Want To See Conservatives' Heads Explode? Watch Trumpanzee And Schumer Make A Deal To Repeal The Debt Ceiling

Even with Hurricane Harvey relief for Texas tied to the debt ceiling deal that passed the Senate 80-17 yesterday, there is a lot of grumbling among right fringe Texas Republicans that the deal Trump cut with Pelosi and Schumer is too liberal for them to back. The Dallas Morning News reported that Dallas Ft Worth Metroplex rightist Joe Barton is losing his shit over the deal.

“I don’t like it, and I’m not going to vote for it,” Barton said on Wednesday. “We don’t even know how much the president’s request for the debt ceiling is going to be. We’re literally being asked right now to sign a blank check.”

Ahead of the Senate’s vote, Dallas Rep. Jeb Hensarling, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, said that recent hurricane damage is a true emergency, but that he wants the “opportunity to propose offsets, a number of which can easily be found in President Trump’s budget.”

“Rebuilding, as important as it is, should not go through an emergency funding process that exacerbates our dangerous and unstable national debt,” he said in a statement.

Cruz, a deficit hawk who has repeatedly voted against raising the nation's borrowing limit, said it was a "mistake to cynically tie hurricane relief to the debt ceiling."

  "I wish that had not been done, and as as result, an awful lot of members will vote against it," he said on Thursday, after voting in favor of the measure. "We’re going to get it done but it was counter-productive to tie the two together."

..."It's a horrible position for us to have been put in," said Austin Rep. Roger Williams, a conservative who said he believes adding to the national debt is "morally wrong."

But he will "probably" vote for it, he said. "Because I have to. I have to take care of my fellow Texans."

North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said many of the group's members, including Barton, were expected to oppose the measure. He predicted anywhere from 100 to 150 Republicans would vote against it, but that it would still easily pass in the 435-member House.

But that's not nearly as controversial as what's behind it-- an attempt by Schumer and Trump to abolish the whole idea of these annual debt ceiling voters that Republican terrorists can use for their legislative tantrums and hostage-taking.

Yesterday the Washington Post reported that several sources were confirming that Schumer and Trump have agreed to pursue a deal that would permanently remove the requirement that Congress repeatedly raise the debt ceiling. Schumer is hoping to have the deal in hand by December. Ryan has said he is oppose dot the idea.

On Thursday, Trump was asked by a reporter at the White House about abolishing the congressional process for raising the debt ceiling. He replied that "there are lots of good reasons to do that."

"It could be discussed," Trump said. "For many years, people have been talking about getting rid of [the] debt ceiling altogether."

He confirmed during the exchange with reporters at the White House that the issue was discussed during his meeting with congressional leaders on Wednesday.

...Many conservatives view regular debt-ceiling votes as an opportunity to drive their message that the country continues to rack up debt, which they consider a dangerous trend that could eventually damage the U.S. economy. The issue is also one of a handful of must-pass bills that Congress has at times used to win concessions on fiscal policy issues. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) was one of several Senate conservatives who said abandoning that power would be misguided.

When asked if he supports what Trump and Schumer are trying to do, Cruz was apoplectic, which reminded observers of his last stand as a candidate-- in Indiana-- when he told a Trump supporter that "if Trump becomes president, he has said on the Supreme Court, he is going to cut a deal with Chuck Schumer. Trump is a New York liberal who is lying to you and taking advantage of you."

And Cruz isn't the only far right extremist blowing a gasket. Jenny Beth Martin, a prominent teabagger called it "a fool’s play, a trap, and Republicans should reject it out of hand." Virginia neo-Nazi leader Ken Cuccinelli, who heads the Senate Conservatives Fund, was shrieking that Miss McConnell "must be replaced, the Senate leadership must be replaced, and the same goes for the House." Ryan is imploring everyone who asks him to avoid a food fight.

A new poll from Politico by Morning Consult found that Republican voters are less likely to support their member of Congress if they backed Mitch McConnell to remain on as majority leader. Just 28% of Republican voters said they’d be more likely to vote for a member of Congress who supported McConnell. 30% of registered GOP voters said they’d be less likely.

Trump Cut Ryan's Pecker Off This Morning-- In Public

Ryan's a jellyfish and maybe he never had a pecker anyway, but if he did, Trump put it in a pecker guillotine earlier today-- while Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, Kevin McCarthy and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin looked on in stunned silence and Miss McConnell excused himself and went to the little boys' room for a few moments and some smelling salts. Ryan had just accused Schumer and Pelosi of "playing politics" with Harvey emergency relief when Trump insisted he take out his thing and put it in the smallish guillotine Bannon had made him for just these kinds of ocasions. Peter Baker didn't mention anything about what happened to Ryan's severed pecker in his NY Times report today. He wrote that Señor Trumpanzee "struck a deal with Democratic congressional leaders on Wednesday to increase the debt limit and finance the government until mid-December, undercutting his own Republican allies as he reached across the aisle to resolve a major dispute for the first time since taking office. The agreement would avert a fiscal showdown later this month without the bloody, partisan battle that many had anticipated by combining a debt ceiling increase and stopgap spending measure with relief aid to Texas and other areas devastated by Hurricane Harvey. But without addressing the fundamental underlying issues, it set up the prospect for an even bigger clash at the end of the year. In embracing the three-month deal, Mr. Trump accepted a Democratic proposal that had been rejected just hours earlier by Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin. Mr. Trump’s snap decision at a White House meeting caught Republican leaders off guard and reflected friction between the president and his party. After weeks of criticizing Republican leaders for failing to pass legislation, Mr. Trump signaled that he was willing to cross party lines to score some much-desired legislative victories." When reading this, it's important to keep in mind that Trump is certifiably insane and completely unstable. So... everything with two grains of salt.

As if to reinforce that point, Mr. Trump aligned himself with Senator Chuck Schumer of New York and Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the Democratic leaders, in embracing legislation to authorize younger illegal immigrants to stay in the country. A day earlier, Mr. Trump had rescinded a program enacted by President Barack Obama protecting such immigrants on the grounds that it went beyond a president’s authority, but called on Congress to legalize the program.

“We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer,” Mr. Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to a speech on taxes in North Dakota, without mentioning that Mr. Ryan and Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Republican majority leader, had also attended. Regarding the immigration program, Mr. Trump said, “Chuck and Nancy would like to see something happen, and so do I.”

Republican leaders looked grim but resigned afterward and attributed Mr. Trump’s deal to a need for unity after Harvey struck Texas and as Hurricane Irma barrels toward Florida. “Look, the president can speak for himself, but his feeling was that we needed to come together to not create a picture of divisiveness at a time of genuine national crisis, and that was the rationale,” Mr. McConnell said.

But conservatives were clearly miffed. In a terse statement, Senator Ben Sasse, Republican of Nebraska, declared, “The Pelosi-Schumer-Trump deal is bad.”

Congressional aides said privately that Republicans went into the meeting at the White House proposing an 18-month deal on government spending and the debt limit, only to run into resistance from the Democrats. They then proposed a six-month deal as a compromise, but Democrats insisted on a three-month agreement. Mr. Trump then surprised the Republicans by agreeing to the Democratic formulation.

The agreement came after the House overwhelmingly approved nearly $8 billion in disaster aid in response to Harvey, taking quick action to help victims of the devastating flooding in Texas. The aid measure passed 419 to 3. The “no” votes were Republican.

McConnell will have to deal with that bill in the Senate, where he will be under pressure to tack on an increase to the debt ceiling before sending it back to the House where the dickless Ryan will sob to his aides about how cruel life is to him and then pass it and send it along to Señor Trumpanzee to sign.

So what was behind Schumer's and Pelosi's deal with Trump? Baker wrote that "pressed for a three-month increase along with the hurricane aid to give Democrats leverage later this year when other matters, including a longer-term government funding deal, could be negotiated between the two parties. By ensuring that all the pending issues converge at the end of the year, Democrats hope a longer-term agreement on fiscal matters could include immigration, health care and any number of other issues." Ryan freaked out and called their plan unworkable but Trump-- cavalierly-- ignored his concerns. As Baker said, poor Ryan has to deal with the Freedom Caucus loons. "Aside from the particulars of a debt-limit increase, just the idea of raising the government’s borrowing capacity in tandem with providing Harvey aid has drawn opposition from conservatives, who have pushed for any debt limit measure to be coupled with fiscal changes intended to rein in spending. 'Attaching the debt ceiling to it is using a catastrophe in Texas as leverage to pass something that certainly there should have been an alternative plan to pass,' said Representative Mark Meadows, Republican of North Carolina and the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. Representative Mark Walker of North Carolina, the chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee, expressed frustration at what he views as a missed opportunity to address the nation’s debt. 'We’re grateful that in Texas the floodwaters continue to recede,' he said on Fox News. 'But here in the swamp, it looks like they continue to rise.' Dan Holler, a spokesman for Heritage Action for America, a conservative group, said the White House and congressional leaders were putting conservative lawmakers-- including those from Texas-- 'in a pretty difficult political situation' by essentially daring them to vote against a measure containing both Harvey aid and an increase to the debt limit."

“Linking those two things together is not something that any conservative wants,” Mr. Holler said. But, he added, “there doesn’t seem to be a will in Congress or in the administration at this point to tackle some of those major drivers of our debt and deficit problem.”

Conservatives must also grapple with whether to support the Harvey aid even though the House bill does not include spending cuts to pay for it. The Club for Growth, a conservative group, had urged House members to vote against the Harvey bill if it was not fully offset by spending cuts, and the group also objected to the prospect of linking the debt limit to the hurricane aid.

“A debt ceiling increase is nothing more than Congress bailing itself out-- at taxpayer expense-- because Congress routinely fails to balance the budget,” the group wrote. “So adding the debt ceiling increase to the disaster relief bill is just throwing bad policy on top of bad policy.”

Jonathan Swan reported for Axios that a "Republican close to leadership" told them that 'Dems bluffed their way into total victory. They win the politics of DACA and leverage on debt in the winter. The fate is sealed-- DACA will be reauthorized without strings, Schumer has inserted himself into all negotiations in the winter, including tax, spending and immigration.'" Pelosi and Schumer issued a joint statement to the media: "In the meeting, the President and Congressional leadership agreed to pass aid for Harvey, an extension of the debt limit, and a continuing resolution both to December 15, all together. Both sides have every intention of avoiding default in December and look forward to working together on the many issues before us. As Democratic leaders, we also made it clear that we strongly believe the DREAM Act must come to the floor and pass as soon as possible and we will not rest until we get this done."

Señor Trumpanzee's own statement reinforced their perspective: "We had a very good meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer [Trump notably did not mention Ryan or McConnnell]. We agreed to a three-month extension on debt ceiling, which they consider to be sacred, very important, always we'll agree on debt ceiling automatically because of the importance of it. Also on the CRs and also on Harvey, which now we're going to be adding something because of what's going on in Florida, but we had a very good meeting. We essentially came to a deal, and I think the deal will be very good."

GOP Politicial Elites From The Greed And Selfishness Wing Are Distraught They're Being Beaten By... These People

I'm almost tempted to feel sorry for the Establishment wing of the Republican Party-- what I used to always refer to as the Greed and Selfishness wing-- and the cruel comeuppance they're getting from the Hatred and Bigotry wing. They should never have made the deal with the devil to bring that crap into their party. After Nixon's Southern Strategy there really was no other possible outcome. The Greed and Selfishness wing is being obliterated and kicked out of their own crumbling party. Of course the Establishment Democrats have moved so far right, the the Greed and Selfishness Republicans will eventually feel right at home there.

Still, it's sad-- like, single tear sad-- to see hopeful Greed and Selfishness guys being drive to despair by certifiably insane sociopaths like Trump, Carson and Cruz. My hear almost went out to Jeb this weekend when he told a teeny weeny gathering of supporters that he's fed up with the nihilists and self-serving lunatics who have taken over the congressional party and are dominating the presidential nomination process. "If," referring to the classic example of Émile Durkheim's anomie currently playing out in the House, "this election is about how we’re going to fight to get nothing done, then I don’t want anything, I don’t want any part of it. I don’t want to be elected president to sit around and see gridlock just become so dominant that people literally are in decline in their lives. That is not my motivation. I’ve got a lot of really cool things I could do other than sit around, be miserable, listening to people demonize me and me feeling compelled to demonize them. That is a joke. Elect Trump if you want that."

And they do want that-- and they may elect nominate Trump. Today there were lots of Twitter titters when Trump thanked respectable journalist Sahil Kapur for a Bloomberg story he penned, Why Donald Trump Could Win the Republican Nomination. Kapur writes that it isn't the far right that's keeping Trump's polling numbers sky-high; it's those who are fed up with the party establishment. "In ways large and small, with policy and with personality, billionaire Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is forcing his party's establishment to confront the vast divide between party leaders and the voters who, according to nearly every poll for months, have wanted him to carry their torch to the White House... Trump is offering Republicans something no other candidate can: An insider's knowledge of the elite combined with a mischievous determination to upend it and an unorthodox set of policy prescriptions-- running the gamut from immigration to campaign finance to Social Security-- that aim to achieve that goal. In this year's contest for the Republican nomination, that platform has proven to have staying power... For months he has characterized his Republican rivals as puppets of the wealthy donors they depend on, zeroing in first on Jeb Bush, who is supported by a super-PAC that had nearly $100 million cash on hand as of its most recent filing with the FEC... Trump also breaks with Republican elites who support free trade and want to cut Social Security and Medicare. Nearly all Republican candidates from Bush to Senator Marco Rubio are campaigning on cutting entitlements and many want to ink the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade accord. But Trump is joining forces with some on the left by campaigning to protect the retirement programs and assailing President Barack Obama's trade pact as a “disaster.” Nearly 80 percent of Republicans want to preserve Social Security and Medicare, according to a Reuters poll earlier this year."

So maybe Jeb needs to rethink his glum attitude and get a grip on why voters in his own party despise him and, despite all the barrels of cash, refuse to back him. And Lindsey Graham, who is sitting at a ZERO percent backing after months and months of campaigning and after a long career in the House and Senate and endless face-time on the Sunday gabfests, might be a bit more introspective about his predicament. He joked around with the Morning Joe crew the other day about how he could possibly be losing to the sociopaths running for the Republican nomination. "The number two guy [Carson] tried to kill somebody at 14 and the number one guy [Trump] is high energy and crazy as hell. How am I losing to these guys?" Well... people like authenticity and there's nothing authentic about a tired old closet queen from South Carolina.

Two relatively popular multi-term governors from big states-- popular at least with Republicans-- Rick Perry (R-TX) and Scott Walker (R-WI) have already been driven out of the race. Both were extremely well-funded but neither could figure out how to go up against Trump. (The same goes for New Jersey slob Chris Christie except he hasn't realized it yet.) Next on the chopping block will be John Kasich, a perfectly typical example of a serious Greed and Selfishness wing Republican who should be a real contender. Instead last week's ABC/Washington Post poll shows him languishing among Republican primary voters nationally at 2% in 10th place. His standing in the CNN/ORC polls last week in South Carolina and Nevada were even more dismal, 1% in South Carolina, tied with Rick Santorum for 11th place, and 1% in Nevada, tied for 9th place with Christie, Gilmore and Pataki (albeit still ahead of Graham, Jindal and Santorum, each at ZERO). And Kasich is fed up:

"Do you know how crazy this election is?" he shouted during a pre-debate rally in Ohio on Tuesday. "Let me tell you something. I've about had it with these people. Let me tell you why. We got one candidate that says we ought to abolish Medicaid and Medicare. You ever heard anything so crazy as that, telling our people in this country who are seniors or about to be seniors that we're going to abolish Medicaid or Medicare," Kasich continued, referencing Ben Carson who has changed his opinion on the matter seemingly overnight.

"We got one guy that says we ought to take 10 or 11 million people and pick them up, where the-- I don't know where, we're going to go in their homes, their apartments. We're going to pick them up and we're going to take them to the border and scream at them to get out of our country," Kasich said in an obvious dig at frontrunner Donald Trump. "Well that's just crazy. That is just crazy."

"We got one candidate that claimed, one candidate that actually said that the reason why we signed an agreement with Ford to bring jobs back from Mexico is because he's been yelling for the last week ok," Kasich said again referencing Trump to uproarious laughter. "That was like something out of a Back to the Future movie."

I guess he'd feel better to be losing to Jeb Bush. Or Marco Rubio? But if he felt bad about this week's front runner wanting to abolish Medicare, wait 'til he reads about him tacitly admitting that he has no clue what the hell the debt ceiling is-- just that he's against it. Carson said if he were elected president he would refuse to sign any budget deal that raised the debt ceiling. I guess he thinks the debt ceiling is about future spending because if he doesn't think that, he's advocating the federal government declaring bankruptcy on money already borrowed and spent.

The Six Billionaire-Engineered "Hostage Crises" of 2015 — A Handy List

[Click to enlarge.]

by Gaius Publius

In a tweaky tweet, the bipartisan right-wing organization and billionairist propaganda machine known as "Fix The Debt" challenged President Obama to mention seven "fiscal speed bumps" in his State of the Union address. He didn't, of course. Not his style to tweak back about anything but his victories.

But one person's "fiscal speed bump" is another's "hostage opportunity," and the bipartisan right-wing consensus has them all lined up. The graphic version from the tweet is above. Here are six set up for 2015 in handy list form (we'll look at the seventh, in 2016, another time):

February 27, 2015
Resolution funding the DHS expires

March 16, 2015
Debt ceiling reinstated (again)

March 31, 2015
"Doc fix" expires

Fall 2015
Debt ceiling must be raised (again)

October 1, 2015
Sequester returns
CR-Omnibus and CHIP authorization expire

December 31, 2015
Deadline for retroactive renewal of "tax extenders" (again)

You've seen what happens when the debt ceiling has to be raised (and I won't go into it here why the whole concept makes no sense). You've also seen what happened during the CR-Omnibus battle — the bipartisan right-wing coalition loaded it up with billionaire candy, knowing it was a "must-pass" bill, or at least could be sold as one to the easily (or eagerly) blackmailed. Even Obama lobbied for much of that candy, like the Wall Street–written "Citigroup rider."

The list of dates above? Six more bites at the billionaire-pleasing apple, which will surely be taken. Mark your calendars. It's going to be a fun year.

GP

#

Ted Cruz Has Made Himself The Scourge Of Senate Republicans-- And They Don't Like That

In 2009, Nanci Griffith put out an album, The Loving Kind, inspired by the death of Mildred Loving the year before. Nanci and Mildred both saw the clear relationship between the landmark Supreme Court case, Loving v Virginia-- which struck down the miscegenation laws that remained in the South to prohibit marriages of whites and blacks-- to the struggle for LGBT marriage equality. Nanci's title song was an eloquent musical statement of what Judge Arenda Wright Allen did last night in declaring Virginia’s ban on same-sex marriage was unconstitutional. “Our Constitution declares that ‘all men’ are created equal,” wrote Judge Arenda L. Wright Allen of United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Norfolk. “Surely this means all of us.”

At the exact same time that Judge Wright Allen was handing down the ruling in Virginia, reactionary extremists in the Kansas state Senate were trying to pass a shocking-- and clearly unconstitutional-- anti-LGBT bill in their state to shield anyone from refusing to provide service to same-sex couples. Although the Republican leadership is firmly behind it, a bit fewer than half the 32 Senate Republicans support the bill, which means they need Democratic support to pass the 40-member chamber.

In Virginia, we saw the leading candidate for the open House seat in VA-08, Patrick Hope, issue a statement of joy over the ruling in his state:

“Today is a great day to be a Virginian.  For far too long our LGBT brothers and sisters have been treated like second-class citizens.  There’s no place in a civilized society for discrimination of any kind, and as a member of Congress I will work towards nationwide marriage equality and push for sanctions on countries with poor human rights records.”

“While marriage equality is certainly a moral and civil rights issue, it’s also an economic issue.  State-sanctioned discrimination causes many businesses and talented workers to choose homes in other states.  While the appeals process is ongoing, I hope to soon see the day in Virginia where the only requirement for marriage is love.”

“On this particularly special day, Kristen and I wish couples all across Virginia a very happy Valentine’s Day.  We are proud that we can now say that Virginia is for ALL Lovers.”

And we saw Ted Cruz and his wingman, Mike Lee, just one day before the ruling in Virginia, introduce a bill to prohibit marriage equality for LGBT couples. Do Republicans really want to follow Cruz into another battle against the tide of history? Well, some do and some don't. And that brings us to the MSNBC clip from Chris Hayes' show last night. If you haven't watched it yet, please take a look now. Cruz's ideological fanaticism is wrecking the ability of Republican candidates to win in districts and states where they need independent voters. His across-the-board extremism on issues that are popular only with brainwashed consumers of Fox and Hate Talk Radio, will hurt Republicans trying to deal with the real world.

Yesterday it was Cruz's filibuster of the debt ceiling that mandated an embarrassing and politically divisive vote for Republicans who were forced to cross the aisle and vote with Democrats to keep the country from defaulting. Although the bill itself passed 55-43, every Democrat voting YES and every Republican voting NO (including fake blue state "moderates" like Susan Collins, Kelly Ayotte, Dean Heller, and Mark Kirk), the bill to shut down Cruz's divisive-- for Republicans-- filibuster passed 67-31, forcing 6 uncomfortable Republicans to change their votes midway through the count. Barrasso (R-WY), Cornyn (R-TX), Flake (R-AZ), Hatch (R-UT), McCain (R-AZ) and Thune (R-SD) were the switchers who would have preferred, for political purposes, to oppose the debt ceiling increase but were forced to do what's right for America because Cruz is a dick-- and, clearly, the most hated man inside the Senate Republican caucus.

Clean Debt Ceiling Passes-- Zippity Do Dah

This afternoon, Paul Ryan voted NO on the paying for the bills he's run up as a Member of Congress. Most of the rest of the Republican House leadership team-- Boehner, Cantor, McCarthy, even radicals like Darrell Issa and Gary Miller-- voted YES, to make sure the government didn't go into default. The clean debt ceiling passed yesterday 221-201. With the exception of two reactionary Blue Dogs-- Barrow (GA) and Matheson (UT)-- every Democrat voted yes. The White House issued a very straight forward, commonsense message:

Tonight’s vote is a positive step in moving away from the political brinkmanship that’s a needless drag on our economy. The American economy is moving forward, but there is much more to do to ensure that more middle class Americans-- and those striving to get into it-- can get ahead. Congress can start by raising the minimum wage so that no one who works full time raises their family in poverty, restoring emergency unemployment insurance for the 1.7 million Americans searching every day for a job who need this vital lifeline to support their families, and taking additional steps to strengthen our economy and restore opportunity for all Americans. The President looks forward to working with both sides to get that done.

The NY Times' Ashley Parker and Jonathan Weisman were less conciliatory in their reporting immediately after the vote. "Ending three years of brinkmanship in which the threat of a devastating default was used to wring conservative concessions from President Obama," they wrote, "the House on Tuesday voted to raise the government’s borrowing limit until March 2015-- without any conditions… [I]t effectively ended a three-year, Tea Party-fueled era when a series of budget showdowns raised the threat of debt defaults and government shutdowns, rattled economic confidence and brought serious scrutiny from an international community questioning Washington’s ability to govern.

“A clean debt ceiling is a complete capitulation on the speaker’s part and demonstrates that he has lost the ability to lead the House of Representatives, let alone his own party,” said Jenny Beth Martin, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, as she pressed her on-line petition demanding Mr. Boehner’s dismissal. “It is time for him to go.”

Mr. Boehner stunned House Republicans Tuesday morning when he ditched a package that would have tied the debt ceiling increase to a repeal of cuts to military retirement pensions that had been approved in December and announced he would put a “clean” debt ceiling increase up for a vote.

Enough Republicans had balked at that package when it was presented Monday night to convince the speaker he had no choice but to turn to the Democratic minority. It was another startling display of Republican disunity, fueled by the political ambitions of members seeking higher office and personal animus that burst into the open.

For Mr. Boehner it was a potentially momentous decision. Anger among the nation’s most ardent conservatives at the House leadership may be at an apogee. The Tea Party Patriots, FreedomWorks, and conservative activists on the website RedState.com are all circulating petitions to end Mr. Boehner’s speakership.

Virtually all the incumbents the Blue America candidates are running against, voted for default-- again! Neither of our two most recent endorsed candidates, George Gollin (IL-13) and Michael Wager (OH-14) didn't seem surprised. "Rodney Davis," said Gollin, "has again proven he is captive to ideas he doesn't even understand. When you vote to the right of Cantor on paying the country's bills, you lack the responsibility to serve in Congress. Mr. Davis consistently puts the wants of the 1% ahead of the needs of the rest of us." And Wager told us that his opponent, David Joyce "abdicated his responsibility for support of the nation's full faith and credit by voting against increasing the debt ceiling today. His decision is both extreme and cynical as he has forsaken the interests of most Americans to appeal to Tea Party extremists. Even Speaker Boehner understands the recklessness of Joyce's vote."

Rob Zerban, the progressive Democrat taking on Ryan again, has learned to expect this kind of irresponsible behavior from his disingenuous congressman. "Paul Ryan's blatant disregard for the faith and credit of the United States is astounding. His refusal to pay the bill after Congressional Republicans maxed out the credit card is a classic example of how he pursues his radical agenda-- willing to negotiate right up to the moment where he can score political points by selling out his constituents."

UPDATE: John Kline Let Minnesotans Down Again

Mike Obermueller, the progressive likely to replace Kline next November felt much the same way that most voters in southeast Minnesota felt about Kline and the other Republicans who voted for default again. He told us, "Continuing their recent modus operandi of 'government by crisis,' John Kline and his fellow House Republicans spent the last two weeks trying to find a way to extort some political concessions from Democrats in exchange for agreeing to stand behind the spending decisions that Congress previously made. When they were not able to agree on what to extract, Kline and nearly all of his Republican colleagues voted against the bill that would ensure that our government had the funds it needs to pay its bills.

"While Kline and his friends were looking to score political points, working families and small business owners were facing the inevitable economic insecurity that results from approaching the edge of an economic cliff. There’s simply no excuse for playing games with the full faith and credit of the United States. Taking us to the brink of default-- again-- was reckless enough, but it was completely irresponsible for Kline to try to prevent our government from paying the bills that we already owe.

"We can and should have a thoughtful discussion about how and whether to spend the tax dollars provided by hard-working Americans, but Kline’s willingness to take us to the brink of default, just so he can make a political point, shows just how out of touch he has become with the people in Minnesota."

Ryan Pivots Away From Cruz For Boehner-- Will It Work?

Cuccinelli, struggling to stay in the 30's in recent polls, has already started cutting back on media spending. He knows he lost. The hit the Republican brand took during his gubernatorial campaign was too great to iovercome-- even as his opponent, corrupt political wheeler-dealer Terry McAuliffe, was one of the most flawed and unattractive candidates the Democrats could have possibly put up. Gallup shows the GOP at the lowest approval rating-- 28% and rapidly dropping-- ever! Even Ted Cruz's Utah Tea Party lackey, Mike Lee, has seen his approval among home state voters evaporate since he went on his shut down the government crusade. "57% of Utahns overall would like Senator Lee to be “more willing to compromise” versus 43% who prefer that he “stand by his principles.” That result is not possible in Republican-dominated Utah without at least some Republicans preferring compromise.  In fact, 38% of all self-identified Republicans prefer that Lee compromise compared to 99% of all Democrats.  Independents side heavily with compromise at 65%." And Erick Erickson is predicting a full scale Republican civil war and a breakaway third party.

I’m being told by several sources that Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor are plotting to give up trying to either defund or delay Obamacare.

...Cantor, Boehner, and with them Mitch McConnell and John Cornyn are expected to cave in and fully fund, unimpeded, Obamacare.

They will work up a new deal that includes a debt ceiling increase with a few sops to the GOP as cover. The only change they are still considering it the medical device tax repeal, which is being heavily lobbied for by former Boehner and McConnell staffers who left for K Street.

A number of Democrats who are recipients of campaign cash along with these Republicans may provide a crony capitalist bridge over which this one tax repeal can pass while leaving in place all the other taxes, penalties, and fees.

But John Boehner, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, and John Cornyn will ensure that Obamacare is fully funded and give the American public no delay like businesses have.

In doing so, they will sow the seeds of a real third party movement that will fully divide the Republican Party.

Looks like the GOP suicide mission is succeeding, though not in the way Ted Cruz and the House Teatards planned it. So now, the pivot. Ryan and his establishment cronies want to jettison the whole Obamacare aspect of their jihad and go after what they and conservative Democrats (New Dems and Blue Dogs and plain old corporate whores) call entitlements and what normal people see as earned benefits, i.e.- Social Security and Medicare. Ryan's whole raison d'être has always been fulfilling the old GOP dream to cut these anyway. (Just keep in mind that the last time the Republican Party went full-out in their war against Social Security-- 1936 when Alf Landon ran on repealing it-- Landon won 2 small states (8 electoral college votes) and the congressional Republicans were reduced to 88 seats in the House and 16 in the Senate. They've been a little more subtle since then-- but the goal has never changed.)

Ryan's puerile OpEd in the Wall Street Journal Tuesday evening was the trial balloon that the Republican congressional leadership wanted to move towards the Grand Bargain that Obama and Boehner crave. The giveaway is that there word "Obamacare" appears nowhere in his missive. Nor does "the Affordable Care Act." He just wants to go back to the good old fashioned GOP position of gutting Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. And that's a "compromise" I wouldn't trust Obama to get anywhere near. Boehner and Cantor and Ryan are pushing through a 6-week extension of the debt ceiling-- without ending their government shutdown-- to set the table for the Grand Bargain negotiations to achieve what the voters would never approve in a million years. This warning came from Social Security works yesterday:

While Republicans have made high-profile attempts to defund President Obama’s signature health care law, that’s not their only target. 

50 House Republicans, led by Rep. Reid Ribble of Wisconsin, just sent a letter to Speaker Boehner urging him to make cuts to Social Security benefits before the debt ceiling is raised and our government re-opened.

And yesterday morning, Paul Ryan published an op-ed asking for the same thing: Cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in exchange for an increase to the debt ceiling.

...Rep. Ribble’s ideas about Social Security reads like a wish list straight out of Romney/Ryan’s play book:

• Raising the retirement age
• Slashing annual cost of living adjustments through a new formula known as “Chained CPI”
• Means testing for Social Security recipients

Cutting benefits for those most in need is outrageous enough. Demanding them as a precondition for funding the government and ensuring we don’t default on our national debt obligations is both reckless and irresponsible.

Our Social Security system needs to be expanded, not cut. Cost of living adjustments already struggle to keep up with the rising costs that seniors face every day. If these “Ribble Republicans” get their way, everyone who receives Social Security now, or who will receive it in the future, will see less and less in return for what they paid in over their lives.

Van Jones, Paul Ryan is neither serious nor reasonable. 

We're looking at the government pulling another Shock Doctrine threat on us to stampede everyone into the unthinkable. There's good news and bad news is the tweet below... because there's more than one way to read this message from ConservaDem/corporate whore Michael Bennet of Colorado:

John Kline (R-MN) Wants To Make A Deal-- Balance The Budget By Reducing Social Security Benefits

Kline hates everyone-- young and old!

Steve Israel was never a businessman-- nor a farmer. He's always worked in politics. He doesn't know how to make long term plans or how to initiative and follow through on long term goals. He can't see beyond the quarter or, off on his furthest horizon, the cycle. And the DCCC chair isn't the only near-sighted Democrat in power. The whole party is blinkered by strategists who never see the value of long-term planning. Putting a plan into operation to win a House seat in 2 or 3 cycles? Unheard of... by these congenital losers whose idea of strategy is begging for money they can spread around among their cronies. Democrats do, however, think the "Ted Cruz problem" might be taken care of long term by demographic changes that hand them a blue Texas. That's what we pay them for?

If Ted Cruz is a nihilistic Bolshevik figure in the Senate, though, there are dozens of mini-Cruzes in the House, kooks like Steve Stockman (R-TX), Paul Broun (R-GA), Louie Gohmert (R-TX), Steve King (R-IA)... well, there are dozens of crackpots who we've been hearing all week advocating shutting down the government if they can't get their way on taking health insurance away from poor people. These are generally looked at as problems Boehner has to contend with among the Tea Party trash that seeped into Congress since 2010. But a closer examination shows that some of Boehner's own top lieutenants are just as nihilistic and destructive. Let's take John Kline, Boehner's head of the Education and the Workforce Committee. He's always been very, very right-wing and has only gotten more so since first being elected in 2002. MN-02 has a PVI of R+2 and Obama beat both McCain and Romney there, albeit narrowly. Amy Klobuchar won every district county in the district last year. It's one of the wealthiest districts in the state and includes 6 counties, Dakota, Scott (the two big ones), Goodhue, Washington, Wabasha and Rice.

Last year the Democrats nominated Mike Obermueller and the DCCC completely ignored the race, giving Kline a free ride to reelection. Obermueller wound up with a strong 46% showing, even though Kline outspent him $1,957,356 to $705,166. Obermueller is running again. The DCCC hasn't moved yet, even though Kline is facing a radically right teabagger, David Gerson who's been pushing him to take more and more deranged positions that could easily alienate independent voters... if the DCCC ever decides to let them know about his votes. What the DCCC should be doing now, is alerting voters in Eagan, Apple Valley, Cottage Grove, Hastings, Burnsville, Lakeville and Northfield-- basically the Twin Cities southern suburbs-- that Kline is trying to remake himself into the Ted Cruz of the House.



Last Friday before Kline voted to shut down the government unless the Affordable Care Act is defunded, he spoke to Minnesota Public Radio (above) about the next arson the GOP is planning.

"We're not just going to give a carte blanche to raise the debt limit," he said.

Unlike many in his caucus, including U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, Kline isn't demanding a repeal or delay of the 2010 healthcare law-- though he'd certainly take that. [And voted for it.]

"I think the real answer to the debt limit is to get some agreement from Senate Democrats and more specifically the White House that you've got to do something about entitlements," Kline said in a reference to Social Security and Medicare.

In particular, Kline is interested in ideas such as a higher retirement age.

When asked whether it's appropriate to push for such complex changes with just weeks to go before the federal government runs out borrowing room, Kline said, "yes."

"I think it's a better place to have this fight," he said.

That's the position of most Republicans. They want concessions from President Obama to raise the debt ceiling-- even though tax and spending policies voted on by Congress are what drives the government's need to borrow.

...Former Republican U.S. Rep. Bill Frenzel, who represented Minnesota's 3rd District in Congress for 20 years, is not impressed with the GOP's hardball tactics.

"The Republicans in the House are looking for a way to get themselves into the minority," he said.

Frenzel said when he retired in 1991, debt limit votes were routine and didn't keep the markets on edge.

Derailing Social Security, Kline's goal, has been Republican Party policy since the 1930's. When Alf Landon ran on repealing Social Security in 1936, he only won two states-- and the Republicans found themselves with only 16 Senate seats and only 88 House members left in Congress! I asked Obermueller about Kline's strategy of using the debt ceiling to blackmail Obama into cutting Social Security benefits:

“Given Congressman Kline's visceral disregard for the middle class and the benefits they’ve earned, I am not surprised he remains uncompromising in his belief that scoring political points is well-worth the severe economic consequences of a full-scale government shutdown. We’re at a standstill because Congressman Kline wants to cut benefits while giving millionaires a tax break. When I’m elected I’m going to work hard to protect Social Security, Medicare and other benefits that middle-class families earned and I’m not going to give in to these concessions when the costs are too great for our families.”

Anyone think Steve Israel is listening?

How Democratic Candidates Should Respond To Irresponsible GOP Threats To Throw The U.S. Into Default

You've probably seen a parade of Republican clowns wooing teabaggers by insisting that the government be sent into bankruptcy unless Obama agrees to defund the Affordable Care Act. That's all their irresponsible-- and/or delusional playing for the cameras. Most of the noise has been coming from far right Confederates in all white gerrymandered districts. But Wednesday Tom McClintock was up to the same trick in California. Watch him up top. His district is very safe-- with a PVI of R+10. Romney beat Obama there 58-40% and McClintock won reelection last year with 61% and taking 8 of the 10 counties, including the 2 big ones, Placer and El Dorado. So far, he has no Democrat running against him in 2014.

A bit further south, one of his compadres, Buck McKeon, has a much shakier district and a strong opponent, Lee Rogers. Rogers has a very different perspective on fiscal responsibility that either McClintock or McKeon. This week he warned supporters that Republican brinksmanship could force the U.S. into a default on its debt right around Labor Day.

Congress is getting ready to have another political battle over the debt ceiling again. Once again this will create market uncertainty and instill doubts about U.S. credit because of a lack of political leadership.

You'd think Congress would have learned in 2011 that brinksmanship and threats of default hurt America, but it seems that the fiasco is doomed to repeat itself.

We cannot extend our debt ceiling indefinitely, nor can we run a functioning economy without paying the bills we’ve already accrued. Our country is in dire need of leaders offering real solutions instead of political games.

The solution last time around was the Budget Control Act of 2011, which set up the policy known as “sequestration”-- it was not a viable solution. Eliminating wasteful government spending requires deft maneuvering and precision, not a meat cleaver.

There are many real solutions we can initiate today to reduce our deficit, such as ending Cold War era defense programs the Pentagon doesn't want, eliminating subsidies to oil companies, reducing health care costs, and closing loopholes that allow the wealthiest Americans and corporations to pay less than their fair share in taxes. 

 

Partisan bickering and childish battles in the 2011 debt ceiling battle resulted in a downgrade of U.S. debt to the detriment of millions of middle class Americans. Sequestration is currently threatening half a million jobs in California alone. We cannot allow a do-nothing Congress to posture for personal political gain at the expense of the economy again in 2013.

Average citizens are not responsible for the current level of debt, and we cannot balance the budget on the backs of working Americans. I want to be your next Representative for California’s 25th Congressional District and I will use common sense to make reforms that will actually reduce our deficit.

Blue America has endorsed Rogers. If you'd like to see a sensible and committed progressive in Congress instead of a Beltway hack like McKeon, please consider contributing what you feel comfortable with here through ActBlue.

Mainstream Republican Conservatives Battle Tea Party Nihilists In The U.S. Senate

Miss McConnell lays down with the GOP's 3 nihilist psychopaths

A few days ago, television personality Bill Maher was musing about the idea of Texas teabagger Ted Cruz running for president. Maher is certain that it's inevitable, pointing out that Cruz has "Newt Gingrich's ambition and ego mixed with the steely-eyed focus of a serial killer." Good description! And he added that Cruz has been "totally unwilling to compromise with liberals on anything, including eating with a knife and fork." NY Times political reporter Jonathan Weisman, might agree, but he takes Cruz more seriously and honed in on how he and a few other Tea Party Senate freshmen are gumming up the works in that body and forcing people concerned with the smooth function of government to confront deranged right-wing ideological nihilism that veers frighteningly close to outright fascism. And this is all inside the Senate GOP caucus!

In full view of C-Span cameras trained on the floor this week, Senators John McCain of Arizona and Susan Collins of Maine jousted with a new generation of conservatives-- Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, Mike Lee of Utah and Rand Paul of Kentucky-- over the party’s refusal to allow the Senate to open budget talks with the House despite Senate Republicans’ long call for Democrats to produce a budget.

It was the Old Guard versus the Tea Party, but with real ramifications, as Congress careens toward another debt limit and spending crisis this fall with seemingly no one at the steering wheel. The newer members say negotiations should go forward only with a binding precondition that a budget deal cannot raise the government’s statutory borrowing limit.

“I have tremendous respect for this institution,” Mr. Rubio said in an interview on Friday. “But I’m not all that interested in the way things have always been done around here.”

Republicans made the failure of Senate Democrats to pass a budget a central talking point in the 2012 campaign, going so far this year as to pass legislation withholding Congressional pay if budgets were not approved this spring. Now, some Republicans say the fact that members of their own party are standing in the way of a House-Senate conference committee undermines their fiscal message.

“This to me is an issue of integrity,” said Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee. “We’ve pressed for a budget. We ought to go to conference.”

But the budget hawks have not budged, and they have even taken aim at their party in strikingly critical language.

“Here is the dirty little secret about some of those on the right side of the aisle,” Mr. Cruz said of his fellow Republicans. “There are some who would very much like to cast a symbolic vote against raising the debt ceiling and nonetheless allow our friends on the left side of the aisle to raise the debt ceiling. That, to some Republicans, is the ideal outcome.”

Mr. McCain called the demands of his Republican colleagues “absolutely out of line and unprecedented.” The Senate passed the budget before dawn on March 23 after a grueling all-night session, he noted, saying it was time to try to reach a final deal with the House in a negotiating conference.

“Will this deliberative body, whether it is the greatest in the world or the worst in the world, go ahead and decide on this issue, so we can at least tell the American people we are going to do what we haven’t done for four years and what every family in America sooner or later has to do-- and that is to have a budget?” he asked. Although few of Mr. McCain’s colleagues took to the floor to join him, many have expressed similar views.

Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri, a member of the Republican leadership, said that at this point, resistance had to give.

“I suspect senators have held back long enough on the decision to go to conference,” he said.

...House Republicans had envisioned a plan to reach a comprehensive deficit reduction deal predicated on a showdown in July over the debt ceiling. That showdown was supposed to drive both sides back to the bargaining table, but a rapidly falling deficit, rising tax payments and huge infusions of cash from the newly profitable, federally controlled home financing agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have scrambled those plans. Now, the debt ceiling may not have to be raised until October or November, in the next fiscal year.

Before then, unless a budget deal can be struck, Congress must pass bills to finance the government based on very different guidelines in the House- and Senate-passed plans. The House Appropriations Committee will have to draft a bill financing labor, health and education programs at $121.8 billion, a 19 percent cut from current levels even after the across-the-board cuts took effect. The bill to finance the Interior Department and Environmental Protection Agency cannot exceed $24.2 billion, down 15 percent from the current levels after the cuts.

“There is not a member of our committee, Republican or Democrat, who is happy with these numbers,” said Jennifer Hing, a spokeswoman for the committee.

The Senate has no intention of swallowing those cuts, so unless budget negotiators can meet and reach a deal, Congress will be headed back toward a crisis come Sept. 30, said Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the Senate Budget Committee chairwoman.

“They could create crisis by having a government shutdown or holding everything back until November and threatening a debt default. That would be to their political detriment,” Ms. Murray said. “I think the American people have had it with that kind of hostage-taking.”

Cruz may be the ringleader of mindless nihilism but his rivals for the worthless 2016 presidential nomination, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio can't cede the far right fringe of the party-- which completely controls the nominating stage in most states-- to get out ahead of them on the crackpot ideas the Hate Talk Radio-brainedwashed base loves so much. Rubio, in fact, claims he could be the last man standing on preventing a majority in the Senate to move forward. “I’m not sure this is an issue I can ever change my opinion on,” he said. Already grievously damaged in the eyes of the extremist for his collaboration with Democrats on comprehensive immigration reform-- which is vehemently opposed by the Canadian-borm Cuban from Texas, Cruz and which the Hate Talkers only refer to as "amnesty"-- Rubio is looking for an opportunity to be seen taking a kamakazi-like stand on behalf of... Alex Jones and Glenn Beck fans. He'll find Ted Cruz and Rand Paul already have those folks sewn up. Their grandstanding is pushing Harry Reid towards a Senate rule change that would allow for a majority vote-- something so detested by the demented Cruz-- which would deflate the Senate Republicans' ability to obstruct government to further their ideological and narrow partisan agenda.

Boehner Whispered A Message When No One Was Looking

As you can see in the video above, while President Obama was being inaugurated 4 years ago, Republican leaders were plotting against the country to make him look bad so he would be easier to defeat 4 years hence. That worked out badly for them. Yesterday, in the middle of the Inaugural ceremonies for President Obama's second term, Boehner timed a news dump that would otherwise have made headlines, headlines Republicans are very split over. Later today most Republicans in the House will vote with the Democrats to raise the debt limit. That shouldn't be a big deal-- it's very routine in fact-- except that it's been ginned up by far right extremists who have given it a crossing-the-Rubicon kind of pseudo-significance. AP:

Republican officials say the House will vote Wednesday on an increase in the nation's debt limit, a move designed to prevent a first-ever government default.

The vote marks a change in strategy for House Republicans who run the chamber and who remain adamant about reducing government spending but decided not to use the debt limit to trigger a confrontation with President Barack Obama.

The Speaker had the Rules Committee post the legislation by Boehner puppet Dave Camp as everyone in DC headed off to the Inaugural ceremonies. There's an unconstitutional stipulation in it that suspends congressional pay if they don't pass a budget by April 15. If these defenders on the Constitution actually read it, they would know that Congress can't pass any laws about their own salaries during the session. They can penalize the next Congress, but not the current one. Abram Brown at Forbes gave a simple explanation of how to solve the debt ceiling "crisis" once and for all:

Placing debt under Congressional authority is suppose to help restrain the spendthrift nature that defines Washington, D.C. Fact is, the debt ceiling is more a plot device for Beltway drama than an effective way to restore fiscal sensibility.

By Republican posturing today you’d think that they always voted against any more debt. Wrong. In 2003, 2004 and 2006, Senate Republicans led the push for increasing it. They did so because, at least for the past decade, the majority party has been the one to engineer the necessary support for increasing the debt ceiling. By turn, Democrats orchestrated it in 2009 and 2010. Only when one party controls the White House and another Congress did debt ceiling votes become bipartisan.

The minority party always votes in opposition because it allows an easy opportunity to smear the majority. Indebtedness is, unquestionably, a risk to fiscal stability-- be it a company’s or a country’s. The minority scores easy points against rivals by painting them as imprudent.

Financial bona fides aside, increases to the debt ceiling at such moments are critical. Without it, the U.S. defaults on its debt. That would throw financial markets into a state quite like… well, we don’t actually know. It’s never happened. The crisis it would cause among U.S. creditors is almost unimaginable. Even the mere suggestion that it might nearly propelled the U.S. into another recession in 2011. And it would also force a darkening of more than 40% of the government, further exacerbating the situation.

...That both parties extended U.S. indebtedness in the past decade show the gamesmanship behind the debt ceiling. It’s time to change the rules for the better.

The latest attempts by GOP radicals to use the debt ceiling to wreck the government entirely, inspired Jerry Nadler (D-NY) and five other members of the Progressive Caucus-- Hank Johnson (D-GA), Jim Moran (D-VA), Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), Keith Ellison (D-MN) and Peter Welch (D-VT)-- to propose new legislation meant to abolish the debt ceiling entirely. Like Brown, they see as superfluous and just another impediment for partisan childishness or, in this case, right-wing domestic terrorists, to use as a weapon of sabotage against further economic recovery and against their bane, equality. According to Nadler, "Only a year-and-a-half after the last disastrous debt ceiling debate, House Republican leaders plan to use the same political brinksmanship again this year in order to impose their extreme and economically regressive agenda on the American people. A repeal of the debt ceiling would allow Congress to move forward with legislation that actually promotes jobs, economic recovery and growth... The modern debt ceiling, set in 1939 based on amendments to the Second Liberty Bond Act of 1917, consolidated federal debts in order to provide the U.S. Treasury more flexibility to reduce interest costs and minimize financial risks. In the 1980s and early 1990s, the House of Representatives, at times, used a mechanism, referred to as the Gephardt Rule, to automatically increase the debt ceiling to keep pace with annual congressional spending. In the last 10 years, Congress has voted to increase the debt ceiling 10 times. The 2011 debt ceiling face-off reflected a shift from 30 years of clean debt ceiling increases and resulted in Standard & Poor’s downgrading of the U.S. economy for the first time in history."

It looks like Boehner and Cantor decided they'd better not fight that battle at this time. Smart move on their part. But I can't wait to hear what the Republican House extremists like Steve King, Louie Gohmert, Paul Broun, Tom Price, Tim Huelskamp, Patrick McHenry, Steve Stockman, Trey Redel and the other psychopaths have to say. Tomorrow!

You probably listened to Obama's Inaugural address live yesterday. I just figured I'd excerpt a few paragraphs that sounded... well, like he made history. I mean, this really was a great Inaugural speech... although, I dare say, it must have driven Republicans insane. He undermined the entire basis of their existence.

Today we continue a never-ending journey, to bridge the meaning of those words with the realities of our time. For history tells us that while these truths may be self-evident, they have never been self-executing; that while freedom is a gift from God, it must be secured by His people here on Earth. The patriots of 1776 did not fight to replace the tyranny of a king with the privileges of a few or the rule of a mob. They gave to us a Republic, a government of, and by, and for the people, entrusting each generation to keep safe our founding creed.

For more than two hundred years, we have.

Through blood drawn by lash and blood drawn by sword, we learned that no union founded on the principles of liberty and equality could survive half-slave and half-free.  We made ourselves anew, and vowed to move forward together.

Together, we determined that a modern economy requires railroads and highways to speed travel and commerce; schools and colleges to train our workers.

Together, we discovered that a free market only thrives when there are rules to ensure competition and fair play.

Together, we resolved that a great nation must care for the vulnerable, and protect its people from life’s worst hazards and misfortune.

Through it all, we have never relinquished our skepticism of central authority, nor have we succumbed to the fiction that all society’s ills can be cured through government alone. Our celebration of initiative and enterprise; our insistence on hard work and personal responsibility, are constants in our character.

But we have always understood that when times change, so must we; that fidelity to our founding principles requires new responses to new challenges; that preserving our individual freedoms ultimately requires collective action. For the American people can no more meet the demands of today’s world by acting alone than American soldiers could have met the forces of fascism or communism with muskets and militias. No single person can train all the math and science teachers we’ll need to equip our children for the future, or build the roads and networks and research labs that will bring new jobs and businesses to our shores. Now, more than ever, we must do these things together, as one nation, and one people.

This generation of Americans has been tested by crises that steeled our resolve and proved our resilience. A decade of war is now ending. An economic recovery has begun. America’s possibilities are limitless, for we possess all the qualities that this world without boundaries demands: youth and drive; diversity and openness; an endless capacity for risk and a gift for reinvention. My fellow Americans, we are made for this moment, and we will seize it-- so long as we seize it together.

For we, the people, understand that our country cannot succeed when a shrinking few do very well and a growing many barely make it. We believe that America’s prosperity must rest upon the broad shoulders of a rising middle class. We know that America thrives when every person can find independence and pride in their work; when the wages of honest labor liberate families from the brink of hardship. We are true to our creed when a little girl born into the bleakest poverty knows that she has the same chance to succeed as anybody else, because she is an American, she is free, and she is equal, not just in the eyes of God but also in our own.

We understand that outworn programs are inadequate to the needs of our time. We must harness new ideas and technology to remake our government, revamp our tax code, reform our schools, and empower our citizens with the skills they need to work harder, learn more, and reach higher. But while the means will change, our purpose endures:  a nation that rewards the effort and determination of every single American. That is what this moment requires. That is what will give real meaning to our creed.

We, the people, still believe that every citizen deserves a basic measure of security and dignity. We must make the hard choices to reduce the cost of health care and the size of our deficit. But we reject the belief that America must choose between caring for the generation that built this country and investing in the generation that will build its future. For we remember the lessons of our past, when twilight years were spent in poverty, and parents of a child with a disability had nowhere to turn. We do not believe that in this country, freedom is reserved for the lucky, or happiness for the few. We recognize that no matter how responsibly we live our lives, any one of us, at any time, may face a job loss, or a sudden illness, or a home swept away in a terrible storm. The commitments we make to each other-- through Medicare, and Medicaid, and Social Security-- these things do not sap our initiative; they strengthen us. They do not make us a nation of takers; they free us to take the risks that make this country great.

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations. Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult.  But America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it. We cannot cede to other nations the technology that will power new jobs and new industries-- we must claim its promise. That is how we will maintain our economic vitality and our national treasure-- our forests and waterways; our croplands and snowcapped peaks. That is how we will preserve our planet, commanded to our care by God. That’s what will lend meaning to the creed our fathers once declared.

We, the people, still believe that enduring security and lasting peace do not require perpetual war. Our brave men and women in uniform, tempered by the flames of battle, are unmatched in skill and courage.Our citizens, seared by the memory of those we have lost, know too well the price that is paid for liberty.The knowledge of their sacrifice will keep us forever vigilant against those who would do us harm.But we are also heirs to those who won the peace and not just the war, who turned sworn enemies into the surest of friends, and we must carry those lessons into this time as well.

We will defend our people and uphold our values through strength of arms and rule of law. We will show the courage to try and resolve our differences with other nations peacefully-- not because we are naïve about the dangers we face, but because engagement can more durably lift suspicion and fear. America will remain the anchor of strong alliances in every corner of the globe; and we will renew those institutions that extend our capacity to manage crisis abroad, for no one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than its most powerful nation. We will support democracy from Asia to Africa; from the Americas to the Middle East, because our interests and our conscience compel us to act on behalf of those who long for freedom. And we must be a source of hope to the poor, the sick, the marginalized, the victims of prejudice-- not out of mere charity, but because peace in our time requires the constant advance of those principles that our common creed describes:  tolerance and opportunity; human dignity and justice.

We, the people, declare today that the most evident of truths-- that all of us are created equal-- is the star that guides us still; just as it guided our forebears through Seneca Falls, and Selma, and Stonewall; just as it guided all those men and women, sung and unsung, who left footprints along this great Mall, to hear a preacher say that we cannot walk alone; to hear a King proclaim that our individual freedom is inextricably bound to the freedom of every soul on Earth.

It is now our generation’s task to carry on what those pioneers began. For our journey is not complete until our wives, our mothers, and daughters can earn a living equal to their efforts. Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law-- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well. Our journey is not complete until no citizen is forced to wait for hours to exercise the right to vote. Our journey is not complete until we find a better way to welcome the striving, hopeful immigrants who still see America as a land of opportunity; until bright young students and engineers are enlisted in our workforce rather than expelled from our country. Our journey is not complete until all our children, from the streets of Detroit to the hills of Appalachia to the quiet lanes of Newtown, know that they are cared for, and cherished, and always safe from harm.

That is our generation’s task-- to make these words, these rights, these values-- of Life, and Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness-- real for every American. Being true to our founding documents does not require us to agree on every contour of life; it does not mean we will all define liberty in exactly the same way, or follow the same precise path to happiness. Progress does not compel us to settle centuries-long debates about the role of government for all time-- but it does require us to act in our time.

For now decisions are upon us, and we cannot afford delay.  We cannot mistake absolutism for principle, or substitute spectacle for politics, or treat name-calling as reasoned debate. We must act, knowing that our work will be imperfect. We must act, knowing that today’s victories will be only partial, and that it will be up to those who stand here in four years, and forty years, and four hundred years hence to advance the timeless spirit once conferred to us in a spare Philadelphia hall.

My fellow Americans, the oath I have sworn before you today, like the one recited by others who serve in this Capitol, was an oath to God and country, not party or faction-- and we must faithfully execute that pledge during the duration of our service. But the words I spoke today are not so different from the oath that is taken each time a soldier signs up for duty, or an immigrant realizes her dream. My oath is not so different from the pledge we all make to the flag that waves above and that fills our hearts with pride.

They are the words of citizens, and they represent our greatest hope.

You and I, as citizens, have the power to set this country’s course.

You and I, as citizens, have the obligation to shape the debates of our time-- not only with the votes we cast, but with the voices we lift in defense of our most ancient values and enduring ideals.

Let each of us now embrace, with solemn duty and awesome joy, what is our lasting birthright. With common effort and common purpose, with passion and dedication, let us answer the call of history, and carry into an uncertain future that precious light of freedom.

So, let's pray this is who he really is-- and not just a setup for another disappointment. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was optimistic in his response:

“President Obama’s second inaugural address was eloquent in its simplicity and inspiring in its basic theme that we’re all in this together.

“On the day our nation was marking the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., our first African American president invoked our country’s long history of advancing civil rights, as he put it, from Seneca Falls to Selma to Stonewall.

“As we rebuild our economy and as we bring an end to a decade of wars, the president laid out a strong vision for how we must protect our planet and renew our commitment to securing fundamental rights for all Americans.

“As the president brings forth his budget and legislative priorities, I look forward to working with him to create the millions of jobs that our workers need, to provide health care for all Americans and to protect the social safety net for seniors, veterans, children and the poor.”