Get That Spine!

Thank you, Senators:

Senate Democrats are calling the White House's bluff on a threatened veto of an energy bill by refusing to take out language that would remove tax breaks for big oil and gas companies.

The Senate's version of the bill, which modifies energy legislation passed last week by the U.S. House of Representatives, is scheduled to be voted on Thursday. It would repeal about $13 billion in tax breaks for mostly big oil companies such as Exxon Mobil Corp.

The White House has said the bill unfairly targets the oil industry and that President George W. Bush would veto the legislation in its current form.

Bush isn't bluffing - he will veto the bill because it's not exactly what he wants. But it's better for Congress to put a bill in front of him that is supported by a majority of not only Congresscritters but also Americans. Even if the result is the same as it would be if Congress just gave up and didn't put a bill in front of him that he wouldn't sign, now when he vetoes it, the blame will rest squarely on Bush's shoulders and nobody else's. We like it when our leaders have spines and go down fighting, not when they roll over and play dead.

Kudos to Senator Reid on this one.

Less Kumbaya, More Do the Right Thing

Surprised?

President Bush, escalating his budget battle with Congress, on Tuesday vetoed a spending measure for health and education programs prized by congressional Democrats.

He also signed a big increase in the Pentagon's non-war budget although the White House complained it contained "some unnecessary spending."

The president's action was announced on Air Force One as Bush flew to New Albany, Ind., on the Ohio River across from Louisville, Ky., for a speech criticizing the Democratic-led Congress on its budget priorities.

In excerpts of his remarks released in advance by the White House, Bush hammered Democrats for what he called a tax-and-spend philosophy:

You are the Congress, he is one man. Congress legislates and the President executes. I learned this when I was 8, yet our lawmakers and chattering classes in Washington still can't come to grips with this.

I'm not even going to get into the irony of Bush pooh-poohing a tax-and-spend philosophy. Today, at least, irony is back in the grave.

WAAAAAHHH!!!!!

Everybody's being mean and not doing what I want them to do!!!!

President Bush blasted the Democratic-controlled Congress on Tuesday for having "the worst record in 20 years."

"Congress is not getting it's work done," President Bush said on Tuesday.

"Congress is not getting it's work done," Bush said, flanked by members of the Republican House leadership. "The House of Representatives has wasted valuable time on a constant stream of investigations, and the Senate has wasted valuable time on an endless series of failed votes to pull our troops out of Iraq."

Does this article once bother to mention the constant threat of Bush's veto or the most obstructionist Senate minority ever? No.

Bush is a joke and if he makes statements like that he should only be able to air them in a platform where he is subject to only ridicule, instead of elevated like an actual statesman.

Busy Day

What Digby - and Perlstein - said.

History of the World, Part II

It's almost right out of a Mel Brooks movie.

Leader of the Senate: All fellow members of the Roman senate hear me. Shall
we continue to build palace after palace for the rich? Or shall we aspire to a
more noble purpose and build decent housing for the poor? How does the senate
vote?

Entire Senate: FUCK THE POOR!

Today:

Democrats' promise of a quick increase in the minimum wage ran aground Wednesday in the Senate, where lawmakers are insisting it include new tax breaks for restaurants and other businesses that rely on low-pay workers.

On a 54-43 vote, Democrats lost an effort to advance a House-passed bill that would lift the pay floor from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour without any accompanying tax cut.
Opponents of the tax cut needed 60 votes to prevail.

Make no mistake - Republicans will do everything in their power to make Democrats look bad, at any and every cost to the country. Bipartisan spirit my big left butt cheek.

It's January

This is what I call a mandate, Bush.

Happy New Year!

Now get to work.

As they prepare to take control of Congress this week and face up to campaign
pledges to restore bipartisanship and openness, Democrats are planning to largely sideline Republicans from the first burst of lawmaking.
House Democrats intend to pass a raft of popular measures as part of their well-publicized plan for the first 100 hours. They include tightening ethics rules for lawmakers, raising the minimum wage, allowing more research on stem cells and cutting interest rates on student loans.

Do I care if the Republicans are sidelined? Not at all. These are the same rules that the Republican party has used for years, and this is legislation that has been promised to the American people and needs to be passed. If Republicans were allowed into the process they would mangle any effort to make serious progress in this country and then blame the Democrats for not accomplishing anything. But the Republicans are adults and they can take a taste of their own medicine, right?

House Republicans have begun to complain that Democrats are backing away from
their promise to work cooperatively. They are working on their own strategy for
the first 100 hours, and part of it is built on the idea that they might be able
to break the Democrats' slender majority by wooing away some conservative
Democrats.

Ha ha, just kidding.

Republicans controlled the House for the past 12 years and did not accomplish anything. Their time is over.