Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Speaker Mike Johnson is a vile traitor to the House and the Constitution.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

We won’t go back.

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

People are weird.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

“The defense has a certain level of trust in defendant that the government does not.”

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Baby steps, because the Republican Party is full of angry babies.

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

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

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

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

The lights are all blinking red.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Washington Post’s Catch and Kill, not noticeably better than the Enquirer’s.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

I really should read my own blog.

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

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Heh

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John Kline (R-Minn) just declared that calls to his office ran 13-1 against the bill. You know that the ‘yes’ calls must have been blog readers, since most liberals know better than to bother with a stone tool like him. Which of you guys called Kline? Fess up.

***Update***

SuzyKhimm: Tea Partiers now clanging bells at Capitol Hill protest. Pro-HCR guy shouts, “Needs more coooowwwbelllll!”

***Update 2***

CSPAN junkies open thread.

Reader Interactions

223Comments

  4. 4.

    Yutsano

    Bah. I really should have called in sick today. Of course I’m stuck at work and will just have to flip in between news sites to find out what the hell they’re doing in the other Washington.

  6. 6.

    gbear

    I called Oberstar after he switched to ‘yes’ to thank him. I didn’t call Kline. He’s too big a tool. Gawd, he is such a tool.

    Does anyone know why Peterson, a D from MN, voted against the bill? Anti-choicer? His vote never seemed to be in play.

  8. 8.

    mcc

    Funny to see the republicans finally deciding they don’t like the mandate in the last 24 hours before the bill passes.

  12. 12.

    very reverend crimson fire of compassion

    @PeakVT: NYT live-blogging is calling it around 10:30 pm (I assume that’s Eastern time), for what it’s worth.

  13. 13.

    me

    Did you know this bill represents the complete destruction of our constitutional republic?

    Watching Fox is fun.

  14. 14.

    kommrade reproductive vigor

    From Khimm’s feed Twitter Account (Is that better Cole? Get offa my lawn.):

    [Tweet1] Grabbing dinner at Cosi, a Tea Partier asks me “what mix” I am. When I tell him, he says, “Koreans are beautiful-looking people.” [Tweet2] Then the Tea Partier says that his friend helped drop the bomb on Hiroshima, liberating my people (and the rest of East Asia).

    Worst. Pickup line. EVER.

  18. 18.

    jl

    I just turned C-Span on. Not sure I can listen to it.

    First guy I heard was a GOP jackass saying that this bill would create gummint run health, the doctors will all be disgraced incomptent dipsomaniac ex-dogcatchers who will beat you to deat with a rusty shovel if you get sick and have the temerity to go see them.

    Yeesh. What a nutjob.

    I’ll keep the sound off until it looks like the vote is coming up.

    I will savor the vote if, as seems likely, HCR will pass. Politically for the GOP nutjob wing, which seems to include everyone of them in Congress, it will be like watching a film of a sinking ship, that suddenly goes end up and sinks out of sight in 30 seconds. Which in this case will be nice to watch.

    Edit: CRAP, didn’t turn the sound off soon enough. Now some loon lady GOPer talking nonsense and spewing lies. “A government take-over of the studen loan business” (???) OH NOES, there goes the youth vote! BEWARES!

    Edit Edit: I might listen to the smartest GOPER-man in galactic history Ryan. might be nice to see the next captain of GOP self destruction speak.

  19. 19.

    asiangrrlMN

    @gbear:
    @C. Banana:

    The fuck? I didn’t know we had so many pro-birthers in Minnesota. Hm. I just checked Kline’s district. Yep. Makes sense. That’s where I went to college (St. Olaf). Oh, the irony.

    Note to self: Stay out of the 7th and 8th Congressional Districts of MN, as well as the 6th. Holy shit. One of Michele Bachmann’s middle names is Amble. It should be Ramble!

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    Just finished reading a history of the Army of Northern Virginia. I may be off-base here, but I can’t quite see the current crop of wingnuts volunteering to slog a rifle for a few years for little pay and less food.

    -dms

  21. 21.

    Violet

    Count me in the CSpan Junkie crowd. Although I just switched over to MSNBC to see what the talking heads were saying. They’re boring.

  22. 22.

    C. Banana

    Is that Michele Bachmann in the background? I don’t have enough gin on hand to deal with her brand of crazy.

  23. 23.

    Keith G

    Just home from work. Quickly surveying the scene. This place has the feel of a street party. I am pretty pumped.

  24. 24.

    MikeJ

    @Dennis G.:

    There’s an App for that…

    But only if Apple approves of it and isn’t being paid off by someone bigger to kill the little guy’s cowbell app.

  25. 25.

    unabogie

    I just thought up a great way to refer to the obvious GOP astroturfing of the so called Tea Party.

    GOBaggers.

    Catchy?

  26. 26.

    And Another Thing...

    Rumor has it that there’s a tax on tanning bed treatments in HCR. I think it should be designated the Boehner Tax and that he should take it personally. Heh

  28. 28.

    boognish

    l I live in that assshat’s district, i figured my time and energy was better spent by donating to the primary opponents of dems who were opposed to the bill than trying to deal with the brick wall that is the republican wehrmacht – especially considering who my senators are. But, if he’s gonna be especially tool-ish about it, i suppose i will call him tomorrow and ask how Obama’s giant package tasted on its way down his throat.

  30. 30.

    Nellcote

    Bachmann is sitting right behind (teevee time!) the R speaker and all you can see is her crazy eyes blinking waaay too much.

  31. 31.

    The Other Steve

    As much as I dislike Kline… I live in Paulsen’s district.

    I don’t get the impression Kline panders to the crazies quite like Paulsen and Bachmann do.

  32. 32.

    SIA

    @PeakVT: Yes, that is one of my questions. What time, so I don’t miss anything

    the other – did the missing Sanchez sister ever show up?

    the 3rd – so the student loan bill will be passed with HCR?

    /all day C-SPAN loser

  33. 33.

    Tonal Crow

    Ryan’s really going off the rails on “natural rights” and “equaliz[ing] the results of peoples’ lives”.

    It’s just precious to see Republicans — who never met a kind of torture or warrantless search and seizure or unreviewable enemy-combatant designation that they didn’t like — talking about “lost liberty”.

  38. 38.

    Tim F.

    @boognish: That would work better as a fax.

    I just had another idea. Do you think that you could phrase it in a letter to the editor that your local paper would print? I would screenshot that.

  39. 39.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Paul Ryan is an embarassment to Wisconsin and to Delta Tau Delta Fraternity. There, I’ve said it.

  40. 40.

    C. Banana

    @AsianGrrrl MN:

    Oberstar’s anti-choice stance is unfortunate, but he’s strong on labor, so there’s that. As for Peterson, he comes from a district where agriculture is a major industry and he’s chair of the ag committee. So he’s not going anywhere. That being said, there are pockets of progressivism in the 7th.

  42. 42.

    dmsilev

    Paul Ryan just said “My friends”! Everyone drink!

    Oh, sorry, having Obama/McCain debate flashbacks.

    Drink anyway. We’re all going to need it.

    -dms

  43. 43.

    batgirl

    I didn’t realize access to health care was a result of one’s life not an equalizing force. Thank you Paul Ryan. Why don’t you state it clearer. Can’t afford health care? Too bad. Go die.

  44. 44.

    KDP

    Paul Ryan is confusing me… I thought we were talking about a health insurance reform bill, not the repeal of the welfare reform. When did the house decide to repeal welfare reform?

  46. 46.

    Josh

    Paul Ryan is a blithering idiot.

    His little road map was more like pirate map drawn by a mentally challenged car salesman.

    The rhetoric is just infuriating.

  47. 47.

    jl

    I like Ryan’s speech so far. It makes no sense and is very stupid, and full of stupid debt scare talk and winger buzzwords.

    “We are at a tipping point” -into SWEDEN, May haps!?

    Effing A, what are we waiting for! Sweden here we come!

  52. 52.

    gbear

    @Nellcote: She’s actually blinking?? That’s a new trick for her. Usually she has a zombie stare.

    AsiangrllMN, I think I’m going to The Grand Creamery to celebrate tonight. And Betty is my rep too. I’m glad.

  53. 53.

    minachica

    @Alex:

    This Gwen Moore lady sounds pretty awesome.

    She was taking down Paul Ryan and his Medicare-killing ideas – her Wisconsin district (Milwaukee) borders Ryan’s. I was cheering her on from here in Madison.

  54. 54.

    Some Guy

    @KDP: To hear wingnuts, Europe is some scabby, forever clouded place where roving gangs of criminals do surgery. The delusions of the right wing are fascinating. Do they actually travel anywhere? Has anyone been to Europe? It don’t suck.

  56. 56.

    martha

    @Omnes Omnibus: Well, I’m with you on the Wisconsin part…he’s such a complete tool and as you know but others may not, his district was just slammed by the recession. Those people are either out of work or on Social Security…which he wants to take away. (primal shriek….)

    My husband calls him Eddie Munster…

  57. 57.

    General Egali Tarian Stuck

    I’ll give Paul Ryan some credit. A wingnut with half a brain. He is right about this being largely about the base ideology of the two parties. He got his way with 3 unpaid for historic tax cuts mostly to the most wealthy in the country, and his side got an unnecessary war that cost a trillion dollars and hundreds of thousands of dead innocents.

    Our turn — to give life saving health care to millions of Americans in need. I like belonging to my side. you can call me soshulist Obot, I do not care. Kindly sit still wingnuts, and others on my side, and take our medicine – pun intended

  58. 58.

    Violet

    Ah, the Freepers. Full of win.

    How can we convince the Pope to excommunicate the Catholics who voted for ObamaCare?

    —

    Same goes for Harry Reid and the President of the LDS, etc. Should we start a petition or what? How can Speaker Nancy Pelosi claim to be a Catholic in good standing? Your suggestions and input would be welcomed.

    Do you think the Pope could excommunicate the President of LDS? That would be awesome!

  59. 59.

    Bob K

    It is notable that a future edition of The Encyclopedia Galactica fell through a wormhole in time, and its entry for the Reagan Revolution is “a bunch of mindless jerks who were the first against the wall when the revolution came.”

    Minnesota – Home of Batshit Crazy Shelly Bachmann. The crazy runs deep there

  60. 60.

    Some Guy

    @gbear: YES! Grand Creamery is awesome! Used to live in St. Paul and then Mpls. Ever been to Krema? Crazy good too, but Grand Creamery has the lovely old school feel you just cannot beat.

  61. 61.

    mousebumples

    @minachica: I was impressed with both Gwen Moore and Tammy Baldwin. Of course, my rep is Tom Petri, who apparently feels that 12+% unemployment in my county (not sure what it is overall in the district) is not sufficient cause to vote in favor of health care reform.

  65. 65.

    dmsilev

    Mike Pence: “We’re breaking history”. It’s official, folks. Obama *is* a time-traveller; that’s how he faked his own birth.

    -dms

  66. 66.

    IndyLib

    God, Paul Ryan is an embarrassment as a Congresscritter. I wish I knew how to get a decent Dem in this district to run against the little fuckwit. I’ve met the local Dem. party apparatus in the Pleasant Prairie/Kenosha area and they are part of the problem, I have no idea how to get them to be part of a solution that would see this twit out of office on his ass.

  69. 69.

    C. Banana

    @ Bob K

    It’s less about the crazy running deep in MN (although there is a distinct libertarian streak among the electorate) than that there are three very active major parties and another three minor parties. So the votes get split six ways. Also, the sixth district is gerrymandered within an inch of its life.

  72. 72.

    Josh

    @Bob K:

    Taking from the 116th Edition of The Encyclopedia Galactica, printed in 1020 of the F.E. on Terminus with permission of the publishers:

    “Tea Party Protests: Long forgotten.”

  73. 73.

    TR

    Mike Pence says we’re abandoning the American Revolution! Move over, England! We’re coming back!

  74. 74.

    asiangrrlMN

    @C. Banana: I was being tongue-in-cheek. I know that most of MN has liberals sprinkled here and there. I am just frustrated with the idiots like Kline grandstanding for the cameras.

    @jwb: No way! When? I graduated ’93.

    @dr. bloor: I like that.

    gbear, shhhh shhhh shhh! Don’t say that! I refused to listen to anyone gloating about Obama before Keith Olbermann actually called in the vote.

  75. 75.

    very reverend crimson fire of compassion

    @Some Guy: “Suffering deepens one, while travel broadens one.” They neither travel nor suffer. They move around, sure, but without ever leaving the mirrored bubble of their own impervious delusions, like an Alzheimer’s patient wandering along the highway.
    Sam Houston died fighting for the right to own slaves. Fuck a bunch of Sam Houston.

  76. 76.

    Annie

    OMG. Mike Pence: Now we are abandoning the American revolution, and not praying enough….Onward Christian soldiers.

  78. 78.

    carlos the dwarf

    Great Weigel tweet: “TelePrompTer! ACORN! Chicago-style politics! Van Jones! WHY AREN’T THE MAGIC WORDS WORKING?”

  79. 79.

    martha

    @IndyLib: We keep wondering about that–is there no one? If the local party organization is weak, that explains it. I cannot believe that a decent middle of the road Dem couldn’t scare the daylights out of him this year and beat him in the next election.

  81. 81.

    FlipYrWhig

    @dmsilev:

    Just finished reading a history of the Army of Northern Virginia

    What was their uniform, the aqua polo shirt with a popped collar?

  84. 84.

    dmsilev

    @Scott de B.: “General Lee’s Army: From Victory to Collapse”. By Joseph Glatthaar. Good book, It lasted me through Montana, North Dakota and most of Minnesota over the last couple of days.

    -dms

  87. 87.

    mcc

    @Tonal Crow: I was fascinated by the moment Ryan said something about how we got this huge deficit run up by “past legislators who couldn’t keep their promises”. WAIT MR. RYAN WHO MIGHT YOU BE TALKING OF.

  88. 88.

    MazeDancer

    Ryan’s on MSNBC. The first one in a long parade they stopped Talking Heads over for his full speech.

    Despite his “European Welfare State” (yes, that’s a quote)- or because of it for the nutties – he’s gonna be a contender.

    He’s smart, he’s passionate, he sounds like he’s making sense even when he isn’t. He’s just intelligent enough that he can’t be easily dismissed as a complete idiot. He disguises his wingnuttia well. Media likes him because he dresses up and looks good and doesn’t seem like an utter fool. Note how they pimped him as the brainiac Repub during the HC Summit.

    He could make the vulnerable feel like they have a respectable guy who helps them “get back their America”. He even said with conviction, “America is an idea.” And the greatest pro-humanity idea ever.

  90. 90.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    We are turning into Sweden? My husband thinks that is teh awesome. What other country has a bikini team?

  91. 91.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    “Mr. Speaker, this is the (White) people’s house.”

    I swear, the word pops in there every time I hear the word “people.”

    Rep Kevin McCarthy repeats the “this administration has run up a deficit larger than all previous administrations combined” lying meme.

    Now Smooth James Clyburn is up.

  92. 92.

    MikeJ

    @TR:

    Move over, England! We’re coming back!

    Thank gopod. I already spend far, far, far too much time in line at Heathrow. This will surely speed things up.

  95. 95.

    Raje

    A bit OT, but there’s a Dem Congresscritter I occasionally see who looks just like Mr. Slugworth from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate factory (see here). Does anyone know who it is? He was sitting in the second row of the Dem side for a while. I always think he’s a Republican because he’s so evil looking…

  99. 99.

    Veteran, Great War of Yankee Aggression

    @Tonal Crow:

    It’s just precious to see Republicans—who never met a kind of torture or warrantless search and seizure or unreviewable enemy-combatant designation that they didn’t like—talking about “lost liberty”.

    Damn straight- I don’t know why Obama didn’t simply use his Dick Cheney Unitary Executive power to summarily conscript every living American into the Armed Forces, then provide them with single payer military health care.

  100. 100.

    C. Banana

    @jwb

    Also, Rose from the Golden Girls comes from Saint Olaf. Y’all really ought to claim Betty White as an alum.

  102. 102.

    dr. bloor

    @Max:

    Mike Pence 2012! That would be fun. For reals

    Meh. I dunno. Doesn’t look like you could land anything bigger than a Gulfstream on his shoulders.

  103. 103.

    Nellcote

    OMG! Howard Fineman just compare Prez Obama to “those long distance runners in Kenya that get it across the finish line”.

  104. 104.

    Josh

    Howard Fineman just compared Obama with Kenyan runners “crossing the finish line.”

    Wow. Get out your decoder ring to figure that one out.

  105. 105.

    asiangrrlMN

    @General Egali Tarian Stuck: Or, as Jon Stewart said, “You lost. It’s supposed to taste like a shit taco.”
    @jwb: You like Um Ya Ya? Seriously? I don’t even know Carleton’s fight song.

    Who is the congressman speaking right now? I’m betting he’s a Dem. Sure, he’s talking about all the benefits of HCR reform, but I knew just by looking at him (he’s black).

    Ok, Congresswoman from Washington needs to STFU.

  106. 106.

    rootless-e

    @Josh: The passage of this socialist Health Care Bill will force us to struggle to assemble Ikea furniture in a bleak collectivist future.

    My GOD! Our future is gone.

  108. 108.

    Corner Stone

    @dmsilev:

    Paul Ryan just said “My friends”! Everyone drink!

    I…I..can’t. My arms..won’t move anymoar.
    I’ve been historic since drinking every time.

  110. 110.

    LT

    @Pasquinade:

    The St. Louis Tea Party Coalition will hold a candlelight protest tonight ouside Russ Carnahan’s home for the millions of elderly patients who will die under Obamacare.

    And after that, we like totally party the Iraq War. OMISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

  113. 113.

    South of I-10

    I have switched to C-Span and commenced drinking. I don’t know how you have been watching this all day.

  114. 114.

    Citizen_X

    @Violet:

    Should we start a petition or what?

    WTF, you can start a petition to excommunicate other people? Even non-Catholics? Who knew?

  118. 118.

    Tonal Crow

    @mcc: It’s all emo. I just has to sound good to get the wingnuts clapping. That it’s self-contradictory (e.g., expressing grave concern over budget deficits while being foursquare for Bush’s tax cuts and the Iraq war) matters not at all.

  119. 119.

    dr. bloor

    @Josh:

    Wow. Get out your decoder ring to figure that one out.

    H-O-L-Y S-H-I-T T-H-E B-I-G S-C-A-R-Y N-E-G-R-O P-U-L-L-E-D I-T O-F-F!

  120. 120.

    rob!

    Minnesota – Home of Batshit Crazy Shelly Bachmann. The crazy runs deep there

    How could the state that gave us Bob Dylan, Prince, Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Sen. Al Franken also have given us Michelle “Coo-coo for Cocoa-Puffs” Bachmann?

  123. 123.

    dr. bloor

    Sarah Palin updating her Facebook status to “Tyrannized.”

    She got eaten by a dinosaur? Was Jesus riding it?

  126. 126.

    gbear

    @jwb: Ummm…did you know any of the people who were in Modern Entertainment (kind of a comedy music revue)?

  127. 127.

    mai naem

    Who TF is this Cathy Morris Rogers? And WTF is she wearing? I have never seen this woman before and I watch CSPAN way more than I should. OMG and now this HCR bill is a blanket? Jeebus, were these people under the influence of the bong when they were figuring out these speeches?

  128. 128.

    Max

    Personally, I would like to see Obama stand at the podium in the East Room following passage of the bill and raise his arm in the black power salute from the 1968 Olympics.

  130. 130.

    C. Banana

    @rob!

    The election of Jesse Ventura should have tipped the nation off that Minnesota’s politics can be deeply weird.

    Of course, after eight years of Tim Pawlenty, I find myself thinking more fond thoughts about the Ventura administration then I would have ever thought possible.

  131. 131.

    IndyLib

    @martha: @MazeDancer:

    The little cretin comes across as a “nice midwest boy”, on camera and especially in person. He’s gotten much more wingnutty in the last couple of years though, and a hardass candidate would be able to exploit that. Unfortunately in ’08 the Dem candidate was a nice former teacher from Pleasant Prairie who had never run for office before, so he wiped the floor with her by almost 30 points. So far the only person to declare for the Dem nomination so far this year is a nice former music professor from Kenosha who has never run for office before.
    It’s depressing.

  132. 132.

    jwb

    @asiangrrlMN: Um Ya Ya is awesome—and what other school would dare proudly lead with a fight song that was so, uh, mockable! And while I do know Olaf’s fight song by heart (and upside down and backwards—We used to sing it back: “Ya, Ya, Um”), I haven’t a clue what Carleton’s fight song is. Just goes to show you!

  135. 135.

    KDP

    @asiangrrlMN: That would have been Clyburn, I believe. Schwartz of Pennsylvania speaking now.

    This woman, Capito, is distinctly florid in her use of language. All this talk of holey, inadequate blankets woven from strong arms and manipulation.

    I may just go +1, I don’t normally indulge, but this is a very special occasion.

    What happens to doctors who go into politics? All of my doctors are pro-reform.

  136. 136.

    Josh

    Capito: Little do those little American children know that this health-care bill will end the world and bring about a thousand years of Sith rule.

  138. 138.

    Annie

    @dr. bloor:

    LOL. Someone really needs to tell Ms. Sarah that “tyrannized” is not and never will be a word, no matter how much she appeals to a higher being…

  140. 140.

    dmsilev

    I can only imagine that the DVRs at the offices of The Daily Show are working overtime right now. I think the show is on vacation next week, more’s the pity.

    -dms

  141. 141.

    Davis X. Machina

    If 3% of the population is barking mad, then the number of frank psychotics in the House is about 13. And all of them are on C-SPAN end to end, intervening Democrats excepted.

  142. 142.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    “A blanket. That’s a wall of government. With huge holes. Patches for those holes. Children playing in the backyard. unaware. Hearts beating. Listen to the hearts beating people!”

    Madame wingnut Capito is seriously mixing her metaphors.

    @Josh: Damn, I see Josh is way ahead of me.

  144. 144.

    asiangrrlMN

    Well, shut my mouth. The guy talking now has a Southern drawl, and I thought he’d be a Republican. He’s not. He’s a Dem and just got booed for saying the Republicans brought no solutions.

    @jwb: Ok, yes, the silliness of it, yes. I will agree with that.

    How can they give minutes to each other? That’s just bizarre!

  148. 148.

    mai naem

    @LT: To be perfectly honest, I think Fineman was complimenting Obama although if Fineman did a little research he would know that Obama’s family is not from the Highlands area where most of the runners are from. BTW, they’ve done studies on the runners to see why they appear to have higher endurance/more efficient oxygen use(?) and how that could be used to help cardiac patients.

  149. 149.

    SIA

    @South of I-10: I’ve been watching C-SPAN all day. It’s better (no expert opinions, other than the hoohaws on the house floor) but still draining. I think it would have been better to not watch until the real vote, whenever the fuck that’s gonna be now.

  150. 150.

    C. Banana

    I can’t tell if the republicans’ arguments are making less sense or if I am just getting more drunk. Little from column a, little from column b, I think.

  151. 151.

    Alex

    Phil Roe has never operated on a Republican cancer in his life. That’s because Republicanism is a cancer itself. Forest for the trees, etc.

  152. 152.

    Davis X. Machina

    This woman, Capito, is distinctly florid in her use of language.
    Mercury liberated in the mining or combustion of coal is my theory, and I’m sticking to it. That would make the Power River basin the North American epicenter of teh crazy, and explain Sen. emBamrasso (R-Gamma Quadrant)

  153. 153.

    Josh

    Roe: I’ve never operated on a Republican or Democratic cancer.

    Obviously. Have you ever heard of Washington, D.C.?

  155. 155.

    RareSanity

    All I hear from Rep. Roe:

    Combover!

    Combover combover combover. Furthermore, combover combover combover.

  156. 156.

    TR

    Physicians hate this bill? It’s too bad they don’t have a trade association to register their opinion on this. They could call it the “American Medical Association” or something.

    Seniors hate it? Again, too bad they don’t have an “American Association of Retired Persons” or something to register their feelings.

  157. 157.

    Citizen_X

    Personally, I would like to see Obama stand at the podium in the East Room following passage of the bill and raise his arm in the black power salute from the 1968 Olympics.

    I’d like to see him recreate this photo.

  165. 165.

    Nellcote

    @Cat Lady:

    She’s blinking a message in code to her teatard constituents – “Send more meth.”

    It did sort of remind me of when CodePink would position their signs behind the speakers at hearings so they would have to be on camera.

  166. 166.

    Some Guy

    @mai naem: I don’t want to overstress a minor comment from Fine, but because he was trying to be complimentary doesn’t make it a good comment. Obama is not kin to long distance runners anymore than I am kin to Irish cops and my mom’s maiden name is Kennedy.

  167. 167.

    asiangrrlMN

    @TR: Bwahahahahahahaha! You win!

    @Anya: Yes. You missed that the HCR bill is a blanket–and that’s just in the last ten minutes.

    By the way, the Republicans are acting like two-year olds with their hooting and hollering and booing.

    I love how every Republican emphasizes FLAWED in their canned statements.

  169. 169.

    gbear

    @C. Banana:

    Ventura had some stupid streaks but he wasn’t really all that bad a Governor when it came to the day to day management. Part of the reason that things went to hell for Ventura was that Pawlenty was the majority leader in the House. He was just as much a dickhead then.

    Jesse included health benefits for same-sex partners in a state labor contract, and Pawlenty scotched the deal. It was the first time in MN history that the legislative branch had injected itself into the labor negotiations. We wound up going on strike for two weeks because of Pawlenty’s fucking with the state employee’s contract. TPaw’s been doing heavy damage to this state for many many years.

  171. 171.

    KDP

    Ah, geez, I cannot put up with 4 minutes of Cantor. Time to channel-surf. Oh, goodie, Hannity has ‘starbursts’ Lowry and debunked McCaughey.

    Hmm, some one that seems rational, Kirsten Powers, saying that the Republicans have used the same legislative practices.

  172. 172.

    Annie

    @Pasquinade:

    I just read the link, thinking this was a joke…Don’t these people realize that Republicans were against Medicare before they suddenly became for it? I have said it several times in several threads over the weekend — what is killing this country is the marriage of Republican/conservative politics and the religious right…

  174. 174.

    asiangrrlMN

    The scary thing is that they are deferring all their minutes to such fucking idiots! Really? This is the best the Republicans can do?

    YOU LIE! Guy who’s talking about how real ‘Muricans don’t want healthcare reform. Oops. Just checked out the video. It’s Cantor. He’s saying they all care about healthcare for the people. I thought he was supposed to be one of their best and brightest?

  177. 177.

    Tonal Crow

    “It will even affect future generations that have not yet been born” — E. Cantor

  181. 181.

    TR

    I’m still convinced Cantor is a Democratic plant. A whiny voiced, weasel faced, used-car salesman lookalike? Come on.

  186. 186.

    Miss Mouse

    True story: I went to high school with Mike Pence’s niece. She was a bully. I punched her in the face once. Today with health care reform, I’m also metaphorically punching Mike Pence in the face. It’s a great feeling.

  187. 187.

    Corner Stone

    Cantor:
    “Now that we can’t decide who’s cronies get govt cash, we believe it should stop spending money it doesn’t have!”

  188. 188.

    mai naem

    Anybody notice Michelle Bachman(Crz-Dgbt) primping herself. She must be getting ready to do her thang, And now Eric Cantor. Oh, who do I dislike more? Pence, Cantor or Ryan? So many deeckheads to choose from, so little time.

  191. 191.

    Josh

    Cantor’s definition of American People: White Republicans.

    Nobody else counts. Nuh-uh. No way.

    If it ain’t good for the rich, it ain’t good for the country.

    Tax breaks = GOVERNMENT RAISING TAXES

    IT’S THE APOCALYPSE!

    OH NOES! THE BILL COVERS ABORTION!

    My brain—shriveled and dead.

  192. 192.

    C. Banana

    @gbear

    Yeah, generally agree. Although Ventura’s choice to drain the surplus funds is a decision that in part is contributing to the disastrous budget situation the state is in now. (Not to minimize Pawlenty’s involvement, obviously.)

  194. 194.

    minachica

    @mousebumples: My sympathies! I grew up in Kansas, so I understand the frustration of crappy representation. I had just moved to Wisconsin the year Tammy Baldwin ran for Congress and canvassed to get her elected, and I was thrilled when she won (and became the first openly GLBT person elected to Congress). I’m just so disgusted with Paul Ryan and all the attention he’s getting; I’m hoping it will backfire.

  195. 195.

    TR

    Cantor is now ranting about how the American people don’t want federal money used to pay for abortions.

    Take that, strawman! Die!

  197. 197.

    JAHILL10

    @ dr. bloor at 122

    Sarah Palin updating her Facebook status to “Tyrannized.”

    She got eaten by a dinosaur? Was Jesus riding it?

    I think I love you. Har Har Har

  199. 199.

    Some Guy

    Lord, Cantor is just throwing spaghetti at the wall. Taking freedom, controlling the economy, hating on love and goodness – trillion dollar, trillion dollar, trillion dollar! Cantor is a tool among tools, and that shed houses Steve King and Michelle Bachmann. Feel it.

  209. 209.

    RareSanity

    I know she’s a Dem, but if she put some sequins on those shoulders, she could do her own “Beat It” video.

    Hey…jokes are bipartisan!

  211. 211.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    Loves me some David Obey – he just smacked down some GOP stalling attempt.

  213. 213.

    mousebumples

    @minachica: I grew up in Sensenbrenner’s district (and in such a conservative town that I thought I was a conservative until I hit college and was actually exposed to intelligent liberals and/or moderates, at which time I rethought my political compass), and now I’m living and working in Petri’s district. We’re a pretty red district, I think – we went for Obama, but by a fraction of a percent, and even with that Obama support, Petri won by maybe 2%. From everything I’ve read/heard as of late, this is traditionally a pretty strong GOP district, but I’ll do what I can in November. And, maybe redistricting post-census will shake things up a bit? (I can only hope … )

    Also: Add me to those who are celebrating the awesome that is Rep. Obey! I really kinda love the end remark regarding whose approval the questioning Rep would need and how he should already know that and not need to ask. Snerk.

  216. 216.

    danimal

    GOP tears taste sweet and salty. I’ll have another mug, please.

    They’ve focused their fire on a Dem initiative for a year and weren’t able to stop it. They’ve been unified, and still lost. Now the tattered army of the GOP begins to turn on itself. Enjoy as the blaming begins. Who lost Health Care?

  217. 217.

    Malron aka eclecticbrotha

    LOL @ Crying Orange Guy: “Today, after a year of this we should be standing here heralding a year of bipartisanship.”

    Boneless is Exhibit A for why I don’t trust people in Ohio.

  220. 220.

    very reverend crimson fire of compassion

    “Shame on this body” Kind of sums up the Right-wing world view, doesn’t it?

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