One needn't be the brightest tool in the drawer to know how badly things are fucked up...

[cherokeeprogressive]

President Obama gives a speech about jobs and putting people back to work before both houses of Congress, televised worldwide, and says (I paraphrase) "Pass this bill RIGHT NOW" dozens of times.

The minority party offers to vote on the jobs bill AS WRITTEN... and the Majority Leader says... "um, not now". WTF?

We adore elected representatives whose feet we'd kiss in a heartbeat because of the letter that follows their name that haven't sponsored a meaningful bill in a decade or more.

We talk about hating the rich, taxing the rich, calling the rich to pay for the success that put them in their McMansions on the backs of employees paid too little and appreciated not at all, and depend on their best friends (our elected representatives) to make it happen.

If the political system we so proudly and violently push on the rest of the world can ever succeed, and I DON'T think it's the system that's fucked up but rather the people who populate it, then a PURGE is in order. It's time to get rid of the current crop of pigs who eat at the trough and have done so for decades.

We need the political equivalent of a rototiller. Time to turn the system upside down, and let new fertile soil rise to the top. That's only going to be possible by instituting RETROACTIVE term limits.

We're not going to change the system by sleeping on sidewalks. We can only change the system at the ballot box, with hand-counted ballots. But first, we need radical changes in the political system based on the simple notion of "You've been here long enough."

[WCGreen]

1. McConnell was trying to attach the bill as an amendment to another

bill not to promote the Jobs bill but I guess to make the other bill go away.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Harry Reid could bring the bill to a vote tomorrow.

A vote is a concrete thing. FORCE the other party to vote against the bill, then HAMMER them on it. Hammer them night and day...

The more bills that are voted on, the better. FORCE the minority party to vote, then SCREAM FROM THE HIGHEST MOUNTAINTOP how they voted.

Seems pretty simple to me.

[midnight]

2. Hand counted ballots minus that fraudulent software. That should fix a few things...

[madokie]

10. It would pretty much fix everything that ails our country

350 million people are a shit pot full and I'd lay money on the majority, big majority of them want what is right for all Americans not just the teathuglicons pets, the rich man. Give us paper ballots hand counted and we're on the road to recovery. Its been a long time since Oklahoma started using black boxes to count our ballots and ever since we've been sending shitheads like we have in the senate today to Washington. Its not coincidence either, it was and is stealing our votes plain and simple.

paper ballots hand counted
problem solved
Take lobbyist out of the picture and utopia would break out all over the place.

[Tx4obama]

4. McConnell was pulling a political stunt.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/04/politics/jobs-bill-senate-exhange/

SNIP

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, said McConnell's effort was "nothing more than a political stunt" because it wouldn't provide for a full debate on the president's plan, which Obama first unveiled to a joint session of Congress in September.

SNIP

Reid, who has delayed consideration of the bill for weeks while he dealt with other Senate business, did say Tuesday that he would schedule floor time for the bill later this month. He also said Senate Democrats would consider changes to the president's proposal to offset the cost of his bill with tax increases on wealthier Americans and corporations, both of which some Democrats oppose.

In a tense legislative chess match played out on the Senate floor, Reid and McConnell battled for several minutes over the fate of McConnell's call for a quick vote. Reid was reluctant to allow for an up-or-down vote on the president's plan, perhaps out of fear some Democrats might vote against it, which would prove his members are divided on the bill, as Republicans charge.

Reid countered McConnell's proposal by offering to take a procedural vote on whether simply to take up the bill on the floor and debate it. Because it's typical for senators of each party to vote together on a procedural motion like that, Reid could be confident he would get all 53 Democratic senators to vote yes, even if some opposed the underlying bill.

Recognizing such a vote would muddy his effort to prove the Democrats are fractured, McConnell objected to Reid's motion and the debate concluded.

SNIP

[cherokeeprogressive]

5. This dovetails with my subject line perfectly. Political considerations are now fucking the country

Would you disagree?

They battled for "several minutes"? SEVERAL. FUCKING. MINUTES... Most people in the country today would LOVE to paid for working an HOUR, and we're talking about a congressional dispute that lasted "SEVERAL MINUTES"? This PROVES my point.

Does the left hand know what the right hand is doing? WHY THE FUCK WOULD PRESIDENT OBAMA SAY "PASS THIS BILL NOW", knowing it wasn't possible?

[Luminous Animal]

6. Term limits no nothing but turn over the political system over to PACs and lobbyists.

Freshman legislatures do not know what the fuck they are doing. They do not know how to write a bill, how to move a bill forward, and how to whip their bill for support. Unelected lobbyist, who have decades worth of experience do; and they are so so willing to assist.

It is the money, honey. Level the playing field and limit the revolving door, and the choice of candidates with a broader spectrum of ideas could be presented to the voters.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

7. Actually, taking it to the streets is the only way anything really gets changed

From the Martin Luther to the Magna Carta to the American revolution to the French revolution to prohibition to the Vietnam war and even now. The powers that be will always game the system to their advantage till things get bad enough for the unwashed masses to get get pissed. Then, things get changed for awhile and the cycle starts again.

[dkf]

8. Yet he stuck a whole lot of things in it that made it impossible to pass.

I feel like he is playing us.

[JoePhilly]

14. When Obama compromises, he's called appeaser ... when he puts forward a plan and sticks with it ...

"he is playing us".

He can't win no matter what he does.

[dkf]

15. If it advances the economy I am fine with a compromise.

I don't expect things to pass without compromise

[YellowCosmicSun]

9. I guess there is some comfort in flailing about.

[mmonk]

11. I disagree. Right now, change is not likely through the ballot box.

While you should strive to elect the best possible candidates, it takes much more. It did not come in 2008, so it's very unlikely anything will even if we are able to get the same numbers again. Peaceful civil disobedience is all that is left currently to change the system and the minds of politicians. Whenver real change happens, it usually follows a period of protests and discontent.

[Owlet]

12. Sad but true

"If voting changed anything, they'd make it illegal" (Emma Goldman)

Although, I suppose you could argue the point that GOP redistricting efforts are just that.

[PassingFair]

13. +1

When we have a President who dares us
to MAKE him do the right things, protest
is all we CAN do.

[TBF]

16. Absolutely wrong -

If you want to tweak the system and beg for crumbs that's up to you, but I personally would like to see the end of capitalism. You think the ruling class are going to let us vote it out?

Getting in the way of commerce is the only thing that will get their attention. Sleeping in the park is a start, general strike is next - hopefully shutting down roads and ports. Then they might notice.

[BoWanZi]

17. "brightest tool in the drawer"? isn't it sharpest tool in the shed or brightest bulb on the tree?

I'm sorry but mixing up metaphors like that just is a pet peeve of mine.