Dems Looking For GOP Votes On Jobs Bill; GOP Not Interested

Here's the thing: bi-partisan for the GOP means that the Dems should only do what the GOP approves. As I understand the democratic process, it is the winners who control the agenda, not the losers who nearly wrecked the economy, allowed the worst terrorist attack in American history and then launched a war under false pretenses which they paid for with money borrowed from China.

I was talking with an unemployed friend the other day. "Sure, I want a job that can put food on my family's table, but if I got a job as a result of a bill that offended Mitch McConnell's procedural sensibilities, I'm not sure I could live with that kind of emotional pain."

Republicans oppose jobs for Americans just like they oppose health care for Americans. At least they're consistent.

Yet another incremental escalation of the chutzpah factor in their excuses for blocking the will of the majority. Now they're actually saying they refuse to allow a vote on legislation they openly admit they support because they claim they're upset that the majority is acting like the majority.

I know we're all mad and know that their obstensible reasons are meaningless, and that the real agenda is to abuse the Senate rules to the maximum and thereby generate a perception of ineptitude and impotent futility which, they believe--apparently correctly--will cause the voters to reward them for their obstructionism. (I also note that way too many Democrats and "progressives" seem to be eagerly buying into precisely the framing the Republicans are trying to create, but that's another post.)

What no one seems to be noticing yet, however, is the way they keep slowly dialing up the transparency and absurdity of their stated reasons. They're like tweens looking for boundaries and not finding any. They keep seeking the point at which the MSM will call bullshit on them, rather than merely reporting that Democrats called bullshit. And they really have yet to find that point. That lack of boundaries is tempting the Republicans into transparent displays of open contempt for the media, just like tweens, will indulge in open contempt for parents who refuse to set limits. Their reasons are going to get increasingly absurd and the MSM will continue to either blandly report them as if they were real or, worse yet, do the knowing insider Cokie Roberts style chuckling and chortling over it that implicitly says that "this is all just perfectly ordinary business as usual."

In coming weeks, look for:

"We are blocking a vote on extending unemployment benefits because Senator Reid didn't say anything to Sen. McConnell about his new haircut."

"We blocked a vote on the bill to provide rations and and ammunition to the troops in Afghanistan because the Senate cafeteria ran out of rocky road ice cream."

"Today, we blocked a vote on a bill whose title we haven't even bothered to read for reasons that will be made clear in the following interpretive dance performance by Chuck Grassley, Saxby Chambliss and Thad Cochrane."

So when it comes down to a choice between helping Americans getting back to work or making sure they are properly pampered by Senate Democrats, it's good to know where Republicans come down.

I hate to say it, but the Republicans have a point here. First of all a $15 million job bill cannot be anything but a waste of $15 million dollars. It is simply too small to have any practical effect. Secondly, Reid pulled this maneuver just as Obama was preaching bipartisanship and just as polls were showing that the majority believed Obama was trying harder to reach a compromise then Republicans. We were finally starting to win the public debate before Reid did this!

Imagine the shoe being on the other foot. Imagine the Republicans unilaterally reject a bipartisan bill, forcing a vote on a partisan one and refusing even to allow amendments. These tactics are worthy of Republicans, not Democrats.

Bottom line: as much as I despise the current Republican leadership, if I were a senator I would be filibustering this bill too.

Las Vegas, NV (KTNV) - Mayor Oscar Goodman has refused an invitation to meet with President Obama when he arrives in town on Thursday. Mayor Goodman called President Obama a slow learner after he told Americans not to blow money on a weekend in Las Vegas if they were saving to put their kids through college.

"I've got other things to do quite frankly for my constituents here in Las Vegas who rely on me to do the right thing as a mayor," explained Mayor Goodman.

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The Mayor must be a racist...or perhaps a Nazi.

Lets break this down.
1. For the one millionth time the GOP is against what they formerly supported, which in this case was a few months ago.
2. The GOP turned against the bill after Reid removed the annual tax cut extensions that are nothing short of corporate giveways, the GOP loves. Their usage is just basic extortion, threatening the corporations with discontinuing the tax cuts if they don't pay up to their campaigns.
3. Before they announced their change of heart, the GOP met behind closed doors with 100 Lobbyists. Another example of hypocrisy that really needs no explanation.
4. The GOP just wants the Dems to fail. They will drive the country into the ground if it means they can regain power and stop a black man from fixing what they destroyed. You know its true.
5. Sure 15 billion is a drop in the bucket, but lets not loose perspective here. You would think such a small bill would be a shoe-in with the GOP. If the GOP blocks 15 billion, then why would anyone think the bill could be more?