Who in hell gets to pick the "Democratic" members of the Gang of Twelve?

[Faryn Balyncd]

That is to ask, will they stink as bad as the "Democrats" on Simpson/Bowles and the Gang of Six?

[Skink]

1. this time Simpson picks.

[emulatorloo]

2. Worth mentioning that most Dems on Simpson/ Bowles voted against Simpson/bowels

The only one I can remember that voted for was Durbin.

But your question is a very good one.

[Warren Stupidity]

3. yes I expect all 12 to be proud members of the Plutocrat Party.

This is a bullshit deal.

[Cool Logic]

4. Surely, you must be accustomed to BS deals by now.

After all, we have had a government of, for, and by two corrupt political parties, for quite some time now. Furthermore, some very wise men warned us about this a long time ago.

There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution. ~ John Adams

I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. Already they have raised up a monied aristocracy that has set the government at defiance. The issuing power (of money) should be taken away from the banks and restored to the people to whom it properly belongs. ~ Thomas Jefferson

The principle of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. ~ Thomas Jefferson

It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debts as it goes. A principle which if acted on would save one-half the wars of the world. ~ Thomas Jefferson

[cantbeserious]

5. Certainly Not "We The People" and More Probably "We The Wall Street"

eom

[FLAprogressive]

6. Probably one of the Nel$ons, or Fein$tein, or $chumer....aka Wall Street Whores.

[izquierdista]

7. Kucinich, Grijalva, Sanders....

....will be nowhere to be seen.

[bullwinkle428]

8. I'll wager serious $$ that Kent Conrad magically appears in this New Gang.

[RC]

12. And he'll help pick the other DINO's... er, Democrats.

[amborin]

13. like Erskine Bowles, a DINO on the catfood commission...urged Clinton to cut Soc Sec

[Greywing]

9. Sanders BETTER be on there

and I wish there were more independents like him running ...

[kenny blankenship]

10. They will be the usual scoundrels - guys like Baucus, Conrad, Lieberman

Industry shills that have returned to the Senate again and again with the large and unwavering assistance of their industry patrons, so they can rise in seniority and gain the chairmanships of important committees and shape legislation the way their owners like it. They will be the chairs or longstanding members of important committees that spend the most money or have oversight on govt finances. Like Baucus, they will all have a record of massive donations from the industries they have purview over. Just so you know they are "reliable", "responsible" and "experienced".

[Chan790]

14. I think you can safely disconsider Joe Lieberman.

He's got not a friend in the world at this point and is a lame-duck through the end of his term. The closest he gets to anything important is if they let him use the meeting room after their important meeting.

If he's smart, he spends his free time submitting resumes ISO a new job.

[kenny blankenship]

16. And Conrad will be gone. I'm just saying these are the TYPES of Senators who will make up the Junta.

"Solid", "responsible", long serving, deeply financed industry shills.

The kind they groom and carefully water with money for years so they can insert them into seniority based committee positions.

The people who do the real picking of these committee members will be the big financial and insurance gangsters (now that health insurance co.s have the gummint as their collections agency), the defense contractors, Big Oil, Pharma, the chemical and industrial agriculture goons, foreign lobbyists - the usual big donors list. They do the picking in reality because the Senators that you can "safely" and "responsibly" choose from have to have understanding of how the budget really works, they have to have "experience", and those Senators are creatures of big industry consortiums. For appearances sake, maybe they'll allow one non-shill from each party onto the Junta, but the majority will not be hindered by their presence.

[neverforget]

11. The Democrats probably gave the Republicans the right to pick them too

[Stinky The Clown]

15. I'm hoping Ben Nelson gets picked.

:puke:

[amborin]

17. some info here: (from FDL)

"Reid, McConnell, Pelosi and Boehner each appoint 3 people to the commission, which requires a simple majority to approve legislative language. Reid and Boehner each appoint a co-chair.

From the text of the legislation (my emphasis):

GOAL: The goal of the joint committee shall be to reduce the deficit to 3 percent or less of GDP.

APPROVAL OF REPORT AND LEGISLATIVE LANGUAGE- The report of the joint committee and the proposed legislative language described in clause (i) shall require the approval of not fewer than 7 of the 12 members of the joint committee."

snip

http://firedoglake.com/

[ljm2002]

18. So the committee gets to have a simple majority...

...while the Senate continues to founder on the 2/3 majority rules.

HATE HATE HATE this.

[Chan790]

19. Technically...

because any recommendation has to be majority-approved and not deadlocked at 6&6, you need 7/12s to approve. That's a shade under 60% at 58.33% and bipartisan approval.

What we have to do now is start squawking that any member who breaks with Democratic ideals will not be forgiven in the ballot box in 2012, 2014 or 2016 and will face fierce national opposition and funding to their re-election; a cavalcade of rage.

[ljm2002]

20. Well, technically...

...a 2/3 majority requirement would be 8 of 12 votes. Since the requirement is 7 of 12 votes, it is a simple majority requirement.

I agree with you about the rage but really have little hope of seeing it materialize. Well let me amend that: there is plenty of rage out there, and it will find its way out. Unfortunately, the likely vehicle for that rage is what we've seen already with xenophobia and hatred of fellow citizens, etc. Our side is in a slough of despair and our rage is internalized right now. We do not in general have the stomach for hating on our fellow citizens, nor is it a place that most of us want to go.

So I'm just not seeing how our rage can be effectively harnessed. While on the other side, there are plenty of fearmongers etc. who have whipped up their minions into frothy outrage at every real and imagined slight: "They hate Christians!" "Down with Moslems and the encroachment of Sharia law!" "Liberals are godless and evil and have destroyed our way of life!" et-fucking-cetera

[amborin]

21. +1

we need some good organizing skills to channel the rage into effective opposition

[amborin]

22. "a cavalcade of rage"

with progressives could be as organized and effective as tea partyers

[mmonk]

23. Any "centrist" sob will do I guess.

It's all a con job and more theft of the public's money for the robber barons.