Tag: GOP

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GOP keeps saying Dems won’t negotiate on budget during government shutdown?

House GOP contends Democrats won't sit down and negotiate when Republicans have blocked efforts to do so 19 times

The House GOP keeps repeating that the Senate Democrats won’t sit down and negotiate, also known as meeting to “conference” on the differences between the budgets passed in the Senate and the House.

But the facts are rather inconvenient for Republicans. Nineteen times Senate Democrats asked to conference. Nineteen times Senate Republicans blocked the procedure. Check out the list below via National Journal:

1. 4/23 Senator Reid requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Toomey blocked.

2. 5/6 Senator Reid requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Cruz blocked.

3. 5/7 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

4. 5/8 Senator Warner asked unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

5. 5/9 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator McConnell blocked.

6. 5/14 Senator Warner asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator McConnell blocked.

7. 5/15 Senator Wyden asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator McConnell blocked.

8. 5/16 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

9. 5/21 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Paul blocked.

10. 5/22 Senator Kaine asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Rubio blocked.

11. 5/23 Senator McCaskill asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

12. 6/4 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Rubio blocked.

13. 6/12 Senator Kaine asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Lee blocked.

14. 6/19 Senator Murray asked unanimous consent to go to conference, and Senator Toomey blocked.

15. 6/26 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Cruz blocked.

16. 7/11 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Marco Rubio blocked.

17. 7/17 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Mike Lee blocked.

18. 8/1 Senator Durbin requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Marco Rubio blocked.

19. 10/2 Senator Murray requested unanimous consent to go to conference, Senator Toomey blocked.

So, every time you hear Republicans repeat over and over again that Democrats “won’t sit down to negotiate” – remember this.

And why did they use this strategy? Because the threat of shutting down the government was their last viable option to stopping Obamacare.

And it didn’t work, and now they have no exit strategy.

And there you have it.

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Anti-Hillary Clinton buttons at California GOP convention – “2 fat thighs, 2 small breasts, left wing”

And the Republican party doesn’t understand why they have a problem with women voters?

The pic above of anti-Hillary Clinton buttons was tweeted by San Francisco Chronicle reporter Carla Marinucci on display at the California GOP Convention.

The buttons read: “KFC Hillary Special: 2 Fat Thighs, 2 Small Breasts … Left Wing’.

Marinucci later wrote: “Less than hour after we 1st tweeted, appears offensive #Hillary buttons gone from #cagop. Many here also appalled…”

(via HuffPost)

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Heading into weekend, no end in sight for government shutdown

As the President says “No one is winning.”

Yesterday, speaking on “hot mics” between interviews GOP Senators Rand Paul and Mitch McConnell spoke in whispered voices saying “we’re going to win this:”

“I’m all wired up here,” McConnell replies. Paul continues anyway.

“I just did CNN, and I just go over and over again, ‘We’re willing to compromise; we’re willing to negotiate,'” he says in the video. “I don’t think they poll-tested ‘We won’t negotiate.’ I think it’s awful for them to say that over and over again.”

McConnell responds: “Yeah, I do too, and I just came back from the two-hour meeting with them, and that was basically the same view privately as it was publicly.”

“I think if we keep saying, ‘We wanted to defund it. We fought for that, but now we’re willing to compromise on this,’ I think they can’t – we’re going to win,” Paul says. “I know we don’t want to be here, but we’re going to win this, I think.”

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RNC Chairman Reince Priebus gets evasive with MSNBC’s Thomas Roberts

Talking Points Memo points up a heated interview today by Thomas Roberts and the RNC Chairman Reince Priebus.

Priebus spent much of his air time decrying Obamacare saying no one in America wanted or had signed up for the new insurance exchanges. Roberts followed up with a line of questions wondering why the government has to be shut down for the House GOP to deal with making any fixes they want to Obamacare.

“Why do we need to attach the solutions or changes that go along with the law that has been vetted by the Supreme Court, by a mandate by the people reelecting the president and both houses of Congress,” Roberts asked. “Why should that be attached to to shutting down the government and as the president is saying basically writing a ransom note and asking for some type of goody bag in response for Congress doing its job to govern?”

“Those are some pretty good talking points,” the RNC chair shot back. “Let me just rewind.”

“They’re not talking points,” Roberts interjected, referring to a speech Obama gave in Maryland moments before the exchange. “That’s directly from what the president just gave us.”

“I think you should apply for a job in the Obama administration,” Priebus said later, after several minutes of sparring with the MSNBC host.

“No, I’ll come work for you guys and help you sort out what’s going on because your message is befuddled,” Roberts said.

Good for Thomas Roberts for pursuing the answers to his questions.You can watch the exchange below:

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Nancy Pelosi answers Eric Cantor’s tweet with a tweak

I love when “snide” gets backhanded with ease.

Earlier today, Rep. Eric Cantor tweeted a pic of himself and GOP House colleagues “ready” to negotiate (p.s. ain’t gonna happen…) and waiting on one side of a bargaining table.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi, with snap and style answered back “Only took you 192 days and a #GOPshutdown. By the way, #WhereAreTheWomen?”

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New poll: Americans oppose GOP-led governent shutdown 72% -22%

GOP led government shut down brings in low approval numbers - 72% oppose strategy to shut down government over healthcare

The Republican strategy of shutting down the federal government in order to block health care reform’s implementation is not paying off for the GOP-led House: Americans oppose the plan by an overwhelming 72 to 22 percent.

According to a new poll by Quinnipiac poll, here is how Americans see the federal government shutdown:

• Republicans narrowly support the shutdown 49 to 44 percent
• Democrats oppose the shutdown 90 to 6 percent
• Independents oppose it 74 to 19 percent (that’s the number that really counts come next fall)

“Americans are certainly not in love with Obamacare, but they reject decisively the claim by congressional Republicans that it is so bad that it’s worth closing down the government to stop it,” Peter A. Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, said in a release.

If gets even worse for Republicans on “job approval.”

The poll finds President Obama’s approval rating at 45 percent, with 49 percent disapproving. Not the greatest number, BUT the Republicans find only 17 percent approve of the job they are doing.  74 percent disapprove.

The GOP Tea Party in free fall.