Energy Photo of the Day

As Obama makes his trip to claim credit for a pipeline project that doesn't need his approval, Speaker John Boehner reminds America of the real problem:

Political Photo of the Day

Saw this on Facebook - lots of truth there:

Mitch McConnell Throws House GOP Under the Bus

If Mitch McConnell was hoping to be the Senate Majority Leader again, he just made that much less likely for once again backing Obama in a political fight against Speaker John Boehner and the House GOP (Disclaimer, this piece written by a liberal Washington Post columnist):

If this doesn’t break the logjam, nothing will: Senator Mitch McConnell is now calling on John Boehner to come in from the cold and pass the Senate payroll tax extension plan...

What this means: McConnell has now explicitly endorsed the compromise that Senate Dems have been offering House Republicans: You pass the Senate two-month extension; and we’ll enter into talks over how to compromise on the year-long extension you want. Coming from McConnell, this statement knocks the legs out from the primary House Republican argument: That we must not pass the two-month extension, because we need to pass a year-long one for the same of “certainty” to the American people. As McConnell sensibly points out, these two things are not “mutually exclusive.”

This statement again underscores just how isolated House Republicans have become in this fight. Earlier this morning, House GOPers held a press conference in the Capitol to dig in further. As Chris Van Hollen put it a few moments ago at a subsequent presser, the only people that don’t want the Senate bill passed are the House Republicans who held that presser today. That the Republican Senate leader issued his statement calling on House Republicans to acquiesce to the Dem approach only moments after they mounted their last stand of sorts only reinforces that picture.

The bias kind of shines through, doesn't it.

Boehner has been fighting for a year-long resolution to bring some stability to the job market and the economy.  He's right to hold out for a better deal, and if it means those tax breaks expire on January 1st, so be it.  If Boehner caves on this deal he certainly won't get a better one in two months.  In fact, instead of fighting for a year-long tax deal the GOP will end up defending against a new millionaire's tax which is what the Dems and their #Occupy minions really want.

And I think it's time the Senate GOP picked a new leader.  McConnell is simply not a team player.

House Republicans Are Going to Make The Democrats Do Their Job

Harry Reid passed a bad bill and adjourned the Senate for the year expecting the House to meekly go along.  Think again:

The Republican-led House of Representatives will set the stage on Tuesday for a showdown with Senate Democrats over a payroll tax cut extension that is becoming a proxy for 2012 election year battles.

The tax legislation has become the latest in a string of battles in Congress this year, all of which have contributed to widespread public discontent with Washington politicians.

When the House votes on Tuesday it will in effect be rejecting a bill that passed the Senate overwhelmingly on Saturday and calling for formal negotiations with the Democratic-led Senate.

The Senate bill would set a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut with the aim of crafting a full-year tax cut extension early next year.

The House move will cast doubt on the future of the popular payroll tax cut, which is caught up in a high-stakes game of brinkmanship between the two political parties that some say could backfire.

Washington gridlock is fueling an anti-incumbent mood among voters heading into next year's elections.

"Our members do not want to just punt and do a two-month short-term fix where we have to come back and do this again," House Speaker John Boehner said late on Monday after a closed meeting with fellow Republicans.

The thing is, Obama wanted a year-long deal. He didn't want a short term deal that would require new negotiations almost immediately. Obama wants to kick as many things as possible down the road past the election, so in some ways Boehner is doing him a favor.

Harry Reid will undoubtedly have a major snit over this and probably will refuse to call the Senators back to D.C.  Should be very entertaining.

Lefties Call for Boehner's Resignation Because He Dared to Exercise His Power

This petition from the loons at MoveOn is hilarious:

“We the undersigned have lost confidence in the ability of Speaker of the House John Boehner to carry out his duties to the citizens of the United States due to an apparent conflict of interest and his inability to conduct his caucus through legislative compromise. His conflict of interest is manifest in his party’s stated agenda to make sure our president is a one term president rather than to do the People’s work.

His disdain and disrespect for our duly elected President is unacceptable; his inability to halt the gridlock initiated by his party is bringing our government to halt and keeping millions of American’s unemployed.

His refusal to honor our President's call to address a joint session of Congress is unprecedented, disrespectful and outrageous.
For these reasons we feel that the Speaker is either unable or unwilling to carry out his sworn duties and should step down.
”
Speaker John Boehner's historic denial of a joint session of Congress to the president piles outrage upon outrage. To politically embarrass a sitting president for purely partisan political reasons is unbecoming any legislator, let alone one in Mr. Boehner's position.

Boehner's inability to reason with and manage an already oppositional Republican caucus has led to a virtual shut-down of efforts to restore our economy and put 30,000,000 unemployed Americans back to work.

For the record, this is not the first time a Speaker has refused a request from a president to speak to Congress. In 1986 President Reagan asked Speaker Tip O'Neill if he could speak to the members of the House regarding funding for the Contras in Nicaragua. O'Neill refused. Republicans did not have a temper tantrum and call for O'Neill's resignation.

The petition above is all about giving emotionally immature liberals a way to vent their frustrations.  It will be ignored by Congress.

Media Does Its Best to Blame Boehner for Yesterday's Obama Screw-up

How difficult is it to get a timeline right?  Pretty difficult, I guess, based on several different reports I've watched or read about yesterday's petty political maneuver by Obama to try and upstage the GOP California debate.   The official media line is John Boehner played politics with Obama's speech, not the other way around.

Here's the actual sequence of events:

• Obama notifies Boehner that he wants to speak to a joint session on September 7th at 8pm, the exact date and time of the first GOP debate that will include new frontrunner Rick Perry.  The debate has been scheduled for months.
• The left rejoices at Obama's political play, even though one of his supporters describes it as a "dickish move".
• The right is outraged and begins expressing it through Twitter, email and phone calls to the Speaker's office.
• The media, including the debate organizers NBC and Politico, assume the Sep. 7th speech is a done deal and announce they'll push back the start time of the debate until Obama's speech is finished.
• Boehner surprises just about everybody and sends Obama an invitation to speak on Sep. 8 instead, denying the Sep. 7th request based on security and other organizational requirements.  Of course, the debate and conservative outrage played a bigger role than any other issues.
• The left goes nuts and insists that deference be given to Obama's request because "he's the president!!", even though they never would have accorded George W. Bush the same deference.  It's apparently a complete surprise to the left that the president does not have the power to mandate Congress' schedule.
• Although some sort of negotiation reportedly takes place, Obama must agree to the Sep. 8th date because he has no real power in the negotiation.   He can accept the Sep. 8th date or suggest something else, but he won't get Sep. 7th.  This will put his speech on the same night as the first game of the new NFL season.

Pretty simple, huh?  And yet the media spin today is that Obama wanted to speak on Sep. 7th to avoid the NFL game and evil John Boehner made him go up against the Green Bay Packers.  They're treating the GOP debate as an afterthought in the whole process.  I shouldn't be surprised.

Obama showed yesterday he's not a leader, but just a petty partisan political operative who doesn't play the game all that well.  He assumed that because historical precedence says the president gets his joint session speeches whenever he wants it that he could strong arm Boehner and the GOP.  He was wrong and ended up being embarrassed.  He also appeared weak to his supporters, and that could be the most damaging part of this whole thing.

To quote one of his own statements from a previous incident, he "acted stupidly".

By the way, WTMJ, the NBC affiliate in Milwaukee, has announced that if it has to choose between Obama's speech and the Packers game, they're going with the game.  I think even the most hardened Wisconsin Union Thugs would agree with that decision.

The Seven-Handicapper Just Swatted Away the Duffer

In the previous post I wrote about the move today by John Boehner to refuse Obama's request for a joint session speech on September 7, directly opposite the GOP California debate.  Boehner very politely suggested that Obama could do his silly little jobs speech a day later.  In golf terms, he hit the two foot putt for the birdie while Obama was still flailing away in the sandtrap.

There's an interesting little pissing contest going on right now between the White House and the Speaker.  The WH insists they got approval for the date before making the public announcements.  Boehner insists that yes, the WH informed them 15 minutes before the announcement that they wanted that date, but his office did not give any kind of formal approval.  Apparently, because Boehner did not immediate object, the WH took that as tacit approval.  I'm sure they never expected the Speaker to object since to anyone's knowledge that's never happened before.

And just to clarify for any lefties reading this, the president does not control Congress' schedule.  He appears at joint sessions only if invited by the Speaker (and that includes the State of the Union speech), and Boehner has every right to refuse a schedule that he doesn't like.

I think there's more to this story, and here's what I think happened.  The WH made their wishes known to Boehner's office and Boehner's people probably didn't immediately realize the conflict with the GOP debate.  Once the request had been made public, lots of Republicans like me started flooding Boehner's office with tweets, emails and calls requesting him to refuse the request because of the obvious petty political timing.  Since no formal invitation had been offered to Obama, Boehner was free to refuse the date and offer an alternative.

The left is going nuts about all this, as you might expect, but Obama was trying to take the heat off himself by stepping on the GOP debate and Boehner called him on it.  Duffers should never expect to beat 7-handicappers at their own game.

Obama has the perfect opportunity to give a jobs speech next week.  He's going to a Labor Day rally in Detroit where the audience will be packed with adoring union members.  That's where he should make the speech.  Heck, it's the union people that will get all the money in Obama's proposed plan so it makes perfect sense to do it there.  There's no pressing need for a prime-time joint session speech.

In eight years President Bush gave only one non-State of the Union joint session speech, and that was the speech following 9/11.  This will be Obama's second non-State of the Union speech in 2 1/2 years.  The first was to push Obamacare.

Boehner played this one very well.  The president deserved to get slapped down.

Obama Requests Joint Session Speech at Same Moment as GOP CA Debate

Petty politics at its best.  Obama has requested to give a speech to a joint session of Congress at exactly the same moment the GOP is scheduled to debate at the Reagan Library.  This will be Rick Perry's first debate appearance.

Speaker John Boehner should just say no.  The president does not have the power to demand an appearance, he must be invited.  Boehner should offer him another time if necessary, but not the time he's requesting.

Obama's plan is simple. Take the attention away from the CA debate, and force NBC to push the debate back so it appears on TV later in the evening when fewer people may be watching.

Very unpresidential, but typical of Obama.

This debate is being hosted by NBC and Politico, neither of which are fans of Republicans.  They may just decide to go ahead at the previously scheduled time and run the debate at the same time as the president's speech, thus killing the debate coverage.  Wouldn't surprise me a bit.

UPDATE:  Here's a good idea:

@Chris_Moody: If Sarah Palin really wanted to shake things up right now, she'd declare a "big announcement" to be made on Sept. 7 at 8:00

Political Tweet of the Day

From Brendan Buck, Press Secretary for Speaker John Boehner, tweeted this to President Obama regarding his promise to deliver a jobs plan when he comes back from vacation in September:

We really don't need another speech - just a plan, like, on paper. Seriously, just drop it in the mail. Podium not required. Thanks.

Speeches are all the guy's got, Brendan! Speeches release the rainbows and unicorns that will heal our country!

Is Boehner Trying to Snatch Defeat From the Jaws of Victory?

Erick Erickson is hearing bad things about the debt ceiling deal currently in negotiations:

A House Republican who is in leadership called me tonight. He said what we are hearing about — the two tier plan — is “sh*t” and he’s blaming Boehner. He agrees that Boehner is getting nervous and wants a deal.

But this two tier plan seems to be the Republicans’ initial offer. Harry Reid is headed that way. Many Democrats want more.

So keep in mind for purposes of negotiations, House Republican leadership members are already referring to the starting point as “sh*t” and it will only get worse from here.

One of the ways they’ll claim they are cutting $1 trillion is by pretending the Iraq and Afghan wars no longer exist. They’ll also do another deficit commission.

There have been 17 such deficit commissions in the past 13 years. The net result? Taxes have gone up with just about each one and spending has never actually been reduced. We’ve gone from $5 trillion in national debt to $14 trillion.

This is not good. The GOP has Obama and the Dems right where they want them, but getting nervous now is not a sign of leadership. The GOP can get what they want out of this deal, but they have to be willing to wait Obama out. In other words, don't settle because I guarantee you the conservative voters aren't going to put up with it.

Boehner Walks Away From a Bad Deal

James Pethokoukis calls it a "Reagan moment":

So in the end, it was bit of a Ronald Reagan moment for John Boehner on Saturday. Just as the U.S. president walked away from a bad arms control agreement with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev at Reykjavik, Iceland in 1986, the House speaker passed on President Barack Obama’s mega-debt reduction deal in Washington.

In both case, the asking price was just too high. For Reagan, it was lethal limitations on his Strategic Defense Initiative. For Boehner, it was a trillion-dollar tax distraction from America’s true fiscal threat: spending run amok: “Despite good-faith efforts to find common ground, the White House will not pursue a bigger debt reduction agreement without tax hikes.”

Walking away is the best approach to an ideologically-driven president who think higher taxes and bigger government is the answer to everything.

Apparently, the left was given Obama lots of trouble and that caused him to become especially hard-headed. Continuing with the article:

A GOP congressional source was a bit less diplomatic, telling me Saturday afternoon via email:

Their fierce insistence on higher taxes is beyond bizarre. After months of demanding ‘clean’ increase to avert economic calamity (default), WH threatens economic calamity (default) unless they get economic calamity (trillions in tax hikes). No wonder these guys are governing over an economic calamity (9.2% & growth malaise), w/ an economic calamity on the horizon (debt explosion as mapped out in president’s budget). The bipartisan consensus on tax reform (broader base & lower rates) was championed by President’s fiscal commission, and yet now is being rebuked by the President. Lowering top rates that would help make America more competitive was too large a leap for a true class warrior.

Indeed, as negotiations wore on, Obama got tougher on taxes (pushed hard by the hard left), and the deal he was cooking up almost certainly wouldn’t have been revenue neutral as he tweaked rates and reduced tax deductions. Not even close. Nor did it help that Obama reportedly balked at a spending-cut trigger if certainly tax reforms were not completed.

Obama clearly has no idea how to create a growing economy. Everything he's done has made things worse. Boehner should give him absolutely nothing.

Speaker Boehner: Cut Trillions, Not Billions

And we're in no hurry to raise the debt ceiling:

Speaker John Boehner came here Monday to lend a peek to a worried Wall Street and a concerned Washigton as to where he stands as the nation rapidly approaches its statutory debt ceiling.

What they heard was that he feels no urgency.

The Ohio Republican used a speech to the Economic Club of New York to unveil a staunchly conservative plan to offset a debt ceiling hike with spending cuts of a greater amount, putting House Republicans on a collision course with Democrats who want much more modest spending restrictions attached to the vote.

He also told a packed, well-dressed ballroom at the Hilton New York that the debt limit has no “hard date” — a sign he does not take seriously the Democrats’ dire warnings of default in a few months.

And he reaffirmed that reforming the popular program Medicare is fully on the table in the negotiations, that tax hikes are a non-starter, and that defense spending deserves a look but vowed to not raise the debt ceiling without what he dubs “real action to solve our long-term economic problems.”

Yesterday Chuckie Schumer tried to play big bad New York senator and more or less threatened Boehner if he didn't sign on to a debt ceiling increase. That's not gonna work.

Schumer Issues Orders to Democrats

Chuckie Schumer got caught with his foot in his mouth giving marching orders to Democrats regarding the budget battle:

Um, senators, ever heard of the mute button?

Moments before a conference call with reporters was scheduled to get underway on Tuesday morning, Charles E. Schumer of New York, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate, apparently unaware that many of the reporters were already on the line, began to instruct his fellow senators on how to talk to reporters about the contentious budget process.

After thanking his colleagues — Barbara Boxer of California, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — for doing the budget bidding for the Senate Democrats, who are facing off against the House Republicans over how to cut spending for the rest of the fiscal year, Mr. Schumer told them to portray John A. Boehner of Ohio, the speaker of the House, as painted into a box by the Tea Party, and to decry the spending cuts that he wants as extreme. “I always use the word extreme,” Mr. Schumer said. “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”

A minute or two into the talking-points tutorial, though, someone apparently figured out that reporters were listening, and silence fell.

Today Howard Dean admitted that the Democrats want a government shutdown. They believe it will benefit them the way it did in 1995...but this isn't 1995. With trillion dollar deficits now the norm under Obama the idea of a government shutdown is not so politically incorrect. In fact, I'm not sure it wouldn't have pretty wide support right now. Anything to stop the bleeding.

As far as the story above goes, how many reporters will simply stick to the Democrat talking points and ignore the behind-the-scenes orchestration that was going on?  If the press was really doing its job they would ridicule anyone describing as "extreme" the cuts the GOP is proposing.  The amount they want to cut is barely a blip in the national budget.

Harry Reid Urges John Boehner to Commit Political Suicide

I'm sure Reid has Boehner's best interests at heart:

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) on Monday urged Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to ditch members of the Tea Party and cut a deal with Democrats to avert a government shutdown.

Reid insisted it is those GOP internal divisions that are threatening to shut down the government after April 8, in less than two weeks.

“For the sake of our economy, it’s time for mainstream Republicans to stand up to the Tea Party and rejoin Democrats at the table to negotiate a responsible solution that cuts spending while protecting jobs,” he said.

So, Mr. Speaker, who is more likely to have your back when things get tough, Reid or the Tea Party?

Screw Harry Reid - shut it down.

Chuckie Schumer Beclowns Himself

Sen. Chuckie Schumer making fool of himself is nothing new, but he decided to tread on some dangerous ground when he taunted John Boehner about the Tea Party:

Top ranking Democrat Sen. Charles Schumer doubled down on his call for House Republican Speaker John Boehner to ditch the Tea Party after Democrats helped pass a short-term federal funding bill that would have failed without their support because of defections within the GOP.

“Speaker Boehner wouldn’t have been able to pass this short-term measure without Democratic votes, and he won’t be able to pass a long-term one without Democratic votes either,” Schumer said in a statement. “It’s time for him to abandon the Tea Party, and forge a bipartisan compromise.”

Fifty-four House Republicans, many of them Tea Party-backed freshman, voted against a stopgap measure Tuesday that would fund the government for three weeks while the parties negotiate a long-term deal. The proposal included $6 billion in cuts, but did not touch funding for the health care law and other programs that some in the caucus said needed to be included to get their approval.

Schumer said Monday that Boehner “should consider leaving the Tea Party behind” because they “are unwilling to accept anything short of the extreme cuts in the House budget, even if it risks a shutdown.”

I don't think Moses himself could lead Congress to pass another short-term continuing resolution once this one expires. There's no patience for it among many Republicans. And those "extreme cuts" Schumer talks about are such a tiny percentage of the budget to almost be imperceptible. His language will likely inspire more Republicans to tell the leadership they won't agree to another short-term bill.

In reality, even if the spending authority runs out the government will not shut down. In fact, the change will hardly be noticeable to most Americans. Social Security checks will still go out, the mail will still be delivered, the military will continue to function. Only those people visiting national parks or other tourist sites are likely to notice any problems. There's nothing to fear from a government "shutdown".

Political Quote of the Day

From Harry Reid, railing about the cuts proposed in H.R. 1, the GOP budget bill:

“The mean-spirited bill, H.R. 1, eliminates National Public Broadcasting," said Reid in a floor speech. "It eliminates the National Endowment of the Humanities, National Endowment of the Arts. These programs create jobs. The National Endowment of the Humanities is the reason we have in northern Nevada every January a cowboy poetry festival. Had that program not been around, the tens of thousands of people who come there every year would not exist.”

Mary Katherine Ham adds this:

John Boehner's America is a land in which cowboys would be forced into back-alley poetry recitations.

Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be cowboy poets.

Democrats Have Nothing to Offer to Control the Budget

Democrats are trying to rope-a-dope John Boehner and the GOP, but he isn't playing:

Democrats announced Wednesday that with a spending shutdown averted for two weeks, Republicans should now come and meet with Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders to talk about funding the government for the remaining 26 weeks of the fiscal year.

 House Speaker John Boehner made it clear that negotiations on spending couldn’t begin until the Senate had taken a position. While the White House and congressional Democrats say they want to talk it out, Boehner wants to play poker.

Boehner has laid down his hand – a House-passed plan to cut $61 billion from spending for the rest of the year. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, meanwhile, hasn’t shown much other than his disdain for Boehner’s cuts.

The strength of Reid’s hand was revealed a bit on Wednesday when a House-proposed stopgap measure with prorated cuts of $4 billion for two weeks sailed through the Senate with 91 votes. There is little appetite in Reid’s caucus for forcing a shutdown in order to avoid cuts.

But the Senate still hasn’t answered the House on the longer-term plan.

Wednesday’s announcement that President Obama and Reid wanted Republicans to come to negotiations directed by Biden fell flat. With no Democratic plan on the table, Republicans scoffed at the idea of making a counterproposal. The GOP is still waiting for Democrats, especially the White House, to show its cards.

The White House plan is simple: Wait for the GOP to propose dramatic cuts and then demagogue their plan. Obama is not interested in cutting the budget, he's only interested in slamming any GOP plan that does.

Boehner is playing this thing exactly right.

Boehner: There's No Limit to the Amount We Want to Cut

The GOP seems to want to get serious about cutting spending:

Speaker of the House John Boehner said Sunday Republicans are serious about cutting spending by $100 billion.

Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Boehner, of Ohio, said, “There’s no limit to the amount of money that our members want to cut.”

“We’re broke,” he said. “What’s really dangerous is if we continue to do nothing and allow the status quo to stay in place. When are we going to get serious about cutting spending? And our members want to take this leap forward, because it has to happen and it needs to start now.”

They need to make this happen and let Nancy Pelosi and her ilk gripe and whine.  And please, ignore the press. They're not on your side and won't help you in any way.

GOP Leaders Should Stay Off the Sunday Morning Shows

There doesn't seem to be much benefit for John Boehner to go on the Sunday morning shows because the hosts don't seem to be able to ask a serious question. A couple of weeks ago Boehner was on Fox and was hectored by Chris Wallace about his smoking and emotional nature, both irrelevant to his job as Speaker.

Today it was NBC's turn and David Gregory didn't do any better:

On NBC’s Meet the Press this morning, House Speaker John Boehner did not wag his finger at Americans who believe that President Obama is a Muslim. “The American people have the right to think what they want to think,” he said. “It’s not my job to tell the American people what to think.”

Moderator David Gregory followed up, telling Boehner that his response seemed a little “fast and loose.” Boehner shot Gregory an incredulous glance. “It’s not my job to tell them,” he repeated. “There is a lot of information out there, people read a lot of things, but I’ve made clear what I think the facts are.”

As for himself, “I believe the president is a Christian,” Boehner said. “I’ll take him at his word.”

So, will Gregory ask the next Democrat on his show the same stupid question? Probably not. The Sunday morning hosts think it's their responsibility to embarrass Republicans and make heroes out of Democrats. The GOP leadership should just stay off these shows - they're meaningless.

Health Care Quote of the Day

From Speaker John Boehner, during an interview on Fox News Sunday after he was asked for the thousandth time about his smoking habit:

"Smoking. It's a bad habit but I have it. And it's a legal product. I choose to smoke. Leave me alone."

Exactly.

For some strange reason Chris Wallace decided to spend time in this interview hectoring Boehner about his smoking and his emotional nature, neither which have anything to do with solving the nation's problems. Wallace was not on his game and that has some conservative bloggers fuming. You can read Jim Hoft's reaction here.

I think the call for Wallace's firing is a significant overreaction, but certainly Wallace has done a much better job on other occasions.

Stick to the important stuff, Chris, and leave the fluff for MSNBC.