Boehner Is Weak
John Boehner will probably go down as one of the weakest Speaker of the House in history. He has absolutely no control of his caucus. Altho… the most you can be sure of when trying to organize crazy people is that if you put sticks in their hands they’ll trash the place.
So Boehner, who can’t save himself, expects to be saved by President Obama. Republican Leadership is an oxymoron. Here’s Boehner’s plan:
We (Republicans) do not want to raise taxes on the wealthy, but we would be willing (maybe, kinda, sorta) to close loopholes and deductions, only… we don’t want to say which ones since that would be unpopular. So, Mr. President, could you do this for us?
We (Republicans) really want to cut Social Security and Medicare, only cutting these programs is really, really unpopular. You might have noticed how we attacked your Medicare cuts during the election. Good times. But now… well, we really always wanted to cut these programs, but it’s still extremely unpopular, so could you propose the cuts? That way we would get what we want and be able to blame you and the Dems. That would be awesome.
Absolutely no leadership or spine. Republicans elected by the people do not serve the people or the country. Their leaders are Grover Norquist, the Koch brothers Rush Limbaugh, etc..
Eugene Robinson speaks the truth:
This fight isn’t about whether the rich will pay more in taxes; it is clear that they will. It’s about whether this new revenue is collected in a way that allows House Republicans to say they have kept their pledge never to raise marginal tax rates for anyone, for any purpose.
And there it is. All these hysterics are over the words “tax rates.” I swear if we called tax rates “freedom revenue” Republicans would vote for them and their ignorant base of supporters would cheer.
“…it’s simply a fact that Republicans controlled Washington during the fiscally irresponsible era when President Clinton’s budget surpluses were transformed into the trillion-dollar deficit that President Bush bequeathed to President Obama. (The deficit is now shrinking.) It’s simply a fact that the fiscal cliff was created in response to GOP threats to force the U.S. government to default on its obligations. The press can’t figure out how to weave those facts into the current narrative without sounding like it’s taking sides, so it simply pretends that yesterday never happened.”
That’s more from the Grunwald piece in the Time magazine is getting a lot of play. So not only is Boehner weak, but we have a 4th estate that is totally catatonic.
FREEDOM REVENUE! FTW!
*blush* I aim to please, John! Thanks!
I don’t want more revenue from closing loopholes – I want the rich to pay a higher rate. I’m more interested in the behavioral change it will induce than in the money collected.
Loopholes are good. We use them to give people incentive to do the right thing for our society instead of only for themselves. Loopholes are how we harness greed to do good instead of evil. I use some of them myself.
When rates on the rich go up, the rich will have a good cry like Ann Romney. It will be a cathartic, cleansing cry that will ground them in reality and hopefully leave them better than before, and more able to do their part in our society.
True about ‘Freedom Revenue.’ Awesome!
Compare Boehner to Pelosi for a sharp contrast, she got the job done, Boehner never has. True, there is a collection of Tea Party loons roaming about the house, but controlling the Dems is often described as herding cats. Having far too many cats I assure you it ain’t easy. As noted the Republicans goal remains attacking Medicare and Social Security, not taxing thier owners the rich and living in fear of Lord Norquist.For progressives it’s a good thing that Boehner is weak, I fully expected him to be removed.
The Rs can hate on my girl Nancy all they want. She got stuff DONE. She rammed healthcare reform through (even though it’s not perfect). Boehner’s named a few courthouses and declared “national lollypop day.”
@V “Boehner’s named a few courthouses and declared “national lollypop day.””
There’s the old adage, “Never ascribe to malfeasance, that which can be explained by incompetence.”
(or something like that). But in the case of Boehner, it might really be a deliberate strategy to do nothing.
Boehner: “Ooops. I fumbled the ball again… My bad.”