It was like pulling teeth to get information yesterday…a lot of senators were frustrated. And you pick up major newspapers in the country and you find details not shared with you.Senator Lindsey Graham • Voicing frustration within the Senate GOP caucus that the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal received more detailed briefing on the Libya attacks than did congress. Senator Bob Corker called it “the most useless, worthless briefing I have attended in a long time,” and John McCain accused the Obama administration of holding the Senate in “disdain.” The closed-door briefing in question presumably also included Senate Democrats, but none have made hay about it in the way Senate GOPers have.
Basically, most Senators in this body are nothing but two-bit pawns…to lay out the groundwork, if you will, for 2012 election.GOP Senator Bob Corker • Saying what everyone knows but rarely acknowledges: If a presidential election wasn’t lurking around the corner, this whole debt ceiling debate would be playing out much differently. This is really harsh language for a senator, especially when used in reference to his colleagues. Last week, Corker accepted blame, on behalf of the Republican party, for bringing our country to the brink of another economic collapse. source (via • follow)
Maybe the debt ceiling was the wrong place to pick a fight, as it related to trying to get our country’s house in order…maybe that was the wrong place to do it.GOP Senator Bob Corker • In a shockingly frank admission that the Republicans overplayed their obstructionist hand. The phrase “pick a fight” implies antagonism for antagonism’s sake which, if one reflects on the Republican party’s behavior over the last three years, would seem an appropriate implication. Another Senate Republican, Lindsey Graham, had a similar confession: “Our problem is we made a big deal about this for three months…we’ve got nobody to blame but ourselves.” Yes, indeed. These confessions bode well for the prospects of a deal passing the Senate, but the House remains another question entirely. source (via • follow)
» A fight that directly affects small businesses: We’ve been to many small businesses in our day that have gone out of their way to avoid using debit cards, specifically for this reason. We’re with them in this case; really high charges for every purchase, even tiny ones, is straight up greedy. Fortunately, a key senator, Dick Durbin, agrees with us: ”Honestly, are we going to stand here and say we can’t protect small businesses across America struggling to survive?” The fight for keeping the fees has bipartisan support; the main guys backing banks in the Senate are Bob Corker (R-TN) and Jon Tester (D-MT). They claim that banks will have to replace the interchange charges with higher fees on consumers. Maybe they should; the benefit to small business as an economic driver makes it worth it.
Soundbyte: Senator Bob Corker (R-TN) calls the Senate one of “the most dysfunctional places I’ve ever been a part of.” The Senate will debate on a temporary spending bill one day after the House passed a similar measure in an effort to prevent a shutdown of the federal government. [C-SPAN]
This is why Bob Corker’s a lovable fellow. Even if he’s not necessarily the strongest bipartisan in the game, when he shows a willingness to reach out to the other side, the actions speak louder than words.
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