in every thing.. does not move forward those of us at state level..

with the President and realize that sometimes it's okay to support a Democrat if it means preserving the safety net.

haul ash.. for all I care.. it is so hard trying to get our people elected without any anklebiters pulling us back..

Republicans want to cut every program that democrats support, yet I don't see one cut to the "corporate welfare" they keep on giving their rich backers! Where is the cut to subsidies and tax breaks for oil companies that make "billions" every year? Where are the cuts to corporate farmers who raking in millions in subsidies? There are a whole lot of cuts that should be made instead of taking away programs that actually help the people in this country.

I agree with you, the choice is pretty clear.

His appointments betray his true allegiance (Bernanke and Summers do not favor the 99%). Oh I can see it all now. The nasty ole Republicans will as for an 83% cut and the President will bargain them down to a 40% and you will consider that a win-win and the Republicans will be celebrating another victory because they would have been happy with a 35%. And the so-called "pragmatists" will rationalize that it is better than 45%.

Pragmatism and the less of evils theory are the reasons the middle class has all but died. Every compromise we sink lower. What the frock will the pragmatists say when we have nothing left to compromise with?

These programs--the ones being cut--are all PRIORITIES FOR OBAMA.

If you read the article, you'd notice this:

It's time for action. Speeches and lists of priorities ain't gonna cut it anymore.

and programs?

Isn't it his job to figure that out.

but can't think of anything else he can do?

That seems like a reasonable standard.

And again, what I don't care about is him doing something that ain't going to change a fucking thing.

And he continually nominates and appoints conservative corporatists. His "priorities" are only rhetoric until we see results.

Is Gina McCarthy a career corporatist?

How about the person in charge of the Community Development grant program?

The Fish and Wildlife Service?

YES YES YES YES!!!!


More pre-arranged Kabuki Theatre isn't going to help the 99%.
We are screwn by either outcome, it's just a small matter of how bad the screwing's going to be.

We will not make gains in the House, and may well lose the Senate, if we treat this as a typical race-by-race midterm. We need to do what the GOP did in 2010: nationalize the midterms and run against the GOP as a party. Remind everyone of what their priorities are and how little they've done for ordinary folks. Drum it in until people would think of voting for Jesus if He appeared on a ballot as J. Christ (R) (though why would He?). That's the way we win.

People have to be made to understand that the only way things get better in DC is if the Republicans don't control federal spending. That's not sufficient, but it is absolutely necessary.

He wants his Social Security cuts very badly. I still don't support it. If he does manage get his beloved cuts, the Democratic Party is going to be deeply damaged.

Sounds like a real winner of a plan.

Urging people to turn off their brains, boo the bad guys, and offer unquestioning support to the party's leadership is hardly inspiring.

core liberal programs, I guess they're not priorities.

They always urge us to accept very short term extensions of things just about everyone supports (unemployment, funding to the EPA, etc.) in trade for permanent concessions like cuts to Social Security, or maintaining the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy.

The 1% steadily gains ground, and we're constantly giving things up to maintain some of the things we have for one more year. Or one more quarter.

as part of the discretionary budget.

And, you must have slept through the 2012 elections, since the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy were a major issue in those elections and in the subsequent lame duck they were mostly repealed.

Were you really under the impression that the population here is on the fence about the EPA?

C'mon, let's not bullshit each other. "Pick a side" means support Obama in his "negotiations", and we all know how unpopular his position was last time around.

these kinds of programs. Using the bully pulpit trying to build public support for those programs and against the Teahadist cuts to those programs.

DU's collective reaction was to whine about an appointment that hasn't been made (Summers is still the consensus #2 choice behind Yellen), rather than to say "you know what, that's the message the American people need to hear."

Because people would rather piss on Obama than do anything indicating support for anything he says in any ways.

The site is really not in favor of anything, it's mainly a gathering of antis.

You mean, like the one we already have? Wow-- such vision.

Why are we constantly asked to make permanent "compromises" in exchange for keeping what we already have for a little longer?

There is nothing we have that we cannot have taken away from us.

There will be no cuts to Social Security. Its been predicted on DU now more times than anyone can count.

Its not happening.

did a whole lot of maneuvering to make such cuts possible (with his loaded "Deficit Commission" as a prime example).

Have you ever heard President Obama come out to the American people and actually advocate for this cuts you are so sure he wants?

No. Because it has not happened. And its not going to happen.

It goes like this each time. The GOP says "we want cuts to SS". Obama says "Ok, what will you give me for them?", the GOP says "nothing" ... Obama says, "ok, no cuts.".

And the perpetually disgruntled scream "OMG, Obama hates social security and is making a deal to gut (slash/kill) social security!!" ... DU explodes ... "Obama is going to CAVE!!!" Thread after thread in total panic. "This time its going to happen!!"

And then ... nothing happens. And then DU takes brief rest from this particular "outrage". Its popped up every couple months since Obama took office. And it won't stop until he leaves office.

If Chained CPI, or some other Social Security cut, is not part of the next round of negotiations, then I'm full of shit and his offer from last time around really was nothing but a ruse... just a piece of fiction designed to look like an offer.

If such cuts are back on the table, then you're full of shit and should really drop this argument.

My prediction is that there will be no deal made to cut social security. None. It is not happening. And there will be no cuts passed into law while Obama is President. And that will be true even if the GOP takes control of the entire Congress.

Now ... folks on DU have been predicting a DEAL that would ACTUALLY CUT Social Security. They've been wrong every time.

Again, no such deal will be made this time. It will not happen.

Further ... I predict that President Obama will allow cuts to be part of the negotiation, and he'll pressure the GOP to be specific about such cuts -- declare what they want.

I also predict that congressional democrats will scream against SS cuts, and the smart ones will use "I will protect SS" as part of their 2014 campaigns.

Now ... if you are so sure Obama is going to make a deal that cuts SS, say so. Make the prediction. Feel free to also predict that he wants such cuts so bad, that he will go to the American people and argue for such cuts in an attempt to get such cuts passed following a deal.

But its not happening.

Making a prediction on that point is a complete waste of time.

But one can predict, with some confidence, the general shape of the negotiations, because we've had several years' worth of experience.

I predict that Obama will offer Chained CPI or some other Social Security cut as part of his negotiation, and apparently you don't disagree.

What do you think is going to happen? He has no interest in making waves, just being a Carter to the next republican, which is at this time assured.

or do you support the Republican funding levels, or are you indifferent?

And caves continually? Or gives the store away?

for Obama, since you don't care whether programs like the EPA Clean Water grants etc get funded.

Or, you just don't care about core liberal social programs and legislation.

You've gone on the record as being indifferent to the levels of spending in those programs.

alternative energy, protecting wildlife etc--you just admitted it, so it's been established you really don't give a fuck about the policies.

So, no he hasn't destroyed anything you care about, since it's not clear you care about anything other than preserving your ability to whine.

See, he's "fighting" so hard to maintain funding for these things for another year. You just have to give up something permanent, like your Social Security. Next year, you'll need to make some other permanent concession in exchange for a temporary extension of very basic government functions, of course-- but-- that's next year.

They did the same exact thing with extending the Bush Tax Cuts, and a host of other things. We're supposed to accept permanent concessions, like low taxes on the rich, in exchange for temporary extensions to basic things like unemployment benefits. And we can "bargain" for them all again next year, no doubt with even more permanent concessions.

That's what you are saying.

I'm curious ... do you think that it was good or bad for Obama to make a deal to extend the Bush tax cuts for 2 years so that he could get enough GOP votes to end DADT ... because that was one of the permanent things he got with that temporary extension. Good deal, or bad deal?

Because of who was elected, and who was not elected.

No, I don't think I do need to pick a side. If Social Security cuts are back on the table, again, then I'm not on that side.

you don't need to pick a side.

Just like if you're indifferent to getting rid of the ACA, and alternative energy programs, then you really don't need to pretend to care if the Republicans get their way.

Obama needs to pick a side. He needs to dance with the ones that brung him. If he does that, then we're on the same side.

show me something real. This has all been done to death. He's corporate and we're fucked.

They golf and run naked through the woods together. It's a giant, theatrical conspiracy against the 99%.

The children don't have the attention span for it.

too busy giving orders to the Stasi working security at Comicon.

slashed . . . because Obama is arguing against those cuts.

Some people who call themselves progressives are really just self-righteous assholes.

I have a few words for them.

Sid

the Republicans to help core liberal programs and agencies protect the poor and the emvironment, they are neither Democrats nor adults. Because supporting Rand Paul on drones is 'principled' but supporting Obama on having a working EPA is too icky for their pristine little hands.

Itll be interesting watching the dog and pony show get everyone infuriated

or expanding health care to poor people.

Has any viable US political party proposed a comprehensive plan to avert the existential threat that will starve billions in the next 50 years and threaten the survival of the human species? Not really. Not even close. Anyone who did would no longer be politically viable.


And really...privatized mandated health insurance? Call me when per capita health expenditures goes down and health outcomes start increasing with this uniquely American clusterfuck the "left" put in place (after digging it out of Nixon's NHIPA playbook).


I'm watching from my couch. You got a ridiculous game going on there and whoever may win, its not going to be the suffering masses.

in your ability to act all superior and omniscient from the pure sanctum of your couch.

What happens to the planet and to actual human beings pales in significance to your ability to posture.

Pretty speeches and symbolic gestures will not save people and the environment. While policy could help the people's health care, that policy is out of bounds (single-payer for example, which has a proven record in the real world of helping).

As for the environment, we are all fucking toast on this BAU course no matter what Obama has to say. Were screwed no matter how many cuts are made while we outsource more production (because after all, its about the aggregate global emissions, not what happens in the US). Its over. Put a fork in it.

The environment is the most ridiculous rallying call ever for supporting conventional political parties stuck in 21st Century paradigms. These people aren't scientist. If anything they are religious zealots of Economics.

My couch is comfy. Ill watch and save some energy to work on a garden so I don't fucken starve when you broken government implodes from dysfunction. You need to pick new rallying calls. Like how the Whitehouse website works. Or who gets to play at the inaguration. Or what species the whitehouse dog gets to be.

Not speeches. Decisions about what gets done and where money goes. the core of how the federal government operates.

And you're on the record being indifferent between the Paul Ryan budget and the Obama budget when it comes to the federal government.

Whatever comes out of the process is what our chosen leaders' leaders intend before the show starts. It will be somewhere in the middle. Enough to pacify a majority and make it look like everyone did a little giving and taking. Im not going to get my panties in a wad over the show. There isn't a damn thing I can do but tend my garden and watch it all burn. I'm not going to pretend otherwise. Thats how things work in reality.

And you're on the record being indifferent between the Paul Ryan budget and the Obama budget when it comes to the federal government.

I am not special. I don't have a special place in the show. I am not an integral part of the process or the machine. I don't have to get my emotions all entangled with the momentum of this game--this cascade of dominoes--and thereby twist my perception to cater to an emotionally delicate conception of reality. I am as worthless as the other 8 billion, and as helpless. That's ok. And its ok to watch the show knowing that (which maybe everyone is just a helpless player in).

But what is really terrifying is to realize those in charge behind the curtains are just as incompetent and helpless as I am.

are you ranting on this message board?

Methinks thou dost protest too much. Or maybe you're just being a brat.

Is it working yet?

Mr. Obama will do the right thing on these issues.

is vastly superior--unambigously and undeniably so--to the House GOP/Paul Ryan budget.

I already DID that 3rd party or not voting crap and ended up with George W.Bush. Never again. My state is Blue thank God, and my Senators and Reps. are Democrats.

Republicans are a disease.

Maybe you have this site confused with another?

Right, you took care of your too?

That is incredibly telling.

People who are indifferent regarding the Paul Ryan budget are not Democrats and are not progressives.

Well I meant that we should all (already) be on the same page and not picking sides (because we are all on the Ds side of things).

People that like Paul Ryan's budget proposal, what exactly is it you like so much about it?

alternative energy, wildlife preservation, NEA, and Community Development grants between Obama's budget and the Ryan/House GOP budget.

They're not saying "I think Obama can be trusted 100%" they're saying they're indifferent between the two budgets.

No one has said that at all. It is a characterization, a fictional bit of poo being flung. 'Several have said....and that's incredibly telling'. But not one quote or link to these several very telling posters. Why is that? Same reason you have not seen that.
Never accept gossip without a challenge. Those who wish to condemn others for what they say need to use that which is actually said to indict, those who do not quote and instead characterize do so for a reason.

so I can see why they believe there is no difference between the two proposals.

"Several people have said they're indifferent between Paul Ryan's budget and Obama's. That is incredibly telling."
The level of honesty in communications is directly related to the respect held by the party speaking. This is why I take issue with folks who tell me things they can not support, particularly when those things are attacks on other unnamed Democrats.

You claim several have said they're indifferent between Paul Ryan's budget and Obama's. Can you manage to quote even one person who actually said those words? Can you manage to show several. You claim several said it AND that that fact is 'incredibly telling' so it is not just fact but platform for your conclusions. To attempt that without quotes and links and cites is incredibly telling and also predictable.

Got a link?

I took it as a suggestion that the stated differences are not authentic, but more a game to allow "debate and compromise".

I seriously doubt that the poster you've quoted is for defunding the EPA. They seemed to me to be saying that they aren't convinced that the so-called fight is actually what its presented to be, and that Obama has not earned any faith in such negotiations from liberals.

Question:

posters had said very specific things which even this poster did not say.
You: Several people have said they're indifferent between Paul Ryan's budget and Obama's. That is incredibly telling.
Several people have said it AND that's telling. Incredibly telling. Yet the words are your own, not the words of even one poster.
Several people have said this and it is incredibly telling!!!!!!!!!
Uh huh.

between what Obama has called for and what the House GOP has called for.

This is why, btw, the Ron Paul critique exists regarding the critics here. When it comes to fighting for what government should be doing on an active basis, there's very little interest. What gets people going is opposing, trying to roll back government (with the notable exception of gun regulation).

There are literally 100 NSA/Snowden/Manning threads for every thread about immigration reform or for climate change.

There is a very large segment of the population here that only posts threads critical of Democrats and especially Obama. They have nothing bad to say about Republicans.

They've said they've seen this movie so many times they are indifferent to the appeal to "pick a side". You are dishonest.

Just because I have my doubts doesn't mean I favor Ryan's budget. I'm a super-voter. I'm not one of those you want to blame for the losses in 2010. I'm a confirmed "lesser of two evils" voter. That doesn't mean I have to like it.

over levels of federal spending, speaking generally do you favor Obama's budget, the House GOP budget, or are you indifferent as to which budgetary vision wins out in the end?

that I will support the lesser of two evils, that doesn't mean I have to like it. What's so hard to understand about that? Mostly I will be standing on the sidelines hoping and praying that the final outcome is not too terribly onerous; however, whether or not I am for or against anything on the national level doesn't carry much weight. I focus on state issues because there I may make a difference.

So why the pep rally? Doesn't make sense.

I thought that DU is for getting Democrats elected, not for mindless cheering afterwards. Freepers do that.
Regarding the upcoming budget "battle", I don't think anyone in Washington gives a rat's ass what I think about the two budgets, and the budgets will be ignored or dissected or whatever on purely political grounds that the American people have no control over.
Trying to get people to take sides, as if that mattered, is sort of like a political version of Horton Hears a Who.
We live in Whoville. No one listens until they want a vote or money or both, seems like.
Anyway, if more legislation is proposed or signed off on that adversely affects the 99%, it won't be DU who is "anklebiting" the Dem base. It is Washington.

I sincerely hope I am not asked to cheer for the TPP. Bad words will ensue.

Its comfy! You don't have to pretend to like eating shit sandwiches. You can have principles! Its fun to watch the children fight in the sandbox! You don't have to get distracted by nonesense!