Saturday Scattershooting While Waiving Bye-Bye To Tom Price

DB Daily Update ^ | 9.30.2017 | David Blackmon

[EyesOfTX]

To literally nobody’s surprise, President Trump fired HHS Secretary Tom Price Friday afternoon. He apparently didn’t break any laws, and he didn’t do anything myriad Obama officials had not done the past 8 years, but unlike Democrat presidencies, Republican administrations must hold their people accountable for this kind of behavior. Mr. Price apparently didn’t understand that, which means he was too dumb to hold a secretarial position in the first place.

I wrote on Thursday about by belief that the just-begun effort by the GOP establishment leadership in congress to move a tax reform bill is just a Kabuki dance, and that the outcome is already fore-ordained to be a McConnell/Ryan joint presser in December in which they tell us all they did their best but they just ran out of time.

Hell, you’ve even got the Chairman of Senate Finance, Utah Senator Orin Hatch talking about ways to kill the effort in public. The probable truth is that Mitch McConnell already has 8 or 9 members of his GOP caucus who can be counted on to vote against any version of a tax reform bill if he needs them.

They’ll couch their votes with objections like Hatch’s, i.e., “I feel very strongly we need to preserve that wonderful deduction for state and local taxes, oh my”. Maybe Susan Collins’ objection will be her strong feeling that we need to give a special tax credit to any woman who seeks an abortion at Planned Parenthood clinics; John McCain might think he’s voting on the EPA appropriations bill rather than a tax bill; regardless, the three GOP ‘no’ votes needed to kill this thing are already out there in some combination of senators or another.

[Dr. Sivana]

To literally nobody’s surprise

I was surprised.

[chajin]

There was a First 48 episode a few years back where two gangs were having a gang war, and one gang wanted to kill a killer in the other gang. When they realized they couldn't get the killer, they drive-by-killed his uncle instead.

It's the same thing here. They're still mad that we "killed" Jon Ossoff who was supposed to get Price's seat, but they can't get Karen Handel, so they gunned for Price instead.

In a war, the enemy sets the rules of engagement. Time to ratchet up the heat on one of theirs: Menendez is the most obvious choice, get him out of the Senate before a Dem governor can name his replacement. If the rules of engagement are gang-war-lite, we can do no less. Unless, of course, we are going to surrender the country for the sake of our ethical standards, and trust God to take care of everything. That works in the long run, but as someone else said, in the long run we're all dead.

[EyesOfTX]

Really? Did you spend the week in Siberia? :)

[mewzilla]

Pour encourager les autres.

Works for me.

[dblshot]

Remember when Michelle took separate Air Force One flights to vacation spots. What did that cost?

[inchworm]

When can we say good bye to McConnel and Ryan. They keep screwing up...over and over again.

[dfwgator]

A Blackie Sherrod fan, I see.

[GailA]

Lets not stop with Price, audit every member of congress and this and last administration travel for vacation scam.

Flight furor: Obama officials also took pricey, non-commercial planes
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/09/29/flight-furor-obama-officials-also-took-pricey-non-commercial-planes.amp.html

High-flying Holder: Report shows AG, FBI director used luxury jets for personal travel
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/02/28/government-report-shows-attorney-general-fbi-used-luxury-jets-for-personal.html

VA chief took in Wimbledon, river cruise on European work trip; wife’s expenses covered by taxpayers
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/va-chief-took-in-wimbledon-river-cruise-on-european-work-trip/2017/09/29/c1f17046-a458-11e7-8c37-e1d99ad6aa22_story.html

[Georgia Girl 2]

Sad but likely true. The GOP has no plan to reduce spending why would they cut taxes?

[Dr. Sivana]

Really? Did you spend the week in Siberia? :)

I want to say yes, and that I was plotting with Vladimir regarding taking down Mrs. Clinton.

But no, but I thought the reaction was overblown.

I'm also familiar with the extravagances far greater that everyone from Obama himself to his staff to Pelosi's dedicated jet with a six figure liquor bill, to planeloads of cash to our enemies.

I'd didn't think we'd get Sununu'd again, and now that they have a scalp, the bar will get lowered, like it was for Sununu, who was expected to take coach flights home as Chief of Staff. Funny when the Democrats get the antsy about government expenditures.

[Windflier]

“Waiving” bye bye?