ReTHUGS had secret meeting on innauguration night to figure out how to grind country to a halt

[malaise]

http://www.uspoliticsonline.com/breaking-news-politics/72368-gop-had-secret-meeting-innauguration-night-figure-out-how-grind-country-halt.html

During a lengthy discussion, the senior GOP members worked out a plan to repeatedly block Obama over the coming four years to try to ensure he would not be re-elected.

The disclosures – described as "appalling and sad" by Obama's chief strategist David Axelrod – undermine Republican claims that the president alone is to blame for the partisan deadlock in Washington.

A detailed account of who was present at the dinner on that January 20 night and the plan they worked out to bring down Obama is provided by Robert Draper in 'Do Not Ask What Good We Do: Inside the US House of Representatives', published this week.

In his book, Draper opens with the heady atmosphere in Washington on the days running up to the inauguration and the day itself, which attracted 1.8 million to the mall to witness Obama being sworn in as America's first black president.

Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Sometimess conspiracies are real

This is one case, and no, it does not rise to the level of criminal before anybody says it.

[malaise]

3. We'll need to find out

[rufus dog]

4. Not criminal

But in the worst economic times of most Americans lives, it was and is, definitely anti-American.

[Rex]

7. It is sad that you have to add that disclaimer at the end

you would like to think we are all on the same side here.

[2pooped2pop]

27. sounds like treason to me

them, the banksters, the ms media; treasonous mother fuckers who fucked over America for their own benefit.

[nadinbrzezinski]

28. In another age..yes

But the standard to prove treason in US law is very high. This may rise to civil. Now if you find members of business and media as part of this, then you start entering not conspiracy territory, though would be part of th rap sheet, but RICO.

I am not a lawyer, but I know this country's treason burden of proof is so damn high, that we have had few executions and actually few convictions for yes, treason.

[nanabugg]

32. They succeeded beyond their wildest dreams. Sorta like Osama bin Laden said about 9/11. nt

[kentuck]

2. Benedict Arnolds.

Each and every one...

[craigmatic]

5. democrats should've did this to bush in 00.

[Cirque du So-What]

10. What? Fuck over the American people in the name of politics?

I like to believe that the party I have chosen would never do something that reprehensible.

[craigmatic]

48. Considering how bad bush was we would've been protecting the American people.

He wasn't elected anyway and had no mandate to do anything. Just think we could've stopped the tax cuts and no child left behind. The stimulus would've still been in place.

[kentuck]

11. Democrats believe in government - Republicans do not...

That is why they would never do it.

It is a dangerous and deceptive game the Republicans play. And they do it very well...

[craigmatic]

49. We believe in democracy too but bush wasn't elected.

[markpkessinger]

16. I had someone on Facebook respond to my post about this O'Donnell segment...

... that it was "just like the Democrats in 2000." I did my best to rip him a new one.

[newspeak]

46. no, it wasn't the democrats in 2000

I believe it was lincoln chaffee who exposed the meeting after little boots was selected. Where the repugs were told (apparently by cheney) that they were not going to deal with the democrats, that the WH was calling the shots.

[fascisthunter]

6. They are Traitors... talk about being unpatriotic

they have stooped so low, their words no longer matter.

[malaise]

8. I'm going to order this book

Remember those names
Attending the dinner were House members Eric Cantor, Jeb Hensarling, Pete Hoekstra, Dan Lungren, Kevin McCarthy, Paul Ryan and Pete Sessions. From the Senate were Tom Coburn, Bob Corker, Jim DeMint, John Ensign and Jon Kyl. Others present were former House Speaker and future – and failed – presidential candidate Newt Gingrich and the Republican strategist Frank Luntz, who organised the dinner and sent out the invitations.

[dragonlady]

12. The author was on the Daily Show last night

April 26, 2012 . . . Jon was very impressed by the book.

[malaise]

17. It will be part of my summer reading

I'll check TDS's webpage and have a look - he was on GEM$NBComcast a while ago

[shanti]

35. yes, i notice

that pig, Lungren, is right in the thick of it god, i cannot stand him! i do wonder if issa was invited to this, although his names not there...

[malaise]

37. Don't know about Issa but Boehner was not invited

because Frank Luntz dislikes him big time and word is that the feeling is mutual.
It did make me understand the Cantor Boehner tension.

[Cirque du So-What]

9. Link to the actual article in the UK Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/26/democrats-gop-plot-obstruct-obama

[malaise]

14. Thanks a lot for that link

They are shameless

[longship]

13. This needs media coverage

Don't know if it will do any good, and it may even harm. But, if handled correctly, it would reveal the extent to which the Repugs are truly repugnant.

It seems that Axelrod is on top of it. Now, if we can only get a Fox mini-series produced, maybe entitled The Right Wing. Maybe Alan Alda and Michael J. Fox are available for the casting call.

[malaise]

15. We need to examine the number Obama appointees that are outstanding

and identify the Senators who blocked them. DeMint I remember for sure.
This could blow up in their faces.

[Volaris]

43. and IF that explosion even REMOTELY happens in a Public way,

they are 9 kinds of FUCKED this November. There is quite a lot the American People (see Independent voters) will stomach from their politicians and national leaders, but this kind of...INTENTIONAL undermining isn't one of them, I think...especially when the target is a man who they might not all agree with politically or ideologically, but whom, when elected made this Nation believe again that it really IS possible HERE like it's possible nowhere else on Planet Earth. To plan and execute an attack on THAT concept is unacceptable to the "average American". And if they know about it, en mass they will not vote for it again.

The whirlwind is coming. And Mittens isn't the guy who can stop it.

[renate]

18. this certainly isn't a surprise, but it still makes me sad

I would have liked it if we had been wrong--but of course the evidence that they were being purely and mindlessly obstructionist was pretty clear.

Well, maybe now that it's in print and in the media, it'll be up for discussion. Just in time.

[malaise]

19. I'm delighted this is now out in the open

I hope Obama includes it among the jokes tomorrow night so it gets serious airplay

This is fugging sabotage of the Executive Branch of government.

[Leftist Agitator]

20. Everyone who attended that meeting should be charged with treason.

And if (and when) found guilty of treason, duly executed as a warning to others who might contemplate selling out their country.

We need to send a strong message that it is not OK to betray the government of the United States of America, *especially* if the person in question is purportedly a part of said government.

[malaise]

22. It's frightening but listening to Boehner bawling about

no fight over student loans is a gazillion times more interesting given this meeting. They declared war on the Executive Branch the day he was sworn in.

[former9thward]

26. Stalin died 60 years ago.

Are you still in mourning?

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. King George III passed on even much more far back

This has nothing to do with Uncle Joe. The high standards for treason in the US go to King George the Mad...

By the way that was an interesting...attack, since more than a few on this thread pointed out this looks like treason to them. And while they may have a point...it is simply not part of the Legal Tradition and our standard of proof, legally, to a treason charge, is quite high.

Now if these boys are working with media and business, and it can be proven by the state, RICO comes to mind, and that, if there is evidence, would send a strong message.

By the way you agree with this plan to obstruct all? Putting party before country is quite sickening.

Oh and yes, echoes of 1858. Look it up.

[former9thward]

30. Treason is one of the few crimes that gets its legal definition from the Constitution.

No it is not King George. It is very specifically defined in the Constitution. But many don't like that document and the "more than a few on this thread" would be in that category.

[nadinbrzezinski]

33. You might want to read

why it is defined in the Constitution. And yes it is one hundred percent related to King George III and how loosely and creatively he, and his people, used charges of treason both in the home country and the colonies. It was not accidental that it was written into these foundational documents. And if you think they are, well I guess the ten commandments are not an item of faith, but historic fact.

Why I have said in this thread that while some may feel it rises to that level, legally it does not.

But also telling somebody they may like Stalin, ignores where the definition of treason is, and chiefly why.

[JNelson6563]

21. Motherfuckers and their motherfuckery.

[malaise]

34. Have a look at this

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/06/obama-judicial-appointees_n_706590.html
<snip>
A determined Republican stall campaign in the Senate has sidetracked so many of the men and women nominated by President Barack Obama for judgeships that he has put fewer people on the bench than any president since Richard Nixon at a similar point in his first term 40 years ago.

The delaying tactics have proved so successful, despite the Democrats' substantial Senate majority, that fewer than half of Obama's nominees have been confirmed and 102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant.

Forty-seven of those vacancies have been labeled emergencies by the judiciary because of heavy caseloads.

------------------
Delays in the Senate
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/04/chart-of-the-day-obamas-epic-failure-on-judicial-nominees/255651/

[calimary]

23. And they called US "Sore Losermen."

[scheming daemons]

24. We need to make sure this STAYS in the news over the coming months

We can't let this story die.

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. Oh and forgot

Forgot once again echoes of 1858....no, not a pretty picture.

[kristopher]

31. The author was on the Daily Show last night

And Stewart didn't bring this up at all.

[spanone]

36. i heard that story today. they agreed to oppose Obama in lock-step.

what the fuck was newt doing there????

[malaise]

38. I did wonder

So you see we are being lied to re the tension between the ReTHUG establishment and Newt. They are all on the same destroy Obama page.

[spanone]

39. of course they are, the black President in the White House is just too much for them.

[Volaris]

45. trying to destroy another Democrat

and re-invigorate the Southern Strategy for the NEXT election against the Very Scary Black Man. What else?

[mainer]

40. This is the first I'd heard of it.

Just appalling. Thanks for posting.

[blue neen]

41. These traitors do not love their country.

They did everything they could to hurt the American people.

I can't wait to read this book! Thanks for the info.

[newspeak]

42. so, this reminds me of the meeting cheney had with repug congresscritters

after little boots was selected. The selected cretins were calling the shots, there was to be no dealing with the democrats. To me, it was a ruthless, greedy oligarchy. Little boots and his merry band of greedy thugs brought down this country economically; so, what does the current bunch of arseholes do after creating this fubar? Make sure that the you keep squeezing the people so you can get elected again. This just pisses me off to no end. All they think about is their global corporate lobbyists, how much money they can make and setting themselves up after congress. Apparently, they don't give a shite about the country or the people.

Destroying the people, destroying the country, if it's not treason, what do you call such betrayal?

[malaise]

47. I'm shocked that this is not getting much coverage on TV

ReTHUGS get away with way too much sabotage.

[lonestarnot]

44. Democracy killers! Evidence has been there w/o the book. But that said, I'm buying the book.