calls for extraordinary measures (say, impeachment!). -- Constant Weader
... Andrew Kirell of Mediate: "On his radio show Monday morning, Bill Press took on this weekend's Million Vet March by denouncing the participants as 'idiots' who've been used by 'right-wing organizations' to protest against their own best interests. Ultimately, he said, they shouldn't be following people like Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), they should be expressing public odium towards him":
I mean, how dumb can they be? Don't they realize that the guys that they were cheering yesterday, Ted Cruz, is the guy behind the shutdown? He's the guy, doesn't everybody know that? Not those idiots.... They should have been hanging him in effigy at the Memorial. They should have been booing him. -- Bill Press ...
... David Atkins, in Hullabaloo, explains to the White House press corps what a "metaphor" is. P.S. "No one would need to resort to the metaphors if the press would simply accurately relate the situation. Is it really so necessary to lie in the interest of 'balance'?" Quite a good read, with actual metaphors from Paul Krugman & Jon Stewart who try to explain the debt ceiling crisis to dummies -- include the WH press corps. CW: I don't know if any of you ever listens to those live White House press briefings I embed. I often listen, & I am repeatedly stunned by how many of the press, including those representing major media outlets, are out-and-out dimwitted. ...
... John Sides, who is out with a new book on the subject, writes an interesting post on media coverage of the 2012 presidential race. Sides & his co-author Lynn Vavreck treat the media as players, not observers, and include, um, facts & statistical analysis. ...
... CW: On partisan hostility to the media. There's a difference, that I've never seen remarked on: the right falsely accuses the press of liberal bias (see Sides' data), while the left, usually accurately, accuses the press of being dumb and/or dedicated to false equivalency.
Be Careful Who Your Friends Are. Barton Gellman of the Washington Post & Ashkan Soltani: "The National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. The collection program, which has not been disclosed before, intercepts e-mail address books and 'buddy lists' from instant messaging services as they move across global data links."
News Lede
Washington Post: "... former Army Capt. William Swenson ... will accept the Medal of Honor from President Obama before 250 guests at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, the first Army officer to receive the U.S. military's highest valor award since the Vietnam war."
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Reader Comments (18)
Marie, I listened to that press briefing and was appalled. I mentioned here that I wouldn't last 30 minutes having to deal with those idiots. Carney must have to consume gallons of something strong both before and after one of those things. I saw the Fox guy storm out and the other idiot who was so pissed about Malala not winning the Nobel he had to ask twice..."didn't Obama think the Nobel just BLEW the whole thing" dribbble, dribble, drool. I thought the award was quite a good choice, as a matter of fact.
Carney is not as polished as some other Press Secretarys...actually he's quite dull although the tension builds as you hope he manages to answer an endlessly repeated question without making some stupid remark that winds up as a headline on Drudge.
The whole effort does not seem to be much of an recruitment tool to encourage smart young people to come to Washington to work. Except maybe if you want to be a Ted Cruz. He seems to enjoy it.
Welcome back! Your 1400 miles in 31 hrs pronounces you fit for any one of those jobs in Washington. But the question is how much anesthetic do we need to provide?
WELCOME BACK, MARIE!
@CW: "...Whaddaha think? Rubbing Republicans' nose in it, OR bad optic of pathetic, helpless Leader of the Free World with nothing to do except hope Ted Cruz doesn't blow up the world? ..."
I am going in the direction of being a cockeyed optimist on this one. I think (hope) perhaps Obama is following our best ex-President, Jimmy Carter, in pursuit of authentic humanitarian goals--and has
(at least for the moment), eschewed this over-the-top political craziness going on in Congress!
On another front, I joined the Twitter campaign (started by Digby) asking David Gregory to withdraw his "false equivalency" remarks from the Press the Meet joke-show yesterday. I suggested that 'Lil Dave consider quitting his day job until after he has taken and completed (with a passing grade) Econ. 101--NOT online. Either GW or Georgetown would be good choices. However, he probably could not pass the college boards for admission and would have to audit. Bettah than nothing, I would say. What an asswipe!
Kate, that is an insult...................to tissue.
@Roger Henry-
Please explain further! I think I get your drift, but I have to sneeze, and am wondering about which tissue to choose! Suggestions please.
Or are you referring to the "other end," in which case I would have to suggest Charmin Wipies! Flushable. Unless Ted Cruz's turds are as big as his ego. Then....we will need a clean-up-crew with lots of mops and Lysol.
P.S. Have you noticed that Teddy Cruzy looks a lot like Bill O'Reilly? Amazing. Same genes,
Kate, I'm assuming you are using asswipe as a verb not the adjective. As such, his actions cover him with the most objectionable of human substance and yet his personal value is so miniscule as to be nearly non-existent.
The insult to tissue is that tissue has function, which it performs silently and obediently. Teddy, obeys no code of human conduct, except that of a con artist( sort of a Canadian Darrell Issa) and is incapable of silence.
@Kate M., et al. Please give us a link, or at least point us in the right direction, to the David Gregory false equivalency Twitter campaign. Thanks.
In general, when you mention a particular article that you think might be of interest to other readers, please take the time to copy & paste the URL/Web address in your comment, so we can find it. I spent some time looking for some reference to the Greggers Twitter campaign & couldn't find it.
Marie
I don't know yet if we're about the witness the final acts of this year's edition of the National Theaters's Really Bad Play or if there is more to come, but was intrigued by the possibility that should a Senate deal be reached, Cruz might still withhold his consent to an immediate vote and force default.
Made me wonder how long Senate rules have allowed individual Senators effective veto power over the business of the state, and will look it up when I get to it. But regardless of the rule's provenance and history, no matter how venerable, I would think that any rule that allows, even encourages, anti-democratic behavior from anyone, let alone someone who is making a very good living by labeling a duly elected President a "tyrant," needs to go the way of the lamented dodo. Now.
I say "now" because I believe it is only a functioning democracy, or at least the sense that each of us has an equal voice in making and maintaining our social and economic arrangements, that keeps us from violence and barbarism. As the demographic, geographic and economic pressures on our polity, already immense, build rapidly, a functioning democracy (or its illusion), which is our system's pressure relief valve, becomes ever more vital.
Unfortunately democratic principles are increasingly under attack from the Right, which is very publicly hastening to destroy even democracy's illusion. The House's behavior so far and Cruz' threatened behavior are only two obvious instances of government's drift toward minority rule.
For their sake, (though I'm not sure I should care) I hope the Right's gated communities have really strong gates.
Yes, welcome back, Marie and hope the problems you came back to can be solved without too much difficulty.
SUNDAY IN THE PARK with Ted, Mike & Sarah:
It absolutely blows my mind that these three yahoos had the gaul to pretend that they were outraged by the shutdown that they themselves, sans Sarah, had implemented. Stupid crowd? I guess, but holy cow how dumb can you get?
"In 1906, early in the Progressive era, the humorist Finley Peter Dunne’s fictional barroom sage, Mr. Dooley, put the social and political tumult of the day into perspective. “Th’ noise ye hear is not th’ first gun iv a revolution,” Dooley remarked. “It’s on’y th’ people iv th’ United States batin’ a carpet.” A century from now, or even a year from now, Americans may say the same about the Tea Party. For the moment, though, it appears that the extreme right wing is on the verge of securing a degree of power over Congress and the Republican Party that is unprecedented in modern American history. For defenders of national cohesion and tempered adversity in our politics, it is an alarming state of affairs."
(Sean Wilentz--2010
Who's your dictator?
The URL below is a WaPo video clip of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD8) asking the Speaker Protem (Jason Chafetz - R-UT) 8/14 about the ability of any member to raise a bill, when it is subject to disagreement between the House and the Senate.
It seems that on October 1, House Rules Committee (Pete Sessions R-TX Chair) passed a rule overriding a standing rule that allows any member to raise a disputed bill, the October 1 new rule reserves that privilege to the Speaker. Rep Louise Slaughter (D-NY) objected to that October 1 overriding rule in the Rules Committee October 1, but did not prevail.
The upshot is that, under standing rules, any House member could get the Senate bill to reopen the government to the House floor for a vote; but under the rule passed October 1, that standing privilege was removed by the GOP, so that only the Speaker can put the Senate's re-opening bill on the floor. House GOP leadership removed from the standing procedures of the House the ability of any member, other than the Speaker, to end the shutdown.
This has apparently been on the internet, but I have not seen reference to it in print before today. It is clear, from this parliamentary maneuver alone, that the GOP planned and executed the shutdown so that only one person, Speaker Boehner, could end it.
"Boehner", vt. - to screw your country without knowing why.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/posttv/politics/van-hollen-questions-gops-rule-change/2013/10/14/b7624012-34fc-11e3-80c6-7e6dd8d22d8f_video.html?hpid=z3
Good thing it was President Obama making sandwiches. If it were Ryan, he'd be late and then people would have to scrape the PBJ off the bread for the photo op.
My teeth are already grinding of their own accord in anticipation of the news coverage, when a temporary halt to the Republican tantrum is reached on the shutdown /debt ceiling. I'm sure it will be more like a ticker tape - conquering hero parade and Republicans will benefit for their vicious ignorance in the first place. The positive attention will perpetuate the madness. An extra large can of ass whippin' sprayed until empty would be more in order.
Thanks Patrick for bringing this to our attention. Chris and Rachel had this information on their shows last night, but I forgot about it this morning––just one more slippery tactic to keep up with.
@Patrick: I expect it was this story by Dylan Scott of TPM, published October 10, that made Van Hollen take note. This was the first report I saw of the rules change, & I don't know that anyone else picked up the story until Van Hollen brought the issue to the floor.
I'll post the Van Hollen/Chaffetz video in a moment.
Marie
OK, I admit that this post is filled with a certain bity of hyperbole.
I just watched the WaPo video clip of Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD8) asking the Speaker Protem (Jason Chafetz - R-UT) about the ability of any member to raise a bill, when it is subject to disagreement between the House and the Senate, and all I can say is - "wow, holy fuck." Such rule making is so destructive of what the original rule actually says that it is analagous to calling a blue sky, red.
Over the last few days I have been repeating to myself the question - How can the Speaker of the House have so much arbitrary power?" The answer as shown to us by Van Hollen is full of the George Owellian notion of "BECAUSE HE HAS THE POWER!" This is such a full blown destruction of what participatory democracy should be that it calls for something close to insurrection. I believe what Speaker Boehner and those that support this suppression of a clean bill to reopen the government (especially that crew in the rules committee who voted for such crap) are engaged in straight forward treason! They should be brought up on charges, particularly John Boehner and crew. Vote on the damn bill! Or, the new, soon to be passed Senate version which I personally do not like because it is not clean and uses far to short a timeframe before we are right back in the shit again. Open up and fund the damn government.
And viewing that video in its entirety makes me sick! Those sneaky bastards changing a long standing rule and doing it in such a duplicitous way is egregious–– would like to know which side was doing the background noise––those that thought they accomplished a major fuck-you or those that discovered that democracy just took a deep dive down the imperial rat hole.
And maybe another way of saying what is on all our minds this AM might be: We are losing the vital distinction between minority rights and minority rule. The first is essential to democracy; the latter is blatantly contrary to it.
Here is a copy of the Digby letter:
DAVID GREGORY DOESN'T GET IT
Digby -- blogger at digbysblog.blogspot.com via CREDO Mobilize organize@credoaction.com via controlshiftlabs.com
Just days after we delivered more than 150,000 petition signatures to NBC News and other major television networks telling them to report the truth about the Republicans' government shutdown, David Gregory is still trying to convince his viewers that BOTH SIDES ARE EQUALLY TO BLAME.
Here's what he said on Meet the Press yesterday: "So we still have a problem, which is the Democrats want more revenue, Republicans want to deal with the entitlements, which are really cannibalizing the budget. Where is there a reason to be hopeful that Congress can get to something meaningful here?"
David Gregory is either lying or confused. Social Security is off budget and our budget problems were caused by costly and unnecessary wars and tax cuts for the wealthy.
Our friends at the Progressive Change Campaign Committee are working to hold Gregory accountable for his remarks on Twitter. If you're on Twitter, can you join them by clicking the links below to help send @DavidGregory a message?
.@DavidGregory #SocialSecurity is off budget and has 2 trillion surplus. Stop demonizing #SS via @CREDOmobile
.@DavidGregory Millions of grandparents & veterans need #SocialSecurity & #Medicare. Stop demonizing them. via @CREDOmobile
.@DavidGregory With corporations cutting pensions, we need to expand #SocialSecurity & #Medicare benefits, not cut them #SS via @CREDOmobile
Thanks for helping to hold David Gregory accountable for his lazy and inaccurate reporting that blames Democrats and Social Security for the Republicans' government shutdown.
Digby
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com
Correction: H Res 368 (the October 1 special suspension of the Standing Rule which would allow any House member to propose a vote on the Senate Bill, therefore a vote to reopen the USG), reserves the privilege to the House GOP Majority Leader (Rep Eric Cantor, R-VA). My error, above I wrote that the privilege was the Speaker's under this suspension of Standing Rule.
That is even more interesting:
-- the Speaker nominally represents "the House" and not just the majority party; here, "the House" does not empower the Speaker, rather the House majority party empowers Cantor. Not even a fig-leaf of bipartisanship.
-- one must wonder whether the GOP trusts Boehner with the option
-- conversely, maybe part of Boehner's price for going this far is to ensure that when the GOP takes up the Senate bill, Cantor takes the blame for allowing that vote, while Boehner rolls his eyes. Unless there is a tie, Speakers don't even have to vote
Calvinball -- the only rule is that you can't use the same rules
@ Patrick: good points all. There has to be some reason the ball is in Cantor's court, not Boehner's.
Marie