There is probably no greater gift the Republicans could hand to the Democrats than another government shutdown on the eve of the midterm elections, but that’s is precisely what the GOP has in mind.
The White House fired a warning shot to Republican senators on Wednesday after several of them expressed interest in using a must-pass government funding bill to block the Obama administration’s environmental regulations.
“If Republicans want to repeat their government shutdown play to protect the profits of big polluters, they’re placing a pretty risky bet,” a White House official, who wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter on the record, told TPM.
The White House is basically saying, “Please, proceed, dumbasses.”
Of course, this could get complicated with fossil fuel-promoting candidates on the Democratic side feeling the need to oppose the EPA regulations.
So then the political question becomes: how many Democratic senators are in that category?
Because if it’s not 10 or more—and if President Obama is willing to veto such a bill—then Republicans probably can’t win that vote.
Given the problems faced by Red State Dems, we are probably very close. One assumes the heads have been counted and that Obama will call the bluff, given all that he has recently done on climate.
Until the American people pull their heads out of their asses on global warming, and basically destroy any candidate who is a denialist, nothing can really be accomplished. That Rubio thinks he can run as a denialist in Florida (of all places) makes me think the Team Conservative coaches know the boobs down there still outnumber the informed–and will for the relevant time frame, until the tipping point has passed.
The people are the true failures, ultimately.
Thanks for your response. Rubio, like other Republicans who may run for president in 2016, faces the same problem Republicans faced in 2012: to win the nomination he’s got to win a certain number of votes from the party’s dominant right-wing faction.
So it’s not necessarily the case that Rubio thinks most Florida voters support climate change denial; it’s that most Republican primary voters do.
I don’t find preferring to sit and rule in the ruins of a once-great republic, hell, a once-great civilization, rather than prosper, but with someone else’s name on all the monuments hard to understand at all.
But then, I’ve raised toddlers.
Just can’t wait to hear Manchin on this.
Are they over-reading Brat’s win over Cantor? Sort of like GWB daring to touch the “third rail” and proposing to go to Mars after the 2004 election?
Yeah, Congressional dumbasses “please proceed.”
sounds like it, please proceed indeed. maybe they are sheltered from the reality that most ppl are concerned about climate change
They’re sheltered from the reality that most people don’t want a federal government shutdown. But just because it bit the GOP in the ass the last two times they went there, no reason not to try it again.
It’s not over-reading, it just gave them an excuse to do what they wanted anyway.
Jim Wright at Stonekettle Station is properly outraged.
And a mighty fine post that was.
When I see works of art auctioned off today for tens of millions of dollars, I can’t help but think of the artist that got little to nothing for his/her creation. The fortunes that are acquired by a small number of people, far too often by ripping off workers and the poor, that allow them to purchase fine art from others that have or had fortunes with which to purchase the work and later to profit handsomely from “their investment.”
Read this one. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-06-16/the-message-of-a-549-000-watch
Well, at least that half million watch includes the labor cost of current workers. Doesn’t change the issue of should anyone have an extra half million dollars to buy a watch?
Totally agree. That was my point. Did you read the whole thing? I did and I was sickened.
Yes, I read it. A decent enough piece for Bloomberg. Reminds me a bit of way back when Americans were outraged to learn that Imelda Marcos had 3,000 pairs of shoes. Wrote a piece “In Defense of 3,000 Pairs of Shoes” that others thought was funny while making the case that ordinary people weren’t outrage that Marcos had ripped off a billion dollars because that was incomprehensible the masses but 3,000 pairs of shoes is comprehensible and easily viewed as outrageous.
And if you follow Jim Wright on Facebook you’ll discover that his complaint to at least one of the thieves (one Mike Malloy, a radio show host) was met with vicious insults and contempt. He’s also taking care to point out the people and sites who did ask permission before using his stuff and gave him proper credit.
His Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Stonekettle?fref=ufi
There will be Democratic accomplices so the media can either blame both parties or blame Obama for vetoing a bi-partisan bill.
Dwindling oil reserves in Baghdad lead to soaring prices worldwide
Are the energy traders doing a jig and singing, “Happy Days Are Here Again?” No crisis is without profiteers (aka sociopaths) jumping in and lining their pockets.
Somebody will profit from this, for sure. It’s an ill wind and all that.
It’s time to make Oil Traders to take deliver of their Oil instead of just trading paper.
Reminds me of that time when Enron was the #1 company in the country. A JPM offshore SPE, special purpose entity, (allegedly located on one of the Channel Islands) did a series of deals with an Enron offshore SPE for the future delivery of natural gas. JPM paid upfront for the entire contract. JPM didn’t have the capacity to accept delivery and had not intention of taking delivery. Enron couldn’t deliver and didn’t intend to deliver. JPM lost something like a billion dollars on the deals.
When I read someone write “please proceed x” I remember hearing that Obama personally disliked using that line but said it because he wanted to win.
and here I thought that was a spontaneous line! The way the exchange occurred didn’t seem predictable.
I have no doubt the specific circumstances were spontaneous. It was up to Obama to figure out when to use it.
It could also have been spontaneous and he hated that he had to say it to win.
We should know better. I’m embarrassed to admit that I did give GWB credit for his seemingly spontaneous response when standing on the WTC site, “I can hear you, and soon …”
Remember when you could at least count on low animal cunning on the part of the Republican Party? This is too dumb for me to even believe it would happen. Hell, just mentioning it is so frigging stupid I’m sort of beside myself.
What a gift or is could this be Eric Cantor’s and Orange Julius last act of defiance.
delete “is”