…unlike my peers in Congress, I am not a politician, but a businessman. Before coming to Congress last year, I helped lead a manufacturing firm that produced automation components, such as the damper that enables your airline seat to recline or the precision assembly parts that likely produced your bluejeans. The shock absorbers at the end of the subway line under the U.S. Capitol bear our company's logo.And that would include you, Rep. Lee. You see, I have a question – do you remember H.R. 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010 (here)?
Though America is still the world's largest manufacturing economy ($1.72 trillion in 2009), the jobs picture tells a different story. In the past decade, nearly 6 million manufacturing jobs have been lost in the United States, with 272,000 of them in New York state.
The plain truth is that U.S. policy and policymakers bear much of the blame.
As noted here, Rep. Lee voted No.
Also, Lee was the only member of the New York State congressional delegation to vote against the bill providing health care to Ground Zero first responders (here), also because it closed an offshore tax loophole for U.S. corporations (more on that in a minute or two).
Lee told us above that “I am not a politician, but a businessman.”
Actually, as far as I’m concerned, by voting against first responder health care (and in the process, voting at least twice in favor of corporations grifting on what they rightfully owe), he’s worst than that. He’s something of a ghoul (appropriate for his namesake, who made a nice living by acting in horror movies).
Staying or going might seem an equally unpleasant prospect for some embattled Democrats, who are facing more than four weeks of defending unpopular votes in favor of Obama's economic stimulus measure, health care law and uncompleted legislation for curbing global warming.Actually, based on this, the majority of those polled in this country want more stimulus, not less (I cannot locate a more recent poll that asks these questions).
Continuing…
…a House measure to provide free health care and additional compensation to World Trade Center workers sickened in the towers' crumbled ruins was sure to stall in the Senate.Guess it was too much trouble for Taylor/Kellman to note that this was the second try at this bill (truthout tells us what happened in July that led to the totally-called-for Weiner freakout captured here, particularly given the ridiculous standing on procedure by Weiner’s Repug fellow rep Peter King, who raised a last-minute objection over the opposition party’s inability to gum up the bill with unrelated amendments, a popular tactic in the Senate).
Also…
Only two of a dozen annual appropriations bills have passed the House this year and none has passed the Senate as Democratic leaders have opted against lengthy floor debates and politically difficult votes on spending.Translation: They knew they would be filibustered by the Repugs (really get disgusted with how our corporate media treats the whole "60 votes needed for passage" thing as the "new normal").
Oh, and about the business of Congress supposedly not doing its most basic job (or however Taylor/Kellman put it), I should point out again that 9 of 11 appropriation bills were left by the 109th Congress after the 2006 congressional elections, as noted here (yes, the Dems did punt on the tax cut question, which was stupid I’ll admit, but let’s have some perspective, OK?).
Still, though, this is typical for Taylor in particular, who noted here that “Obama has seen his approval rating slide as his promises of change have slammed into governing reality” without bothering to provide evidence of such a development.
And now comes President Obama in a "Rolling Stone" interview citing the very point I made over and over while under attack from his operatives last fall when he was asked by Jann Wenner about Fox News in an interview for a midterm-themed cover story in "Rolling Stone." And after he cites the Constitutional principle, he then goes back on the attack saying Fox News is "destructive" to the country.And Zurawik cites some sort of understated compliment paid to MSNBC by Obama aide Bill Burton as evidence of partisanship by this White House (of course, there’s no mention of the incident from about two years ago when Burton plainly pointed out that Fix Noise is a partisan organization to humanoid Megyn Kelly, who promptly flipped out in response here...also, I think this is worth considering).
Here we go again -- sort of. The president seems to have learned from the mistakes of last fall's campaign against Fox. But instead of using his newly gained wisdom to respect the role of a free press, he's using it to try to be more effective in his attack on Fox News. He's trying to plug the gaping hole in last year's rationale to better disguise his partisan intent.
And just when you think Zurawik is done, he gives us this…
I have written this before, but it bears repeating: Outside of Richard Nixon, I have never seen a president with the profound contempt for the press that Obama has.Any evidence of an Obama “enemies list,” Z? Can you recall a comparable episode to the time Tricky Dick had his people consider “Aspirin Roulette” by breaking into the home of columnist Jack Anderson to plant a poisoned pill in one of his medicine bottles? Or maybe smearing LSD on the journalist’s steering wheel, so that he would absorb it through his skin, lose control of his car, and crash? Or stage a routine-looking mugging, making Anderson appear to be one more fatal victim of Washington’s notorious street crime (all noted here)?
Did Obama, Axelrod, Rahm Emanuel, Gibbs, etc. ever think about stuff like this (or break into the office of a reporter for Fox to try and kill a story the way Nixon’s “plumbers” broke into the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist, Ellsberg being the guy who leaked the “Pentagon Papers” to the New York Times)?
No, huh “Z”?
And did Obama plant someone into his press conferences to ask softball questions the way his predecessor did with “Jeff Gannon” of “Talon News” (here)?
No, huh “Z”?
Well, then, shouldn’t you just shut your bloody pie hole when it comes to making comparisons between our current chief executive and his predecessors when it comes to an adversarial relationship with the media?
Also, as long as I’m on the subject of President Obama, I should say that I know this administration is doing stuff they shouldn’t particularly when it comes to the specious “states secrets doctrine” in the matter of targeting alleged terrorists (the New York Times had a good Op-Ed on this today here). This is wrong, and it plainly needs to be pointed out as such.
I have never said that Obama should not be criticized (I would not say that about any public official). All I’m asking is that any criticism be kept in perspective with the accomplishments of this administration (not as many as we’d like, but if we were living under – God help us – a Palin/McBush reign, we’d be screaming our heads off every day).
So criticize, yes. Use that as an excuse for inaction that could be exploited by the crowd carrying their racist signs and wearing their funny hats? NFW!
(Sorry to go “meta,” but I think it needed to be said.)
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