Category: Congress

Harry Reid Prepares to Stick It to Tom Coburn

Tom Coburn, the Australopithecine Senator from Oklahoma, has repeatedly abused the Senate courtesy known as a “hold”, and has applied it to over 100 bills, and Harry Reid has had enough, so he has repackaged all of these bills into an omnibus legislative package that will hit the floor in August.

Reid in uncharacteristically blunt language, says of Coburn, “For those of you who may not know this, you cannot negotiate with Coburn. It’s something that you learn over the years, that it’s a waste of time.”

Seeing as how this legislation will have earmarks and pork for many pet projects, all Reid has to do is to peel off 9 Republicans limit debate and get it passed.

Of course, they could vote against the bills….two months before election day….

Some More Senate Polls

In Louisiana, we have Rasmussen Reports™ saying that:

U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu now attracts 49% of the vote in her bid for re-election while Republican challenger John Kennedy earns 44%. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that, when “leaners” are included, it’s Landrieu 51% Kennedy 45%.

I think that this is significant, because she is above 50%, which is the worry point for an incumbent.

We also have an SurveyUSA Election Poll for Minnesota which shows Franken down by 13%, 39% to 52% to Coleman.

Both Survey USA and Rasmussen are reliable, so I’m unclear whether this poll, or the one from last night, which showed Franken up by 2%, is accurate.

In terms of how much I care, I care more about Minnesota than Louisiana, because we have a real Democrat running in Minnesota, and I think that after the ethnic cleansing of post Katrina Louisiana, the state is no longer viable territory.

Curt Weldon, and a Lot of People Around Him, Are Going to Jail

Cecelia Grimes, a lobbyist with very close ties to Curt Weldon, has been charged with destroying evidence related to the investigation of former Congressman Curt Weldon’s corruption. Among other things she:

  • Threw out her blackberry in a trash can at a Arbys.

And in her trash at home, she threw out:

  • Grand-jury subpoenas
  • Amtrak receipts
  • American airline boarding passes
  • Fourteen RSVP cards for a dinner honoring Weldon, which call for responses to be sent to Grimes.

Which the FBI recovered from her garbage.

If she doesn’t sing, she will be going to jail for a very long time….My guess is that she will sing, and Weldon will do time, but I’m an optimist.

Previous posts on Weldon’s slime here.

Krugman Nails it Again

Toady, he’s writing about the Medicare vote, and he writes about the underlying issues, not the drama of Kennedy showing up to break a filibuster.

Specifically, he notes that in 2003, Bush and His Evil Minions got the so called Medicare Modernization Act though congress, and a big part of it was a very poison pill, large subsidies for the private insurer run Medicare Advantage.

Because these plans are heavily subsidized, they suck money out of the program, making a fiscal crisis even worse.

Because these plans require larger premiums, they also exclude the poor.

So you create a two tiered system, where the rich tier sucks the marrow out of the poor tier.

Basic Republican social programs: Reverse Robin Hood.

Krugman is also far more sanguine about the possibility of real reform next year, because the Dems held together, and the Republicans caved when hit with the full force of the AMA over the July 4th weekend.

Me, I’m more of a pessimist. My goals are less extreme. Just remove the preemption clause from ERISA, and let the states compete, and businesses will migrate to places where they aren’t shafted by the healthcare system.

Reid Appears to be Backing Away from Lieberman for 2009.

His response to questions about whether Lieberman would be chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee is now, “Let’s talk about this year.

Not surprising. In addition to lying about the Democratic nominee, and endorsing the Republican, he’s also been a craptacular committee chairman. No hearings on anything that might embarrass Bush and His Evil Minions, like the failures of Katrina.

Pelosi Says Judiciary May Hold Impeachment Hearings

It appears that Kucinich is offering a “privileged resolution”, and Ms. “Not on the Table” says that there may be actual hearings.

“This is a Judiciary Committee matter, and I believe we will some attention being paid to it by the Judiciary Committee,” Pelosi told reporters. “Not necessarily taking up the articles of impeachment because that would have to be approved on the floor, but to have some hearings on the subject.”

Pelosi added: “My expectation is that there will be some review of that in the committee.”

Something odd is going on…I’m just not sure if it will be a good odd, or a bad odd.

The Rude Pundit Picks His Battles

The Rude Pundit notes that he gets a lot of chickensh#@ criticisms of Obama in his email from people who never listed to what Obama said, and so are shocked to find that he is pro gun, pro death penalty, pro “faith based program”, etc. and in his own profane way, says that these people are either clueless, or McCain concern trolls.

That being said, but he does state that there are valid critiques:

Like this one: Barack Obama’s reversal of his position on the FISA Amendments Act of 2008 was a craven, cowardly bullsh#$ move that ought to haunt him with the left (and libertarian right) for the rest of the campaign. By voting for the bill yesterday (including voting for cloture), Obama made a mistake that is the political equivalent of Hillary Clinton’s Iraq war vote. (They are not morally equivalent, since the dead would probably rather be alive and spied on.) And while there’s no telling how Clinton would have voted had she been the nominee, just as there’s no way to know how Obama would have voted on the war had he been in the Senate in 2002, the New York Senator was unencumbered and able to take the moral high ground and voted against the bill.

I honestly believe that the Rude Pundit cannot believe that he wrote that Hillary Clinton took the high moral ground.

I can’t believe that I’m writing that Hillary Clinton took the high moral ground.

In any case, if Obama loses to the sick old man in November, he did it today, because at its core, much of the power of movement supporting him comes not from the number of supporters, but from the enthusiasm of those supporters, and a whole lot of them are seriously non-enthused.

He just made the same vote that Hillary Clinton did to authorize the war. The only question is whether it will kill his campaign as it did hers.

In any case, go read his post. He’s always insightful and entertaining, if somewhat profane.

Update on Barrow-Thomas in Ga-12

The efforts of Blue America Political Action Committee et. al is getting local coverage in the Savannah Morning News.

Blue America PAC is dropping $40K-$50K on ads saying the Barrow is Bush’s, “rubber stamp”, and may also include radio and TV ads.

Give to Regina Thomas, a real Democrat. As of the last campaign finance report, Thomas had about $11K in the bank as compared to Barrow’s more than $1M, but the dynamics of the district, the primary voters are over 70% AA, make winning the primary a real possibility.