Posts Tagged ‘Democrats’
Photo courtesy of the New York Times.
President Obama can’t seem to get folks in Washington to listen to him. So he has decided to try his luck elsewhere…
For weeks he has been striving to get Congress to support his plan to create jobs in the US… with lukewarm reception.
Now he is exploring alternatives to the American Jobs Act, tacitly admitting the bill is unlikely to pass through Congress.
The President will be touring in Las Vegas and Denver, hoping to pressure Republicans in Congress into passing the bill, rallying citizens under the mantra “We can’t wait,” for lawmakers to act.
Polls have shown that the main goals of the bill are widely supported- 63% approve according to a recent Wall Street Journal poll.
The bill, which can be read in its entirety here, focuses on cutting payroll taxes, extending unemployment benefits, funding new road construction, and providing a tax credit to returning veterans.
Opponents of the bill have cited concerns ranging from the proposed level of spending ($447 billion) to the targeted industries losing tax benefits, which include the oil industry.
Opposition has not been limited to the Republican party. Some Democrats are queasy.
“I have been very unequivocal…No more tax cuts,”
said a Democratic Representative from Oregon, Peter A. DeFazio.
Clearly the President has a long road to travel before his Jobs Bill will be passed.
Thanks to The Washington Post!
Times are tough. Folks are suffering. Time for Washington to act, Right?
Nope!
At least that was the answer in the Senate yesterday.
In a move that should surprise no one, the Senate GOP voted unanimously to block President Obama’s jobs bill.
The $447 billion proposal faced its first real test after being touted all over the country by the president himself. But the Republicans weren’t the only ones with “doubts” about the bill.
On Tuesday morning, senior White House officials said this is just the first act in a long-term play. They brushed aside the dissent among Democrats and urged Americans instead to look at the Republicans, unanimously voting against job-creation measures.”
Facing opposition from both parties, the next steps for the legislation remain unclear.
Votes on pieces of the bill could begin later this month, perhaps as early as next week, Senate Democratic aides said. Party leaders said they needed to consult their caucus before they decide on the timing or choose the provisions to be considered separately.”
Is the president running out of time? Or will be looking for a job soon?
In this political witch-hunt, no Republican is safe.
Obama for America recently started the website AttackWatch.com. The site gives the average person the opportunity to report criticisms of the president and his initiatives. This is supposed to help the American public “Get the facts. Fight the smears”, the website’s slogan.
Allegations and responses are stored in the “Attack Files”.
This article in the Wall Street Journal calls the website a “Twitter Disaster”, noting that the site’s twitter feed is is full of “zingers”. Not exactly going as planned, we suppose.
So how do you feel? Is this a good idea, or is it screaming 1984 to you?
Courtesy of Associated Press
Some signs of progress are occurring in Ole’ Miss.
Johnny DuPree has become the first black candidate to win major-party contest for Governor in Mississippi since Reconstruction.
The state is 37% black and has elected more African American officials to local posts than any state in the union… but none of those victories came in statewide contests.
DuPree was also the first African American Mayor of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. On November 8th he will face Republican Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant, 56, in the gubernatorial elections.
“I’m just so proud of the fact that we had people who believed in us, believed in the message, believed in what we’re trying to accomplish. I’m so proud that people took a hold of that,”
Images thanks to Politico!
You can stand under Obama’s umbrella-ella-ella-ay-ay-ay. Because apparently he won’t.
Mark your calendar! Michele Bachmann stops by Late Night next week.
Senator Barbara Mikulski sponsors repeal on DOMA, and the WashPost writes about the new Democratic support for same-sex marriage.
And just in case you haven’t heard about Schweddy Balls yet…
Thanks to MSNBC
The cost of coverage: Two award-winning journalists killed while covering rebel forces in Libya.
Something to laugh about? Democrats mock GOP of Medicare cuts.
Placing the blame: BP sues oil rig manufacturer in Gulf Oil Spill.
American Idol is here to stay. Recent increases in ratings point to a solid future for the 10-year-old reality show.
Thanks to Wikicommons.
In Wisconsin, as well as other places across the nation a battle line has been drawn. The issue: public employee unions (such as those for teachers).
This is an issue which has been highly politicized. But what is behind the attempts to restrict unions ability to negotiate (and as a result, their power)?
Robert Barro, whose opinion appears in the Wall Street Journal, attacks unions noting that
For a teachers union, collective bargaining means that suppliers of teacher services to all public school systems in a state—or even across states—can collude with regard to acceptable wages, benefits and working conditions. An analogy for business would be for all providers of airline transportation to assemble to fix ticket prices, capacity and so on. From this perspective, collective bargaining on a broad scale is more similar to an antitrust violation than to a civil liberty.
On the other side of the line Hendrik Hertzburg, in an article for the New Yorker, argues that unions are
the only truly formidable counterweight to the ever-growing political power of that top one-thousandth [wage earners]
Many Americans, as Paul Krugman notes, agree with Hertzburg as
while people don’t necessarily love unions — hey, I personally don’t necessarily love unions — most people apparently see them as having a legitimate role.
However, the role of unions as a political balance may be coming to a close . Mickey Kaus notes that
The Internet has already empowered organizations like MoveOn.org to provide both dollars and volunteers to Dems through a structure that need not have anything to do with organized labor. … Why picket when you can click it?
No matter the end result in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) Nancy Folbre for Economix argues that the protesters time was not wasted as
the committed progressive activists of Wisconsin have raised the level of news organizations’ attention to state politics and broadened the public debate over the fiscal crisis.
So no matter what your beliefs are, don’t be afraid to stand up for them (especially if that means posting a comment).
Thanks to Mother Jones
The standard process for being elected is to woo voters into liking you. However, the Republican Party seems to be trying a BOLD new strategy: win votes by being hated!
What is this nonsense we speak of?
Last Monday, Kevin Drum of Mother Jones, highlighted the interesting poll results shown above.
As you can see Americans trust and feel more connected to Democrats, yet they plan to vote Republican. This didn’t make a lick of sense to us.
Luckily a man much smarter than us (not that is saying much) has this nugget of wisdom on why some may like Democrats and yet vote Republican:
The Democrats control the presidency and both houses of Congress, and so it’s a completely reasonable stance to prefer them to the Republicans yet still think they’ve gone too far and need a check on their power. …read more.
My awesome fist pump is just one more thing that makes me relatable to the public. (Rand Paul after his primary victory in Kentucky.) (Courtesy of the NYT.)
“Ugh… Why is it always an election year??” Yeah, we hear your groaning. We’ve been groaning a lot too, but that might be all the caffeine talking.
Now come on, you know you’re interested: What happened in the “2010 Super Tuesday” election?… the one that involved voting in Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Arkansas that other day? Kind of a lot, so you should probably keep reading.
The attention-worthy outcomes in these three primaries include:
- Rand Paul, son of Ron, a Tea Party kind of dude, won a Republican nomination for Senate in Kentucky
- Mark Critz won an important district handily in Pennsylvania against a Tea Party kind of dude, stepping into the late Rep. John Murtha’s shoes
- Blanche Lincoln, a Democratic Senator from Arkansas, was forced into a party run-off
- Joe Sestak beat out incumbent Democratic (and former Republican) Senator Arlen Specter in Pennsylvania
OK, that might just sound like a bunch of names. But it gets simpler from here on out.
The Hill (not to be confused with “The Hills“) breaks down the election results into four “anti-” categories to help decode them: “anti-politics, anti-incumbent, anti-establishment, anti-Democratic.” …read more.
Fretting over getting accepted to your college or grad school of choice? Still resentful of getting rejected from your dream school? Don’t worry — these people got turned down and ended up successes!
The Daily Beast asks, “have you heard the one about health care?”
Pro-health care reform Democrats are being threatened! But Obama’s not being threatened as much!
When you thought you’d heard it all when it came to politicians and their favorite pastimes (getting involved in scandals), along came Eric Massa and his tickle fights.
While we at USDemocrazy have explored the Democrats’ problems before and have an understanding of scandals (blogging about them, not participating), the big one that broke this week about former New York Democratic Representative Eric Massa has so many facets, we just couldn’t resist dissecting it today. …read more.
Bing.com
Aren’t puzzles puzzling?
Out of the box their pieces are tiny, oddly shaped and maddeningly indistinguishable (like a pea, a marble and our editor’s brain). But when you look at the cover of the box, the pieces are mysteriously assembled to paint a clear picture.
A clear picture is being painted right now in Washington DC. As these pieces come together, this political picture is not looking good… for the Democrats.
Here are some of the pieces…
Fund Raising: A new Supreme Court ruling, Citizens United v Federal Election Commission, frees corporations to write unlimited blank checks to political campaigns (Open the Floodgates!).
Web Surfing: The Republicans are getting more savvy as to how to use The Internet for political gain. The recent election of Massachusetts Senator Senator Scott Brown has been attributed to a rigorous use of the internet. Elsewhere, California conservative Carly Fiorina have taken to running attack adds through the web. Seen below is the “Demon Sheep” add run against her primary challenger Tom Campbell.
Reigning champions of the Mobile World Cup, South Korea takes the title of fastest texters.
Who’s got the big bucks? Check out Congress men of money.
Are Democrats scared to play rough?
Stand up, sit down, applaud, guffaw, chuckle, smirk, repeat…for one hour.
That pretty much describe how the folks in the Senate chamber reacted to the State of the Union address last night.
If you were sleeping listening to the President’s speech, you heard a lot of talk and a lot of promises… But what does it all mean?
We’ve found some pretty good analysis of the big event to help answer that question (And make you sound incredibly informed during the discussion at the water fountain/cooler today).
Some of the best commentary came via live blogs and Tweets. Catch up on what we had to say on Twitter in case you missed it! Some other great Tweets:
From the political satirist @BorowitzReport: Instant Poll: 90% of Republicans Who Did Not See Obama’s Speech Disagree With It
Getting to the point is @PatrickRuffini: This change stuff is HARD #shortersotu
Political analyst @marcambinder indicates a positive response to the address: CBS Instapoll: approve of the proposals? 83% said yes. Obama has same priorities as you have? (57% to 73% in sample from pre to post)
Courtesy SCOTUS website.
Unsurprisingly, some people (like Democrat Alan Grayson) don’t like the Supreme Court’s recent finance decision. Raise your hand if you can guess why!
Too big to fail? Not the Dems. Another retirement for the party is at hand!
The divisive bill gets, well, more divisive. The House of Representatives doesn’t trust its mates!
