GOP Rank & File Getting Angry with Leadership over “Lies and Deception”

From The Hill:

House Republican leaders got an earful in two separate private meetings Wednesday from conservatives fuming over their move last week to pass a Medicare payment fix without a full House vote.

The leadership on Thursday had abruptly put up a bill to prevent a cut in Medicare reimbursements to doctors, passing it by voice vote rather than holding a recorded roll-call vote. Few members were on the House floor to object, angering conservatives who accused the leadership of subverting the democratic process.

“I’m getting used to being deceived by the Obama administration, but when my own leaders do it, it’s not acceptable at all,” Rep. Matt Salmon (R-Ariz.) said

Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/202464-house-republicans-gop-leaders-deceived-us#ixzz2xpE0W5kR
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Food Safety Bill and the Perils of Constitutional Ignorance

The Perils of Constitutional Ignorance

December 17, 2010 2:52 P.M.

By Katrina Trinko    

The food safety bill is almost certainly dead. Why? Don’t blame it on GOP obstructionism — while Sen. Tom Coburn (R., Okla.) robustly opposed the bill, citing its unpaid-for $1.4 billion price tag, and its new (and ineffective, he argued) regulations, that didn’t stop plenty of Republican senators from backing it.

Instead, it’s because Senate majority leader Harry Reid forgot about that pesky constitutional requirement that all taxes originate in the House.

Here’s the background: The Food Safety bill passed the House in 2009. It had stalled in the Senate, to many Democrats’ dismay, and so Reid spent valuable days during the lame-duck session on debating and voting on the bill. In the end, the bill passed by a comfortable margin, 73 to 25. The White House issued a jubilant statement and urged the House to act quickly to reconcile the Senate and House versions.

And then they discovered that because the Senate bill raised revenues it was unconstitutional. So, the solution became to pass a constitutional food safety bill — as part of the omnibus spending bill.

Since that failed last night, it looks like the food safety legislation is dead. While Democrats are hoping to include the legislation in the continuing resolution, a GOP senate aide told The Hill that won’t be happening.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/255583/perils-constitutional-ignorance-katrina-trinko

The Hill: West’s Chief of Staff Refers to Pelosi as “Garbage”

Joyce Kaufman is not one for mincing words…..  she could give Rahm Emanuel a run for his money:

A newly named GOP chief of staff called the outgoing Democratic majority — and in particular Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) — “garbage.”

Joyce Kaufman, the incoming chief of staff to Rep.-elect Allen West (R-Fla.), said: “Over these months I have been blessed to form very wonderful relationships with the West family. I looked at this family and [told] myself, ‘How do you not fight and put them up on the pedestal when we’ve got this garbage up on the pedestal now, people like Nancy Pelosi?’

see full article: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/128663-incoming-gop-chief-of-staff-calls-pelosi-garbage

Birther Subpoenas: Clyburn Tries to Cast Worries about Crazy Oversight

“The White House will be full-time responding to subpoenas about where the president may or may not have been born, whether his mother and father were ever married, and whether his wife’s family is from Georgetown or Sampit,” Clyburn said in an interview published Monday on TheGrio.com, an African-American news website. “That will define the next two years of the president’s administration.

Issa has promised to ramp up his probes into the Obama administration, but his spokesman said he would not pursue the “birther” controversy and that the congressman has not spoken about the issue.

see full story: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/121059-rep-clyburn-gop-majority-will-issue-birther-subpoenas-against-ob

Dems Call for Robert Gibbs Resignation after he trashes “Professional Left”

A Democratic member of Congress called for White House press secretary Robert Gibbs’s resignation Tuesday due to inflammatory comments he made about the “professional left.”

Rep. Keith Ellison (Minn.), a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC), said Gibbs went over the line when he told The Hill that some left-wing critics of the president “ought to be drug tested.”

“This is not the first time that Mr. Gibbs has made untoward and inflammatory comments and I certainly hope that people in the White House don’t share his view that the left is unimportant to the president,” Ellison told the Huffington Post. “I understand him having some loyalty to the president who employs him, but I think he’s walking over the line.”

Asked if Gibbs should resign, he said “That’d be fair, because this isn’t the first time. And, again, people of all political shades worked very hard to help the president become the president. Why would he want to go out and deliberately insult the president’s base?”

Gibbs took heat from liberal bloggers and activists for his comments, who argued Gibbs’s comments were foolish. Gibbs later stood by his comments, but called them “inartful.”

He did not participate in the White House daily press briefing Tuesday.

Deputy press secretary Bill Burton told the White House press corps that Gibbs was absent because he is suffering from a cold.

for full article: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/113577-dem-lawmaker-calls-on-gibbs-to-resign

Black Caucus Claims Gov’t Held Hostage By FOX

Black Caucus head: Government ‘held hostage’ by Fox and other media

By Michael O’Brien – 07/22/10 10:34 AM ET

The government is being sometimes “held hostage” by Fox News and other media outlets, the chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus charged Thursday.

 Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), the chairwoman of the caucus, said she was concerned that outlets like Fox were creating a culture of “misinformation” that has led to controversies like the one following Shirley Sherrod. 

for full article: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/110309-black-caucus-head-government-held-hostage-by-fox-and-other-media

Has Rep. Lee ever listened to Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann??

Conyers Says Obama Called About his “Demeaning” of Obama

Rep. John Conyers, in an interview in The Hill, has commented on how the President is reacting to criticism of his policies by the Left:

According to the lawmaker, the president picked up the phone several weeks ago to  find out why  Conyers was “demeaning” him.

Obama’s decision to challenge Conyers highlights a sensitivity to criticism the president has taken on the left. Conyers’s critical remarks, many of which have been reported on the liberal-leaning Huffington Post, appear to have irritated the president, known for his calm demeanor.

Conyers, the second-longest-serving member of the House, said, “[Obama] called me and told me that he heard that I was demeaning him and I had to explain to him that it wasn’t anything personal, it was an honest difference on the issues. And he said, ‘Well, let’s talk about it.’”

For the full article: http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/71075-conyers-obama-told-me-to-stop-demeaning-him?page=2

Rev. Jesse Jackson Inserts “Race” into ObamaCare

      Rep. Artur Davis (R-AL) ive a black Congressman who voted AGAINST the House version of ObamaCare. That has then brought out the esteemed Rev. Jesse Jackson.

      “You cannot vote AGAINST health care, and call yourself a black man”!

       And here we all thought that this legislation was about helath care reform for ALL, even the illegal aliens!

See article at: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/68451-jackson-you-cant-vote-against-healthcare-and-call-yourself-a-black-man

House OverSight Committee Dems Change the Locks on the Republicans; Chairman is stalling subpoenas to Countrywide for Congressional”Sweetheart Deals”; His Mortgage is with Countrywide

from The Hill:

Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-N.Y.) locked Republicans out of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee room to keep them from meeting when Democrats aren’t present.

Towns’ action came after repeated public ridicule from the leading Republican on the committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), over Towns’s failure to launch an investigation into Countrywide Mortgage’s reported sweetheart deals to VIPs.

For full story: http://thehill.com/homenews/house/63941-democrats-lock-republicans-out-of-committee-room#

 

Observation from JAMES: Games on BOTH sides– this is our tax dollars “hard at work?”

Helen Thomas Warn the White House about Fighting with FOX News

Veteran White House reporter Helen Thomas on Monday advised the Obama administration to stand down and avoid further fighting with Fox News and its correspondents. In an interview with MSNBC, the columnist — who is promoting her new book on presidents and their campaigns — also stressed the White House ought to “stay out of these fights.” “They can only take you down. You can’t kill the messenger,” said Thomas, who has covered every president from John F. Kennedy to Barack Obama. Whether the White House takes her advice, however, is another story. Just this weekend, Senior Adviser David Axelrod charged Fox was “not really a news organization.” And Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel twice insinuated the channel was a danger to the craft of journalism itself.

To see The Hill story and video of Helen Thomas’ appearance on MSNBC: http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/63659-thomas-to-white-house-stay-out-of-fox-news-fight#