Eric Cantor, aka Harry Ellis, is on my tv touting the Republican stimulus plan, which for the life of me I can not find online. I have searched Boehner’s site, I have looked in the House Republican Study group, and I can’t find anything. Considering the Republican plan when the economy was good and the coffers were full was tax cuts, and the Republican plan when the economy was lagging was tax cuts, and the Republican plan while we were fighting two wars and the deficit was rising was more tax cuts, and the Republican plan for, well, everything is tax cuts, I am going to go out on a limb and guess that the Republican plan for economic stimulus is going to be… tax cuts.
Assuming they even have a plan.
Regardless, Cantor is claiming it will create twice the jobs as the Democratic plan, which seems to me to be taking the art of bullshit to the level of the sublime. No one really knows how many jobs the Democratic plan will create, if any (and I have my doubts that it will do anything but add more debt), but Cantor assures us the Republican plan, which I can not find, will create double the jobs of the Democratic plan. My own secret plan is even better- it will create TRIPLE the jobs of the Republican plan. I just am not ready to release my plan yet.
At any rate, as I sit here and listen to this moron, I keep hearing him say that the Republicans are dedicated to preserving jobs. Now, correct me if I am wrong, but didn’t Cantor and the GOP spend the last few months openly rooting for the failure of the auto industry in the hopes that several million union jobs would go up in smoke? But now they are all about job preservation?
How any of these guys got elected again in 2008 is beyond me.
Comrade Dread
I too have a super secret stimulus plan which will create quadruple the jobs. Just give me 1 trillion dollars and I’ll make it happen.
I promise.
Really.
No fakies.
NonWonderDog
For anyone interested, the bit about Romer saying that the multiplier on tax cuts was actually at least 2.2 (where the fuck did that come from?) is a blatant lie. Nate Silver actually covered this a couple weeks ago. Twice.
Suffice it to say, the study finds exactly the opposite of what Boner claimed. It shows that tax cuts in good times can have a multiplier effect, but flat out says that counter-cyclical tax cuts don’t fucking work.
Joshua Norton
They also want to eliminate the minimum wage so employers can pay them less, which will create more "jobs" that cannot sustain a single person – let alone a family.
At the same time they push that odious crap, they work every angle to give the wealthy more tax breaks, more disposable income and to give employers totalitarian control over employees.
What do they give back in return? They want to give more prisons to house each other, more guns to kill each other, and more Jesus to get them into Heaven when it happens.
NonWonderDog
And, since I don’t have permission to edit my comment (?), I’ll point out here that Christine Romer is the same person behind the Obama team’s estimates that tax cuts have a multiplier of 0.75, and infrastructure spending has a multiplier of 1.5.
Boner and the rest of them are basically claiming that they understand Romer’s research better than the Obama team does, even though Romer herself is on Obama’s team.
BDeevDad
Another question, why don’t newspeople ever ask these questions? And I mean of both sides. Did they see the air time tweety got for calling out the talk radio host. It’s like they are playing slow pitch softball and home runs are not allowed.
Fwiffo
The Republican "alternative" is an amendment in the nature of a substitute. Congress Matters has a list of the amendments under debate, which includes the Camp/Cantor substitute (#11).
Rick Taylor
I’m pretty much used to all this by now. Bush discovered way back in 2000 that campaign promises about the likely effects of economic policy didn’t have to have anything to do with reality. You could make up what you wanted, and only economists like Krugman who was just pegged as being shrill and partisan would raise a fuss. This is just the logical conclusion. My ability to be outraged by it is exhausted; it’s business as usual.
The Grand Panjandrum
I heard the same press conference and laughed like a 300 pound hyena. Half the cost! Twice the number of jobs created! We used the same methodology as Obama’s chief economic advisor! Alas their lips were moving so I knew they were lying.
Why would we believe one fucking word out of those lying fuckers? After the CBO "report" they kept quoting earlier on they have less credibility than Richard Nixon.
John Cole
Unemployed people don’t need tax cuts. Just going to throw that out there. I understand it is more complicated than that, but the problem is that we have millions of underemployed and unemployed, and income has not grown acceptably in decades, that you basically have a ton of people with no purchasing power. Businesses were so successful at suppressing wages that no one can buy their shit now that the easy credit is gone.
Giving John Thain a tax cut so he can refurnish his office again isn’t going to create any jobs. He isn’t going to expand in this economic climate. He will just take the money and invest it in something safe and ride this out.
It reminds me of the banks who just had to have that bankruptcy bill, and then they got it, and it screwed them.
Brien Jackson
Whats really alarming is the degree to which Republicans are willing to lie through their teeth. I don’t remember which group did the study, but in any event the takeaway was that a dollar in spending creates more jobs than a dollar in tax cuts at a 6:1 clip. Which makes a lot of sense, because even Norah O’Donnell realizes that if you spend $200 million renovating the National Mall you have to actually hire someone to do the damn work. On the other hand, I could spend a $500 tax credit at Wal-Mart, but they don’t really need to hire any extra cashiers to ring up my worthless shit.
In other words, Cantor isn’t being optimistic, he’s just fucking lying.
Napoleon
That would actually do something, although if you spent in on something from China it wouldn’t nearly do the good that buying American steel and concrete to build a bridge, or for that matter American sod to re-sod the Mall in Washington (which would mean people to install it, ship it, and grow it would be at work), but that fact of the matter is a good percentage of people would just save it (which by definition includes paying down existing debt). I can guarantee you that unless you were giving me thousands of dollars I would save every last penny.
Cols714
Yeah
I don’t see an end to this. When one party is allowed to lie as much as they want about everything, how are voters supposed to figure out who to vote for? I’m not feeling too optimistic about America right now.
I wonder if the media will wake up in time?
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@John Cole:
Wasn’t Henry Ford smart enough to figure out that he needed to pay his workers well so that they could afford to buy his cars?
Why did his successors in the business world not figure this shit out? Did they really think all Americans could simply go into debt indefinitely on an endless stream of credit fueling an eternal consumerist frenzy? Or was it more of a collective smash-and-grab mentality- make your millions, then when the going gets tough convert them to Euros or pesos or yen and head for greener pastures?
TheFountainHead
Why do people listen to Eric Cantor? I mean, if anyone can show me a media appearance he’s made where he HASN’T lied, I’d be shocked.
Brien Jackson
That’s the wages of having a "news" network founded and run by a political operative. "Fair and balanced" isn’t a well-tested brand, it’s a political strategy, and it worked. Ailes beat into the psyche that the news media is supposed to act as a stenography service, passing along "both sides" with credulity. Of course it doesn’t work like that, because you can’t be expected to "decide" when one side is just flat making things up and the "refs" aren’t telling you that. Which is why the media’s real job is to inform the public, but 30 odd years of bashing the "liberal media" has given them a bad case of battered wife syndrome.
El Cid
Nobody, but nobody hates America and Americans like Republicans hate America and Americans.
sarah
when is the tv going to catch up to the election? all the talking heads rightwing blowhards have on rightwing congressmen. you’d think more than 5 states were republican. the noise machine feels especially deafening lately.
John PM
@Fwiffo: #6
Fwiffo is correct, and as John guessed, the amendment is almost entirely about tax cuts. The final section of the amendment also cites the CBO Report of January 7, 2009, which, if I remember correctly, John has previously pointed out does not actually exist. BTW, I see nothing in the amendment that would support a claim of creating twice the jobs of the Obama plan.
Brian J
Should Cantor make some ludicrous claim about the nubmer of jobs that will be created, and should the press as any reason to exist, I hope one reporter asks him which economist(s) went over the plan and which are not only willing to put their names on it but appear publicly to defend it? My guess is, nobody credible will appear.
Trinity
@El Cid: Ain’t that the truth! How this is not obvious to everyone is beyond me. I have had to stop watching the MSM. It is like they didn’t even pay attention to the election we just had.
Cols714
I think most of what people claim is the Democrats’ problems are just the media’s problems. How can they expect to compete when every cable news show has on an endless stream of Republican operatives who are allowed to lie about everything. There is just no way to combat that. We are so screwed.
TenguPhule
John, you really must update this tag to "Republicans lying as usual"
Stupidity doesn’t even cut the mustard anymore.
demkat620
IMHO, the dems should just get on with passing this. The more these assclowns talk the worse it gets for them. Just pass it and ignore them.
TenguPhule
Just a few more words and I have the GOP/Big Business argument in a nutshell.
The Grand Panjandrum
OT: Nora O’Donnell just announced that Blago will speak at his Senate trial sometime this week. Talk about must see TV!
EDIT: Here is a link
21cdb
are you keeping your plan in the same drawer with the Larry Johnson ‘whitey’ tape? Stuff seems to get lost in that drawer.
Linkmeister
One word: Gerrymandering
(I’ll defer my rant about using Iowa’s redistricting process as a model for the nation to another time.)
John Cole
Well, that and the Demcorats aren’t smart enough to craft a bill without irresponsible bullshit, depriving the Republicans with legitimate things to bitch about that they use as cover to bitch about everything else.
But seriously, the Republicans sound like heroin addicts when it comes to tax cuts:
“In a good mood- I think I will shoot up.
I’m in a bad mood, I think I will shoot up.
Had a great day today, I will do some smack to celebrate.
I had a shitty day today, I will do some junk and that will make me feel better.
Lost my job, I wil shoot up.
Got a new job, I will shoot up.”
Just substitute “shoot up” with tax cut, and you have a House Republican.
Zifnab
I look forward to the "Duke Nukem Forever" of bailout packages.
TenguPhule
Hah!
My superduper non-secret plan will quintiple jobs created!
Step 1: All Republicans in Office, Bush Admin appointees and Conservative Pundits will be thrown into a pit of lions.
Step 2: PPV of the carnage.
Step 3: Profit!
JGabriel
John Cole @ Top:
I blame Inbreeding, Ayn Rand, and Christian Fundamentalism.
Kind of the Republican version of a Lawyers, Guns, and Money clusterfuck.
.
TenguPhule
*Points to the John Cole of 2004 for your answer*
Half of Americans are slower then you are.
gopher2b
I’m convinced the only stimulus package that would work is $500 billion in infrastructure and $500 billion in gift/debit cards for everyone (roughly $3-4k) per family. You could use the cards on anything except paying down debt or saving. You have to spend it within 6 months or the balance goes to zero. I think it would work.
BC
Problem with debating the likes of the GOP is the same as biologists debating creationists – the GOP (and creationist) make up such shit that it’s mind boggling. The side that is willing to lie always has the upper hand in debates, simply because you not only have to refute it, you also have to explain to people why what they said is a lie. Hard to do when you only have a few minutes. I watched the stem cell debate in the 110th Congress on CSPAN in early 2007 and realized that the GOP gives everybody talking points and their debaters stick doggedly to the talking points, even if they have been debunked several times. It is kind of amusing to see the 5th or 6th debater doggedly reiterating a line that was refuted when the 1st debater stated it – so you know they don’t listen to the other side, they just get up and do their schtick. So we need some kind of honest broker that will call them on their shit (which would actually benefit the GOP as they would have to be more reality based and less ideological) and give the American people a way of judging if what they’re saying has any relationship to reality. Used to the media, but they’re too busy trying to figure out the personal relationships between congressmen to actually listen to the boring debate.
Brian J
As an addition to the deep thought from earlier today or last night, now that the Republicans are probably going to vote against this, can we make a bigger and better stimulus package? Can it be $1 trillion, if it’s necessary, instead of $825 billion? Unless there are a number of conservative Democrats who are going to piss themselves when they see a bigger number, why not pass a bigger bill now rather than an additional bill some months down the line?
Brien Jackson
What items that the GOP was bitching about is "irresponsbile bullshit?"
Linkmeister
gopher2b, not unless the goods and services were produced in the US. If it’s all spent at Wal-Mart on Chinese-made products. . .
Brien Jackson
I think the WH’s strategy is pretty simple; give the GOP more or less everything they want, and then have them vote against the bill anyway. Sounds stupid on the face of it, but what you do is use the bully pulpit to point out how unserious Congressional Republicans are in the aftermath, and use it as a bludgeon for the next two years. No idea if it will be able to work in our media environment, but it makes a lot of sense to me anyway.
scarshapedstar
Bear in mind we’re talking about a voting populace that
reelected a man who sat idly by and snickered while the worst terrorist attack in American history took place on his watch…because they trusted him to keep them safe.
The Moar You Know
@Scruffy McSnufflepuss: The term "robber barons" did not appear out of thin air. Most businesspeople and bankers will only be responsible and ethical when there is a gun pointed at their head. Literally.
TenguPhule
Fixed.
Scruffy McSnufflepuss
@The Moar You Know:
True enough. The GOP always wanted an oligarchy to masquerade as a republic. But in the later, terminal stages of voodoo economics, the oligarchy became a mask for an even more insidious kleptocracy.
The rats will flee the sinking ship soon enough, if they haven’t begun to already.
Brian J
If the steps taken following that series of actions are to pass a better, possibly bigger bill and then use it to kill them, perhaps it’s a good strategy. After all, there are only so many times you should let the other side spit in your face.
Brien Jackson
I would imagine the things that were cut would go in other appropriation bills.
amorphous
I feel like every time Cantor is on TV he should end his interview by saying, "The Aristocrats!" and then we could all laugh.
JL
Tell Boehner to forego his tanning sessions and makeup and donate the extra money he has to the needy. Talk about a stimulus.
Does anyone know what time they vote?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Trickle Down theory is going to be the thing that absolutely does us in.
And since the WH is in different party hands these days, why is listening to the whining of Republicans such a big deal?
Brian J
Perhaps, but then wouldn’t it be harder to pass them, at least a decent amount of the time?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
The sooner the better. At least after they are gone, we have a better idea of how to create a working economy again, even if it is much smaller than previously.
dr. bloor
Did you check the filing cabinet where McCain keeps his plan to apprehend bin Laden?
Brien Jackson
I don’t see why. What are Republicans going to do, swear that they mean it this time?
jenniebee
No matter what the actual stimulus plan does, Cantor will be right there to claim that the slowdown (you have to be a pollyanna to think it’s going to be a reversal) of unemployment is all due to the natural business cycle and it would have been more if we weren’t all being so unfair to the rich by not giving them more every year.
Question, if tax cuts are the answer, what happens when tax rates are zero? And if it’s not necessary to get to zero, what number does it have to get to? Where does this end? And if magical, special, perfect things were supposed to happen at that number, why didn’t Republicans just go for that number from the start? And why does it always have to be income taxes that go down and payroll taxes that get left alone?
When, Lord, when? When’s it gonna be my time?
kindness
My plan is even better…
Give all the money to me! I’ll then hire every illegal alien I can find & will have the best sodded & manicured lawn your money can buy me.
Bwaaahahaha…
sean
to answer why these guys got re-elected in 2008, I turn to George Carlin:
"Just think how stupid the average person is, and then realize that half of them are even stupider."
John Cole
@Brien Jackson: I would argue anything they have immediately scrapped or backpedaled on once the GOP raised objections about it. So, for one, the whole contraceptives bullshit. If they were not willing to fight for it, if they were not willing to take a stand and show how it was stimulative or appropriate for this bill, it was irresponsible and stupid to put it in the bill. It gave the GOP a good talking point and served as a rallying call.
That doesn’t mean I don’t think it is worth funding at some point, or that I think it is a bad program. My argument has to do with optics.
Reverend Dennis
It would be interesting if one, just one, reporter replied to a Republican whiner, "Your party had free reign for six years and look what it got us. Why should we listen to your ideas now?"
TheHatOnMyCat
Terms "gerrymander" and "safe district" are not figures of speech. They are real things. They produce real results.
JL
@John Cole: Personally it is difficult for me to know what will create or preserve jobs. Yesterday on NPR they said that the arts were hurting and 5 million people work in the arts so maybe that should be in the bill.
TheHatOnMyCat
Because "NOTHING HAPPENED" doesn’t sell newspapers, or attract barking dogs to blogs, dear.
ppcli
I wonder what the Republicans would argue for if they finally cut taxes to zero. I’m betting they’d demand that any salary over $100,000 be doubled by federal matching funds. To do otherwise would be to "punish success".
Brien Jackson
I don’t know about that. I mean, if I’m the GOP and I’m trying to pick things out of the bill to demagogue, then I want Democrats arguing in favor of it. Indeed, I need them to do that if my goal is to tar the whole bill by extension. It’s the Bridge to Nowhere strategy. Everytime earmarks come up now, someone screams "Bridge to Nowhere," and it’s worked as a shorthand to demagogue all earmarks, even though plenty of projects that get funding through them makes a lot of sense, gives people jobs, and so on. On the other hand, if you take things out as Republicans complain about them, then they have to find something else, which you take out, and then they’ve got to keep going. Eventually they’re going to come across something that’s actually pretty popular, or they’re just going to look ridiculous.
This is a hypothetical of course, because I’ve got no way to know that that really is the thinking, but if it is it seems like a really good long term strategy to marginalize the GOP for the next 2 years, as long as you’re willing to use the WH bully pulpit to continuously drive home the message that Republicans are nothing more than unserious obstructionists.
CatStaff
@TenguPhule:
These guys put me in mind of this speech by Satan in "Devil’s Advocate":
"God’s creature, right? God’s special creature. I’ve warned him, Kevin. I’ve warned him every step of the way. Watching him bounce around like a fucking game. Like a wind-up toy. Like pounds of self-serving greed on wheels. The next thousand years is right around the corner. Eddie Barzoon… take a good look because he’s the poster child for the next millennium. These people, it’s no mystery where they come from. You sharpen the human appetite to the point where it can split atoms with its desire. You build egos the size of cathedrals. Fiber-optically connect the world to every eager impulse. Grease even the dullest dreams with these dollar-green gold-plated fantasies until every human becomes an aspiring emperor, becomes his own god. Where can you go from there? As we’re scrambling from one deal to the next, who’s got his eye on the planet? As the air thickens, the water sours, even bees’ honey takes on the metallic taste of radioactivity… and it just keeps coming, faster and faster. There’s no chance to think, to prepare; it’s buy futures, sell futures.. when there is no future. We got a runaway train, boy. We got a billion Eddie Barzoons all jogging into the future. Every one of them is getting ready to fistf*ck God’s ex-planet, lick their fingers clean, as they reach out toward their pristine, cybernetic keyboards to tote up their f*cking billable hours. And then it hits home. You got to pay your own way, Eddie. It’s a little late in the game to buy out now. Your belly’s too full, your dick is sore, your eyes are bloodshot and you’re screaming for someone to help. But guess what, there’s no one there! You’re all alone, Eddie, ‘CAUSE YOU’RE GOD’S SPECIAL LITTLE CREATURE."
demimondian
@John Cole: Not so. It gave the Dems a sacrificial point to cave on.
It’s the classic "pig might sing" argument. After all, the pig might sing, why not? And, if it doesn’t…well, what have you lost?
TheHatOnMyCat
What have you lost by turning important policy issues into rhetorical footballs, food for the chatteratti, grist for the blogblatherers?
Well, you have turned policy issues into rhetorical footballs, food for the chatteratti, and grist for the blogblatherers. To what effect? To win a news cycle?
That’s what Republicans do. Are we them now?
Brien Jackson
@64
You can’t take politics out of politics.
demimondian
@TheHatOnMyCat: Why would they be rhetorical footballs, TZ? The Republicans are *going* to soil their nappies and run around and whine. Why not give them something to do that with which you can drop from the bill?
kay
@ppcli:
Republicans don’t have an ideological objection to pork. Pork is just federal money brought home to a district or voting group.
They spent like sailors when they were directing money to voters in their district or wingnut causes. I saw the sense in that, when they were shipping money to Delay’s district. We lost, they won, and Congress spends money. I accepted that.
They can’t do that anymore, because they’re a real minority, in the House anyway. It’s a no-brainer to get religion on "pork" (I question the whole concept of pork) when you lose, and can’t direct any. That’s what they really mean when they say they didn’t draft the bill. They can’t say that, though. Democrats can’t say it either.
They’re incredibly dishonest and whiny losers, I must say.
Brian J
Another contribution to the "Where did they get this guy?" file, via Steve Benen, via TPM:
Laura W
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero: (I just left a question on your web site, if you’re still offering!)
J.D. Rhoades
If tax cuts alone were the answer, we’d all be rich after 8 years of Bush.
We’re not.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
If you are a Republican, I’m sorry, but I’m going to have to cancel our plans for tonight. I do not associate with Republicans, either in public or otherwise. ;)
TheHatOnMyCat
Why go through these gyrations? Why play these stupid games? Lard up a bill with stuff you intend to drop so that you can grab some laughs on the way to the bill signing?
I don’t care for it. I don’t really care for legislation schemes that load up bills about A with stuff for B, C and D and then play musical chairs games with the provisions.
The same people here who want to play games like that will whine when the theatrics and the games don’t go their way. Waaah, theatrics and games! If we want straightforward government and straightforward legislation, then maybe we should try practicing it?
What a concept, I know.
kay
@Brian J:
Spending on mass transit isn’t going to benefit conservative districts. They’re going to fight anything remotely "urban".
I saw the 2002 Farm Bill as straight quid pro quo for the 2000 election, though. I felt they should have just handed conservative voters in farm states 200 bucks each as they left the polling place.
Brien Jackson
@72
That’s a lovely conception of life, but the world doesn’t work that way.
TheHatOnMyCat
I wasn’t aware I had a website. Where is that?
I did have a picture of something or other up last year but I forgot where the hell I put it.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@Laura W:
Answered best I could. I have not done what you ask myself, but can’t see why my suggestion wouldn’t work.
Good luck!
TenguPhule
But then it wouldn’t be politics anymore and DC would be in a permanent recession.
TheHatOnMyCat
Heck no, I’m an Obamacrat.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
My blockquoting site TZ. LMAO! Not everything is about YOU!
You see my name and automatically think of you? Too funny!
Brian J
I don’t know if you can classify Flake’s remarks as "anti-urban." They just seem stupid for the sake of opposing something.
demimondian
@TheHatOnMyCat: You’re missing my point.
Would it have been nice to have the contraception provision? You betcha. Is it worth fighting for, once the Republicans have started pounding their chests? Not really. By sacrificing the point, the Dems let themselves focus on what’s important — getting the big part of the bill passed.
TheHatOnMyCat
Are you guys at the RANTZ location? I don’t have that info handy so please send me the address and password so I can see what’s up too.
Sorry, I could probably find the stuff if I went looking for it but I am too distracted with work stuff right now. I may not have a job to rely on but while I am here I have plenty to do!
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Whew! Okay, our plans still stand, I won’t be embarrassed to be seen with you in public, I swear! ;)
TheHatOnMyCat
Not really, no. I don’t think contraception is something that belongs in this package. For reasons already stated, on another thread.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
No hon, click my link, but if you need the RANTZ info, I’ll dig it out. It’s on my hotmail though so give me some time, I have to go hunt it down.
TheHatOnMyCat
True. I guess I misread something, sorry.
Never mind, sorry to disturb you guys.
Laura W
@TheHatOnMyCat: All this time I thought you two were two separate people and were dating! You really had me fooled there.
Damn me and my taking stuff at face value naivete.
TheHatOnMyCat
I promise not to chew food with my mouth open.
I swear.
SnarkIntern
We are two people but several handles.
But anyway, I’m concerned, that’s all.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Laura, we are two separate people, although I don’t know if you could call what we’re doing dating. ;)
Laura W
Here.
It’s not quite the same, but far more 2009ish. Change you can certainly believe in.
Faisal
A secret plan to helpthe economy? Are the Republicans in Congress getting their policy initiatives from "The West Wing?"
SnarkIntern
Not bad. If my present gig doesn’t work out in the new economy, cat headgear might be a fallback.
I’m open to new ideas. No seriously, I am.
I AM TOO DAMMIT.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
This is just a test, nevermind the content, although I am linking to TZ’s argument of why contraception shouldn’t have been included in the bill:
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
You’re right Laura, it doesn’t work. I’ll work on this.
JGabriel
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero:
Corrected for accuracy.
.
kay
@Brian J:
Republicans are (now) asking me to believe the following statement:
"I lost my House seat because I brought home too much federal money for my district".
Conservative voters object to pork that doesn’t land in their district, like all voters. If it lands in their district, or on their "cause" it’s no longer pork. I’m not judging or hectoring. They pay in, they want a piece when it’s going out. It makes sense.
That isn’t why they lost. No one loses a House seat that way.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Another test, pay no attention:
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Hmmm! Laura, apparently BJ has some sort of "same site" link blocking involved. There’s gotta be a way, although I’m not sure right off hand what it is.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@
Another test, sorry folks. Trying to solve a problem here.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Thank you JGabriel, I totally agree.
Chuck Butcher
C’mon John, if you can ask that question then why didn’t you expect a 77/23% Presidential election?
Do you remember yourself as a Republican? Do you remember why you never looked at the Party with the same eyes you did right before you bolted?
A person could go on and on about tribalism, social issues, god, vested interests, ignorance, stupidity, and… There is something to be said about gerrymandering but look at the districts and it isn’t that much of the story.
By 2004 most of the news was in on BushCo if a person was willing to look at all and you voted how? I will state again that an intellectual outlook that involves critical thinking and intellectual curiousity virtually guarantees a left of center ending. Look at the people involved and their intellects and see if you think I’m making things up. That certainly doesn’t exclude the left from kneejerk reactions, but c’mon.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
@Testing again
Pay no attention to me. Testing again.
Laura W
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero: Why don’t we just ask John or DougJ to have a heart and put us out of our misery? Several posters used it today alone.
Unless you actually enjoy figuring that stuff out, of course.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Okay Laura, here’s what I did:
I put an @ sign (not sure if it’s necessary)
I placed the link in first without the ? and post # info
I went into edit and removed the "rel=no follow" from the link
I went back into the link and added in the ? and post# info
It worked.
What you want to do is set the link without the website info, just the post # and comment number starting from the ? through to the comment number and that is all.
Does that help?
JGabriel
The Silent Fiddle of Nero:
Silent Fiddle, you don’t need a p-tag around every paragraph in a blockquote. You just need one at the beginning and end. For example, the above blockquote was formatted this way (brackets replaced by parens):
(blockquote)(p)Pay no attention to me. Testing again.
Edited by JG to add: This is an extra paragraph to prove a point.(/p)(/blockquote)
Finally, in order to get the intrathread comment pointers Laura asked about, just click on the curved arrow icon to the right of the comment’s date and field.
The @ sign is not necessary. I routinely delete it (see the top of this comment) because I think it’s redundant and looks silly.l
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The Silent Fiddle of Nero
I do, I do! and I did it too. And for the record, the Video Professor is for wussies!
LMAO! ;)
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
That might work on your browser, doesn’t work on most. We had a huge discussion about this when the website went through the change. Most people refuse to do multiple paragraph blockquoting here because the second and all following paragraph(s) usually get(s) relegated to an area beneath the blockquote.
And, did you know what we were trying to do? Perhaps you should have sought to figure out what we were doing before sticking your nose into it?
Laura W
JGabriel:
I was asking about embedding a comment from a whole ‘nother thread into a whole ‘nother thread.
I think.
Ack.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
That’s where you are wrong, it wasn’t INTRATHREAD.
Why don’t you mind your own business?
HyperIon
@John Cole:
well, it might.
but, more importantly, the refurnished office has ZERO future benefit for taxpayers.
i heard someone talking about paying people to do data entry so that paper medical records can be made electronic. it’s scut work that has to be done at some point if we are going to modernize our health care system. IMO a very good use of government funds.
Laura W
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero: nooooooo fightiiiiiiing, please. JGabriel at least tried to respond. I’m sure intentions were good. (Right?)
And thanks for all of your help. After I read your instructions 987 times more, I may get brave and go test it in a dead open thread somewhere.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
That’s my kind of work, hmmm, maybe I should be looking at a govt. job. ;)
HyperIon
@Napoleon:
Me, too. And no matter how big the amount was.
That’s why giving me a tax is utter BS.
Give it to people who will spend it immediately.
Extend unemployment bennies.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
Well Laura, we know it’s possible now.
I didn’t appreciate JG trying to make me look like a fool, so my claws came out. I have retracted them now.
Laura W
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero: Understood.
Thanks again. I appreciate your time and persistence!
JGabriel
Laura W.:
Ah, my misunderstanding. In that case, right click on the date and time field, then select "Copy Link Address" (assuming your browser supports that).
Then format in your comment as follows (replace parens with less-than and greater-than brackets):
(a href="https://balloon-juice.com/?p=16360#comment-1135400")Linked Text(/a)
At least, that’s what works for me.
And, yes, I was trying to help. I’m sorry it made Silent Fiddle feel foolish, but none of us can really be expected to read minds and predict other people’s insecurities.
Anyway, Silent Fiddle, I wasn’t trying to make you look like a fool. Trust me, you’ll know it when I am – I’m not subtle when on the attack.
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TenguPhule
@CatStaff: There was no call to insult Satan like that by comparing him to the GOP. :P
Laura W
@JGabriel: and thank you very much as well.
I shall conquer the outrathread link beast even if it kills me!
Brien Jackson
Also, the Democrats plan could be pretty simple. Since House Republicans voted against the bill even though Democrats gave them most of what they asked for (and the bill passed by 56 votes without any Republican support), why shouldn’t Democrats put all of that stuff back in the bill in conference?
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
JGabriel, try inserting a link to a comment on another page here with the site name in the link, it doesn’t work. That is what my testing was all about.
And I don’t know how your browser lets you do multiple paragraphs in blockquotes without inserting extra p tags, but no one else around here has been able to do it.
Keep an eye for the number of times you will see people try to blockquote with multiple paragraphs and you’ll see the second paragraph hanging underneath the blockquote looking for all the world like it’s part of the second person’s comment.
I do know what I’m talking about.
TheHatOnMyCat
It’s one of several things that has not worked since the site was upgraded.
I see by this test, it has not been fixed. This blockquote rendered only one line before terminating. It doesn’t appear to work correctly here.
Of course that is just one thing that doesn’t work on this new site. But we won’t bore you with the whole list.
Joshua Norton
You’re right. I spent about half an hour trying to reference another comment one night. It doesn’t work.
TheHatOnMyCat
I think the main problem is the insane privacy laws that are wrapped around medical records.
JGabriel
@The Silent Fiddle of Nero:
Ok. It’s not a function I typically use so: let’s see if this link to a post in the next thread works.
Edited to add: Yep, it seems to work. Could be the browser that you’re using doesn’t like the # tag in url’s?
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JGabriel
TheHatOnMyCat:
I just looked at your comment in source mode, and it looks like you’re putting the first p-tag before the blockquote tag. I believe the open and close p-tags need to be within the blockquote tags.
Maybe that’s why it’s not formatting correctly for you?
Obviously it’s working for me and other users.
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Laura W
@JGabriel: OK, I’ll get brave real soon and try both ways.
I was wondering about the browser issue as well after reading the two variations on the blockquote issue you and Fiddle presented.
I use Firefox. And while I am WAY over my head even participating here, earlier (See! I could link back to my own comment had I been practicing all this time!) I used two blockquotes in a comment and did NOT fuck it up. Granted, I had to turn off all sound in the house and type very slowly with one finger to concentrate. I am fairly sure all I did was:
(p)(blockquote) blah blah blah(/blockquote)
(p)(blockquote) blah blah blah blah blah(/blockquote)
I honestly do not think I even closed par. and I certainly did not put extra p’s anywhere else in between.
I am all about fast and easy.
Er, you know what I mean.
Laura W
@JGabriel:
I don’t even know what that means but it sounds way cool!
If you care to look at my source code in my comment referenced above, ie, my very successful attempt at multiple blockquotes, I’m at 44 in About That Stimulus Bill.
Now I’m wondering if my p’s went before or after the BQ.
My $$ is on before.
JGabriel
Laura W:
I usually don’t bring it up, to avoid confusing people, but my experience is also that you don’t need a closing p-tag in a blockquote here at Balloon Juice. The html/css template for comments automatically adds a closing p-tag at the end of each blockquote anyway. So that’s why you didn’t need to close the par.
Really, from what I’ve seen, all you need is a p-tag at the beginning of the blockquote. My experience is that it’s better to put it immediately after the blockquote tag. Other people are having issues though, no matter they put it, so maybe there is an issue with the browsers they are using.
For reference, I’m using Opera 9.63, if that helps anyone.
To look at a page in source mode merely means to look at it in a mode that show all the html tags. In Opera, you go to View | Source to enable it.
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Laura W
@JGabriel: So I always learn a little sumthin’ sumthin’ here at BJ Bar and Brawl.
I am sure I put the p before the BQ, so now we know that for some of us, that works just fine as well.
The Silent Fiddle of Nero
My coding always puts p tags inside blockquote tags. It doesn’t matter. They still don’t work without adding extra p tags.
someofparts
I live in Georgia. Not only is the ignorance breathtaking, but these bozos are proud – smug, smirking, puffed up proud of their stupidity. The only thing that is larger and smells far worse than their self-satisfied backwardness is their gleeful inhumanity.
someday
What we have here is a failure to communicate with Dinosaurs.
Republican Dinosaurs are the problem ! the old way !
the same way !
Were the hell have the Republicans been the last eight years ?
Behind Bush’s everything we are facing today !
AND NOW THEY WANT THERE OWN STIMULUS PACKAGE TODAY ? Same old – Same old ! Rip us off !
Something new and different will always be feared by the Dinosaurs.