It means that NOTHING gets accomplished.
Stagnation and the status quo are bad.
On 1/6/11, Bruce Majors <majors.bruce@gmail.com> wrote:
> gridlock is good Tomie
>
> it means nazis like you and your owners don't get to hurt people
>
> On Wed, Jan 5, 2011 at 2:55 PM, Tommy News <tommysnews@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> The New Grand Obstructionist Tea Party Republican Congress
>> Begins....say hello to partisan gridlock, obstruction, investigations,
>> the demonization of Unions, legislation to harm the poor and working
>> class, efforts to make the President fail, and un-American bad
>> behavior for the next two years!
>>
>> Most of the Republicans in both the House and the Senate voted against
>> DADT repeal. I predict that they will now obstruct any further
>> Progressive and pro-LGBT legislation for as long as they hold control
>> of the House. We need to demonstrate and protest loudly.
>>
>> A polarized Congress in a US seeking pragmatism
>>
>> PHOTOS Previous Next
>> Outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif. hands the gavel to the
>> new House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio during the first session of the
>> 112th Congress, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011, on Capitol Hill in
>> Washington. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak) (Charles Dharapak - AP)
>>
>> House Speaker-desigante John Boehner of Ohio greets House members
>> during the first session of the 112th Congress, on Capitol Hill in
>> Washington, Wednesday, Jan. 5, 2011. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
>> (Charles Dharapak - AP)
>>
>> President Barack Obama pauses on the tarmac as he arrives at Andrews
>> Air Force Base, Md.,, Tuesday, Jan. 4, 2011, as he returned from
>> vacation in Hawaii. Col. Lee DePlao, commander of the 11th Wing, is
>> second from left. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) (Carolyn Kaster - AP)
>> Network NewsX Profile
>>
>>
>> View More Activity
>>
>>
>> TOOLBOX
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>>
>> By LIZ SIDOTI
>> The Associated Press
>> Wednesday, January 5, 2011; 2:32 PM
>>
>> WASHINGTON -- There's an inherent conflict in the country's new
>> political reality: a much more polarized Congress must answer to an
>> increasingly powerful center of the electorate that abhors
>> partisanship or risk its wrath in 2012.
>>
>> Much like President Bill Clinton after his party's disastrous 1994
>> elections, President Barack Obama now has the chance to shift to the
>> middle as leaders on Capitol Hill struggle to strike a balance between
>> the desires of ideological purists in their ranks and the independent,
>> centrist voters who played a significant role in electing them.
>>
>> For Republicans and Democrats, that task began Wednesday when the new
>> Congress was sworn in; Republicans assumed control of the House and
>> padded their numbers in the Democratic-led Senate.
>>
>> "There's going to be politics. That's what happens in Washington. They
>> are going to play to their base for a certain period of time. But I'm
>> pretty confident that they're going to recognize that our job is to
>> govern . My hope is that John Boehner and Mitch McConnell will realize
>> that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012," Obama
>> said this week about GOP leaders in the House and Senate, casting
>> himself as the compromiser in chief even while maneuvering for his
>> upcoming re-election.
>>
>> The president's tone was in stark contrast to his first two years when
>> he leveraged large Democratic majorities in Congress - and thwarted
>> Republicans - to enact sweeping laws, including an economic stimulus
>> measure and revamps of the health care and financial regulatory
>> systems, that independents greeted skeptically if not derisively.
>> After backing him heavily in his presidential bid, they punished him
>> in November by ending one-party rule in Washington.
>>
>> Now, with no serious Democratic primary challenger emerging to siphon
>> support from his liberal base, Obama already has begun moving to the
>> center. As 2010 ended, he compromised with Republicans to reach
>> bipartisan deals on tax cuts that paved the way for a rush of end of
>> year legislation, including repealing the ban on gays openly serving
>> in the military as well as a new nuclear treaty with Russia.
>>
>>
>> It's clear the 2012 elections are in everyone's sights with obvious
>> objectives: Obama needs to win back middle-of-the-road voters, and
>> Republicans need to keep them happy, or at least not anger them.
>>
>> Their power was strongly felt in the last three elections. In 2006 and
>> 2008, independents furious with Republican governance gave Democrats
>> power in Congress and the White House. By 2010, these voters had grown
>> disillusioned by Democratic rule and sided with the GOP.
>>
>> And their sway is only growing.
>>
>> Today, more Americans are identifying themselves as independent while
>> majorities of the country view both the Democratic and Republican
>> parties unfavorably. Disaffected Republican and Democratic operatives
>> are forming groups to advocate on behalf of - if not organize -
>> unaffiliated voters, indicating that momentum may be building among
>> the center for increased political action.
>>
>> So, given all that, how did the Republican and Democratic caucuses in
>> Congress end up so much more conservative and liberal?
>>
>> The two-party American political system produces polarization in
>> Congress. Both the Republican and the Democratic parties hold
>> primaries to choose general election candidates. Those nominating
>> contests are dominated by the most vocal, active party members -
>> conservatives and liberals who tend to support like-minded people.
>>
>> Last year, that situation was even more pronounced as the tea party
>> coalition roiled GOP primaries and produced Republican nominees who
>> were far more conservative than usual.
>>
>> Now, the House Republican roster includes some seven dozen tea
>> party-backed lawmakers and other staunch conservatives. And moderate
>> "Blue Dog" Democrats are virtually extinct; scores lost their
>> swing-voting districts in a coast-to-coast GOP wave.
>>
>> "Compromise is a dirty word to the new members of Congress and a vital
>> word to the people they were sent to represent," said Matt Bennett, a
>> former Clinton aide and a vice president of the centrist Democratic
>> group Third Way. "It's a more polarized House representing an
>> electorate that is really seeking moderation. There's a big disconnect
>> between their caucuses and their voters."
>>
>> The Senate is arguably less polarized than the House; Democrats
>> succeeded in limiting the number of GOP takeaways to six. Still, new
>> Republican senators include tea party-supported Rand Paul of Kentucky
>> and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, as well as conservatives Pat Toomey of
>> Pennsylvania and Marco Rubio of Florida.
>>
>> From the outset, it's clear that Boehner is trying to strike a balance
>> between his constituents and his members.
>>
>> "This is the people's house. This is their Congress. It's about them,
>> not us," Boehner said after he took the gavel as speaker.
>>
>> Still, in a nod to his caucus' right flank, he scheduled a vote next
>> week on repealing the health care law. Republicans don't expect to
>> kill it. It makes sense for them not to; the GOP wants to run against
>> health care in 2012 and that important constituency - independents -
>> prefer that the law be changed, not repealed. House leaders facing
>> demands from the right to immediately cut spending also indicated they
>> wanted to cut $100 billion from the federal budget. But it didn't take
>> long before GOP leaders bowed to the reality of governing and scaled
>> back their goal.
>>
>>
>> Come February, during debate over a massive spending bill to keep the
>> government running, the country will see how successful Boehner has
>> been at keeping the right in line and how much Obama is willing to
>> compromise.
>>
>> The challenge for Boehner is to avoid what happened after the 1994
>> Republican Revolution when the GOP took control of Congress.
>>
>> Back then, House Speaker Newt Gingrich failed to keep his
>> rabble-rousing conservative warriors in line, leading to a government
>> shutdown. Clinton came out on top, and handily won re-election in
>> 1996.
>>
>> Obama already has signaled a desire to go the route of Clinton,
>> signaling a willingness to work with Republicans on several issues,
>> including trade deals with Colombia and Panama as well as the
>> reauthorization of the No Child Left Behind education act.
>>
>> On Day 1 of the new Congress, the fight for middle-of-the-road voters
>> was well under way. It won't end until November 2012.
>>
>> More:
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/05/AR2011010503216_2.html
>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
>> Have a great day,
>> Tommy
>>
>> --
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>>
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>
> --
> Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
> For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
>
> * Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
> * It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
> * Read the latest breaking news, and more.
--
Together, we can change the world, one mind at a time.
Have a great day,
Tommy
--
Thanks for being part of "PoliticalForum" at Google Groups.
For options & help see http://groups.google.com/group/PoliticalForum
* Visit our other community at http://www.PoliticalForum.com/
* It's active and moderated. Register and vote in our polls.
* Read the latest breaking news, and more.
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