Trying to reason with a Tea Partiers is like trying to get a Congressional Republican to compromise. It's easier to teach pigs to fly.
MoveOn.org sponsored rallies today all across the country to bring attention to the irrevocable harm that the Republican Tea Party is imposing on mostly complacent Americans. One such event was held over the lunch hour today at the Mount Laurel office of ex-NFL offensive linesman and Tea Party darling, Congressman Jon Runyan.
I arrived at Runyan's office at around 11:30, and there were about five people already gathered in the parking lot. One was a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer and the rest were members of the West Jersey Tea Party. (I've heard of North Jersey, South Jersey, and Central Jersey, but where the heck is West Jersey? But I digress.)
In case anyone is still thinks the Republicans like Jon Runyan who voted to abolish Medicare actually care about the deficit, this should wake you up. The CBO analysis of the 'bipartisan' budget deal is out:
A few weeks after they cut the deal, we have an answer. It turns out the six-month spending bill Congress passed in March increased discretionary outlays through the remainder of the fiscal year by a bit over $3 billion. In other words, total direct spending will be higher by the end of September than if Congress had just set spending on autopilot for the remainder of the fiscal year back in April.
Yes, the Republicans threatened to shut down the government for their budget cuts and ended up increasing spending. (The culprit is defense spending.) I'll confess the House Republicans are creating political disasters even faster than I expected. Just don't give up your future so these clowns can give it to someone else.
Imagine walking into Congress and saying "Sure, I'll vote to abolish Medicare -- What could happen?" Now even Newt Gingrich, the original Republican bomb-thrower and revolutionary, is saying Jon Runyan threw his lot in with extremists:
Gingrich also distanced himself from the plan proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to turn Medicare into a voucher system: "I think that that is too big a jump." He called the plan "right-wing social engineering," which he considers not "any more desirable than left-wing social engineering."
Of course, the headline could apply to any of our House Republicans, but Frank LoBiondo is more afraid of the Tea Party in a primary than anyone else, and Leonard Lance is going to lose his seat in the great game of musical chairs.
"Under the Republican plan, Seniors who have worked hard all their lives will no longer have the security of knowing they'll have health care when they need it," said Pallone. "These cuts are a budget buster for seniors and will force them to pay more to get significantly less care."
We posted over this last night with an update about the Dem state conference changes - sorry, deciminyan - so I'm pulling it up top for a bit. - Rosi
For many years, my wife and I have been lucky enough to take a week's vacation every summer on Long Beach Island. We look forward to a time of relaxation and enjoyment of the pristine beaches. But during his first term in office, Congressman Jon Runyan is working to take that pleasure away from us.
Working in lock-step with his Republican colleagues, Runyan is actively promoting off-shore oil drilling in the Atlantic and providing the wealthy oil companies (i.e his campaign contributors) with more financial benefits - as if they need them.
To be fair, Runyan is delivering on campaign promises. I don't understand why Ocean County residents would vote for someone who will put their tourism industry in jeopardy, but they did.
Now Runyan is making it even more attractive for oil companies to drill. He voted on a bill to allow these companies to obtain new leases, even while they owe the government payments for fines from previous sins. And while he's voting to cut Medicare in the (false) name of fiscal responsibility, he also voted against elimination of taxpayer subsidies to oil companies.
Drilling off the Atlantic coast is not the way to solve our insatiable lust for energy. It's not a matter of whether an oil spill will devastate Atlantic beaches, it's just a matter of when and how badly.
Our vacations on LBI have become even more cherished over the last couple of years, as we have started a family tradition of having our grandson (and his parents!) visit us at the beach each summer. They live 300 miles from the nearest ocean, so this is a special time for our grandson as well as us. Let's hope that Runyan's pro-oil, anti-tourism approach magically avoids Murphy's Law and that we don't see a repeat of the BP disaster in our back yard. For our grandson's sake and the sake of all those kids who love the beach.
How many more years will my son and grandson be able to enjoy LBI if Oilman Runyan has his way?
Jon Runyan arrived in Washington this year, trusting his Republican colleagues to give good advice to the novice politician. Instead, they told him to vote for a budget that abolishes Medicare and replaces it with a private voucher program. That plan went nowhere because the public hates it, and now his leadership has left him high and dry:
Responding Thursday to the news that one of his most powerful chairmen, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI) of the House Ways and Means Committee, will not push ahead with the Medicare plan, [Speaker John] Boehner told reporters, "My interpretation of what Mr. Camp [said] was a recognition of the political realities that we face. While Republicans control the House, the Democrats control the Senate and they control the White House."
Right-wingers in the South might not pay a price for pushing their extreme plans, but Mr. Runyan has to run for re-election in a swing district. He'd better learn to think for himself quickly.
The Republican deficit reduction plan does not even win majority support, but when voters learn almost anything about it, they turn sharply and intensely against it. They have particularly grave concerns about the plan to end Medicare and slash Medicaid spending, pushing seniors into the private insurance market and costing them thousands of dollars more in out-of-pocket expenses.
Today, every New Jersey Republican voted for the plan: Frank LoBiondo, Scott Garrett, Jon Runyan, Chris Smith, Rodney Frelinghuysen, and Leonard Lance all have now tried to end Medicare.
House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown. That process includes alerting lawmakers and senior staff about which employees would not report to work if no agreement is reached.
Jon Runyan, Frank LoBiondo, and the others have direct responsibility for what is going to happen. Whatever measured official statements are made, they are actually applauding and cheering when the cameras are turned off. Every reporter should include it in their accounts.
(And oh yes, the pathetic Democrats who failed to pass the budget last year are the ones who gave them this opportunity.)
We're just getting word that former NJ-3 congressman, John Adler, has died. Adler was hospitalized a few weeks ago and received emergency heart surgery at University of Pennsylvania Hospital after contracting staph bacterial endocarditis. The hospital has not confirmed the death. Sen. Paul Sarlo is the source for reports of Adler's passing.
Adler's father died when Adler was a teenager. It was a defining story of his campaigns. The Adlers lost the family dry cleaning business and had to depend on Social Security survivor benefits to survive. Adler was among just a handful of Democrats who voted against the overhaul of America's health care system last year, angering progressives and many Democrats. Adler lost his seat to GOP former football player Jon Runyan, despite a public debate the Harvard-educated Adler won easily over an embarrassed and poorly-informed now-congressman Runyan.
More details as we get them.
UPDATE: NJ Senate Budget hearing was interrupted at 3:45pm when the news reached the State House, where Adler served in the NJ Senate for 17 years 1992-2009.
UPDATE: Adler's death is confirmed by Assemblyman and NJ Democratic State Committee Chair John Wisniewski. I've posted his statement in comments.
A new survey by Democracy Corps in 50 of the most competitive battleground Congressional districts - nearly all of which gave a majority to Obama in the last presidential election - shows the new Republican majority very much in play in 2012.
The Republican incumbents in these districts, 35 of them freshmen, remain largely unknown and appear very vulnerable in 2012 (depending on redistricting). In fact, these incumbents are in a weaker position than Democratic incumbents were even in late 2009, or Republican incumbents were in 2007 in comparable surveys conducted by Democracy Corps.
The polled districts include the old NJ-3 (Jon Runyan) and NJ-7 (Leonard Lance). Now, we don't know what the new districts will be, and New Jersey is losing a seat, so it's too early to worry about details. What is clear through this and other polls that the Republican extremists in the House (and their counterparts at the state level) are alienating independents, exciting Democrats, and all-in-all building a voting record that will be difficult to defend.
The key though is that Democrats -- and progressives -- must recruit credible challengers while the window of opportunity is still open. LoBiondo's district is very favorable to Democrats, but giving him a pass year after year has left him seemingly invulnerable. Democrats can't afford to make the same mistake with Runyan.
In the grand scheme of things, the lockout of the NFL players is a trivial blip. The disaster in Japan, the famine in Africa, and the destruction of the American Dream by the Corporate Tea Party are more important than football, and will fundamentally impact world history.
But many of us are football fans. We enjoy watching the Eagles make their annual futile attempt to garner Super Bowl rings. Rumor has it that there are even some fans of the Giants and Jets in New Jersey.
Certainly, the NFL provides an economic boost to the cities in which it plays - an important factor in these troubled economic times. So how can today's labor-management impasse be resolved?
Bob Menendez: Banking (chairs the Housing, Transportation, and Community Development subcommittee); Energy and Natural Resources; Finance; Foreign Relations (chairs the International Development and Foreign Assistance, Economic Affairs, and International Environmental Protection subcommittee)
Frank Lautenberg: Appropriations (chairs the Homeland Security subcommittee); Commerce, Science and Transportation (chairs the Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security subcommittee); and Environment and Public Works (chairs the Superfund, Toxics, and Environmental Health, Chair subcommittee)
One of the major goals of the Affordable Care Act is to close the Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, better known to most as the "donut hole." The law will fill that hole over a decade, and in 2010, that meant many seniors received a $250 rebate check.
"Richard Foster, the Chief Actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), has said that "in theory," seniors would have to return the checks if repeal becomes law," the letter reads.
Yes, Leonard Lance, Jon Runyan, Frank LoBiondo et al. literally just voted to take $250 from seniors with large prescription drug bills. And since the elders of their party -- LoBiondo, Smith, Frelinghuysen et al. -- created the "donut hole" system in the first place it's obvious they really do want those seniors to owe the $250.
Here's Cantor's unreassuring response:
"If a repeal bill passes and there's any uncertainty as to whether those checks would have to be recaptured, we can speak to that then,"
I don't see how they will "recapture" 2010's check, but they sure want the ones for 2011, 2012, and especially 2013.
Janaury 18th, 2011: NJ 3rd District Congressman wants to know "Who's Coming to the US From China?"
Congressman Jon Runyan is launching an investigation of the Obama Administration for refusing to "reveal who is coming from China" for a state visit this week.
"The only thing I heard from the White House was a question, 'Who is coming from China?'. This administration needs to be more open with the American people regarding foreign affairs," said newly elected Congressman. "This is outrageous."
Last week, the Obama administration issued an update of the presidential schedule to newly elected Speaker of the House John Boehner, and he passed the information onto Runyan in a phone conversation. We obtained the transcript:
Speaker Boehner: Hu is coming from China.
Rep. Runyan: That's what I want to find out.
Speaker Boehner: That's what I said: Hu is coming from China.
Rep. Runyan: Are you the Speaker?
Speaker Boehner: Yes.
Rep. Runyan: And you don't know this Chinaman's name?
Speaker Boehner: Well, I should.
Rep. Runyan: Well, then who's coming from China?
Speaker Boehner: Yes.
Rep. Runyan: I mean the fellow's name.
Speaker Boehner: Hu.
Rep. Runyan: The guy coming from China.
Speaker Boehner: Hu.
Rep. Runyan: The Chinese guy having dinner with Obama.
Speaker Boehner: Hu.
Rep. Runyan: The guy eating in the White House...
Speaker Boehner: Hu is having dinner with Obama!
Rep. Runyan: I'm asking YOU who's having dinner with Obama
As of Monday night, Congressman Jon Runyan's official web site is pretty clear on his positions on key issues:
On Defense and National Security:
The issues of Defense and National Security are important to our district and to my work in Congress.
On Economy and Jobs:
The issues of Economy and Jobs are important to our district and to my work in Congress.
On Education:
The issue of Education is important to our district and to my work in Congress.
And it goes on and on with similar words for other key issues.
I understand Congressman Runyan has been busy. He's attended several fundraisers during the first week of the congressional session. And he did cast a vote to advance the bill that denies health insurance to millions of Americans. But as a constituent of this neophyte congressman, I'd like to see his official positions on all of the issues. With the web being the primary public view into his positions, is it too much to expect that this part of his web site would be populated from Day One?
Of course, what's happening here is that his staff loaded a standard congressional template with the intent to fill these in at some later time. Maybe someone from his staff monitors Blue Jersey. So if you're out there, how about posting that information? I suspect we will disagree on most issues. But there are probably some that we will agree on. And I'd like to let you know that, too.
This was snapped by a Republican and posted at the Camden GOP's website, in the 'Chairman's Blog' for Chair Richard A. DeMichele, Jr. Now that Jon Runyan is sworn in (you can read their live-blog of that here), they also plan to post a picture of his new office.
You can imagine how fresh and scrubbed NJ-3 feels for Republicans now, with Adler gone - which prognosticators on both sides saw coming ages ago for different reasons. I don't predict an easy first term for Jon Runyan.
One of the things new Congressman Jon Runyan constantly harped on during his campaign against one-term Democrat John Adler was that Runyan was not a "career politician." To me, a career politician is one who puts his own well-being ahead of those of his constituents, one whose top priority is re-election rather than service.
By this definition, Runyan crossed the line from your average NFL offensive tackle to career politician even before he was sworn in. He recently held a fundraiser where the price of admission was up to $50.000. Now, I wasn't there, so I can't say for certain, but I'll bet the folks who attended were wealthy corporatists, bankers, oil interests, and insurance executives from across the country.
I'd also bet that there were no schoolteachers, firefighters, or any representatives of New Jersey's thousand of unemployed citizens at the event.
During the campaign, Jon Runyan promised to serve the people of his district. With hundreds of thousands of dollars coming into his campaign coffers from outside the district, this promise rings hollow.
It's time for the traditional Deciminyan predictions for the upcoming year. Last year, we were three for three. This year, we'll do it a bit differently - go out on a limb in some cases - and include some tongue-in-cheek forecasts as well as some serious ones. I'll leave it to the reader to determine which are which.
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