Dems face internal revolt over Obama agenda

[maseman]

Source: washingtonpost.com

Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama's far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform.

(snip)

Democrats rejected four GOP amendments to the omnibus spending bill last night, and they will face more today. The additional amendments are the price that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pay Thursday night after he sought to bring an end to debate on the bill and came up one vote short. Several Republicans whose support Reid had anticipated did not deliver, but the most costly defection was that of Sen. Robert Menendez (N.J.), a member of the Democratic leadership, in protest of a little-noticed Cuba provision that would ease U.S. rules on travel and imports to the communist-led island.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29609567

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the title is misleading.

And fuck Menendez. He needs removed.

[babylonsister]

1. Usually a fan, Menendez pissed me off, too. Cuba should be a

separate issue.

[bdamomma]

6. never surprises me how we think we are pushing ahead

we are pushed right back again, Cuba should maybe be put into another bill.

[No Elephants]

2. One vote? Paging Al Franken, paging Al Franken.

[bdamomma]

7. call Tim Pawlenty to tell him to stop this nonsense and seat

Franken, also call Harry Reid enough is enough the man won by 225 votes. Damn.

[No Elephants]

16. Pawlenty and Reid don't pay attention to calls from Massachusetts.

[acmavm]

3. I'm so confused. So the 2006 and the 2008 elections didn't help

us at all? We're still at the mercy of the republican party?

How in the fuck can they tie the dems up when they're a majority and when they're a minority? Oh yeah, the traitors and quislings in our own party. I almost forgot.

and this just makes me laugh:

<snip>

The additional amendments are the price that Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) was forced to pay

[PassingFair]

10. We are and HAVE been at the mercy of conservatives in OUR party.

Vichy Dems, if you will.

The first order of business was to
wrest control.

The second must be to clean our own
house.

There is a "mega" progressive PAC, ACCOUNTABILITY NOW,
combining the powers of MoveOn, PDA, DFA
and others that plans on mounting primary
challenges to DINOS.

I have already donated, all interested
peeps here should check them out:

http://accountabilitynowpac.com /

They will concentrate on safe dem constituencies
that are in thrall to DLC/BLUE DOG/DINO politicians.

I hope Diane Feinstein is one of the first to feel
the sting.

[NOW tense]

4. Seriously? Haven't we "punished" ourselves enough

We look like small children taking our game home with us when it comes to Cuba.

[brooklynite]

5. I had breakfast today with some SERIOUS Democratic Party fundraisers...

...who are suggesting this type of behavior is going to result in a dip in DSCC support.

[No Elephants]

15. IIf you are going to vote Republican once elected, run for office on the RNC's dime, not my $$.

[CanonRay]

8. Time to turn the Obama forces loose on these semi-Rethugs

[NJmaverick]

9. Menendez should stop pandering to Cuban Americans

and allow the US to start resuming relations with the island nation. Our economy could sure use the boost in demand.

[EC]

11. I just do not see how punishing the whole island of Cuba

re: the people...will hurt the leaders and their communist rule...everyone knows the poverty there is because of lack of trade and not because of the leadership...the restrictions do nothing but hurt the people and any pol that still wants to harm people and even starve them in order to punish leadership is just sick, sick,sick....

[Igel]

12. The reporter sounds confused.

Or openly manipulative. Or just grossly incompetent.

I'll remain agnostic as to which is the case.

"Democratic leaders in Congress did not expect much Republican support as they pressed President Obama's ambitious legislative agenda. But the pushback they are receiving from some of their own has come as an unwelcome surprise.

"As the Senate inches closer to approving a $410 billion spending bill, the internal revolt has served as a warning to party leaders pursuing Obama's far-reaching plans for health-care, energy and education reform."

There's an "ambitious legislative agenda". There's "pushback". But the pushback isn't to the only thing that it could be, in context--Obama's agenda.

The pushback is to what Obama called "last year's business". Is Obama's ambitious legislative agenda last year's business? I think not. Does the $410 billion spending bill pursue Obama's "far-reaching plans"? Good question. It's never addressed. Instead, Ms. Murray flips back and forth between discussing opposition to portions of Obama's budget or plans and opposition to this bill, apparently merging the two.

Sloppy, at best. But is Ms. Murray incompetent, confused, or just trying to obfuscate the difference between the two fiscal years? (And if so, how's she going to handle when the difference between the $410 billion bill and the $3.x trillion budget for the next fiscal year becomes undeniable?)

[CreekDog]

13. 3-4 Democrats? out of what? 58??? soon to be 59???

please, spare me the theatrics.

nobody called it a revolt when Snowe, Collins and Chafee butted heads with their leadership, but when conservative Dems do it in the same numbers, it's suddenly a "revolt".

why oh why can't we have a better media?

[xchrom]

14. all i have to say about that is -- obama is very popular with high job approval ratings --

why buck a good thing?