Republicans Behaving Badly -- and OTHER Good News

by Sunnyjane

The Tea Party-infused GOP -- and all those who worship with them -- cannot help itself: it has to act Stupid, Stupider, Stupidest; there must be some sort of contest on that side of the political spectrum.

We may as well jump right in and see what they've been up to during the first four weeks of this Year of the Horse.  (And please note that I did not say horse's ass, although come to think of it...)

Pox News Sets the Standard for Obama Derangement Syndrome
 

But if we were going to discuss the derriere of the Equus ferus caballus, the place to start would definitely be Fox News.  I gleefully admit that there hasn't been much good news for conservatives to talk about lately -- the Ailes book, Christ Christie, Bob McDonnell, Scott Walker praising a registered sex offender who has, among other issues, convictions for forgery, battery, and drunk driving -- so in a pinch they turn to racism and/or President Obama. 

Eric Bolling just had to make the pronouncement that there is no racism in America because we have a Black president and there are all those, you know, Black entertainment channels.  I guess he didn't get the news that a GOP official in Michigan said that the way to fix Detroit's problems is to round up all the Indians (a quaint euphemism for the blahs), put a fence around the city, and throw in some watermelons corn and blankets.

Greg Gutfeld was proud as punch that he could shoehorn Obama into the [Justin] Bieber story.  I guess that's sort of like Obama playing the Bieber-card to take the spotlight off  Obamacare.  Or Benghazi.  Or all those other Obama thingies; take your pick.  In a related story, MSNBC news host Andrea Mitchell was having a discussion about the NSA when she interrupted her guest for a special news-breaking story on the arrest of, you guessed it, Justin Bieber.        

A Bit of Come-Back-and-Bite-You-in-the-Ass Karma 

Well, that WAS my job until I got caught in a hotel room with a woman not my wife.

Holy Hypocrisy, Hogwarts!  What is the world coming to?  The conservatives have legislated the crap out of the non-existent Democratic voter fraud issue long and loud, but have always denied that there is anything remotely true about Republican election fraud.  Oh yeah?

How about that little thingy in Michigan in 2012?  U.S. Representative Thaddeus McCotter decided to run for president that year.  His campaign lasted all of two months, so he decided to run for his House seat again.  Unfortunately for old Thad, he failed to qualify for the  Republican primary in his congressional district after massive fraud by his staff resulted in the rejection of approximately 85% of his petition signatures as invalid.   Four of his aides were subsequently indicted on federal election charges for what the Republican Attorney General called a blatant and disgraceful attempt to qualify the Congressman for this year's ballot.

So, entering Stage Right comes Dinesh D'Souza, the far-right pulpit pounding writer, speaker, and film producer of all things anti-liberal, especially President Barack Obama.  D'Souza's fantasy film that was loved and worshiped by conservatives nationwide warned that Barack Obama’s attitude toward America derives from his father's anti-colonialism and from a psychological desire to fulfill his father's dream of diminishing the power of Western imperial states.  Well, that must have happened through osmosis, since the senior Obama went back to Kenya when Barack was two years old, spent one month with him and his mother when Barack was ten; he never saw -- or heard from -- his father again.  But never let facts get in the way of a good Obama- bashing.  (Readers might remember that Newt Gingrich, who is obviously a devoted fan of D'Souza's fairy tales, took up the mantra in his failed campaign to become the GOP presidential nominee in 2012, by saying of the President, ...only if you understand his Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior can you piece together his actions.  Well no wonder Newt is upset.  He did plan to colonize the moon when he became president.)

But last week, karma came a-knocking on Dinesh's door in the form of federal indictments charging him with one count of making illegal campaign contributions and one count of causing false statements to be made to the FEC.  His lawyer makes these illegal actions sound like they were committed by a didn't-know-any-better child, saying that helping a friend with an election campaign was at most, an act of misguided friendship and that his client did not act with any corrupt or criminal intent whatsoever.  Uh huh; try that defense strategy on the judge.

Of course, Alex Jones and his ilk have gone absolutely ballistic.

Shhh, You Can't Say That Out Loud!

Sorry, that growth is inoperable.  You brought it on yourself.  Live with it.

The Republican National Committee has taken a break from doing nothing useful to holding  a meeting of all the state members in Washington for three days to further accomplish nothing terribly constructive.  They defended Chris Christie for his leadership, but refused to bless him as their standard bearer for 2016.  Then they worked up a better primary schedule.  Then they figured out positive ways for the GOP to improve its image and be more inclusive to the various demographic groups that they pissed off in 2012.  And 2008.  And so on.  Actually, I lied about that last one.  And things got worse while they were meeting.

Ten months after anointing Mike Huckabee as the model for the Republican Party, Reince Priebus was treated to the sight and sound of his party's model calling American women stupid and slutty because they wanted their healthcare insurance to include contraception.  OK, that was bad.  But then comes the news that as governor of Arkansas, Huckabee himself demanded that contraception be included in healthcare issues.  Please proceed, Governor.

The attendees also tried to defrock a Michigan RNC member who was not in attendance at the DC confab for running around his district saying really nasty things about Muslims and the LGBT community.  Now don't go thinking the GOP has gotten all mushy or that it has a threshold on homophobia and bigotry.  They don't care what he thinks, it's what he says that they object to; they've known about this guy for a long time.  Oh, he refused to resign.  Your move, Reince. 

In Illinois, GOP candidate Susanne Anus Atanus is trying to unseat Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky, is campaigning on the theory that autism and dementia -- and maybe ingrown toenail; I dunno --are God's punishment for abortions and gay marriage. 

Down in Rick Scott's purge the voter roles territory, a Republican candidate for Florida's House of Representatives must think that even bad publicity is a good thing for an unknown.  He made the mistake of declaring publicly that President Obama should be hanged, which earned him a meeting with the Secret Service.  That group is rather sensitive to what is said about the individual they are sworn to protect.

A Hodgepodge of This, That and the Other

In his typical shoot-first-and-aim-later fashion, Mitt Romney jumped right in and defended Chris Christie, saying that he handled the bridge scandal in a very effective way.  That was on January 18; no word from Mittens since the rest of shit pile has it the fan in New Jersey.  Perhaps he should have gone to Sochi and criticized the Russians for how they're running the Olympics.

Joe Arpiao is thinking of running for governor of Arizona.  Good God.

The Associate Press wants George Zimmerman to stop trying to sell his newest painting, saying it is based on one of their photos. 

Right after refusing to extend unemployment benefits for out-of-work Americans, Eric Cantor spent $105 tax-payer dollars on breakfast for two at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.  No, seriously!

Steve Stockman goes missing.  Does anyone care?  Will his photo start appearing on milk cartons soon?

NASA's Mars rover kicked up a rock with a message from God on it.  Written in every language known to man, the message read: GET OFF MY LAWN!  (God can get a bit touchy at times, can't She? )

There's no truth to the rumor that Sarah Palin is in hiding because she believes that the barracuda cloud control thing that she sees on every web page is really the NSA following her around in an attempt to control her thoughts.  No, the NSA has determined that Palin's thoughts are useless.

End Note

If the GOP is Getting Crazier, This Must be an Election Year

by Sunnyjane

GOP aide:  What we did in 2013 didn't work, but we don't know what to do in 2014.

Clean out your freezers, folks, because it's time to start adding new and exciting names of the Republicans who should be left out in the cold on November  4.

Last November, Majority Leader Eric Cantor called House Republican members into his office and handed them a copy of his 2014 agenda -- a blank piece of paper.  No, seriously.

The Republican aide semi-quoted above added:  Cantor wants to take us in a new direction, which is good. The problem is we don’t know where we are headed, and we don’t know what we can sell to our members.  That's a plan?  Hmpf!  Who knew?

Actually, they did come up with an awesome 2014 agenda in which they intend to tackle  the real economic issues facing middle-class Americans and painting a more positive image of the party.  Fresh and innovative, isn't it?  WOW!  I guess that's going to happen right after they all attend the March for Life rally -- which is an annual far-right protest against the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade 1973 decision -- on January 22.

Of course, as Alan Grayson points out, the House may as well do nothing, considering some of the bills members introduced in 2013, such as: allowing states to nullify any federal law; a bill that would require every high school student to read Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged; one to prohibit lap dancing and Jello wrestling; a bill that would establish a state religion; and a bill that would allow restaurants, hotels, hair salons and other businesses to deny service to gay customers.  Yep, that's how they intend to paint a more positive image of the GOP.  Hell, that ain't even a good white-wash!

But they truly are working hard to improve their image.  After all, they've held seminars on how to talk to women, and have just sent a memo to members on how to act all sympathetic and stuff toward unemployed Americans for whom they have just cut off unemployment benefits.

What a bunch of morans.

The Wyoming Whiz Who Was, Wimped

And then I'll let you know when I'm quitting!

Darth Vader's darling daughter, Liz Cheney, decided that her run against a popular establishment Republican probably wasn't going to go her way, so she quit the race.  The irony of that entire issue is that Sen. Mike Enzi was leaning toward giving up on politics this year.  However, when Liz carpetbagged into the Cowboy State and informed him that she'd be mounting a primary challenge against him, he got a little testy and seemed to have adopted a Bring it on! attitude.

It was not at all a smart move, especially in light of the fact that she'd never held elected office.  Frankly, I'm betting my auntie's old pink panties that Karl Rove got to her.  After all, he's going to have his hands full as it is.  For example...

Does Texas Have a Lock on Crazy?

And if Texas voters had brains larger than a grasshopper's, you wouldn't be in Washington

Now I'm no mental health expert, but I feel comfortable saying that Steve Stockman is, well, certifiably nuts.

The first thing Stockman did after being sworn in last January was vote against John Boehner to retain his Speakership.   Politically, that probably wasn't the smartest move to make.  The second thing he did was invite Ted Nugent to the State of the Union address.  Yes, the same Ted Nugent who said in 2007 that then-candidate Barack Obama could suck on my machine gun!  In April 2012, Nugent earned himself a little meeting with the Secret Service after he proclaimed that if the president were reelected, I'll either be dead or in jail.  So from a use of good judgment standpoint, this wasn't one of Stockman's, er, shinier moments.  (You have to wonder what Sarah Palin thought of Ted Nugent's being invited to the State of the Union address and she wasn't; bet the old fridge took a beating THAT night.)

Stockman's against everything remotely liberal and for everything extremely conservative.  He's a birther, calling the President's long-form birth certificate fraudulent;  he's against everything LGBT; and he loves guns, hates abortion.  Back in 1995, he decided that the 1993 raid on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, had been a conspiracy between then-President Clinton and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms as an excuse to ban all assault weapons.  Before becoming an elected official, he was stopped and searched by law enforcement officials, who discovered cellophane-wrapped Valium in his under drawers.  He somehow convinced the authorities that his girlfriend had put them there, and the charges were reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.  (I don't even want to think about that!)

According to the Houston Chronicle, the Congressman has had legal, ethical, and financial disclosure issues: Both as a candidate and as a congressman, Rep. Steve Stockman of Clear Lake has failed to make federally required disclosures about business affiliations that stretch from Texas to the British Virgin Islands, and has provided no details about the business he claims as his sole source of income.

He's also on an impeach-the-President crusade, and has walked the halls of congress passing out copies of a recently published book titled, Impeachable Offenses, Removing Barack Obama from Office.  Two guesses who published this little tome -- it was World Net Daily, of course.  Who else?

Stockman is also a filthy pig -- no insult to bacon-on-the-hoof intended.  A just published report on his recently condemned campaign headquarters in Texas shows that his staff there worked in what can only be called total squalor.  Slums are probably cleaner and have more class.
 

A picture is worth a thousand words.

As the deadline loomed last November, Stockman made what just might the stupidest move in political history: he filed papers to challenge John Cornyn for his senate seat.  Just one reason that it's a stupid move is because the two-term Cornyn has $7 million for his campaign, where Stockman has only $37,000, and the primary is March 4.

The Congressman wasted no time, however, in updating his campaign web site.  However, on it he claimed endorsements he did not have, such as touting the NRA's support for him.  It wasn't long before he got just a little push-back on that issue, as reported by the Huffington Post:  the NRA has actually endorsed Stockman's opponent, incumbent Sen. John Cornyn. NRA is not endorsing Rep. Stockman, or supporting him," NRA spokesman Andrew Arulanandam told HuffPost in December. "Any claims to the contrary by him are totally false."

Seems to me that unless John Cornyn is discovered making midnight whoopie with a wombat, he'll be back in the senate in 2015.

End Note

Yep, it's definitely an election year!  Stay tuned; there will be more.

The GOP and Another Year of Doing Nothing -- But Expertly!

by Sunnyjane

Official conclusion:  NO HEART DETECTED.   And the year went downhill from there.

Thirteen months ago, Barack Obama won and Mitt Romney lost.  It was a humiliating loss, one that many in the GOP have not yet gotten over.  But National Republican Committee chairman Reince Priebus declared that his party would undergo a political autopsy to see how it could expand its base to be more, ahem, inclusive for those demographics that voted for Barack Obama.

About all that came out of that autopsy was that the Republican Tea Party's policy were sound, but the messaging was lousy.  Of course, shortly after that, Priebus told the party that it should embrace uber-conservative Mike Huckabee as its model.   Great message, Reince; that outta do it!

O GOP, O GOP, Wherefore Art Thou, GOP?

All clowns, regardless of race, gender, or religion are welcome to enter.

The Grumpy Old Partisan party is terminally ill and, no, it's not one of those conditions covered under Obamacare.  This self-inflicted malady is known as Policy Messaging in the Crapper and occurs when you allow the body politic to be overrun by any faction  -- however looney -- who just might vote for you or vote against you.  The losers who fawn over Sarah Palin are a prime example: they're the ones who think fine art is a tattoo of Jesus brandishing an AR-15.  

Full disclosure: I'd be against -- and write about it with glowing disgust -- almost any policy the GOP came up with.  The problem is, I have no earthly idea WHAT their damn policies are!  And I believe that this is exactly the issue:  they cannot announce a policy because of the sizable -- and divisive -- forces making it impossible to develop any significant policies.  So, in the absence of an agenda based on their plans to govern, they just say NO to anything the President or the Democratic-held Senate proposes.

As the President said to Congressional leaders on December 4, You owe it to the American people to tell us what you are for, not just what you’re against.

Immigration Reform, Amigo?  No problemo!

Senor, mi papa es loco!  No se lo digas a nadie!

Translation:  Sir, my father is crazy!  Don't tell anyone!  The House says it will pass immigration reform -- probably not the Senate's version -- later next year.   See, if they pass it this year, or too early next year, the Latino voters they'd like to get into the tent might forget about it by the election in November.  Couldn't have that, now could we?

Frankly, they don't realize that they have at their fingertips the best argument against immigration reform: Rafael Cruz, father of Canadian Senator Ted Cruz (H/T Martin Bashir).  One could easily make the case that no one who is this spiteful towards our country, given the lies and crazy things he's spewing forth to his ignorant followers, should be granted citizenship.   But the GOP can pretty well expect their efforts to be a bust; Latinos know well who is responsible for wasting precious time on an issue that is near and dear to them, just as African Americans will not likely forget that Sen. Cruz said earlier this year  We need 100 more like Jesse Helms in the U.S. Senate.

And leave it to John Boehner to kick himself in the ass by refusing to meet with the Fasting 4 Families group who camped out in front of the Capitol; even when they went to his office,  Boehner refused to see them.  Said his spokesman, The Speaker remains committed to a step-by-step process to fix our broken immigration system.

However, the President and the First Lady -- that would be the Obamas -- went to the Fasters and met with them in their tent.  Do ya see, John, why Barack Obama is the President of the United States of America?

  

Of course, John Boehner is behind the 8-Ball on this one: if he passes immigration reform he loses the racists; if he doesn't pass immigration reform, he's certain to lose the Latino vote.  Added to that, he could lose his Speaker of the House position when the 114th Congress convenes in January 2015; no doubt Eric Cantor haunts Boehner's wine-fueled dreams nightly.

(It's not that John Boehner drinks too much; it's just that he hates to enter the cocktail hour totally sober.)

Iran Nuclear Treaty Causes GOP Heartburn

Peace through diplomacy over war through stupidity.

While the rest of the world breathed a sigh of relief when Iran and six major powers around the globe agreed to a six-month treaty to keep that Middle East country from further developing nuclear weapons, with some sanctions restored, the GOP went -- in typical fashion -- absolutely batshit crazy.

The first to display his ignorance and loathing was John Cornyn of Texas, who decried the deal as an Obamacare distraction.

He is wrong, of course.  Now, you're hearing this for the first time, but I happen to be privy to the truth!  Yes, dear readers, this Politicalgates writer has had her ear to the ground and it so happens that it was not the Iran thingy that the President used to distract from the issue the healthcare website.  It was -- don't repeat this -- his clever manipulation of the calendar to ensure that Thanksgiving and Hanukkah occurred at the same time!


GOP: Healthcare Website is Obama's Katrina

It's very true that the healthcare website got off to a less than stellar beginning.  As of December 1, however, it seems to be working quite well, and many Americans are signing up.   That's good news for the entire country.  As of December 3, more than 1.5 million people have signed up.  According to a new report, the ACA is expected to cost billions of dollars less than originally projected.  Wait for GOP heads to explode.

And, President Obama has never uttered the phrases Mission Accomplished or Heckova a job, Brownie!

Something to think about before we leave this subject:  If the healthcare website works only 114 days next year, it will be longer than the House of Representatives will work.

End Note -- The 2013 GOP Sequester

The GOP's Not-So-Magnificant Obsession: The IRS 'Scandal'

by Sunnyjane

The IRS scandal  will make Obama a two-term president!  Oh, wait...

These were the three scandals that were supposed to bring down the Obama Administration and kill any chances that Hillary Clinton would ever run for president, much less become president.

Well, the Benghazi scandal has fizzled badly in the heat and humidity of Washington's warmer weather.  Even GOP staffers are making fun of it:  Some of the accusations, I mean you wouldn't believe some of this stuff.  It's just -- I mean, you've got to be on Mars to come up with some of this stuff.  [Pardon me while I engage in a major splort here.]

And the AP scandal?  Well, no one is really talking about it any more, which means there's no there there, so we're not going to waste time on it at this point.

But the IRS scandal?  An entirely different matter, because taxes are something the Tea Party can get behind.  You betcha!   

Don't Legislate: Obfuscate and Intimidate

Damn, we invited the Tea Party to the prom and now we've actually gotta dance with 'em!

In a recent epistle to House leaders Boehner and Cantor, Heritage Action for America, the lobbying arm of the Heritage Foundation that now has as its head-honcho former Senator Jim DeMint, outlined their marching orders: Do not legislate, just focus on the Obama Administration's current scandals. Was this solely to put the thumbscrews to Democrats?  No, not really.  The true reason is that they don't want the American public to see what a fucking chaotic clown show the GOP has become:  ...it would be imprudent to do anything that shifts the focus from the Obama administration to the ideological differences within the House Republican Conference.  To that end, we urge you to avoid bringing any legislation to the House Floor that could expose or highlight major schisms within the conference.  Looks to me like a case of children behaving badly because mama and papa are too spineless to discipline them.  No, Boehner would rather discipline the IRS, aka the Obama Administration, by ensuring that somebody goes to jail.  This is, of course, before it's been determined that anyone has actually broken a law, and if so, which law. 

Secret Memos + Lies + Conspiracies = Idiocy

I'm proposing a bill to warn the American public about the hazards of home permanents.

Rand Paul, the same idiot who is sure the Obama administration is responsible for his toilet-flushing problems, believes there are secret memos floating around that prove the IRS was  targeting people who were opposed to the president.  No, he told Candy Crowley of  always reliable CNN, he hasn't actually seen said memo, but it's been reported orally.  As opposed to writtingly, I guess; I dunno.  But if I remember correctly, that's called gossip, which is much more interesting to Tea Partiers than actual facts.  [Memo to Candy Crowley: I know you're the one making the big bucks, but don't you think it would serve your viewers to say something here, like:  So you really have nothing but an unsubstantiated rumor; isn't that correct?]  Maybe Senator Paul has been having too many lunches with Jon Karl, eh?

Everybody in the GOP and the media hyped this little scandal in the beginning by running around saying that the investigation of conservative groups by the IRS was a news-breaking issue and yelling that Congress didn't know anything about it.  Not so.  The inconvenient truth is that the inspector general of tax administration for the Treasury Department did, indeed, notify Congress last year, and in addition sent a letter to Darrell Issa in July 2012 informing him that the IRS would be audited.  It stands to reason that, in an election year in which the Republicans were trying desperately to make Barack Obama a one-term president, that had Issa believed he had a game-changing scandal, he would have brought it forward.  In a heartbeat.  He didn't; if fact, Issa himself said recently, This is one of those things where it's been, in a sense, an open secret, but you don't accuse the IRS until you've had a nonpartisan, deep look. That's what the IG has done. That's why the IGs in fact exist within government, is to find this kind of waste and fraud and abuse of power.

In addition, in March 2012, thirty or so Democrats signed a letter that urge[d] the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to investigate whether any groups qualifying as social welfare organizations under section 501(c)(4) of the federal tax code are improperly engaged in political campaign activity.  Note that the letter says any groups.  That's an important distinction because the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) blogger-in-chief, one Matt Gorman, published a post in mid-May that was headlined 32 House Dems Called For IRS To Investigate Conservative Groups In 2012.  That was, shall we say, somewhat misleading.  But then he outright lied, saying, They go on to specify the conservative SuperPAC Crossroads GPS.  He even published the Democrats' letter, and I defy any reader to find the words conservative groups, Tea Party, patriot, SuperPAC or Crossroad GPS.  That's not a lie; it's a damn lie.


The Real IRS Scandal Began Fifty-Four Years Ago

The IRS code regulating the exempt-from-tax for organizations was written in 1954 and still  states today that:  Civic leagues or organizations not organized for profit but operated exclusively for the promotion of social welfare, or local associations of employees, the membership of which is limited to the employees of a designated person or persons in a particular … 

However, in 1959 the IRS began to interpret the word exclusively to mean primarily.  When it comes to taxes, a government organization should not arbitrarily change the meaning of a word; words matter.  As the New York Times so succinctly pointed out recently, Given the confusion, and the years of abuse, it’s time for the IRS to return to the original language of the statute and require these groups to operate exclusively for the promotion of social welfare and not engage in politics.

End Note  

Remember When the GOP Thought Sequestration Was a Great Idea?

by Sunnyjane

If there's one lesson President Obama failed to learn during his first term in office, it's Never trust Republicans to do what's right for the American people. 

The Backstory: How In The Hell Did This Sequester Happen?

John (Boehner) 1:1 -- In the beginning there was The Word, and The Word was... NO!

Eight days after Barack Obama's 2009 Inauguration, the plot hatched by pissed-off  Republicans to show united and unyielding opposition to the president’s economic policies  began with Eric Cantor making sure that all House Republicans voted NO on the President's economic stimulus plan.  Cantor got what he wanted, but the House was controlled by the Democrats in the 111th Congress, and even though the one hundred and seventy-seven Republicans voted against it, the bill passed at 244-188, with eleven Democrats also voting Nay.  

[And by the way, if you're one of those progressives who is disappointed that the President has not closed the prison at Guantanamo Bay -- a campaign promise he made in 2008 -- I've got a News Flash for you: you can blame the congress.  As The Hill reported in October 2009, Lawmakers are using their authority to direct federal spending to prevent the Obama administration from closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay ... The latest example came on Thursday when the House instructed conferees negotiating with the Senate on a final version of the Homeland Security spending bill to include language prohibiting the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to U.S. soil. The bill already includes a provision prohibiting the detainees from air travel within or to the United States.  And just recently, John Fugelsang told a reporter with Mother Jones: The Republican Party has done an incredibly good job of frightening people with the image of Guantanamo Bay detainees, the most hardened terrorists in the world — supposedly — running through Pleasantville, U.S.A., armed to the teeth and murdering people. But obviously that’s not really what would happen if Gitmo detainees were transferred to the United States. They’d be in the most secure federal institutions basically on the planet.]

Adding insult to injury for Republicans, the Affordable Care Act passed in early 2010.  By hastily and carelessly scraping the mold off the bottom of the Koch Tea Party’s old rotten wooden bucket for the mid-term elections, the GOP then succeeded in putting up the most racist, homophobic, misogynistic, ignorant, gun-loving candidates in the history of this country. Small Government became the mantra they screeched far and wide, they won back the House, and we were blessed with Speaker John Boehner and budget guru Paul Ryan.  By now, The Word was The Two Words:  HELL NO, and the 112th Congress became the most do-nothing obstructionist body of legislators in the history of the United States.

Don't Raise the Debt Ceiling, Just Lower the Floor...or Something Like That

Though it gets somewhat complicated here, it's important to understand the history; but I'll be as succinct and brief as possible.  

It was during the 2011 debt ceiling squabble negotiations that the Republican Tea Party got combative with the Obama administration.  Raising the debt ceiling is historically a formality, one granted so that the government of the United States can pay the debt for legislative spending already approved by the President and the Congress.  However, in 2011 the Republicans decided to hold up approval for raising the debt ceiling by insisting, among other things, that taxes not be raised on the American people (translation: forget the American worker, we're protecting the One Percent) and that entitlement programs be cut.  Much to the dismay of Democrats, President Obama was willing to consider entitlement reform.  Even Bob Woodward, certainly no friend of Democrats and no fan of Barack Obama, said, Obama and the White House were willing to go quite far.  

By July 2011, when time was running out to avert economic disaster -- and sequestration in 2013 --  the President and Speaker Boehner had what they thought was a Grand Bargain.  A day or so later, Boehner stood up and said, basically, Ain't gonna happen!   OK, what he really said was,  Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes, which amounted to the same thing: Ain't gonna happen. 

The President warned that if sequestration came to pass two years later, there would be dramatic consequences.  Automatic tax hikes and spending cuts would go into effect to the tune of $85,000,000,000 (that's eighty-five BILLION dollars) across all government agencies that would affect every American in the nation.  The House of Representatives did...not...care.  The newly installed Tea Party legislators actually grumbled loud and long that the government was not forced to shut down.

And why didn't the House care about the threat of sequestration taking affect in 2013?  Why, because they were going to make President Obama a one-term president.

That didn't work out too well.  May I remind you, dear readers, of the 2012 Election Results:  Obama 332 vs. Romney 206.   

Let the Sequestration Blame Game Begin!
 

Washington loves that always popular anyone-can-participate sport of Which Party is to Blame, and the current tag-you're-it! game is Sequestration.  While secretly gleeful that the spending cuts they've been hawking for all these years were actually going to take effect on January 2, 2013, the GOP went on a public rampage against the Obama administration. 

Scathingly calling it Obamaquester, or Obama's Sequester, the GOP took part in their typical charade.  Boehner lied when he said the disastrous defense cuts were President Obama's fault; he actually thought up those cuts in 2011.  FactCheck.org called out some other GOP liars on the same issue.

But who is really responsible for the sequester?  Take a guess.  OK, it's the tag-team Tea Party darlings Eric Cantor and Paul Ryan!  Who'd a'thunk it, eh?  In late February, Paul Ryan was running around yammering that the Senate wasn't doing anything and President Obama was touring the country campaigning instead of governing.  What he failed to say (heh) was that in order to replace the sequester, the House would have to pass a new bill.  Problem?  Yes, because Boehner would not allow any sequestration replacement bills to come to the floor of the House for a vote.

At the same time, Eric Cantor was confirming to a Politicususa reporter that, in 2011, he and Paul Ryan were responsible for talking Boehner out of agreeing to the Grand Bargain!

But never mind.  Even though John Boehner admitted that he had no clue what effect the sequester was going to have,  he was pretty sure it wouldn't be felt by most Americans.  Paul Ryan was adamant that the Republicans were fine with the sequester taking effect.  Republicans generally were unafraid of the consequences of the looming cuts, and some even decided that the President was exaggerating the impact of the sequester.

But then... 

The Old Feces Hit the Flying Machines

         

When the automatic cuts began in March, Boehner further lied (is this at all surprising?) by saying that there's no plan from Senate Democrats or the White House to replace the sequester.

There was universal outrage by Republican lawmakers when the Administration announced cancellation of White House tours due to sequestration cuts.  John Boehner chuffed, The President is trying to make it tough on members of Congress. It's just sick. I want to know who is being laid off at the White House, and Louie Gohmert demanded that the President's golf trips be cancelled until the White House tours resume.  No mention of Americans who will suffer far more from these cuts than tourists who come to Washington for a little sightseeing.

The gnashing and spitting subsided after that little GOP tantrum, and the merry lawmakers went back to their normal entertainments of doing absolutely nothing that would benefit their constituents.  Rand Paul decided to demonstrate further proof that he's an idiot by filibustering gun reform, with senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz providing harmony.  Gun reform failed on April 24.

So it came as something of a shock to their systems when air traffic controllers were furloughed on Sunday, April 21.  Even though FAA administrator Michael Huerta had warned of furloughs and flight delays as recently as Thursday, April 18, Republicans attempted to skewer him.  Kentucky Rep. Hal Rogers said, This imperial attitude … on the part of the administration is disgusting. Then to turn around and try to blame the difficulties of flying on Congress is unacceptable.  He further blubbered that they had heard not a whisper, not a word about controllers being furloughed.

Poor Hal.  I guess he was absent when Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said back in February that the country should get ready for controller furloughs.

The only Meals on Wheels issue the congress cares about is the drinks and food cart coming down the airplane aisle.  (H/T Jon Stewart)

But all is well now.  They took care of that little issue post haste by finding some money to get the controllers back in those towers, by damned!  After all, it's much more important that our esteemed legislators get back home to their home districts by the cocktail hour than it is to ensure that Head Start programs, cancer treatment centers, and Meals on Wheels are funded.

They have their priorities, you understand.

 

Oh, and on the Medicare-provided cancer treatment centers?  Suddenly lawmakers are losing control of their sphincter ani externus muscles and pleading with the President to exercise his discretion, to the degree permissible, to administer the cuts in a manner which protects beneficiary access to critical oncology services.

End Note

You seem to suggest that somehow, these folks over there have no responsibilities and that my job is to get them to behave. That’s their job. They are elected; members of Congress are elected in order to do what’s right for their constituencies and for the American people. 

 

President Obama's press conference, April 30, 2013