In case you missed it, Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) continued to stick his foot in his mouth over the weekend when he was asked about passing a no strings attached continuing resolution (CR). The Speaker told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos “There are not the votes in the house to pass a clean CR.”
Several Democrats jumped on the remarks saying Boehner “should prove it” by holding a vote. Boehner knows he would lose leverage if he held a vote. Almost everyone who follows Congress knows there are enough moderate Republicans who would join with Democrats to pass it.
If they held this one vote, then the crap sandwich that Boehner is serving the people of the United States would end.
Speaking of crap sandwiches, Gallup released poll results showing “Americans give Congress an 11% job approval rating, down eight percentage points from last month and one point above the worst rating in Gallup history.”
A United Technologies/National Journal Congressional Connection Poll found that “two-thirds of Americans say Congress should keep the government open and deal with health care separately.”
As I have said many times, Obamacare has glitches that should be fixed in a bipartisan way – just as they have done to Social Security over the years.
Apparently Obamacare is like the abortion issue for the Republicans and that is hurting their brand. National Journal reported:
Republicans should worry about what is happening to their brand: what impressions they are building among new voters, what moderate and independent voters are taking away from this fight, and the long-term effects of these impressions in 2016 and 2020—and on the overall health of the party.
The GOP should be growing tired of the Tea Party antics. I hate to break the news to the GOP, but people like Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Rand Paul (R-KY) can’t be elected President. Even when the GOP has put forth a moderate (Romney/McCain) to run for President, the Tea Party folks have pushed them so far to the right during the primary season that it harmed them in the General Election.
We keep hearing the same tune from the Republicans; it’s just a different day.
Follow me on Twitter @TheWesternWord – it might make you smile.
####
The Western Word 
The approval rating for Congress when the Democrats ran the show in 2009 was a whopping 14%, not sure that 11% is that big a drop! The highest approval rating form Congress was in October of 2001 at 84%, and I believe the Republicans held the majority then.
What you won’t read in the liberal print or see on NBC is that abortion clinics are closing all over the country and the view of abortion is changing in America. Omamacare is bad law and will not do what it is sold to do. Affordable Care Act will become the #1 oxymoron in US history…
I find it humorous when you call out Rep. Boehner for not calling a vote when Sen.Reid in the Senate has done the same thing 100’s of times.
The Democrats are a lot like Lucy Van Pelt and the Republicans are like Charlie Brown. Lucy promises to hold the football for Charlie to kick and he believes her, when Charlie goes to kick it, Lucy pulls the ball and he ends up on his back with Lucy laughing. Republicans continue to believe that Democrats will reduce spending and cave in to their negotiations and start spending again, laughing at the GOP. This time Charlie is not going to kick the football and the GOP is not going to cave in to the Dems game!
Let the games continue…
Barry – thanks for your comments. Here are my follow-up thoughts.
“The highest approval rating form Congress was in October of 2001 at 84%”
– That was right after 9/11/01 when our wagons were circled so those numbers are slanted some.
“the view of abortion is changing in America.”
-Fewer abortions is fine with me. Abortions are still legal. So is Obamacare.
“I find it humorous when you call out Rep. Boehner for not calling a vote…”
-History will show that Boehner shut down the gov because he failed to have a vote to fund it. The votes that could have occurred in the senate are without substance and don’t deal with the biggest problem – keeping the gov open. The House vote has to come first in my opinion.
“Let the games continue…”
-Yes, indeed.
-JmB