"Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said the four-month extension was better than nothing. McConnell himself represents thousands of miners in the struggling coal industry and said he tried to get a longer solution in talks with House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis.
> “Would I have preferred that provision to be more generous? Of course I would have,” the Republican said in a speech on the Senate floor."
Hello!! Is anybody home in eastern Kentucky coal country. Mitch, your Senator, just voted for better than nothing for you and your family.
Excuse me?
Why are any of my tax dollars going to this? I’m already paying taxes for a very nice, white house with exceptional security in Washington D.C. If Donald Trump decides he wants to set up a little bungalow in Moscow, does that mean I have to pay for that too?
It sounds like Republicans are resurrecting their old “spending-on-the-credit-card” agenda.
Dems sick to their guns? Not in my lifetime.
But he opposed the n(clang) in the WH, so they don’t care. Plus, this is his last term, so he doesn’t even have to really pretend to care.
I’m really glad they’re not sticking to their guns on this. They shouldn’t. It would be stupid to shutdown the government in the last month of the Obama administration over an eight month healthcare extension for 16,000 people when there are far bigger, far more worthy fights ahead. And if they’re going to have this fight, they should have it when people are actually paying attention after the holidays and after the new administration is in place.
Yes. Exactly the logic that forces Dems to cave at very term. There is always someone who is willing to work the excuse machine. Like I said, “Dems don’t ever stand on principle.” Right now? We need fighters.
While your statement is undoubtedly true, we need fighters who know how to pick their battles carefully.
Agreed, and if we have any hope that the people who elected Trump are ever going to figure out that they’ve been played for suckers, it may be necessary to let the Republicans screw them, repeatedly.
Touching on another subject mentioned in the article, I wonder how the long-haul truckers are feeling right about now? When (if ever) will they figure out that perhaps their “Clinton for Prison, 2016” bumper stickers were a bit misguided?
We should be battling the GOP at every turn. Period.
And making lots of noise.
Which would result in no one listening to us.
Any competent political analyst would tell you to choose your fights very carefully.
Absolutely. For far too long, Democrats have been mommy. They protect everyone from themselves, make sure the kids eat their vegetables, do their homework, and clean their room. Republicans have been daddy. They show up on the weekends, take the kids to Chucky Cheese, and take all the credit. If Democrats want to take back the levers of power, it’s time they wake the kids up and let them see that daddy is drunk, abusive, piece of shit who only takes them to Chucky Cheese because he’s banging the manager.
Prime example: Obamacare. The reason idiots in my state keep telling themselves the GOP won’t end Obamacare is because they know Democrats will at least try to protect them. So they think they can vote for these batshit Republicans who are promising to do stuff to hurt minorities because they think they’ll ultimately be protected by mommy. It’s time they figure out that mommy isn’t always going to be around to save them from themselves.
Let those who are to preside over the nation obey two precepts of Plato, —
One— that they so watch for the well-being of their fellow-citizens that they have reference to it in whatever they do, forgetting their own private interests.
The other— that they care for the whole body politic, and not, while they watch over a portion of it, neglect other portions. For, as the guardianship of a minor, so the administration of the state is to be conducted for the benefit, not of those to whom it is intrusted, but of those who are intrusted to their care.
~Marcus Tullius Cicero, 1st c BCE
I don’t mind that the Dems played it this way, as long as they follow up with their tough talk with action during Mango Mussolini’s term. I wouldn’t want the negative fallout from a Christmastime shutdown to fall on Obama and the Dems, which it surely would have. Let the Rs “win” this round, thinking that the Dems are down for the count for the next 2-4 years. Then … kick them in the balls repeatedly when they and their Dear Leader start tearing things apart in earnest in January. There will be plenty of opportunities for loud, obnoxious, effective opposition to everything R in the coming months.
Gutless cowards.
Just like the top of the ticket.
As long as the D’s are unwilling to play hard ball they will get rolled every time.
Look what they gave up.
Instead of a 1 year budget for everything using thier leverage now with Obama threatening to veto they surrendered and gave the r’s 4 nonths to sell the country to the highest bidders and then write a budget that will formalize the sale. But the D’s can’t disrupt anything that might offend thier corporate masters.
Instead of refusing any unanamous consents and making the Senate, and House, read every word of the bill 3 times they conceded that as well.
Hillary was awol on this just as she has been ever since her craven surrender and refusal to fight for recounts or investigation of potential fraud, because she got hers and screw the rest of us it just shows how foolish it is to ever trust a member of the 1% they will always protect thier own over any thing else.
So now in 4 months when we get a starve granny and poison the environment to be rubber stamped by drumpf’s judges the poor senate d’s will just bemoan thier lack of leverage even after they willingly gave it all away.
But not to worry they are still getting thier corporate contributions and being invited to the right parties.
Even Warren, sanders and Franken played dead on this. Oh well so much for what was a decent flim flam game by these posers.
We need a Senator NO like coburn or helms were for the r’s. Ignorant, bigoted and evil as they were they at least stood up for thier constituents unlike any d in the senate.
Cowards all.
“I’m born into a family of coal miners. If I’m not going to stand up for them, who is?”
The republican the coal miners plan on voting for and replacing you with.
The fight gave Democrats, who suffered devastating election losses a month ago at the hands of working-class voters, a chance to cast themselves and not the GOP as the champions of the common man.
Please don’t reprint AP articles without providing corrections for their factual errors. This statement, for instance, is simply factually wrong. Democrats gained seats in the Senate and in the House, and won the majority of the Presidential vote. Their single “loss” is strictly due to the electoral college, and given that they won significant majorities of the House, Senate and Presidential vote and gained ground in the House and Senate, it is factually false to characterize these as “electoral losses,” let alone as devastating ones that reveal something significant about the electorate.
Regarding long-haul truckers: not to worry. They’ll mostly be out of jobs in 5-10 years anyhow due to self-driving trucks that can run 24/7 without sleep. Automation isn’t going away, and it eliminates far more jobs than immigration and off-shoring combined. Time for Dems to start pushing for universal basic income. This is an issue that’s as inevitable as climate change.
Black lung? Take a long weekend and use some Vicks and you’ll be right as acid rain come next work day.
Making America great again!
Wake up, people!