NOT All Democrats Are "Good-Guys"

Call Them Out: The 7 Democrats Who Helped House Republicans Rig the Shutdown

posted by Salvatore Aversa October 16, 2013 Uncategorized

SPREAD THE WORD!11907231

As the shutdown ended sand the debt ceiling was raised, America managed to avoid a complete meltdown (at least for now).  That does not mean that the country came out of this scratch free.  For one, the shutdown cost the government an estimated $160 million a day.  If the shutdown ends by midnight on October 17, 2013, the total cost will be an estimated $2.4 billion.  That does not include how much money the economy lost due to 800,000+ federal workers and countless contractors not receiving a paycheck, thus losing virtually all of their purchasing power.  Also harmed will be the full faith and credit of the United States, as Fitch Ratings is considering another downgrade, and rightfully so.  With our political instability, it is hard to have faith in a system that may come to a complete halt at any given moment.
The political cost to the Republican and Democratic Parties are yet to be seen, however, if the poll numbers are an indication, the Republicans will be the clear losers in the shutdown.
To start with, the Republican Party is taking the blame for the shutdown from both sides of the aisle.  62% of those asked put blame squarely on the Republican Party.  In a recent ABC/Washington Post poll, among moderates, 80% disapproved of the GOP.  President Obama’s approval rating stayed nearly the same since taking office in 2008 at 42%.
In the coming weeks, the GOP approval rating can be expected to plummet even more.  It looks as if the Republican Party will get absolutely nothing from their temper tantrum.  They received no delay or removal of the Medical Device Tax.  They received no delay or defunding of ObamaCare.  They received no tax breaks.  It is unclear if the sequestration cuts will continue, however, early talk from Democrats indicated they may be off of the table.  If Majority Leader and Senate Leader Harry Reid and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to an agreement, however, it is likely the cuts will continue.  Despite that, it was not anything that was not already on the table.
When all is said and done, the harm caused to the government and citizens will be for nothing.  Considering the plan that will be passed will be the same one that was on the table for weeks before the shutdown began, the public will cast judgement harshly.
What’s more, as the entire “reason” for the shutdown, ObamaCare, continues to roll out and sign up more people, the approval of the program will increase, as already has been seen.  Many who were afraid of the program, are coming to realize they were lied to, and they can actually save money compared to their current premium, or sign up because they can now afford healthcare.
The biggest story that went relatively unnoticed, was what Representative Eric Cantor did just a few hours before the shutdown was set to begin, thus removing any doubt who was responsible.
From an Op-Ed piece by Representative Chris Van Hollen published in The Guardian:

There are enough votes in the House to pass the Senate’s “clean” bill to fund government – and this already represents Democrats being willing to compromise to accept the GOP’s post-sequester funding levels for the short term. It would have easily passed the House with a bipartisan majority – had the House Republican leadership brought it to the floor for a simple up-or-down vote. But House Republicans – many of whom have long had the goal of shutting down the government – effectively wrote the shutdown into law with just hours left on the clock.
If that sounds unbelievable and outrageous, it’s because it is.
The chairman of the House rules committee conceded that, under normal procedure with clause 4 of rule 22, if the House amends a Senate bill and the Senate rejects the House’s amendment(s), any House member has the right to bring the original Senate bill up for an immediate up-or-down vote in the House. But just two hours before the government was poised to shut down, House Republicans quietly rigged the rules in their favor. They changed that rule to ensure that only Republican majority leader Eric Cantor could bring the Senate bill to reopen the government up for a vote – something they have refused to do.

Now, if that is not offensive enough, what is even more offensive is who signed on with Representative Cantor, and it was not just Republicans.
7 Democrats decided to become turncoats, and betray the Democratic Party by aligning with the Republican Party on a bill that would prevent the government from reopening by anybody but Eric Cantor.  They include the following:
Ron Barber (AZ-2)
John Barrow (GA-12)
Dan Maffei (NY-24)
Sean Patrick Maloney (NY-18)
Jim Matheson (UT-4)
Mike McIntyre (NC-7)
Collin Peterson (MN-7)

SPREAD THEIR SHAME.
In a time when Democrats were by and large united against Republican efforts to destroy America, these 7 “Democrats” betrayed the people.  Now that they have been called out, they have been Tweeting trying to cover their tracks.
For example, Rep. Jim Matheson tweeted, “If up for a vote, I’d support a clean CR.  While current discussions are on a 6 wk proposal, I believe we need a long term solution.”
Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney tweeted, “I joined my colleagues on the House Floor to demand a vote on the Senate-passed funding bill that would end…”
And Rep. Dan Maffei tweeted, “The gov’t shutdown is not a time for political games.  I support the Democratic discharge petition for a ‘clean’ CR.”
Strong words from people of weak character.  They are just as guilty as any Republican for the shutdown, and the resulting effects of it.  If you live in one of these Representative districts, you must start to primary them with somebody who will stand firm for the Democratic Party, and not run to the Republican Party the minute they see an opportunity.  It is because of politicians like these 7 that the Democratic Party was perceived as weak during the Bush years.  Our Party has grown leaps and bounds from that time, and there is no going back now.

Thank-You GOP

From Progress Report:

The GOP’s Default Caucus

Oct 17, 2013 | By CAP Action War Room

162 Republicans Vote for Default

Republicans’ first act in their latest manufactured crisis was shutting down the government in a failed and mean-spirited bid to deny affordable health insurance to millions.

We know that the shutdown resulted in some 800,000 federal employees being thrown out of work, hundreds of national parks and other federal lands closed, cancer treatments denied, food assistance cut off to low-income women and children, and countless other painful consequences for people across the country.

It also cost the economy at least $24 BILLION. Just to give you an idea, here are just a few examples of what else you could get for $24 BILLION:

• The net cost of to the government from the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP): $24 billion
• The Department of Agriculture’s proposed budget: $22.6 billion
• NASA’s approved budget: $16.6 billion
• All air transportation programs, including the Federal Aviation Administration, security, research, and other costs: $21.9 billion
• The Child Tax Credit: $22.1 billion
• The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program (formally known as welfare): $17.7 billion
• The cost of Head Start, the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), and Women Infants and Children (WIC) program combined: $25.2 billion

The $24 BILLION sucked out of the economy thanks to the government shutdown comes on top of an estimated $700 BILLION cumulative hit to the economy thanks to the GOP’s years-long effort to govern by crisis.

Despite admitting that they got “nothing” as a result of the painful and damaging shutdown, Tea Party Republicans say it was somehow still “worth it” for them.

In fact, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) won’t rule out another shutdown, adding that he will still “do anything” to stop Obamacare. Another House Republican, Rep. John Fleming (R-LA), said, “we’re going to start this all over again.”

It gets worse.

After inflicting this painful and unnecessary shutdown on the country for 16 days, during which time they sometimes seemed to forget why they even shut the government down in the first place, Republicans voted en masse last night in favor of a catastrophic default and continued government shutdown.

The GOP’s Default Caucus — 18 Republican Senators and 144 House Republicans — apparently preferred a default that threatened to collapse the entire global economy to allowing millions to get affordable health insurance and re-opening the government at spending levels Republicans themselves proposed.

Supporting a government shutdown is bad enough, but supporting an economic shutdown by refusing to pay the nation’s bills is a stunningly extreme position. Unfortunately, it’s a position that a majority of Congressional Republicans apparently support. Even GOP budget guru Paul Ryan voted for a reckless economic shutdown on top of the government shutdown.

As National Journal noted today, “several of those who might be considered serious GOP 2016 contenders for the presidency also voted in favor of the first default in American history in order to stay in the tea party’s good graces.”

BOTTOM LINE: It’s time for the GOP’s brinksmanship and manufactured crises to end. Instead of shutting down the government, voting to default on our obligations, and proclaiming their pride in job-killing austerity spending cuts, Republicans should sit down with Democrats and agree to a budget that protects important programs and makes the investments we need to grow the economy and create jobs.

The Center for American Progress has a balanced budget plan that will replace the damaging sequester cuts for the next three years and make badly needed investments in job creation. You can check it out HERE.

Koch Brothers: Every Picture Tells a Story

 

This quote is from Charles Koch in Greg Palast's book "Billionaires & Ballot Bandits" (highly recommended!), but it's also in this piece he wrote for Truthout a couple of years ago: http://bit.ly/1bfvRAt mmc: 

"A Koch Industries executive (not knowing he was being taped) said he had asked Charles Koch, who already had a billion from an inheritance, why Koch was pocketing a few bucks a week from poor American Indians. Koch told him, 'I want my fair share, and that's all of it.'" 

**And yes, George Soros is evil too - for all of those who like to comment and ignore the greed and destruction of the Kochs just because the democratic party top contributor is a greedy stock market and hedgefund profiteer. Because of their media whores, FOX and MSNBC, they both get a free pass from their respective parties.

Enough of this bullshit. The politicians of both parties are E.V.I.L., with few exceptions. This meme was originally posted on a page against republicans, which encourages people to vote for the 'lesser evil'. They are BOTH evil and must be exposed for what they are. The lies and deception of both parties is a plan from long before any of us were born.

It Is About More Than "Obamacare"

Why We Need the Proposed 28th Amendment

This is very important, it's more than about Affordable Health Care (which Rmoney originally supported), it is about Your Retirement (if you pay into it), it is about Women's bodies, it is about Environmental Health & Big Corporations... It is about the Kook Koch brothers, Monsanto, BP, Halliburton, et. al. who just do not seem to have enough!

• It is about hatred & contempt for the people who elected them into office.

• It is about enslaving the people through forced poverty.

• It is about the fact that they are attempting to take away the money you & I earned (and temporarily LOANED them) for our retirement.  

• It is about the fact that they are doing their best to poison the environment.

• It is about the fact that they are doing their best to poison our food (Even Elizabeth Warren & Al Franken have bowed to Monsanto & are against mandatory labeling of GMO products).

• It is about the fact that they are attempting to control over women's bodies and force us into being involuntary breeders.

• It is about the fact that they are taking away our right to vote.
   
• It is about the fact that they indiscriminately use NSA as a weapon against thousands of people a wave the flag around the "Patriot Act" while abusing the 1st Amendment.

• It is about the fact, that they ignore the fact that they work for us!
  

Bill Moyers great take on the GOP government shutdown: "Before they will allow the government to reopen, they demand employers be enabled to deny birth control coverage to female employees; they demand Obama cave on the Keystone pipeline; they demand the watchdogs over corporate pollution be muzzled and the big bad regulators of Wall Street sent home: http://vimeo.com/76122572

The GOP Tea-baggers & all those in Congress/Senate who supported this shutdown need to be arrested, put in prison (not jail) tried, and publicly punished for the treasonous traitors that they are under the proposed & much needed 28th amendment!

http://www.credomobilize.com/petitions/prosecute-the-conspirators-who-plotted-the-government-shutdown-in-violation-of-18-usc-2384?source=facebook-share-button&time=1381510965