Political posterizing.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

"Short-term memory loss, why is it more prevalent in conservatives?"

[Svartalf]

Seriously, remember that he managed to rile the late and regretted Neil Armstrong out of retirement to protest his space policies.

[Coito ergo sum]

Seriously, remember that he managed to rile the late and regretted Neil Armstrong out of retirement to protest his space policies.

Because his space polices are: Cancel manned space flight. Finish the unmanned ones that are ongoing. Don't start any new ones. But make grand predictions that by the end of his life he'll see humans go to Mars, but shift NASA resources to unrelated activities and public relations.

[Coito ergo sum]

[Gawdzilla Sama]

This one's for all the teabagging liars and those that are just too damned stupid to turn off of Fixed Noise channel...
***The Myth of the Democratic Super Majority...
The Truth is that the Democrats only had a filibuster-proof majority for 24 working days during that period. Here are the details:

To define terms, a Filibuster-Proof Majority or Super Majority is the number of votes required to
overcome a filibuster in the Senate. According to current Senate rules, 60 votes are required to overcome a filibuster.

Here
is a time-line of the events after the 2008 election:

1. BALANCE BEFORE THE ELECTION. In 2007 – 2008 the balance in the Senate was 51-49 in favor of the Democrats. On top of that, there was a Republican president who would likely veto any legislation the Republicans didn’t like. Not exactly a super majority.

2. BIG GAIN IN 2008, BUT STILL NO SUPER MAJORITY. Coming out the 2008 election, the Democrats made big gains, but they didn’t immediately get a Super Majority. The Minnesota Senate race required a recount and was not undecided for more than six months. During that time, Norm Coleman was still sitting in the Senate and the Balance 59-41, still not a Super Majority.

3. KENNEDY GRAVELY ILL. Teddy Kennedy casts his last vote in April and leaves Washington for good around the first of May. Technically he could come back to Washington vote on a pressing issue, but in actual fact, he never returns, even to vote on the Sotomayor confirmation. That leaves the balance in the Senate 58-41, two votes away from a super majority.

4. STILL NO SUPER MAJORITY. In July, Al Frankin was finally declared the winner and was sworn in on July 7th, 2009, so the Democrats finally had a Super Majority of 60-40 six and one-half months into the year. However, by this point, Kennedy was unable to return to Washington even to participate in the Health Care debate, so it was only a technical super majority because Kennedy could no longer vote and the Senate does not allow proxies. Now the actual actual balance of voting members is 59-40 not enough to overcome a Republican filibuster.

5. SENATE IS IN RECESS. Even if Kennedy were able to vote, the Senate went into summer recess three weeks later, from August 7th to September 8th.

6. KENNEDY DIES. Six weeks later, on Aug 26, 2009 Teddy Kennedy died, putting the balance at 59-40. Now the Democrats don’t even have technical super majority.

7. FINALLY, A SUPER MAJORITY! Kennedy’s replacement was sworn in on September 25, 2009, finally making the majority 60-40, just enough for a super majority.

8. SENATE ADJOURNS. However the Senate adjourned for the year on October 9th, only providing 11 working days of super majority, from September 25th to October 9th.

8. SCOTT BROWN ELECTED. Scott Brown was elected in November of 2009. The Senate was not in session during November and December of 2009. The Senate was in session for 10 days in January, but Scott Brown was sworn into office on February 4th, so the Democrats only had 13 days of super majority in 2010.

Summary: The Democrats only had 24 days of Super Majority between 2008 and 2010.

Discussion: The Democrats had a super majority for a total of 24 days. On top of that, the period of Super Majority was split into one 11-day period and one 13-day period. Given the glacial pace that business takes place in the Senate, this was way too little time for the Democrats pass any meaningful legislation, let alone get bills through committees and past all the obstructionistic tactics the Republicans were using to block legislation.

Further, these Super Majorities count Joe Lieberman as a Democrat even though he was by this time an Independent. Even though he was Liberal on some legislation, he was very conservative on other issues and opposed many of the key pieces of legislation the Democrats and Obama wanted to pass. For example, he was adamantly opposed to “Single Payer” health care and vowed to support a Republican Filibuster if it ever came to the floor.

Summary:

1. 1/07 – 12/08 – 51-49 – Ordinary Majority.
2. 1/09 – 7/14/09 – 59-41 – Ordinary Majority. (Coleman/Franklin Recount.)
3. 7/09 – 8/09 - 60-40 – Technical Super Majority, but since Kennedy is unable to vote, the Democrats can’t overcome a filibuster
4. 8/09 – 9/09 - 59-40 – Ordinary Majority. (Kennedy dies)
5. 9/09 – 10/09 - 60-40 – Super Majority for 11 working days.
6. 1/10 – 2/10 – 60-40 – Super Majority for 13 working days

Total Time of the Democratic Super Majority: 24 Working days.

[Mysturji]

So... you're a Democrat now?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

[Ian]

I think Coito may be a closet Democrat and he's just taking time to realize it. Like those gay men who can't admit it to themselves until they're well into middle age with a wife and kids.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I think Coito may be a closet Democrat and he's just taking time to realize it. Like those gay men who can't admit it to themselves until they're well into middle age with a wife and kids.

We should encourage him to come out.

[Coito ergo sum]

LOL - Only 'zilla could make the argument that having the Executive Branch and majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is insufficient power to get things done.

Please...tell me more about how the Republicans were able to pass all the nefarious legislation and eliminated all the good regulations in the economy, when it was so easy for the Democrats to stop them from doing it.... LOL.

Democrats: impotent even when they are in the majority, and impotent in the minority.

Republicans: in total control, even when they are in the minority and there is a Democrat in the White House.

If they Dems are that ineffectual, why would we want them running things in the first place?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Denial sucks, don't it?

[Ian]

If they Dems are that ineffectual, why would we want them running things in the first place?

That's actually a fair question. I'd say that Democrats are more level-headed and thus not as prone to bluffing, hostage-taking, kamikaze-like-strategies, lying or outright buffoonery and therefore deserve to be running things because they're the grown-ups in the room. But, the GOP has a surplus of balls, even if they have a shortage of brains. And Americans respect and like balls.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

If they Dems are that ineffectual, why would we want them running things in the first place?

That's actually a fair question. I'd say that Democrats are more level-headed and thus not as prone to bluffing, hostage-taking, kamikaze-like-strategies, lying or outright buffoonery and therefore deserve to be running things because they're the grown-ups in the room. But, the GOP has a surplus of balls, even if they have a shortage of brains. And Americans respect and like balls.

If it weren't for the strangle-hold religion has on the Guys Only Party, and their "me first, devil the hindmost" attitude, and their war on women, children, and the old, and the way they want to outlaw other parties, I'd be a Republican.

j/k. I would never be a Republican.

[Coito ergo sum]

http://uspolitics.about.com/od/usgovern ... sion_2.htm




If we're going to look at who are the adults in the room, we must acknowledge that during the Clinton years where everyone feels the country was much better off than during the Bush years the Republicans were in control most of the time in the House and Senate. So, since the Congress passes budgets, and does the taxing and spending. It's obvious that the Republican controlled Congress must have been doing the right thing from 1994 to 2000.

Forward to the Bush Administration -- you can see the deficits under Bush weren't too drastic until his last two years when the Democrats took control of Congress. One could never legitmately make the claim they "spiraled" out of control while he was in office, until the Democrats gained control of Congress.

The Democrats have had their way ever since. House Republicans tried to pass a budget that would reduce the deficit in a substantial way, and the Democrats obstructed it. We have no budget. And we have a 1.33 trillion dollar deficit.

[Ian]

Ah, I always love hearing that chestnut - how the Democrats had control of congress when the recession began. Twelve years of a GOP congress and seven-plus years of the Bush administration, and somehow it was the incoming Pelosi & Co. who managed to ruin everything.

"Denial is the most predictable of all human responses." - The Architect.