Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I was promised a recession.

Republicans in disarray!

Come on, man.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

T R E 4 5 O N

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

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Reader Interactions

26Comments

  2. 2.

    Tsulagi

    If the Democrats can’t unit to oppose this guy, they need to just quit. Now.

    Well, I might say “unite” or maybe put it as “act as a unit to oppose this guy” in the sentence above, but you got that right.

    BTW, aren’t you supposed to be a college professor? Hopefully not in English…lol j/k

    I guess with this appointment Bush just wanted to return the fluffer love to Dobson and Pat.

  6. 6.

    capelza

    Bush is just such a fucking moron…really.

    The veterinarian he wanted for women’s health (why not..all women are cows, right?…or brood mares..in Bushworld)

    Now this…who the hell is Bush even pandering to now? His base..like that does any good. Maybe this is just a big “fuck you”, or no qualified doctor wants to serve in his administration. Does Liberty University have a medical school?

    Are we gong to see “the gay” dragged out again as a campaign issue? Is this an opening salvo?

  7. 7.

    ThymeZone

    If the Democrats can’t unit (sic) to oppose this guy

    A 50-49-1 Senate majority is not capable of stopping much of anything without cooperation from some of the 49.

    Dems can oppose the guy, but can they actually stop the nomination? Not sure.

  8. 8.

    demimondian

    Yes, TZ, they can stop the nomination. It has to get out of committee — and that isn’t going to happen. As long as the Senate is never out of session for ten consecutive days over the summer, the Prez can’t use the recess appointment power.

  10. 10.

    ThymeZone

    they can stop

    Recess appointment exists just for the purpose of making you (perpetually, and haplessly) wrong.

    President George W. Bush recess appointed two judges, William Pryor and Charles Pickering to U.S. courts of appeals after their nominations were subjected to a Senate filibuster by opposition Democrats. Judge Pickering, of the Fifth Circuit, withdrew his name from consideration for renomination and retired when his recess appointment expired. Judge Pryor was subsequently confirmed to a lifetime appointment on the Eleventh Circuit. In his first six years in office, Bush has made 167 recess appointments.

    On August 1, 2005, Bush made a recess appointment of John Bolton, to serve as U.S. representative to the United Nations.[3] Bolton had also been the subject of a Senate filibuster. The filibuster concerned documents, which the White House refused to release, which Democrats suggested may contain proof of Bolton’s abusive treatment and coercion of staff members, or of his improper use of National Security Agency communications intercepts regarding U.S. citizens. Having failed to win Senate confirmation, he resigned his office in December 2006 concurrently with the adjournment of the 109th Congress.[4]

    On April 4, 2007, during the Easter recess of Congress, Bush announced [5] three controversial recess appointments. The first was Sam Fox to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Belgium. Fox’s appointment had been thwarted in Congress because he had donated $50,000 to the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth during the 2004 presidential campaign, a group whose ads many Democrats blamed for John Kerry’s loss.[6] The second was Susan Dudley to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) at the Office of Management and Budget. the Washington Post’s Al Kamen wrote in the April 4, 2007 “In The Loop” column,[7]

    “Chairman Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) ‘is moving forward in the traditional manner with her nomination,’ committee spokeswoman Leslie Phillips told our colleague Stephen Barr.

    “President Bush named Dudley to the OMB post last August, and her confirmation hearing was held in November. The Senate adjourned without voting on her nomination, which the White House later resubmitted.

    “While in confirmation limbo, she has been serving as counselor to Clay Johnson III, a presidential buddy and the deputy director for management at the OMB.

    “Before her first nomination, Dudley wrote about regulation for the Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and her critics assailed her comments involving air bags, arsenic limits in drinking water and workplace injuries.

    The third controversial recess appointment on April 4 was Andrew G. Biggs to serve as Deputy Commissioner of Social Security Administration. [8] According to his biography [9] at the conservative Cato Institute, Biggs is a former Social Security analyst and Assistant Director of its Project on Social Security Choice. Prior to that, he was Director of Research at the Republican-leaning Congressional Institute in Washington, D.C., where he remains a Fellow. Biggs was investigated by Senate Democrats in 2005, while while serving as Assistant Commissioner for the Social Security Administration concerning whether he violated a federal ban on congressional lobbying by federal employees when he edited the prepared testimony for a lobbyist appearing before a recent Democratic Policy Committee Social Security hearing according to John Stanton writing in Congress Daily. [10]

    Unless the Dems figure out a way to run out the clock, I see another recess appointment coming our way. Don’t you?

  11. 11.

    Dave

    Unless the Dems figure out a way to run out the clock, I see another recess appointment coming our way. Don’t you?

    I thought I read somewhere (and I’m admittedly too lazy to look at the moment) that Reid was going to essentially keep the Senate in session to prevent this from happening.

  12. 12.

    ImJohnGalt

    I heard that too. I hope it’s right, and that Reid has the balls and the party discipline to pull it off. It would make the Republican’s go batshit insane(r). I picture a script something like this:

    “Obstructionists!”
    “Getting in the way of the Leader-of-the-Free-World!”
    “Where are my cheetos?”
    [gobble, munch, drool]
    “Obstructionists!”

  13. 13.

    Jake

    Are we gong to see “the gay” dragged out again as a campaign issue? Is this an opening salvo?

    Yep. Dragged out and if Holesinger has his way, beaten straight with a 1/4″ pipe (female of course). Is Brownback on this committee? Maybe he’ll block the nomination because the good doctor failed to condemn female/female sex.

    Me, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a scandal a la Ted sHaggard. Or a meteorite strike. I’m not picky.

  14. 14.

    demimondian

    TZ — why do you think that Reid is going to call the Senate back into session every ten days all summer?

  15. 15.

    ThymeZone

    TZ —why do you think that Reid is going to call the Senate back into session every ten days all summer?

    For the same reason you think that the Senate is going to go without a recess for the next 1.7 years just to keep Bush from getting his guy into that slot.

  16. 16.

    Bombadil

    If the Democrats can’t unite to oppose this guy, they need to just quit. Now.

    Are you just assuming that your Republicans are to stupid to oppose this guy, too? Why does it have to be “the Democrats”? And at what point in the last six years were the Republicans called upon to “just quit now”?

    Don’t be such a partisan hack, John. You’ve been showing some progress, don’t fuck it all up now.

  17. 17.

    The Other Steve

    For the same reason you think that the Senate is going to go without a recess for the next 1.7 years just to keep Bush from getting his guy into that slot.

    But that’s exactly what Reid has said he’s going to do.

  18. 18.

    The Other Steve

    Are you just assuming that your Republicans are to stupid to oppose this guy, too? Why does it have to be “the Democrats”? And at what point in the last six years were the Republicans called upon to “just quit now”?

    They’ll oppose him, once the Democrats actually point out what a flake the guy is.

  19. 19.

    Dreggas

    Jake Says:

    Yep. Dragged out and if Holesinger has his way, beaten straight with a 1/4” pipe (female of course). Is Brownback on this committee? Maybe he’ll block the nomination because the good doctor failed to condemn female/female sex.

    Eh I thought the guys screaming about rampant lesbianism was Coburn, same state as brownback just as nutty.

  20. 20.

    Dreggas

    Bombadil Says:
    Are you just assuming that your Republicans are to stupid to oppose this guy, too? Why does it have to be “the Democrats”? And at what point in the last six years were the Republicans called upon to “just quit now”?

    Don’t be such a partisan hack, John. You’ve been showing some progress, don’t fuck it all up now.

    Before attacking John on that line I think it would only be fair to point out the following:

    A) The republicans in congress are still sucking on “lil bush”

    B) Look at the republicans in the senate, don’t believe in evolution (not all), would vote to ban gay marriage etc.

    Overall they would be “that stupid” as to not block this guy. This is a red meat for the base issue.

  21. 21.

    jake

    Eh I thought the guys screaming about rampant lesbianism was Coburn

    Brownback stonewalled (sorry) a Bush nominated judge’s appointment for months because she attended a friend’s commitment ceremony in 2002. Sam I Am thought Neff might have gotten lesbian cooties that would hinder her ability to hear cases.

    same state as brownback just as nutty.

    Brownback is from Mars, Coburn is from Venus.

    I mean Kansas and Oklahoma.

  22. 22.

    ThymeZone

    But that’s exactly what Reid has said he’s going to do.

    Uh huh. Do you think we should tell him that next year is an election year?

    Aint gonna happen IMO, and he knows it. Recess is everybodys favorite part of being in congress. I don’t see them sacrificing their recesses to stop a SG appointment.

    This Congress is all about posturing for 2008.

  23. 23.

    demimondian

    Do you think we should tell him that next year is an election year?

    It is? Really?

    Gosh, and here I thought that two thirds of the Senate wasn’t up for election on any given even numbered year.

  24. 24.

    The Other Steve

    Aint gonna happen IMO, and he knows it. Recess is everybodys favorite part of being in congress. I don’t see them sacrificing their recesses to stop a SG appointment.

    Ohwell, so the SG guy gets to serve 3 months in office. whoop de do

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  1. […] Predictably, the usual nitwits have a problem with a candidate who’s not afraid to tell the American people the truth about homosexuality. Why these people would rather defend deviant lifestyles than the Holy Bible and the teachings of both the Old and the New Testaments is beyond me. Then again, these are the same kinds of people who defend Helioleftism, Darwinism, “global” warming, and the concept of the spherical Earth. Very little they can say should continue to surprise us. They’ll stop at nothing to hinder morality, decency, and rationality in America, and they’re proud- yes, proud!- to thwart their country in this way. […]