The Money Party’s latest training exercise with live ammunition (aimed at us) is over for a while. At the last minute, the geniuses in your nation’s capital got it together long enough to pass a relatively clean budget resolution and raise the debt limit for a few weeks. The bill also included some intrusive income verification requirements for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare from the people who say they hate the government in their business.
The after-deal spin is simply revolting. Talking head after head said that Boehner couldn’t control his caucus and decided to let the nihilist wing of the Republican Party (a.k.a. tea party) learn a real life lesson in politics. You see, in addition to being a political hack and philanderer, Boehner is also a great teacher. He let the forty or so tea party representatives run wild to show them just what happens when you behave like idiots. They might as well have said that pigs live in trees, the founding fathers smoked dope, or something equally ridiculous.
Here’s the truth. Boehner’s career in leadership began with an incident caught on C-SPAN in which Boehner passed out tobacco company checks to Republicans on the floor of the House of Representatives. Does a guy like that change? This time around, the trough of cash was exponentially larger. The Koch brothers funded anti-Obama groups and politicians with $235 million in 2011 alone. If anyone thinks that bag man Boehner would miss out on a payday like that, they’re not paying attention. He was likely up to his hips in serious money, as were his merry makers. When the entire charade became totally unacceptable, Boehner had to back off and allow a vote on the budget resolution that he’d been telling us lacked the Republican votes to pass.
Let that sink in. Boehner said a clean budget resolution didn’t have Republican votes. Well, 87 Republicans jointed 198 Democrats to pass the late night resolution 285 to 144. The man is a complete and total liar, shameless. The votes were always there.
Speaking of lies, here are some more. It was not possible to defund the ACA, at least not right away. Raising the debt ceiling had nothing to do with the budget deficit. This was all about nothing, other than a big, fat tantrum by a bunch of politicians who act like they’ve never been wrong about one single thing in their entire lives.
The bait and switch aspect of all of this is stunning. By threatening to default on the nation’s debt obligations, the Republicans were proposing that the government refuse to pay bills and obligations that it had already promised to pay. They allowed citizens and others to buy bonds and provide the government goods and services with the promise of payment. Then, in a moment of pique, these people who are never wrong wanted to say, Oh, sorry, we can’t pay you because we’ve been spending too much money. That’s a crime in every state.
Speaking of states, here’s you Bait and Switch Index (right). The graph shows the states with 20% of more of the state’s House congressional delegation voting against the budget resolution and debt ceiling increase. It breaks down in an urban—rural fashion but there are exceptions. Arkansas and West Virginia representatives came to their senses and realized that, due to the general poverty of their citizens, they had to vote for government services. Texas, a state with multiple big and medium sized cities, was over the top on the bait and switch measure for its House delegation. Also included is a listing of states with 16% to zero House members voting with the tea party.
President Barack Obama came out of this looking good. He’s lucky to have the distraction provided by the nation’s political version of the Insane Clown Posse. If there had been a vote on bombing Syria or anyone bothered to look into the huge lies the president told about that terribly bad plan, he would be in even more trouble than Boehner.
Same as it ever was . . .
Michael Collins is a DC area writer and researcher. He is also the Editor in Chief of The Agonist.
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Uncontrollable Boehner and the Bait and Switch Index
Posted on October 22, 2013 by Michael Collins
The Money Party’s latest training exercise with live ammunition (aimed at us) is over for a while. At the last minute, the geniuses in your nation’s capital got it together long enough to pass a relatively clean budget resolution and raise the debt limit for a few weeks. The bill also included some intrusive income verification requirements for the Affordable Care Act (ACA)/Obamacare from the people who say they hate the government in their business.
The after-deal spin is simply revolting. Talking head after head said that Boehner couldn’t control his caucus and decided to let the nihilist wing of the Republican Party (a.k.a. tea party) learn a real life lesson in politics. You see, in addition to being a political hack and philanderer, Boehner is also a great teacher. He let the forty or so tea party representatives run wild to show them just what happens when you behave like idiots. They might as well have said that pigs live in trees, the founding fathers smoked dope, or something equally ridiculous.
Here’s the truth. Boehner’s career in leadership began with an incident caught on C-SPAN in which Boehner passed out tobacco company checks to Republicans on the floor of the House of Representatives. Does a guy like that change? This time around, the trough of cash was exponentially larger. The Koch brothers funded anti-Obama groups and politicians with $235 million in 2011 alone. If anyone thinks that bag man Boehner would miss out on a payday like that, they’re not paying attention. He was likely up to his hips in serious money, as were his merry makers. When the entire charade became totally unacceptable, Boehner had to back off and allow a vote on the budget resolution that he’d been telling us lacked the Republican votes to pass.
Let that sink in. Boehner said a clean budget resolution didn’t have Republican votes. Well, 87 Republicans jointed 198 Democrats to pass the late night resolution 285 to 144. The man is a complete and total liar, shameless. The votes were always there.
Speaking of lies, here are some more. It was not possible to defund the ACA, at least not right away. Raising the debt ceiling had nothing to do with the budget deficit. This was all about nothing, other than a big, fat tantrum by a bunch of politicians who act like they’ve never been wrong about one single thing in their entire lives.
The bait and switch aspect of all of this is stunning. By threatening to default on the nation’s debt obligations, the Republicans were proposing that the government refuse to pay bills and obligations that it had already promised to pay. They allowed citizens and others to buy bonds and provide the government goods and services with the promise of payment. Then, in a moment of pique, these people who are never wrong wanted to say, Oh, sorry, we can’t pay you because we’ve been spending too much money. That’s a crime in every state.
President Barack Obama came out of this looking good. He’s lucky to have the distraction provided by the nation’s political version of the Insane Clown Posse. If there had been a vote on bombing Syria or anyone bothered to look into the huge lies the president told about that terribly bad plan, he would be in even more trouble than Boehner.
Same as it ever was . . .
Michael Collins is a DC area writer and researcher. He is also the Editor in Chief of The Agonist.