Sen. Jim Bunning has ended his grandstanding, and President Obama has signed the jobless benefits provision that Bunning was holding up.
The question remains, WTF was Bunning doing? Apparently Bunning was ticked off at other Republicans because they weren’t supporting his re-election.
According to some rightie bloggers, Senator Bunning’s Lexington office got a couple of bomb threats. They are attributing these threats to lefties, which of course is absurd. Bunning’s stunt was great news for us, politically. It’s the people whose unemployment benefits were on hold who may have felt otherwise.
Meanwhile, Rep. Charlie Rangel just announced he is stepping down from his post as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, but only temporarily. Rangel is being investigated for a number of ethics violations, and he says he is relinquishing his chair only as long as investigations are ongoing. I say that if even some of the accusations against him turn out to be true — as I suspect they will — at the very least he should lose the chair permanently.
That the Republicans are not supporting Bunning’s re-election strongly suggests they know something they’re not telling. Could be his clock’s ticking but the hands aren’t moving. Dementia? senility? some other form of mental illness? And if that’s the case, what we’re seeing here is just how much grief one lone senator can cause a whole lot of people — even a senator who may be getting his instructions from Mars.
Rengel’s possible ethics violations may be an entirely different matter but unless he gets arrested for something he, like Bunning, will still have the power to toss a spanner in the works if he so chooses. Seems like there’s a major flaw here in the way the Senate operates. Or, in many cases, doesn’t.
I believe Sen Bunning got it right. He’s the only one who seems to have enough guts to buck our broken system in DC. Our representatives in both houses don’t live in a “real” world with “real” money; and I believe they don’t know how to get back to reality. Sen Bunning may have discovered a way.
DC has created a monster with it’s entitlements. Now that someone finally stepped forward not unlike a patriot who is quoted as saying “give me liberty or give me death”, I was disappointed that Sen. Bunning backed away from his position due to pressure from both sides. Does anyone else doubt the veracity of the claims being made about his unhappiness with his own party’s lack of support? Perhaps it is true; but is that why Sen Bunning took the high ground in this matter of finding the funds to meet the needs? Someone has to slow down the printing presses at Treasury. Someone has to be accountable. It looked like we finally had a statesman who was accountable.
Wow, Robert, you really came to the wrong blog to spew ignorance like that. Where was Bunning when the Bush Administration decided to borrow a trillion dollars from China to waste in Iraq, for example? If Bunning is “a statesman who is accountable” I’m Mel Gibson.
Robert — I’m going to second what Maha said. Where was Bunning when the Republicans were borrowing a trillion-odd dollars or so and burning them in Iraq? Where was he when the Pentagon gave away millions to Iraqi community leaders and never kept track of how much cash was on hand and who they gave the cash to?
Where was Bunning when Blackwater got no-bid contracts? Or the construction company that so badly wired military installations that our soldiers were under the threat of electrocution if they used the shower? Huh? Where was Bunning then? (Where were you?)
But allow for the support of workers and their families who aren’t working… oh, yeah, he’s a big man, a brave man…. NO, he’s little bug.
And where were you Robert when all those tax cuts for the ultra-rich were enacted?
Here’s a link, scroll downt to Figure 1:
http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3036&emailView=1
The dark yellow is all the money Bush gave away.
It was just SO much fun getting a ONE MONTH extension past the goal line. I’m sure that getting a TEN month extension is going to be much easier. And I’m sure the Republicans will keep on pushing for the estate tax breaks (138 Billion over 10 years)
http://iowaindependent.com/28562/report-reid-pushing-for-10-month-unemployment-extension
Give me liberty or give me death?…. Gee, I have to wonder how honored and meaningful those words are when they were uttered from the lips of a slave holder. Insincere to the true cause of liberty, or just plain selfishness? A colonial sound bite?
Robert Waddell,
Are you any relation to “Rube” Waddell, the famous Philadelphia A’s Hall of Fame pitcher, but otherwise imbecilic and illiterate moron, who would run off from the team whenever he heard or saw a fire engine?
You admire another imbecilic Hall of Fame pitcher, so you must be related to the great “Rube.”.
Wait, Robert, I think I just heard a fire engine go by. Run, baby, run!!!
I think you alll misunderstand Robert and the Hon Sen Bunting. These patriots understand that there is a huge risk in unfunded liabilities. And the answer is to fund those liabiites with fair taxes. They know, if I may quote Badtux from yesterday, “the top 10% of taxpayers make 50% of the income and the top 1% own 70% of all financial assets of America. ”
These guys get it but they are badly misquoted. They are advocating a redistribution of wealth to pay for social programs. Bunting wants us to tax the top 1% to pay for unemployment and the top 10% pay for health care… What an idea you guys!
We are proud of you for recognizing that the concentration of wealth and income at the top is unacceptable – and we applaud you for your principled stand.
Just a minute – I ‘m glad I have health insurance. I stuck my tongue in cheek so deep – I may need surgery.
I think rightie logic would hold that anyone on unemployment benefits is a leftie by definition.
Not so Ken! In rightie world, you can be getting unemplyment, and get your house refinanced with a government program and still spout off wingnut talking points and sneer at the current administration. I know a guy that does that.
Doug – alas, I fear your snark may be far, far too subtle for the likes of Bunning and any fool/raging hypocrite who thinks Bunning’s selective and phony “outrage” was a good thing.
They are attributing these threats to lefties, which of course is absurd. Bunning’s stunt was great news for us, politically.
Oh, come on. It is entirely possible that the threats came from “lefties”. Just because the left might benefit politically doesn’t mean it’s impossible that the threats came from someone on “the left”. We’re talking millions of people and there are definitely a few fruitloops among ANY group that big.
I think the better response is that, with all the people out of work, it’s just stupid to presuppose the death threats were motivated by abstract ideology instead of an emotional reaction to a threat to their livelihood. Anyone who is out of work and hurting would have had a very personal reason to get pissed at Bunning.
Bunning might have fabricated the threats to craft his image as an intrepid and principled conservative. Sure, that’s probably the most likely scenario. Mister I stared death in the face for cause of principled conservatism.. Old Bunny, my hero!..He sneered at death so America could shed the yoke of Obama’s growing deficits.