Republicans Still Running the Show

So, basically, here's the deal: Democrats are spineless when they're not in the Congressional majority/White House because they need to get elected, and Democrats are spineless when they are in the Congressional majority/White House because they need to get reelected, so they never mount a vociferous challenge to conservatism because they have to get/stay in office in order to keep the Republicans from doing, uh, exactly what they're doing anyway, only more so.

Great politics. Great job.

Democrats are set to pass an extension of unemployment benefits today. ... But victory obscures defeat. Republicans managed to take a jobs bill, weaken it to an unemployment benefits and state and local relief bill, weaken that to an unemployment benefits bill, and then weaken that bill.

The bill does not include an extension of the $25-a-week Federal Additional Compensation funds, tacked onto many unemployment checks. It also does not include any of the other provisions originally included in or proposed for the jobs bill or extenders package: It does not close tax loopholes, or provide Medicaid funding to states, or include funds to keep teachers and other state employees working. It also does not create an additional fifth tier of benefits; federal extensions only continue in states with higher than an 8 percent unemployment rate, and the maximum weeks of state and federal benefits remains ninety-nine.

Republicans in the Senate, in other words, have won the fight over further spending on job creation. The argument has narrowed to unemployment benefits, and Democrats can't even reliably win those votes.

Seriously, if the United States Congress can't even agree on extending unemployment benefits during the worst employment crisis in a generation, the United States Congress has truly ceased serving the United States and its people.

We are officially a wholly-owned subsidiary of the highest corporate bidder.