I just picked this up at Talkandpolitics (where he’s blogging up a storm today!) – Shepherd Smith and Chris Wallace on FOX News acknowledging Jon Stewart and agreeing with him on the disgraceful behavior of the Republicans in the US Senate, who stopped an effort to provide health care to 9/11 first responders. I know Smith is only FOX News lite, but Wallace is the real thing and though he is a bit reluctant at first, he finally jumps in with full blown condemnation.
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So glad that Stewart’s efforts reaps some good. It is inexplicable why the MSM has not addressed this unconscionable action on the part of the GOP. Perhaps they will start actually reporting news one of these days. There are so many of these no-brainer right actions that the GOP simply ignores because it has nothing to do with the rich. Like the protection against child marriage, dream act, DADT, START, and on and on. Sooner or later the public will wake up and they will find themselves a party of misfits and wackos. Come to think of it, they are that now.
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Don’t know if you’ve noticed – but since Stewart’s rant (and Sheperd’s) the MSM is finally covering the shameful behavior of the GOP. There is apparenttly now a chance that the legistlation will pass before the congress adjourns.
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Interesting take from Shep Smith implying candidly that GOP leaders have a conscience. I’m assuming Murdoch is on his way to tell Smith to pack his things for caring about people.
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Smith regularly walks a thin line there.
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What I laugh at is the Liberals’ stupidity. That some FOX sorts have jumped on that bandwagon is a bit surprising, but not too much so.
The myth that the GOP blocked anything is ridiculous. Blame the Dems who chose to play politics with people’s lives instead. The GOP told them that ANYTHING that came up in the Senate would by filibustered until the budget and the tax cuts were dealt with and Reid and his cronies chose to use that for political capital instead of doing their jobs….
Think about it. Both the budget and the tax levels had near-term hard deadlines. They needed to be dealt with now. It was grossly irresponsible to bring other legislation forward first.
Then there’s the fact that Reid and Co. keep trying to bundle a ton of crap into every bill so that nothing will be passed.
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Hey jonolan – long time but I see you still think Repubs do no wrong, Dems do it all wrong.
[Both the budget and the tax levels had near-term hard deadlines. They needed to be dealt with now.] That deadline was about three weeks off when they filibustered. So you’re saying that it’s okay for GOP to refuse to cooperate but it’s not okay for the Majority Leader ot schedule a vote?
You are aware that this bill was introduced in 2009?????
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I’m also aware that the bill didn’t leave committee and come before the floor until just the last couple of weeks, Moe. Why it set in committee in a Dem-ruled Senate is a different matter…
And no, Moe; I do not believe that the GOP can do no wrong. I’m just not willing to let Liberal lies and misinformation pass unchallenged.
If you want WRONG, it’s anyone in the House who voted against Lieberman’s stand-alone repealing of DADT ( Mostly GOP and mostly for pure political bullshit) bill and/or anyone in the Senate who does so – providing that it STAYS a standalone bill and doesn’t get crap added to it.
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A quick and somewhat off-topic follow-up – The Senate just vote to repeal the ban on queers openly serving in the military! On wrong has been corrected.
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I actually turned the teevee on for that 3pm vote. After all the years of angst, it’s quite remarkable how quietly something so momentous actually happened. A tally of the vote was reported and the Senate immediately moved on to other business. Very cool actually.
RE the 9/11 responders bill, yeah it didn’t come to the floor earlier for whatever reasons, but there wasn’t a Senator in the chamber who wasn’t totally familiar with it. Not allowing the vote was petty and frankly hollow. And shame on them.
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Ms. Holland,
” Your ” Democrats put everything important off until after the midterm elections. You can argue about Republican obstruction, well then the stuff does not pass. Putting the budget off until the end was legislative malpractice and then trying to blame others because even with huge majorities in both Houses of Congress, plus the Presidency your guys and Nancy can’t govern. Whatever the merits of the START treaty, the Congress and administration should have brought that up for debate months ago. As usual ” your ” people tried to cram a complicated issue down everyone’s throats in a short time.
Your people are not smart, but they have a political cleverness about them them that is disgusting. An awful lot of what they have done in the lame duck Congress is only about obstructing what the next Congress can do. They set traps for Republicans with the pork they larded into these last bills. Unfortunately they had some success. Republicans can only succeed by staying united against earmarks. I have suddenly become pessimistic.
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[Republicans can only succeed by staying united against earmarks]
That was never serious – just something tossed out to the tea party – the two largest porkers in the tax bill (before they were ALL withdrawn) were Republicans; one was John Cornyn.
Please explain how bringing START up months ago would have made any difference at all. Kyl was determined then, he is determined now.
Lie to your constituents, balk at necessary treaties, spit in the face of hte dying 9/11 responders. Yeah, sure, great guys.
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Where the hell did you find a Republican Goth?
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jonolan is always an interesting mix of positions
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I’m also more of a de facto Republican. They’re more than a little to far to Left for me and certainly, in many of their cases, far too Statist. They’re just the best we’ve got.
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Isn’t there still a Libertarian party?
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If I may, Ralph Nader is the best you’ve got.
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Please! Nader is a traitor to all things American. Thankfully, he’s utterly ineffectual and worthless even to his own side.
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I don’t think Nader belongs to a ‘side’. His issue is and has always been consumer protection from unscrupulous corporations. You remember that his first book took the Chevy Nova (was it the Nova? I think so) off the streets. Chevy had to stop manufacturing when sales simply stopped. That was citizen power of the best kind.
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Right, let’s all curse Nader for making seat belts mandatory in all American cars. What a jerk.
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Yes, lets do that. It’s just another of his business and job killing agenda items.
Nader may try to pass himself off as a protector of the people but all he’s done is work to make our companies less profitable and globally competitive unless they outsource their manufacturing.
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You know that hating Nader is as bad for your karma that drowning kittens, right?
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[all he’s done is work to make our companies less profitable ]
jonolan: (the car that Nader killed was the Corvair, not the Nova.) So you think it was okay for Chevy to protect profits by keeping a car on the market when the gas tanks were blowing up and killing people? No gov;t action was required, just knowledge. And Nader put it out there. The ‘market’ took care of the rest and the Corvair went down.
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Moe, I was speaking of his political actions and his various misuses of his position in the media to manipulate federal regulations, not simple consumer reporting.
Nader didn’t satisfy himself with such reporting and that’s where he went wrong.
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So jonolan, you think political activism is something a citizen should not engage in? Shouldn’t get out there and advocate for his principles and beliefs? Because what else has Nader done but that?
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Not really, Moe; there’s no Libertarian party in a way that matters.
It’d be great if there were, but we all have to live in the real world as opposed to some more pleasant fantasy.
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Hey jonolan, you listen to Cradle of Filth? Dimmu Borgir? Any kind of Black Metal? Just wondering… BTW, I do. But that genre is based in LaVeyism, and Atheism. So is Goth. Just sayin…
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Also jonolan, the nature of Goth is anti-conformity. It is protesting herd-mentality. I cannot see that you could truly be a republican’t and gothic at the same time. Again, just sayin…
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Nice try, Moe.
I believe strongly that “people” who lobby the government – Nader has spent a great deal through his PACs and lobbying firms – to pass restrictive laws are enemies of America when those laws are anti Free Market.
I’m also against the “Social Conservatives” or Liberals who seek a anti-Federalist, Statist response to ethical and moral problems.
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I think you know I probably agree with you about a great deal of lobbying that goes on, but I have the same problem the Supreme Court does in finding where to draw that line. In any case, not all Americans champion the free market – not by any means. And some Americans are pro Federlist, some are anti Federalist, some believe the State has a role in moral issues (again, where is the line?) and some do not.
You and I probalby feel the same about a number of the morally restrictive laws, but will differ when it comes to the proper gov’t role in economic matters, public safety, education etc.
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Ms. Holland,
Whether the Corvair really was much more unsafe than other cars of it’s era is debatable . There were still a few on the road in the mid 70s. I worked with a guy that owned one . He loved his Corvair and cursed Nader as a know nothing do gooder nut .
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