John Boehner

This morning at the Newseum House Speaker John Boehner was asked by Politico's more »

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As the Occupy Wall Street movement spread across the nation last week, politicians in D.C. more »

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Psst! Hey, you! Yeah, you, in the expensive suit. Listen, Mr. Banker, are you worried that a little oversight and enforcement might be bad for business? I hear ya. I really do. But listen ... hey, come a little closer, pal. I won't bite ya! I got an offer and I don't want to shout it.

What you need is somebody who can fix this problem for ya. Permanent-like, if you catch my drift. And I think you do. You don't have to get your hands dirty, neither. I know a guy who knows a guy ... in fact, he knows a lot of guys.

Here's his number. He'll handle it real discreet-like. I know, I know. You don't want your name drawn into this. You like giving those interviews where you play the wise statesman and complain that people aren't nice enough to folks like you.

No, no, that's not how you say it! It's spelled B-O-E-H-N-E-R, but it's pronounced "Bay-ner." He'll be waiting for ya on K Street. Can't miss him: Orange tan. Cries a lot. Likeable as all get-out. Even the Big Guy says he can "do business with him."

Don't worry, pal. Johnny'll get the heat off your back before ya even know it. I know the right folks. We got that Warren lady outta the way this week, right? Now as for that little "bureau" of hers - well, stuff happens, right? There could be a fire, maybe, or an accident. Or maybe some kinda new law, I dunno. Johnny'll think of something.

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I never expected I'd be called upon to write an open letter to the Speaker of the House because he used my words in a misleading way. And I certainly never expected that letter to include detailed descriptions of the plot and weaponry used in the Star Wars movies. But here we are.

In a move that some of us have anticipated since early 2009, the Republicans are now running to both the left and right of the White House on jobs, emphasizing populist themes while pushing pro-corporate policies. As part of that campaign, Speaker of the House John Boehner's latest blog post quoted a series of progressive writers and organizations who have criticized the White House's overly cautious jobs approach. (Or course, we know that most politicians' posts and tweets are written by their staff, and we've all learned why that can be a good idea.)

The Speaker's post quoted me out of context in exactly the same way movie reviews are sometimes quoted in movie ads. (The review: "This turkey gave me a terrific headache."The poster: "Terrific!") The following letter will hopefully clear the record. more »

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What do you do when the economy's a disaster, things are getting worse, and nobody seems to give gives a damn? What do you do? This country has been divided into two economies. One's the economy of Wall Street and corporate Manhattan, along with Washington's thriving economy of lobbyists, politicians, ex-politicians, national security contractors, and assorted hangers-on.

Call that one the "Acela Economy," since Amtrak's Acela Express links the two urban areas.

Then there's the other economy, the one where most people live. Let's call it the "Majority's Economy." It's a catastrophe, and it's getting worse, not better. Guess which one is getting more attention and care in Washington DC?

It's illegal to shout 'fire!' in a crowded theater. But what if there really is a fire - and nobody cares? It's not like anybody's going to start a stampede in Washington. It would be a major accomplishment just to disrupt their REM sleep.

Fire!

Meanwhile the volunteer firefighters are back at the station as flames rise higher, drinking beer and bitching about how much it costs to gas up the truck. That's because they're afraid the well-paid folks at both ends of that train line will be asked to picked up some of the tab.

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"If I had a world of my own," said Alice, "everything would be nonsense. Nothing would be what it is because everything would be what it isn't."

The rabbit hole's got nothing on this place."Let's save Social Security from a 25% cut in 27 years," they told Alice, "by cutting more than that, starting now." Paul Ryan's GOP plan doesn't "end Medicare," they explained. It just, well, ends it. And vouchers aren't really vouchers. Even "fact-checking" site Politifact joined in, chastising Democrats for saying Ryan's proposal would "change the essential nature of Medicare." That was right before they noted that it would "end the aspect of Medicare that directly covers specific services, such as hospital coverage."

If you thought that the "aspect of Medicare" that directly pays for hospital coverage was Medicare, then apparently you are a very silly person.

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Last night the President took a lofty, almost disinterested stance regarding budget deadlock in Congress. He seemed to chastise Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner equally, focusing on the consequences of a shutdown and ignoring the consequences of making a bad deal to avoid a shutdown.

A Federal shutdown would have "real consequences for real people," said the President, mentioning one "real" person by name: J.T. Henderson of Louisville, Kentucky.

So let's talk about J.T. Henderson - and about all the other J.T. Hendersons who are just as real, and just as important, as our friend in Louisville. You'd be surprised how many there are.

Meet the Hendersons

Who wasn't the President talking about when he mentioned the name "J.T. Henderson" last night?

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Oh, Democrats, Democrats, Democrats. Your party's symbol's an ass - a word that was on John Boehner's lips this week, and maybe some other people's too.

Here's how it went down: First House Republicans proposed $32 billion in cuts. The President offered $6.5 billion. The House passed a bill cutting $60billion. Then the Tea Party demanded $100 billion. Now we're told that everybody has agreed to a "compromise" number: $33 billion.

That's just one billion more than the Republicans in Congress originally demanded. Way to negotiate, Democrats!

That's why we need an independent movement that will fight for the public's best interests.

Put up your hands and fight like a gentleman, sir!

In the bloodbath that is modern American politics, the courtly Dems still want to fight by Marquis of Queensbury rules. In the budget battle, they've once again put up their dukes for a polite "bout of fisticuffs" while their opponents pummel them with knives, clubs, brass knuckles, numchucks, AK-47's, and tactical nuclear weapons.

The imagery's just a figure of speech, of course.

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"Clueless." "Stupid." "Middle-class welfare." Sometimes a guy who likes facts and figures gets slapped in the face by reality, and apparently today's my day. Several recent stories showed me how some of these "austerity economics" advocates in Washington really feel about the middle class. I guess I always knew it intellectually, but these stories made me feel it on a visceral level. They let me know me exactly what these politicians and pundits feel toward me,my family, and the people I grew up with:

Contempt.

We're not talking about lofty and imperious disdain, either. This isn't the old-school,"look down your monocle with a lofty air" genteel antipathy once practiced by the gentlemen at the club. We're talking about complete and utter contempt, a repugnance so white-hot it feels like it could melt your face off.

Debts of a Salesman

How else are we to interpret remarks like these from John Boehner, the Speaker of the House of Representatives? "People in Washington assume that Americans understand how big the problem is," Boehner said of Social Security, "but most Americans don't have a clue." Boehner added, ""I think the president shrank from his responsibility to lead. He knows the numbers as well as we do."

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We're working with some of the best state-level bloggers from around the country to help us tell the truth about key economic and social policy issues, and to draw the contrast between the rhetoric of the right and the progressive alternative. Please visit our CAF State Blogger Network page to see more. more »

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