Dumbass (Johnson- WI) threatens to tie up Senate

[undeterred]

By JONATHAN ALLEN | 6/28/11 3:07 PM EDT Updated: 6/28/11 7:15 PM EDT
Sen. Ron Johnson’s new to the Senate, but he’s starting to understand the power of one senator to stand in the way of the chamber’s business.

The freshman Wisconsin Republican, a favorite of tea party activists, threatened Tuesday to delay Senate business if Democrats don’t move forward with a budget plan.

“I will begin to object,” Johnson said in a brief Tuesday afternoon floor speech. “I will begin to withhold my consent.”

He later backed down and let the Senate go ahead with its business.

But Johnson had once again shown that a single senator can tie up the legislative process by refusing to agree to routine “unanimous consent” agreements that quickly dispense with complex Senate procedures. Those objections can be overcome by 60-vote supermajorities, but a senator determined to stand in the way of all business can effectively grind the chamber nearly to a halt by forcing all actions to undergo the rigorous cloture process.

Democrats, who are defending 23 seats in next November’s election, have not drafted a budget resolution for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, and Republicans are hitting them on the campaign trail for failing to govern.

But the political price of a full-on budget debate could be worse than the gridlock Johnson is threatening. A budget resolution would draw an endless string of Republican amendment votes designed to expose fault lines within the Democratic Party, and there’s no guarantee that politically vulnerable Democrats would vote for their own party’s budget at the end of the process — meaning party leaders might expose their rank and file to tough votes only to watch the resolution fail on the floor.



Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57954.html#ixzz1Qg7jIjaH

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/57954.html

Johnson said that next week he's going to hold his breath until his face turns blue if the Democrats don't stop being so mean.

[aquart]

1. Looks like Rick Scott's brother with hair.

Seriously, is somebody cloning?

[Scuba]

2. 1. Reasonable Wisconsinites apologize for Ron Johnson. 2....

...Progressives have a plan. Is the Democratic Party progressive?



http://cpc.grijalva.house.gov/index.cfm?sectionid=70

[ieoeja]

8. 2. The Democratic Party is as progressive as the people who run and win the primaries.

The Democratic Party is controlled by the people who win the Democratic primaries. The DNC is controlled by the people who are elected as delegates. Think tanks, etc have no binding power over the Democratic Party. Only elected officials and delegates possess that.

I can't say that enough. Nobody controls the Democratic Party except for elected officials and delegates. Nobody. Those officials may do what others tell them to do, but they, and they alone, are allowed to make the decisions, even if that decision is to bow down to someone else.


FYI: Chairman of the DNC is selected by the delegates. Contrary to a lot of DU misinformation, a sitting Democratic President does not "appoint" the Chairman of the DNC, s/he "nominates" a candidate for that appointment. Delegates almost never go against a President from their party. It would pretty much destroy the administration if they did.

Bob Dole, for instance, took a *huge* hit when the delegates rejected his proposals for the Republican platform in 1996. If he couldn't lead his party, people reasoned, how would he lead the entire country?

[Scuba]

9. Thanks for your post. One more good reason to be active at the grass roots level. n/t

[sakabatou]

3. What a prick

[undeterred]

4. I believe these are the first words he's spoken in the Senate

since he's become a senator. He's that stupid. Probably read it off his hands Palin-style.

[bikesein]

5. I Miss Russ

Every single day...

[undeterred]

6. He'll be back.

:patriot:

[Blue Owl]

7. POS

n/t

[AlanCranston]

10. a lot of the freshman in 1994 were booted out in 2000 and 2006

given that Wisconsin is usually a blue state, we should be able to boot him out in 2016.

[undeterred]

11. He got in the same day Walker was elected.

It was an epidemic of stupid. There were a lot of Republican and Independent voters who had previously voted for Feingold who had a "throw the bums out" attitude toward all Democrats. The remorse over this guy isn't as acute, but I am sure that a lot of the same people who regret voting for Walker are also remorseful.

This guy just isn't a good Senator. He is so stupid that we are all embarrassed.

[fascisthunter]

12. we should tie him up, and tar and feather him

before we throw his ass into Boston Harbor...

...actually, I take that back, I the harbor is polluted enough.