Why doesn't Boehner just pass all the bills with moderate Republicans and Democrats like they have this time and the last time they shut down the government, etc.?
Would Boehner lose the vote to be Speaker next time? My impression is there are about 250 Republicans and 60 Tea Party members.
Would Boehner lose the vote to be Speaker next time? My impression is there are about 250 Republicans and 60 Tea Party members.
14
Homeland-
1: native land : fatherland
2: a state or area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural, or racial origin; especially : Bantustan
There is no "homeland" in the USA unless you are one of the First People.
"homeland" is a word most generally used to describe the barren patches of territory colonial powers condemned the conquered people to live on while they kept the best of it for economic exploitation.
Every agency necessary to protect our security already existed on 9-10-01.
This useless fear-mongering agency should be allowed to die the ignominious death it deserves.
If the GOP were serious about limited government and not "wasting" money they would never have created this useless and actually harmful to our interests agency. But if you look, the vast amounts of money spent go to GOP friendly business. As usual the facts about the GOP are plain to see yet few with the influence necessary to cause change, look at them or point them out to others.
1: native land : fatherland
2: a state or area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural, or racial origin; especially : Bantustan
There is no "homeland" in the USA unless you are one of the First People.
"homeland" is a word most generally used to describe the barren patches of territory colonial powers condemned the conquered people to live on while they kept the best of it for economic exploitation.
Every agency necessary to protect our security already existed on 9-10-01.
This useless fear-mongering agency should be allowed to die the ignominious death it deserves.
If the GOP were serious about limited government and not "wasting" money they would never have created this useless and actually harmful to our interests agency. But if you look, the vast amounts of money spent go to GOP friendly business. As usual the facts about the GOP are plain to see yet few with the influence necessary to cause change, look at them or point them out to others.
28
All those Republicans occupying the Rayburn House Office Building should keep in mind two of Sam Rayburn's sayings: "When you get too big a majority, you're immediately in trouble." And he also said, "Any mule can kick down a barn, burn it takes a carpenter to build one."
Government by the week, and the Republican-run Congress generally only works about 1/3 of the year anyway. Is there some Dr. Seuss book they can read?
Government by the week, and the Republican-run Congress generally only works about 1/3 of the year anyway. Is there some Dr. Seuss book they can read?
18
The US congress has the nation's best interest at heart, you say? No; it's a sad, shameful collection of pandering, incompetent, lying hypocrites. But not MY congressional representative and senators, they're the best and I'll vote for them again, and again, and …
16
I guess I can stop worrying that even Gail Collins will not be able to find something to write about the awful dysfunctional mess that our congress has become that is laugh out loud funny. Thank you Gail. You've done it again. A friend of mine's daughter once remarked that a ditzy aunt of her's who couldn't seem to get any thing consructive accomplished was a "cesspool of negative energy". That in a nut shell (pun intended) perfectly describes the Republicans in congress.
32
I go on road trips to national parks all the time and was kicked out of Capitol Reef on the last shutdown. So now we get to start planning our lives around the shutdowns the same way people in Los Angeles schedule their lives around the traffic jams?
10
So now our fate is controlled by the Labrador/Cruz axis of malevolence.
What a sorry 'state'.
Actually, disclosure time! Raul is my cong-rep!
Here's the kind of guy he is; I have written several blistering letters and emails to him expressing my diametrically opposed opinions and in each occasion got a nice letter back thanking me for my support. (!!??)
He, and others in the Idaho delegation, like Risch, do that as a matter of course. Why? I think they can then chalk my letter up as supportive, and use the internally generated stats to show $$ contributors. It's all quasi-criminal, but they don't care.
What a sorry 'state'.
Actually, disclosure time! Raul is my cong-rep!
Here's the kind of guy he is; I have written several blistering letters and emails to him expressing my diametrically opposed opinions and in each occasion got a nice letter back thanking me for my support. (!!??)
He, and others in the Idaho delegation, like Risch, do that as a matter of course. Why? I think they can then chalk my letter up as supportive, and use the internally generated stats to show $$ contributors. It's all quasi-criminal, but they don't care.
30
"As was the little kissy face Mr. Boehner made to reporters when he got another question."
I saw that on the news, and I didn't like it. Does Mr. Boehner have any idea that the reporters are there to bring information to "the people" who are, technically speaking, the foundation of the democracy? Talk about giving "the people" the old kiss-off! Back at ya, Mr. Boehner. Back at ya.
The beautiful words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address have rung through the decades with the hope that "government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth". And frankly, I would hate to see that hope shattered on this voter's watch. Do better than this. Believe in a functioning representative government or step aside to let someone less obstructionist step up.
I saw that on the news, and I didn't like it. Does Mr. Boehner have any idea that the reporters are there to bring information to "the people" who are, technically speaking, the foundation of the democracy? Talk about giving "the people" the old kiss-off! Back at ya, Mr. Boehner. Back at ya.
The beautiful words of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address have rung through the decades with the hope that "government of the people, by the people and for the people shall not perish from the earth". And frankly, I would hate to see that hope shattered on this voter's watch. Do better than this. Believe in a functioning representative government or step aside to let someone less obstructionist step up.
109
The entire media vilifies lock-step ideology, yet when GOP members hold to their different convictions, the media asks "how could they?"
A legitimate analysis would be: "Many GOP lawmakers, having promised to ...have found themselves in the unenviable position of being perceived as roadblocks to passing the ... Bill. Should they cave to the will of their party leaders, or should they stay true to the principles they promised their constituents?"
A legitimate analysis would be: "Many GOP lawmakers, having promised to ...have found themselves in the unenviable position of being perceived as roadblocks to passing the ... Bill. Should they cave to the will of their party leaders, or should they stay true to the principles they promised their constituents?"
3
There may be a silver lining: while Republicans may be in the majority, they have been fractured into two warring sects. Perhaps the Republican bickering among themselves will allow Democrats gain the upper hand.
11
Freedom Caucasus? Why is it that so many people who claim to revere the Founding Fathers appear to be completely ignorant of the fact that their success was the result of compromise?
28
" passing a budget."
The only they will be "passing" a budget is when they are sitting on the "throne" after having eaten the paper it was printed on. It will not be worthy of the name budget.
The only they will be "passing" a budget is when they are sitting on the "throne" after having eaten the paper it was printed on. It will not be worthy of the name budget.
6
The DHS has about as much to do with national security now as the Border Patrol has to do with stemming the flow of the undocumented influx of people into the US. They're fully Orwellian organizations now. Bush should've never created that colossus. It's just another level of DC bureaucracy to dole out patronage jobs to political hacks who will then use the real power they've been handed to do all sorts of things that have nothing to do with "national security".
11
We are not quite through the first two months of what is bound to be a two year slog. I hope that Gail is saving herself for the fun to come.
As to Homeland Security, the only thing worse then the name is the mission statement for this monstrosity. It should be defunded. It should be broken up and the separate pieces dealt with as appropriate. Some should just die. Others turned over to the states or in some cases local police and sheriff departments. A few such as the Coast Guard returned to their historic mission and condition.
But letting the funding run out works too. Then Obama can federalize the national guard of the various states and take direct executive control of all those things the Republicans hate.
Won't that be sweet and nutty?
As to Homeland Security, the only thing worse then the name is the mission statement for this monstrosity. It should be defunded. It should be broken up and the separate pieces dealt with as appropriate. Some should just die. Others turned over to the states or in some cases local police and sheriff departments. A few such as the Coast Guard returned to their historic mission and condition.
But letting the funding run out works too. Then Obama can federalize the national guard of the various states and take direct executive control of all those things the Republicans hate.
Won't that be sweet and nutty?
15
I'm sorry but there is no way I will have sympathy for the minions in that massive patronage haven called DHS. Yes there are essential services embedded in that bureaucracy and the few professional managers will make sure the needed services are covered. As for the rest of the political featherbedders, let them sweat like the rest of us.
8
Who would have thought the days of pork were the Golden Age. They certainly do look good, now. Besides, we could use some roads and bridges here in New Mexico.
7
While I understand why it is important to report on the action of congressional representatives, I want to encourage critics of such actions to pay more attention to the people who elect them. This is what a majority of voters in particular congressional districts, albeit often grotesquely Gerrymandered, want their representatives to do in their name. This is their vision of America and, if we continue to redistrict voting boundaries as we now do it, this will be their America for a long time to come.
16
We are not there yet, but this is the path to a modest number of moderate Republicans joining with the Democrats to govern, leaving out the crazies.
It may be improbable, and there may be many objections, but in analogy to the old Sherlock Holmes concept, when everything else is eliminated as ways to do what much be done, what is left is what happens.
It may be improbable, and there may be many objections, but in analogy to the old Sherlock Holmes concept, when everything else is eliminated as ways to do what much be done, what is left is what happens.
12
Gail, the majority of the votes against Homeland Security funding were Democrats. This may seem simplistic as many of those votes demurred because of the immigration funding issue. I don't see what the difference is. No one is watching the border as it is.
5
The Dem votes were against a stop-gap bill, one that would ensure a continuation of the circus in three weeks. Boehner is Speaker. He owes it to the American people to put clean bills before the House, not mickey mouse Tea Party games of pass the blame,
26
No one????? Um, well when you introduce facts into the argument, it is clear that you are absolutely wrong. Under dubya there were about 20,000 border control agents. Under Obama that number has increased to over 21,000. Oh wait, we're probably talking about a republican here, for whom facts don't exist. They only operate on the 13-year old girl level where feelings are the only thing that matters..
14
The point is that Obama is legislating from the White House and that way lies tyranny. McConnell seems to be surrendering to the tyrant. The Border Patrol is actually opposed to Obama's actions and is being threatened for their opposition. Funding Homeland Security, a poor name for this agency, does not require registering all the illegals to vote, which is the intent of the Democrats.
5
They all report to the same, unelected confederation of oligarchs, both domestic and foreign. Our country is no longer a sovereign state. It's a service entity with shares that can be bought and sold like stock by anybody in the World with sufficient money and/or power.
10
"Funding Homeland Security, a poor name for this agency, does not require registering all the illegals to vote, which is the intent of the Democrats" I suggest you take off your tin foil hat and start thinking instead of just believing things really, really hard.
14
On Barack Obama's watch, Democrats have lost the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House...with the nation's voters electing the largest GOP majority in the U.S. House since the 1920s.
GOP governors occupy 31 of the nation's 50 governorships under Obama; likewise, 68 of the nation's 98 partisan state legislative bodies have GOP majorities.
President Obama's amnesty-by-executive-order isn't supported by the voters, either...but nevertheless, it's the reason we're all here today, Gail.
GOP governors occupy 31 of the nation's 50 governorships under Obama; likewise, 68 of the nation's 98 partisan state legislative bodies have GOP majorities.
President Obama's amnesty-by-executive-order isn't supported by the voters, either...but nevertheless, it's the reason we're all here today, Gail.
4
Well factor in Obama's 2 giant wins as well. By a majority of the US voters.
23
So competent governing should be no problem now, right?
8
So, the people who vote for Republican radicals, want the federal government to do nothing? And they feel that makes their lives better? Are they really pleased with the performance of their congress-persons?
11
Well said Gail. The Republicans have opposed everything and proposed nothing. Healthcare, immigration, education, infrastructure,... you name it, they blame it. On the President. But they offer no solutions. No bills. Nada. They seem to be unable to realize that the President is winning all of these rounds, as he has since he came into office. Now that they have a Congressional majority and continue to fail to legislate, they are beginning to stink even more than before.
My concern is that you know this. The readers of the NYT and a few of their friends know this. But a significant number of voters who keep sending these losers to Washington are the ones who need to understand the depths of GoP dysfunction. With performers like Cruz and Cornyn, Gohmert and Granger and Graham, ... parroting well spun nonsense day after day, it's little surprise that the voters brains are numb.
The next major elections will be critical. I hope the Latino voters are paying close attention to the GoP's attitude on immigrants. And I hope female (and male) voters are paying close attention to what the GoP thinks of women's issues - particularly health and pay. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that 11% of the GoP senate members are women compared with 32% of the Democratic senate. And 62 out of 84 female representatives are Democrat.
My concern is that you know this. The readers of the NYT and a few of their friends know this. But a significant number of voters who keep sending these losers to Washington are the ones who need to understand the depths of GoP dysfunction. With performers like Cruz and Cornyn, Gohmert and Granger and Graham, ... parroting well spun nonsense day after day, it's little surprise that the voters brains are numb.
The next major elections will be critical. I hope the Latino voters are paying close attention to the GoP's attitude on immigrants. And I hope female (and male) voters are paying close attention to what the GoP thinks of women's issues - particularly health and pay. Perhaps the problem lies in the fact that 11% of the GoP senate members are women compared with 32% of the Democratic senate. And 62 out of 84 female representatives are Democrat.
25
Time to finish what Reid started and end filibusters, pass the freaking bill with the amendments to stop Obama's illegal orders. We can't let Congressional Democrats continue to stonewall legislation like they did under Reid. Send Obama the bill and let him shut down DHS with the complicit Senate Democrats. The GOP won by a landslide in November, it's time they acted like it.
5
Psssst...Mitch McConnell already got a Bill through, funding DHS for the rest of the fiscal year, and cutting a deal to bring a separate "Hey, cut it out!" Bill to the floor.
The House is refusing any such compromise--or more Boehner could get similar legislation passed almost immediately, but is using the "Hastert Rule," of not bringing legislation unless he's got enough Republican votes alone to pass things.
Keep it up, guys. I'm looking forward to the spluttering in the Republican self-immolations--oh, sorry, "primary debates"--later this year.
The House is refusing any such compromise--or more Boehner could get similar legislation passed almost immediately, but is using the "Hastert Rule," of not bringing legislation unless he's got enough Republican votes alone to pass things.
Keep it up, guys. I'm looking forward to the spluttering in the Republican self-immolations--oh, sorry, "primary debates"--later this year.
17
Maybe you missed the story. Boehner can't control the right wing of the right wing GOP. They ARE "acting like it"- that is why the constipation in Congress continues.
18
Well, as for Republicans, I think that Obama isn't just the only one whom they hate. They also hate immigrants more than they love us, Americans. Especially they hate those immigrants from Mexico and Latin America. Hypocrisy, isn't it?
10
Conservatism discards Prescription, shrinks from Principle, disavows Progress; having rejected all respect for antiquity, it offers no redress for the present, and makes no preparation for the future.
Ben Disraeli
Ben Disraeli
13
What does the Department of Homeland Security actually do? How many terrorists have they caught? Their stated purpose is that they are entrusted with securing America's borders; no that is not a joke. It seems that all I read about is how millions of illegals have walked across the border since Obama became President. All airport security in America does is harass little old ladies and lets Muslims walz on through the gate. America, you have been sold a bill of goods.
5
As Boehner consumes his post-post-holiday treats this weekend, likely someplace warm where he can lay out in the sun (if tanning and sunning were being House Speaker then Boehner would cast a long shadow over Sam Rayburn), he might be well advised to consider these words of Victor Hugo from Les Miserables when thinking of what to do in response to his growing Conservative Putsch:
"The theft of a people can never be justified. These august swindles have no future. A nation cannot be shaped as though it was a pocket handkerchief."
Gesundheit!
"The theft of a people can never be justified. These august swindles have no future. A nation cannot be shaped as though it was a pocket handkerchief."
Gesundheit!
7
For years now, I have observed republican political players of claiming the awfulness of “Government”. Now we are observing these charlatans provide their citizens with the full scale jeopardy of risking our national security so that they can deprive five million immigrants of a future and to stop the poor from having health care.
28
Well put. Frames the picture well.
11
One of the messages from this unholy mess in Congress is a surprising one: REFORM DOESNT WORK. It almost always backfires, right in your face (or Boehner's or whatever hapless "leader" is in the line of fire.
Ms. Collins alluded to this fact when she referred to bills getting, you know, passed by Congress in the old days of ear marks and log rolling: "We complained a lot at the time, but that was because we didn’t realize it was the golden age."
By taking ear marks off the table, President Obama took away his own negotiating power. Now, the members of Congress can't trade for personal deals, so what's the point? They've got nothing to do but spend their time causing trouble in the hope that the most angry and frustrated voters back home will say, "Great job. I like to see someone in there who's just as mad as I am."
Reforming away the manner in which business gets done, deals get cut, without fully coming up with a reasonable replacement happens again and again in Washington, DC. It has been the rule since the days of Jimmy Carter (he was once president, kids) in the post Watergate era. Every good person was going to reform the national govt. and every good person, having achieved the goal, left town, leaving behind a bigger, different mess than they found.
Is it worth a few hundred million dollars thrown around for pet projects (Bridges to where? The voters!) to have a functioning American govt.? I leave the question to you.
http://terryreport.com
Ms. Collins alluded to this fact when she referred to bills getting, you know, passed by Congress in the old days of ear marks and log rolling: "We complained a lot at the time, but that was because we didn’t realize it was the golden age."
By taking ear marks off the table, President Obama took away his own negotiating power. Now, the members of Congress can't trade for personal deals, so what's the point? They've got nothing to do but spend their time causing trouble in the hope that the most angry and frustrated voters back home will say, "Great job. I like to see someone in there who's just as mad as I am."
Reforming away the manner in which business gets done, deals get cut, without fully coming up with a reasonable replacement happens again and again in Washington, DC. It has been the rule since the days of Jimmy Carter (he was once president, kids) in the post Watergate era. Every good person was going to reform the national govt. and every good person, having achieved the goal, left town, leaving behind a bigger, different mess than they found.
Is it worth a few hundred million dollars thrown around for pet projects (Bridges to where? The voters!) to have a functioning American govt.? I leave the question to you.
http://terryreport.com
4
The Republicans ride again on their broken-down old bandwagon of claiming to be patriots who love America and will protect the homeland. I stand more of a chance of finding a sugar daddy who will support me in a style in which I have never been accustomed than waking up in the morning and seeing a headline about the Republicans doing something that favors Americans. (Other than the rich, of course).
14
In the current incarnation of the Republican party, how do they differ from anarchists? Sowing chaos seems to be their primary goal.
12
Perhaps Mitt Romney could put Labrador on the roof of his car.
20
Zing!
4
"Great news! Congress has voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security for a week."
What more evidence do we need that Republicans cannot govern.
What more evidence do we need that Republicans cannot govern.
10
Extremists are in charge of making sure this Country goes nowhere but down the drain because WE the People couldn't get of our duffs and vote last November. There are people in this world who face death to be able to cast a vote and we are too disappointed in our President not fixing everything that has been broken since the disaster that was Reagan, Bush I and bush ii.
Ms. Collins, I am afraid it is to fall to you to insure that the American voters are informed as to which party is in control of Congress. Hopefully some of your peers around the country will lend a hand.
Ms. Collins, I am afraid it is to fall to you to insure that the American voters are informed as to which party is in control of Congress. Hopefully some of your peers around the country will lend a hand.
18
Yeah, I don't understand the poor voter turnout. I don't even live in the states anymore and I still manage to vote in every US election.
7
What is insecure? Since most of the employees are designated "critical", they will continue working. Since most of their paychecks are monthly or biweekly, these occasional periods of non-funding pass without interrupting their pay and when a pay cycles is missed the Congress always remembers to fund fully all the days worked for so-called "no pay" with the legislation that does do the funding. You can still have TSA agents groping your boobs and looking through your skirt.
3
Good observation--let's put you on the same pay arrangement, shall we? i mean, it's really damaging to a free economy to have your boss expected to pay you on a regular schedule, and it's not like you can't wait a couple weeks or so.
Just tell your mortgage bank and car lender that you're putting them on the "Boehner schedule," and I am sure everything'll be just dandy.
Just tell your mortgage bank and car lender that you're putting them on the "Boehner schedule," and I am sure everything'll be just dandy.
16
Pretty casual about other people's lives. People depend on their paychecks to pay rent, mortgages, medicine, food, etc. Note that the end of the month is coming up. Bills are due. Contractors do not always recoup their losses in these situations, and the last government shutdown by the Republicans - the one that cost taxpayers $24 billion - forced some small businesses to close. And TSA agents do not focus on women. Weird comment there.
9
There would have to be 10 Gail Collins to deal with all the material that the Republicans offer up.
12
Despite winning both houses of Congress, Republicans sill can't pass legislation. They can't even agree among themselves! Same old, same old. Nothing's changed. The extremists still hold sway in the House. And ain't nothing Boehner can do about it.
9
We are complaining about GOP law makers, wait till the GOP politicians turned justices at the SC show their hands on Obama-care and immigration.
2
For the readership's entertainment Ms. Collins often feigns bemusement but when she makes no bones about the fact that she is not amused, as she has done in recent columns, we'd be wise to heed her warnings.
10
Someone stole a Clown Car in Sacramento this week. Now we know where it went.
11
I blame SCOTUS for Citizens United for opening the lid of Pandora's Box. EVERY politician is bought and paid for in order to win. The funding of the most nefarious comes from the deepest pockets. The question is, what can we as citizens do about it?
18
A federal court has issued injunction against President Obama's executive action amnesty program The issue will take months, if not years, to work its way through the appellate courts. It will likely wind up in the Supreme Court. Why is the president threatening to veto a DHS budget bill because it excludes funding for a program that can't be activated. Why not wait until the issue has worked it way through the courts and then seek funding? Illegal immigrants already enjoy de facto immunity to deportation unless they commit seriously felonies.
4
Let's try and be clear, shall we?
1. A JUDGE, not a whole court, issued a ruling. And by the way, the ruling wasn't what you claim it was.
2. Shutting down DHS doesn't touch immigration, except that it requires the people enforcing the law to work without pay.
3. All the Republicans had to do, if they really thought this was so important, was exactly what Mitch McConnell did: write a clean Bill, and write a Bill shutting down the President's executive order.
So why's this happening? internal Republican politics. "Circular firing squad," really doesn't cover it; we need something like, "Ascending Getty-Museum Three-D Firing Squad."
1. A JUDGE, not a whole court, issued a ruling. And by the way, the ruling wasn't what you claim it was.
2. Shutting down DHS doesn't touch immigration, except that it requires the people enforcing the law to work without pay.
3. All the Republicans had to do, if they really thought this was so important, was exactly what Mitch McConnell did: write a clean Bill, and write a Bill shutting down the President's executive order.
So why's this happening? internal Republican politics. "Circular firing squad," really doesn't cover it; we need something like, "Ascending Getty-Museum Three-D Firing Squad."
16
I would have thought preventing the deportation of 5 million illegal immigrants by executive order was an act of extremism. I suppose it depends upon whose ox is being gored.
My future Swiss son in law must go through all sorts of hoops, pay huge fees and wait months or years just to marry my daughter and be able to live here. Instead my daughter is moving to Switzerland where she can live and work without all that red tape. I told her future husband to swim the Rio Grande if he wants to stay in America.
My future Swiss son in law must go through all sorts of hoops, pay huge fees and wait months or years just to marry my daughter and be able to live here. Instead my daughter is moving to Switzerland where she can live and work without all that red tape. I told her future husband to swim the Rio Grande if he wants to stay in America.
6
Preventing their deportation is nothing compared to giving them Social Security numbers and work papers.
The president has blasted right through his "pathway to citizenship" cover story and jumped right into the more controversial worker amnesty, and no one seems to have noticed. They're too busy complaining about Boehner, right wingers, blah, blah, blah.
Obama is exceptionally clever when it comes to playing partisans.
The president has blasted right through his "pathway to citizenship" cover story and jumped right into the more controversial worker amnesty, and no one seems to have noticed. They're too busy complaining about Boehner, right wingers, blah, blah, blah.
Obama is exceptionally clever when it comes to playing partisans.
1
Yes and thankfully Obama is an adult.
3
Right, Steve, because nothing says responsible president and leader like taking highly controversial, unilateral and questionably illegal actions that have to be held off until after elections because they are so unpopular and that which you know will divide the country and cause Congressional gridlock.
Remember, this isn't the first time he's done this. We have had an election. Exit polls showed worker amnesty was very unpopular. The president chose to ignore the voters' opinions.
Remember, this isn't the first time he's done this. We have had an election. Exit polls showed worker amnesty was very unpopular. The president chose to ignore the voters' opinions.
2
For the last several years the Republicans have demanded secure borders before they would even discuss immigration reform. Under Obama, immigration has slowed to a trickle, with more deportations than under any other president and still they refused to act. Realizing that there was no way the country could even afford to deport ALL the illegals here, and Congress was incapable of passing anything related to the immigration problem, Obama executes a stopgap measure that brings likely immigrants that may eventually be granted permanent status out of the shadows, makes taxpayers of them, makes them identifiable, and essentially prioritizes who gets deported to more recent entries and possible criminals. None of his actions have given permanent legal status to anyone. That's to be decided by Congress if and when they get their act together. In a hypocritical tour de force, this same dysfunctional Congress refuses to fund the very agency in charge of the borders that prevent the influx of more illegals. It is mind boggling to experience the total destruction of any kind of forward or logical thinking in the chambers that govern this country. In fact the far far right wing seems to be governed by fear, hate, prejudice, envy, and a longing for some mythical good old days when everyone lived a white middle class Christian English speaking homogeneous suburban white picket fence "Leave it to Beaver" kind of neighborhood.
27
Bull cjones1. Show me a respectable news outlet that shows any of that. We have always had asylum entrances, for refugees in real danger, although they are detained until that danger is verifiable. Outside of allowing them into our education system-which in the long run is to our benefit, what benefits are you talking about? They get no government health coverage, no workers comp either, are not entitled to welfare or social security. Plus the figure to fly them out as you suggest has been estimated at $52 billion. NOT cheap.
9
"a good way to show their opposition to Obama’s liberal immigration policy is to cut off the border patrol’s paychecks?"
Of course its a god way. Eisenhower deported 1.4 million Mexicans in 1954 with 700 border patrol agents and no computers. Today we have 60,000 border patrol agents and GPS and we deport zero Mexicans. The Border Patrol does not do anything, they should not get paid.
Of course its a god way. Eisenhower deported 1.4 million Mexicans in 1954 with 700 border patrol agents and no computers. Today we have 60,000 border patrol agents and GPS and we deport zero Mexicans. The Border Patrol does not do anything, they should not get paid.
3
Where are you getting your faux facts? There have been record deportations under Obama, and more turned away at the border without having to go through the deportation process than ever! Plus the economy has improved somewhat in Mexico so fewer are trying to get here and many have gone back of their own accord.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/u-s-deportations-of-immi...
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/10/02/u-s-deportations-of-immi...
15
Half of Obama's "deportations" are actually Border Patrol arrests. Those are the "record deportations" that his Administration likes to tout. They were not even counted as deportations by Bush.
Internal deportations (the real kind) are down 40% under Obama.
Internal deportations (the real kind) are down 40% under Obama.
2
AACNY, I cannot find any evidence to support your allegations, please enlighten us.
6
Read the reasons that Rep. Congressman Jon Runyon of NJ elected not run again. He was honest enough at least in one interview to say that he went to the House expecting to be able to work with the Democrats and accomplish something BUT he was quickly informed that wasn't the way that things are done. He learned this lesson at his very first caucus. He's not a stupid man and quickly figured out he was wasting his time so he's not running and will most likely take a job being a commentator on NFL games as he's a former pro player. I'm not a Republican but at least I have respect for a guy who went there and saw that it's a mess and decided he didn't want to be part of it.
Really sad that the sane people are walking away and that other sane people won't ever aspire to walk in and unfortunately that means the lunatic fringe will continue to dominate.
Really sad that the sane people are walking away and that other sane people won't ever aspire to walk in and unfortunately that means the lunatic fringe will continue to dominate.
19
You could argue that the past week demonstrates that democracy works, or you could, by looking at the same behavior, that it does not. I believe we are seeing the final throes of democracy in this country. The triumph of political extremism finally affecting the lives of everyday Americans.
7
"Freedom,is just another word for nothing left to lose.How apt.What was it that got Scott Walker into hot water about his comparing Isis and Unions?Couldn't have been as foul as a section of the republican party which has adopted apocalyptic martyrdom as a political strategy.
10
"Freedom"
"Liberty"
"Anarchy"
"Stupidity"
GOP 2015
"Liberty"
"Anarchy"
"Stupidity"
GOP 2015
23
@cjones1
Bush inherited a balanced budget from Clinton. In eight years he doubled the debt and gave Obama a $1.1 Trillion annual deficit in the budget Bush signed in October 2008. And that was before the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Obama now has the annual deficit down to $450 Billion.
Jobs created under 8 years of Bush were 3 million. And that was before the Lehman Brothers crash and 750,000 jobs lost in both November and December 2008.
Jobs created under 6 years of Obama - 5 million. And that includes the job losses the first months of the recession.
You probably are hearing these things where you get your news?
And so much for Obama-care killing jobs.
And there are no death panels, either.
Bush inherited a balanced budget from Clinton. In eight years he doubled the debt and gave Obama a $1.1 Trillion annual deficit in the budget Bush signed in October 2008. And that was before the Lehman Brothers collapse.
Obama now has the annual deficit down to $450 Billion.
Jobs created under 8 years of Bush were 3 million. And that was before the Lehman Brothers crash and 750,000 jobs lost in both November and December 2008.
Jobs created under 6 years of Obama - 5 million. And that includes the job losses the first months of the recession.
You probably are hearing these things where you get your news?
And so much for Obama-care killing jobs.
And there are no death panels, either.
12
Could you 'splain how you manage to run a dictatorship and disinform everybody while also being naive and crazy?
9
I watched some of the Fed Chairman Yellin's testimony. I laughed out loud when some of the Congressmen/women indicated they wanted oversight on the Fed. Can anyone imagine giving this group of yahoos more responsibility?
19
Oh, sure, everybody beats up on stuffed owls. Look, they are endangered! How many have you seen lately, huh? As for highways, the one thing we know about them is "if you build it, they will come, and then you'll have to build another one." And don't disrespect Kris Kristofferson who, with amazing prescience, described the current state of the GOP. Of course, if the Boehner of our existence should go away . . . it gets worse.
5
STRIKE!!! Honestly, I'd like to see the entire Dept of Homeland Security go on strike as a protest. The house expects them to go to work, paid or not and to DO THEIR JOBS. Why should they not expect their representatives to do the same.
9
I can't help thinking that DHS was a Republican distraction created in the confusion of 9/11. I wish we had an "undo" button for the entire Bush 2 presidency. Let's re-power the entities that were included in DHS and let them perform their specialties and keep us safe without further Republican chicanery.
14
Does anyone notice that government becomes more dysfunctional the more Republicans are elected?
At one time conservatives insisted on invoking the so called Hastert Rule that said only legislation that would pass with a majority of the majority vote could be brought up for a vote. In other words, Republicans would only allow to the floor for a vote bills that could be passed by Republicans alone.
Now, that doesn't work anymore thanks to the Tea Party caucus.
So now it's the Democrats' fault for not doing the Republicans' work.
Conservative logic on display.
At one time conservatives insisted on invoking the so called Hastert Rule that said only legislation that would pass with a majority of the majority vote could be brought up for a vote. In other words, Republicans would only allow to the floor for a vote bills that could be passed by Republicans alone.
Now, that doesn't work anymore thanks to the Tea Party caucus.
So now it's the Democrats' fault for not doing the Republicans' work.
Conservative logic on display.
23
Does anyone notice that the nation's voters have elected...in the "Age Of Obama":
A GOP U.S. Senate majority; a GOP House majority unseen since the 1920s; GOP governors to 31 of the nation's 50 governorships; and GOP majorities to 68 of the nation's 98 state legislative bodies?
Hmmm...interesting.
A GOP U.S. Senate majority; a GOP House majority unseen since the 1920s; GOP governors to 31 of the nation's 50 governorships; and GOP majorities to 68 of the nation's 98 state legislative bodies?
Hmmm...interesting.
1
Yes, the more Obama acts, the more republicans get elected and the greater their efforts to stop him.
And the more nasty the president responds and the louder the democrats complaints about republicans.
The "Obama Cycle".
And the more nasty the president responds and the louder the democrats complaints about republicans.
The "Obama Cycle".
4
I'll take the Cycle over the Boehner Big Wheels any old day.
5
And after all this nonsense, we have Bibi coming in next week to try to get a declaration of war against Iran. With the Tea Party running Congress, he might get it.
12
A republican minority in the senate block a bill leading to a shutdown and they get blamed for it.
A democrat minority in the senate block a bill leading to a shutdown and the Republicans get blamed for it???
Anyway, there are two thInge to know about these government shutdowns:
1. They will never admit this openly, but Impacted federal employees absolutely love them. They invariably get back pay so it turns out to be a nice paid vacation. There were news accounts of "shutdown parties" the last time.
2. The rest of us get to find out how many "non essential" employees there are in the government. They are in the tens of thousands.
A democrat minority in the senate block a bill leading to a shutdown and the Republicans get blamed for it???
Anyway, there are two thInge to know about these government shutdowns:
1. They will never admit this openly, but Impacted federal employees absolutely love them. They invariably get back pay so it turns out to be a nice paid vacation. There were news accounts of "shutdown parties" the last time.
2. The rest of us get to find out how many "non essential" employees there are in the government. They are in the tens of thousands.
4
Considering that every time there's a snow day and federal offices are closed a determination as to who is "essential" is made, this is hardly as devastating to federal employees as Madam Pelosi would like us to believe. I'm sure the 15% of DHS employees will survive just fine.
We probably face more risk from Obama's lax enforcement of immigration laws than we do from a shutdown now that anyone overstaying a visa is free to remain in the US.
We probably face more risk from Obama's lax enforcement of immigration laws than we do from a shutdown now that anyone overstaying a visa is free to remain in the US.
5
I really do wish that this were a bad episode of NCIS. Bad guys, ineffectual suits with an undefined mandate chasing around without effect.
Reality is far worse.
The GOP has been taken over by moronic children. They don't reason. They throw tantrums.
Republicans, grow up. Become adults. Take responsibility.
You are not they.
Reality is far worse.
The GOP has been taken over by moronic children. They don't reason. They throw tantrums.
Republicans, grow up. Become adults. Take responsibility.
You are not they.
14
As the Kenya AA kicks in this morning, the only solution to this problem is to have a third house in the legislature. Yes, a tricameral legislature with the third chamber being the, uh, "House of the People"... The Popular House. It's role is one of overt intransigence. After all, people in districts elect these representatives, so it is for them that the Popular House blocks legislation.
They'd get a lot of press, certainly, and the entire process of failure to come up with budgets would be clear. But because this new house has only a one third vote, if the HR and Senate pass a bill, it is passed. Now, I think we know who goes into this new partition. Probably much of Texas.
They'd get a lot of press, certainly, and the entire process of failure to come up with budgets would be clear. But because this new house has only a one third vote, if the HR and Senate pass a bill, it is passed. Now, I think we know who goes into this new partition. Probably much of Texas.
1
American Political History 2000-2015 Cliff Notes:
Crazy, Crazy and more Crazy
Crazy, Crazy and more Crazy
7
If people are created in God's image, God needs therapy.
15
Thanks for this.....probably the best summation of the human condition heard in many a day....
2
The hilarious thing is, the Republicans didn't even wait for the "overreach," that lots of pundits predixted would follow the modterms. They vaulted right over actually doing ANYTHING, smack into the middle of the Land of the Big Crazy.
The other hilarious thing is, I can tell the Republicans exactly how to win big in 2016. It's simple.
1. Pass legislation guaranteeing everybody their subsidies under Obamacare, require every state to expand Medicaid and open their Exchange, and repeal the medical devices tax, let every state set up Medicaid any way they want, and institute their precious tort reform.
2. Pass the Senate immigration bill, but modify it to expand work permits and make the path to citizenship even harder. Include clear residtions on benefits.
3. Pass the infrastructure bank, and fund it. Put a big eagle on all the "Under Construction," signs: votrs'll know who you mean.
4. Pass legislation on Keystone,min exchange for a carbon tax.
5. Pass tax reform, cutting taxes for corporations.
6. Make a big show of workong with the Prez.on a ME policy.
7. Run Jeb Bush.
Believe me, they'd get 60-70% of what they want, and waltz into the White House.
Thanks god these people are too stupid to do it.
The other hilarious thing is, I can tell the Republicans exactly how to win big in 2016. It's simple.
1. Pass legislation guaranteeing everybody their subsidies under Obamacare, require every state to expand Medicaid and open their Exchange, and repeal the medical devices tax, let every state set up Medicaid any way they want, and institute their precious tort reform.
2. Pass the Senate immigration bill, but modify it to expand work permits and make the path to citizenship even harder. Include clear residtions on benefits.
3. Pass the infrastructure bank, and fund it. Put a big eagle on all the "Under Construction," signs: votrs'll know who you mean.
4. Pass legislation on Keystone,min exchange for a carbon tax.
5. Pass tax reform, cutting taxes for corporations.
6. Make a big show of workong with the Prez.on a ME policy.
7. Run Jeb Bush.
Believe me, they'd get 60-70% of what they want, and waltz into the White House.
Thanks god these people are too stupid to do it.
3
This is almost like a Catch-22. The Republicans could do all these great things, Robert, but at the same time they can't do *any* of these great things, because it would improve the state of our country enormously, and the improvement would come during the Obama administration. Obama would, of course, sign such legislation, and would, most likely, get credit for it. Given that the expressed agenda of the GOP is to prevent Obama from achieving anything at all, improvement of the sate of the country is the one thing that must be prevented....at all costs. And "all costs" right now includes de-funding Homeland Security. It's a pretty sick situation.
7
Grandma Roseannadanna said it best: "It's always something."
I would add: "And THEN, it's something else."
And so the world turns. We participate, we work for causes and candidates, we vote, we write to our representatives (or email, or tweet).
And still, it's always more than a comedy/tragedy/farce.
"It's always something."
I would add: "And THEN, it's something else."
And so the world turns. We participate, we work for causes and candidates, we vote, we write to our representatives (or email, or tweet).
And still, it's always more than a comedy/tragedy/farce.
"It's always something."
5
There's an easy way out of this mess. Senate Republicans follow Reid's example and abolish the filibuster and send Obama a bill funding everything but his immigration power grab. If he vetoes that then the onus is on him to explain why we're suddenly insecure.
1
"We look back with nostalgia on the era when congressional leaders would get together in secret and make deals to pass big, mushy pieces of legislation that were littered with secret appropriations ... ."
Yes, we do. We really, really do. Better a thousand highways to nowhere than a Congress that constantly puts off for next week what should have been done yesteryear. You can hear the leaders of ISIS laughing halfway round the world.
Yes, we do. We really, really do. Better a thousand highways to nowhere than a Congress that constantly puts off for next week what should have been done yesteryear. You can hear the leaders of ISIS laughing halfway round the world.
7
Congress could be called incompetent and bumbling but that lets them off the hook for their cozying up to big money and lining their own pockets while governing. Our Congress is our national disgrace.
15
Disappointing to see the Republicans living down to our expectations. Hopefully the sections of the country that woke up and threw out these reactionary throw backs to the gilded age in 2008 will rediscover their senses in 2016 and do the same.
6
Who elected these unruly children?
Where have the adults gone?
Where have the adults gone?
9
I can tell you where the adults *haven't* gone! They *haven't* gotten themselves to the voting booths, thereby allowing the wing nuts among them to elect this collection of whack jobs!
4
I think he blew me a Kiss:
It was something I couldn't Miss.
I didn't understand,
And it felt so Grand....
But my Speaker seemed so Smug ....in His Way.
They don't seem to Care
When there's Nothing There
That shows Substance in what they've Done.
Their faces seem to Glower
As they Relish all the Power...
In Obstruction.....That seems to bee the Fun!
It was something I couldn't Miss.
I didn't understand,
And it felt so Grand....
But my Speaker seemed so Smug ....in His Way.
They don't seem to Care
When there's Nothing There
That shows Substance in what they've Done.
Their faces seem to Glower
As they Relish all the Power...
In Obstruction.....That seems to bee the Fun!
8
Hmm. And where is the talk about democrats filibustering the bill that had majority support in both house and the senate.
3
Hostage-taking isn't governing. Looks like the Republicans can't and won't figure that out. But the real people to blame are the ones who voted Republican last fall, with ample evidence that this was how their representatives would behave. If you know someone who voted Republican, today's the day to tell them, "Heck of a job!".
13
i'm not really sure what you meant by dissing kris kristofferson's great song "me and bobby mcgee"...... but if you look around the world you will find a lot of people with nothing left to lose who are untethered from sanity and reason.
you are right that this isn't freedom but also realize that the writer of the song knew this as well.
you are right that this isn't freedom but also realize that the writer of the song knew this as well.
2
Get rid of the Hastert rule Mr Bohner.
If you need a majority of your majority then you will always have a problem with
Your caucus. Govern from the center not from the extremes of any party.
If you need a majority of your majority then you will always have a problem with
Your caucus. Govern from the center not from the extremes of any party.
2
Here's an idea for a solution:
At least 35 moderate House Republicans, recognizing that the GOP has been commandeered by a lunatic right-wing fringe, should switch their affiliation to the Democratic Party, thus giving the House a Democratic majority, a Democratic Speaker, and giving the Democrats an opportunity to lead with a pragmatic approach.
At least 35 moderate House Republicans, recognizing that the GOP has been commandeered by a lunatic right-wing fringe, should switch their affiliation to the Democratic Party, thus giving the House a Democratic majority, a Democratic Speaker, and giving the Democrats an opportunity to lead with a pragmatic approach.
4
American exceptionalism on parade!
10
Boehner is starting to sound like Dan Quayle.
10
Maybe the Republican members of the house need some remedial Common Core math, or perhaps Head Start to teach them how to count. Sometimes I start to feel sorry for John Boehner, but then I get over it. I do feel sorry for our country, and cannot understand how people elected this group of radical right officials who think that they will get 100% of what they want or nothing at all.
6
Democrats want to shut down DHS - go ask them why.
1
Homeland security doesn't mean a thing while Obama is hustling people of every description over the border and into the nation. The last thing that any funding will bring this nation is security. We'll get some when Obama leaves office --if we're lucky.
3
Republican Spite all over again. Threatening the funding of HLS so they can humiliate Obama for his executive order protecting some of the undocumented immigrants (reasons to do so abound, in addition to republicans to refuse to take up the issue in Congress). And calling these immigrants "IIlegal Aliens" shows the deep willful ignorance of many in the G.O.P.; no human being on Earth is illegal, no one, not even the 'ted cruzes'. And "Alien" is a term that makes no sense, as it means 'coming from outer space', an utter nonsense.
5
Sorry, but the word "alien" referred to non-citizens long before it was adopted by the SF genre. And the word "illegal" modifies the word "alien". Ergo, the term "illegal alien" denotes a non-citizen present in this country without legal sanction. Aliens can be legal or illegal. My father was a legal alien (immigrant) until he became a citizen. I've never heard the term "illegal people", and I've hardly lived a sheltered life. Being an old lady, I do remember the term "illegitimate" being attached to the word "offspring", but that's about as close as we come, and I don't remember hearing it for over a generation.
1
don't get old, sick and/or poor with the GOP/T in control. If you think this will happen only to the "other guy/gal", think again. Even those in the top 1% should get worried without some kind of safety net.
5
Hey Gail,
How about the tens of thousands of "dreamers" wandering in through the border? Think that is making us more secure?
How about the tens of thousands of "dreamers" wandering in through the border? Think that is making us more secure?
2
To qualify as a dreamer you have to be here for 5 years.
Their parents came to get jobs.
When all the Republican businesses stop hiring them, they will stop coming.
Where there is demand, a supply will follow.
Their parents came to get jobs.
When all the Republican businesses stop hiring them, they will stop coming.
Where there is demand, a supply will follow.
5
America has become to democracy what the Soviet Union was to socailism. Insanity.
But thank you Gail for the hilarious mental picture of rabid ferrets fighting over the steering wheel of a runaway burning dumpster. Priceless.
But thank you Gail for the hilarious mental picture of rabid ferrets fighting over the steering wheel of a runaway burning dumpster. Priceless.
5
Waylon Jennings' old standard, "... red necks white sox and blue ribbon beer" is, if tweaked a bit would perfectly characterize the farce now playing out in the House.
with all due respect to the great Mr. Jennings, "... red necks,white frocks and irrational racially driven fears"
Mr.Boehner sir, have you no sense of decency left?
Get back to doing the business of the government instead of doing the business to the Country.
with all due respect to the great Mr. Jennings, "... red necks,white frocks and irrational racially driven fears"
Mr.Boehner sir, have you no sense of decency left?
Get back to doing the business of the government instead of doing the business to the Country.
7
He's not "Speaker of the House".
At best, he's "Speaker of the Head Start", one that specializes in two year olds.
At best, he's "Speaker of the Head Start", one that specializes in two year olds.
2
Unfortunately, the example has been set by the President.
"I get whatever I want. And if you do not agree with, you are obstructionist, and I will just do it illegally."
For the first time since Nixon, a president has no moral ground to stand on because of his disdain for democracy.
"I get whatever I want. And if you do not agree with, you are obstructionist, and I will just do it illegally."
For the first time since Nixon, a president has no moral ground to stand on because of his disdain for democracy.
4
"The Republicans chose not to compromise with the Democrats..."
No, no, NO; you've go it wrong, Gail. Messrs Boehner and McConnell (no relation, thank God) say it is the Democrats who have refused to compromise with the Republicans, and who are we to question the words of these duly elected corporate ... oops; I mean public ... servants?
No, no, NO; you've go it wrong, Gail. Messrs Boehner and McConnell (no relation, thank God) say it is the Democrats who have refused to compromise with the Republicans, and who are we to question the words of these duly elected corporate ... oops; I mean public ... servants?
6
The concept of writing laws---what legislatures are designed to do---is all but lost in our two main legislative branches. What is frightening about the "legislators" that are being elected now is their anarchists bent to stand in the way of any attempts to govern. You do ask yourself, what is the end game to this strategy. Will you be able to get reelected in districts where roads have turned to gravel, where social security checks have stopped, where flight controllers are not in towers, where public schools have class sizes of 50......?
1
Fun house mirrors were never so correct as they as the GOP.
1
Love your observation about the GOP's pollution of the word "freedom":
"It used to be such a great word, and now when it comes up we are often forced to recall that song about how freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose."
The conservatives make two-year-olds in mid-tantrum look rational by comparison. It would be funny -- if the rest of the world weren't looking to us for leadership. I fear that soon, that word will be meaningless, as well.
"It used to be such a great word, and now when it comes up we are often forced to recall that song about how freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose."
The conservatives make two-year-olds in mid-tantrum look rational by comparison. It would be funny -- if the rest of the world weren't looking to us for leadership. I fear that soon, that word will be meaningless, as well.
8
Sorry to say, but all this mess is the posturing of Congress for the contributions they have received from special interest groups. Our Congress was bought out so now they have to pay for their jobs. Only they are paying with our dollars, our safety, and our government. John Boehner is the cashier in chief and at the behest of a certain monied individuals, he has made sure to invite Netanyahu, stall immigration, and whoever and whatever these groups want. Most of the time these groups do have the word freedom attached. What a joke and what a tragedy for our great nation.
2
If the Republicans want to be grownups and really lead the country with whatever vision it is that they have, then they will have to get control of their party. Otherwise, they will continue to be nothing but buffoons. We laugh at their ridiculous quotes, shake our heads at their nonsensical ideas and generally react to them like we do to those guys yelling stuff on the street. They cannot be taken seriously as leaders of a boy scout troop, let alone as leaders of this country.
8
Boehner is a puppet Speaker.
8
The best thing we can do for our security is to send the republicans in a missile to Mars.
Boehner used to merely be corrupt now he's shown us he's also incompetent. But that district in Ohio keeps blessing us with him.
Boehner used to merely be corrupt now he's shown us he's also incompetent. But that district in Ohio keeps blessing us with him.
11
Gail, I too wish for the days of "stuffed-owl museum(s)." I was wrong and I am sorry for day I complained about the debt -- thank God for Paul Krugman and at least my ability to keep an open mind! My hope is that others will come to the light.
1
Candy and nuts? That's a little too pricy for me. Popcorn, on the other hand, is gratifyingly cheap, as long as you make your own and avoid the movie theatre stuff. So my plan is to sit back, bowl of popcorn under my left arm, two liters of soft drink on the table to my right, and watch the spectacle of Republicans demonstrating the magic of their managerial powers by running in circles, screaming and shouting (at one another, no less) while the DHS and children's health services circle the drain and magically disappear into the Congressional sewer system. Boehner is my Congressman. You go, boy -- but you might want to brush upon your vote counting skills.
3
Rau'l Labrador, we will be paying for all those playground taunts for a long, long time.
6
And yet, as awful and as impotent as Boehner is, can you imagine who would follow him as "leader" of the House Republicans? We might come to look back fondly on his Speakership.
4
Gee, Gail, you seem to be a bit distraught with the Republicans in this session. You know the old adage, "If you like sausage, Ya don't want to see how it's made." Only in this case it's as if someone has added a whole bunch of bad innards to the mix.
Right, the old days of compromise are gone. But if congress can't resolve this impasse, there'll be a lot more stuffed owls in that museum.
Right, the old days of compromise are gone. But if congress can't resolve this impasse, there'll be a lot more stuffed owls in that museum.
1
The heck with stuffed owl museums. How about the funding that has been passed for Stuffed Shirts Museums?
3
It seems that a great deal of this editorial's point is that some of the Republicans vote based on what they think is right, rather than just blindly following orders. Just following orders was not a defense in Nuremberg, but the writer seems to be saying it is the way American political parties should be run.
One can agree or disagree with the beliefs of any particular legislator, but I have much more respect for one who votes his conscience than one who is a party hack.
One can agree or disagree with the beliefs of any particular legislator, but I have much more respect for one who votes his conscience than one who is a party hack.
2
I don't see republicans acting on principle, or with a conscience. I see republicans being told how to vote by those threatening to cut off campaign contributions.
Furthermore, I trust politicians that don't play Russian roulette with the country's economy and national security. I trust politicians that don't say one thing and then do another. So I guess I don't trust republicans.
Furthermore, I trust politicians that don't play Russian roulette with the country's economy and national security. I trust politicians that don't say one thing and then do another. So I guess I don't trust republicans.
17
If Obama's executive action is unconstitutional, the courts will say so.
We don't need the Tea Party do determine what is Constitutional.
We don't need the Tea Party do determine what is Constitutional.
4
They are just getting started. We have two more years of this freak show.
Low voter turnout has allowed the House to be taken over by fanatics. Gerrymandering has sped the process along. Those that do vote GOP have become extremists. David Brooks said last night on the NewsHour that the people attending CPAC were just the extreme right of the Republican Party. He is wrong. They are the heart and soul of the Republican Party. The GOP has moved so far to the right, that it is incapable of governing. It will only accept complete control. That is a path to totalitarianism. Until voters realize that, the situation will only get worse. History has shown us how bad things can get when this process continues unabated. People refuse to recognize it because the package is gift wrapped in the flag and patriotism. Some gift.
Low voter turnout has allowed the House to be taken over by fanatics. Gerrymandering has sped the process along. Those that do vote GOP have become extremists. David Brooks said last night on the NewsHour that the people attending CPAC were just the extreme right of the Republican Party. He is wrong. They are the heart and soul of the Republican Party. The GOP has moved so far to the right, that it is incapable of governing. It will only accept complete control. That is a path to totalitarianism. Until voters realize that, the situation will only get worse. History has shown us how bad things can get when this process continues unabated. People refuse to recognize it because the package is gift wrapped in the flag and patriotism. Some gift.
23
Senators are elected in statewide elections and there is a republican majority in the senate.
Governors are also elected in statewide elections and there are republican governors in 32 statehouses.
Gerrymandering debunked.
So what's the next excuse? Global warming?
Governors are also elected in statewide elections and there are republican governors in 32 statehouses.
Gerrymandering debunked.
So what's the next excuse? Global warming?
2
You're right that when this behavior is wrapped in a flag people get all stupid and their brains shut down.
8
It's always seemed to me that the anti-government stance by Republicans in the House and Senate is pretty self-defeating, seeing as how they are the government - and that their apparent knee-jerk aversion to spending and regulation would eventually do themselves in. Are we there yet?
5
Actually, the far right of GOP is doing quite well on their plan to destroy the government. Hence they put forward no bills of their own, only destroy agencies, and departments by not funding, or reducing funding. It's working.
People, you have to start voting these horrible politicians out of office!
People, you have to start voting these horrible politicians out of office!
19
Actually, the GOP members, notably the Tea Party ones, are getting exactly what they want. What they are aiming at, the bedrock that underlies all Republican theory, is less government, especially federal government. By being totally and implacably intransigent, they are eating away at the federal government, at least the legislative part, piece by piece. Because of gerrymandering and Citizens United they are guaranteed reelection, so they can continue their strategy of crippling the government.
Of course, this interpretation violates Orr's Rule #2: "Never assume a plot when stupidity or incompetence can explain the result."
Of course, this interpretation violates Orr's Rule #2: "Never assume a plot when stupidity or incompetence can explain the result."
6
He need only reach across the aisle to get things done. Does that equal extinction? Will he immediately lose the Speaker spot? Many more weeks like this and he may find it worth the risk.
2
When did the Speaker of the House become de facto Majority Leader? And if the Speaker is actually the Majority Leader, what does the nominal Majority Leader do these days ? And what happened to the Whip? Anybody seen him?
The role of the Speaker once was to preside over the entire House, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and everyone else. Boehner makes no pretense at that. He uses the "Hastert Rule" - - - not a real rule but rather an an abuse of the Speaker's authority - - - to prevent legislation from coming to the floor that would pass with bipartisan support, but which would not pass with Republican votes alone. The Hastert tactic closes off compromise.
There was a time when any Representative would be pleased to hear the Speaker's knock on his office door. Even in its current degraded state the House could pass moderate non controversial legislation with the support of most, but not all, Republicans, and some, but not all, Democrats and Independents. It is Boehner's job to put this together. That would leave the "House Freedom Caucus" outside to bay at the moon. Where they belong.
The role of the Speaker once was to preside over the entire House, Republicans, Democrats, Independents and everyone else. Boehner makes no pretense at that. He uses the "Hastert Rule" - - - not a real rule but rather an an abuse of the Speaker's authority - - - to prevent legislation from coming to the floor that would pass with bipartisan support, but which would not pass with Republican votes alone. The Hastert tactic closes off compromise.
There was a time when any Representative would be pleased to hear the Speaker's knock on his office door. Even in its current degraded state the House could pass moderate non controversial legislation with the support of most, but not all, Republicans, and some, but not all, Democrats and Independents. It is Boehner's job to put this together. That would leave the "House Freedom Caucus" outside to bay at the moon. Where they belong.
11
I am hoping that John Boehner tells us what it's like to be giving the president a hard time at the same time one's caucus is giving oneself as Speaker a hard time. Does Speaker Boehner experience it as just negativity and chaos (and wants to ameliorate it)? as thrilling and invigorating? That would tell me a lot -- if these folks enjoy what's going on, then we are even worse off than I thought.
2
The court has determined that the President's immigration reforms are unconstitutional. A "clean" bill would not include funding for those reforms. Demanding that Congress fund unconstitutional spending is asking them to ignore their oaths to uphold the constitution.
By all means, let's have a "clean" bill. Then we can see what the appeals process says about the rest of it.
By all means, let's have a "clean" bill. Then we can see what the appeals process says about the rest of it.
2
You haven't read the decision.This judge ignored the law and issued a stay of Obama's program. The judge did not issue a decision on the merits of the case. There is no final ruling on constitutionality and Presidential authority until all appeals are exhausted. The judge will be reversed on appeal and he knows it so he has resorted to a delaying tactic abusing his judicial authority.
4
ONE judge said this, yup. Not the same as "the courts." Oh and incidentally: refusing to fund DHS doesn't so much as touch immigration policy.
Tasty pick, guys and dolls.
Tasty pick, guys and dolls.
6
And the court is immediately being challenged. Things that the President or Congress does is supposed to be challenged in the D.C. Circuit Court but republicans knew they'd lose there so they went forum shopping to find a republican judge that hates immigrants AND will be backed up by an Appellate Court that has the exact same viewpoint. It's like going to Wall Street and asking them if they want the market deregulated...DUH!
1
It was once said that 'politics is the art of the possible', and we had a real two party system that acted reasonably well to balance one another.
Each side would actually posit a solution to a given situation, and then fight to polish off the other sides rough edges. In logic this was know as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and it all worked out, in an often sloppy way, to arrive at something the majority of the nation could at least live with.
Now we see a situation where one party (or a significant subset of that party) has come to govern on the basis (largely) of whatever those guys are for is bad. Not with another proposal, not with specific counters to parts of bills they find particularly objectionable, but with either poison pill amendments, or absolute denial.
Once upon a time the 'powers that be' in the parties could bring to bear the power of the purse, in a no cooperation, no money for re-election, quid pro quo, But the wondrous gutting of reality brought to us by the determination that money is speech, has not only moved us toward an outright oligarchy, it is slowly gutting the system that worked so well for the first couple of centuries.
Each side would actually posit a solution to a given situation, and then fight to polish off the other sides rough edges. In logic this was know as thesis, antithesis, and synthesis, and it all worked out, in an often sloppy way, to arrive at something the majority of the nation could at least live with.
Now we see a situation where one party (or a significant subset of that party) has come to govern on the basis (largely) of whatever those guys are for is bad. Not with another proposal, not with specific counters to parts of bills they find particularly objectionable, but with either poison pill amendments, or absolute denial.
Once upon a time the 'powers that be' in the parties could bring to bear the power of the purse, in a no cooperation, no money for re-election, quid pro quo, But the wondrous gutting of reality brought to us by the determination that money is speech, has not only moved us toward an outright oligarchy, it is slowly gutting the system that worked so well for the first couple of centuries.
10
Gail looks back wistfully to an era when political parties engaged in messy bargaining, not the political blackmail we see operating today. Sadly, this is but one symptom of the failure of Congress and perhaps the federal government as a whole to serve the countries needs. But this is the Congress that the last election served up. What does that fact say about the state of our democracy?
5
As is typical of Gail Collins, she is spreading the Obama sponsored lie that not approving funding for the Homeland Security Department (HSD) will result in the suspension of critical services. Over 80% of the employees of HSD are considered essential employees and will continue working no matter what! What will get suspended is funding for Obama's unconstitutional amnesty for illegal immigrants.
5
What will also get suspended is the paychecks of those 80%. How dare we expect people to show up to work every day with no idea of when they will receive their paychecks. But of course, the representatives who would shut down the department will continue to be paid. Shame on them. Unfortunately, they are incapable of feeling any shame.
6
Yes, they continue working, but without paychecks. I think you would probably like the same deal wouldn't you? it is what every employee wants, the insecurity of wondering whether you'll be able to get enough money together to pay the mortgage. This style of governing has become a prime example of political lunacy.
5
There is a word for forcing people to work for no pay. Not particularly smart when you need those people to guard you. And so much for liberty.
So much too for competence. The Republicans have entered this looney tunes place where running the government like a 6-year old might run a treehouse fort is just fine. What could possibly go wrong?
So much too for competence. The Republicans have entered this looney tunes place where running the government like a 6-year old might run a treehouse fort is just fine. What could possibly go wrong?
4
The root cause for congressional dysfunction is hatred for Obama. Conservative house members represent constituents in deeply red, gerrymandered districts who detest the president and everything he stands for. These "lawmakers" feel they are answerable only to the haters back home. Why should they work with Boehner? Why should they compromise? Obama is the socialist, liberal tyrant whose evil must be stopped at any cost. Even if it imperils America's homeland security.
11
Control of the Congress is in the hands of Republicans for some time to come.
Fortunately, the Democratic National Committee has finally stirred itself to understand some near-fatal errors on its part--ignoring ''down-ballot'' races and failing to protect the right to vote for all eligible citizens.
With control of most Governors and state legislatures, Republicans write the rules on voting districts and voting laws. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act by SCOTUS enhances the project.
The DNC has acknowledged it will take many years to re-take statehouses and many years to amend the Constitution. But they are the right fights, without which Republicans will have disproportional power.
Fortunately, the Democratic National Committee has finally stirred itself to understand some near-fatal errors on its part--ignoring ''down-ballot'' races and failing to protect the right to vote for all eligible citizens.
With control of most Governors and state legislatures, Republicans write the rules on voting districts and voting laws. The gutting of the Voting Rights Act by SCOTUS enhances the project.
The DNC has acknowledged it will take many years to re-take statehouses and many years to amend the Constitution. But they are the right fights, without which Republicans will have disproportional power.
12
Much of what you say is correct, but the problem in 2014 was a problem typical of off-year elections: enthusiasts come to the polls for general elections, and then, seeing that the president doesn't wave his magic wand in their direction, stay at home two years later. The organized opposition wins. Until all voters are mature enough and responsible enough, this pattern, visible since Reconstruction, will continue.
5
The GOP does have a health care proposal: pay retail (Free Market with middle finger extended) or pray retail (Christian Science).
It has a Homeland Security option: the "private sector" (George Zimmerman, militiamen/vigilantes?)
It does believe in institutions -- corporations (who have all the rights of people but fewer responsibilities -- like taxes).
It does believe in free speech, which as we've found out is =money.
It does care for the poor: they must have more children, have more desperation (motivation?) and, by all means, have some guns. After all, desperate young men and women make great "free choices."
What could go wrong?
It has a Homeland Security option: the "private sector" (George Zimmerman, militiamen/vigilantes?)
It does believe in institutions -- corporations (who have all the rights of people but fewer responsibilities -- like taxes).
It does believe in free speech, which as we've found out is =money.
It does care for the poor: they must have more children, have more desperation (motivation?) and, by all means, have some guns. After all, desperate young men and women make great "free choices."
What could go wrong?
29
Hilarious.
2
Although I support the restriction on earmarks, the age old quid pro quo for a guaranteed vote, this is one aspect of the increasing gridlock in Congress, especially in the House, that makes it difficult to resolve. Aggressive redistricting resulting in most Representatives having a 99% chance of re-election as long as they have an (R) beside their name and regardless of how they vote is another aspect. And SuperPACs such as the Koch Brothers' Americans for Progress have, as a result of the Citizens United Supreme Court decision, have been able to select candidates in many districts, candidates with little or no previous public service experience, candidates who express the belief that the federal government should be discontinued, candidates who most likely could never have on their own merits raised the money required to run. Add to that the fact that a portion of American voters, mainly Tea Party types, have concluded that if the system is so broken that a black man can get elected President, then they should burn down the mission. The major problem with all this is that there are issues such as national infrastructure repair and comprehensive immigration reform and a myriad of other problems that need to be addressed by Congress while a noisy and obstructive group in Congress only wants to reverse any action taken by this President. We need a cleansing beginning with getting obscene amounts of cash out of the elective process.
20
Most important is getting people to vote. The 2014 election showed that the Dems seem too laid back to bother, and now we have this nonsense.
2
Nuts to the left, Nuts to the right. Nuts to the North, Nuts to the South, Nuts to the East, Nuts to the West. The rest of us are surrounded and under siege!
1
We need to renew our government. The slogan for the next election should rightfully be, "They all must go," followed with "I'm not them." You will win.
http://michaelslevinson.com
http://michaelslevinson.com
5
this is a case of the house and senate leadership undercutting the peons in the gallery pure and simple. The leadership wants amnesty and they want the power to spend, just like the democrats. Have to keep the peons happy a little to prevent the outright revolt that is coming. The only way it changes is to throw out the leadership asap. Then maybe we can cut government spending and actually do what is best for America and not the leaderships own wallets
Hey, Republicans, this is history calling. We want the word "freedom" back! What is it with these people and the words freedom and America? Could a liberal organization please call itself, Americans for Freedom? Seriously, my only problem here is that as much as I want safe borders, the guys I deal with crossing into Canada are ridiculous zealots, and the bloated Homeland budget to create jobs by spying and obsessing about the size of our toothpaste tubes infuriates me. As a liberal, I hate the Patriot Act and the circling of wagons since 9-11, but I hate the disengenuous Republicans even more.
11
As a liberal, you support government solutions for any and all problems, leading inevitably to totalitarianism. Where does "freedom" fit into that philosophy? Perhaps in the "Slavery is Freedom" Orwellian sense?
Chris, there needs to be a government. What are you proposing? Do you think when government solves problems people lose their freedom? Are you suggesting that government is a gateway drug to totalitarianism? You're thinking borders hysteria. In fact your words are total nonsense!!!
5
Yes, the Democrats are the candy (soft and gooey) and the Republicans are the nuts (no explanation necessary). Why aren't the Democrats screaming bloody murder about this? The Republicans are endangering the American people to play petty politics! The GOP displays fake outrage every day. But when true outrage is called for, where are the strong Democratic voices?
Crickets...
www.newyorkgritty.net
Crickets...
www.newyorkgritty.net
7
"Candy and nuts".
I see the nuts, all right, a couple of hundred of them in the House of Nuts.
But where's the candy, other than in their cartoony heads and the pockets of the Big Daddies, the GOP ventriloquists?
"Dumb" once meant "silent" or "mute". I miss those Golden Days.
I see the nuts, all right, a couple of hundred of them in the House of Nuts.
But where's the candy, other than in their cartoony heads and the pockets of the Big Daddies, the GOP ventriloquists?
"Dumb" once meant "silent" or "mute". I miss those Golden Days.
5
The yahoo Republican right extremists are not good Americans. But it kind of delights me that the even with Republican majorities, the Republicans can't figure out how to govern.
6
Republican majorities can't govern? By your standard, Democrats ran the government in 2007-2008, producing the Great Recession.
It's interesting that you don't see this kind of gamesmanship with the Department of Defense (DOD), whose purpose, in theory, is the same as the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Both are government entities and both are charged with defending our safety.
I guess there isn't enough money being made by the GOP corporate and 0.01% donors from DHS compared to the DOD. Otherwise, we'd see a very different dynamic.
I guess there isn't enough money being made by the GOP corporate and 0.01% donors from DHS compared to the DOD. Otherwise, we'd see a very different dynamic.
13
No need to fund a department that effectively does nothing. We certainly are not defending our borders or deporting people who break into the country. With a president allowing these law breakers to stay and enjoy all the social services the rest of us pay for, encouraging even more to pour across our border, what choice do the other branches have but to cut off funding.
2
I for one have had all I can take on this far right of the Republican Party. Why must the government or departments of the federal government be held hostage every time these far right dopes don't like something that the president is proposing. Allowing Homeland Security not to be funded is wrong!! What happens if an attack happens if Homeland Security doesn't get funded? Oh I know. It's President Obama's fault!!
The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.The problem is they not. When voting for a presidential candidate I always look at both candidates from both parties. The last two elections I have not because of this no compromise mentality of the Republicans.
The Republicans should be ashamed of themselves.The problem is they not. When voting for a presidential candidate I always look at both candidates from both parties. The last two elections I have not because of this no compromise mentality of the Republicans.
15
Over 80% of the employees of HSD are considered essential employees and will continue working no matter what.
I thought liberals hated Homeland Security because it was started by GW Bush. Now it suddenly is critical? LOL.
I thought liberals hated Homeland Security because it was started by GW Bush. Now it suddenly is critical? LOL.
Get ready for these headlines:
House Refuses to Fund National Science Foundation Unless Obama Declares Evolution and Climate Change Frauds
Nation Can't Afford Social Security Without Keystone Pipeline Says Boehner
Boehner Invites Netanyahu for White House Sleepover
House Refuses to Fund National Science Foundation Unless Obama Declares Evolution and Climate Change Frauds
Nation Can't Afford Social Security Without Keystone Pipeline Says Boehner
Boehner Invites Netanyahu for White House Sleepover
25
Sorry, too many nuts have been served already, and there's just no candy in sight.
9
Welcome to the times of the most incompetent, cowardly house speaker in our history.
17
perhaps in modern memory, but even that harsh assessment may not be fair.
Between gerrymandered congressional districts, the Citizens United decision allowing an end-run around old-school RNP campaign funding & the Tea Party's rejection of pork, Speaker Boehner has lost most of the traditional "carrots & sticks" available to past Speakers; and, in turn, this has left him with only slightly more authority than a substitute teacher trying to maintain order in a class of unruly 3rd graders.
Between gerrymandered congressional districts, the Citizens United decision allowing an end-run around old-school RNP campaign funding & the Tea Party's rejection of pork, Speaker Boehner has lost most of the traditional "carrots & sticks" available to past Speakers; and, in turn, this has left him with only slightly more authority than a substitute teacher trying to maintain order in a class of unruly 3rd graders.
2
Boehner is a coward and at the same time, an opportunist. He should bring up bills that are acceptable to a majority, independant of party affiliation. Things would get done and we would not be hearing about people like Labrador.
7
Just wondering: As a matter of scale and damage, has our Homeland been made much more insecure in the long- and short-run by: (1) the shenanigans of the Tea Party-Republicans, or (2) by the scary terrorists that are supposedly lurking everywhere ready to do this country and its government in?
Who actually threatened to or did shut down our federal government--the terrorists or the Republicans--and how many times? Granted the terrorists would like nothing better than to do in our government and bring it to its knees. But was it the terrorists or the Republican Party who spent the most hours actually engaged in trying to make our democratic government dysfunctional, and even bringing it to a close, if Obama and the Democrats refused to cave in to GOP demands (Is this blackmail, extortion, or holding the country hostage for ransom?)?
Speaker Boehner is in way over his head and bears a lot of responsibility for allowing the grandstanding right-wing crazies to take over the GOP, and, like a bunch of egotistical, drunken frat boys, try to outdo each other in seeming how much damage they can do in order to amuse and one-up each other.
How do we really make homeland more secure? Maybe we should scrap George Bush's Dept. of Homeland Insecurity and design a new Department of Homeland Security that focuses on quality of life & lots of ways to make us more secure and prepared for the future, such as education, health, financial, environment, etc.).
Just a thought
Who actually threatened to or did shut down our federal government--the terrorists or the Republicans--and how many times? Granted the terrorists would like nothing better than to do in our government and bring it to its knees. But was it the terrorists or the Republican Party who spent the most hours actually engaged in trying to make our democratic government dysfunctional, and even bringing it to a close, if Obama and the Democrats refused to cave in to GOP demands (Is this blackmail, extortion, or holding the country hostage for ransom?)?
Speaker Boehner is in way over his head and bears a lot of responsibility for allowing the grandstanding right-wing crazies to take over the GOP, and, like a bunch of egotistical, drunken frat boys, try to outdo each other in seeming how much damage they can do in order to amuse and one-up each other.
How do we really make homeland more secure? Maybe we should scrap George Bush's Dept. of Homeland Insecurity and design a new Department of Homeland Security that focuses on quality of life & lots of ways to make us more secure and prepared for the future, such as education, health, financial, environment, etc.).
Just a thought
6
Isn't this what we used to refer to as 'Kicking The Can Down The Road?' Just another shabby way the Republicans have of showing the wjorld who's boss. I hope and pray that it backfires and blows-up in their faces.
1
"Isn't this what we used to refer to as 'Kicking The Can Down The Road?'"
Yeah; way back last year. Remember?
Yeah; way back last year. Remember?
1
OH, DJ: They've been kicking cans at least since they installed Saint Ronnie into the oval office in 1980. And sure-emough, Americs has been slipping down the slippery-slope to oblivion, ever since.
5
The only thing missing is the guillotine but hey! We could be moving in that direction. Chop off their heads!
2
To every registered voted who decided to sit out the mid-terms: thank you for your contributions to this day. Hope whatever you needed to do November 4 that was so important you couldn't find the time to vote worked out really well (if you even remember what you did that day...besides not vote).
15
"Though this be madness, yet there is method in's"…..Now that's a positive thought, but for the life of me, I see no method at work here except for sheer exertion of power motivated by rage at Obama. We can prescribe no nobility, no love for the nation, in the shenanagins of this rather malicious group. Speaker Boehner does not appear to be clever enough to have a larger plan behind the scenes…he's shepherding cats.
5
See, some good comes out of this messy business. No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top treat education as if it were a track meet or perhaps a mountain climbing competition and are so flawed from the very beginning that it is better to see both the original and its successor disappear.
Next time, dear GOP voters, tell all your friends and family that you're going to vote for the candidate who hates big government, talks tough and has an R next to his name, but go into the booth and pull the lever for the compromiser. Tribe satisfied, government works. That is how it is done.
7
We need a mechanism for a national unity, coalition government, headed by Boehner, with Pelosi as his next in line, representing the Democrats and as many sane Republicans as there are. Given the voting in districts, such a government would easily represent 3/4 or so of the voting electorate. It could also actually pass legislation that might even be good for the country. This is too much to hope for of course, and probably not feasible under the structure of our constitutional government.
People, like Gail, should panic if Homeland Security isn't fully funded.
Becasue without funding, everything would continue to function, exactly as it does today, except for the 13% of employees that aren't deemed to be necessary.
Yes I can see why the left would panic over the suspension of unnecessary gov't employees in one dept.
BTW, does the gov't still pay a people who all they do is break ashtrays to verify how many pieces they break into, or was that unnecessary program ended?
Becasue without funding, everything would continue to function, exactly as it does today, except for the 13% of employees that aren't deemed to be necessary.
Yes I can see why the left would panic over the suspension of unnecessary gov't employees in one dept.
BTW, does the gov't still pay a people who all they do is break ashtrays to verify how many pieces they break into, or was that unnecessary program ended?
1
Who decides who is is "necessary"?
1
I think you're right about that approximate 87% of HS employees who the law requires to keep working without pay, but how long do you think they'd be in top form without being able to pay their bills? The lucky ones would be the 13% who'd have time to look for and work another job.
3
You guys are the ones who demanded a Department of Homeland Security after 9/11, weren't you? What has changed? Oh, that's right; we haven't had a terror attack on our shores since then, so it's high time that we de-secure the "homeland." Gawd, "homeland" sounds so Stalinist...
And if I recall correctly, the broken ashtrays pork barrel was promoted and sponsored by a Republican congressman from Michigan, so be careful of where you sling stones in your glass house.
And if I recall correctly, the broken ashtrays pork barrel was promoted and sponsored by a Republican congressman from Michigan, so be careful of where you sling stones in your glass house.
2
"There was absolutely no agreement on what will happen next. We look back with nostalgia on the era when congressional leaders would get together in secret and make deals to pass big, mushy pieces of legislation that were littered with secret appropriations for unnecessary highways and a stuffed-owl museum in some swing vote’s district. We complained a lot at the time, but that was because we didn’t realize it was the golden age.
Gail, this is your most frightening paragraph.
Watching this clown Congress in action hardly bodes well for our country and to think that a huge number of Americans are voting to keep these clowns in Congress brings tears to my eyes. In another Times article, I read that Scott Walker was looking pretty good . . . so far, that is. Ah, CPAC.
"If candy and nuts..." indeed!
Gail, this is your most frightening paragraph.
Watching this clown Congress in action hardly bodes well for our country and to think that a huge number of Americans are voting to keep these clowns in Congress brings tears to my eyes. In another Times article, I read that Scott Walker was looking pretty good . . . so far, that is. Ah, CPAC.
"If candy and nuts..." indeed!
7
Perhaps it should be admitted that we are now in a three-party system with these 27-30 House Reps mucking it up for everybody else. If there is a pollster or pundit out there who can prove to the Republican leadership that these people are not Republicans, convince them to toss these people out of the party and stop calling them Republicans. They seem to think they are right and everybody else is wrong. It's time to give them the chance to prove their point without the cover of a "R" by their name.
6
Either they don't want a federal government and want all power to devolve to the states, or worse, to the head of each family, or they are boxed in now, paralyzed, trying to act like they want to shut down the government while actually trying to devolve power to the corporate donor class. Either one is treason.
13
"Great news! Congress has voted to fund the Department of Homeland Security for a week."
Unless their PAC sponsors provide them with a project they would like rubber-stamped, it sure looks like Republicans are unfamiliar with actual government of the U.S.A. Being "anti" America is always easier that taking America forward.
Unless their PAC sponsors provide them with a project they would like rubber-stamped, it sure looks like Republicans are unfamiliar with actual government of the U.S.A. Being "anti" America is always easier that taking America forward.
12
I would bet all the change in my pocket that the House Freedom Caucus includes my representative Ted Yoho. In an interview recently , regarding ISIS, he said : "We're taking God out of this country, they're fighting for their God and all I can say is the person who has God on their side in going to win." It is astonishing that someone can get elected to Congress with simplistic notions and a limited agenda, Ted's being the elimination of Obamacare. Just what his rural, mostly poor constituents need ....limited access to health care. The republican fringe doesn't grasp the bigger picture.
They would toy with the nation's security funding to make a point. Something here sounds like arrested development.
They would toy with the nation's security funding to make a point. Something here sounds like arrested development.
32
Michelle Bachman and Allen West both warned us about some members of Congress who may not be for America or who were members of the Communist Party. But before leaving they never identified the members of this treacherous 5th column cabal bent on crippling American government. The Republicans led by George W. Bush were adamantly opposed to the creation of the Department of Homeland Security which they deemed a monstrous bureaucracy.
.
Speaker of the House John Boehner seems to take his title literally. Perhaps we should give him another title. Mover? Shaker? Doer? Maker? Legislator? Creator? American?
In the mean time maybe we can call upon the First Americans including the Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho, Sioux, Apache, Blackfeet, Seminole, Shawnee, Iroquois, Cherokee, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Navajo, Ute, Hopi, Sauk etc. to protect the homeland and identify and capture the 5th column working against America.
Why are Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jung-Un laughing so hard?
.
Speaker of the House John Boehner seems to take his title literally. Perhaps we should give him another title. Mover? Shaker? Doer? Maker? Legislator? Creator? American?
In the mean time maybe we can call upon the First Americans including the Comanche, Cheyenne, Kiowa, Arapaho, Sioux, Apache, Blackfeet, Seminole, Shawnee, Iroquois, Cherokee, Shoshone, Nez Perce, Navajo, Ute, Hopi, Sauk etc. to protect the homeland and identify and capture the 5th column working against America.
Why are Vladimir Putin, Xi Jinping and Kim Jung-Un laughing so hard?
7
If we ask nicely, maybe the indians will take back the country and teach us how to govern.
3
I think the terrorists are lovin' Congress.
11
I still remember "Freedom fries," so whenever I see creepy Freedom references, I just substitute French. Voilà: the House French Caucus. Just as meaningless and nonsensical, but less creepy. Now if we could get supposedly sensible people like Harry Reid to stop talking about "our homeland," which is even creepier. Whatever happened to "America"?
7
I missed Gail's oped when Dirty Harry and "pass it then read what's in it" Pelosi were mucking things up for the last 6 years.
1
With the indispensible help of the GOP.
2
As you know John, our boy Boehner is doing a petty good job of mucking it up in spades. His caucus meets around a bar stool.
4
Unbelievable. Except, this time it is believable because it happened. Just when you thought things couldn't get any worse, the Tea Party splits in two to produce righter than right Tea Party II.
Maybe it's time to stop calling the right "right" and give it a new name. Because, if they can't fund an agency for a year, 3 months, a month, or a day, they just aren't right. And they certainly aren't right for the nation.
The following exchange you quoted, Gail, wouldn't make it into a movie script about bad governance:
" This time, Democrats gave Boehner a hand, and the bill passed on a bipartisan vote after a debate that almost literally boiled down to the following: “This is no way to govern the nation.” “This has been a day of confusion.”
Understatement has never been a feature of the right (or "right-right, "wronger than right") wing, no matter who is speaking for them. But just when you think things can't get any worse, they surprise us again!
Like a poster I used to keep in my cube back in my publishing days, "It's always darker before it's pitch black).
And when it's black, Boehner will never be able to find, or pass around, his candy and nuts.
Maybe it's time to stop calling the right "right" and give it a new name. Because, if they can't fund an agency for a year, 3 months, a month, or a day, they just aren't right. And they certainly aren't right for the nation.
The following exchange you quoted, Gail, wouldn't make it into a movie script about bad governance:
" This time, Democrats gave Boehner a hand, and the bill passed on a bipartisan vote after a debate that almost literally boiled down to the following: “This is no way to govern the nation.” “This has been a day of confusion.”
Understatement has never been a feature of the right (or "right-right, "wronger than right") wing, no matter who is speaking for them. But just when you think things can't get any worse, they surprise us again!
Like a poster I used to keep in my cube back in my publishing days, "It's always darker before it's pitch black).
And when it's black, Boehner will never be able to find, or pass around, his candy and nuts.
124
Should these people be called anarchists? They don't want government to do anything, except maybe help out the rich.
2
Will someone explain the kissy face? Where I come from, that would have gotten you thrown out of Sister Natalie's fifth grade class and dragged by your ear to Mother Chelsea's office, where you'd sit in a corner while your mother was called.
If ands and buts were a bowl of nuts, they'd call it the Republican Congress.
If ands and buts were a bowl of nuts, they'd call it the Republican Congress.
14
The "kisses," in most other cultures would have been viewed as unspeakable street vulgarity. Even here, they represented a mocking dismissal of the people's right to be treated with the utmost respect and decency. It was Boehner's Marie Antoinette moment ... And we all know how the people reacted to her "Let them eat cake."
7
Hey, you guys voted for a GOP Congressman -- How do you like me Now?
The border states are exposed to a massive invasion of immigrants right about yesterday! There's always a delay in reporting, you know.
In Texas, it looks like another losing battle at the Alamo.
The border states are exposed to a massive invasion of immigrants right about yesterday! There's always a delay in reporting, you know.
In Texas, it looks like another losing battle at the Alamo.
7
The republican party is unfit to govern.
20
Who says they want to.
4
Good point. Their conduct shows that having the camel in the tent is not better than having it outside and urinating inwards.
1
Many years ago, when he was an eager, corrupt young Congressman, it was John Boehner's job to go to the offices of the tobacco company lobbyists, pick up dozens of cash filled envelopes, and then go to the floor of the House and play Santa Claus, handing out that cash to Congressmen who voted the right way. Sad to realize that that was last time that he was up to the demands of the job
13
If ANYTHING typifies the insanity of the "new" Republican-crazy-conservatives, it's THIS issue. That they are willing to jeopardize not only MY security and safety, but the security and safety of the ENTIRE nation, to demonstrate their "disagreement" with the President AND simultaneously find a way to demonstrate their hatred of non-Caucasians only to satisfy their "base", is to me, bone chilling. What's next...defunding the military because the Pentagon believes that climate change will become an international military crisis? I would no longer be surprised.
12
Why is everyone so surprised? Did we really think giving the republicans a majority in Congress would ease the gridlock and dysfunction? For the Tea Party wing of the House republicans, their goal is to obstruct Obama and stymie the democrats at every turn, and it is doing just that. The republicans have been given the keys to the car and are driving erratically, to say the least. Let's not blame Congress folks. Blame ourselves for rewarding the republicans in 2014 for shutting down the government in 2013.
27
So Dems in the Senate repeatedly filibuster any bill to fund DHS unless it includes Obama's unilateral, my way or the highway dictate that countless billions be lavished upon millions of illegal immigrants, festooning these invaders with SS numbers, work permits, tax refunds for taxes not paid, free health care, welfare, Section 8, and who knows what else, all without Congressional authorization or debate. And yet to NYT blockheads, it's Rep's in the House and Bohner who are the clown car extremists? Wow! You people are beyond reason. Yes, how dare Reps demand that Obama follow the Constitution and accept that Congress, not his petty, arrogant self, has law making authority. The nerve. Must be racist, right? Are you people that irrational? Apparently so.
3
Have you checked how many Executive orders were issued by President Eisenhower? President Nixon? President Reagan? Presidents Bush I & Bush II? Do some research & you'll see that many, many more were issued by these Republican presidents. I'm old enough to remember them. Democrats back then weren't vindictive & have hissy fits. If they didn't agree with the president, they submitted their own bills. Why can't the Republicans do that, instead of endangering the whole nation?
Because they are obsessed with their hatred of President Obama, that's why.
Because they are obsessed with their hatred of President Obama, that's why.
13
No, we're not irrational or blockheads. Democrats are just trying to feed, house, and clothe as many as possible, because, when people are prosperous, so is the nation.
8
Bill Clinton had 363 EOs.
R Nixon:345
Reagan: 380
Bush (Sr) 165
Bush (Jr) 290
Truman: 893
FDR: 3,466
Ike: 481
So what is your point? If you are playing a numbers game well the Dems take that cake......
R Nixon:345
Reagan: 380
Bush (Sr) 165
Bush (Jr) 290
Truman: 893
FDR: 3,466
Ike: 481
So what is your point? If you are playing a numbers game well the Dems take that cake......
1
We don't need to worry about Jihadi John or his cohorts. They will die--laughing at Congress.
14
Homeland Insecurity. Coming from two directions. Israeli leader's re-election speech is more important to conservative Republicans than clean funding of DHS.
Whose side are these people on?
Whose side are these people on?
17
The House and Senate Republican reactionaries would like President Obama to be as inept and useless as they are. And because he does not bow to their insanity they double down on the tantrums.
They would have us believe that their right to do nothing on immigration is more important than the safety of the country. And their way of protesting President Obama's sensible immigration measures is breathtakingly absurd. Let's take down border security the thing they want more of unless they get their way.
And meanwhile the Republicans conduct a tea party with a foreign leader almost as radical as they are. Maybe we should just give the whole thing up and declare the House and Senate chambers an insane asylum.
They would have us believe that their right to do nothing on immigration is more important than the safety of the country. And their way of protesting President Obama's sensible immigration measures is breathtakingly absurd. Let's take down border security the thing they want more of unless they get their way.
And meanwhile the Republicans conduct a tea party with a foreign leader almost as radical as they are. Maybe we should just give the whole thing up and declare the House and Senate chambers an insane asylum.
14
These recurring episodes of bitterness and insanity reinforce the idea that the nation in its present form doesn't work as a federal democracy. It's time to rethink the republic, and split up into four or five more homogeneous entities that can pursue their quite different philosophies without paralyzing the whole. I think these places would get along quite nicely with each other once unshackled. And those of us on coasts could keep a few more of our tax dollars without have to support states or sub-nations that detest our values.
8
These meatballs are leading by caveat. Its almost as if they're all sitting in front of a giant golden gilded mirror, teasing up their white hair like Marie Antoinette. They don't know if they should apply more blush here, or eye shadow there, or maybe a deeper color of lipstick. Then there is the question about the dress. Yes, the dress. Is it blue and black, white and gold or orange and red? Oh my, Congress is such a bedeviling mystery with its old-fashioned, trompe l’oeil quality. How could different people see the same Congress so differently? Who has time for Homeland Security when there are so many pieces of cake to give to the people while Rome is burning in the background.
13
Are you sure that Speaker Boehner didn’t say, “If ands and buts were conservatives and nuts, every day would be chaos,” oblivious to the fact that that’s what the House has become? Speaker Boehner must rue the day when GOP states gerrymandered their districts to elect such a bunch of jokers. While it’s reassuring to know that we got a circus in town, I don’t think the people are laughing. Don’t be surprised that when freedom is not on the line for at least the next seven days, this House (of Cards) votes to repeal Obamacare for a 57th time simply to rally the base? Meanwhile DHS is funded for a full week and we are safe!
113
Well Boehner and company can thank Karl Rove for that. No single man or woman on this planet has done more to destroy the Republican party.
1
There's an emotion that's a cross between horror and satisfaction at watching the United States slowly turning into a cross between Iran and North Korea. You voted for 'em or you stayed home on election day. Either way, I reserve my sympathy only for those who have no say.
12
You are absolutely correct in your comments about our Country and its current politics.
We don't vote and even when we do we vote idiots into office.
We don't vote and even when we do we vote idiots into office.
4
The problem with this problem is it's hard to see the bottom. It's not hard to imagine the pain when we finally land though.
3
The problem is not a dysfunctional Republican Congress, but a dysfunctional President whose atrociously arrogant and illegal actions cause the Congress to need extreme measures to reign him in.
3
Check Google & see how many Executive Orders were issued by Republican presidents Eisenhower, Nixon, Reagan, Bush I & Bush II. You'll see that LOTS more were issued during their terms.
President Obama's Executive Action is not the problem. The Republicans' obsessive hatred of him is the problem.
President Obama's Executive Action is not the problem. The Republicans' obsessive hatred of him is the problem.
12
What with "Islamic Terrorists" threatening to cause mass mayhem and destruction in the USA, the Republicans threatened to de-fund Homeland Security, and agreed, reluctantly, bitterly, to re-fund the Dept for ONE WEEK.
The "Islamic Terrorists" must be gloating, celebrating and laughing at us.
I thought that giving aid and comfort to our enemies was the definition of treason.
The fact that a significant number of Americans continues to vote for Republicans perplexing and as comforting as those Germans who voted Adolf Hitler into power.
The "Islamic Terrorists" must be gloating, celebrating and laughing at us.
I thought that giving aid and comfort to our enemies was the definition of treason.
The fact that a significant number of Americans continues to vote for Republicans perplexing and as comforting as those Germans who voted Adolf Hitler into power.
14
As an octogenarian with little time left I have come to believe that Americans increasingly do not want to be governed. We seem to be heading down the same road as Yemen or Somalia. Every single rule or law torments enough people that they yell and scream until it is revoked or abandoned. We have come to hate laws that restrict guns in any manner, we hate red lights, stop lights and their associated cameras, we hate paying taxes, we hate banking laws designed to protect depositors, laws preventing the buying of politicians and the list goes on and on and on. I don't like this kind of world where reasonable rules and laws are now an anathema to so many people. We are sewing discord and we will reap chaos.
5
Sure, kick the can down the road.
Republican politicians are so very adept at getting elected. Once they do, it is nothing but amateur hour.
Republican politicians are so very adept at getting elected. Once they do, it is nothing but amateur hour.
6
Congress is a joke, Republicans are a joke, conservatives and their bone-headed ideology are a joke, the country is a joke. It would be nice to see the US restored to some semblance of sanity before I die, but I'm not holding my breath.
16
Why secure the borders, airports etcetera when the nation in its' mindset much like that of 1970's with the "Me Generation" mindset is doing a fine job eroding the nation and security within?
At the rate the US is going with a focus making certain drugs legal, marriage, squashing Voter IDs, etcetera, the left like Gail Collins more interested in Bill O'Reilly's reporting resume or bashing only one side of the political problem rather bring more focus on Obama violating Constitutional law....
If there is one change needed to the US Constitution it should be on how laws are established and voted. Bills should only be on a singular issue so the career politicians like that of Boehner, Pelosi and the long list of others can be rated on the merits of how they vote singular issues, along with their overall voting record and not their rhetoric....
At the rate the US is going with a focus making certain drugs legal, marriage, squashing Voter IDs, etcetera, the left like Gail Collins more interested in Bill O'Reilly's reporting resume or bashing only one side of the political problem rather bring more focus on Obama violating Constitutional law....
If there is one change needed to the US Constitution it should be on how laws are established and voted. Bills should only be on a singular issue so the career politicians like that of Boehner, Pelosi and the long list of others can be rated on the merits of how they vote singular issues, along with their overall voting record and not their rhetoric....
Dear Ms. Collins,
So, you don't like the political landscape this time of year. The "fiscal cliffs" are covered in ice and I understand that Norwegian Cruise Lines has a great tour of these towering, icy structures, dazzling in their brilliance and a wonder to behold.
Their "alternate" tour of "Sequesterland" is ready to take off some time this spring with a tour guided by guest "pilots/speakers". The first tour is being offered by John Boehner and features such thrills as:
a. Cruising by the palaces of the "rich and infamous" with a visit to the "Black Ice Castle" owned by the Koch Brothers; the "interrogation" room of this structure is where would be candidates grovel before a safe full of money
b. "See How the Other Half Lives" optional part of the tour. Visitors have the opportunity to throw money off the side of the boat, not TOO much (don't want to spoil these "freeloaders"), and watch the fun as "natives" dive and compete with each other to come up with cash. A great time for the entire family.
The tours are quite reasonably priced with only $150.00 to ensure booking. However, on leaving the boat one has to pay a "disembarking" fee of $25,000.00 (It's considered a contribution and completely legal and tax deductible). Kind of like the "Hotel California" of which the Eagles sang; "You can check out but never leave", unless you've got the money.
Tours are starting shortly so contact your nearest GOP/TP/KOCH AFFILIATE to reserve your space.
Happy sailing!
So, you don't like the political landscape this time of year. The "fiscal cliffs" are covered in ice and I understand that Norwegian Cruise Lines has a great tour of these towering, icy structures, dazzling in their brilliance and a wonder to behold.
Their "alternate" tour of "Sequesterland" is ready to take off some time this spring with a tour guided by guest "pilots/speakers". The first tour is being offered by John Boehner and features such thrills as:
a. Cruising by the palaces of the "rich and infamous" with a visit to the "Black Ice Castle" owned by the Koch Brothers; the "interrogation" room of this structure is where would be candidates grovel before a safe full of money
b. "See How the Other Half Lives" optional part of the tour. Visitors have the opportunity to throw money off the side of the boat, not TOO much (don't want to spoil these "freeloaders"), and watch the fun as "natives" dive and compete with each other to come up with cash. A great time for the entire family.
The tours are quite reasonably priced with only $150.00 to ensure booking. However, on leaving the boat one has to pay a "disembarking" fee of $25,000.00 (It's considered a contribution and completely legal and tax deductible). Kind of like the "Hotel California" of which the Eagles sang; "You can check out but never leave", unless you've got the money.
Tours are starting shortly so contact your nearest GOP/TP/KOCH AFFILIATE to reserve your space.
Happy sailing!
10
The Governing Optional Party.
167
Lani Guinier wrote a brilliant book titled "Tyranny of the Majority". It cost her the job of Asst Attorney General. We are now experiencing the tyranny of the minority. Gail writes they hate Obama's immigration policy. No Gail, They actually hate Obama for being black. And again the cowardly dems backed down and supported Boehner. They are not afraid of the dangers to us if Homeland Security is not funded for a week or two. They are afraid that we may realize we really don't need them to the extent they are shoved down our throat.
14
Perhaps before being entrusted with the fate of the nation, new entrants into Congress should be required to demonstrate good old problem solving and ability to co-operate with the greater good in mind. I would not want this bunch on my team in any undertaking. Whatever the endeavor whether in business, medicine, bridge building or social betterment, none would never see the light of day. They might still be debating whether the wheel was really necessary.
Couldn't a true leader of the House help separate out issues for resolution rather than give in to juvenile tactics whose main intent seems to be to stick it to the President. The Hastert Rule should be forbidden.
Perhaps we citizens should learn to be a bit more picky about who we allow to work for us by choosing only grown-ups.
Couldn't a true leader of the House help separate out issues for resolution rather than give in to juvenile tactics whose main intent seems to be to stick it to the President. The Hastert Rule should be forbidden.
Perhaps we citizens should learn to be a bit more picky about who we allow to work for us by choosing only grown-ups.
4
Once upon a time there was another party, just like the Republicans of 2015. It was called the Democratic Party, and just like the GOP today, it was two parties marching under the same banner. There were the social democratic Democrats from the North and there were the Dixiecrat Democrats from, well, Dixie.
Now we have the Country Club Republicans and the Dixicans, the latter supplemented by the Moronicans from the fundamentalist, "it's still 1895," regions of Flyoverstan.
The latter in particular see themselves as true reactionaries, intent on going back in time and destroying all the structures build by TR, FDR, and LBJ. Their counterparts in the Muslim world march under black flags eyes focused on progressing to the year 700; the American fundamentalists are thinking 1895.
The 'icans and the ISISicans are both comical in their ways, but they're not exactly funny. Neither of them believes in democracy, not in government and certainly not in the parallel power structure of the economy. Both have their marching orders: Backwards, ho!
Meanwhile Mr Speaker reminds me of one of those gizmos outside used car lots, alternately inflated to stand erect and deflated to flop in the wind, his dour face looking pained no mater what, so obviously longing to take a nap in a tanning both, then sidle up next to the bar and down a brewski...or two or three or four. The sad sack from Ohio--comic if not so tragic, a living symbol of how much the USA has lost.
Now we have the Country Club Republicans and the Dixicans, the latter supplemented by the Moronicans from the fundamentalist, "it's still 1895," regions of Flyoverstan.
The latter in particular see themselves as true reactionaries, intent on going back in time and destroying all the structures build by TR, FDR, and LBJ. Their counterparts in the Muslim world march under black flags eyes focused on progressing to the year 700; the American fundamentalists are thinking 1895.
The 'icans and the ISISicans are both comical in their ways, but they're not exactly funny. Neither of them believes in democracy, not in government and certainly not in the parallel power structure of the economy. Both have their marching orders: Backwards, ho!
Meanwhile Mr Speaker reminds me of one of those gizmos outside used car lots, alternately inflated to stand erect and deflated to flop in the wind, his dour face looking pained no mater what, so obviously longing to take a nap in a tanning both, then sidle up next to the bar and down a brewski...or two or three or four. The sad sack from Ohio--comic if not so tragic, a living symbol of how much the USA has lost.
29
Great letter! Moronicans! You should trade mark it.
3
Wait a minute. Blaming the Republicans for refusal to compromise when the democrats voted against this for the purpose of making the republicans look bad? Where are the adults?
The Republicans need Democrats to make them look bad???? New GOP motto, formerly the motto of Pogo the 'possum, "We have met the enemy (the United States government) and it's us!" Form a circle, lock and load....
5
Dear Ms. Collins: Your columns often make me laugh out loud and for a moment or two I can put away that feeling of disquiet that all is not well with our elected representatives and moreover today, I know that I am secure for a week.. That's something.
3
Now we get to see if DHS has done anything for us in terms of actual homeland security. If we go for months without funding and nothing happens, what will they say? Please, oh, please Mommy, you love us don't you?
The level of spending since 9/11 has become ridiculous. ISIS is an outcrop of our own interference in the Middle East. Just like Al Qaeda came out of our geopolitical interference in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Some people seem to be stuck in a Moebius strip. They never learn anything and they are constantly proposing the same ideas in different guises never learning from their own mistakes (or in some case from their PARENT's mistakes).
The level of spending since 9/11 has become ridiculous. ISIS is an outcrop of our own interference in the Middle East. Just like Al Qaeda came out of our geopolitical interference in Afghanistan in the 1980s.
Some people seem to be stuck in a Moebius strip. They never learn anything and they are constantly proposing the same ideas in different guises never learning from their own mistakes (or in some case from their PARENT's mistakes).
4
Stop referring to these reactionary neo-confederates as "conservatives", a term hijacked by Limbaugh and cohorts years ago. Orwellian misuse of language is part of the way they manipulate the ignorant.
41
In the Broadway musical "Shenandoah" there's a song called "Freedom". The lyrics from one on the stanzas seem to fit in quite well with Ms. Collins piece today;
Freedom ain't a place like Maine or Virginia, freedom ain't across some country line. Freedom is a flame that burns within ya... Freedom's in the state of Mind.
Freedom ain't a place like Maine or Virginia, freedom ain't across some country line. Freedom is a flame that burns within ya... Freedom's in the state of Mind.
1
Gail, you have such a gift. Of course, this Congress provides so much fodder that your choice of subjects is limitless. Thank you for such an artistic and accurate put down of these one dimensional clowns.
10
It's clear the Republican House members are "burned out" with all the long hours they are asked to put in. As a way to cut their hours spent working in the House to under 500 hours per year may I suggest the following.
Have them collect up their 3 or 4 most favorite pieces of legislation that will not pass the Senate let alone the President and tack them onto every bill they send to the Senate. It doesn't matter if any of this add on legislation is related in any way to the main piece of legislation. Since nothing will get passed, there is no need for much work in crafting any new bill.
Have them collect up their 3 or 4 most favorite pieces of legislation that will not pass the Senate let alone the President and tack them onto every bill they send to the Senate. It doesn't matter if any of this add on legislation is related in any way to the main piece of legislation. Since nothing will get passed, there is no need for much work in crafting any new bill.
3
Reason and logic will not sway this band of extremist. The thoughts and beliefs they hold has seeped into their blood over generations. Theirs is a twisted religion, 6 degrees right of sanity. Now, not only do we have to worry about the enemy without, but the enemy within. We need a Homeland Security to protect us against what one of the own had called "A bunch of crazies.".
10
Rabid ideologue voters encased in gerrymandered districts vote the inmates into positions of power, what did you think was going to happen?
11
John Boehner is the leader of a Congress that is making no attempt to act in the best interests of the United States. He is emotionally unbalanced and should not be Speaker of the House, and his entire Republican majority should be impeached.
20
We knew things would get bad when the Grand Old Party won both houses. But honestly even us crazy, left wing Liberal Democrats didn't predict that things would get this bad this soon.
13
Good last line, Gail. Just one suggested change: "Pass the candy TO the nuts."
6
When you consider to what extremes the republican party will go to undermine our federal government, consider other political parties whose sole purpose was to undermine their national governments in order to advance their party's political agenda:
The southern Confederacy of the 1860s.
The Bolsheviks of the early 1900s.
The Nazis of the 1930s.
The Islamists of pick your favorite time frame.
Today's republicans are in dubious company.
The southern Confederacy of the 1860s.
The Bolsheviks of the early 1900s.
The Nazis of the 1930s.
The Islamists of pick your favorite time frame.
Today's republicans are in dubious company.
15
As dangerous as it is, the REAL threat to America isn't yet from the extreme, murdering Muslims in ISIS. It is from our extreme liberal president who trashes the rule of law at will, ignores the powerful election sweep, and tears at the central fiber of the Constitution by acting like a "king"/"emperor" (his own very works) issuing royal decrees.
The Constitution has specific remedy, short of impeachment, to deal with such tyranny. It is Power of the Purse. Most Republicans want to use it. Unfortunately a few GOP pantywastes are afraid to do it, possibly fearing the liberal media. If they can consolidate their ranks against the dictator, then Republicans can reclaim the mandate of the last election. If not, they won't get another, and deservedly so. Americans are not stupid.
The Constitution has specific remedy, short of impeachment, to deal with such tyranny. It is Power of the Purse. Most Republicans want to use it. Unfortunately a few GOP pantywastes are afraid to do it, possibly fearing the liberal media. If they can consolidate their ranks against the dictator, then Republicans can reclaim the mandate of the last election. If not, they won't get another, and deservedly so. Americans are not stupid.
perhaps you misread the constitution, or the precedent the president, a constitutional scholar (someone who has spent years studying the document and related historical texts on the subject), draws upon from his predecessors. we have a deliberative, reasoned president, and an insane congress. there was no mandate in the election-more democrats voted than Republicans. it simply reflects the tarnished use of gerrymandering districts to guarantee your right wing ideologue from Idaho will get elected. these people are insufferable and a disgrace to the nation.
4
I thought Republicans liked dictators. Your leadership praised Putin for invading Ukraine. "Wish we has a real leader" they said. And they praised the King of Jordan for bombing ISIS. "Wish we had a King like that!" They said. Make up your mind.
10
You obviously have never read the Constitution or studied American history which I thought was mandatory in every state, including North Carolina.
Please, if you consider the last election a "mandate," what do you call 2008 and 2012? In both of those years, a democratically elected President received 52% of the vote. And I disagree with your last statement...Americans are
stupid--they put Republicans in charge of the Senate and House; so far, that's turning out to be a disaster in progress.
Please, if you consider the last election a "mandate," what do you call 2008 and 2012? In both of those years, a democratically elected President received 52% of the vote. And I disagree with your last statement...Americans are
stupid--they put Republicans in charge of the Senate and House; so far, that's turning out to be a disaster in progress.
3
Reasonable people in America understand that Congress is incapable of passing any meaningful legislation. Until recently, we attributed that shortcoming to the radicalization of the Republican Party controlling Congress. We assumed that the extremists on the right have a philosophical objection to governing.
Now, however, we can relax.
The problem is nothing more than good old-fashioned Republican incompetence. Whew.
Now, however, we can relax.
The problem is nothing more than good old-fashioned Republican incompetence. Whew.
10
It's appropriate that Republicans disagree with Mr. Obama's immigration policies and executive orders. They can challenge him in court, which they have thus far successfully done. The initial ruling will most likely be overturned and then it will head to the Supreme Court, where, against all odds - because the States have no rights in determining immigration policy - it may well be reversed again by the very same justices (Thomas, Roberts, Scalia, Alito and maybe Kennedy) who claim to be constructionists (unless it gets in the way of what they really want). In other words, Republicans might prevail in court and anyway, Obama's executive orders are now on hold.
The other option is to pass legislation, but that won't work because Obama will veto. But rather than be appropriate, Republicans have become enthralled with the notion of disruptive government, as though it were a new technology. And many Americans, obviously equally enthralled with reality TV, enjoy this mutinous behavior because, in the end, they don't believe it will hurt them - rather, it will hurt people they don't care about.
In other words, those Americans (lets call them the moocher haters) prefer a return to the roaring 20's, when the free market cut heads off as needed. What these Americans don't understand as that by March 4, 1933, when FDR was sworn in as president, every bank in America was closed and Republicans were still saying the free market will sort it all out.
It will hurt you.
The other option is to pass legislation, but that won't work because Obama will veto. But rather than be appropriate, Republicans have become enthralled with the notion of disruptive government, as though it were a new technology. And many Americans, obviously equally enthralled with reality TV, enjoy this mutinous behavior because, in the end, they don't believe it will hurt them - rather, it will hurt people they don't care about.
In other words, those Americans (lets call them the moocher haters) prefer a return to the roaring 20's, when the free market cut heads off as needed. What these Americans don't understand as that by March 4, 1933, when FDR was sworn in as president, every bank in America was closed and Republicans were still saying the free market will sort it all out.
It will hurt you.
16
@HDNY Your comment is spot on with the exception of this:
"They're willing to risk the security and lives of American citizens because they hate Obama so much."
Homeland Security has nothing to do with lowering the risk to our security and our lives. When have you ever read of this disgrace of a department being in the forefront of ferreting out alleged terrorists? Never.
The TSA is worthless and wouldn't know a terrorist until one blew himself up at a checkpoint. Get rid of it!
Return the Coast Guard to the Transportation Department, make FEMA an independent agency again, move the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, etc., etc., etc.
"They're willing to risk the security and lives of American citizens because they hate Obama so much."
Homeland Security has nothing to do with lowering the risk to our security and our lives. When have you ever read of this disgrace of a department being in the forefront of ferreting out alleged terrorists? Never.
The TSA is worthless and wouldn't know a terrorist until one blew himself up at a checkpoint. Get rid of it!
Return the Coast Guard to the Transportation Department, make FEMA an independent agency again, move the Secret Service back to the Treasury Department, etc., etc., etc.
2
Watching video of Isis fanatics gleefully, and with full blustering conviction, smash painstakingly crafted products of civilized effort to bits-- who does it remind me of?
11
The problems over funding homeland security and keeping the US safe: Boehner and his fellow Republicans 'don't love America'.
14
Guaranteeing employee's paychecks for 21 more days? How dare they make the life of employees more secure? Also now they'll have something to do for the next 7 days!
6
The Republican's legislative performance is something that you couldn't make up, except perhaps on Seinfeld or Curb Your Enthusiasm.
7
As you watch this circus play out, realize this is the way most business runs today. A group of self-serving narrow minded individuals who not only do not recognize the big picture but do not care as long as their only tiny petty little immediate agenda is served.
Nothing works. Nothing runs. It's not even that anyone is asleep a the switch. It's much worse. They've never bothered to install a switch because no one understands the need for one.
Nothing works. Nothing runs. It's not even that anyone is asleep a the switch. It's much worse. They've never bothered to install a switch because no one understands the need for one.
9
A solid rule of thumb:
If a group has freedom, liberty or patriot in it's masthead, head for the hills!
If a group has freedom, liberty or patriot in it's masthead, head for the hills!
13
If it weren't so tragic for the rest of us, I'd enjoy the spectacle of the Republican Clown car crashing. Unfortunately, the rest of us are being taken along for the ride.
17
Neat. A fifth column in the house. It's like our own insurgency.
I work in software. We use a process called "agile", where things get done in short iterations. James to congress: You need to adopt this. I'm here when you need me.
I work in software. We use a process called "agile", where things get done in short iterations. James to congress: You need to adopt this. I'm here when you need me.
2
Great theatre for those of us that are older and not going to be around when the consequences of the actions, or inactions, of these self serving plutocrats comes to bear. Not to mention fodder for the comedians.
Oh Ronnie and Tip, how we miss thee.
Oh Ronnie and Tip, how we miss thee.
3
The republican party is the reason why Jefferson et al despised the thought of political parties controlling the electoral and governance process. Several of the key intellectuals behind the framing and writing of our foundational documents realized even then that the temptation of optimize government for the benefit of the party might well outweigh the politician's commitment to the national interest. Today we have proof positive of that concern.
Two factors are at play in this political farce of republican party (non) governance.
1. The intransigence of the far right wing, state's rights - oriented and socially exclusionary & reactionary segment of our population and their political representatives.
2. The fear of this segment by the remainder of the republican party career politicians to seek pragmatic compromise with the democratic representatives in order to govern our country.
At this point, the republican party mirrors the dysfunction of the Weimar Republic in the face of rising Nazi demagoguery. This might sound extreme, but when you combine the propaganda of Murdoch's empire with the money of the Koch's, and the rhetorical stridency of the Cruz type politicians, you have a recipe for national disaster. Different times, different tactics, same myopic focus on political self interest.
The republicans are passing the stage when they can be regarded as a bad joke to the stage when they are beginning to pose a real and present danger to the national well being.
Two factors are at play in this political farce of republican party (non) governance.
1. The intransigence of the far right wing, state's rights - oriented and socially exclusionary & reactionary segment of our population and their political representatives.
2. The fear of this segment by the remainder of the republican party career politicians to seek pragmatic compromise with the democratic representatives in order to govern our country.
At this point, the republican party mirrors the dysfunction of the Weimar Republic in the face of rising Nazi demagoguery. This might sound extreme, but when you combine the propaganda of Murdoch's empire with the money of the Koch's, and the rhetorical stridency of the Cruz type politicians, you have a recipe for national disaster. Different times, different tactics, same myopic focus on political self interest.
The republicans are passing the stage when they can be regarded as a bad joke to the stage when they are beginning to pose a real and present danger to the national well being.
28
You know folks, we live in a democracy with representative government. We elect our representative. If we do not like the representatives we have, we can get rid of them - but to do this you have to vote. A representative congress will tend to support those who vote vs those who do not - regardless of the merits of the issue. The conversation needs to be about voting for candidates with values you respect on the local as well as the national level- not just turning up every 4 years for the presidential race and wondering why your choice cannot do all the things we expect of her.
Conservatives strongly believe voting is an obligation of citizenship. They bring their children to the polls to learn how it is done. They know they get the representatives they vote for. Democrats could learn from this.
Conservatives strongly believe voting is an obligation of citizenship. They bring their children to the polls to learn how it is done. They know they get the representatives they vote for. Democrats could learn from this.
5
Agreed. You get what you don't vote for!
more democrats voted in the election. gerrymandering of districts to disenfranchise voters had more to do with it.
2
This is all very true but in reality the voting public hears sound bites produced by big money interests in this country. The result is either voters who refuse to vote or vote against their own best interests.
2
Don't forget the rest of Janis Joplin's excellent song, from down here in Texas, "Mercedes Benz":
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends [or the GOP],
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends [or the GOP],
So Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
1
@Steven
If you promised your vote to a Republican for one such vehicle, after the election, I'm sure one would show up at your house....A tiny chocolate one, in a cute little box!
If you promised your vote to a Republican for one such vehicle, after the election, I'm sure one would show up at your house....A tiny chocolate one, in a cute little box!
2
Umm, the song Gail quoted from is "Me and Bobby McGhee", not "Mercedez Benz".
4
I would enjoy this spectacle if it wasn't bringing our government to a screeching halt.
7
A friend's daughter who worked for the Labor Department was furloughed for two weeks during the "Cruz" shutdown. After she returned to work, she was paid for those two weeks. She had no objection to the additional two weeks paid vacation. If memory serves, that shutdown cost the government $20B. The current drama is like a Fellini movie starring Pee Wee Herman and directed by Wes Craven. (Apologies to Paul Ruben and Wes.)
2
Obama Derangement Syndrome's other great accomplishment: the election to Congress of people whose only job is to display how angry they are at any form of government.
They aren't refusing to govern. They simply don't know how.
They aren't refusing to govern. They simply don't know how.
20
What do you get when you cross a Banana Republic with a Kindergarten run on the Peter Principle?
The 114th Congress.
We are doomed!
The 114th Congress.
We are doomed!
14
Welcome to Tea Party America where every day is a new crisis, where ignorance and fear are guiding principles, where even the craziest have a voice in government.
If you like this imagine what it could be if Walker Or Perry Or Cruz or Rand could be President.
To all those illegal immigrants out there who have taken the fruit picking job I wanted so badly I would say "See, what you started?" Now go self-deport yourself.
To John Boehner and Mitch McConnell I would say "Do something about your crazy relatives. They're making your whole family look nuts."
To Americans out there who voted for these conservatives I would ask "Have you seen enough? Need some more? Any doubts left in your mind?"
We should be thankful our children are texting or taking selfies and obsessed with social media. We wouldn't want them to know how badly the grown ups
If you like this imagine what it could be if Walker Or Perry Or Cruz or Rand could be President.
To all those illegal immigrants out there who have taken the fruit picking job I wanted so badly I would say "See, what you started?" Now go self-deport yourself.
To John Boehner and Mitch McConnell I would say "Do something about your crazy relatives. They're making your whole family look nuts."
To Americans out there who voted for these conservatives I would ask "Have you seen enough? Need some more? Any doubts left in your mind?"
We should be thankful our children are texting or taking selfies and obsessed with social media. We wouldn't want them to know how badly the grown ups
39
The only talent coming out of the Republican camp is that of clever re-labeling. This is without doubt due to the verbal coaching of Frank Luntz. For instance, an underlying theme is the notion that the new is bad simply because it is not old.
They're very good at shifting blame from cause to effect to a tortured logic of simplistic non sequitur and nothing else. It requires a degree in deciphering to untangle the gnarl just to get back to square one, leaving the country looking for Joe DiMaggio. This quandary, to these perps, is somehow equated with governance, or more aptly, winning. (Gerrymandered)
The right does no real analysis. Their thought patterns circulate around a May Pole of mostly bigoted convictions which eventually becomes wrapped so tight the light of reason cannot penetrate. At the perimeter is a herd of PACchyderms of vested interest whose probosces shower them with money when not splashing white-wash upon any divergence from 19th Century economic models; despite the increasing evidence that such mechanisms are ill-befitting 21st Century challenges.
Last night the Dems, bailed them out. This after Boehner's dead-pan vituperative attempt to shift blame upon them for about the leben-dee-seventh time The egg is all over JB's face. Today we're be treated to verbal gymnastics, a melange of subterfuge, a camouflage of CYA serving as the paper towel wiping clean the caked on yolk.
The people deserve better, much better.
They're very good at shifting blame from cause to effect to a tortured logic of simplistic non sequitur and nothing else. It requires a degree in deciphering to untangle the gnarl just to get back to square one, leaving the country looking for Joe DiMaggio. This quandary, to these perps, is somehow equated with governance, or more aptly, winning. (Gerrymandered)
The right does no real analysis. Their thought patterns circulate around a May Pole of mostly bigoted convictions which eventually becomes wrapped so tight the light of reason cannot penetrate. At the perimeter is a herd of PACchyderms of vested interest whose probosces shower them with money when not splashing white-wash upon any divergence from 19th Century economic models; despite the increasing evidence that such mechanisms are ill-befitting 21st Century challenges.
Last night the Dems, bailed them out. This after Boehner's dead-pan vituperative attempt to shift blame upon them for about the leben-dee-seventh time The egg is all over JB's face. Today we're be treated to verbal gymnastics, a melange of subterfuge, a camouflage of CYA serving as the paper towel wiping clean the caked on yolk.
The people deserve better, much better.
15
I'm not sure why the people deserve better, when 60% of us either refuse or can't be bothered to vote.
2
>
Most of the problem resides in the House, where gerrymandering on the most extreme scale has corrupted a democratic system. The rest of the problem resides in the character of the American people, especially rural people.
Most of these GOP House districts have so few Hispanics or immigrants in them that the GOP does not have to worry about the issue, and in fact, their rural white constituents want them to do just what they are doing, i.e., burn down the gov't.
Hence, people on MSNBC can run around with their hair on fire, claiming that the GOP is killing itself, but the GOP House is safe and secure for at least another 10-years, and that is being optimistic. Boehner may get ousted, only to be replaced with a certified lunatic. Wakeup! Look at the GOP dominance at the State and Local levels which is even greater than the House. That is why they act as they do. These jokers are not worried about a more sane person taking their seat but, rather, an even more insane person taking it.
It is fools gold to view this as the GOP hurting itself with these antics. The House is where the power resides, and they realize their short comings as to obtaining the WH. So they have designed a fairly fire proof GOP House via gerrymandering. From their they can strong arm the entire country.
The End.
Most of the problem resides in the House, where gerrymandering on the most extreme scale has corrupted a democratic system. The rest of the problem resides in the character of the American people, especially rural people.
Most of these GOP House districts have so few Hispanics or immigrants in them that the GOP does not have to worry about the issue, and in fact, their rural white constituents want them to do just what they are doing, i.e., burn down the gov't.
Hence, people on MSNBC can run around with their hair on fire, claiming that the GOP is killing itself, but the GOP House is safe and secure for at least another 10-years, and that is being optimistic. Boehner may get ousted, only to be replaced with a certified lunatic. Wakeup! Look at the GOP dominance at the State and Local levels which is even greater than the House. That is why they act as they do. These jokers are not worried about a more sane person taking their seat but, rather, an even more insane person taking it.
It is fools gold to view this as the GOP hurting itself with these antics. The House is where the power resides, and they realize their short comings as to obtaining the WH. So they have designed a fairly fire proof GOP House via gerrymandering. From their they can strong arm the entire country.
The End.
32
"It is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing."
Used to be Shakespeare, now apparently the Freedom Caucus slogan.
Used to be Shakespeare, now apparently the Freedom Caucus slogan.
29
And yet this will go on as the know-nothings are all in "safe" districts. What does that tell us about the nation we've become? We've always had rodeo clowns in Congress, but they never dominated Congress, nor did they all cluster in one intellectually bereft party, where their numbers allow them to do real damage. The issue here, of course, is that they are returned by a voter population who is too obtuse to the real needs facing the country. And sad to say, issues they even face themselves, like healthcare reform or global warming. It makes you weep with despair.
15
The estimable Gail Collins: the perfect intersection of hilarious wit and endless juicy material to make incisive fun of. <3
12
The Democrats voted en masse against the three week extension. Then they voted for the one week extension; that's how we got one week.
"They hate Obama’s immigration initiative, but they’ve never passed an immigration bill of their own."
You mean an immigration 'reform' bill - codewords for more immigration and legalization, to satisfy this mighty faction:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/181313/dissatisfied-immigration-levels.aspx
"The share of Americans who are dissatisfied and want more immigration (7%) was unchanged from 2014."
Of course 97% of the elite want more immigration, that's what their corporate funders tell them to want.
"They hate Obama’s immigration initiative, but they’ve never passed an immigration bill of their own."
You mean an immigration 'reform' bill - codewords for more immigration and legalization, to satisfy this mighty faction:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/181313/dissatisfied-immigration-levels.aspx
"The share of Americans who are dissatisfied and want more immigration (7%) was unchanged from 2014."
Of course 97% of the elite want more immigration, that's what their corporate funders tell them to want.
1
I guess you don't eat fruits and vegetables? Or perhaps you'd like to pick them yourself in 110 degree heat while being sprayed by pesticides, while your hard earned tax dollars are wasted tracking down 11 million people and carting them over the border.
10
In the old days (early 1990's), when Republicans started floating the idea of government shutdowns, their rhetoric included the assertion that a shutdown would show the public that the government was unnecessary. When challenged on that nonsensical notion, they carved out an exception for government activities like national defense and homeland security (lower case). But now, government shutdown is used as a threat (not really a good one) against a president they despise, with no exception for homeland security. The extreme right wing of the Republican party has clearly gone off the rails.
18
I swear, the GOP is testing the _________ limits of the American people (fill in the blank as you see fit). So this nonsense will continue, until it abruptly doesn't.
2
I can see how this will play out. Next week conservatives in Congress will fight all week about "clean bills" versus dirty bills. Then on Friday, at midnight, they'll pass a one week spending provision. Then, the following week, conservatives in Congress will fight all week, culminating in a midnight vote to fund DHS for another week. Then, the following week....Sisyphus would be so proud!
9
"(Once again we will express our displeasure about the way people keep messing with “freedom.” It used to be such a great word, and now when it comes up we are often forced to recall that song about how freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.)"
*******
Words that Republicans bandy about as if they were confetti are "freedom" and "we love America more than Obama and Democrats do".
And now we can see quite clearly how much Republicans love America because they have funded the DHS for one whole week. Safety for a week -- the workers will be paid for another week and then they have the "freedom" to begin worrying about paying the rent the next week instead.
America does not represent the best of all worlds with this congressional group. It represents to the world a group of people so consumed with hate and viperous anger towards a president and all he represents that they would rather destroy the ship of state even if it means they go down with it.
We talk about dealing with ISIS. My heavens! we can't even deal with our own two parties acting like intelligent, reasonable people cooperating for the good of their country and its citizens. In that respect, IMO ISIS has more adhesion as a group.
If this is the Republicans version of freedom, then the dictionary needs to find a better explanation of how the word is to be applied. There is no freedom in destruction.
*******
Words that Republicans bandy about as if they were confetti are "freedom" and "we love America more than Obama and Democrats do".
And now we can see quite clearly how much Republicans love America because they have funded the DHS for one whole week. Safety for a week -- the workers will be paid for another week and then they have the "freedom" to begin worrying about paying the rent the next week instead.
America does not represent the best of all worlds with this congressional group. It represents to the world a group of people so consumed with hate and viperous anger towards a president and all he represents that they would rather destroy the ship of state even if it means they go down with it.
We talk about dealing with ISIS. My heavens! we can't even deal with our own two parties acting like intelligent, reasonable people cooperating for the good of their country and its citizens. In that respect, IMO ISIS has more adhesion as a group.
If this is the Republicans version of freedom, then the dictionary needs to find a better explanation of how the word is to be applied. There is no freedom in destruction.
274
The Speaker's inability to control his caucus and the overall lack of bipartisanship can be traced back to the end of earmarks. When Congress-critters knew they had to compromise to get their earmarked pet projects approved, the wheels of government at least ground forward. True, it was pork, but it provided the incentive to compromise. Now there is no incentive, not even for the "good of the people."
4
Once a week, Americans should decide whether Congress deserved their pay that week.
22
Great idea. It could be an online vote and only 30% or so of people would need to vote every week. After all, when they win a majority of that amount they call it a mandate.
5
In Ms. Collins column you don't get any remarks about the virtue of a shutdown from the congressional ferrets.
This remark tickled my funny bone. In our small borough we have a pretentious, obnoxious mayor we call Ferret, because he reminds us of Frank Burns in M*A*S*H. I suddenly realized, with this remark, that describes most of Congress.
2
It's going to be a long two years...
8
Evidently the US elects village idiots to Congress to avoid adult supervision, ands calls the result "freedom".
11
Please pray for the continuing good health of Obama and Biden. "President Boehner" are 2 very frightening words when used together.
14
I wonder if any of the European parliaments’right wing conservative parties have cut off funding for their anti terrorist resources. I doubt it, though we hear all about their austerity and budget cutting. If that isn’t an exotic and esoteric topic.....
2
There was a time when we laughed at the lunatic fringe. It's amazing how many people voted for these clowns simply because of their hatred for our President who happened to have a father who was black. there is no lie too rediculous or outrageous for their little clown brains. Boehmer blowing kisses merely shows us the contempt he has for us citizens while he and McConnell once again play political ping pong. Watching them is like watching sick jokes come to life.
14
And we thought we had to wait until Feb 27th for the new season of "House of Cards". Boehner and Underwood are looking pretty similar. Is Boehner married to a scary ambitious blond?
3
HRC was seen celebrating with Wall Street Republicans last night playing a game of "how many electoral college votes" will I get now? People were shouting, having bad words for the crazy congress and mumbling that next time it would be a one party system. HRC was sitting meekly, smiling from ear to ear.
Wall Street Democrats.
Wasn't Labrador the one who was strapped to the top of Mitt's car?
12
Republicans: They destroy the jobs of satirists.
4
Not even Spock could make sense of this.
2
Of course not, there's no logic here.
No candy, just nuts.
17
Our House of Representatives under Boehner and the Republicans reminds me of Paddy Chayevsky' s movie The Hospital with insane patients running loose murdering staff members while veterans (Americans) die waiting lying on gurneys in hallways for care that never comes. George S. Scott plays the suicidal hospital Administrator who screams out from a window "We heal no one, we cure no one..." Sound familiar after 56 Republican attempts to kill Obamacare?
9
This would all be so much more depressing if Frank and Claire Underwood weren't back in DC to take care of this mess.
That's right. Frank is going to blackmail a few members of the Freedom Caucus who gave themselves the freedom to have extramarital affairs, and Claire will cook up a scheme to seduce and neutralize Raúl Labrador. And all this before DHS funding runs out again in seven short days.
When a fictional scenario from House of Cards actually seems less insane than what's going on in Congress, it makes you want to switch dimensions and go live in the fictional universe.
Because in that dimension, as Frank would say, somewhere between yes and no there's always a maybe. We're stuck in the ideologue terrorist Republican dimension where, somewhere between yes and no, there's only and always a thousand times no.
At least we have 13 new episodes to escape into while the Republican idiots in the House play-act their life-poorly-imitates-art governing role for another seven days.
That's right. Frank is going to blackmail a few members of the Freedom Caucus who gave themselves the freedom to have extramarital affairs, and Claire will cook up a scheme to seduce and neutralize Raúl Labrador. And all this before DHS funding runs out again in seven short days.
When a fictional scenario from House of Cards actually seems less insane than what's going on in Congress, it makes you want to switch dimensions and go live in the fictional universe.
Because in that dimension, as Frank would say, somewhere between yes and no there's always a maybe. We're stuck in the ideologue terrorist Republican dimension where, somewhere between yes and no, there's only and always a thousand times no.
At least we have 13 new episodes to escape into while the Republican idiots in the House play-act their life-poorly-imitates-art governing role for another seven days.
6
“Who says A must also say B”, is an old Germen proverb. German poet Berthold Brecht changed it. “Who says A does not have to say necessarily B. He may also find out that A was wrong.” –
After the Attacks of 9/11 hit America everybody´s nerves were raw. Responsible people in government and security organizations jumped the gun. A war was declared. Until today this war is (mis-) used to justify violence by government agencies also against the American people. That´s what the Patriot Act is. As a war goes along, good leaders always re-assess their aims and objectives. What was the right thing to do yesterday may have turned out to be wrong for today. The quarrels in the Senate show that this re-assessment has already happened some time ago. They would not play around with America´s security if it were still on the line. The Patriot Act is superfluous and should be scrapped. May be the whole war on terror should be scrapped. It is going on now for over a decade. Many innocent lives have been lost and America´s worldwide reputation as the beacon for democracy as well. IS and the likes do not fear the super power America. But they fear democracy and humanity. When dealing with them we should resort to the weapons they fear most and not dismantle it.
http://www.english.kamus-quantum.com/15.html
After the Attacks of 9/11 hit America everybody´s nerves were raw. Responsible people in government and security organizations jumped the gun. A war was declared. Until today this war is (mis-) used to justify violence by government agencies also against the American people. That´s what the Patriot Act is. As a war goes along, good leaders always re-assess their aims and objectives. What was the right thing to do yesterday may have turned out to be wrong for today. The quarrels in the Senate show that this re-assessment has already happened some time ago. They would not play around with America´s security if it were still on the line. The Patriot Act is superfluous and should be scrapped. May be the whole war on terror should be scrapped. It is going on now for over a decade. Many innocent lives have been lost and America´s worldwide reputation as the beacon for democracy as well. IS and the likes do not fear the super power America. But they fear democracy and humanity. When dealing with them we should resort to the weapons they fear most and not dismantle it.
http://www.english.kamus-quantum.com/15.html
5
At 75 I worry about the future that awaits the younger members of my family as our country seems determined to reject progress toward a civilized tolerant society and retreat into violence intolerance and tyranny. The barbarians are no longer at the gate; they have crashed through the door and are standing in the hall.
I am so disappointed that the hope and promise I felt in 2008 has turned to cynicism and fear.
I am so disappointed that the hope and promise I felt in 2008 has turned to cynicism and fear.
13
This is their immigration plan. They want to make America so dysfunctional that no one will want to come and live here anymore.
21
Excellent! USA: Exceptionally Dysfuntional!
Will John Boehner survive as House speaker if he puts a Senate-passed, rest-of-the-year funding, clean bill up for vote on the floor of his chamber next week? Should Democrats care if he does? The answers are maybe not and no. In the past, Representative Pelosi would direct her caucus to bailout the beleaguered Mr. Boehner when the budget/debt ceiling clock hit zero, but not last night. Good. Republican leaders are now desperately trying to save face with their membership by ludicrously claiming they did not agree to Ms. Pelosi's justifiably rough bargain: we'll pass the one-week bill if you guarantee you'll put the one-year one up for vote next week. John Boehner now has no choice but to comply; he led the OCT13 government shutdown believing if he stood out front he would gain some respect from his conservative troops and they would get shutdown fever out of their system. It clearly did not work. Republicans are so blinded by their hatred of the president's immigration actions that they're idiotically threatening to withhold DHS money, showing no understanding of how immigration-related matters in this country are funded, just as they failed to grasp how PPACA-related matters were funded last time we went through this nonsense. They don't know how government works. They're going to have to learn the hard way.
9
"What Republicans talk about when they talk about "freedom" :
Freedom to cite your personal prejudices in denying services to people in places of business according to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc.
Freedom to buy and carry firearms without restrictions for public safety. (except of course in the halls of Congress)
Freedom to pollute the environment at will by greedy corporations.
Freedom to deny a living wage, and other basic rights to workers.
Freedom to deny affordable health care to all citizens.
Freedom to put the public at risk by not requiring vaccinations.
Freedom to deny the validity of scientific research.
Freedom to promote fear and untruths in the media.
Under the Republicans the word "freedom" has become something warped and sinister.
Freedom to cite your personal prejudices in denying services to people in places of business according to race, religion, gender, sexual orientation etc.
Freedom to buy and carry firearms without restrictions for public safety. (except of course in the halls of Congress)
Freedom to pollute the environment at will by greedy corporations.
Freedom to deny a living wage, and other basic rights to workers.
Freedom to deny affordable health care to all citizens.
Freedom to put the public at risk by not requiring vaccinations.
Freedom to deny the validity of scientific research.
Freedom to promote fear and untruths in the media.
Under the Republicans the word "freedom" has become something warped and sinister.
63
Excellent , Susan!
1
Hey wait!
Isn't Labrador one half of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador? The more northerly bit, that you don't need a boat to get to?
And isn't Labrador the name for a breed of athletic, playful dogs that likely wouldn't mind too much being strapped to the top of a car heading for their homeland?
You can probably see where I'm going here: Ràul probably could be strapped onto a car roof and sent to Goose Bay. Except that the Labradorites might object. They'd think he's slower than cold molasses.
But it's an idea, eh?
Isn't Labrador one half of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador? The more northerly bit, that you don't need a boat to get to?
And isn't Labrador the name for a breed of athletic, playful dogs that likely wouldn't mind too much being strapped to the top of a car heading for their homeland?
You can probably see where I'm going here: Ràul probably could be strapped onto a car roof and sent to Goose Bay. Except that the Labradorites might object. They'd think he's slower than cold molasses.
But it's an idea, eh?
13
Excuse me, you do need a boat to get to Labrador. Ferry. I've been there!
Ah! the Golden Age!
Two thoughts come to mind:
The cycles - theocracy; aristocracy; democracy; chaos; then around again.
And,
Robert Frost's poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'
with 'Nature' changed to 'Democracy':
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay.
Geez, I'll bet that would wet Little John's eyes!
Two thoughts come to mind:
The cycles - theocracy; aristocracy; democracy; chaos; then around again.
And,
Robert Frost's poem 'Nothing Gold Can Stay'
with 'Nature' changed to 'Democracy':
Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower,
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day,
Nothing gold can stay.
Geez, I'll bet that would wet Little John's eyes!
5
Much as President Obama learned the hard way that being a candidate bears no resemblance to and is infinitely less difficult than being President and held responsible, the Republican leaders are learning that being in the opposition bears no resemblance to and is infinitely less difficult than being in the majority and held responsible.
140
Perhaps you should watch again the State of the Union. Only in the minds of stubborn Republicans is President Obama a demon and not one of the most accomplished Presidents in recent decades. At least since 2001.
15
Yup. The old adage leaps to mind. Be careful what you wish for, you may get it.
1
Caveat: IF they are held responsible. Not holding my breath.
1
Boehner seems to be headed down a road that will get him his own questions and essay prompts in future American History AP exams. For your consideration, College Board:
In the early 21st century, explain how and why the United States Congress managed to sit on its stubborn hands and obstruct for 6 straight-crazy years.
Or this multiple choice: If ands and buts were candy and nuts, which man-tanned House Speaker managed to hijack the United States government with his very own cat ate the canary smile and a pack of Taryenton 100s?
Or this multiple choice: Which orange-ish tanned, baby blue eyed Speaker of the House disliked President Obama so much that he decided to lead the way to shut down the government and block key legislation and stop funding around every corner just to get headlines and just to smile that gotcha smile and just to appeal to a the hardest core base since bases were noticed while gerrymanding?
Or this essay: Explain and describe the movement known as "Boehnerism" that led to a complete melt down of functional government in the early 21st century.
Boehner seems is drunk on his own power, making decisions with a scathing, scorched earth political calculus. His blurb in American History books will not be pretty.
In the early 21st century, explain how and why the United States Congress managed to sit on its stubborn hands and obstruct for 6 straight-crazy years.
Or this multiple choice: If ands and buts were candy and nuts, which man-tanned House Speaker managed to hijack the United States government with his very own cat ate the canary smile and a pack of Taryenton 100s?
Or this multiple choice: Which orange-ish tanned, baby blue eyed Speaker of the House disliked President Obama so much that he decided to lead the way to shut down the government and block key legislation and stop funding around every corner just to get headlines and just to smile that gotcha smile and just to appeal to a the hardest core base since bases were noticed while gerrymanding?
Or this essay: Explain and describe the movement known as "Boehnerism" that led to a complete melt down of functional government in the early 21st century.
Boehner seems is drunk on his own power, making decisions with a scathing, scorched earth political calculus. His blurb in American History books will not be pretty.
10
When McConnell backed "dividing the question" so Senators could vote against the President on immigration and separately vote to fund DHS for FY 2015, it was all over. It's still All Over. After smearing several more eggs over its face, the House will - maybe next week, maybe week after next, no matter - pass a clean DHS bill for FY 2015. Of course, FY 2015 will be half-finished by then.
-- Wait until Election Day, November, 2016. It's not going to get any better until then. / yaller-dog dimmycrat.
-- Wait until Election Day, November, 2016. It's not going to get any better until then. / yaller-dog dimmycrat.
6
If this gang of misfits gets control of the executive branch in 2016, it can be then said that we live in truly interesting times. It is only a matter of time until the Republican clown car speeding downhill runs off the road. And, if they win the next election, they will have nuclear weapons in the trunk. We now have a legislative majority that never heard of a war they didn't want to jump into. Never heard of a domestic program they could support.
It seems that many of the people who now vote in US elections, especially off year elections, hate something. Hate is more powerful then apathy, which may account for why only one third of voters bother to vote.
It seems that many of the people who now vote in US elections, especially off year elections, hate something. Hate is more powerful then apathy, which may account for why only one third of voters bother to vote.
23
Let's face it, the Republicans don't think we need a government. We don't need government workers for Homeland Security. Let's outsource it like they did in Iraq. Republicans would like to outsource the whole government! Except they wouldn't have anyone to pay for it because they don't believe in taxes.
19
Homeland Insecurity? So what else is new? It's time that Department were called by their proper name, anyway. Considering how every administration we've had in the past half century has produced more doublethink than anything else, we might as well recall that movie 'Groundhog Day' - and realise that until we wake up and really insist on honesty from our elected 'representatives', every year is Groundhog Year. And that year is 1984. The book version.
2
I'm speechless at the idiocy of the GOP extremists, their inability to see that the course of action they pursue (gambling) is precisely the one they have zero skills in and their blindness to the fact that they tried this before and it backfired horribly on them. A form of dementia, surely.
They clearly can't see that they're self-cannibalizing.
I wish I could believe that those who voted this lunatic party into total control are having doubts now but it's more likely that they’re cut from the same cloth as the politicians they support.
It's frightening, what's happening to America, the level of stupidity in government, the right wing extremism. Land of the free, home of the brave? Yes, that's still true; there are some very brave, smart Americans who understand what freedom is really about but I'm not sure whether they're the majority any more.
Thank God the President is an adult and a man of integrity and immense presidential skills who knows how to draw a line in the sand. I wish Elizabeth Warren would run for President in 2016.
They clearly can't see that they're self-cannibalizing.
I wish I could believe that those who voted this lunatic party into total control are having doubts now but it's more likely that they’re cut from the same cloth as the politicians they support.
It's frightening, what's happening to America, the level of stupidity in government, the right wing extremism. Land of the free, home of the brave? Yes, that's still true; there are some very brave, smart Americans who understand what freedom is really about but I'm not sure whether they're the majority any more.
Thank God the President is an adult and a man of integrity and immense presidential skills who knows how to draw a line in the sand. I wish Elizabeth Warren would run for President in 2016.
25
the Republican House, the gift that keeps on giving but gets nothing done.
4
Department of Homeland Security- can't we outsource and/or offshore this thing already! Perhaps we can get a special visa going and hire aliens to replace our workers. The cheap labor, prospect should make the Republicans lick their chops! LOL
9
Really? The Party that just won an election with a resounding defeat and clear ideological victory against President Obama and Senator Reid, and they are the cause of insecurity because they are trying to do what they were sent to Washington DC to do? What alternate universe are Democrats living in? Our security issues aren't about funding issues that were and will be dealt with. Our security issues are with an Administration overflowing with inexperienced, unqualified left wing crazies who look us in the face and suggest things like economic hardship causes terrorism and defense plans that every former Sec Def no longer in it have blasted as reckless.
The center of American politics is our framework of government, the U'S' Constitution, not left or right of Barack Obama. Both political parties have their pet causes, but before anyone suggests that anyone is extreme, they should look at what has been tacked on to the Constitution for your lefts and rights to see who the real extremists are.
The center of American politics is our framework of government, the U'S' Constitution, not left or right of Barack Obama. Both political parties have their pet causes, but before anyone suggests that anyone is extreme, they should look at what has been tacked on to the Constitution for your lefts and rights to see who the real extremists are.
1
Unbelievable does the congress hate the american people that much?.
Shame on them.
Shame on them.
16
They just hate Obama and other brown skinned people.
3
There once was a Speaker named Boehner
Who wished that his caucus was saner
But his kisses and smirks
Betrayed working with jerks
As a hapless & weak entertainer.
Who wished that his caucus was saner
But his kisses and smirks
Betrayed working with jerks
As a hapless & weak entertainer.
15
"If the Democrats don’t bail him out, Boehner can only afford to lose about 27 Republican votes on any issue. "
The corollary to that is that if Boehner can muster up 27 votes to compromise with the Democrats, he can get anything he wants passed. Alas, there are probably not 27 Republicans, or even five, who would sacrifice their ideology for the good of the country.
The corollary to that is that if Boehner can muster up 27 votes to compromise with the Democrats, he can get anything he wants passed. Alas, there are probably not 27 Republicans, or even five, who would sacrifice their ideology for the good of the country.
16
The lemmings (cf. John Boehner and his candy and nuts Congress) are heading for the fiscal cliff. How can it be that Congress has only last-minute funded the Department of Homeland Security for ONE WEEK? And how can it be that the Republican intransigent right wing has voted to repeal Obamacare at least 56 times? And who is this Labrador, this Raul, an Idahoan who speaks for The House Freedom Caucus? And what is this "freedom" he's punting? And why do the rich continue to become richer and the poor poorer? Thanks for your food for thought this weekend, Gail - you're not just beatin' your gums about homeland insecurity.
7
When I was 11 years old, I went to the park and found a bag of old tennis balls. This was the greatest day of my life until tonight when Congress voted to to keep Homeland Security open for another week. Now I'm hoping that Congress will get me a bag of new tennis balls so I can finally quit playing with the old ones.
5
We don't need the Department of Homeland Security.
What is wrong with your Progessives; DUBYA created this agency! You should be against it.
Why do you want if funded?
What is wrong with your Progessives; DUBYA created this agency! You should be against it.
Why do you want if funded?
2
Progressives will not oppose something simply because it's "creator" happens a President who nearly destroyed the country with two wars and tax cuts for the rich. Regardless of who put this oversized monstrosity of a bureaucracy together it serves a function of providing security services for the nation. This overrides the political stench that comes from it's formation by the Bush administration.
10
We didn't need it but we have it and we need to fund it. Maybe I missed simething. I thought DHS was an umbrella name that Bush put many different organizations under. I think The Coast Guard is part of DHS and they need to be funded. Or is this just to fund the administration of DHS? The devil as usual is in the details.
2
Teddy Roosevelt created the national parks system. Should we throw them out? Eisenhower built the federal highway system. Should it be discarded?Nixon created the EPA? Should we throw it out because it was instituted by a Republican?
Unfortunately several agencies have been rolled into this including border patrol and the Coast Guard. "The Coast Guard is a unique branch of the military responsible for an array of maritime duties, from ensuring safe and lawful commerce to performing rescue missions in severe conditions. Nearly 42,000 men and women are actively serving in the Coast Guard to defend America’s borders and protect the maritime environment".
gocoastguard.com.
Is it a good idea to shut the Coast Guard down allowing drugs to be brought into our country with no fear of being caught? What if there is a catastrophe at sea needing the Coast Guard to intervene? What about poachers? A faction of Homeland Security works to prevent human trafficking. Another faction works as FEMA. http://www.dhs.gov/government-roles
Should we have no response team for natural disasters? Why would we throw out the baby with the bath water. There are parts of Homeland Security that many progressives oppose but none would argue that all of our protective agencies should be eliminated.
Unfortunately several agencies have been rolled into this including border patrol and the Coast Guard. "The Coast Guard is a unique branch of the military responsible for an array of maritime duties, from ensuring safe and lawful commerce to performing rescue missions in severe conditions. Nearly 42,000 men and women are actively serving in the Coast Guard to defend America’s borders and protect the maritime environment".
gocoastguard.com.
Is it a good idea to shut the Coast Guard down allowing drugs to be brought into our country with no fear of being caught? What if there is a catastrophe at sea needing the Coast Guard to intervene? What about poachers? A faction of Homeland Security works to prevent human trafficking. Another faction works as FEMA. http://www.dhs.gov/government-roles
Should we have no response team for natural disasters? Why would we throw out the baby with the bath water. There are parts of Homeland Security that many progressives oppose but none would argue that all of our protective agencies should be eliminated.
3
Republicans are not interested in governing and they are fit to govern. They have no new ideas. It is all against; against Obama and everything he has done or would like to do. They are against a Constitution based on democracy, guaranteed individual rights, freedom of speech and religion and equal protection of the laws, which they don't support unless we are talking about corporations and a rich ruling class. They hate compromise and demand capitulation.
They believe that a lower standard of conduct applies to them as compared with any who oppose them. “Conservatives” are not only anti science, they are anti facts, except their own which are agreed upon on the basis of truthiness and self interest. Then there is the flow of history. History has its heroes: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, T.R. and FDR, to name a few, all made us a freer nation. They were for the people and their freedom. In the history books these are birds of a feather.
There are villians too. The radical right wing, the NRA, the John Birch Society, the KKK, the neo-fascists, the religious organizations proclaiming this to be a white, Christian nation, the fascist party by whatever name, the Tea Party, the so called ultra conservatives, the neo Confederates who would reverse the Civil War, and plutocrats who would buy our government. All birds of a feather and they flock together and they hate Democrats. As we know these folks know little are greedy, destructive and incompetent.
They believe that a lower standard of conduct applies to them as compared with any who oppose them. “Conservatives” are not only anti science, they are anti facts, except their own which are agreed upon on the basis of truthiness and self interest. Then there is the flow of history. History has its heroes: Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Lincoln, T.R. and FDR, to name a few, all made us a freer nation. They were for the people and their freedom. In the history books these are birds of a feather.
There are villians too. The radical right wing, the NRA, the John Birch Society, the KKK, the neo-fascists, the religious organizations proclaiming this to be a white, Christian nation, the fascist party by whatever name, the Tea Party, the so called ultra conservatives, the neo Confederates who would reverse the Civil War, and plutocrats who would buy our government. All birds of a feather and they flock together and they hate Democrats. As we know these folks know little are greedy, destructive and incompetent.
10
Great -- The gang that can't shoot straight is in charge of Homeland Security.
13
Not sure where we'll find the candy, but it's clear the nuts are in Congress.
34
Do Republicans love America? Doesn't look like it.
17
They love 1% of it.
6
Is that what you call homeland coming week?
1
WHILE ALL THIS STUPID POLITICAL GAMESMANSHIP by the Republicans is no way to run a government... something in me tells me that shutting down parts of "Homeland Security" is not a bad idea. I mean, shutting down all those wonderful folks who stop little gray haired old ladies from Pasadena at the airport and Strip Search these prime Terrorist Suspects -- making air travel more time consuming and even more of terrible hassle than it already is -- may NOT be such bad idea, you know what I mean?
At least, it might give the powers that be some incentive to figure out better ways to do the same job with less money (less people) and Less Hassle... like, for example, the Israelis do at their airports with much less hassle (and Israel is a prime target for Terrorist Attacks), don'cha think?
At least, it might give the powers that be some incentive to figure out better ways to do the same job with less money (less people) and Less Hassle... like, for example, the Israelis do at their airports with much less hassle (and Israel is a prime target for Terrorist Attacks), don'cha think?
8
Go back five or six years back, to a time when Dems held undivided government and egged the president to JUST DO IT, regardless of what Republicans thought about it. I was posting in this community then as now, and the general tenor of comments here supported this approach solidly.
In less than two years I'm sure that Democrats won't matter much, either. But until then, it's only in Congress (and most of our states) where Democrats don't matter.
I'm not in favor of holding Homeland Security to ransom, because a federal case challenges the president's arrogation of power in this immigration mess. It was brought by 26 states and I expect, eventually, that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide for the plaintiffs -- handing Mr. Obama the latest in a long list of spankings for the same reason. This time the Court may revoke his certification to "lecture" on the U.S. Constitution. But it's been pointed out to me by another right-of-center commenter here (AACNY) that the Republicans giving Gail such agita feel very strongly about this matter, and, short of impeaching him, what other power does Congress have to compel a president to the negotiating table but to withhold money?
She has a point.
So, while I'd like to see us fund Homeland Security normally and await the pleasure of the U.S. Supreme Court, I can understand why some House members want to jump the gun. If Democrats don't like it, why, all they need to do is unseat a lot of Republicans. If they can.
In less than two years I'm sure that Democrats won't matter much, either. But until then, it's only in Congress (and most of our states) where Democrats don't matter.
I'm not in favor of holding Homeland Security to ransom, because a federal case challenges the president's arrogation of power in this immigration mess. It was brought by 26 states and I expect, eventually, that the U.S. Supreme Court will decide for the plaintiffs -- handing Mr. Obama the latest in a long list of spankings for the same reason. This time the Court may revoke his certification to "lecture" on the U.S. Constitution. But it's been pointed out to me by another right-of-center commenter here (AACNY) that the Republicans giving Gail such agita feel very strongly about this matter, and, short of impeaching him, what other power does Congress have to compel a president to the negotiating table but to withhold money?
She has a point.
So, while I'd like to see us fund Homeland Security normally and await the pleasure of the U.S. Supreme Court, I can understand why some House members want to jump the gun. If Democrats don't like it, why, all they need to do is unseat a lot of Republicans. If they can.
Since you are good student of politics, you know that the devious gerrymandering designed by Republican strategists will lock the House into Republican mediocrity until at least 2020. Dems have a realistic chance to retake the Senate in 2016 based on the composition of seats that will be open. And you know that the GOP has little chance of taking the White House, with its usual cast of inept or shadowed-past characters jockeying for the nomination, against a very capable and accomplished female candidate.
All the GOP can do, and they're already hard at work on it, is to continue demonizing the sitting president, who in reality has represented a dramatic improvement over the last several GOP occupants.
All the GOP can do, and they're already hard at work on it, is to continue demonizing the sitting president, who in reality has represented a dramatic improvement over the last several GOP occupants.
13
RonS:
For the billionth time (at least), corresponding to the billionth study -- even by Democrats, even right here in Times -- districting doesn't explain Republicans' dominance in the House. Democrats are clustered in our big cities excessively, vitiating their numbers, which are substantially more than they need to elect Democratic representatives there. However, they're too thin on the ground everywhere else to overcome Republicans in suburbs, exurbs and rural areas. Why do you suppose the county maps the networks trundle out every general election show a veritable sea of red all over the country, broken here and there by intense islands of blue? You want to change that? Figure out how to get dense concentrations of Democrats out of our cities and into other communities where the social services cities provide are less plentiful and less convenient to exploit.
Then, you can't gerrymander a Senate seat or a governorship, and we have a Republican Senate majority and hold a majority of governorships in our states.
Back to the drawing board explaining why Republicans are so electorally successful. But you're not going to change these demographic trends easily or soon.
For the billionth time (at least), corresponding to the billionth study -- even by Democrats, even right here in Times -- districting doesn't explain Republicans' dominance in the House. Democrats are clustered in our big cities excessively, vitiating their numbers, which are substantially more than they need to elect Democratic representatives there. However, they're too thin on the ground everywhere else to overcome Republicans in suburbs, exurbs and rural areas. Why do you suppose the county maps the networks trundle out every general election show a veritable sea of red all over the country, broken here and there by intense islands of blue? You want to change that? Figure out how to get dense concentrations of Democrats out of our cities and into other communities where the social services cities provide are less plentiful and less convenient to exploit.
Then, you can't gerrymander a Senate seat or a governorship, and we have a Republican Senate majority and hold a majority of governorships in our states.
Back to the drawing board explaining why Republicans are so electorally successful. But you're not going to change these demographic trends easily or soon.
I think a recent article by Tom Edsall in the NYT demonstrated that that is what in fact is happening as racial minority groups are migrating to the suburbs out of economic necessity and especially as the Hispanic population growth outpaces that of whites.
The fact still remains that gerrymandering by either party does not serve "we the people" and living proof is that under Governor Jerry Brown and the current California legislature they passed sweeping reforms that essentially put re-districting in the hands of an independent non partisan committee which has resulted in districts that offer better balance than those typically gerrymandered by a political party.
The fact still remains that gerrymandering by either party does not serve "we the people" and living proof is that under Governor Jerry Brown and the current California legislature they passed sweeping reforms that essentially put re-districting in the hands of an independent non partisan committee which has resulted in districts that offer better balance than those typically gerrymandered by a political party.
4
Congress, the ultimate reality show. If americans keep this up they will give Weimar Germans a run for their money as history's least discerning voters.
16
as someone noted elsewhere -- not only are we unable to govern in a bipartisan manner, we are now unable to even govern in a partisan manner.
Poor Boehner can't even bring his own majority to the table -- he has to crawl to the Democrats for help just to maintain the fiction (which at this point, barely two months into the congress pretty much only exists in his mind) that the GOP majority in congress will be able to govern and stand up to Obama.
It can't even stand up to itself. The D side of the aisle must be laughing itself sick.
Poor Boehner can't even bring his own majority to the table -- he has to crawl to the Democrats for help just to maintain the fiction (which at this point, barely two months into the congress pretty much only exists in his mind) that the GOP majority in congress will be able to govern and stand up to Obama.
It can't even stand up to itself. The D side of the aisle must be laughing itself sick.
200
The D side is letting them twist in the wind. And they should twist. A goat rodeo for all to witness. So sad.
2
We would be if it was even remotely funny.
7
At first, I thought: "How strange that this farce over funding the Homeland Security police-state apparatus is happening at the Capitol at the same time as CPAC is just down the street perseverating about how Obama is 'granting amnesty' and 'aiding terrorists' by weakening the security state."
Then, I realized that the Congressional Farce was happening BECAUSE CPac was in town. They were throwing this whole charade for the boobs waving their snake flags and wearing try-corner hats. It was ALL just political theater for the folks back home in their bizarrely shaped gerrymandered districts.
John Boehner's mock kissing response to a reporter meant "kiss my asterisk!"
Just another form of Public be Damned!
CPAC was shoulting: "We'll be damned and we'll like it! Huzzah!"
Then, I realized that the Congressional Farce was happening BECAUSE CPac was in town. They were throwing this whole charade for the boobs waving their snake flags and wearing try-corner hats. It was ALL just political theater for the folks back home in their bizarrely shaped gerrymandered districts.
John Boehner's mock kissing response to a reporter meant "kiss my asterisk!"
Just another form of Public be Damned!
CPAC was shoulting: "We'll be damned and we'll like it! Huzzah!"
18
The really scary part of this latest Republican majority fiasco is that those who persist in voting that takes funding Homeland Security to the edge see no problem in what they are doing. They see no potential dire consequences resulting from dragging their political feet. Instead they apparently take partisian pride in once again being able to stick it to President Obama. Bill Clinton was right when he said of this particular brand of Republican: "Evidence doesn't faze them and they aren't bothered at all by the facts. Heaven help us each and every one.
18
HS won't shut down since most workers are essential. This means that they will be required to work for nothing. is this the GOP's plan for America? If so, thank goodness Obama was elected twice.
4
A law should be passed stating that while any American government workers are forced to work without pay due to the action or inaction of Congress, no Senators and no members of the House should receive paychecks, either.
11
Ellen Berent – in our dreams. Since Congress is the only place such a law can be passed, what are the odds?
1
What is the difference between the GOP and the Taliban?
The GOP lives in a nation with electricity, clean water, a working constitution, and high literacy but wants to throw it all away in the name of religion.
The Taliban lives in a nation with little electricity, virtually no running water, low literacy, but would prefer not to progress in the name of religion.
Hey! Wait a minute. There _is_ no difference....besides water and electricity....between the GOP and the Taliban.
Sigh. In either location.....people keep voting them in to office. And when the GOP speaks........the walls of Homeland Security come a tumblin' down.
Go, Boehner, go!
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
The GOP lives in a nation with electricity, clean water, a working constitution, and high literacy but wants to throw it all away in the name of religion.
The Taliban lives in a nation with little electricity, virtually no running water, low literacy, but would prefer not to progress in the name of religion.
Hey! Wait a minute. There _is_ no difference....besides water and electricity....between the GOP and the Taliban.
Sigh. In either location.....people keep voting them in to office. And when the GOP speaks........the walls of Homeland Security come a tumblin' down.
Go, Boehner, go!
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
25
Kris Kristopherson's cogent observation about the link between poverty and freedom of action has additional implications. It seems to me that the Freedom Caucus wishes to increase freedom, in the US, by pauperizing everybody but themselves. Personally, I don't need any more of that freedom than I already have. So nuts to them and share the candy equitably. bc
9
Apparently Mr. Boehner is more conservative - radical right, actually - then we thought. Had he submitted the original Senate bill for passage with support of Democrats - gee, bipartisan support, how novel! - the bill would have passed securing funding for the remainder of the fiscal year. And, more importantly, the Freedom Caucus - extreme right - would have lost. They would have been crushed. For some reason Mr. B doesn't want to let this disruptive group whose orthodoxy prevents any adult negotiation to be undermined by successful bipartisan support.
15
I'm actually thrilled that the GOP has control of Congress. For six years, they have been trying to re-litigate the 2008 presidential election in a policy any oppositional tactic to de-legitimatize, deny, defeat and destroy Obama.
Now that they have control and appear to not be able to do much except take the country hostage, the country can see that they are unfit to govern.
Now that they have control and appear to not be able to do much except take the country hostage, the country can see that they are unfit to govern.
20
"This take-no-prisoners right wing is a large part of the reason the Republicans can’t come up with their own policies on anything. It’s embarrassing. They hate Obama’s immigration initiative, but they’ve never passed an immigration bill of their own. They’ve voted to repeal Obamacare at least 56 times, but they’ve never come up with a replacement. "
I often wonder what the GOP actually does except oppose everything the President does. Do they ever do anything positive? And as everyone knows Labrador dogs are interested in one thing, or really two things, love and affection and food. Hmm, don't know quite where that fits into my comment except that the leader of the "Freedom Caucus" is named Labrador. Maybe he eats little children or Democrats?
I often wonder what the GOP actually does except oppose everything the President does. Do they ever do anything positive? And as everyone knows Labrador dogs are interested in one thing, or really two things, love and affection and food. Hmm, don't know quite where that fits into my comment except that the leader of the "Freedom Caucus" is named Labrador. Maybe he eats little children or Democrats?
7
I wish that I could come up with something -- anything -- to say that is pertinent and helpful beyond the expression of jaw-dropping astonishment. As Russia sinks further at its murderous cesspool of unvarnished, fascistic evil, we turn ourselves into a plutocratic cavalcade of congressional circus clowns.
Is this truly the best the master species of the world can do?
Is this truly the best the master species of the world can do?
45
Is this what exceptional looks like?
8
Apparently the tea party hates the Latino immigrants more than they love the idea of national security. This is an insane way to govern or fail to govern an advanced nation. There is no better word for it.
46
Little did I think when I was growing up in the late 1950s and 1960s that someday our entire country would be at the mercy of a quarrelsome, unruly, and rude cabal of miserable, negative, make-sure-nothing-constructive-happens Republicans, who: hate government; make it their mission to make sure government cannot work; dismiss science as a hoax; are determined to fuse church and state; and rely on outright lies to condition a whole swath of opinionated Americans to vote for them.
Okay, Nixon was miserable and negative (as were his hatchet men), but there was plenty of push back by journalists, politicians, young people, and the citizenry. Of course, we didn't have Citizens United in those days; TV networks let the money-losing news departments do their thing; and it was considered scandalous if foreigners contributed money or tried to influence our elections. We also had powerful leaders in Congress, such as Lyndon Johnson and Tip O'Neill, who knew how to control the rebel rousers, twist arms, and go into a room to work out compromises for the good of the county.
This changed in the 1990s with the ruthless TX Republican House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Speaker Dennis Hastert (of the Hastert Rule), whose idea of democratic politics was to squash the opposition by any means necessary, and put the power of their party over the needs of our country and its people. Boehner is weak and made things worse.
Where and when is the push back?
Okay, Nixon was miserable and negative (as were his hatchet men), but there was plenty of push back by journalists, politicians, young people, and the citizenry. Of course, we didn't have Citizens United in those days; TV networks let the money-losing news departments do their thing; and it was considered scandalous if foreigners contributed money or tried to influence our elections. We also had powerful leaders in Congress, such as Lyndon Johnson and Tip O'Neill, who knew how to control the rebel rousers, twist arms, and go into a room to work out compromises for the good of the county.
This changed in the 1990s with the ruthless TX Republican House Majority Whip Tom DeLay, Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Speaker Dennis Hastert (of the Hastert Rule), whose idea of democratic politics was to squash the opposition by any means necessary, and put the power of their party over the needs of our country and its people. Boehner is weak and made things worse.
Where and when is the push back?
132
Excellent recap - thank you!!! At 70+, I, too am astonished at the intransigence displayed mostly, if not totally by the Republican party. Mr. Boehner (I hesitate to refer to him as 'Speaker' which implies a leadership position) has displayed the most infantile behavior I can recall of any politician with his 'candy and nuts' and his 'kissy' gestures - abominable at best.
"When will they ever learn?" Pete Seeger
"When will they ever learn?" Pete Seeger
13
You forgot how they want us in endless wars!
The GOP of 50, 60, 70, and even 80 was never like what we have now, never.
We have Murdoch's FIX News to thank for that. For him, it’s mission accomplished.
The GOP of 50, 60, 70, and even 80 was never like what we have now, never.
We have Murdoch's FIX News to thank for that. For him, it’s mission accomplished.
10
I see no reason for the continued existence of the present-day Republican Party in the American political system. Surely there are conservative persons out there who could found and develop a new party that would serve genuine conservative interests with a tolerance and respect for non-conservative interests that foster both compromise and compassion.
53
Sometimes a great empire fails because it is not strong enough to ward of external forces!
The US political system is crumbling because of a small sliver of wealthy reactionaries who are willing to destroy the country, from within, in order to advance their own interests. They want to take control away from the "masses" and turn the political power over to the wealthiest members of society.
Now that the plutocrats have the Supreme Court in their corner, the last bulwark against a full blown oligarchy is in the hands of 5 men who are more than happy to do the bidding of the rich and powerful.
The US and Russia appear to be on a parallel course of coming under reactionary control and if there is no push back, we will certainly loose our democracy and begin the decent into fascism!
The US political system is crumbling because of a small sliver of wealthy reactionaries who are willing to destroy the country, from within, in order to advance their own interests. They want to take control away from the "masses" and turn the political power over to the wealthiest members of society.
Now that the plutocrats have the Supreme Court in their corner, the last bulwark against a full blown oligarchy is in the hands of 5 men who are more than happy to do the bidding of the rich and powerful.
The US and Russia appear to be on a parallel course of coming under reactionary control and if there is no push back, we will certainly loose our democracy and begin the decent into fascism!
9
I don't want the U.S. to be an Empire but many failed from within. Think Nero and Caligula, John of Magna Carta fame in England. They could not have been so destructive if it didn't serve the goals of those others who had the power to let it happen.
3
Burke, who many think was the intellectual founder of conservatism, stated that he was elected to the House of Commons not to represent the constituents of Bristol but rather the nation.
Today's "conservative" politicians think they are elected to represent only the interests of the most minority extreme fringe of their own party. They are willing to destroy everything for their ideological purity, which is based on a fantasy reading and sophomoric misunderstanding of one or two books (Atlas Shrugged and, perhaps, selected parts of the Bible).
Sounds (minus the killing) like some groups from the Middle East.
Today's "conservative" politicians think they are elected to represent only the interests of the most minority extreme fringe of their own party. They are willing to destroy everything for their ideological purity, which is based on a fantasy reading and sophomoric misunderstanding of one or two books (Atlas Shrugged and, perhaps, selected parts of the Bible).
Sounds (minus the killing) like some groups from the Middle East.
77
What is truly scary is that we are happy with funding the Department of Homeland Security without any questions about its inflated budget - monies that are not being used to improve school and infrastructure, and other projects that will improve the lives of our citizenry. While I do not agree with the hostage mentality of the Republicans, I do think that it would have been a worthwhile exercise to discuss exactly what is in this budget.
246
Thank you. Good post. In less than 14 years, Homeland Security has gone from nothing to one of the largest if not the largest non-Defense Department bureaucracies in human history.
4
Except the only reason they don't fund it in its entirety for at least a year is that it's NOT tied to quashing Obama's immigration executive order. Nothing to do with a department's bloat. It also might be worthwhile to discuss exactly what's in the military's budget, and so many other departments…maybe even the spending on Congresspersons' staffs and travel budgets! Like cockroaches, they go about their business in the dark.
11
Yes, but that would require grownups, possibly even statesmen and women. Been a long time since we've seen statesmen around here.
5
Once upon a time, not too long ago, elected officials arrived in Washington, DC [a/k/a Amsterdam Lite] with an agenda. ("Mr. Smith goes to Washington" & "It's a Wonderful Life" are two fairy tales, starring James Stewart). Shortly after their arrival, however, older House & Senate members would explain "the facts of life" to them, and once these new members learned successfully how to get re-elected repeatedly, they often matured into older House & Senate members, i.e., those who knew how to legislate, compromise and govern (while delivering ever-larger supplies of pork to their home constituencies in the process).
The old paradigm no longer works so the center cannot hold.
And no one is telling me that Speaker Boehner doesn't know it. He just can't figure out yet what to do about it. But he's certainly not happy.
The old paradigm no longer works so the center cannot hold.
And no one is telling me that Speaker Boehner doesn't know it. He just can't figure out yet what to do about it. But he's certainly not happy.
77
Being happy is the least of the speakers problems. Being clueless is more to the point. Tipp is smiling down from heaven and shaking his head in disbelief.
7
OK. I'm telling you that Speaker Boehner doesn't know whatever Americans need him to know. If he'd ease-up on the sauce a tad, at least he might stop air-kissing journalists asking serious questions about natural security.
4
Boehner is in a position for which he is unqualified. He's a political coward who is only there for his own self interests.
A man who thought of country first would have stepped aside after years of dismal failure.
A man who thought of country first would have stepped aside after years of dismal failure.
3
"Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made." Otto von Bismarck
At least sausages are still being made.
At least sausages are still being made.
193
And certainly leave a better 'taste I the mouth' than what's going on in DC as we type!
1
Are you sure about that?
The problem is that bloody meat notwithstanding, little sausage is being made. An empty sausage casing is more apt a metaphor.
Some would say that the GOP crossed the Rubicon when they hired Lee Atwater to run the 1988 campaign, who filled the airwaves with slime and negative campaigning in a race that they were a lock to win. Atwater later atoned for his sins - seeing what he had wrought, he begged forgiveness on his death bed. But if there's a word that characterizes the GOP now that's far worse than the Atwater days, it's simple - blackmail. Borne of the Tea Party, it threatens to bring the government to its knees, and the middling moderate GOP'ers like Boehner can't handle the monster they helped legitimize. They thought they could rein in these people in 2010 - not now, or ever.
So it is poetic justice to watch the GOP with its newfound majority flounder in the deal it made with the devil in 2010, when it relished being able to stall Obama's plans for the country. But, it clear that we'll all suffer as a result.
Overall, it is a cautionary tale - the inroads made by the GOP in redistricting, and the other help they've received from SCOTUS re campaign funds and voting rights have made a stealth attack on democracy that will make it even more difficult to root out the rabid ones.
Watching this train wreck for the next few years will either wake people up enough for them to vote to save this country and what it used to stand for in 2016, or have it all end with no democracy in sight.
So it is poetic justice to watch the GOP with its newfound majority flounder in the deal it made with the devil in 2010, when it relished being able to stall Obama's plans for the country. But, it clear that we'll all suffer as a result.
Overall, it is a cautionary tale - the inroads made by the GOP in redistricting, and the other help they've received from SCOTUS re campaign funds and voting rights have made a stealth attack on democracy that will make it even more difficult to root out the rabid ones.
Watching this train wreck for the next few years will either wake people up enough for them to vote to save this country and what it used to stand for in 2016, or have it all end with no democracy in sight.
681
I expect we'll see a temper tantrum much like the one that happened in 1861. The far right (or Tea Party as they like to call themselves, which is a really bad analogy that they use indiscriminately, evidence of their ignorance on the subject) are hellbent on stopping any progress the nation makes to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
11
America has made a suicide pact with the crazies on the far right.
5
@Larry L: The Republicans have made a suicide pact with the crazies on the far right. And they're causing a lot of collateral damage to the rest of America.
7
When problems are this deep it helps to look back at first principles. The Constitution says almost nothing about the proper duties of the Speaker of the House. At the time of the Convention the very idea of political parties was an anathema for the delegates so they couldn't have imagined the Speaker as the primary legislative engineer of what they would call a "faction". With the inevitable development of a Party system the Speaker came to have significant policy making power, especially during periods of weak political leadership such as the late 19th century. What has been added to this picture is the extra-constitutional Hastert Rule. This is the notion that first took hold during the time of Newt Gingrich and was then explicitly defined by GOP Speaker Dennis Hastert. The notion simply is that no piece of legislation would be brought up for a vote unless a majority of the majority party supports it. Paradoxically it weakens the position of the Speaker for she/he cannot bargain with the minority party so that they would support majority party legislation when the majority of the majority would move in the other direction. Suppose there was no "Hastert Rule" last night. The Speaker could have bargained with the Democrats to support the three week extension in exchange for a vote on an issue that would not have a support of the majority of the GOP, but that is unlikely to happen with the influence of Hastert. Hastert + an extremist faction + divided govt= 0
31
I need to find an explanation why the Hastert Rule isn't just dumped if I correctly understand it's an 'informal rule' not cast in stone? I just don't get it. Now, when I'm elected King, things will be different - and much better!
3
The Hastert Rule isn't even a rule of the house, it is just a principle that the GOP is wedded to. Those who are concerned about hyper-partisanship should push them to defend it.
2
Hastert himself has said there is no such rule. It was, at most, an informal tactic.
1
Not to steal anyones thunder but wasn't protecting the nation what the GOP was supposedly so good at? Now they won't keep open the agency interested with doing just that. I can't write anymore without being sarcastic. So I will leave it here. The GOP voters found the guys/gals from the back of the classroom. Those who do nothing but cause problems when everyone else is trying to learn when the pythagorean theorem comes. You know the type. Made you sick, wanted to have the school tough guy beat them up but he was usually egging them on cause he didn't want to do anything either. Now you know where they go, they become GOP congressmen.
584
Paul, You're way off base. Over 80% of Homeland Security staff are considered essential employees and will continue working no matter what. What will be suspended is Obama's unconstitutional amnesty for illegal aliens.
Touche my wise friend. Touche!
Armando – teh President has not proposed amnesty, no matter how many times FoxNoose says it.
9
But then again, if Democrats could get their constituancy out to the polls on off year elections the system might not be so gummed up. Even a lot of the gerrymandering that has helped magnify Republican influence has been carried on by state politicians elected on those years so many Democrats can't be bothered to vote because it isn't a battle between two obvious and identifiable "champions".
What probably made politics more doable in most of the second half of the 20th century was the shared enemy of Dems and Pubs- the Soviet Union. If the wild, crazy Islamists take over Pakistan and their nuclear arsenal, maybe we can look forward to some cooperation again.
What probably made politics more doable in most of the second half of the 20th century was the shared enemy of Dems and Pubs- the Soviet Union. If the wild, crazy Islamists take over Pakistan and their nuclear arsenal, maybe we can look forward to some cooperation again.
19
Forget the candy and nuts: it's time for a bipartisan pie-throwing fracas in the House kitchen.
This isn't a case of too many cooks spoiling the legislation. It's too many extremists running rampant in the House, poison pills at the ready. Hardly an appetizing menu these Congressionals whip up.
Why does one suppose eggs and ham turn a Cruzian green in Congress ? From being left at room temperature, unattended year after year, while a toxic mold devours bipartisanship, creeping insidiously into legislative chambers.
It may be optimistic, but with any luck the obstructionists will be pelted with a plenitude of pies by moderate Republicans and Democrats.
Splinter politics fails as a strategy when it outrages a majority of Americans and their duly elected representatives ad nauseam.
Revenge, to paraphrase, is a dish best served by one's peers, leaving egg -- and disgrace -- on the face.
This isn't a case of too many cooks spoiling the legislation. It's too many extremists running rampant in the House, poison pills at the ready. Hardly an appetizing menu these Congressionals whip up.
Why does one suppose eggs and ham turn a Cruzian green in Congress ? From being left at room temperature, unattended year after year, while a toxic mold devours bipartisanship, creeping insidiously into legislative chambers.
It may be optimistic, but with any luck the obstructionists will be pelted with a plenitude of pies by moderate Republicans and Democrats.
Splinter politics fails as a strategy when it outrages a majority of Americans and their duly elected representatives ad nauseam.
Revenge, to paraphrase, is a dish best served by one's peers, leaving egg -- and disgrace -- on the face.
210
@Linda Palik McCann: 'Cruzian green'? I think Crayola better start working on that. It sounds pretty slimy so it's definitely a light green. Cruzian green. Sounds disgusting, just like the Senator who holds that name.
6
Oh, Linda, this is wonderful!
1
Key phrase "...outrages a majority of Americans." Where, indeed, is the outrage?These extremist incompetents keep getting re-elected with countless more of their ilk in the pipeline. Yet, the majority of Americans don't seem to care enough to vote. The last election made me realize that the crazies have won.
4
Someone needs to do a better job of proofreading for typos. Please delete the words "a large part of" from this essay and it is fully accurate. The House republicans are a complete and utter embarrassment.
27
.
.
A one-versus-three week debate
Kept Gail up a little too late.
Come on, GOP!
Can't you let her be?
Her fans' doting emails await.
It seems Steve Scalise cannot "whip"
A vote for bipartisanship.
And Kevin McCarth' --
Like Wayne, or like Garth --
Does nada but shoot from the lip.
So Boehner of Cincy can kiss;
Pelosi says, "Let ME do this";
But Gail tops them both:
A song she does quoth
Was writ' by Kristofferson, Kris!
Kristofferson wrote of the free,
As Gail writes of ... Ms. RBG.
A scholar of Rhodes,
He wrote po'ms and odes;
And loved that Roberta McGee!
Have we nothing left now to lose
In twenty-sixteen when we choose?
I shudder to think
We've got to the brink
Where all should let Hillary cruise.
.
A one-versus-three week debate
Kept Gail up a little too late.
Come on, GOP!
Can't you let her be?
Her fans' doting emails await.
It seems Steve Scalise cannot "whip"
A vote for bipartisanship.
And Kevin McCarth' --
Like Wayne, or like Garth --
Does nada but shoot from the lip.
So Boehner of Cincy can kiss;
Pelosi says, "Let ME do this";
But Gail tops them both:
A song she does quoth
Was writ' by Kristofferson, Kris!
Kristofferson wrote of the free,
As Gail writes of ... Ms. RBG.
A scholar of Rhodes,
He wrote po'ms and odes;
And loved that Roberta McGee!
Have we nothing left now to lose
In twenty-sixteen when we choose?
I shudder to think
We've got to the brink
Where all should let Hillary cruise.
11
Gail, what's with a Republican-controlled Congress that can't pass a budget for more than a week at a time? Is the GOP abandoning "trickle-down" for just plain "trickle?"
8
The Republicans are behaving the same as they did before the midterm elections and they were rewarded by the voters to hand them the majority in both houses. Why the Republicans should change their ways if it brings victory? It is the voters who need to sober up and change their ways !!
52
There was a poll published right before the election stating 60% of Americans didn't know which party was in control of Congress. That is the result of a press that is no longer free but on the payroll of corporate interests.
Fascism is getting closer all the time.
Fascism is getting closer all the time.
3
I'm tempted to say Boehner strapped a Labrador to the top of his clown car and drove it off a cliff but it can't be that easy. Can it?
27
Nuts we've got aplenty, but no candy. We are in for an long, bumpy ride in the Republican clown car.
17
Is the Border Control, and immigration enforcement which the Republicans are demanding, not an issue in this article? They want Obama's changes to immigration rules withdrawn. This is absurd, in my way of thinking.
So I wrote a comment on the defunding of DHS, which involves the immigration issue and the border control. I listed my personal experience, living only a mile from the border. And my anecdotal take on our situation here, with a sealed border, and plenty of new agents in the last decade, as supporting my argument.
I noticed that I was among the first to leave a comment about Ms. Collins column, which I follow carefully, and with much admiration for her skill and insights.
I just have hurt feelings...thought my comment at least deserved a place in the conversation. But that's not my call. I did, however, want to register my disappointment.
So I wrote a comment on the defunding of DHS, which involves the immigration issue and the border control. I listed my personal experience, living only a mile from the border. And my anecdotal take on our situation here, with a sealed border, and plenty of new agents in the last decade, as supporting my argument.
I noticed that I was among the first to leave a comment about Ms. Collins column, which I follow carefully, and with much admiration for her skill and insights.
I just have hurt feelings...thought my comment at least deserved a place in the conversation. But that's not my call. I did, however, want to register my disappointment.
9
Your astute comment IS here!! I read it and recommended it. Unless you have the coveted green checkmark it seems to take forever for us minions' comments to show up.
Great comment btw, which puts truth to all the lies about our "porous" border. Sadly far too many believe the hyped myth rather than the truth and your anecdotal, eye witness accounts will do nothing to sway the "true believers" beliefs. They'll check their "own sources" and get back to you. They'll hunt long and hard until they find one person somewhere to refute your facts, countering the thousands who reveal the truth. Just like with climate change deniers, they'll arm themselves with a minority of the minority to support the ideology. We all know if one scientist states that climate change is a myth it negates the millions who concur with facts and data to back up their claims that it is happening. And so it goes...
Great comment btw, which puts truth to all the lies about our "porous" border. Sadly far too many believe the hyped myth rather than the truth and your anecdotal, eye witness accounts will do nothing to sway the "true believers" beliefs. They'll check their "own sources" and get back to you. They'll hunt long and hard until they find one person somewhere to refute your facts, countering the thousands who reveal the truth. Just like with climate change deniers, they'll arm themselves with a minority of the minority to support the ideology. We all know if one scientist states that climate change is a myth it negates the millions who concur with facts and data to back up their claims that it is happening. And so it goes...
11
No candy to be found, but plenty of nuts. "Keeping America safe," insipid as its usage is, is the sine quo non of GOP sound bites, and Homeland Security funding has been given a week's reprieve. Legislative leadership is so weak they can't agree on whether it's more important to keep "shutdowns" out of the vernacular or to go on record as swiping at President Obama. Republicans speak glibly of newly involving ourselves abroad, from Eastern Europe to the Middle East, but can't guarantee making payroll for Federal employees.
10
Sorry for the typo, that should have said "qua," not "quo."
I live one mile from the Mexican border. Acting as if the borders were open wide, when they are certainly not, is either malfeasance of the worst sort, or simple ignorance.
Which would you choose, in explaining RNC actions, if you were asked? Are they simply ignorant of the army of border control we have here, a sea change over the last decade, that has all but shut off the worst of the border crossing phenomena we saw in this area? BC's and Homeland Security vehicles travel by my house, isolated as it is, by the hundreds in Broncos and on fourwheel ATV's, in trucks, and overhead in helicopters. The residents who have lived here longer than me say that what was once a flood is now simply a trickle, an occasional crosser spotted.
2 million deportations is a record Obama has that out does any Republican rival. And it's never enough. Yet even that saint, Ronald Reagan, saw a way to find a worker programs, for after all, in the real world, no one is crowding the employment lines to go out to the fields and pick beans this week. Or this year. Or since forever, since about the 1960-70s all farmwork is now done by immigrants in this area. All of it.
So I watch the trucks and atvs and wave to my border control friends, and listen to the 'tribal knowledge' of this area that maintains our porous border is a thing of the past here, and I wonder: What world are these Republicans living in?
Which would you choose, in explaining RNC actions, if you were asked? Are they simply ignorant of the army of border control we have here, a sea change over the last decade, that has all but shut off the worst of the border crossing phenomena we saw in this area? BC's and Homeland Security vehicles travel by my house, isolated as it is, by the hundreds in Broncos and on fourwheel ATV's, in trucks, and overhead in helicopters. The residents who have lived here longer than me say that what was once a flood is now simply a trickle, an occasional crosser spotted.
2 million deportations is a record Obama has that out does any Republican rival. And it's never enough. Yet even that saint, Ronald Reagan, saw a way to find a worker programs, for after all, in the real world, no one is crowding the employment lines to go out to the fields and pick beans this week. Or this year. Or since forever, since about the 1960-70s all farmwork is now done by immigrants in this area. All of it.
So I watch the trucks and atvs and wave to my border control friends, and listen to the 'tribal knowledge' of this area that maintains our porous border is a thing of the past here, and I wonder: What world are these Republicans living in?
81
Ah, glad this did get printed, good for all of us to read an eyewitness account. Thanks.
8
They live in a world called "Atlas".
As Dorothy Parker once said about Ayn Rand, "One does not want to dismiss her casually. No, one wants to heave her away with great vigor."
The sooner we rid ourselves of thinking her a thinker and "heave away with great vigor" the entire modern republican party the sooner we can get on with healing this once great Nation.
As Dorothy Parker once said about Ayn Rand, "One does not want to dismiss her casually. No, one wants to heave her away with great vigor."
The sooner we rid ourselves of thinking her a thinker and "heave away with great vigor" the entire modern republican party the sooner we can get on with healing this once great Nation.
7
It turns out that this sort of thing is cyclical here in the good old USA. You can look it up, there is a paper on it on line: "The Policy Consequences of Partisan Polarization in the United States," written by a Princeton professor. It includes graphs, and these show a long downward slope from a partisan high at the onset of the 1900's, with a low during the 1940's and 1950's, and a sharp turn upward following this. It is interesting to look at such a graph and consider the American culture and its accomplishments and success in the world wide marketplace. Yes, you're right, the US was most successful at its least partisan moments.
It is also interesting to read the American focus on accumulation into the graphs. As you would suspect, partisanship corresponds to periods of concentrated wealth and income stratification - the so-called "golden age" had an even higher level of partisanship than does ours.
It is also interesting to read the American focus on accumulation into the graphs. As you would suspect, partisanship corresponds to periods of concentrated wealth and income stratification - the so-called "golden age" had an even higher level of partisanship than does ours.
20
What I find amusing, ironic and ultimately extremely sad is that for the past 70 years (post WW2), we have gone around the world extolling the virtues of our way of life, our government and our superiority. If you were starting a government today, I don't think you would look to the US for leadership, direction or an example of "best practices".
While the "uber-conservatives" in the GOP have launched a virtual civil war within our nation, we have become a laughing stock to the rest of the world. While we continue to wrap ourselves in the flag, using phrases such as freedom, patriotism and American exceptionalism we are rapidly losing the "world" race and falling behind in more ways than are countable.
What will become of our once great nation? Will we take the road of many previously fallen empires or will we as a people demand better?
While the "uber-conservatives" in the GOP have launched a virtual civil war within our nation, we have become a laughing stock to the rest of the world. While we continue to wrap ourselves in the flag, using phrases such as freedom, patriotism and American exceptionalism we are rapidly losing the "world" race and falling behind in more ways than are countable.
What will become of our once great nation? Will we take the road of many previously fallen empires or will we as a people demand better?
72
"If you were starting a government today, I don't think you would look to the US for leadership, direction or an example of "best practices"."
It was noted around 2008 that other world courts had stopped looking to the US Supreme Court for leadership. The US used to be the Beacon that everyone looked to, but now, courts elsewhere, looking for legal guidance, will cite the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of India, or the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, or the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The United States Supreme Court is the oldest constitutional court in the world but it has become a navel-gazing institution (and does one really want to gaze on Scalia's or Thomas' navel?) refusing to consider international law on the one hand and becoming (with Gore v. Bush) a partisan and less-respected institution. Unfortunately, yes, American institutions are -- if not broken -- in desperate need of repair. Until that happens, other people elsewhere on the planet will indeed look to other countries for ideas.
It was noted around 2008 that other world courts had stopped looking to the US Supreme Court for leadership. The US used to be the Beacon that everyone looked to, but now, courts elsewhere, looking for legal guidance, will cite the European Court of Human Rights, the Supreme Court of India, or the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, or the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The United States Supreme Court is the oldest constitutional court in the world but it has become a navel-gazing institution (and does one really want to gaze on Scalia's or Thomas' navel?) refusing to consider international law on the one hand and becoming (with Gore v. Bush) a partisan and less-respected institution. Unfortunately, yes, American institutions are -- if not broken -- in desperate need of repair. Until that happens, other people elsewhere on the planet will indeed look to other countries for ideas.
15
Democrats are blocking the DHS budget bill because it excludes funding for an executive amnestry program that a federal court has ruled violatres the Administrative Procedure Act. Why not wait until the issue has worked its weay through the federal courts, and then debate funding for the amestryprogram separately. Rewarding illegal border crossers and visa overstayers with social security numbers, driver's licenses, work permits and imunity from prosecution does nothing to stop terrorist atacks.
2
Calling President Obama's executive action on immigration "amnesty" is false. It is not amnesty. It is temporary legal residency and a temporary work permit for people who have lived here over 5 years and have not been arrested for any criminal offense. One major advantage to this for US citizen workers is that employers will no longer be able to hire the people eligible for temporary work permits "under the table", paying them significantly less "under the table" than they would have to pay citizens and documented workers and, by not hiring and paying them legally, being able to avoid paying the employer's share of FICA and other taxes. It means that US workers can compete on an even field with unskilled and low-level skilled with formerly undocumented workers.
Of course, it won't solve the problem of US employers using H1-B visas to legallyy hire foreigners at a lower wage than they would have to pay US workers.
Of course, it won't solve the problem of US employers using H1-B visas to legallyy hire foreigners at a lower wage than they would have to pay US workers.
23
Defund Congress!
38
It is time to put the House on a twelve-step program: they must confess they are powerless to govern and that they tried to shut down the government, and then individual departments, and also defund actions and programs they hated and raged about. They need to acknowledge they were totally out of control, and surrendered their common sense thinking they were being patriotic while deluding themselves about their looking glass vision of our constitution and pretending nothing has happened in the last 220+ years. They must inventory their damage.
Then, they must make amends to everyone they injured. Their daily meetings should be the House's main business. Why not? They are not during much otherwise.
Then, they must make amends to everyone they injured. Their daily meetings should be the House's main business. Why not? They are not during much otherwise.
30
Eighty years ago I was born in a democratic country. Now I have no idea in how to describe this countries political nature. Are we a plutocracy, a oligarchy, or maybe were headed for a monarchy, as some members in this rag tag of a congress seem to want to take over this country and run it like their own. We are now paying the price for our failure to vote with thoughtfulness and intelligence,in some cases not bothering to vote at all, and not listen to those who are now members of this rag tag congress, who got there by preaching unrealistic fears to their constituents.
67
It is worth noting that none of the restrictive provisions of U.S. Immigration laws -- dating back to 1920 -- applied to Mexicans. The elimination of most restrictions was signed into law by Lyndon Johnson. Ted Kennedy had much to do with this, assuring all that the liberal provisions would have no effect on the essential character of the nation. The Celler-Hart bill passed with 70% support from Democrats in Congress and 85% of Republicans. Perhaps contributors to these pages will forfeit the fleeting pleasure of group defamation and bring judgment to bear on matters of consequence.
2
I'm enjoying that week to the hilt,
I know Boehner's feeling no guilt,
He'll take to his bed
A tanner 'tis said,
Still set with a Tea Party tilt.
I admit that I'm starting to worry,
With Koch brother favors to curry,
In one week who knows
How Boehner's wind blows
He's in no legislative hurry.
I know Boehner's feeling no guilt,
He'll take to his bed
A tanner 'tis said,
Still set with a Tea Party tilt.
I admit that I'm starting to worry,
With Koch brother favors to curry,
In one week who knows
How Boehner's wind blows
He's in no legislative hurry.
30
Once again the Republi-cants have shown the nation their intractable distaste for governing. Pitiful, ignorant, and dangerous are descriptives that easily come to mind when watching the "gang that couldn't shoot straight" attempt to express their will. Never in my 72 years have I witnessed such incompetence, starting with The Speaker, who appears to be losing his marbles - throwing a kiss at reporters - and extending through his very rank and file constituents.
This great nation, at this pivotal time in our history, deserves far better than we have in our Representatives. The 113th Congress was pathetic and appears to be further underachieved by the 114th.
This great nation, at this pivotal time in our history, deserves far better than we have in our Representatives. The 113th Congress was pathetic and appears to be further underachieved by the 114th.
91
Seth, I could not agree more. This is surreal. I wonder what Jefferson
would have thought about this.
would have thought about this.
2
Government by lurch. This is absurd. The GOP does not want
to govern. They keep telling us who they are, believe them.
Mr. Boehner can't deliver a pizza let along his House caucus.
The man gives empty suits a bad name.
The GOP has managed to fritter away the "national security card"
which it plays at the drop of a fedora.
Funding Homeland Security should be a no-brainer. Guess what
they have no brains.
to govern. They keep telling us who they are, believe them.
Mr. Boehner can't deliver a pizza let along his House caucus.
The man gives empty suits a bad name.
The GOP has managed to fritter away the "national security card"
which it plays at the drop of a fedora.
Funding Homeland Security should be a no-brainer. Guess what
they have no brains.
56
Everyone agrees that funding DHS is, as you say, a "no-brainer". That's why it should be liberated from immigration directives at once unlawful and transparently "political" in the most vulgar sense of the word. George Wahington's aversion to political parties was based on the fully validated thesis that there would be greater loyalty to party than to country. He might have said that that truism was also a no-brainer.
2
I heard that there is a sequel in the works for that old movie "The Manchurian Candidate". The title is rumored to be "The Manchurian Caucus", and it will be a documentary this time.
41
the new congressional Republican majority threw itself at the challenge. And after the seventh day, they rested.
Oh, my!
Oh, my!
22
A nation that cannot govern itself is in deep trouble.
30
i've always thought that the ultra conservative position was very clear. This is a capitalistic country and socialism has no place. Work and pay for what you want or starve. We write the rules. You obey them.
The only difference in my lifetime is "My country right or wrong."
The only difference in my lifetime is "My country right or wrong."
4
The Republicans thought obstructionism against Obama and the Dems worked so well they decided to try it against their own party.
59
Seriously, is this the kind of government we want for our country?
In this polarized state of affairs, I sincerely hope that there are enough moderates, who see the stupidity of this congress, and show up at the next elections to make a change.
I have my fingers crossed, but having followed the discourse, I am not very optimistic.
In this polarized state of affairs, I sincerely hope that there are enough moderates, who see the stupidity of this congress, and show up at the next elections to make a change.
I have my fingers crossed, but having followed the discourse, I am not very optimistic.
9
Democrats sat out the mid-term election in droves. I blame them. The only thing worse than the GOP's destructive obstruction is the Democrat's apathy that allowed the GOP to prevail.
5
"Seriously" is not a word used by Congress or the voting public.
1
Ms. Collins. I was waiting for your post for hours. You did not disappoint. Maybe journalists should become Congress.
26
How did the lyrics to that song go?
"Send in the clowns...
"Don't bother, they're here."
"Send in the clowns...
"Don't bother, they're here."
44
Homeland Security? Allowed 12 million people to waltz through without papers. Let's annex Mexico a la Putin and call Mexico the 51st State instead of funding Homeland security. Security, what security - we are the biggest chumps in the world!
3
You mean finish the job President Polk (Manifest Destiny) started when we ''acquired'' California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico (Texas, really too) from Mexico in the Mexican American War?
6
Better yet, let's give Texas back to Mexico. I'm not sure they'd
want it back.
want it back.
6
Great Idea Tashmuit and throw in the entire left coast states as a sweetener! Bit the hitch is the 11.5 million homeless of our Atlantic coast...
Rudy Giuliani must be rolling in his grave. (I know, some people on Fox think he's still alive, but he's been dead for over a decade).
Giuliani thought Obama doesn't love America like Republicans do. Now it turns out that Republicans hate Obama more than they love America. They're willing to risk the security and lives of American citizens because they hate Obama so much.
Obama isn't the only one they hate. They also hate immigrants more than they love their fellow Americans. Not all immigrants, of course. Just those from Mexico and Central America. They don't have a problem with tech workers from other countries coming in and taking the jobs Americans want, just the people who come here willing to take the jobs Americans don't want.
Giuliani thought Obama doesn't love America like Republicans do. Now it turns out that Republicans hate Obama more than they love America. They're willing to risk the security and lives of American citizens because they hate Obama so much.
Obama isn't the only one they hate. They also hate immigrants more than they love their fellow Americans. Not all immigrants, of course. Just those from Mexico and Central America. They don't have a problem with tech workers from other countries coming in and taking the jobs Americans want, just the people who come here willing to take the jobs Americans don't want.
536
Don't blame the Republicans. They're just frustrated because, over the past seven years, we haven't experienced another 9-11 scale event that they can claim blame on Obama. And now with a growing economy, they're faced with running on their national security creds in 2016; and we know well that's worked.
15
Your comment deserves the highest compliment: It could have been written by Gail Collins!
4
I am completely flummoxed about what to say when a segment of our Congress is so very immature that if they don't get things 100% their own way they simply have a tantrum. I am astounded that those who consider themselves the guardians of the Constitution do not understand a basic principle of democracy: everyone has a place at the table; everyone has a voice in the conversation; everyone has a say in the outcome, i.e., dialogue and compromise. What these right-wingers cherish is a form of dictatorship where they say what will happen and everyone else folds. They are the ones failing their Constitutional responsibility.
331
I'm flummoxed by the people who elect them.
11
If only the legislators, and I use the term only to generally define the group, knew how foolish they appear to informed voters. Unfortunately, there is that alternate population--who know nothing about government and governance-- who reelect these obstructionists because of their bigoted positions on social issues.
92
Hmmm, let's see, the definition of Mainstream - belonging in the main course or direction of development; not marginal. So a week of toil and debate leads to a one week funding of an agency supposed to protect us. If the 535 in the 'occupying Washington DC movement' were in the private sector most, if not all, would be unemployed by now. Who are their bosses anyway?
40
The Koch brothers.
14
Their bosses are those voting in the gerrymandered districts from which the clown care drove to DC. The US Congress represents a smaller minority of the minority of American citizens who chose to vote (30%). So the country as a whole does not care who is in Congress. Carrying that further, the majority of citizens do not care if anything at all is funded in this country. America already has allowed its infrastructure to go to hell, why not the everything else? (Humming now … Proud to be an American …)
5
It seems like it was about a thousand years ago when Thomas "Tip" O'Neill, the House Speaker from my home state of Massachusetts, would go to the mat with Ronald Reagan over policy. The Democratic speaker realized that he was in office to represent not only a smaller constituency back home, but also the greater good. Mr. O'Neill and Mr. Reagan were, ideologically and politically, opposites without much sympathy for one other's viewpoints or one another personally. But Mr. O'Neill came by his greatness as House Speaker by employing the simple formula of compromise. He realized that America works when its governing bodies work for the greater good: the benefit of its citizens. We're now hostage to the scary catchphrase of "doing the same thing over and over and..." never mind. Thank you, Speaker Boehner, for putting America at risk because President Obama was twice elected by huge majorities. Isn't that the whole point here?
145
“This is no way to govern the nation.”
And in that simple sentence we have the essence and the goal of Reactionary Republicans and their constituents: our nation not governed; no federal government--except for the world's most powerful military.
And when we understand that the Reactionary Republicans are "The No Governance Party", we can better understand their agenda: they want a loose association of 50 sovereign states; yes a confederation of states--The Confederate States of America.
No governance explains their willingness to de-fund the Department of Homeland Security and their hatred of No Child Left Behind and education period. They desire to eliminate public schools. They don't want an educated public because real education leads to critical thinking, asking questions and reasoning; these are dangerous to Reactionary Republicans.
Along with education, all other functions of the federal government (except of course the military) are despised, targeted by Reactionary Republicans.
No governance explains Republicans' love of guns and why we are headed for even more gun proliferation: in the Red States controlled by Reactionary Republicans, residents will form local militias and heavily arm themselves--standing their ground and shooting each other over minor disagreements or insults is the measure of their ultimate definition of freedom. Residents of the Sane States will enter the Red States at their own peril.
The No Governance Party--the new GOP.
And in that simple sentence we have the essence and the goal of Reactionary Republicans and their constituents: our nation not governed; no federal government--except for the world's most powerful military.
And when we understand that the Reactionary Republicans are "The No Governance Party", we can better understand their agenda: they want a loose association of 50 sovereign states; yes a confederation of states--The Confederate States of America.
No governance explains their willingness to de-fund the Department of Homeland Security and their hatred of No Child Left Behind and education period. They desire to eliminate public schools. They don't want an educated public because real education leads to critical thinking, asking questions and reasoning; these are dangerous to Reactionary Republicans.
Along with education, all other functions of the federal government (except of course the military) are despised, targeted by Reactionary Republicans.
No governance explains Republicans' love of guns and why we are headed for even more gun proliferation: in the Red States controlled by Reactionary Republicans, residents will form local militias and heavily arm themselves--standing their ground and shooting each other over minor disagreements or insults is the measure of their ultimate definition of freedom. Residents of the Sane States will enter the Red States at their own peril.
The No Governance Party--the new GOP.
195
I just simply hope this is a passing trend dissolving in it's own obsolescence once the sesquicentennial of the Civil War is past. Today Republicans are basically Neo-Confederates. Party philosophies have shifted poles with geographics. The party of Lincoln has morphed.
4
Thank you, Gail, for reiterating the Republicans' inability to do the job they were hired to do: run a government.,
*They are incapable ot devising a plan for immigration.
*They are incapable of devising a tax plan that doesn't raise taxes on the middle class.
*They are incapable of devising a healthcare plan.
*They are incapable of devising a plan to balance the budget.
*They rely on ignorance for reelection, denying science, incapable of offering an alternative to Biblical myth, denying the reality of climate change. They are the party of stupid, proffering and depending on stupidity.
Fortunately, stupidity cannot stand for long. It must, necessarily, fail, stumble and fall. Unfortunately, that eventuality will cause a lot of people to suffer.
*They are incapable ot devising a plan for immigration.
*They are incapable of devising a tax plan that doesn't raise taxes on the middle class.
*They are incapable of devising a healthcare plan.
*They are incapable of devising a plan to balance the budget.
*They rely on ignorance for reelection, denying science, incapable of offering an alternative to Biblical myth, denying the reality of climate change. They are the party of stupid, proffering and depending on stupidity.
Fortunately, stupidity cannot stand for long. It must, necessarily, fail, stumble and fall. Unfortunately, that eventuality will cause a lot of people to suffer.
320
Your comment left out, evil!
15
In a simple bumper sticker idiom "Stupidity Wins Elections". Or is it something more sinister than stupidity.
19
Eschew obfuscation.
1
I remember a time when all the progressives were vocally protesting Homeland Security, something about library cards. My things have changed. Any bill that contains a provision that reverses Obama's unconstitutional executive order will be vetoed. HMS shutdown or no shutdown. The Democrats are hanging on to a filibuster to avoid this very embarassing situation for their beloved leader. The same one who set their party back 50 years in the last election. What election? That actually counted? Why did Obama hold off on this action until after that election? Politics, that's why. The shame here belongs in the WH, politics vs. policy. And Ms. Collins has little or no credibility after falsely accusing Scott Walker of laying off teachers. Why is she still here in this column is the bigger question.
2
Let us cut to the chase, shall we? The real reason the hard right wingers are so upset about the President's executive order isn't because they perceive it as unconstitutional. It's because they don't like people with darker-colored skin than theirs. This includes not only the President, but also those "brown people" his order legalizes. Romney let the cat out of the bag with his "self-deporting" comment (much as he did re the fact that they don't care about the less fortunate with his "47 percent" comment). If immigrants looked like the (vast) majority of the GOP, they would be all for legalizing them. It is certainly not a matter of principles. Don't forget, this is the party that considers the torture of innocent people perfectly acceptable when they look guilty (i.e., brown). So please come down off your high horse about defending the Constitution and face facts: the GOP is the party of racists, plain and simple.
293
The irony of the Republican hatred of illegal immigrants is that the immigrants wouldn't be here if businesses didn't hire them. If the immigrants could not get work and earn money the vast majority of them would not be here.
And who are the businesses/people who hire illegal immigrants? It's not just the large agricultural farms; it's construction companies, the service industries, and quite simply any business or person that chooses slave labor over paying American workers.
These businesses/people are all about profit at the expense of workers. And what party do these greedy, money-loving business support? What party does the Chamber of Commerce support? None other than the Republican Party.
That's the irony of Republicans: they hate illegal immigrants while they and their constituents profit from illegal immigrant slave labor. They don't want to deport them; but they don't want to allow them here legally because they would lose their slave labor, profit-maximizing workforce that can't complain about working conditions.
And who are the businesses/people who hire illegal immigrants? It's not just the large agricultural farms; it's construction companies, the service industries, and quite simply any business or person that chooses slave labor over paying American workers.
These businesses/people are all about profit at the expense of workers. And what party do these greedy, money-loving business support? What party does the Chamber of Commerce support? None other than the Republican Party.
That's the irony of Republicans: they hate illegal immigrants while they and their constituents profit from illegal immigrant slave labor. They don't want to deport them; but they don't want to allow them here legally because they would lose their slave labor, profit-maximizing workforce that can't complain about working conditions.
73
If Obama's action was unconstitutional and "lawless" then it's Congress's obligation to impeach.
C'mon Congress - put up or shut up.
C'mon Congress - put up or shut up.
12
Isn't it obvious? The Department of Homeland Security was proposed by President George Bush in 2001. The Republicans are trying to dissociate themselves from an indefensibly poor Presidential term, and defunding DHS is just the first step.
And they are not opposed to any of Obama's policies on ideological (or any other logical) grounds. They simply do not like him. At all. No matter what he says or does. If he says something they agree with, they accuse him of lying.
And they are not opposed to any of Obama's policies on ideological (or any other logical) grounds. They simply do not like him. At all. No matter what he says or does. If he says something they agree with, they accuse him of lying.
75
They said Republican hostage taking was over. But the truth is: take the hostage taking out and you take the Republican out. Insurgency is the name of the game for the modern Republican. They've been playing this game now since the 1990s. When's the press gonna learn that this isn't temperer?. The modern Republican Party is an anti-democratic party pure and simple. Insurgency is antithetical to the separation of powers. It is also antithetical to majority rule. This party means to rule, whether it is official in power or on the sidelines. Either way the opposition power of the Democratic Party is to be nullified. Unprecedented use of the filibuster against Obama. Threatened or actual government shutdowns against Obama, first and second terms. And first and foremost the Starr investigation and the Star impeachment of Bill Clinton for having an affair in office. America: you need to clean house. No more Republicans.
165
I distinctly remember when Homeland Security was proposed and instituted, thinking "what a creepy, weird reactionary Orwellian-sounding" organization. How poorly thought out. With an equally silly name. And I was in the military at the time, mind you. How completely unnecessary in retrospect (and at the time.) And now, here we are, with the coast guard about to run out of money.
165
The word that I always thought of when I heard 'Homeland Security' was "Stalinesque".
16
It made me think of "The Fatherland." And I find it quite chilling.
9
That was supposed to be "de-funding Homeland Security" before auto-correcting took over.
3
DHS is a legacy of 9/11. A colossal federal waste of our tax money. It ushered in and cemented paramilitary police apparatus in every state. We now have police force with M16, armored vehicles, drones, spy cameras on every train, bus, street intersections, and airports.
Do we need a police force to scare us in obedience? Add to that the shameful Patriot Act, we are now as close to a police state as we ever been.
The fear/war mongers cabal among us created many enemies, and now wants us scared, very scared indeed.
Do we need a police force to scare us in obedience? Add to that the shameful Patriot Act, we are now as close to a police state as we ever been.
The fear/war mongers cabal among us created many enemies, and now wants us scared, very scared indeed.
159
Still, that's not why the GOP wants to de-fund it. De-funding it won't fix it, either.
28
Well said, it is getting worse by the day.
2
Criticizing DHS is fine... but that's not why the GOP threatened to de-fund it. They took funding as a hostage. For you, MorGan, to criticize the DHS as if shutting it down is a good idea is like a kid rejecting a toy and saying he'd just rather play with himself. Except DHS is not a toy, nor an ideological weapon.
1
"We are trying to push the entire conference to the right, but you can only do that effectively if you do it in a positive way"
Raul Labrador speaking to the National Review on the role of the new House Freedom Caucus.
I would have loved the hear the closed door discussions when they came up with this "positive" plan to defund Homeland Security. That seems to be a root problem for the math challenged GOP. Having been elected based on a negative oppositional agenda to Federal government (that kind of freedom), they have no core philosophy to build on to deal with the national challenges of immigration, infrastructure, health care, financial regulation, tax policy, public safety or foreign policy.
I have a feeling that after floating some truly anarchist and apocalyptic ideas fueled by their spiraling hostility toward the President, defending Homeland Security comes out as the most positive alternative for the Caucus.
Expect some "up is down" remarks from the Caucus members to the press this weekend, like about doing this out of love of country.
Raul Labrador speaking to the National Review on the role of the new House Freedom Caucus.
I would have loved the hear the closed door discussions when they came up with this "positive" plan to defund Homeland Security. That seems to be a root problem for the math challenged GOP. Having been elected based on a negative oppositional agenda to Federal government (that kind of freedom), they have no core philosophy to build on to deal with the national challenges of immigration, infrastructure, health care, financial regulation, tax policy, public safety or foreign policy.
I have a feeling that after floating some truly anarchist and apocalyptic ideas fueled by their spiraling hostility toward the President, defending Homeland Security comes out as the most positive alternative for the Caucus.
Expect some "up is down" remarks from the Caucus members to the press this weekend, like about doing this out of love of country.
63
They were elected to oppose an extremist POTUS who has no intention of upholding the law. A position he himself said was unconstitutional, what 22 times? Get a grip.
1
And you counted those 22 times yourself--or is that more of the force-fed ditto-head made up ever-so-specific detail put out by the good folks on Fox News?
20
There is nothing wrong with hard bargaining, That's what unions do. More important, everybody knows Congress will be hopelessly deadlocked for the next two years. That's why Obama enacted his immigration reform in the first place. Beyond the bare minimum, this Congress will do no legislating. Instead, everybody is posturing -- doing things and proposing stuff that will sell in 2016. This week's GOP sideshow will be portrayed as a rejection of Senate overspending and aggressive opposition to Obama's abuse of power. The Dems are posturing, too. Obama's visionary State of the Union included programs that had no chance of passing but looked good to middle class voters. The Dems and the GOP are playing games. It's not about now. It's about next year.
4
Why does the Republican Freedom Caucus hate America?
To quote Elizabeth Warren, it's time for the Republicans to put up or shut up. Instead of having tantrums and shutting down the government, bring your proposals and bills to the table to reform healthcare and immigration. Bring your proposals to the table to create jobs for thousands, not 35 jobs from the Keystone pipeline.
You were elected to govern and part of governing means compromising. Grow up Freedom Caucus and while you're at it, change your Orwellian name. It's meaningless. and when you really think about it, ridiculous.
To quote Elizabeth Warren, it's time for the Republicans to put up or shut up. Instead of having tantrums and shutting down the government, bring your proposals and bills to the table to reform healthcare and immigration. Bring your proposals to the table to create jobs for thousands, not 35 jobs from the Keystone pipeline.
You were elected to govern and part of governing means compromising. Grow up Freedom Caucus and while you're at it, change your Orwellian name. It's meaningless. and when you really think about it, ridiculous.
762
Compromise calls for both parties to a dispute to yield on certain points. Just what part of the unlawful immigration directive are the Democrats prepared to abandon in order to secure funding for DHS?
1
"Freedom Caucus" is the name for the ignorant, angry mob that the founding fathers warned us about.
Well said, V!
Well said, V!
25
V....The gop was elected to 'govern'? They actually were elected to undermine, downsize and weaken govt itself. Then to cater to elite interests and to discredit a Dem president. They won't stop at endangering our safety and the economy of the nation. The gop voters who elected them are so naive that even this latest trick won't waken them to harsh reality. They are total victims of Orwellian bamboozlement.
18
Good outcome:
Short-term funding:
Takes away the government shutdown complaint.
But keeps the immigration debate front and center,
exactly where it belongs:
Keeps up the pressure on Senate Dems
for the separate Senate bill
to override Obama's amnesty EO/EA:
Picked up four Dem Senate votes Friday morning.
Just three more needed.
Home state voters need to speak up.
Wyden (up for election in 2016) in blue, blue Oregon looks vulnerable:
In November voters in blue, blue Oregon
voted to override the Dem handout of DLs for illegal immigrants.
The American people do not want amnesty.
Short-term funding:
Takes away the government shutdown complaint.
But keeps the immigration debate front and center,
exactly where it belongs:
Keeps up the pressure on Senate Dems
for the separate Senate bill
to override Obama's amnesty EO/EA:
Picked up four Dem Senate votes Friday morning.
Just three more needed.
Home state voters need to speak up.
Wyden (up for election in 2016) in blue, blue Oregon looks vulnerable:
In November voters in blue, blue Oregon
voted to override the Dem handout of DLs for illegal immigrants.
The American people do not want amnesty.
4
Sure, the American people do not want amnesty and that's why the Republicans are mired in deep doodoo. Amnesty is the only thing gonna save that political party.
3
Immigration amnesty is just fine when practiced by Presidents Nixon, Reagan, Bush I and Bush II.
Not President Obama.
#IOKIYAR
Not President Obama.
#IOKIYAR
38
Amnesty is not part of the President's proposal.
6
Raul Labrador led the effort in 2013 to unseat Boehner as Speaker. So, Labrador's at it again, this time leading his little mob of kindergarten conservatives to try and embarrass Boehner.
Why? Ambition. He wants to be seen as champion of House Republican frustrations to garner the votes as a Whip or Speaker.
Labrador is hispanic, born in Puertro Rico, has a degree in Spanish, has supported immigration reform and now doesn't support immigration reform. So, we have another gasbag opportunist in the Christie and Cruz mold.
Exactly what does Labraor expect? Democrat and Republican Congresses allowed the undocumented population to grow to benefit various constituencies. Does Raul Labrador and his mob of Congressional kindergartners now expect the U.S. government to knock on doors in the dark of night and drag 4 to 5 million people off to deportation concentration camps in Texas, all of whom would meet Obama's threshold of living here 5 or more years?
Are Raul Labrador and his Republican kindergartners really telegraphing to world they so lack vision they can't see the great harm that would do to the U.S. internationally? Exactly how would Labrador and his little mob of play-date dim bulbs keep deportation concentration camps with 5 million people off the front pages of every newspaper in the world?
All this Republian embarrasment would have been avoided had little Raul and his kinddegarten club left the issue with the grownups in the courts and passed a clean DHS bill.
Why? Ambition. He wants to be seen as champion of House Republican frustrations to garner the votes as a Whip or Speaker.
Labrador is hispanic, born in Puertro Rico, has a degree in Spanish, has supported immigration reform and now doesn't support immigration reform. So, we have another gasbag opportunist in the Christie and Cruz mold.
Exactly what does Labraor expect? Democrat and Republican Congresses allowed the undocumented population to grow to benefit various constituencies. Does Raul Labrador and his mob of Congressional kindergartners now expect the U.S. government to knock on doors in the dark of night and drag 4 to 5 million people off to deportation concentration camps in Texas, all of whom would meet Obama's threshold of living here 5 or more years?
Are Raul Labrador and his Republican kindergartners really telegraphing to world they so lack vision they can't see the great harm that would do to the U.S. internationally? Exactly how would Labrador and his little mob of play-date dim bulbs keep deportation concentration camps with 5 million people off the front pages of every newspaper in the world?
All this Republian embarrasment would have been avoided had little Raul and his kinddegarten club left the issue with the grownups in the courts and passed a clean DHS bill.
358
I think you've inadvertently come up with a wonderful new acronym for the G.O.P.: The Gasbag Opportunist Party.
25
" Does Raul Labrador and his mob of Congressional kindergartners now expect the U.S. government to knock on doors in the dark of night and drag 4 to 5 million people off to deportation concentration camps in Texas"
I don't think Raul Labrador thinks anything is going to happen. He knows this is all theater of the absurd where we are all waiting for Godot and he's never going to get here.
What a waste of a good life. He and his ilk spin venom, but never actually expect anything to happen--they are only focused on the next election when they can pull the angry strings of their juvenile voters who, fed a steady diet of invective by Fox News, will vote for them again.
I don't think Raul Labrador thinks anything is going to happen. He knows this is all theater of the absurd where we are all waiting for Godot and he's never going to get here.
What a waste of a good life. He and his ilk spin venom, but never actually expect anything to happen--they are only focused on the next election when they can pull the angry strings of their juvenile voters who, fed a steady diet of invective by Fox News, will vote for them again.
20
In all fairness, kindergarteners are not usually mean-spirited, racist, greedy and anti-American. Although, like the Republican Congress, they tend to pee their pants a lot.
13
Thank you House of Representatives for giving me seven whole days of safety and security. You don't know how much it comforts me to know you care enough about the American people to give us seven whole days of protection. I'd love to send Boehner kissy faces to show him how pleased I am to have an entire week of peace. In fact, I wish all of Congress could be paid in air kisses since they certainly aren't doing anything worth a paycheck. Or maybe we should just pay them for seven days.
474
Yep Linda, and American citizens voted for these folks in 2010...go figure...
6
In a great irony, these are these are the same yoyos who insist on running into every country in the Middle East armed to the teeth and ready to do battle.
Cause and Effect--they should require a 6 month course in it before you are allowed to enter Congress.
Cause and Effect--they should require a 6 month course in it before you are allowed to enter Congress.
14
@Gracie & Linda,
We only have ourselves to blame
But we must also thank Murdoch for his Fix News that in less than 20 years turned our country closer to a banana republic.
We only have ourselves to blame
But we must also thank Murdoch for his Fix News that in less than 20 years turned our country closer to a banana republic.
15
I'm beginning to suspect that the Republicans are trying to get our undocumented immigrants so disgusted with America's dysfunctional government that they'll just pack up and go home. At least in Mexico and Central America you know who you need to pay off in order to get things accomplished, and their politicians come more cheaply than ours do.
403
Right on.
Trouble here is that politicians need to be pre-paid in order to make it legal.
Trouble here is that politicians need to be pre-paid in order to make it legal.
5
"I'm beginning to suspect that the Republicans are trying to get our undocumented immigrants so disgusted with America's dysfunctional government that they'll just pack up and go home."
That's one way to look at it.
Another would be that Republicans are trying to make Democratic voters so disgusted and jaded with America's disfunctional government, that they either completely give up and stop voting, or defect to Canada. And the right wins . Then they can craft their laissez-faire, loony bin policies in peace.
That's one way to look at it.
Another would be that Republicans are trying to make Democratic voters so disgusted and jaded with America's disfunctional government, that they either completely give up and stop voting, or defect to Canada. And the right wins . Then they can craft their laissez-faire, loony bin policies in peace.
11
gels
If we all left for Canada and all the Latin American undocumented immigrants went home, the Republicans would have to face some economic facts.
the Red States, on the whole, don't have viable economies. This is why we Blue States have had to send them so much Federal Tax money collected from our productive Democratic people.
And the undocumented immigrants do so much of the work in the rural red States that their economies would fall even further.
I wouldn't call that a win.
If we all left for Canada and all the Latin American undocumented immigrants went home, the Republicans would have to face some economic facts.
the Red States, on the whole, don't have viable economies. This is why we Blue States have had to send them so much Federal Tax money collected from our productive Democratic people.
And the undocumented immigrants do so much of the work in the rural red States that their economies would fall even further.
I wouldn't call that a win.
22
Such behavior from the GOP Extremists is to be expected these days.
They are more interested in pursuing their own personal beliefs, that in the general welfare of the country.
Of course they are doing so because they have been elected by a cadre of voters who are just as rabid, who want all the undocumented non citizens removed, no matter the reason they came here. it does not matter to them it it is to escape the murderous gangs in their country, extreme poverty, or to just pick strawberries. In the minds of these voters, all undocumented immigrants are criminals, who sneaked across the border, carrying backpacks on drugs.
The DHS is a bureaucracy that needs to be dismantled anyway. FEMA, the Coast Guard, among others should be put back as separate government agencies, independent of some high paid, high ranking civil servant.
Let the lines pile up in the airports, and at the border crossings, then the public can see just what a monster the Bush administration created. The Patriot Act is not much different than the Third Reich restrictions on travel. We can not even get out of our own country without paying for a passport. Got to Baha just to go to the beaches, and you have pay for a passport so you can return to your home. We are being ruled by a nation of paranoid schizophrenics.
They are more interested in pursuing their own personal beliefs, that in the general welfare of the country.
Of course they are doing so because they have been elected by a cadre of voters who are just as rabid, who want all the undocumented non citizens removed, no matter the reason they came here. it does not matter to them it it is to escape the murderous gangs in their country, extreme poverty, or to just pick strawberries. In the minds of these voters, all undocumented immigrants are criminals, who sneaked across the border, carrying backpacks on drugs.
The DHS is a bureaucracy that needs to be dismantled anyway. FEMA, the Coast Guard, among others should be put back as separate government agencies, independent of some high paid, high ranking civil servant.
Let the lines pile up in the airports, and at the border crossings, then the public can see just what a monster the Bush administration created. The Patriot Act is not much different than the Third Reich restrictions on travel. We can not even get out of our own country without paying for a passport. Got to Baha just to go to the beaches, and you have pay for a passport so you can return to your home. We are being ruled by a nation of paranoid schizophrenics.
158
Please don't denigrate schizophrenia, which is an definable illness with biological correlates. Fortress, paranoid schizophrenics are often primarily worried that the government is trying to harm or control them, so they're mostly right anyway. Our rulers are just more of the same intellectually limited, experientially deprived, selfish ilk that run most oligopolies.
28
I agree with almost everything in this comment. right up until the last paragraph. Then it falls apart.
1. Saying that the Patriot Act (which I totally abhor) is not much different than the Third Reich minimizes the horror of Hitler's Germany.
2. Also, I'm not so sure that needing a passport to visit a foreign country is all that radical a concept....
1. Saying that the Patriot Act (which I totally abhor) is not much different than the Third Reich minimizes the horror of Hitler's Germany.
2. Also, I'm not so sure that needing a passport to visit a foreign country is all that radical a concept....
13
Oh MG, I love the last line.
You are succinct, colorful, unabashed, targeted yet inclusive inclusive. Please let us read more.
Hank
You are succinct, colorful, unabashed, targeted yet inclusive inclusive. Please let us read more.
Hank
7
The Taliban Tea Party has triumphed with their own type of terrorism. But they don't realize they have taken themselves hostage.
All Obama must do to get the budget is passed is to threaten an executive order to shut down a department, and these two year olds will rush to fund it.
All Obama must do to get the budget is passed is to threaten an executive order to shut down a department, and these two year olds will rush to fund it.
282
Between biting their noses to spite their faces, and throwing full tilt tantrums, including breath holding, when do they have any time left to pass legislation? I'd like nothing more than to see Raul Labrador walk off the edge of the 6000 year old, very flat earth to prove his point. He and his caucus act and sound like characters from "Better Call Saul", or anything by David Lynch or John Waters. Perhaps they're protesting that government is too much like "House of Cards", but it's better than no government at all, and it's been working fairly well, in a fashion, for the past 60 years or so.
It shouldn't be too hard to Tom Sawyer them into painting the fence, as long as that fence is white.
It shouldn't be too hard to Tom Sawyer them into painting the fence, as long as that fence is white.
7
"But they don't realize they have taken themselves hostage."
The Republicans as the Sheriff in Blazing Saddles? Nah, he was smarter than them, and knew what he was doing.
The Republicans as the Sheriff in Blazing Saddles? Nah, he was smarter than them, and knew what he was doing.
5
“ISIS appears to have money,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid darkly. “Terrorists appear to have money. Why shouldn’t our homeland have the ability to protect itself?”
Another parallel: ISIS takes hostages. Republicans do too. The whole country held hostage and threatened with no Homeland Security so that they can slam Obama (and for good measure the immigrant Dreamers and families and their hopes for the future).
Another parallel: ISIS takes hostages. Republicans do too. The whole country held hostage and threatened with no Homeland Security so that they can slam Obama (and for good measure the immigrant Dreamers and families and their hopes for the future).
753
The Republicans should ask ISIS for money.
8
The terrorists are the law breakers pouring across our borders, overloading our social systems and the dems who pander for their votes.
2
This set of GOP'ers in Congress has now removed all doubt over whether they would join the previous 2 sets of Congressional GOP'ers in the pantheon of rolling dumpster fires Boehner has presided over.
With a nod to Gail's characterization of Congressional GOP'ers as " rabid ferrets ", perhaps ferrets fighting over control of the dumpster's steering wheel accounts for its erratic course.
The truly scary thing is remembering the Speaker's place in the government's order of succession.
With a nod to Gail's characterization of Congressional GOP'ers as " rabid ferrets ", perhaps ferrets fighting over control of the dumpster's steering wheel accounts for its erratic course.
The truly scary thing is remembering the Speaker's place in the government's order of succession.
509
@R. Law: He scares me, too. As I watched Speaker Boehner blow kisses at the reporter who asked him exactly what his plans and contingencies were to fund HS, as if its possible defunding was a big joke, I thought about him being second in line to the presidency, a completely horrifying thought. About the only thing he now seems able to accomplish is inviting foreign leaders to speak before Congress to undermine US foreign policy initiatives.
583
OMG funding for a whole weak? I think we should pay them for a whole week and give them a couple of extra weeks vacation since they don't give themselves enough time off.
13
What will it take, America? Boehner, breaking out in delirium tremens while presiding over the House?
18
"Be a clown, be a clown, be a clown..."
Now if you want to be a Republican put on a fright wig and a red button nose and you too can be a clown.