VP Joe Biden says he was told by Republican colleagues "Don't expect help from us."

[blankslate]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...4e9a138-e302-11e1-98e7-89d659f9c106_blog.html

The article highlights details from this book

http://www.amazon.com/The-New-Deal-H...e+new+new+deal

Grunwald has Joe Biden on the record making a striking charge. Biden says that during the transition, a number of Republican Senators privately confided to him that Mitch McConnell had given them the directive that there was to be no cooperation with the new administration — because he had decided that “we can’t let you succeed.”
Here’s the relevant passage, from page 207:

Biden says that during the transition, he was warned not to expect any cooperation on many votes. “I spoke to seven different Republican Senators, who said, `Joe, I’m not going to be able to help you on anything,’ he recalls. His informants said McConnell had demanded unified resistance. “The way it was characterized to me was: `For the next two years, we can’t let you succeed in anything. That’s our ticket to coming back,’” Biden says.​

The vice president says he hasn’t even told Obama who his sources were, but Bob Bennett of Utah and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania both confirmed they had conversations with Biden along these lines.​

The real question I suppose is how reliable a reporter Michael Grunwald is and whether or not Bob Bennett or Arlen Specter will come out and say that they were misquoted.


If (and it could be a big "if") this passage from the book is accurate it is damning and substantial evidence that a high number of filibusters on the part of Republican Senators wasn't just a fluke.


If the "lamestream media" really has a liberal bias won't this be reported widely? Somehow I doubt it'll be featured prominently in the news if it turns out to be accurate.

​

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Wait, one party not cooperating with the other? Shocking!

Let me define bipartisanship as it exists today. It's when the majority party graciously invites the minority to freely accept it's agenda, and the minority refuses to cooperate even if the majority gave in to its wishes.

 

[Jaskalas]

This is the nature of our political system, what's not to believe? Biden told us the grass is green and the sky is blue.

As Dems did to Reps, Reps are doing to Dems... as Dems will do to Reps. It will keep going back and forth.

 

[nageov3t]

I wish the Democrats had taken that approach instead of voting to go to war with Iraq, expanding medicare, and passing the Bush tax cuts multiple times.

 

[EagleKeeper]

When the winner implies that they do not want/need the loser; they expect that the loser will roll over meekly?

 

[Doc Savage Fan]

Has Joe Biden (or any Democrat leadership) helped the Republicans in any way to further their agenda? I think not. Pot calls kettle black.

 

[Linux23]

why don't we just throw all of these clowns out and replace them with new clowns?

 

[hal2kilo]

Other than Joe's inside perspective how is this a new revelation.

Mitch McChinless made it quite clear that his number one agenda was to ensure Obama would be a one term president. So far he's fail.

 

[blankslate]

Wait, one party not cooperating with the other? Shocking!

Let me define bipartisanship as it exists today. It's when the majority party graciously invites the minority to freely accept it's agenda, and the minority refuses to cooperate even if the majority gave in to its wishes.

False equivalence. Show me something that suggests that Democratic Senators planned to engage in obstructionism the very evening of President Bush's inaugaration

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/robert-draper-anti-obama-campaign_n_1452899.html

According to Draper, the guest list that night (which was just over 15 people in total) included Republican Reps. Eric Cantor (Va.), Kevin McCarthy (Calif.), Paul Ryan (Wis.), Pete Sessions (Texas), Jeb Hensarling (Texas), Pete Hoekstra (Mich.) and Dan Lungren (Calif.), along with Republican Sens. Jim DeMint (S.C.), Jon Kyl (Ariz.), Tom Coburn (Okla.), John Ensign (Nev.) and Bob Corker (Tenn.). The non-lawmakers present included Newt Gingrich, several years removed from his presidential campaign, and Frank Luntz, the long-time Republican wordsmith. Notably absent were Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) -- who, Draper writes, had an acrimonious relationship with Luntz.
For several hours in the Caucus Room (a high-end D.C. establishment), the book says they plotted out ways to not just win back political power, but to also put the brakes on Obama's legislative platform.
"If you act like you're the minority, you're going to stay in the minority," Draper quotes McCarthy as saying. "We've gotta challenge them on every single bill and challenge them on every single campaign."
The conversation got only more specific from there, Draper reports. Kyl suggested going after incoming Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for failing to pay Social Security and Medicare taxes while at the International Monetary Fund. Gingrich noted that House Ways and Means Chairman Charlie Rangel (D-N.Y.) had a similar tax problem. McCarthy chimed in to declare "there's a web" before arguing that Republicans could put pressure on any Democrat who accepted campaign money from Rangel to give it back.

The dinner lasted nearly four hours. They parted company almost giddily. The Republicans had agreed on a way forward: Go after Geithner. (And indeed Kyl did, the next day: ‘Would you answer my question rather than dancing around it—please?’)
Show united and unyielding opposition to the president’s economic policies. (Eight days later, Minority Whip Cantor would hold the House Republicans to a unanimous No against Obama’s economic stimulus plan.)

Begin attacking vulnerable Democrats on the airwaves. (The first National Republican Congressional Committee attack ads would run in less than two months.)
Win the spear point of the House in 2010. Jab Obama relentlessly in 2011. Win the White House and the Senate in 2012.​

​

Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the U.S. House of Representatives
The above article highlights details in another book that lends credence to VP Biden's claim.

If the sources cited in this thread hold out then your claim of everyone doing the same thing doesn't hold water.

These sources show Republicans going far beyond what Democratic members of Congress have done in the name of partisan hackery.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

why don't we just throw all of these clowns out and replace them with new clowns?

We do. That's our famed democracy.

 

[Matt1970]

So Joe Biden didn't even name anybody?

 

[blankslate]

So Joe Biden didn't even name anybody?

Read the article. the author of the book said that VP Biden wouldn't name his sources to the president, however according to the author two republicans confirmed that they had conversations with VP Biden "along these lines."

 

[fantolay]

I should hope they wouldn't cooperate with that assclown.

 

[blankslate]

Has Joe Biden (or any Democrat leadership) helped the Republicans in any way to further their agenda? I think not. Pot calls kettle black.

Seriously? That post is utter bullshit.


Remember back in July of last year? When the debt ceiling was looming and the Republicans were using it as a club?

President Obama has put Social Security on the table and was castigated for it by his side. And the Republicans still stonewalled until almost the very last minute.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ecurity-cuts/2011/07/06/gIQA2sFO1H_story.html

President Obama is pressing congressional leaders to consider a far-reaching debt-reduction plan that would force Democrats to accept major changes to Social Security and Medicare in exchange for Republican support for fresh tax revenue.

Asked to comment, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel would say only that “there are no tax increases on the table.”

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/07/obama_puts_social_security_and.html

President Obama is an overachiever. Or ... something. He proposed a mere $2 trillion in cuts during previous budget negotiations, but the White House now says the president will look for $3 trillion to $4 trillion in cuts over the next ten years. The new target comes after a private meeting with House Speaker John Boehner, who reportedly agreed to $1 trillion worth of new tax revenues — in exchange for Obama putting Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare (previously untouchable) on the table.

Again, in bold, in case you missed it.

in exchange for Obama putting Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare (previously untouchable) on the table.

http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/...012PresidentialElection/2011/07/16/id/403839/

President Barack Obama’s decision to put Social Security and Medicare on the debt reduction table has angered seniors, a group of steadfast voters already disenchanted with the Democratic Party. And their ire could cost the president a second term.

Of course in their desire to oppose President Obama as much as possible they let the opportunity slip away...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/obama-social-security_n_964175.html

Jilted by Republican leadership during the deficit-reduction talks that accompanied the debt ceiling debate, the Obama administration is now pulling back an offer to put Social Security reform on the negotiating table.

The president will not include changes to that program in the series of deficit reduction measures that he will offer to the congressional super committee next Monday, administration officials confirm.

During talks with House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) this past summer, President Barack Obama had discussed changing the way that Social Security benefits were paid so that a lower level of benefits were paid over time. Boehner walked away from that deal, which was part of a much broader package, because of concern over a corresponding tax increase. Now, Obama is putting off support for that idea of changing the inflation formula of Social Security to chained consumer price index (CPI).

I suggest trying to remember even recent history before again making a post that is so lacking in thought as to make a person wonder if you are just engaging in some weird political avante garde satire that I'm just not picking up on.

 

[Thump553]

This is the nature of our political system, what's not to believe? Biden told us the grass is green and the sky is blue.

As Dems did to Reps, Reps are doing to Dems... as Dems will do to Reps. It will keep going back and forth.

It never ever was the nature of our poltical system for well over 200 years, until the rise of the mid-1990s Newt Gingrich GOP. I think the average person has concluded that our legislature has greatly declined since then.

 

[Matt1970]

Seriously? That post is utter bullshit.


Remember back in July of last year? When the debt ceiling was looming and the Republicans were using it as a club?

President Obama has put Social Security on the table and was castigated for it by his side. And the Republicans still stonewalled until almost the very last minute.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ecurity-cuts/2011/07/06/gIQA2sFO1H_story.html

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/07/obama_puts_social_security_and.html
Again, in bold, in case you missed it. http://www.newsmax.com/InsideCover/...012PresidentialElection/2011/07/16/id/403839/

Of course in their desire to oppose President Obama as much as possible they let the opportunity slip away...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/15/obama-social-security_n_964175.html

I suggest trying to remember even recent history before again making a post that is so lacking in thought as to make a person wonder if you are just engaging in some weird political avante garde satire that I'm just not picking up on.

That's some nice cherry picked facts. I see you selectively left out the $33 Billion fiasco from Democrats that nearly shut the nation down. After 1,000 days, Senate Democrats still refuse to pass a budget. Between this and his Bain story Biden can basically go out and say whatever the hell he wants without having a shred of evidence. We can go on and on with this game and who really wins this? Take your blinders off pal. Both sides produce bills they know will never pass and then look for every chance they can to go on TV and make the other side look bad.

 

[Lithium381]

lololol @ you guys's partian hackery. they're all the same they just wear different colored ties.

 

[blankslate]

That's some nice cherry picked facts. I see you selectively left out the $33 Billion fiasco from Democrats that nearly shut the nation down. After 1,000 days, Senate Democrats still refuse to pass a budget. Between this and his Bain story Biden can basically go out and say whatever the hell he wants without having a shred of evidence. We can go on and on with this game and who really wins this? Take your blinders off pal. Both sides produce bills they know will never pass and then look for every chance they can to go on TV and make the other side look bad.

Why don't you take *your* blinders off buddy.

Social Security was sacrosanct for the Democratic party and Obama still put it on the table.

The books that I have brought up in this threadprovide a picture off republicans engaging in a strategy of obstructionism in a way that the democratic party hasn't tried yet. If they were lies wouldn't the republicans be denouncing these books and calling out the authors as liars?

If books like these came out during President Bush's first term illustrating a strategy like this used by the democratic party against President Bush...

You and your ilk would definitely be bringing it up.

 

[Matt1970]

Why don't you take *your* blinders off buddy.

Social Security was sacrosanct for the Democratic party and Obama still put it on the table.

The books that I have brought up in this threadprovide a picture off republicans engaging in a strategy of obstructionism in a way that the democratic party hasn't tried yet. If they were lies wouldn't the republicans be denouncing these books and calling out the authors as liars?

If books like these came out during President Bush's first term illustrating a strategy like this used by the democratic party against President Bush

You and your ilk would be screaming bloody murder.

Good lord, you remind me of a little kid saying "I know you are but what am I?

And I have news for you, those kind of books have been out for decades. It doesn't matter which side you pick. Either one will tell you how bad and evil the other side is and how they are out to destroy this country. And they can prove it too.

And as far as social security goes, agreeing to put something on the table and agreeing to actually cut it are 2 different things.

 

[blankslate]

Good lord, you remind me of a little kid saying "I know you are but what am I? And I have news for you, those kind of books have been out for decades. It doesn't matter which side you pick. Either one will tell you how bad and evil the other side is and how they are out to destroy this country. And they can prove it too. And as far as social security goes, agreeing to put something on the table and agreeing to actually cut it are 2 different things.

Good god look at yourself before calling someone else a little kid.

You keep forgetting that it was the first time it was on the table from a major democratic figure.

Yet they still said "um no thanks"

As far as the books go. They're statements are supported by the number of filibusters that took place in the senate.

 

[PokerGuy]

That's exactly what I want my reps to do. If the dims try to destroy the country, use any and all means to prevent that from happening. Duh.

 

[Genx87]

And yet major bills that increase govt spending and expand govt powers still magically get passed. The show these two parties put on for us is growing stale.

 

[blankslate]

That's exactly what I want my reps to do. If the dims try to destroy the country, use any and all means to prevent that from happening. Duh.

When is balancing the budget trying to destroy the country?

Unfortunately you can't do it without cutting things the Republicans don't want cut along with things they do want cut.

It might be impossible to do without letting President Bush's tax cuts expire.

 

[PokerGuy]

When is balancing the budget trying to destroy the country?

bwaahahahahahahahahahahah

You actually believe the dims want to balance the budget? Lollerskates, that's good stuff.

It might be impossible to do without letting President Bush's tax cuts expire.

Nonsense. Reduce spending, cut waste.

 

[blankslate]

bwaahahahahahahahahahahah You actually believe the dims want to balance the budget? Lollerskates, that's good stuff.

It's been done before. A balanced budget doesn't do away with the debt but it would keep it from growing larger.