
When history is written about the mess that is Iraq, the Republican Rubber Stamp Congress will have to take its share of responsibility for its failures to provide adequate any meaningful oversight, or even any real, honest work at all:
A cornerstone of the Republican agenda was a pledge to control federal spending. But the party's congressional leaders have faced mounting criticism from their own rank-and-file members on this front as the federal budget deficit has grown in recent years. And in the final days of this congressional session, the GOP is making little effort to pass a series of bills to fund the federal government next year, much less implement any long-term budget restraints."There is a sense that the Republicans ultimately … said, 'Let the Democrats sweep up after the elephants, " said Ross K. Baker, a congressional scholar at Rutgers University in New Jersey.
As of Tuesday, Congress had cleared just two of 11 spending measures for the government — one that provides money for the Pentagon, the other for the Department of Homeland Security. Rather than grapple with tough spending decisions for the array of other agencies, the Republicans plan instead to pass a stopgap funding measure, leaving it to the Democratic-controlled Congress to adopt new funding bills early next year....
Which makes this quote from Republican Congressman Jack Kingston (R-GA) all the more amusing, doesn't it?
"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays. "Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what this says."
It is wonderful to see a Republican like Jack Kingston supporting working families like this -- wherein some folks have to work two and three jobs just to make ends meet. I look forward to his future legislative proposals to give every working person in America the same benefits he's been able to enjoy as a Republican Rubber Stamp the last few years: great medical benefits, working only three days a week, passing little to no legislation -- other than the full-of-earmarks rampant cronyism bills for pals of the GOP, six-figure salary, free trip perks...you know, what we all get to enjoy in our everyday lives. Oh, wait...
If Republicans want to know why so many of them lost in November, I think you have your answer. Welcome to reality, where you have to actually do your jobs. It cannot be January soon enough.
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FITZ!
Oh, Fitz, come and take me away…
ReddHedd !!
The Iraq Study Group, the do-nothing Congress, the set-up questions from the media about what is Pelosi’s plan? It is all designed to support the idea that the GOOPERS get to mess up the room and no one calls them to account.
Dems have to be the adults.
Actually, I’m just as glad to see the Dems have control of these budget resolutions. Hopefully, they’ll show much more discipline and focus.
Babington chatz this morning on Kingston:
bring on the weenies.
http://www.thehill.com/thehill...../bush.html
TSF: Babington is a real bozo.
Gee, Teddy, wonder what Dem is running against Kingston? Could they use donations? ;-)
Let’s give all Americans not just access to Congress’ health plan, but our lawmakers’ workweek as well. This Congress has worked seven days less than the Do-Nothing Congress Harry Truman railed against.
I’d like to tell my boss I’ll be back at work after the first of the year, and THEN I’ll start working full-time, and also where’s my holiday bonus (fact-finding trip to Scotland or the Marianas Islands!)
Geeve me a fuckin brek.
Poor sonofabich, has to work
THREE WHOLE DAYS,IN A ROW!!!!
I repeat GSD’s call for a public slapping.
TeddySanFran @ 9
Well…
You deserve it, Teddy! You work so much harder than the 109th Congress. ; )
It’s the political version of punting. The clock is running out and they are hoping to force a turnover in ‘08.(yeah, dream on)
Funny it took this blue-ribbon panel of wizened leaders with decades of political and legal experience to reach the same conclusion that this fat, layabout without a college degree, from NH was able to deduce 4 years ago.
-GSD
Don’t forget chatz with Froomkin on WaPoOnline at 1pm eastern today!
ReddTedd!
Whaaaaa!!!!! Poor widdle congressman has to work 5 days a week like most Americans. Who wants to bet it won’t be anywhere near 40 hours?
Does he really think that line “Dems don’t care about families” will play well with people who actually work for a living?
GSD @ 13
Perhaps, these “wizened” Beltway Brahmins need to go out more often and communicate with us little “dirty, unwashed masses”…
Just thinking out loud about the ISG report (which I haven’t read yet)—What we have here, I think, is mostly a political compromise…
“look here Clusterfuck- the best you are gonna get is another two years to bring this thing to a positive conclusion- so you can choose to do it fighting the whole nation every step of the way- or you can embrace this report- eat a little crow- and go forward during those two years with a majority supporting you- and therefore with at least a small chance of some success…
And you congresscritters- Ya know this idiot is gonna close his eyes and keep swingin for two more years- so instead of a doomed attempt to stop him- settle for this- withdrawal- dimplomacy-aknowledgement that if it doesn’t work by 2008 we’re out of there- no permanent bases- etc… it’s the best deal yer gonna get- and it gets yer tits out of the wringer in havin to come up with a plan that you all agree to…
I suspect that something like this is the heart of the report.
Bustednuckles @ 10
What’s interesting is that a three-day work week is the schedule for when they’re in session. Overall, it works out to slightly less than two days a week. Not bad work if you can get it….
Of course, I’m sure they’re putting in overtime calling campaign contributors and begging for cash the rest of the time. That’s why this seems like such a strain for them all. It’s going to cut into their time with the fat cats.
Where’s BigTime? Still hunting in Georgia? Getting ready for our Ukrainian visitor next week? Buying presents for little Cheneylets number five and six?
Now that Mary Cheney and park-ranger-wife Heather Poe are expecting their first child, will Vice campaign for gay co-parenting rights in Virginia and other backwaters of the 21st century civil rights movement?
Oh, and…
Troops
Home
NOW
Hey, I have a family too. Sign me up for the three-day workweek and $189K salary.
Excellent diary at DKos from our own LindaR.
Let’s see Kingston address how those working conditions affect familes.
Hey! Aren’t they supposed to be arranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg?
TeddySanFran @ 20
Toad-In-The-Hole is off in a corner, sulking and gnawing on a baby to make himself feel better.
As I travel in and out of my fever dreams (crud sucks) I seem to be hearing voices.
The voices are saying that America has awakened along with me, and has collectively called Bullshit on the Bush Administration.
Is this a Robitussin induced dream? Or is something really happening today?
It was good to see that the ISG included my oft repeated criticisms of the Iraqi Army that it lacks command and control, logistics, heavy weapons, esprit de corps, discipline, and allegiance. It also points out that it is underfunded:
They suggest embedding more trainers with Iraqi units. Does anyone seriously think this will solve problems that go to the very core of what an army is?
Moreover, the idea of a national army is based on the fiction that a civil war is not going on. In this dream world, we can arm, organize, and train an army that will fight in support of the national government which stands above the fray and preserves national unity. However, in the civil war that is Iraq, the national government and the Shia who run it are very much one of the players in the civil war.
Again I have to ask how useful is a report that engages in the same kind of wishful thinking and reality avoidance as the Bush Administration?
Tom @ 21
Don’t forget the FABULOUS health care plan.
And the retirement package is PRIMO!
Why, you can even be convicted of a FELONY, and still get benefits.
( Heavy sigh)
epu’d from last thread in response to Hugh and Rumi. (Thanks, Rumi)
Beyond the civil war:
You have several militias, some fake, some “legit,” if you can call them that; you have several Shia splinters; you have Sunnis versus Shias; you have Shias coming in from Iran and Syria; you have foreign jihadists; you have Kurds; you have a “central government” that is not in control of the country; and you have civilians terrified of anybody in uniform. Finally, you have US and so-called “coalition” forces.
Basically, a royal mess. Non-zero-sum. Nobody wins.
atdnext @ 17
Yes, will there be a roadshow like the 9/11 Commission did? If so, Lee Hamilton will really rack up those Comfort Inn frequent stay miles….
.
.
I truly see B/H-ISG as a coup: Junja’s had his six years in the Oval, now Poppy and his old-timers get to even the score. Junja 6; Poppy 6.
I’m sure Rep. Kingston is terribly worried because of his family, and not because he wants to spend more time with lobbyists, contributors, and pretending to care about those pesky voters. I mean, heck, if you’re working five days a week, how could you have time to fly to Scotland for a round of golf? You’d barely have time to get over the jet lag!
Hugh @ 26
There was some reporting last week suggesting that the trainers that are there now aren’t effective, so sending 20,000 more ineffective trainers won’t solve anything. Next to none of them speak Arabic now, so they’re not going to do much good unless they have 20,000 skilled military interpreters to send along with them….
Regarding Mary Cheney’s pregnancy…
Can’t resist…
‘Tis the season, and all that.
Speaking of which, I’ve got a post about St. Nicholas Day up at Kos.
Now I open my eyes and Edwin Meese is on TV.
Where am I? What year is this?
Maybe Kingston needs to find a job closer to home. He does have choices.
Balrog @ 25
Just a dream, go back to sleep for a couple of years or so. Feel better soon amigo.
Cheney’s son in law is a turkey baster?
TeddySanFran @ 29
I believe they will be going on another roadshow…
Maybe Sandra Day O’Connor can get them ALL in the Rose Parade…
Hmmm… Will there be rain at the Rose Parade this time? I know Baker-Hamilton’s causing rain on Dubya’s Parade.
TeddySanFran @ 20
Hopefully writing the speech in which he resigns for reasons of health. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Bush received a back channel message to dump him. It has been Cheney and the hardliners in his office blocking any talks with Syria and Iran. Of course Iran isn’t making things any easier. God, a conference for Holocaust deniers.
rwcole @ 36
707!
in LauraBot news:
Now we’re gonna be treated to the dance—dems and Clusterfuck bobbin and weavin to wait to see if the other guy is gonna say yes to this report first…
Ya can bet that if Clusterfuck says “no”- dems will embrace it warmly.
rwcole @ 36
Is it wrong that I laughed really hard at that one?
I think the official work days were 165 and 100 over the past two years. The Repub. leadership wanted the folks to have time to solicit bribes to fund the thousand year Reich.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 35
But, but, the Pony.
Balrog–I’m not sure— I got a bad feeling after I posted it!!
montag @ 31
Even if they all could speak Arabic with native fluency, it doesn’t really matter. We would still be training mostly Shia to fight Sunnis in a civil war. If this is the plan, then we should say so. If the ISG seriously believes in the reality of the national government and that this all is just a sectarian conflict, then they need to go back on their anti-psychotics.
Biodun,
Most civil wars don’t resemble ours and are often confused, multi-sided affairs. Think of the Lebanese Civil War for instance.
rwcole @
36
I hope Harry Whittington didn’t get the donor job as part of the settlement for the shotgun accident.
-GSD
I make Kingston’s workweek out as about two-and-a-half days maximum. For this, the equivalent in hours of working only on weekends, he’s getting a six-figure salary and full benefits, and complaining about it? May his next twenty years be on the clock, with his pay strictly by hours worked….
Do-nothing Republicans in Congress: This bunch? The less they do the safer our republic.
I EPU’d myself, so I still got that skill going for me.
Evil Parallel Universe @ 207
rwcole @ 36
Either that or a little rubber baby doll.
Shorter Kingston:
How can I find time to solicit bribes, eat caviar, drink champagne and get lapdances with such a busy schedule.
-GSD
lisadawn82 @ 51
Say ‘rubber baby buggy bumpers’ 3 times really fast.
You know, I think it is lovely that Mary Cheney is pregnant. She and her partner have been in a committed, long-term relationship for quite some time. The hypocrisy of the GOP and the Bush Administration on this issue notwithstanding, I hope she and her partner have a happy, healthy peanut.
does snowjob have a presser today?
RW Cole,
Im glad I waited.
I knew somebody would go there.
EvilGreat minds and all that.twolf1 at 55 — man, I hope so. *g*
In the words of the BigDog to his Veep: It’s a fucking coup d’etat!
Gotta wonder what W will wish for his Veep. “Dick, you like hunting, right? Wouldn’t you like to spend more time hunting? Oh, yeah, on another topic — Hadassah Lieberman is stopping by this afternoon to measure for new drapes in the Undisclosed Location, pass the word along to Lynne, wontcha?”
To Christy @ 54 - For all of my snark I too wish them a healthy baby. Although I hope the little tyke has some healthy lungs and keeps them both up all night.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 57
CNN just said it is coming up - “we’ll bring it to you when it happens”
too bad I have to run out :(
Busted- Supposing that Cheney has any friends- he’s gonna hear that line a lot from them huntin buddies.
Isn’t it time for congress to micro manage aka micro dole out funding for the end of this fiasco?
They enable this war it’s past time to end it.
rwcole @
61
…and they will subsequently get shot in the face.
TeddySanFran @ 40
Now, yeah, this has been going on since Jacqueline Kennedy, but, my goodness, does it not sound like the chit-chat about British royalty?
Christy Hardin Smith @ 54
She also deseves kudos for the courage to not let her daddy’s politics keep her from doing it.
Sorry for the truly horrible sentence. I’m gramatically challenged.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 54
Notwithstanding the reactionary laws of their home state of Virginia, either. Hope the hospital is better than the state at acknowledging Heather in all this.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 54
That’s the difference between us and them, Christy. I’d guess we all feel that way in spite of our snark. I wonder how the news is being treated on Talibangelist blogs?
rwcole 36 — you beat me to it.
Balrog, someone at Kos has a diary about “the freeper meltdown” over Mary.
Christy,
Congrats to them both for having a life, however.
After hearing Mary Cheney spout rightwing hatepoints against John Kerry I have nothing but scorn for her.
Her friend Heather has my abiding neutrality, but Mary Cheney is a moral coward and will get nothing but brickbats from this corner.
Also, looks like this isn’t being accepted by the folks in Freeperland too well:
“Yay- We’re so proud of her- Now, another baby can be brought up in a sinful household and learn to shun God and live a life free from moral values- Good going!”
-GSD
I think our pal watertiger and her intrepid commenters might argue with:
I did like the later questioner on the same chatz who pointed out that since LauraBot went upstairs to change outta her red dress, she left three of her guests wearing the same dress, since none of them could run upstairs and slip into something more comfortable (and unique!)
Jane- just couldn’t resist–
Renee in Ohio @ 69
Thanks a lot Renee. That image will never leave my brain.
*wiping screen yet again*
EPU, I think all the Bush kabuki since Baker and Hamilton started making appearances before the election (which I saw as a pro-Republican move) has been geared toward diminishing its importance. If Republicans had won in November, Bush would have overtly blown the ISG off. As it was, he exchanged Rumsfeld for Gates to buy time and give a semblance of taking the ISG and the general discontent of the war in the country into account. But as Gates himself repeated yesterday in his confirmation hearings, Bush is the ultimate decider of policy. Other tactics Bush has used are to create competing panels with competing analyses and conclusions and to use language that he will commit only to look at the ISG report and would only adopt recommendations (piecemeal) as these further his own goal of victory. His recent trip to Jordan and the Hadley memo were all part of presenting an alternative to the ISG.
So to some degree I agree with you. Bush has been digging in his heels for weeks. He will be under increased pressure to make changes and he may make some but he is going to be dragged kicking and screaming the whole way, and we need to remind ourselves that “whole way” is really a set of bland proposals that ignore the basic realities of the civil war in Iraq.
TeddySanFran @ 71
.
I did like the later questioner on the same chatz who pointed out that since LauraBot went upstairs to change outta her red dress, she left three of her guests wearing the same dress, since none of them could run upstairs and slip into something more comfortable (and unique!)
(edited for proper spacing)
Watertiger loves to rag on Laurabot about her outfits.
And I love Watertiger for ragging about Laurabots outfits.
I especially love the comments about her wearing the drapes.
Not too much senitimentality for Rumsfeld at the Pentagon.
Pictures of Gates are already appearing.
So long Rummy.
-GSD
Dems are prayin that Clusterfuck rejects the report- which enables them to embrace it- thus causing the goopers in congress to eat their young and shit their knickers….
If Clusterfuck rejects this thing- he’s FUCKED…
On the other hand- he may be thinkin- “If I agree to it- maybe the DEMS will say no- and I’m off the hook”.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 54
EPU’d from this AM:
And Mary Cheney, congratulations, that’s wonderful! You’re gonna have a baby! Will you be marrying your partner? Oh wait, you can’t, aren’t you against that? Will you be having natural childbirth, or a C-section? Because it may be difficult for your partner to visit you in the hospital because, well you know, she’s not “legally” family. And once that child goes to school and everyone knows s/he has two mommies, how do you plan to comfort her/him in the face of the hatred and bigotry the Republican party (of which I understand you are a member) has visited upon this country due to its
subservience tocourtship of the fundamentalist Christian right?But hey, congratulations.
Hugh - You reminded me of something I left out of the post.
Gate’s testifies we’re not “winning”: Chimpy the same day says we are “winning.”
That says an awful lot to me.
I love some of the understatement to be found in the ISG report:
What you need to keep in mind here is that the Iraqi constitution provides for a very weak central government. So for it to be even weaker than that is saying something.
rwcole @ 77
I think Chimpy is just plain fucked.
The dumbass has boxed himself into a corner and is swinging blind.
The phrase ” It Don’t Matter” comes to mind.
If Bush compromises he thumbs his nose in the face of the hardright that drive the policy…..Thus losing his base.
If he doesn’t compromise he continues down the path to unmitigated disaster.
Heckuva choice.
-GSD
Mary’s expecting lots of nice baby presents from Coors brewing, the Republican Party- and her local fundie church congregation….
Does it ever occur to her that she’s hangin with the wrong crowd?
The Baker report is withdrawal heavy…
Withdrawal over the next two years complete with the coverage of every bell and whistle ever invented- but at heart- it’s “get the hell out of I-Rock”
EPU, I wanted to write more on the Gates confirmation hearings. I thought it was important that Levin asked early the question are we winning to which Gates responded no. But Gates amended that answer to Peter Pace’s: we aren’t winning but we aren’t losing. After lunch, Gates futher qualified that to we are winning all the battles but there is more to Iraq than the battlefield. So in the end, Gates came out sounding much closer to Bush than was originally made out.
snowjob on cnn now.
he starts with partisanship and uniting the country and then there is no magical solution…
c’mon reporters– do your jobs now!
rwcole - I agree with Busted. Chimpy is fucked regardless. In fact, he really can’t agree, b/c it would call bullshit on everything he’s said and done since 9/11. By not agreeing, he still has hope, or at least thinks he does.
Clusterfuck’s got him own report on the way- it weighs five tons- it’s shaped like a giant p*nis- and clusterfuck’s gonna wear it between his legs during the presentation…
“So whaddya want—that shitty Baker report or THIS”?
(Cheers of brain dead gooper crowd break glass)
The Gates hearing was prelude to today’s Junja Smackdown. It had to be gotten outta the way (”See, boy, they aren’t obstructionist, they gave you your choice for SecDef”) as the sugar for today’s endless supply of BoyKing bitter pills.
Where’s the SecState?
They are returning.
Just like in post Russian Afghanistan, there is the threat of radicals leaving the jihad frontline and bringing the revolution back home.
Juan Cole:
A spokesman for the Saudi Interior Ministry expressed concern on Tuesday that jihadis who fight in Iraq and recruit Saudi young men for the battle are coming back to Saudi Arabia and becoming a threat to the country’s security.
-GSD
All courtesy of The Destabilizing Clusterfuck.
snowjob refutes david gregory’s question and says that stay the course was not the preznit’s policy.
yuh huh.
accused david of making a partisan argument when he was quoting the report.
Hugh - Trust me - I didn’t watch most of the hearings, but I did see the not winning part.
Gates sounds like he could be testifying before Congress @ 1969.
montag @
24
Troops Home? Now? Don’t tell Pelosi’s really fine choice for intel head, my very own Rep. Reyes - boy, talk about chickens coming home to roost. He’s nothing more than McCain cloned.
Was that baby boiled, fried, gently toasted or au naturel? Inquisitive minds want to know.
Bolton out, Israel distance, do you see a Baker hand, that could lead to a better deal for Palestine…hope so.
Every recommendation of the Baker group was unanimous- that means that Gates is in favor of every stinkin one of the 69 or whatever suggestions-
Ya can run but ya can’t hide Gates.
Below is excerpt from an article in todays Wall Street Journal.
And the republicans wonder why nobody respects them.
Evil Parallel Universe @ 87
Falls out of chair.
rwcole, that would be a great bumpersticker.
holy shit… didn’t think i would ever say this, but here i go: “yeah! for baker and hamilton”.
was curious to see what the ISG report would say about israel/palestine… here it is (below - please forgive the long quote but this seems quite important, and of interest to firepups) starting on page 54. it’s not perfect (to my way of thinking), but really, really good - and so far superior to anything i’ve heard from this administration (or the so-called foreign policy experts) - dems must get behind this effort now and not undermine it just to score political points.
Harry @
94
me too!
Jesus B. Ochoa @ 93
I would guess, from the general state of Cheney’s arteries, that it was deep-fried.
“Offer Syria the Golan Heights in exchange for their help in Iraq”
YIKES–now THAT’S extreme!
rwcole @ 102
Well, extreme compared to previous policy. What a concept–giving a country back its own land