Archive for mitch mcconnell

Republican “Block!” heads

gop obstruction stencil

Let’s see how much the Republican Party has evolved today. If you’re a regular reader, you know I’ve been keeping track. After all, they’ve promised America that they’re undergoing a major makeover, reinventing themselves, reaching out to all Americans, and showing the country what a swell party they really, truly are.

But rather than altering their extremist positions, rather than compromising, rather than meeting the president and the Democrats half way, they’re resorting to their usual obstructionist tactics. Again.

The GOP’s only real goal is to destroy President Obama and his legacy, despite how their negativity and attacks affect their fellow Americans. What matters to them is more power and profit. That’s why they’re so relentless in pushing their loony conspiracy theories, that’s why they’re on that insane Benghazi Witch Hunt (with the added bonus of trying to smack down Hillary Clinton and her possible 2016 presidential run), and that’s why they have done all of this:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

But back to the legislation and nominees at hand. Via David Hawkings at Roll Call:

Speaker John A. Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced they would simply ignore a provision in the health care law calling on each leader to pick someone for a new panel with the power to dictate Medicare spending reductions without fear of congressional reversal.

The two said in a letter to Obama that such a bureaucratic maneuver was the best way they knew to protest the new Independent Payment Advisory Board, in light of their inability to kill it by repealing Obamacare completely.

At the same time, all eight Republicans boycotted this morning’s meeting of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, which under a wrinkle in the rules prevented the panel from advancing Gina McCarthy’s nomination to run the EPA.

The protest came less than 18 hours after the Republicans on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel leveraged another obscure procedural obstacle to stop Thomas E. Perez’s nomination for Labor secretary from getting to the Senate floor.

See how evolved they are?

evolution of gop smaller devolution devolved

By the way Harry Reid, how’s that that “gentleman’s agreement” with Mitch McConnell workin’ for ya?

Congressional Budget Office: Federal budget deficit declining; $231 billion less than 2012 #BlameObama

oy

First let me share a few headlines, then I’ll get into some detail. All of these are from The Hill, including the blog headline about the CBO showing a decline in the budget deficit:

So to recap: The federal budget deficit is shrinking, Mitch McConnell and his Merry Band of Loons are doing their usual obstruction dance, the White House will veto if the GOP insists on continuing their “the debt limit is just default by another name” b.s., and the likelihood of an agreement on anything in the world ever is shrinking as fast as the deficit.

Can this get any more frustrating?

Check this out, keeping the new Republican-opposed tax increase in mind:

The Congressional Budget Office reported Tuesday that the federal budget deficit is declining this year compared to fiscal 2012.

For the first seven months of 2013, the deficit was $489 billion. That is $231 billion less than the budget shortfall for the comparable period last year.

The decrease is almost entirely due to revenue increases. Revenues rose $200 billion and spending decreased only $11 billion.

And McConnell continues to insist that Republicans will block an increase the debt limit if it is not attached to legislation to reduce the federal deficit. They don’t want us to pay our bills. Sorry, I lost control and lapsed into a larger font. 

The White House:

“American families do not get to choose which bills to pay and which ones not to pay, and the United States Congress cannot either without putting the Nation into default for the first time in its history.”

There’s that. And Mitch? The federal deficit is already shrinking… Remember?

chart budget deficit shrinks 4 year low Steve Benen Maddow Blog Oct 2012

Harry Reid said, “We’ve known for years that the Tea Party has full control of the House, but now we understand they have full control of the Republican caucus here in the Senate.”

Reid noted the most outspoken Republican on the issue of moving to a budget conference has been Sen. Ted Cruz (R), whom he called the “very junior senator from Texas.”

it's crazy in here

AUDIO: Gabby Giffords group targets Ayotte, McConnell. Ayotte’s approvals plunge after “no” vote on gun background checks.

gabby giffords mark kelly smile

Americans for Responsible Solutions, the grassroots movement led by Gabby Giffords and her husband Mark Kelly, has launched an “accountability campaign” that focuses on Senator McConnell of Kentucky and Senator Ayotte of New Hampshire:

ARS, founded by Gabby Giffords and Mark Kelly, will begin airing radio ads today in Kentucky and New Hampshire, highlighting Senator Mitch McConnell and Senator Kelly Ayotte’s vote against this sensible solution to keeping our families safe from gun violence.

The ads highlight McConnell and Ayotte’s putting loyalty to the special interest gun lobby in Washington instead of supporting wildly popular sensible policies that would keep their communities safer. In Kentucky, 82 percent of people support background checks; in New Hampshire, 89 percent of residents support them.

Transcripts:

kelly ayotte

Ignored – Ayotte

Woman 1: Remember that ad Kelly Ayotte ran saying she’s one of us.

Woman 2: Oh, where she’s out for a run?

Woman 1: (SFX: Newspaper rustling) Yeah. Well, it sure didn’t take long for her to “go Washington.” Says here Ayotte voted against improving background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Woman 2: Are you serious? 89 percent of the people in New Hampshire support universal background checks. She just ignored us?

Woman 1: Sure did. This was common sense legislation written by a Republican and a Democrat. Supported by law enforcement. And it protected Second Amendment rights. But Ayotte voted against it anyway.

Woman 2: And ignored the will of the people.

Woman 1: Well, I’m calling Senator Ayotte and telling her to listen to the people for a change. You should too. The number is202-224-3324.

Woman 2: Paid for by Americans for Responsible Solutions.

*********

mitch mcconnell

LISTEN

(Montage of News clips from Newtown of the shooting).

Announcer: We watched. We listened. We felt it. Newtown.

But Senator McConnell won’t listen to us.

Eighty-two percent of Kentuckians support universal background checks.

But Senator McConnell voted against them.

McConnell opposed common sense checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals.

Written by a Republican and a Democrat. Supported by law enforcement officers. It was a common sense plan that protected Second Amendment Rights.

But Senator McConnell ignored the will of the people. Making our children and our families less save…. And putting the Washington special interests ahead of Kentucky… AGAIN.

Call Senator McConnell at 202-224-2541. And tell him to start listening to us, for a change.

Paid for by Americans for Responsible Solutions.

And HuffPo is reporting that Ayotte’s approval ratings have dropped sharply since her no vote on background checks. The gun safety issue is not going away, despite misinformation to the contrary being spread by those on the right:

A new poll has New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R) down a total of 15 points from her previous approval rating in a survey that followed her vote against requiring background checks for firearms purchases.

Ayotte’s plunge underscores the changing politics around gun control and gun safety. In years past, lawmakers worried that a vote for gun control would bring the anger of the National Rifle Association. In the new reality, votes against gun control also carry a political risk, as the Ayotte poll indicates.

What I can’t believe I’m writing about today

huh what'd they say

I've recently introduced a new feature, What I Will Not Write About Today of news items that are so frustrating and/or disheartening and/or annoying that I can’t bring myself to write about them. Here are a few recent reports that I can't believe I did write about today:

Via Taegan, here are a couple of today's eye-popping stories. Follow the links for more:

"I am the senator. You are the citizen. You need to be quiet."

– North Carolina State Senator Tommy Tucker (R), quoted by the Raleigh News and Observer, to Goldsboro News-Argus publisher Hal Tanner who was opposing legislation to change public notice requirements for local government.

***

Sanford Sons Met His Girlfriend at Victory Party: Jenny Sanford confirmed: "That was indeed Bolton's first intro and both boys were quite upset and visibly so."

***

And this jaw-dropper, via my pal @Crutnacker:

tweet mitch mcconnell guns

When you follow their link, you see this entry from Mitch McConnell's Facebook Page on which his campaign mocks gun safety efforts by Democrats. "Nice!"….

mcconnell campaign FB guns

Here are some of the comments under that post:

Bill Cox: Thank you Mr. McConnell. As always, I am glad to see your continued support of the 2nd Amendment and our gun rights.

Steve Robertson: Wow a politician actually does something right for a change. Thank you.

Thomas Wilson: What is a meme?

Jeff Wheeler: My man Mitch! Don't let the Imam start writing executive orders!!!

Bear Gibson: They can have our guns one bullet at a time.

If you need more right wing talking points, link over to the page and read the rest. There were some anti-Mitch responses, too.

I cannot believe I wrote about that today.

fainting

Cartoon of the Day- Senator McConnell bugged?

mcconnellbugged

Via.

Did Mitch McConnell violate federal law by misusing his Senate staff?

huh what'd they say

The watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics and Washington has asked the FBI to investigate whether or not Mitch McConnell is in hot water. CREW is asking if “Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), violated federal law and Senate rules by misusing Senate staff or resources to conduct opposition research on potential campaign opponents.”

(CNN) – One of the questions to emerge from that secret recording of a Mitch McConnell campaign strategy session is whether it proves the Senate Minority Leader is caught on tape misusing his congressional staff. [...]

In the Mother Jones transcript, a campaign strategist at the McConnell meeting in February is quoted as thanking “LAs” or legislative assistants (legislative assistant being a title for a specific congressional staff position) for their work in developing opposition research on potential opponents, including actress Ashley Judd, who has since decided against a run for the Kentucky seat.

“So I’ll just preface my comments that this reflects the work of a lot of folks: Josh, Jesse, Phil Maxson, a lot of LAs, thank them three times, so this is a compilation of work, all the way through,” the unidentified strategist is quoted as saying in the liberal magazine’s transcript.

Yes CNN, “the liberal magazine’s transcript” is making all kinds of biased liberal assumptions in its biased liberal transcript. Good thing unbiased “liberal media” source CNN pointed that out.

The question CREW is asking is whether the adviser said, “thank them for their free time.” You can hear that part in the first few seconds of the audio above, starting at about :25, ending at about :33.

As CNN notes, Congressional staffers are allowed to volunteer their personal time to political activities. Socialists!

Before I read the full post or anything that would sway me one way or the other, I listened to the recording several times, and each time I thought I heard “three times,” with an S at the end. Then I read the rest of the report to understand that the conclusion wouldn’t favor Team McConnell. Fine by me.

Listen carefully yourselves and let me know what you think.

VIDEO: Source says 2 members of Progress Kentucky behind recordings of secret McConnell meeting on Ashley Judd

Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Noel Vasquez/Getty Images

Mitch McConnell and his aides were laughing it up at a secret meeting about opposition research they did on Ashley Judd’s depression issues– because, you know, her suffering, coping, and openness about it was so hilarious.

John Dean’s reaction was, “McConnell campaign recording sounds like one of Nixon’s Tapes.” Here’s the AUDIO and Ashley Judd’s response.

Now Jacob Conway, who sits on the executive committee of the Jefferson County, Kentucky Democratic Party, is saying that Shawn Reilly and Curtis Morrison, who founded and volunteered for Progress Kentucky, respectively, bragged to him about how they recorded that meeting:

Video via TPM.

Jacob Conway, who sits on the executive committee of the Jefferson County, Ky. Democratic Party:

“The only reason that I came forward with what I knew was I was trying to protect the Democratic Party. I believe in our party’s values, and I was doing what I thought was best for the party because I did not want their bad behavior, their poor mistakes — I shouldn’t say “bad behavior” — their mistakes, their lack of judgment to hurt our party’s efforts here in the state Kentucky and in Jefferson County, here in Louisville.”

Public radio station WFPL is reporting that Conway said neither the local nor the state Democratic party had any part in the incident, but that Reilly and Morrison bragged to him about recording the meeting which they were able to hear from the hallway. Because the door had a vent at the bottom, they were able to document what was going on inside with an iPhone or some other small device.

Since the meeting was audible from the hallway, it’s not clear if recording it qualifies as eavesdropping, so this remains the Big Question o’ the Day.

More here.

UPDATE: Report: Progress Kentucky Co-Founder Denies Taping McConnell Meeting