Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Let the trolls come, and then ignore them. that’s the worst thing you can do to a troll.

Fight for a just cause, love your fellow man, live a good life.

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

My right to basic bodily autonomy is not on the table. that’s the new deal.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

Usually wrong but never in doubt

The snowflake in chief appeared visibly frustrated when questioned by a reporter about egg prices.

Roe is not about choice. It is about freedom.

Innocent people do not delay justice.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

I desperately hope that, yet again, i am wrong.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

… gradually, and then suddenly.

Shallow, uninformed, and lacking identity

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Let me file that under fuck it.

T R E 4 5 O N

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

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

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Reader Interactions

104Comments

  1. 1.

    Robin G.

    There’s a lot of New Englanders in the “undecided” category. Annoying.

    On the plus side, they seem to think Oberstar is a yes, so that’s different from earlier this week. If they’re right.

  2. 2.

    Napoleon

    The number of people who have already voted yes that are on that list is incredible. Of course one of them is the dickhead from Tenn, Cooper.

  3. 3.

    Max

    I see on Twitter that Lynch has been called to the White House. Rahm is warming up the showers as we type.

  4. 4.

    Brien Jackson

    I got a hold of Kratovil’s office finally and they confirmed in no uncertain terms that he’s voting no and won’t be persuaded otherwise, so I let them know that they could take my name off their volunteer lists, and that as far as I’m concerned it doesn’t matter who wins the race, a Republican is going to Congress either way. I also told them that since I do a lot of work with the state party I plan on voicing my opinion that since a win in the district is highly unlikely, and given that Kratovil isn’t voting with the Democrats anyway, that expending effort on his re-election is an inefficient allocation of decreased party resources this cycle. And besides, Aetna pays better than the House anyway, so everyone wins.

    It ain’t much, but it made me feel better.

  5. 5.

    Sentient Puddle

    They’re counting a whopping 75 Dems as undecided on that list. For instance, Anthony Weiner. Which, unless I’m missing something…

    Any case, point here is that they’re skewing heavily towards “Who the fuck knows?”

  8. 8.

    CaseyL

    Washington’s Inslee and McDermott are “yes” votes. I’ve been trying to reach Brian Baird for a couple days but his DC office line has been busy each time I’ve tried – who knows, maybe at this point they’ve just left it off the hook.

    A few months ago, I spoke to one of his staffers who agreed that, as bad as the Senate bill was/is, this is the best shot we have for HCR and we won’t get another chance. I’m not sure why Baird is leaning towards no: he knows HCR is desperately needed, and he’s retiring after this session. There’s no downside to voting yea.

    I’ll keep trying.

  9. 9.

    David in NY

    OK, so I’ve been trying to get through to Scott Murphy, first got recorded message to leave a message but message box full, second got busy tone. What to do?

  10. 10.

    MikeJ

    Why is it on votes about war they never list the contributions representatives have received from “defense” contractors?

  13. 13.

    Brick Oven Bill

    There is certainty.

    Mathematics gives us the power of perception.

    Now we consider that the federal government has no money.

    We observe the President offering more free things to more people.

    We reason that in a democracy, people will vote themselves benefits, if not required to pay for them on a personal level.

    We determine that there are thus two potential outcomes; (1) severely rationed care; or (2) the creation of temporary buying power through the tax of inflation, imposed upon those who have the capability and motivation to save.

  16. 16.

    Ron

    Sigh, I have one of the few (only?) congresscritter that voted yes the first time around that is listed as “Leaning no”. I had thought the guy was pretty good, but this pisses me off.

  17. 17.

    one two seven

    There are some odd undecideds on here. I have to think Betty Sutton, Marcia Fudge and Tim Ryan would be solidly in the “yes” column.

  19. 19.

    cintibud

    Doggone it, I saw Steve Driehaus down as a yes vote and immediately called to express my pleasure, however the staff person reluctantly told me that was a mistake. Grrrrr.

  20. 20.

    rob!

    John. Fucking. Adler. Nnnnnh! I think I’d rather have Brick Oven Bill as my congressman.

  21. 21.

    PeakVT

    Groovy chart, but seems a tad out of date.

    And WTF is wrong with Boren? 30% uninsured in his district and he plans to vote no?

  22. 22.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Food equals solar power, a fixed commodity. Fiat currencies are not fixed commodities. This commodity is printed by human governments.

    Kellogg CEO:

    “Chief Executive David Mackay said he expects costs for commodities used frequently by the company — from corn to wheat and energy — to rise about 3 percent in 2010 and tick up higher from there.”

    I do not believe this figure as cheese has gone from ~$9.50/5 pounds to ~$13.00/ five pounds in the last year.

    Cheese is sun-acres converted to grass converted to milk converted to cheese.

  24. 24.

    Sentient Puddle

    I’m tempted to use mathematics to prove to BoB that a (non-zero) number is equal to one-half itself. That could prove amusing.

  25. 25.

    scav

    BoB wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for his delusions. There are few certainties in life: Death, Taxes, and BoB’s waste of both digital bytes and genetic material.

  26. 26.

    Robin G.

    @gbear: Excellent. I just called to thank as well, and asked to be put on their volunteer list in case he winds up imperiled in November and needs doorknockers. The North Shore is beautiful in the fall, anyway.

  27. 27.

    soonergrunt

    @PeakVT:
    Boren is the ultimate DINO. He’s one of those “the party left me” types that makes his dad, former Senator David Boren look like DFH. David Boren was a Senator in the Scoop Jackson vein–socially moderate to liberal with a foreign policy conservative streak a mile wide.
    He’s the president of the University of Oklahoma now.
    Danny Boy is a living argument against genetics as primary determinant of IQ.
    …
    @Brick Oven Bill: But doesn’t your cheese have “USDA SURPLUS” stamped on it?
    There’s no way in hell that anyone who thinks like this has a paying job.

  28. 28.

    Napoleon

    @one two seven:

    Ryan was on the plane with Obama and Kucinich and I read at that time that he was undecided. I grew up in his district (Traficant’s old district) and it is one of the heaviest ethnic Catholic districts in the country.

  29. 29.

    ajr22

    Ezra “If you’re a liberal House Democrat, here’s what you’d be voting against: Legislation that covers 32 million people. A world in which 95 percent of all non-elderly, legal residents have health-care coverage. An end to insurers rescinding coverage for the sick, or discriminating based on preexisting conditions, or spending 30 cents of each premium dollar on things that aren’t medical care. Exchanges where insurers who want to jack up premiums will have to publicly explain their reason, where regulators will be able to toss them out based on bad behavior, and where consumers will be able to publicly rate them. Hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to help lower-income Americans afford health-care insurance. The final closure of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit’s “doughnut hole.” Why couldn’t the dems just have repeated this paragraph for the last 6 months.

  30. 30.

    David in NY

    @BR:

    Scott Murphy’s local offices can’t be reached, either. Messages say his DC office will remain open Saturday for our convenience.

    Gotta find out which side he was on in the procedural vote. Any idea how to do that?

  32. 32.

    Luthe

    Murphy CT-5 is leaning yes. The staffer said he wasn’t making an “official” announcement until after he reviewed the text of the bill (just released), but that he supported quality health-care for everyone.

    ::checks:: He’ll be at my local Post Office Monday. If he doesn’t vote yes, I’m going to give him a piece of my mind like he wouldn’t believe.

  35. 35.

    Anya

    Scott Murphy pisses me off. I phone banked for that ass long hours and asked my non-politically engaged boyfriend to phone bank for him. I don’t understand why he is leaning no. The wingnuts are gonna campaign against him and he will never satisfy the crazy 30% that is dead set against this reform. Well, at least my rep (Nadler) is a yes.

  36. 36.

    Sentient Puddle

    …and when my last post comes out of moderation, I want someone to help me comb over it to find out what word or term in it tripped the spam filter.

  37. 37.

    TooManyJens

    @one two seven: I’d expect Tim Ryan to be a yes as well.

    I’m not sure when this list was compiled, and how many of those “undecideds” are really “not commenting until we see the final bill”.

  39. 39.

    jl

    My current Demo rep is yes, which has been long known.

    As for the Demo rep from my original hometwon, Cardoza, looks like he is reverting to cowardly bag of ch*ck*nsh*t BS standard operating procedure and is undecided.

    Hope some CA Central Valley folks from Cardoza’s district call him and tell him to get off his cowardly ass and make himself useful.

  40. 40.

    Ash Can

    @Max:

    I see on Twitter that Lynch has been called to the White House.

    Whoopsie. Looks like Dennis Kucinich is going to have help whipping those votes.

  41. 41.

    TooManyJens

    I’m going to a rally at my GOP rep’s office tonight.

    I have no expectation that this will result in a yes vote, but at least we can make our opinions known.

  42. 42.

    Brick Oven Bill

    Value used to be created by borrowing from the Chinese and others on our good name. Now the Chinese are increasing their situational awareness.

    Value is now ‘created’ by the Federal Reserve loaning money to the banks at zero interest, and then those banks buying Treasuries at three percent, to fund government operations. This boils down to money laundering, and a tax on those who save.

    This is a short-term solution which will end poorly.

    The long-term solution is tariffs, and the creation of value through manufacturing.

    I receive awards as a top-performer at The Facility soonergrunt. This is as Navigation equals Arithmetic plus Geometry plus Logic. The Liberal Arts are very powerful. Add Stamina, and you get atta-boys from the nice lady.

  43. 43.

    suzanne

    I had my mom call Mitchell (AZ-5) again today. He’s still officially undecided, but I think he’ll ultimately pull his head out of his rectal cavity.

    And if not, he can kiss my volunteer time and sign posting goodbye. :)

  46. 46.

    geg6

    @BR:

    Glad to see Altmire backing the Speaker on procedural votes. This tells me he may very well be a yes if she really, really needs him. But otherwise, I expect him to be one of the votes she releases once she knows she has it in the bag.

  47. 47.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    Wow looking at this thread I am reminded of the scenes in “American President” where Annette Benning and Michael J. Fox are both lobbying and trying to count up the votes, MJF’s character loses it and slams the phone down on someone and says “we lost so and so” and the other dude says “well I hope he was already a no because otherwise we might have to work on our people skills” (paraphrased all of it of course). Wonder if that is what is going on now?

  48. 48.

    Terry

    Is the deem-and-pass procedural vote any clue to how members are going to vote on the final HCR bill? I noticed Stupak voted no but several local (mostly pro-life) Ohioans (Kaptor, Driehaus, Gilroy, Space) that I thought were leaning no on HCR, voting yes here.

  50. 50.

    David in NY

    @BR:

    Thanks for posting that. I see Scott Murphy was on the angels’ side in the procedural vote. That’s good. But I bet wingnuts are hammering his phones — wish I could get through again, though I’ve made my views clear before and would just like to be a friendly caller.

  51. 51.

    David in NY

    @Terry:

    Oooh, if Marcy Kaptur was coming around, that would be big. What I read on TPM about her made me think the anti-abortion stuff made her a lost cause (my kid is at Oberlin and was an intern for her three years ago, so I’ve sort of watched her).

  52. 52.

    Napoleon

    @geg6:

    Canfield actually, the part that is really close to the Youngstown border. Went to grade school in a Youngstown Catholic school, public high school in Canfield. My dad grew up in Y-town and my mom in one of the other towns in the industrial valley.

  53. 53.

    Michael Richards

    I just called Capuano’s (MA-08) office. They confirmed that WaPo is correct and he is undecided, but I told them that as a constituent, I hope he repeats his Yes vote.

  56. 56.

    MK

    My congressman Luis Guttierez just announced that he is a YES. We organized a group of 75 people to visit his office on North Avenue yesterday afternoon. Glad to see the pressure worked.

  57. 57.

    Legalize

    If the likes of Driehaus are a yes on the procedural vote, it seems to me that this thing is wrapped up. It’s akin to voting for cloture but no on the bill. Maybe he’s being permitted to vote no for his own cover. I’m not sure what to think. His staffers always wanted to tell me that he voted yes for the original bill. And the VP DID hold a fund-raiser for him this week. I want to believe that his no vote was coordinated with the White House.

  58. 58.

    bloomingpol

    Carol Shea Porter has made a commitment to read the bill before she decides. Knowing her, I don’t think she will find anything to keep her from voting yes. She had a lot of flak earlier from Republicans here in NH (we are still only a just-blue state, remember) who said she couldn’t possibly have read the first bill. When she makes a commitment to do something a certain way, she keeps that commitment. She is one of the most honest and responsible representatives one could have, and she is MY representative, thank all the good powers.

  59. 59.

    joes527

    This is as Navigation equals Arithmetic plus Geometry plus Logic. The Liberal Arts are very powerful. Add Stamina, and you get atta-boys from the nice lady.

    My hat is off. This word salad is right up there with Palin’s. I’m hearing it in my head, as read by William Shatner.

  60. 60.

    David in NY

    @WereBear:

    Thanks. I sent a nice e-mail and have called previously. I’ll look for the questionnaire. And I confess to being a week-ender (Hillsdale, Columbia Co.), though a year-round one, and one involved some in the town, and a contributor to the Congressman.

  61. 61.

    nancydarling

    Tim, I’ve started from the bottom of the WaPo’s list. Lots of full mail boxes and busy signals. I hit the redial 3 or 4 times and then call the local offices. Titus of Nevada is a definite yes vote. Here in Arkansas, Blue Cross has 75% of the market. The cost for a family of 4 is $12,000. The average wage is $22,000. Even with both parents working, no one can afford that! That’s basically the story I am telling them plus my daughter is facing serious bilateral hip surgery. She is in CA and is seeing her rates go up. I am terrified she will be canceled after her first surgery in April, and will be uninsurable when she needs the other side done in October.

  62. 62.

    geg6

    @Napoleon:

    Heh. Know the area well. Canfield Fair, bitchez!

    I’m just over the PA border in northern Beaver County. New Brighton/Beaver Falls, if you have ever crossed the border. My sister lives in New Galilee.

  64. 64.

    Mike Kay

    @Captain Goto:

    oddly enough to the firebaggers of 1930s – it was. Huey Long called the new deal…. wait for it…. a corporate giveaway.

    Long opposed the National Recovery Act, calling it a sellout to big business. In 1933, he was a leader of a three-week Senate filibuster against the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.

    So to populists, socialists, and commies (yes, they actually existed back then), FDR was a centrist-corporate-sell out (sound familiar). And after all, no good deed goes unpunished and FDR did save capitalism.

  65. 65.

    Mike Kay

    @Captain Goto:

    oddly enough to the firebaggers of 1930s – it was. Huey Long called the new deal…. wait for it…. a corporate giveaway.

    Long opposed the National Recovery Act, calling it a sellout to big business. In 1933, he was a leader of a three-week Senate filibuster against the Glass-Steagall Banking Act.

    So to populists, social-ists, and commies (yes, they actually existed back then), FDR was a centrist-corporate-sell out (sound familiar). After all, no good deed goes unpunished, FDR did save capitalism and the banks, but failed to achieve universal healthcare.

  66. 66.

    cintibud

    @Legalize: I don’t know how much it will help Dreihaus to vote no at this point since it will simply be “He was for it before he was against it” as he voted yes the last time. A very large majority of folks concerned about the abortion language didn’t vote for him last time and this won’t change their minds. All a no vote will do is depress his base. I don’t get it as his staff has been stressing that he is for HCR

  71. 71.

    Napoleon

    @geg6:

    Canfield Fair, biggest county fair in Ohio and second only to the Ohio State Fair in state.

    Beaver Falls, home of Joe Nameth.

  73. 73.

    David in NY

    @Mike Kay:

    “MSNBC at 3:03 PM says Pelosi is 2 votes away.”

    Hey, maybe this time it’s really true. If she’s that close, I may be able to hear the sounds of knee-caps being crushed for the next couple of days all the way up here.

    Update: As a persnickety speller and bad typist, I love the edit function.

  74. 74.

    Joseph Nobles

    Firebaggers in 1944: We must retreat from Normandy because we did not make it to Berlin.

  76. 76.

    Mike Kay

    @Joseph Nobles: it’s worse than that. The Firebaggers would have been isolationist. Liberals like Sargent Shriver, Gore Vidal were part of the America First movement.

  77. 77.

    demo woman

    OT .. TPM say that Amanpour is taking ‘This Week’ Job On ABC. She starts in August and is a real journalist.

  79. 79.

    Nick

    Brad Ellsworth hints that CBO numbers “satisfy” him, only concerned about abortion language, may vote yes.

  80. 80.

    Joseph Nobles

    Firebaggers in 1787: We must return to our English masters because the Articles of Confederation did not work.

    Firebaggers in kindergarten: We must drop out of school because we cannot read Ulysses.

  83. 83.

    Zatara

    Bob Ethridge is “considering it and reading the bill”.

    He should be a yes vote… while his district in NC is Conservative,
    they are in serious need for affordable health care. Ethridge is generally a good representative, granted he’s much more conservative than most posters on here would like.

    I hope he can come back into the fold.

  85. 85.

    MP

    John Barrow (D GA-12 ) is, per the staffer in his DC office officially undecided. It seems he needs time to read the bill before he makes up his mind. I let the staffer know – nicely – that I lived just outside his district, and if he votes for, I’m happy to volunteer time and money to his re-election, and if he votes against, I’ll be happy to help out his primary opponent.

  87. 87.

    Terry

    Firebaggers in 1787: We must return to our English masters because the Articles of Confederation did not work.

    No. “We must keep the lousy Articles of Confederation because the proposed constitution has no Bill of Rights.”

    The revered Constitution was considered a POS by many Founding Fathers. It got improved by the BoR and finally slavery was scrubbed out only after 80 years.

  88. 88.

    Joseph Nobles

    Well, now I’ve gone and done it. I’ve been replying to @davidsirota with my little Firebagger digs at Twitter. He’s been slamming all the House progressives that are now supporting the bill, and he’s the inspiration for them all. So his response was first to call Godwin’s Law on the 1944 one (I think that’s a technical misapplication), and then to block me from following his feed! What a silly thing to do.

    While we’re calling, folks, we may want to call the people on Hamsher’s traitors list and let them know we support them.

  89. 89.

    David in NY

    @Terry: “We must keep the lousy Articles of Confederation because the proposed constitution has no Bill of Rights.”

    You know, the teabagger-firebagger types are not very different from the anti-federalists, I’ve long thought. And they are not totally unattractive — after all, those kinds of folks got us the Bill of Rights. I’m in sympathy with the anti-corporate parts that have not been co-opted by the moneyed right. But that strain of populism, didn’t Hofstadter call it the “paranoid strain,” has forever been with us, it seems.

  90. 90.

    David in NY

    @Joseph Nobles: “then to block me from following his feed! What a silly thing to do.”

    Yeah, I love the guys (like Sirota) who can dish it out but can’t take it.

  92. 92.

    Terry

    You know, the teabagger-firebagger types are not very different from the anti-federalists, I’ve long thought. And they are not totally unattractive—after all, those kinds of folks got us the Bill of Rights.

    You have a point. And although the Anti-Federalists were promised a Bill of Rights if the Constitution passed, the Federalists (in the old pro-Constitution sense) were in no hurry to enact it once the first Congress convened. I always thought that Madison should have been known as the Father of the Bill of Rights rather than the Constitution. He didn’t think it necessary but he believed in keeping his promises.

    The analogy would be the Senate waiting for the House to pass its bill and then thinking about turning down the reconciliation amendments.

  93. 93.

    Joseph Nobles

    Sirota is now saying someone called him the equivalent of a Nazi sympathizer for not supporting the health care bill! I think he means me!

    How do you get “equivalent of a Nazi sympathizer” out of what I said?? Ye gods…

  94. 94.

    Dr. Morpheus

    @jl:

    As for the Demo rep from my original hometwon, Cardoza, looks like he is reverting to cowardly bag of ch*ck*nsh*t BS standard operating procedure and is undecided.

    Isn’t he upholstered in rich Corinthian leather?

    /Ricardo Montalbán voice

  95. 95.

    4tehlulz

    >“equivalent of a Nazi sympathizer”

    Wouldn’t that be just a plain Nazi sympathizer?

  96. 96.

    Dee Loralei

    I really like Amanpour. ABC is really gonna eat NBC’s lunch with that hire. Now if only NBC would fire Gregory and hire Maddow or even John Stewert that’d be a show I’d watch. Is she the first woman to have the host spot permanently?

  97. 97.

    Barbara

    The Cinti Enquirer reported today that Driehaus says he won’t vote for the Senate bill unless the abortion language is changed. Too late for that, I assume. So it appears to me that he plans to vote no. I can only guess that he thinks that this will persuade the anti-abortion people in his district to vote for him in the fall – as if they would ever do that. He could take advice and political coverage from the various Catholic groups who have announced support for the bill, but he appears instead to be in fantasy land.

  98. 98.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    Like i says, All the little demo childn come home for libtard come to Jesus day.

  99. 99.

    Joseph Nobles

    @4tehlulz:

    Yeah, he trimmed it down to that in a later tweet.

    Geez, is all of WWII off the table as an analogy these days? Craziest thing I ever did see.

    ETA: Plus he’s calling people sheeple now. Unbelievable.

  100. 100.

    David in NY

    “@Joseph Nobles: “Geez, is all of WWII off the table as an analogy these days?” Nah. I think you’re still allowed to quote John Belushi: “Over!? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?”

  101. 101.

    mai naem

    @suzanne: Mitchell’s my rep and I think he’ll do the right thing. He’s been a pretty good guy esp. when you consider he represents a reddish but not a bright fire engine red district. Been trying to get hold of the office(local and D.C) on and off the past three days and it’s been busy.

  102. 102.

    Sentient Puddle

    Don’t know if this has been mentioned anywhere else yet, but Betsy Markey, previously no, is now voting yes. (Source: TPM)

  103. 103.

    Tonal Crow

    Something very interesting happened today on HCR. There were two rollcall votes on a measure (H.Res. 1190), that would permit the Speaker to consider motions to suspend the rules.

    The first vote, #129, was about whether to “order the previous question” — that is, about whether to end debate and bring H.Res. 1190 to a vote. Stupak (predictably) voted no. The tally was 222-203, with all the goopers opposing.

    But on the second vote, #130, which was about whether to approve H.Res. 1190, Stupak voted yes, and the tally was 232-187.

    This is really odd. Has Stupak flipped? And what about the other switchers?

  104. 104.

    fUCKoBERSTAR

    Jim Oberstar (MN) is a ScumBag, corrupt son-of-a-bitch. We’ll read about illegal deals he’s involved in later this year.

    Goodbye Jim.

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