GOP Backtracking on Promised 'Reforms' Before They Even Get Started

What the frak... Can anybody say they're surprised by this? And why are we calling this backtracking. Why don't we call it what it is...LIES... Campaign lies. They say what they need to say to get elected, to motivate their base, with some hollow pledge to America. And as soon as they take power...it's just more of the same. Are we going to see the GOP engage the other side? No, because Boehner is all talk and no action. But I guess that's what happens when you spend a couple years just saying NO, you become useless.

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com

"Let's let legislators legislate again," Boehner said, summarizing a year's worth of complaints over the Democrats' use of procedural maneuvers like the so-called "Demon Pass."

It's worth pointing out that all of these promises gave Washington Post high priest of centrism David Broder a chubby:

I'd like to see Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leaders take Boehner up on the challenge he has raised, not try to demean it. He said, for example, that rather than stifling debate through the manipulation of rules, "we should open things up and let the battle of ideas help break down the scar tissue between the parties. ... Let's let legislators legislate again." It would be great if the leaders could engage each other seriously at the start of the next Congress on rules and procedures for doing the nation's business. There's no excuse for the House failing to pass a budget resolution, as happened for the first time this year. As Boehner said, it boggles the mind that spending bills for major government departments are lumped together in an indigestible mass. When large majorities of the nation's voters voice disdain and distrust for a Congress that is supposed to represent them in writing the laws, it is not just a problem for one party or the other. It is a threat to our system of government.

As it turns out, nobody should have taken Boehner seriously. For example, remember that time you were warned that the GOP don't really care about reducing the deficits? You should, because when I say "that time," I mean, "all of the time." But the editors of the Washington Post only just got the news Monday, so for the benefit of anyone else who's been living beneath a rock lately, here's another reminder, from Brian Beutler:

Republicans' deficit reduction platform, which may have helped catapult them into the majority, is about to run headlong into a hard reality: Many of their key policy goals will increase the deficit dramatically. To get around this fact, they've included measures in their new rules package to exempt some of their biggest legislative priorities from deficit consideration. Among the exceptions, which the House is likely to consider in the 112th Congress, are the health care repeal bill (scheduled for a vote a week from Wednesday), the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, an AMT patch, extending the estate tax, and more. Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

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As New Congress Begins, Actions of G.O.P. Leaders Anger Tea Party Activists. Get ready...here it comes!

Your damn right it was blatant! They should have been that damn blatant the previous 2 years. Maybe a lot of them would still have a job. It frankly ticks me off that now...just now, they're finally able to work and pass some of the legislation that we put them there to do. It's amazing when they're not on the campaign trail the work they can get done. I don't believe the Tea party would be in the position they're in now, if the democrat's would have shown this kind of leadership and excitement in getting things done. And it doesn't surprise me one bit, the GOP not viewing this session as a win for America, but instead, calling for an end to the lame duck session because it was so productive. I don't know about you, but I'm going to expect a whole lot more out of the GOP now that they control congress. The word "NO" just ain't going to cut it any more. I sure hope John Boehner like's his TEA bending over.

Amplify’d from www.nytimes.com

As Tea Party politicians prepare to take their seats when the 112th Congress convenes this week, they are already taking issue with Republicans for failing to hold the line against the flurry of legislation enacted in the waning weeks of Democratic control of the House of Representatives and for not giving some candidates backed by Tea Party groups powerful leadership positions.

Just a month ago, Tea Party leaders were celebrating their movement’s victories in the midterm elections. But as Congress wrapped up an unusually productive lame-duck session last month, those same Tea Party leaders were lamenting that Washington behaved as if it barely noticed that American voters had repudiated the political establishment.

In their final days controlling the House, Democrats succeeded in passing legislation that Tea Party leaders opposed, including a bill to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers at the site of the World Trade Center attacks, an arms-control treaty with Russia, a food safety bill and a repeal of the ban on gay men and lesbians serving openly in the military.

“I’m surprised by how blatant it was,” he added.

“Do I think that they’ve recognized what happened on Election Day? I would say decisively no,” said Mark Meckler, a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, which sent its members an alert last month urging them to call their representatives to urge them to “stop now and go home!!” Read more at www.nytimes.com

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