Ultra-liberals like to be called progressives. I can’t figure out why. There is nothing progressive about their ideas. For instance, Dennis Kucinich is proposing a windfall profit tax on the oil industry. We tried it before. Jimmy Carter passed a windfall profits tax and it led to long lines at the pumps.
So progressives want no changes to Social Security (a 60 year old program), Medicaid or Medicare (40 year old programs). They rehash keep rehashing failed policy after failed policy. They have a saying for that.
“Progressives” should be renamed the “Lunatics”.
PIPA is the Internet Piracy Act in the Senate. Opposition to this power grab by the feds has bipartisan opposition. It is particularly opposed by young voters. So is it any wonder you haven’t heard that most of the opposition to it in the Senate comes form Republicans?
Currently there are 16 Republicans and 2 Democrats who oppose the bad bill
The Obama administration is trying to make hay out of the polls that show a dismal approval rating of Congress. Is he making a mistake? Think about this. Conservatives don’t like big government. The never have. Liberals like big government and expect Congress to do big things. So when the Congressional approval falls, it is likely because liberals are disenchanted.
So the Obama strategy to run against Congress is simply a way to get his base back on-board the big government gravy train. Liberals will vote for him anyway. He needs moderates…and moderates like politicians to play nice together.
Running against Congress might have worked for Harry Truman…but Barack Obama is no Harry Truman.
Barney Frank has decided to retire from Congress. That is a good thing. Now for the bad news. The Democrats likely replacement is Maxine Waters. It’s like they want to take incompetence to a new level.
Here is what Congresswoman Waters had to say about Fannie Mae and their now disgraced ex-chairman Franklin Raines in a 2003 Congressional hearing:
We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac, and in particular at Fannie Mae, under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines
I’m sure you know about the housing crash (that Democrats blame on Republicans), but do you know about Frank Raines. Under his leadership, Fannie Mae was caught in an accounting scandal that makes Enron look like child’s play. When they were finally audited by those dumb Republicans, it was found that they had overstated their profits from 2001 to 2004 by 40%…$9 billion dollars. He is also the guy who started a pilot program at Fannie Mae in 1999 to push sub-prime mortgages.
Back before the crash, this is how the New York Times described it:
Fannie Mae, the nation’s biggest underwriter of home mortgages, does not lend money directly to consumers. Instead, it purchases loans that banks make on what is called the secondary market. By expanding the type of loans that it will buy, Fannie Mae is hoping to spur banks to make more loans to people with less-than-stellar credit ratings. (link)
In the same 1999 article, a conservative organization warned:
From the perspective of many people, including me, this is another thrift industry growing up around us,” said Peter Wallison a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. ”If they fail, the government will have to step up and bail them out the way it stepped up and bailed out the thrift industry.
So how did they push this through…again from the 1999 article
The change in policy also comes at the same time that HUD is investigating allegations of racial discrimination in the automated underwriting systems used by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to determine the credit-worthiness of credit applicants.
And Maxine Waters is the Queen of the Race Card, and it doesn’t end there.
Maxine Waters is also under an ethics violation investigation for steering bail out money to a bank that she had a financial interest in (her husband was on the board). Her defense? Racism of course.
I’ve said it many times before. Incompetence and arrogance are a deadly mixture.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress on November 29th, 2011
Washington is headed toward another budget battle. They must find a way to control the debt. At best, a compromise will be difficult with such a deep divide between the parties. Leadership is needed in order to come to some agreement.
Our President sat back and let the “Super” Committee take the job. A small group of hand picked legislators where given the task to do what the Constitution tells us all of Congress must do. They have failed.
The job of a leader is not to micro-manage…and God knows that is not Barack Obama’s biggest failing…but a leader must know when his team is headed in the wrong direction. It is the leader that keeps the team working toward a successful solution.
Months ago, Newt Gingrinch said the Super Committee would not work. He was right. We can’t know if he would have been able to find a solution…but it was apparent from the beginning that the President chosen path would end in failure. It makes you wonder if his critics are correct when they claim that is what he wanted all along.
Washington asking for more tax revenue is like an alcoholic asking for more cash before a trip to the liquor store. Even if the alcoholic asked a millionaire for the cash, it doesn’t change the fact that the money’s not being wisely used.
Senator Sessions
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress,
Quotes on October 20th, 2011
For years, Democrats protected Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These programs were considered the 3rd rail of American politics. It was widely known that any politician who would dare propose reforms to these programs would be savaged.
These programs are driving us into bankruptcy. This is not a new revelation. We have known this for years and yet have failed to act.
Now the same people who would never compromise on dangerously expensive programs are branding anyone who opposes them as extreme and unyielding. Members of Congress who were elected with Tea Party support are being labeled as rigid ideologues driving the economy into disaster. Get it? Supporting a program for years even though you know it will bankrupt us isn’t extreme or unyielding. It is driven by rigid ideologues. It won’t cause an economic disaster, and yet opposing those programs are. It would be funny if it weren’t so damaging.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress,
Debt on July 30th, 2011
Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) doesn’t want you to focus on the debt debate. He wants you to focus on the players in the debate.
“The debate and fight is not between Democrats and Republicans. It’s between some Republicans and their sort of cult fringe as I refer to them out there”
Senator Larkin thinks small government people are a “cult fringe”. That fringe just won a historic election in 2010 wiping out much of the advantage held by Democrats. The Democrats lost their super majority in the Senate and lost control of the House of Representatives. This could hardly be accomplished by a fringe element.
Maybe he is not speaking of small government proponents, but is referring to Tea Partiers as a cult fringe.
18% of Americans refer to themselves as Tea Partiers. That’s not a majority, but it is more than the 11% of workers who belong to a union.
A cult? The tea party does not demand money from their followers. They don’t get so emotional as to induce violence. Tea Partiers are bound by common policies ideas. Union members told what to think of policies ideas. If you want to see a cult, stop by the next teachers union rally.
So, yes…the Republicans are swayed by the Tea Party, but not nearly to the extent that Democrats are swayed by their cult fringe…the unions.
I know Eric Cantor (the majority leader of the House of Representatives) is doing a great job because AP reports that Harry Reid says:
Cantor should not be in debt limit talks
Harry Reid is the same guy who said Bush was a loser and the Iraq war was lost…right before the surge turned everything. Harry knows he is about to lose again. It’s amazing this guy has the gall to call someone else (anyone else) a loser.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress on July 14th, 2011
He’s a liar. I’m not surprised. I knew he was a liar before he tweeted his Johnson.
He is a Democrat. The whole Democratic party is lying, and I don’t say that flippantly. They are lying about Paul Ryan’s budget proposal. They are scaring seniors using rhetoric they know to be false. This lie is being perpetrated by the entire Democratic party. Where is the brave Democrat who will stand up and say, “This is not right”.
So who is surprised that Anthony Weiner is a liar? Certainly not me.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress on June 8th, 2011
This is wildly off the mark…even for a factually-challenged Democrats. Steny Hoyer claimed (on MSNBC of course) that:
We went from a $5.6 trillion surplus that George Bush inherited to over a $11-plus trillion debt when George Bush left office.
George Bush inherited a $5.8 trillion debt and a recession.
But Hoyer was almost right. He used a “5″ in his claim. That’s could enough for his supporters to yell…Yea! The debt is all George Bush’s fault!
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress,
Debt on June 2nd, 2011
If Congress insists on investigating “price fixing”, I suggest they give up on oil companies. They have tried road before and it is always a dead end. Congress should investigate price fixing at American Universities where the price has outpaced inflation for years.
I like Paul Ryan. He is smart. He is articulate. He has a lot of the traits I am looking for in a president, but I don’t want him to run…yet.
Paul Ryan needs to focus on his plan to cut spending and reform entitlements. The nation needs him to be successful. There are many aspects of running for president that will endanger the success of they Ryan mission.There will be distractions about his personal life. There will be non-stop fund raising and traveling.
It will be real evidence of leadership if Paul Ryan can get the majority of his plan through. If he can reform entitlements, he will be the first person from the House to have earned my support for President. So my adivce to Representative Ryan: Stay in Washington and “get her done”.
Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska says that the two budget proposals in the Senate are dead. One does not cut enough, and the other has too much hate. There must be a fine line between hate. You know what I hate? Senators that are easily bribed like senator Ben Nelson. The cornhusker kickback was his baby.
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress on March 9th, 2011
We split congressional districts up by ethnicity and identity and then we wonder why the partisan representative can’t find common ground. Wouldn’t the House be a more civil place if each Congressman represented a similarly diverse district. Why is diversity good in schools, but not good in Congressional districts?
Can a white man represent a black man? Can a black man represent a white man? If they can’t…how must Asians, Indians and other minorities feel?
Posted by: The Elephant Owner in
Congress on March 1st, 2011
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