Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

One way or another, he’s a liar.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.

DeSantis transforming Florida into 1930s Germany with gators and theme parks.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Let’s bury these fuckers at the polls 2 years from now.

There are some who say that there are too many strawmen arguments on this blog.

It’s pointless to bring up problems that can only be solved with a time machine.

You cannot love your country only when you win.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

You are either for trump or for democracy. Pick one.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Never give a known liar the benefit of the doubt.

The words do not have to be perfect.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We’re watching the self-immolation of the leading world power on a level unprecedented in human history.

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Republicans: The threats are dire, but my tickets are non-refundable!

You are here: Home / Elections / Election 2008 / We All Support Checks and Balances Now

We All Support Checks and Balances Now

by | 37 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

That didn’t take very long. Apparently we don’t need to actually elect a Democrat to get Republicans concerned about checks and balances and an out of control executive branch. All we needed to do was mention the possibility of this happening.

For at least five years, I have been trying to tell Republicans who were doing whatever Bush wanted to think about “What you would do if this was Bill Clinton.”

Apparently, they are now listening.

Reader Interactions

37Comments

  1. 1.

    J.D. Rhoades

    Oh, don’t worry. They’ll fall in line soon enough and all we’ll be hearing about is “obstructionist America Hating Democrats Suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome.”

  2. 2.

    Delia

    Hmmm. I contacted all my Congresscritters, including Gordon Smith, the senator. According to the election ads he’s been running on the teevee, he’s hardly even a Republican anymore, although he’s definitely running against a Democrat. So I’ll be interested to see what he does.

  3. 3.

    paradox

    Well, I would argue that although the possibility of an Obama presidency certainly weighs on them, it’s the nature of this issue that drives them too.

    Give the president unfettered powers to torture ragheads? Cool.

    Give the president unfettered power to expand government and get us more into debt? Not cool.

    It’s not everything, but some of that has to be there.

  4. 4.

    jake

    Thereafter, NR’s Yuval Levin proclaimed that nobody could read through the Paulson proposal “without concluding that everyone in Washington has lost their minds.”

    Yeah. Pay no attention to the origin of this bare-faced attempt at robbery. It’s “everyone.” Clowns.

    I also don’t understand why people keep comparing this to public reaction to FISA. 700 Billion Dollars is very easy to understand.

  5. 5.

    jhaygood

    I have some crap I’d like to unload too. Does anyone have Paulson’s number? But I’m afraid he won’t be interested, because it seems he only wants to buy crap that you have been able bilk others into investing in and to milk for a steady stream of mega bonuses until it BECOMES crap. Regular garden variety honest crap isn’t selling, it’s only the mega crap built on lies and obfuscation that is tax-dollar worthy.

    Crap…

  6. 6.

    Balconesfault

    Congress is understanding that they’re still going to be around trying to deal with the budget mess after the Bush crowd has fled town … and it’s a “holy s**t” moment.

  7. 7.

    SGEW

    [O/T (kind of – the tag does say “Republican Crime Syndicate – aka the Bush Admin”)]

    Holy cow. The normally understated Juan Cole (no relation) totally loses his shit.

    I have concluded that Americans, who pretend in public to be straitlaced, are in fact rabid masochists addicted to whips, black leather and the application of fists.

    . . .

    . . . in the wake of the greatest and most sustained act of systematic plunder since the Mongol hordes appropriated to themselves the riches of everyplace in Asia from Beijing to Isfahan, the reaction of the supine and slave-like American voting public is to scratch their heads and have a hard time deciding if they would like more of the same.

    . . .

    Despite his aristocratic prerogatives and connections in high society, even the Marquis de Sade himself was brought down by a lowly maid, who complained to the police of his cutting her while having his way with her, leading to his arrest.

In contrast to that plucky domestic servant, the American public appears to enjoy being lacerated while being badly used, moaning with delight at each new act of abuse and abasement, while, blue-lipped, gasping for air.

    Awesome.

  8. 8.

    r€nato

    Juan Cole is shrill.

    I for one heartily approve of President Mugabe’s plan to complete the ransacking of the US Treasury, and I look forward to staying warm this winter by burning my worthless stock certificates and paper money.

  9. 9.

    cleek

    it’s odd that we’re not hearing more about the last great bank bailout – a piddling $160B. odder still that they’re ignoring it since a man very much in the news today was very much in the news then, too.

    alas, the liberal media has no time for such things.

  13. 13.

    El Cid

    Digby (citing Ed Kilgore) highlights the great possibility that Republicans get to use any Democrat-approved bailout to run a populist McCain campaign against the “Bush-Pelosi” bailout.

    [Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini:]

    God Himself couldn’t have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration. That’s why I want to see 40 Republican No votes in the Senate, and 150+ in the House. If a bailout is to pass, let it be with Democratic votes. Let this be the political establishment (Bush Republicans in the White House + Democrats in Congress) saddling the taxpayers with hundreds of billions in debt (more than the Iraq War, conjured up in a single weekend, and enabled by Pelosi, btw), while principled Republicans say “No” and go to the country with a stinging indictment of the majority in Congress…

    …For McCain and other Republicans, voting “no” on Paulson without accepting the consequences of that vote is the political equivalent of a bottomless crack pipe: it will please the conservative “base,” distance them from both Bush and “Washington,” and let them indulge in both anti-government and anti-corporate demagoguery, even as Democrats bail out their Wall Street friends and big investors generally. You simply can’t imagine a better way for McCain to decisively reinforce his simultaneous efforts to pander to the “base” while posing as a “maverick.”

  15. 15.

    The Moar You Know

    Digby (citing Ed Kilgore) highlights the great possibility that Republicans get to use any Democrat-approved bailout to run a populist McCain campaign against the “Bush-Pelosi” bailout.

    Dems had better oppose any and all bailout efforts or we’re going to get crucified as Ruffini cites. Let the goddamn Republicans take care of their real “base” instead of getting complicit Dems, such as Pelosi, to do their dirty work for them. Again.

  17. 17.

    Incertus

    The problem with Ruffini’s logic is that he assumes the Democrats will give Bush a bill he’d be willing to sign, or for that matter, one that could make it through the Senate in the first place. That’s Bush’s M.O., after all; make the Senate take the hit so he doesn’t have to veto anything. No wonder the Republicans have gone from a high of 55 Senators to staring 42-43 in the face after November.

  18. 18.

    Dennis - SGMM

    Being an Old Guy, I clearly remember the collapse of Japan’s Bubble Economy. Some of the fundamentals were the same as our current mess; a sudden rise in real estate prices (With no change in the underlying fundamentals) followed by borrowing and speculation which in turn led to higher real estate prices and more borrowing and speculation – until it all fell down in 1990.

    It took Japan twenty years of work to recover from the collapse. They did it in part by rewarding savings to increase the savings rate (Japanese bank accounts currently hold $15 trillion), by rigorous economizing, and by making things that people wanted and selling them at a profit. That they weren’t mired in not-winning two wars half a decade on probably helped too.

    Of the steps that Japan took to recover from its economic collapse, how many do you think can or will be instituted by the US? That’s why the market is still tanking and oil prices are rising: the world is losing confidence in our ability to extricate ourselves from this mess. If the world decides to stop throwing good money after bad our “consumer economy” (An oxymoron if I ever heard one) is really going to hurt.

    In view of that, the Paulson Plan is likely just the last run at the trough for the piggies that got us into this.

  19. 19.

    Michael D.

    Off topic, but this is fucking insane…

    At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

    McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

  21. 21.

    Joshau Norton

    Gee, do you think they might have finally realized that just buying the toxic waste won’t really help? They’ll have to pay the declared value plus a big mark-up for it to do any good. So we’re not only going to have to buy crap, but overpriced crap, at that.

    Sounds like a plan… A plan put together by someone who’s never run a successful company. A plan put together by someone like Bush.

    A man. A plan. A colossal fuck up.

  22. 22.

    w vincentz

    Seems to me that if deriviatives have expanded to $516 trillion (yup…with a T) and the US GDP at $15 trillion, and the entire fuckin’ planet’s GDP at around $50 trillion, and every bit of real estate on the planet worth about $100 trillion, there really doesn’t seem to be way of reigning this in, despite Goldman Sach’s ex-ceo’s (Paulson) best efforts.
    That is, unless we all give up eating for the next ten years and ALL pitch in to gather the cans and bottles we find alongside the highways for the nickle each they bring.
    I’m currently writing a cookbook, “How to Make Delicious Soups From Your Lawn Mowings and Other Yard Bounty”.
    Let me know if you’d like an advance copy.

  23. 23.

    Dennis - SGMM

    McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

    The fact that she’s ignorant and inexperienced might also leave her at a disadvantage. Did the McCain campaign demand a list of the questions to be asked yet?

  24. 24.

    cleek

    McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

    Biden should walk out with a big sign that says that.

  25. 25.

    montysano

    [Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini:]

    God Himself couldn’t have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration.

    I guess I need to start believing in a God, so that I can start believing in a Hell, so that I can hope that there is a special Circle of Hell reserved for those with such an abject lack of morals or integrity or patriotism.

    Failing that, playing Punch the Republican works for me.

  26. 26.

    Dennis - SGMM

    I’m currently writing a cookbook, “How to Make Delicious Soups From Your Lawn Mowings and Other Yard Bounty”.
    Let me know if you’d like an advance copy.

    “Customers who bought this book also bought “25 Ways to Wok Your Dog.”

  27. 27.

    Joshau Norton

    The fact that she’s ignorant and inexperienced might also leave her at a disadvantage.

    I guess she can’t see a school from her house.

  28. 28.

    LiberalTarian

    Dude. If Palin is not ready to debate (without blinking), she is not ready to be vice-president. They bought this toilet paper, they should have to use it.

  29. 29.

    greynoldsct00

    Off topic, but this is fucking insane…

    At the insistence of the McCain campaign, the Oct. 2 debate between the Republican nominee for vice president, Gov. Sarah Palin, and her Democratic rival, Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., will have shorter question-and-answer segments than those for the presidential nominees, the advisers said. There will also be much less opportunity for free-wheeling, direct exchanges between the running mates.

    McCain advisers said they had been concerned that a loose format could leave Ms. Palin, a relatively inexperienced debater, at a disadvantage and largely on the defensive.

    What was it that Hillary said? If you can’t stand the heat? Maybe it’s better this way, we know Biden’s damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t in his responses during the debate. Some pitbull she is. JHC.

  30. 30.

    Stuck in the Fun House

    [Republican strategist Patrick Ruffini:]

    God Himself couldn’t have given rank-and-file Republicans a better opportunity to create political space between themselves and the Administration.

    I guess we can call it the Amoeba Effect of seeing republicans undergoing Mitosis en masse to become their same but different selves. Dr. Tim, please advise on this new phenomena . We must chronicle it our journals of wingnut bullshit.

  32. 32.

    cleek

    Some pitbull she is. JHC.

    my guess is that this is another expectations game. set her up like she’s going to fail spectacularly, and when she doesn’t, she wins.

  33. 33.

    w vincentz

    @ Dennis,
    I like the wok/dog one. My sequel will be about the free meat that is waiting for take-out at the local ASPCA.
    Recipes include “Poached Pooch” and “Kitty Fried Tastes Like Chicken”.
    I’m an inspired chef afterall, since I purchased B. R. Peterson’s “Roadkill Cookbook”. Bumper Bambi and Windshield Wabbit are two of my favorites. In the section on yellow-line yummies, the only one that doesn’t work out to my palate is Highway Hash. Must be an acquired taste.

  34. 34.

    The Moar You Know

    The problem with Ruffini’s logic is that he assumes the Democrats will give Bush a bill he’d be willing to sign, or for that matter, one that could make it through the Senate in the first place.

    Incertus: this is a trap. He’ll be more than willing to sign it. And Dems will ram it through the Senate without any support – but without any serious opposition, like a filibuster – from Republicans. Just watch. Ruffini is dead-on right here.

Comments are closed.