The Republican Obsession With Obstructing Obama is Endangering the Country

[babylonsister]

http://www.politicususa.com/republican-obsession-obstructing-obama-endangering-country.html


The Republican Obsession With Obstructing Obama is Endangering the Country

By: Rmuse
November 30th, 2012

snip//

There are signs that some Republicans realize the election was a repudiation of Republicans and their persistent obstructionism and refusal to help all Americans, but the majority are still of the mindset that preventing economic progress will “make President Obama a one-term President.” The Republican hatred of President Obama transcends economic policy and permeates their entire reason for living. The recent statements by some Senate Republicans that they will not confirm anyone the President nominates to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State has nothing to do with the Benghazi attack that killed four Americans and everything to do obstructing President Obama. Their opposition to any Administration proposal is not founded in sound economic or foreign policies, but their insane obsession with preventing the President from working for the American people.

Last year’s S&P report was correct in its appraisal that Republicans have made governance less stable, less effective, and less predictable, and one may have thought the election signaled that their intransigence on balanced deficit reduction was not acceptable, but they learned nothing whatsoever. In fact, they immediately trotted out Willard Romney’s tax plan, made Paul Ryan point-man on fiscal cliff negotiations, and assailed the President for not putting the Affordable Care Act on the table as a means of deficit reduction; anything to prevent raising tax rates on the wealthiest 2% of income earners. Their obsession with protecting the rich is more than just a form of mental illness; it is hazardous to this country’s economic health the American people cannot survive as long as they continue making governance less stable and effective.

President Obama gave Republicans a proposal that cuts the deficit, cuts spending, creates jobs through infrastructure improvements, and preserves tax cuts for 98% of the population and 97% of small businesses. Republicans countered with Romney’s austerity plan and greater tax cuts for the wealthy, and they show no signs of relenting despite the looming fiscal cliff. Americans cannot tolerate another four years of Republican obstructionism just to benefit 2% of the population, or Draconian cuts to social safety nets that tens-of-millions of Americans depend on for basic survival. It has come to the point that Republicans are not doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results, because they are doing the same thing they have for the past four years and expect the same results of making governance impossible, and unfortunately for America, their insane obsession with obstructing the President is a danger to economic recovery and 98% of the population.

[geckosfeet]

1. Nice summation of last weeks events that pertain to the budget/deficit negotiations.

... Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner presented President Obama's proposal for avoiding the fiscal cliff Republicans voted for last year, and Republicans dismissed it with extreme prejudice because it is not austerity with more tax cuts for the rich. The President's proposal adheres to the kind of broad framework of the deal Boehner wants with an upfront deficit-reduction "down payment" that cancels automatic tax increases and spending cuts while still signaling seriousness on the deficit, and a second stage giving Congress the opportunity to work on overhauling the tax code and social programs to secure more deficit reduction next year. Still, it does not include reducing taxes on wealthy and corporations' while drastically cutting social safety nets and spending on infrastructure. Boehner said, "The Democrats have yet to get serious about real spending cuts," and that "no substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks. Listen, this is not a game, jobs are on the line, the American economy is on the line. And this is a moment for adult leadership." Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "They took a step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff," which is simple code for not proposing severe austerity to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will not reduce the deficit.

In the CBO's Budget and Economic Outlook for Fiscal Years 2012 – 2022, it says if Bush-era tax cuts are allowed to expire at the end of the year, then the projected deficit will shrink from $1.1 trillion to $196 billion; an 82% reduction over the next six years. As a result, an increase in tax revenues combined with spending cuts will nearly halve the deficit in 2013, reducing it to $585 billion. They also claim that because the Bush-era tax cuts were never paid for, they will remain 60% of the deficit through 2019 because the country is still paying on borrowed money to benefit the wealthy.

The Republican Obsession With Obstructing Obama is Endangering the Country

The proposal presented to the republicans by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner as we know it:
READ: The White House's fiscal cliff proposal

This bears loud repeating -
[div class="excerpt" style="color:red;"]
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "They took a step backward, moving away from consensus and significantly closer to the cliff," which is simple code for not proposing severe austerity to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy that, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will not reduce the deficit.



Rather than propose anything that would immediately be recognized for what it is, (tax giveaways to the rich and imposed austerity to everyone else) McConnell and his spawn simply spew rhetoric and sit back and begin a game of chicken waiting for President Obama to begin negotiating with himself. Not this time mcc0nnell. We are sick of being forced to walk the plank by you bastards. And it's you and your pretend patrician cronies who will appear as intractable obstructionists when the peoples work fails to get done.

[DallasNE]

4. "Real Spending Cuts" Have Already Taken Place

The deficit last year was reduced by $200 billion and that was all on the spending side. The comments by both Boehner and McConnell are mostly false. And Sunday talk will attempt to place the blame on Obama. Oh, I just turned on Candy Crowley of CNN and she is blaming Obama -- duh.

[geckosfeet]

9. Yes. This is their "counter-proposal". Demonization. The president needs to stand his ground.

I wrote my congressman and voiced my support for the president and his proposal. Letting everything expire is preferable to caving to these bastards again.

[SouthernDonkey]

45. I wrote my Congressman too.

And my Republican Senator and asked him to encourage his Republican friends in the House to support the Presidents plan and stop being shills for the wealthy. I anxiously await my form letter he usually sends me.

[liberalmike27]

16. Two Years

Can we afford two years? Election cycles for Congress, the WHOLE house run in two year cycles. Start working on 2014, pass filibuster reform, get some good candidates, pass things huge majorities of Americans want, and protect SS, medicare, and medicaid, that huge Americans on both sides want left along, and let them languish. Point out frequently, through every democrat that goes on television that bills are sitting there, waiting to be passed over republicans resistance. Then actually run 2014 like a campaign, rather than quietly ignoring it. A full third of our congress gets elected each time.

Like you, most have ignored this, and we need to start paying attention. Obama needs help, and a third of it gets elected each two years in an election ,in which, we all need to be sure to vote for Democrats.

[daybranch]

30. Lets domore than that

First lets get rid of gerrymandering. This is the reason why republicans kept their majority in the House. We lost on this issue in Ohio as so many had their attention on Obama. Now we have started again at the grass roots level. We will collect the signatures to get the issue on the ballot. We will answer valid questions previously raised by republicans, we will organize and conduct an education campaign, and we will get out the vote. In this manner we will elect many more democratic House members from Ohio to help Obama. Others will do the same in their states giving democrats control of both Houses in 2014.
We also intend to organize progressive movements to get Obama to do what he can for the people without Congressional approval. Lets get moving.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

46. Pennsylvanian here.

There have been a lot of good candidates for the "gerrymander of the decade" award this cycle. North Carolina, Illinois and Texas have all dreamed up district lines that have gone well beyond what many pundits believed could be pulled off in those states. Honorable mentions go to Massachusetts and Maryland, whose districts combine to allow for the election of one Republican out of 17 districts.

But the legislators in all those states were making heavily Democratic/Republican delegations in states that were likewise heavily Democratic/Republican. That isn’t a tremendous job.

Republicans in Pennsylvania, however, took a state that is two or three points more Democratic than the country as a whole, and created 12 districts (out of 18) that are more Republican than the country as a whole. They did so by creating what can only be called a group of Rorschach-inkblot districts in southeastern Pennsylvania.

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2011/12/14/in_pennsylvania_the_gerrymander_of_the_decade_112404.html

[AAO]

38. I say fuck 'em. I'm ready to go over the edge. It's either now or never.

[DallasNE]

2. While True, This Fails To Address What Drives The Hatred For President Obama

Romney's co-chairman, John Sununu, never missed an opportunity to make blatantly racist comments. Romney played the Nixon southern strategy to the hilt. One problem, the demographics have changed enough that that strategy can no longer produce enough angry white men, even with massive voter suppression measures in hand. Think not, Christian Slater's provisional ballot was tossed because his signature did not match the signature on the registration record for Christina Slater. (I'm not making this stuff up either). Nationwide there were probably over one million provisional ballots cast with most of them tossed and they were probably 70% Democratic. Republicans can't even win in unfair elections where they control the counting. And it was all about their hatred for a black President. That hasn't changed one iota and therein lies the problem.

[John2]

6. I have

have a slightly different perspective. Most of the white hatred for President Obama does come from the South but there are a lot of wealthy white men that know better, but they use it as race baiting in order to serve their selfish greed. So you do have some middleclass and poor whites voting for Republicans. You also have some in Congress, that is bought and paid for by Wall Street.

These men have used code phrases or words to disquise their Race baiting. They always say cut spending and not paying for what you don't have. They also claim Government is taking your money. Most people see that as good habits, but if you take away the smoke, then you will see they are deceptive. They have always ran away from campaigning on cutting medicare or raising the Social Security age limit, they know they will lose. Think about it, How many of them will tell their constituents in those Red Districts, that they want to cut your Medicare or raise the age limit? Now we have them out in the open and they have to go back to their Districts, and tell poor, middleclass, and older people they meant their entitlements. In other words, we need to make more Profits. That is the Romney way. Yeah, we told you that we will create more jobs, but we really want more profits. So this is America's example of the Taliban.

[DallasNE]

10. I Understand What You Are Saying

I just don't believe that the likes of Donald Trump are faking it to serve their selfish greed. Indeed, nobody has more selfish greed than Trump but I don't buy that he knows better when it comes to his racist views. It defines who he really is.

[Live and Learn]

47. I do believe that the likes of Donald Trump are faking it

to serve his own egoism and greed but it doesn't really matter because either way he (and his 'like') have owned the title.

[xtraxritical]

43. Richard Steel, what an Uncle Tom.

[DallasNE]

48. I Presume You Are Talking About Michael Steele - n/t

[John2]

3. They

lost eight Republicans in the house, I believe? That is either 201-234 or 201-235. That means you need to find 17 or 18 republicans in the House to break with Boehner. I would target Republicans in Blue States and identify those that win close races in 2010, which will come up in 2014. Go over the cliff and let the tax rates expire. People like Allen West want have a vote. I think if the President keeps everybody energized, We can break this grid lock in his second term and everything will be even better after 2014. Judges are also approved by the Senate which has nothing to do with the House. President Obama should start electing a lot of Judges. The only interest group acting with a Knee jerk reaction is Wall Street. I think they are trying to manipulate the markets in order to make the President get a bad deal favorable to them. Wall street has always wanted to get rid of Social Security and Medicare. See who those representatives ties are to and I think you will find out the Devil in the details. John Boehner is up to his waist in bed with Wall Street and so is Erskine Bowles with that Trojan Horse of his. I'm glad they did throw that garbage out. Bowles is a conservative Democrat from North Carolina. He is also the guy that hired Holden Thorpe for the Chancellor of North Carolina. I wouldn't trust that snake as far as I can throw him. Forget about his ties to Clinton. Rahm Emanuel had ties to Clinton too.

[Demeter]

5. The Republicans Are Obsessed by Obstruction. Period

Because change means they lose, whether they actually lose or not.

Because if it wasn't their idea, they won't get any credit when it works; if it doesn't, they can say "We told you so".

It isn't always personal. But they love to get two-fers. If they can pick on someone who isn't just like them, they can exercise their prejudices as well as their ignorance and self-interest.

Hence the personal edge to their attacks: Susan Rice, Obama, and so forth.

They squeal like stuck pigs when the shoes on the other foot. Remember "Borked"? Regardless of the fact that he was evil incarnate...

[ClusterFreak]

7. They never have and never will accept that a black man is running the country.

Period. Full stop.

[jaysunb]

39. Bingo !

YOU win the prize.

[allan01]

8. re:The Republican Obsession With Obstructing Obama is Endangering the Country

the (rs) feel that they own congeress and the white house. their run has been interuppted. the rs have done this with rooosevelt , carter , clinton , etc. the rs don do a damn thing and when there is a d prez, the rs do everything in their powers to get him out . bleh

[sheshe2]

11. +1,000

K&R!

[Joey Liberal]

12. Republicans are a threat to freedom. nt

[scmoore120]

13. K&R

[Tutonic]

14. K and R

[The Wizard]

15. How does a Party that subtly

courts the Ku Klux Klan deal with a mulatto president?
It goes off the cliff with a toxic virulent strain of Teabagger Tourette's. Just cede the Confederacy and be done with them. Deliberate ignorance is an expensive bad habit.
Today's Republicans are political terrorists with a lynch mob mentality. Removing all defense spending from the Confederate States will bankrupt them.

[glinda]

17. Republicans are a threat to the Planet.

[countmyvote4real]

18. K&R

So true.

[oldbanjo]

19. It's time for someone to file charges

of "sedition" against all that are involved and make examples of them and if that causes a Civil War so be it. The 99% against the 1% and the Congress.

[smirkymonkey]

26. Thank YOU!

It's time to get serious with these obstructionist a-holes in congress. They don't deserve to have their postions and they are certainly not looking out for the greater good of the people in this nation.

[former9thward]

32. Since you seem to know the legal basis for "sedition" why don't you do that?

Waiting....

[freshwest]

20. Very well said. They did the same to FDR. It took years to get past them, we must have a Democratic

POTUS and majority in the states and congress for a generation to overcome them. Nothing is settled, except who is POTUS and the breathing space to work to change. Nothing. It's still all up for grabs in every state, and they won't change their tactics because it's worked well for their constituency and the Koch brothers.

[RepublicansRZombies]

21. They would kill us all to get their way

I have personal experience with this. These are haters. They are blinded by their hate. They will harm themselves and their own children and grandchildren and still think they are right.

It's a mental illness. They really hate themselves (which they should considering how they have been treating everyone) and instead project everything that is wrong with them on everyone else.

Unfortunately the field of psychology took a hard turn away from examining and healing these emotional dramas in people(not that those people would show up to therapy) and instead started drugging everyone.

Instead Psychology today focuses mostly on how to help us become more enthusiastic consumers.

I imagine if we were to administer a basic test to the people running the country, the vast majority are sociopaths which really makes one wonder....

Why are we letting these people make decisions for millions of people?

They are mentally ill ! They should be institutionalized, not elevated to the highest positions in society.

[RepublicansRZombies]

23. They are wrong. They have been wrong for over 30 years. Nothing we can do will make them right.

Nothing we can do can make them happy.

In other words, There is nothing we can do.

They need to deal with the fact they are wrong, be unhappy about it, then learn and move on to be better people.

We need to be the smart parent who leaves them in time out until they apologize, certainly not listen to any more pleading.

[ReallyIAmAnOptimist]

28. Totally agree.

All we can do is stay active and make sure 2014 improves the Dem margins in the House and Senate. That unfortunately is no small order.

[yends21012]

22. I bet the next Congress is going to be significantly different than this one.

More productive, more bipartisan.

We just have to get past the jerks in this congress.

[Doctor_J]

37. Not a chance

they will continue to get worse.

[RepublicansRZombies]

24. It's not just Obama, they were this way with Clinton as well

This is mental illness.

In my family, my husband and I are their Obama, their Clinton.

This is not about us, or the country, this is about a certain group of immature sociopaths that run their lives based on hate and are angry they don't always get their way.

God is love, yet these pretend "Christians" base all of their decisions, their entire world view on hate. Bizarre.

Maybe all these people needed was to watch Sesame Street when they were young, but they missed out.

Perhaps PBS could put out a new Sesame Street type show for adults, to teach them to share, to treat others with kindness-how you would want to be treated, and that we are all different but we all have wonderful gifts to offer....they seemed to have missed some basic lessons on humanity. AND they might even learn how to spell!

[Berlum]

25. Republicans need to stop their War on America and ...

halt their opposition to everything decent, worthwhile, and good. No wonder everyone regards them as stinkin a-hole FAIL freaks.

[busterbrown]

27. One serious problem here!

The 47% of the populace who voted for Romney are out and out
fucking racists and will actively support this insanity. These people
hate Obama so much that they will accept any results which prevent
him from becoming more successful in his second term.
Including watching their beloved family members die due to lack of
healthcare Insurance!

So they got the backs of all the Obstructionists in Congress!
Its just so fucking nuts! Thats 47% of all voters.

[paparush]

29. Agreed. Radical Obstructionism is not governing.

[ancianita]

31. If they shut down government they are a threat to national security. Seriously.

[madamesilverspurs]

33. Yup.

-

[hue]

34. K & R!!!!

[santamargarita]

35. What they're doing is treason and/or sedition!

Republicans used to ask us why do we hate America; physiological projection is their favorite trick. They complain about voter fraud when they're the ones doing the criminal activity-that's physiological projection.
Republicans hate America, not us!
And they're willing to do anything for political gain. Eight years of Bush Hell taught us that.

[Doctor_J]

36. I agree with Malloy

at some point we are going to have to stop complaining about them and start fighting them

[mwooldri]

40. Let's jump off that fiscal cliff! (pic)...

[Phlem]

41. Hear, Hear

Glad someone else besides the whole of DU has figured this out.



-p

[WCGreen]

42. It's borderline sabotage

[hrmjustin]

44. K&R!