Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

A last alliance of elves and men. also pet photos.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

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

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Come on, man.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires

Accountability, motherfuckers.

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

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

Everybody saw this coming.

Pessimism assures that nothing of any importance will change.

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

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

The willow is too close to the house.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

After roe, women are no longer free.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

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Another Thread For CSPAN Junkies

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If only Ewickson ran the GOP (click at your own risk, etc…)

There is still a change [sic], though increasingly slim, that the House GOP will be able to blow up the health care bill on a motion to recommit. There are going to be recriminations after this is over, but I’m going to try not to pile on. I had my say when the Senate GOP botched it. What was done was done.

But whether this legislation actually passes or not, the GOP can now do a couple of things:

1. Pledge immediate repeal in toto of Obamacare should it pass. No nibbling at the edges — the whole thing and we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member of Republican leadership who refuses to get on the full repeal bandwagon.

Chat.

Reader Interactions

177Comments

  1. 1.

    beltane

    The picture of Cantor and Boehner on the front page of GOS is priceless. They look absolutely crushed and defeated. This goes beyond a mere election; they have just lost something very, very big.

  3. 3.

    Jon H

    “But whether this legislation actually passes or not, the GOP can now do a couple of things:”

    How about seppuku? They could do that.

  4. 4.

    Corner Stone

    Pledge immediate repeal in toto of Obamacare should it pass. No nibbling at the edges — the whole thing and we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member of Republican leadership who refuses to get on the full repeal bandwagon

    To the ramparts!!

  5. 5.

    AhabTRuler

    …we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member…

    I have a vision of a Cheetos-stained Bat’leth in a basement somewhere.

  8. 8.

    Max

    I can’t believe I’ve spent the day watching Cspan.

    I miss football.

    BTW – I’m going on record in saying that if the fucking Buffalo Bills use their 1st round pick on fucking Tim Tebow, I’m going to stomp up and down repeatedly on my box of Flutie Flakes and have a total temper tantrum.

  14. 14.

    eastriver

    Doubling down on the recklessness. Good plan.

    “Now let’s tie one on, boys, and go racing around in the Toyota! Yee-haw!”

  15. 15.

    Violet

    Tim, you missed this bit from Ewick:

    If your legislator has not signed on to the Club For Growth’s Repeal It website, we need to get them fully on board.

    Lolz! I really hope they run on repealing it. That would be excellent fun to watch.

  16. 16.

    Citizen_X

    Note that the Founding-Father posing is not directed at the fantasy repeal effort, but at “crushing any member of Republican leadership” who is slightly less than pure.

  17. 17.

    kth

    Awesome, they are going to try to scozzafava the remnant of sane Republicans in Congress.

    That thread is pure gold, btw. One of the peanut gallery sensibly wonders how HCR is to be repealed as long as Obama is president, and Moe Lane (off his meds yet again) is all “STOP! THAT’S STINKIN’ THINKIN'”

  18. 18.

    salacious crumb

    watching Cantor braying on C-span..says health care is a very personal issue….funny now all of sudden how privacy matters to him now, but of course that doesnt apply to what homosexual couples do in the privacy of their room.

  19. 19.

    Citizen_X

    Note that the Founding-Father posing is not directed at the fantasy repeal effort, but at “crushing any member of Republican leadership” who is slightly less than pure.

    Nice prioritizing, guys.

  20. 20.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    I wish they’d just vote. Die hard CSpan junkie here, but my head hurts from the wingnut wails of butthurt.

  21. 21.

    batgirl

    Cantor:

    We believe if you are poor, it is because you deserve to be poor. We believe if you can’t afford medical care, it is because you don’t deserve it. We believe you should have the freedom to be unable to go to a doctor or to lose your house if you get sick or to be refused treatment because you can’t pay for it.

  24. 24.

    SocSci

    Frum today:

    No illusions please: This bill will not be repealed. Even if Republicans scored a 1994 style landslide in November, how many votes could we muster to re-open the “doughnut hole” and charge seniors more for prescription drugs? How many votes to re-allow insurers to rescind policies when they discover a pre-existing condition? How many votes to banish 25 year olds from their parents’ insurance coverage? And even if the votes were there – would President Obama sign such a repeal?

    http://www.frumforum.com/waterloo

  30. 30.

    beltane

    @Violet: Is Jane Hamsher affiliated with this particular project? Perhaps she could run progressive outreach for CFG.

  31. 31.

    Three-nineteen

    Cantor: not only does this bill affect every American now, it will also affect FUTURE GENERATIONS! How could you vote for such a bill?

  32. 32.

    TR

    Are the Republicans seriously booing and hissing Democrats simply for referring to “this historic bill” in their revise-and-resubmit remarks? Seriously?

  33. 33.

    Bootlegger

    I feel the Commie Fascist Tyranny already…no, wait….ahh, it was just the chili I had for dinner.

  34. 34.

    TR

    What the fuck is Lungren rambling about?

    And Obey with the smack down — it’s not my job to tell you the rules of the House.

  35. 35.

    Violet

    From the Club for Growth Repeal It website, they have a pledge:

    “I hereby pledge that if any federal health care takeover is passed in 2010, I will support – with my time, money, and vote – only candidates who pledge to support its repeal and replacement with real reforms that lower health care costs without growing government.”

    ONLY candidates who pledge to support the repeal of the health care bill. Awesome! Can’t wait for them to run on that. “We’re going to take your kids off your insurance because they’re 23. Sorry about the Type 1 diabetes they’ve got and that they can’t get insurance. We’ve made a pledge!”

  37. 37.

    rob!

    1. Pledge immediate repeal in toto of Obamacare should it pass. No nibbling at the edges — the whole thing and we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member of Republican leadership who refuses to get on the full repeal bandwagon.

    I feel like this is the first paragraph of Red State slash fiction: “I began nibbling at the soft edges of the HCR bill. It’s 2700 pages at first resisted my touch, but then it slowly yielded, giving it itself up to me as groups of Teabaggers watched from the rotunda…”

  38. 38.

    Bootlegger

    “I rise to a point of parliamentary inquiry…..uh, never mind, I have no idea what I’m talking about.”

  39. 39.

    dmsilev

    @Jon H:

    How about seppuku? They could do that.

    I’m not sure I’d trust some of the House GOP with sharp objects. They’d probably disembowel some inoffensive sofa cushions by mistake.

    -dms

  41. 41.

    asiangrrlMN

    What the fuck? Vote on the EO? Huh? I’m so fucking confused right now. And, thank god for Obey. You can hear the exasperation in his voice.

  42. 42.

    mai naem

    Why do they say Mr. Speaker even when the person at the podium is a woman? I saw this when Sheila Jackson Lee was at the podium. I like David Obey. He’s supposed to have a tough race this November.

  45. 45.

    JGabriel

    Hmm, looks like we’re on track for the vote to start by 10:15 – 10:30? Does that sound right?

    .

  47. 47.

    El Cid

    Tune into the Hannitard freakshow to watch idiot liar Betsy McCaughy & co weep and moan because not even the New Republic can save them now.

  50. 50.

    Comrade Javamanphil

    Erickson’s just jealous. He got CNN but I hear Malkin got a spot on a Death Panel.

  52. 52.

    Bootlegger

    @Anya: They can vote on whatever they want, but it wouldn’t change anything since they are not in the Executive branch.

  54. 54.

    SGEW

    @SocSci: re: “Waterloo”

    I’ve been occasionally referring to the President as “Wellesley” for the past few months now. Gave me a chuckle.

    The Blue Dogs were nowhere near as difficult to organize as the Prussian infantry was, however.

  55. 55.

    PsiFighter37

    Republicans are a bunch of WATBs. They’re even worse to listen to now than I previously remember.

  56. 56.

    dmsilev

    @Winston Smith: I repeat what I wrote in a previous thread. Erick bin Erick is asking his readers to mail in plastic disks with “coin-like illustrations” on them.

    It makes his previous rock-salt idea look like brilliance by comparison.

    -dms

  58. 58.

    Davis X. Machina

    How about seppuku? They could do that.

    Not with their rudimentary math skills.

    Oh, wait…..

  59. 59.

    Corner Stone

    @Max:

    BTW – I’m going on record in saying that if the fucking Buffalo Bills use their 1st round pick on fucking Tim Tebow, I’m going to stomp up and down repeatedly on my box of Flutie Flakes and have a total temper tantrum.

    Never happen.
    Dude isn’t seeing the inside of the 4th round.

  61. 61.

    lost in GA

    Listening to Cantor makes my little brain hurt. What a freakin’ tool. And to think he’s a fellow alumnus. Well, so is Hume, so go figure.

  62. 62.

    Woodrow "asim" Jarvis Hill

    @asiangrrlMN: I think the idea is another stall tactic — that they could say the EO is a part of the bill, and thus must be considered as part of the legislation to be voted upon. If that was true — and I can’t imagine it is — they would derail it totally, as the point is to pass the Senate’s Bill unchanged, and then do the amendment.

    But at the least, it’s another way to try to stall passage. It’s mostly desperation, is my layperson opinion.

  63. 63.

    TR

    Dave Camp is quoting Democrats and then telling them they’re hypocrites because he says so that’s why.

    And he appears that he might well cry.

  65. 65.

    phoebes-in-santa fe

    Of all the Republicans I loathe and despise, I have a special place in my heart for one Eric Cantor. He is the worst of the lot, a slimy little shit, and Jewish. How can any self-respecting Jew be a current-day Republican?

    I also loathe Norm Coleman, though he, thank god, seems to be out-of-power.

  66. 66.

    mcc

    @Winston Smith: What I really like about that: Doesn’t this ram facefirst into the federal requirement that all donated money must come with information sufficient to log name, occupation and employer of the donor for auditing purposes?

  67. 67.

    kid bitzer

    can someone post those great quotes from reagan about how medicare is going to lead us straight to the gulag and destroy all of our american freedoms?

    you know–that crap that all the republicans were talking 50 years ago when they were on the wrong side of history, again?

    i am really going to relish reading reagan’s lies, and knowing that he’s crying in his grave, right now.

  68. 68.

    Max

    @C. Banana: Thank you! I really wish the Dem women would go in on a stylist / personal shopper.

    Since they’ve sucked us all into watching Cspan, they can at least step it up.

    There has been some dowdy shit worn today by the pols.

  69. 69.

    WereBear

    @rob!: I didn’t want to think about Rad State slash fiction, but thank you.

    You know, it has occurred to me, listening to both sides, that Republicans want exceptionalism for themselves so they can feel privileged, which is the only way they know to feel like better people.

    There are better ways to feel like better people. Like not killing people to make money. Has anyone suggested that to them?

  73. 73.

    Huntski

    Are they ever gonna actually vote? Seriously, how could you sit in that chamber for hours and listen to the animatronic droning and not sacrifice part of your frontal lobe? With a pencil through the nostril?

  75. 75.

    Mike E

    Erik The Dead goes ALL IN, trying to double down in the best tradition of W. That just reeks of Republican fiscal responsibility. Of course, even the worst gambling behavior won’t get you banned from CNN–ask Bill Bennett.

  76. 76.

    Bin Bin

    I’m flipping back n forth between MSNBC and Pee Wee’s Big Adventure on Encore. Don’t tell anybody….There’s something about that pedophile that keeps me tuned in.

  77. 77.

    Bootlegger

    Did everyone load up on health insurance stocks before the market closed Friday?
    Me either.

  79. 79.

    Davis X. Machina

    There has been some dowdy shit worn today by the pols. U can’t fool me: “Dowdy Shit” is a Dickens character.

  81. 81.

    mai naem

    Why didn’t Rob Andrews run for NJ Governor? He seems really sharp and meant for bigger things. Also too, I saw Alan Grayson getting up. You know he’s going to have a zinger ready to go.

  82. 82.

    C. Banana

    @Max

    It’s true. Regardless of party, there’s no excuse for wearing a pink leather jacket with white shoulder patches and a randomly-placed zipper. I mean, damn.

  83. 83.

    Dennis G.

    I loved this typo:

    There is still a change, though increasingly slim, that the House GOP will be able to blow up the health care bill on a motion to recommit.

    He must hate it when the fog of Cheetos dust causes a Freudian slip.

    Poor bastard, I weep for his typo and laugh at his prose.

    Cheers

    dengre

  84. 84.

    Tonal Crow

    Boehner’s up (so to speak). ETA: he seems to be admitting that he’s “failed to listen to America”. ETA: What a truly tremendous liar.

  91. 91.

    Some Guy

    Dave Camp (R-Lost in the Wilderness) just spewed so much lie in so little time, I was impressed.

    Double posting my links on different threads here (childish but I love this vid) but watching the R-Thuglicans bust the same bad moves over and over again reminds me of Flight of the Conchords, “Too Many Dicks on the Dance Floor.”

    Double that now that Boehner is coughing up a dishonest lung on the floor.

  93. 93.

    Anachronym

    Howard Kurtz’s latest spewage:

    As House members spent Sunday droning on while heading toward final approval of President Obama’s health-care bill, the end was in sight for journalists who have been chained to this complicated, arcane, often tedious story for 14 long months.

    I couldn’t help it, I snarked:

    In other words, doing their jobs? Perhaps if you are that bored with journalism, you should consider a new career?

  94. 94.

    asiangrrlMN

    Oh, dear. It’s John Boehner. Gag. His poor, delicate heavy heart. What pathos. Someone get him a fainting couch! I loathe him so very much. MUTE!

  96. 96.

    mcc

    So due to my tendency to never get news from the television, today I learned for the first time that it’s pronounced “Bay-ner”.

  99. 99.

    Bob K

    Had to click on the link. COME WHAT MAY – WTF? Erick son of Erick?

    “Come What May” is the love theme from Baz Luhrmann’s 2001 film Moulin Rouge! It is sung by Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman in their respective roles as Christian and Satine.

    If only Satine had access to decent health care – things might have been so different. On the other hand, I’d be totally cool with letting Erick son of Erick die of consumption.

  100. 100.

    dmsilev

    If I throw something at my screen right now, will it fly through the wires and hit Boehner in the face?

    -dms

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @C. Banana:

    Regardless of party, there’s no excuse for wearing a pink leather jacket with white shoulder patches and a randomly-placed zipper. I mean, damn.

    Are you sure it was leather?

  103. 103.

    ellaesther

    @SGEW: Dude. TOTALLY!

    I was explaining it to my kids, in 1st and 5th grade: This is an historic day! They will be teaching about this when you get to high school!

    And bless them, they listened.

  105. 105.

    Corner Stone

    @kid bitzer:

    can someone post those great quotes from reagan about how medicare is going to lead us straight to the gulag and destroy all of our american freedoms?

    I’m sure Cole has them all written down in his “I (heart) Ronnie” TrapperKeeper.

  106. 106.

    Susan Kitchens

    This is a sad day for this country. Because this bill — which gets rid of reimbursement for tanning bed precedures — will be passed by those other people on the other side of the aisle. Mr. Chairman, this is a sad day. Look at this bill. Do you really believe that you cannot get your tanning bed paid for? No you can’t.

  110. 110.

    SGEW

    @kid bitzer:

    If you don’t, this program I promise you, will pass just as surely as the sun will come up tomorrow and behind it will come other federal programs that will invade every area of freedom as we have known it in this country until one day as Normal Thomas said we will wake to find that we have socialism, and if you don’t do this and I don’t do this, one of these days we are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children, what it once was like in America when men were free.

    -“Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine,” 1961

    Transcript here.

  111. 111.

    dr. bloor

    @C. Banana:

    Ugh, Boehner. pours more gin

    Boner really setting the example in having his caucus act like grown ups.

    Relax, though. Grandma Speaker is going to smack his ass into next November when she steps into the batters box.

  112. 112.

    jl

    I turned on the sound so I could hear the chep two-bit hood Johnny Bones lie his face off.

    What is up with this guy, looks more and more like he is animated by Pixar.

    Every phrase is lie so far.

  113. 113.

    IndyLib

    @Max:
    They just need to go shopping with Madame Speaker, she’s usually beautifully dressed (though that stripey rainbow scarf she had on yesterday was unusually fugly).

  116. 116.

    John PM

    Two thoughts:

    Republicans will repeal this bill when they repeal Social Security and Medicare and renounce their own government provided health care.

    Related to that, f-ck Megan McCardle! I read that previous post in which she was having a meltdown and thought that she must have forgotten what Republicans did to the Constitution from 2001 to 2006. Tyrrany of the majority my ass! This is the first time I have heard this phrase used in a situation where a minority’s rights have been expanded. Dumb ass!

    Good work, Balloon Juice. I hope you all are invited to Obama’s inauguration in 2013.

  124. 124.

    ericblair

    Hey, what happened to my monitor? The color’s all fucked up, must be the video card dying…oh wait, it’s Boehner.

  125. 125.

    Anya

    Boner thinks he is a black preacher. The poor man was driven to madness by Pelosi and Obama.

  130. 130.

    KDP

    Boehner’s perorations have made me laugh.

    If they haven’t read the bill, the reconciliations, and the rest of it, as Boehner claims, why on earth are they in office.

  131. 131.

    Comrade Mary

    “Can you go home and tell your granny that Obama won’t strangle her in her sleep, and then travel back in time to abort all of her children? NO, BECAUSE YOU WON’T EXIST!”

  133. 133.

    Three-nineteen

    Hey Boehner: I may not be able to keep my insurance whether or not this thing passes, because like most of America my choice of insurance relies entirely on my employer, who has changed my insurance four times in the last ten years.

  134. 134.

    ellaesther

    Boehner: “Hell no you can’t!”

    Speaker: “Both sides would do well to remember the dignity of this house.”

    I am… amused. I think.

  145. 145.

    LT

    Boehner: The American people do not yet know how much of an asshole I really am. Here is my chance. Booyah.

  149. 149.

    JCT

    Freaking hell, Boehner, demagogue MUCH?

    What was that nonsense? G_d, Jon Stewart is going to have a field day with this craziness.

  151. 151.

    asiangrrlMN

    You guys are lighting Boehner up! Man, I’m loving it. Keep it rolling.

    @Bob K: Must. Not. Click. Love that song. Really dig the music to that movie. LOVE Ewan McGregor. That is all.

  153. 153.

    Boudica

    @Libertini
    Marchant’s my rep, too. Where are you at? I’m in Southlake. His newsletters always get my blood boiling.

  155. 155.

    SGEW

    Did a sitting member of the House of Representatives just yell out “fired up, ready to go!” when the Speaker mentioned the President just now?

    Huh. O-bots abound, apparently.

  157. 157.

    debit

    As I Tweeted, wasn’t Boehner the guy who handed out oil lobby checks on the floor of the People’s House? How is it possible he still holds public office?

  159. 159.

    Tonal Crow

    Pelosi clearly hasn’t slept in days. But I really like her argument about HCR promoting entrepreneurship by freeing us to move between jobs.

  160. 160.

    Some Guy

    @asiangrrlMN: I would like Boner’s crocodile tear speech on a loop. This is what mean old Republicans look like when they lose: thick tongued pool jockeys thumbing through a thesaurus for turns on “outrage.”

    Pelosi looks so tired. Proud of her but she is so wonky, this closing statement isn’t her thing. Show her bringing votes down with political jujitsu. That is what I want to see.

  163. 163.

    nelson

    Nancy, smart women rock. I have two sons who are so smart, but I love female leadership. You go … (I am new here).

  164. 164.

    nelson

    Nancy, smart women rock. I have two sons who are so smart, but I love female leadership. You go … (I am new here).

  165. 165.

    cbear

    we pledge our lives, fortunes, and honor to crushing any member of Republican leadership who refuses to get on the full repeal bandwagon.

    Who does this scrote think he’s fooling?
    Unless and until these goopers are willing to pledge their ropes, wetsuits, dildos, mistresses (male and female, human and animal) bibles, guns, and Confederate flags—I’m going to have to call bullshit.

  167. 167.

    dan robinson

    The Republican game plan:

    – get control of Congress
    – repeal health care reform
    – President Obama vetoes repeal
    – try to override veto
    – use that failure to incentivize the base and regain the White House in 2012
    That is such an overreaching scenario that it defies thoughtful consideration. It’s like an the apocryphal story of dumb criminals who think that the following constitutes adequate planning

    – buy guns
    – rob bank
    – get away

    They need better plans.

  168. 168.

    dr. bloor

    @debit:

    As I Tweeted, wasn’t Boehner the guy who handed out oil lobby checks on the floor of the People’s House? How is it possible he still holds public office?

    I think you just answered your own question.

  173. 173.

    bey

    Question: does the extension of coverage for kids until age 26 require them to be in school?

  175. 175.

    :Libertini

    @Boudica: Wow, I LOVE finding neighbors on the intertoobz. I’m in Carrollton.

    I send Mr. Kenny plenty of automated emails through the advocacy arms of The American Cancer Society and Susan G Komen. His stock replies which always emphasize runaway entitlements make me need to throw up.

  176. 176.

    SRW1

    That Boehner guy’s a real cracking orator. Probably could put a tanning bed to sleep.

    Oh, it’s the other way round?

    Well that sure explains things.

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