Coalition of conservatives,

liberals pushes for action

President Obama brought immigration front and center in remarks on Oct. 24.

THE PUSH BY President Obama for comprehensive immigration reform got a boost on Tuesday when a large group descended on the Capitol to lobby Republicans on the issue.
Viewed in tactical terms, this could be seen as a stroke of genius by the president and his Democratic allies.
The GOP is riven with internal divisions on immigration. It’s well documented by the Pew Research Center, and has been widely reported.
Just as it splintered over the government shutdown, the Republican Party could suffer another humiliating defeat as its warring factions do battle on immigration proposals under consideration.

GOP’S INTERNAL STRUGGLE IS GOOD NEWS FOR 2014
The news over the weekend for those who want to see the U.S. government actually work, was nothing short of stunning.
Headline after headline told of an outbreak of internecine warfare within the Republican Party – which brought the government to its knees for the first two weeks of October.
“Civil war” was the term most commonly used.
If the GOP suffers a crushing defeat in 2014, it will be because of its reckless behavior the past three weeks. And, it will be historic in another way: the out-of-power party usually wins mid-term elections; that’s what happened in 2010.
It seems 2014 might just be an historic exception

G.O.P. RADICALS WON’T BUDGE, BUT DEFAULT THREAT MAY MOVE CENTRISTS
With the government shutdown entering its third week and the debt ceiling crisis 48 hours away, time is running out to avert a global calamity.
But, there is a way out. It’s hiding in plain sight. Call it the “escape hatch.”
Do an end run around the speaker of the House of Representatives and the Tea Party. Combine the entire Democratic Party caucus with those Republicans not afraid of the radical right and presto!
Crisis over.
Game called.

SHUTDOWN, DEBT CEILING CRISES OBSCURE REALLY SERIOUS PROBLEMS
In a delicious twist of fate, the Republican Party has missed a huge opportunity to capitalize on its opposition to Obamacare and in fact has helped conceal its disastrous rollout.
With the headlines screaming about the “government shutdown” few noticed, till Sunday, the disastrous rollout of healthcare reform.
The damage Republicans have done to themselves over the government shutdown seems likely to come back to haunt them in the 2014 mid-term elections.
If it is riven by internecine warfare, however, the 2014 outcome could prove to be an exception to historical norms.

UNNECESSARY EXTENDED NATIONAL NIGHTMARE NEARS AN END
The long national nightmare over the government shutdown brought on by House Republicans is nearing an end
No wonder the GOP is caving under the pressure.
It is coming from its own base, the very constituency it thought it was serving by bringing the United States government to its knees – and threatening a global economic calamity.
What a gigantic miscalculation.

POLLS FIND MOST BLAME GOP FOR MULTIPLE CRISES
Public opinion polls and other indicators show clearly that the Republican Party is losing the gargantuan battle is has deliberately sought over the federal government budget.
The GOP and its supporters must be willfully blind if they cannot see this. They are dragging the country to the brink of disaster, and getting the blame for it.
If they think this is the way to win the next election, they are beyond delusional. They are dangerously insane.

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS LIKELY TO FOLLOW DEFAULT
As the United States stumbles through the government shutdown towards the debt-ceiling crisis, the potential catastrophic effects are already causing ripples – political and economic – around the globe.
But House Republicans are not watching the oncoming light of the speeding train heading down the tracks towards all of us.
If they don’t pay attention to reopening the government so they can move past it to derail the debt ceiling crisis, all bets are off. The consequences are almost too terrible to contemplate.

THE MOST POWERFUL MEN YOU NEVER HEARD OF – TILL NOW
If you want to know exactly whom to blame for the federal government shutdown – and the twin crises still heading our way – look no further than the front page of the Sunday editions of The New York Times.
The country is being hijacked by a small cabal of rich ultra-conservatives. It is our country, in which for more than 230 years the majority rules.
The tail is wagging the dog.
Pick your own metaphor.
Rather, grab a megaphone or a microphone and go yell into it on the highest hillside you can find.
We want our country back. Today, please!

OBAMACARE SUCCESS MAY YET SPLIT REPUBLICAN PARTY
President Obama’s signature accomplishment in office – what Republicans disparagingly call “Obamacare” – is off to a rousing start and this is the Republican Party’s worst nightmare.
A second unexpected one, however, is that the continuing shutdown of the federal government – and the looming debt ceiling crisis – threaten to split their party into two warring factions.
It’s tempting to gloat – and I would forgive anyone who does – that the nightmare scenarios for the Republican Party are unfolding before their eyes, and they seem powerless to stop them.

US TREASURY SAYS IT STARTS LONG BEFORE DOOMSDAY DEADLINE
The U.S. Treasury issued an alarming report that fallout from the next crisis would not wait until Doomsday on Oct. 17.
It is already starting, and will grow worse as the deadline approaches, the Treasury warned.
The economic damage the GOP is causing already has started already. It will only get worse over the coming weeks. And it will take years to fix, if it ever can be.
It is time for the crazy politicians to come to their senses.