Last week I wrote that Senate Dems called Mitch McConnell’s bluff over the Bush tax cuts. They were prepared to let all the Bush tax cuts expire rather than extend the tax cuts for the rich. Harry Reid has been saying that he had the votes to pass an extension of the Bush tax cuts up to an income of $250,000, and no higher.
This week McConnell counter-bluffed. This morning Senate Republicans dropped a threatened filibuster and allowed the Dem plan to come to the floor for a simple majority vote. Wow I almost forgot the Senate could do that. McConnell probably figured Reid would come up short
Anyway — this afternoon, the bill passed, 51-48. A Republican bill to extend all the tax cuts was defeated, 45-54.
Will wonders never cease? Of course this isn’t going to fly in the House, but it puts Republicans in a very precarious place.
I know it’s been said before by many people, but if the Democrats in office would fight like this more often, they’d win more often too. They wouldn’t always win each fight, but the fact that they fought would translate into wins.
At first the press, judging from their history, would tell the story from the Republican angle and try to make the Democrats look bad for fighting, but after they caught wind of people supporting the fighting Dems, the press would largely change their tune. Cause really, one thing the past dozen years have taught me is that the vast majority of our presentday press are cowardly followers of power.
Senate Democrats would really rock if they would allow Ron Paul’s Audit the Fed bill to come up for a vote. Right now Sen. Harry Reid has no plans to do so…
No, that would only mean someone put hallucinogens in the Senate water cooler.
Jeez, who remembered Democrats could win a game 51-48?
I thought the game was rigged so that they had to have 60 points to win, while the Republicans could win 51-50 by pulling in their 4th Estate guy off the White House bench to cast the winning vote.
I almost feel sorry for Boner.
Between this, and his Teahadist’s wanting to shut the government down on September 30th over funding ACA, he’s probably ruing the day his tanned orange hands let go of the bourbon and butt’s, and picked-up the Speakers gavel.
ALMOST!
Harry Reid, ya done good!
Ya snookered Mitch, made him blink, and then herded just enough of the cats to make a majority.
NOW WE WANT MORE OF THIS!
maha,
Right now, I think the hallucinogens are in the segregated Senate water fountains marked, “Conservatives ONLY!”
They’re segregated because Conservatives don’t want any Liberal cooties.
Not sure why oversight of the Fed would be the result of hallucinogens, but to each is own.
Dennis Kucinich stated this when he voted for the bill: “It’s time that we stood up to the Federal Reserve that right now acts like some kind of high, exalted priesthood, unaccountable to democracy.â€
Yes, Kucinich does have his moments of flake.
Here’s how it is — IMO anything that comes from the jumbled mind of Ron Paul needs to be unwrapped from its tin foil and irradiated before handling. Could the fed be more transparent? Sure. But Paul’s approach would make it more political. The fed has to be independent from Congress, because at any given time a large portion of congress critters don’t know monetary policy from egg salad. Paul’s law would mean the fed would be jerked around by whatever whackjob theory is flitting around in the tiny minds of people like him, who never understood exactly what the fed does or what purpose it serves.
That’s why. Now, go away.
OT – but worth it.
It looks like Mitt’s, “International Foot in Mouth, and NO APOLOGIES, Tour” started off about as expected.
He’s stuck his foot in his mouth twice.
Once, by insulting the city of London about it’s ability to handle the Olympics properly. David Cameron’s stfu to Mitt is priceless – so please follow the link.
And the other, after meeting with the VFW, and blasting Obama for the security leaks, he goes to England, and outs M-16, Britain’s SUPER-SECRET spy agency, to the press.
And then, after sticking his foot in his mouth TWICE – has to offer AOPOGIES!!!
LOL!!!:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/26/1113870/-Mitt-in-London-Romney-brags-about-meeting-with-chief-of-U-K-s-top-secret-MI6-intelligence-service
f Mitt’s elected President, it should be a great comfort for everyone to know that if/when he insults some other country, ally or not, that he’ll have someone of the stature of John Bolton, that great diplomat, to calm the waters.
“Hey, I spilled some nitroglycerine around here somewhere! Someone call John, quick, so he can give me a match to help find it!”
You know, I am starting to feel bad for Mittens. In the primaries, he had to out-crazy Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich and now (surely at SOMEONE’S request) he seems to be trying to out-Dubya Dubya. And for all his troubles, he’s STILL “the presumptive nominee” according to the press. At this point in 2000, was Bush only “the presumptive nominee”? Was Reagan that in 1980?