Obstruction-obsessed McConnell to Democrats: If you think its bad now, wait till next year

Dems push to speed up slow Senate
Senate Democrats spent the lame-duck session slogging through endless motions to break Filibusters, yet they’re quietly maneuvering to curtail these Senate stall tactics – even though they’ll have a weaker Caucus next year. After weeks of closed-door meetings, Democratic reformers are pushing a handful of rules changes, including a simple majority to change Senate rules at the start of a Congress, a requirement for senators to actually filibuster when they’re filibuster...

Why McConnell doesn't bother with pretense
WHY MCCONNELL DOESN'T BOTHER WITH PRETENSE.... There's something to be said for candor. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said this week that he has every intention of taking the unprecedented obstructionism of recent years and making it even worse next year. This is the latest in a streak, of sorts. The comments come on the heels of McConnell admitting that destroying the Obama presidency is his top priority; he'll only consider negotiating with the White House if they agree to g...

Obstruction-Obsessed McConnell To Democrats: If You Think Its Bad Now, Wait Till Next Year
The 111th Congress witnessed a record amount of Republican obstruction. Wielding an unprecedented number of Filibusters, the GOP waged war against the Democratic agenda to defeat Obama, apparently viewing unemployed workers, judicial nominees, service members, and even 9/11 Rescue Workers as Collateral Damage. As Congress entered the lame-duck session, Senate Republicans threw ‘operation obstruction’ into overdrive. In a rare moment of honesty, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) openly admitte...

The Worst Economic Decisions of 2010
3. The Estate Tax. First Congress allowed the tax to expire, granting a Windfall to the heirs of Billionaires who happened to die this year. Then, by failing to act until a week ago, it created massive uncertainty over what would happen to the levy in 2011 and beyond. Had Congress done nothing, the estate tax would have reverted to relatively tough 2001 rules. Instead, Congress restored the tax in a more generous form than ever before. The heirs of a handful of super-rich estates benefit, and th...

Desperately Needed: Senate GOP Leadership With Balls
After the last few days of watching the Senate, I'm prompted to ask: Where is the Republican Leadership and why all the cave-ins to the liberals? The START to Disarm America Treaty, "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" Repeal, the phony "Food Safety" act--these are important issues that shouldn't be shoved through in a Lame Duck session. But they have been, thanks to several RINOs like pin-up boy Scott Brown, Susan Collins, et al. You know the GOP cave-in to the liberals is so bad when even the King of the...

Lisa Murkowski The Lone Republican Senator Who Voted For DADT, START, DREAM and Tax-Cut Deal
(Politico)- Lisa Murkowski isn’t gunning down caribou on national TV like that other famous Alaskan, but the Republican lawmaker is Going Rogue in the Senate just weeks after staging the most stunning back-from-the-dead political win of the 2010 cycle. Murkowski is already showing a fierce independent streak, becoming the only Republican to cast votes on all four items on President Barack Obama’s wish list: a Repeal of “don’t ask, don’t tell,” a tax-cut compro...

Reid raises stakes for Congress
(CNN) - In a rare interview, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid previewed the next Congressional session and hyped a productive lame-duck session that included a bipartisan tax deal, the repeal of the "don't ask, don' tell" policy, passage of the New START and a bill to provide medical care to rescue workers sickened from their work at ground zero. "I think you saw in this very short congested work period we had is Democrats and Republicans were working together," the top Senate Democrat said We...

Schumer predicts bipartisanship early in 112th Congress
One of the Senate's top Democrats said Thursday he expects the next six months to be an unusually productive time in Congress. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) expressed hope the productive lame-duck session had touched off an end — at least a temporary one — to the acrimony between the parties that marked much of the last two years on Capitol Hill. "My prediction: The next sixth months will be more like the lame-duck, where there was a lot of Productivity, than like the previous two years,...

McConnell suddenly seems less formidable
For two years, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) maintained iron discipline over his 40-member conference, mustered a mostly-united opposition against the White House – and helped define the GOP as “the Party of No” in the eyes of critics. But in the waning days of the 111th Congress the White House and Democrats think they have finally found a crack in Fortress McConnell. On two critical pieces of Legislation - the Repeal of “don’t ask, don’t ...

'Lame duck' Congress morphed into Energizer Bunny
(12-23) 06:23 PST WASHINGTON (AP) -- This is the story of a "lame duck" Congress that wasn't. Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised. From tax cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the repeal of the ban on openly serving gay soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective sh...

Neil Cavuto: Bernie Sanders Will Need Depends To Filibuster Tax Cut Deal
Our friends at News Hounds caught this one from the other day. Besides the fact that it is completely disrespectful to Sen. Sanders, I've got another point to make. What Bernie Sanders did the other day with his eight and a half hour long Speech on the floor of the Senate was not technically a Filibuster. No one seems to think it's necessary to make a Senator who wants to hold up a bill actually take to the floor and do what Bernie did. All they have to do is put an anonymous hold on a bill and ...

An Outgoing Paean
By Carl Y'know, we bitch and moan about Democrats, but compared to Republicans, they can actually get shit done: The outgoing 111th Congress is among the most productive in history, in spite of its reputation for gridlock and 13 percent approval ra...

Senate poised to pass nuclear treaty, giving Obama a major victory
Reporting from Washington — A new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain Senate ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes on the treaty Wednesday, giving the White House a major Foreign Policy victory. The Republican support for the agreement, known as ...

Senate poised to pass nuclear treaty, giving Obama a major victory
Reporting from Washington — A new arms reduction treaty between the United States and Russia seemed headed for certain Senate ratification after Republican opposition crumbled Tuesday beneath a torrid campaign of White House pressure. Eleven Republican senators joined Democrats in cutting off debate over the treaty, and more could join when the Senate votes on the treaty Wednesday, giving the White House a major Foreign Policy victory. The Republican support for the agreement, known as ...

Revived Obama celebrates year-end wins
President Barack Obama capped a crisis-strewn first two White House years flexing restored power at home and abroad after securing big wins from a supposedly "Lame Duck" Congress. Obama won Senate ratification of a new nuclear arms treaty with Russia, which he said sent a "powerful signal" to the world, and fulfilled a Democratic dream by signing a bill allowing gays to serve openly in the Military. On both issues, the president took on and beat fierce obstruction by Republicans just six weeks a...

Memo to Obama: Enjoy the success while it lasts
Buoyant in political victory, President Barack Obama on Wednesday wrapped up a long, rough year in Washington by rejoicing in a rare, Bipartisan “season of progress” over Tax Cuts, National Security and civil justice. Halfway through his term, he served notice to his skeptics: “I am persistent.” The president who strode on stage for a news conference cut a remarkably different figure than the Obama who, just seven weeks ago, held a similar event in which he somberly admit...

Quote of the Day
QUOTE OF THE DAY.... By some measures, Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is an exceptional Senate Minority Leader. This may seem counterintuitive given his personal and professional characteristics: he's not honest; he doesn't negotiate in good faith; he has no real respect for institutional norms; he's proven himself willing to put his party's interests above the nation's interests; and he's never demonstrated any working knowledge of any area of Public Policy. But if it's the job of the Senate Minorit...

Can Obamas political rebound last?
President Barack Obama, whose first two years were marked by staunchly partisan votes on his signature initiatives, finds himself at a crossroads. In the seven weeks since the election, Obama negotiated with Republican leaders on taxes and left angry liberals on the sidelines. On a major nuclear treaty with Russia, he sidelined GOP Senate leaders and negotiated with like-minded Republicans. And with a landmark repeal of the ban on openly gay military service, he delighted liberals, won Republica...

Analysis: A political rebound, but can it hold?
WASHINGTON—President Barack Obama, whose first two years were marked by staunchly partisan votes on his signature initiatives, finds himself at a crossroads. In the seven weeks since the election, Obama negotiated with Republican leaders on taxes and left angry liberals on the sidelines. On a major Nuclear Treaty with Russia, he sidelined GOP Senate leaders and negotiated with like-minded Republicans. And with a landmark Repeal of the ban on Openly Gay Military service, he delighted liber...

All eyes on the Senate
I have three things to say about this: Republicans hold a 19-12 majority in the Senate, but 21 senators need to agree to bring the bill to a vote, so Democrats have two members who can make a stand on the coming battles over the state Budget, Immigration, voter identification, redistricting and other hot-button issues. “The Senate,” Republican Sen. Dan Patrick of Houston said, “is their Alamo.” The fight to the death analogy is a good one considering the long odds Democ...

Kettle, the is the Pot Calling...
The NY Times reports that: Many Republicans complained bitterly in recent days that Democrats were ignoring their rejection in the election and abusing their last weeks of Congressional control to jam through a final flurry of expensive, intrusive programs. Um, doesn't that sound a tad bit similar to losing the House, Senate, and the presidency, and then relying on Filibusters and procedural rules in the Senate for two years to both block and shape as much Legislation as possible? ...

How did a lame duck Congress become the Energizer Bunny?
Shaken by a historic election in which angry voters canceled Democratic control of the House, lawmakers of both parties and President Barack Obama tried something new: They consulted each other. They cooperated. And finally, they compromised. From Tax Cuts to a nuclear arms treaty and the Repeal of the ban on openly serving gay Soldiers, Congress and the Obama White House closed up their respective shops and headed out for the holidays with an uncommonly full bag of accomplishments. Bipartisansh...

The 10 Business Stories That Will Dominate 2011
For the last two years, the News Media has complained about a do-nothing Congress and a broken system. In fact, the 111th Congress, which cast its final vote on Wednesday, will go down as one of the most productive in recent memory. In 2010 alone, it overhauled Health Care, reformed Wall Street, extended Unemployment Benefits to record levels and closed the year with a decidedly un-lame "lame-duck" session. Encore, please? Making predictions is hard, especially about the future. But here we go ...

Fox & Friends claim Shep Smith deserves credit for Zadroga bill over Jon Stewart
Yesterday the folks at Fox & Friends claimed that it was their co-worker, Shephered Smith, who brought attention to the 9-11 responders bill and not Jon Stewart.  The 9-11 responders bill, officially called the James Zadroga Health Care and Compensation Act, has gained increasing media attention over the last two weeks following a Republican Filibuster of the measure.  According to Fox & Friends, who also slam Stewart's audience for considering him "real news," Stewart is not t...

Why Is This Guy Smiling?
They like him, they really like him. But why do they like him? Remember that post I did with all those graphics that proved Pres. Obama caving to Republicans was popular even if it didn’t do anything for our foundational economics, let alone the Democratic Party or brand? Well, here we go again. Via a CNN/Opinion Research Corp survey: According to a new National Poll, it looks like President Barack Obama is that winner, and his strategy of cooperating with congressional Republican lead...