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msnbc.com's Carrie Dann
msnbc.com's Carrie Dann
Tea Party activists gather in the shadow of the Capitol to urge budget cuts.
From msnbc.com's Carrie Dann
As budget negotiations continued inside the halls of Congress Thursday, a gathering of Tea Party activists huddled at a cold outdoor rally on Capitol Hill to send a message to the deal-makers inside:
They're ready to pick a fight.
A few hundred people -- far fewer than the massive rallies seen before last year's midterm elections -- who braved the dreary weather urged lawmakers to push deep cuts to the federal budget even if it results in a temporary shuttering of the government, chanting "Cut it or shut it!" and punctuating cheers with calls to "shut it down!"
"If Harry Reid wants a fight, let's give it to him!" said Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN), one of a parade of conservative lawmakers who made remarks at the event sponsored by the Tea Party Patriots.
Many of the rally's speakers were careful to note that Democrats are "rooting" for a shutdown and that GOP budget-cutters hope to avoid a funding lapse that would turn off the government's lights.
Democratic leaders "want to turn you into their scapegoats and blame the Tea Party for shutting the government down," said Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).
Rep. Allen West (R-FL) declared, "We are not here to talk about shutting the government down... But if you want to talk about shutting down the government, go over there and talk to Chuck Schumer and Harry Reid and the folks at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue!"
Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) told reporters after his brief remarks to the crowd that a federal closure is undesirable but would not be catastrophic.
"No Republican wants to shut the government down. I don't think anybody here really wants a shutdown," DeMint said, "but we shouldn't be so afraid of a shutdown that we can't make the right decisions right now." He added, "We can't be cowed by this threat."
The preemptive finger-pointing over a potential shutdown likely stems from the scars of the budget fights of the mid-1990s, when the public soured on GOP leaders in the wake of a series of federal closings.
A full federal closure "is not going to be very popular with the American people," warned Clinton-adviser-turned-conservative-commentator Dick Morris, who instead suggested a "targeted shutdown" of agencies -- like the EPA and the National Labor Relations Board -- that are loathed by Tea Party activists.
"We don't have to close down the government. We're going to close down the parts of the government we can't stand!" Morris said.
That sentiment was met with cheers -- as well as a smattering of shouts to "shut it down!"
*** UPDATE *** Here's a dispatch from NBC's Catherine Chomiak:
As the continuing resolution currently funding the government inches closer to its expiration date of April 8, Tea Party activists rallied today for a budget battle. Reps. Steve King (R-IA), Mike Pence (R-IN), Michele Bachmann (R-MN) and Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) fired up the crowd on a dreary day in Washington, D.C., with calls for a fight and threats of a government shutdown.
Congressman Pence, citing the current deficit, debt, and “defiant liberal majority in the Senate” said the time was right “to pick a fight."
“The debt stops here,” he said. “If liberals in the Senate would rather play political games and shut down the government instead of making a small down payment on fiscal discipline and reform, I say, 'Shut it down.'”
Representative and potential Republican presidential candidate Bachmann hit Democrats saying they are hoping for a government shut down. “That’s their plan," Bachmann said. "They want to shut the government down, and they want to turn you into their scapegoat and say, 'It’s the Tea Party’s fault for shutting the government down.'"
Paul urged the Tea Party members to keep up their political involvement. “The fight is just beginning,” he vowed. “Keep their feet to the fire, call them, email them, let them know that you are prepared for America to move forward, but only by balancing the budget and making government smaller.”
In addition to a fight on the budget, King showed support for his fellow House Republican saying, “We need to fight on Mike Pence’s proposal on unfunding (sic) Planned Parenthood… And we need to fight on cutting off the funding that implements Obamacare.”
Bachmann also got loud cheers from the crowd when she proposed sending “a change of address form to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.”
This is something Bachmann has said before and will probably be said again, as she continues to consider a 2012 presidential bid.
Leave a Comment:
Silly Silly LIBS!
This shouldn't be an issue if the previous congress had done their job and passed a budget! PERIOD! Instead the spineless DEMS/LIBS were scared to pass a budget in Oct. 2010. They didn't want to be tied to any spending, especially since the Tea Party movement had a lot of momentum with cutting spending. Low and behold Nov. elections came and went. At this point, the LIBS/DEMS are idiots in the respect of not passing a budget. The newly elected house members ran on cutting spending. Why didn't they pass a budget at that point? You had full control of congress and a liberal spending president! Seriously LIBS?? :)
Now you have Schumer making a fool of himself on the phone, advising to shut down the governmernt and we blame those pesky Tea Party movement.....hahaha that is funny stuff. Do the American people not see that? Did they not hear the recording? I am sure if you dig within the bowels of this website you might see something on it.
The comments on here are just insane from some on the left! lol
"full control of congress"??...except of course that democrats couldn't get anything passed without a filibuster-proof majority (except for some 'tricky' maneuvering with healthcare...that most folks wish it didn't have to come down to). I personally agree with you in part...that the democrats should have rammed as much through congress as possible, including a budget, prior to losing control of the house...I think they lost their nerve and failed to see that the concerns from most of the democratic base (and the majority of American people when it comes to health care) is that Pres. Obama and Congress weren't going far enough (e.g., pushing a public option). Oh, I also agree that the Tea Party HAD a lot of momentum. They still do in some respects, but I can see a serious 'correction' or backlash coming, which I hope and believe will be seen at the ballot box. IMO Americans don't care for the far left or right.
What does a $14,200,000,000,000 debt mean? Why not add another $1,600,000,000,000 this year? Yes, companies like GE pay no tax and gets engine contracts for unwanted merchandise. Yes, 48% of all workers pay no Federal income tax, after refunds. Yes, gov't spending has gone up 25% since 2008. Yes the federal gov't has hired 11%+ more employees, while the private sector has lost 6.5% since 2008. Yes the democratic house and senate failed to pass a budget last year for 2011. Yes, we borrow over .40 cents of every dollar we spend. Yes Bush and the Repubs screwed up and were voted out in 2008. Yes, the Dems screwed up and were then partially voted out in 2010. Be financially responsible and live within our means as individuals and more importantly as a country? Will never happen. Armageddon anyone?
It's pretty clear what the real motivation is here. These people can't balance their own checkbooks. They can barely add two numbers together. Yet they've worked themselves into a frenzy over the national debt? Give me a break. They hate and fear the government because we elected a black man president. They are the racists among us, determined to re-take their country from some imaginary evil conspiracy. This would be bad enough if it were just a movement of the stupid, but the Republican party, many of its leaders being far from stupid, have exploited and encouraged the paranoia and hatred to their political advantage. I have been around quite a few years and I have never been more ashamed of my country, and so many of the people in it.
After you have destroyed this country, no doubt you will blame someone else. But it will be you. It's always you.
I would have to say your analogy is insightful but you sound paranoid. You also speculated and labled the entire GOP racist. Yeah, you might have been around a while, but you haven't learned much! lol
:)
Dave Harris - I think you might have worked yourself into a frenzy. I agree with James you sound a little paranoid.
You take care of yourself, OK
James and Thetotas, do not disregard David Harris' sweeping indictment so quickly. Perhaps where each of you live his comments may be off the mark, but not where I live. Resentment of Obama along racial lines is almost palpable in my area and seems to be growing. While that is and of itself repulsive, it is nonetheless reality. For many, that resentment clouds the ability to rationally consider anything he does ~ anything. I do not rise in defense of Obama, but feel it necessary to point out that segregationist views have not disappeared. In fact, because of Obama, they have been rekindled in the minds of far too many, at least in my area of the state in which Attila the Hun would be viewed as entirely too liberal.
I wouldn't exactly call Dave Harris paranoid...wish he were and I could just chalk it up as that. Unfortunately I have to agree with much of it...including that there absolutely is a racist element to what i see going on. However, I think most of what is occurring is that the powerful and greedy are co-opting a movement (tea party) that should have been one of which I would have been proud to be a member...one that was not just for smaller government and libertarian views, but a strong advocate for the working, middle-class. Instead, the tea party has become a shill for the powerful corporate elites (many of whom are in cahoots or run the republican party). Sad. I am still proud of this country, although certainly ashamed of some people who wrap themselves in the American flag and call themselves patriots while behaving about as unpatriotic as I can imagine.
Just another rag tag bunch of whiners, like the Libyan rebel insurgents.
tea party ralliers: 'we just scream things but never really say anything....!'
Previous congress: We just talk and don't really do anything, like pass a budget for 2011! :) Seriously? lol
Nice thought, but you do know that Congress will not fore go their paychecks... They will sit back and collect their $140K + salaries, use what ever benefits they chose while taking the time off and laugh at all the "Hard-Working" federal employees that won't be paid. I say if they want to Shut it down, then they should not be able to draw a paycheck either!!!
Do we really care --nothing will change.
maybe if government employees -all of them- did not get paid --since most not doing anything anyway
they'd see the crap they have dished out to the rest of the USA
To Tea Party Fan, you are correct about some of the less urgent Government programs like National Parks (though I would certainly miss having them available to my family and myself and it is already proven that shuttering them has a tremendous effect on local economies) but Government shutdown does effect departments like Veteran Affairs and the Military as well. If an employee is deemed as essential they are required to work with the loose understanding that they will paid sometime in the future. What would you suppose this does to local non-government economies?
1st thing to shut down would be foreign aide--lets take care of US for a change
The comment on the irony of Boehner standing in front of the American public claiming it's the Democrats who want a government shut-down while the crowd chants "SHUT IT DOWN" was precious!
We have a VERY tenuous recovery beginning to work, and the Republicans seem unaware that the budget cuts they are proposing would negatively impact that recovery. They scream about the national debt, then try to cut amounts that are little more than rounding errors to that debt--and they do it at the expense of public programs while not touching the bloating military budget and insisting that "temporary" tax cuts for the wealthy should be made permanent! It doesn't pass the smell test. I wouldn't touch any of them with a fork!
Then there is the fact that all money in this country is debt--that is the only way money is created in this usurious Federal Reserve System. Our high unemployment is not caused by the debt, or any lack of money...it's caused by the lack of money in circulation. Wealthy individuals, banks, and corporations are sitting on over two trillion dollars (much of which they virtually stole using highly questionable, possibly illegal, practices)!
This quote demonstrates the absurdity of wanting to pay off the national debt: "In numerous years following the war, the Federal Government ran a heavy surplus. It could not (however) pay off its debt, retire its securities, because to do so meant there would be no bonds to back the national bank notes. To pay off the debt was to destroy the money supply." John Kenneth Galbraith
And this quote demonstrates the damage done by a usurious banking system and lack of money in circulation: "In the Colonies, we issue our own paper money. It is called 'Colonial Scrip'. We issue it in proper proportion to make the goods pass easily from the producers to the consumers. In this manner, creating ourselves our own paper money, we control its purchasing power and we have no interest to pay to anyone. You see, a legitimate government can both spend and lend money into circulation, while banks can only lend significant amounts of their promissory bank notes, for they can neither give away nor spend but a tiny fraction of the money the people need. Thus, when your bankers here in England place money in circulation, there is always a debt principal to be returned and usury to be paid. The result is that you have always too little credit in circulation to give the workers full employment. You do not have too many workers, you have too little money in circulation, and that which circulates, all bears the endless burden of unpayable debt and usury." Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography.
Probably not productive to get personal, but RonyV....you can go .... yourself with self-satisfying broom you rode in on.
start with the welfare fakers that have been on the dole for generations--get a job
you want a check--drug test first thing you'll need to do
if you shut down the EPA will live like a third world country. our water is so polluted that we cannot drink and our air is so polluted that we cannot go outside. i do not want to go back to the industrial period.
G-Dog do you remember how quickly them Banksters started panicking when under Clinton WE The People started talking about paying back the US Debt with OUR surplus?
Oh no you can't do that IT would "Destroy" the Worlds "Economy" for US to do THAT!
I agree no more Federal Reserve only the "US Treasury" and we should also issue a new "True Blue" Dollar.
Then ANYONE wanting to convert more than 1 million old dollars into new dollars has to show HOW they got that Money! It would probably wipe out the US Debt overnight and REALLY P!ss off them Drug Dealers in Mexico and Banksters in New York........
Hmm and put more than a few of those Demo-Republo-Rats in PRISON to boot!
MUW...
You know, the first time I read your post, I kinda snickered. Then I thought about it for a minute or two, then came to the conclusion that it made sense. This really scares me!
You know, we are always coming up with new designs for the american money, so why not a "true blue"?
Just might work...
Just Saying....
Yep and if you can not account for your Green Bucks YOU have to get rid of them.....Toxic waste don't ya know! BTW the IRS would also be VERY interested in some of those people wanting to CONVERT!
Oooh, I like it! The "True Blue" dollar being similar to Lincoln's "Greenback" (which he was, of course, forced to abandon)--but blue represents loyalty. It would be nice to see some loyalty to this country and the people in it for a change.
"I have two great enemies, the southern army in front of me and the financial institutions, in the rear. Of the two, the one in the rear is the greatest enemy.....As a result of the war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." Abraham Lincoln
and you really have to wonder who REALLY shot one of, if not the Greatest American Leaders EVER (I'm holding out for FDR)! Like the Police say ignore the distractions and follow the MONEY!
MUW, Andrew Jackson who (optimistically, and prematurely ) had "I killed the Bank!" carved into his tombstone, survived attempted assassination; then there is this:
"Whosoever controls the volume of money in any country is absolute master of all industry and commerce... And when you realise that the entire system is very easily controlled, one way or another, by a few powerful men at the top, you will not have to be told how periods of inflation and depression originate." President James Garfield (As ex-chairman of the House Committee on Banking and Currency, he knew more than most. He was assassinated weeks after making the above statement, in 1881).
Was Kennedy looking into The Fed? Wonder what would happen if Ron Paul got elected (not that I'm a huge fan...thought he was going to at least audit it!
The Republican Tea party has been, and continues at this stage. To be no more than a vessel, a thoroughfare for a slanted few who wish nothing but the best for themselves. At the cost of the nation. "Let them eat cake", fit's their call much more than "cut it or shut it", or the most imaginative of the two "shut it down". Since this has class-ism, and greed written all over it to have the wealth in this country, and what scraps and bones that are left is for everybody else to fight over. While they watch full of themselves and with contentment at what they're doing.
An American Citizen -
Agree with you 100%! Don't forget to add racists and bigots to the vast majority of the TeaPublicans!!
They are screaming for a "shut down" - I say give them their wish! I would bet that better than 50% of them also receive at least some form of govt benefits - Food Stamps, LEAP, Medicare/Medicaid or members of their families do. LOL - soon as they feel that sharp pain in THEIR wallets and being expected to come up with the money to care for their own families, they will be singing a far different tune!!
I'm sick of all the ignorant pickering and name calling and disrespect for anyone NOT in the upper percentage of the middle-class.............which includes most of the TeaPublicans as well - they just aren't smart enough to realize it yet!
So right on......give em what they want........shut it down........shut it down
Seriously?! Seriously?! How ignorant and uneducated can one group of people be?!?!
It REALLY worked great for Gingrich didn't it folks - LOL :)
Citizen...
First, as a fan of the Tea Party, I am not a "Republican". I will vote against them (republicans) faster than I will vote for them if they do not advocate my principles. I am a fiercely independent voter and I only vote for the person who best or closely matches my ideal of what needs to be accomplished.
Just Saying..
If you have no money available to you, what should you charge next?
Well, you don't see me in their rally to shut the government down. I say you teabags are all very shortsighted. All of a sudden you wingers are SO worried about the deficit. Where were you for 8 years with Bush? Now, you all of a sudden CARE about deregulating corporations so they can continue their pollution into our air and water? You are suddenly adverse to Planned Parenthood? Really, you have no idea. You are being spoon fed by the same party that supports the KKK, the Nazi party, and the Skinheads. Come out from your caves please. Remember the days you actually had a brain? When you could say I make up my own mind using my own common sense? Remember?
Now That Was Ignorant!
Doogal....
Begging your pardon, I do not think I am shortsighted. I have been complaining about the spending and incurred debt of this country for at least the last 30 years. I just wasn't paid any attention to. However, it seems that lately more and more people are coming to the conclusion that I have had for a long, long time. The festering boil has finally come to a head!
Next, as long as I have understood what planned parenthood advocates, I have been against them. If they would get out of the abortion business, and only do "womens health", more power to them. I would still think that they should pay their own way or with private donations.
Also, I am not being spoon fed by anyone, which I cannot say the same about you. I have always been an independent voting mostly conservative. I have never been in a cave to come out of and I suspect that I have a more educated and knowledgable brain than you. At least I refuse to allow George Soros or the Koch Brothers or anyone else tell me what to think or say and I sure can't say the same about you.
Enough Said....
I, me, mine..... well not really, I borrowed it, so it's not really mine. But it should be. Make someone else buy it for me. Then buy me that and that and that........
"We don't have to close down the government. We're going to close down the parts of the government we can't stand!" Morris said."
This sums up the mentality of these people! They are Dictatorial, Authoritarian and Reactionary (people who define themselves not so much by what they are for but rather what or who they are against). When the Government benefits them... it is all American but if the Government benefits others it is Socialism, Communism and Fascism and all at the same time. What a bunch of Yahoos!
That is why Olbermann refers to the teabaggers as the "Something for Nothing" crowd.
I'd just like to see the tobacco taxes repealed. Fat chance. I know. Off topic and self centered.
Why Gary?
Smokers are the ONLY Americans paying even MORE Taxes today by percentage and total taxes than they where 30 years ago.
You point is "Exactly" on topic! Feed them full of GUILT and then STICK to them.......
Sound familiar? Want to save American LIVES? Make them "Loose Weight"......
BTW where did all of the Taxed/Borrowed Money go?
Simply put: this brown-shirt mentality is simplistic and just as dangerous as the, well brown shirts. It's time they were ignored. As Michelle Bachman so wonderfully has shown, they don't even know the history behind the American Revolution. Since they love to wave tea bags, I wonder if they think the revolutionaries had tea bags back then Don't ask Michelle Bachman; I'm afraid to hear her answer.
Oh God no!!!
Keep going to the vital pile of global @!$%# orbiting over my head.
The teabaggers are a disgrace to America.
Thermen..
Kinda like the pot calling the kettle black. If you want to talk about a disgrace, we can certainly go there....
Just Saying...
What IS going on with Newsvine?! The first post was "collapsed by community" and practically an entire page of other posters were eliminated as well!!
Some of the blog articles are "herky-jerky" to try and scroll thru, read or post anything. All of these eliminated posts is a new, unwelcomed experience for me. Up...down....up a bit.....back to article....WAYYYY down...oops up again..........
Any idea how long this bs is going to continue..........?????
As long as there are wing-nuts on here.
Red...
Must depend on your political leanings...
Try changing the contents of your posts...
Just Saying...
Just Saying................a whole lot of nothing. Try giving that "Just Say'n" a long rest. Once a day is enough.......geez.
Gee Paul you don't like OUR discussions? Just want to pop a few "One Liners" and troll on by?
Geez talk about.........."Sock Puppets" so please run along now and call your Minder, maybe they can provide some content you "Virtual People" seem to LACK!
LOL to funny 210 people ! what a joke !
Dreamer Please see above post about "Sock Puppets" running wild in here tonight!
BTW it is a great time to say........
Wake up America STOP and voting the same way over and over because you WON’T get different results…. EVER! Now we need to REALLY GO EXTREME on them!!!
Vote Paul/Nader 2012 Investigate/Prosecute/Incarcerate!
See Paul I repeat myself too.........
Or even Nader/Paul, ...I don't think they could possibly do any worse, or be any more crooked, than what we've been looking at for years. I had such hope in this administration...DOH. Not saying McCain/Palin would be better...ohh no! Maybe it is time to "write in" a third party candidate (similar to how Murkowski defeated that tea-bag sycophant in Alaska).
Yea but PAUL made his promise to prosecute 2008 and Nader is the best "Stick" for these "Robber Barons" around. Get and you have to deal with Nader!
But that don't WE turn our back on any of THEM. As Hillary recently said about Marajuana in Mexico "oh it will never be Legal in America there's just to much MONEY in it"!
So ask yourself for who? Them Oligarchs thats WHO!
where was the tea party today, 200 people tops, to see Bachmann, the reason for this, is America has realize that this is a raciest movement, they have had time to review the tapes of the Tea Party Spiting on a Black U.S. Congressman, A Civil Right leader, the tea party is fading just as I said in the beginning, because True Americans don't want anything to do with Racism
s1detroit...
A majority of the Tea Party folks were out working today trying to make enough money to support their families as well as all the folks who refuse to work and make their own way....
Just Saying...
these people our nut jobs without the good sense god gave geese ! these people are trying to destroy the middle class and are foils for the republican right wing.