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Well, this is a nifty how-dee-do:
“The President continues to believe that extending middle class tax cuts is the most important thing we can do for our economy right now and he applauds the House for passing a permanent extension. But, because Republicans have made it clear that they won’t pass a middle class extension without also extending tax cuts for the wealthy, the President has asked Director Lew and Secretary Geithner to work with Congress to find a way forward. Those discussions started just yesterday and are continuing this afternoon. The talks are ongoing and productive, but any reports that we are near a deal in the tax cuts negotiations are inaccurate and premature.”
What is the sound of one hand applauding?
We’re on to you, Democrats — we know you have a majority in the Senate, we know this bill has already passed the Senate, and we know this simply needs to be worked out in conference. Stop capitulating! Stop pretending you care what happens to the middle class! Admit you are acting on behalf of your banker patrons who want to pay lower taxes until infinity.
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“We’re working on this with the GOP in SECRET — please stop with your damn inconvenient LEGISLATING!”
The GOP want Tax Cuts to fund their 2012 campaigns!
We can’t afford permanent tax cuts for anyone is the truth. And the rich need their rate jacked up to 50% to pay for their war!
Ok i just posted this in diaries but I feel an obligation to try to disseminate this as much as possible:
Why are we not considering Budget Reconciliation on the Bush Tax Cuts???
It is literally the same procedure used to get them passed in the first place. I can’t believe I haven’t heard someone mention this yet.
I don’t get it — I really don’t. Politics is a bloody street fight not some damned Marquis of Queensbury bullshit. You are in a position to give the Republicans a major beatdown and you hold up so they can catch their breath? Stupid. Beyond stupid.
just let them expire – was a plank in the platform.
no need to be afraid of the nasty R’s – they’ll act the same no matter what you do…
this is infuriating to watch, because it seems the fix has has been IN for long time now.
A very odd posting this time. Teddy, I agree with you whole heartedly on gay marriage and DADT, but here we part ways.
How extending tax cuts to all stabs he middle class in the back is mystifying.
The middle class are going to get their tax cut. That is certain.
The Dem’s f’d up by not doing this sooner.
The voters WELL knew the position of the Dems and GOP on this before the election. They voted for GOP anyway. So, the public isn’t on Obama’s side no matter what some individual poll says. The Dem’s got no traction at all when they tried to use this argument before the election, so there will be no traction now.
Better to retreat and fight another day than look like complete asses.
from wikipedia:
Reconciliation is a legislative process of the United States Senate intended to allow consideration of a contentious budget bill with debate limited to twenty hours under Senate Rules.
reconciliation instruction (Budget Reconciliation) is a provision in a budget resolution directing one or more committees to submit legislation changing existing law in order to bring spending, revenues, or the debt-limit into conformity with the budget resolution. The instructions specify the committees to which they apply, indicate the appropriate dollar changes to be achieved, and usually provide a deadline by which the legislation is to be reported or submitted.
A reconciliation bill is one containing changes in law recommended pursuant to reconciliation instructions in a budget resolution.
—————-
I don’t think you can just wave a flag and say “reconciliation”. It has to be planned in advance (it was for health care), appropriate language entered into the budget, relevant committees involved. Then it has to meet the Byrd Rule (i.e. be paid for or contain sunset provisions). I don’t think any groundwork has been laid for that, so it probably isn’t an option.
Obama is determined to give the millionaires their tax cuts, and when all the commentators on MSM stand to benefit from the millionaire tax cuts, we are not going to get a reasoned discussion about it.
But srsly, O and R’s, deficit reduction or tax cuts. It’s one or the other. Both does not compute.
yeah, Obama’s determined to give in.
By the time Obama’s done capitulating, we’ll owe our taxes directly to the banksters. Which, admittedly, will save some time.
Do you think he knows you need to make money before you can get a tax cut?
Wolf, meet weasel.
Rescuing my comment from EPU land on an earlier post:
“But isn’t this symptomatic of the way O has played several very important issues in the past? Give just enough to be a sop to ‘the base,’ while caving in important & quantitative respects to the rich & the corps?
Stim comes immediately to mind. Asked for $800 bil when accepted estimates (not the 3% of economists who self-identify as neolibruls who are in charge of O’s econ policy) said it should be $1.2 trillion. Then settle for $700 billion, billing it as the ‘best we could do.’ Ditto composition of stim, which accepted wisdom said: food stamps, unemployment insurance, infrastructure, would give so much more bang for the buck, tax cuts not so much. So O structured stim exactly the opposite, again claiming it was the best he could do.
Setting up libruls to argue among themselves while the rich get richer.
It’s not about the pennies that desperate peeps get. The argument should be that everything O admin does further enriches the rich.”
The English language is running out of words to describe how badly President Obama has betrayed his voters. The only thing sadder than Obama’s failures are his supporters that still think he is or ever was on their side.
See, govts really ARE more efficient than private enterprise, just as the progressives have often argued. Eliminates the middle man.
Which is why resort to name calling & swearing has become the ‘dialogue’ of last resort for progressives these days.
There are some other things that do not compute, such as how the Reparasite Party that denounces unemployment benefits achives massive gains in Congress, when the official unemployment rate is near 10%.
Must be some kind of new math, something akin to Raygun’s Voodoo economics.
We’re on to you, Democrats — we know you have a majority in the Senate, we know this bill has already passed the Senate, and we know this simply needs to be worked out in conference. Stop capitulating! Stop pretending you care what happens to the middle class! Admit you are acting on behalf of your banker patrons who want to pay lower taxes until infinity.
Is anyone else thinking “public option” right now?
“Weighing in on issue in Cincinnati, Obama said, “I continue to believe that a public option within the basket of insurance choices would help improve quality and bring down costs.”
{…}
Last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that Obama would “absolutely” fight for a public option if Senate leadership decided to go for it. “[I]f it’s part of the decision of leadership to move forward, absolutely,” Sebelius said. “The president said from the outset he thought that was a great way to provide cost reduction and competition moving forward, but if that is not the choice of the majority moving forward, I think there are other ways to get there.”
{….}
OBAMA: Democrats, just congenitally, tend to get — to see the glass as half empty. (Laughter.) If we get an historic health care bill passed — oh, well, the public option wasn’t there. If you get the financial reform bill passed — then, well, I don’t know about this particularly derivatives rule, I’m not sure that I’m satisfied with that. And gosh, we haven’t yet brought about world peace and — (laughter.) I thought that was going to happen quicker. (Laughter.) You know who you are. (Laughter.) We have had the most productive, progressive legislative session in at least a generation.
See how kabuki theater goes?
Obama is all for a number of things—letting for the Bush tax cuts on the rich expire, DADT repeal, DOMA, etc—but then does everything he can to prevent that those things from actually happening when it seems possible that they might move from kabuki theater into reality.
steawrtm
This was in reply to Elliott upthread.
the gop’s bitch in the white house is gonna be in for a rude awakening when january 21, 2013 rolls around and he’s thinking about those juicy bank directorships he’s gonna be offered. heh. his usefulness to them is over by that point.
*****
i wish the nobel committee would rescind their prize. mr hopey changey’s contempt for the rule of law negates the prize otherwise.
Here’s the stab, to the middle-class who got their tax cuts passed by the House today:
But, because Republicans have made it clear that they won’t pass a middle class extension without also extending tax cuts for the wealthy, the President has asked Director Lew and Secretary Geithner to work with Congress to find a way forward.
November’s vote wasn’t about extending tax cuts to millionaires, and anyone who says it was dishonest.
The final result will be we had to cut this deal to give the 3% their tax break so that we could get a year of unemployment benefits for those that need it right now.
We really did not want to go down this road but it was the only way we could take care of our unemployed and their need for benefits right now. We are sure you understand the dilemma we are faced with here.
(I know that other commenters have probably said this a million times but I cannot catch up to all the threads, so please forgive the repeat)
I have had a rather recurring thought of wondering if O is really self-destructive and/or suicidal. It is really odd to see such manipulation played out in such a wide swath. Where can he go to hide? And wherein lies his self respect? W really made little pretence to be other than what he was….a C student out of his league. O has really sold himself. It does not look like something that will ever end well.
Obama Antoinette
Perhaps the recognition that one has been played is hard to admit?
Ex-communists used to talk about their “Kronstadt moment”–the breaking point when the Soviet Union or some other beacon of Communist belief committed some breach of faith or action so atrocious that they could no longer support Communism. For some, it was Kronstadt in 1921. For others, it was forced collectivization or the Purges. For others, it was the Nazi-Soviet pact and Poland. For still others, it was Hungary in 1956, or Czechoslovakia in 1968, or the detailing of Stalin’s crimes starting in 1956.
Maybe progressives should start talking about their “Obama moment”. Me–I drew a line in the sand with this issue, letting the Bush tax cuts expire, for the simple fact that there were no excuses that could prevent Obama from obtaining this goal. Like how hard is it to accomplish nothing?
stewartm
Why does he bother? The GOP will continue to NOT cooperate. The right wing nut cases will continue to behave like racist assholes. He actually has nothing to lose by punching back at these guys. All I can think of is that he’s afraid – afraid for himself, afraid for his wife and his two kids.
“Better to retreat and fight another day than look like complete asses.” They’ve been retreating to fight another day for two years and look more like complete asses by the hour.
I don’t see how voters “WELL knew” that Democrats were going to do something after the election that they could have done more easily before the election. The Democrats had no credibility left to achieve traction.
For me it was the refusal to look back, then underscored by the ignoring/perpetuating torture….no way to minimize or ignore.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
I think the cat helped me type;)
We really did not want to go down this road but it was the only way we could take care of our unemployed and their need for benefits right now. We are sure you understand the dilemma we are faced with here.
I know people who are on it, and some who have been dropped. I’ve helped some in fact.
And having said that–I don’t agree. It’s far more important to kill the tax cuts, even if you have to kill all of them.
It’s more important *because* the ballooning deficit will result from the continuation of the tax cuts will then be used as an excuse by Republicans, and Obama, to implement Catfood Commission-style “austerity”–”austerity” that will boomerang against those who still have jobs *and* those without.
In fact, I strongly believe that taxing the rich will have a stimulative effect–when you can’t give money to yourself when you’re on top of the economic pyramid because of the tax man, then you tend to do other things with it. Those things will help the economy. (Although truthfully, this tax increase is not big enough on the rich to really encourage the socially productive responses I’m thinking of).
We can help the unemployed by reconciliation. That’s what should be done. Don’t cave on the tax issue!
stewartm
Obama Romanoff
It’s O’s rolodex and entre that’s valuable post-prez. Worth a lot more to O in $$ than he earns as prez. My fave example, because it’s so homey, is: How do you think Bill could afford a $3 million wedding for Chelsea, which, BTW, he tasteless joked on TDS, as his contribution to the stim.
Does anyone know whether the Nobel Committee can revoke an award?
tax cuts = more deficit….sheesh
betcha it was more like 10 mill
Didn’t pay that much attention. $3 mil was widely rumored, and serves the rhetorical purpose just fine.
The current crop of plutocrats make the court at Versailles during the reign of Louis XVI look restrained.
For the love of country is there not someone in the “Democratic” Party willing to mount a primary challenge to the Trojan Horse currently in the WH!!!
I’m almost 60, but with the economy so bad and the politics even worse, this is the darkest, gloomiest winter I can remember.
At the same time, I can’t recall a time when so many people were so aware of the rank hypocrisy and stink of the political and economic elite. Maybe I’m going out on a limb here, but I think an argument can be made that the teapartiers are included in those ranks. Much of the vote last month was a gigantic FY to the political process as it was ideological.
True, the teapartiers voted against their economic interests, but any more so than those who voted for the dems?
Maybe I’m playing Polyanna here, but when the newly elected repubs fail their teaparty base, perhaps then the mass of disillusioned citizens–right and left–can coalesce around some theme of economic justice, or at least no more Goldman-Sachs, bankster bailout economy.
Nobel committees, at least “peace” & “econ” seem to be straight out of 1984. In that respect, O’s acceptance speech: War Is Peace, seems particularly appropriate.
I do think folks are waking up…the mess and ooze are so clear. I like your point. There was big coverage tonight about details of the bailout…bigger and scarier etc. The horror stories just keep coming….
AND THE KILLIN’ GOEZ ON AND ON AND…
Citizen Teddy Partridge and the rest of the lost and wounded:
It is clear that what we are seeing is the economic theory of boilin’ the frog. If we want to see the prototype we can look at Japan of the last 10 years. With the frog, if you get his metabolism down far enough, put ‘im in the water and slowly increase the heat he will boild up nicely exhibiting nary a twitch. The mass of Americans have been effectively cooled into the bottom of the economic pot and covered in debt and unemployment and slowly the oligarchs are turnin up the heat of tax cuts, cuts in services and collapse of incomes.
Japan does provide some hope for some kinda positive political change from this process as the ruling party in Japan since the end of the war was reduced into opposition in the last major election cycle…maybe if we get our shit together in this country we can clean out the corporatists from what’s left of the Democratic Party or at least destabilize the system enough in 2012 that the oligarchs will be forced to attempt to govern through coalitions of minority factions in both parties.
Thanks for the post Citizen Partridge, may I have another?
KEEP THE FAITH AND PASS THE AMMUNITION, SURRENDER WON’T CHANGE ANYTHING!!
It’s simple…..the core of the Democratic leadership are wealthy people….they don’t care about average Americans.
Look,the tools are there for ‘em to pass middle class Tax cuts,instead the Dems put on a charade to make you think that the GOP is being mean to ‘em so they have to do what the GOP wants.
It’s Kabuki so you can have the impression that the Dems are for the ordinary Americans…..
Saw a bit of Obama on the TV today and noticed there is now a passive quality to his expression. A detached and disinterested quality to his look. Not exactly a blank stare but something troubling none-the-less.
For me too. Support for torture and war crimes and looking forward not backward was the first tell.
Greenwald spoke to that in February, 2009.
I never thought Obama was heaven on earth, but I did expect him to do what most liberal democrats try to achieve: throw some crumbs to the middle class and/or ameliorate a little bit the negative effects of a rotten system.
He never even tried.
Checked out dailykos lately? It’s majority anti-Obama now–he’s openly ridiculed and derided.
As Gertrude Stein once said of Oakland, Ca., the same can be said of Obama, “there is no there there.
I haven’t been following all day, I’ve had other things to do. I don’t, however, remember any trading of continuing the tax cut for the households above $250k for extension of the unemployment payments.
Uh oh. Now you’re really in trouble. All the pups from Oakland will take great umbrage and gang up on you. *g*
Obama Nero, Obama Quisling
Yes, just like hanging, there is nothing like an economic nightmare created by theft and plunder to concentrate the mind clearly.
Seriously, the powers that be imho have overreached. All Obama had to do to keep the creaky ship afloat was to throw a few bones to the middle class, stand by social security, be adamant about unemployment insurance, and so on. But he didn’t even bother. And with all those things, the elite would still have made out like bandits.
For me it was escalating Afghanistan. I could accept the very first extra troops – he actually campaigned on that, and that was fulfilling that pledge. The second escalation, after he had time to review and actually understand the situation, was unconscionable.
meant to be in reply to cregan below…
Have you seen O on the tube lately? He really looks like he’s checked out. Punch drunk and glassy eyed.
besides, everyone in Oaksterdam is way too baked to notice…just sayin’
I’m 60, I’m unemployed, under the best of circumstances I can collect unemployment for 15 to maybe 18 weeks, worst case my payments ended Tuesday and I’ll likely never find another job. Even if an extension is passed it will occur only because those people who nearly destroyed the global economy will have extracted another pound of flesh from their minions.
This President made specific promises to the American people and almost without exception he has at best capitulated and at worst abandoned them. For those who wish to argue that he has not stabbed the middle class in the back, I respectfully beg to differ.
Yes, because his sponsors, Goldman Sachs, have told him so.
No doubt about it. He’s a traitor to the working and middle class and a champion of corporatism and the plutocracy.
He doesn’t have to win anyone’s favor any longer, so he’s simply turned off the charm, in my view. He and his are set for life.
helllllllo kittyyyyyyyyy
I had a meeting once in Oakland. It blurs into all the other meetings I had in places I don’t remember. But that’s because my observation is: land at some airport, get in a taxi, get on a highway to a bunch of glass curtain wall biz towers, ride an elevator, shake hands, bloviate, get no interesting Qs, reverse process. Rinse. Repeat.
Unlike Nabokov’s description of roadside America, I can’t do literary justice to the banality of U.S. cities. So you’ve just read my best shot. Oakland seemed outstanding in it’s total stereotypical representation of intellectually bankrupt U.S.
Kevin Baron, ASBL is upstairs!
Secret Blacklist Provision in Defense Authorization Bill Signals Death Knell for Small Businesses and Transparency in Contracting
I think Bill Clinton did better than others of his newly riche class in explaining how well he did under Bush, and how little he needed it. Probably easier to explain when you don’t have parents who can cut of one’s trust, but still — I think he’s like a newly rich boy on the team, he can’t help himself from bragging, but he’s happy to be taxed fairly on it.
A transpartisan outsider alliance, like the Rebels against the Empire in Star Wars, is our only hope.
You are welcome, NFt — and thanks for your alerts to the ever-rising temperature here in the pot over these many years.
Quite frankly, may I recommend you find a doctor who might locate a disability that makes you unemployable? Seriously, I know lots of older unemployable Americans for whom that’s become their only option. If you aren’t physically employable in your last line of work, it’s do-able.
That’s a convenient fantasy but it’s only a fantasy.
Would that it were so as then Obama could show true courage by dealing with the problem openly.
But there is no problem to be dealt with from his point of view… as he is doing exactly what he wants to do.
Exactly what he was hired to do.
And he does it with such careful forethought and implements it with such skill that there can be no doubt that he believes in it.
Obama refugees are going to have to face the fact that it was all very deliberate. Rahm Emanuel didn’t make hum do it, although he played his part. Obama did it.
And Obama meant to do it.
And he’s not going to stop doing it.
“First you have to admit that you have a problem.”
“Second you must accurately determine what the problem actually is.”
We have an Obama problem.
The problem being that Obama serves those ultra-elites that I believe are best referred to as “our Lords and Masters”… and he not even trying very hard to hide it anymore.
stewartm,
Sorry I did not reply earlier, I took time out for supper and just got back and checked the post again.
I was being cynical on my comment, but that is what I imagine will happen.
You are totally right, ALL the tax cuts should expire on December 31st and then let the Repubs try to get them replaced for their good friends in the next Congress. I doubt that it would happen but we know stranger things have come down the pike lately.
Yes! I have been thinking along similar lines as well. We can only hope to have a movement as diverse as possible that can’t be dismissed as “right” or “left”.
And the thing is, Obama had to do none of that. It’s as if he is doing those things gratuitously. He could have at least made some stand on such as social security and unemployment insurance, and the elites would still be reaping the lion’s share of the economy.
I honestly can’t figure the man out. He doesn’t even offer the pretense of a traditional democrat. He’s destructive economically and self-destructive politically
He does look depressed. I feel bad for him. I’d feel even worse if I weren’t so angry at his policies. I just don’t understand him.
I suspect this Onion piece is a joke that may not actually be a joke.
White House Reveals Obama Is Bipolar, Has Entered Depressive Phase
White House officials admit Obama’s extreme confidence and total euphoria over “hope” and “change” were symptoms of a prolonged manic episode.
http://www.theonion.com/video/white-house-reveals-obama-is-bipolar-has-entered-d,14360/
Yep, you’re right about it being our only hope.
I will give Obama credit for the destruction of the democratic party, at least as it’s been functioning for the past 20 years, and I think that’s a good thing.
… so many keyboards, so little time…
Hey, BO is applauding. What more do you want from the guy?
With few exceptions, the banality of American cities is nothing more than a reflection of the banality of the U.S. public.
I agree with you on this, we do indeed have an Obama problem. The Republicans have placed one of their own inside the Democratic party knowing that he can do much more damage on the inside than they cld from the outside. If he caves on the tax cuts then we need to make it plain to him that he will not be our candidate in 2012. He must go!!
Thank you, zapkitty, for not making me write one more time that Obama isn’t an accidental corporatist.
No, you really don’t get it, so let’s make it even easier: Obama’s a Republican.
He’s not a progressive, liberal or a lefty, and he’s not a coward, ignorant, spineless, or any of these other excuses put forward by Obama’s apologists and the still-uncomprehending. He’s a right-wing corporatist. He’s a bad guy. He lied to everyone about his intentions once in office and lied about who he really was (although a lot of people seemed to be able to figure out who he really was before he was elected).
Getting the picture?
I have a relative on benzos* who has these same qualities.
*benzodiazepines – class of anti-anxiety drugs. xanax and klonopin are examples.
And isn’t it telling that there were so many Kronstadt moments and yet so many people still believed in the Soviet Union?
The poor guy needs a long rest, and I hope we can give it to him in 2012. Probably stayed up late counting his money.
Mine was refusing to investigate and prosecute war crimes committed by the previous administration so I’ve been pissed for quite awhile now.
And each subsequent betrayal just makes it easier to hate this guy.
Kissinger still has his.
Until we get verifiable voting machines and election campaigns not funded by corporate money, voting is a fucking joke.
You have misunderstood the problem.
Obama is not a Republican.
This is not about “Republicans” or “Democrats.”
This is about those who serve our lords and masters regardless of purported political affiliations…
… plus those who serve our lords and masters through media-induced self-delusion…
… and their victims: the rest of us.
It’s not complicated.
He has the same look and affect as as a relative of mine who takes prescription anti-anxiety drugs.
Yeah,
Fava beans do appear to be on the Whitehouse menu. But at this point it’s no surprise to see them there.
Obama, the DLC and Rethugs have combined to sink any hope this nation has for a graceful recovery from our present economic crisis. And the true battle line isn’t even people making over 250K. It’s people making ten, a thousand or even ten thousand times that much. We’ve got people making over 2 Billion a year paying at a 15% rate… and that’s 15% of what isn’t hidden via creative accounting.
Um, it’s the thing now.
And linked in the post.
BHO Speaking/Orating/Prevaricating?
Michelle has a book deal next year and she doesn’t want to pay taxes on the million dollar advance.
From what I understand, the average middle class tax cut amounts to about $278 per person, and while many desperately need the money, it feels like crumbs dropped from the table of the savvy businessmen (and not-so-savvy politicians). The absurdity of giving all that money to the already-wealthy, even as they try to gut Social Security and pay for Obama’s wars, is so astounding. Obama and Gibbs should be ashamed to appear in public these days, and so should any man or woman who ran on the Democratic ticket.
He’s narcissistic.
Before I moved here I used Fox and weasels interchangeably.
I was corrected in their actions lie the difference.
A fox is sly, lives in the den raising a family and slips into the hen house to capture needed food for the family. Democrats.
A weasel on the other hand loves spilling blood beyond need, for the kill thrill.
When a weasel gets in the hen house all hell breaks loose until there ‘s nothing left alive except him in that hen house. Republicans
Rahm saw that look, too, and bailed out.
I do have some physical problems from a car accident years ago that limit the jobs that I can apply for but after years of working around them it’s not a concession that I want to make, at least at this point. I’m capable, willing and able to contribute my services and I don’t even want that much in return but these days it takes more than that I guess.
No one ACTUALLY knows what the election was about. But, we do know these things for certain. 1. the GOP made huge gains in the House and above average gains in the Senate. 2. the GOP broadcast far and wide that they favored extending the cuts to everyone. Very few voters, if any, didn’t know that. 3. Democrats broadcast far and wide that they did NOT favor extending the cuts to those above $250,000. 4. if the public was strongly against extending the cuts to everyone they would have thrown the GOP out of office instead of the Dems.
All I am saying is that the Dem’s tried this message before the election and no one bought it. Reasonably, it can therefore be expected that no one will buy it now. right or wrong, no one will buy it. It’s a dead horse.
We have seen enough to know that anyone who still supports Obama is a Fascist. Unless they believe he is stupid or weak or misled, in which case, they are morons like the folks who believe he is a Kenyan or a Muslim or a Communist.
Once again, Obama has put himself in a no win situation. For sure, the cuts are going to extended to all people or no people. That is certain. If extended to all people, the people here and elsewhere on the left will be pissed off. If no one gets them extended, he will piss everyone off. And, even if extended to all, the right and middle will be unhappy as they see the games played. In other words, everyone has known that only extending the cuts to those below $250,000 had NO chance of passing for the last 2 months. NO other result has been practically possible. That should have been acted upon and the uncertainly eliminated 3 months ago. Essentially, everyone has been put on tender hooks for the last 3 months only so Obama could avoid the inevitable pissing off of the left.
Once again, Obama has found a way to piss off all sides. A truly remarkable achievement. I know he planned on going down in history, but not in this way.
See just above.
Can I be R2-D2?
when you manage to put noam chompers and bitch mcConnel on the same page you know you’ve screwed the pooch to bloody, violent death.
but we must kill assange! gibbs is small potatos…like Pentangeli
The Bush tax cuts passed 51-50 using reconciliation.