LIVE AT FIVE – 07.29.11

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.

* * * PREVIOUSLY * * *

UPDATE 9:45 p.m. ET: Jill Jackson of CBS News:

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.

Linked by That Mr. G Guy — thanks!

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 7:45 p.m. ET: Politicon links — thanks! — and also links to The Hill‘s whip count, which reports 24 Republican “no” votes. Ace of Spades notes that “some ‘long-standing’ conservative members” are reported among the “no” votes.

Linked by Mangy Redbone Hound — thanks!

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.

UPDATE 6:45 p.m. ET: Hot Air’s got the story headlined as “BOEHNERGEDDON” — Allahpundit doing his usual “Link Everybody Except Stacy” round-up — so I’m grateful to Don Surber, Bob Belvedere, The Rhetorican and The Lonely Conservative for their linkage.

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:

Few freshmen in Congress can rival Ellmers’s credentials as the total Tea Party conservative, so her support of the bill is highly significant.

BTW, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped another 61 points today. I blame Harry Reid.

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.

Category: Budget, Congress, Harry Reid, Renee Ellmers, Tea Party

Bad News, America: NASCAR Is Now Allowing French-Canadian Drivers …

Posted on | July 28, 2011 | 24 Comments

… Good news? She’s a smokin’ hot brunette:

Next month, Quebec native Maryeve Dufault will attempt to qualify for the NASCAR Nationwide Series NAPA Auto Parts 200. The race will be Saturday, August 20th at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve road course in Montreal. This will be Dufault’s first race in the Nationwide series.
Dufault, 29, presently drives for Tony Marks Racing in the ARCA series, having competed in ten of the eleven races held thus far in 2011. Her best finish is tenth in the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 150 this past June at Chicagoland Speedway. . . .

Read the rest by Jerry Wilson at the Examiner.

The xenopobic fear and loathing of foreigners that inspires my anti-immigrant policy has one exception: “Don’t deport the hotties!”

Category: Canada, Immigration, NASCAR, Rule 5

Wow. Just … Wow.

Posted on | July 28, 2011 | 13 Comments

Just caught a glimpse of a TV commercial for this new movie and had to grab the full-length HD theatrical trailer:

The Devil’s Double — a movie based on the true story of Saddam Hussein’s evil son Uday — hits theaters Friday night, that has been called “Scarface of Arabia.”

Category: Iraq, Movies

Pamela Geller Vindicated, Again, While the LGF Auto-Beclownment Continues

Posted on | July 28, 2011 | 40 Comments

Donald Douglas at American Power has a post about how LGF’s Charles Johnson bullied a Forbes writer into removing a reference in her article to an incontrovertible fact: Norwegian terrorist Anders Behring Breivik cited Little Green Footballs in his “manifesto.”

Breivik linked LGF 20 times, mostly while quoting anti-jihad blogger “Fjordman,” a former LGF commenter. And so Charles Johnson was outraged by Forbes writer Abigail Easman’s article:

Obviously, it’s incorrect to call LGF “popular.” Period.

And let me just remind you that, three weeks before the Oslo massacre, Pamela Geller was being criticized for going public with her concerns about neo-Nazi elements in the English Defence League. My defense of her at that time was simple: If Pamela Geller says you’ve got an anti-Semitism problem, you probably have an anti-Semitism problem.

Fast-forward to the aftermath of Oslo, and Breivik’s claims of “connections” with members of the EDL.

If this is true, don’t you kind of wonder if the EDL members who were buddies with the Norwegian terrorist were some of the same neo-Nazi types Geller was warning about?

PREVIOUSLY:

Category: American Power, Atlas Shrugs, Charles Johnson, Norway, Terrorism

House Will Vote Today on Revamped Debt-Ceiling Bill; Senate Dems Say ‘No’

Posted on | July 28, 2011 | 27 Comments

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.

Molly Hooper of The Hill reports:

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.

Category: Budget, Congress, John Boehner

LIVE AT FIVE – 07.28.11

Posted on | July 28, 2011 | 4 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho

TOP NEWS
House GOP Sets Vote On Revamped Boehner Bill

Speaker John Boehner

Despite Senate Dems stomping their little feet and Obama threatening to hold his breath until he turns blue, the Speaker presses on
Tea Party Leaders Cite Member Concerns Over Boehner’s Leadership (Video)

Texans Expect Tropical Storm Dan To Bring Rain, Not Destruction
Steadily moving low-speed storm projected to come ashore near Corpus Christi but could reach land anywhere between Houston and Brownsville

ROK Braces For More Rain As Death Toll Rises To 38
Floods, landslides claim more lives in Seoul area

POLITICS
Perry Unsure Of Own Role At Prayer Rally

Gov. Perry remains noncommittal about candidacy

“I may be ushering, for all I know,” says governor; unconcerned about atheists’ suit to prevent his participation

Atheists Sue Over Cross At 9/11 Museum

Gov. Perry Calls Debt Debate “Political Theater”

Sarah Palin To Speak In Iowa Over Labor Day Weekend

Obamacare Reaches The Supreme Court

Judge Orders SanFran Circumcision Ban Off The Ballot

Romney Defends Jobs Record

White House Rickrolls America

Senate Unanimously Extends Mueller As FBI Director

Heavy Metal Preacher Sues Rachel Maddow For $50 Million

THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Asia Stocks, Oil Drop On US Debt Talks
Q&A: What A US Credit Downgrade Would Mean
VISA Profit Beats Estimates As Credit Card Spending Grows
Credit Suisse To Cut 2000 Jobs As Profits Fall
Fear Over Debt Fight Taking Hold With Investors
IRS Asks Airlines To Refund Taxes On Tickets
Nintendo Posts Q1 Loss, Slashes Profit Outlook
Is Apple Declaring War On DVDs?
HTC Willing To Negotiate With Apple In Patent Dispute
iPad Fastest Growing Games Platform As Consoles Shrink To 40%
Feds Take Closer Look At Google Plans To Buy Admeld
Big Three Agree To New MPG Rules

SPORTS
Angels’ Santana Throws No-Hitter

Ervin Santana is mobbed by teammates after last out of his no-hitter

First solo no-hitter since 1984 gives Angels win over Tribe, 3-1

Thayer Calls For Firing Of UNC Athletic Director

McNabb Goes To Vikings For Picks

Giants Close Deal For Carlos Beltran

Ortiz Slam Helps Sox Crown Royals

Seahawks Make Big Splash In Free Agent Pool

Pac-12 Network Is Coming

MLB And Umpire Agree: He Blew The Call In 19th Inning

Cain, Giants Win Duel With Phillies

Sigh Of Relief As M’s Break Losing Streak

Nats’ Ninth-Inning Rally Falls Short, Marlins Cling To 7-5 Win

FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
First Look At The Men Of “The Hunger Games”

Liam Hemsworth and Gale Hutcherson

Still on track for March 2012 release
“The Muppets” Poster Premieres
New Muppet movie opens November 23

Jesse James & Kat Von D Fighting Over Another Woman Before Split

Alexander Skarsgard & Kate Bosworth Split

Lee DeWyze Is Engaged!

Sarah Drew Of “Grey’s Anatomy” Is Pregnant

Lauren Conrad Flirts With “Teen Wolf”‘s Colton Haynes

Alex Trebek Injured After Chasing Burglar In LA Hotel

Paz De La Huerta Would Rather Not Be Amy Winehoused

Riot Cops Fire Beanbags At Unruly “Electric Daisy” Fans

FOREIGNERS
Plan Would Keep Qaddafi In Libya, Out Of Power
PRC Blames Train Crash On Faulty Signals
Al-Qaeda Chief Zawahiri Praises Syrian Protesters
ROK Urges Norks To Show Sincerity In Talks With US
Violence In Northern Kosovo Draws EU Warning

BLOGS & STUFF
Moe Lane: Debbie Wassermann-Schultz Goes Wobbly. Again.
PJ Tatler: Jay Carney Lacks The Gravitas To Represent The White House
Michelle Malkin: Rancor On The Right – Of Elephants And Asses
Jim Geraghty: GOP Caucus Watches “The Town” Scene; Schumer Horrified, May Faint
Troglopundit: “GOP In Chaos”. They Say That Like It’s News Or Something.
Moonbattery: Comedian George Lopez Promises To Move To Canada If Sarah Palin Elected President
AmSpecBlog: Double Standards, “Welcome Terrorists” Edition
Yid With Lid: Sheila Jackson Lee Calls For Investigation Of “Right Wing Extremists” At Muslim Hearing
Weasel Zippers: Bawney Fwank Blames Sexism For Failure OF Elizabeth Warren Nomination
Jawa Report: Norway Mass Murderer An Equal Opportunity Plagiarist
Lonely Conservative: Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) Claims We Don’t Have A Deficit Problem
Wall Street Journal: Who Elected The Ratings Agencies?
Megan McArdle: What Does Wall Street Want?

SOTD: This Is My Rifle (NSFW)

Category: Live at Five

Dear Rich Liberals …

Posted on | July 27, 2011 | 14 Comments

. . . given that you keep demanding higher taxes to deal with the debt-ceiling crisis, Don Surber offers this helpful suggestion:

Write a big fat check to the Treasury and mail the check to:

Bureau of the Public Debt
P. O. Box 2188
Parkersburg, WV 26106-2188

This money will be used to pay down that debt.

Which is an excellent suggestion for rich liberals like Nancy Pelosi. And as for you greedy rich right-wing capitalists . . . It’s for the children!

. . . . . .

Category: Budget, Don Surber

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The Other McCain

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LIVE AT FIVE – 07.29.11

LATEST: BOEHNER CANCELS VOTE! EARLIER: Pizza Delivery to Boehner’s Office Could Signal an All-Nighter UPDATE: Boehner Yanks Debt-Ceiling Bill at Last Minute! Vote Postponed UPDATE: Sarah Palin Sends Cryptic Message to Republican Freshmen UPDATE: Boehner Now 2 Votes Short?

Bad News, America: NASCAR Is Now Allowing French-Canadian Drivers …

Wow. Just … Wow.

Pamela Geller Vindicated, Again, While the LGF Auto-Beclownment Continues

House Will Vote Today on Revamped Debt-Ceiling Bill; Senate Dems Say ‘No’

LIVE AT FIVE – 07.28.11

Dear Rich Liberals …

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