There are all kinds of headlines right now that suggest House Republicans could cave and Obama is getting a lift from the payroll tax battle. And while all day long we’ve seen Republicans getting flustered, the President took Bo the dog to Petsmart and bought him a chew toy. He’s the ice man, I tell you.
Every picture tells a story. See a whole lot of graphs about the economy at the Atlantic and and Wonkblog.
Just don’t bother with the mean and stupid comments on the shopping trip.
There is so much going, that sometime it’s hard to keep track of the entire story, so I don’t remember who it was who suggested that the payroll tax only get a 2 month extension.
It doesn’t sound like something the Democrats would do – at least not most of the – some of them, I don’t know wtf they’re thinking; I’m looking at you, Ben Nelson. But just think, even if the House Repulsicans agree to it now, they’ll still have to face the same music again 2 months from now.
If the Repulsicans want to keep having this fight over keeping a middle class tax or increasing it, throughout an election year, I say “GOOD!” Jesus, even some of the most obtuse members of the MSM have actually spelled out who is at fault here. Certainly not all of them, too many make their money being obtuse, but at least a few more than usual. I just can’t believe that Senate Repulsicans only wanted it for 2 months, and not a year. It’s kind of like a political Holiday gift (I didn’t write Christmas on purpose – just to piss the righties off).
So, if the House does pass it now, can we look forward to them acting the same way in February, or will they fold and extend it throughout the year? It’ll be interesting to watch. Being obtuse isn’t limited to the press. As a matter of fact, I think being obtuse would be a step up for almost all of the House Repulsicans.
My understanding is that the two months were just to give Congress more time beyond January 1, when the old legislation runs out, to make the 12-month deal.
They’ve been doing this with all kinds of legislation. For example, last year the Republicans kept balking at passing the “doc fix,” so instead of just having one vote that renewed the “fix” for the year — what they’d been doing since 2003 — the Republicans kept drawing out negotiations and forcing votes that extended the “fix” for a couple of months, so they could keep arguing about it. This was working for them politically, because a lot of people were assuming that the reason Medicare reimbursements were about to be cut had to do with “Obamacare.” The Republicans were going to their constituents and saying that they passed the Affordable Care Act, and now Medicare reimbursements are going to be cut by almost 24 percent. They didn’t bother explaining that one thing had nothing to do with the other. (See, for example, my post from last year, “Die Quickly for the GOP, or Righties Still Can’t Read.”)
My impression is that two-month extensions are the automatic fallback position whenever some deadline looms, so that Republicans can continue to yammer and demagogue about it, whatever it is. And, of course, they are automatically against anything the President is for. But this time the House Republicans — who appear to be a genuinely stupid lot — didn’t realize that opposing a payroll tax cut might come back to bite them.
“But this time the House Republicans — who appear to be a genuinely stupid lot…”
Not only that, but these are 100% GENUINE authentic American Idiot’s – though not suitable for framing.
You can’t just get idiots like this in any country – it takes “American Exceptionalism” to raise generations of 100% genuine authentic American Idiot’s like our Republicans.
Our Democrats, however, are always suitable for framing, or boxing into corners. No holiday’s are required for that. They’re happily framed or boxed all year round!
Back on topic, maha – thanks for explaining this to me. I think I’m starting to suffer from “non-sensory” overload.
I suspect Republican presidents did much of the same semi-organized photo-ops-disguised as regular-guy errands, but I never knew. I have no idea where George and Laura shopped for their pets or which restaurants in DC they liked (they were pretty well-known as homebodies, right?). Bush gets flack for his trips back to the ranch not because he took them per se, but because he took so damn many of them.
From the wingnut POV Obama really must be a little boy taking advantage of all the perks — Wii games for his daughters, trips to Europe to see his friends, taking his best girl out for a night in New York City … Every time the Secret Service steps foot on ground outside of the White House we lose $10,000 that should have gone to the deficit.
One of the things we’re witnessing in this incoherent display of our Congress at work is the bottom-line affect money has on the political process. Boehner etal are being held hostage by a minority of the House members (Tea Party newbies) whom he must obey if he wants big-money (Kochs etal) poured into his next campaign.
I hope the Supreme Court Justices who decided in favor of the United case are watching this debacle – not that I think it will change their comatose brains – but they just might have at least one sleepless night realizing that they managed to put the final nail in the coffin wherein lies this republic.
Wondering the goals, platform (whatever) of the Tea Party, I looked up the John Birch Society – the Tea Party being but another name for Birchers. Fascinating.
Patriarch Fred Koch was a founding member of the John Birch Society. He helped engineer an hysterical wave of attacks on labor, intellectuals, public education, liberal clergy members and other pillars of society he viewed as a threat. The Koch family name is justifiably synonymous with right-wing plutocracy.
Old Fred also made it known that Black Americans were, somehow, also a threat. And now we have a Black American president?
Pretty accurate description of today’s Tea Party agenda.
I’m a little stunned that a chew toy costs $25 in DC. I’ve had shoes that filled that position.
Anybody that takes their dog out for an adventure wins my vote. As long as he knows what the bar code scanner is doing.
Paula — as I remember, at the very beginning of his administration, President George W. Bush had a proclivity for getting his picture taken surrounded by African-American schoolchildren, all standing in front of a banner saying “No Child Left Behind.” Then after the Iraq War broke out, he mostly was photographed in the company of soldiers and marines, often while wearing some kind of quasi-military garb himself (e.g., flight suits; “Eisehnhower” jackets with some military insignia). He had some of his best photo ops after Hurricane Katrina; I am especially fond of “Bush and Firemen” (the firemen were flown to where Bush was for the picture) and “Bush with a tool belt.” Priceless.
And who can ever forget his memorable “Mission Accomplished” turn as a crack ‘Top Gun’ pilot when he sat in the back of a jet landing on an aircraft carrier, and emerged wearing a flight suit with a codpiece that looked like it was protecting an extra-large ring of kielbasa, instead of the last lone little gherkin in a big pickle jar, which would probably have been a more accurate description of Little Boots’ really tiny rooter-tooter of a baby-booter – in other words, all codpiece, and the only dick he had was his VP.
The codpiece is the image that should be engraved on the gravestone of this idiotic loser of a man-child with Daddy-issues – but one who had a highly paid PR crew on staff to stuff this empty codpiece of a man wherever he went, to make him look larger than real life made him.
gulag — I was just envisioning a coffee table book of Bush photo ops.
Yeah, but would you want to clean up the urp on the coffee table if anyone actually opened it up and looked in it?