Good for MSNBC's Tamron Hall for giving the appropriate response to some of Rep. Jack Kingston's nonsense while trying to explain the games the Republican House is playing with refusing to pass a temporary extension of the payroll tax holiday.
After being asked by Hall about Sen. Scott Brown's statement that House Republicans are standing in the way of getting a deal done on the extension and playing politics to the detriment of the economy, Rep. Jack Kingston made this ridiculous remark.
KINGSTON: Here's the reality that we're in. The House is ready to compromise with the Senate. We have not voted on anything and left town. Our bill passed on a bipartisan basis last week. It has been rejected by the Senate. They've given us a two month extension. We don't think that's a good deal for the economy or the American people.
And what we're saying it, you know what? Let's go to conference. We've got ten days to work this out. And I would like to say I think the President should attend, because, what would happen if he showed some leadership and brought Mr. Boehner and Mr. Reid down to the White House, pulled out some eggnog, maybe some rum and cigars, pulled out It's a Wonderful Life DVD and said, alright guys, let's work this out for the American people...
To which Hall rightfully replied, “Are you kidding me?... You are talking about movies and eggnog and nonsense.” Hall went on to ask Kingston if he was really concerned about allowing the payroll tax holiday to expire or not.
Kingston proceeded to tie himself up on knots trying to explain what they were doing and avoiding directly answering her questions about the criticism that Republicans are making of their cohorts in the House with the games they're playing right now.
I can't believe Republicans are doing themselves any favors right now with trying to make these convoluted arguments about Congressional procedures and conference meetings, which frankly is going to go right over the heads of the average voters out there.
Kenneth already explained most of the details of what's been going on over the last couple of days. And Steve Benen has more why no one should take Kingston or any of the rest of them seriously on these "conferees." -- What the GOP conferees have in common:
Now that House Republicans have rejected the Senate’s bipartisan compromise on a payroll tax-break extension, the next step, apparently, is moving forward with the conference-committee charade. It’s a joke intended to fail, but House GOP leaders have begun going through the motions.
To that end, Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said this afternoon he’s chosen eight House Republicans to work on negotiations — which probably won’t occur — with the Senate. The DCCC noted that most of them have already announced their opposition to extending the payroll tax cut at all.
Rep. Dave Camp (MI-04). “I’m not in favor of that. I don’t think that’s a good idea.” [The Hill, 8/14/11]
Rep. Kevin Brady (TX-08): “I am not as big a fan of the payroll tax cuts…” [Bloomberg News, 12/14/11]
Rep. Tom Price (GA-06): “It doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.” [NPR, 9/8/11]
Rep. Renee Ellmers (NC-02): “it’s not the answer … these tiny little feel good measures. We don’t need more gimmicks.” [CNN, 11/30/11]
The DCCC actually missed one: Rep. Tom Reed (R-N.Y.) was also named to the conference committee, and just two weeks ago, he falsely claimed the payroll tax break is a “threat to Social Security.”
Why would the House GOP leadership choose conferees to work on the details of a tax cut who already oppose that tax cut? They wouldn’t unless the point was to set up the committee to fail.
