From the "'Twas ever thus..." file.

Via Fixer...

You can't fool all the people all the time…

…or even most of 'em, sometimes. Encouraging words from Pew Research

By wide margins, the GOP is seen as the party that is more extreme in its positions, less willing to work with the other side to get things done, and less honest and ethical in the way it governs.

From the "Give 'em hell, Harry" file.

The Majority Leader…

“The Senate GOP has had a love affair for many years now with Grover Norquist — they will not touch any new revenues.They are not in touch with reality or their own constituents. But they are in touch with Grover Norquist.”

Pass it on.

Via Robert's Daily Dose...

Hammer, nail…

…BANG! James Fallows passes along a note from a reader...

All you have to do is ask yourself, "What would that sneaky little two-faced twerp Eddie Haskell do in this situation?" And the answer will never be far from Cantor's behavior.

It works!

Yes, it is.

Michael Tomasky on the Gridlock, Obstruction and Paralysis Party…

It is the party of debt. It is the party of deficits. It is the party of recession. It is the party of unemployment. It is the party of inequality. And it is the party of middle-class stagnation and slippage.

Yes, it is, which is why I keep telling you that…

From the "Stuff I found on the internet" file.

The Democratic Strategist has a hard hitting batch of bumperstickers you can have printed up. A couple of favorites…





Sounds like they understand that...

Yep.

If not for heaven's sake, for ours. Harry Reid...

"I mean, for heaven's sake, we need a few short-term games around here."

From the "Wild about Harry" file.

The Majority leader make's 'em think it's Hell on the Senate floor today. via AMERICAblog…

In just a few minutes we're going to proceed to the START Treaty. I'm told the Republicans are going to make us read the entire treaty in an effort to stall us from passing it. Isn't that wonderful?

That piece of -- that treaty has been here since April or May of this year. Plenty of time to read it. These are additional days of wasted time we could be using to pass legislation to get home for the holidays, yet some of my Republican colleagues have the nerve to whine about having to stay and actually do the work of the American people.

We make large salaries, Madam President. We could work as most Americans do during the holidays. Perhaps Senators Kyl and DeMint have been in Washington too long because in my state, Nevadans employed in casinos and hotels and throughout the state of Nevada, on ranches, basically every place, have to work hard on holidays, including Christmas, to support their families.

The mines don't get shut down on Christmas. People work. They get paid double time a lot of times when they have good contracts, but they work on Christmas holidays. Most people don't get two weeks off on any time, let alone Christmas week. And these people who are lucky enough to have a job in these trying times need to work extra hours to make ends meet. So it's offensive to me and millions of working Americans across this country for any Senator to suggest that working through the Christmas holidays is somehow sacrilegious.

They decide to work with us, we can all have a happy holiday. If they don't, we're going to continue until we finish the people's business.

Madam President, I move to proceed to Executive Session to Calendar Number 7, the START Treaty. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Damn straight, Senator.

Chart of the day.

Via Ezra Klein...

Thank you, Mr.President...

Obama slams GOP for stalling jobless benefits

More, please.

From the "Me neither" file.

Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-MI…

If 15 million people without jobs is not an emergency, I don’t know what is.

Me neither, Senator.

Her extended remarks are recommended. Her critique of Republican obstructionism as electoral strategy seems right on target to me.

Good question…

…from the Speaker...

"What is it that Republicans in the Senate and House don't understand about the need for jobs in America?"

I suppose the best answer is "anything." The don't understand anything about the need for jobs in America. They don't, in fact, understand anything about most anything.

Hat tip to Joan McCarter.

Quote of the day.

President Obama, after lunch in the lion's den…

“The day has passed when I expected this to be a full partnership.”

Progress, I suppose, but I could have told him that the day before he figured it out.

Heck, the year before. The decade before, for that matter.

Maybe it's time to open a "Sic 'Em, Barry" file...

...for stuff like this...

[W]e got our mops and our brooms out, we're cleaning stuff out, and they're sitting there saying, 'Hold the broom better.' 'That's not how you mop.' Don't tell me how to mop. Pick up a mop! Do some work on behalf of the American people to solve some of these problems.

...and this...

After they drove the car into the ditch, made it as difficult as possible for us to pull it back, now they want to keys back. No! You can't drive. We don't want to have to go back into the ditch. We just got the car out.

...and this, too...

I did not appreciate what I considered to be a ridiculous spectacle during the congressional hearings into this matter. You had executives of B.P. and Transocean and Halliburton falling over each other to point the finger of blame at somebody else.

More, please.

Well, you might have...

President Obama...

You would have thought at a time of historic crisis that Republican leaders would have been more willing to help us find a way out of this mess -- particularly since they created the mess.

...until you remembered that they're Republicans, and making messes is about all they're good for.

Just another reason that...


Hat tip to Steve Benen.

Chart of the day.

Via Thers...



Tom Coburn is typical…

"I love gridlock. I think we’re better off when we’re gridlocked because we’re not passing things."

Not passing things that the majority of Americans have asked for, voted for and, in too many cases, are dieing without.

That's why...

Acronym Of The Day.

Courtesy of J.P. Green...

G.O.P. = Gridlock, Obstruction & Paralysis

Yep.

Stuff I learned...

…from President Obama's sit-down with the House Republicans.

Freshman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) can "look you in the eye" and lie.

In their caucus, I suppose that's called leadership potential.

Well, yeah…

…President Obama's right...

"If there's uniform opposition because the Republican caucus doesn't get 100 percent or 80 percent of what you want, then it's going to be difficult to get a deal done, because that's not how democracy works."

…but it seems pretty clear that the Republicans don't want democracy to work, because when democracy works, Republicans lose.

You want democracy to work? It's simple…