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Subscribe to RSS“With 19 days to go, the sequester standoff hardened Sunday. Congressional leaders from both parties said the deep automatic spending cuts must be prevented from taking effect, but Republicans drew a line in the sand against making tax increases part of any stopgap alternative, and Democrats did the same in vowing to protect entitlements and social programs,” Roll Call writes.
Lindsey Graham still wants more questions answered on Benghazi, and he’s threatening to hold President Obama’s nominations to head the Pentagon and CIA to get them. Per the New York Times, “Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a vocal critic of the administration’s handling of the attack, said he would use a Senate custom known as a hold to stall the nominations of John O. Brennan as C.I.A. director and former Senator Chuck Hagel as Pentagon chief until the White House gave him a full description of Mr. Obama’s actions during the attack on Sept. 11. ‘What did he do that night?’ Mr. Graham asked during an appearance on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation,’ suggesting that the president could have intervened to manage the crisis personally.”
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is out with a memo charging that “Tea Party House Republicans” are out of step on guns. “On the eve of a major grassroots push in favor of gun violence prevention, it’s clear that Tea Party House Republicans will maintain their out-of-touch approach and obstruct sensible reforms to reduce gun violence that most Americans support – undermining their party’s appeal, hurting their candidates and endangering suburban Republican seats.”
“Marco Rubio is taking center stage as Republicans search for a new leader,” the AP writes. “In the nearly 100 days since President Barack Obama won a second term, the Florida senator has made calculated, concrete steps to emerge as a next-generation leader of a rudderless party, put a 21st-century stamp on the conservative movement and potentially position himself for a presidential run.”
More: In his State of the Union response, “Rubio advisers say his rebuttal will offer economic prescriptions for a sluggish economy and try to counter what they call Obama’s government-centered economic approach.”
“Some individuals in the tea party movement will try anything to undermine Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, even going so far as to question the Republican’s tenacity in bringing money back to Kentucky,” Roll Call writes. “It’s an unusual stance for a conservative movement best known for opposing federal spending on just about everything. But McConnell has long been a target of anti-establishment conservatives, and their latest attack on his failure to secure funding for a deteriorating bridge over the Ohio River would seem to bring them closer to President Barack Obama’s position on federal infrastructure spending.”
Alan Grayson, now in a safe congressional district, Grayson told Roll Call “the House historian informed him the victory, a 43-point swing from his 2010 loss, was the biggest comeback in history of the House. His lesson from the experience is to press on, full steam ahead.”
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Lindsey Graham's attacks on President Obama over the deaths in Benghazi, are so nakedly political, it makes me sad. The last national level Republican I voted for, Gerald Ford, embodied the type of leadership that puts country ahead of Party, and focuses on governing over politicking. Ford was the type of Republican I could support.
Alas, modern Republicans out of power, these days, are even less competent then they were when they were in power. There is a role for the loyal opposition to play in our democracy, but Republicans are refusing to be their best selves. It's embarrassing to watch Graham politicize a national tragedy, especially because I always thought he was fairly bright. I guess he's bright, just not honorable.
Graham's attacks do not make me sad; they make me angry that this posturing closet case is like a chihuahua with a bone that will not let it go. jesus Christ could come down and explain Benghazi and little Lindsey still would not be satisfied. Someone should bitch slap him side the head and tell him to get over himself.
I agree with your evaluation of Lindsey Graham, to politicize what is a national tragedy, is treasonous at best. I think Mr. Graham is showing where he come from, racism is alive and well in America and Lindsey Graham is a fine example of that.
I don't agree about Ford, he pardoned Richard Nixon in a purely partisan move to keep America from finding out the truth. Being from Michigan, I have had to endure the myth of Ford being a hero all my life. I do see the difference between the former republicans and the modern day republicans who have taken stupid to an entirely new level. However they have always been all about the rich, and the large corporations, not about the people that built them. Matter of fact, my dad who was a great depression survivor talked of this to me as a very young person. He was a working man who fought for this country, a hero in his own right by achieving the American dream and in many ways contributing to my well being even today.
Hi Johtho, you and I must be about the same age. My grandfather supported his family during the Depression, thanks to FDR's public works projects. My grandmother was grateful to be in the generation that first had Medicare and Social Security in their retirement. My Dad served in WWII, and was a lifelong Eisenhower Republican, which, for him, meant being a part of the establishment, not attacking it. I voted for Gerald Ford in my first elecion. Although I disagreed with his pardon of Nixon, I think he did it to spare the country a trial, not to protect his Party.
I really became a Democrat during the Carter years, because, as much as he is reviled by Republicans these days, Carter showed much foresight in urging the country to develop alternatives to burning oil. If only he had won re-election, the income inequality that arose during Reagan's terms, not to mention the wars we got dragged into because of oil, would have been less inevitable.
Amy, I think we are the about the same age. I'm 67. I voted for Nixon, I was sorry for that, but it wasn't Watergate that changed my mind about being a republican. It was a combination of things. Number 1, I went to work. As a working person I saw things that Nixon did was detrimental to me as a working person. Letting the dollar float on the international money market cheapened it. You and I both remember silver certificates. When they become a note from the Federal reserve they lost value. And then he allowed for private ownership of gold which on the surface sounds like a good idea, however it took millions. (millions was the ultimate rich, now its billions) out of investment in goods and services in this country and instead of building factory's, rich people bought gold, meaning less jobs. I still think that Ford, pardoned Nixon to protect the party, I have voted for republicans since then but am really selective as too who. I guess that is why America is so great, we can disagree and still talk.
Well, Johntho, I certainly enjoy your posts and I respect your opinion. (Let the record state, I am 54 and holding : )
Linsay Graham is a nothing that has his 15 minutes of fame and is trying to make the best of it. His grandstanding, posturing and his "gotcha" attitude speaks volumes about today's Republican party. The party of Lincoln, T. Roosevelt and Ike has apparently gone the way of the dodo and has been replaced by an extremist party led by scoundrels. Will they ever bounce back? Time will tell but if it happens it won't be anytime soon if Lindsay Graham, Michelle Bachmann and others are examples of the future of the once but not now grand old party.
I saw a bumper sticker today that said "I did not leave the Republican party, it left me." Beautifully stated and sadly true for most Americans.
Duplicate post, sorry.
If Congress doesn't do their job someone has to do it. If that means Obama has to use executive order to get things done, maybe he should. I don't feel comfortable with that but we cannot remain stagnant any longer.
Sorry to break up the liberal lovefest, but this level of refusal to answer valid questions about how the state department failure and lies got people killed should NOT be ignored. I thought this presidency was going to be transparent. Now we can't expect answers to things like Bengazzi, fast and furious, drone stikes on Amercans, or ask for a budget proposal. I think some great questions and points get made here at times, the complete worship and demands the this President not be questioned seem at odds to liberalism. If the president is okay to use decrees when he fails to lead, why is it not okay to use filibuster and nomination delays as a tactic against him? He has proven devisive and openly demonizing of those he needs to work with to be a leader. I guess we will just keep on the current path of appropriate grid lock.