I’ve stayed away from the topic of judicial confirmation because I didn’t know if Republicans were truly being obstructionist about this from a historical perspective. Well, they are:
It is part of a trend, but the jump from Bush to Obama is quite striking, given that Democrats have a large majority under Obama, whereas Republicans had no majority during the first year of Bush:
Similarly, the Alliance for Justice found that in Obama’s first year in office, the Senate confirmed a mere 23 percent of his judicial nominees. By contrast, presidents Carter and Reagan had 91 percent of their nominees confirmed in their first year. That number dropped to 65 percent for George H.W. Bush, 57 percent for Bill Clinton, and 44 percent for George W. Bush.
It’s going to be interesting to see how this issue gets resolved. There’s no penalty to be paid, politically, for failing to confirm judges. So expect more of this.
MikeJ
Next time there’s a Republican president there will a penalty for such blocking. It will be the lead story on every network, headlines in every paper, recall campaigns against every Democrat.
Violet
@MikeJ:
Yep. And if anyone tries to call the Republicans on it at the moment, they’ll say that Obama’s nominees aren’t any good and they’re only looking after the best interests of the American people by refusing to confirm them.
Punchy
It leads directly into the Packer piece everyone’s been linking to today (w/r/t Senate disfunction). Looooooooooooong article, but after you start reading it, you cannot stop, because it’s one anecdote after another that leaves you with a continuous string of “whoa…no fuckin way….”s.
fasteddie9318
Not large enough when the caucus includes scumbags like Lieberman, Nelson, Bayh, Landrieu, Lincoln, Pryor, et al, and every single fucking thing is going to be filibustered.
Bill Arnold
Maybe, but that simple bar chart is pretty in-your-face even for the innumerate. Getting it front-paged on some major newspapers would be a good start.
harlana peppper
Another tragic mass-shooting
Brachiator
Jesus H Christ! This chart says it all.
This suggests that the GOP has really perfected their obstructionism since they tried to topple the Clinton Administration.
I don’t know what Obama and the Democrats can do to counter this madness, either with a carrot or a stick.
Basilisc
How much more evidence do we need that we don’t have a functioning government before people start to say “Hey, whoa, we don’t have a functioning government!”? And how much longer before they care?
Frank
When Republicans were in charge, they kept screaming about “up or down vote” for judges. They were disciplined and they kept that slogan on for months. Eventually the public responded in their favor.
Why is it so difficult for the Dems to do the same?
Citizen Alan
In my fantasy America, Obama circulates to every Republican in the Senate a list of all his currently stalled nominees, along with a second list of all the judges he will simply appoint during the next recess if the judges on the first list do not receive an up-or-down vote by the end of the year. The nominees on the second list consist entirely of law professors from Berkeley and senior attorneys for the ACLU, the NAACP and the AFL-CIO. Granted, they would only hold the position for a limited amount of time, but imagine the terror that would grip the Reichwing if a hundred or so openly leftist judges got temporary appointments to dozens of appellate courts and scores of district courts.
But we don’t live in my fantasy America, we live in my nightmare America. So I imagine Obama will just leave all those positions open so that the next Republican president can fill them with a bunch of god-damned Nazis.
roshan
@harlana peppper:
Any muslins involved?
MikeJ
@Frank: Go to your local county Democratic committee meeting. Suggest ordering pizza. Watch the mayhem.
Then you’ll understand Democratic Senate messaging.
NonyNony
@Frank:
@MikeJ has it nailed. The Democratic Party is not where you go if you want a disciplined party. It’s more like herding cats than anything else.
ppcli
Also we shouldn’t forget that the same people who are doing the obstructing right now were howling with pretend outrage when Bush ii nominees were held up. A special compromise was needed to preserve the filibuster from simply being done away with, as I recall.
Irony Abounds
Obama will go his entire first term without getting a vote for some of his nominees. Unless there is a political price to pay for obstructionism, the Republicans will simply say no. And since there is no political price to pay for obstructionism, they will succeed. My only hope is that the Dems learn from this and totally fuck up President Palin’s administration so much that she becomes the former half-term President.
Steve M.
Well, it’s still better than the percentage for 2011-2012, which will be 0%.
roshan
Why isn’t filibustering allowed at the inauguration? Wouldn’t the Founders have approved of it? I like it when any event allows for prolonged state of drunken stupor. It’s just that I don’t like going home too early.
Michael
I picture Obama’s dealings with Senate Rethugs like this:
Irony Abounds
@Brachiator:
Given the fact that we’re dealing with Republicans here, perhaps a dildo and a rubber suit would work best.
Frank
@MikeJ:
Been there, done that. It was so frustrating that I haven’t been back in years. I just don’t get why the Democratic party hasn’t learned a thing after so many years.
joe from Lowell
There is, however, a penalty to be paid for beating up judges during confirmation hearings.
Just get the judges out there, and the Republicans have to fold.
Chuck Butcher
If you think this place is un-governable now, wait until after the mid-terms…
Not voting is pouting, but the case that useless versus noxious isn’t a good choice is worth making. The way things used to work isn’t the way they do now and the rules of the Senate and even House don’t reflect current realities. I don’t expect that to change and in fact I expect Congress to be more loathed and more a pointless exercise as time goes forward.
In certain respects we’re getting the government we deserve, you can expect low turn out – enough that a minority of eligible voters will decide the election – and energized Party of Stupid.
I’m fortunate enough to have some candidates worth effort here in OR, some places are left with that old choice of lesser of two evils. I still believe Primaries are the most important elections for both Parties and their low turn-out rates are one of the reasonses we have such shitty choices. The last Presidential Primary turnout promoted some pretty good down stream candidates – too bad about this go-around.
Brachiator
@Citizen Alan:
Hah! It might also help if Obama picked up the pace and submitted more nominees. Here’s an interesting nubbin from the linked reference.
I know that Obama has a huge amount on his plate, what with having to clean up Bush’s old messes as well as new ones that pop up. But sometimes Obama and the Democrats act as though they are surprised that they won in November. They also seem to forget the degree to which the Republicans are committed to throwing up bullshit opposition.
JD
There is a penalty for passing them though. . . The right sees Obama and his legacy on the court as a danger to the county so if you support his judges you will have it used against you in the elections. . . whether you agree or not with them you can see how they gain by showing they are fighting a good fight against Obama
beltane
The Republicans have made it abundantly clear that they would rather destroy this country than allow it to fall into the hands of liberals, especially a black liberal. They can wave the flag all they want, but they cannot hide their treachery from everyone.
My only hope is that if the next Republican president’s hair piece catches fire, the Democrats hold up a vote to douse it with water. The Republican party is far and away the most dangerous enemy this country has ever faced.
EvanSchenck
I think this kind of thing nicely demonstrates why practically every country with a bicameral legislature has reduced or eliminated the ability of its upper house to determine the passage of legislation. Yet another case where the United States is an exception, to its great sorrow.
El Cid
O/T: ‘Going postal’ (though not actually postal) emerges once more. And since the shooter was reportedly black and allegedly had complained of racial bias against him before being about-to-be laid off, this will completely be right-bait.
Punchy
@harlana peppper: Just image the creamed pants, uncontrollable drooling, and general mass hysteria on Fox if the shooter had a Brown-sounding name…..
…wait….ZOMG! His first name is “Omar”! HIDE THE FUCKIN KIDZ!
mr. whipple
@MikeJ:
FTW.
El Cid
@harlana peppper: Oops. Missed seeing yours.
I raise you another, not-yet-job related public assault, shooting up a birthday party in Indianapolis.
El Cid
@Punchy: Reportedly he was black and complained of racial bias before being called in to be laid off.
Face
@El Cid: This tragedy would never have happened if there were just more guns out and about the workplace.
Observer
There’s an assumption here that Obama wants nominees confirmed in a timely manner as opposed to preferring the current situation whereby he can make this a campaign issue in 2012.
harlana peppper
@Punchy: Yup, here we go – also, he allegedly complained of racism in the workplace
JR
I like to think of the Senate as the old, eccentric, completely unpredictable grandparent who has the unilateral ability to shut off the rest of the family from their trust funds. Everyone knows what’s going on, but nobody’s willing to rock that boat, and they all someday hope to have the same level of power.
Punchy
@El Cid: I see your 8 shot in Indy and raise you 8 shot/injured in Lawrence, KS
El Cid
@Punchy: The war against parties continues. Who declared today “National Mass Shooting Day”?
harlana peppper
@El Cid: Tragically, I do not see this getting any better any time soon. It really is amazing only 2 people were killed. As Face noted, however, they would still be alive right now if people would just start bringing guns to birthday parties.
El Cid
@Face: As long as you make sure that the blacks are unarmed, since they’re all honorary members of the New Black Panther Army.
Chuck Butcher
@Frank:
It takes persistence and building contacts and support – it isn’t a short term endeavor – and that is why it stays a mess. You walk away and there went another of somebody’s contacts and support. I could give you a list of how it works and how to go at it, but I doubt you’re anything like that interested. Yes, it means dedicating a ridiculous amount of time, effort, and money.
I’ve been on vacation from it since the first of the year, I’ll get back before any particular damage is done to what I’ve built, but exhaustion and some other issues took a toll on me. There are plenty of people in the Party who are looking for ways to be usefully engaged but people get discouraged pretty quickly.
El Cid
@harlana peppper:
Indeed. The targeting skills of Americans is shamefully inadequate. White conservative Christian Americans should be required to regularly attend shooting ranges. At least the few who don’t.
Jay in Oregon
@Citizen Alan:
The only thing that mental image is missing is a flying unicorn pooping rainbows over Capitol Hill.
roshan
@beltane:
Stop, right there. Center-left is more like it. If it was a black liberal then you would have had seen Hannity leading an army of Mexicans towards DC. The others would have had dug up Reagan to command them against this menace.
Brachiator
@El Cid:
Crap. I wonder which conservative pundit will be drafted to explain why the shooter was really racist, and how he was obviously inspired by the Democrats to go on his own “get whitey” rampage. I also fully expect Fox News to downplay stuff like this:
El Cid
@Brachiator: I blame Shirley Sherrod and her racist masters at the NAACP. If she hadn’t have used her awesome black powers to steal white farmers’ lands and get billions of dollars from the Clinton and Obama administrations to hire New Black Panther death squads, none of this would have happened.
BombIranForChrist
When the Republicans regain the Presidency, the Democrats will roll over and give the Republican whatever he / she wants, because the Democrats are pussies.
Nick
@Frank:
The media
El Cid
@BombIranForChrist: We know that a number of Democrats support a Republican agenda more than the nominal Democratic agenda, so I don’t think weakness is the most sensible explanations.
beltane
@roshan: In a country where anything to the left of Charles Grassley is considered soshul-ist, Obama counts as a liberal.
Mark S.
@Brachiator:
Isn’t it wonderful living in a post-racial society?
El Cid
@Mark S.: If Obama hadn’t pushed white people into a corner by making Wall Street collapsing and forcing Obamacare on America, none of this would have happened.
Dork
DougJ, very disappointed in the title. You coulda done:
A Megadeth theme: Symphony of Obstruction
LL CoolJ lyrics: Obstruction, terror…and mayhem
a grammar funny: Vowel Obstruction
Nick
@roshan: In America, Center-left is liberal
Frank
@Chuck Butcher:
I could write a book about this. I used to be a Republican so I can compare between the two parties. Since that party has gone insane over the last decade, I wouldn’t dream of returning. However, I do envy their efficiency and their discipline. Not as many people identify as Republicans, yet they keep winning the media war and elections.
I appreciate your offer of a list etc. However, I have offered the local party my time etc. I didn’t even get a response eventhough I tried more than once.
El Tiburon
Why must everyone politicize politics?
Freedom isn’t free you morans.
Frank
@Nick:
But this has been the case at least since FoxNews became a network. That’s at least 15 years. Why haven’t the leaders of our party done something about it? I understand there are obstacles in creating a new network, but they are not insurmountable. Hell, we got an African-American elected as President.
peach flavored shampoo
Speaking of…I brainstromed this money-maker months ago:
1) Start up a shooting range next to a Baptist church
2) use outlines of Obama as the targets
3) ? ?
4) Profit
(also, with a gift shop that sells Bibles, ammo, and Klan outfits)
El Tiburon
Also:
Really?
wrb
pig fuckers
Nick
@Frank:
Because there isn’t anything they can do. As long as more people watch Fox that everything else, almost, combined, they’re hamstrug. We can do something, but not watching Fox and demanding better news, etc. If NPR and CSPAN had the ratings FOX had, we’d see a different media.
jeffreyw
Where the fuck is my global cooling trend? 106 actual degrees in the fuckin shade and 130 heat index.
Brachiator
@El Cid:
Sadly, I bet that something like this will soon be posted in the comment section of some right wing blog.
@Mark S.:
Ya know, a segment of today’s Air Talk, on KPCC dealt with the issue of a post racial society and whether the Obama Administration should sponsor a dialog about race (How Black is the White House?). The segment didn’t feature any experts, just callers.
It was refreshing to hear how many people refused to be roped in by the baiting coming from Fox News, tea baggers and the conservative media, as well as some navel-gazing hypersensitivity from some on the left.
flukebucket
@peach flavored shampoo:
Also toy guns that spark and flesh colored Christs that glow in the dark!
Mark S.
@Frank:
Well, my opinion is that the consumers of traditional media are increasingly older and more conservative. That’s why Fox News kicks ass in the cable news ratings (which are rather small in the grand scheme of things). It also explains why CNN and WaPo have really been leaning to the right lately.
roshan
@peach flavored shampoo:
Why can’t profit be placed at #1? In a capitalist regime placing profits anywhere else just seems communist.
Cat Lady
@flukebucket:
Don’t forget the wetsuits and dildos. One stop wingnut shopping.
kc
It’s going to be interesting to see how this issue gets resolved.
It won’t get resolved.
Martin
@Frank: Well, the other problem is that Democrats are trying to organize millions of people, Republicans thousands. The GOP solved a big chunk of their problem by turning church leaders into unofficial party operatives and by better ensuring that the organization was pre-funded. Either you cater to the moneyed interests that will throw millions of soft money at your organizing groups, or you deal with the scaling problems of individual outreach and to generally poorly funded and loosely organized groups. There are big benefits to having Focus on the Family and the Chamber of Commerce do all that legwork for you.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@fasteddie9318: As much as it is easy to blame those four for all of it, remember the last time a party obstructed the workings of Congress as much as the Republicans have the country went to war with itself. They deserve most of the blame.
Now, if the LLLN block weren’t enjoying having the power, and cared about the country, the Republican’s could have been broken by a string of cloture votes before Brown was elected.
The Moar You Know
Well, then I guess we know how it’s gonna get fuckin’ resolved.
Republicans will block Dem nominees, Dems will bend over and confirm every last Republican nominee, legs spread as they grin happily and take it in the ass again and again, as the justice system falls ever further into the grasp of those who believe that justice is just another word for revenge on the poor.
Getting mighty tired of the Democratic party lately.
Martin
@Mark S.: I think it’s a bit more subtle than that. The strategy of the right is to basically ‘poison’ each media channel. If they can get enough of a foothold in talk radio, then they know liberals and independents will tune out. That concentrates their influence of a diminishing audience and forces anyone in that space to cater to the remaining audience, but it also starves the opposition of having their voice heard. Liberals instead jump into the next media opportunity and the right goes in and poisons that one as well using the same tactic.
There’s no reason why there should be a political bias in who consumes different media, yet there is. That’s by design.
Martin
@The Moar You Know:
What’s the alternative? You have one group focused on governing and another focused on themselves. Everyone’s remedy seems to be to create two groups focused on themselves. I can see how that helps the Democratic Party. I don’t see how it helps voters, though.
Paris
I listened to this topic discussed on the radio last week. Whoever the reporter was blamed the Democrats for not scheduling the confirmation votes. I don’t know how true that is.
The Moar You Know
@Martin: I don’t know, Martin, although I would dispute your assertion that “you have one group focused on governing and another focused on themselves”. The Democratic party is not governing. They are rolling over and appeasing the Republican party, who somehow has magically managed to water down any and all Democratic legislation until it is wholly meaningless.
I’ll just take health care as an example, as it is the smelliest lump of shit on my plate at the moment. I own a business, 35 employees. We pay 90% of their insurance premiums; they are highly skilled workers, they can get such a concession, and frankly they deserve it. We have two plans.
As I recall, “health care reform” passed last year.
One insurer raised our premiums 43%. The other was a mere 16%, and the situation is so bad that frankly I’m fucking grateful that it was only 16%. I feel like a serf thanking the lord of the manor for allowing me to clean his boots with my tongue, but that’s how it is. Health care has been my number one expense, more than my building mortgage or anything else that is not direct salaries.
That this is the result of some so-called reform is fucking inexcusable.
I could go on and on and on, the Democrats have fucked up eight ways from Sunday, but I’m working and I’ve got a lot of shit to do today to keep my people employed.
The Democratic party is not helping me do that, and the answer that “the Republicans are worse” is, while self-evidently true, not cutting the mustard with me at this point.
ruemara
@El Cid:
The comments there are completely vile. Unbelievable. Does no one with a conscience or a shred of human decency comment on AP/Yahoo anymore?
FlipYrWhig
@Belafon (formerly anonevent):
The problem is, they don’t have the same definition of “caring about the country” that you and I do. Their idea is that Democrats, too, can be kind to big business and run a government that makes do with less revenue; they have “liberal” social values like tolerance just as long as they don’t have to put any money into fostering them. Today’s Democratic party is essentially the old coalition of Rockefeller Republicans and New Deal Democrats, and they’re split pretty much down the middle. That’s why it’s so arduous to get them together in the first place.
But like you I would prefer to see the ConservaDems being more vocal as Dems than as Conserva, and it would have been nice to see people like Lincoln and Landrieu out there saying that Democrats don’t all agree on policy, but they can all agree that when Democrats meet in the middle, that policy is _far better_ than what the Republicans have to offer, and they deserve a chance to solve the nation’s problems. (Then again, that risks alienating the handful of Republicans they need to appeal to on every issue… I can see why it’s difficult.)
Nick
@The Moar You Know:
You know, Clare McCaskill, Debbie Stabenow, Al Franken, Dick Durbin and Bernie Sanders have been screaming about Republican obstruction on nominees for months. Obama, himself, has, no less than five times in the past two weeks, called out the GOP generally on obstructing. Clearly you didn’t hear baout it. That’s not your fault, that’s the fault of the media who drowns out Democrats who take on Republicans or present them (a la Anthony Weiner) as whackos of the left who “are the reason Congress has an 11% approval rating”
And they know they could do it because liberals aren’t going to take THEM on, oh no, they’re going to bash Democrats for not being able to control the media themselves.
Elizabelle
@peach flavored shampoo:
re “outlines of Obama as the targets”
That’s not even funny.
I am really afraid of what we’re seeing in this country.
(Incidentally, nine dead today in a workplace shooting at Connecticut beer distributor. It was, of course, a person doing the shooting. Not the gun.)
Nick
@Paris:
Completely false, Democrats can’t schedule votes until the minority agrees, the minority party keeps holds on nominees indefinitely, so Democrats cannot schedule votes.
Nick
@The Moar You Know:
In a democracy like ours, that IS governing.
FlipYrWhig
@The Moar You Know:
Only they’re not rolling over and appeasing the Republican party. They’re rolling over and appeasing the bloc of conservative Democrats that represents roughly half the caucus. Of course it sucks but that’s the reason why there are 59 Democrats in the Senate, including all of the most tiresome and irritating ones, rather than 30-35 bold progressive champions who even if they did everything right wouldn’t be able to nudge the needle in a leftward direction.
Nick
@The Moar You Know:
that isn’t the result of the reforms, since most of those don’t kick in for a while.
Yes and imperfect piece of legislation passed that made the terrible situation less bad, but no piece of legislation is ever perfect, otherwise the whole government would just pack up and go home.
We have a choice, imperfect legislation or nothing. You are angry that miracles aren’t happening. Your anger at the Democrats should be redirected at a system they’re forced on govern within, the media that defends it and the minority party that abuses it without any consequence from a public that doesn’t know its ass from its elbow when it has its head up the former.
fasteddie9318
@Nick:
These days, center-left is radical commie socialist terror-lovin pinko Bill Ayers-style radicalism. What gets labeled “liberal” is firmly center-right, meaning we’ve got an ideological spectrum that runs the gamut from the folks who want you to scarf down entire bucketfuls of shit all at once to the folks who would like to see you only have to eat that shit in small, manageable servings instead.
Trevor B
Wait everyone is missing the bigger picture, there is something called the Alliance for Justice. Why do we still have crime in this country when we have a group called the Alliance for Justice?
fasteddie9318
@Trevor B:
Because it’s filled with all the useless superheroes like Aquaman and The Wonder Twins.
Brachiator
@Martin:
Or to own the media channels outright.
Problem is that the right have an advantage here. They shape the nature of the political debate and force the opposition to either react to them or to just turn away. More than likely, people who are independent or undecided or just neutral will be more likely to be exposed to a singular, conservative viewpoint.
Trevor B
@fasteddie9318:
Form of…..
Toast!
Ivan Ivanovich Renko
For my part, I’d rather try herding Democratic cats than have an army of wingnut zombies, no brains, no hearts, no souls.
Mnemosyne
@The Moar You Know:
Are all 35 of your employees full-time? You can get a tax credit starting this year for up to 25 full-time employees but, according to the IRS, you can add half-time employees to get one employee.
Either way, you may want to get in touch with the Small Business Majority and/or the SBA and see what your options are.
Wile E. Quixote
Call Geithner in. Tell him to freeze all paychecks going to the US Senate and their staffs. Tell the public that you’re freezing the paychecks until the Senators get off their asses and give you an up or down vote on each nominee. Hammer on the fact that the Constitution says “Advice and Consent” of the Senate and say that the Senators aren’t advising or consenting, that they’re just being a bunch of obstructionist dicks.
What is anyone going to do if Obama does this. I’m willing to bet that there’s nothing in the law that says that Senators and their staffs have to get paid on a regular basis and while some people might whine and claim that this would get Obama impeached who’s going to do it? The House? Yeah right, that wouldn’t happen because the House is Democratic and let’s face it, the House has has enough of the Senate’s bullshit.
Nick
@Wile E. Quixote:
Go to court and have Geithner’s move get struck down as unconstitutional, get their pay checks, and get even more pissed at the administration and feel even less of a need to confirm his nominees.
Martin
@The Moar You Know: HCR has barely even started. And most of the problems you’re facing are still regulated at the state level, so there’s a limit to what HCR will even do on that front.
Your characterization of ‘watered down legislation’ has no baseline. Single-payer is watered down legislation relative to some vision. HCR is a clear improvement over what we had before. Unfortunately it’s going to take some time to get implemented, which isn’t unusual for this kind of thing.
Governing is doing the best of what is feasible for the public. Republicans don’t even pretend to do that. Democrats at least try. To play the Republican game would mean to repeatedly introduce legislation, have it defeated, blame the other side, and then hope to hell the voters recognize what’s happening and vote accordingly, in spite of the fact that the voters haven’t recognized the fact that the other side has already forced a limited solution. From what I can tell, we’d have fewer things getting done and no change in the electorate.
MikeJ
@Wile E. Quixote:
” This is the sort of disrespect for the constitution, the outright hatred of America that we’ve come to expect from this administration. Mr. Obama himself has demonstrated why we cannot allow radicals who want to destroy our way of life to be confirmed by the Senate. If Mr. Obama doesn’t respect the separation of powers as it applies to a body that he spent part of a term in, why do you think he would respect any other part of the constitution?”
Etc, etc, etc.
Republicans already called Obama’s electoral victory a coup d’état. There would probably be actual bloodshed if he ever did anything that really was illegal.
Wile E. Quixote
@Nick:
Yeah right emo-boy. Absent any law that says Senators and their staffs have to be paid on a regular basis Obama could probably get away with saying “OK, you’ll get paid at the end of September for FY 2010.”
You know Nick, with spineless little emo bitches like you who the fuck needs Republicans? I mean Jesus, if our grandparents during World War II had been lazy, whining little shits like you we’d all be speaking German today.
You know I occasionally go over to the Reich-Wing blogs and while you see a lot of crazy and a lot of hate and way, way, way too much stupid the one thing that you don’t see is Republicans whining like you do about how fucked they are and how nothing can be done about and how everything is fucked. I don’t know if that’s some difference in character between Republicans and Democrats or if it’s just because wankers like you get banned from Reich-Wing blogs.
Nick
@Wile E. Quixote: You know why that is? Because they’re not fucked, they’re going to get their way, they always get their way, they have the force of the entire system and population behind him. We don’t. They also have no respect for laws (like the one that says Senators have to be paid on a regular basis) or people either, so they take draconian measures only to have them blow up in their face (Iraq), which they don’t mind since when they fuck things up, they never get called out on it anyway.
Mnemosyne
@Wile E. Quixote:
Uh, could that have something to do with the fact that they’re crazy and have no idea that they are, in fact, fucked?
Would you rather have us thrashing around screaming about birth certificates and death panels because at least we’re doing something?
Mnemosyne
@Wile E. Quixote:
Also, too, here in California we had a major crisis trying to get some kind of budget passed and they stopped the salaries … of the actual government workers. Legislators kept getting paid just fine.
If Schwarzenegger, who’s hated by both parties, isn’t willing to stop legislators’ paychecks to force them to cooperate, what makes you think Obama would do it when he at least has (most of) one party on his side?
FlipYrWhig
@Wile E. Quixote:
Um, no, he couldn’t. Every news story would be about how Obama is so polarizing and ruthless and conclude by saying “what the country really needs is to get beyond this kind of politics, which only proves all the more how the frustrations with government voiced by the Tea Party have real merit.” And let’s not forget that when the Republicans tried the government shutdown tactic under Clinton, it didn’t pan out for them; your stunt would play as a government shutdown enforced by the executive branch, which is that much more explosive and that much more associated with tyranny/dictatorship.
Belafon (formerly anonevent)
@Wile E. Quixote:
@Nick:
The problem with these types of solutions is not that the Senate is truly not functioning, but that one large part of the country supports the obstruction, and another large part of the country decides that the answer to that problem is to not vote (thanks again, Ed).
Wile E. Quixote
@Nick:
Really, that must be why President McCain is enjoying his first term and why the Republicans had massive victories in 2006 and 2008 in the House and Senate.
Certainly not by whining little shits like you. Jesus Nick, you’re completely fucking worthless. Listening to your bullshit is like listening to that asshole Ed Schultz whine about how he’s not going to vote in the midterm elections. I mean how pathetic and fucked up is your life? How do you find the energy to drag your ass out of bed in the morning so you can go blog on BJ about how everything is fucked and we’re all fucked and we’re all going to die and the Republicans are going to win?
I don’t know who’s worse. Depressive asswipes like you or morons like Jane Hamsher.
Wile E. Quixote
@Mnemosyne:
Really, fucked how. According to them they’re going to take back the House and Senate. You don’t hear them whining and squealing like that punk-ass bitch Nick.
Strawman much? No, I’d just like to stop hearing people whine and complain about the inevitable Republican victory this fall and how everything is fucked and how the Republicans always win. Fuck, if I wanted this shit I’d go over to goddamned FDL and hang with the Firebaggers who would be telling me I’m fucked because Obama is no better than Bush.
eemom
I totally agree that all the “we’re fucked” whining has gotta stop, and folks need to get off their passive-aggressive asses and see to it that we DON’T get fucked. By getting out the fucking vote, for one thing.
Fuck Ed Schultz, once again.
As for Hamsher though, these days she’s actually doing something useful for once, advocating for marijuana legalization. Probably won’t get anywhere, but at least it keeps her busy and out of bed with the teatards and Grover.
Mnemosyne
@Wile E. Quixote:
Yes, “according to them.” Frankly, I don’t think they’re going to pull it off. They’ll probably gain a few seats, but there is no way in hell they’re going to take over control of even one house of Congress, much less two.
This is part of where I mentioned that they’re fucking batshit insane — they really think they’re going to not only hold onto every seat they have in the House but also gain 40 seats this November. Forty. 4-0.
Actually, I agree with you. It would be nice for the people on our side to actually, you know, look at the numbers and realize that there’s actually very little chance of the Republicans winning the House, much less the Senate. We can kick their asses this fall if we’re willing to get up off the couch instead of laying around whining about how it’s useless to do anything because the Republicans always win.
This time in 2006 — and, in fact, right up to the election — the media was all about how the Republicans were not only going to hold onto their majorities, they were going to gain seats. Instead, they lost both houses of Congress. That’s where Nick and I part ways — I don’t think people pay nearly as much attention to the media as he thinks.
Nick
@Wile E. Quixote:
I call them out all the time, you’re the one who wants the President to take illegal unconstitutional measures that would probably get him impeached rather than actually calling out Republicans.
Nick
@Wile E. Quixote:
I never said a Republican victory is inevitable in November. I said a Republican victory is inevitable in a fight in the media. That doesn’t necessarily translate into electoral victory, it didn’t in 2006 or 2008 even though the media fawned over Republicans, it certainly helped them get the 46% of the vote that keeps them relevant now.
Mia
My problem with this is actually not with the Rethuglicans and Blue Dog idiots who are doing the blocking. It’s actually with the Obama Administration.
The recess appointment process exists for a reason. If Congress is too stupid or too obstructionist to do its job – and leaving all these seats vacant is almost criminal – the Obama administration should be using recess appointments to get the seats filled.
The fact that they aren’t doing that seems to imply that they don’t care whether or not the people’s business gets done. Crippling the courts and various governmental agencies by not using the alternative route to filling the jobs is negligence at best.
Nick
@Mia: Did you miss the explosion of fire and brimstone when he recess appointed Don Berwick.
Obama can’t recess appoint a third of his adminstration, then he has to do it again at the end of next year.