RNC begins with a slam...

So I'm listening to the beginning of the Republican convention. There's a group that has a petition to have a roll call vote on the rules, in hope that they might by-pass Trump as a candidate.

The chair not only did not recognize those with the petition but mumbled something about the "previous question." The previous question requires an immediate vote without discussion. It's a tactic to stop any discussion. But it requires a two thirds vote itself. No vote was taken.

Then the chair calls for a vote on the rules. The place roars in protest before he asks for the ayes. He counts the roar of protest as an aye vote. The volume stays the same for the nays. He says the ayes have it. He moves on.

As we speak, the leaders are trying to figure out what to do. Complete chaos, with different groups calling different things like "Roll call vote." Several have walked out.

Update:
The chair finally comes back. He says that enough people withdrew their name from the petition that it no longer had enough votes to be considered. Republican Whips allegedly went around convincing enough state signers to take their names off.

No one has yet seen the counter-petitions to verify... :-)

Update 2:
It was finally said that Minnesota, DC, and a couple other states withdrew their signatures.

So much you could say about politics...

... but what good does it do to say it?

If I did right now it would have to do with this: What does it say if Obama, Boehner, McConnell, Reid, and Pelosi can forge cooperation to agree on something to avoid the fiscal cliff and the Tea Party House Republicans prefer this?

I wish someone would take back the Republican Party!

Status Quo

After billions of dollars and two years of anguish, we are left where we began.  Obama is president again. The Republicans are in control of the House, and the Democrats are in control of the Senate.

House Republicans have already signaled that there will be no taxes on the wealthiest Americans.  That means that the cliff of automatic defense and other cuts loom at the end of the year without any clear avoidance.  The Tea Partiers won't compromise.  It's not clear that Obama will compromise on the tax issue any more.  Scarily, it looks like we may face two more years of gridlock again.

The Health Care debate is over.  It will go into effect.  There will be no repeal.  It is a non-issue from this point on.

The Republican Party will try to reorient itself around Latinos.  I think a lot of Republicans will shift in favor of the Dream Act, and we will see bipartisan immigration reform early next year.

The economy will continue to improve unless Congress does something stupid (which is possible).  It was going to improve no matter who was elected because the economic crisis is over.  If Romney had been elected, it would have continued to improve.  It will continue to improve under Obama unless gridlock kills it, which is possible.

The national debt now remains THE major issue.  If the Democrats are smart (and we'll have to see), they will focus a lot of energy on debt reduction these next four years or else their goose is cooked in 2016--unless of course the Republicans shoot themselves in the foot like they did this time.

There will of course be no more bail-outs because they were a one time, bi-partisan emergency move during the greatest recession since the Great Depression.  They will not come up again, barring another global economic crisis.

America is not moving in a socially conservative direction.  For example, all the most socially conservative candidates on the issue of abortion lost.  I think evangelicals have a choice to make.  The frontal assault is a losing battle.  What if we tried to influence by example rather than force to convert? I personally believe that is the Wesleyan way.

Budget Thoughts...

I know few of you are interested in my thoughts on economics or the budget--and it is especially a shame to speak of such things in the middle of Holy Week--but I am sitting here watching Hannity interview Sarah Palin and thought I would jot down my thoughts.

1. The S & P announcement, whatever the politics behind it, confirms to me that Obama's budget proposal is not enough.  We should be looking at something more extensive like the bipartisan budget commission's recommendations this past Fall.

2. The debt ceiling has to be raised.  I think almost everyone recognizes this, and it is really too serious of an issue to use for political bargaining.  Anyone who votes against it is a danger to the US, almost on the level of impeachment.  We should immediately eliminate from our minds any candidate who suggests we should not do so--these are very, very dangerous, loony people.

3. Ryan's proposal to privatize Medicare and push Medicaid down to the states is a non-starter.  Not only does it have no chance of passing--I get so annoyed with people who can't handle reality and prefer to beat their heads against the wall until they knock themselves out--it seems to deconstruct the very purpose of these programs, which was to provide medical care for the most vulnerable in our society--the elderly and those unable to take care of themselves.  Instead, it likely lops off these in favor of those partially able to take care of themselves.  Cut it we must, finance it some other way we must.  But Ryan's idea is DOA, period.

4. We should increase revenues at the same time we make deep cuts.  Perhaps we could compromise by only  returning to pre-Bush rates for those who earn over 500,000.  Or perhaps we could institute a flat tax on these individuals without any exemptions.  I am as unconvinced as ever that tax breaks at this level for this group return more economically than the taxes do, and there is no moral argument to be made here that stands up against even the smallest scrutiny.

My thoughts in troubling times...  It's compromise, compromise, compromise.  The fear that Congress and the President will not be able to compromise, more than anything else, stands behind the S&P statement.

Clever Republicans

It looks like Boehner is going to call for a vote tomorrow on a one-week budget extension that cuts $12 billion and extends Defense funding for the rest of the year.  It's smart because I imagine it will pass the House and then it puts the Senate or less likely the President in the position of saying "no" to something that results in a shut down.

I don't know what I would do if I were in the Senate's or President's place.  To meet in the middle, cuts should probably include Defense.  After all, Defense is 20% of the budget.

But you can see the clever plan.  With each extension, put in for the rest of the year some item the Republicans want until all you're debating are the ideologically driven cuts.  So then the Democrats finally get the blame for shutting down the government over NPR or Planned Parenthood, which would not go over well.