In response to another diary I made a comment on the issue of the military & their pay. Then in response to my own question about details on McConnell having shut down a fix I looked for and found a video clip which is starting to get a lot of views here.
shareblue.com/…
I also went to my FB page and saw a meme I’d seen early this morning. conservatives are spreading this
I’m not really welcome back in my hometown in southern Illinois anymore. Even my fairly conservative sister (she and I are all that’s left of the family) who begged me for years to move back home conceded last summer it would be a bad idea, that I wouldn’t be fit in there. But folks I know from back there who both live back there and around the country (including one who lives down here in NC now) just love this crap. So I dashed off the following response, and included the link to McCaskill and McConnell at the end:
CHIP has been wildly successful and has enjoyed overwhelming bi-partisan support. It was due for renewal last Sept. The legislation was there and ready to go. And the GOP did NOTHING. Ryan & McConnell refused to allow it to come up for consideration.
DACA legislation agreeable to both sides has been there since 2011 but the Dream Act was filibustered in the Senate which means it was the GOP that prevented it from becoming law. Since then both sides have agreed a legislative fix should take place but the GOP has refused to allow anything to be taken up in either chamber of Congress.
We have an opioid epidemic both sides agree is of crisis proportions spread across the country in both red and blue states. Again, there are bi-partisan legislative proposals that could be taken up in Congress to address the matter. And again, GOP leadership has refused to do so.
The Democrats haven’t been in control of either chamber of Congress for a long time now. The GOP has. And now they have the Presidency as well. And yet after months of work went by October 1 came and went without a budget and the 13 appropriations bills to implement it being passed. What were THEY doing during all that time?
Finally, I agree that leaving the military and their pay out of the functions considered essential is unacceptable. During the last shu down n 2013 this was quickly addressed but that legislation wasn’t made permanent. Still, there IS a legislative fix that’s been proposed and is ready to go to make sure the military isn’t affected and that there pay is given on time. And when it was proposed in the Senate by McCaskill last night (and could have been passed by the House this morning & sent to the President for signature) the GOP as in Mitch McConnell shot it down on the spot! Let me emphasize that – this problem could ALREADY (literally!) been fixed and fixed hours ago. Don’t believe me? Take a look at the video from last night, And shove your crocodile tears up your ass.
No doubt I will be getting a nastygram from my sister. And once again being called unpatriotic, un-American, traitor, libtard, etc from folks I once was close to both back in southern Illinois and in the small town I lived in in WV for ten years before moving to NC. I CAN’T go home again, or at least shouldn’t. But I digress.
As I said I dashed off the above stuff and posted it in response to that meme on that other site without much thought. I’m sure I could have done a better job had I taken some time but it kept showing up and I “lost it.” My point is that although I might not have made the best “counter” there are a lot of good writers here and collectively perhaps we can come up with a strong, concise counter and/or offensive of our own we can flood social media with.
I’m not too proud to ask for help.
And while I’m at it, my TV has been on and I had one eye on an interview on MSNBC where some GOP asshole Congress Critter again doing the crocodile tears over the military. And I shouted at a WTF (as in why the hell not?) at Alex Witt for not having the clip of McConnell’s action last night cued up and ready to go.
Anyway, like my post on that other forum maybe I shouldn’t be posting when I’m this pissed off. But here I am. I’m proud of the Democrats for finally showing some spine. And don’t get me wrong, I have been furious about DACA. But this shutdown is about more than that and the GOP is I fear going to be more effective than we are willing to admit at scoring points by narrowing their case to “the Democrats are putting DACA/illegals before American children.” Our side and Congress Critters have been noting it goes beyond that but I think we need to be doing much more and in as concise a way as possible.
So, help….
p.s. I’m am utterly ashamed of not having been at the event here in the Raleigh, NC area but I’m having some foot trouble (I’m diabetic and have severe neuropathy in my feet), specifically a crack on one of my heels that is getting worse instead of better so I have to stay off my feet as much as possible. That’s why I’m doing stuff like this instead.