Republican presidential candidate Rep. Michele Bachmann’s failure to address a disturbing trend of teen suicides within her own congressional district does not reflect well on her White House ambitions, House minority leader Nancy Pelosi told The Advocate Thursday.
Over the past two years, nine teens have committed suicide in Minnesota’s largest school district, resulting in federal investigations, lawsuits from advocacy groups, and the morbid designation of a “suicide contagion area” by state public health officials. At least four suicide victims, as Mother Jones noted in a feature published Monday, had been reported victims of bullying because they were LGBT or perceived to be LGBT.
There are several things wrong with this:
Getting attacked by Nancy Pelosi is good for Republicans.
To say “X got bullied” and “X committed suicide” shows correlation, not causation.
What about all of the gay people who didn’t commit suicide?
But this is just more “Republicans are homophobes” propaganda.
By the way, in a conversation last week, a friend pointed out that “anti-bullying” has become the latest fashionable liberal crusade precisely because “anti-bullying” is code for “Let’s teach pro-gay ‘tolerance’ in the schools!” And my friend pointed that out in relation to this video:
“Pet the dog! Pet the dog!” My friend’s theory is that the Hutchison-Stodden marriage is just a scam to promote a reality-TV show.
Are people really that cynical in Hollywood? I dunno. And it’s probably an unfair stereotype to suggest that men who like tiny dogs are gay.
The House of Representatives on Friday approved a plan for a short-term increase in the debt ceiling and cuts in spending, ending a week of intense fighting among Republicans and shifting the end game of the debate to the Senate.
The vote was 218-210, leaving House Speaker John A. Boehner with 20 Republicans who were unwilling to support his efforts to get a bill approved.
Urging passage for the bill, an emotional Mr. Boehner angrily accused President Obama and his Democratic allies of negotiating in bad faith for weeks and called the bill the only way to “end this crisis now.”
“All they would do was criticize what I put out there,” Mr. Boehner said, his voice rising during a rare appearance on the floor. “I stuck my neck out a mile to get an agreement with the president of the United States. I stuck my neck out a mile. I put revenues on the table.”
He added: “A lot of people in this town can never say yes.”
UPDATE III: Need a good laugh? While accusing Republicans of hostage-taking, White House press secretary Jay Carney expresses concern that “the economy has suffered”:
Where was Jay Carney’s concern for the economy while his boss, Obama, was wrecking the economy?
Justin Amash (Mich.)
Michele Bachmann (Minn.)
Chip Cravaack (Minn.)
Scott Desjarlais (Tenn.)
Tom Graves (Ga.)
Tim Huelskamp (Kans.)
Steve King (Iowa)
Tim Johnson (Ill.)
Tom McClintock (Calif.)
Mick Mulvaney (S.C.)
Ron Paul (Texas)
Tom Price (Ga.)
Connie Mack (Fla.)
Jim Jordan (Ohio)
Tim Scott (S.C.)
Paul Broun (Ga.)
Tom Latham (Iowa)
Jeff Duncan (S.C.)
Trey Gowdy (S.C.)
Steve Southerland (Fla.)
Joe Walsh (Ill.)
Joe Wilson (S.C.)
UPDATE V: Statement from freshman GOP Rep. Chip Cravaack, explaining his “no” vote on the Boehner bill:
Last week, I voted in favor of the only solution to our nation’s spending spiral to achieve long-term fiscal sustainability – the Cut, Cap, and Balance Act of 2011. We must be responsible now. This includes savings to projected budget levels, enforceable spending controls, and a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution to avert a debt crisis, national default, and credit rating downgrade.
This evening, I could not in good conscience support the Budget Control Act considered by the House because the numbers simply don’t add up. The legislation would enable our nation to continue borrowing on an unsustainable course without the savings it desperately needs, the spending controls to prevent a U.S. credit downgrade, or the guarantee of a Balanced Budget Amendment to ensure prosperity for future Americans.
Last November, I told my constituents in the 8th District that I’m a numbers guy. I gave them my promise and my word that “if the numbers don’t add up, I’m not voting for it.” My constituents know me as a man of principle, and the bill considered by the House tonight is a bad bill that does little to thwart our abysmal economic trajectory.
I applaud the bill’s defense of American working families and job creators and look forward to working with my House colleagues in the coming days to determine a path forward. I urge the House and the Senate to act judiciously in our national interest.
UPDATE VI: Statement from Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) explaining his “no” vote:
I cannot in good conscience vote for a bill that puts the future of my grandchildren and of generations to come in jeopardy. While I respect my Republican colleagues’ efforts to come up with a compromise, the people in the 10th Congressional District of Georgia did not send me to Washington to follow the herd. They sent me here to protect their liberty and to fundamentally change the way our federal government spends their money. I do support a Balanced Budget Amendment, but I do not support raising the debt ceiling and allowing President Obama to put more debt on the backs of the American people. Congress needs to first acknowledge that we have lost all control of our fiscal house, and then we need to focus on finding a real solution for paying down the national debt.
UPDATE VII: Freshman Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) explains her “yes” vote on the Boehner bill:
This evening, the House made history by successfully passing the Balanced Budget Act of 2011. This bill, which I am proud to support, is a fiscally sound solution to put an end to this spending-driven debt crisis and will save the people who sent us here and their families from a bankrupt future. We have now sent not one, but two bills to the Senate that promote both common sense and real spending cuts. If the President and leaders in the Senate are serious about balancing our budget and ending this debt crisis, they will allow this legislation to come to the Senate floor for a vote and be signed into law.
Freshman Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.) explains his “yes” vote on the Boehner bill:
The Budget Control Act is far from perfect but the hard reality is that fiscal conservatives control only one-half of one-third of our government. This bill will make sure the President does not receive a blank check to continue his spending binge and the old ways of Washington, DC – blindly increasing the debt limit without spending cuts- are over. This vote is historic- it’s the first time we are raising the debt ceiling with cuts greater than the increase.
I learned when I was a solider at Fort Irwin National Training Center that when Officers waste too much time trying to come up with the perfect plan, they fall short because they are too inflexible or divided to see the path to victory. However, if you can come up with a 70-75 percent plan and execute it well, then you can win- and that’s what we have in the Budget Control Act.
The Budget Control Act is not perfect, but it is the 70 percent plan that my colleagues and I can execute to 100 percent.
It is now time for the focus to be on the United States Senate to produce a plan to take this country forward.
My fellow Americans, I ask you: If I had voted “No” on the Budget Control Act, who would I have been voting for?
That was the first time Etheridge’s Tea Party-backed GOP challenger was mentioned on the blog. We frequently mentioned Ellmers during the course of the campaign — I’m sure many of y’all contributed to her — and I interviewed her at the Capitol the day she was sworn into office.
This year, Ellmers caught people’s attention in late June when she confronted U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on whether a tax increase on 3 percent of small-business owners should be coupled with spending cuts to reduce the national debt and national deficit. Geithner said there is no other alternative. “You are wrong,” Ellmers told him. A tax increase would stifle job creation, Ellmers said.
A few days later, the House leadership had Ellmers deliver the Republican Party’s official response to Democratic President Obama’s weekly national address. She talked about Republican ideas on how to create jobs.
Since then, Ellmers has appeared on national television at least eight times. Several of those appearances focused on the debt ceiling. . . .
After Pete and I made our friendly wager last night, my buddy John Guardiano started giving me flak about it, saying that among other things I was “playing into the Left’s eagerness to stoke a market downturn so they can force House Republicans to capitulate.”
Here’s the thing: I’m not making a value judgment. It’s irrelevant, as regards my $10 bet, whether the House should or should not pass the Boehner bill. I’m just acting on the knowledge that the market hates uncertainty, which is why the DJIA lost a total 484 points in the past five sessions. And here are the headlines in Friday’s papers:
Are you getting my drift here? If the DJIA was losing an average 97 points per day beforelast night’s big flop, doesn’t it just make sense that Wall Street will be having a Freakout Friday Fire Sale today?
Drew M. at AOSHQ says: “Tomorrow (Friday) is 2Q GDP report day. Should be fun. And by fun I mean, awful.”
The initial reaction to the Big Boehner Bungle from both U.S. futures markets and the Asian markets indicated my common-sense hunch was right. But markets are notoriously unpredictable (otherwise we’d all be rich), so it’s anybody’s guess whether Pete or I will be smiling when the closing bell rings on Wall Street this afternoon.
House Republican leaders have postponed indefinitely a vote on Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) debt limit bill after they could not persuade enough Republicans to support the measure.
“No vote tonight,” the third-ranking House Republican, Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), told reporters after leaving Boehner’s office shortly before 10:30 p.m.
The most obvious possible prediction: The Dow Jones Industrial Average will drop at least 200 points Friday.
About 2 dozen pizzas were just delivered to Boehner’s office. It’s going to be a long one…
It is at times like this that I say to myself, “Maybe I should’ve stuck with that forklift-driver job I had when I was 25.” Who knows? I might have been loading-dock foreman by now . . .
UPDATE 10:00 p.m. ET: National Journal‘s informal count “showed that 22 House Republicans say they will vote no on the measure, four leaning no, and six undecided,” which would be 26 “no” or leaning “no,” meaning that Boehner is now three votes short of the majority 218 needed for passage.
Nobody ever asks my advice on things like this, but if I was in Boehner’s shoes, I’d say, “Damn the torpedoes: Call the vote!”
It would be better to have the vote and lose it, than to sit around until midnight begging for votes.
And if Boehner loses the vote? Offer his resignation. Immediately.
Because if you can’t get a majority on a key bill like this, your leadership is meaningless.
Call the vote. Win or lose. Go all in, Boehner.
UPDATE 8:15 p.m. ET: Another source on Capitol Hill says they’re currently in “limbo,” expecting to hear by 9 p.m. whether or not there will be a vote tonight. The latest word now is that 25 House Republicans are either “no” votes or leaning toward “no” — which would put Boehner two votes short of a majority for passage.
Getting in touch with my inner cynic, I guess this means that staff are busy putting earmarks into the bill. Somebody’s district is gonna get a new post office or a freeway off-ramp out of this deal, or else an aspiring senator is going to get an extra $20,000 for his 2012 campaign.
UPDATE 9:05 p.m. ET: Still no word on whether they’ll actually have the vote tonight. Moneyrunner comments:
I just watched Special Report with Brett Baier and both Stephen Hayes and Charles Krauthammer – who I admire – are insisting that if Republicans pass the bill that Speaker Boehner crafted they will be in a strong position at the negotiating table.
I have to admit that I need a lot of things explained to me when something is not glaringly obvious but I kept asking: “Why?”
Let me say this: If all you know about what’s happening is what you hear on cable-TV news, you’re probably going to be surprised when you find out — tomorrow, next week, next month — what was actually happening behind the scenes.
Whatever your opinion about this bill, don’t let yourself get worked up into a tizzy by what a bunch of talking heads are saying on TV. They get paid to pretend that we’re on the verge of the Apocalypse. Nobody’s paying you to believe them, so keep your powder dry.
UPDATE 9:18 p.m. ET: OK, now the word is, they’re going to vote some time tonight, but we don’t know when yet, and it is alleged that they don’t even know whether they’ve got the votes to pass the doggone thing. When they go to a roll-call without a complete whip-count — i.e., the result still anybody’s guess — that’s when the going gets weird, and the weird turn pro.
UPDATE 7:25 p.m. ET: While we wait to find out exactly what’s going to happen tonight — will the House vote on the debt-ceiling bill or not? does Boehner have the votes to pass it? — we have a sort of cryptic message to GOP House freshmen from Sarah Palin:
Today I re-read the open letter I wrote to Republican Freshman Members of Congress in November 2010, just days after they were ushered into office in an historic landslide victory due in large part to the activism of commonsense patriots who are considered part of the Tea Party movement. I respectfully ask these GOP Freshman to re-read this letter and remember us “little people” who believed in them, donated to their campaigns, spent hours tirelessly volunteering for them, and trusted them with our votes. This new wave of public servants may recall that they were sent to D.C. for such a time as this.
What does she mean by that? Dunno. But “for such a time as this” is a quote from the Bible (Esther 4:14). Maybe it’s a code word, the secret Mama Grizzly signal or something.
And “for such a time as this,” my sources on the Hill are supposed to be answering their cell phones. IKWIMAITYD.
Please excuse the non-chronological sequence of the updates tonight, but I suppose that conveys as well as anything what a chaotic whirlwind has descended on Capitol Hill.
UPDATE 6 p.m. ET: House Speaker John Boehner postponed the vote mere minutes before the roll call was scheduled to begin.
UPDATE 6:20 p.m. ET: It’s complete madness on Capitol Hill, folks. One GOP staffer says they got the news about the delay via an e-mail sent out by the Democrat whip team. Meanwhile, they’ve heard nothing from Republican whip, Kevin McCarthy, who is said to be still twisting arms to get votes for the Speaker’s bill.
And here’s the scary thing: McCarthy was the head of the GOP’s “Young Guns” candidate recruitment program in the 2010 mid-terms. There are freshmen who owe McCarthy big-time, so if the vote had to be delayed because he can’t promise 218 . . . Dude.
So it’s a total clusterfark in the GOP caucus at this point, although they still expect to have a vote tonight. But they’re now relying on media reports to tell them what the hell is going on with their own Republican leadership.
UPDATE 6:30 p.m. ET: Just to let you know I’m not kidding you about Republicans having to get information from media reports, one of my best Hill sources e-mailed me Major Garrett’s story from National Journal:
Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, is delaying the House vote on his plan to cut the deficit, Republican and Democratic sources told National Journal on Thursday. Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s office said the vote would still take place later in the evening.
A Democratic source said only that Boehner was pushing back the vote. A senior Republican source said the House speaker, who was facing opposition in his caucus, had “delayed” the vote.
“The vote will be this evening,” said a spokesman for Cantor’s office.
You see what I’m talking about here?
A. Democrats know what Boehner’s doing before Republicans know what Boehner’s doing; and B. Republicans don’t find out until it’s reported in the media.
Looks like I picked the wrong day to stop sniffing glue.
If you’re a blogger hoping to get linked at Hot Air, never bother to do any original reporting, because Allah hates bloggers who do reporting.
PREVIOUSLY (5:05 p.m. ET): (Original headline was “BREAKING: House Roll Call on Boehner Bill Expected to Begin at 5:45 p.m. ET”)
So says my source on Capitol Hill. Love it or hate it, House GOP leaders are twisting every arm to pass it. We’ll have complete updated coverage here, of course, but I wanted to share this video of Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-N.C.) announcing her support of the bill:
UPDATE 5:45 p.m. ET (Smitty): Via iOwnTheWorld, Priceless Princess Pelosi:
“What we’re trying to do is save the world from the Republican budget. We’re trying to save life on this planet as we know it today.”
Thanks, lady. Had you condescended to budget when you were running matters, your remarks wouldn’t resemble something the World’s Youngest Blogger just did.
Despite the fact that 53 Senate Democrats have signed a letter vowing to vote against it, John Boehner is pushing ahead to bring his budget bill to a vote today in the House of Representatives:
The new measure depends on caps on agency budgets to cut more than $900 billion from the deficit over the coming decade while permitting a commensurate increase in the nation’s borrowing to allow the government to pay its bills.
Boehner acknowledged that the measure was hardly perfect but represented “the best opportunity we have to hold the president’s feet to the fire. He wants a $2.4 trillion blank check that lets him continue his spending binge through the next election. This is the time to say no.” Boehner made the comments Wednesday to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham.
The vote won’t come until late this afternoon — they don’t want to risk scaring Wall Street with a failed vote before the markets close — and Boehner is expected to have to do some serious arm-twisting to get the 218 votes needed to pass the bill in the House. Jim Antle at The American Spectator lays out Boehner’s problems with his own caucus:
Bamboozled time and again by Democratic presidents and their own leadership, many rank-and-file conservatives . . . are unwilling to raise either taxes or the federal debt limit in exchange for phantom spending cuts.
Late Wednesday, there were signs that the speaker was quelling this conservative rebellion. Boehner revised the plan to include $22 billion in deficit reduction in the first year and to cut and cap spending by an amount that exceeds the debt ceiling increase by $17 billion, according to the updated CBO score circulated by the speaker’s press office. “Get your ass in line,” Boehner reportedly told wavering members.
They may be complying. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who has at times seemed to be positioning himself to Boehner’s right in the debt ceiling debate, pronounced himself “150 percent” in the speaker’s corner. According to press reports, Cantor exhorted members to quit their “whining” and vote for the Boehner plan. “The debt limit vote sucks,” Cantor is said to have admitted, but it was time to “call the president’s bluff” by passing spending cuts and a short-term debt ceiling hike.
Thursday’s vote on the House Republican debt-limit bill has quickly become a referendum on Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio).
It is, without question, the biggest vote of Boehner’s reign. Some are even speculating that Boehner’s Speakership is on the line.
Of course, any bill acceptable to 218 House Republicans may be impossible to get approved by Harry Reid’s Democrat majority in the Senate. All 53 Senate Democrats signed a letter to Boehner yesterday, saying the House GOP’s bill is not “responsible” and “will do America more harm than good.” Allahpundit at Hot Air comments:
So that’s how this story ends. With the party of endless spending and entitlements unto death lecturing fiscal conservatives on how they’re leading the country into a credit downgrade. Perfecto.
Harry Reid has his own plan, but hasn’t brought it to the Senate floor yet and, as Alison Acosta Frazier of Heritage explains, Reid’s plan hands Obama an immediate $2.75 trillion blank check in return for . . . uh, not much. Never mind the CBO scoring. Reid’s proposal employs a typical D.C. budget gimmick: “We’re going to cut X, Y and Z in year 7, 8 and 9 of this 10-year plan — and you can trust us to keep our promises, right?”
Yeah, Mom, I promise I’m gonna eat that broccoli casserole tomorrow. Now can I have some ice cream?
But this is all hypothetical anyway, because even if a compromise can be worked out between the House and Senate — and the Senate has so far passed absolutely nothing — Obama has promised a veto.
So expect a lot of hooplah on the cable-news networks, making the grand kabuki dance seem like a world-historic event, but passing the Boehner plan in the House will really be just the first tiny step toward bringing this mess to a conclusion.
For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
For More Information:
Ellen Carmichael, (678) 601-2772 [email protected]
Cain Meets with American Muslim Leaders
(Stockbridge, GA)- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain met with American Muslim leaders this afternoon at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Virginia. After the meeting, Cain issued the following statement:
I would like to thank Imam Mohamed Magid and the ADAMS Center for extending their hospitality to me this afternoon. We enjoyed heartfelt fellowship and thoughtful dialogue about how patriotic Americans of all faiths can work together to restore the American Dream.
While I stand by my opposition to the interference of shariah law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends. I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it. Muslims, like all Americans, have the right to practice their faith freely and peacefully.
As I expected, we discovered we have much more in common in our values and virtues. In my own life as a black youth growing up in the segregated South, I understand their frustration with stereotypes. Those in attendance, like most Muslim Americans, are peaceful Muslims and patriotic Americans whose good will is often drowned out by the reprehensible actions of jihadists.
I am encouraged by the bonds of friendship forged today at our meeting, and I look forward to continuing this very healthy dialogue. The relationship we established was so positive that the Imam has invited me back to speak to not only some of their youth, but also at one of their worship services.
In attendance at Wednesday’s meeting were:
Imam Mohamed Magid, Executive Director of the ADAMS Center.
Sister Humera Khan, Director, Muflehun.org.
Joshua Salaam, Youth Director of the ADAMS Center, former U.S. military officer.
Robert Marro, Board of Trustees at the ADAMS Center, former U.S. Foreign Service Officer (Minister, Counselor of Embassy)
The ADAMS Center serves more than 5,000 families in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. To contact the ADAMS Center, please call (703) 433-1325.
Friends of Herman Cain will release photographs of the meeting later this week.
Well? Will all those who were denouncing Cain as an “Islamophobe” apologize now? Or will those who defended Cain against such accusations now abandon him? Will this suffice to end the whole “Cain-vs-Islam” controversy?
These are just questions.
Answering such questions is above my pay-grade.
UPDATE: The readership does not seem to approve — to put it rather mildly. In the comments below, Bob Belvedere cites references indicating that Imam Magid and ISNA are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.
