Supplemental Concerns

The last of the war supplemental bills – from now on in the Administration is folding such requests into the normal budgeting process – is on the floor in the House today. The vote is expected to be close: “I think we have the votes,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters in his weekly pen and pad session this morning, but “’confident’ might overstate it.” Hoyer said the bill may get bumped till tomorrow as both parties scramble to see where members stand ahead of a vote.

Breaking with their traditional support of U.S. troops fighting abroad, the G.O.P. leaders are encouraging their members to vote against the $106 billion bill because of $5 billion the Senate attached to cover the risk of default on a $108 billion line of credit for the International Monetary Fund. Republicans are also upset about a provision that would allow the transfer of some Guantanemo detainees to U.S. soil. “Madam Speaker, we can save our disagreements for tomorrow, but today let’s work together – let’s remove the IMF funds, get rid of the GITMO loophole, and protect our troops from harm – and pass the War Supplemental,” Rep. Eric Cantor, the No. 2 House Republican, said on the House floor. “Our troops deserve that.”

(The bill last week overcame another near-mortal problem. President Obama late last week ended a show down between House and Senate conferees that threatened to tank the bill when he pledged to use his “administrative authority” to prevent the release of hundreds of detainee photos. An amendment co-authored by Senators Lindsey Graham and Joe Lieberman was stripped from the bill, appeasing angry progressives and allowing the conference to reach an agreement. The American Civil Liberties Union has been suing to force the release of the photos, a move supported by many on the left.)

Republicans have called the IMF funds a “global bailout,” though Dems were quick to point out that House Minority Leader John Boehner voted for similar funding in 1998. Still, at least 33 Dems – many of them progressives – have also expressed concern over the money, urging Pelosi in a letter not to give the fund a “blank check.” All of which is to say, the bill is not a popular one on either side of the aisle – good thing it’s the last one. Members calculations on how they’ll vote on it seem to have less to do with support of the troops and more to do with the inevitable tv commercials that vulnerable members are surely envisioning as I type this.

The Phony War: Obama and Romney Are Debating Character, Not Policy

More than five months from Election Day, the back-and-forth about Mitt Romney’s record at Bain already feels played out. Unfortunately, there’s good reason to expect the campaign continues in this vein indefinitely. Neither Barack Obama nor Mitt Romney are terribly interested in dwelling on policy platforms. Romney’s plan to slash spending and keep taxes low on the wealthy isn’t especially popular, at least not at any level of detail beyond a blithe promise to shrink the deficit. Meanwhile, Obama’s signature first-term achievements, like health care, the stimulus and Wall Street reform, are all unpopular or tricky to sell. (The Dodd-Frank bill is the most popular of these, but hyping it means offending wealthy donors.) So what we’re getting instead is a superficial duel about character–and, worse, one that’s based on the largely false premise that the better man can better “manage” the economy back to health.

Audacity of Dope: Tales of a Toking Teenage Obama

We knew Barack Obama smoked weed in high school because he wrote about it in his books. What we didn’t know until Buzzfeed posted these choice nuggets (I’m so sorry) from David Maraniss’s new book on the President’s younger years, is the giggle-worthy details of his “Choom Gang” lifestyle, which are right out of a buddy stoner flick. Obama and his friends drove around the lush Hawaii countryside, hot-boxing their VW bus and re-upping with a long-haired pizza-tossing dealer named Ray, who Obama thanked in his yearbook “for all the good times.”

http://elvisberg.wordpress.com Elvis Elvisberg

Breaking with their traditional support of U.S. troops fighting abroad,
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Respectfully, Jay, that was a silly frame when the GOP accused Dems of it, and it remains a silly frame today.
Jay Newton-Small

Elvis,
Would it have been more acceptable is I’d said: Breaking with their traditional mindless, zombie-like support for war funding even when loaded down with all kinds of ridiculous pork?
JNS
gysgt213

“Would it have been more acceptable is I’d said: Breaking with their traditional mindless, zombie-like support for war funding even when loaded down with all kinds of ridiculous pork?”
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JNS-Sounds pretty spot on to me..Only got the guts to put in the comments section and pretend its snark though huh?
incandenzah

JNS — How about this: “breaking with their traditionally mindless, zombie-like support of war funding under *Republican* administrations”?
incandenzah

“Republicans have called the IMF funds a ‘global bailout….’” Considering it was the U.S. that dragged the entire world economy down with us, I think we might owe the world a bailout. No?
gysgt213

Could also have written: The republicans with their mindless zombie-like use of the troops as shields to support war funding and not the troops, are now being even more hypocritical and dishonest, wildly wrong and irresponsible .
http://phd9.blogspot.com Paul Dirks

Wouldn’t it be fun to compile a complete list of all amendments to the War-funding supplimentals with a list of their sponsors. They only date back to 2003 so it wouldn’t be too difficult.
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That would be some real reporting!
tantef

JNS, What gunny said at #3. That being said you are showing some progress by actually responding to comments. Put a little of that snark in your main story and perhaps respect will come after all.
Paul-no not that one

Mr. ENSIGN. Mr. President, I rise today to speak on a topic that is very important. That is the preservation of the most important structure in our society. I rise to speak on the topic of marriage and the need for the Federal Marriage Amendment…marriage, and the sanctity of that institution, predates the American Constitution. It predates the founding of our Nation and even the landing at Plymouth Rock. Marriage, as a social institution, predates every other institution on which ordered society in America, and the world as a whole, has relied including even the church itself.
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Just sayin’
incandenzah

I’m not sure JNS needs to insert more snark in her posts… just more skepticism (and context) when it comes to claims made by Republicans, since they’ve proven to be unreliable purveyors of things like truth and honesty. Oh! And less reliance on cliched media frames, like the tired and untrue meme about Republican’s “traditional support of U.S. troops” beltway blah-de-blah.
jarais

Breaking with their traditional mindless, zombie-like support for war funding even when loaded down with all kinds of ridiculous pork?
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*slow clap*
mmchampion

JNS, git on down with yo’ bad self.
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‘Course, it’s gonna be bad when Rusty logs in – the chum has been spread.
FlownOver

P-nnto:

Nailed it! Off-topic, but still the comment of the day.
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CNN just referred to Ensign as a “rising star in the GOP.” Honest to god.
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Back on-topic – shorter Cantor: I might support the troops. What’s in it for me?
gysgt213

Paul-Heard Ensign’s statement on NPR on the way home from work. Guess he needs to STFU about marriage doesn’t he. I can imagine JNS writing a future post where she says the Republican’s with their traditional support of marriage.
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Anyway here in Houston in the Galleria area there was a Iran vote protest. How cool is that. Signs saying “where is my vote.”