Submitted by letsgetitdone on Mon, 03/11/2013 - 9:01pm
The popular narrative in Washington, DC these days among the MSM pundits is that the Congress is “dysfunctional” in the sense that it is very difficult for it to pass a budget and rise above periodic “fiscal” “debt” and “deficit” crises. This difficulty is attributed to the failure of our representatives to rise above their party interests and to accept compromises proposed by “adults” such as the President, which would, it's claimed, resolve our long term “fiscal sustainability”/”fiscal responsibility” problem through a “balanced” long-term $4 Trillion deficit reduction plan. Read below the fold...
Submitted by libbyliberal on Wed, 03/06/2013 - 8:55pm
Submitted by Hugh on Thu, 01/27/2011 - 11:33am
I suppose you could say that it is irrelevant whether the filibuster stays or goes. We will have corporatist government either way. Filibuster reform assumes our system can be fixed. But our system, like everything else, has been stolen to serve the interests of a few. If we could fix things, we would not eliminate the filibuster. We would eliminate the Senate. Read below the fold...
Submitted by chicago dyke on Mon, 10/11/2010 - 5:40pm
Despite being a blogger who blogs about politics, I actually know more about Sumerian grammar than I do about American political history, and I readily admit that. So this comment by reader Joe really intrigued me:
By the way, I think the filibuster issue is one of Corrente's major blind spots. I don't think the degree to which filibuster abuse has completely altered our system of governance can be overemphasized.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Wed, 10/06/2010 - 11:25pm
A little while ago I did a piece on tweeting the fear card, and the attempts of certain supporters of the Democrats in this year's elections to persuade dissatisfied and angry progressives that severe damage will be done to the country if the Republicans take over the House, the implication being that severe damage will not also be done if the Democrats retain control of the House. As the election has approached the fear card is being supplemented by the guilt card. Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Sun, 09/19/2010 - 10:43pm
Earlier this month, Thomas Geoghegan wrote a piece for The Nation telling the Democrats the ten things they could do to really get the base excited, and at the same time do good things for the country. Here's his list.
1. Raise Social Security to 50 percent of working income.
2. Let's extend Medicare to people 55 to 65.
3. Make it a civil right to join, or not to join, a labor union.
4. Put in a usury cap of 16 percent.
5. Set up small government banks like the German Sparkasse.
6. Give everyone the right to six days of vacation -- six consecutive paid working days.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Sat, 07/24/2010 - 1:45am
These last couple of days, I happened to see a couple of pieces by Robert Borosage. The first of these called “Kick the Old and Disabled to Show We're Serious About Deficits,” is about organizing and fighting back against the deficit terrorist movement to cut Social Security, and reported that Borosage's organization, the Campaign for America's Future, “has joined with 50 other organizations (and growing) representing 35 million Americans to form a coalition”, called “Strengthen Social Security.” He also refers to a panel on Social Security at Netroots Nation that will be “inviting the bloggers across the country to help fend off the assault on Social Security, and join the debate about priorities over the next years.” Then he ends with this: Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Thu, 07/15/2010 - 1:26pm
These days the chattering classes often converse about how the Democrats can get their base charged up and working for the fall elections. For example, Greg Sargent at the Plum Line blog says:
”As you know, over the weekend Robert Gibbs dropped a political bomb, saying that Republicans just may take back the House. His comments are being widely interpreted as an urgent warning designed to get rank and file Dems to grasp the stakes of the midterms once and for all.
”But here's the question: Will rank and file Democrats care? The thinking among Dem strategists appears to be that once Dems realize the midterms are a "choice" election, rather than merely a referendum on Dems, they'll go out and vote. But what if Dems do see this as a referendum on their party's rule, and base their enthusiasm solely on whether they are energized by the Dem performance?”
Read below the fold...
Submitted by JG on Wed, 02/10/2010 - 2:13am
From the boston.com front page:
Seeing this led me to believe that the nominee was soundly defeated by a majority of senators. Curious, I checked the roll call. It turns out that according to the Boston Globe, 39% of voting senators (and just a third of all senators) constitutes a majority. Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 3:40pm
For some time now discussions have been going on in the blogosphere about the filibuster and whether or not to get rid of it. Read below the fold...
Submitted by madamab on Fri, 02/05/2010 - 2:43pm
I just got this petition from Credo Action. I think it's a good one, and they tend to have a lot of signatories. If you feel the same way, take a second to click this link.
The text of the petition:
A Republican Senator from Alabama has put what is by all accounts an extraordinary "blanket hold" on almost every single nomination that President Obama has sent to the Senate.
This is what happens when the Democratic leadership plays nice with bullies. The country loses. And if Sen. Richard Shelby is successful, this kind of extortion will only get worse.
Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Tue, 01/26/2010 - 1:43am
For the Democrats in Congress, winning in November isn't rocket science; it's about having the will to pursue survival ruthlessly. The key to winning is giving the American people what they'll like, and not allowing any of the normal Washington obstacles to stand in the way. But, for Dems to act that way depends on them changing both their beliefs and their behavior. Let's start with the beliefs. Read below the fold...
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Wed, 01/20/2010 - 3:30am
Well, it's official, or pretty official anyway. Scott Brown has been elected to Teddy Kennedy's old seat and Martha Coakley has conceded. Some Democrats are blaming Coakley for running an inept campaign, and this may well have accounted for Brown's margin of victory. But the real question is what allowed him to get close at all. The theory I subscribe to says that the Massachusetts special election for the Senate became nationalized around the pending health care reform bill. Read below the fold...
Submitted by madamab on Tue, 01/12/2010 - 9:17am
Submitted by letsgetitdone on Sun, 01/03/2010 - 10:04pm
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