Take a look at the roll call of today’s House vote on the Farm Bill.
That’s twenty-three votes shy of passing. That’s not even close. That’s a rout. And they wouldn’t have brought the bill up for a vote if they didn’t think it would pass.
The final tally was delayed for several minutes as GOP leaders held the vote open, while Democrats called for the vote to close.
Totally blindsided.
Immediately after the vote, Republicans were apoplectic at what they characterized as a betrayal by Democratic leaders, who did not deliver the votes they promised.
“The Democrats walked away from this,” Boehner, who cast a rare vote in favor of the bill, told The Hill as he walked off the House floor.
If they wanted Democratic support for the bill, they shouldn’t have cut $20 billion from the nutrition assistance program and added a drug test requirement. Why would Democrats vote for that?
They’re lucky they even got 24 Democratic votes.
Almost all of the 62 Republicans who opposed the bill, opposed it because it wasn’t harsh enough.
I seem to recall various pieces that included insightful analysis of the fact that Boehner is a buffoon. After this, the next version of the OED will have to place a picture of the orange man next to that word.
One would like to think that this unprecedented level of inveterate incompetence would eventually have some electoral repercussions.
I really, really would like to think that. I wish I could say I was confident that it will.
Historic ineptitude. Pure and simple. And yet, they have no shame. None at all.
That’s the question, isn’t it. The House districts might be gerrymandered all to hell, but there has to be a limit somewhere.
I guess the experiment continues. My feeling is that the election last year proved that you can’t fool all the people all the time, or else Mitt Romney would be president. And yet the right still seems determined to find out precisely how many people they can fool how much of the time before they’re tossed in the dustbin of history.
I think it’s just going to take more and more old white folks dying off. In a lot of ways, the last big gerrymander exercise in 2010 is working against them, keeping them from making the kinds of changes that need to be made to remain competitive at a national level. They’ll continue to exert power at lower levels of government, but the presidency has all but slipped away and the Senate will eventually slip away too.
They made a deal with the devil to put Democrats in a similar position for about 40 years. Now they reap the whirlwind.
The same thought was expressed in 1968, 1972, etc. and look where we are today. The generation old folks that came of age during the New Deal were replaced by the new generation that came of age during the Reagan “revolution and those folks are going to be around for another thirty plus years supporting neo-liberal poppycock. Then they’ll be replaced by those people now maturing that will associate liberalism with Obama. So, looks like wars and/or global climate change are going to do us in before those obstructionist old folks die off.
The difference then being that the dead white guys were replaced with new white babies. Now that’s not the case.
So, the old people today in Mexico, Egypt, and India are radical social democrats?
Aren’t you forgetting that it was “old white people” that kept the New Deal in place for decades?
It’s not as simplistic as Democrats salivating over the demographic changes to a less white populations want to believe.
I’d say it’s more about racist white people than old white people. Or to put it more gently, xenophobic white people. When you bash minorities in order to win votes from xenophobes, you don’t just lose the minority vote. You also lose the vote of non-xenophobic white people.
Of course, xenophobia does seem to be more prevalent among older white people, so the percentage of xenophobic white people is probably dropping more rapidly than the percentage of white people in general. You have to factor that into the coming demographic shift as well.
A factor. But it ignores that people tend to grab whatever is easiest and consistent with their perspective and worldview. In the US that has reliably been skin color since the GOP formulated its “Southern Strategy.” Yet, fundamentalist religion has been potent since the formation of the Moral Majority about a decade later.
Human beings lose brain plasticity as they age — some more quickly and thoroughly than others. That’s why our reference points for normal, good, bad, etc. are generally derived from when we’re young. It’s no accident that Obama has high regard for Reagan and Hillary Clinton admired Thatcher. Whereas, someone like Russell Brand could observe:
According to Peter King, the food stamp program has just exploded because so many people are living so large and so lavishly on that average $3.00 per day they get from the government for food that they just can’t bring themselves to cut loose from it.
I have a hard time fathoming the mind of a person who seems to believe that it’s steak and lobster every night in da’ hood, all due to that $3.00 a day subsidy.
What a dick.
Of course the wall is the one he’s trying to build – an economic wall between the haves and have-nots. Just a little more projection from a right-wing scoundrel.
And then they accused the Dems of not being willing to govern!
Also, TPM’s story said Senate Dems are urging them to pass the bill as is so they can go to conference.
It’s one thing to recognise that a cut to SNAP would directly impact Rep support from WalMart where a big chunk of the SNAP monies would be spent.
But it’s breathtaking that Boehner couldn’t count the votes whilst his pals were dicking around with the Bill’s amendments. This is Failure with a capital F.
You got to wonder what a box of corn flakes will cost if the gov. stops investing in food. Walmart will close stores, or outsource their employees to a temp agency, or stop selling food. How much of a fall in demand can Winn Dixie absorb before they go broke?
Boehner fails to recognize that 62 of his own party against is no small thing. He really is clueless.
I’ve been giving Boehner a break, thinking that he can’t be blamed for being a bad leader, given the collection of kooks and morons he’s supposed to lead.
But that’s just incompetent, to bring up that bill like that.
I thought the deal breaker was the work for Food provisions in the Bill. I always find it difficult to believe how mean spirited the Republicans can be.
These people are hilarious.
Yeah. So is 24 more then 62? This new math is confusing as f*ck.
Both exceed what can be counted on their fingers and toes. Scary is that these arithmetic challenged bozos are in charge of our national finances.
They don’t even try to deal in reality anymore. Basic math is a socialist plot. Guess its a prerequisite to membership in a Tea Party controlled Republican party.
Thanks for the link. I was breathless in anticipation about how The Corner would help carry GOP water in the face of such a massive leadership failure. It is amusing to read the many commenters at the link who are angry that the GOP provided any votes at all. YEAH!- Chaffetz, Issa, Poe and the rest of those damn statists need a Tea Party primary challenge, amirite!
A different type of amusement is created by the ad on the NR Corner site which runs down the 32 conservative luminaries which will be available to the mouth-breathers at “NR’s Norwegian Fjords Cruise”. Gosh, an opportunity to talk to Allen West, John Sununu, Cal Thomas, Jonah Goldberg, Rich Lowry and James O’Keefe- oh my stars! (And that’s just the top 12!)
BTW, why is NR sending people to gasp Europe! for this cruise, huh? Why not reward the anti-government libertarian wonderland that is Somalia by giving them this travel business? I’m sure a welcome boat will be sent to greet them off the Somalian coast, so anxious will their people be to begin the financial transactions.
Haha! I agree 100%. Maybe Rand Paul and his good old dad can explain by teleconference exactly why Somalia is a wonderland. Without having to expose themselves to its wonders….or the mouth-breathers.
And socialist northern Europe at that! If not Somalia, at least one of those sparkling models of austerity, Greece or Crete.
Why would a Democrat vote for that?
Why don’t you give Mike McIntyre (D-NC) a call and ask him that question. The world would like to find out why he’s still caucusing with the Democrats.
I gotta say I’m pretty angry that 24 Democrats voted for this horrible, sociopathic Bill. There’s a number of Dem Reps from my State who are going to get phone calls. They’re relatively progressive as a group, but are in swing districts; I’m looking forward to hearing their rationalizations.
Severely cutting food stamps hurts the farmers in their districts, since taking away food purchasing power from millions and millions of Americans will hurt market prices for farm produce.
Really getting sick of the GOP’s faith-based economic beliefs which have been repudiated by REAL LIFE OUTCOMES, yet they quadruple down on the policies with an extra-stupid new batch of ignorant statements to justify their beliefs.
I can’t stop myself from laughing 🙂 http://linkapp.me/H8W6X