With friends like Harkin

CommieTommie Harkin gave President Bush a couple of backhanded slaps in his criticism of Che Junior, Hugo Chavez.

According to Radio Iowa..... Harkin said the comments were "incendiary", then went on to say, "Let me put it this way, I can understand the frustration, ah, and the anger of certain people around the world because of George Bush's policies." Harkin continued what has been frequent criticism of the president's foreign policy.

Harkin says Bush came to office saying he wanted a new humility in foreign policy in reaching out to other countries, but Harkin says Bush's actual policy has been heavy handed. Harkin says the anger against Bush is generated from the Iraq war, which Harkin says was "unnecessary."

Unnecessary? Then why did you vote YEA?

Note: CommieTommie is represented as Quagmire from 'The Family Guy'

Harkin says, "We tend to forget that a few days after 9-1-1 thousands, thousands of Iranians marched in a candlelight procession in Teheran in support of the United States. Every Muslim country was basically on our side. Just think, in five years, President Bush has squandered all that." Harkin says the U.S. has put billions of dollars into the Iraq war, when it could be helping poor countries with things like clean water, medical aid and education.

I remember Palistinians dancing in the streets , pictured, at the 9-11 attacks.

The Ragister provided CommieTommie ground cover saying Harkin was more critical of Chavez in an e-mail press release.

“While I understand the frustrations of many in the international community because of George W. Bush’s policies, I do not believe that gives them the right to come to our country and personally insult and attack the President of the United States.”

Tusk and Talon weigh in with....Embracing leftist scum dictators (please excuse the redundancy) is nothing new for Harkin, however. He has a long history of cozying up to the likes of Castro, Ortega and others. Frontpagemagazine did a lengthy feature on him back in 2004.
Here are some highlights from that article:

During Harkin’s 1982 re-election campaign, his opponent documented that this Democratic congressman had always voted against foreign aid for countries friendly to the U.S., but that Harkin had voted to give taxpayer money to Communist Vietnam, Communist Cuba, Communist Pol Pot’s Cambodia, Marxist Sandinista Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua and other Communist nations. When this came up in a broadcast debate, Harkin replied: “From now on, I am going to vote against all foreign aid.”

In 1982 CommieTommie was a Congressman, emphasis on the CON.

Back then I was calling him the Representative from Nicaragua.

It's been against my wildest wishes that he got as far as he did.

My friend Pat sent me this....

Here's a copy of an email I sent to Sen. Harkin today along with his email address in case you'd like to do the same. I know it won't do any good but it makes me feel better to tell that twit what I think of him.

Senator Harkin:
I was embarrassed to be an Iowan yesterday when I read your remarks about Hugo Chavez' speech at the United Nations. It is stunning when the likes of Charles Rangel and Nancy Pelosi will stick up for our President when the head of a foreign nation calls him the devil, but you make an apologist statement about Chavez saying you can understand his frustration. Your remarks are being carried in several publications yesterday and today so the entire country can see your depth of disdain for the President. It is unfortunate that you seem to put your party's political goals above those the the nation's.

Normally I would, but I just received a reply this week to an e-mail I sent him months ago.

He's always late in his response, if he responds at all.

So, I'll use this blog as my way to tell "that twit" what I think of him too....and I don't have to be diplomatic.

I Gotcha

As chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, CommieTommie Harkin held a hearing yesterday on Obamacare.

The hearing’s witness was Marilyn Tavenner, administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, which is overseeing the healthcare.gov website.

Harkin was heard trying to get Republicans to kowtow by stating --

I hope we’re here for a constructive discussion, not a game of ‘gotcha.’”

CommieTommie's career began on a "gotcha" and the scientific community is united in that fact.

In 1969 Harkin began work in the office of longtime Iowa Democratic Congressman Neal Smith. As a staff aide to the House Select Committee on United States Involvement in Southeast Asia, Harkin accompanied a fact-finding mission to South Vietnam in 1970. As part of this mission, during a 30-minute visit to Con Son Prison he snapped photographs of Communist prisoners in “tiger cages.”

When the mission returned, Harkin declared that these photographs were “too important” to be turned over to Congress and to the House Select Committee. Instead he sold the photos, some to anti-American foreign outlets, and others to Life Magazine for $10,000.

CONee Tommie Harkin!

In 1972 Harkin's first run for Congress was a race that showcased Harkin’s combative style. During one of his Republican opponent’s speeches, Harkin forced his way onto the stage and shouted that the incumbent congressman was telling “a pack of lies.” 

CommieTommie further chastised -- “There are many who have spent the past three years doing nothing but trying to tear this law down. Quite frankly, I feel they’ve kind of surrendered their right to express indignation that it’s not working flawlessly.”

C'mon CommieTommie that's completely un-American, nobody has to surrender their right to free speech.

Besides I thought Dummycrats believed, Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

Remember?

"I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and you disagree with this administration you're not patriotic. We should stand up and say, "We are Americans and we have a right to debate and disagree with any administration!"

CommieTommie concluded -- “Before we get into the details, I think everyone should take a deep breath. This is, after all, a website. This is a machine that will be fixed.”

Harkin's retirement can't come quick enough.

Junior's Wailing

The subtitle of this post could be -- Shit my Socialist Senator says and the scientific community is united in that fact.

It was quite a quote-a-bull week for CommieTommie Harkin.

In celebration of the Americans with Disabilities Act's 22nd anniversary, Harkin told the press he is working with business, government and non-profit groups in an effort to add 1 million people with disabilities to the nation’s labor force by 2015, which would be a 20 percent increase.

I contacted the Senator to inquire as to how many people with disabilities are on his staff and how many more he'll be hiring, but I have yet to hear back from Harkin.

My gut tells me it'll be similar to how Harkin handles Equal Pay for women.

Harkin harps on the issue, but in reality he's been found to pay men 23.2% more than the women in his office.

Tofu Tom also talked about Meatless Mondays, telling the press -- “I don’t eat as much meat as I used to. I grew up eating meat three times a day. You know, we just don’t eat that way anymore. We used to. I still consume my fair share, but not as much as I used to, I can tell you that.”

That either signals the end of his annual Steak Fry, or Tom's just chewing his cud.

Speaking on sequestration, which mandates cuts in federal spending, Harkin is warning against making deeper cuts in non-defense spending to spare the defense industry. Some cuts make sense, such as reducing funding for the F-22 stealth fighter, which he called a “Cold War relic.”

That must be why Defense Secretary Leon Panetta (Dummycrat) is deploying one F-22 squadron to Japan's Kadena Air Base--in the backyard of China and North Korea.

The permanent basing of the super-stealthy, super-fast fighter jet comes as the Obama administration is shifting America's national security and foreign policy focus to the Asia-Pacific region. China for years has been developing advanced radars and anti-aircraft weapons. Sending in Raptors during any conflict with China would constitute Washington's best hope at evading those radars and destroying them, the anti-aircraft systems, and other targets ahead of a broader military campaign.

Harkin also wants revenue increases.

Sometimes Harkin calls them revenue enhancements, but revenue increases are tax increases.

Someplace else CommieTommie wants a tax increase is subjecting income above $110,100 to the payroll tax, bringing more money into the Social Security System.

It's all part of his scheme to solve the retirement crisis.

Harkin hopes to implement a privately operated hybrid pension plan that would be overseen by a group composed of employee, retiree and employer representatives. People who do not have access to a retirement fund would have universal access to the system, and would pay into it through an automatic payroll deduction from their paychecks into a larger pool along with other active employees and retirees. A person could choose to change their contribution level or opt out of the program entirely.

HUH?

Tom Cat?

The Iowa Bored of Regents approved the CommieTommie Harkin Institute of Public Policy.

Regents approve Harkin institute at Iowa State

As, we've opined before, The Liter finds an institution more to our liking for St. Thomas of Equine Ass.

It should come as no surprise that the institute will be a part of the Carrie Chapman Catt Hall, home of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

Catt was deceased nearly fifty years before receiving that honor and those sexists bastards can't wait until Harkin's out of office?

Outgoing ISU President Gregory Geoffroy called Harkin ISU’s most prominent alumni.

That's udderly ridiculous for MOO U and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Geoffroy continued with, it would be a “travesty” if his papers were collected somewhere other than Iowa.

Were the Bahamas beckoning?

The debate wasn't about housing them, just wait until Harkin's retired for this honor(?).

Dummycrat Bonnie Campbell was disingenuous when she said, "...I would feel the same way if we were setting up a Grassley institute of public policy.”

You could have displayed some integrity by making that a motion.

The Harkin Institute is supposed to be a non-partisan research center but, per Harkin --

“I hope the materials I plan to furnish might serve as a resource to bring deeper knowledge of national issues and federal processes, as well as contribute to the continuation of causes and policies to which I have dedicated my career in public service.”

Read that as Fiberal and Partisan.

And he was WRONG

On Friday CommieTommie Harkin told the Ragister...

The U.S. Senate probably will vote next week to tell President Bush it disagrees with his addition of troops to Iraq...

The Iowa Democrat said he would prefer a stronger resolution than the one offered by Sen. John Warner, R-Va.

But Harkin noted that under Senate rules, controversial measures need to attract 60 votes to cut off debate.

"This might be the best we can hope for," he said during a meeting with Des Moines Register editors and reporters.

Let's go to the headlines....

Senate votes not to debate Iraq proposal

Now for the rest of the story...

A bipartisan resolution repudiating President George W. Bush's decision to send 21,500 more troops to Iraq failed to advance in the U.S. Senate on Monday, dealing a serious setback to critics of the war.The resolution needed 60 votes before the 100-member Senate could begin debate, but it got 49, with 47 voting against.

How can that be?

CommieTommie told us it would pass and that it didn't need 60 votes for cloture because it wasn't controversial!

As a member of the majority party, isn't CommieTommie in tune with Washington?

Here's the biggest bs that came from his Ragister interview...

Like all of Iowa's members of Congress, Harkin voted in 2002 to give Bush the authority to go to war with Iraq...

Harkin said he thought Bush would use the authority as a threat to force Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein into allowing arms inspectors to re-enter Iraq. Instead, the president rushed into an invasion, Harkin said.

The idiot Iowans who vote for you might believe your revisionist history, but you demean those of us that use our heads as something other than a place to put a hat!

Every member of Congress knew exactly what they were voting on!
CommieTommie Harkin is pictured two other times he's been wrong.

With Ramona Cunningham, of CIETC fame, at the 2004 dedication of their Tom Harkin Learning Center and endorsing Howard Dean for President...HYAH!

The Gossip

In a meeting with the Ragister's editorial board, CommieTommie Harkin told the Capitol Square Crapper -- Progress on bills hindered by partisanship

Coming from a man who's been more a part of the problem rather than the solution and the scientific community is united in that fact.

On the same day, the Omaha World Herald has this story --

'The gridlock isn't as bad as it's made out to be,' says freshman Sen. Deb Fischer

Here's how CommieTommie contributes to the problem.

He brings his Dream-err tour to Congressman Steve King's district, without inviting him to attend, and without confronting him man to man on what King had said about illegals.

Also, in his Ragister meeting, Harkin offers this insight --

“I’m not naming any names, but one senator got up from a southern state and said, ‘Well, you’ve got to understand that to my people down here, Obama seems like’ – he thought for a second and he said – ‘like he’s exotic.’”

Name names or get lost!

Harkin said nothing when his leader Harry Reid referred to Obama as, "light skinned" and "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one."

I guess that was okay, because Reid said it in "a private conversation, it was meant to be private" and it was off the record.

A spokeswoman for Harkin declined to offer further detail on the exchange, noting that it occurred in a closed-door meeting with only senators present.

Nor could Harkin be heard when his onetime Senate colleague, Joe Biden, said Obama was "the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy".

As long as I've mentioned Harkin and his Dream-err tour, here's another non criminal illegal that came to Iowa to build a better life.

An illegal immigrant who was living in northeast Iowa under an assumed identity is now behind bars, accused of kidnapping and sexually abusing a 13-year-old girl.

Also, note the angle this Ragister reporter took when describing Harkin's meeting -- a question from a columnist about why Republicans seemed determined to see Obama fail.

Yet, the transcript of the event that the reporter included, says -- Why are so many people determined to see the president fail? 

The media is part of the problem as well.

Cowardly Liar

Gotta love how CommieTommie Harkin is taken to task for his latest hit job on John McCain.

In a piece titled, Goldilocks Gets Drafted, James Taranto tells...

In 2004 Sen. Tom Harkin attacked Vice President Cheney for not having served in Vietnam, as a Wall Street Journal editorial noted:

The Iowa Senator lashed out at Dick Cheney, claiming the Vice President had no right to criticize [John] Kerry's policies for the war on terror because Mr. Cheney had a deferment back then: "When I hear this coming from Dick Cheney, who was a coward, who would not serve during the Vietnam War, it makes my blood boil."

Four years later the Republicans are poised to nominate a genuine Vietnam War hero, while the Democratic nominee will be someone who evaded the draft by virtue of having been born either in 1961 or female. And the Des Moines Register reports Harkin is attacking John McCain for having served:

"I think he's trapped in that," Harkin said in a conference call with Iowa reporters. "Everything is looked at from his life experiences, from always having been in the military, and I think that can be pretty dangerous."

Harkin said that "it's one thing to have been drafted and served, but another thing when you come from generations of military people and that's just how you're steeped, how you've learned, how you've grown up."

As that Journal editorial noted, Harkin himself has falsely claimed to have served in combat in Vietnam. Which may explain his Goldilocks approach to military service:

John McCain is too hard.

Dick Cheney is too soft.

John Kerry** is just right.

** Who served in Vietnam for a few weeks, then returned stateside and slandered his fellow veterans.

It is not the first time CommieTommie has slandered John McCain or his military service.

Here's why I call Harkin the Cowardly Liar and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Read all about it at Instapundit.

Dazed And Confused

It's a good thing CommieTommie Harkin is leaving the U.S. Senate, because after 28 years he has no idea how the institution works.

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Harkin dismissive of Sen. Cruz’s ‘little tirade’ 

“He spends all this time talking against it … he used that time to excoriate ObamaCare … why we ought to de-fund it … and then turns around and voted for it” 

He didn't vote for it and Harkin knows that, Cruz voted to open debate, not for the bill, as that vote has yet to happen.

I'm not surprised that Harkin is confused by the Filibuster, as he was for it (Tommie Two Faced) before he was against it (Talk That Talk).

Harkin said it’s unlikely he would be willing to speak for 21 hours – even for the publicity.

Harkin could only muster 67 minutes, when speaking against the Filibuster earlier this year.

The Saint?

Fiberal Dummycrats want to proclaim CommieTommie Harkin a Saint?

Harkin praised at event marking one-year anniversary of health-care reform

Mary Mincer Hansen, a one time director of the Iowa Department of Public Health, dubbed Harkin the "patron saint of prevention".

St. Tomas the Sissy, St. Thomas Moron and St. Thomas of Equine Ass are our early favorites upon canonization and the scientific community is united in that fact.

More than likely its just reciprocity for the nice things he said about her last fall.

Harkin Lauds GAO for Appointing Iowan Mary Mincer Hansen to the New National Health Care Workforce Commission

During the event, which we opined on yesterday (And Giggles), Harkin stated -- "supporters have to fend off "misperceptions, outright falsehoods about the bill ... and some of that lingers yet today."

Like those from Harkin that the law reduces the deficit.

In reality, if you strip out all the gimmicks and budgetary games and rework the calculus, a wholly different picture emerges: The health care reform legislation would raise, not lower, federal deficits, by $562 billion.

Demon Eyes

Like a rat going down on a sinking ship, CommieTommie Harkin is clinging to Obamacare.

Harkin's colleague, Max Baucus said he thinks it's headed for a "train wreck" and has decided to retire rather than face Montana voters and defend his authorship of Obamacare.

CommieTommie's Comrade CONgressman Bruce Braley has started to hedge his bets by stating -- “unfortunately we don’t know…right now” how ACA will impact Iowans.

In a conference call with reporters, Harkin shared that his panties are in a bunch because $15 billion in a trust fund that was created with the federal health care reform law, and is supposed to pay for wellness and disease prevention programs, has had some funds diverted to pay for the federal health insurance exchange required by the Affordable Care Act.

So Harkin, acting like a spoiled child, is blocking confirmation of top health care nominee to send the president a message.

According to Harkin, the prevention fund was set up in good faith.

That's rich, "good faith" from Dummycrats period, let alone on Obamacare and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Harkin continued -- 

“Everyone went in with their eyes open,” he said. “It’s not fair for this administration to now start to undo what we agreed to do when we passed the bill.”

"Eyes open" on a bill you had to pass so that you can find out what is in it?

Interesting that CommieTommie has a cow over $15 Billion, but not a peep about the more than $700 billion in such cuts (Medicare payments) already adopted under Obamacare.

Middle Of The Road

The Sioux City Journal had an article comparing government gridlock in Iowa and Washington D.C.

Iowa tends to avoid D.C.'s gridlock

Our Junior Senator, CommieTommie Harkin, stole the article with his wisdumb -- err wisdom.

According to Harkin, extremists in both parties are the main culprit for federal gridlock. He said up to the early 1990s, each political party had a spectrum of conservatives, moderates and liberals.

"In that kind of a mix, you could get things done," Harkin said.

Now, he said, the chambers have members who are overwhelmingly to the far left or the far right, and moderates are a rarity.

"Things have become more ideological, we've gone off the deep end," Harkin said.

That's a laugh riot, Harkin portraying himself as middle of the road and the scientific community is united in that fact.

When I was in radio, there was a Middle of the road format called MOR.

In Harkin's case he puts the MORON in Middle of the road.

Low Budget?

Confused by the facts, CommieTommie Harkin (or as we like to call him - St. Thomas of Equine Ass), is lumping the Paul Ryan proposed 2012 budget proposals with the current effort to fund the government for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year.

Senator Harkin questions patriotism of those calling for a government shut down

I thought, according to fiberals, that questioning people's patriotism was a bad thing?

The reality is that the U.S. government is on the verge of a shutdown because Dummycrats did not pass a budget last year when they controlled CONgress and the White House, what Chuck Schumer calls the three branches of government, because it was “a political hot potato.”

And the scientific community is united in that fact.

Harkin continued with -- a shut down would “send a signal to the rest of the world that we can’t even govern ourselves.”

Harkin also claimed he can make his budget claims because he can back them up.

Offering no facts, Harkin said...

“You know, we’re getting very close to planting season and a lot of information and stuff those (USDA) offices put out, farmers would not be able to access.”

Harkin also believes, the Iowa Department of Transportation might not have the ability to let ongoing road projects.

Oh, the humanity.

Tell me all your thoughts on God

PTL in this case stands for Praise The Loot.

CommieTommie Harkin made news for comments at the Iowa Dummycrats Jefferson-Jackson dinner Saturday.

From The Washington Times Inside the Beltway column....

Harkin on God

It's not unusual for elected officials to invoke the name of God when asking for His blessings on the country. What's unusual is for an elected official — in this case Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin — to proclaim that God favors Democrats over Republicans.
"Had a Republican made the same statement, it would be the cause of a media frenzy," writes Inside the Beltway reader G.L. Gunderman of Florence, Ala. "Is there no limit to their offensive behavior?"
The occasion was Saturday's Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson Dinner, the guest of honor being former President Bill Clinton. Also on hand was Des Moines Register columnist Marc Hansen, who was intrigued by the woman selling George W. Bush "Out of Office Countdown" calendars for $13 apiece: "It wouldn't be long now, the woman said, 2008 is just around the corner. Tick tock."
But the evening's most unusual line, Mr. Hansen writes, was uttered by Mr. Harkin: "The Democrats are 'fed up and charged up,' was the way Tom Harkin put it when the dinner plates had been cleared away and it was his time to speak. 'Democrats are up and Republicans are down, and that's the way God meant it to be.' "

The Ragister was there in full force, I shouldn't have to read about this embarassment in a D.C. paper.

What is up with Harkin's muppet fetish?

You can never see his hands. I wouldn't be surprised if there isn't an e-mail & IM scandal there.

Time To Kill

His brain can't function adequately because his fiberal bleeding heart can't pump enough blood to it.

For the second time in less than a week, CommieTommie Harkin takes to the press to support criminal wrongdoers.

Last week he was morose over the inability of felons to automatically regain their voting rights (Hopelessly Devoted To You).

Now Harkin's heart spills out for convicted murderers.

Harkin: Branstad made wrong decision on juvenile killers

CommieTommie's heartstrings pluck, “Hopefully civilization is progressing to the point where we understand that sometimes kids do impetuous things. Sometimes they get caught up in things.”

Not so much for the victims or their families --

Harkin said he recognizes that the human reaction to a heinous crime is to seek retribution, and he would initially feel the same way. But as he has gotten older he said he has gotten away from the idea of retribution as a means of justice.

“One family and one life has been ruined. What about the families of some of these kids” who have committed crimes of murder?” Harkin asked. “Maybe they tried their best to raise the kid and something went wrong. Maybe they made a mistake. You have to think about them too. The old thing about why ruin two lives? One life, one family, has already been ruined.”

These killers need to sit and rot, like the bodies of those they murdered and the scientific community is united in that fact.

If this happened in my family, it would take extreme willpower not to go all biblical eye for an eye on their ass and extract at least a pound of flesh.

Chewing the fat

CommieTommie Harkin is criticizing the President's veto
of a Human Services bill the he authored.

President Bush said...

"This bill is 44 days late and nearly $10 billion over budget, and filled with more than 2,000 earmarks. "Some of its wasteful projects include a prison museum, a sailing school taught aboard a catamaran, and a "Portuguese as a second language" program."

He also said those earmarks totaled more than $1 Billion.

Harkin harps...

"...there is nothing frivolous about providing job retraining to workers laid off at Maytag..."

The Ragister reports...

Aides to Harkin said that there was not a specific amount of money in the vetoed bill for laid-off Maytag workers.

That certainly lacked a bit of truthiness and the scientific community is united in that fact!

Also...

A separate federal job retraining grant for Maytag workers, announced Tuesday by Harkin and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., would not be affected by the veto.

Here's what really makes CommieTommie cringe, $23 Million was coming to Iowa that included...

* $5 million for the Harkin School Grants-- you should only get to put your name on it if it comes directly from your pocket.

* $100,000 to educate parents about teen drug use-- it's nearly 2008 and parents should know drugs are bad, unless they're stoned.

* $300,000 for exhibits at the Des Moines Art Center--Why? Do they need more shop vacs?

* $150,000 for exhibits, multimedia collections and displays at the Italian-American Cultural Center of Iowa--I'm Italian and even I think that's fottuto.

* $100,000 for outreach to at-risk youth by Creative Visions in Des Moines--No money, I repeat NO MONEY should ever go to Creative Visions!

* $1.5 million statewide for wellness programs in communities that would promote walking trails, fruit and vegetable programs and physical fitness programs--like the ones supported by the Big Lug & Fatty Judge?

Go Now

Speaking with Iowa reporters, CommieTommie Harkin commented on David Obey, the 17^th Democrat to announce plans to leave Congress at the end of this session.

Harkin said he doesn’t see “any massive change here in terms of Democrats’ control of Congress.”

The Senator needs new glasses and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Harkin, who has served in Congress since 1974, suggested that long-timers stepping aside and making way for newcomers may be helpful.

Great idea Senator -- lead the way, go now!

Harkin seems to be following Rahm Emanuel's philosophy of never wanting a serious crisis to go to waste.

Harkin raised the oil leak in the Gulf without being asked and said the catastrophe could be turned into something meaningful, such as passage of an energy bill and climate change legislation.

$enator Please

Now is not the time to be playing politics.

Tommie Two Faced

In a meeting with the editorial board of the Sioux City Journal, CommieTommie Harkin did a bit of revisionist history.

Harkin complained of Republicans having filibustered legislation 90 times.

It's interesting what Dummycrats call Republican filibusters.

37 Successful Votes To Invoke Cloture. Democrats count any vote on a cloture motion as a “Republican filibuster,” including 37 votes where cloture was actually invoked.

Democrat Filibusters. Democrats count “filibusters” by Democrats of FISA, Judge Southwick, and the McConnell-Stevens troop funding amendment as “Republican filibusters.”

5 Unanimously Approved Cloture Votes. Democrats count votes where Democrats and Republicans vote unanimously in favor as “Republican filibusters.”

One Dummycrat even includes bills passed as filibusters!

Here's what CommieTommie has said about the filibuster when Republicans attempted to bypass it...

To do so would be "the end of the Senate as we know it" because it would dash the protections that the Senate has always afforded lawmakers in the minority and, by extension, their constituents.

Harkin also tried to revise his fall 2002 vote of authorization for force in Iraq...

"I feel like I was lied to by this administration."

Harkin first voted to authorize the use of force in Iraq in 1998, when the Clinton administration changed its policy from containment to regime change.

A change based on the same evidence of Saddam’s weapons programs that the Bush administration used in 2002.

Here's Harkin on energy policy...

the U.S. needs to reduce dependency on foreign oil, not through more domestic drilling in the continential outer shelf or the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge...

He said an appalling statistic is that the U.S. spends $900,000 per minute on imported oil.

CommieTommie's not smart enough to see a correlation between an increase in domestic drilling and a decrease in imported oil and the scientific community is united in that fact.

Under Attack

CommieTommie Harkin is creating controversy concerning Obamacare before the United States Supreme Court.

U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin: Justice John Roberts’ history raises questions about politicization of health-care case

Harkin is the one politicizing this by attacking the court to lay the groundwork so that if the law does get struck down, they can dismiss it as a purely political decision by a radical right-wing Court.

That is so obvious, and the scientific community is united in that fact, because Harkin doesn't mention Justice Elena Kagan.

As Solicitor General, Kagen's office was developing a strategy to defend Obamacare legally, yet Fiberals don't have a problem with her not recusing herself.

Harkin is less than truthful when he strongly defended its constitutionality: “Judges in the lower courts … have made it very clear that arguments against the act lack merit. They have no basis in law,” he said. “To overturn this health reform bill would overturn 70 years of precedents.

The 11^th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 ruling, with Clinton-appointed Judge Frank Hull co-authoring the majority opinion, struck down the national health care law’s individual mandate.

It struck down the mandate within the context of current Supreme Court precedent. In other words, it provides a clear path for Supreme Court justices to rule the mandate unconstitutional without having to revisit prior decisions. The mandate, as the 11^th Circuit says, is “unprecedented.”

Let's Talk About Sex

CommieTommie Harkin weighs in on Senator John Ensign's sex scandal...

"We are all human. We all make mistakes...Most Americans share my belief that it's in our best interests to put this behind us and move on."

Harkin continued...

"This behavior was totally at odds with his many achievements and conduct in his official capacity...he stated clearly he has sinned and that he has misled his family, his friends, his staff, and the American people. He has said that he is sorry and he has asked for forgiveness."

Wait, that was Harkin talking about Bill Clinton.











Here's Harkin's comments regarding Ensign...

he doesn’t “like the smell” of a sex scandal...

Oh, It's only o.k. in the White House and the scientific community is united in that fact, you can understand my confusion.

Harkin also said it has “cast a bad image on the Senate.”

$enator Please

The Unthinking Majority

With another contribution to the quality that is the Capitol Square Crapper, CommieTommie Harkin put his name to an OpEd piece.

Harkin: Constitution's Framers did not envision a 60-vote supermajority

The Ragister allows CommieTommie to justify the changes in the U.S. Senate filibuster rules.

Harkin even harps, as a member of the Senate minority, I first introduced a proposal to reform the filibuster.

It's easy to propose change, whether in the minority or majority, when you know there's no chance for change and the scientific community is united in that fact.

What's telling is Harkin's 2005 reaction, when Republican's were in control and the discussion was about a rule change to obtain an up or down vote on President Bush's judicial nominees.

CommieTommie cried it was,  "the end of the Senate as we know it" because it would dash the protections that the Senate has always afforded lawmakers in the minority and, by extension, their constituents.

Hyperbole from a hypocrite.

CommieTommie cites the vision of Framer's of the Constitution for his argument.

The Framer's did not envision a full time CONgress either.

Our American Founding Fathers had envisioned serving in Congress as a part-time job. Citizen legislators would come to Washington a few weeks in the winter (before the beginning of the planting season, because many were active farmers) and tend to the nation's business before going back home to attend to their own business.

In the days of earliest America, Roger Sherman of Connecticut — a signer of the Declaration of Independence — understood the positive aspects of a part-time national legislature. At the Constitutional Convention in 1787, he opined that "Representatives ought to return home and mix with the people. By remaining at the seat of government, they would acquire the habits of the place, which might differ from those of their constituents." 

From 1789 to 1815, members of Congress couldn't afford to stay year-round in Washington because they were paid so poorly. Senators and representatives made just a few dollars a day. In 1815, they began receiving $1,500 a year salary. In 1855 that doubled. By 1935, they were making $10,000 a year. But most members of Congress still needed day jobs.

Even into the 1960s, members of Congress "were out of session about as much as they were in, and they had almost no personal and committee staffers assigned to them unless they were senior and powerful," says Larry Sabato, an American history professor at the University of Virginia and director of the university's Center for Politics. It wasn't until the 1970s that members of Congress began seeing their positions as year-round commitments.

The place became packed with lawyers, like Harkin, in the 1970s and that is why you get salaries of $174,000 and legislation you have to pass so that you can find out what is in it.