Taxsperity – The uniquely moronic notion that prosperity can be achieved through increases in taxation.
Biparthenasia – The art of killing the opposition party by encouraging them to join your foolhardy efforts.
Stimuslush – Urgently passing a bill under the pretense of saving us from depression only to hold on to the money for eighteen months in order to spend it as close to an election as possible.
Filibluster – The blatantly false threat of removing the 60 vote cloture requirement in the US Senate. Even if they could, they never would because they know minority status is in their (near) future.
Reconcilicide – The suicidal results of continued threats to push through massively unpopular legislation to take over one sixth of the economy through the parliamentary trick of reconciliation. If actually accomplished, results in immediate death of the party.
Unemplosion – The incredibly rapid rise in the number of people who have nothing better to do than campaign and vote against you. Oh yeah, and watch curling. They have time to watch curling too.
aGoreaPhobia – The sudden and overwhelming fear of the media by a former vice president after his life work has been shown to be wholly based on a lie.
Obamastrich – A clean and articulate creature that sticks its head in the sand when all its promises turn to naught.
Punxatawney Pol – A famous rodent (aka politician) who, despite promises of the most transparent administration evah, only submits to a prime time press conference once a year. (220 days and counting…)
Socialistic Violence – A surge in spousal abuse, as predicted by Sen. Harry Reid, caused by rampant and continued unemployment as the result of socialistic policies. Upside – major growth in the wife-beater t-shirt industry.
Blue Dogs – A mythical creature that has been proven not to exist. Just to clarify, Chupacabra -real. Blue Dogs – myth.
Friendly Fired – The loss of employment by Democrat politicians as the tragic result of being caught in the crossfire between a deaf and blind Commander-in-chief and the American people.
Foreign Poli-Stones or Bidenerve – Claiming as your greatest achievement a policy which you vigorously opposed.
February 25, 2010 at 12:28 pm
OK, forgive me, but how did Biden put his foot in it this time to incur your (no doubt justified) barb?
February 25, 2010 at 2:02 pm
beez, I can answer that. Joe Biden, et. al. vehemently condemned the troop surge which toppled Iraq then recently has been saying how victorious the Obama administration has been over there.
February 25, 2010 at 2:04 pm
convenient, eh?
February 25, 2010 at 2:10 pm
Reconciliation is not a parliamentary trick. Reconciliation is permitted by a statute designed purposely to allow the Senate to bypass the threat of filibuster for bills concerning the budget, which are of their nature very time-sensitive. It is not a trick at all. That would be the "nuclear option," as it is called, which basically short circuits the Senate rules through a series of non-sequitur procedural actions, forcing a spontaneous change. That is a trick, since it is not anticipated by law or Senate rules.
Moreover, the Republicans used reconciliation more than a few times when they had a majority in both Houses, so unless you consider 2006 the death of the Republican party, it also doesn't result in "immediate death of the party."
Please research more carefully before you put your blatant partisanship on display.
~cmpt
February 25, 2010 at 2:29 pm
cmpt:
If the Republicans used this political trick for items other than the budget, they should be criticized too. However, it did not make the public's radar in the past.
Even NPR (and its liberal audience) noticed that the Democrats were trying desperate measures to force passage of this incredibly unpopular Health Care bill and were outraged by the lack of transparency/outright fudging of the rules. When your moves offend your hard-core base, then it can cause "immediate death of the party."
It may be partisan, but it's true.
February 25, 2010 at 4:41 pm
cmpt,
You said it yourself: for bills concerning the budget. Health care reform does not concern the budget, unless one takes the position that any bill that involves spending money is budgetary in nature.
Trying to shove through Obamacare under reconciliation is a trick. Reconciliation can be used to make adjustments to financing of the program, but not make major changes to the purpose of the bills.
February 26, 2010 at 12:06 am
Yeah, I defended the Blue Dogs in the fall. I was 99.99% wrong. They voted against the party line for really itt-bitty things. But bribes and silence aren't cool for the big things.
And to those that want me to just go ahead and round up: I was wrong.