{"id":2113,"date":"2010-07-02T01:58:43","date_gmt":"2010-07-02T08:58:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=2113"},"modified":"2010-07-02T01:58:43","modified_gmt":"2010-07-02T08:58:43","slug":"machiavellian-gop-tactics-divide-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2010\/07\/02\/machiavellian-gop-tactics-divide-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Machiavellian GOP Tactics Divide America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Americans are suffering because Republicans don\u2019t care who they have to hurt in their attempts to manipulate US Voters.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"GOPhelp\"<\/a> More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day.<\/p>\n

An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six months stand to lose their benefits each week, unless Congress acts.<\/p>\n

For the third time in as many weeks, Republicans in the Senate successfully filibustered a bill Wednesday night to continue providing unemployment checks to people who been laid off for long stretches<\/strong>. The House is slated to vote on a similar measure Thursday, though the Senate’s action renders the vote a futile gesture as Congress prepares to depart Washington for its holiday recess.<\/p>\n

A little more than 1.3 million people have already lost benefits since the last extension ran out at the end of May.<\/p>\n

"It is beyond disappointing that Republicans continue to stand almost lockstep against assistance for out-of-work Americans," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.<\/p>\n

The measure, however, stands a better chance of passing after a replacement is seated for Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., who died Monday. The measure fell two votes short of the 60 needed to advance Wednesday night, but only because Reid, a supporter of the bill, voted "nay" to take a procedural step that would allow for a revote.<\/p>\n

"We will vote on this measure again once there is a replacement named for the late Sen. Byrd," Reid said.<\/p>\n

Byrd’s successor will be named by West Virginia Gov. Joe Manchin, a Democrat.<\/p>\n

Unable to deliver more stimulus spending for President Barack Obama, Democrats in Congress had hoped to at least restore the jobless benefits. Obama has urged lawmakers to spend about $50 billion to help states pay for Medicaid programs and to avoid teacher layoffs, but Democrats in Congress have been unable to come up with the votes.<\/p>\n

Many Democrats see state aid and unemployment benefits as insurance against the economy sliding back into recession. However, many Republicans and some Democrats worry about adding to the growing national debt\u2026 [emphasis added<\/em>]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted from <Common Dreams<\/a>><\/p>\n

Aid to unemployed workers is an excellent way to stimulate job growth, because the recipients spend their benefits immediately to fulfill their day-to day needs.  But the GOP wants to prevent job growth, as long as Democrats are in power.  Not only are Republicans trying to deceive voters by preventing solutions to problems they caused and blaming Democrats, but also, they are manipulating the progressive base to turn us against Obama.<\/font><\/p>\n

Rachel Maddow ran two segments that have bearing on the GOP tactics.  In the first she and DNC Chair, Tim Kaine, discuss this vote.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font> <\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

In the second, she and columnist, Ezra Klein, discuss the tactics.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font> <\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Ezra has his head so far up his butt that he\u2019s breathing pure methane.  Rachel\u2019s view is the correct one.  The Senate has a long tradition of collegial cooperation.  It has been an unwritten rule for over a century.  Democrats are still playing by it, but Republicans are not.  When Republicans pretend to be playing by the rules, Democrats respond habitually.  Republicans are like a woman who leads a man on, lasciviously and seductively implying a night of passion, enjoying the flowers, candy, gifts, dinner, and dancing, and knowing all along that they will leave him with a peck on his cheek and a bulge in his pants.<\/font><\/p>\n

On those rare occasions when something does pass, it is so watered down that we progressives are left fuming, and that\u2019s exactly what the GOP wants, to drive a wedge between Obama and the progressive base.  When we say that the Democrats in the Senate are foolish to allow themselves to be so manipulated, we are spot-on.  But aren\u2019t we just as foolish as they are, if we allow this Machiavellian GOP manipulation to turn us against the only available chance for progressive gains?<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Americans are suffering because Republicans don\u2019t care who they have to hurt in their attempts to manipulate US Voters. More than 1.3 million laid-off workers won’t get their unemployment benefits reinstated before Congress goes on a weeklong vacation for Independence Day. An additional 200,000 people who have been without a job for at least six […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2113","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2113"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2113\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2113"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2113"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2113"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}