You cannot put all of this on Obama. He is clearly willing to compromise for the good of the country. Trying to shift the blame is cowardly. This mess was created in congress and only congress can clean it up.

The 2012 elections was all about this same crapolla. Americans voted for President Obama and the Democrats - NOT THE REPUBLICAN BS!!

Now these Tea Party crazies are trying to force feed this crap DOWN OUR THROATS AGAIN. The American people should have a process that allows republican removal immediately for now doing their job.

Fool. Boehner walked away last week after his humilating attempt at passing a bill republicans would not back him on...he said it was up to Reid and McConnell at that point. The guy is worthless and a poster child of a man with no backbone. He is the worst Speaker of the House this country has ever experienced.

I believe the plan was that since the Dems were not involving themselves in the process, and the President just kept slapping down their initial proposals with crazy add ons and no give... they eventually just pushed something by procedure to justify their turning it back into the Presidents problem as all regular channels had been tried.

gofigure...What????? Are you fricking insane?

What???? Are you a fricking idiot? Been watching what has been going on the past few months, and years? Or just ignoring it all like a good little liberal follower?

this has nothing to do about race. It's more about self serving politicians looking out for both themselves and their financiers. Politics is no longer about the "people" of the U.S. This country has been completely hijacked to the point to where we have nothing but empty suits in government. Congress..the president...all of them...nothing but puppets. They get in front of the camera and act as though they care but none of them have the cajones make any real decisions regarding the future of this country.

I am grown up and I remember when this nation was all about hard work and doing those things that made sense. That was before we started to lower our standards so we could all be equal. Well now we are all equal and we're standing in the same pile of sh*t.

WTF,That's one way to look at it.

"lower our standards"?? What standards might those be? I'm sorry, you don't like everyone to have the same opportunities? What - you might have to work to get what you want instead of it being given to you by virtue of being one of the elect? Newsflash - most Americans are still hardworking and have plenty of common sense and love this country. I'm grown up too (over 60) and would rather live now than back in the 50s and 60s when the good old days weren't really all that good unless you were white, male, (and Protestant.) Take off those rose-colored backwards-looking spectacles, WTF.

The last gasps of the party of the irrelevant ..so sad

Are you quoting Hitler on the Communists just before Stalingrad?

boehner? teabags? wow that is real immature it scares me that you are allowed to vote. and this is coming from a liberal.

WTF are you smoking? It's really got to be some good sh*t!

And if he is not a felon, this Rick's vote is the equal of other people......or maybe even if he is, I forgot, they're trying to get felons the right to vote. Felons can vote but soldiers can't. No wonder 4 more years.

To..tom"""

Soldiers can't vote ...where....

I. State by State Chart of Felon Voting Laws:

12 States restrict felons from voting

38 states voting is restored after time probation served

http://felonvoting.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=286

Dear sweet Aunt Anna....do a little research and you will quickly learn that Obama spends less than any other president all the way back to Eisenhower. Check it out...you might learn something...the facts.

How has he went back on his promise of raising taxes on the upper 2%? Um, that is what is being negotiated and he hasn't went back on his promise. He is the only one trying to keep us from going over the cliff - he is trying to get something done before the end of the year and the republicans have basically bowed out of the conversation. I'm sorry, but your post is full of mis-information and untruths. The part about cry babies is hysterical considering Boehner cries more often than he does his job. If the Dems were willing to accept anything this debate would be over and a deal would have been made. You have no logic in anything you have to say. It's scary.

Most Obama supporters would either have to get a job or lose their shirts if this Pied Piper lost some of these fiscal battles. I for one am wondering will I spend my declining years in New Zealand or Ireland. This place has become a foolish shadow of what it was.

Also methinks this MTP is as bogus as its two participants, since the show is already in the can.

tom343 - buh bye!

To..thelastfreethinker"""

Are you really ...

Well after the bush and fox news collaboration ..anythings fair game ...

When will this transparent man allow a true open press conference instead of this BS?

President John F. Kennedy once called “Meet the Press” the “fifty-first state.” Since then, every man who has occupied the Oval Office has appeared on the program during his career, as has every vice president since Alben Barkley in 1952.

In addition to Presidents and Vice Presidents, “Meet the Press” has featured interviews with all the key players in each administration. Every Secretary of State from John Foster Dulles to Hillary Clinton and every Secretary of Defense from Robert McNamara to Robert Gates has appeared on the program.

What a joke. This president spends less than any other president back to Eisenhower. The foundation of your argument is completely untrue, but you say it with passion so I'm sure someone believes your nonsense.

Your comment, no doubt, reflects your stupidity and is such an untrue comment. You are one of many that has no clue as to what is happening to our economy and the very survival of this Nation. How sad.....

"...the very survival of this Nation..." Hair-on-fire alert! As the Nation survived Richard Nixon AND eight years of Bush43 - we can survive anything.

The primary function of the Fed is the military. All the rest is nonsense, business of the states or really, of individuals.

Amen brother!

Sigh. Basic economics: for every $1 spent on unemployment benefits, the economy gets back $1.10. We MAKE money on unemployment benefits because every penny put back into the economy in the form of groceries, rent, car payments, etc. has a multiplier effect. So says the Congressional Budget Office.

"It sounds counterintuitive but continuing to support long-term unemployment benefits will help facilitate the growth of our economy.

Evidence supports the proposition that extending benefits for the long-term unemployed provides a significant return on the investment. Meanwhile, the long-term unemployed among American workers -- the people suffering the most from the Great Recession's impact -- need the help.

Congress must act on this during the fiscal policy debate and restore unemployment insurance benefits for American workers who have been out of work the longest, those whose families have been the most badly damaged by the Great Recession.

The provision of Extended Unemployment benefits has been part of every response to recessions since 1958, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Our country has never permitted benefits for the long-term unemployed to expire when unemployment was above 7.2 percent. It's now 7.9 percent. Allowing these benefits to lapse will be nothing short of a disaster for families and our economy.

... Six months after being out of work, Americans begin cutting back on spending even further than when they first lost their jobs. The Economic Policy Institute says more than 5 million U.S. workers have been unemployed longer than six months. This is more than four times the number of long-term unemployed before the onset of the Great Recession.

After 12 months their financial stability becomes jeopardized as credit card bills mount and savings are depleted. Currently more than 30 percent of unemployed workers remain without a job for one year.

Extended unemployment can lead to loans and mortgages going into default and increased medical expenses due to a lack of insurance. Eventually we see divorces and home foreclosures impact families.

How could unemployment insurance payments to these Americans help the economy? The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says every $1 of unemployment insurance benefit grows the total economy by $1.10. And every $1 million of the benefit adds six new American jobs. Moreover, unemployment insurance has more economic impact than many other spending proposals according to the CBO.

The Brookings Institution states, "Families on UI rely on it to maintain necessary spending, thus the money is rapidly spent rather than saved. Absent such benefits, spending would fall sharply, resulting in hardship on not just their families but also on the shops and workers that depend on those consumers."

In 2007, before the recession, there were 1.6 unemployed workers for each job vacancy, says Brookings. Today, there are more than 3 unemployed workers per job, roughly twice the pre-recession level and higher than any time in the past decade. Jobs continue to be difficult to find especially for the long-term unemployed who become permanently segregated from the workforce due to the length of their unemployment.

This month, Reps. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., sent a letter signed by 78 other members of the House to congressional leaders urging extension of unemployment insurance. I encourage members of Congress to stand up for families that are facing serious economic challenges and support the continuation of these benefits. It is a policy that will generate economic activity and lead to the strongest possible economic recovery."

Very interesting.....Then why in the world don't we put everybody on unemployment, even those working? We could always change it to read "special unemployment return" or something like that. What a great idea. You should be in Washington. YOU would fit right in with the rest.

If the fact that this comment is still here doesn't say much about both the author and the mentor then the sea is pink and the sky is green.

Nope - the "two-year supermajority" myth still lives, I see. From the Maddowblog:

In January 2009, there were 56 Senate Democrats and two independents who caucused with Democrats. This combined total of 58 included Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), whose health was failing and was unable to serve. As a practical matter, in the early months of Obama's presidency, the Senate Democratic caucus had 57 members on the floor for day-to-day legislating.

In April 2009, Pennsylvania's Arlen Specter switched parties. This meant there were 57 Democrats, and two independents who caucused with Democrats, for a caucus of 59. But with Kennedy ailing, there were still "only" 58 Democratic caucus members in the chamber.

In May 2009, Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) was hospitalized, bringing the number of Senate Dems in the chamber down to 57.

In July 2009, Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) was finally seated after a lengthy recount/legal fight. At that point, the Democratic caucus reached 60, but two of its members, Kennedy and Byrd, were unavailable for votes.

In August 2009, Kennedy died, and Democratic caucus again stood at 59.

In September 2009, Sen. Paul Kirk (D-Mass.) filled Kennedy's vacancy, bringing the caucus back to 60, though Byrd's health continued to deteriorate.

In January 2010, Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.) replaced Kirk, bringing the Democratic caucus back to 59 again.

In June 2010, Byrd died, and the Democratic caucus fell to 58, where it stood until the midterms. [Update: Jonathan Bernstein reminds me that Byrd's replacement was a Dem. He's right, though this doesn't change the larger point.]

Wallace believes the Dems' "filibuster proof majority in the Senate" lasted 24 months. In reality, he's off by 20 months....

To tom..."""

the GOP is already destroyed thanks to themselves

Obama’s ‘Sealed’ Records

Posted on July 31, 2012

Q: Are Obama’s early records “sealed”?

A: No. Many records that presidential candidates don’t ordinarily release do remain confidential, but they are not “sealed” by a court. The 16 claims in a widely distributed graphic are mostly false or distorted.

This is an example of mostly old baloney in a new casing. It mainly recycles years-old falsehoods and insinuations, most of which we covered long ago, in connection with an earlier viral email.

But with President Barack Obama’s reelection campaign heating up, this new graphic has appeared on countless anti-Obama websites and in viral emails like the one we’ve reprinted here. Very little that it contains is new, and the old falsehoods have not improved with age.

Nothing ‘Sealed’

http://www.factcheck.org/2012/07/obamas-sealed-records/

The Debunker’s Guide to Obama Conspiracy Theories

The following is an index of links to articles on this web site (and a few to others) that debunk various claims made about Barack Obama. The claims are arranged by category. Updated December 24, 2012.

Table of Contents:

http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/bookmarks/fact-checking-and-debunking/the-debunkers-guide-to-obama-conspiracy-theories/