John Conyers calling for march on Whitehouse for jobs programs

[bigdarryl]

He's right http://my.firedoglake.com/metamars/2011/07/29/conyers-spills-the-beans-on-obama-ss-jobs-bill-call-for-wh-protests/

[Kolesar]

1. March on Congress

They are supposed to fund this.

[bigdarryl]

2. true but I think Conyers is upset that the President keeps ignoring the

African American unemployment that is 16%

[Inuca]

4. How exactly is he "ignoring" it? n/t

[Mimosa]

53. The unemployment and despair is causing attacks against whites

There is a wave of violent crimes being directed against whites. The people who do this are poor and uneducated. Economic desperation indirectly contributes to racial violence. It happened during the 1930s when poor whites took out their despair and hatred upon blacks. They were available targets.

Whites are in some circumstances convenient targets for rage fueled beatings.

Yes, white on black violence has happened but that's not the present trend.

[trueblue2007]

14. we should have marches all over the USA in MAJOR CITIES

I WOULD MARCH IN PORTLAND

[treestar]

17. WHich Conyers knows

So he should be trying to introduce a bill. If it gets shot down, then talk about how the Republicans won't let it come to a vote.

[pnwmom]

3. Good for him. We should be doing this everywhere. n/t

[Denver Progressive]

6. +1

[Inuca]

5. He's wrong

I used to like Conyers. This is uncalled for. He should have a better understanding of who the real enemies are.

[pnwmom]

8. This wouldn't have to be about Obama. The White House represents

the seat of government. We should have this happening at state houses everywhere.

[ProSense]

7. Still pushing

this flawed assessment by Conyers? It's a week old and inaccurate:

At a press conference held by members of the House Out of Poverty Caucus Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich), the second most senior member of the U.S. House, was pointed in his criticism of the White House regarding jobs and cuts to Social Security the President put on the table last week. “We’ve got to educate the American people at the same time we educate the President of the United States. The Republicans, Speaker Boehner or Majority Leader Cantor did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal. The President of the United States called for that,” Conyers, who has served in the House since 1965, said. “My response to him is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this,” Conyers said strongly.

Absolute bullshit! Seriously, why is Conyers trying to absolve Republicans of any responsibility when they, not the President, called for dismantling Medicare and Social Security?

April 15: Ryan Budget: GOP Death Wish?...House Republicans pass a controversial budget ending Medicare and Medicaid as we know it. Have they gone over the cliff?

May 25: 42 Walked The Plank (Senate votes on Ryan's plan)

July 20: House passes “Duck, Dodge, and Dismantle” 234 to 190

As for jobs, the administration needs to do more, but the President is not ignoring the situation.

Administration’s focus on job creation a good one

In Sept 2010, Obama offered an infrastructure jobs plan. In March, Kerry proposed the BUILD Act

[ClarkUSA]

13. Thanks for the FACTS which prove Conyers is lying and afraid to confront Republicans.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=433&topic_id=736170&mesg_id=736210

Much like Bernie Sanders is afraid to confront Republicans in his press releases and emails to supporters.

[Armstead]

22. Naw he NEVER challenges Republicans -- here's a link for YOU

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/republican-budget-bill-de_b_828498.html

Republican Budget Bill Destroys Jobs and Puts Americans at Grave Risk
By John Conyers
feb.2011

Excerpt:

"Yesterday, I invited some of the nation's leading experts and advocates to shed some light on how H.R. 1, one of the most draconian spending cuts packages our modern time has ever seen, will impact America's justice, job creation, public safety, and constitutional rights. Panelists spoke on how the bill is loaded with numerous anti-consumer and job-killing provisions. Worse yet, the bill includes measures that critically threaten the public safety and health of every American, by slashing some of the core government services middle-class and lower-income Americans depend on the most.


Here are some of the highlights from the forum.....

SNIP

The fight is not over. As this bill, filled with sweeping cuts, goes to the Senate, we will continue to push back the GOP's efforts to hurt the most vulnerable and needy citizens. Congress needs to put aside their political and partisan agendas and focus our resources to facilitate our government's ability to promote job growth, ensure that the provision of justice is not jeopardized, and protect public health and safety. "

[sudopod]

32. Clearly, he's part of the conspiracy. nt

[CakeGrrl]

9. Conyers needs to ask BOEHNER where the jobs bills are.

[graywarrior]

36. There ya go!

:toast:

[Proud Liberal Dem]

10. I might be missing something

but can't Conyers......ummmm......you know, write a jobs bill himself and try to get it passed in Congress and to the President for him to sign it into law? Isn't that HIS job? Or did the President suddenly gain the ability to write laws and I just missed it?

:wtf:

Conyers does know how laws are written in this country......I would hope? :shrug:

[former9thward]

19. Are you saying Obama has no influence on legislation?

Obama calls for various legislation to come from Congress all of the time. Conyers knows that without support from the President a jobs bill would not stand a chance of getting out of Congress.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

20. He has called on Congress to pass some job bills

Conyers (or somebody else in Congress) still has to write a bill though.

[former9thward]

21. Conyers is not going to write a bill if he doesn't think the WH has his back.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

27. I suppose you could say the same thing about President Obama

It seems to be easier to bash this President than support him

[Armstead]

37. And I'm pretty sure if Obama supported a real jobs agenda....

Conyers and the rest of the progressives in Congress would have his back.

But it is so much easier to bash liberals and progressives than to actually support their agenda I guess, despite one's screen name.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

40. I support smart reasonable liberal Democrats

whom understand how government works and whom spend more of their time attacking the root cause of our country's problems (i.e. Republican Tea Party) than the person(s) we worked hard to elect to try to fix them in a realistic manner.

Conyers can spend his time organizing a march on the White House where he and others can complain about the one person- who's on their side- for supposedly not solving his constituency's concerns fast enough for them (mostly because he doesn't have a friendly and functional Congress to work with).........

OR

He can organize a march on Congress and they can call out the Republican Tea Party- which is NEVER on their side- for repeatedly blocking and killing bills that will do good things for the people in this country and try to shame Congress into passing some real bills THAT PRESIDENT OBAMA WILL SIGN!

Which do you think is the smarter choice and might help us all more? Going after the one guy in the country whose heart is with us and would sign any bill that got through Congress that he thinks might help put people to work but doesn't have the authority to pass himself or going after the majority of the 535 members of Congress whom can?

President Obama may not be perfect and he may not be going about his job 100% the way some of us might want him to but he is with us. The Republican Tea Party is against us. The time being wasted organizing protests and primary challenges against President Obama would be better spent IMHO organizing to make sure we have a Democratically-controlled House, Senate, and WH in 2013 instead of all or most of them being controlled by the Republican Tea Party.

[Armstead]

41. Conyers Never fights Republicans, eh? Ignorance is not bliss.

Conyers has been amongvthe foremost battlers against Republican conservatives in the House for a long tiime. Did you even bother to watch and actually listen to that video? It might be helpful to at learn the basics of people before you decide to malign them with nonsensical insults that have no bearing in reality.

And just to show how he ignores Republicans, hete's a flashback to his response to the GOP House budget earlier this year

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/republican-b...

Republican Budget Bill Destroys Jobs and Puts Americans at Grave Risk
By John Conyers
feb.2011

Excerpt:

"Yesterday, I invited some of the nation's leading experts and advocates to shed some light on how H.R. 1, one of the most draconian spending cuts packages our modern time has ever seen, will impact America's justice, job creation, public safety, and constitutional rights. Panelists spoke on how the bill is loaded with numerous anti-consumer and job-killing provisions. Worse yet, the bill includes measures that critically threaten the public safety and health of every American, by slashing some of the core government services middle-class and lower-income Americans depend on the most.

SNIP

The fight is not over. As this bill, filled with sweeping cuts, goes to the Senate, we will continue to push back the GOP's efforts to hurt the most vulnerable and needy citizens. Congress needs to put aside their political and partisan agendas and focus our resources to facilitate our government's ability to promote job growth, ensure that the provision of justice is not jeopardized, and protect public health and safety. "

[Mimosa]

54. True.

Obama seems to have supported programs to help people get educations. But even educated people are having a hard time getting jobs. Black people are doubly challenged.

[Freddie Stubbs]

52. Nonsense. Congressmen, (including Conyers) write all kinds of bill that have not chance of passing

Remember Conyers' "Medicare for All" bill from last year?

[Armstead]

24. He tries to get people organized and get's attacked for that?

Brother.......If one deviates one whit from the Party Line their whole long career gets tossed under that fucking bus eh?

[Proud Liberal Dem]

30. Nothing is wrong about getting people organized

but my issue is that he seems to be laying all (or at least most) of the blame at President Obama's feet- like a lot of progressives. It should be pretty obvious now to anybody that it's not President Obama who is holding up progress in Washington, it's Congress and, more specifically, the teabaggers and their Republican Party *slaves*. Conyers needs to organize a rally in front of Congress and call out the teabaggers.

[Armstead]

31. I would suggest watching (rewatching) the whole video...

...including the historical context and reasons for their frustration both with Republicans and Obama.

And please note an important point -- He and others in Congress HAVE filed jobs bills and also been working within the system.

If you actually disagree with their position fine. But the level of vitriol directed against him here -- and the false claims that he and other progressive Democrats are just talking but not acting -- is misdirected and inaccurate, to say the least.

[great white snark]

11. I don't read anything that has to be proof read by Grover Norquist first.

Rep. Conyers can write any damn bill himself.

[krawhitham]

12. Maybe Conyers should get off his ass and introduce a bill that creates jobs

[GoCubsGo]

44. THANK YOU!!!!

[Armstead]

49. They have -- Watch the damned video

[CakeGrrl]

15. "WHITE HOUSE". Two words. "WHITE HOUSE". Another thing:

FDL? Garbage.

Is Conyers a Hamsherite? That would explain why he focuses not on the source of the problem but keeps hectoring the President.

[ClarkUSA]

16. Conyers has a PUMAish MO, just like Jane Hamster Face's FDL, the OP source. Birds of a feather...

[AngkorWot]

26. Serious ethics problems.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

18. Why isn't he stomping on Congress to do its fucking job?? Congress is responsible

for spending on Jobs programs!! There are at least 6 jobs bills that are deliberately being held up in the Congress by Republicans. Why isn't Conyers actively going after his Teabagging colleagues for holding up these bills?

[Armstead]

43. You are ignoring the larger context of this.

Did you bother to watch the video, and what he said, and why that was the focus of his remarks?

That was a press conference called by the Out if Poverty Coalition, co chaired By Rep. Barbara Lee.

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-CA), Founding Co-Chair of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus (COPC), members of the COPC, and representatives from national anti-poverty organizations held a press conference on the impact of debt reduction plans on vital human needs programs for low income and poor communities. Congresswoman Lee highlighted the importance of preserving safety net programs, discussed the latest report on the growing wealth gap between white and minority communities, and encouraged House leadership to extend unemployment benefits for those who have exhausted their 99 weeks by bringing her legislation, H.R. 589, to the floor for a vote. The following are excerpts from Congresswoman Lee’s statement:

“We are gathered here today to talk about the urgent necessity of protecting vital human needs programs from the Speaker’s bill which is just another version of the extreme Republican agenda of cut, cap, and balance – that is, balancing the budget on the backs of the poor. This measure will decimate the vital safety net programs on which Americans living in poverty depend on for their survival.

“The Co-Chairs of the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus saw the writing on the wall earlier this summer and sent a letter to the President, the Vice President, and to Congressional leadership calling for them to protect vital human needs programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security that serve our most vulnerable from this Republican attack.

“This press conference is a reminder that we are not going to stop demanding that these programs be protected as deals are cut behind closed doors and bills are voted on. We are the voice for the voiceless and we are here today to speak out on this issue.

“Americans are falling by the wayside, and that simply cannot continue – we have a moral obligation to care for our own.”

http://www.crewof42.com/cbc/conyers-on-jobs-weve-had-it-lays-out-obama-calls-for-protest-at-white-house/



Before you spout off about Conyers you might also acknowledge tHe fact tfhat he has also go against the GOP Too.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-conyers/republican-budget-bill-de_b_828498.html

[Mimosa]

55. What Congress needs to do is change the laws which reward outsourcing n/t

[FrenchieCat]

23. A march on congress makes more sense......

as they pass the bills,
and I'm sure if a job bill is passed by congress,
the President will sign it.:shrug:

[golfguru]

33. President Truman - "The Buck stops here!" n/t

[Name removed]

25. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[XanaDUer]

29. +1

nt

[RBInMaine]

28. How about a march on Capital Hill to protest the TeaRePubs as job killers?

[dionysus]

34. conyers is acting like an idiot here. how bout a march on Congress?

[Armstead]

35. If it'll make you happy sure, why not? BTW did you bother to watch the whole video?

[MrMickeysMom]

38. You see how dysfunctional the entire House is?

Conyers, who at one time appeared to have determination in him, caves to the same master.

That's about as fully dysfunctional a request as can be made at this point.

If I DO march on Washington, DC., I'll have to pack several meals and bring a leg bag. First, I'll have to walk to 3 branches of government, because they'll all due some civil disobedience... then I'll have to beg some policeman/woman to help unlock a public restroom door, since the homeless and drug addicts are bound to be using it.

[Armstead]

48. You know what? I'll bet if you went Conyers would also be happy if you were to do that

This is about something much larger than President Obama. And he knows that -- and you should too.

[MrMickeysMom]

50. Perhaps he'd be happy because of something I could do?

In spite of what he is no longer ABLE to do?

I feel this reminds me a little of, "Obi Wan.... you're our only hope!"

I may have continue to beat the drum of this message, but Congress has a job to follow through. It's their full time job. I have to keep my part time jobs and world together, and that's after deciding to help serve in a local government capacity. How many things should I know, I ask you? I should know all of this and know that I now have to represent that Congress do their jobs, too?

Believe me, I already know how large this is, and I know that it's going to take 3 branches of government at the Federal level to make it right. Anything else is going to fail.

[Armstead]

51. That's basical.ly what Conyers said

"it's going to take 3 branches of government at the Federal level to make it right. Anything else is going to fail."

He would agree with that, and with the Out of Poverty Caucus, is trying to mobilize popular opinion to get least two of those branches onto the same page. (The SC being beyond the reach of that unfortunately.)

[fujiyama]

39. Just out of curiosity

has Conyers written and/or sponsored any jobs bills?

A protest will only do so much good if it isn't followed up by action - that too by the branch that controls $, and that means Congress, and the House in particular.

There's a lot to fault this administration regarding the stimulus - the size of it, where the $ was directed, and the amount of time it took to get disbursed. But at the same time I'd love to see any evidence of the administration vetoing or threatening to veto a jobs bill by Congress.

I am so tired of meaningless posturing by certain politicians. They have the power to write and introduce legislation. The President can only do so much.

[Armstead]

42. TRy actually watching the goddamn video -- Your question will be answered

[TheKentuckian]

45. How are they supposed to savage the man and ignore and distract from the message like that?

It is easier and more effective to tell bold faced lies, threaten with boogiemen, avoid details, spin, and assimilate with the opposition.

I think these attacks on Conyers is all I need to see from certain quarters to know what is important to them and what isn't and what they stand for and what they oppose.

Notice the tactics and who gets the venom? Notice the policies they want to pursue and which ones they cavalierly call "ponies"?

Ever notice where they are emotionally invested and where they aren't? What makes them explode and what invokes no reaction at all.

Have you seen a disconnect with ideas, policies, and goals other than what is proposed or accepted by a politician?

[Armstead]

47. Yes.....

In addition to what seems to be very targeted "spin" machine (and probably trolling) there also seems to be a lot of unthinking swallowing of that spin.

I would have no problem with someone who calmly might say, "I believe Conyers is wrong on this because going publicly against President Obama at this time would be a mistake because...."

I disagree with that, but it's a legitimate response.

But the freeperlike responses here really set off my fuse becauseof the vitriol and the absolutely idiotic attacks on Conyers -- who is one of the last people in Congress who could be called "afraid of Republicans" or "supportive" of them.....Or "naive" about the way Congress works.

Also a complete lack of understanding of the context. Conyers was not saying this in a column on Firedog Lake -- It was a video from a goddamn public press conference held by the Congressional Out of Poverty Caucus co-chaired by Baraba Lee, in reaction to a long series of unsuccessful efforts within the system to get Obama to at least listen.

It does raise questions, that's for sure.

[rury]

46. Conyers should march on Congress!!