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Subscribe to RSSCapitol Hill's top two Republicans sought to frame President Obama's State of the Union address Tuesday evening as an essentially political exercise meant to blame Republicans for the nation's woes.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) accused Obama of giving up on Congress and trying to shift the blame for a bad economy on GOP lawmakers.
In remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell said it was "hard not to feel a sense of disappointment even before tonight's speech is delivered." He said campaign season has begun.
"Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters," McConnell said, "the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock but to guarantee it."
"As I see it, the message from the White House is that the President's basically given up. He got nearly everything he wanted from Congress for the first two years of his presidency. The results are in. It's not good. So he's decided spend the rest of the year trying to convince folks that the results of the economic policies he put in place are Congress's fault, not his," McConnell added.
McConnell and other Republicans today say the president can't walk into the chamber tonight and make it sound like "he just walked in the door."
Reflecting unity in the GOP messaging, House Speaker John Boehner (OH) also laid into the president for what the GOP speaker expects will be a "campaign speech."
"The president's been in total campaign mode since Labor Day," Boehner told reporters. "Since the campaign apparently wrote the speech I expect we'll hear a campaign speech."
Boehner echoed McConnell's sentiment of disappointment even before the speech has been given, citing reports that have previewed what to expect from President Obama during his address tonight.
"Based on what I've read about the State of the Union speech it sounds like we're going to hear a rerun of what we've heard over the last three years: more spending, higher taxes and more regulations," Boehner said.
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pretty much a no brainer observation, after all this is an election year and obama has to start making the hard sell that he deserves a 2nd, err 3rd chance to fix the economy.
What will be even more interesting is to watch his body language and to see if he puts joe to sleep again.
Incredible. The speech is tonight at 9pm EST? Yes or no?
Yes folks, these GOP/Koch Boehner/McConnell characters - really do live in an Alternate Double Negative Search & Destroy Shock Doctrine planet.
Yeah, I remember last year when he touted Solyndra in the State of the Union. Told us all about the great company, and how it would lead the way for great American jobs and prosperity.
If that's campanging, then he's not very good at it.
Say, anyone think he'll talk about Solyndra this time?
Oh and Backhouse - an actual double negative - we gave Solyndra $535 million, which it lost, AND it eliminated 200 jobs.
Whatever it is, it can't be anything compared to what You were doing at.... 6.09pm, August 5th, Standard Time in 1993.
(We haven't forgotten, so keep your head down.)
Correction, at 6.11pm and 32 seconds on that fateful day.
So backhouse... you must have missed the camera shot of joe snoozing at last years SOTU. Don't you feel foolish in not understanding what the word "again" means?
I didn't realize that you were such a neophyte when it comes to political speeches, especially by obama...LOL!
What the...who the..?
But wait.....No thanks to the GOP/Kochers who pledged 3 years ago to defeat the President and the economic recovery of the United States...
While they were knitting tea cosies in the House and Senate in between filibusters...
The President has already SAVED THE ECONOMY FROM DIVING INTO A GREAT DEPRESSION, created 3.2 million Jobs in the last 22 months, saved the Auto industry, manufacturing employment is up, jobs coming home due to his Insourcing initiative...
Even as 99.9% of GOP/Norquist congressionals and state level Republican officials are still signing our democracy over to Norquist and Big Oil as we speak.
Obama doing what he does best, making promises he cannot keep, blaming others for his own failures, and claiming victory where there is no victory to be claimed.
My guess is he devotes 98% of the speech talking about the killing of Osama.
LOL! This rhetoric is hilarious! ; )
I remember when we were told that the war in Iraq would "pay for itself" and that we would have a "democratic partner in the war on terror"
Presidents say a lot of things that don't pan out in their SOTU speeches...but they're President and it's their speech.
I remember when people used to RESPECT the office of President, regardless of the occupant...but that ship has sailed too...
WOW.........GOP elites/establishments and their zombies are really having a nightmare because of this speech. They're all trying to water it down.
Spanky is there hanging on to one thing he knows too well, Solyndra.
JAS1 is taking a shot at OBL demise and try to make it look like an ordinary achievement.
Nice try but woeful, guys. My President, Obama, is going to do his thing tonight........nail GOP to the wall.
JoAnna is doing what she does best, blindly parroting the crap she was fed, and blathering on about issues she knows nothing about.
For example, according to independent fact checkers, Obama has kept many of his promises.
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/obameter/
My guess is she never looks beyond the partisan hacks that feed her.
The GOP simply lives in a delusional reality they created for themselves during the 2008 campaign, and never let go. Many other mindless fools have joined the delusion, but it is still a delusion, none the less.
They blame the President for things they do, or did, and completely ignore anything that contridicts their delusion. Like blaming him for the gridlock, or the debt, and ignoring, for example, the yearly CBO reports that shows the debt came from the last adminstration and the recession.
It's like they are all striving for stupid...and striving hard.
Th
I remember when the SOTU meant something.
Sorry PEN, wrong again.
The killing of Osama was an extraordinary achievement and is the only glowing success on Obama's resume. As CiC, it was Obama's responsibility and obligation to find and kill bin Laden, and it was
Mission Accomplished when it was completed.
And sorry 'cants, Obama cannot escape the macro-economic conditions that he himself is responsible for, ie., high unemployment, record deficits, more debt in 3 years than Bush put up in 8, the increase in poverty, and the increase on dependence of government welfare programs. Obama also commissioned the Debt Commission and ignored all of their findings. His foreign policy has been nothing more than a mismatched set of "If it feels good do it" routines. Iran will soon have a nuclear weapon and still Obama dithers about what to do about it.
'Cant's you are truly a piece of work. You're in the Feisty/Betty camp of insult first and act stupid the rest of the time. Now run off and get ready for Obama's speech, I'm certain you'll have that tingle up your leg from all the excitement.
It sure did. Now it's nothing more than a Sham-Wow infomercial.
Nice strawman deflection there backhouse. LMAO!
Pen-24, thank you so very much in your assessment that tonights speech will be a campaign speech...
better watch out, backhouse will take you to task
Repulicants - nice try. didn't the latest gallup pole observe that about 83% of those polled say that our economy was going the wrong way? Sure looks like obama should have maintained a closer focus on the economy rather that go off in other directions.
Even FDR realized that he had to remain focused on the economy before he went onto other concerns.
Please carry on Jr, someday you might make a point or at least learn other adjectives.
TheTotas and dangerfield, yes times have surely changed... unfortunately politics haven't.
Funny, seemed ok to to ole mitch and boner when georgie did it, remember fellas - if it is good enough for you, it is probably good enough for me. Of course, georgie could not talk about killing ben laden or kadaffi, so what was he was touting at his state of the union? Oh yes, I remember -something like "missin accomplished" maybe? wink, wink. At the very least it is wonderful to hear someone actually give a speach who can talk the English language, know what the words mean, and can say them properly - now that is change I can believe in.
Mr. Pleasantery @ #1.6,
This is no time to be rewarding your own self - with over-the-top Shelf Portraits.
This from the self-proclaimed pro-constitution crowd???? Idiots!
Didn't it though.... Double Standard supporting HYPOCRITS!!!
The next words out of their mouths? "I, Me, MINE!"..."You 99% of America's citizens OWS people should go home, take a bath, and get a job."... "Willard and the wealthy shouldn't pay more of what they owe in taxes."... "Dubya is a hero for invading Iraq & going after Saddam, but Obama was wrong to stop Ghadaffi [guess we should have just let him go on terrorizing?]... "and it was really dubya, not Obama who got Bin Laden, we swear." ... and by the way, where is Obama's birth certificate? He hasn't brought it over to my house for ME to inspect, so it doesn't exist."... "Okay, we held American government hostage and got 98% of what we wanted; no matter it led to reduced credit ratings for the nation, WE WON!" "Oh! What we did leads to reduced defense spending, BUT IT IS OBAMA'S FAULT for making us work over holidays."..."No new taxes, unless it is for the working class 'little people' cause we won't let Obama extend that payroll reduction thingy."... "Yes, the sitting President should be forced to answer personal questions about his sex life on national television; just don't try to ask one of our candidates similar questions though because THAT is inappropriate!"... "And everything we say is the truth and absolute fact, so don't question it or investigate, just take our word for it, even if you remember it being different - you are either delusional or an unpatriotic, Anti-American traitor if you don't accept what we say!"..."Obama is a total failure."
Yet the Tea-Republican party people are convinced they deserve another chance in the White House to finish up what Bush Jr. began and carried so far in eight years; i.e. get the remainder of America's wealth into THEIR WALETS!
PUH-LEEEEEZE!
Choose your favorite quotation from the Minority turtle:
Well, maybe McConnell will be right and the President will achieve yet another one of his goals. Too bad the turtle can't be replaced this year. Hopefully enought people will realize that the GOP is intent on destroying the nation that they will not vote for these clowns anymore.
More of that obvious Republican/Tea double standard...
imbecile!
Unfortunately, he has already amassed nearly 5M for re-election effort = still years away!
McConnell KNOWS he is in trouble with a lot of disgruntled constituents.
.
After all of these Republican debates, we get to see the guy with the brains and intelligence , our President speak to the American People, and lay out his plans for our future. Oh, so refreshing.
Thank You, Mr President.
Job1 - We will see, to bad all of his past plans were heavy on the rhetoric and extremely short of follow through.
Most intelligent post you have had in weeks Backhouse.
I wouldn't mind the carping and whining from the right if they actually could come up with a workable plan. Unfortunately all they say is cut, cut and cut more of everything except war and payments to the military-industrial complex. President Obama is giving a fairly spacific plan but what plan has Speaker Boehner and others of his party even outlined other than the cut taxes on the 1%ers. They need to show where lower taxes and no regulation has created AMERICAN jobs. Rhetoric sounds good but where's the evidence? I might give them a pass or even vote for their side if they would do that but all they say is no to everything productive and yes to tax cuts for billionaires. Where's the beef on the GOP/TP burger?
Think Progress:
President Obama’s State of the Union speech tonight will reportedly focus on the economy, jobs and what he calls a “return to American values.” But as the Council on Foreign Relations’ James Lindsay notes in a CNN column today, “What the president says about foreign policy, however, will be equally important.”
Indeed, the last year saw the end to two very different wars and two competing visions of American power. One war, in Iraq, finally came to end in December after a series of poor policy choices and overzealous neoconservative thinking cost the U.S. nearly a trillion dollars and 4,500 American lives over the course of eight and a half years.
The other war, in Libya, accomplished nearly the exact same objectives as the war in Iraq, but the selective application of American power and the diplomatic efforts to gain the support of both NATO and the U.N. Security Council allowed the U.S. to accomplish its goals for just over $1 billion and not one lost American life.
***********
Tonight, President Barack Obama will deliver his third State of the Union address before a joint session of Congress. The Republican response will be given by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels. Before you watch the speeches, get the facts:
Bravo Pat for bringing FACTS to the forefront!
Love it Pat. Pls post it on the top today.
Fact City is where it's at.
Great one Pat. You are spot on with the Facts, while these Republican leaders act like class A idiots.
Just to be clear, my entire post is from Think Progress. I thought it was important to put it here considering what Romney and his friends are saying.
This isn't a campaign speech, but it is a very important speech. Willard.
Nice Pat - especially the second one about the top 1% taking home only 24% of the income. And yet the 1% pay 39% of the taxes.
Grossly unfair, right gang?
But hey I thought I had it bad - $3 million in just one year. Ouch. Fair share, eh? How many of you would it take to get to $3million in taxes in one year?
Yes Pat, this will be a very important campaign speech for Obama.
In truth, it's meaningless. Just more bluster and pontification from the pompous President.
And Think Progress Pat? Really? We've been over this, haven't we?
And Think Progress Pat? Really? We've been over this, haven't we?
Dear JoAnnaSmith: I thought you might like below article. It's from Think Progress.
Romney paid a lower tax rate than many middle-class Americans: Romney’s returns reveal that he paid an effective tax rate of 13.9 percent, lower even than the low rate of 15 percent he estimated he paid last week. While this is far less than what many middle-class Americans pay, it’s also well below what wealthy people pay. The average effective tax rate for someone in Romney’s income bracket is 25 percent.
2. Romney makes more in a day than the average American makes in a year, and becomes a 1 percenter every week: As Bloomberg News notes, “In 2008, according to the IRS, the median adjusted gross income was $33,048, which Romney made in less than a day. Reaching the top 1 percent of taxpayers required $380,354 in adjusted gross income, about Romney’s earnings in a week.”
3. Romney paid almost nothing in payroll taxes: Romney contributed just .1 percent of his income to Social Security and Medicare in 2010 via the payroll tax because the tax is only assessed on earned wages, but all of Romney’s income came from investments. Most working Americans pay 7.65 percent.
4. Romney has accounts in countries notorious for tax dodging: By now, it’s well known by now that Romney invests in funds based in the Cayman Islands, but Romney’s returns were “crammed with information about foreign holdings” and reveal that he held accounts in Switzerland and Luxembourg, countries famous for hiding money thanks their low taxes and strict banking secrecy laws. Aides said he closed his Swiss account in 2010 because it might have been “politically embarrassing.”
5. Romney and Gingrich’s tax plans would slash Romney’s taxes: Romney already pays less than many middle class Americans, but under his proposed tax plan, his rates would be slashed in half. Meanwhile, under challenger Newt Gingrich’s plan, Romney would pay almost nothing, since Gingrich has proposed cutting the capital gains tax rate to zero and Romney earns almost all of his money from investments.
6. Romney needs four lawyers, including the former IRS commissioner to defend his tax plan: Romney’s campaign held a conference call with reporters this morning to defend and explain his tax returns, and apparently felt the need to have former IRS Commissioner Fred Goldberg, along with three other top lawyers and his campaign communications director to explain the returns. At one point, the call had to be interrupted so officials could confer with mega accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Another small revelation from Romney’s returns is that while Romney said his speaking fees amounted to “not very much” in terms of income, he actually made $111,000 in speaking fees in 2011 and $529,000 in 2010, as Politico’s Ken Vogel points out.
pay attention - the reason the 1% take home 24% of the income and pay 39% of the (income) taxes is because the income percentage includes what everyone makes, while there are millions of hard-working Americans whose jobs don't pay them enough to meet the tax threshold! (but they still pay payroll and sales taxes).
Thank you for that illuminating Comment. Please Continue to educate the masses. I already know most of things you enumerated, but it needs to be said more and more, how the Republicans are tanking the Economy on Lies and ENTRENCHED DO NOTHING FOR THE COUNTRY as long as President Obama is President, and then BLAME IT ON HIM.
This economic slide into the ABYSS started on during the Bush Administration and Republican deregulation of everything they could deregulate 2 Wars, and NO TAXES to pay for it, and they want to keep it that way until they can get the White House Back. So Republicans will continue NOT TO EVEN TRY TO HELP GOVERN THE COUNTRY, as long as Barack Obama is President.
Republicans think this is a winning Strategy for them. They are about to annoint a Divisive Racist as their Nominee. I truly hope the voters are NOT THAT DUMB.
TalkingPoints
Republicans think this is a winning Strategy for them. They are about to annoint a Divisive Racist as their Nominee. I truly hope the voters are NOT THAT DUMB.
This reminds me of 2008, but reversed.
cool pat...
So obama kept job creation at about the same level as those entering the job force, doesn't say much for all the millions dtill looking for work does it?
I am sure that obama is more than happy with this, after all we know how hard he and his fellow democrats are pushing for tax reform.
I believe that dennis of ohio provided the following link on labor department historical numbers...
ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.ceseeb1.txt
Shame that it doesn't support what you call facts.
Ever here of the golden rule? I bet if all the wealth were redistributed to all equally that it wouldn't be long before the same % would be realized.
Would that be those between 18 and 26? Not exactly a demographic that exhibits a really high incidence of illnesses. None the less I imagine that the insurance industry appreciates the higher premiums they get from the parents for a low risk group.
Sounds about right. Since you say obama has been doing such a wonderful job creating jobs why is this a positive for obama?
In iowa we have two seasons, winter and road construction. A real shame that obama didn't focus his near $900 billion 2009 stimulas on infrastructure. I guess his laser focus was off..
Nice that obama is closing the donut hole in medicare part D, bet our seniors appreciate bush for creating part D and for obma improving it.
While I won't miss these individuals, is it really a good foreign policy statement to publicly sanction assasinations within other soveriegn nations borders?
Good to see that OSHA, other department of labor policies and anti-discrimination policies have proven to be effective in addressing past concerns so that private sector unions are continuing to be less relevent. I imagine that the average taxpayer will start to see that public service (outside of protective services) unions are also becoming irrelevent.
I really do question this. It implies that our poverty level can be virtually eliminated by the government handing out cash.
...and a lot of those receiving these degrees are coming to America to get them and are willing to pay higher tuitions to do so. Don't you find it interesting that other nations understand the value of an advanced eduction, especially in math and sciences? It does appear that our youth don't see this in the same light.
Yep, and obamas goal of a $1 billion warchest is different?
What happenned to your argument of unemployment checks elevated people out of poverty? Times are tough sweety.
Worked out well for solyndra didn't it? FYI, in a fast fact by bloombergTV in dec 2011. 42 billionaires supported the republicans and 30 billionaires supported obama. And to think that obama had so much more support from corporations and the wealthy in 2008
Interesting that the latest IRS 2009 AGI data puts it more in line with about $32k and that this 50% contributes less than 3% into the income tax coffers.
http://www.ntu.org/tax-basics/who-pays-income-taxes.html
Regardless, what policies have obama and company put in place to change this?
Yep, housing sure has flatlined these past 3 years. Interesting that obamas housing credits and programs did little to change this, Shame that all those homeowners bought into the belief that home prices would always grow and that they overbought/borrowed.
Sorry pat, the tax rates are the same as they were when bush cut everyones personal tax rate during his first term. Now if you want to talk effective tax rates, fine. I do wonder though why obama (and democrats since 1985) haven't done anything?
I don't expect much from obama tonight, long on rhetoric. I hope that his suggested FY 2013 budget in two weeks will be longer on action than those he presented in the past.
I see that think progress has conveinientlly omitted that obama wanted to continue the war in Iraq but that the Iraqi PM insisted that he follow the 2008 SOFA agreement that bush2 signed.
On Libya, why is it that we so blatently exceeded the UN mandate of only enforcing a no fly zone. I wonder what obama has in mind for Iran?
Pat, I could do the same on your "thinkprogress" opinion on romney. Other than petty jealosy on romneys wealth where are the IRS audits saying that romney and his IRS trained tax handlers are in violation of the US tax code. Even buffet (as interveied on bloombergTV) gives romney a clean bill of health on this.
Very nice job american. Those are the best rebuttals/comments I have seen on lefties in a long time. Of course not hard to do with "Think Progress" as the source. Progressives look at everything they do as moving forward whether it is or not in the real world.
Prove it wrong hand.
Prove what wrong? I can't read your mind.
kingo'mh,
Can no do. Hand of Time Stuck between late 18th and early 20th centuries.
'Progressives' rocking boat, making all possible Logic difficult...
Mayday, Mayday
correct backhouse, progressives do like rocking the boat. Progressives and liberals are just like those riding a playground merry -go-round, they spin so fast they loose the ability to move forward.
So nice that you recognize it. lol!
A new anti-Democratic game,
Republican Governors and Norquistian congressionals only need apply.
Playing to the rules not allowed.
All of Pat Boston MA's statistics are impressive and meaningful. But the fact that 47.8% of those receiving food stamps are working sums up the grave situation of unfairness in our current economy. Many "employment opportunities" don't provide benefits, many such opportunities pay at or near minimum wage. Even bank tellers cannot depend on benefits and decent wages (despite the fact that they handle our money). Global competition and a mindset that the executive office positions should be handsomely rewarded has resulted in an economy where the CEO's and the CFO's literally make five hundred to a thousand times the compensation for the lowest paid workers in the organization. Accordingly, we must have progressive taxation and a safety net.
Sometimes I think our esteemed legislators could use a "time-out", based on the relative maturity level of their rhetoric...
It's a speech. You're ALL politicians. Hence, every speech any of you makes is political. The President's speech will be political. The Republican rebuttal will be political. That is why we call what you are engaged in for a living, Politics.
Now how about you all grow up and DO SOMETHING!
Has there ever been a state of the union that wasn't political? God save me from all this stupidity.
And, as you say, dangerfield, "grow up and DO SOMETHING" ( I am grumbling and mumbling, "stupid politicians, ruining a perfectly beautiful day to act less mature than my 11 year old granddaughter")
If obama wants to continue the blame game a lot of voters will realize that obama is more interested in continuing division within the beltway and accross America, rather than in uniting Americans (rich & poor alike) to move forward.
The blame game does nothing more than throw cold water on growth.
The GOP leadership started the blame game on Obama within six months of him taking office. Obama was quite restrained in his criticism of George W. Bush. It is actually amazing that when he took office with a budget out of control and jobs being lost at three quarter of a million a month that he did not do what Reagan did to Carter - which was blame Carter for everything. And in a magnanimous spirit Obama bailed out the state governments (of both parties) which were going bankrupt (30% of the stimulus). Now, Obama must rightfully set the record straight. We are gaining jobs now at about 150,000 every month for the past year. We were losing jobs at a record pace less than three years ago.
It's unsustainable, quit spending. Live within your means.
Maybe we shouldn't have spent 7 trillion removing Sadam Hussein from power, is that what you are saying, Buck? And by "we" I mean "Bush."
Got some documentation for your numbers Ames? Because if you don't, I do, and you're way off.
ok it is spent, that is water under the bridge, can we move on and correct the deficit that we are currently facing, why wait? I think alot more reps and sens supported the war in Iraq so it is not all on Bush.
And Buck, our "means" would be greater if the do-nothing republicans in congress cooperated and helped spur economic recovery and job growth. But that is not their priority. They are focused on 1 man in a nation of over 350 million men, women and children.
govt does not spur economic recovery and job growth, capitalism and small business will
Buck, nice observation about capitalism and small business. Certainly seems that with all of the beltway gridlock between obama and congress, our economy is growing without their meddling.
Almost like the only function of the government in a recovery is to stand aside.
BryanE - About all those house passed bills that senate majority leader reid has tabled. Interesting on how he doesn't want to even submit any budget proposals as well.
BTW - it is expected that that one man be able to lead congress past differences and to inspire the populace to move forward.
Tax cuts to the top do not spur economic recovery and job growth. Trickle down was an abject failure.
Trickle down an abject failure?? LMAO! If so, why is Obama pursuing it and extolling its virtues? Of course he doesn't use the words "trickle down" since it would further scramble the minds of his drones.
Here is a hint, think "fair".
"Based on what the president's aides have been telling reporters," McConnell said, "the goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock but to guarantee it."
====
The Pot and Kettle meet yet again.
In the spirit of the pre-rebuttal, let me render my pre-verdict on the President's State of the Union Speech - I LOVED IT! In fact, I LOVED IT so much, I may go to bed early tonight, and skip listening to it, so I'll be nice and fresh to withstand the post-speech attacks the right-wingers will be making Wednesday morning. I can hear them now....
Amy---I agree with you----the President has never sounded better! And Mrs. Obama----what a shining example of a First Lady.
Yes, Steeler Fan, Michelle Obama is a grounded person, gracious First Lady, and I loved her dress!
And the guests in the First Lady's box----Warren Buffett's secretary, Laurene Jobs, Mark Kelly, a teacher, a cancer survivor----how thrilling for them to be there and for us to celebrate these exceptional Americans.
But what was Boehner doing, was he really flipping off the President when he called on Congress to work continuously until a real jobs bill is passed ?
Mitch McConnell laments, "The goal isn't to conquer the nation's problems. It's to conquer Republicans. The goal isn't to prevent gridlock but to guarantee it." This from the man who said, "“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.” This from the man who has engineered gridlock in the Senate at every possible opportunity! What a double standard! — it's OK for Republicans, but not for Democrats! What an incredible hypocrite!
Bob,
Not so much a double standard as it is total hyprocisy. This loud mouth from Kentucky has been instrumental in blocking every single democratic sponsored bill to do exactly what he decries the president for doing; guaranteeing gridlock in the senate. Then he has the balls to preempt the presidents speech, downplaying the significance of the State of The Union.
And Boehner is just pissed that he won't be able to hit the bar until after 10:00 PM tonight. He won't be able to get a good buzz missing a whole hour of drinking time.
I'm sure the Moaner of the House will be first on line for the early call at his local...then he'll slip and slide on over to the House (if he can find his way)..then go crying back saying "I can't get no respect" (sorry dangerfield) - as if Boehener twisted speaker should ever be respected... You reap what you sow...
Paul S: in Boehner's case "you weap what you sow."
MainManBob :This from the man who said, "“The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president.”
You are so right---can't believe that McConnell had the nerve to say that.
Also would like to know what have happened to civility and respect for the office of President? Couldn't these guys wait until after the President had made his speech to begin cutting it to pieces? And yet, it is President Obama who is playing politics? Incredible.
Gotta admire their efficiency----why waste time actually listening to the speech or spending today working on the issues that our country faces---they can just trash the speech ahead of time.
"The buck stops elsewhere" --- barack obama
So are you better off today than you were 4 TRILLION dollars ago?
Yes, Rob, I am and we all are because the economy didn't crash in 2008-2009, as it was about to thanks to the trillions that George Bush and the Republicans flushed down the toilet in Iraq and with their tax cuts, not to mention the blind eye that they turned toward the manipulations of all their rich friends in the financial community, like your party's poster boy for the 1%, Mitt Romney. Get your facts straight — the Bush administration is responsible for far more of the national debt than the Obama administration. (CBO, July 2011).
I don't care who is responsle for it, it ain't going anywhere until someone has the balls to address the spending.
Rob---I actually am better off as well---my business just finished its best year ever, my investments are up and things are going well. No thanks to the Republicans, who drove the economy into a ditch in the first place and have since obstructed all efforts to fix things. But more importantly, many of my fellow citizens are better off because President Obama set us on the road to recovery and we need him in the Presidency to make sure we go the rest of the way down the road. And we can't forget those who still need assistance, which President Obama won't.
no assistance, we can't afford it. live within your means.
Buck, please learn the difference between micro economics and macro economics. The USA is not like your family budget.
Steeler - Glad to hear you had a good year. The problem with your logic is that it is indeed the Republicans who need the thanks. They stopped the runaway train that Obama the engineer was driving. That and that alone led business to believe that indeed it was time to come out of the woods and join society again.
Talk---we have to agree to disagree. I see the President as having done everything he could to turn the economy around, with no assistance from the Republicans and, in fact, a lot of obstructionism. So in my view the recovery has taken longer than it needed to but thank goodness it is moving along. Still a long way to go but progress thanks to President Obama.
Libg50 - In one of last years speeches obama said it was. Regardless, in either micro or macro economics it has never been a good idea not to try and maintain balance. To much leveridge is never a good thing.
Care to define yourself lib50?
after all, both government and households have a revenue source. They both have obligations and they both have exogenous events that can cause financial obligations to exceed revenues.
Now the household can raise revenue by either through a raise, second income or borrowing.
Government can raise taxes or by borrowing.
OR either one can cut back on their obligations.
Our government does have more options in manipulating the money supply though and that the US $ is the worlds reserve currency doesn't hurt either.
By expanding leveridge, doesn't that limit what one can spend, especially when one maxes out revenue and/or can't find credit?
Best for you to understand that both micro and macro economics are a subset of economics and have similarities and differences. and budgets are similar to both.
Buck - spending cuts alone will not make it (which is why Obama proposed the "compromise"). In order to get the economy back on track we need to reduce spending in conjunction with FAIR tax reform - not "soak the rich" or "class warfare", just reform.
Like why do investment/fund managers pay a lower tax rate on their income than I do? It is not their money they are investing, so don't give me the risk/return argument. They are paid to run an investment fund with someone else's money, I am paid to run a small business with someone else's money, and I pay more.
TNSEVOL - Who said that spending cuts alone will work? However the spending cuts will point to the American populace that congress and the WH are serious about addressing our debt. When the last tax reform act was done in 1986 part of it was to include spending cuts as well, cuts that never materialized. Do you really think that politicians will show fiscal responsibility by raising taxes first?
With regards to your 2nd paragraph perhaps the following link will add to your education...
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-24/romney-s-tax-return-release-set-to-inflame-debate-over-15-investment-rate.html
Thank you, but I had already read that article. I understand the legality of the 15% rate, I was questioning the fairness of it. My compensation (including bonus for performance) is taxed as Earned Income, while obviously their performance-based compensation is not.
I have a BS in Accounting, an MBA in Finance and am a CPA so I think I know enough already about our convoluted and unfair tax codes.
After all of these Republican debates, we get to see the guy with the brains and intelligence , our President speak to the American People, and lay out his plans for our future. Oh, so refreshing.
Thank You, Mr President.
what plans? He can't get his budget passed in one of the legislative branches that is controlled by the DEMs.
Right Buck, the Senate is 100% Democrat. Not even one Republican to pull the old fillibuster game or put a secret hold on...Geez Bucky, get with the times man.
ok why can't Obama get his budget passed in the Senate?
Buck,
He has plans. Made many a speech publicly about them. Look it up.
I was being a little facetious Buck. The Republicans in the Senate have blocked everything from Obama and you know it. Besides, the budget has to originate in the House and then goes to the Senate, but you knew that too .
Buck:
Because after the presidents proposal comes back from the house and is sent to the senate, it's no longer recognizable and is nothing like the original proposal.
Kingofnothing - The speaker has to introduce the bills that are there. He has not.
And Job1 - your post meant nothing but that your leg is tingling the first time. Coming back for seconds I see.
The power of the incumbency----must drive the Republicans crazy. Kind of how like when George Bush landed on an aircraft carrier with the "Mision Accomplished" sign on it and our brave military as his props.
What baffles me is that the GOPers have refused to take responsibility for the near crash before Obama took over and averted catastrophe. l do not know in what Planet that you suddenly go to war, l mean raise more than 100,000 thousand men in arms and go about cutting taxes instead of war taxes to fund all these men in arms who have to be fed, taken care of since they have to be a fighting machine and not produce anything of substance to cover the cost of their existence as long as they are fighting a war. What economic stupidity is that and yet this morons have the effrontery to say that our current POTUS lacked economic understanding. Why cant they realize that it was this common tread of spending and not raising revenue that bankrupted the economy in the first place. To put it mildly the GOPERS are a bunch of ignoramuses and hypocrite to butt. I am amazed that they have an argument about still cutting taxes and fighting more wars, hear their new ranting about Iran and many who call themselves conservatives justify calling Obama a fool.
Don't you remember Unac? As soon as Obama won the Democratic nomination, everything from the past 8 years automatically became his fault. And everything since also.
It's called GNOP Accounting - ya' know all the problems here in the US are everyone else's fault except their own.....2 wars...nah you don't have to put them on the books.....tax cuts for our 1% friends of course....pay for drugs? Nah - George had his supplier somewhere.....
President Obama and all of us,
need to view our competition with China
they way we viewed the “space race” with the Soviet Union.
Our advantage is our investment in research and our higher education system but
we are giving all of that away for free to China through our universities and
corporations. In 2010, 57% of all graduate degrees in engineering went to
foreign students, the largest number of whom came from China. Now our
high tech companies are setting up R&D centers in China because
they cannot find enough American engineers. Let’s hear Obama give a “moon
landing” speech about how we are going to win the competition with China. Read
more at www.china-threat.com
As soon as you make engineering more respectable and higher earning than all those financial sector jobs, students will become more interested in engineering.
Our reward system is heavily skewed toward the capitalist monetary system and not toward the sciences. Our heroes are those who make the most money and not those who have engineering accomplishments on their resume.
I totally agree. A significant amount of our "intellectual capital" goes towards tax-reduction schemes and creating finacial instruments that reward only the investor and the manager. This effort does nothing to directly create jobs or stimulate the economy.
It would be like the person doing the medical billing making more money than the doctor.....
Those fools are going to try and make it look like Obama is the only president to ever use the STOU as a campaign speech. They all have done it from Washington foreward. But no, they don't want to mention that just that THEY think Obama is doing it. Well , boo hoo, what else will cryin' Johnny wail about?
Wouldn't be so bad baldeagle if he hadn't been campaigning since January of 2009 anyway. He has had enough time to campaign. Hell his "tour of America" last summer was nothing but campaigning in the guise of "communicating" with the American people and we paid for it. Not his campaign coffers. US!!
McConnell is a genius. He has discovered that presidents run for reelection and also give State of the Union speeches. Will somebody please help the poor idiot find the right room and a seat tonight?
Well you know when Warren Buffet's Secretary gets invited to sit in the audience that the "dastardly rich" are going to take one on the chin from the "campaigner in chief".
This is going to be nothing but more "promises" of the things to come.
"We haven't had enough time".
"It was worse than we thought. Gonna need more time" (you should have thought of that with your genius advisers before you made all the promises you did. "The stimulus will keep the jobless rate at less than 8%". Ring a bell?
"We are going to consolidate 6 departments into 1" Should have done that 3 years ago. Pure posturing and I am sure we won't hear the results of any of those "impact studies" that are supposedly taking place to implement it.
All a hope and change redo. We aren't buying this time. Didn't the first time but everyone deserves a shot. You are out of bullets Mr. Obama.
The "Gross Odd People (GOP), and the "Really Not Competent" (RNC) are just Cognitively Disabled. The President has NOT even given his speech yet! Now. It is very clear that the GOP Clowns do not understand what a speech is, and are even more confused when an "Intellectual" President is speaking/teaching. The GOP/TeaBeggers need to be "Behaviorally Stable. That means showing the most powerful individual in the whole world respect. Now this social behavioral concept is very "Alien" to the GOP/RNC Lobbyists. Who do not know how to create a job plan that put all Americans back to work. Now if the GOP Clowns are unable to behave rationally? Then they must be remove immediately! That is fact!
Doom, gloom, smear, fear, fate and hate. The Ditto Heads shut out the real world and wallow in imaginary misery. That is their vision of America. Just as in Germany during the depression, propaganda of their masses turns them into asses.