"Tonight Republicans pulled their immoral budget from the House floor "

[Coexist]

Pelosi Statement on Republican Budget Collapse

Washington, D.C.– House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement this evening on the collapse of the Republican budget bill:

“Tonight Republicans pulled their immoral budget from the House floor because they didn’t have the votes. Without the support of a single Democrat, and their party in disarray, Republicans are on the run.

“The Republican budget was red ink as far as the eye could see, and betrayed our national security by slashing funding for crucial initiatives to keep our country safe. Those are the wrong priorities and keep our country headed in the wrong direction.

“The Democratic substitute to the Republican budget was values-based and fiscally responsible, and it addressed the concerns of the American people. Republicans simply couldn’t handle the competition.”

I like it.

[soothsayer]

1. ooh, snap!

[Kittycat]

10. I'm sorry, Volkswagon commercial - ROFL Time to unpimp their ride

:rofl:

[Touchdown]

24. Veedub! In ze haus!

Trivia. That's the guy who put Steve Buscemi in the wood chipper in Fargo. :rofl:

[KyuzoGator]

25. I believe it's also Karl Hungus from The Big Lebowski.

"Ja, I come to fix ze cable."

[memory]

28. Also Satan in Constantine

[bluesbassman]

34. And Dr, Solomon Eddie in Minority Report

The skanky doctor who transplants Chief John Andertons eyes. Actors name is Peter Stormare.

[mikeytherat]

31. You can imagine what happens next.

He fixes the cable?

mikey_the_rat

[Swamp Rat]

2. Woohoo!

:kick:

[napi21]

3. Hmmm, does this mean there were also Pubs who wouldn't vote

for that insand budget?

HA HA, betcha George is crying himself to sleep tonight!!!!!

[Terran1212]

4. If only Pelosi herself wasn't such a joke

Had to be said

[Coexist]

5. No it didn't

go piss in someone else's Wheaties.

[robinlynne]

9. That was one of the funniest sentences I ever saw.

Hope I can remember it one day when it's appropriate!

[Terran1212]

13. More anti-democracy sentiments at DU?

"Stick with what we've got instead of what we need and want!"

[Justice Is Comin]

15. Pelosi is light years

from the kind of leader we need. Have you seen her town hall meetings ? Her and Harmon are two peas in a pod.

[Coexist]

16. Can we not sometimes applaud what is right without

bringing up what is wrong?

[bluesbassman]

36. And the joke is?

Now is not the time to be dividing the party. If you don't like what Pelosi, or Reid, or Dean or any other Democrat stands for or doesn't stand for, that's your prerogative. But wait until we pry back our NATION from the hands of the neocons before you trash the only hope we have of getting our country back. Their "sins" aren't going anywhere, and once we get out of the dark ages, you'll have plenty of time to bring them down if it needs to be. Until then they are our best hope, or do you think we can just throw them all out, and Ralph Nader will save us all like he did in 2000? (Sorry, had to be said)

[Cleita]

6. That's nice and I'm grateful for any crumbs, but why didn't

they do this years ago before we became trillions in debt?

[Coexist]

7. they couldn't - Delay had a vise-like grip on his party members

and they were (and still are) the majority.

Oh, how the mighty are fallen.

[Cleita]

8. Yes, but I remember some Democrats throwing in with the

Republicans on so many things, including the war. This seems to be the first time that all the Democrats were on board. Like I said, why couldn't they do this before? It wouldn't have changed things but it would have shown our solidarity.

[kentuck]

11. They want a continuing Resolution...

so they can escape scrutiny in an election year...

[Coexist]

29. but I think it backfired - check the headlines below!

Hee hee hee.

[Hand]

12. BWAHAHAHA!!

Such is the fate of those who dare defy Darth Nancy and the evil Democrat Empire! :rofl:

[Coexist]

14. Oh, that was too funny.

Jon Stewart had a field day with the Star Wars video.

[Coexist]

17. WaPo "GOP Budget Talks Collapse in the House" "Acrimony and name calling"

Bwaa haa haa - Friday headlines don't get any better than this!!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/06/AR2006040602086.html

House Republican efforts to forge a budget blueprint for the coming fiscal year collapsed last night amid acrimony and name-calling, as the fissures between GOP moderates and conservatives once again burst into the open.

The failure to secure a budget plan before the two-week spring recess was an embarrassment to a new Republican leadership eager to show it could hold its ranks without the party's chief discipline enforcer, Rep. Tom DeLay (Tex.). After he announced his resignation this week, DeLay took a swipe at his successors, labeling them splintered and "without an agreed agenda."

<snip>
Boehner last night blamed the Democrats for standing united against the budget plan, but budgets have long been the responsibility of the majority party to pass. With the collapse, House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) said, it is time the Republican leadership realizes that the deep fiscal problems facing the nation will take bipartisan solutions.

<snip>
But the budget collapse meant any final deal will have to wait until after the spring recess, depriving Republicans of some bragging rights ahead of the April 17 tax deadline. The deal, which could cost the Treasury as much as $70 billion, could falter anyway in the Senate if Democrats can show provisions to offset that cost are nothing more than gimmicks.

:rofl:

[Coexist]

18. Reuters:"Republicans will greet their constituents empty-handed"

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?type=bondsNews&storyID=2006-04-07T025724Z_01_N06265841_RTRIDST_0_CONGRESS-BUDGET-UPDATE-2.XML

Republicans in the U.S. Congress suffered two major setbacks on Thursday when their fiscal 2007 budget plan collapsed and they failed to put the finishing touches on $70 billion in tax cuts.

The developments could not have come at a worse time as Republicans, who control both chambers of Congress and the White House, were hoping to shake election-year blues dominated so far by ethics scandals and sinking popularity.

Now, instead of returning to their home districts for a two-week spring break touting tax cuts and the passage of a budget they hoped would trim huge budget deficits, Republicans will greet their constituents empty-handed.

<snip>
The ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, John Spratt of South Carolina, said, "Any idea that they'd (Republicans) be able to put this back on track, once we come back here after two weeks, seems far-fetched." (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell)

[aquart]

21. TAX CUTS?????????????????

These people are insane.

[laheina]

19. I only have two words:

Thank God!!

That budget has kept me up at night. 30% cuts to education, WTF?

[MrBlueSky]

20. Finally... a Backbone

It's many years late... but better late than never, I guess.

Where was this bravado in 2001 and 2002, when I looked to the Congressional Democrats to protect my family from the neo cons???

The terror of the majority is now.... finally... at an end.

[Bob K]

22. GO...

...Nancy, GO! ;-)

[DinahMoeHum]

23. You liked that? Well, here's some more (from The Washington Monthly)

Link:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0605.sullivan1.html

:kick:

[MrBlueSky]

26. Nice article!

I e-mailed it to my dad, who is a staunch pro-business Republican.

I can only imagine his head exploding when he reads it.

[DinahMoeHum]

30. Thanks. Welcome to DU !

:hi:

[Coexist]

32. Thank you so much for posting that link - some of my favorite stuff:

Consider, for instance, what happened last fall when Rep. Jack Murtha (D-Pa.), a Vietnam veteran and hawk who initially supported the Iraq war, called for immediate troop withdrawal from Iraq. When reporters asked Pelosi what she thought of Murtha's statement, she replied that the congressman spoke for himself, not the caucus. Her response was immediately denounced by liberal critics and portrayed by reporters as evidence of Democrats' lack of message, discipline, and shared conviction. In fact, as Howard Fineman would later report, Pelosi had worked behind the scenes to convince Murtha to go public with his change of heart and orchestrated the timing of his announcement. Knowing that the credibility of Murtha's position would be damaged if it looked like he was the token hawk being used by “cut and run” liberal Democrats, Pelosi made the strategic calculation to put Murtha in the spotlight by himself for a few weeks before stepping forward to endorse his suggestion.

The strategy worked, and it allowed Murtha to visibly establish Democrats as the advocates of what now looks like the position toward which our Iraq policy is headed. A late February Zogby poll showed that fully 72 percent of American troops think that the United States should leave Iraq within the year; 25 percent say they should leave immediately. In addition, Pelosi's party now holds the advantage on Iraq. As with Social Security, critics have charged that Democrats can't win without a plan for Iraq, but a mid-March Gallup poll showed that voters think Democrats would better handle the situation (they hold a 48 to 40 advantage over Republicans), even though only one-quarter of them think that Democrats have a plan for dealing with the country.

Over in the Senate, Reid temporarily silenced his critics when he staged a showdown last fall, shutting down the Senate to compel Republicans to discuss pre-war intelligence. GOP promises to pursue inquiries into how the intelligence was gathered, interpreted, and used had gone nowhere, and Democrats had no institutional means to conduct their own investigation. So Reid forced the issue, invoking an obscure parliamentary procedure that sent the Senate into a closed session. Republicans were furious, but they were also backed into a corner. Reluctantly, the leadership agreed to restart the investigations, putting the issue of intelligence back in the national spotlight. The in-your-face move signaled that Reid had the inclination, and the electoral security, to push Republicans around in a way that his predecessor Tom Daschle never could.

<snip>
So it is that Democrats can be “hopelessly divided” while voting together 88 percent of the time, according to Congressional Quarterly; just one percentage point lower than the vaunted lock-step Republican caucus. They can be “pathetically ineffective” while dealing a humiliating defeat to the president's biggest domestic policy effort. They can be deemed “weak” and “timid” while setting the terms of the debate for pulling troops out of Iraq.

[suffragette]

35. reality vs perception

Great points here about the way Dems have been portrayed and perceived as entirely weak and fragmented while they've been using what tools they can to fight the administration.

Thanks for posting this, FLDem5.

[lovuian]

27. I do think the upcoming elections have given Republicans a

reality check!!!

[Catamount]

33. Great! Does that mean Anwar is saved again? What about the

college loans and all that stuff?
Thanks FLDem5!

K&R