Rush Limbaugh: "Republicans were not elected to govern."

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Finally, I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Good for him.

"" There is no other reason why Republicans were elected yesterday. Republicans were not elected to govern.""

The Mandate: Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama, Not to Work with Him
The Mandate Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama Not to Work with Him - The Rush Limbaugh Show

 

[Mac1958]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

 

[DrDoomNGloom]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

Oh and they are, just think of the jobs and revenues that the Keystone XL pipe line will finally bring ...............

 

[Mac1958]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

 

[DrDoomNGloom]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

Called unrealistic expectations ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[DrDoomNGloom]

Politics and Policy
What the GOP’s Takeover of Senate Committees Means for Obama’s Agenda
New Senate Committee Leaders Likely to Scrutinize President’s Goals on Energy, Foreign Policy

ENLARGE
Republicans will control the Senate and its various committees, starting in January. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Michael R. Crittenden
Nov. 5, 2014 3:58 p.m. ET
12 COMMENTS
WASHINGTON—The Republican takeover of the Senate will usher in new committee chairmen expected to provide a more aggressive check on the Obama administration and scrutiny of its agenda on issues such as energy, foreign policy and Wall Street oversight.

Republicans gained control of the Senate in the midterm election, winning at least 52 seats in the 100-member chamber. In January 2015, Republicans will control the Senate’s legislative agendas and direct its considerable investigative powers to pressure the White House over scandals, regulatory policies and potential presidential actions on issues such as immigration.

“Elections have consequences, there’s no question about it,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said. “The consequences are that the Republicans control the committees, the agenda in the U.S. Senate—they’ll determine what will be taken and how it will be taken up.”

The Senate remains in Democratic hands until the end of the year. Lawmakers will begin the process of deciding on the leadership and size of Senate committees when lawmakers return to Washington for a lame-duck session starting next week.


Lawmakers expected to take the helm at major Senate committees include a number of vocal critics of the Obama administration. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), in line to lead the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been critical of the administration’s response to Islamic State militants and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Likely Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) has lambasted the Obama administration’s Dodd-Frank financial law and could push to roll back powers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.


Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) is expected to take the gavel at the Senate Budget Committee. GOP control of the budget process in the Senate and House, which remains under Republican control, will give the party greater leverage in budget negotiations with President Barack Obama, particularly over the nation’s borrowing authority and government funding levels. Mr. Sessions, a conservative, could use the position to lead GOP efforts to use the budget process to target the Affordable Care Act and programs such as Social Security or Medicare.


Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), who is expected to be the next chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, a skeptic of human influence on climate change, could put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to cut carbon emissions.


Similarly, Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) has echoed concerns by House Republicans on the IRS’s targeting of tea-party groups and the Justice Department’s handling of the Fast and Furious operation involving gun running along the Mexican border. As the expected next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Grassley could revive investigations into those matters while seeking more authority and access to inspectors general who monitor government agencies.


Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), who could chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel, has criticized the Obama administration’s frequent use of waivers from the federal No Child Left Behind Act.


Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, in line for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could press the White House to take a stronger stance against Iran in ongoing nuclear-program negotiations, as well as press for a more aggressive response to Russia’s foreign policy goals.

 

[DrDoomNGloom]

What Would The GOP Do With A House-Senate Majority In 2015?
Hugh Hewitt | Feb 12, 2014

• Share on Facebook 109
• 181 SHARES

Everything begins with leadership. That's why Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy Haslam took out the ax yesterday. He wants to win. He wasn't winning. He wasn't going to win. So he changed up the leadership.

That's what every failing franchise and business in America usually does, rather than re-committing to failure. They make tough choices and changes. Good To Great and all that jazz. Cliched, yes, but true. "If everybody says you're drunk, you'd better sit down," says the old Irish saying. Everybody says the House GOP is staggering. It had better sit down and at least think about what victory in November would mean if the same chronic dysfunction in the House GOP Caucus continues.

The leadership team-in-waiting in the Senate is secure and very capable. Kentucky's Mitch McConnell, Texas' John Cornyn, and South Dakota's John Thune are all smart, principled, experienced and crucially, strategic thinkers. If the country is so disgusted with Obamacare and the feckless president it is named for as to give McConnell a couple of extra seats behind the six he needs for a simple majority, McConnell and the Senate team will be a constructive partner with whomever is running the GOP House.

That's the big problem though. No one seems capable of running the House GOP caucus. It is leaderless, rudderless and even when partnered with a GOP Senate majority, almost guaranteed to be as dysfunctional then as it is now.

Don't blame the rank-and-file members, and don't fall in with Representative Peter King and start bashing everyone with whom you disagree in personal terms. The problem is that the Speaker, Majority Leader Eric Cantor and House GOP Whip Kevin McCarthy are simply terrible leaders even though they are prodigious fundraisers and good friends to the vast majority of their caucus. Nice guys, everyone of them. Terrific in fact. And we know what happens to nice guys when they go up against Democrats.

Imagine next year with a Senate Majority Leader McConnell and a House Speaker Boehner/Cantor. What would be the agenda?

McConnell could and I hope does immediately bring an end to all judicial confirmation proceedings --at every level-- for the next two years as a means to put a big period at the end of a tortured quarter-century of judicial confirmation nightmares which began with the nomination of Judge Bork in 1987. The low point came with Harry Reid's trashing of 200 years of Senate practice by ending the power of the minority last year. A two-year time-out during which the Senate can agree on rules that will apply post-2016 is an agenda item that the Senate GOP could do on its own. The Senate is also its own master on all other nominations, and the big dog on foreign policy disputes with the president.

The Senate and the House could also continue to hold oversight hearings, though the record of the House in this regard is not encouraging. Perhaps only one hearing made a dent in public opinion since this session began more than a year ago --the Benghazi hearing chaired by Darrell Issa and featuring Mr. Gregory Hicks, Deputy Chief of Mission at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. One of the many failures of the House leadership since November, 2010 has been its inability to figure out how to harness oversight authority into compelling narrative that shapes new and old media alike and transforms public opinion in the process.

Even if the House GOP leadership suddenly got a clue on how to actually move public opinion via hearings, could it also move any kind of legislation along a path of an agreed-upon strategy with the new GOP Senate majority? That grand strategy could either be to move incremental reforms in various areas --like the Clinton welfare reform compromise of mid-1996, perhaps in the area of immigration-- or to negotiate a "grand compromise" that might actually work out long term entitlement and tax reform between a legacy-eager president, incoming Ways and Means Chair Paul Ryan and whomever would be chairing the Senate Finance Committee. (It is currently Orrin Hatch but I don't know if he keeps the seat in 2015.)

One strategy would be complete confrontation, but not a wise one. Those hungry for brinksmanship should know now that shutdowns in 2015 will be what Hillary is hoping for, and while the drama of a shutdown could much easier to manage with a majority of both houses, still the president holds an institutional upper-hand in such show-downs, and all eyes will be on 2016 as soon as the polls close this November. (For the latest on what the would-be presidents are up to, see Jen Rubin's column today.)

The point is, the Congressional GOP will need a strategy for 2015-2016, and they will need it long before the November post-election organizing meetings. Yes, new members will be arriving in scores due to retirements and upsets, and no one can pledge the next Congress to an agenda drafted by this one.

But the House GOP and the key GOP Senators need to begin now to plan the agenda for next year, or fiascos like yesterday's will be the rule and not the exception. Framed and floated policy proposals need to be provided to the public not just to encourage turnout but also to avoid huge missteps like the cut to the COLA of the career military. (Example: Far too many Manhattan-Beltway big thinkers want to get rid of the mortgage interest tax deduction and the charitable contribution tax deduction, underpinnings of the tax returns of their core supporters on Main Street. Terrible ideas, both of them, but a cloistered Congressional Party will embrace them and be surprised when their supporters back home scream at them just as they did on the military COLA. Many bad ideas could be avoided by listening. Many good ideas could be similarly identified. The ossification of the Congressional imagination is pretty far advanced even with people like Arthur Brooks, Bill Kristol, Yuval Levin and Pete Wehner roaming the halls and working the phones on policy issues. The House GOP needs to force feed input into its caucus.)

The best ideas even when combined with a solid majority won't matter a bit unless the House gets leadership from its top down. Most people expect the Speaker to give up the gavel willingly in November or to have it taken from him in the sort of fight that will cripple the new session before it begins. So hope for a new Speaker with a vision. That could be Eric Cantor, or Jeb Hensarling or Tom Price, but whomever it turns out to be, they need to be ready to lay out in detail what the next 15 months would look like and to act not as this Congress has --episodically and from lurch to lurch-- but in accordance with a plan.

What a concept: A plan, articulated early and in public, debated, amended and bought into by a majority of the majority in private, and vigorously pursued on every platform using every tool of persuasion. That's what the GOP needs, and what it very much lacks right now.

A Cantor-Cronyn Committee to explore post-November plans would be a very good thing to have set up right now to start thinking between the #2's staffs on what 2015 might look like. Every successful big turnaround takes planning, not an avalanche of ad hoc improvisations. The time to start is now. Indeed, the time to select the next speaker is already on us and if it is going to be Eric Cantor, he should step up with a plan to get to a plan as opposed to another six months of drifting along and hoping the collapse of Obamacare may save the GOP. It might in November, but the undoing would be rapid and complete if a new majority acted next year as the current House majority did this week.

Speaker Boehner would help the GOP make this transition to coherence by announcing his plans for next year now. That would be leadership.

 

[Judicial review]

Finally, I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Good for him.

"" There is no other reason why Republicans were elected yesterday. Republicans were not elected to govern.""

The Mandate: Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama, Not to Work with Him
The Mandate Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama Not to Work with Him - The Rush Limbaugh Show

No. They were elected to pasd bills through congress to improve approval rating for 2016. Thats it.

 

[tyroneweaver]

the gop wasn't elected to govern. LOL

Tell the 35 governors that

 

[jc456]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

Well they aren't in power yet. So, why not wait for the plan? Whiner!!!

 

[g5000]

The Mandate: Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama, Not to Work with Him

Translation: Keep on being the Party of No™.


Hey, is there legislation which hurts business and have they asked for an extension of a deadline? Will it take less than ten minutes to pass a deadline extension and help the business community? Don't do it! Force the President to take executive action to extend the deadline so you can whine like bitches about his abuse of power. The rubes are too ignorant of how government can work if you want it to. They will never catch on you forced this to happen.

Hey, is your immigration system completely fucked? Does it need serious overhaul? Don't do it! Force the President to take executive action so you can whine like bitches about his abuse of power.

Rinse and repeat, for all the years you are not in the White House.

 

[Vigilante]

Your correct

The FIRST thing we have to do is

 

[Mac1958]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

Well they aren't in power yet. So, why not wait for the plan? Whiner!!!

Been waiting for a few years now.

You can only have specific ideas when you're in power?

.

 

[jc456]

The Mandate: Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama, Not to Work with Him

Translation: Keep on being the Party of No™.


Hey, is there legislation which hurts business and have they asked for an extension of a deadline? Will it take less than ten minutes to pass a deadline extension and help the business community? Don't do it! Force the President to take executive action to extend the deadline so you can whine like bitches about his abuse of power. The rubes are too ignorant of how government can work if you want it to. They will never catch on you forced this to happen.

Hey, is your immigration system completely fucked? Does it need serious overhaul? Don't do it! Force the President to take executive action so you can whine like bitches about his abuse of power.

Rinse and repeat, for all the years you are not in the White House.

Can you say whiney bitch in the mirror?

 

[jc456]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

Well they aren't in power yet. So, why not wait for the plan? Whiner!!!

Been waiting for a few years now.

You can only have specific ideas when you're in power?

.

yeah, so they don't end up On Reid's mantle to be used as firestarting material. It's now time to actually see what all of those plans actually were and see if the president agrees or not.

 

[tinydancer]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

They are.I've been all over the boards, blogs and the radio dial. I put good money on Keystone getting passed first up.

And that will come with D support. Heidi Heitkamp has been pissed that the legislation hasn't passed yet. She's a pretty cool blue dog that has been true to her election promises.

“The U.S. has thousands of pipelines moving oil and gas throughout the U.S., with many already moving products between the U.S. and Canada. While politics has continually been brought into this discussion, we need to remember that this is simply a transportation issue. North Dakotans know very well that we need to greatly increase our capacity to transport energy, and doing it by pipeline is one of the safer ways to do that.

“It’s appalling this process is taking so long. Not only is it unacceptable, but it’s embarrassing that we cannot approve a pipeline application in the time it took us to fight World War II. Since I took office, I have addressed this issue using both common sense, and my private sector experience working for Dakota Gasification for twelve years. I’ll continue to press the Administration to approve this pipeline, which is in our economic, national security, and energy interests. It’s the right thing for our country.”

Heitkamp has long been a fierce advocate for the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline. She has repeatedly taken action to move the project forward, including:

• Voting in favor of the construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

• Traveling to Canada to discuss the project and see the oil sands firsthand and meet with Alberta Premier Alison Redford.

• Hosting Alberta Premier Alison Redford in Washington, D.C. to discuss the Keystone XL project and continue efforts to forge a strong energy partnership between the two countries.

• Meeting with Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird and Canadian Ambassador to the United States Gary Doer to discuss the importance of the Keystone XL Pipeline to energy interests on both sides of the border.

• Writing to the President on the 5-year anniversary of the application, highlighting her trip to Canada to see the oil sands first hand.

• Working together with the North Dakota Congressional Delegation to lay out the facts surrounding the project.

• Addressing national opinion leaders and made the case for Administration approval of the project.

• Calling on the President to approve the project following Nebraska’s approval of a new route.

• Working with Republican Nebraska Senator Deb Fischer to keep pressure on the State Department.

• Urging Secretary Kerry, as soon as he took over the State Department, to make considering the project a top priority.

Heitkamp Statement on Keystone XL Pipeline - Press Releases - United States Senator Heidi Heitkamp

 

[jc456]

.

If the GOP were proud of, and confident in, their specific ideas for the country, wouldn't they be shouting them from the rooftops right about now?

.

The GOP is trying to get some normalcy back in America, they are so busy putting out fires from the current administration.
We really are going to have problems today aren't we??

I would think a party would be crystal clear in communicating specifics on what they want to do.

Doesn't seem like that's asking too much.

.

Well they aren't in power yet. So, why not wait for the plan? Whiner!!!

Been waiting for a few years now.

You can only have specific ideas when you're in power?

.

yeah, so they don't end up On Reid's mantle to be used as firestarting material. It's now time to actually see what all of those plans actually were and see if the president agrees or not.

citizens told the party of nothing that nothing was unacceptable. Can you say unacceptable? See the people really know who was sandbagging. Again, whine much?

Oh, and do you need crackers?

 

[whitehall]

It's true. The American people gave a mandate to republicans to stop the Obama insanity. Republicans gained in state races also. When are lefties going to realize that Americans are sick and tired of Obama's left wing agenda? In his rambling news conference yesterday Barry Hussein still seemed delusional.

 

[NoTeaPartyPleez]

Politics and Policy
What the GOP’s Takeover of Senate Committees Means for Obama’s Agenda
New Senate Committee Leaders Likely to Scrutinize President’s Goals on Energy, Foreign Policy

ENLARGE
Republicans will control the Senate and its various committees, starting in January. Agence France-Presse/Getty Images
By
Michael R. Crittenden
Nov. 5, 2014 3:58 p.m. ET
12 COMMENTS
WASHINGTON—The Republican takeover of the Senate will usher in new committee chairmen expected to provide a more aggressive check on the Obama administration and scrutiny of its agenda on issues such as energy, foreign policy and Wall Street oversight.

Republicans gained control of the Senate in the midterm election, winning at least 52 seats in the 100-member chamber. In January 2015, Republicans will control the Senate’s legislative agendas and direct its considerable investigative powers to pressure the White House over scandals, regulatory policies and potential presidential actions on issues such as immigration.

“Elections have consequences, there’s no question about it,” Sen. Ben Cardin (D., Md.) said. “The consequences are that the Republicans control the committees, the agenda in the U.S. Senate—they’ll determine what will be taken and how it will be taken up.”

The Senate remains in Democratic hands until the end of the year. Lawmakers will begin the process of deciding on the leadership and size of Senate committees when lawmakers return to Washington for a lame-duck session starting next week.


Lawmakers expected to take the helm at major Senate committees include a number of vocal critics of the Obama administration. Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.), in line to lead the Senate Armed Services Committee, has been critical of the administration’s response to Islamic State militants and the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Likely Senate Banking Chairman Richard Shelby (R., Ala.) has lambasted the Obama administration’s Dodd-Frank financial law and could push to roll back powers at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.


Sen. Jeff Sessions (R., Ala.) is expected to take the gavel at the Senate Budget Committee. GOP control of the budget process in the Senate and House, which remains under Republican control, will give the party greater leverage in budget negotiations with President Barack Obama, particularly over the nation’s borrowing authority and government funding levels. Mr. Sessions, a conservative, could use the position to lead GOP efforts to use the budget process to target the Affordable Care Act and programs such as Social Security or Medicare.


Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.), who is expected to be the next chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, a skeptic of human influence on climate change, could put pressure on the Environmental Protection Agency’s efforts to cut carbon emissions.


Similarly, Sen. Charles Grassley (R., Iowa) has echoed concerns by House Republicans on the IRS’s targeting of tea-party groups and the Justice Department’s handling of the Fast and Furious operation involving gun running along the Mexican border. As the expected next chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Mr. Grassley could revive investigations into those matters while seeking more authority and access to inspectors general who monitor government agencies.


Sen. Lamar Alexander (R., Tenn.), who could chair the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions panel, has criticized the Obama administration’s frequent use of waivers from the federal No Child Left Behind Act.


Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, in line for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, could press the White House to take a stronger stance against Iran in ongoing nuclear-program negotiations, as well as press for a more aggressive response to Russia’s foreign policy goals.

"....is expected..."

"..echoed concerns...."""

"...could press the White House..."

Laughable. The status quo shall prevail. The GOP just jerked a lot of chains.

 

[bripat9643]

Finally, I agree with Rush Limbaugh. Good for him.

"" There is no other reason why Republicans were elected yesterday. Republicans were not elected to govern.""

The Mandate: Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama, Not to Work with Him
The Mandate Republicans Were Elected to Stop Barack Obama Not to Work with Him - The Rush Limbaugh Show

Liberal Dictionary:
==============================================
to govern - Grow the government even bigger.