Leader Reid slams "Tea Party extremists and millionaire lobbyists like Grover Norquist..."

[jefferson_dem]

:applause:

Sen. Reid comments on Super Committee's failure to come up with plan

Washington, D.C. - Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the following statement today.

“The American people are tired of their elected leaders listening to the extreme voices in their party instead of the voices of reason. I am disappointed that Republicans never found the courage to ignore Tea Party extremists and millionaire lobbyists like Grover Norquist, and listen instead to the overwhelming majority of Americans – including the vast majority of Republicans – who want a balanced approach to deficit reduction. For the good of our country, Democrats were prepared to strike a grand bargain that would make painful cuts while asking millionaires to pay their fair share, and we put our willingness on paper. But Republicans never came close to meeting us halfway.

“Instead, Republicans relentlessly sought to end Medicare as we know it by privatizing the program and putting seniors and future generations at the mercy of insurance companies. In addition, Republicans insisted on expanding President Bush's tax giveaways to millionaires, an approach that would have made our deficit problems bigger, not smaller, while increasing the gap between the top one percent of taxpayers and everyone else. Democrats are open to reforming our tax code, but we will not go along with efforts to provide even more giveaways to millionaires at the expense of the middle class.

“Make no mistake: we will achieve the more than $2 trillion in deficit reduction we agreed to in August. The sequester was designed to be painful, and it is. But that is the commitment to fiscal responsibility that both parties made to the American people. In the absence of a balanced plan that would reduce the deficit by at least as much, I will oppose any efforts to change or roll back the sequester.

“I commend Senators Murray, Baucus and Kerry for their unflagging commitment to this process. They worked until the final hours to try and forge a reasonable compromise, and validated the trust that I placed in each of them to seek a balanced deal while protecting the fundamental guarantees of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.

“With millions of Americans out of work, we must stay focused on creating jobs. Economists have estimated that failing to extend the payroll tax cuts for the middle class and provide support to Americans who continue to look for jobs in this tough economy could plunge us back into a recession. Democrats will continue to pursue these kinds of common-sense, bipartisan proposals to put Americans back to work. In the weeks ahead, I hope the fear of the Tea Party and millionaire lobbyists like Grover Norquist will not prevent Republicans from forging common-sense compromises with Democrats to get our economy back on track.”

http://www.lahontanvalleynews.com/article/20111121/NEWS/111129997/1055&ParentProfile=1045

[rsmith6621]

1. Old Harry.....

......is a SPINELESS JOKE.

[Name removed]

8. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[pinto]

2. Kick

:kick:

[rfranklin]

3. "Putting seniors at the mercy of insurance companies!"

Now, that's the kind of response that they should have had the day that Paul Ryan introduced that monstrosity.

[Tarheel_Dem]

4. K & R

:kick:

[vi5]

5. "We were willing to fuck our constituents over.....

"...so why weren't the Republicans?".

That's what it boils down to. Even if the right had gone against Norquist and the teabaggers, the cuts the Dems were willing to agree to would have been more devastating to more people than what they were demanding of the Republicans would have been.

But oh, it would have been a "grand bargain" which seems to be all these idiots who are in charge of the Democratic party seem concerned with. "Oh, well if it hurts both sides then it must be good."

No. The fact is that is that by even buying into the deficit hysteria in a time of financial and economic downturn as heavy as we are in, rather than pointing out the obvious over and over and over and over again, they fucked us over. And I see no reason to believe our current crop of Democratic leaders will do what is needed to get us out of this mess.

And I can hardly wait for them to cave on the mandatory defense cut trigger while leaving the cuts that are supposed to be painful to "our side" firmly in place.

[Number23]

6. "The American people are tired of their elected leaders listening to the extreme voices

in their party instead of the voices of reason."

TELL IT, HARRY! :applause:

There was a piece in Wash Post a few days ago that said something along the same lines. That politicians "overreach" their mandates and this is what leads to those same politicians getting their butts spanked at the next election. The author basically comes to the same conclusion as Reid which is that the fringe elements of both parties make the most noise but they are not necessarily the group that politicians should be listening to. Or rather, they are certainly not the SOLE voices that politicians should listen to.

DU hate moderates as most fringe elements do, but moderation is what America (and most of the world outside of theocracies) wants.

Found the Wash Post article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-innovations/we-can-fix-the-supercommittee/2011/11/18/gIQAXm8MYN_story.html

"The electorate is reacting to overreach by each party, punishing Democrats when they push the agenda too far to the left and Republicans when they push the agenda too far to the right. Essentially, the parties perpetually over-interpret election results as an ideological mandate. Instead of working towards the kind of compromise needed to solve government problems, legislators from each party have been pushing for ideological agendas that satisfy the activist base within their parties. Then, their party suffers defeat in the next election cycle."

[jefferson_dem]

7. And SenateDems out with video nailing Grover too...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmTL9TmRKvo&feature=uploademail

[savalez]

9. Go Harry!

"I hope the fear of the Tea Party and millionaire lobbyists like Grover Norquist will not prevent Republicans from forgoing common-sense"

We won't hold our breath, but we'll see.

[bigwillq]

10. K and R

:thumbsup:

[Tx4obama]

11. K&R n/t

[opihimoimoi]

12. Mild Mannered Reid lays it on the line.....KnR