Mitch McConnell Doubles Down On Obstructionism

If Boehner was a monkey, this is what all the lies would have done

With neo-fascist South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint breathing down his neck-- yes, right-wing extremists inside the GOP are planning palace coups against both McConnell in the Senate and Boehner in the House after the midterms-- McConnell came out (no, not that way) waving the flag of obstructionism high.

President Obama chided the Senate's top Republican on Monday for suggesting this weekend that Republicans wish they'd done a better job blocking parts of the president's agenda.

The president seized on remarks made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) in an article published Sunday in the New York Times, framing McConnell's remarks as emblematic of political opportunism by the GOP.

“Obstruct more? Is that even possible?” Obama asked supporters in reference to McConnell's remarks at a fundraiser in Wisconsin, according to a pool report.

"I wish we had been able to obstruct more," McConnell told the Times in comments about the Democrats' success in moving an economic stimulus package, healthcare reform and Wall Street reform. "These were all major pieces of legislation, and if I would have had enough votes to stop them, I would have.”

Democrats quickly seized on the remarks on Monday out of a sense that the minority leader's words give them a chance to underscore the work Republicans have done to slow down or block his agenda.

It's difficult for Establishment Democrats to point this out, but it was Miss McConnell and Boehner who engineered the passage of Bush's 2008 no-strings-attached Wall Street bailouts. Both opposed the modest aid to states to keep them from being forced to lay off over 100,000 teachers, firemen and policemen but the treasury was open wide for the banksters to rob us blind. It was easy for McConnell-- not in obstructionist mode at all back then when Bush and Cheney were looting the economy-- to rally corrupt corporate shills like Richard Burr (R-NC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), John Cornyn (R-TX), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), John McCain (R-AZ), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Thune (R-SD), John Ensign (R-NV), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), among the 34 Republican voting for it. It was harder for Boehner, a lazy and drunken golf addict, to rally his crazier base but on the second try Boehner, Blunt, Cantor, Sessions and Ryan forced the legislation through with 91 Republican votes, including supposed "conservatives" like California pork and earmark maniacs Ken Calvert, Jerry Lewis, Dan Lungren, John Campbell, Gary Miller, David Dreier, Mary Bono Mack, Wally Herger, and Buck McKeon.

North Carolina Secretary of State Elaine Marshall, who has had a great deal of success in keeping predatory banksters from ripping off her constituents and who is running for the Senate seat currently occupied by Wall Street shill Richard Burr, is no supporter of bailouts for Big Business and special interests. "Richard Burr," she told us this morning, "can't bring himself to support benefits for the victims of this recession, but he had no problem bailing out the Wall Street banks that caused it. If anybody was going to get bailed out, it should have been the small businesses who create jobs and were victims of the Wall Street gamblers. Instead, Burr and his pals allowed Wall Street to horde the money while the rest of us suffer."

Meanwhile, leave it to Karina in Speaker Pelosi's office to bust the myths-- a nice way of saying "call out the lies"-- that McConnell and Boehner and their cronies are trying to foist on the American public. Click the link for all the supporting evidence but basically, here are the facts:

MYTH: Democrats plan a $3.8 trillion tax increase on January 1st.

FACT: NOT TRUE! President Obama’s FY 2011 budget proposes $1.7 trillion in tax relief-- extending the 2001, 2003 tax cuts for middle-class families, including the child tax credit, reductions in rates, and marriage penalty relief for middle class Americans, while allowing “tax cuts that affect families earning more than $250,000 a year” to expire. This would mean no tax change for 98% of American families and at least 97% of small businesses. And for the wealthiest 2% of Americans with an average income of $800,000 per year, the top marginal tax rate would return to the level at the end of the 1990s, a time of remarkable job growth and economic strength.

MYTH: Letting the tax cuts for the wealthiest few expire will hurt small business.

FACT: NOT TRUE! At least 97% of small businesses would not pay a penny more due to letting these upper-income tax rates expire, according to a range of experts.

MYTH: Extending Bush tax cuts for the wealthy is the best way to stimulate the economy.

FACT: NOT TRUE! In fact, it’s just the opposite-- the Congressional Budget Office and other independent experts on the economy have concluded that tax breaks for the wealthy provide just about the lowest return on investment of any federal stimulus activity.

MYTH: Tax cuts pay for themselves.

FACT: NOT TRUE! A range of experts from President Bush’s top economic adviser to former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan all conclude that tax cuts do not pay for themselves. Time magazine explains, “virtually every economics Ph.D. who has worked in a prominent role in the Bush Administration acknowledges that the tax cuts enacted during the past six years have not paid for themselves–and were never intended to. Harvard professor Greg Mankiw, chairman of Bush’s Council of Economic Advisers from 2003 to 2005, even devotes a section of his best-selling economics textbook to debunking the claim that tax cuts increase revenues.”

Raúl Grijalva Endorses Justin Coussoule Against Boehner

It isn't common for Democrats to endorse challengers in uphill battles against entrenched and powerful Republicans. But that didn't stop Barney Frank or Alan Grayson from rallying behind Justin Coussoule's campaign to replace Boehner. And this morning, Raúl Grijalva, chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and one of Congress' foremost champions of ordinary working families, issued the following statement about Justin:

Justin Coussoule is the right man to improve the representation of the 8th District, and he's running at the right time. John Boehner is too busy playing inside baseball against his own deputy, Eric Cantor, to give a thought to the people of Ohio. His idea to get the economy back on track is to extend tax cuts for the wealthy. We tried that for eight years under George W. Bush, and it just didn't work. John Boehner didn't listen. Justin Coussoule did.

Justin has worked hard all his life, served five years in the military, and started a small business to support his family. He knows the value of personal relationships, keeping in touch with your roots, and remembering who you're working for. He also understands public policy and knows that cutting Social Security to pay for more upper-income tax breaks, as Boehner recently suggested, isn't what Ohio needs.

John Boehner's favorability ratings are lower than the Republican Party in general. They're even lower than the IRS. Western Ohio is tired of John Boehner. Justin Coussoule is the man the 8th District needs, and he's going to make a great Congressman. Please join me in supporting him today, because we can't go another two years with John Boehner using the 8th District as a springboard for his inside-the-Beltway power games and political maneuvering. The voters of western Ohio need someone looking out for them first. Justin is the man for the job-- a working man, a family man, a man who served his country and continues to serve it today.

Justin Coussoule for Congress. It's time for better days in the 8th District.