McConnell Objects to Bill for Military Pay

[_Res Ipsa]

As for me being a libertarian, is disagreeing with Kevin Graham some new definition I haven’t heard about? EAllusion is gonna laugh his ass off.

Hey, man. Fair warning. Disagree with Kevin Graham enough and before you know it you're a bigot, supremacist, or some variation of the two.

- Doc

Cool. You mean I get to be an emasculated boot-licking feminist and a supremacist bigot at the same time?

Wheeeee!

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

Cool. You mean I get to be an emasculated boot-licking feminist and a supremacist bigot at the same time?

Wheeeee!

THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER.

- Doc

[_EAllusion]

I think right-wing propagandistic media is the single most harmful thing that exists in American civic culture and very well might collapse the country's system of government.

This makes me "an occasional critic."

[_Bach]

I think right-wing propagandistic media is the single most harmful thing that exists in American civic culture and very well might collapse the country's system of government.

This makes me "an occasional critic."

The first two words of the above response are completely unsubstantiated, without either reason nor historical evidence.

Next time just go with “I post”. Tons of factual and historical evidence in your camp for that claim.

[_Res Ipsa]

I think right-wing propagandistic media is the single most harmful thing that exists in American civic culture and very well might collapse the country's system of government.

This makes me "an occasional critic."

That's pretty close to my view. Of course, I once said that both sides were guilty of doing something, which makes me a libertarian.

[_Res Ipsa]

The military was effectively being denied further pay at the time the shutdown occurred, which is why military personnel started having a conniption fit about it on social media. The fact that the shutdown ended before their next pay day doesn't change the fact that McConnell was perfectly willing to deny them pay. He was probably willing to do this because he assumed Democrats would take the blame for it.

That's simply false. The next paychecks were due February 1. Those checks will be in the mail on time, so they were never "denied." Hell, you even admit down below that "of course" a military funding bill would have been passed in any event. So, not a denial of anything. You're just promoting the same kind of hyperpartisan BS bloviating that you regularly castigate right wingers for.

I watched the vote and the aftermath live. McConnell looked to me like he was completely blindsided by the vote and wasn’t prepared with a plan B.

I'm sure you're right. But I don't know how that changes anything. So, he was caught off guard and didn't have a better strategy so he decided to object first and sleep on it second.

Well, yeah. He decided to sleep on it before taking action. That's generally a wise thing to do, unless there is an actual need to act immediately. There was no such need.

He responded to the request by first acknowledging that making special provisions for military pay was done in 2013, recognizing the precedent for doing so. He then stated that his preference was to solve the problem as a whole, but acknowledged that they may have to revisit the issue.

Which is a joke because he had no problem having a vote on something he knew for a fact wouldn't pass. Republicans LOVE doing this (i.e. Obamacare repeal). He certainly wasn't blindsided by the results of the vote, as the entire country was discussing an imminent shutdown prior to the vote. So for him to say "Oh I'd rather fund everything instead" is pretty disingenuous considering they just tried that and failed. And he didn't say they "may" have to revisit the issue, he said, and I quote, "we will discuss again tomorrow." That was pretty much part of his justification for objecting that night. Because they'd discuss it in the morning. But tomorrow came, and it wasn't discussed.

I don't follow your argument here at all. First, the fact that a shutdown was discussed doesn't mean McC wasn't blindsided by it actually happening. It looked to me like he thought the Democrats were bluffing and didn't take the threat seriously. And how can saying he'd prefer to take care of the entire CR at once be disingenuous when that was exactly what happened? McConnell said his preference was to take care of the CR all at once. He made a couple of concessions to make that happen. And that's exactly what happened. Next, we have no idea what was discussed the next day -- almost all of the discussions occurred in private. Finally, McC clearly had some reason to expect a complete resolution, and so any discussion of exempting military pay was secondary to what McC had already said he wanted. At no time were the military checks in danger. At any time the Relief Society could extend unanimous consent and the problem could be solved in seconds.

I have no doubt that, had the Democrats held fast to the position that they would not vote for a funding bill without DACA, a military funding bill would have been passed.

Well of course, but that is beside the point.

No, it is the point. Apparently you agree that there never was an actual threat to military paychecks, but claim in your headline that McC denied the payments because he postponed a decision.

As for me being a libertarian, is disagreeing with Kevin Graham some new definition I haven’t heard about? EAllusion is gonna laugh his ass off.

You're not Libertarian? I seem to recall you indicating that you were at some point prior. If you're not, then I apologize. Equating both Democrats with Republicans on all things regardless of evidence is certainly characteristic of Libertarian mentality, in my experience anyway. It wasn't intended as an insult, just an observation.

No apology necessary. I just find it hilarious that anyone who reads stuff that I write would think I was a libertarian. I didn't take it as an insult.

[_Kevin Graham]

The military was effectively being denied further pay at the time the shutdown occurred, which is why military personnel started having a conniption fit about it on social media. The fact that the shutdown ended before their next pay day doesn't change the fact that McConnell was perfectly willing to deny them pay. He was probably willing to do this because he assumed Democrats would take the blame for it.

That's simply false. The next paychecks were due February 1. Those checks will be in the mail on time, so they were never "denied." Hell, you even admit down below that "of course" a military funding bill would have been passed in any event. So, not a denial of anything. You're just promoting the same kind of hyperpartisan BS bloviating that you regularly castigate right wingers for.

I watched the vote and the aftermath live. McConnell looked to me like he was completely blindsided by the vote and wasn’t prepared with a plan B.

I'm sure you're right. But I don't know how that changes anything. So, he was caught off guard and didn't have a better strategy so he decided to object first and sleep on it second.

Well, yeah. He decided to sleep on it before taking action. That's generally a wise thing to do, unless there is an actual need to act immediately. There was no such need.

He responded to the request by first acknowledging that making special provisions for military pay was done in 2013, recognizing the precedent for doing so. He then stated that his preference was to solve the problem as a whole, but acknowledged that they may have to revisit the issue.

Which is a joke because he had no problem having a vote on something he knew for a fact wouldn't pass. Republicans LOVE doing this (i.e. Obamacare repeal). He certainly wasn't blindsided by the results of the vote, as the entire country was discussing an imminent shutdown prior to the vote. So for him to say "Oh I'd rather fund everything instead" is pretty disingenuous considering they just tried that and failed. And he didn't say they "may" have to revisit the issue, he said, and I quote, "we will discuss again tomorrow." That was pretty much part of his justification for objecting that night. Because they'd discuss it in the morning. But tomorrow came, and it wasn't discussed.

I don't follow your argument here at all. First, the fact that a shutdown was discussed doesn't mean McC wasn't blindsided by it actually happening. It looked to me like he thought the Democrats were bluffing and didn't take the threat seriously. And how can saying he'd prefer to take care of the entire CR at once be disingenuous when that was exactly what happened? McConnell said his preference was to take care of the CR all at once. He made a couple of concessions to make that happen. And that's exactly what happened. Next, we have no idea what was discussed the next day -- almost all of the discussions occurred in private. Finally, McC clearly had some reason to expect a complete resolution, and so any discussion of exempting military pay was secondary to what McC had already said he wanted. At no time were the military checks in danger. At any time the Relief Society could extend unanimous consent and the problem could be solved in seconds.

I have no doubt that, had the Democrats held fast to the position that they would not vote for a funding bill without DACA, a military funding bill would have been passed.

Well of course, but that is beside the point.

No, it is the point. Apparently you agree that there never was an actual threat to military paychecks, but claim in your headline that McC denied the payments because he postponed a decision.

As for me being a libertarian, is disagreeing with Kevin Graham some new definition I haven’t heard about? EAllusion is gonna laugh his ass off.

You're not Libertarian? I seem to recall you indicating that you were at some point prior. If you're not, then I apologize. Equating both Democrats with Republicans on all things regardless of evidence is certainly characteristic of Libertarian mentality, in my experience anyway. It wasn't intended as an insult, just an observation.

No apology necessary. I just find it hilarious that anyone who reads stuff that I write would think I was a libertarian. I didn't take it as an insult.

I'm not going to get into a long winded pissing contest over this. It is obvious that you're clearly misreading my OP, probably intentionally just to salvage a win. If I had reworded it differently to say "MConnell on Camera Objects to Bill for Military Pay" and the point would have been exactly the same and you wouldn't have a leg to stand on in your attempt to equate the right and left. This is really about you trying to salvage your ridiculous attack on me, "promoting the same kind of hyperpartisan BS bloviating..." Many of my threads, such as this one, are for ribbing the hyper-conservative trolls on this forum. I already said that neither party truly wants to "hurt" the military. And I already explained that my post was in response to what the President and Vice-President recently said in the media about the Left wanting to deny pay to the military. Your response was basically, "so what the Democrats do it too." Well, no they don't.

[_Kevin Graham]

I think right-wing propagandistic media is the single most harmful thing that exists in American civic culture and very well might collapse the country's system of government.

This makes me "an occasional critic."

Well, since Trump, your criticism has been more frequent. Before that, it was about 50/50 against both Trump and Hillary/Obama. I remember you used to grill me for citing sources that were left wing.

[_Doctor CamNC4Me]

I'm honestly surprised KG hasn't picked up or talk about Mitch McConnell's wife being appointed Secretary of Transportation by Trump.

Why would that be in light of his role in the Russian hacking scandal?

- Doc

[_Res Ipsa]

Some questions answer themselves, Doc.