++President Obama es mas macho que John Boehner. The President has megatons more patience than I ever would as he spent over an hour explaining the importance of default and addressing Republicans who believe it isn't a big deal. And if it isn't a big deal than why do Republicans believe they can extract massive concessions from the Democrats.
++The problem with President Obama is he is too rational. He walked through the history of the budget battle, including John Boehner's dare the Senate pass a budget--which it did. Then, according to the President, the House refused 19 times to appoint members to meet with the Senate in conference. President Obama was even tougher than before about not negotiating. He called again for Boehner to just bring the bill to the floor and let every member get their vote recorded individually. He again called for a clean debt ceiling vote and talked about the history of those votes dating back to Reagan's day.
++He explained why he might be tempted by the individual bills passed by the House and explained that these were only the result of the media showing a problem, which then embarrassed Republicans. And he said it wasn't a way to run a railroad.
++He disappointed me by explaining why he was not going to invoke the 14th Amendment despite its possible legality because it would essentially mean that the United States had defaulted because the litigation would take years and cast doubt on the Treasuries. He also dismissed the trillion dollar coin idea. He answered one question from a British reporter about paying bond-holders first by saying that Jack Lew would be giving a presentation to the Senate on Thursday addressing the details of different options Treasury has. He also said that Democrats should not expect any further tricks in the Treasury bag because Jack Lew will have exhausted them by the date of the debt ceiling.
++As sort of a concession, he said the GOP can attached what subjects they want the President to address in budget negotiations if they did not believe him. But he was not going to make unilateral concessions just to have a CR. This sort of suggested a form Boehner might try.
++The President took more questions than I have seen him do so in previous press conferences. He ignored Jon Karl, who at the end stood shouting "Whether the President took any responsibility for the shutdown?" This was dutifully recorded by ABC but the President had already left the room and probably didn't hear him.
++Overall, I thought the President did a great job and didn't cave. Earlier that morning he called John Boehner and told him basically the same thing. John Boehner told his Caucus that the Democrats were trying to destroy the Republicans and that they should hold tight. A few of those who said they favored a clean CR have backed down.
++In a new poll,72% of Americans believe that the shutdown is hurting the country and 50% believe it is "severely hurting the country". Only 12% believe it isn't.
++Weirdly, the Catholic Bishops Conference chose today to come out and ask the House not to end the shutdown until contraceptive coverage is banned under Obamacare. Shutdown the government and default on the debt because people use contraceptives.
++Meanwhile church groups, including Catholics,had 40 different rallies around the country demanding Congress pass an Immigration Law that had a path to citizenship.
++The Supreme Court looks like it will eliminate limits on individual campaign contributions. President Obama criticized this at his press conference,alerting the press that the reason we haven't had a budget agreement is that billionaires and millionaires have funded various special interest groups who threaten members or bankrolled their campaigns.
++At this hour, things don't look good for a resolution on either a CR or a Debt Ceiling.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Dodgers Win and Sam Wang is back
++The Dodgers beat the Atlanta Braves 4-3 and take the National League West. Clayton Kershaw pitching on a few days rest went six innings and bearded Brian Wilson picked up the win. Juan Uribe hit the eighth inning homer to put the Dodgers into the championship between the winner of the Cards-Pirates serious. Go, Magic Johnson!
++Sam Wang from Princeton has re-emerged with election.princeton.edu.today to show that if the 2014 election were held today, the Democrats would win the House with a 30 seat gain. He doubts it but the internal figures seem to run against the historical precedents that the President's party loses bi-elections in the second-term. Wang says he didn't go with the worse case scenario for the GOP, which shows they would lose 50 seats in the House. But, what the early data is showing is that this could shape up to be a wave election. What is interesting is that Wang factors in gerrymandering and says the Democrats must get a +8 in generic polling to win back the House. He saying they are in that range now.
++PPP, the most reliable pollster in 2012,conducted individual race polls pitting Republicans in key districts against a generic Democrat. The Democrats win enough seats to take back the House.
++Over the last several days, there has been some truly wonderful writing about the meeting of the current stalemate in Congress. Tim Egan of the New York Times eviscerated the Republicans. Paul Krugman on his blog "Conscience of a Liberal" wrote several pieces on the inanity of the GOP positions on both the CR and the debt ceiling. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post weighed in on how Obamacare is here to stay. Steve Benen has re-appeared to show how the votes are there for a clean bill. Josh Marshall has waken from his slumber and been generating sophisticated analyses of the political situation. Josh's most disturbing post was yesterday's analysis of why President Obama will not invoke the 14th Amendment and why the Republicans can not bring themselves to vote for raising the debt ceiling. Sean Wilentz from Princeton re-emerges to write an op-ed in today's New York Times why President Obama must invoke the 14th Amendment because that is historically what it is intended to do--protect the credit of the United States. The Business Wire had a short piece on what Jack Lew has to do--choose which of three laws he will break to save the credit of the United States. And yes, there really is a debt ceiling law--it was passed in 1917. There is another op-ed in the Washington Post about why this law needs to be changed. Colbert King wrote two days ago an op-ed in the Washington Post about how the GOP is now a Neo-Confederate party. And Chris Hedges wrote on Truthout how the religious right has taken over the GOP and how their ideology pushes the United States toward the policies that enrich the plutocracy and advocate an empire based on their hare-brained religious beliefs. Let hundreds of writers bloom. The times seem to be propelling a greater richness of writing.
++The GOP has been hopeless with their spins. The longer the shutdown continues the worse it is getting for the GOP. Yesterday's polls in the Post show over 70% of the country disapprove of the GOP's handling of this crisis. While President Obama took a ding for Syria, he has improved five points in various polls. The number approving the GOP is at 27%,which a blogger noted was the same number Alan Keyes got running against Barack Obama for the Senate. He termed this the index of craziness.
++Rachel Maddow did a service last night showing how a majority in the House really do back a clean CR. Nancy Pelosi enlisted Democrats and Republicans to sign a letter committing themselves to voting for a clean CR. The number hit 217 but yesterday a few more Republicans signed up and two lagging Democrats were added.
++The new excuse John Boehner uses is that the Senate can't pass a clean debt ceiling bill. Hapless Harry Reid took up the gauntlet and now is preparing for such a vote. The trick is whether the GOP will filibuster it and whether the Democrats can break the filibuster. But it would pass the Senate if Republicans allowed it. Republican Senators like Kirk from Illinois, McCain from Arizona, Collins from Maine are among those who have said they would support it.
++Meanwhile,tea baggers and other on the extreme right are arguing it's no problem if we default on our debt. What they don't realize is that legally it is a very hard to prioritize paying bills and it doesn't work out that politically important bills get paid first. This morning Gallup poll said confidence in the American economy is the lowest since 2008 when Lehman's went under. Even the billionaires are screaming and China is calling for their money back.
++On the Washington Post poll,I said the shutdown would last until December 17th when the debt ceiling is breached. Pressure is mounting on Boehner to settle but the tea baggers have him hostage. President Obama yesterday gave him a face-saving gesture by saving he would accept a limited debt ceiling raise and a clean short-term CR. Then they could negotiate.
++Meanwhile in the glitch-ridden launch of Obamacare, over 10 million people have hit the websites. Andrew Sullivan writes this morning about how Kathleen Sebelius isn't an effective promoter of Obamacare with her appearances on Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow. The proof is in the pudding--January 1 marks the date about its success.
++It has been fascinating to watch the GOP scramble for photo-ops to dramatize their commitment to government. Here in the Beltway, it is not the Head Start kids or the cancelling of welfare or the end of "Meals of Wheels" that captures the headlines. It is that you can drive down the Shanadoah Skyline for your fall foliage tour or that War Memorials are blocked. Yesterday, Rep. Sessions, a Teabagger,took a chain and locked up the Iwo Jima memorial and then brought bolt-cutters and dramatically cut the chains. It made a photo-op but with people yelling that he locked it up. The GOP is finding out that closing government is tougher than Teabaggers think. And the spin hasn't worked. Maybe it will be everyday this goes on ,the more Americans are alienated.
++If anything comes out of this, it will be an appreciation of government.
++Lastly, the shutdown hasn't helped the "Cooch". Blue Virginia this morning has printed polling data that the Democrats will sweep the state elections next month. With a month to go, the Cooch trails Terry McAuliffe by ten.
++Sam Wang from Princeton has re-emerged with election.princeton.edu.today to show that if the 2014 election were held today, the Democrats would win the House with a 30 seat gain. He doubts it but the internal figures seem to run against the historical precedents that the President's party loses bi-elections in the second-term. Wang says he didn't go with the worse case scenario for the GOP, which shows they would lose 50 seats in the House. But, what the early data is showing is that this could shape up to be a wave election. What is interesting is that Wang factors in gerrymandering and says the Democrats must get a +8 in generic polling to win back the House. He saying they are in that range now.
++PPP, the most reliable pollster in 2012,conducted individual race polls pitting Republicans in key districts against a generic Democrat. The Democrats win enough seats to take back the House.
++Over the last several days, there has been some truly wonderful writing about the meeting of the current stalemate in Congress. Tim Egan of the New York Times eviscerated the Republicans. Paul Krugman on his blog "Conscience of a Liberal" wrote several pieces on the inanity of the GOP positions on both the CR and the debt ceiling. Eugene Robinson of the Washington Post weighed in on how Obamacare is here to stay. Steve Benen has re-appeared to show how the votes are there for a clean bill. Josh Marshall has waken from his slumber and been generating sophisticated analyses of the political situation. Josh's most disturbing post was yesterday's analysis of why President Obama will not invoke the 14th Amendment and why the Republicans can not bring themselves to vote for raising the debt ceiling. Sean Wilentz from Princeton re-emerges to write an op-ed in today's New York Times why President Obama must invoke the 14th Amendment because that is historically what it is intended to do--protect the credit of the United States. The Business Wire had a short piece on what Jack Lew has to do--choose which of three laws he will break to save the credit of the United States. And yes, there really is a debt ceiling law--it was passed in 1917. There is another op-ed in the Washington Post about why this law needs to be changed. Colbert King wrote two days ago an op-ed in the Washington Post about how the GOP is now a Neo-Confederate party. And Chris Hedges wrote on Truthout how the religious right has taken over the GOP and how their ideology pushes the United States toward the policies that enrich the plutocracy and advocate an empire based on their hare-brained religious beliefs. Let hundreds of writers bloom. The times seem to be propelling a greater richness of writing.
++The GOP has been hopeless with their spins. The longer the shutdown continues the worse it is getting for the GOP. Yesterday's polls in the Post show over 70% of the country disapprove of the GOP's handling of this crisis. While President Obama took a ding for Syria, he has improved five points in various polls. The number approving the GOP is at 27%,which a blogger noted was the same number Alan Keyes got running against Barack Obama for the Senate. He termed this the index of craziness.
++Rachel Maddow did a service last night showing how a majority in the House really do back a clean CR. Nancy Pelosi enlisted Democrats and Republicans to sign a letter committing themselves to voting for a clean CR. The number hit 217 but yesterday a few more Republicans signed up and two lagging Democrats were added.
++The new excuse John Boehner uses is that the Senate can't pass a clean debt ceiling bill. Hapless Harry Reid took up the gauntlet and now is preparing for such a vote. The trick is whether the GOP will filibuster it and whether the Democrats can break the filibuster. But it would pass the Senate if Republicans allowed it. Republican Senators like Kirk from Illinois, McCain from Arizona, Collins from Maine are among those who have said they would support it.
++Meanwhile,tea baggers and other on the extreme right are arguing it's no problem if we default on our debt. What they don't realize is that legally it is a very hard to prioritize paying bills and it doesn't work out that politically important bills get paid first. This morning Gallup poll said confidence in the American economy is the lowest since 2008 when Lehman's went under. Even the billionaires are screaming and China is calling for their money back.
++On the Washington Post poll,I said the shutdown would last until December 17th when the debt ceiling is breached. Pressure is mounting on Boehner to settle but the tea baggers have him hostage. President Obama yesterday gave him a face-saving gesture by saving he would accept a limited debt ceiling raise and a clean short-term CR. Then they could negotiate.
++Meanwhile in the glitch-ridden launch of Obamacare, over 10 million people have hit the websites. Andrew Sullivan writes this morning about how Kathleen Sebelius isn't an effective promoter of Obamacare with her appearances on Stephen Colbert and Rachel Maddow. The proof is in the pudding--January 1 marks the date about its success.
++It has been fascinating to watch the GOP scramble for photo-ops to dramatize their commitment to government. Here in the Beltway, it is not the Head Start kids or the cancelling of welfare or the end of "Meals of Wheels" that captures the headlines. It is that you can drive down the Shanadoah Skyline for your fall foliage tour or that War Memorials are blocked. Yesterday, Rep. Sessions, a Teabagger,took a chain and locked up the Iwo Jima memorial and then brought bolt-cutters and dramatically cut the chains. It made a photo-op but with people yelling that he locked it up. The GOP is finding out that closing government is tougher than Teabaggers think. And the spin hasn't worked. Maybe it will be everyday this goes on ,the more Americans are alienated.
++If anything comes out of this, it will be an appreciation of government.
++Lastly, the shutdown hasn't helped the "Cooch". Blue Virginia this morning has printed polling data that the Democrats will sweep the state elections next month. With a month to go, the Cooch trails Terry McAuliffe by ten.
Thursday, October 3, 2013
Edgy City
++A women from Stamford, Connecticut, with a one year old child in her SUV tried to ram the White House and the Capital Police chased her to the House where she was gunned down and the girl rescued. No one knows what this was about.
++But it set the scene for the continued posing on the shutdown. Eric Cantor's memo this morning was that the House GOP caucus was in an unprecedented situation because President Obama was not going to negotiate with them. However, he urged the Caucus to remain united.
++Perhaps the most bizarre situation was that Denny Hastert renounced the Hastert Rule, which this blog has written about often. He said it was not a hard and fast rule and doesn't apply all the time. Was this a message that Boehner would have a way out.
++Speaker Boehner in conversations with the House Caucus has said he will not allow a default on the national debt and he would allow a clean debt ceiling bill without conditions. But then he said he expected concessions. From whom? It wasn't clear.
++The White House outlined why President Obama feels so strongly about not negotiating on the debt ceiling. He learned his lesson from last time and believes that it fundamentally changes the relationship between the legislative and the executive. He is concerned that after elections this would be used in the future to negate a President's priorities.
++Part of the riddle why he will not raise it unilaterally has been said. The White House believes that U.S. Treasuries sold at that time would exist in a legal cloud and this would ,in effect, act like we did default.
++In Maryland, President Obama repeated that he would not negotiate to re-open the government nor to raise the debt ceiling. He said the GOP would not get a "goody bag" for holding the country ransomed.
++Much has been made about the hard-core tea baggers not willing to compromise. Many websites point to their total invulnerability in elections. Some were elected in districts where Obama got less than 30% of the vote and the district is over 80% white.
++A more thoughtful analysis of where the GOP's attitudes are is in the latest Democracy Corps analysis of the segments of the GOP conducted through focus groups. It is a group scared and discouraged by the demographic fate before them and an overwhelming feeling that establishment Republicans are powerless to stop the trend.
++But it set the scene for the continued posing on the shutdown. Eric Cantor's memo this morning was that the House GOP caucus was in an unprecedented situation because President Obama was not going to negotiate with them. However, he urged the Caucus to remain united.
++Perhaps the most bizarre situation was that Denny Hastert renounced the Hastert Rule, which this blog has written about often. He said it was not a hard and fast rule and doesn't apply all the time. Was this a message that Boehner would have a way out.
++Speaker Boehner in conversations with the House Caucus has said he will not allow a default on the national debt and he would allow a clean debt ceiling bill without conditions. But then he said he expected concessions. From whom? It wasn't clear.
++The White House outlined why President Obama feels so strongly about not negotiating on the debt ceiling. He learned his lesson from last time and believes that it fundamentally changes the relationship between the legislative and the executive. He is concerned that after elections this would be used in the future to negate a President's priorities.
++Part of the riddle why he will not raise it unilaterally has been said. The White House believes that U.S. Treasuries sold at that time would exist in a legal cloud and this would ,in effect, act like we did default.
++In Maryland, President Obama repeated that he would not negotiate to re-open the government nor to raise the debt ceiling. He said the GOP would not get a "goody bag" for holding the country ransomed.
++Much has been made about the hard-core tea baggers not willing to compromise. Many websites point to their total invulnerability in elections. Some were elected in districts where Obama got less than 30% of the vote and the district is over 80% white.
++A more thoughtful analysis of where the GOP's attitudes are is in the latest Democracy Corps analysis of the segments of the GOP conducted through focus groups. It is a group scared and discouraged by the demographic fate before them and an overwhelming feeling that establishment Republicans are powerless to stop the trend.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
Wild Card
++Rays beat the Indians 4-0. At least, the Indians lost before their home crowd. Not a bad season. Congrats to Terry Francona, who turned the club around.
++So I'm down to the Oakland A's and Coco Crisp. Detroit. In the NL, Pirates and hopefully the Dodgers will come out of their slump against the Braves.
++So I'm down to the Oakland A's and Coco Crisp. Detroit. In the NL, Pirates and hopefully the Dodgers will come out of their slump against the Braves.
Boehner Sells GOP Another Unicorn
++Hours before he went to the White House, Boehner assembled his team with Paul Ryan to basically leak to his caucus his idea to use the debt ceiling issue as leverage for reaching a grand bargain with President Obama.
++There may be a reason he didn't answer questions of the media and Mitch McConnell made himself scarce.
++At lunch today the Republican Senators reamed Cruz out for getting them into a mess and demanded how he was going to get them out of it. Politico reported the story quoting anonymous Senators blasting Cruz and saying it was embarrassing because he tried to dodge their questions. They also demanded he renounce the attacks on Republican Senators by Jim DeMint's fund. He said he would not.
++By early evening, members of the Republican caucus said that they were holding tight because Boehner promised them he would go for tax reform,substantial budget cuts,and entitlement reform for raising the debt ceiling. The House Caucus was told to hang tight and stay together and not break for a clean CR. It was clear the Caucus believed him because Democrats failed to move a clean CR and the so-called moderate Republicans didn't budge. The Washington Post keeps posting new members saying they want a clean CR but this is a mirage.
++ Freedomworks is against any "grand bargain" and wants Obama to suspend parts of Obamacare because they want to dismantle it piece by piece by 2014.
++Bottom line--the government shutdown is to last until and maybe through the debt ceiling issue of October 17. Meanwhile, the GOP will keep passing single bills to shift the optics of the shutdown on to the Democrats. As one member said,"we're not going to be disrespected. We want something out of this. We don't know what it is."
++The Shutdown is now no longer about Obamacare but a full scale attack on the Obama Administration's priorities and the President himself.
++There may be a reason he didn't answer questions of the media and Mitch McConnell made himself scarce.
++At lunch today the Republican Senators reamed Cruz out for getting them into a mess and demanded how he was going to get them out of it. Politico reported the story quoting anonymous Senators blasting Cruz and saying it was embarrassing because he tried to dodge their questions. They also demanded he renounce the attacks on Republican Senators by Jim DeMint's fund. He said he would not.
++By early evening, members of the Republican caucus said that they were holding tight because Boehner promised them he would go for tax reform,substantial budget cuts,and entitlement reform for raising the debt ceiling. The House Caucus was told to hang tight and stay together and not break for a clean CR. It was clear the Caucus believed him because Democrats failed to move a clean CR and the so-called moderate Republicans didn't budge. The Washington Post keeps posting new members saying they want a clean CR but this is a mirage.
++ Freedomworks is against any "grand bargain" and wants Obama to suspend parts of Obamacare because they want to dismantle it piece by piece by 2014.
++Bottom line--the government shutdown is to last until and maybe through the debt ceiling issue of October 17. Meanwhile, the GOP will keep passing single bills to shift the optics of the shutdown on to the Democrats. As one member said,"we're not going to be disrespected. We want something out of this. We don't know what it is."
++The Shutdown is now no longer about Obamacare but a full scale attack on the Obama Administration's priorities and the President himself.
The President is Strong,Strong,Strong
++So says Harry Reid after the hour and a half meeting between the congressional leaders and President Obama. Harry Reid said he had never been so proud of the President. John Boehner said that the President refused to negotiate.
++What Boehner meant was that President Obama told him Obamacare has already left the station and it's not going to be de-railed.
++The President said he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling and asked Boehner to bring a clean bill to the House floor where reporters note it now has enough votes to pass.
++Meanwhile House Republicans are trying to pin the blame for the shutdown on the Democrats by passing bills piecemeal to take away the most public faces of the shutdown. For instance, the National Institute of Health has a program for cancer patients when all alternatives have failed. News that they had to turn away 200 patients today stimulated the GOP to pass a short-term bill allowing it to open. The RNC said it would pay the national parks to keep the WWII monument open because of the bad publicity of the Heroes Tour of WWII vets showing up in Washington to find the memorial closed.
++Calgary Cruz said the shutdown has made the United States vulnerable to terrorist attacks. I suppose it wasn't an ironic statement given the terrorism of the House.
++Rand Paul couldn't resist ,saying that President Obama ordered more guards on the WWII memorial than he did at Benghazi.
++Darryl Issa said he would convene an investigation into why public memorials have been closed because of the shutdown. Remember it was only about a month ago that both the Lincoln and Washington memorials were defaced with graffiti. You can imagine the outrage if these monuments were left open.
++Norm Ornstein writes in the Washington Post that the Democrats can play harder ball. Accept the NIH bill amended to include an increase in funding and add the research grants which the House neglected and send it back to the House. If need be, the Senate could amend one of the House bills by adding a clean CR on it for a vote. In short, the Democrats have to make sure the onus is on the Republicans.
++What Boehner meant was that President Obama told him Obamacare has already left the station and it's not going to be de-railed.
++The President said he would not negotiate over the debt ceiling and asked Boehner to bring a clean bill to the House floor where reporters note it now has enough votes to pass.
++Meanwhile House Republicans are trying to pin the blame for the shutdown on the Democrats by passing bills piecemeal to take away the most public faces of the shutdown. For instance, the National Institute of Health has a program for cancer patients when all alternatives have failed. News that they had to turn away 200 patients today stimulated the GOP to pass a short-term bill allowing it to open. The RNC said it would pay the national parks to keep the WWII monument open because of the bad publicity of the Heroes Tour of WWII vets showing up in Washington to find the memorial closed.
++Calgary Cruz said the shutdown has made the United States vulnerable to terrorist attacks. I suppose it wasn't an ironic statement given the terrorism of the House.
++Rand Paul couldn't resist ,saying that President Obama ordered more guards on the WWII memorial than he did at Benghazi.
++Darryl Issa said he would convene an investigation into why public memorials have been closed because of the shutdown. Remember it was only about a month ago that both the Lincoln and Washington memorials were defaced with graffiti. You can imagine the outrage if these monuments were left open.
++Norm Ornstein writes in the Washington Post that the Democrats can play harder ball. Accept the NIH bill amended to include an increase in funding and add the research grants which the House neglected and send it back to the House. If need be, the Senate could amend one of the House bills by adding a clean CR on it for a vote. In short, the Democrats have to make sure the onus is on the Republicans.
Quiet Town
++The shining village on the mound continues the government shutdown. The House GOP has been trying to pass piecemeal bills to open parts of the government they like. They particularly want to ensure the parks around D.C. and the operating budget for D.C. in in place because of the negative effect the shutdown is having on the "Cooch" election bid in Virginia. But they are not even passing their own bills.
++Andrew Sullivan hit it out of the park yesterday with his essay on "The Nullification Party" and he urged President Obama to treat this as the constitutional crisis that Lincoln faced. I happen to agree and think Sullivan's piece at the Daily Dish is worth reading.
++In the late night hours before the closedown, John Boehner shocked his colleagues by designating conferees to meet with the Democrats to negotiate the CR,shocking because for 18 times the House has refused to negotiate the budget with the Senate despite Senator Patty Murray's repeated request. What I missed until Louise Slaughter talked about it on the Rachel Maddow Show that with all the ping-ponging Harry Reid only needed 51 votes to kill the House initiatives. But with a call to conference, Boehner was trying to trick the Senate back into the 60 vote range for consideration and then shift the blame for the shutdown on the Senate. The public isn't buying.
++I repeat the CR is a compromise bill that showed the Democrats caved to the GOP's top budget line, which is an amazing $300 billion less than the President proposed.
++In the Fox "slim down", not shutdown,their own poll showed President Obama with 50% approval and 79% disapproved of the shutdown. CNN showed Congress with a stunning 10% approval rating, the lowest since modern polling began.
++Nationwide, editorials blasted the Tea Party for preventing a clean CR from coming to vote. Every pundit and political junkie is hip to the fact that a clean CR would pass the House if Speaker Boehner would allow it. For the first time in a while,the moral equivalency of the corporate media has disappeared with blame laying squarely on the House Republicans.
++Incredibly dangerous is this morning's statements from the Republican Caucus that they may link the CR to the debt ceiling vote. I think the President is on firmer ground than he thinks to raise the debt ceiling himself. Parry versus the United States in 1935 brought this issue to the Supreme Court. The United States failed in its bid not to pay its bills. The 14th Amendment is pretty absolute--more than the 2nd Amendment is--that you can not question the United States in terms of its debts. And I have yet to find any statutory basis for the "debt ceiling" at all. It's a myth that has been useful for three decades but doesn't have a legal reality.
++President Obama has called the Congressional leaders to the White House to discuss the situation. Since he is the only reasonable person around, I fear like many he will give more than the Democrats already did by allowing the sequestration levels in the CR. But so far the Democrats have remained united and the President firm. The same can't be said by the Republicans, who are in open civil war with themselves and against the country.
++Meanwhile Obamacare clicked in with perhaps its most important component the individual mandate. The exchanges and the federal website was so overwhelmed that the severs crashed. Over 2 million in New York logged onto the state's website, 2.8 million on the Federal website, and hundreds more thousand on the state exchanges. Some glitches were worse than others. I read several different accounts from computer geeks of the various problems with selected websites but can't understand a word they said. But the bottom-line is that demand for health insurance is far greater than people expected.
++The United Nations weapons inspectors are en route to Syria and face the shortest time-line to remove chemical weapons there.
++The Iranian Parliament passed a resolution approving President Rowhani's overture to the West. John Kerry is expected to start the nuclear negotiations in Geneva next week.
++Just like with the BP oil spill, President Obama has had to postpone his trip to Malaysia and the Philippines. John Kerry will go in his place. The President has to hunker down and deal with Congress.
++Hurray for the Pirates . Russell Martin, picked up from the Yankees last year,hit two homers to eliminate the Cincinnati Reds. Tonight, the Cleveland Indians go against the Tampa Rays for an elimination game in the Wild Card race. Go Indians!
++Andrew Sullivan hit it out of the park yesterday with his essay on "The Nullification Party" and he urged President Obama to treat this as the constitutional crisis that Lincoln faced. I happen to agree and think Sullivan's piece at the Daily Dish is worth reading.
++In the late night hours before the closedown, John Boehner shocked his colleagues by designating conferees to meet with the Democrats to negotiate the CR,shocking because for 18 times the House has refused to negotiate the budget with the Senate despite Senator Patty Murray's repeated request. What I missed until Louise Slaughter talked about it on the Rachel Maddow Show that with all the ping-ponging Harry Reid only needed 51 votes to kill the House initiatives. But with a call to conference, Boehner was trying to trick the Senate back into the 60 vote range for consideration and then shift the blame for the shutdown on the Senate. The public isn't buying.
++I repeat the CR is a compromise bill that showed the Democrats caved to the GOP's top budget line, which is an amazing $300 billion less than the President proposed.
++In the Fox "slim down", not shutdown,their own poll showed President Obama with 50% approval and 79% disapproved of the shutdown. CNN showed Congress with a stunning 10% approval rating, the lowest since modern polling began.
++Nationwide, editorials blasted the Tea Party for preventing a clean CR from coming to vote. Every pundit and political junkie is hip to the fact that a clean CR would pass the House if Speaker Boehner would allow it. For the first time in a while,the moral equivalency of the corporate media has disappeared with blame laying squarely on the House Republicans.
++Incredibly dangerous is this morning's statements from the Republican Caucus that they may link the CR to the debt ceiling vote. I think the President is on firmer ground than he thinks to raise the debt ceiling himself. Parry versus the United States in 1935 brought this issue to the Supreme Court. The United States failed in its bid not to pay its bills. The 14th Amendment is pretty absolute--more than the 2nd Amendment is--that you can not question the United States in terms of its debts. And I have yet to find any statutory basis for the "debt ceiling" at all. It's a myth that has been useful for three decades but doesn't have a legal reality.
++President Obama has called the Congressional leaders to the White House to discuss the situation. Since he is the only reasonable person around, I fear like many he will give more than the Democrats already did by allowing the sequestration levels in the CR. But so far the Democrats have remained united and the President firm. The same can't be said by the Republicans, who are in open civil war with themselves and against the country.
++Meanwhile Obamacare clicked in with perhaps its most important component the individual mandate. The exchanges and the federal website was so overwhelmed that the severs crashed. Over 2 million in New York logged onto the state's website, 2.8 million on the Federal website, and hundreds more thousand on the state exchanges. Some glitches were worse than others. I read several different accounts from computer geeks of the various problems with selected websites but can't understand a word they said. But the bottom-line is that demand for health insurance is far greater than people expected.
++The United Nations weapons inspectors are en route to Syria and face the shortest time-line to remove chemical weapons there.
++The Iranian Parliament passed a resolution approving President Rowhani's overture to the West. John Kerry is expected to start the nuclear negotiations in Geneva next week.
++Just like with the BP oil spill, President Obama has had to postpone his trip to Malaysia and the Philippines. John Kerry will go in his place. The President has to hunker down and deal with Congress.
++Hurray for the Pirates . Russell Martin, picked up from the Yankees last year,hit two homers to eliminate the Cincinnati Reds. Tonight, the Cleveland Indians go against the Tampa Rays for an elimination game in the Wild Card race. Go Indians!
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