Sen. Jim Bunning Filibusters Unemployment Extension, Dems Roll Over
They need to beat him like a rented mule. Shame on him, and shame on the spineless Democrats who let this mean old snake go home to take a nap and then rolled over for his blackmail, adjourning for the weekend and letting desperate families hang:
Retiring Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) late Thursday launched a one-man crusade to block an extension of unemployment and COBRA insurance benefits, vowing to allow the benefit programs to expire Sunday unless Democrats agreed to pay for them with unused stimulus funds.
Bunning’s quixotic pursuit of deficit offsets at the potential expense of payments to unemployed or uninsured citizens enraged Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and other Democrats, who vowed to keep the chamber in session until Bunning relents or collapses.
Yes, last night the brain-addled Bunning complained about missing a college basketball game, and responded "Tough sh*t" when Sen. Jeff Merkley begged him to drop his opposition.
A senior Democratic leadership aide said Durbin would ask for unanimous consent to pass the extensions without Bunning’s payment scheme every half hour for the foreseeable future. “We’re going to keep doing it until we break him,” the aide said.
Break him, huh? David Waldman:
So they had him to the point where he was shouting obscenities on the Senate floor and decided... to let him go home for a good night's sleep.
Awesome!
He probably slept a hell of a lot better than the Kentuckians who are out of work and depending on those benefits, I can tell you that. No word on whether Senate Democrats actually tucked him in.
This morning, the fight resumed, presumably after a nourishing breakfast which some of those Kentucky families would probably have liked to have had themselves. The unanimous consent request to pass the extension was made, Bunning objected, gave a short speech, and then suggested the absence of a quorum, which you may recall is often used as a stalling tactic to avoid conducting an actual filibuster.
[...] UPDATE: Never mind! The Senate appears to have adjourned for the weekend. Bunning has won for the day, and Durbin's threat has shockingly failed to materialize at all. The extent of Bunning's punishment: he missed prime time TeeVee last night.
Oh, and when the DSCC calls you for a donation? Refer them to this. You can also let Sen. Bunning know how much you appreciate his politicking over benefits for the neediest in the worst economy since the Great Depression. Flood his offices with faxes and phone calls.
Makes you wonder how the guy can travel from the airport to his home without being accosted, and then punched in the mouth....
luckily, the republicans have hired goons to help shield them from popular wrath (see, democrats)
seem to be pretty popular these days. Especially with the Wall Streeters...
NOBODY 2012
Why not let the Republicans stop un-employment for millions of
out of work American's, How will that help them in the coming
elections?
The democrats can get these un-employment benefits
back later and look like hero's,
while the republicans,
well the
REPUBLI'CON's
WILL STILL LOOK LIKE FASCISTS
Wrong.
The gub'mint is to blame, didn't you know? Every time they fail, some republican will jump on a soapbox and tell them how government can't do anything right...
There's no good way to win at this. You're counting on the average American having too much intelligence. We elected Dubya.... twice.
I disagree.
I didn't care for the hijinx in Florida or Ohio either.
Point is, nearly 50% of the people voting in both elections voted for Dubya. Intellectually, it was a pretty dead simple choice, and yet around 50% of voting Americans failed. The validity of the elections don't enter into it ; it's more the evidence of how unintelligent we are in general.
we know what the actual count was? These weasels are way ahead of us. If I can think of it, they've already done it. That's my theory and I'm sticking to it.
Polling ahead of the elections in question showed the candidates in a more or less dead heat beforehand. I agree, there was most likely vote manipulation.
But you can't rig an entire election, especially when there are a lot of states which don't use Diebold election machines.
Face it. We're stupid, and a large number of our countrymen and women voted for the worst choice they could.
.
totally factually incorrect Republican talking points??
~
;-)
~
The 2000 Presidential election was rife with corruption. Gov. Jeb Bush (R) Florida, his Sec State (FL), Cheney & the Turd-Blossom ( aka Rove ) were involved in a conspiracy to steal the election -- voter caging, delaying the count of absentee ballots, failure to engage in a full state-wide recount, and the "spontaneous" Rethug borderline violent recount protests were all in play. The 2000 election was decided by the Supremes (aka SCOTUS), of whom many were appointed by Raygun and Bush Sr. The Supremes, when anointing Dubya, stated that their one-time decision could not be considered to be setting a
precedent.
The only silver lining to be found in this election was that the Whore of Jerusalem (aka Joe Lieberman (I) AIPAC) was kept out of the White House -- Gore would have been a marked man as President, and I think he knew that.
The timid, cowed, and spineless political opposition (aka Congressional Democrats) then proceeded to vote for the "Help America Vote (Our Way)" legislation in 2002, which flooded the States with recount-disabled electronic voting machines. This paved the way for the theft (vote fraud) of the 2004 Presidential election -- most notably assisted by Ken Blackwell in Ohio, as well as major fraud in Colorado, Nevada, and Utah.
In both elections, the Neo-Liberal Democratic candidates folded their campaign challenges like a cheap polyester suit -- not really surprising, since they shared the very same Corporatist masters. That legacy continued to this day, with a win for Obama. The only real difference? Howard Dean's 50 State grassroots organization, which was promptly suborned by Rahm Emanuel, and Dean being thrown under the bus.
Hope & Change (TM) was just a Madison Avenue/K-Street marketing campaign -- sorry that you / we all didn't get sent the memo on that bit ...
Welcome to reality! Yeah, I know, it really sucks ...
(Edit: Some very well documented 2000 and 2004 vote fraud can be found at the following websites:
~
~~~~ [http://www.blackboxvoting.org]
~
~~~~ [http://www.rollingstone.com]
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."
-- John F. Kennedy
many Kentuckians who would like to do that and more.
Get stuck with such a low life son of a bitch?
These 40 million idiot republicans don't deserve to live in America.
I have in the last eight years developed a hatred for these childish assholes. They don't have the morals or the intelligence to be a part of anything and should not ba allowed to participate in government.
They have done nothing but make a mess of everything that have been involved in.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness, it has almost totally destroied our economy, our morals, and the sprituality of America!
exactly correct-
they are fascists
... only sissy-pants socialist liberals are on unemployment.
And, geez - here we go again, Democrats falling over themselves to surrender and concede.
We're talking about people who don't have work, but somehow have to pay mortgages, raise their families, put food on the table. We're talking about older Americans as well as younger Americans.
And the whole worthless lot of Congroaches can't be arsed to extend benefits.
I think we should vote every month as to whether or not these insects get paid. No progress, no money: TOUGH SHIT.
pay teachers on performance, we shouid also apply the same methods to republican lawmakers.
as well as those fat-cat CEOs who keep giving themselves outrageous bonuses with the taxpayers' money... whaddaya say?
As for Bunning... WTF?! This a-hole really want to be unemployed, doesn't he?! The people of Kentucky will hopefully do that next election. I can't fathom his idiocy, arrogance, and plain old-fashioned lack of compassion/empathy. What an efftard!
he is retiring to his fat-ass pension.
"Tough Shit" sounds a lot like "Let The Eat Cake" to me.
Which I wouldn't recommend, because they just delete them
a KY zip (necessary for the email to go through) is 42001 (Paducah, KY).
However, the phones (and there are 800 numbers to all his local offices as well as the main Senate building) and faxes are hard to ignore.
after reading the article on Huffington Post, and got through...I told the young man who answered the phone to tell Sen. Bunning he is a treasonous bastard..said thank you verymuch, and hung up. Since then, his website has been taken down "for routine maintenance" (yeah, right) and I understand his phones are constantly busy. Phone number is 202-224-4343, so keep trying....this POS needs to know what the country thinks of him.
“The greatest evildoers are those who don’t remember because they have never given thought to the matter, and, without remembrance, nothing can hold them back,”
But call his local KY offices too. There are 800 numbers to all in the link in the op.
Cue the Kabuki....
Are we sure? Should we send some 'undercover journalists' with phone cams?
.
I think I will take a page from your friend pat robertson.
I think I will pray that you die or have a stroke that leaves you unable to do anything for yourself!
I hope you get what you deserve you sorry old pile of shit!
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness, it has almost totally destroied our economy, our morals, and the sprituality of America!
would have done the same thing if the money was going to the Banksters? The Dems SUCK.
Their telephone soliciters are hanging up in disappointment and the mailers are returned with the following in red marker:
NOT UNTIL YOU GET A SPINE!
I'll continue to donate individually to Kucinich, Grayson etc.
Not that I have scads of moolah..
Okay, on to the ignore list you go.
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
He did make an effort. Look at the first post, and the next, and slowly those all caps just took over. Sigh.
He must have workeD himseLF iNTO A FRENZY!
AHHHH!
the only thing worse than a Republican.
I seem to recall reading that this fuckhead isn't going to get re-elected. He's probably pretty pissed about that and is taking it out on all of us. The prick. But, what do you expect? He's just a fucking baseball player after all.
http://www.baseball-reference.com/players/b/b...
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I think I'll send the Democrats a political contribution:
http://www.monopoly-history.com/images/1985mo...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I don't know who disgusts me more, the GOPers or the gutless, unprincipled, moral cowards who call themselves Democrats, those whose only demonstrated skill is enabling the socioipaths through spinelessness that is so absolute as to be the equivalent of eager and willing complicity. A pox on all of their houses.
Vote anti-incumbent if the incumbent is a spineless "Democrat".
But the Patriot Act gets passed on a voice vote?
There's not one Democrat in the entire Senate who could have used similar tactics to at least get a discussion on the merits?
These holds and super-majority "requirements" seem to cut only one way.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
fiver,
The Senate has all but said, "F'k The People and thier Civil Rights. They don't need no stinkin' Rights, anyway."
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
. . . but it's still disappointing to see that it's unanimous.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
.
Dear Senate,
Is this how you conduct The People's business?
.
Starve the WAR Beast...
... Save the World.
I live in Nevada and have pissed off since hearing about this last night. Luckily I still have a few weeks for people in washington to iron this shit out before I need to worry about being completely screwed.
I'm seriously getting to the point of telling any and all conservatives I know to get out of my life and disowning them completely, family and friends alike. People who would put themselves in the same pile as this steaming turd have lost any sense of compassion or basic humanity. (if they ever had it in the first place)
I actually took the step to send Bunning an e-mail through his website and posted it on my blog, which I linked below. This makes me sick and ashamed to live in a country where elected leaders would so cavalierly toy with people's very survival just to prove some inane point about a meaningless budget deficit. Canada is looking more inviting by the day.
http://boomgoestheblog.com/2010/02/26/sen-jim...
You obviously haven't tried hard enough to satisfy the folks sucking gov teat for $176,000 a year.
Urging violence Susie? I thought that we frowned on that.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
and Jim "tough shit" Bunting just reached them.
although in this case I quite understand how Susie feels. Truthfully in what way is this different from a teabagger suggesting a politician should be "hung"? Frankly I thought the outrage on that incident was somewhat overwrought. Do you really think my posts on the usage of the word retard were whiny? Or is that just a word you use if someone punches a hole in your arguments?
Hasa Diga Eebowai
Maybe they meant "hung" in like, "package" :p?
Laundry is hung; people are hanged.
Sarah Palin was right. They're trying to kill grammar!
Corruption favors the wealthy.
I'm pretty sure your average teabagger would not know where to find a dictionary of American usage or even suspect that such a thing exists.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
She meant Grammer. As in the lady married to
Gramps McCrankypants.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
as whiny does.
You punch holes in nothing but your own self.
And then whine about it.
[Please quit dragging the threads off topic with your opinions of others and name calling. You are breaking a couple rules repeatedly by continually doing this-Sitemonitor]
whinny? Does it matter if you punch holes in them when you beat them?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
I have only the holes with which I was issued.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Hasa Diga Eebowai
as it relates to sharp tools is not going to cut it either.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Time to move on. Hint taken site monitor.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
deleted by poster.
Better to purchase your own mule and beat it.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
cell phone camera to record pre-existing dents and dings so they don't try to stick me with the repair bill. Never trust a mule rental outfit.
Hasa Diga Eebowai
.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
but really starting to hate old, white, men.
Let's camp out in Buntings yard and every time he comes out ask if it is our turn to use the bathroom yet.
He couldn't hit. That's why he was always Bunting.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
It's Bunning.
And you don't hardly ever get on base bunting.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
it becomes more and more obvious that we have one party with two faces.
I forgot who it was, though. Works for me.
dime saves time.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Remember in November
Pay Attention Till Then.
addition!
when Bunning is up for re-election. As for the Dems rolling over (again), WTF. Seriously. ONE MAN wants to stop an extension that is greatly needed? And he gets his wish?? Screw Bunning and his enablers.
NOBODY 2012
...that when I searched his web site for "a--hole" it returned 0 results. I expected at least one hit.
Now they bring "dignity and integrity" to the congressional floor:
Cheney "Go fuck yourself!"
Joe Wilson "You lie!"
Bunning "Tough shit!"
Cornyn: "I Admire" Bunning For Saying "Enough Is Enough" On Unemployment Benefits
.. gotta stop irresponsible federal spending !!
(.. well .. unless it's for war or other necessities of life ..)
When will government of the people, by the politicians, for the corporations perish from this Earth?
Not soon enough!
I admit, it is really incredible how fiscal responsibility is only an issue when it affects your money going to help other people.
Bombs, sure!
What the hell is wrong with us? We have enough warheads to destroy every livable space on this planet more than 12 times over, and we somehow can't take care of our own people. Single payer, guys. It's not that difficult.
Because money is finite, the Republikans do not want it to go anywhere except in their pockets. It's that simple.
You're under the mistaken impression that we disagree on a lot of things. ;)
It does seem as though the Republicans push for merit-based healthcare, merit-based retirement, etc. Social darwinism does *not* turn out well for the majority of people, and I think they forget that those people occasionally vote.
But a great deal of the Republican strategy has been getting people to vote against their own interests. Terrorism, religion, abortion ... these are all things to throw at voters so they don't see that things like single payer health insurance would benefit them rather than hurt them.
But instead, we get talking points.
They are for blank sheets of paper!
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
whirlpool is going to close their plant in evanston come june....and move it to mexico....without penalty
now please tell me what it matters if we continue to extend unemployment if we continue to allow the loss of manufacturing jobs?
btw, the company took 19 mil from the stimulus
they should be forced to pay that back...with interest
them all Medicaid? Or are they just going to be allowed to starve to death? The selfishness is stunning.
This is going to sound a lot like woulda, coulda, shoulda, but I guarantee that if I was in that chamber I would have stayed awake and run circles around this useless POS until that motherfucker dropped from exhaustion.
It would been a 24/7 episode of Survivor and I would have beat his ass.
The People deserved somebody who had the balls to do it.
what else I would have done?
I would have put on a speakerphone piped through the chamber sound system and had conversations with unemployed Americans while he stood there with his thumb up his ass.
And in an ode to Spinal Tap, I would have turned that bitch up to 11!
with that film. Plus, was that an ode in Spinal Tap? I thought it was a miniature arch.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Surprising!
Are better then this sob.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness, it has almost totally destroied our economy, our morals, and the sprituality of America!
Rahm to select our Senators. I'll never ski Utah again.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
Which s more awesome strength & fighting Spirit of the Democrats or the ignorance & bestiality of the Right?
since they are so completely complimentary.
Heckuva job Kentucky. You cons keep voting against your best interests. I'm sure another repug will replace this dipshit once he retires. They'll never learn.
The next time Republicans pull something like this, the Democrats in Senate are going to finally do something to hit back at these people.
They really, really will.
.
wouldn't let him. I hold them responsible. They are indeed lacking balls. They all want to go home for the weekend while Americans are wondering if they'll any have any food for their children next week.
That any 'real' democrats are letting him get away with this shit. I don't think there are any 'real' Democrats in the Senate. Maybe one or two, but only maybe......
. . .
I have been curious how people like this get elected and why the worst of them seem to come from south of the Manson/Nixon line. It is voter turn out. States with the lowest voter turn out tend to be red states while states with the highest voter turn out tend to be blue states. I can't help but think there is hold over from Southern States making voting difficult for minorities and the disadvantaged. There is also a correlation with how educated the constituency is. Surprisingly, to me anyway, is that voter turn out in Utah is extremely low. My guess on that is that Dems feel their vote won't matter and Repubs don't feel the necessity of voting. It stands to reason, if voting was mandatory as it is in Australia and other countries, we would not have to suffer these fools.
My parents came from Kentucky and I admit I'm proud to have Kentuckian blood flowing through my veins. However that has changed over the past year when I see Mitch McConnell and Jim Bunning in the news. They make me ashamed that a state that I know at one time took care of it's people has two Representatives that don't give a damn about Kentuckians or Americans. I hope the voters of Kentucky put them out when they come up for re-election.
if it'll backfire politically?
Comments are closed on this entry