"Self-Executing Rule" = "Conference Report passage", given Rethug Recalcitrance

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Tuesday March 16, 2010 · 8:44 AM PDT

2010/03/16 · 08:44

Look, the Rethugs are "headed for the fainting couch" (as Steve Benen put it daintily) over this self-executing rule that the House is contemplating.

Understand that if this bill had been passed in regular order as a conference report, exactly the same situation with respect to the underlying Senate bill would have applied: the Senate bill would NOT be voted on separately by the House, only the AMENDED conference report would be voted on.

And the only reason that the Dems are even having to use this analogous, if slightly arcane, mechanism here is because the Rethugs will not let them do anything in the Senate, elections and consequences be d***ed.

DraftChickenHawks

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Saturday March 06, 2010 · 10:54 AM PST

2010/03/06 · 10:54

[Updated to add table borders]

Democratic Senators queasy about reconciliation for the HCR fix, should realize that (a) even 50 Dem votes represent 57% of the population (give or take a few points depending on the states of the Senators voting -- the scenario I have outlined counts the likeliest yes votes) and (b) the 60 Dem Senators that voted for the original HCR represented a whopping 65% of the population.

Table and explanation below the fold...

DraftChickenHawks

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Thursday March 04, 2010 · 6:38 AM PST

2010/03/04 · 06:38

I am surprised that this column did not receive any (much?) notice here -- Dan Froomkin's column yesterday in Huffingtonpost on WaPo vis-a-vis Rahm Emanuel, is just eviscerating of the stenographers at WaPo on the one hand, and of the terror at the heart of many Dems regarding Rethug attacks, on the other. It is at once illuminating, sad, and not a little frustrating to read.

Note that I do not subscribe to the view of the first year as a failure, but I do think it probably could have been better if Rahm Emanuel had not been relentlessly cowering from the thugs and possibly pulling the President with him to the stupid zones (we do not know the truth of course, but intelligent guesses can be made from prior actions/positions).

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Reconciliation is NOT being used for the ENTIRE BILL! It is only for reconciling House-Senate bills

DraftChickenHawks

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Friday February 26, 2010 · 1:24 PM PST

2010/02/26 · 13:24

Please, please, PLEASE! Everybody, make this point with me: The reconciliation process being considered is ONLY to reconcile the differences between the Senate and House versions.

That is, the Dems are not considering "ramming" through Congress, you know, with majority votes, the ENTIRE MASSIVE Health care bill: it is only for fixes at the margins.

Not that there is anything wrong with using it for the entire bill, but the fact is that the bill has already passed both Houses of Congress.

To credit where credit is due, Chuck Todd also made this point on MSNBC...

DraftChickenHawks

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Friday February 05, 2010 · 8:30 AM PST

2010/02/05 · 08:30

It is really extremely distasteful to see the rising clamor for the President to get Congress to do what is its job. What is with this childishness? It was odious when the Rethugs took their marching orders from Bush and it is even more odious now for many on the left to be abetting the mewling Dems' public entreaties of the President to discipline the dysfunctional Congress.

IT IS NOT HIS JOB. In fact, he has his hands full doing what is his job: running two wars, overseeing and correcting the dysfunctional executive departments and agencies, bully-pulpitting, proposing new and correctional legislation, etc.

DraftChickenHawks

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Friday October 09, 2009 · 12:29 PM PDT

2009/10/09 · 12:29

[NOTE: Even though there are several "you" references in my rant, they obviously do not apply to those who are not subscribing to the views I attribute to "you" :-)]

This meme that emanated from the wrong-wing and is quickly gaining wide circulation and buy-in from others in the reality-based world is quite unnerving: "...he was only President for 11 days when he was nominated!"

Not to put too fine a point on it, that is just plain stupid (as is most everything else that originates in the wing-nut domain these days/years/decades). What it implies is that only Presidential accomplishments count towards the peace prize -- and that is so patently absurd, considering that the vast majority of recipients were non-Presidents, that it is amazing to me that the reality-based community is starting to take it seriously. If you are thinking along those lines, STOP!

Here is a list of all the NPP winners:

DraftChickenHawks

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Friday February 13, 2009 · 8:43 AM PST

2009/02/13 · 08:43

I waited more than 12 hours to see if someone (JedL?) would post this to the front page, or even just diary it; seeing none yet, I am going to bravely try, yet again, to keep a diary up for at least a couple of hours :-)

President Obama's address to the Abraham Lincoln Association banquet assembly last night was such pure genius at so many levels, that I hesitate to even attempt a description of it. But being that intrepid fool...

DraftChickenHawks

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Tuesday November 11, 2008 · 7:10 AM PST

2008/11/11 · 07:10

Please listen to this clip of President-Elect Obama from early September, first:

DraftChickenHawks

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Sunday October 12, 2008 · 5:25 PM PDT

2008/10/12 · 17:25

This diary is just really a paean to the staff and volunteers working out of the Parker office of Douglas County, CO. I volunteered to go there and work for 5 weeks, along with two others from Dallas. Unfortunately, due to family circumstances, I had to get back to Dallas after just one week (my fellow Dallas volunteers are still there!).

I do read about this phenomenon on DKos and elsewhere, but I had it reinforced for me this past week: Obama staff and volunteers seem like the most pleasant and well-adjusted people one can ever meet! Anything I can say about Obama volunteers seems altogether too inadequate and pedestrian.

Follow me over the fold for a bit more on our excellent adventure...

DraftChickenHawks

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Wednesday August 27, 2008 · 2:46 PM PDT

2008/08/27 · 14:46

Without further ado, here are the battleground numbers:

Colorado: McCain 47, Obama 46
Pennsylvania: Obama 48, McCain 43
Nevada: Obama 49, McCain 44
New Mexico: Obama 53, McCain 40

Dates conducted: August 24-26. Error margin: 4 points.

DraftChickenHawks

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Thursday July 17, 2008 · 7:17 PM PDT

2008/07/17 · 19:17

Hey, everyone, here is to ABC's excellent reporting. This is just a short diary because all I want to do is to bring to light two things:

ABC's excellent reporting, I will excerpt some relevant 'graphs below.

McCain and his campaign's amazing chutzpah accusing Obama time and again of things that he himself is guilty of. We are only used to the media blissfully giving him a pass and continuing to use their talking points against Obama. ABC is first, let us see if anyone else starts holding McCain's feet to the fire, as they do with Obama all the time!

DraftChickenHawks

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Tuesday July 15, 2008 · 3:23 PM PDT

2008/07/15 · 15:23

I have to confess to two things right off the bat, before I get to the substance of the diary.

The first is that I did not read Arianna's "Moving to the middle is for losers". The reason is that the title said it all and I did not agree with the premise of the title to begin with (if the premise is wrong, the conclusions have no material relevance). I was annoyed by the utter mindlessness with which the left seemed to fall for this stupid McCampaign meme that the corporate media was priming the pump with.

The second is much more fun to confess: I have long been a fan of Rudyard Kipling in general and his If in great particular -- I love that poem: I love its style, its substance and its sheer quiet counsel (I fancy that I live by its premise :-)

So read both (just click on the links above) and follow me over the fold to see what Al Giardano has to say about all this, oh so beautifully...

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"Self-Executing Rule" = "Conference Report passage", given Rethug Recalcitrance

50 Dem votes = 57% of population; 60 was = 65% of population.

The absolutely brilliant, and devastatingly insightful, Froomkin column

Reconciliation is NOT being used for the ENTIRE BILL! It is only for reconciling House-Senate bills

The (wanting a) Daddy Party: Note to Senator Al Franken and other Children in Congress.

Why must one be President for X no. of yrs b/f winning the NPP? Non-Presidents win the NPP too!

Taking a moment to appreciate President Obama's eloquence and sincerity.

Sense and Sensibility: Obama, netroots and Liberman

An ode to Douglas County Obama staff and volunteers...

Stunning Nevada, NM numbers from TIME/CNN!!

ABC: McCain No-Show at Afghanistan hearings!

Arianna, read Al Giordano: Obama and If...