PBS: NewsHour- Shields and Brooks on CPAC and Homeland Security Shutdown

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat Plus

As far as CPAC, the one thing I respect about that group is that they do actually bring in lets say Classical Conservatives or Conservative Libertarians and actual Libertarians. It’s not just about mushy-middle establishment Republicans who always play it safe and the Christian-Right and the broader Far-Right of the Republican Party. So with this event you really get to see the state of the Republican Party and what they are thinking. And right now the Conservative Libertarian wing of the party that Senator Rand Paul seems to lead, seems to have the strongest voice.

As far as the Homeland Security shutdown in Congress, thank God for gerrymandering if I’m a Republican and water is dry and fire is cold! Otherwise they would never be in charge of anything with the current state of the party and their inability to govern and work with people who don’t agree with them on everything. I would say how do Democrats keep losing to people who believe the Earth is flat and climate change is a hoax and gays are responsible for 9/11 and America is being invaded by Latinos and every other conspiracy theory that they have. But I know about gerrymandering.

If the Republican Party actually had leadership in the House instead of a punching bag or puppet in John Boehner, someone would’ve told and convinced that caucus that you don’t attach riders to bills that have to be passed in order for the government to run. You do those things separately. The first rule of government is do no harm. And that means performing the basic functions of government like funding the basics like homeland security and law enforcement. And issues where you disagree with the President, you debate those things separately and through other bills that don’t have to pass. So you can make your point and case, but still do your job at the same time.

PBS: NewsHour- Shields and Brooks on CPAC & Homeland Security Shutdown

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Grizzly Battle: Video: CNN: President Barack Obama’s Post Mid-Terms Press Conference

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This post was originally posted at The New Democrat on Blogger

I believe President Obama did what he needed to do in this conference. Which was to graduate incoming Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Republicans for winning back the Senate for the first time since 2004. And House Speaker John Boehner and House Republicans for adding to their majority. As well to layout where he will be willing and believes he can work with Congressional Republicans in the next Congress that will have a Republican House and a Republican Senate.

I’m not one of these doom and gloom utopian the perfect and compromise is the enemy of the good Democrats. I live in the real world and know that President will have to work with Congressional Republicans as well as Congressional Democrats especially in the Senate if he wants to get anything that is substantial done in the next Congress. So I’m not expecting the President to cave on any of his or the Democratic Party’s key agenda items in the next Congress. He said he won’t do anything that weakens the Affordable Care Act and I believe him.

But here’s where I believe they can work together. The Keystone Pipeline will be one of the first big items that House Republicans will pass in the next Congress. Perhaps within the first month and that will pass with a bipartisan majority. And will be sent to the Republican Senate where it will have bipartisan support and I don’t expect Senate Democrats doing much to try to block the bill. As long as they are involved in it and are allowed votes on their amendments.

As far as infrastructure and other energy policies and issues like immigration and tax reform. If anything is done on those issues, it will have to come from Congress first and probably starting in the Senate. Where traditionally it is much easier to get bipartisan bills passed over there than the House. Trade agreements I believe will be big in the next Congress and where President Obama will have bipartisan support in both the House and Senate.

Whatever happens in the next Congress will probably happen in the first seven months or so because the August recess. As far as major legislation and after that Congress will be back in town, except presidential candidates in Congress. And then Washington politics will switch to presidential politics and the major presidential candidates will drive what happens or doesn’t happen in Washington. So how productive the next Congress will be will depend on House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Leader Mitch McConnell and what they want to get passed out of Congress and signed by President Obama.

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Crooks and Liars: Opinion- Dave Johnson- “Democrats Who Move Right Lose Elections”: Tell That to Red State Democrats

 

Source: This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

The former great, RIP, Progressive Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O’Neal, had a saying, “All politics are local.”  Well, of course, that is not all true but a lot of it is, especially when you are talking about Congressional elections where only voters in a district or state  vote for the next Representative or Senator for that seat in the next Congress.

This means that, whether you are a candidate or the incumbent, you have to know the district or state that you represent, or want to represent, in order to get elected and reelected. To put it simply, you can’t be a Bernie Sanders Socialist running statewide in Mississippi and expected to get elected. Keep in mind that Senator Bernie Sanders represents Vermont, probably the most socialist leaning state in the union, with a population of around eight-hundred-thousand and only one U.S. Representative.

You can’t be a religious-right candidate, who wants to incorporate their religious views into law, and expect to be elected statewide in New Hampshire, which just happens to be the most liberal-libertarian state in the Union. It, again, is small state with little more than a million people but it is the “Live Free or Die state” that doesn’t like big government, economic or personal, and wants government to butt out of individual’s lives.

I still give Senate Democrats the edge in retaining the U.S. Senate in November and I don’t see them losing a lot of seats in the U.S. House either. I say that because, since 2005-06, they’ve figured out that the way to win House and Senate seats is by having their candidates represent the districts and states they are running in politically and ideologically. That means not recruiting Democrats who are as far to the left as, lets say, Elizabeth Warren, running in Red States but, in such situations, have fiscally conservative, socially moderate to liberal candidates instead.

They also recruit New Democrats, the real Liberals of the Democratic Party, the JFK/WJC wing of the party, to run in the Northeast and Midwest and even the West Coast and Mid Atlantic. Democrats who are very liberal on social issues and believe in economic opportunity and empowerment instead of  government dependence.  This makes them pretty liberal on economic issues as well.  You recruit for the district and state instead of saying that Socialist Bernie Sanders and New Deal Progressive Elizabeth Warren can get elected anywhere in the country.  That is beyond political fantasy.

The social democrat, Occupy Wall Street, wing of the Democratic Party believes in recruiting the most left Democrat possible and getting out the vote for that person.  The Democratic Party has many leftist members of Congress who work only to advance their agenda and will never work with Republicans on anything.  They wonder why Democrats lost 5-6 presidential elections from 1968-88 and lost the U.S. Senate in 1980 and Congress as a whole in 1994.

Senators Mark Pryor, Mary Landrieu, Kay Hagan, Mark Begich, Senate candidates Allison Grimes, Michelle Nunn, Arkansas, Louisiana, North Carolina, Alaska, Kentucky and Georgia respectfully are the potential for Democrats to hold the Senate in 2014.  They are Senators from deeply red states but are perfectly tailored to represent them because these states tend to like candidates and incumbents who are somewhat independent and aren’t afraid to go against their party establishment and aren’t very far to the right or left politically.  They all have a non-elitist, non-Washington, common person approach to  politics.

Democrats hold the Senate now with a 55-45 majority because they have a lot of senators who represent red states.  They could easily pick up 3-4 more with Kentucky, Georgia, Mississippi and Kansas, states with unpopular Republican incumbents because they recruit for the state instead of the party.  The  Republican Party hasn’t figured this out yet.  They have 45 senators and are in the minority because they are fanatically bound to nominate the furthest right candidate no matter the district or state.

WLKY Louisville: Bill Clinton Campaigns For Alison Lundergan Grimes

 

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CNN: Crossfire- U.S. Representative’s Keith Ellison & Cory Gardner: ‘Weaponizing The Debt Ceiling’

Source:CNN– On the left, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (Democrat, Minnesota) and on the right, U.S. Representative Cory Gardner (Republican, Colorado)

“Rep. Keith Ellison says the GOP is creating economic uncertainty by bringing the debt ceiling into the Obamacare debate. More from CNN at:CNN.”

From CNN 

At risk of sounding like a Democrat here: I believe Representative Ellison sounds very reasonable here. Which is surprising to me because he represents the left-wing (if not Far-Left) flank of the House Democratic Caucus, as well as Democratic Party as a whole. Representative Gardner, is just toeing the Tea Party Republican line: “You give us what we want on ObamaCare, or the government will shut down.”

Source:CNN– On the left, U.S. Representative Keith Ellison (Democrat, Minnesota) and on the right, U.S. Representative Cory Gardner (Republican, Colorado)

I actually agree with Republicans here when it comes to the debt ceiling that we should pay for the increase in it. But House Republicans are going to have to compromise again on it like they did in 2011 to get anything done. And I agree with them here because our debt is too high and we simply can’t keep pushing it off just because economic growth is so low and unemployment is relatively still high. That our fiscal problems are going to have to be addressed sooner rather than later while we still can control our own fiscal policy. Rather than having to make drastic policies to avoid even worst things from happening in the future.

You pay for the debt ceiling increase something we did in the 1990s and 1980s in a responsible way, you are telling Wall Street and world markets that America is serious about its economy and fiscal situation. And we are going to do what we need to do to get it under control and finally fix these problems.

So the compromise between the White House and Democratic Senate with House Republicans on funding the Federal Government and raising the debt ceiling, is that House Republicans do not get a defunding of the Affordable Care Act. The debt ceiling is raised in a strategic way where everyone that can afford to get cut that doesn’t hurt the economy gets cut. Not across the board but everywhere in the federal budget where we can afford to and should save: taxes, entitlements and, defense policy reform great places to start along with agriculture. Everybody gives a lot and gets a lot and both sided can move on to other issues.

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PBS: NewsHour: Gwen Ifill- U.S. Delegate Eleanore H. Norton: ‘On Organizing the March on Washington’

“The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and television program distributor[6] based in Arlington, Virginia. The PBS is a publicly funded[7] nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educational programming to public television stations in the United States, distributing series such as American Experience, America’s Test Kitchen, Antiques Roadshow, Arthur, Barney & Friends, Between the Lions, Cyberchase, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Downton Abbey, Wild Kratts, Finding Your Roots, Frontline, The Magic School Bus, The Kidsongs Television Show, Masterpiece Theater, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, Nature, Nature Cat, Nova, PBS NewsHour, Peg + Cat, Reading Rainbow, Sesame Street, Teletubbies, Keeping Up Appearances, and This Old House.[8]

PBS is funded by a combination of member station dues, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, pledge drives, and donations from both private foundations and individual citizens. All proposed funding for programming is subject to a set of standards to ensure the program is free of influence from the funding source.[9] PBS has over 350 member television stations, many owned by educational institutions, nonprofit groups both independent or affiliated with one particular local public school district or collegiate educational institution, or entities owned by or related to state government.”

From Wikipedia

“Decades before delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton would represent her district as a congresswoman on Capitol Hill, she worked as one of the original organizers for the March on Washington. Fifty years later, Holmes Norton reflects with Gwen Ifill on her efforts, part of a series of discussions on the legacy of August 28, 1963.”

From the PBS NewsHour

Organizing a march that became the most important event and speech in the American civil rights movement. That was about, yes, civil rights and equal rights for all Americans but also about economics and social and economic justice for low-income Americans.

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U.S. Representative Alan Grayson: What is The Republican Health Care Plan?

Source:U.S. Representative Alan Grayson– (Democrat, Florida) on the lack of a health care plan from House Republicans, back in 2009.

“This is Rep. Alan Grayson discussing the GOP plan for health care. Part one, don’t get sick. Part two, if you do get sick… Part three, die quickly.”

From Alan Grayson

Just to make a few points about what Representative Grayson said here:

If this speech was given I don’t know 14-16 months later after the Republican Party had just won the House back picking up 62 seats, if this speech was given in early 2011, instead of 2009, chances are this speech is not given. Why? Because a House Republican would’ve reported him to the Chair and had Representative Grayson’s words taken down. Which in Congressional speak means his speech would’ve been deleted from the record.

Also, further actions would’ve been taken against the Representative, like him losing his committee assignments in that Congress. Why? Because Alan Grayson is essentially saying that Republicans want people to die early to keep health care costs down in America.

Now to speak about the good points that Representative Grayson actually made here:

House Republicans when they were still in the minority in 2009-10, didn’t have an alternative to what became the Affordable Care Act, until that law is finally voted out of Congress (House and Senate) in March of 2010.

Then House Minority Leader John Boehner and his Republican Conference finally released their own plan in late 2009 or early 2010. And their plan would’ve provided health insurance to like 1-4 of what the Affordable Care Act has provided in just 3 years, which is 20 million new Americans who now have health insurance, who didn’t have it at all in 2009.

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The Nation: George Zornick- ‘A Truly Progressive Budget Vision’

Source:The Nation– U.S. Representative Keith Eillison (Democrat, Minnesota) Co-Chair of the so-called Congressional Progressive Caucus, in the House.

Source:The Daily Times

“Paul Ryan’s recently released budget will not become law—at least not any time soon. The Democratic Senate would never pass it, President Obama would never sign it. Ryan surely knows this, and his proposal is a fantasy budget: more an ideological argument than genuine attempt at legislating.

That hasn’t stopped widespread media coverage of Ryan’s proposal, and that’s fine: he’s a leading thinker of the conservative movement, with real power. But corresponding attention should also be paid to the opposite ideological vision sketched out by the Congressional Progressive Caucus in the “Back to Work” budget proposal, released on Wednesday.”

From The Nation

I’ll give the so-called Congressional Progressive Caucus (Democratic Socialists, in actuality) credit for once: they have moderated a little from 2011. Two years ago their budget plan called for eliminating all of the Bush tax cuts including those for the middle class. And using all of that money on infrastructure and creating new Federal Government New Deal era programs. But even some of their members now see how bad of an idea it is to pass middle class tax hikes in a struggling economy.

So now what the so-called CPC has done instead is put all of that new tax burden on wealthy individuals and business’s. Leaving our high corporate tax at 35% in place and closing a lot of corporate tax loopholes. So short-term that may sound fiscally responsible because you are attempting to pay for new government spending. But are the results instead, business’s move that money out of the country to avoid paying those high taxes.

The so called Back To Work Budget Plan from the CPC is as dead as disco or high-water pants. Or people dancing to disco in high-water pants. People dancing disco in the ocean, in high-water pants (If you can’t wear high-water pants in the ocean, where can you wear them?) Why, because very few people in Congress believe that government should have all of that power when it comes to job creation. That what we should be doing instead is freeing up capitol in the private sector so they have work to do and have a need to hire new employees.

What makes great economic sense when it comes to infrastructure investment, is government sets priorities and then rewards contracts to private companies to do the work. Rather than government or the private sector having most of the power and why its the ultimate private/public partnership.

Infrastructure investment that’s needed, especially in a sluggish economy, always makes great economic sense. The question is always how is it paid for. The CPC has their approach, but the reason why a lot of their ideas are usually dead as high-water pants and disco George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, is because they generally don’t have much if any power, even in their party and Congress, but they’re so far out in left field, even in the Democratic Party.

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U.S. Representative Tom McClintock: ‘Dennis Kucinich Resolution on Libya’

Source:U.S. Representative Tom McClintock– debating Representative Dennis Kucinich, over Libya.

“House Floor remarks by Congressman Tom McClintock, June 3, 2011.”

From Tom McClintock

I supported American military operations in Libya, the no fly zone there. That we are part of along with our NATO allies to end the slaughter there of innocent Libyan citizens by their own government. But that was over two months ago.

With the War Powers Act, the President has the authority to send American troops into combat. But after two months must get Congressional approval for our actions there. We’ve been involved there for over two months now, so now it’s time that the President get approval from Congress, both the House and Senate.

And if the President doesn’t officially request it from Congress, then the House should pass one of their own. Either granting President Obama the authority to continue our role in the no fly zone there, or not. And then send that resolution over to the Senate.

This is what’s known as checks and balances: the President can’t unilaterally commit American troops into a foreign war and keep them there indefinitely on their own. Congress has a role in this and they should step up to the plate on this, if the President doesn’t do so himself.

The President is of course the Commander in Chief and makes the final decisions once we are involved in military operations. But Congress has a role in deciding whether we get involved in the first place or not. And can either fund the operations or cut off funding at any point.

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