Government Avoids Default…for Now

In what has become one of the more bizarre exercises of the Federal Government, the Congress approved an agreement that will re-open the government and avoid a massive default and all of the domestic and international crisis that would have brought down upon us.  Over the objections of a small group of Tea Party congressmen the House voted 284-144 to fund the government operations until January 15th, allowing the Treasury to borrow normally as it would anyway until February 7th, though they could buy an extra month if necessary.




So who won and who lost?  The American taxpayer and small business owners were the biggest losers in this latest scenario when you consider the government shutdown cost the economy approximately 24 billion dollars (according to Standard & Poor’s.  In her article on dated October 17th, ,  Eliana Dockterman breaks down the economic costs.



It is quite ironic that Tea Party legislators,  who have always given lip service to small business were at the heart of this shutdown which has caused nothing but financial problems to small businesses across the country. One could make the case that they too were big losers in this exercise.


English: Ted Cruz at the Republican Leadership...





Ted Cruz, the Congressman from Texas who has lead the shutdown of the government in an attempt to force the stalling of the Affordable Care Act,


English: Barack Obama signing the Patient Prot...

English: Barack Obama signing the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act at the White House Español: Barack Obama firmando la Ley de Protección al Paciente y Cuidado de Salud Asequible en la Casa Blanca (Photo credit: Wikipedia)




has become the poster child for the sort of extortion that the Tea Party favors in this battle with the President.  Mr. Obama in the end would have none of it and the Republican fringe crawled away with tail between legs, threatening yet another attempt to disrupt the government and Obamacare a few months down the road.  Cruz is the very public face and voice of the shutdown strategy that brought the nation to the edge of default and left the Republicans with their  lowest poll ratings ever..a circumstance not lost on the more rational wing of the party in the person of people like John McCain, Peter King and even the master architect of the neo-con worldview Karl Rove.


English: John McCain (R-AZ), United States Senator

English: John McCain (R-AZ), United States Senator (Photo credit: Wikipedia)




Adding injury to insult,  Cruz and his cohorts accomplished nothing in their silly efforts to halt the implementation of the new health-care law.


Even after this debacle Cruz returned home to Texas and received a hero’s welcome.  According to Karen Tumulty writing for, “Cruz has been greeted as a conquering hero, with a round of triumphal public appearances and welcome-home rallies such as the one that Alford attended Monday night in Houston, which was hastily arranged by the King Street Patriots tea party group. Even more extraordinary is the degree to which the freshman senator — who until 2012 had never run for public office — has quickly remade the Texas Republican Party in his own image.”


Former President Bill Clinton had this to say a few weeks ago on ABC’s THIS WEEK program.


English: Official White House photo of Preside...

English: Official White House photo of President Bill Clinton, President of the United States. Русский: Президент США Билл Клинтон,официальное фото Белого Дома. Ελληνικά: Επίσημη φωτογραφία Λευκού Οίκου του Προέδρου Μπιλ Κλίντον, Προέδρου των ΗΠΑ (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


“I’ve never seen a time– can you remember a time in your lifetime when a major political party was just sitting around, begging for America to fail?”  In defense of President Obama’s position,  Clinton continued “If I were the president, I wouldn’t negotiate over these draconian cuts that are gonna take food off the table of low-income working people, while they leave all the agricultural subsidies in for high-income farmers and everything else,” he said. “It’s chilling to me. The entitlement spending is going down as the unemployment rate drops and the economy grows. Half of the deficit’s already disappeared. The rest of it just seems almost spiteful.


I couldn’t agree more.  Why are these people,  who allege they are the champions of the “little people”, doing everything they can to cut programs that are beneficial to the average folk,  and while at the same time doing everything possible to line the pockets of the already wealthiest Americans?  Aren’t these wealthy donors the very people that the Tea Party was formed to rail against in the first place?  Something has gone very wrong with this movement.   And when it comes to the Affordable Heathcare Act, why this obsession with somehow defeating a law already passed,  and already Supreme Court tested, to keep the poor and lower middle class people from obtaining healthcare? The president who championed this legislation was elected not once,  but twice.  It is quite obviously the will of the people that affordable healthcare be within the reach of ALL AMERICANS and not just the privileged few. Moderate Republicans have already started running for the hills and away from these extremists realizing that their anti young, anti gay, anti women and anti immigrant sentiments stand in the way of them ever winning another national election.


There is a serious problem with the finances of this government.  Most reasonable thinking people can understand that.  The government needs to streamline it’s operations and it’s many departments.  It needs to clean up agencies and programs that do not work. A reasonable budget compromise must be made.  The wealthiest Americans simply need to pay a few more percentage points in income taxes,  as they have done all through our modern history,  and  there needs to be realistic cuts to the defense budget and a few social programs.  This is not a vague and nebulous cloud of confusion.  It’s really quite clear.  The time has come for both sides to sit down and negotiate a lasting, workable budget solution that doesn’t endanger millions of families, doesn’t waste money on useless departments and legislation, trims the defense budget, tightens controls over welfare eligibility and takes an even handed approach.  Tax loopholes for huge corporations that are essentially paying nothing also need to be examined and updated.


We need term limits for Congress.  Elected officials should be allowed 12 years and then out you go…back to a normal civilian life amongst the people.  I am convinced that part of the problem is the fact that lifelong politicians are clueless about how the real people live and what they have to deal with in their everyday lives.  I also think that the “golden parachutes” that follow them out of Washington similarly need to be examined and trimmed.


Is this really such an impossible task?  Rather than wasting time and money posturing, making speeches and basically getting NOTHING done,  it is time for the leaders of this country,  and I use the word loosely,  to come together and make the best choices for the country…not their political friends,  not their hometown donors, not the wealthiest or the poorest, or even those in between. We need good clear choices that work for EVERYONE. Then and only then can the Congress and the President can claim a true victory!




42 Responses to Government Avoids Default…for Now

  1. rickblasko says:

    The Affordable Care Act has nothing to do with providing medical care for the American people. It has to do with controlling you. Find any Socialist model in history that didn’t target health care first. We, so called,”extremists”, who were for the defunding of Obamacare were also fighting for you, your family, small businesses and all the little people caught up in this debacle.
    Have you ever thought for one minute why the government felt the need to destroy, or replace, the entire health care system because 10% of the American people, supposedly, couldn’t afford health coverage. Who are these 10%? Has that number changed now that the AFC is open for business?
    By the way, President Clinton was impeached for lying under oath about having an intern perform oral sex on him in the Oval Office. You guys can sure pick them.

    • joeref says:

      The ACA has nothing to do with healthcare. Interesting comment though patently false. Controlling me? Hahaha. Put your paranoia back in it’s holster. It’s about controlling costs and giving people choices they have never had. I don’t need you to fight for me. I’m quite capable of deciding what is right and wrong for me. The preoccupation with Socialism is laughable. Many people find that to be a dirty word. Sorry to inform you but this country already is engaged in several important social safeguards which are socialistic in nature. I guess a rugged individualist like you might never need assistance of any kind but unfortunately there are many millions of Americans that need health insurance coverage, need food stamps to survive, that need hot lunches for their kids, that need H E L P. You know…all those lazy loafers that Romney was talking about. All those takers that contribute nothing. The word is not black and white. The world has many shades of gray in between and many situations that don’t fit neatly into little boxes.

      The government has neither destroyed or replaced the healthcare system. I still have the same coverage…I pay basically the same payments, I see the same doctors and specialists. Exactly what was destroyed?

      Nothing has changed YET. The the Act has just opened for business. I think in fairness we should at the very least give it some time to work out the kinks before we decide whether or not it needs to be tweaked, which it will undoubtedly need.

      By the way Clinton was the greatest President of the last 50 years. He did exactly what he set out to do. He balanced the budget and handed Bush Jr a surplus. There were no wars under his watch. The economy was booming. My business has never been the same since he’s gone. He renovated the tax code and made needed changes to the welfare system. Maybe you should take a look at the Speaker of the House during those years…that bloated moron Newt Gingrich, who divorced his wife while she was dying of cancer. Nice. Even with all his foibles he and Clinton managed to get some really good things done together. Speaking of “picking them”, a poll taken before the last presidential election showed that Clinton would receive nearly 71% of the vote had he been eligible to run again. Getting a BJ from an intern is not high on my list of concerns nor an impeachable offense. That is simply political nonsense perpetrated by a group of angry losers doing whatever they can to invalidate Clinton’s wonderful acheivements as President. Sounds a lot like what’s happening now. Obama has done so much to improve things in this country but no one knows about it because the noise coming from FOX NEWS and loudmouths like Rush Limbaugh block out any rational discussion.

      Here’s a partial list…
      3. Instituted enforcement for equal pay for women
      4. Beginning the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq
      6. Killed Bin Laden
      7. Limits on lobbyist’s access to the White House
      8. Limits on White House aides working for lobbyists after their tenure in the administration
      9. Effectively ended the war in Iraq.
      10. Ending the war in Afghanistan.
      11. Federal support for stem-cell and new biomedical research
      12. New federal funding for science and research labs
      13. Rescued the American Auto Industry
      14. Rescued and reformed the US Banking system
      15. Increased pay for military families
      16. Reformed student loan policies and increased money available
      19. Making more loans available to small businesses
      20. Established independent commission to make recommendations on slowing the costs of Medicare
      21. Appointment of first Latina to the Supreme Court
      22. Authorized construction/opening of additional health centers to care for veterans
      23. Limited salaries of senior White House aides; cut to $100,000
      24. Has opened discussions with Iran
      25. Ended previous policy of awarding no-bid defense contracts
      26. Established a new cyber security office
      27. Passed the Affordable Care Act…which if the right wing hadn’t blocked it, would have provided for a public option to save us all a ton of money but the insurance industry bought the Republicans and that key element of the law was blocked.

      We sure know how to pick ’em. Shall we discuss the accomplishments of Bush Jr? Oh yeah that’s right…there aren’t any.

  2. Joanne F says:

    Oh, boy, Joe, I am so glad you responded to rickblasco before I could! I would not have been able to keep a civil tongue in my head! Excellent response, and it goes double for me!

    As if having PRIVATE health insurance across-the-board were a scandal! It’s Romneycare, for Chrissakes! Did you hear the far-right whining about it when it passed first in Massachusetts? And it’s humming along very well there. Ask them, why don’tcha?

    Frankly, I want Medicare For All, just like every other First World country — and a significant number of Second World countries — have. I’d rather pay higher income tax in order to get rid of my private monthly health insurance program. With the advent of ACA, my premiums went down from $900/month to $590/month. Significant savings. But still, I believe there should be NO profit motive in the health insurance field. It’s the worst type of conflict.

    What I don’t get is how so many middle and lower class Americans can support a party that has come to represent only the 1%’s interests. How do they think that helps them? How foolish is this mindset?

    If you read FACTUAL information, there is no comparison between the parties. Well done above, Joe, well done.

  3. rickblasko says:

    Well now that you two agree with one another and have it all figured out, explain to me how the ACA is going to work without fast-tracking the destruction of Medicare? This is with the knowledge, from Sebelius herself, that takes $700 billion from Medicare to fund Obamacare. Explain to me how an unlimited slush fund, that is going to consume 6% of our GDP isn’t going to affect the cost of healthcare, food, fuel and other mainstays that the,”POOR”, utilize as well as we do? That estimate comes from the CBO.
    I’ve always loved how Regressives love to state facts that aren’t facts. Out of the 27 things you listed above Joe you forgot a few:
    1) Benghazi
    2) Fast and Furious
    3) Wire tapping the Press Corp
    4) Using the IRS to target Conservative groups
    5) Doubling the National Debt
    6) The un-constitutional appointments to the NLRB.
    7) Associating with domestic terrorists, (by the way Obama didn’t open talks with Iran. They laughed at him and refused to talk to him at the last U.N. meeting)
    8) Refused to defend D.O.M.A, which he is required by law to do.
    9) Changed the ACA to exclude special interest groups and his donor base, prior to the 2012 election.
    10) This one you Libs are going to love. He changed the rules of engagement that have caused more soldiers to die in his first four years than in all of Bush’s two terms combined.

    My premiums have gone up 200% in the last three years.
    Finally, explain to me why we would,”Fundamentally”, alter the greatest health care system in the World to facilitate 12 million people? That equates to less than 10% of the population. That’s not brilliant, it’s moronic.

  4. rickblasko says:

    ” Incidentally, equally punitive regulations will hit more than 90 million employer-sponsored health plans next year. It’s the same problem as the individual plan. Grandfathering won’t work. Moreover, replacing these plans with much more expensive products will constitute a major tax hike on the entire economy. This point shouldn’t be lost as Americans worry about being kicked from their plans. Obamacare is not only anti-freedom but anti-growth.

    As for the grandfathering lie, Obama’s HHS staffers were the saboteurs. They undoubtedly acted with full knowledge of what they were doing, and thus trapped the president in three years of falsehoods that were essential to selling Obamacare.

    And I just love it when they tell me that so many of these existing plans are substandard “bad apples.” Do the president and his people not know that insurance at the state level is one of the most regulated areas of the economy? They’re blaming insurance companies, not their own new regulations. The stupidity of that is hilarious. Do they really think salesmen are out selling these policies off the back of trucks?”

    Kudlow: Liberal entitlement-state dream is crumbling

    I guess it’s not just me Joe. Good luck dude.

    Rick B.

  5. Joeref says:

    I never said it was just you buckeroo. Many millions of people agree with you. Thankfully many more millions don’t. I’m not going to respond to all of your bombast but I will say that it is really interesting that many of the things that you modern day conservative republicans hate about Obama were originally formulated by Ricard Nixon, Bob Dole and dare I say it…Saint Ronald Reagan. If he had tried to run for President in this era he would have had no chance of winning with the Tea Party wackos. he was guilty of so many sins. tax increases…ridiculous federal deficits…suggesting that the country needed a healthcare system that protects everyone…such radicalism! As far as your laundry list of Obama’s sins goes, Benghazi? Get over it. The only people who care are FOX NEWS empty heads. Our facilities overseas have been attacked time after time. Many with devastating consequences. Was Reagan guilty? Was Bush guilty? This obsession with this particular attack is comical. Wire taping? Really ? I guess the devil Obama started that. NOT. Doubling the national debt? The federal deficit has been dramatically reduced under Obama. Turn off Sean Hannity and get educated. Having the IRS investigate the Tea Party?
    Reasonable people know that Obama had nothing to do with that. The Tea Party is a POLITICAL ORGANIZATION that was claiming tax exempt status. They should have been investigated! And oh by the way, under the right wing presidents all of the left leaning groups were also investigated. Please let’s stop making Obama out to be some sort of totalitarian dictator. It’s just silly. You sound like an angry child.

    The people of the USA voted for a guy who had some ideas to modernize the country and try to take us into the 21st century. The majority of the country agreed enough to elect him twice. Unlike the republicans who were hoping it was 1950 again with a bunch of smug white men running everything. Welcome to 2013. As long as there are women, educated students, a growing Hispanic population and people who believe in a more progressive view of the world, republicans might win some of the local elections, but they certainly won’t be leading the country. You sound like one of the angry white guys who wishes for the old days.

  6. Joanne F says:

    Amen, Refano.

  7. rickblasko says:

    So how do you Libs feel about your Messiah now? I guess trying to get insurance for those that can’t afford it didn’t work out the way the Utopians planned, now did it. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid boys and girls. It’s going to get a little sporty around here.
    I believe Liberals have the best intentions, but the wrong idea on how to achieve results. Forcing your ideology down other peoples throats and forcing them to pay for it, and live under it has never worked in all the history of mankind. If you two geniuses can find one example, please let me know.

    • joeref says:

      I never anointed anyone the Messiah. I’ll leave that up to you. According to your ideology I guess we should let people decide whether or not they want car insurance, or homeowners insurance, or title insurance etc etc. What you don’t understand is that by NOT insuring EVERYONE, we all end up paying for their coverage at the emergency room and “free”clinics where people with no coverage go. Not to mention the ever rising cost of medicine in this country. We are already paying for all those people. I guess that didn’t occur to you. I’d suggest you stop labeling people you don’t know and using you neat little descriptions. Libs…Utopians…Regressives…we’re people…educated people…with just as legitimate point of view as yours. Unfortunately for you, (or maybe fortunately) your particular view of the world went out of style in 1959.

      • rickblasko says:


        What you don’t understand, educated or not, is this has been the case for a very long time. The rising cost of health care has had to do with Insurance companies in bed with Washington for years. It still doesn’t explain why we should destroy our current system to help the people who already receive help through the current system. Oh I suppose you’ll say that Obamacare eliminates this. Really? prove it. What you intellectuals refuse to understand is that the only thing that has changed since,”1959″ is technology not people. Joe you’ve been reading the wrong books my friend. Pick up a history book and read about proposals to health care back in the 1930’s. I think you’ll be shocked to find the similarities to today’s rhetoric on the subject.
        I got an idea, let’s start a book club. You can choose the book and then you and I and Joanne can have a discussion on what the meaning of the book was. The only catch is I get to choose the second book. Agreed? Let me know friend.

        Rick B.

  8. rickblasko says:

    I guess Ted Cruz wasn’t that crazy after all. Now was he?

  9. joeref says:

    He’s a self serving egotist who is neither a patriot or a statesman. People in his own party think he is an idiot with nothing to gain and everything to lose for the Republican party. He’s doing all the “Libs” a huge favor by showing the reasonable people in the country how absurd the ultra rightwing has become.

    • rickblasko says:

      So asking the Federal Government to adhere to it’s founding document is absurd and radical? Conservatives are right smack dab in the middle of the political spectrum, if you really think about it. It’s the Progressives, Communists and the much head Republicans that are populating the fringes. Think about it Champ. Nice try though.

      Rick B.
      P.S. Let me know on the book club. I think it would be a blast.

  10. joeref says:

    And by the way, I may have many “liberal” and “prograssive” opinions, but I base my ideas on a case by case basis. There are many issues where I swing heavily towards the right. But you don’t know so you wouldn’t know that. Don’t label me.

    • Joanne F says:

      Um, before you think you “won” something, Blasko, be reminded that Obamacare is modeled on ROMNEYCARE, the Massachusetts model that started out with 126 applicants at the same time as we are here. It is the most successful health insurance program in the country, insuring 98% of the residents of the state. We liberals and progressives were just following a Republican when we proposed and adopted Obamacare. So, are you saying that the Republican model was wrong?

      And shall we talk about Medicare Part D, Dubya’s grand plan to offer partially illusory drug coverage to retired seniors as an unfunded mandate? Do you remember how screwed up that program was in its early months?

      Some of us are sick of the double standard. I know I am.

      • rickblasko says:

        For once we agree Joanne. I have little respect for Romney or W. on either of the things you mentioned. Being a big government, heavy spending, heavy handed Republican is no better than the same with a “D” behind your political party. Good post Joanne.

        Rick B.

  11. Joanne F says:

    Oops, I just checked my source of information, and I made an error. In the first month of Romneycare, 123 people signed up. Wow! You didn’t see the GOP call for an end to it then, did you?

  12. Joanne F says:

    Two things, Blasko: One, you think it’s cool to be free of gov’t and gov’t control, but you are too politically short-sighted to realize that the end result of what you dream of is anarchy. You can’t live in a country of 310,000,000 people, the overwhelming majority of them in close quarters in the urban areas, without order. If you want to get a taste of what I mean, look at what’s happening in the Philippines right now: After the typhoon ravaged the country, its infrastructure and its gov’t’s ability to respond, the country started to devolve into anarchy with looting, chaos, etc. Desperate means call for desperate measures. And considering that in the U.S. those of you who want to end gov’t are also the ones who think you have a Second Amendment right to carry guns, imagine what would happen here? Every jittery paranoic with his gun would make the Philippines look like a nursery school.

    Second, one of the beauties of our federal-state gov’t is the way in which the states have a lot of leeway to try out new programs as a test for the rest of the nation. When deemed successful, either other states can follow their lead, or the national gov’t can do so for the country across-the-board. That’s Romneycare.

    • rickblasko says:

      No that’s ludicrous. I know the nightly shows and all the left wing, and right wing rags would like you to believe that the Federal Government has the right to making sweeping reform nationwide, but they don’t. It’s called Enumerated Powers. They don’t have the right to take over Health Care. Study how this law came to be. The Senate stripped legislation out of a budget bill, inserted the Health Care language into the bill and sent it to the House,(Unconstitutional). The House took up the Senate bill which had Appropriations in it and rubber stamped it instead of giving it a Blue Ticket and coming up with their own bill,(unconstitutional). The President signed the bill, knowing full well what was going on in both houses of Congress to get it passed, (unconstitutional). The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case after it had been struck down in lower courts for unconstitutional legislative purposes and other reasons as well. This was unconstitutional as well. And finally they re-wrote the statute within the supreme Court to legitimize the law so that they could uphold it, ( unconstitutional). Now stop giving me the Talking Points and do a little thinking of your own.

  13. joeref says:

    Now now kids…tell us what you REALLY think ! LOL

    • rickblasko says:

      I never said it was cool to be free from government.That’s stupid and unrealistic. You assumed that on your own. Let’s try this, define the Tea Party and what they stand for. I bet you can’t, and if you could do so accurately you might find you have more in common with them than you think.
      I’ll help you out. The Tea Party is a group of hard working Americans that come from all walks of life. They include Republicans, Democrats and Independents. They are Black, White, Indian, Chinese and pretty much any nationality you could think of. They are male, female and there may be a few hermaphrodites in there as well. They are people who are sick and tired of watching Washington make their lives more difficult. They are sick and tired of manufactured and real crisis created in Washington and then shoved down their throat in the name of the,”Good of the People”. They don’t subscribe to identity politics and aren’t interested in any more big government social engineering at the cost of money that hasn’t even been made yet. They are for balanced budgets and a Federal Government that does what it was originally intended to do and that is to adhere to the Constitution.
      If that’s radical, you guys are spun completely out of your minds. Oh, and the Tea Party started in opposition to Bush’s policies, not Obama’s.

  14. joeref says:

    I liked the Tea Party ideals..but they were hijacked! More on that later

  15. Joanne F says:

    Blasko, did you read the SCOTUS decision on Obamacare? I did, and believe me, all you’re saying above is a regurgitation of the misinformation published in right-wing media. The decision was not based on the issues you cite.

    Despite what you say, you ARE someone who advocates for anarchy, you just don’t realize how what you believe translates to that. You claim the Tea Baggers are just regular folks, etc., and I agree. But I have also found them to be one of the most misinformed groups on how our gov’t works. They also have a lot of trouble with spelling simple words, which just tells me we need MORE gov’t in the form of education.

    • rickblasko says:

      Joanne, you didn’t read the Supreme Court decision and you know it. If you did explain this aspect of the decision: .
      Construing the Commerce Clause to permit Congress to regulate individuals precisely because they are doing nothing would open a new and potentially vast domain to congressional authority. Congress already possesses expansive power to regulate what people do. Upholding the Affordable Care Act under the Commerce Clause would give Congress the same license to regulate what people do not do. The Framers knew the difference between doing something and doing nothing. They gave Congress the power to regulate commerce, not to compel it. Ignoring that distinction would undermine the principle that the Federal Government is a government of limited and enumerated powers. The individual mandate thus cannot be sustained under Congress’s power to “regulate Commerce.”

      Good luck explaining that incoherence. I’ll be nervously awaiting your brilliant response.

  16. joeref says:

    No the Tea Party was hijacked by Karl Rove and his neo cons when they saw it as a potential ally in the holy war against Obama. Unfortunately for Rove, and the rest of the Republicans, the Tea Party has been taken over by a bunch of lunatic right wing fringers with a zillion differing opinions on everything from segregation to healthcare. These days they are no more organized or unified than the short lived OWS on the left…if you want to call that the left. Nowadays the Tea Party is a loose collection of racists, anarchists and anti government nut jobs that think that shutting down the government and bankrupting the USA by defaulting on our international debts is a good thing. Default by the USA throws the entire world into chaos…and for what? So they can stop Obama’s healthcare reform? Absurd. The Tea Party has become a joke to the Republicans, certainly to the Democrats and at last look, the general public is poised to un-elect nearly 79% of those legislators in the next election. What started with high hopes and legitimate concerns has become a silly, angry mob of mostly illiterate lower middle class rabble rousers that have no aim, no goal, and no workable plan. (So sayeth Peter King and Karl Rove…in not so many words but I read between the lines) Ted Cruz? A self serving loud mouth with national political goals and no possible chance of ever attaining them. They might love him in his district in Texas, but most of the country looks upon him as the buffoon he is. Politics is negotiation…compromise and cooperation….three things the Ted Cruz Tea party has no clue about.

    • rickblasko says:

      Joe, you’re a moron. Prove anything you just posted. After you get done with that watch the 21 hour filibuster Cruz put on on the Senate floor and tell me where he was wrong. Then go listen to Rand Paul’s filibuster on the floor. If that doesn’t convince you, read Mike Lee’s book. Everyone one of those so called crazy men predicted the future. Explain that one Ace? It’s happening all over the country right now. That’s why you Libs will always fall into the same hole, time after time. Even when you’ve walked the same path over and over. You’re fools that refuse to learn from your own mistakes. That’s the definition of insanity Joe. And Karl Rove is an obnoxious blowhard with a 1.3% success rate in elections. Why the hell would anyone listen to that boob.

  17. Joanne F says:

    If I may add to Joe’s comment above (which was very well said): The Tea Party was the fringe element the GOP made friends with to build a coalition big enough to elect more GOP candidates. Just like Ronald Reagan did with the Moral Majority (which was neither) in the ’80s. In fact, many of the things that Joe discusses immediately above are the short-sightedness of the GOP’s friendship with these whackos coming home to roost.

  18. rickblasko says:

    “That hypocrisy from Republicans sticks in my craw. I believe that the shutdown was the right thing to do and that defunding, or at least delaying, Obamacare is the necessary thing to do.

    Opinion: Obstructing government, from Huey Long to Ted Cruz

    It’s not ready for America, and America is not ready for it. The arguments coming from House Republicans are more persuasive than the ones coming from the White House. I believe that Obama hurt his credibility by continuing to provide members of Congress and their staffs subsidies to purchase coverage and by agreeing to a delay in the mandate to provide insurance to those employers who are not already in compliance with the law.

    This is a spectacle that resembles employees who work in a restaurant vowing never to eat there. It’s no wonder the public is skeptical. The fact that I believe all this has nothing to do with Cruz. I got here all by myself.

    Besides, I don’t put stock in the popular media narrative that Cruz is singlehandedly responsible for shutting down the government. That’s just smoke from Democrats and the GOP establishment.”

    Like I said Joe, you’re a moron.

  19. joeref says:

    It’s really too bad because I was actually enjoying this discourse but you made one mistake. You don’t call th eowner of the blog “a moron”…not once but twice. Sorry ass face…you’re done.

  20. Joanne F says:

    OMG, this is just awful. I can’t believe Blasko did what he did and said what he said — including to me, although it pales in comparison to what he said to you. I guess he’s just proof positive that the Tea Baggers are an angry, misinformed group. His information was all wrong. Joe, I’m sorry you were called names, that was simply wrong and uncalled for, but I hope it doesn’t stop you from blogging. I love a great discussion, but it’s a real reflection on the individual when he can’t win the argument so he then resorts to name-calling. Wow, what a shame. 😦

    • rickblasko says:

      That’s losing the argument Joanne. I’m a Tea Party member. He said those things about me.
      If my information is wrong why don’t you explain it to me. Explain how the government called the penalties a,”Fee”, in court and Roberts ruled it a tax. Listen to the audio from the hearings. Why don’t you Google one of your own, Alan Dershowitz’s opinion on the Roberts ruling. Now I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Joe because I’m tired of watching you two flounder with every topic we discuss,”Joanne, your done. Good luck”. Don’t forget your hammer and sickle, because the next time you jump in the weeds with a Tea Party member, you’re going to lose the argument to them as well. Good luck.

  21. Joanne F says:

    Blasko, I am not going to waste any more of my energy on you because you are not in this to listen to other opinions, especially when those opinions are based on fact — unlike yours. Joe is right about the make-up of Tea Baggers, that’s been proven by demographic studies. I guess you just don’t realize you’re one of them.

    And just to let you know, when you said you didn’t believe me about reading the Obamacare opinion? I’m a lawyer (25 years), and one of my areas of specialty is Constitutional law. I have the opinion in my office and read it the day it came out. You don’t even know who you’re insulting, because just like all other Tea Baggers, you lack information. And common sense.

    Candidly, you’re an ass. Just like every other Tea Bagger out there. And learn to spell and punctuate — it’s “you’re”, not “your”, and you have commas in all the wrong places. Man, you ARE a Tea Bagger.

    • joeref says:

      What can I say? I’m a moron! Anyone can do a little research on the net and find out that the Tea Party candidates are in big trouble around the country for the mid term elections. Almost 60% of the public polled blamed them for the government shutdown as opposed to 28% who blamed Obama and the 15% who said both sides were wrong. That’s a fact. These people are living in their own little 1950’s worlds, bullying and posturing their way into oblivion. There is a reason Obama won twice. There is a reason democratic House candidates got more than a million more votes than the Tea Party/Republicans got. Trying to force your views down the throats of a public not interested in your homophobic, anti women, anti immigrant anti young dogma can only work to a point. Ted Cruz can do whatever he thinks he can get away with in the House but he is doing reasonable people a favor by alienating the vast majority of voters countrywide. I read an interesting but frustrating article in the latest issue of Rolling Stone that explains that even though the majority of the country rejects the outdated dogma of the Republicans they still get elected by gerrymandering districts. Karl Rove himself said (and I paraphrase) , “he who controls the re-districting map, controls the House”. That’s the simple fact. By concentrating on the state house battles, the republicans have managed to create districts that agree with their ideologies even though there are many fewer voters in those districts. As such it is estimated they will be in this “control” situation for about 8-10 years…so all of you young activists out there better get on the stick if you want to affect real change in the House. You need to fight your battles on the local level first.

  22. Joanne F says:

    Well, if you’re a moron, I’m stupid, unrealistic and a fool. I can’t believe he really thinks Reagan was a good president! OMG! That’s another indication of how misinformed he is.

    Gerrymandering has never been this bad in the history of our country. Did you know that Democrats received about 2 million MORE votes than Republicans in the most recent election? (I think that’s the correct number.) And yet the GOP won more seats. How is that representative democracy? How is that “one (wo)man, one vote”? This should not be tolerated by the federal courts, but we all know that Reagan appointed about half of the federal judges in his image, and most of them are still serving; plus Bush the Father’s and Dubya’s appointments have hurt, too. And don’t even get me started on SCOTUS; they are out of control, the worst in history. So you can’t even get legal relief from the court system any more.

    You’re right that young people need to pull up a seat at the political table. When they came out to vote in 2012, Obama beat all Republican tricks and was handily re-elected. They were important in that election. We Dems have Hispanics pretty well under our tent, and African-Americans, too. There should not be a woman in this country who could vote for the GOP, but alas, my gender embarrasses me. I guess I should say that no self-respecting woman votes Republican.

    And as you noted in a previous blog, everybody needs to VOTE! If they would just get to the polls we wouldn’t have to get agita over what is happening with the political system today. Most of the people who don’t vote are disenfranchised economically or physically, yet they tend to vote for Democrats. We need to make it easier for them to vote, not harder.

  23. Joanne F says:

    And you spell your protest signs right! 🙂

Leave a Reply to rickblasko Cancel reply


You are commenting using your account. Log Out /  Change )

Google photo


Twitter picture


Facebook photo


Connecting to %s