Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.

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

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

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

Their shamelessness is their super power.

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty. ~Thomas Jefferson

There are a lot more evil idiots than evil geniuses.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

I see no possible difficulties whatsoever with this fool-proof plan.

They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

We still have time to mess this up!

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

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

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

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

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

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Peak wingnut was a lie.

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

“woke” is the new caravan.

You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / A spade is a spade of course of course

A spade is a spade of course of course

by | 199 Comments

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Via Jonathan Chait comes this very sad tale of three Republican lawmakers who just wanted a hug:

The three Republican congressmen saw it as a rare ray of sunshine in Washington’s stormy budget battle: an invitation from the White House to hear President Obama lay out his ideas for taming the national debt.

They expected a peace offering, a gesture of goodwill aimed at smoothing a path toward compromise. But soon after taking their seats at George Washington University on Wednesday, they found themselves under fire for plotting “a fundamentally different America” from the one most Americans know and love.

You see, on the one hand Republicans propose massive tax cuts for the rich and a dismemberment of the major healthcare entitlements and this is considered brave and non-partisan. On the other hand, Obama proposes raising taxes on the rich, and calling a spade a spade and this is wildly –  disgracefully – partisan.

I for one am really worried about the hurt feelings of Paul Ryan and his colleagues. How can we get the economy back on track if Obama is mean to the Republicans?

Oh, also too, Ryan was for the debt before he was against it…

Last but not least, as we all know, Donald Trump has taken the lead by taking birtherism mainstream. My theory: he’s actually a stealth-liberal determined to undo the Republican party from within.

 

Reader Interactions

199Comments

  1. 1.

    arguingwithsignposts

    Now, in addition to the feefees of bankstas and the top 1 percenters, Obama has to be concerned about the feefees of random backbench legislators from the opposition party. Great.

    And feefees is the perfect word on this occasion.

  2. 2.

    J

    Agreed, though to speak of ‘raising taxes’ is slightly misleading. The president wants to let them revert to the old–by historical and comparative standards not especially high–levels on schedule.

  3. 3.

    Mike in NC

    Republicans said, did Obama have to attack the men to their faces? “Reagan had the decency to insult his enemies when he was out of town,” grumbled one GOP aide.

    For Ryan, the misadventure began Sunday morning, when he was bumped from the lead spot on “Meet the Press” by David Plouffe, the senior White House political adviser, who suddenly appeared on the show to discuss the president’s new deficit-reduction plan.

    It’s all Gingrich redux with these imbeciles.

  4. 4.

    j

    Their PR is so stale, it is like they are explaining the jokes. And it looks like even the political centrists in the Democratic hierarchy, including Obama, can read the signs.

    And, speaking of odd things the GOPers say (or have said), maybe Yahoo News needs to apologize to BP for this report:

    Fri Apr 15, 11:51 am ET
    BP plotted to influence what scientists say about oil spill’s impact, internal emails reveal
    By Brett Michael Dykes

    news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110415/ts_yblog_thelookout/bp-plotted-to-influence-what-scientis…

  5. 5.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    To be honest I am thinking that seeing as The Donald is totally financed by Soros you may be on to something. I mean you people do know how much financing The Donald gets from Soros right? Methinks that the teabaggers who are currently putting him atop of the polls would not be quite so enthusiastic if they knew that.

  6. 6.

    dmsilev

    I think it’s hilarious that Obama was “accidentally” caught on an open mike calling Ryan a fraud (among other things). Or maybe it really was an accident. And because it was a “gotcha moment”, it’s being repeated over and over and over again by the media…

    Given the opposition, I think Obama made the same prayer that Voltaire did:

    I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: “O Lord make my enemies ridiculous.” And God granted it

    As a theory, it explains *a lot* about Obama’s political career.

    dms

  9. 9.

    Roger Moore

    My theory: he’s actually a stealth-liberal determined to undo the Republican party from within.

    I don’t think Trump has it in him to be a stealth anything.

  10. 10.

    E.D. Kain

    @Litlebritdifrnt: I think you’re on to something. Where is Glenn Beck when you need him?

    Actually, a Glenn Beck feature on the Soros/Trump connection would be sweet.

  11. 11.

    cathyx

    Trump is supposed to make a big announcement on his last show. I’m sure that he’s going to say he’s not going to run after all. He’s just is a ratings whore. He’ll make way more money if he has high ratings than if he runs for president.

  13. 13.

    j

    @dmsilev: I don’t know whether they wanted to do an extra effort to impress the progressive base with their efforts, or just wanted a free news cycle to spread their version of GOP negotiating tactics (bad faith extortion) in order to pregame the PR blame game over the next few months. BTW, I agree with their version.

    Anyway, it was a very convenient open microphone.

  14. 14.

    chopper

    You got that right. Guy can’t even order a coffee without pissing off at least three ethnic groups.

  15. 15.

    E.D. Kain

    @cathyx: I don’t know. He’ll make a lot of money either way. Especially if he loses, though, which I’m sure he knows he will.

  16. 16.

    j

    @cathyx: Maybe he will ‘fire’ the GOP as being unworthy of supporting him and announce an independent run.

    j is jl. What happened to the ‘l’? Damn ‘puter did something.

  18. 18.

    jl

    Hi.

    Edit: I agree that Trump is about fame and money, and that is it. And hot chicks, too. As far as I understand him, the beauty of The Donald, is that he can just be his classy self and generate money out of nothing. Getting heavy duty into politics and bribing politicians to change policy in the real world in order to help him make money, that must seem kind of sleazy, and unfitting of his dignity.

  22. 22.

    slag

    Obama defended his GWU speech. “That wasn’t a critique,” he said of his repeated attacks on Ryan’s ideas. “That was a description.”

    Republicans shouldn’t be venturing outside the bounds of Faux News, if they can’t handle hearing an accurate account of their attitudes and behaviors.

  23. 23.

    joes527

    @slag:

    Obama defended his GWU speech. “That wasn’t a critique,” he said of his repeated attacks on Ryan’s ideas. “That was a description.”

    That’ll leave a mark.

  25. 25.

    Josie

    @dmsilev: I think part of the secret of his career is that his political enemies really don’t understand his makeup. They are fooled by the deceptively mild professorial exterior and are feeling really confident just before the jaws of the trap slam shut on them. It doesn’t happen every single time, but I have been noticing a pattern.

  26. 26.

    Dave

    What did Paul Ryan think was going to happen? A rousing chorus of “Kumbayah”? He’s lucky Obama didn’t recreate the baseball speech from “The Untouchables”.

  27. 27.

    Anoniminous

    Trump isn’t going anywhere. He doesn’t have the political skills. He doesn’t have the political organization. He doesn’t have, and won’t get, the money.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    The funny thing is, if Obama didn’t invite them to the speech, Obama would be accused of being uncivil for not inviting them to a major policy speech.

  30. 30.

    Richard Fox

    Have not decided which I enjoy more– the Ballon Juice blog posts or the reader commentary. You all are making me smirk quietly, then guffaw loudly to myself. After a crappy week I need a good guffaw.

    ..This is all good for John McCain though, right?

  31. 31.

    joe from Lowell

    @dmsilev:

    As a theory, it explains a lot about Obama’s political career.

    Hmmmmm…opponent can’t get his paperwork in…opponent is Alan Keyes…opponent had Mark Penn run her campaign…opponent picks Sarah Palin…opponent is Eric Cantor…opponent is Sarah Palin…opponent is Donald Trump….

    You might be onto something.

  32. 32.

    Nellcote

    Donald Trump has taken the lead by taking birtherism mainstream.

    Yes, it’s all hilarious fun and games with the birther crap but can you at least acknowledge that it may be personally painful to people of color to have to listen to this crap 24/7/365? Not meaning to pick on John as it’s fucking everywhere.

  33. 33.

    Donut

    @joes527:

    Yup. Anyone who thinks any of the old guard GOP power brokers will allow Trump to take the nomination is insane.

    He can’t win over a single fucking evangelical Christian primary voter. Especially not the ones who have repeatedly been willing to vote against their own best economic interests in the name of “life” over and over. In other words, the ‘tard side of the Teatards.

    The GOP cannot win an election without those moran-lemmings lined up to pull levers and get their hate on for brown people and other “undeserving” non-Amerikuns.

  34. 34.

    Corner Stone

    @joes527: I don’t know if you watched President Obama’s speech on Wed, but the dude just Kill Bill’d Rep Ryan. Obama hopped up on the table, ran down the length and chopped Ryan’s fucking head off.
    He then turned and said, “Just so you know how serious I am, I will do the rest of this in English” and submarined that cracker fuck Ryan.
    I’ve seen that shit done in boardrooms but what Obama did was much more elegant.

  35. 35.

    cathyx

    I have to say that I’m surprised by Trump’s birtherism. I thought that since he’s in the Hollywood circle, he wouldn’t be so obtuse but I see he actually is. Unless that’s another aspect of his ratings whoredom.

  37. 37.

    Martin

    @joe from Lowell: Honestly, the overwhelming majority of politicians are ridiculous in the campaign. They’re expected to sit in tanks and wear bunny suits and raise their hand if they believe in evolution or take a shot in a bar to look like ‘regular jane’ or suspend your campaign so you could offer no meaningful solutions to the crisis at hand. It’s such a target rich environment that the only real key to success is not do any of that stupid shit and your opponent will automatically look like an idiot.

    Obama was quite good through the whole season of resisting the stupid shit and not overplaying hands that were dealt to him. The opportunities where he really was on the edge of toppling over, like Rev Wright, he was savvy enough to recover. Politics is often ‘victory through minimal application of competence’.

  38. 38.

    Roger Moore

    @joe from Lowell:
    You left out “opponent had to drop out of the race in embarrassment because he tried to bully his now-ex-wife into having public sex”. He’s certainly benefited from an unusual number of opponents self destructing.

  39. 39.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Ten years ago, as Chait points out, asswipes like Ryan were in mortal fear that Clinton’s budgetary prowess might endanger the nation by not having a national debt, eventually.

    Yet now, the national debt is crisis #1, and it (and the deficit) must be reduced at any cost, excluding, of course, taxing the richest Americans at normal historic levels.

    The stupid. It burns.

  41. 41.

    Suffern ACE

    @joe from Lowell: Any moment now, I expect the Cobra Commander to reveal himself and scream that his minions are fools. Karl Rove is mixing Serpentor as we speak.

  43. 43.

    JCT

    @dmsilev: I saw that “help” from Uncle Pat this morning — hilarious. Maybe next Trump can start talking about his friends the Jews, Buchanan will certainly have his back with that one.

    And the poor Republican titty babies with their hurt feefees are just such idiots. Really, are they actively delusional? They and their loony friends have been bashing Obama from all sides since the day he took office. So Obama should make nice? I’m with @Dave: They were lucky that Obama didn’t go Capone on them.

  44. 44.

    cathyx

    My ranking of people who I am totally disappointed in their being rebublican:
    1. Gary Sinise
    2. Kelsey Grammer
    3. Lynn Swan
    4. Patricia Heaton

  47. 47.

    Martin

    @Nellcote: Hey, it’s not our fault the GOP is a bag of dickheads. And don’t feel singled out – you think Muslims that can’t even build a church in this country without the state passing anti-sharia laws are any less offended by the same group of fuckwads?

    Look, if we weren’t able make light of this and try and laugh it off, we’d have all stuck a gun on our mouths years ago.

  48. 48.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Nellcote:

    but can you at least acknowledge that it may be personally painful to people of color

    I’m not worried about people of color and their personal pain.

    I’m worried about people with multiple working synapses, like myself, and the pain created by the torrents of stupid that assault our senses every day as a consequence of birferism.

  49. 49.

    ppcli

    “Reagan had the decency to insult his enemies when he was out of town,” grumbled one GOP aide.

    OK, maybe, (though I’d like to see the documentation) but on the other hand, when George Bush needed the Democrats’ help for some reason, and called a big meeting with Democratic leaders in his office and with the cameras there made heap big blather about bipartisanship: Even *then* the petty little weasel couldn’t keep himself from calling them members of the “Democrat party”. And that was maybe the moment in his presidency when he was trying hardest not to be his usually douchebagish self to his opponents, in all sorts of ways both major and petty.

    People who treated opposition to Bush as tantamount to treason for eight years have no business acting all weepy and hurt-feelingy because a president they lie about constantly pointed out that they were acting like morons.

  50. 50.

    Bob Loblaw

    Donald Trump isn’t actually running for President. He’d have to disclose all his finances, and you’d have to be an idiot to think he’d want to do that.

    He’s pulling the same scam Newt and Palin are. “Running” for office is a lucrative business these days.

  51. 51.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @cathyx: Oh it’s totally for the ratings. I don’t think for a minute that Trump actually believes any of the B.S. he’s spouting. Coming from a man who donated $50,000 to Rahm Emmanuel’s mayoral campaign, I’d be wary of believing anything he said if I were a Republican.

  52. 52.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @TooManyJens:

    The most insane one of them all.

    You’re married to this woman who fills out a cat suit like no one’s business, is talented, intelligent, witty, a doting mother to your children, and you risk it all for a cheap thrill? WTF? Guy has no business in government with judgement like that.

  54. 54.

    wasabi gasp

    @Richard Fox:
    And you, in return, have made me smirk quietly, then guffaw loudly to myself. But that didn’t work out so well because someone else in the room wants to know what’s going on.

    Yes, indeed, McCain is all good.

  57. 57.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    @Dave:

    He’s lucky Obama didn’t recreate the baseball speech from “The Untouchables”.

    I don’t know about ‘acceptable in certain circles’, but that certainly would have been more satisfying… as far as I’m concerned…

  58. 58.

    joe from Lowell

    And Hillary – there’s nothing inherently ridiculous about Hillary Clinton. She’s a real heavyweight, a powerful intellect with a solid record. I wouldn’t want her to disagree with me in a project meeting.

    And then she puts Mark Penn in charge and starts running around like Annie Oakley, dodging incoming in the Bosnia in her head.

    COME ON, MAN!

  59. 59.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Bob Loblaw:

    DING DING DING DING DING.

    It’s a scam. Keyes has been doing it for decades. Gingrich perfected it. Palin is using Gingrich’s playbook…don’t know if she’s paying a royalty to Gingrich or not, but I wouldn’t at all be surprised if she were.

  60. 60.

    Bisquits

    Completely agree with nellcote @32. I’m totally disgusted by the birfers. One of our employees is aa and she just expects it. It’s heartbreaking and cruel to observe. I haz shame. But am grateful that my kids generation have moved beyond this. I can haz Demographics?

  62. 62.

    The Republic of Stupidity

    My theory: he’s actually a stealth-liberal determined to undo the Republican party from within.

    Actually, I think it’s more about finalizing the complete untethering of the GOP from reality… just saying…

  65. 65.

    TooManyJens

    @joe from Lowell:

    And then she puts Mark Penn in charge and starts running around like Annie Oakley, dodging incoming in the Bosnia in her head.

    I don’t have anything to add here, I just wanted to see that again. Hilarious.

  66. 66.

    Nellcote

    @Martin:

    Look, if we weren’t able make light of this and try and laugh it off, we’d have all stuck a gun on our mouths years ago.

    Bitter venting on my part. Mocking on one side, insistance on the other, it just never ever stops. Birther crap every hour of every day.

  67. 67.

    slag

    @TooManyJens: OK. That sounds vaguely familiar. But I can’t, for the life of me, recall who you’re talking about. And I’m afraid to use the Google on this one.

  68. 68.

    TooManyJens

    @slag: That was Jack Ryan, former husband of Jeri Ryan. He was the original GOP nominee for the Senate seat in 2004, and the state Republican Party picked Alan Keyes when he dropped out.

  71. 71.

    Nellcote

    @TooManyJens:

    and the state Republican Party picked Alan Keyes when he dropped out.

    Keyes wasn’t an IL resident so they actually had to import him from another state to run!

  72. 72.

    Roger Moore

    @gnomedad:
    I hope we don’t get The Producers ending, where Obama manages to fumble the election and whatever crazy grifter the Republicans nominate actually winds up as President.

  73. 73.

    TooManyJens

    @Nellcote: Yeah, the implications of that are impressive. There wasn’t a Republican in Illinois that the party preferred to Alan fucking Keyes. (That was willing to run, anyway.)

    The circus was really in town that year.

  75. 75.

    Mr Furious

    Gary Sinise is the only one on that list that surprised (and therefore disappointed) me…

  76. 76.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @Bob Loblaw: The man is an equal opportunity whore who has been a registered Democrat and a registered Republican. He’ll say whatever he needs to say to whomever to boost the ratings of his retarded reality show. Donald Trump is about Donald Trump. If the morons in the Republican party haven’t figured that out, well, best of luck to them.

  77. 77.

    dogwood

    @Josie:

    I think part of the secret of his career is that his political enemies really don’t understand his makeup

    Heck, judging from the chatter on the left, his allies don’t understand him either. Essentially, he’s a counter puncher by nature. His enemies and disappointed Democrats see this as weakness, I don’t think that’s true. I’d imagaine back court tennis players win as many matches as serve and volleyers. And the last 2 years have shown that running around with your hair on fire hasn’t been as effective for Republicans as many Democrats think. Paul Ryan didn’t “set the terms of the budget debate” no matter how much the Villagers proclaim it. What he did was win a few news cycles. The Republicans went on offense with the budget and served up a big double fault.

  80. 80.

    Shadow's Mom

    @Bob Loblaw: But, but, but… I heard Mr. Trump state that he was looking forward to disclosing his finances. After all, he’s the biggest, the bestest, the finest….

    Sad, sad, sad – Maddow show just showed a segment on Oklahoma turning back a $54m early innovators award because the Republican legislators are afraid of being ‘forced into Obamacare.’

  82. 82.

    Martin

    @Nellcote: Would you rather have us undermine these douchebags or ignore them and endure 4 years of them in the oval? You have to call them out, even if it hurts.

    Bottom line, I’d rather you have to suffer through this shit (and I know it hurts) than have your kids suffer through it. They have no power to stop it and won’t have a clue why they’re the target of this crap.

  83. 83.

    mr. whipple

    Keyes wasn’t an IL resident so they actually had to import him from another state to run!

    So sad Keyes isn’t in the field for POTUS. Love his brand of eye popping crazy.

  85. 85.

    gnomedad

    @Shadow’s Mom:

    Maddow show just showed a segment on Oklahoma turning back a $54m early innovators award because the Republican legislators are afraid of being ‘forced into Obamacare.’

    Cutting off their constituents’ noses to spite Obama’s face. Courageous!

  86. 86.

    Jay

    You know, when Republicans are really feeling their oats, they like to say that theirs is “The Party of Ronald Reagan/Abe Lincoln/Frederick Douglass” or whichever statesperson they choose, really. I know this is a simple point, but perhaps it ought to become part of the Balloon Juice Lexicon (a hashtag, maybe?): today’s GOP, as represented by the 3 clowns the WaPo touched on, is The Party of Whiney Bitches. Apologies if it’s already been suggested.

    That is all.

  91. 91.

    dogwood

    @Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people): I think Trump actually does believe the birther stuff. He’s mentioned that he just started looking into it about a month ago. Farrah is talking to him a few times a week. Look, Trump for all his money, is a very unsophisticated guy. I listened to one of his interviews and he really doesn’t know any more than Sarah Palin. The problem is I heard Mattews call him smart. If Palin said the same things Trump was spouting about China and Russia, they wouldn’t be praising her smarts.

  93. 93.

    Anoniminous

    @Nellcote:

    Yes it is painful if you’re not White, Christian, and a bigot. The attitudes of Jim Crow is alive and well in all together too many Americans.

    A big steaming elephant doo-doo in the American Melting Pot.

  95. 95.

    Tyro

    Obama defended his GWU speech. “That wasn’t a critique,” he said of his repeated attacks on Ryan’s ideas. “That was a description.”

    Damn, I like this guy. I know this sounds crazy, but he should really primary Obama.

  96. 96.

    Steve V

    I continue to think that Trump’s China-punching is a big contributor to his popularity and not just his birtherism. Either way, an actual Trump candidacy would be a clusterf**k of epic proportions.

  98. 98.

    Corner Stone

    @rootless_e: I only ask because I care.
    A young person like yourself shouldn’t get all wrapped up in a phony narrative like that, and not be able to back off when called on the truth of it.

  102. 102.

    Suffern ACE

    @dogwood: I agree with you on that and wouldn’t be surprised one bit if it were the case that he was a believer. Folks tend to believe that there is this secret world where the rich guys like Donald get to hear the truth and therefore when they have dumb ideas it’s because they’re being cynical. Donald for what it is worth probably reads the same papers everyone else reads. Or, since he’s talking to Farah, is reading much worse things than the papers.

  103. 103.

    Anya

    Via Gawker, the weirdest part about the pretend campaign of the Short Fingered Vulgarian is according to a poll from PPP, 23% of the Republican primary voters are a single issue birther voters. God, these people are ill.

    Another interesting number from this poll: 23% of Republican primary voters are only willing to vote for a candidate who is a birther. These people obviously love Donald Trump, the bad guy from Saturday morning cartoons.

  104. 104.

    eemom

    Naifs. Everybody knows Obama snobberated those salt of the earth republican lawmakers cuz he’s the elitist chid of White Privilege.

  106. 106.

    jwb

    @Anya: If those numbers about birther single issue voters are close to accurate, the GOP primary is going to send popcorn futures through the roof.

  107. 107.

    MikeBoyScout

    A Very Serious Person President would have provided a splendid lunch where together they would champagne toast the death of poor people.
    Also, too a happy ending.

    get with the very serious program.

  110. 110.

    Anya

    @jwb: I think it all depends on the sample size. Not sure how large it is and I am too lazy to look. But I still think we will be highly entertained by the Republican primary.

  114. 114.

    mr. whipple

    Another interesting number from this poll: 23% of Republican primary voters are only willing to vote for a candidate who is a birther.”

    I say they can finesse it by saying there’s a lot of questions about Obama’s birf.

  116. 116.

    patrick II

    @TooManyJens:

    …Alan fucking Keyes…The circus was really in town that year.

    That election was so bizarre it became the inspiration for the “crazification factor”. This one is beginning to seem like it should inspire it’s own aphorism.

  117. 117.

    mr. whipple

    I hope the WH is reading the international economic news.

    I sure no one in the admin reads economic news. They should just read Metor Blades. (((((rolls eyes))))

  118. 118.

    rootless_e

    @mr. whipple: and MB is sticking to narrative despite the fact that the President saved the stimulative spending increases in the US budget. Suddenly it appears that agribusiness subsidies are Liberal Orthodoxy.

  119. 119.

    rootless_e

    @mr. whipple: and MB is sticking to narrative despite the fact that the President saved the stimulative spending increases in the US budget. Suddenly it appears that agribusiness subsidies are Liberal Orthodoxy.

  121. 121.

    gwangung

    The most insane one of them all.
    __
    You’re married to this woman who fills out a cat suit like no one’s business, is talented, intelligent, witty, a doting mother to your children, and you risk it all for a cheap thrill? WTF?

    I am told by a friend that Jeri Ryan is one of the nicest people they’ve ever met. And this friend is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.

    Not to mention a fabulous singer and dancer….

    Guy has no business in government with judgement like that.

    Guy should have his membership as a man stripped from him….

  122. 122.

    joe from Lowell

    @jl: Fortunately for us, even the very beginnings of austerity, if they ever arrive, will be a good two years into the recovery (ie, the summer of 2011).

    The British started to push austerity right on the heels of the recession. I don’t think it would be a good idea to adopt austerity measures now, but it’s a damn good think we didn’t start doing so a year or more ago, like the British.

  123. 123.

    Suffern ACE

    @mr. whipple: I believe they turn to the economic round-up after they’re done chortling over the latest antics of Beetle Bailey in the morning.

  124. 124.

    jl

    @mr. whipple:

    Yeah, sure, and I am ROFL, myself.

    Follow link to NY Times story. And check out Krugman, DeLong and Economists View blogs if you want a running commentary from economists.

    Not sure the point of your comment, but you’ll go blind and poke out your eyes from tricks like that.

  125. 125.

    Uloborus

    @rootless_e:
    If you enjoy calling him on it, go right ahead, but he tells the nihilists what they want to hear: Boo, Government Bad. And he does it like a lawyer, so because he’s given them half the truth they assume he MUST be honest. They’ll never stop believing he’s a Tireless Fighter For Civil Liberties.

    It makes me tired, personally. A lot of people who were useful for critiquing Bush turned out to be stopped clocks. Bush just happened to actually BE that bad.

  126. 126.

    JGabriel

    OT, but: Remember that new law in Michigan that gives “Emergency Financial Managers” the power to take over a city by fiat?

    Say Good-bye to Benton Harbour, MI:

    The Emergency Financial Manager of the city of Benton Harbor has issued an order striping all city boards and commissions of all their authority to take any action.
    __
    The order, signed Thursday, limits the actions available to such bodies to calling a meeting to order, approving the minutes of meetings and adjourning a meeting. The bodies are prohibited under the act from taking any other action without the express authority of the Emergency Financial Manager, Joseph Harris.

    A PDF of Harris’s order accompanies the linked article.

    .

  127. 127.

    Corner Stone

    @Uloborus: Maybe you should write a nice letter to him? Tell him you were all good with the things he was writing about until it was your guy doing it.
    Maybe he’ll get it.

  128. 128.

    Felanius Kootea (formerly Salt and freshly ground black people)

    @dogwood: Hmm. I don’t know. It doesn’t take much to figure out what gets the Republican tea party types excited and salivating: birtherism, Muslim and China-bashing, etc. Donald has been doing all these things, but I don’t think it’s because he’s unsophisticated. I’m sure he’s aware that four of his five children wouldn’t qualify to run for the US presidency if we take some of the birther faction of the Tea Party’s nonsense about natural born citizenship to its logical conclusion. And it’s not like he’s totally ignorant about the rest of the world – he has real-estate developments in Panama, Korea, Dubai, Turkey, a new one announced for India, etc. I vote for cynical rather than ignorant, but who knows, I may be wrong.

  129. 129.

    rootless_e

    @Uloborus: “It makes me tired, personally. A lot of people who were useful for critiquing Bush turned out to be stopped clocks. Bush just happened to actually BE that bad.”

    good point. shooting lampreys in a barrel.

  130. 130.

    MagicPanda

    Hey John,

    When you brought ED Kain, I thought he was supposed to be the token conservative.

  131. 131.

    Suffern ACE

    @JGabriel: I feel for the citizens of Benton Harbor. A lot of their institutions are failing them. It looks like the place was a bit mismanaged…their audit opinion for 2010 was hardly clean and it looks like a year ago they were caught spending grant money that required matching grants and then not matching those grants.

    Oddly, when I go to the local paper to find out more, the Herald-Palladium, as of 11:00pm tonight there is not one word written about this order even though it was signed yesterday. Go to the local news and talk radio web site, and it’s also not being covered. Town website hasn’t been updated to reflect the new reality. Good lord. If you lived there you wouldn’t even have a clue what was going on in your own town government…there’s a story about pit bulls and a pot dealer, though.

  133. 133.

    joe from Lowell

    @Corner Stone:

    Tell him you were all good with the things he was writing about until it was your guy doing it.

    Ah, this brings me back to my old Reason Online days:

    “How can support the welfare state? Don’t you know that the War on Drugs is terrible?”

    Of course the War on Drugs is terrible, but helping poor people get health care is nothing like the War on Drugs.

    “You hypocrite! So it’s ok when your guy does it, huh?”

    Thanks for the stroll down memory lane.

  135. 135.

    Cacti

    @cathyx:

    My ranking of people who I am totally disappointed in their being rebublican:
    2. Kelsey Grammer

    For reals?

    Kelsey sex tape,coke head Grammer who pulls his wives from stripper poles?

    Yeah, who’da figured him for Republican.

  141. 141.

    joe from Lowell

    @Suffern ACE:

    Not realizing that perhaps one wasn’t a general during the war is probably a difficult pill to swallow as well.

    Indeed.

    You know, Glenn once graced us with his presence on these threads.

    He took particular interest in one of my comments, in which I wrote “Greenwald’s writing about Obama is so awful and dishonest that it makes me question his writing about George Bush.”

    To which Glenn replied, after doing that forced-laughter thing that people, for some reason, think is an effective way to begin a comment, “Because you don’t like what I write about Obama, it’s making you reconsider your opposition to George Bush.”

    Notice the difference in the bolded parts? How the first one is about Glenn Greenwald’s writing, and the second is about one’s opinion about George Bush?

    Greenwald didn’t notice that difference. That tells me a lot about him, and how he sees himself, his writing, and his role in our political culture.

  142. 142.

    Bob Loblaw

    Hey look, more people posting endlessly about a person they claim not to care for/about at all!

    Greenwald must be the political blogosphere equivalent of crack cocaine.

  143. 143.

    joe from Lowell

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Hey look, more people posting endlessly about a person they claim not to care for/about at all!

    You mean Paul Ryan? Or Andrew Sullivan?

    Where did you get this idea that people aren’t supposed to write about those they hold in low esteem on the internet?

  144. 144.

    Martin

    @Cacti: My wife loves Kelsey. Every time he gets married or divorced (which is often) she gets work reappraising his estate. We should name our kitchen remodel after him.

  145. 145.

    Bob Loblaw

    @joe from Lowell:

    Hmm, not only do you bother to remember every last detail of your online interaction with the guy, you also can’t wait to share it all months (years?) after the fact.

    Tell me, Joe, when Greenwald’s all up in your nightmares and such, what kind of facial hair does he have?

  146. 146.

    Bob Loblaw

    @joe from Lowell:

    You mean Paul Ryan? Or Andrew Sullivan?

    One of them is the powerful House committee chairman who wants to privatize Medicare. The other writes a blog called The Daily Dish.

    The fact that you would compare them explains so much.

  148. 148.

    Bill Arnold

    @Nellcote:

    Sun Tzu or 11th dimensional chess?

    There’s also the neutralization of opponents. Hillary Clinton as SoS (which has been a pretty good fit so far). David Petraeus as Afghanistan counterinsurgency (war) chief.
    Dude is seriously underestimated as a politician by his opponents. And he keeps smart advisers around. There are missteps, sure.

    A metaphorical aside:
    I once worked with a guy who developed the first self-taught neural-network based backgammon program(s). They (the various self trained nets) were astonishingly good against amateur players, who usually suspected that the program was cheating on its generated dice rolls. It wasn’t (I inspected the pseudo-random number generation on one version, and when you entered your own dice rolls it played just as well). It just had a very deep and complex representation of the game, learned over millions of games played against (earlier versions of) itself. Dice rolls just … worked out more favorably for it, because it was always working towards positions where dice rolls worked out favorably for it. Expertise is like that.

  150. 150.

    Bob Loblaw

    @E.D. Kain:

    Irrelevant Glenn Greenwald. All it takes is one person to drop his name, and next thing you know twelve others can’t wait to tell everyone how much they hate that guy now. It’s basically a meme at this point.

  151. 151.

    Corner Stone

    @joe from Lowell:

    He (Greenwald) took particular interest in one of my comments

    Kinda like the time when you, Obama and St. Thomas Aquinas were the only three people to understand a concept?
    Jeebus cracker you’re an insufferable prick.

  152. 152.

    joe from Lowell

    @Bob Loblaw:

    Hmm, not only do you bother to remember every last detail of your online interaction with the guy,

    Actually, I paraphrased. But go on.

    …you also can’t wait to share it all months (years?) after the fact.

    Actually, I brought it up because it was directly relevant to a comment someone else made:

    Not realizing that perhaps one wasn’t a general during the war is probably a difficult pill to swallow as well.

    Shall I draw you a map, or can you puzzle out the relationship by yourself?

    Tell me, Joe, when Greenwald’s all up in your nightmares and such, what kind of facial hair does he have?

    Um, yeah, when I’m replying to a comment about a topic, which someone else brought up, that isn’t actually the same thing as irrelevantly invoking the name of an internet commenter out of nowhere.

    Btw, your statement that includes “can’t wait to share it” and “months (years?) after the fact” contains an internal contradiction. I’ll let you work that one out, because you seem to need the practice.

  153. 153.

    montana

    @E.D. Kain: Trump is conducting this charade to MAKE MONEY, nothing less, nothing more. He needs it as he is not what he says he is. The son of Fred the father is maybe worth what he inherited from Fred the father. Maybe less. Maybe well less..in my experience, people who talk constantly about how rich they are are not. He will never release his financial statements for scrutiny…no way. If he does, he knows the mirrors shatter.

  154. 154.

    joe from Lowell

    @Bob Loblaw:

    The fact that you would compare them explains so much.

    It’s good to see that you’re, apparently, enjoying yourself, but I haven’t the foggiest idea what this means.

    They’re both people that have been brought up frequently on this site of late, in an unflattering manner, and I described them as such, so that explains…something.

    OK.

  155. 155.

    Punchy

    Blackhawks comeback shorted out….god dammit.

    Edit: I’ll be dammed, here come my Hawx again!

  156. 156.

    joe from Lowell

    @Bob Loblaw:

    All it takes is one person to drop his name, and next thing you know twelve others can’t wait to tell everyone how much they hate that guy now.

    Now THIS is interesting.

    There was a brief conversation about…something having to do with Glenn Greenwald, I’m not going to fill you in…and all you were able to take away from it was “how much they hate that guy.”

    You couldn’t even follow a three-comment dialogue’s topic, beyond noting that it was unfavorable.

    Interesting.

  157. 157.

    Sarah, Proud and Tall

    As I have mentioned before, I first met Bitsy Trump back when she was plain old Mary A. MacLeod and we were both hunting eligible husbands. She was pretty fresh off the boat and still had a brogue on her you could cut with a claymore and an unsullied British citizenship.

    Old Fred was a catch, and the two of them were so in love. It was very sweet.

    Of course, what none of us knew was that Fred was already married.

    He’d got himself into a shotgun wedding back in April 1925 with a girl called Ethel who worked in the typing pool of his construction company. Ethel was beautiful alright, but she had a soul of pure bile, and the marriage broke up very soon after that. Ethel got paid off to move to Idaho and shut the hell up. However, she was a good catholic girl and the marriage had obviously been pre-consummated, so she refused point blank to give Fred a divorce and even he couldn’t manage to buy one.

    1937 rolled around. Fred and Bitsy were now happily married, in practice and name if not in actual legal effect.

    One day, Ethel showed up one day at their house while Fred and Bitsy were having lunch. Fred hustled Ethel out of there as quick as Rush Limbaugh shepherding a hooker into his bedroom.

    Old Fred continued paying Ethel large amounts of money every month for the next eight years. In all that time, he never asked to see or meet his first born son, and Ethel never offered.

    Then one day, when Bitsy was about four months pregnant with young Donald, she found out about Ethel. I have no idea how – even years later she wouldn’t talk about that day. All I know is that she called me, and within about seven hours, she and the children and I were all on a plane to San Miguel de Allende.

    Bitsy made it clear to Fred that she wasn’t coming back until he was a single man and could marry her properly. There was a discreet little article in one of Hedda Hopper’s columns that suggested that Bitsy had been having “women’s problems” during her pregnancy and was going abroad for her health.

    Life went on in both Mexico and New York for the next four months.

    Fred made money.

    We sat on the beach and spent Fred’s money on booze and blow.

    I happily carried on three separate love affairs with three separate GI Billers – a negro muralist from New Orleans with a ten inch cock and a passion for making love on the beach, and identical twin Brooklyn-Italian brothers with lean hairy chests who both painted exquisite miniature landscapes and both cried out for their mother when they came.

    Then, one day late in May 1946, several things happened.

    In the morning, I met Keith, my husband. He was down there destabilizing the government for the KGB, or stabilizing the government for the CIA. Or maybe it was the other way around. It’s all so long ago now, so it’s hard to say. We saw each other first through a haze of hash smoke, then fell in love over one too many margaritas, and ended up in a foursome that afternoon with both Gino and Alberto.

    Happy days.

    As if that wasn’t enough for one day, when I got back to the hotel, Bitsy was already packed and a taxi was waiting. She’d got a letter from Fred informing her that Ethel had died in a freak stenography accident and begging her to come back to him in New York straight away.

    We kissed each other goodbye and hoisted her luggage and we all piled into the taxi. Then, suddenly, Bitsy’s water broke so hard I thought it had started to rain.

    Fifteen minutes later, by my count, we were all gathered around a dirty bed in the nearest hospital and little Donald was screaming blue fucking murder and crapping himself, while a chicken watched from the bed-head and scratched itself.

    I have never seen an uglier or a crabbier baby. He was covered in long, yellowish hair that was matted in all directions all over his body, and he cried constantly from the moment he came out, a strident, pulsating, never-ending wail at the unfairness of the world.

    It was just like the sound Megan McArdle makes when the gluten-free muffins have sold out.

    Two hours after that, Bitsy and Donald were on a plane to New York – Bitsy in first class with a pillow stashed down her skirt, and Donald being carried by Bitsy’s Mexican maid Rosita back in coach.

    Bitsy and Fred were married in a very private ceremony in an empty lunch room just before Immigration. Soon afterwards, Bitsy walked through into America, trying to keep the pillow from falling out, and proudly brandishing the documents that proved she was, finally, both Mrs Fred C. Trump Junior and a United States citizen.

    Donald was smuggled out a back door in a large handbag and about two weeks later there was another discreet announcement in the papers that young Donald had been born at the Jamaica hospital, safely within the boundaries of New York, New York.

    Of course, by this point, Fred was so rich that I’m sure he had no trouble had no trouble obtaining the requisite birth certificate and hushing things up properly.

    Hark at me rabbiting on about unimportant things. It happens when you get old.

  158. 158.

    Suffern ACE

    @joe from Lowell: @Bob Loblaw:

    If I changed the topic to Zsa Zsa’s husband going on TV claiming that he’s trying to have her impregnated at 94 (and in very bad health), would you both agree that that is messed up? Never go to bed angry.

  159. 159.

    joe from Lowell

    @Corner Stone:

    Kinda like the time when you, Obama and St. Thomas Aquinas were the only three people to understand a concept?

    Um, no, pretty much everybody in the last thousand years of western civilization understands the concept of just war theory. It’s actually one of the better-known topics of ethical thought in our culture’s history.

    It’s pretty much just you who was surprised to discover this field of thought existed.

    Jeebus cracker you’re an insufferable prick.

    I do enjoy how easy it is to get under your skin, though. I don’t even have to try. I don’t even have to be aware that I’m doing it, or remember that you exist at all, to troll you to distraction.

  160. 160.

    Bob Loblaw

    @joe from Lowell:

    And like I said, one has power and relevance, and the other has…a blog. Oh. Plato had a story about a cave…

    @joe from Lowell:

    Btw, your statement that includes “can’t wait to share it” and “months (years?) after the fact” contains an internal contradiction.

    I very much doubt this was the first time you’ve regaled an anonymous stranger with that righteous tale. It seems to be a very treasured memory. You totally punked him and told him off and stuff! For great justice!

  161. 161.

    tomvox1

    They expected a peace offering, a gesture of goodwill aimed at smoothing a path toward compromise. But soon after taking their seats at George Washington University on Wednesday, they found themselves under fire for plotting “a fundamentally different America” from the one most Americans know and love.

    Ummm…yeah! Deservedly so.

    The situation was all the more perplexing because Obama has to work with these guys:

    WTF kind of reporter writes a line like this? Was this just copied & pasted from one of the “offended” congressmen’s office?

    Well the good part is the idiot who dictated this article left their email address: [email protected]

    In the Al Goldstein tradition: Fuuuuuck you, Lori Montgomery.

  162. 162.

    joe from Lowell

    @Bob Loblaw:

    And like I said, one has power and relevance, and the other has…a blog.

    And this relevant to their value as comment-bait…how, exactly?

    Oh. Plato had a story about a cave…

    Congratulations, you were once an undergraduate. Do you imagine there to be a point beneath your posing, or is this pretty much it?

    I very much doubt this was the first time you’ve regaled an anonymous stranger with that righteous tale. It seems to be a very treasured memory.

    So, let me get this straight: you don’t recall ever seeing it before, despite how much attention you obviously pay to what I write. And yet, it “seems” to be a treasured memory.

    “Seems” is an interesting word. It can’t be used without begging the question “to whom?”

  163. 163.

    Suffern ACE

    @tomvox1: Oh, that’s just the post. Poor dear has to keep her job. The post has been writing about the need for the President to show more humility since Sally Quinn realized that he wasn’t going to be coming out to soirees, but instead preferred to spend the evenings with his family whenever he could. Post wants the Prez to say “You know, I give up. Here are some more tax cuts and the elderly can’t die soon enough for me.”

  164. 164.

    James E. Powell

    @dmsilev:

    I think it’s hilarious that Obama was “accidentally” caught on an open mike calling Ryan a fraud (among other things). Or maybe it really was an accident. And because it was a “gotcha moment”, it’s being repeated over and over and over again by the media…

    Is Obama stealing strategies from President Bartlet?

  167. 167.

    Dennis SGMM

    @tomvox1:
    WaPo’s editorial page has been a deep-dyed Piece of shit for some time now. That one of its scribblers would chide Obama for not proffering a peace offering to members of the party whose stated intention is to prevent his being re-elected and who also desperately want to repeal one of his signature pieces of legislation is emblematic of how far the rag has fallen since Watergate.

  170. 170.

    Petorado

    Maybe Cole should start a”Republican Lexicon” to add to his infamous Ballon Juice Lexicon. Right wing Newspeak should be defined in plain English, as Orwell would have wanted.

    I nominate the term the wingers pundits are using to describe Obama’s speech — excessively partisan — be defined as a reflexive remark uttered by the Republican faithful for being publicly called out on their unseemly lies that normally go uncontested.

    Edit away and ad to the list.

  173. 173.

    Suffern ACE

    @Dennis SGMM: Cantor’s whine yesterday about the lack of the Olive branch in the speech was a bit precious. Like they’d be willing to listen to him if he showed them the same respect they’ve always showed him.

  175. 175.

    Dennis SGMM

    @Suffern ACE:
    “Precious” is a perfect description. They’ve already demonstrated that they will, however, accept an olive branch. It’s just that they also take the hand that proffers it – as well as the arm and anything else they can grab.

  176. 176.

    AkaDad

    @Little Boots:

    We tortured Cole and Kain with Liberal logic and facts. Cole was tough, it took years, but we’ve fine-tuned our techniques to where it only took a month or so with Kain.

  180. 180.

    licensed to kill time

    Sarah, Sarah, Proud and Tall
    she’s the fairest of them all
    a little bit wrinkly, faint whiff of gin
    spinning tales of pure gold spiked with gossip and sin

    :::secret admirer:::

  181. 181.

    Bob Loblaw

    @joe from Lowell:

    And this relevant to their value as comment-bait…how, exactly?

    One last time, one of them is a man of power and influence on national affairs, and the other one writes some blog that unless I’m horribly mistaken, isn’t mandatory reading. If that juxtaposition isn’t immediately clear to you, like I said, it explains so much.

    Congratulations, you were once an undergraduate. Do you imagine there to be a point beneath your posing, or is this pretty much it?

    Eight grade drop out. Though one that’s watched Dark City a couple of times. With my good buddy Thomas Aquinas. He liked the movie more than I did.

    So, let me get this straight: you don’t recall ever seeing it before, despite how much attention you obviously pay to what I write.

    Last time you were bitching I wasn’t paying close enough attention to what you were writing. I failed to understand (i.e. give a shit about) the poignant nuance (i.e. masturbation) of iteration #31,267 in the ongoing Balloon Juice dialogue on why Glenn Greenwald (i.e. some guy on Salon who wrote a book or some shit once) is a flash-in-the-pan hack who totally sucks now and is ruining America and OHMIGOD OHMIGOD WE HAVE TO NEVER STOP TALKING ABOUT HIM! So I’m afraid you’re going to have to make up your mind.

    Either I’m an inattentive chowderhead who needs to dedicate myself more deeply to your majestic writings and the history of Glenn’s interactions with this site that I guess happened once long ago but were very deeply felt, or I’m an obsessive stalker who searches out every one of the fifty eight posts you leave here daily just waiting to attack.

    It seems (to Lord Xenu, outer space blessings and peace be upon him! Duh.) that you need to pick a line here and stick with it.

  183. 183.

    Joey Maloney

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    he cried constantly from the moment he came out, a strident, pulsating, never-ending wail at the unfairness of the world.
    __
    It was just like the sound Megan McArdle makes when the gluten-free muffins have sold out.

    In a post drowning in awesome sauce, this was the awesome brulée on top.

  184. 184.

    Caz

    “Oh, also too, Ryan was for the debt before he was against it…”

    Oh, also too, Obama was against raising the debt ceiling before he was for it…

    What’s your point, that politicians are corrupt? I agree. That is why we need more of those “teatards” you keep bashing. They stick to their principles and have integrity. Check out Justin Amash’s FB page where he posts his reasoning on every single vote he makes, and he sticks to his principles, whether it means voting against his party, for the other party, or just voting “present.”

  186. 186.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Sarah, Proud and Tall:

    Lightning DOES strike twice!

    Reminds me a bit of the “King of the Hill” where it’s revealed that Hank was actually born in a women’s room at Yankee Stadium…

  187. 187.

    dww44

    @cathyx: Interesting I saw Sinise’s show earlier this evening and consciously thought that his being an avowed Republican so prejudices my ability to see him act without his poliics overriding. Can’t laugh at Kelsey Grammer at all anymore and Patricia Heton? Gosh I didn’t know that.

  188. 188.

    Triassic Sands

    Republicans can’t be partisan. That’s because they are

    Not-Partisan by Reason of Insanity.

    It’s a well known excuse in the US for being a heartless idiot.

  190. 190.

    srv

    Maybe instead of Media Watch, there needs to be a Fee-Fees Watch. It can list the offenses against Republicans and Balloon-Juice commenters.

  191. 191.

    gnomedad

    @AkaDad:

    Cole was tough, it took years, but we’ve fine-tuned our techniques to where it only took a month or so with Kain.

    Well, with Cole at least, you had a lot of help from the Republicans. They’ve become increasingly “helpful” since, so Kain was probably primed.

  192. 192.

    SFAW

    They stick to their principles and have integrity.

    Their only principle, as best as can be discerned, is some variation of “Keep your gummint hands off’n my Medicare”.

    Well, that, and “That blackity-black Mooslim crypto-commie-fascist in the White Black House is destroying mah country and a-skeerin’ me, too!”

    There may be one I’m forgetting, but I bet not.

  193. 193.

    SFAW

    Sarah –

    As always, great stuff. but shouldn’t it have been “Rush Limbaugh shepherding a hooker teenage boy into his bedroom”?

    I realize it’s your story to tell (and what a story!), but it upsets me when you don’t give Rush all the respect he deserves.

  194. 194.

    Carl Nyberg

    I also suspected Trump is taking the fools along for a ride. After getting to what he judges to be the peak level of attention he will say,

    No, I never believed this. I just wanted to find out how many people would take this nonsense seriously. I had no idea that it would get this big. But if making fools out of a bunch of people is what it takes to get this country on track, then I’m gonna make fools out of them. I’m a patriot, not a birther.

  196. 196.

    Paul W.

    This post had so much good in it, I just thought I would say I wholeheartedly support it!

  198. 198.

    xian

    @joe from Lowell: doesn’t greensand have a history of sock puppetry? aren’t there commented identities who make a point of defending him (attacking his detractors) at the top of – hat? would it be irresponsible to speculate?

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