Open Wide for the Debt Deal 'Satan Sandwich,' America

COMMENTARY | As word spread like the plague of the stupid and ridiculous eleven and half-hour debt ceiling "deal," Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) took to a microphone at a press conference held by members of the House Out of Poverty Caucus. While I am a proud conservative Republican I must, upon principle rather than party line allegiance, applaud the position of Mr. Conyers. He's the only one making sense.

"We've got to educate the American people," he said. "At the same time we educate the President of the United States."

Then he drops the bomb.

"Because the Republicans, the speaker -- Boehner -- or Majority Leader Cantor, did not call for Social Security cuts in the budget deal," he revealed. "The President of the United States called for that."

Wow.

"And my response to him," Conyers added, "is to mass thousands of people in front of the White House to protest this."

You must understand, Conyers was part of the civil rights movement of the '60s. It was a dangerous and deadly time, particularly in the South, where anti-segregation Democrat governors like Bull Connor gave orders to unleash dogs against protesters. Conyers was there, risking his life.

John Conyers was also the first member of Congress to endorse Obama. Now Conyers is leading the charge against him. This is epic.

Liberal bloggers immediately ran defense.

"It is a dastardly lie ", site moderator Deaniac83 insisted on the "progressive" website The People's View. "I have covered the issue of the Social Security reform" and "suffice it to say that there are no cuts to the the basic Social Security Benefit being proposed by President Obama or anyone else. None. That is a fact."

So, because Deanica83 "covered the issue of the Social Security reform before," he is a greater authority on Washington policies than a man who has been a part of Washington politics since before Deaniac83 was out of diapers?

"Congressman Conyers is wrong," Deniac83 rants on. "He should be ashamed of himself" and "he owes the President an apology for demeaning him and ignoring his tremendous work as President on behalf the poor and the middle class."

Really?

According to Steve Wynn, casino mogul, it's Obama's policies that are destroying the middle class.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the middle class eroding, with the unemployment rate among African Americans around 16 percent and 11.8 percent for Latinos. So why is Obama endorsing a debt plan that gives him a back-door method of further taxing the hell out of the middle class?

"We've had it," Conyers admonished, and while Obama wastes time whining about "what the Ds are doing and the Rs are doing in the House and in the Senate," he added, "we're suffering!"

Amen, Rep. Conyers. Amen.

While John Conyers marched with Dr. Martin Luther King during those deadly days of the civil rights movement, Obama uses Dr. King for sound bytes and displays his ignorance by attributing a quote from a progressive socialist named Theodore Parker to King on a new rug for the Oval Office.

While Obama lies to attach his conception to Selma, John Conyers was there. And as Washington prepares to place another burden upon the already weary shoulders of American citizens, Conyers is once again standing up to fight for our rights as a nation.

While Obama is "amused" by the thousands who've marched on Washington to protest his destructive policies and by people who think he should be more involved in solving the economic chaos, Gabby Giffords was shot in the head but managed to find her way to the House floor to cast her vote.

"There are a couple of things on my mind," John Conyers began his press conference speech. "Because everybody's criticizing Republicans."

Indeed they are.

According to Politico, Vice President Joe Biden said the tea partiers "acted like terrorists" in the debt deal - before walking it back as the truth trickled out. Republican Sen. John McCain said he'd have to "swallow hard" to vote for it, according to The Associated Press. So, why "swallow" what Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, called "a sugar-coated Satan sandwich"?

"I did not come to Washington to force more people into poverty," said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.).

Still, the House passed this contentious measure Monday evening by a vote of 269 to 161. The Senate will vote Tuesday. Let us pray it dies a horrid, vicious death.

Having Republican House Speaker John Boehner encourage Congress to pass this mess for the sake of making a decision - while breaking his Pledge to America to post the text of bills online "for at least three days" before bringing them up for a vote - is not compromise, it's cowardice. Obama standing on the sidelines to "to watch and wait" is not leadership: It's a dereliction of duty.

"The only thing that saves him," Conyers mused of Obama's re-election chances in March, "is that there doesn't seem to be anybody to run against him."

Maybe it's time that someone like John Conyers - or Gabby Giffords - did.