Editor's Note: the US Senate voted 88-9 for the Continuring Resolution passed by the House, the "CR" with the 9 votes all being Republican. It was over by 9:10 PM.
I took note of this: House Minority leader, Democrat Hakeem Jefferies, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - all seemed exceedingly pleased with themselves. If that is truly the case, that "Chuck and Mitch" had it all worked out with "Kevin," then why such suprised Democrats over what little time they had to check out the surprise CR? So little that someonw thought it was a good idea to pull a fire alarm to buy a little more reading time of the bill.
Does anyone, any citizen "out there" think with such congrats all the way around and all the drama over two months, that the tactic has been put to rest? No, on the contrary: the dynamics are feeding on themselves: take the hostages for what you want, added or cut, enjoy the publicity, and pull out a late minute "compromise" and voila...does anyone have the nerve to claim "the system works?"
I know Ukrainians have to be pleased, but then they don't count for much, it turns out; rhetorically, yes, but let them bleed slowly a bit more, and they'll come to their senses and embrace their Russian brothers. And how about a retro tour of the Balkans, 1991-1994 for a sense of what is to come if Russia prevails? But that's a human nature that the American left doesn't think exists anymore, or has anything to do with our international obligations. Despite the evidence.
and here's the CNN take on that pre-invasion speculating - out loud - by Biden, dated Jan. 19th 2022:
"The candid assessment of NATO’s divisions – which have been well documented, even as US and Western officials seek to project unity amid the crisis – left Ukrainian officials aghast. One told CNN’s Matthew Chance he was “shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion” and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions.
“This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,” the official added, claiming he’d never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before.
“Kyiv is stunned,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian government.
The White House sought to explain Biden’s remarks by pointing out a Russian attack in cyberspace or through paramilitary forces would prompt a reciprocal response compared to a scenario where Russian troops move from their positions into Ukraine.
“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” press secretary Jen Psaki wrote in a statement following Biden’s marathon news conference.
Let's not put the full burden for today's vote to cut off Ukraine's$$$ on just Biden; it's now a tradition with the Democratic Party going back to Newt Gingrich under Clinton...the failure to "turn tiger" against the Republican tactics only invites their continued use. And how...now almost 30 years later...
Is no Democrat capable of taking to the air waves on prime time to go after them the way they deserve...instead of making McCarthy the hero. This is truly bizarre.
Another quick refresher course in Democratic if not democratic timidity: just before the Russian invasion, which I referred to below in my first comment, here's the NPR write up in contemporary time, early 2022:
And here's the exact quote; please Note, the date is Jan. 20, 2022, a full month before the actual invasion. Now if you're Putin, what do you conclude from this? By all means, take the plunge!
"On Wednesday, Biden had predicted Russia would invade Ukraine, but suggested there was a split among NATO members about how to respond if Moscow took action that stopped short of sending its troops across the border — something Biden referred to as a "minor incursion." He said:
'I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do.'"
Putin was hoping that the actual full court press upon the capital of Ukraine, with airborne landings and Spatz troops (the best the Russians have) would seize its objectives so quickly that it would have been only that "temporary measure" that the formal Russian propaganda was talking about. This was the time where decisive action, with or without NATO would have prevented the war that everyone laments today. After all, Ukraine was not part of NATO, so Biden did not legally have to summon up Section 5...he could have, with Britain and France and Poland sent troops to head it all off.
And Democrats in Congress, despite months of tips and better that the supposed agreements worked out were not going to hold, end up with the backs against the wall and of course, Ukraine gets jettisoned - for now. If you're on the left wing of the Dem party, you already know what that feels like.
Apparently, and the NY Times story here https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/us/politics/jamaal-bowman-fire-alarm-house.html matches the account in the Washington Times, at the other end of the spectrum, or rather, further to the right than the center...that account being that Speaker McCarthy's new proposal for a 45 day continuing resolution came out of his caucus very fast and on to the floor just as quickly, and Democrats were hard pressed to get the time to read the bill - to make sure it was not worse than it read on first glance. If you admire that type of gamesmanship, remember that once again, hostage taking over the funding of the gov't which everyone thought had been setlled two months ago except for procedures has been successful, and the hard Right R's got Ukrainian $$$ cancelled for now, and the Dems got...perhaps 45 days of working gov't. So what's to prevent the extortion of the next concession? Going back years now? David Gergen was on CNN this afternoon being interviewed by Jim Acosta, and it sounded like they were both praising the statemanship of Speaker McCarthy! Which makes my point: Dems so happy to keep it running they'll pay any price make any excuse...and I'm sorry to say, maybe even pull a fire alarm to buy a little time. Sound like deferring to Putin's threats of invasion in the late fall of 2021, early winter of 2022...yup. Same dynamics. Gergen babbles about when this type of decay of democracy and brinkmanship will end, and then ends up not putting any heat on the party who initiates the contact to shut it down...nor on the party that keeps giving in.
Editor's Note: the US Senate voted 88-9 for the Continuring Resolution passed by the House, the "CR" with the 9 votes all being Republican. It was over by 9:10 PM.
I took note of this: House Minority leader, Democrat Hakeem Jefferies, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell - all seemed exceedingly pleased with themselves. If that is truly the case, that "Chuck and Mitch" had it all worked out with "Kevin," then why such suprised Democrats over what little time they had to check out the surprise CR? So little that someonw thought it was a good idea to pull a fire alarm to buy a little more reading time of the bill.
Does anyone, any citizen "out there" think with such congrats all the way around and all the drama over two months, that the tactic has been put to rest? No, on the contrary: the dynamics are feeding on themselves: take the hostages for what you want, added or cut, enjoy the publicity, and pull out a late minute "compromise" and voila...does anyone have the nerve to claim "the system works?"
I know Ukrainians have to be pleased, but then they don't count for much, it turns out; rhetorically, yes, but let them bleed slowly a bit more, and they'll come to their senses and embrace their Russian brothers. And how about a retro tour of the Balkans, 1991-1994 for a sense of what is to come if Russia prevails? But that's a human nature that the American left doesn't think exists anymore, or has anything to do with our international obligations. Despite the evidence.
and here's the CNN take on that pre-invasion speculating - out loud - by Biden, dated Jan. 19th 2022:
"The candid assessment of NATO’s divisions – which have been well documented, even as US and Western officials seek to project unity amid the crisis – left Ukrainian officials aghast. One told CNN’s Matthew Chance he was “shocked that the US President Biden would distinguish between incursion and invasion” and suggest that a minor incursion would not trigger sanctions.
“This gives the green light to Putin to enter Ukraine at his pleasure,” the official added, claiming he’d never heard any nuance like this from the US administration before.
“Kyiv is stunned,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian government.
The White House sought to explain Biden’s remarks by pointing out a Russian attack in cyberspace or through paramilitary forces would prompt a reciprocal response compared to a scenario where Russian troops move from their positions into Ukraine.
“President Biden has been clear with the Russian President: If any Russian military forces move across the Ukrainian border, that’s a renewed invasion, and it will be met with a swift, severe, and united response from the United States and our Allies,” press secretary Jen Psaki wrote in a statement following Biden’s marathon news conference.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/19/politics/russia-ukraine-joe-biden-news-conference/index.html
Let's not put the full burden for today's vote to cut off Ukraine's$$$ on just Biden; it's now a tradition with the Democratic Party going back to Newt Gingrich under Clinton...the failure to "turn tiger" against the Republican tactics only invites their continued use. And how...now almost 30 years later...
Is no Democrat capable of taking to the air waves on prime time to go after them the way they deserve...instead of making McCarthy the hero. This is truly bizarre.
Another quick refresher course in Democratic if not democratic timidity: just before the Russian invasion, which I referred to below in my first comment, here's the NPR write up in contemporary time, early 2022:
https://www.npr.org/2022/01/20/1074466148/biden-russia-ukraine-minor-incursion
And here's the exact quote; please Note, the date is Jan. 20, 2022, a full month before the actual invasion. Now if you're Putin, what do you conclude from this? By all means, take the plunge!
"On Wednesday, Biden had predicted Russia would invade Ukraine, but suggested there was a split among NATO members about how to respond if Moscow took action that stopped short of sending its troops across the border — something Biden referred to as a "minor incursion." He said:
'I think what you're going to see is that Russia will be held accountable if it invades. And it depends on what it does. It's one thing if it's a minor incursion and then we end up having a fight about what to do and not do.'"
Putin was hoping that the actual full court press upon the capital of Ukraine, with airborne landings and Spatz troops (the best the Russians have) would seize its objectives so quickly that it would have been only that "temporary measure" that the formal Russian propaganda was talking about. This was the time where decisive action, with or without NATO would have prevented the war that everyone laments today. After all, Ukraine was not part of NATO, so Biden did not legally have to summon up Section 5...he could have, with Britain and France and Poland sent troops to head it all off.
And Democrats in Congress, despite months of tips and better that the supposed agreements worked out were not going to hold, end up with the backs against the wall and of course, Ukraine gets jettisoned - for now. If you're on the left wing of the Dem party, you already know what that feels like.
Apparently, and the NY Times story here https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/30/us/politics/jamaal-bowman-fire-alarm-house.html matches the account in the Washington Times, at the other end of the spectrum, or rather, further to the right than the center...that account being that Speaker McCarthy's new proposal for a 45 day continuing resolution came out of his caucus very fast and on to the floor just as quickly, and Democrats were hard pressed to get the time to read the bill - to make sure it was not worse than it read on first glance. If you admire that type of gamesmanship, remember that once again, hostage taking over the funding of the gov't which everyone thought had been setlled two months ago except for procedures has been successful, and the hard Right R's got Ukrainian $$$ cancelled for now, and the Dems got...perhaps 45 days of working gov't. So what's to prevent the extortion of the next concession? Going back years now? David Gergen was on CNN this afternoon being interviewed by Jim Acosta, and it sounded like they were both praising the statemanship of Speaker McCarthy! Which makes my point: Dems so happy to keep it running they'll pay any price make any excuse...and I'm sorry to say, maybe even pull a fire alarm to buy a little time. Sound like deferring to Putin's threats of invasion in the late fall of 2021, early winter of 2022...yup. Same dynamics. Gergen babbles about when this type of decay of democracy and brinkmanship will end, and then ends up not putting any heat on the party who initiates the contact to shut it down...nor on the party that keeps giving in.