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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

If At First You Don’t Succeed

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  June 29th, 2011 at 05:00 AM  | 

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First off this morning, I hope you will call Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) today at (202) 224-5323 and tell him thank you for standing up to both Democrats and Republicans yesterday in a valiant attempt to force transparency on debt talks.

Johnson declared his intend to grind the Senate to a halt by ceasing to give his consent to further Senate business by unanimous consent. The Democrats and a few Republicans ganged up on him, which can bruise the ego of a freshman Senator.

Senator, I know you are reading. Don’t stop now. Be bold and do more of this. The rest of you should call and give him some encouragement on this.

Second, I know many conservative congressmen are reading this Morning Briefing. I want to address them directly. You should stop dragging your feet hoping to get the votes for the Lee-Cornyn-Hatch Balanced Budget Amendment or the Walsh version in the House.

You aren’t going to get the votes. You just aren’t. Go on and have the vote. You are going to lose. But then do something for me, will you?

Make it clear that until you do get the votes necessary for passage you will obstruct and block an increase in the debt ceiling.

I know I am asking you to do something unusual in Washington. Typically, in Washington, you get your vote, you lose, and you move on. But Washington politics as usual is what got us into this mess.

So hold the freaking line. Hold the debt ceiling hostage. If the Democrats want the debt ceiling raised, they need to send Lee-Cornyn-Hatch out to the states for ratification. They can fight to stop it there. But do this for me — draw a line in the sand.

You force a vote and then another vote and then another vote until you get the two-thirds needed in both houses and don’t you dare give up fighting against the debt ceiling increase until you get that two-thirds vote. The rules in this fight must be different. You must keep blocking until they give you what you want.

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COMMENTS

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  • Russ Martin

    Harumph, harumph!

  • bigredone

    He won’t sign Cut, Cap, and Balance. If any other readers are in KY-2, call him, email him, and pressure him to do the right thing. He has Nixon’s old office, and I fear he has caught a case of the “D. C. chills”.

    I will call Senator Johnson also. And Senator Johnson, thank you.

  • AceInTX

    here we are two years later and SOMEONE FINALLY DID IT!!!

    Thank you Senator…and to all the rest of the panty waist Republican Senators out there…what’s your freakin problem….You need tyo be supporting this action and more…not beating up on Johnson…

    The Republican caucus is infested with crass, craven cowards and feckless fools….it’s about time someone showed them how it’s done….and the fact that it’s a freshman that is teaching the old guard makes this all the more sweet!

  • GreyCloak

    S. J. RES. 10 (a BBA) is so convoluted that it will never pass.

    By all means, Congress: cut expenditures to less than revenue; take any pledge you wish. It may play well in an election season, but your record is less than wonderful. It is all lies. Voters are beginning to understand this.

    If you really believe in responsibility, “keep it simple, stupid:”

    Except in time of war as declared by Congress under Article I, Congress shall not appropriate, nor the Executive authorize the expenditure [outlay?] of funds in any fiscal year in excess of the funds received in the previous fiscal year.

    Total receipts shall include all receipts of the United States Government except those derived from borrowing.

    Europe limits Nations’ annual Deficits to 3% of GDP and total Debts to 60%. We are currently worse than Greece.

    Speaking of Greece, JP Morgan has helped hide a bunch of their debt with those lovely “credit default swaps” that our politicians are politely ignoring.

    Just as an aside, my Sen. Cornyn’s #1 “by industry” contributor is “lawyers and law firms” … #3 on the “corporations” side is JP Morgan Chase. Morgan “hid”

  • marshmom

    Thank you, thank you! You don’t know how badly we have been waiting for someone with this type of fortitude to stand up to the limp wrists in Congress.
    You may be savaged by some of your colleagues, but please don’t be phased. We, the People are on YOUR side! Please keep up the good work. People like you are our only hope at this point if we want to save our republic. Thank you!

  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Jacobson get2djnow

    Thank you sir. Your efforts are noted and the financial support for grinding the Senate to halt is on its way!

  • izoneguy

    all the way to Nov. 6th 2012

  • jen0517

    Senator Johnson,

    Please be that one person.

    Sincerely,

    Jen

  • earlgrey

    yesterday and the staff was very recpetive despite the fact I do not live in WI, we should also contact our Republican Senators so they know that we support Johnson.

  • Wubbies World

    I am tired of Republicans who make promises to change Washington and then role over and fade away!!!!!

    Hold the Freaking Line this Time!!!!!

  • momofthecastle

    I also called my Republican Senator, Marco Rubio, and let him know that I support Sen. Johnson, and would like Sen. Rubio to do the same!

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    Courts can re-define the vague words of const amendments and the debt/econ crisis can’t wait for the ratification process anyway. A const amendment would only be a phyrric (sp?) victory anyway.

  • joecollins

    their phones are ringing off the hook with Americans calling in support of Senator Johnson.

    Good work, Sir. Thank you.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    No, Greece did not abide by the 3% rule. They had several “interesting” deals worked out w/ various investment banks (including Goldman Sachs) to make their balance sheet appear as if they were at 3%. This is part of why the Germans wouldn’t piss on the Greeks if they were on fire right now. Germany played by the rules, Greece did not and Greece is asking Germany for a ton of money.

  • http://www.examiner.com/x-1597-Charlotte-Law--Politics-Examiner Mike gamecock DeVine

    get driven thru them.

  • earlgrey

    nt.

  • ryanbinaz

    http://publiushuldah.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/why-the-balanced-budget-amendment-is-a-hoax-and-a-deadly-trap/

  • acat

    The BBA does not remove anything from the House.

    Publius Huldah is making a false argument.

    Mew

  • lineholder

    and I’m not praising her on every administrative decision she has made, but this lady is as shrewd as they come (and this is meant in a complimentary context not a derogatory one) and she hasn’t hesitated to take a hard stand on things when it is needed.

    No, Germany won’t bail them out. They’ve fought hard as a nation to dig themselves out of a hole and they’ve managed to succeed in doing it to a certain extent. I’d say they probably have the mentality that if they can succeed in biting the proverbial bullet, so can other nations. Germany might have been willing to give Greece a chance to recover, which they did in the contributions they made to Greece last year.

    But by no stretch of the imagination do I see Germany willing to carry the financial burdens of Greece or any other Euro nation into perpetuity.

  • Green_Lantern

    to a nice young lady at Sen. Johnson’s office. I communicated my ENTHUSIASM AT HIS AWESOME PERFORMANCE yesterday!!!! With all of those exclamation points!!! And I’m not even from WI.

    But I got through right away, which means not enough of us are calling. CALL THIS GUY AND SUPPORT HIM!!!

    We need to DISPENSE with the view of the “august and deliberative” Senate. That augustness and deliberativeness is how we got here.

    We need Truth, Integrity, and Honor. Simple. The Senator called it like it is. We need to CALL OUT the Republicans. And let them KNOW we will defeat each one that doesn’t have the cojones to stand up for what is right. Finally.

  • rcastonjr

    Republicans should walk away from these talks until such time as the Senate does their darned job and produces a budget. I watched in disgust as Chuckie Schummer was lambasting Republicans for being obstructionist. I watched as he all but cried over the fact that Republicans were saying “my way or the highway”. Really Chuckie? Really? Where was THIS attitude when you and your democrat buddies along with Obama were shoving Obamacare down our collective throats? You hypocritical POC. Make the democrats do their job. Make Harry Reid do HIS job. Make them produce a budget and maybe then we can talk about the debt ceiling. Make them put their cards on the table. Until then, tell them to shut the heck up. These democrats, especially Schummer and Reid are COWARDS.

    Senator Johnson, I’m proud of you sir. Stand firm. Don’t give in. It is time SOMEBODY in the Republican party grows a pair and tells Reid and his fellow cowards where to stick it. Maybe McConnell will learn something. Maybe he will grow a pair. Again, refuse to do anything until the democrat controlled senate produces a budget. Then they will have to defend it and we will have all the ammunition we need to blow them out of the water.

  • lineholder

    Repubs have to get it into their heads that this is not a “clean fight”. Dems are not staying within the context of the law on much of anything. They’re manipulating it to the hilt in order to get what they want and have things their own way.

    I don’t advocate Repubs acting illegally, but they can’t expect to stay within the standard traditional status quo mentality of “politics as usual” any more. There’s just too much at stake with the stakes going up with every day that passes.

  • http://theminorityreportblog.com Repair_Man_Jack

    President Obama has spoken more than once about his willingness to contribute aid. (Never mind the silly $1.7Tr deficit this year!) Merkel is off the hook (or at least believes so if she trust both Pres. Obama and the Tooth Fairy). This is why the Greeks continue to riot. They only need to keep it up until we foot the bill.

  • The_Gadfly

    do it for yourselves. Because if you don’t, there will be citizen activists coming for you. And I don’t know that it will matter all that much how many other issues you voted correctly on.

  • rightwingmom52

    I called Sen. Johnson to give him a great big Southern thank you and then called both of my senators and asked them to stand shoulder to shoulder with Sen. Johnson. The aide’s didn’t sound surprised at the request nor did they ask what I was talking about when I mentioned Sen. Johnson!

  • soljerblue

    Thanks rendered.