Wednesday, July 20, 2011

N.C. Blue Dogs go for Cut, Cap & Balance

On the day they faced another hurdle to their re-election hopes, Democratic U.S. Reps. Heath Shuler and Mike McIntyre of North Carolina voted with Republicans on a bill to cut federal spending and call for a balanced budget amendment.

Shuler and McIntyre are members of the "Blue Dog" coalition of conservative Democrats. They were the only Democrats from the Carolinas to vote Tuesday for a GOP-sponsored "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill that set out strict spending limits and calls for a balanced budget amendment in exchange for raising the debt ceiling.

In separate news releases today, the group Americans for Limited Government called each man's vote "nothing short of heroic." Each, it said, is "one of the last true Blue Dogs, putting country ahead of party."

On Tuesday, Republican state lawmakers unveiled new congressional districts that put McIntyre, of the 7th District, in the 8th District with fellow Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell. And Shuler saw his 11th district get slightly more Republican.

One Republican lawmaker, state Sen. David Rouzer, today announced his candidacy for the 7th District.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blue Dogs are just DINOs...

Anonymous said...

tHIS WON'T HIT THE FRONT PAGE

Anonymous said...

Good for them. Doing what's right as opposed to following the standard party line bullsh!t.

Anonymous said...

NO NEW TAXES! Just let the Bush cuts expire per his budget projections that it would balance the budget after 2012 or so... It's the refusing to pay for 2, now 3 wars, and several unfunded mandates that sort of cheeses me off about either party, Pay or don't play

Anonymous said...

Considering the crisis we're facing, it would be wiser for the Republicans and Blue Dogs to spend their time on something that can actually pass. Their irresponsibility is making American look like a place that isn't safe to invest and will cost us more jobs. All polls show the majority of Americans (including Republicans) want a compromise solution of spending cuts and increase revenue through increased taxes. Stop piddling around with this and get it done before it destroys our economy for years to come!

Anonymous said...

Then the people in their districts need to vote out the Blue Dogs in 2012 as well as the rest of the Republicans. This is poorly thought out bumper-sticker, pandering legislation, instead of doing the real work that needs done.
I'm all for a balanced budget like we had before Republicans took over in 2001, but there's a much better way to do it.

Anonymous said...

Americans don't want their taxes increased to pay for welfare programs! Any poll that says they do, has skewed the question to receive the wanted answer. Obama is spending over $1,000,000,000,000 more than the treasury is taking in. You might see it as "Taxes are too low".. I see it as "Spending is too HIGH"!!!!!

The Balanced Budget Amendment is a contract between Congress and the American people that says, "We won't sell your children into indentured servitude to the Chinese".....

Larry said...

If they start voting for what is the best for the people then after a while the parties will have no power and things will get better.

We can not have that as then the DNC will not come in and save us.

Anonymous said...

The only polls that matter spoke very loudly in 2010. The Republicans did not sweep into power to continue business as usual. Call his bluff, Eric.

Anonymous said...

The common view among mainstream economists is that Roosevelt's New Deal policies either caused or accelerated the recovery, although his policies were never aggressive enough to bring the economy completely out of recession. Some economists have also called attention to the positive effects from expectations of reflation and rising nominal interest rates that Roosevelt's words and actions portended.[37][38] However, opposition from the new Conservative Coalition caused a rollback of the New Deal policies in early 1937, which caused a setback in the recovery

Anonymous said...

Everyone should make a point of watching the video of Contessa Brewer this morning on MSNBC when not getting the answer she wanted she snarkly asked Representative Mo Brooks if he had a degree in economics. Why yes, he replied, with highest honors from Duke. If this country can be saved it's going to be out of the House.

Anonymous said...

They voted for a doomed plan. Nice work, boys! Now, can you actually ACCOMPLISH something now, you sorry rascals!

Anonymous said...

Poster #1 let me do the honors. And of course they did, the entire Democrat Party might be wiped out next year thanks to the ex ACORN lawyer you put in charge who has voted present on every single serious issue, joke is on us of course while he drive this country into the euro thrash ditch:

MSNBC's Contessa Brewer, you may remember just yesterday said the attack on Rupert Murdoch at a hearing encapsulated what the British were feeling.

Today, Contessa "educated" a conservative Representative that without the bailout, the country would be in "a depression." Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said he disagreed which prompted the MSNBC host to ask him if he had a degree in economics.

"Yes ma'am, I do. Highest honors," Rep. Brooks responded.

According to his Congressional page: "Mo graduated from Duke University in three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School."

Anonymous said...

The Blue Dogs can vote with the Republicans all they want, the Teapublicans ain't going to be happy until a candidate with an R after their name holds those seats.

Anonymous said...

Wow! Dims that don't belong to the unions and the entitlement vampires.

Anonymous said...

Letting Bush rates expire wouldn't balance anything. It was just another speech figure

Anonymous said...

How can voting for something that can never pass be considered heroic? Numbers in the House will not get that bill enacted, I do not care if every House member voted for it. It was not about heroics. It was looking at the last election and assuming that that was a true shift in the voting population, and hedging their bets. The problem is, of course, that in the two elections preceding that one, Republicans lost their majority in the house by numbers similar to the ones they won by in a year where people were hurting and looking for a quick fix to their woes. Knowing that quick fix is not possible, I think that it was a bad bet. We will see.

Anonymous said...

The Republican handling of the debt ceilng has been childish and beyond shameful. Same for the Medicare-destroying Ryan budget that all but 4 of the House Republicans voted for.

BTW, were all the jobs they claimed they would create if we voted for them? We haven't even seen a Republican jobs bill.Lots of social stuff and useless things like this latest bill but not one, single things to help jobs. NOT ONE!

Save the economy, Save Medicare. Vote out all Republicans in 2012.

freddy said...

Letting the Bush tax cuts targeted at the top 1% expire, as they were intended to do when passed (they've already been extended for two more years) would generate $700 billion over the next 10 years. If loopholes that allow this same top 1% to only pay an effective tax rate of 17% (most middle class people without all the loopholes pay about 28%), another trillion could be added to the federal revenue stream. Between the two, a large chunk of the budget deficit could be easily wiped out. Add a few responsible defense cuts, and you're practically there without having to demolish the social safety net.

But the Republicans won't let that happen. Because, you know, those Bush tax cuts resulted in SO many jobs being created in the last 10 years. Right. Republicans are used to putting politics before the welfare of the country and most of its citizens, but under the influence of the tea party, they've sunk to heretofore unimaginable new lows.

Anonymous said...

Mr. Jim,

Somehow you missed this poll:

http://www.nccivitas.org/2011/civitas-poll-obama-sees-14-point-drop-in-job-approval-rating/

I guess we won't be seeing this lead any time soon in the CO, at least not until we can give PPP a chance to get out another of their push polls.

Anonymous said...

So they were paid for their Tea Party votes on this issue with the new maps? McIntyre was simply handed another Democrat's district? Another Democrat who doesn't sell his votes and might actually represent his district, presumably, since that would be a major hassle in the political business at work here.

Anonymous said...

Anyone know how many times the debt ceiling has been raised in the 235 years the USA has been a country and what party was in power each time it was raised?
When was the last time this country had a balanced budget and what political party was in power at the time the budget was balanced?
With the answer to these two questions it might be a good indicator as to what political party would be best for our economy.
I'm an independent so I don't care what party is in power, just get the economy on track.

Anonymous said...

The 3 largest tax cuts in the last 60 years, as % of GDP, were Reagan, Kennedy followed by a distant 3rd by Bush. In every case the following years revenue to the federal government went UP!

The top 1% in earners have many varied professions but the largest common denominator is that the either set or have a high degree of influence on their pay. Does anybody think that they will reduce the money they "take home" if taxes increase?? They will raise their take so as to net at least as much as the previous year. Since this money does not come from thin air, it comes from raises, new hires and material and equipment to make a better working environment for all of us working stiffs.

This is not politics or propaganda, just common sense. I don't care for any party right now because neither is talking real issues, just trying to con votes based on perceptions, erroneous or not. You have to give the Dems credit for the effectiveness of this deceit based on some of the comments above.

Anonymous said...

This says it all:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zeTMyNs5aA&feature=share

John Clark/Dialectic Voyeur said...

They probably would have voted that way regardless of the impending redistricting.

Anonymous said...

In reply to a comment above: the top 1% of earners will follow the guidelines and regulations that they are required by law to follow or they will pay the consequennces. They aren't magicians and they have to play by the rules like the rest of us. If they can't play by the rules, someone will step up who can. When we let them get away with anything they want, then guess what--they do! They don't take all the fat profits and make "better working conditions" unless they are required to by law. They'd start slave plantations if they could, and would still demand that we bow down and call them "job creators."

Anonymous said...

Gay couples begin seeking marriage licenses in NYC ( pic shows obese shorthaired lesbians kissing)

49ers coach teaches kids football, character ( pic shows coach showing young kids how to play a game )

Check out these 2 front CO page headings next to each other. Is this sicko or what? Clearly the CO is promoting young children and adult homosexuals in the same context.
This may be illegal as an insideous subliminal form of pedophilia and def immoral.

Maybe CMPD or Meck D.A. can determine whether charges should be filed.

Anonymous said...

Blue dogs?

Why not red dogs?

They used to be called yellow dogs.

Anonymous said...

Hurray for the president. What a great milestone. Fags can be fags in the military now. Wonder if they will act like fags when they are captured by fag decapitating Muslims?


http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2011-07-22-obama-openly-gay-military-service_n.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomWashington-TopStories+%28News+-+Washington+-+Top+Stories%29

Larry said...

Wisconsin was a prime example of how two parties can kill a State.

Thank you StatesPeople, both Republican and Democrat in NC for moving us forward with honesty.

Budgets need to be reasonable and NC now has a start.