Whether or not we can avoid the disaster of a Republican default, remains an open question, but the deeper public opinion of the Republican Party, who are fully at fault for this crisis, plunges, the stronger the Democrats’ negotiating position becomes. Even Harry Reid (D-NV) is looking like a strong person, while Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has his panties in a bunch.
Senate Republicans are holding the line against Democratic demands for a framework to alleviate the across-the-board spending cuts established by sequestration as part of any deal to end the government shutdown and raise the debt ceiling.
In talks between Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the main sticking point is now where to establish funding levels for the federal government and for how long. The Republican offer made on Friday — to set spending at sequestration levels of $988 billion for the next six months -– was rejected by Reid and others on Saturday on the grounds that it was too favorable to the GOP position and discouraged future negotiations.
By Sunday morning, little notable progress toward a resolution had been made. McConnell, according to sources, was adamant that the spending cuts of sequestration be maintained in any final arrangement…
Inserted from <Huffington Post>
That article has a right-slant, but it does get the basic facts right about what they are negotiating.
Steve Kornacki and his panel provided an update this morning.
Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Steve is right to point out that Obama was wrong to cave-in in 2011. Ceding to terrorists’ demands invites more terrorism. I’m amazed to see how well Leg Hound Harry is wearing his shiny new Obamaballs and negotiating from the majority point of view. I agree that Obama and the Democrats need to establish that they will not cave-in to Republican extortion. When this is over, Republicans must see it as such a costly mistake that removing such sedition from their playbook is in their own best interest.
20 Responses to “Senate Negotiations Continue”
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Obamaballs…..ROFLMBFAO!!!!! I like that one too, Cat Daddy!
I am glad that finally, FINALLY, someone grew a pair to publically, over the airwaves, ADMIT that the President CAPITULATING to the Rethugliterrorists back in 2011 WAS the WRONG THING to do. Now we have this SEDITION going on yet again. I hope the President holds firm with NO capitulations of any kind, PERIOD. Otherwise, this will go on and even more seditious behavior on their part will occur and with even deeper ramifications…if that is possible….which, it could be.
Now that the Teapublicans have capitulated and lost all hope of winning anything in 2014 or 2016, what must happen now is bringing the 80 pasties that signed the pact to shut down the government in order to stop and/or delay the Affordable Care Act up on charges of sedition conspiracy. I've started a petition to Eric Holder, US Attorney General at the US Department of Justice asking him to move ahead and send them away for 20 years with massive fines for their criminal behavior. Please sign!
Please visit http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/petition-doj-to-bring and sign it. Thanks!
Welcome Bill. 🙂
I was happy to sign it, because I agree, but don't hold your breath.
Thanks Bill. The radical right must be held to account for their seditious actions. Signed.
I agree with you and Terrie – sorry TC, am suffering a bit at present (extra poorly) and cannot even try to make a cogent comment!
I watch a show called "Newsroom" for those who not, Will McAvoy the lead character is an amalgam of many TV talking heads. Privately is he is a disenchanted republican, for the audience just one more of the many that tell us the news, not read us the news. In this short scene Will is on stage with two other people at a college or university, the Sharon and Louis. the Will addesses are the the others on stage to answer the questions posed by the students. The Professor is the moderator.
You can watch this on You Tube for the power of the delivery or read the transcript. If you have trouble with videos – go to http://www.hidemyass and enter the URL: http://youtu.be/WLh8XIT1HNM
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Will McAvoy (Jeff Daniels) gets ready to verbally disembowel a college student in a rant on America’s greatness in “We Just Decided To.”
Check out Will McAvoy’s (Jeff Daniels) opening rant to a college student question about why America is the greatest country in the world from the opening moments of “The Newsroom” pilot “We Just Decided To,” written by Aaron Sorkin. (You Tube: http://youtu.be/WLh8XIT1HNM )
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Jenny: “Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?”
Sharon: “Diversity and opportunity.”
Professor: “Louis?”
Louis: “Freedom and freedom…so let’s keep it that way.”
Professor: “Will?”
Will: “The New York Jets.”
Professor: (To Will) “No, I’m going to hold you to an answer on that. What makes America the greatest country in the world?”
Will: “Well, Louis and Sharon said it. Diversity and opportunity and freedom and freedom.”
Professor: (again to Will) “I’m not letting you go back to the airport without answering the question.”
Will: “Well, our Constitution is a masterpiece. James Madison was a genius. The Declaration of Independence is, for me, the single greatest piece of America writing…”
(Professor keeps staring).
Will: “You don’t look satisfied.”
Professor: “One’s a set of laws and the other’s a declaration of war. I want a human moment from you…what about the people? Why is America…”
Will: “It’s not the greatest country in the world, professor. That’s my answer.”
Professor: “You’re saying…”
Will: “Yes.”
Professor: “Let’s talk about…”
Will: “Fine.”
(Will turns to Sharon)
Will: “Sharon, the NEA is a loser. Yeah, it accounts for a penny out of our paycheck, but he…”
(Gestures to Louis)
Will: “…gets to hit you with it anytime he wants. It doesn’t cost money…it costs votes. It costs airtime and column inches. You know why people don’t like liberals? Cause they lose. If liberals are so fucking smart, how come they lose so god damn (elections and ideas) always?”
Sharon: “Hey…”
(Will turns to Louis.)
Will: “And with a straight face, you’re gonna tell students that America is so star-spangled awesome that we’re the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom. Japan has freedom. The UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia…Belgium has freedom! So…207 sovereign states in the world…like 180 of ‘em have freedom.”
Professor: “Alright…”
(Will turns to Jenny.) [Student at the microphone who posed the question.]
Will: “And, yeah, you…sorority girl. Just in case you wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know. One of ‘em is there’s absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we’re the greatest country in the world. We’re 7th in literacy, 27th in math, 22nd in science, 49th in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, 3rd in median household income, number 4 in labor force and number 4 in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real and defense spending, where we spend more than the next 26 countries combined, 25 of whom are allies. Now, none of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are, without a doubt, a member of the worst period generation period ever period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about! Yosemite?!”
(Silence.)
Will: “It sure used to be. We stood up for what was right. We fought for moral reason. We passed laws, struck down laws, for moral reason. We waged wars on poverty, not on poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were and we never beat our chest. We built great, big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases and we cultivated the world’s greatest artists AND the world’s greatest economy. We reached for the stars, acted like men. We aspired to intelligence, we didn’t belittle it. It didn’t make us feel inferior. We didn’t identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election and we didn’t scare so easy. We were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed…by great men, men who were revered. First step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one. America is not the greatest country in the world anymore. “
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Great piece here, America is ranked 38 in Health Care… 🙂
Loved this! It's right up there with some of the best scenes from West Wing.
I wish every student in the US could read this and understand it.
Yes, I know the above information is long and few want to bother reading anything beyond one or two quick sentences. This is I believe well worth reading or watching the whole 3 minute video.
My thoughts on what Will McAvoy stated:
Of course any one is free to disagree, but from where I sit, the writer of this show hit the problem squarely where the truth lies, it's not an enemy we now call TERRORISTS, it's not the ideas or ideals of an opposition party. It's all of us, we got lazy. We forgot that honesty, integrity and mostly education and opportunity made this a great country. All of that takes work, it takes a kind of freedom that we left behind some 30 years ago in a vague idea that only a corporate entity had answers and the government was a useless expense. We forgot what once made this a Great country, not just a good country. We forgot that those public schools and universities gave us the minds of people that had the ability to turn ideas into engines of change. We better start to regain those memories and put this country back on track for developing the future or accept that we are very far from being good and great will be reach too far.
There was a time when nothing was a reach too far, a time when we looked to science for answers and reached the moon and beyond, cured illness, (Salk gave – yes gave his vaccine for Polio to the world). Once we were great, now we are…..
misskitty, you are so right. The dumbing down of America has worked exceedingly well.
Speaker of the House John Boehner will be responsible solely without a vote….
Thank yoy misskitty for this information and I look forward to viewing it… 🙂
It is becoming more and more apparent that what the Republicans in the House are doing, no doubt abetted by their counterparts in the Senate, is engineering a coup. They WANT the U.S. to go into default. After the U.S. and the global economies crash, they move on to step two, which is to ratchet up their propaganda machine even louder than it already is to blame Obama for the crash – after all, he didn't give in to their demands – and begin impeachment proceedings, which start in the House. Don't forget, most of the individuals behind this are independently wealthy. A global economic collapse won't affect them much, because they've planned for it, and they've demonstrated over and over that they don't care who else gets hurt.
If you want some truly scary reading, peruse some of the right wing blogs calling for armed insurrection; there are more of them than you might think.
John, this comment from Bill Moyers in yesterday's "Son of Citizens United" article:
"This was an inside job by dissidents of long-standing, who, having slipped to minority status, attempted a coup d’état against majority rule."
Certainly all the rhetoric points to it.
John, you are so right. None of this will hurt them, but if they succeed, they will have power and wealth that is unimaginable.
In 2011, Mr Obama and the Democrats caved and that set the the pace for the future. Republicanus/Teabaggers felt they had Mr Obama and the Democrats with their backs against the wall, and were able to call the shots. Well it is good to see Mr Obama pushing back. And Harry Reid has finally found a pair of brass balls in dealing with Republicanus/Teabaggers. Reid needs to hold fast and show the Republicanus/Teabaggers for what they are — domestic terrorists who care only for their own position and nothing for the American people.
McTurtle has shown too many times in the past that he cannot be trusted. It is time that he experienced some of his own medicine.
JFK Jr said :
Thanks to Miss Kitty for bringing this to my attention.
I really hope he does. He has some serious competition in the next Senate race.
I was so angry at the Prez and Senate when they caved in 2011. They helped set the stage for the debacle we are facing. I hope they hold the line this time.
Thanks for your superior comments. I need to take a partial day off.