The House Democratic Caucus voted, in a “virtually unanimous” fashion, against President Obama’s compromise tax deal in a closed-door meeting today, despite the plan being made by and for Republicans. Seriously, what is with House Democrats these days? Did they become the smoke monster? And what if the White House continues to pretend their compromise is perfect, the entire cast of Full House endorses it, and it should never be changed? The Senate seems like they may accept it. But Rep. Peter DeFazio, who sponsored this resolution, says otherwise: “Well, they’re not going to get a bill if they don’t.”
“[Biden] basically said, ‘Take it or leave it,’ ” DeFazio said. “We left it. It’s up to them.”
But, of course, this resolution is not binding or anything. And it seems many members of Congress aren’t sure what to do about all of this and might just cave when things get complicated and drawn-out and it becomes harder to predict what SCARY THINGS Republican opponents could attack them with in the future. Because, after all, these are Democrats we are talking about. Caving is in their DNA. Cave paintings have been discovered in Europe depicting Democrats cutting off their own limbs to feed to bears they run across. [The Hill]
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No deals unless the poorz get online poker!
Fuck yeah!!!
And no Death Tax! The Poors want to leave their scooters to their heirs.
Can they at least get the cushions replaced gratis? The old ones all smell like Grandma's diabetes farts.
Restoring the Clinton era tax rates for everyone would be the fiscally responsible thing to do. OTOH unemployment comp really needs to be extended. I'm not smart enough to supply the definitive answer.
This is how I'm feeling too. I really hate extending the tax cuts on principle, but I have no faith in the House or Senate Dems' ability to get the needed unemployment comp extension.
Bleeurgh.
Just make up some numbers. That's what they do in DC.
It's obvious. Now that we've seen the minority-controlled Senate move immediately to extend unemployment eligibility, repeal DADT, pass the Dream act and approve START, we know that the GOP can be trusted and Obama's deal is golden.
The only thing I know for sure is that a "temporary extension" means a permanent extension, because no asswipe is going to vote/push for a tax increase unless he/she/it wants to get out of a job.
Extended until the next election means we get to have the same argument all over again
Two years from now the Presidential election will be over, and a certain cheif executive would be free to veto the next extension with no concequences.
The (fists down) answer is get rid of all the tax cuts. You want to rid this country of the spectre of the Bush era, start paying for his useless wars, and be the tough, brave Americans so portayed on Fox?
My tax cut under bush consisted of a check for $300. Under Obama I got $40 a month last year, and $20 a month this year. Not exactly rolling in it, here. I'd gladly give it up if it helps us get the country back on track, but as this POS is written, my bracket will be the ONLY bracket that pays more. I'm retired, it ain't like I can put in overtime to make up the difference…
As it is, I had to jack up my weekly withholding to cover the cost of the tax cuts, so I don't have a huge tax bill at the end of the year when I file my tax return.
As far as I'm concerned, fuck the tax cuts.
Well, my good man, average take home pay in my house went up by $1,000 per week under Bush cuts or my name isn't Gordon Gekko.
How about if Hopey grows a pair, vetoes the bill, and runs around the country campaigning in home districts of these heartless Republican Scrooges, giving stem-winder speeches like he did at the '04 convention, describing the way the rich are rigging the system, impoverishing your children to line their pockets now with borrowed money.
Might not help the Unemployeds as much as a check, but I know I'd feel better. And shouldn't government be all about that?
I don't know either.
Might not help the Unemployeds as much as a check, but I know I'd feel better. And shouldn't government be all about that?
Stop that pie-in-the-sky thinking THIS INSTANT, you sanctimonious liberal.
V,
I'm hours away from martinis. But, thank you for that. I feel a little less lonely right now.
R
And then our alarm clocks would go off, and we'd wake up, and go, "FFFFFFUUUUU-"
You really want to send a very urban President out to these home districts of these Republiklans?
Think of the added security costs.
Again – extend the middle class tax cut for two years, the rich fokes tax for one year – then let the baggers try to make sense of extending just the millionaire's club next year….watching their heads explode – priceless….
Because if they all hold their breath until they pass out the incoming GOP led House will suddenly be reasonable and give them a lot more. Yaay pointless stupidity after wasting the better part of a 4 year majority not doing dick about a known problem.
Exactly. These asshats spent the last 4 years squandering their victory to hew toward their SOP (snatching defeat from the jaws of victory) because they're too afraid to fight fire with fire. So Barry O makes the deal they c/wouldn't, and rather than offering a viable alternative in their wanning days, they'll just whine about a shitty deal. Caving isn't they only thing hard-wired in their DNA.
Uh, is four years the new math….? 2008 -2010…?
Democrats took control of the House in 2006, Notenough_Infer, not 2008.
Am I sensing big balls in the scrotum of the house?
Just Nancy's. And maybe a few pair of TruckNutz.
No, DeFazio has always had big balls. Some others there, too; Grayson, Kuchinich, Frank, Jim McDermott etc. So you can see it's usually only the deviants, cranks and weirdos that really stand up for America.
"…And, like the Grinch, the balls grew three sizes that day……"
So all lame ducks have balls of steel? Am I interpreting this situation correctly?
Finally the balls show up when they're leaving.
They're prosthetic.
Neuticals!
The huge balls do explain the waddle.
Not all lame ducks have balls of steel but it helps. When you don't need to worry about being re-elected you can actually do what is right without fearing the electorate's wrath.
The commenters over at The Hill certainly seem to have some unusual ideas and some appear to be semi-literate. It's very possible that a few of them may possess one or more thumbs.
It don't count if it's not opposable.
Or if it's stuck up an orifice, but not part of their own hand.
keep messing with ALL Americans
not good during a Season of Joy & Celebration
that's what Aetheist's do…who'd a thunk ?
Meanwhile …back at the ranch…
The Fed is PRINTING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!
You know, this excerpt makes more sense out of context than it did in.
Suck it, Yeats:
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
jeez, a Haiku.
It's as bad as Yahoo commenting. Or Yahoos commenting is bad.
Meh. Opposable thumbs are so overrated.
Every time I see an opossum flattened in the road I holler out "Hey, how's that oppos-y, thumb-y thing workin' out for you?"
The American people demand bipartisan thumbs.
OT – The newegg ad is offering me the exact products I spec'd yesterday on the Newegg site. This makes me angry at the Wonkette.
Why wouldn't it make you angry at NewEgg? They're the one using your cookies to target advertising. There's nothing Wonkette can do about it, you know, other than not accept advertising and promptly go out of business, forcing Jack Stuef to give snarky blowjobs for half an Amero a pop.
So does that mean, we will soon see advertisements on the wonder product, The Fleshlight?
What, you mean I'm the only one who gets those?
I mean–
Yeah, that'd be hilarious, right? I've never had one of those.
Might be time to clean out some cookies…
Great, a non-binding resolution. Can a sternly worded letter be far behind?
Maybe a few will waiver their finger at the president and say sanctimonious hrumpf.
Immediately followed by a furrowing of the brow and a tapping of the foot.
Meh, a non-binding resolution is better than a fake negotiation and subsequent sell-out.
This mourning, 54 libruzals signed a tax deal GTFO letter. We'll know the DeRats are serious when Peter Welch (D-VT), lead author for aforementioned letter, dons his saffron robes and waltzes out on to the Capitol steps, and not for improv, while Jim McDermott and Barney Frank carry his gasoline cans. We'll know they're getting really serious when Welch actually douses himself with the gas and does the human Zippo thing. Hey, dont' get all Groucho, it would be a Marxian thing to do before he starts playing his Harpo.
Give the people what they want.
They want a parade.
Wow, burning monk references. You hit our old goat demographic precisely. Now, when you slip in a reference to Biafra (and not the Jello one), we're really talking old school.
Oh, and Radio may be on to something. How about a parade of fiery monks? I bet that might draw the public's attention to the degree that it rivals speculation about what role Prince William will play in the selection of napkin styles for the rehearsal dinner. Maybe.
Those monks were Buddhists, and knew this life is just an illusion. Our monks would rather bugger little boys — the Pope told 'em to stay the fuck out of politics, that's his job.
Yeppers. Ain't no Father Bobby Drinans no mo.
Instead maybe Ken could convince Beck & Limbaugh to dress-up. respectfully & respectively, as George Washington and Ben Franklin. Have our resident artiste Intern Benjamin make of posters that highlight how in the spirit of capitulization Wonkette is having a holiday parade with Glenn & Rush immolating the founding fathers. Obs, they'll just think libtards can't spell and agree. They won't suspect a thing the the 500 pounds of Willie Pete that we've hidden in the robotic float goes off under their buckle-shoed feetsies. Since only Teatards would turn-out for a parade with Glenn & Rush any collateral casualties will be like second breakfasts.
Sweet, sweet white phosphorous cleanses so many infections.
Oh no. Does this mean Alvin Greene going to play with matches?
burning down the house, one room at a time.
Fight fire with fire!
1% of the American population is millionaire. About two-thirds of United States senators were millionaires in 2008. http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/25/your...
DeFazio for President!
DeFazio loves busting Obama's balls. He's not always right on the issue (I think he was wrong about TARP and the stimulus), but I like that Oregon has a progressive congressman who makes noise from the left and doesn't believe in UFOs.
Oh bitches please. We all know you're one "Jawb-killing tax hike" away from turtling up like boys in cold water.
Looks like somebody grew a set – even if it's just for show and tell.
I'm very proud of them, in a non binding sort of way.
Who will have the biggest dick when all this is over? Nancy? Harry? Barack? Mitch? John? Eric? Collins? By the time they're done measuring, all teh gays will be dead or scared straight, 'merikans will be rail thin, Messicans will have returned to Messico, all then muslins will have been used for pattern making, corn syrup will be used a bio fuel, the poles will have reversed and volcanoes will shoot only marshmallow fluff…
They are all dicks and we are all fucked.
So, you're saying this is a gang-rape, correct?
Not only do the poor get poorer, they can't even join the Army now unless they're gay. On top of that we're putting our nuclear weapons on Ebay or something.
Nice going Nobama!
Idiots! Havent you been follerin'. Minority rules so when the Dems finally get the minority next month the sky's the limit, baby!
It's nice to find your cajones when it is a completely useless gesture. The Dem's are still emasculated and continue to allow the Repubs to control the message.
I'm not going to have an opinion on this thing until we all get a Segway out of this deal.
Democrats are the masters of the Möbius strip firing squad.
♪♫ Here we goes loop de loop, here we goes poof & cries ♫♪
I think to think of them as a Human Centipede Ouroboros.
10,000 thumbs up for Human Centipede reference.
And another thousand for Ouruboros and knowing how to spell it. That still eludes me.
I think the next time we should probably try to run a Democratic candidate for president. It's like Barry can't wait to sit at the Repugs lunch table every chance he gets. Then they all laugh and point at the "sanctimonious" nerds sitting on the Dem's side of the room.
HE CALLED REPUBLICANS CRAZED GUN-MEN, BUT, OH NO, HE CALLED SOME LIBERALS "SANCTIMONIOUS" AND NOW MY FEELINGS ARE HURT! Sorry to shout, but, really, this is one meme that really gets my goat.
I hate it when spiky-haired boy avatars fight.
So, the bank guard that calls in the bank robbery, saying to the police, "They are crazed gunmen and they are holding me hostage!" isn't a bank robber when he helps them carry the money out the back door and gets in the getaway car (yelling to the duck taped customers – SO LONG, SUCKAS!!!!)?
Look, as much as I disagree with my fellow libtards about this, it doesn't make me mad, per se, that they're mad/disappointed, it's just this particular part of it (Obama calling some liberals "sanctimonious" and "idealists" is a mortal insult that proves he's a traitor and a Republican, while comparing Republicans to crazed gunmen is a blowjob or something) irritates me to no end.
I agree about the "insult aspect" of the argument, he could call me Fucky McFuckerson for all I care – just tell me what part of the compromise is good for the Libtard in me. Extending the unemployment bene's while lowering all taxes is a bad idea, compromised or not. We are TAX AND SPEND – not SPEND AND SPEND! Somebody has to pay for it, and as a liberal, I say it is the rich fucker!
Like John Kerry. There's a Democrat with real potential.
Seriously: who the fuck have they got? Proven winner Harry Reid, fresh off his near-defeat at the hands of an obvious loon?
Joe, you're supposed to get them wasted before asking them to get plowed anally.
ok newly -empowered lame-duck, balls-to-the-wall, muscle-flexing dems, let's see some actual passage on:
1. don't ask / don't tell
2. DREAM act
3. start treaty
i'll say it again: you still have both houses and the white for the next three weeks.
All this gandy dancing is just to hide the real plan. Nothing happens. The Bush Tax Cuts expire. The deficit is paid off. Jeb Bush becomes President in 2016. Ground Hog Day is only two weeks after the InHOGuration.
Maybe all these unemployed people should spend their time trying to find a job, not commenting on our Wonkette.
I've got a goddamn job, thanks very much! And since I'm the boss, they can't fire me, but I must say the people who run this company are idiots to let me goof off on the Web all day instead of doing productive "work."
Brilliant! Obama has achieved a complete reversal of the strategic situation! Where before his "compromise," the situation was "obstructionist republicans willing to screw the poor, the middle class, and the unemployed, to give a tax cut to the rich," now the situation is "whiny democrats willing to screw everyone over a 2-year extension of the current tax rate on the rich." Hmm, which was better for the dems?
I hereby coin a new word, a la "truthy" and "misunderestimate," you heard it here first, Obama does not "compromise," no, he capitulizes. Capitulation wrapped in compromise gift-wrapping. Like shit, with perfume sprinkled on it.
Many fists up yours for this brilliant neologism, sir or madam.
You got it. He's making the case for the Republican side 1000 times better than they could have made it themselves.
He's clearly a deep-cover mole. Thats why the republicans have to pretend to hate him so much, its like brer Rabbit and the briar patch.
Truly a lead zephyr –
♪♫ capitulization breakdown it's always the same
He's having a spinal breakdown, it's driving me insane!!! ♫♪
I thought before the "compromise" the situation was "Democrats in Congress are too chickenshit to stand up for what their own agenda is.' So the President cuts a deal because the chickenshits refused to take care of business, and now they find their collective spine. Seems to me Obama should have tried this sooner; maybe if he'd insisted he'd veto any progressive legislation at all they'd have had the balls to pass a single-payer health care bill, close Guantanamo, and end DADT.
* sniff * Oh, Bible Spice will be so proud.
Nice of them to get all forceful NOW instead of back in September, when they could have ridden this issue to a not-quite-as-bad ass-kicking! No, leave it for the lame duck, and then do jack-squat, and then non-bindingly resolve to do some more jack-squat. Hooray!
Democrats: Masters of the grand hollow gesture.
Two observations:
a) Obama has achieved consensus – no one respects him any more
b) The Democrats in the House may all secretly be Wonkette readers – they got the buttsecks but they're holding out for the TruckNutz.
They got tired of being mounted by a Ford F-350 sporting magnum-sized TruckNutz driven by Karl Rove in a ten-gallon hat.
Capitulize!
If the Dems had showed any balls on this issue before now, they wouldn't be in a position where it's too late to show any balls. So, well played once again.
This was actually a brilliant compromise. One side wanted more spending, the other wanted lower taxes. So they agreed to have both! And a third group worried about the deficit, they were gathered in one group and put in a committee so that no one will ever listen to them.
Honestly, that deficit commission…what a bunch of scolds! No wonder their recommendations got scrapped. Appointing that sour old nobodaddy Alan Simpson chairman was a stroke of genius.
Fuck, a Blake scholar making political commentary – now that's capitulization…!!!!
First Barry stole Sarah Palin's "Hope and Change" campaign motto and now he's trying to steal the "Northstar" as his Nation's moral and economic compass, as Sarah uses, in her giving, caring, sharing and solutiofying ways.
She's gotta be in another one of her long line of snits – has she tweeted about this yet?
Obama/Palin 2012!
I'm surprised this is getting more attention than the Obama/Republican compromise of repealing DADT in exchange for letting each Republican congressman or senator kill up to 150,000 gays each. Jesus, Democrats, don't you understand COMPROMISE?!?!?!
(Do we forget the now extinct compromise during LBJ's era of allowing blacks to attend white schools so long as the south could re-institute slavery? Compromise is what makes America great!)
How is it possible I appreciate the House democrats more than Obama atm? Holy lowered expectations, Batman.
It's only a matter of time until we see Obama waving a piece of paper as he exits Air Force One and triumphantly announcing,
"
PeacePrevention of a 3% increase in the marginal tax bracket for the wealthy in our time!"Oh, shit; that was brilliant.
Its a little late for Democrats to start having BALLS now
Right, Obama compromised and all the middle class got is 85% of the pie while making all those no-no-no repubes actually agree to a socialistic solution with a non-American Muslin. I'm so pissed I'm thinking of moving to Florida and voting for Nadar in 2012. That'll show 'em…
I've read two items in the last 24 hours that make me think the reporting we're getting on this is all funky. First: the House passed a measure a week or two ago that would have extended the tax cuts for only the under-$250,000 crowd (I don't recall hearing about this but I've been busy.) Second: the Senate voted twice (Gail Collins did not say when) on a similar measure, but could only get 53 votes both times, well short of the super majority they need to pass anything ever (I'm thinking these were cloture votes to bring the bills to the floor, otherwise they could have just gone through reconciliation.) So someone had to step in to bridge the gap, which is what Obama did, even though he has apparently alienated every liberal everywhere to get it done.
My point is this whole thing seems like a lot of long-building frustration between the House and Senate boiling over with Obama caught in the middle and getting most of the flack. So the whole media narrative has become "President Obama has pissed off his base and the Democrats are in disarray!" Which is an old and comfortable story that the media loves reporting. It would be nice if at least some of the reporting would be: "Archaic parliamentary Senate rules have made majority rule impossible now that one of the two major parties has become so rigidly ideological," or "The compromise that created the Senate two hundred years ago has finally made responsible governance absolutely impossible." In other words, did Obama really sell out, or is he genuinely constrained by a broken yet rigid system? And is he getting too much blame for what is in essence a problem with the two houses of the legislature?
I think the answers are obvious but based on the Google News headlines, the questions aren't even being asked.
I hate being serious. TrukNutz and buttsecks, etc.
Does it work for Nebraska, the only unicameral legislature in the country?
Damned if I know, that's flyover country. In any case I'm not suggesting we abolish the Senate. Some of the rules definitely need reform, though.
Jeeze-louise, Opus, that's arguably the most cogent brief analysis (or at least, the most on-target questions) I've seen regarding the whole bloody mess. In a better world, we would be seeing these points made in a more prominent place than a snarkblog. I regret that i have but one thumb to give for your comment.
You flatter me, sir. Perhaps I'll send it in to the WaPo for the next "You Be The Pundit" contest.
Also I'd like to know who the bastard is who thumbed you down to 0. I put you back up to +1 on principle. Either we're getting trolled or some of our liberal brethren are still really pissed.
People, I swear, we're all on the same side here. And really, as long as the Dems stay so disorganized and the Repukes stay in formation and the Senate rules remain in place, this kind of thing is going to happen a lot even if we put in a different Dem in two years. You may pop a blood vessel over individual issues but it's really going to be the same argument every time.
I've said it before: give the Paultards what they want, repeal the Seventeenth Amendment, and suck all the political legitimacy out of the room. Senators only pull this shit because we allow them to claim they are "speaking for the American people."
Thanks to TruckNutz, inanimate objects now have more balls than Obama.
no tax cuts. can i haz hobo beans?
With the vessel taking on water it would seem if no one is willing to man the bilge pumps at least we could all agree to piss over the side rather than in the boat.
So let's say the House actually manages to have the stones to let the tax cuts end, and the session closes with no action on tax cuts, and consequently no action on unemployment extension. This makes me more than a bit nervous, seeing as how I really am down to 2 or 3 more UI checks.
The incoming Republican House's first priority, after applying a fresh coat of orange paint to Boehner, would be making all the cuts permanent, and I don't see the Dems in the Senate having the guts to keep it from passing there, too, even though the bastards still have a majority. In either case, I'm not at all sure that the UI extension would get passed…It's been pretty goddamn cold here lately, and I am not a fan of homelessness, particularly for my own self.
I realize that this whole gloomy scenario started with "let's say the House actually manages to have the stones…", so this is probably all academic anyway.
If Obama gets primaried and loses, the smartest thing for the Republicans to do would be to nominate Obama.
Joe fucking Lieberman, man. Fucking hate that dude.
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