Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
You know I RARELY get the opportunity to say anything nice about Republicans these days. And it seems I NEVER get to say that nice thing about an Alaskan Republican.But I have to say that I am damn proud of Senator Lisa Murkowski for refusing to bow under to pressure from her GOP colleagues and join them in this embarrassing partisan display of obstructionism.
I have said for awhile now that Murkowski is virtually bullet proof here in Alaska after soundly defeating the vaguely bearded one in 2010, and I am very pleased to see her using that knowledge to demonstrate her independence from an increasingly ridiculous political party.
Good on ya, Lisa.
So besides Senator Murkowski, three other Republicans voted for cloture. Only one of the Senators from Hagel's home state of Nebraska voted Yes. I am confused about why Harry Reid voted against cloture. Since he knew he was going to lose , was he trying to make a point? I also saw where Orin Hatch voted Present to avoid making a stand. Very courageous Orin. And Senator Hooker, I mean Vitter, didn't even bother to vote. Both Lindsay Graham and McCain said they wouldn't vote for filibuster then did. So much for integrity from these two former military officers.
ReplyDeleteHarry Reid has no one to blame but himself in this matter. He did a handshake thing w/McConnell and expected the Republicans never to pull these stunts again? Amazing!
DeleteWe will see this constant obstruction continue during the next four years and hopefully these ugly Americans/Republicans will be voted out of office as their election cycles come up.
It's all about countering everything our wonderful President does. I look forward to our President working 'around them' to accomplish his goals. This is going to be a kick to watch!
Kick their asses President Obama!
Anon at 11:12 am. I cannot understand why the Democrats allow this GOP nonsense of the 60-vote requirement to continue. And Harry Reid can be a downright idiot sometimes.
DeleteThe Constitution clearly states that votes are by majority in the Senate with only a couple of exceptions like amending the Constitution. If the GOP wants to filibuster then they should be willing to take the floor and read from phone books or cook books non-stop and look to the American public like the fools they are. Too many Americans think that you need 60 votes to pass any legislation in the Senate today!
Beaglemom
Reid voted against cloture as a procedural move so he can bring it up again later. Senate rules...
DeleteLisa Murkowski is one republican I admire. As a woman I am very proud of her. I don't always agree with her but I admire her deeply. By winning with write in votes she put a crack in that ceiling!!
ReplyDeleteI hope you are not from Alaska. You need to check her record - she is not a woman that can be trusted!
DeleteI am a Democrat in Alaska and like Lisa Murkowski. She does not always support my issues the way I would like, but I would not say she is untrustworthy. She is, after all, a Republican, but she also has the courage to think for herself. I would much rather have her in office than the likes of Sean Parnell or any other Republican in our predominantly Republican state.
DeleteI dont' live in Alaska, but Murkowski gets big points for having the guts to face Joe (Palinbot) Miller
DeleteMiller ADMITTED lying about hacking someones's password, and using a computer illegally as a LAWYER!
Miller is also Palin's kick toy in Alaska, and it gave me infinite pleasure to know that he dissed $arah, and that the putrid Granny Grifter failed to steal the election for him.
So many Palin fails, defeats, quitting of jobs, failing to run for President, and getting fired by Fox.
The final blow will come $arah, and it could be Todd's pimpin' ways, or one of your kids, or maybe RAM will get offered enough money to fuck you over, and spill her guts
The day can't come soon enough
I love how they turn on one of their own and yet, bitch about Obama not 'crossing the aisle' to work with them. Un-fucking believable!
ReplyDeleteMy God! Obama nominated Hagel, who's a freakin' Republican and a honorable veteran.
The party of NO! continues its slide into irrelevancy.
And on a funner wilder note, Faux Noise hired the Herminator as a commentator.
Somewhere, (Scottsdale) a fired Faux employee is screaming "They hired Herb Cain and dumped me??" Oh, the inhumanity!
These fucking Republicans in Congress need to be voted out of office. They are nothing more than obstructionist and are stopping the flow of our government. I don't know how President Obama and VP Biden keep their cool w/them. I'd be calling them assholes to their faces and kicking them in the balls!
DeleteRe: Keeping cool in face of outrageous provocation... Biden follows the president's lead, and the president grew up black in America. Practice, that is to say.
DeleteI agree w/you 11:43 - I'm the writer at 11:06. I know that President Obama learned to keep his cool due to growing up half black. But, I still don't know how he is able to keep that beautiful smile on his face.
DeleteI still would love to see he and VP Biden kick the obstructionists in the Republican portion of the Congress in the balls! Especially McCain and McConnell!
If we can't agree on someone like Chuck Hagel, we have failed as a nation. Unbelievable.
ReplyDeleteI thought I saw something on the national news yesterday that said Murkowski was going to go along w/the Republicans as to her vote!
ReplyDeleteI don't trust the woman as far as I can throw - am from Alaska and have NEVER voted for her!
Senators who vote for cloture don't always vote yes on the bill.
DeletePhyllis
If that is the case, Murkowski is playing her 'game' as usual! As I said before, I don't trust her as far as I can throw her. She'll vote to block him w/all Republicans, but then vote for him? Friggin' amazing! I hope Alaskans don't fall for her bullshit!
DeleteReid voted no so that the vote can come up again. Don't know the parliamentary rules, but apparently it was necessary
ReplyDeleteThe twinset known as McCain-Graham is largely responsible for the firestorm around Hagel..
ReplyDeleteI think their hateful vendetta against Hagel has roots in many areas.
1. Hagel did not support McCain in 2008.
2. Hagel did not follow strict GOP dogma as a Senator.
3. McCain-Graham are desperate for attention.
4. McCain -Graham are no longer secure in their re-elections.
5. McCain-Graham are war hawks. They thrive making threats. Hagel does not
6..McCain-Graham were officers, Hagel was an enlisted man..
It is the last point to which I speak. People underestimate the power of status levels in the armed forces. Thing may have improved over time, but I can testify from personal experience that at the time McCain-Graham and Hagel were on active duty that there was a distinct caste system atttiude alive and well.
As a new bride of an enlisted man, this was brought home to me in no uncertain terms. I sat in the stands chatting with a group of women while our husbands played basketball on the court.The team was a mix of officers and enlisted men. After the game, I was pulled aside and told that I was not to engage in socializing with offivers' wives. This was told to me by both enlisted and officers' wives. I didn't know any better and had sat down next to a group of wives of the highest ranking officers. They had been friendly and we had had a good time, but they thought I was a wife a new officer assigned to their group. Sigh.
My husband was not surprised that I had been taken to ask. He felt badly that he had not warned by about the system.
Again, this attitude was in widespread at the time these three guys were serving back in the day. I can only hope things have changed, but I must say, when I heard McCain-Graham speak about Hagel with such distain, this prejudice against enlistesd troops came immediately to mind.
John McCain: Chuck Hagel Opposition Stems Partially From Attacks On Bush
DeleteSen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that Republican opposition to defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel can be traced back to the former Republican senator's attacks on George W. Bush over the Iraq War.
McCain, who voted to delay a final vote on Hagel's confirmation, told Fox News' Neil Cavuto that Hagel's old colleagues haven't forgotten his criticism of former President Bush.
"To be honest with you, Neil, it goes back to-- there's a lot of ill will towards Senator Hagel because when he was a Republican, he attacked President Bush mercilessly, at one point said he was the worst president since Herbert Hoover, said the surge was the worst blunder since the Vietnam War, which is nonsense, and was anti his own party and people," McCain said.
"People don't forget that," McCain continued. "You can disagree, but if you're disagreeable, people don't forget that."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/john-mccain-chuck-hagel_n_2690006.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
More GOP Hagel hypocrisy
The senator leading the charge against Hagel on Israel had some kind words for Hamas in 2006
...But the increasingly unhinged campaign against Hagel has been so single-minded in its quest to dig up dirt on him that it has seized on anything that has even a whiff of pro-Palestianian, anti-Israel slant, no matter how dubious. For instance, the bogus claim that Hagel received donations from a nonexistent group called “Friends of Hamas” plays perfectly into the notion that he coddled the sometimes terrorist group that controls the Gaza Strip. But it has the disadvantage of being untrue.
Applying the Republicans’ standard on Hagel to others — including themselves — complicates the situation.
Take Sen. Jim Inhofe, for instance. He’s the ranking Republican member on the Senate Armed Services Committee and has been one of the leading figures opposing Hagel’s nomination. Inhofe told Foreign Policy’s Josh Rogan that Hagel’s relatively soft stance on Hamas, among other things, meant that Inhofe could not support him.
But in 2006, after Hamas won the Palestinian elections, Inhofe did not seem concerned. Hamas has done “some good things, even as a terrorist group,” he told the Oklahoman. He compared the group to one of the country’s largest charities, saying Hamas is like “the Salvation Army with loaded guns.”
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/14/more_gop_hagel_hypocrisy/
Yep, those two ossifers (misspelling intentional) just cannot bring themselves to acknowledge that a former Grunt may obtain a higher rank than they could ever attain.
DeleteOf course, Hagel's "giving lip" to W is not helping and it is a great smoke screen for their contempt for one who began as an enlisted man.
lol.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.adn.com/2013/02/15/2790987/typical-lying-sob-type-palins.html#storylink=rss#wgt=rss
""Typical lying SOB type" - Palins fire back at Field & Stream"
"Some of Petzal's readers took issue with that. In the new post, "Sarah Palin's Shooting," he digs in:
First, she allows her dad and the guide, who are both apparently nitwits, to jabber at her continually throughout the performance, make suggestions, swap rifles when it turns out that the first one has a bum scope (!), and allow her to blaze away at a moving animal"
Don't worry, Fox News will defend them, especially now that they have a new crop of...ah...experts. Have a look at Comedy Central's take on their latest pundit: http://www.indecisionforever.com/blog/2013/02/15/herman-cain-will-make-a-great-sarah-palin
ReplyDeleteThere were FOUR republicans that voted w/Dems for cloture:
ReplyDeleteCollins (R-ME)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Cochran (R-MS)
Johanns (R-NE)
Those idiotic Republicans make me want to spit sometimes.
ReplyDelete