Associated Press
There's clearly cause for concern when it comes to the economy. Yesterday, there was a sharp increase in initial unemployment claims, followed by a very discouraging report from the Philadelphia Fed on factory activity.
With this as a backdrop, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has spent much of the week taking shots at President Obama, saying he's prioritizing the 2012 race over national needs. "The president checked out last Labor Day. And he's been on the campaign trail nonstop ever since," Boehner said yesterday.
Maybe now would be a good time to pause and consider the events of the last week or so.
Last Thursday, Senate Democrats offered a new tax-cut measure, which would have given small business owners would get a new tax incentive to hire new workers. Independent estimates said the proposal could create nearly 1 million jobs. Senate Republicans killed it.
Senate Republicans made good on their threat to filibuster a Democratic small-business tax cut bill today, ensuring the bill fell seven votes short of what it needed to move forward. The Senate voted 53-44 to limit debate on the bill and move to final passage, but 60 votes were needed to overcome the filibuster.
Yesterday, it got worse.
Senate Republicans on Thursday blocked the No.1 item on the president's congressional "to-do-list," refusing to allow a vote on a bill that would give tax breaks for companies that "insource" jobs to the U.S. from overseas while eliminating tax deductions for companies that move jobs abroad.
As for the House, the Republican majority is largely ignoring the economy, except to plead with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke not to make any efforts to improve current conditions.
Mr. Speaker, I don't think the president's campaign schedule is the problem.
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when are people going to start using the 't' word to describe these people? because treason is exactly what they are doing.
I understand your frustration, but no it's not treason at all. Treason is well defined: (c/f http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/treason)
Under Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution, any person who levies war
against the United States or adheres to its enemies by giving them Aid and Comfort has committed treason within the
meaning of the Constitution. The term aid and comfort refers to any act
that manifests a betrayal of allegiance to the United States, such as furnishing
enemies with arms, troops, transportation, shelter, or classified information.
If a subversive act has any tendency to weaken the power of the United States to
attack or resist its enemies, aid and comfort has been given.
The Treason Clause applies only to disloyal acts committed during times of
war. Acts of dis-loyalty during peacetime are not considered treasonous under
the Constitution. Nor do acts of Espionage committed on
behalf of an ally constitute treason.
Good reply closeted but-since the right seems to want to abolish the constitution and the government of the United States why should we allow such trivial stuff as this constitution thing to protect them?
After all ... the definition of treason is..
1
: the betrayal of a trust : treachery
2
: the offense of attempting by overt acts to overthrow the government of the state to which the offender owes allegiance or to kill or personally injure the sovereign or the sovereign's family
(FROM:http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treason)
So I submit it is treason but must also admit that it in this case is not (sadly) prosecutable.
Other definitions of the word Treason - though not legal definition - dictionary.reference.com
#1 - does not apply
#2 - does not apply
#3 - "betrayal of a trust or confidence"
We expect that the members of the House and Senate, the President and the Supreme Court will act to benefit the country - not just their own narrow political interests that hurts the country as a whole.
So - using this definition - I would say the word "Treason" applies.
I think we agree that they are treacherous and un-American, but the only definition of treason that matters legally is the one in Article 3 Section III. That wouldn't stop THEM of course ;)
My thought is that sedition is more applicable here.
Boehner, here's a tissue, wipe your mouth.
And while there was a lot of phony outrage on the right yesterday about Romney's deliberate misrepresentation of Obama's small business policies, not a peep about how their own voted to keep them out of a job - why? - because, according to Mitch McConnell, Democrats would not let Republicans add an a amendment to the bill to also kick people off their health insurance (in other words, Republicans would have not have voted to keep people out of a job, if they could have repealed healthcare reform in the process.) But never a peep out of those who can work themselves into a frenzy over a fantasy -- never a peep of outrage over their own actually sabotaging people's opportunities to find a job.
No the president's schedule is not the problem. Once again the problem is that Republicans are controlling the issue. There should be a massive media push back by prominent Democrats (not just the President) and once again there is none. The media reports Republican sound bites as fact but Democrats do and say nothing in return.
I really miss politicians like Florida's Alan Grayson- a politican with guts to call them out on their bulls**t and an ability to make the news doing it. Its just too bad he represented central Florida. Anthony Weiner also had an ability to make a point using the same kind of hyperbole used by Republicans. Democrats do not know how to fight back. A leader like Mr. Cellophane a/k/a Harry Reid is useless at leading a Brownies troop never mind the Senate.
So, in a corporate-owned media, there should be a "media pushback by prominent Democrats"...have you seen the breakdown of these corporately owned media donations to political parties? 5:1 Republican/Democratic is what you see. You think "prominent Democrats" don't express counter ideas? I would suggest, they do;; they just don't get media coverage. So, have you called your local network affiliates and asked about their coverage and balanced reporting? Your second paragraph, while I agree that Grayson and Weiner expressed that outrage pointedly, rarely were they given that opportunity on outlets other than MSNBC/now NBC. There are many prominent Dems who are expressing their outrage on NBC.com/cable tv. Your criticism of Senator Reid is offensive and unnecessary; all Democrats do not have to speak in hyperbole to lead. Weiner and Grayson speak with our outrage, but both lacked the discipline to be the adult in the room to hold their positions. Hopefully, Grayson will win his seat back this fall. We really don't need to access our Reptilian Brains ala Cheney style to persuade people with fear and hyperbole that our values are American values and the President's policies are good for America and Americans.
The President has proposed measures that would improve the economy and increase jobs for Americans that Congress keeps denying. More and pointed presentations of the number of jobs Congress has denied funding for and lessening confidence by business b/c of their actions will show people why Obama and Democrats must be elected. His actions and words today show that he does know "how to be an American."
I watch, I pay attention, I ferret out the issues, and I vote conscientiously knowing I haven't been fooled by one-sided information. I would be elegantly refuting the madness we call the Republican party, and its leaders like Boehner here, but I know they have insulated themselves from political dialog. I would appeal to the Speaker's better sense of what American citizens need right now regarding good job creating legislation, but know they wish to make President Obama a one-term president at all costs. I would even offer the Republican leadership a way to move forward together with the best interests of our nation in mind, but realize they seemingly have no such interest.
I know, to put it plainly, I would not only not be heard, but I'd most probably be disrespected in the process. What have I concluded?
We are dealing with grown men who are punks, punking for the "corporations are people too my friend" crowd!
Autobot Punks - the likes of the modern Republican Party! -Kevo
How much does a full page newspaper ad cost with "Congress Has Checked Uut on the Economy" followed by a list of what they have done/haven't done to improve the economy, and create all those "job, jobs, jobs" they promised?
Well, come on now. Everyone knows that there's a room in the White House full of wheels and levers and vernier controls in which the President must sit and ceaselessly toil 24/7 in order for the economy to function properly. Guages must be read in real time, levers thrown, switches pulled, wheels twisted, buttons pressed, and dials adjusted. The whole national economy is controlled from this secret room. And whenever a president steps away from it, he, and he alone, is responsible for everything bad that happens.
Unless he's a Republican, of course. Because when a Republican is president, he will propitiate the Magic Confidence Fairies by singing paeans of praise to the Job Creators (Praise them! Praise them!) and giving them holy tax cuts, and then the Magic Confidence Fairies will come back from the place they hide when criticism of Job Creators causes them to has a sad, and they'll sprinkle their magic confidence dust on the Job Creators and all will be well with the world without any need to micromanage all that tedious machinery.
And as everyone also knows, the President is completely cut off from all communication with the rest of the government when he's on the campaign trail.
They don't want more jobs right now. That would hurt Romney's chances. You have to remember that these people have a PLAN. Hold back the economy so Romney can give them the white house. In fact that's probably what's behind Romney's whining: "They said they'd make this easy for me, for Pete's sake!"
Actions speak louder than words, if people would just pay attention. They say they want jobs. But they won't accept that spending is the right way to go about it. So they obstruct and close abortion clinics. Try to steal the election by keeping people from voting. Very frustrating.
"Jobs jobs jobs, I mean abortion". There's also "Jobs jobs jobs, I mean obstruct President Obama."
Boehner said the President "checked out" last Labor Day - Really Boehner, you and your cohorts in the Republican Party checked out 1/20/09.
I think Congress should be paid either by the hours they work or the bi-patrician legislation they pass. Perhaps them Boehner and Friends would check back in.
I wonder how the Republicans feel knowing their Senators has voted "NO" on every item that has come up for a vote. Is that what they sent "them" there to do, or did they think "they" might help run this country?
Mr. President, do you ever look at the Speaker and not think, "Orange Julius"? Is that why your face is so grim, that you are fighting to maintain seriousness and not just laugh uncontrollably at Orange Julius?
Dems can easily make the case that this economy is the Republican's economy because they have controlled Congress since 2010. It isn't hard to put together a list of programs the president asked for and was blocked, programs that were cut by the Republicans who held the debt ceiling hostage, the number of filibusters and abortion bills passed in the House. Don't just tell people the Republicans obstructed, but show the public what was blocked. I have always said Dems are bad at messaging and this is what Dems should have been saying every time they appeared in front of a camera just like the "job creators" mantra.
Mike,
I guess you could conversely say that the economic downturn that started in the last few years of Bush could be the Democrat's economy since they controlled Congress from 2006 to 2010. Actually that may be why the Democrats lost their majority in 2010.
And to me, that job creator line could be used for both sides - to the Repulicans the job creators are/were the 1%, and to the Democrats the job creator was the stimulus. The good thing is at least one of these did create some jobs - the stimulus.
Even though I identify as a Republican, it is clear that Boehner is trying to do all he can to ensure that the economy stays in the tanker until the upcoming election. However, I don't agree that this economy can be attributed to the Republican-controlled Congress, Mike. During Obama's first term he had over a 58% majority in both the House and Senate.
To listen to Louie Gohmert ask why weren't there others carrying weapons makes me horrified at this kind of mental aberration. Gohmert would have a gunfight in a crowded theatre--is it just him, or do others not think about the multiplication effect of bullets flying? But excuse me, I'm Canadian, we have far stricter laws about carrying weapons, especially military style assault weapons, meant for one thing, and one thing only, killing other human beings, not hunting, target shooting, or critter control on a property. No one, I mean no non-military or police civilian should be allowed access to these weapons. It's bad enough criminals get them, but if the general population is allowed access, then you run the risk of just plain folk with a grudge spraying down the neighbours in lieu of refused property easements or "going postal" simply because they don't like Muslims.
Americans deserve full scale tax reform, not a patchwork quilt of special-interest tax breaks. http://bit.ly/noTDPF