Posted on 01/04/2007 5:40:04 PM PST by snugs
Today the President met with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in the Oval Office and later made a statement to the press.
Both the President and Vice President took part in a secure video teleconference with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from the newly-renovated Situation Room at the White House.
The President spoke with House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md) (L), House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Ca) (C) and House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Oh George W. Bush on a telephone conference call at the start of the 110th Congress
Today Vice President Dick Cheney took part in the Senate re-enactment swearing-in ceremony for the 110th Congress
Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island
Damn get well Mr Former President
He going be in hospital for day he get out right I hear that from other Freepers DAMN Bush 41 is tough old bird
These pictures are so cute, Snugs!
Do you think that is because for them often it becomes their religion and is therefore the most important thing in their world and they are so convinced that this is the only way.
Seriously. Besides, I don't need the news to tell me that the dems were taking over today. And I certainly didn't need any Pelosi biographies.
Hi, all....Thanks, Snugs....GREAT dose.....even if the opposition gets to be here too.....guess it's good to get a start on getting used to the next 2 years.
Nice to see Ms. Merkel here today, too. The President had a busy day.....
Thanks for your work today, Snugs. This can't have been one of the more fun ones to put together! I did love GWB's blue tie, though. :) That was a bright spot! Prayers up for quick healing for GHWB. My parents both said that they noticed his limp the other day at the funeral.
Thanks again!
Yes, it is their religion and they feel nothing but contempt for people who don't see things their way.
I just happened to click on a thread about an incident at the border and I literally could not believe the Bush hatred on that thread.
It was like something on the Dem underground. This Day in the Life thread was mentioned with derision and we were all dismissed as Bush-worshiping idiots.
I didn't bother to even post. Not one person on that thread had a good thing to say about our President. I know they are all border control fanatics but still ....
very disappointing.
sad when people cannot agree to disagree without either falling out or being unpleasant and often irrational
This really effected the house. Even when the Democrats had large majorities, a combination of the Midwest and Western Republican Conservators combined with the Southern Democrat Conservatives could block liberal legislation. Sometimes they had to votes to bypass committee leaders and bring a bill to the house floor for an up or down vote.
In the Senate combinations of Conservative Southern Senators and Conservative Republican Senators could force passage of Conservative bills. Neither party dared trash conservatives or liberals. Both parties contained members that spanned the political spectrum.
By the same token often the combination of Liberal New England Republicans and Liberal mid western Democrats could pass Liberal legislation. Both parties had to cooperate.
But since it often took cooperation between the two parties to get anything done, neither party leadership could afford to trash the opposition party or liberals or Conservatives. Both parties had both liberals and conservatives.
Today all Conservatives are in the Republican party. In addtion only a very few liberals remain in the Republican party. Of the remaining liberals in the Republican party only Specter, and the two Main Senators come to mind. The Democratic party is almost entirely made up of liberals
But the Senate rules are a major problem for the majority party. To effectively rule the Senate the majority party must find a way to get 60 of the 100 Senate votes.
Today the Democrats can at best count on perhaps 53 votes. That is 50 democrats and 3 Republican votes. But they need 60 votes to get anything passed that most Republicans want blocked.
Today we are hearing about all the legislation that Nancy Pelosi's house is planning to pass. The problem for the Democrats is they don't have a snowballs chance in Hades of getting most of those bills through the Senate. And unless those bills pass both houses, there is no need for the President to Veto unpassed bills. But even those that pass can easily be vetoed.
What has President Bush who will never ever be running for office again got to lose by blocking every attempt by Democrats to enact their agenda? The worst that could happen is the President will win huge praise from the Republican and conservative base.
But the Democrats and the media have made a big deal out of the Democratic victory. The Democratic base is not very knowledgeable. Labor Union members and Democrats in general are expecting their Liberal agenda to be enacted.
When that Dumb, Stupid, Ignorant and Inept Bush manages to stop the passage of the Democratic agenda the liberals will be ticked. The Democratic base will be angry that the Democrat "Controlled" congress can not pass bills. They will draw the conclusion that Democrats who can't "out Smart" G.W. Bush are not worthy of re-election.
The simple truth is the Democrats need 10 Republicans to vote with them to get Senate passage of any bill the Republicans and/or the president opposes. Republicans have seen how it works when the Democrats blocked the Conservative agenda for the last few years. The Conservatives responded to what they saw as unexcused failure by letting the Democrats win the House and Senate.
In two years it is likely that the Democrats will have failed to pass much of anything the liberals want passed. It is quite likely the rank and file will blame the Democrats in congress for allowing Bush and his "stooges in the Congress" to block the Democrats even with the Democrats in charge of both houses of congress.
Republicans know full well what happens when they fail to do what the base wants done. They know that blocking the Democrats from doing what the liberal base wants will produce the same reaction in the Democratic party.
The kickers are the 60 percent majority it takes to break a filibuster and the 60 percent majority it takes to override a veto.
The Democrats will not have either. So to an even lessor extent the Democrats will control congress than the Republicans did for the last 4 years.
What the Democrats will be able to do is hold hearings to "investigate" the Bush administration. But the President and Republican members of congress can respond by refusing to allow passage of almost everything. Bush's poll numbers are so low that blocking the Democrat agenda can only improve his job approval numbers. There is nothing the Democrats can do but drop the investigations.
Otherwise the Republicans can run the 2008 campaign on "Did the Democrat congress fix (Name anything Democrats want passed)?? The answer is NO. The Democrats were too busy trying nail President Bush."
The Unions will be ticked. They wanted legislation that would allow them to more easily organize companies. They could care less if Bush is nailed or not. Academia wants more federal money for their pet projects. They could care less if Bush is nailed to a wall.
Go through the entire Democratic coalition and they all have bills they have been waiting since 1980 to get passed. They will look upon the Bush attacks as keeping them from getting the legislation they want.
If the Democrats do as they are planning.. investigating the Bush administration to cover the fact that they do not have the votes to get anything passed and enacted, they will only convince the Liberal base that the Democratic congress has blown its chance.
I suspect the 2008 election will be for the Democrats what the 1948 election was for Republicans. The Republicans won the house and senate in 1946. But all they could accomplish was attacking Truman. It did not work. The Republicans wanted cut backs in federal programs, they wanted the economy fixed. What they got was attacks on Truman because they did not have the votes to pass legislation.
History does repeat. Nancy Pelosi can pass anything she wants to have passed in the House. But Reid can't get diddle passed in the Senate and if he does get some stuff passed, it will be vetoed by the President.
To get anything done at all, the Democrats will have to suck up to the hated Republicans. That really ticks off the base.
NICE!
Beautiful roses and I love the close up pic of POTUS.
Thanks for your interesting and informative post
I'm thinking of how the Veep could have done the nation a great service at this point...but it would be wrong.
re: 159
...wrong but necessary!!! :)
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