Senate Republicans Vote to Block Debate of Financial Oversight Legislation

By GottaLaff

The Democrats may have been blocked-- again-- by the Party of No, but they made it loud and clear on the Tee Vee Machine that even a loss is a win. Why? Because now America will see who sides with Wall Street, and who sides with them.

Via an email alert from the New York Times:

Senate Republicans, united in opposition to the Democrats' legislation to tighten regulation of the financial system, voted on Monday to block the start of floor debate.

The vote was 57 to 41, as Democrats fell short of the 60 votes needed to cut off a filibuster of the motion to proceed to the bill. One Democrat, Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska, sided with Republicans apparently out of concern over a provision related to tightening the rules on derivatives trading.

Debate is blocked. Nelson voted no. Welcome back to the GOP, Ben.

Bernie Sanders just confirmed what I said above, saying, "We were vindicated," and this proves the Republicans are, indeed, the obstructionists we know them to be.

Senate Republicans may offer their own measure to overhaul Wall St.

By GottaLaff

According to Republicans, size matters:
Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, holds a copy of the health care bill on the West Front of the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Nov. 5, 2009, during a Republican health care news conference. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

I can picture them now, counting the number of pages, because that's all that really counts:

Republican aides said they may quickly offer an alternate measure that has been in drafting for months.

“We have been drafting an alternate approach from the very beginning,” an aide said.

Asked whether Republicans would offer an alternate bill, an aide said it is possible. “I think so, yes,” the aide said.

I wonder how many meetings with Big Bankers it took to come up with something lucrative enough to agree on.

If it's anything like their poor excuse for a GOP health care bill, it should look a little something like this:

Round 2: Obama v. Senate Republicans

By GottaLaff

GObama!


After the president's visit to the House Republicans' Balitmore retreat, I'm not surprised he's up for another round.

As Tommy Christopher said in Blunt 3, Obama, and the GOP themselves, "made the Republican Right Wing Noise Machine look stupid."

Let's hope the next meeting will be equally successful.

Hillary Clinton Says N. Korea May Go Back Onto Terrorist List

By GottaLaff

The Axis of Evil... again?

The United States is looking at restoring North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said on Sunday.

“We’re going to look at it,” Ms. Clinton said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.” “There’s a process for it. Obviously, we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism.”

Ms. Clinton, speaking in a taped interview, was asked to respond to a letter from several senators asking the Obama administration to immediately return North Korea to the list after its recent weapons tests. The letter, which was signed by eight Republican senators and made public on Tuesday, insisted that North Korea “never ended the activities for which it was listed as a state sponsor of terrorism.” Restoring North Korea to the list would prevent access to loans and other financing that could be used to pursue “their destabilizing activities,” the letter said. [...]

Ms. Clinton said that the Obama administration was taking the senators’ letter seriously.

Li'l Kim is stirring up quite a ruckus.

When asked about what the consequences might be if North Korea were to attempt to ship nuclear weapons elsewhere, Ms. Clinton said the United States would try to prevent it and work to cut off the impoverished nation’s flow of money.

“If we do not take significant and effective action against the North Koreans now, we’ll spark an arms race in northeast Asia. I don’t think anybody wants to see that,” she said.

A "very ticked-off" Harry Reid Uses Franken as Threat

By GottaLaff

A follow-up of sorts to my previous post, just below. Reid should do the same for Dawn Johnsen's nomination:

A "very ticked-off" Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) predicted that the nominee for the Interior Department's number two post "will be approved despite the lockstep opposition" of Senate Republicans, reports Politico.

Said Reid: "We will confirm David Hayes. If I have to wait until Al Franken comes, we will confirm David Hayes."

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar was equally ticked off after a vote on the Hayes nomination failed, according to NBC News.

Said Salazar: "This was a tired vote of bitter obstructionism. It may be uncomfortable for some to watch us have to clean up mess after mess -- from corruption to lawbreaking -- that is the previous administration's legacy at Interior, but to cast a vote against such a qualified and fine person is the height of cynicism."

McCain Gets Primary Challenger

From the right no less. Lovin' it.

Chris Simcox, a founder of the anti-illegal immigrant Minutemen, announced that he will challenge Sen. John McCain in next year's Republican primary in Arizona, NBC News reports.

Ben Smith: "McCain was forced to abandon his own immigration reform legislation during last year's Republican Primary, a move that may have cost him substantial Hispanic support to which his record could have given him access. So he's basically getting it from both sides on this one."

The most, and least bipartisan members of the Senate

Alot more analysis here, but I thought the list itself was very interesting. None of the R "least bipartisan" are any surprise to me.

Who’s the easiest senator to work with across the aisle? Who’s the toughest? The Hill asked all 99 seated senators about their colleagues’ bipartisanship, and the following names — arranged by frequency, from top to bottom — were cited the most.

MOST BIPARTISAN

DEMOCRATS
1. Edward Kennedy (Mass.)
2. Tom Carper (Del.)
3. Chris Dodd (Conn.)
4. (tied) Evan Bayh (Ind.)
4. (tied) Tom Harkin (Iowa)

REPUBLICANS
1. Susan Collins (Maine)
2. Olympia Snowe (Maine)
3. Orrin Hatch (Utah)
4. (tied) Richard Lugar (Ind.)
4. (tied) John McCain (Ariz.)

LEAST BIPARTISAN

DEMOCRATS
1. Patrick Leahy (Vt.)
2. Charles Schumer (N.Y.)
3. Chris Dodd (Conn.)
4. Dick Durbin (Ill.)
5. John Kerry (Mass.)

REPUBLICANS
1. Jim Bunning (Ky.)
2. David Vitter (La.)
3. Tom Coburn (Okla.)
4. Jim DeMint (S.C.)
5. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.)

DNC Web Ad: Who's Driving The Bus?

Via Oliver.

Senate Republicans playing games with our lives

By GottaLaff

Via TPM:

The senate Republicans are refusing to give a vote to two of President Obama's key (hopefully soon to be) economic advisors -- Austan Goolsbee and Cecilia Rouse. So for the moment they're barred from advising the president at all. The Republicans seem pretty candid about the fact that this is pay back for stuff that happened back in the Bush era. But aren't we in the throes of a catastrophic economic crisis?

These are the politicians who the Rushpublics trust to represent them? They just proved they don't care one iota about their country or the people who voted for them.

They don't care that Americans are in dire straits, starving, without health care, losing their homes, feeling the world crashing down around them.

All they care about is political game-playing.

They belong in the dumpster along with their abysmal poll numbers.

All 41 Senate Republicans Seek Veto Power Over Obama's Federal Judicial Appointments

By GottaLaff

My Buzzflash Buddy sent this one to me. It's a real pip:

A letter signed by all 41 Senate Republicans was sent to the White House and Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy yesterday in which the GOP demanded inclusion in, and ultimately veto power over, the confirmation of the president's judicial nominees.

The GOP wants... veto power? Say wha-a-a? After the last 8 years of rubber stamping Bush's splendorificraptastic picks, and now they want, ahem, bipartisanship, uh, I mean "senatorial courtesy", er, make that a filibuster?

The demand was a sharp turn-around for Republicans, who had for the past eight years been calling for the swift confirmation of then-President George W. Bush's appointees.[...]

But the GOP's request for veto power of nominees before the judiciary even debates a particular appointment is far from the norm.

The letter gives lip service to themes of bipartisanship [...] However, what they demand is nothing short of minority control. The letter states that if Republicans "are not consulted on, and approve of, a nominee from our states" they will "not support moving forward," presumably threatening a filibuster.

The phrase "senatorial courtesy" may sound better than "threat of filibuster," but as Politico points out, "the letter is an opening salvo in what could be a partisan battle in the Obama years." [...] The letter emphasizes the idea of working together, when the true intent is more threat than peace offering. [...]

Yet, back in 2005, Kyl was firmly on the opposite side of this argument:

"This is strictly about whether or not a minority of senators is going to prevent the president from being able to name and get confirmed judges that he chooses after he's been elected by the American people."

[...] It appears White House Counsel Gregory Craig has begun his outreach to Republicans in the Senate over judicial appointees, but it is unclear whether the plan outlined in the GOP Conference letter will affect the nomination process.

There's much more here on the Ob-suck-tionist Party.

Blissful thinking: Steny Hoyer has the right (er, left) idea

By GottaLaff

(via)

This is more like it:

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is pushing Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) to take a harder line with the Senate "after a trio of Republican senators forced Congress to trim billions from the $787 billion economic stimulus package," Politico reports.

One possibility is to "force Senate Republicans to mount actual filibusters if they want to stand in the way of bills 'so that the American people can see who's undermining action.'"

More blissful words were never spoken... well, at least lately.

Obama Gains G.O.P. Support From Governors

By GottaLaff

So basically, the Republicans who refuse to support President Obama are in Congress and the Rightie Tee Vee and Radio Machines:

President Obama must wish governors could vote in Congress: While just three of the 219 Republican lawmakers backed the $787 billion economic recovery plan that he is signing into law on Tuesday, that trifling total would have been several times greater if support among the 22 Republican state executives counted.

The contrast reflects the two faces of the Republican Party these days.

Leaderless after losing the White House, the party is mostly defined by its Congressional wing, which flaunted its anti-spending ideology in opposing the stimulus package. That militancy drew the mockery of late-night television comics, but the praise of conservative talk-show stars and the party faithful.

In the states, meanwhile, many Republican governors are practicing a pragmatic — their Congressional counterparts would say less-principled — conservatism. [...]

Across the country, from California’s Arnold Schwarzenegger to Florida’s Charlie Crist and New England’s Jim Douglas in Vermont and M. Jodi Rell in Connecticut, Republican governors showed in the stimulus debate that they could be allies with Mr. Obama even as Congressional Republicans spurned him. [...]

The disconnect between Republican members of Congress and governors recalls the mid-1990s, when Republicans took control of both the House and Senate for the first time in 40 years. After an initial public show of being partners in a “Republican revolution,” the partnership all but dissolved when governors strongly objected as the more dogmatic conservatives in Congress tried to cut domestic programs and then shut down the federal government in an unsuccessful showdown with President Bill Clinton.

They are gradually isolating themselves and shall be eventually banished to the Very Lonely Punishment Corner of Politics. Next, the nation will send them to their rooms without dinner, and we shall happily gather together without them.

AUDIO: Bailed-out banks spend money to defeat key labor bill

By GottaLaff

Time to get angry, folks. Via DKos:

Your TARP money at work:

Three days after receiving $25 billion in federal bailout funds, Bank of America Corp. hosted a conference call with conservative activists and business officials to organize opposition to the U.S. labor community's top legislative priority.

Participants on the October 17 call -- including at least one representative from another bailout recipient, AIG -- were urged to persuade their clients to send "large contributions" to groups working against the Employee Free Trade Act (EFCA), as well as to vulnerable Senate Republicans, who could help block passage of the bill.

Bernie Marcus, the charismatic co-founder of Home Depot, led the call along with Rick Berman, an aggressive EFCA opponent and founder of the Center for Union Facts. Over the course of an hour, the two framed the legislation as an existential threat to American capitalism, or worse.

"This is the demise of a civilization," said Marcus. "This is how a civilization disappears. I am sitting here as an elder statesman and I'm watching this happen and I don't believe it." [...]

It's unconscionable for the recipients of government handouts to spend their time and money to try and defeat the Employee Free Choice Act -- the cornerstone of long-term economic revitalization. It's time for change in the boardrooms.

Audio of the conference call [above], which was obtained by the Huffington Post, is excerpted throughout this piece to provide a clearer insight into the pitched battle surrounding the Employee Free Choice legislation. At one point, relatively early in the call, Marcus joked that he "took a tranquilizer this morning to calm myself down."

I can assure Marcus that I'm about to do the same thing. Only I'm not joking.

H/t: Joeyess

Fili-bluster

By GottaLaff

Via TPM:

[I]t seems the woebegone Senate Republicans are looking to pioneer a novel and ingenious use of the filibuster to compensate, at least in part, for their present inability to win actual elections. Sen. Cornyn (R) of Texas is the head of the Republican senate campaign committee. And if he follows through on his promise, his caucus will actually use the filibuster not to stymie legislation but to prevent the Democrats from adding another senator (Al Franken) to their ranks. With such innovations the possibilities really are endless.

Typically Republican.

Senator Craig restroom tanking as tourist destination

Worth mentioning if only for the headline. Really, did they think it'd end up as popular as Disney World?

BOISE, Idaho— The men's room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport where Republican Sen. Larry Craig was arrested in a sex sting is losing it appeal as a tourist stop, an official said.

"We're getting there," said Patrick Hogan, director of public affairs for the Metropolitan Airports Commission. "I think we'll all be glad when there's no special interest in that restroom."

Craig was accused of soliciting sex in the bathroom in June 2007 and pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in August 2007.

One person had offered to buy the restroom stall for $5,000, Hogan said, but airport officials "don't sell fixtures for novelty purposes."

As my mom said, "Always take the cash."

Sam Brownback Will Step Down

Let's hope Kansas went blue enough in '08 to keep this holy roller out of the governor's mansion.

Sen. Sam Brownback (R-KS), who pledged he would only serve two terms in the U.S. Senate, will formally announce today that he won't seek a third term in 2010, the Kansas City Star reports.

Brownback, "who's been wrapping up a statewide tour lately, is widely expected to run for governor in 2010 to succeed Democrat Kathleen Sebelius, who is barred by law from seeking a third term."

However, a statement from Brownback's office warns that he "will not be making any announcements about his future at this time."

Auto pilot

By GottaLaff

David Kurtz at TPM:

If the UAW was really the party who blew up the auto bailout negotiations, the people screaming the loudest would be the automakers. Yet, all the noise today is coming from Senate Republicans and their surrogates. What does that tell you?