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The Great Spending Betrayal

By: Daniel Horowitz (Diary)  |  December 17th, 2011 at 08:04 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Over Friday and Saturday, 61% of House Republicans and 34% of Senate Republicans voted for the omnibus megabus bill.  In doing so, not only did they violate their pledge pertaining to bundled (1200-page) bills and the 72-hour layover rule and agree to fund Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, Planned Parenthood, the EPA, the PLO and the UN; they actually agreed to spend almost $9 billion more than last year.  Overall, budget authority will be $33 billion higher than the House budget, while appropriations for non-defense spending will be $45 billion more.  One of the members who voted in the affirmative even agreed that he had voted for a “crap sandwich.”

Throughout the process, GOP leaders and appropriators swore incessantly that the spending measure would not breach the $1.043 trillion cap and would cut $6.7 billion from last year’s budget authority.  Well, they have lied.

In a cynical subterfuge that has become all too common in Washington, House leaders placed the offsets for the additional $8.6 billion of emergency spending in a separate bill.  This allowed members who voted for the omnibus to go on record as saying that they voted to offset the extraneous spending, thereby keeping their pledge to spend less than the previous year.  It also enabled Senate Democrats to pass the underlying omnibus bill, along with the emergency spending, but easily vote down the offsets in the third bill.  And that is exactly what they did today.

Thanks for being pawns in this insidious inside-the-beltway game.  What a way to end of a year that began with so much potential.

Below the fold is a list of Republicans who supported the omnibus.  With the presidential election largely narroewed down to a few unideal choices, we need to ramp up Tea Party 2.0 for the 2012 congressional elections.

Oh, and by the way, Senator Ron Johnson voted no; Senator Roy Blunt voted yes.

Senate Republicans

Alexander, L. (TN)

Blunt (MO)

Boozman (AR)

Brown, Scott (MA)

Chambliss (GA)

Cochran (MS)

Collins, S. (ME)

Graham, L. (SC)

Heller (NV)

Hoeven (ND)

Hutchison, K. (TX)

Isakson (GA)

Johanns (NE)

Murkowski, L. (AK)

Roberts (KS)

Wicker (MS)

House Republicans

Aderholt, R. (AL-04)

Alexander, R. (LA-05)

Bachus, S. (AL-06)

Barletta (PA-11)

Barton, J. (TX-06)

Bass, C. (NH-02)

Benishek (MI-01)

Biggert (IL-13)

Bilbray, B. (CA-50)

Bilirakis, G. (FL-09)

Black, D. (TN-06)

Blackburn, M. (TN-07)

Bonner (AL-01)

Bono Mack, M. (CA-45)

Brady, K. (TX-08)

Buchanan (FL-13)

Burgess (TX-26)

Calvert (CA-44)

Camp, D. (MI-04)

Canseco (TX-23)

Cantor (VA-07)

Capito (WV-02)

Carter (TX-31)

Cole (OK-04)

Conaway (TX-11)

Crawford (AR-01)

Crenshaw (FL-04)

Culberson (TX-07)

Denham (CA-19)

Dent (PA-15)

Diaz-Balart (FL-21)

Dold (IL-10)

Dreier (CA-26)

Duffy (WI-07)

Ellmers (NC-02)

Emerson, J. (MO-08)

Farenthold (TX-27)

Fincher (TN-08)

Fitzpatrick (PA-08)

Fleischmann (TN-03)

Flores (TX-17)

Forbes (VA-04)

Foxx (NC-05)

Frelinghuysen (NJ-11)

Gallegly (CA-24)

Gerlach (PA-06)

Gibbs, B. (OH-18)

Gibson, C. (NY-20)

Gosar (AZ-01)

Granger (TX-12)

Graves, S. (MO-06)

Griffin (AR-02)

Grimm (NY-13)

Hall, R. (TX-04)

Hanna (NY-24)

Harper (MS-03)

Hartzler (MO-04)

Hastings, D. (WA-04)

Hayworth (NY-19)

Heck (NV-03)

Hensarling (TX-05)

Herrera Beutler (WA-03)

Hunter (CA-52)

Issa (CA-49)

Jenkins (KS-02)

Johnson, S. (TX-03)

Johnson, Timothy (IL-15)

Kelly (PA-03)

King, P. (NY-03)

Kingston, J. (GA-01)

Kline, J. (MN-02)

Lance (NJ-07)

Lankford (OK-05)

Latham (IA-04)

LaTourette (OH-14)

Latta (OH-05)

Lewis, Jerry (CA-41)

LoBiondo (NJ-02)

Long (MO-07)

Lucas, F. (OK-03)

Luetkemeyer (MO-09)

Lungren (CA-03)

Marino (PA-10)

McCarthy, K. (CA-22)

McCaul (TX-10)

McKeon (CA-25)

McKinley (WV-01)

McMorris Rodgers (WA-05)

Meehan (PA-07)

Mica (FL-07)

Miller, C. (MI-10)

Miller, J. (FL-01)

Myrick (NC-09)

Nugent (FL-05)

Nunes (CA-21)

Olson (TX-22)

Palazzo (MS-04)

Paulsen (MN-03)

Pearce (NM-02)

Pitts (PA-16)

Platts (PA-19)

Pompeo (KS-04)

Price, T. (GA-06)

Rehberg (MT-AL)

Reichert (WA-08)

Renacci (OH-16)

Rigell (VA-02)

Roby (AL-02)

Roe (TN-01)

Rogers, H. (KY-05)

Rogers, Mike (MI-08)

Rogers, Mike D. (AL-03)

Rohrabacher (CA-46)

Rokita (IN-04)

Rooney (FL-16)

Ros-Lehtinen (FL-18)

Roskam (IL-06)

Runyan (NJ-03)

Ryan, P. (WI-01)

Scalise (LA-01)

Schock (IL-18)

Scott, A. (GA-08)

Sessions, P. (TX-32)

Shimkus (IL-19)

Shuster, Bill (PA-09)

Simpson, M. (ID-02)

Smith, Adrian (NE-03)

Smith, C. (NJ-04)

Smith, Lamar (TX-21)

Stivers (OH-15)

Sullivan (OK-01)

Thompson, G. (PA-05)

Thornberry (TX-13)

Tiberi (OH-12)

Turner, B. (NY-09)

Upton (MI-06)

Walden, G. (OR-02)

Webster (FL-08)

West, A. (FL-22)

Whitfield (KY-01)

Wolf (VA-10)

Womack (AR-03)

Woodall (GA-07)

Yoder (KS-03)

Young, C.W. (FL-10)

Young, D. (AK-AL)

Young, T. (IN-09)

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COMMENTS

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  • snowshooze

    And after we gave the President everything he asked for and bit off the super-committee to cut out the fat.. which went down in flames as expected… what do they do?
    Are they completely devoid of any sense of responsibility?
    I see taxation without representation at the very least.
    Or is it just taxation with mis-representation?

    • zooboy

      This list of Benedict Arnolds deserves their very own Fund, dedicated to funding a worthy conservative primary opponent for each and every one. May I suggest to the honchos here at RedState that we begin such a Fund here? Since many Congressional seat filing deadlines are in late January or even February, we still have time to recruit many challengers to these impostors. We could spread the word through talk radio audiences, our Facebook pages etc. and give millions of Americans vent to their frustration with our out-of-touch Republican politicians. Millions of frustrated Americans=enough money to fund viable campaigns. This could revive the intensity once captured by the Tea Parties, which seem to be fizzling out. We have a narrow window of opportunity here.

  • APA Guy

    I also see two (2) GOP House reps from my home Hoosier State who will be getting some Happy-Grams first thing Monday morning for their votes. I’m tired of the say-one-thing-do-another conservative fakos in this party. The time for bloating this government and its budget is OVER.

  • earlgrey

    I see Marsha Blackburn voted for it. Corker didn’t vote for it.

    Everything I read seems to be saying we can’t really do anything to stop this.

    Is Bono Mack really a republican? Didn’t she vote for cap and trade (the house version)?

  • http://chuckdevore.com chuckdevore

    N/T

  • kowalski

    RedState is so, so much the better a place when it concentrates its focus on the budgetary results an inside-the-beltway garbage that goes on in Washingon and names the names. It’s so nice to see it again.

    The recent Coffee & Markets about real purchasing power and how people are living didn’t gather many comments here but they’re definitely *front page* items and one of the best things RedState has done recently.

    This is *why* I came to RedState in the first place all those years ago and it’s the main reason I keep coming back.

    In the past few days, one of the things I did was to go back through my GMAIL account and prune out all the excess garbage that I’ve had in there dating back to 2004, because I’m thinking of switching providers. It’s like a time machine but one that I hadn’t dialed back to remember what those days of the old Redstate (noncapitalized on the second word) were like. There were a lot of posts like this, holding people’s feet to the fire and most importantly working hard to make sure that everyone knew about important votes and how they played out.

    That’s one of the most important missions of this site – a Categorical Imperative. Kudos for the breakdown on the vote. This is one of the things RedState has traditionally been *best* at.

    • kowalski

      Because esteemed institutions like the Financial Times still haven’t figured out (presumably because they’re clueless or helpless or both) what it is going to take to pull America out of the doldrums:

      Economy Recovery Plan for the United States

      The #1 TOP OF THE LIST Item is, was and always will be:

      World’s lowest percentage of GDP (among developed nations) spent on government; only with a low spend will investors have faith that taxes will stay low.

      Followed closely by the rest, some have a better natural place in the order than others. #2 is pretty good also.

  • Locked and Loaded

    when all members of the Oklahoma House delegation (4-R, & 1-D) vote for it, and both Oklahoma senators vote against. That just doesn’t ring true.

    • kowalski

      It’s almost official: the United States is almost ungovernable at the Federal level at this point in time. Until the 2012 elections are over, the same thing is going to continue to apply.

      • JSobieski

        The best we can do is run out of gas or hit a haystack.

        Ungovernable in 2006 would have been a benefit.

        Being ungovernable now with so much baseline spending built into the cake is a disaster.

        • kowalski

          But….

          WE’RE ALL IN THE CAR TOGETHER! It’s like the CLOWN CAR!

          Madre De Dios!

          • acat

            It’ll probably destroy the transmission, but we’ll stop sooner.

            Mew

          • kowalski

            Surely, if anyone with sense looked at the situation in its most honest terms in the past two years, the conclusion would be that:

            1) Governments with socialistic tendencies have overspent their populations into poverty around the world because they simply cannot stop themselves, are too corrupt to stop themselves, or a combination of both.

            2) The American people have looked at that unfold from across the Atlantic and have issued their opinion that America needs to be better than that and not allow itself to fall into that abyss.

            It’s the clear record of the past couple of years, and yet it is not being heeded by the people with their hands on the column.

          • kowalski

            In the past two years they’ve seen the results in Europe of governments not living within their means and how painful and catastrophic it is.

            Ordinary Americans see it. They understand the math. They know that if you continue to spend more than you take in, eventually you’re going to be in big trouble. They’ve internalized that message and they feel it very strongly. And they want the government to do *less* with less. Every poll that’s taken shows that Americans dislike Big Government more than anything else: they want it reined in, pulled back, retracted, called to heel, and generally scaled down and taken out of their lives to the greatest extent possible.

            The Big Government looks back at them and says: “You are my children and I love you to death, really I do, but I am not backing down.”

            And that is the fundamental situation we’re dealing with in America. We’re all Hillary Clinton and John Kerry’s children.

          • renl57

            Americans’ attitude can be summed up this way:

            “Yes, the Federal deficits and debt must be cut. BUT don’t cut Social Security, Medicare, or any other program that could benefit me personally.”

            When Americans say they want the Government to live within its means, they mean just cut waste, fraud and abuse and everything will be fine. But there aren’t trillions of dollars of fraud and abuse to cut. It’s actual spending on entitlements that is unsustainable.

          • http://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com nathanalbright

            But that cannot last. There’s simply not enough to go around.

          • acat

            whether it’s a controlled stop, at a station with transfer options, or whether it goes completely off the rails.

            Mew

          • http://edgeinducedcohesion.wordpress.com nathanalbright

            …and most days I’m pessimistic.

  • Wubbies World

    … did not vote for it. They are doing much better to my relief.

    Senator Tim Johnson is still the only joke left from my state but the clown face (D) follows his name anyway, so its expected.

  • Darin_H

    He’s one that needs to be replaced with a conservative.

  • kowalski

    Just to bring this back again to the original intent of the thread, I know I speak for many in Massachusetts who supported Scott Brown’s candidacy when I say: “WTF?”

    I think the only thing he has in his quiver for reelection is that his alternative is worse and that’s a terrible place to be for me, and for him. He’s a guy who isn’t even as strong a 2nd Amendment supporter as a Statehouse Democrat. He’s voted with Republicans on the minor stuff and on all the important items, he’s been Kerry’s Man.

    He got to Washington with all the fanfare but we didn’t know that pickup truck was going to be as lame as it is.

  • DerKrieger

    We have to elect strong conservatives to our state legislatures and governorships. We need officials that are ready and willing to stand up to federal overreach and take back their constitutional authority usurped by the Feds.

    If enough states were to simply start ignoring laws that the states’ legislatures decided were unconstitutional the federal power structure would crumble.

    What could the Feds possibly do if enough states for example refused to allow EPA diktats to be enforced or refused to implement Obamacare?

    The federal government is incapable of reform. It needs to be forcefully reduced in size and scope by brave state politicians willing to reclaim their authority.w

  • popdaddy

    No surprise to see Kay Barley?s name on your list, good riddance. I have to say I am surprised and impressed John Croyan didn?t vote for this monster of pork. I know it was probably political gamesmanship but still good to see.

    Lamar Smith needs to be seriously primaried , he?s just been there too long. Lamar Smith is one of Boehner?s stooges because Boehner gave him a committee. That?s simply not good enough since his votes harm America. The people Smith represents are a special bunch of hard working individuals in mostly rural areas between a couple of socialist controlled urban dumps.

    I call his staff regularly and they are a sorry group of losers who are clueless about what I read from Red State and other conservative sites daily.

    Considering the crap sandwich Federal courts have served up for Texas, it?s time a real conservative steps in to run against Lamar Smith.

    • lalupa

      Lamar will bring up illegal immigrants and everyone will get distracted from his record.

  • westcoastpatriette

    –

    • westcoastpatriette

      __

  • tomatin

    What a bunch of RINO’s.

    At least my local Rep did not fall for it.

    The GOP promised to cut the budget $200 billion in two years and we get larger budgets from them because they want to go home.

  • krish

    One of the biggest fraud among Republicans is Paul Ryan!! He has become the darling of many talk show pundits & others by offering some good programs while hiding behind a record of liberal voting!

    This is not the first time for this fraud even the previous time when John Boehner caved to Obama, he came on radio & pleaded how this was the best deal they could get & acted as the perfect shill for Boehner & Cantor. In fact, he stabbed his colleague (representative from Ohio – his name I cannot remember – was instrudmental in coming up with Medicare changes …Paul Ryan took the limelight!) in the back by not joining the true conservatives who stood against John Boehner.

    It is very clear that he is another republican (RINO insider) who loves his power & part of the leadership more than principles! It is about time the Tea Party & conservative understand that he is no better than the other power hungry republicans. I hope that talk show hosts & others do not support him & I hope people will identify this fraud for who he is! Let us not put him with the conservative future of Republicans such as Rubio or Rand Paul & others.

    • JSobieski

      Paul Ryan has taken a lot of heat for Medicare reformThe Republican caucus only recently adopted a very much watered down version of it.

      You probably prefer Bachmann, someone who talks a better game but gets nothing accomplished.

      http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/michele-bachmann-backs-away-ryans-medicare

      WALLACE: What do you tell people nearing retirement who say I can?t afford to pay more of my own healthcare costs out of pocket? Which is what the Ryan and Republican Study Committee plans would do.

      BACHMANN: And I understand that. I put an asterisks on my support, I put a blog posting up that said just as much. That is my area of concern, I support this bill with that proviso. ? One position that I?m concerned about shifting the cost burden to senior citizens. Seniors are saying, look, I?m not in a positon to be able to handle that. I also share that real fear, that?s why I put that asterisks out there. [...]

      WALLACE: So you?re not wedded to the idea of a voucher program for Medicare?

      BACHMANN: I?m wedded to the idea of efficiencies and cost cuttings and savings in healthcare, but how we get there is open to discussion.

      ?efficiencies and cost cuttings and savings in healthcare, but how we get there is open to discussion? is what one would expect Romney to say, not a Tea Party Caucus leader with a ?titianium? spine

      Bachmann talks a big game on debt ceiling, but then proposes no plan that would actually accomplish her goals.

      Ryan makes himself a target, compromises to build support, and you think he is a fraud?

      Bachmann is the fraud. No increase of debt ceiling, but no proposal to go along with it.

    • tomatin

      They are great at passing symbolic votes like repealing Obamacare and the Ryan budget but when it comes time to actually vote on the budget they lose their gumption to go home.

    • lalupa

      I have been saying the same thing for awhile. Paul Ryan has voted for bigger and bigger government. Yet, he is seen as the champion of small government,

  • http://www.timothy-bladel.com/ center77

    have become really soft.

    • snowshooze

      And it is our job to burn them out along with the rest that think they can say whatever they wish to get elected, and then immediately abandon their responsibility to represent us who sent them there.

      • http://www.timothy-bladel.com/ center77

        and this gets down to the very core of my fear of Newt and Romney, because everytime I hear them two talk I am afraid that it is, well all talk. I think it is important for us to be leveled with, and allow us to make the choice to still support that person. If the person does not think they can win a battle, tell us, we can handle that. I just cant handle being brought along on some farce just to see the whole think fall apart when the party feels it must go soft to win.

        • JSobieski

          unnecessarily accusatory. What percentage of the population really wants a shut down? That what it would have taken to get real progress on the issues that matter.

          You have to take the beaches of Normandy before you can occupy Berlin. Our boats are barely in the water. Time will tell if the 2010 class has “cashed out”—-its a premature sentinment.

          • snowshooze

            And accept your evaluation as more closer to reality.
            But we don’t have to like it.
            Sometimes, when you hire out to be a tough hand… ya gotta be one.
            I ain’t seeing that.
            I see nothing but BS. Wherever did I put them rose colored glasses?
            I think I need to double up on them.

          • JSobieski

            Do you remember 1995-1996?

            Clinton was weaker in 1995 than Obama was in 2011, and Obama is further away from being the center-left pragmatist that Clinton was.

            The game is to repeal Obamacare. That requires the Presidency.

            The time for drawing a line in the sand and dying on the hill is coming—but 2011 wasn’t that time.

          • snowshooze

            What did you have?
            What I remember is sending some boys up to the hill to break some legs.
            I think they joined up.

          • JSobieski

            Toughness without tactics leads to failure.

            Tactics without toughness leads to surrender.

            The hill to die on is 2013.

            January 2013 is going to make history—one way or another.

          • snowshooze

            I don’t know about you, but I sent some boys out to collect scalp.
            What I am receiving has a signal to noise ratio I cannot accept.
            Look at the deeds… not the words.
            Howdya like the new budget?
            There ain’t one.

          • Dave_A

            As long as Obama is in the White House, and the Dems (thanks to various state Tea Party groups sandbagging the GOP in the primaries) control the Senate.

            We got the Keystone requirement passed… Small things like that matter…

            As for the budget… Win the 2012 elections – for all branches – and then we have what is needed to tackle that beast…

            And yes, this means you don’t primary out ‘absolute lock’ GOP candidates in leftie states, and replace them with nutball radicals who can’t possibly win….

            No more Nevadas and Delewares! No more ‘Bad News Bears’ unelectable nut-ball candidates…

            Just say NO to folks like Sharon Angle, Christine O’Donell, and so on!

          • snowshooze

            We are dying now.

          • snowshooze

            I can’t wait for you.

          • JSobieski

            There are actually reasons for what I am saying.

            Obamacare will be very difficult ot repeal if it survives past 2013.

            So go ahead and paratroop into Berlin in 1941.

            I would prefer to actually win the war instead.

          • snowshooze

            If I can’t count on you today, why would I consider you a worthy warrior in 2013?
            I couldn’t.

          • JSobieski

            as it is to mindless decide that something must be done today.

            We are in a bad situation, but the following two FACTS explain why the critical time horizon is not 2011 or 2012 but 2013:

            Obamacare kicks in.
            The % of privately issued debt to GDP will be getting very close to the 80% mark

            I realize that facts and data is not really what you are interested in. Better to just pound one’s chest, proclaim the dollar worthless (clearly inaccurate given what you can buy with it), decide that anything short of victory now is a loss, etc.

            In WWII, we didn’t mindlessly storm Normandy once war with Germany was declared. We fought in Africa first. There were lots of naval confrontations.

            There is a logical progression to actually accomplishing things.

            To me, you sound like a Bachmann voter. Nobody talks tougher on fighting the fights right now. Nobody has fewer accomplishments either.

            I take this stuff seriously. My family fled their previous homeland to live here. I don’t know where else I could live—there is no “other US” to run to. We need to make a stand, and we need to make on e soon.

            That said, there is no factual evidence or analytical reasoning to support your position. You assert and emote, while I try to reason and convince.

            If you are so tough and ready for combat—why don’t you run for office and show us how it is done?

          • snowshooze

            of defeat.

          • ghostship

            You say the hill to die on is 2013. In 2013 you’ll say the hill to die on is 2015 then 2017 and so on and so on. For far too many Conservatives the hill to fight and die for will always be sometime later.

            It is this timidness that is the reason Conservatives have been completely inept at stopping this nation from sliding further and further to the Left every single year.

            The time to take a stand and fight is now. There are no more hills. There is only the wall and our backs will soon be upon it.

          • aesthete

            or fight when the odds are in our favor, and possibly win?

            Leftists didn’t get to where they are today because they unfurled their Grand Communist Plan and drew a line in the sand — most of the ones who did that are in unmarked graves all across Central America and Africa. The ones who succeeded lead pariah states which embarrass even lefties, like Cuba and N Korea. In western democracies, this is doubly the case: no leftist movement has gotten anywhere democratically since the 30s by conforming to the Red stereotype. Likewise, we’re going to get nowhere if we insist on non-incrementalist tactics and bold, but fruitless, strategies. Running headlong into a wall of pikes may make for great romantic mythology, but has no place in strategy intended to achieve results. Likewise, Bachmann-like panders may give one the warm fuzzies, but ultimately are useless.

          • lineholder

            You see, I understand where both sides of this discussion are coming from. I’m inclined to support both sides in different ways. I believe the incremental, albeit with the possibility of major goals of top priority being included (repeal of O-care comes to mind), to be the more realistic approach.

            But let’s say for a moment that it’s the boldness you speak of that should be considered first ahead of a incremental approach.

            How do you see it as being possible? By EOs? With so many issues before us, wouldn’t that require a massive amount of EOs? And couldn’t it backfire in a way that might cause us to lose public support (because it comes across as being as dictatorial as the EOs and end-arounds currently being used by the left are seen as being)?

            Plus, when it comes to how many things we can pursue at one time pertaining to the strengths (or weaknesses) of our present economy…I think JSobieski is closer to making an objective analysis on that matter than to believe that we could go in there willy-nilly and implement broad spectrum change that would have negative impact on our economy as a whole in a way that could make things worse than they already are for our people.

            I’m just curious as to what you have in mind, that’s all.

            I’m just wondering what you have in mind, that’s all.

          • JSobieski

            if Obamacare settles in to American life, it will be almost impossible to repeal. Even in places like the UK and Canada, once national healthare is implemented, the argument is nibbling around the edges.

            That is the hill worth dying for. That is where I will make my political stand. We have a bit more time on the spending issue generally—we wont hit the 80%/GDP for several years.

            Thus my priority is Obamare and making a repeal happen.

            What would constitute a victory in 2011 spending wise? A $10B “cut”? What would make a shut down worth the political cost?
            If we are going to risk a shut down, we better have a $5T plan on the table capable of attracking public support. We don’t. We don’t even have a consensus amongst our own representatives on this issue.

            How much in spending cuts is it worth in 2011 to give Obama a campaign edge in 2012? Put another way, what is the NPV of an Obama victory in 2012?

            My answer: Tens of trillions of dollars

            I am going to proceed according. The chest thumpers out there can proceed with their afternoon workouts.

            Being conservative means not being utopian.

            For those on the right to demand that the Republican house change everything in DC in 2011 is like those on the left demanding that we go to 50% renewable energy sources in 10 years—-there is no rational pathway to that result at the current time.

          • lineholder

            That’s why I specifically referenced the need for boldness pertaining to O-care. And for those outside the health care system…even at this point, it will be hard to do what has been done so far. That’s difficult to explain to people unless they are contact with it day by day.

            I do see both sides on this. I think there are things we should approach boldly, in a no-holds-barred type of way. And I think there are other things we’d have a much greater chance of accomplishing and achieving if it is approached incrementally.

            The question is…who defines the priorities? Where do we agree and disagree? Which are the higher priorities and which are not?

          • lineholder

            !

          • JSobieski

            On D-Day, American troups stormed the beaches of Normandy . . we didn’t paratroop into Berlin.

            This is not about emotion. It is about picking a favorable site for battle such that you maximize the chance of victory.

            Republicans have tried reforming government with a Democrat president before. We ended up spending so much time in combat with the president, that the long lasting achievements were not accomplished.

            We could have gone to the matt this year to reduce the rate of increase in spending from 8% to 6%, get blamed for shut downs, and give Obama new political life… or pick better turf to make a stand.

            This isn’t about “scalps”—the is about trying to get the best results we can get. Planning. Discipline, Tactics. Implementation. All of these matter to success.

            Fight on turf where you have the advantage, not the opposite.

          • snowshooze

            We do not tolerate cowards.
            Either you fight now, or hang.
            The choice is yours.
            You have a lot of excuses… too bad I am too busy to listen.

          • JSobieski

            Some of us have a war to win. Go ahead and play “General”–let the adults get to the work at hand.

            P.S. You really should consider supporting Bachmann. You are her target audience.

          • snowshooze

            It shall never happen.

          • snowshooze

            What is the name of yours?
            You probably are someone Else’s employee.

          • snowshooze

            The date upon which you might become a man, and expect you upon the field of battle.
            Until then, the opposing force shall just have to wait.
            Is that too stooped to be reel or whut?

          • snowshooze

            And it is unfair for me to gut you when your day has been many hours longer than mine.
            But get back to me when you are able.
            Sincerely,
            Mark

          • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

            would you mind it if we were to chat?

            http://local.yahoo.com/info-22363543-richardson-mark-owner-a1-industrial-machine-welding-anchorage

            I’m @ 215=459-4877.

            [Hoping you slept well!]

          • snowshooze

            And I do not do nearly enough for the conservative cause, so I think I am far from the best.
            There are many here so far beyond me that I do not even brace then in conversation.
            My personal contribution to conservatism is pretty much being open and honest about it, taking the time to discuss it with Customers and Employees, Friends and Family.
            It doesn’t always go well.
            And I spend quite a bit of time here kicking things around with you and others.. I have come a long way from the time I first signed up, and I have a long way to go.
            But I have a lot of fun here… it is a good thing. And I really don’t mind getting yelled at. or losing an argument. That is a big part of it.
            Now, so far as the brilliant strategy of waiting to go to battle.. my entire delegation just blew over again.
            What… back in the last big budget battle, Boehner had Obama on the ropes. I thought he was going in for the kill.
            We were all jumping up and down that we finally were taking a battle.
            Yeah… then we gave them every single thing they wanted. Thanks, John. Wasn’t there some logic attached to that… look, it’s raining… and we would look bad if we let the Democrats get all wet? Just wait until next time… then we will really have them all lined up. Then they will be really sorry.
            Well, look what just passed. Why?
            Oh… of course…2013!!! That’s when we really, really are going to get them. How long have we been listening to that old saw?

            Just a casual observation from the front sir…
            We are getting our butts kicked. Badly.

            And, maybe we should go back to plan “A”
            And so far as My Senators and My Representative..
            I think I best wait a few days and cool down before I write to them because anymore, they can throw you in jail for speaking your mind plainly.

          • Dave_A

            ntxt.

          • snowshooze

            But count me in. Stop the bleeding.
            I know, they will close the parks, and turn off the lights at the museums.. but I can survive that.
            And unfortunately, that is bout all we get for shutting them down.
            A far cry from what I think of as a shut-down.
            All they shut down is the only things we keep them around for.
            Yeah. We have a contract. That is how the Constitution was ratified.
            The Federal Government wants to stiff us for everything they were hired to do, but maintain everything we don’t and never wanted the for.

    • tomatin

      so they expect us to forget. Well I won’t.

      How dare they both vote for this monstrosity.

  • nancylee

    This time it will be for his Republican opponent. He showed up at our Tea Party meeting and swore that if the Repubs got a majority in the House they would defund Obamacare, and he voted for funding it in this Omnibus thing.

    That’s it. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

  • lalupa

    The GOP is not serious about cutting spending. Look at their history. Every time they are out of power, they feign remorse. Beg forgiveness. Promise never to do it again. Once back in power it is spend, spend, spend.

    Look who the establishment is pushing? Romney. Does anyone here think that Romney is going to cut government? Or repeal Obamcare? No. Of course not. It is all talk. And then when the grassroots get frustrated, they will bring up the social issues to distract people.

    The last time we had real reform was under Newt. And look at how they are destroying the man. The GOP is a lost cause.

  • ghostship

    The reason we have Republicans in office who vote for these massive spending bills and growing the government is because we the base don’t hold the Party to a firm ideological standard.

    We constantly elect moderate Republicans because were told that’s he or she is still better than a Democrat. We accept excuses for massive spending bills and debt ceiling increases because were told that’s the best we can get right now and we can’t get a better deal so it’s best to take what we can get.

    I play go and sometimes chess and there are times when it’s better to lose a corner or lose my rook because I want to stay focused on winning the end game. As Republicans what is our end game? Is it to elect more Republicans into office? Is it to grow the government at a slightly lesser rate than the Democrats? Is it to make an actual change in the course our nation is taking? If it’s the latter then electing Republicans who are only slightly less to the Left than the Democrats isn’t going to accomplish it.

    I’m not interested in re-arraigning deck chairs on a sinking ship or making sure the ship sinks slower. I want to keep the ship that is the USA from sinking period. As long as the Republican Party is the Party of “Hey, at least we’re not as bad as the Democrats” then it’s all for naught.

    We need to take bold action and be a Party that represents a clear ideological difference from the Democrats. We need to push right-wing candidates even when the odds are heavily stacked against them. We need to stand and fight for issues even when we know we’ll lose the battle. Only in doing these things will the Republican and Democrats being viewed as the parties of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Only when he American people are presented with a clear un-muddied message can we win the support to make an actual change in the direction of this nation.

    Until then we’ll get stuff like this from the Republican Party. But hey, at least you can console yourself that it’s not as bad as it would have been if the Democrats were in charge of the House. However, you’ll have console yourself with this because I take no consolation from this at all. I’m much more interested in the end game which we are losing horribly.

    • JSobieski

      The Republicans were pretty aggressive on things like shut downs.

      End result—political defeat, less real reform than we could have had.

      The problem with political suicide is that it will result in another Obama and another Obamacare.

      I am in favor of bold action, but we have to be smart about it.

      Example of smart bold activity: Paul Ryan has over the past 4 years been building support for medicare reform. He even got a democrat to sign on. This is a smarter course of action if you actually want to achieve big things.

      • lalupa

        and balanced budgets. In retrospect, the GOP should have not impeached Clinton. They should have just cesured him. That would have gotten an unanimous vote. It was stupid to proceed with impeachment when the democrats had made it clear they weren’t going to let it happen.

        Still… I will take the 1990s over the nonsense that is happening now.

  • drfredc

    As long as the budget process remains a process where the leadership of either party doles out favors for further empowering their leadership over the nation’s well being, there will continue to be large deficit spending.

    There’s plenty of common sense alternatives that could replace the system that has created 15 plus trillion dollars of debt and rising… But don’t hold your breath on them getting implemented. At least not so long as the Privileged continue to entitle themselves to pensions and bennies that are not sensitive to marketplace common sense rules… In the marketplaces, any CEO, CFO, or manager who couldn’t get their budget under control in a few months would quickly be out on the streets. But then these main street folks aren’t buying votes with other people’s money — rather they are trying to provide a product or service that other’s will willingly buy, that also makes fiscal sense for their company to provide.

  • http://www.doctor-bob.biz rsklaroff

    …congealed from reading the overnight-postings.

    Does the GOP take a stand and risk inflaming POTUS-voters?

    It would appear the solution to this problem rests with the ability to scrutinize the “devils in the details.”

    If the spending-bill indeed enhances the budget, then we are certainly not living-up to this signature-line of JSobieski: “A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!”

    Perhaps someone with expertise could analyze what was done and, specifically, discern if earmarks were included therein.

    My tendency would be to have followed McCain’s admonition against voting-out the bill so that vacations could be honored, but I’m open-minded if someone knows of a trenchant strategy with which this apparent sell-out comports.

  • renny

    cannot afford a head-to-head on a gov’t shutdown.

    One cut any new Rep. pres. can make is firing each and every individual hired by the o crew (24% increase in the fed. employees’ rolls) as one cut no one can make now.

    I am going to guess some here do not remember the 1995 shut-down when the news whined daily of people missing vacations because passports weren’t available and dire warnings of seniors dying in the streets if Soc. Sec. checks were interrupted (which never happened), and Newt was pilloried as the Grinch who stole responsible gov’t.

    You are not going to get serious budget (esp. from a Sen. that has not approved a budget since 2009 and is in abrogation of its own 1974 law), so trying to hold Rep. feet to some Redstate fire is not likely in the offing.

  • trutexan

    Everyone, and mean EVERYONE in the Congress is so afraid to be labled as heartless or mean they become squishy on their values and vote for more spending on well-meaning do-gooder programs. We sent them there to stop this mess and they have now become part of the problem. Getting sworn into Congress is akin to watching an old Star Trek Next Generation episode with the Borg – “You will be assimilated.”

    Off topic but I want to put this out there. It was the Left who decided that everyone needed to go to college so everyone could be successful – when you know good and well the elites in Washington know for a fact that everyone isn’t college material. I know I wasn’t when I graduated from highschool so I joined the military. I didn’t finish college until my 40′s. In the effort to make everyone college material, they 1) cut funding for trade courses in highschools, 2) created affirmative action in institutions of higher learning, 3) lowered the standards to dumb down the requirement for college entry, and 4) created mindless degree plans to accomodate previous non-college bound students. And every single one of these was forced by threatened and actual litigation. Now, 30-40 years later, we have a shortage of tradesman in very needed areas of electricians, auto body mechanics, A/C techs, plumbers, beauticians, etc. and college graduates living at home because there’s not a job market for a graduate of Enlish Romance Theory.

    I can appreciate the well-meaning Left to allow more minorities into colleges and to lift up those who need a hand, but the process went entirely too far and now we’re a country of out of work softies and spineless legislators who refuse to fix it. Instead they’ve been conditioned to continue to give everyone the same treatment and to do so at the expense of every tax payer in the land and bankrupting the country in the process. THESE ENTITLEMENT PROGRAMS HAVE TO STOP. Would someone tell these legislators that Socialism is against the teachings of the Bible? Proverbs 1:9-19

  • geoph

    I see his name did not make the list, but then this is his M.O..
    He was very adept in the first two years of Obama at presenting a Conservative voting record, but who couldn’t as the Dems had their Super Majorities. When the metal met the meat last year, he voted to increase spending every time – including on the Budget Act that passed with Boehner going to the Dems and still receiving the 218 votes to squeak by.

    THOSE are the votes that made the man. Hopefully, they result in the primary votes to unseat this pseudoCon.

  • Glaucon

    .. to Bills that have not been read or are too long. It’s simple.

    This is the debt ceiling “emergency” all over again:

    http://www.redstate.com/glaucon/2011/07/28/now-more-than-ever-read-the-bill/

  • star90

    My view is that regardless of left, right, or center, our elected officials make their votes in correlation to who gives them money for their election/re-election. Until you get money out of politics whether through donations or lobbying we the people will never be represented. Its hard to believe what politicians say anymore because when they get to the hill the game changes and if they don’t play it, most don’t survive. We need accountability of every dollar spent but it won’t happen until we demand it, and it will take more than just replacing the status quo with the same.

    • Kyle-MI

      and never catching it. And in the mean time you will create the conditions for totalitarians to take over our great country. You will give them the tools to shut off speech and opposition while a disconnected elite will be the only voice that is heard in Washington.

      If nothing else, consider that you are aligning yourself with Soros, the occupy movement, and every other ultra liberals group. There is a reason they support so-call campaign finance reform, and it is not because they have the best interest of the country at heart.

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