House Dems. don't know how government works.

[jenmito]

They go on TV and rant on as if the Senate doesn't exist, and as if the President can make law by himself. "He caved!" "He gave the Republicans everything they wanted!" "He punted on the 3rd down!"

Some of them say things like, "We should keep fighting, even if we have to let all tax cuts expire! Then it will be on the REPUBLICANS to give tax cuts for the rich and everyone will see their true colors!" OK-THEN what? How do they think laws are made? Do they not realize the Senate has already failed twice to get bills passed that they would've accepted?

Do they not care about Gay people? Hispanics? Nuclear weapons? Would they really rather just have tantrums to "make a point" and ignore all the other things that need to get through? It sure seems that way.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

1. bah.

[jenmito]

2. Thanks for the intelligent reply.

[avaistheone1]

27. Amazing the entire Democratic caucas doesn't know how government works.

Amazing!

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[avaistheone1]

28. .

[jenmito]

33. They're either stupid or they care more about "making a statement" than getting ANYTHING done.

And if you're OK with them getting nothing done, more power to you.

[avaistheone1]

41. If this tax cut bill is the President's way of getting ANYTHING done,

please, please, please, DO NOT DO ANYTHING.

It is the President who is behaving stupidly.

Please go back to Chicago and get your own show on the Oprah channel and leave the Presidency to someone who wants to lead.

I have had enough of Obama transferring our wealth to the rich.

[jenmito]

45. Wow. Your comments show your bias against Obama which has nothing to do with this subject. n/t

[avaistheone1]

49. If you consider this my bias against the President.

Then I am glad that it shows. Thank you.

[jenmito]

51. Maybe you're not a Dem.

:shrug:

[avaistheone1]

53. Maybe you're not.

:popcorn:

[ChairmanAgnostic]

67. hey, stop that! Please! Look,

he already sent back Rahm to us, and we don't like that one bit.

Luckily Rahm is suffering major setbacks due to his lack of residency.

[Hawkowl]

42. Nothing is better than something

If the nothing that is accomplished is actually better POLICY than the so called do "anything", then THAT is governing. Tax cuts and no financial oversight are what CAUSED the economic meltdown. Now you're advocating more of the same, just to "do something".

It appears that you don't know how government works. You apparently think it is a basketball game and we should just cheer Obama cause he makes a basket. Oh forget that he keeps throwing the ball in the wrong fucking basket. At least you don't know how the government should work, doing the most for the most.

[jenmito]

47. I bet you wouldn't think that way if you were unemployed or were about

to get your taxes raised (and you made less than $250,000). I bet you wouldn't think that way if you were gay and in the military or Hispanic and wanting to go to college or into the military. You're selfish.

[Bluenorthwest]

48. I'm gay and I find your remarks insulting and verbally imperialist

You are insulting my elected Representative, who supports my rights, as a way to 'support' a politician who does not support equal rights. Then you wave those rights as if you own them. Obama says straight people are 'sanctified by God' and that our marriages are not. So you are far out of bounds.
To suggest that experienced Democrats do not know how government works is an anti-Democratic message.

[jenmito]

55. Give it a rest already.

I'm very aware that you're gay and that you think Obama is anti-gay rights. He's not. Why do you think he wants to get this bill passed? So they can move on to the repeal of DADT. He's been calling members of the Senate to get the votes needed. And as I've said before, Robert Gibbs has said Obama's views on gay marriage are evolving. I think he's personally pro-gay marriage, since the church he went to for 20 years is pro-gay marriage. I'm hoping he'll come around to the right position so you and other GLBT people can get married, but to lump him in with bigots as you've done time and time again is wrong.

[Hawkowl]

54. We all go, or nobody does

What about the 99'ers? Eh? So fuck them? That's your attitude? Not to mention fucking over the entire economy so that a lot more WILL become unemployed as the rich get their welfare payments(borrowed from the Chinese) and send them off shore?

Not to mention undermining Social Security with a tax break on the low end, but no elimination of the income cap that could easily pay for the tax break. Obama's proposal further feeds into rightwing propaganda that SS is insolvent.

The DADT and Dream Act should not be wrapped up in tax breaks for the rich. Sorry Obama has done this one too many times--lying about his progressive intentions, then pulling out the rug at the last minute to side with the Rethuglicans. He did it with the Public Option and he is doing it now with Welfare for millionaires. Once he gets his Welfare program passed, he will drop the Dream Act and DADT like hot rocks--because, "whine, whimper" po lil Obama doesn't have the votes.

(And my taxes will go up if it doesn't pass. I'll pay between an extra $4,000 - $5,000)

[jenmito]

58. The 99ers will hopefully get unemployment extensions in a seperate bill. I wish

it were in THIS bill but it's not. But what IS in it is better than nothing, especially so that they can move on to other things.

If your belief is that Obama is "really" against repeal of DADT and the DREAM Act, I won't even TRY to change your mind.

[Hawkowl]

63. Not good enough

No, the 99'ers need to be in THIS bill. A social security tax cut needs to be offset by a SS tax on the upper levels in THIS BILL. (I'm advocating taxing myself here). Social Security needs to be protected at all costs. And if Obama actually included DADT and the Dream Act in THIS bill I would swallow my vomit, and support it. The fact that he didn't include makes me doubt his sincerity precisely because of his week kneed, past performances.

[Aramchek]

57. intelligence is the last thing you should expect from Obama haters

[jenmito]

59. You're right.

[avaistheone1]

26. .

[Cant trust em]

3. Why do people think that republicans would look bad if taxes went up?

That plays right into their mantra for 30 years that democrats want to increase taxes.

This whole situation was a win win for them.

[jenmito]

7. I don't know! It makes no sense. They seem to think they can shame Republicans.

They don't HAVE any shame.

[Hello_Kitty]

15. Most people would barely notice the increase in the tax rate.

It's the tax credits that go to parents that would be noticed. And as Rachel pointed out the other night, the GOP loves the Child Tax Credit. It's unbelievable that people are acting like extending that was some great concession by the GOP. Please. It's a tax credit that goes to middle class white Republican families.

[Cant trust em]

68. Are middle class white democrats unable to access the credit? nt

[niceypoo]

19. Have you seen polls?

70% want the Bush tax cuts for the rich to end.

[Cant trust em]

34. I wonder what polls say about middle income tax increases.

Do you think that republicans would get blamed for letting them go up?

[jenmito]

44. The latest poll shows something very different:

December 8, 2010
Americans Support Two Major Elements of Tax Compromise
Liberal vs. conservative/moderate Democrats disagree on extending tax cuts for all
by Lydia Saad

PRINCETON, NJ -- Two major elements included in the tax agreement reached Monday between President Barack Obama and Republican leaders in Congress meet with broad public support. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) favor extending the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for all Americans for two years, and an identical number support extending unemployment benefits for the long-term unemployed.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/145109/Americans-Support-Major-Elements-Tax-Compromise.aspx

[PVnRT]

46. That is not the same question

"extending tax cuts for all Americans" does not equal "extending tax cuts for all but the wealthy"

If the choice was between extending all tax cuts and extending none, then of course most people would respond the way the poll reports. Continuous quoting of that result does nothing to boost your argument.

[jenmito]

50. Oh, so you admit that most people are FOR extending all tax cuts than

AGAINST extending them. Looks like The House Dems. are in the minority then, since the best deal they can get is all extended for 2 years. The Senate tried other scenarios and failed.

[PVnRT]

56. No, I said it wasn't the same question

You trotted out that statistic as if it somehow refuted the fact that an overwhelming majority in this country favor letting tax cuts for the wealthy expire. It does no such thing.

[jenmito]

60. Let's see a link that backs up what you say about the "overwhelming majority" then. n/t

[dkf]

4. I listen to our Dem Reps go off and I am wondering how many have a clue.

It is not confidence building to say the least.

[jenmito]

8. Same here.

[Enrique]

5. not all of them

there's a couple of Blue Dogs that are outraged at the dem caucus' opposition to Obama.

[TwilightGardener]

6. All they're doing now is posturing for their constituents. They lost their

window for action two months ago, and they know it.

[jenmito]

10. Well, Sen. Sherrod Brown just said HE'S against, it, too, and is urging others to vote

against it even though HIS SENATE voted no twice and failed-even for tax cuts up to $1 million!

[TwilightGardener]

13. Yeah, but he's blowing hot air for his own career, just like the rest

of them. They're all 100% into their own job security, and pretty much nothing else.

[jenmito]

16. That's too bad...

I thought he was one of the good ones.

[TwilightGardener]

21. I don't think he's a bad guy, but where was his "urging" to vote FOR

the middle class only tax cuts--when they all knew Webb, Nelson, etc. were going to vote no? Why didn't the Senate Dems assure Obama that they could get 60 votes for the better tax deal? Sounds like the Senate just shrugged and gave up.

[jenmito]

23. Good question...

it seems like he just jumped on the "Blame Obama" bandwagon.

[Cant trust em]

69. I really urge you to not think of progressive democrats as the bad ones.

Let's concentrate those kind of statements on guys like Ben Nelson who hasn't done shit for us since Obama took office.

[phleshdef]

9. They are going out of their way to prove the President's "sanctimonious and pure" comments accurate.

[jenmito]

17. They sure are! Don't they realize that his approval is more than double THEIR approval ratings?

This won't help them. They look like babies.

[bushisanidiot]

11. EXACTLY! They've already voted on our version of the bill twice

and it didn't go anywhere. How in the hell do they think the republicans are going to find it in their hearts to do the right thing?? THEY WON'T!

WE are the party that cares about the little guy. And WE cannot let King Solomon cut the baby in half just to prove how mean the other side is. EVERYONE loses that way!

[jenmito]

18. Yup...

I don't see how they'll get this message through their heads, especially when there seem to be so many uninformed Dems. who AGREE with them in their glee to blame Obama.

[displacedvermoter]

12. They must have slept through civics class too!

That is what is being said about all of us of the great unwashed who also clearly don't understand anything about government!

[Supersedeas]

14. Last I looked the 'government' was bicameral -- yet the fat deal with Senate Repukes

for huge Estate Tax without any consulation with the House.

Why even have House elections if Senate Repubs can strike up deals without involvement of the House.

Oh yea, that's now how our democracy works. Bygones.

[Phx_Dem]

20. Apparently not. Either that, or all they care about is playing for the cameras. n/t

[Catherina]

22. This is getting more nauseating by the minute. Unrec. n/t

[jenmito]

24. What's nauseating about it that caused you to unrec? Care to explain? n/t

[harun]

71. Got that right, getting tired of explaining it. Unrec.

[Laelth]

25. Happy to unrec. n/t

-Laelth

[jenmito]

35. So you're happy that nothing will get done?

[harun]

72. I wouldn't call Limbaugh's taxes going up nearly 3 million a year nothing.

[niceypoo]

29. Either that, or...

...Obama blew it

[jenmito]

36. Explain how that works, because you sound like the House Dems. Are you

saying the Senate didn't blow it-but OBAMA did?

[golddigger]

30. Happy to unrec the circle jerk.

[avaistheone1]

31. Un-recommend

this ridiculous thread.

[jenmito]

37. So many posts by you on this thread with

so little to say.

[Hawkowl]

43. Look in the mirror.. nt

[jenmito]

62. OK. So?

[CakeGrrl]

32. So apparently in their spare time,

some of them post on DU. Same thing we've been hearing here all week.

[Bluenorthwest]

66. How shocking that Representative reflect the voices of the

people.

[tritsofme]

38. The temper tantrum is getting rather pathetic.

They will whine for a few days, but the compromise reached by the president will pass the House by the end of the year.

The problem as you point out is that they are irresponsibly burning up clock time. Senate Republicans are blocking all legislation until the tax issue is resolved, so if this package is going to pass anyways, we might as well get it done and move on to DADT, DREAM, ect.

These kind of actions makes me think House Democrats are rather satisfied with being in the minority, and that they can't wait to free themselves from the shackles of actually having to govern.

[TwilightGardener]

39. Agree--and your last sentence is spot on, in light of Rep. Grijalva

saying a couple days ago that the Democrats should just give up and let the tax cuts all expire, and then the Republicans can just do everything their way in January. That was one of the most unbelievable statements I've ever heard from a Dem Congress member.

[jenmito]

40. Very well put! n/t

[bullwinkle428]

52. What? The Pukes are just going to rush over to our side on DADT, DREAM, and START,

because we take this deal that they're positively salivating over?

Have any of them even made a remote promise regarding this?

[jenmito]

61. On DADT repeal and START, YES.

Enough Repubs. to pass these things HAVE said they'd vote yes once the tax bill was passed.

[tweeternik]

64. Thanks, jenmito! Spot on!

These things are interconnected. Let's keep pushing to make the current tax "deal" better, but realize that taking too much time now to resolve this will delay other very important issues in this lame duck session. AND it won't get any better for "our" side next month!

[jenmito]

65. Thanks, tweety!

:D

[randr]

70. It is not just how the government works that they are ignorant of

they have no clue how politics works in this day and age.
When your opponent is down, as were the repugs following Obama's victory, you kick him so he can't get up!