Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

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

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

The current Supreme Court is a dangerous, rogue court.

After dobbs, women are no longer free.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The fight for our country is always worth it. ~Kamala Harris

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

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

“I was told there would be no fact checking.”

Dumb motherfuckers cannot understand a consequence that most 4 year olds have fully sorted out.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

He seems like a smart guy, but JFC, what a dick!

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Not rolling over. fuck you, make me.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / You Mean, We Won’t Always Have The Current Level of Overwhelming Republican Cooperation?

You Mean, We Won’t Always Have The Current Level of Overwhelming Republican Cooperation?

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Sometimes I don’t understand what people are thinking when they write things:

As Senate Democrats move closer to using reconciliation to pass health care reform this year, key GOP Senators are signaling plans to avenge the move by employing parliamentary tactics to trip up even the most noncontroversial of agenda items.

How would that be any different from, say, the last couple of months? Also, this:

President Obama will have to wait a bit longer to round out his Cabinet. Senate Republicans refused today to allow a confirmation vote on his health secretary nominee Gov. Kathleen Sebelius (D-Kan.). She is the last Cabinet member awaiting Senate approval.

At the start of the session today, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) proposed taking a vote after five hours of debate. But Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) objected, arguing that lawmakers needed more time to consider her “fairly contentious” selection.

And for those of you keeping score, they finally approved Hill as ambassador to Iraq yesterday. You remember Iraq. The most important war ever for the future of mankind? Apparently it was not important enough to keep them from playing games with the appointment of an ambassador.

Reader Interactions

97Comments

  2. 2.

    Scruffy McSnufflepuss

    Well, the GOP’s gotta be pretty emboldened by the Tea Party turnout. The wingnuts demonstrated pretty considerable electoral clout on April 15, so it’s understandable that Republican politicians would kowtow to that kind of energized political base.

  3. 3.

    Ugh

    I’m sorry, which party is it that has 58 (soon 59) of the 100 U.S. Senators and a very popular president? Cause it’s hard to tell sometime with Harry Fucking Reid leading the charge fail.

  4. 4.

    Mr. Stuck

    Let me guess here. Senate wingnuts shut down the Senate over a procedure they’ve used a number of times for important and controversial legislation, this time on a popular bill to extend healthcare to sick people.

    Then when the polls start showing folks are mad that the Senate is not doing anything, wingnuts will shriek that America is mad at congress and since dems are in charge they have failed. Wonder why they haven’t thought of doing this before. Oh wait……

  6. 6.

    kay

    They’re blocking Kathleen Sebelius to throw some red meat to the anti-abortion faction. That’s two. They’re holding up a woman lawyer at OLC because she doesn’t meet the religious test for public office, too.

    Why do religious always single out women in government on abortion?

    Why doesn’t this particular religious test ever get administered to pro-choice men?

  7. 7.

    The Other Steve

    Not to digress, but…

    Our baby was born monday night… 7lbs, 20 inches. A little boy we named Patrick Alexander. We now realize why new parents get no sleep.

    Mom did an amazing job… she woke up monday morning having some irregular contractions, went to work for about 4 hours… we went to doctor at 1pm and she said those weren’t false labor, I’ll see you later tonight. She then went back to work. I picked her up again at 3pm, things were getting stronger.

    At 5pm we headed for the hospital.

    She was hoping to wait til midnight but by 9pm the nurse was saying “Honey, this baby ain’t going to wait until midnight”. He was born at 11pm.

  8. 8.

    SGEW

    I’m just waiting for the Republicans to ratchet it up to this level:

    [O]n the afternoon of May 22 [1856], [Senator Preston] Brooks confronted [Senator Charles] Sumner as he sat writing at his desk in the almost empty Senate chamber . . . . Brooks said, “Mr. Sumner, I have read your speech twice over carefully. It is a libel on South Carolina, and Mr. Butler, who is a relative of mine.” As Sumner began to stand up, Brooks began beating Sumner on the head with his thick gutta-percha cane with a gold head. Sumner was trapped under the heavy desk (which was bolted to the floor), but Brooks continued to bash Sumner until he ripped the desk from the floor. By this time, Sumner was blinded by his own blood, and he staggered up the aisle and collapsed, lapsing into unconsciousness. Brooks continued to beat Sumner until he broke his cane, then quietly left the chamber. Several other senators attempted to help Sumner, but were blocked by [Congressman Laurence M.] Keitt who was holding a pistol and shouting “Let them be!”

    Now that is “fairly contentious”! C’mon, McConnell: step it up.

  9. 9.

    Napoleon

    @Zifnab:

    When are we allowed to start screaming for the nuclear option?

    I started several years ago. I always thought the best thing that could have happened to the Dems was for the Republicans to use it when they treatened to so that when the Dems came back to power in 06 and 08 (and I think it was clear by 05 that was going to happen) the Republicans would have already blown up the filibuster.

  10. 10.

    omen

    this after harry reid moved to retain republican staffers and keep them on the payroll even after the people they were working for lost reelection.

  13. 13.

    sgwhiteinfla

    The question really is WHEN WILL HARRY REID STAND UP TO THESE OBSTRUCTIONIST ASSHOLES??? All he has to do is talk about this shit in front of a camera or many cameras and or force the fucking filibusters to bury these muthfuckas. So much fucking weaksauce.

  15. 15.

    omen

    @sgwhiteinfla:

    hey, i’m no fan of reid. i was just pointing to the lack of gratitude. dems have treated republicans better than republicans treated dems when they were out of power.

  16. 16.

    LD50

    I think the point is that GOP obstructionism can *always* get worse. Always.

    And Harry Reid will always cave.

  19. 19.

    R-Jud

    @The Other Steve:
    Congratulations to you and Mrs. TOS and young Patrick! I know your April has been very hard already and that you’re both exhausted, but try to enjoy him as much as you can while he is brand new to the planet. You’ll be amazed at how different he is in just two weeks’ time. I’ve only been a parent for seven weeks and am flabbergasted by how fast the Bean has changed. (Also, Ash Can is right– the not-sleeping thing gets better from about week five onward. He’s not trying to torture you, he’s just never known what it’s like to be hungry before, and it freaks him out.)

    On-Topic:
    I don’t really know what to say about the Republicans except that old habits die hard. Elements of their party have been doing this song and dance since they were the party of Thomas Jefferson (“Washington– is he senile AND tyrannical, or just senile?”). You can’t expect them to drop the act overnight, especially when they’ve been doubling down on it over and over and over again for the last 50 years.

  20. 20.

    TenguPhule

    How would that be any different from, say, the last couple of months

    Because they are using the word “avenging”, that’s why.

    And it wasn’t even 4 years ago that Republicans were ramrodding legislation through as the majority and screaming bloody murder at any Democratic hold or procedure.

    Supreme Court nominees are going to be such fun this term.

  22. 22.

    TenguPhule

    I think the point is that GOP obstructionism can always get worse. Always.

    Unpossible.

    They already have a mandatory eternal fillbuster de facto in the Senate.

    Harry Reid already lets them walk all over him, fuck him up up the ass and asks for another.

    Democratic holds are already not honored by Reid.

    Unless Harry officially switches his colors to (R) red, I fail to see how it will get any more fucked up.

  25. 25.

    Bill Teefy

    The kid nobody likes yelling that he ain’t going to play no more and that he is taking the ball nobody is playing with home.

    Cue wingnut blog comment: Pelosi wears army boots. And Obama. Too. Also. So there.

  26. 26.

    SGEW

    @TenguPhule:

    I fail to see how it will get any more fucked up.

    See my historical example, above.

    When John Boehner tries to beat Dennis Kucinich to death with a gutta-percha cane, and Eric Cantor threatens the rest of Congress with a loaded pistol, then you can say it can’t get any more fucked up.

    Or maybe one of them will take Beck too seriously and actually light themselves on fire on the floor of Congress. I’d put money on Inhofe, as some sort of bizarre protest against Cap and Trade.

  27. 27.

    kay

    @JK:

    It’s despicable. They’re holding her up so Arlen Specter can get a chance to grandstand on abortion and prove his conservative cred.

    He’s gone from being an annoying sanctimonious phony to being desperate to remain in power, and pathetic.

    I’m to the point where I loathe the “moderates” more than than the wackjobs. At least the wackjobs are amusing.

  29. 29.

    TenguPhule

    @SGEW

    When John Boehner tries to beat Dennis Kucinich to death with a gutta-percha cane, and Eric Cantor threatens the rest of Congress with a loaded pistol, then you can say it can’t get any more fucked up.

    I will note that most of the Democratic Senators appear to be in much better shape then the GOP and fire arms are no longer permitted in sessions.

    So if it comes to a good Japanese/European style brawl, I’ll pop some popcorn and root for the Ds.

  31. 31.

    Bill Teefy

    @The Other Steve: We got the false labor send home too. I basically had time to drive my wife back home then drive the 45 minutes to work to walk in the office and get called the message that my wife was driving to the hospital. I made it back in time.

    My sister though had the best one. Her husband was away and she started a few weeks early, drove herself in, got told it was false labor, on her drive back home the water broke. She made it safely back to the hospital and all was well so it’s a funny story now.

    Also congratulations. I spend more time thinking children are awesome than I do thinking, my god…what have I done!

  32. 32.

    cleek

    If you really want to participate in the absolutely dumbest conversation in the world, go here.

    odd how that discussion can go on for so long without anyone mentioning the ACLU. you know, the group that forced the government to release the memos.

    Obama didn’t choose to do it, he had to.

  33. 33.

    SGEW

    So if it comes to a good Japanese/European style brawl, I’ll pop some popcorn and root for the Ds.

    Cripes, if I remember correctly Japanese ministers have been literally stabbed to death in Parliment: this is not a good way to run a Republic.

  34. 34.

    Brachiator

    @kay:

    He’s gone from being an annoying sanctimonious phony to being desperate to remain in power, and pathetic.

    Pretty much sounds like the typical member of Congress, as far as I can tell.

    Congrats to TOS!

  35. 35.

    SGEW

    @Michael D.: Nah, that’s not nearly the dumbest conversation in the world: I mean, have you ever checked out Yglesias’ comment threads?

    Kudos, btw, for trying to push back against evil: you are doing good work, even if teh stupid burns.

  36. 36.

    Ash Can

    @R-Jud: LOL! You too? Our son is 9 and we still call him “the Bean” (a nickname he acquired at the time of a very early ultrasound).

  37. 37.

    TenguPhule

    Cripes, if I remember correctly Japanese ministers have been literally stabbed to death in Parliment: this is not a good way to run a Republic.

    It would still be a step up from where we are now.

  38. 38.

    Dennis-SGMM

    Monty Python:

    WE WOULD LIKE TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE WAY IN WHICH POLITICIANS ARE REPRESENTED IN THIS PROGRAMME. IT WAS NEVER OUR INTENTION TO IMPLY THAT POLITICIANS ARE WEAK-KNEED, POLITICAL TIME-SERVERS WHO ARE CONCERNED MORE WITH THEIR PERSONAL VENDETTAS AND PRIVATE POWER STRUGGLES THAN THE PROBLEMS OF GOVERNMENT, NOR TO SUGGEST AT ANY POINT THAT THEY SACRIFICE THEIR CREDIBILITY BY DENYING FREE DEBATE ON VITAL MATTERS IN THE MISTAKEN IMPRESSION THAT PARTY UNITY COMES BEFORE THE WELL-BEING OF THE PEOPLE THEY SUPPOSEDLY REPRESENT NOR TO IMPLY AT ANY STAGE THAT THEY ARE SQUABBLING LITTLE TOADIES WITHOUT AN OUNCE OF CONCERN FOR THE VITAL SOCIAL PROBLEMS OF TODAY. NOR INDEED DO WE INTEND THAT VIEWERS SHOULD CONSIDER THEM AS CRABBY ULCEROUS LITTLE SELF-SEEKING VERMIN WITH FURRY LEGS AND AN EXCESSIVE ADDICTION TO ALCOHOL AND CERTAIN EXPLICIT SEXUAL PRACTICES WHICH SOME PEOPLE MIGHT FIND OFFENSIVE.

  40. 40.

    SGEW

    @Dennis-SGMM:

    We apologise again for the fault in our programme. Those responsible for sacking the people who have just been sacked, have been sacked.

  42. 42.

    R-Jud

    @Ash Can: Nice! Ours was the size of a bean when we found out she was on the way, hence the name. I’m sure she’ll still be Bean 9 years from now too.

    @ cleek: “odd how that discussion can go on for so long without anyone mentioning the ACLU. you know, the group that forced the government to release the memos.”

    I mentioned this to a wingnut relative of mine. She paused. She then said, “I bet the ACLU did it because he asked.”

    Not hindered by logic or facts.

  44. 44.

    Calouste

    @John Cole:

    Sometimes I don’t understand what people are thinking when they write things:

    Think? Sometimes?

    What is the article except randomly pulling a few talking points/MSM memes from the pile and filling in a few names?

    Thinking hasn’t been within a few miles of that.

  45. 45.

    Librarian

    This is the way it’s going to be for the rest of Obama’s time in office. Every time Obama or his people spit on the sidewalk, they’re going to call for resignations and impeachment and a special prosecutor and everything else. This is what happens when you have an opposition that has the minds of 8 year olds.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    OT: Delicious Banker Tears!

    Bankers say it is unfair to charge what amounts to a “prepayment penalty,” which makes it additionally onerous to escape TARP. Bank representatives say the cost of buying back the warrants could be equivalent to paying 60% annual interest on short-term loans. That, they argue, would exacerbate banks’ existing problems.

    Karma, you may not believe in it but it believes in you.

  49. 49.

    asiangrrlMN

    Oh, good grief. It’s time to start metaphorically cracking some Republican heads together. Harry Reid, can you hear me now?????

    TOS, congratulations! Catch a wink when you can.

    P.S. I thought the Dems were the majority now? I must be wrong.

  50. 50.

    KG

    @29: I’ll be rooting for a Pyrrhic victory by either side. Also, rather than the nuclear option, I’d suggest a different approach, if they really want to filibuster, make them actually filibuster, not this twenty five minute bullshit where everyone gives up and goes home. I’m talking, leave the lights and CSPAN camera on 24/7, no sitting down, no breaks for food, no bathroom breaks, you talk until you lose your voice or have nothing else to say. These folks want to play hardball, fine, we play with a baseball bat wrapped in barbwire, Cactus Jack-style.

  51. 51.

    Krista

    Congrats, TOS! That’s fantastic news! And your wife sounds like an absolute champ!

    @R-Jud: LOL! You too? Our son is 9 and we still call him “the Bean” (a nickname he acquired at the time of a very early ultrasound).

    Too funny — that’s what we’ve been calling the baby as well. Although lately, what with the new and endearing habit of kicking my cervix on a regular basis, s/he has acquired a new nickname of “Thumper”.

  52. 52.

    Dennis-SGMM

    @TenguPhule:
    Oh yeah, cry me a river banker scum. As if all of the maneuvering to extract every last drop of blood from their credit card holders isn’t exacerbating their problems.

  55. 55.

    Roger Moore

    @cleek:

    Obama didn’t choose to do it, he had to.

    Yes and no. Yes, he did release the memos after being sued by the ACLU. But his legal team decided to stop contesting the ACLU request in court. Bush wouldn’t have gone down that easily. He would have dragged the whole process out for years of appeals, contempt citations, versions redacted to the point of indecipherability, further suits, and so on. The ACLU suit gives Obama a good excuse for releasing the memos, but he could have kept them secret for quite a while longer had he really wanted.

  57. 57.

    Joshua Norton

    Obama keeps saying stupid things – like how important it is to have bipartisan support – which only emboldens the wingnutz to do the exact opposite.

    If they keep trying to bash him over the petty normal stuff he does, they’re certainly not going to cooperate on anything that’s important to governing the country.

    As he’s finding out the hard way, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.

  58. 58.

    Ash Can

    @Joshua Norton:

    Obama keeps saying stupid things – like how important it is to have bipartisan support – which only emboldens the wingnutz to do the exact opposite.

    Yeah, but who’s the loser here? I think he’s just going through the motions, and making the wingnutz look like, well, wingnutz.

  59. 59.

    Tax Analyst

    Congrats to the Other Steve.

    On Topic – Same old, Same old. The GOP apparently believes their mission as minority party is to Obstruct.

    Yes, thinking of it that way makes it all so clear. The American people really, really adore the status quo and would rather ride this recession out all on their very own than have the gum’mint try to minimize or abort the pain.

    And if we look back in history we’ll all see how well this policy worked for this country during the Hoover Administration.

    Let’s bring the water-boarding concept to Capitol Hill. Whenever the GOP blocks important votes or appointments for more than one session the minority leader in that entity gets water-boarded every hour. It would give us a chance to see just how devoted to “principle” this clowns really are.

    They really, really want Obama’s efforts to fail, and fail big, with absolutely no regard for the harm and heartbreak that virtually guarantees. If I hadn’t already seen them do this for 3 straight months now I wouldn’t believe it.

  60. 60.

    Tonal Crow

    GOP before Obama: Filibustering judges is unconstitutional! Upperdownvote! Upperdownvote!

    GOP after Obama: It’s our constitutional duty to filibuster liberal judges!

    Any questions?

  61. 61.

    Soylent Green

    And for those of you keeping score, they finally approved Hill as ambassador to Iraq yesterday.

    Considering that our new embassy in Iraq will be the largest embassy ever built in the known universe, the repugs wanted to be sure that Chris Hill would be ready and able, on day one, to find his office.

  62. 62.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    On Topic – Same old, Same old. The GOP apparently believes their mission as minority party is to Obstruct.

    I don’t think it’s this, particularly. I think the issue is that Republicans have spent so many years ratcheting up the rhetoric on Democrats, babykillers, liberals, godless, commies, socialists, etc, etc, etc, that they no longer view them as partners in a Democracy to work with. The rhetoric used to be mostly confined to election years but with the ascension of talk radio, it’s pretty much nonstop 24/7. And with talk radio, along with 24/7 cable news networks, Cspan, the blogs, etc, it is no longer possible for them to say one thing and do another in regards to feeding their constituents the red meat while “secretly” making the compromises necessary to move along important legislation.

    I think obstruction is the only move they have left.

  63. 63.

    malraux

    Here’s what I don’t get about the republican/conservative defense of Bush. I’ve seen several places where conservatives argue that if we were to prosecute people for their actions, then once the republicans get back into office, they’ll just turn the tables and prosecute their democratic predecessors. Did these people miss the 90s, wherein republicans prosecuted a sitting president over some relatively trivial misstatements? Or how about the last administration that specifically told the justice department to target cases against democrats? Currently, the republican tactic is to go after democratic rivals via the judicial system.

  64. 64.

    Mario Piperni

    @Roger Moore

    Correct. I think Obama wanted these memorandums out there…and rightly so. There’s been enough info out there for the last few years indicating that the US was utilizing torture. It only made sense to confirm what we already knew by making public the torture memorandums.

  65. 65.

    El Cid

    Texas Republicans evenly split on whether to secede from U.S.

    Can’t we just come up with some uninhabited area of the world in which to give the secessionary Republitards their “Next Year In Batshitcrazydom?”

    These shitbags don’t deserve any American state, but maybe there’s somewhere, like the government-free paradise of Somalia, which could use ’em.

  66. 66.

    Joshua Norton

    Texas Republicans evenly split on whether to secede from U.S.

    Sure. Then they decide to rejoin the Union if there’s a President they like. If they want to go, they have to STAY gone.

  68. 68.

    Tonal Crow

    @R-Jud:

    @ cleek: “odd how that discussion can go on for so long without anyone mentioning the ACLU. you know, the group that forced the government to release the memos.”I mentioned this to a wingnut relative of mine. She paused. She then said, “I bet the ACLU did it because he asked.”

    The wingnuts, they are a-changin’. Time was when the A-C-L-U was the worst possible wingnut bogeyman.

  71. 71.

    WereBear

    Texas Republicans evenly split on whether to secede from U.S.

    But they don’t really want a new country. They want the one we have, that’s all built and developed and everything.

    I say give them a planet. Venus is nice this time of year.

  73. 73.

    El Cid

    Just because there is some secessionist nutbag minority out there doesn’t mean they have title to valuable property, real estate and infrastructure.

    I know it’s a joke discussion, but even in weirdo hypotheticals, no, these people cannot have Texas. I don’t give a shit if they get Chuck Norris to promise to give away his exercise machine for free.

    You want to leave the USA? Fine. Go. Oh, you want us to give you an American state, just ’cause you ask? Okay, right after I get to ask for a free house and a free plasma HDTV and a free speedboat and a free airplane and free gasoline and food for life.

    Morons. Tea Party! Kenya! Freedom! Lone Star Republic! States’ Rights! Constitution! Patriotic! Let’s leave America! Yay!

  74. 74.

    R-Jud

    @The Other Steve:

    This blog needs more entries about breast feeding tips.

    I know that was a joke, butgo here, and scroll down to the pdf handouts. Very helpful.

    @Tonal Crow:

    The wingnuts, they are a-changin’. Time was when the A-C-L-U was the worst possible wingnut bogeyman.

    I think she was trying to imply that Obama asked the ACLU to bring a court case to give him cover to aid and comfort our terrist enemies by releasing the memos that detail how we planned to torture them. If that makes sense. Anywho, they’re still a bogeyman.

  75. 75.

    Tonal Crow

    @WereBear:

    I say give them a planet. Venus is nice this time of year.

    Plus, Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect; the atmosphere is 96% CO2, so, even though the planet receives less than 1% of earth’s surface solar flux, its surface temperature is ~ 450 degrees C.

    On the other hand, eastern Afghanistan seems a good choice too, since it’d force two different stripes of religious nuts to endure each other or (even better) obliterate each other. I seem to recall Prof. Screwtape saying something about the desirability of mixing spiritual wines containing different varieties of Pharisee. The phrase “works like fire in the diabolical digestion” seems particularly to stick in the mind.

  76. 76.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    This blog needs more entries about breast feeding tips.

    It tickles like hell and doesn’t actually do you or the kid any good.

  77. 77.

    El Cid

    Plus, Venus has a runaway greenhouse effect; the atmosphere is 96% CO2, so, even though the planet receives less than 1% of earth’s surface solar flux, its surface temperature is ~ 450 degrees C.

    Sounds perfect for secessionists who don’t believe that CO2 has anything to do with global warming anyway.

  78. 78.

    les

    @Michael D.:

    You made a nice effort, Michael. But you’re not going to get far with a level of stoopid that still denies that anyone was really tortured–the cranial/rectal inversion is likely beyond recovery. How does the idiot in chief get away with pretending to be a liberal?

  79. 79.

    les

    @El Cid:

    I don’t know, El C. After we relocate all the military and gov’t facilities, Corps of Engineer facilities, etc., I think if they really want it they can have it. And after Fed. education funds stop flowing, we won’t have to be bothered with all that U. Texas crapola. Back to the Big Eight!!

  83. 83.

    Martian Buddy

    Damn. I was going to make a crack about Obama conspiring with the Anti-Christian Liberals Union to get those memos released (with ACORN as a go-between,) but I see I’ve been beaten to the punch. Wingnuts truly are impossible to parody.

  85. 85.

    Original Lee

    Congrats, TOS. Sleep deprivation will definitely go away, eventually. Our rule of thumb was that once the kid hits 10 pounds or so, s/he is good for about 6 hours at night, which starts to sound like water in the desert after a while.

    What is Reid waiting for, anyway? This passive-aggressive approach only works if people outside the hallowed halls of Congress are in the know and can properly appreciate it. I used to think I was a connoisseur of passive-aggressive, but Reid’s recent behavior is leading me to believe I need a refresher course or something.
    /attempt at heavy sarcasm

  86. 86.

    Tax Analyst

    WereBear
    Texas Republicans evenly split on whether to secede from U.S.
    But they don’t really want a new country. They want the one we have, that’s all built and developed and everything.
    I say give them a planet. Venus is nice this time of year.

    I’d cede them the rights to Yuranus, but you might have an objection, since you probably still want to use it.

  88. 88.

    mrmobi

    Congrats to the Other Steve! I highly recommend parenthood, and while it does mean the end of your life as you have known it, I hope you and your wife will both find it to be as thoroughly wonderful as mrsmobi and I have. Our daughter is 24. Also, Patrick shares a birthday with me, happy birthday to us!

  90. 90.

    Rainy

    Why does the Senate have this much control over nominees anyway? I understand judges, but nominees for temporary positions? No! These people don’t stay around for a lifetime. They stay around until a President’s term is up. They need to change the rules now. This is bullshit. They have too much power.

  91. 91.

    Kyle

    I know it’s a joke discussion, but even in weirdo hypotheticals, no, these people cannot have Texas. I don’t give a shit if they get Chuck Norris to promise to give away his exercise machine for free.

    They can have Texas. Then, in line with the precedent they themselves set for US foreign policy, we can invade and occupy it because they have lots of oil and setup a new Green Zone on Congress Avenue in Austin. We can treat them like shit and arbitrarily jail and torture them while letting their country be run into the dirt by corrupt, incompetent ideologues looting their natural resources. It would be wrong, but it would be karmic justice.

  92. 92.

    chuck

    @Rainy:

    The constitution demands the “advice and consent” of the senate for these appointees. The “consent” part is a jealously guarded privilege.

    It could be argued, however, that the Executive should be able to require an up-or-down vote to force the senate to do its constitutional duty.

  93. 93.

    The Other Steve

    @Laura W: Dog is actually taking it quite well so far.

    She appears to think it’s her job to protect the baby from the cats.

  95. 95.

    The Other Steve

    And it’s Alexander Patrick, not Patrick Alexander. Damn, I’m in trouble for screwing thatup. But I blame Krista.

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