Oh Boehner. I’m almost starting to feel sorry for you. Almost.
As I’m reading the reports of Boehner’s postponement of the debt ceiling vote (INORITE?! HOOCOODANODE?!), it occurred to me that Pelosi is probably laughing her San Francisco values ass off at Boehner’s utter incompetence.
Remember the transfer of power from Pelosi to Boehner? Remember how she jokingly gave Boehner that oversized gavel as a gag?
He has proven himself unworthy of that gavel.
She should take that gavel back and, instead, give Boehner the world’s tiniest gavel along with a high-powered microscope so he can see it. Clearly, he is absolutely ineffective as Speaker of the House, especially as compared to Pelosi who could squeeze a vote out of a cinderblock when she needed to. The way she corralled votes for HCR when most thought it couldn’t be done was a thing of beauty.
Meanwhile, Boehner couldn’t get his party to vote with him to put a new soda machine in the Capitol Caf.
Boehner haz a sad.
[cross-posted]
IM
I think nobody could lead the current republican majority.
Loneoak
His spray-on tan makes his hands too slippery to swing the gavel.
NANCY SMASH!
General Stuck
But but “Hooverism” and “Austerity”.
we’re all gonna die and Obama sold us down moderate republican river.
:-)
beltane
Ooooh, Boehner got beat by a girl. Doesn’t this make him less of a man in the eyes of his caucus?
Mark S.
I’m detecting a hidden meaning in there. Can anyone help me out?
Hunter Gathers
Na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na, clown shoes!
Zifnab
In all fairness, Pelosi’s caucus isn’t inherently compromise-phobic. And her base wasn’t circulating rumors that passage of a HCR bill would be tantamount to tossing Joseph Stalin’s salad.
danimal
‘Member when the Dems lost the last election and that meant that Pelosi had to step down from leadership? I’m glad the Dems proved they aren’t always stupid and they kept her on top.
Pelosi is a true patriot and a true leader, and her skills are becoming more and more evident the longer Boehner flails around trying to herd his Republican cats.
lamh34
I know it may be bad for the country, but right now all I can say is BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!! Even if Boner somehow gets this vote later and it “Barely” passes the meme has already been set. CNN & MSNBC are already saying if “Boehner can’t control his caucus, then the House becomes ungovernable”
So even if it all works out for Boehner in the end, karma IS a bitch!
Seriously, Boner is a joke. I was saying over at another blog, that there is not way Nancy “SMASH” would ever “let” her caucus look so in disarray especially in public for the MSM to report on. At the very least Pelosi would advice her caucus even if they had a disagreement with the leadership, to keep in in the meetings. Not go all over TV or leaking like a sieve to every Tom, Dick, and Harry newspaper reporters!
ShadeTail
Almost feeling sorry for Boehner is a lot more sympathy than I have for him. There is such an easy way for him to get out of this: put up another clean bill and actually ram it though this time. Pelosi would jump at it, and there are probably enough almost-sane GOPers who would also go along with it that it would pass.
It’s not like the consequences for this would be any worse than letting things crash and burn. The teabaggers are going to kick him out of the Speakership pretty soon no matter what he does. He might as well go out on a good note.
Steve
I understand why the GOP knocked heads to pass Medicare Part D, because it would become a law if they got enough votes in the House. But this is a bill that every Senate Democrat has pledged to oppose. It has no chance to become law. Is there any purpose to all this drama and arm-twisting other than the preservation of John Boehner’s personal mojo?
SES
agree with ShadeTail – if he’s gonna crash & burn anyhow, he might as well be a hero to the rational 70% of the country and do the right thing
General Stuck
It’s a big scramble to see which side catches the Defaultageddon Bouquet.
JC
It is pretty funny – check out the scene around Boehner’s office.
It’s looking like a zoo.
Police being called, to vacate reporters outside Boehner’s office.
Amateur hour.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
Anybody who thinks this is an apples-to-oranges comparison doesn’t get the innards of the House legislative process. Sure, Nancy Smash and Orange Julius have different caucuses each with unique “problems” in terms of legislative management.
The sign of a great Speaker is the ability to manage and lead their own, unique, disfunctional caucus.
I had my doubts about Nancy Smash during her first year as Speaker. Not since, particularly when she was given a working majority in 08. As ABL said, much of her work on everything in those two years was artful. She. Is. Awesome.
Actually, she’s the perfect Speaker for the kind of President Obama has turned out to be. We can only hope the Repups go full-tilt bozo crazy and nominate Bachmann so we can have the 2012 version of the 1964 election.
Zifnab
If the law passed the House, there would be a genuine impasse between House and Senate and they’d come to the Conference Bill table as equals.
But if Boehner can’t get his own caucus in line, it means he absolutely needs Democrat votes to pass legislation in the House. And if he needs Democrat votes, he’s going to have to compromise on his own bill, which will bring it more in line with Reid’s bill before it even reaches the House/Senate negotiation point.
Martin
He told his caucus that Obama would cave. They sincerely believe that. Many on the left do too, fwiw. I think they’re all mistaken – he’s stood tall in some very trying times.
Martin
I don’t think the GOP realizes that Obama holds all of the ability to apply pressure here.
daniel thomas macinnes
For some reason, I’m reminded of that Obama banner from 2008: Everybody chill the #@%& out, I got this!”
Everything hinges on Beaner tonight. If he can’t get his bill passed through the House, he’s finished, and the chances of Obama getting his clean bill – his original position all along – rise dramatically. I don’t want to jinx myself by getting too optimistic just yet. This could end horribly any number of different ways. But I’m following the advise of ABL and Lawrence O’Donnell for now. Obama’s got this.
If your member of Congress is a Republican, you really should give them a call and push them to vote Beaner down. Every little bit helps :P
Gustopher
We are all so completely screwed…
But first, we can watch Boehner suffer. It’s something, not much compared to the fate of our nation, but it is something. I for one shall enjoy Beohner’s suffering, even though it is a prelude to austerity and/or default.
Suffer strange orange man, suffer!
Spaghetti Lee
I wonder if Boehner supported the Texas Gerrymandering Massacre which allowed dumb shitsacks like Gohmert to make it into office in the first place? As so many have said, this is the GOP finally getting splattered after pissing into the wind for 30 years.
Amir_Khalid
Not to spoil the party, but is it at all possible that Böhner might yet blunder his way to victory over the Democrats in this matter, like an orange Mr Bean?
Stillwater
@Steve: But this is a bill that every Senate Democrat has pledged to oppose. It has no chance to become law.
Is that true? Every Dem Sen? Even Reid?
cleek
one must always endeavor to avoid enumerating his or her domestic fowl before said fowl have emerged from their protective shell after sufficient incubation.
Martin
@Zifnab:
How on earth does he get a bill with *any* compromise language in it passed without the Dems? If he loses one vote and the Dems can’t replace it, the reconciliation fails. Nancy has 193 votes to play with, Boehner basically has zero.
shortstop
Remember when the Republican caucus always voted in lockstep and laughed at us constantly because we were a bunch of milling cats with expensive tastes in salad greens?
Wait, that was less them laughing than us bitching about how we couldn’t get the freaking Blue Dogs on board for anything. Still, now those doggies seem charmingly cooperative in comparison to these psycho teabaggers with a gun to the head of the global economy. Like, remember Bart Stupak holding up national healthcare reform over his abortion obsession? That seems so quaint now.
General Stuck
I don’t think the GOP realizes that Obama holds all of the ability to apply pressure here.
I think they get it, but what they don’t seem to get is the fact that whatever they pass must also be passed by a dem senate and signed by a dem president. They think the last election gave them permission to run the whole show from the House of Reps. Well, that is fairly dimwitted.
WereBear
While it’s true Republicans can’t govern, that simply the beginning of what they can’t do. They can’t do math, they can’t understand economics, and they sure can’t ever admit they are wrong.
L. Ron Obama
I’ll be the spoilsport and say let’s celebrate after the vote fails, not before.
RalfW
I feel like Homer’s cranky father, but is there some reason why commenters on a progressive blog can’t use the fucking correct term Democratic.
Oh, and Boehner is a useless twit.
Martin
Only if the Dems back down. This is a battle of resolve, but the Dems have the much stronger hand. The GOP thinks Obama and the Senate Dems are cowards. I think they’re seriously underestimating what Obama and Reid are willing to do here.
Stillwater
@Martin: I don’t think the GOP realizes that Obama holds all of the ability to apply pressure here.
And what, force them to pass a bill they should be celebrating over? The problem here isn’t the GOP – they’ve prolly been willing to deal all along. It’s the TP. Boehner is a puppet on their strings. Right outa the blocks he never had control of his caucus.
cleek
@General Stuck:
listening to them on the radio, i think they think that the Boehner bill is a tremendous compromise. and it is, but only because what they really want is completely absurd.
shortstop
Yes. The gloating’s premature. I’m going to be all dignified and shit for now, but I’ll lead the dancing on the tables if this thing comes out all right.
blueintheface
Actually, the HCR vote gave us firebaggers and a good many tags here at BJ. Everything that was put on the table to entice GOP support was “SELLING US [email protected]!” But when Nancy told her caucus to “get their asses in line”, they did it.
Not that she, or Obama will get credit for it from the purity trolls, Tea Party crazies or the “both sides do it” hacks in the media.
agrippa
Sad
freelancer
Anyone out there got a Google+ invite for a Bored mofo?
you can hit me up at
freelancerDOTnicholasATgmailDOTcom
Steve
I still don’t get why it would be some huge victory for the GOP if Boehner gets the votes. Yes, he regains some personal credibility and maybe saves his Speakership or whatever. But the Senate votes the bill down tonight and that’s it. It’s not like anyone believes Boehner’s idiotic claims that this is a bipartisan compromise bill and all that.
Uncle Clarence Thomas
.
.
“I, like most of the American people, don’t begrudge people success or wealth,” President Obama said. “That is part of the free-market system of state-funded private profits. But I do begrudge poor old sick people their despicable reliance on the swollen teats of Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, because those are definitely not part of the free-market system. These people are just not savvy businessmen who have earned their bailouts honestly, and therefore they must learn to live, or die, within their nonexistent means.”
.
.
Martin
Well, if my thinking is right, Obama will lead us through a one- to two-week government shutdown with all revenues going to bondholders and certain other constitutionally mandated things, and then when Obama can’t meet those obligations he’ll declare the debt ceiling unconstitutional, and the whole thing ends.
Or Boehner can accept a bill that requires Dems to pass, or a clean debt limit bill, or whatever else will pass the Senate and get Obama’s signature. I don’t think Obama is all that worried about the worst case scenario here – after all, he knows what Treasury can do and what his OLC opinion is.
cleek
@freelancer:
check yr inbox
Thoughtful Black Co-Citizen
Let’s wait until our enemy’s women are actually lamenting before we do the happy sword dance.
Mark S.
DougJ’s earlier post got me revisiting Lauryn Hill. I think this song sums up Boner’s relationship to his teabagging caucus:
No matter how I think we grow
You always seem to let me know
It ain’t workin’
It ain’t workin’
And when I try to walk away
You’d hurt yourself to make me stay
This is crazy
This is crazy (repeat 3,000 times)
Danny
A commenter at (conservative) The Corner / NRO:
Feeling the heat…
General Stuck
And the screws tighten a little more
lamh34
Dont’ get me wrong, I’m an optimistic pessimist by nature. I expect the worse, and hope for the best. In this case, I expect the bill to pass barely but until then, this give me that glimmer of hope, that karma is at least at play here.
Still if the bill passes, I do believe it won’t make it out of the Senate or to the Prez desk. I also suspect that if it made it to Prez desk, POTUS will veto the bill.
Pass or not, this whole final hour scenario of Boner’s doe sNOT bode well for his future as Speaker.
Pop drinker
The sad thing is Boner chose his own gavel and the look on Pelosi’s face was priceless when she officially presented it to him. I think the bastards have the votes and are waiting for primetime.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
Steve @
It wouldn’t be a victory but it would show the GOP as a functioning party if the bill passed. This is pretty much open civil war in the GOP now.
cleek
@Steve:
then it will be Reid’s fault that nothing got signed. in a way. a way that’ll be good enough for 15 months of talking points, at least.
shortstop
I was thinking of that same quote, except with the teary lamentation of their speaker following their crushing.
Danny
@46
But even if it passes, how long will it take for the cracks between the loons and establishment to heal? If the Senate votes down Boehner there’s gonna be at least one more bill to vote for…
shortstop
Danny: That’s mighty astute coming from a Corner commenter. A librul plant, I assume.
dmsilev
Looking at that picture, I hear David Attenborough narrating “the pack of journalists, scenting weakness, congregate outside the den of the wounded politician.”
Reality Check
Spending cuts AND tax cuts…vote for it by August 2nd or don’t, those are the two choices Dems have.
Linda Featheringill
@Martin: #16
I agree that Obama is tougher than Boehner has given him credit for. Did the Republicans consider the possibility that Pelosi and Reid would not cave?
If these guys were serious, they’d try to form some sort of a coalition with Nancy in order to take care of business.
Chris
It would also be a slap in the face to the Tea Party Movement if they had to bow, and one they won’t forget. If this is open civil war, it won’t end with the debt ceiling argument (however that one ends).
I never used to believe the whole concept of the conservative base versus “the elites” – “the elites” always meant a few sacrifical lambs proclaimed to be RINOs (the Bush administration after they were gone and McCain after he lost, most notably), while the real elites dug in deeper, hand in hand with the base.
This time, though? It’s the first time I can remember that the crazy base and the economic elites have actually been on opposing sides on an issue that matters to both of them so much. Hell of a thing to watch.
Cassidy
These shitsacks don’t take losing very well. Might have to invest in some more ammo….
Linda Featheringill
@dmsilev:
LOL! That’s funny.
ShadeTail
Remember, folks, don’t feed the troll.
danimal
It sure looks like the TP contingent didn’t game this out. At all. They realize that they’ve painted themselves in a corner, and they are hoping beyond hope that one of the other holdouts cave. This bill may still pass by a single vote, but even if it does, the GOP hasn’t the foggiest clue what to do after the Senate tables the bill tonight. The GOP really is as naive (ok-stupid) as they appear.
They look like amateurs, playing around with every American’s livelihood, all so they can play stupid Washington gotcha games. It’s a long time until election day, but this episode is going to resonate for a long time.
Danny
@shortstop
Surely a Cultural Marxist. But even RedState commenters seems to be bitching among themselves these days, for and against. Some of them have business interests and investments.
shortstop
And they are the least likely people in the world to cope well with that.
Does Not Play Well with Others.
Litlebritdifrnt
It is now obvious how utterly stupid and clueless the Tea Partiers are. There was just one on my tee vee, on Rev Al’s show, the Rev Al said something to the effect that “George W. Bush increased the debt by 5 trillion dollars during his term” and the Tea Partier said “Yeah and we threw HIM out of office!”
Rev Al had this look on his face like “why the fuck am I even talking to this fucking moron” and then he gently reminded him that George W. Bush was term limited, whereby the Tea Party guy just went rolling on, facts be damned.
So to review a “group” (ie The Tea Party) which did not even exist at the time that George W. Bush was POTUS (gee I wonder why) managed by the force of its will to get George W. Bush “thrown out of office” and what? Elected Barack Obama? W.T.F?
John O
Anyone got a vote count yet? It should be happening as we speak!
If I can swing it, I’m running for office before I die, since as checkered as my past is, I can’t top guys like Joe Walsh and David Vitter, and I’ll need the money.
dmsilev
Looks like the supposed 7:00 try at a vote is a no-go for Speaker Orange. House is in recess until “later tonight”. Wonder what arguments Boehner is trying to make to his maniacs, and what carrots he’s offering.
Martin
Well, he’s going to turn around and immediately pass an even larger solution, so I don’t even see how the GOP get bragging rights for trying to cut spending here, and the House GOP are going to turn down this larger spending cut bill?
I honestly don’t know how they spin that in their favor.
shortstop
Crying with laughter at Littlebritdifrnt’s comment. I don’t know if it’s the Red Bull or the strain of the past week.
patroclus
I betcha there’s a lot of “campaign contributions” on the table tonight — Boner’s gonna get this by hook or by crook.
Linda Featheringill
@Uncle Clarence Thomas:
I’m so happy to see that we have something in common. I like pie too. Which do you prefer, pecan or apple?
Steve
I think the TP contingent is under the impression that the only people they need to please are the TP portion of their constituency. Maybe in some districts that’s even true.
cat48
Manchin will not support the Reid Bill. Poor John.
Danny
Robert Costa @ The Corner
They’re doing this for media attention and cheers?
Davis X. Machina
@Litlebritdifrnt: The rooster crowing on his dunghill knows he makes the sun rise.
Davis X. Machina
@cat48: That’s Joe “Nighthorse” Manchin.
dmsilev
Some of them, yes that seems to be the case.
Scary, isn’t it?
Citizen_X
Unless they get their way (which I can’t see happening), the TPers are going to shred Boehner limb from limb. And then what? These guys have all the legislative capacity of box full of weasels. Who are they going to have as their “leadership?” Congressman can’t-pay-his-child-support Walsh? Congresswoman never-introduced-a-single-significant-bill Bachmann? Other than getting elected, they’ve shown no evidence of any political skills whatsoever.
Spaghetti Lee
this whole final hour scenario of Boner’s doe sNOT
whose boner is full of doe snot?
Danny
@dmsilev
But that’s even crazier than if they just were crazy.
Martin
Principles are their own reward.
Citizen_X
Famous redneck last words: “Hey, watch this!”
shortstop
McCarthy, I think, but I don’t claim to be an expert on the Abby Normal mind.
General Stuck
Shameless
scav
@Spaghetti Lee:
Oh the things they are doing so very wrong . . .
JPL
Litlebrit@ 61 ..do you know what segment it was in. I’m pretty sure it’s online now and don’t have time to watch the entire show.
Jeffro
Lit @ 61:
I love it!
“We threw out that guy…yes, the one who was term-limited…and we elected a new president…yes, a socialist from Kenya…dang it Sharpton, would you quit interrupting me, I’m trying to make a point here!”
POINT.
MADE.
I luvs me the Tea Party…certainly more than my Republican dad and brother do, anyway!!*
*Mom is a religious righter and therefore mostly supports the Tea Party…funny, that…
geg6
Wait, it gets even better. I read (at Digby’s? Salon? Not sure) that fucking David Addington is the policy guru for the Teabaggers in Congress from his cushy think tank digs (and not the federal Supermax where he belongs). Fucking Cheney and the shit he’s taken on this country.
yeahyeahwhatevs (Studly Pantload, once upon a time)
@Stillwater
[QUOTE]
@Steve: But this is a bill that every Senate Democrat has pledged to oppose. It has no chance to become law.
Is that true? Every Dem Sen? Even Reid?
[/QUOTE]
*Especially* Reid. He’s the one who’e declared the Boner Bill will not get one single Democrat’s vote in the Senate.
So, yeah, if Boner does get his votes, the bill’s dead within an hour.
JCT
@80 Hon. General Struck
And following that, SPANKING will commence:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtcSYPjJbgg
Omnes Omnibus
@ geg6: Addington should be one of the first ones up against the wall when the revolution comes. I would also accept finding him a place in one of the first tumbrels if things go that way. I really cannot stand that fucker.
cleek
@Martin:
has Harry Reid somehow disarmed the filibuster ?
Danny
Last two tweets from Costa:
The suspension
jl
The rescheduled evening vote is almost 45 minutes over due now, isn’t it? I see no news of a House vote.
dmsilev
Oh, goody. Snowbilly Snooki has weighed in:
Keith G
@cleek: I downloaded the pie filter for Chrome, but I see no pie. Tho I now have Reply buttons – which is rad.
Arclite
@ 1. IM
I think Nancy had just as much trouble with the
DINOsBlue Dogs ans Orangy has with the Teatards.Martin
He apparently has McConnell on board with this, so I think yes, he has.
freelancer
@cleek
Sorry, never got an email. Could you try it again?
opie jeanne
She won us over when we lived in Castro Valley, CA.
One of my favorite stories about her (and I’m pretty certain it was her) was when she was campaigning and going door-to-door, and a Republican woman answered the door and accused her of abandoning her three young children to run for Congress.
Nancy informed her that she has 5 children and the youngest was in HS (or out already) and the woman said, “No, you have three and they’re all in pre-school.”
shortstop
Does he? I missed that. Can you elaborate?
cleek
@freelancer:
okie dokie. check now.
cleek
@Martin:
if that’s true, then the next question is : does McConnell have full control of the Senate GOP ?
freelancer
@cleek.
Thanks! Got it.
yeahyeahwhatevs (Studly Pantload, once upon a time)
@Arclite Recall, though, that even the outspoken Bart Stupak, who looked like he could gum up the whole HCR works in the House, came to Jesus and spoke out *for* the bill the night the House – and he – voted it to the Senate.
I dunno if Nancy casually showed him a picture of his wife and kids on her cellphone or what, but it was might powerful.
Joel
I’m really just waiting for a non-apocalypse scenario at this point.
General Stuck
gawd yep. The only time I have seen him in public was testifying before a congress committee, and what an obnoxious pompous ass he is. It doesn’t surprise me he is in tight with the nihilists tea baggers. The fucker probably has a liberal execution list once fascists seize power.
dmsilev
Not really. I’m sure they gave her heartburn, but she and her leadership team managed to corral enough votes to pass tough legislation without the sorts of Keystone Kops capers we’re seeing right now. The health care bill, for instance, passed by a hair, but part of that was Pelosi and crew knowing exactly how many arms needed to be twisted and who could be given a pass from said twisting.
cleek
@Keith G:
sorry, don’t know much about the Chrome version (that’s a MikeJ production)
shortstop
Other than Manchin, you mean?
Omnes Omnibus
@ cleek:
The turtle won’t need all of his caucus. Just enough to take a filibuster off the table.
FlipYrWhig
@ danny:
I can only imagine how frustrating that would be.
Steve
I think Stupak was offended that someone was trying to come off as more pro-life than him. He gave a stemwinder of a speech about how the ACA is the real pro-life bill because it will make sure babies get health care and so on and so forth. He was on fire.
General Stuck
The senate GOP, with some notable exceptions, are connected at the hip with the plutocrat big business frogs. Except for Demint and several others in his tea tard posse, all this is likely making most winger senators quite nervous about the reality of a default. And there is no greater corporatist lackey than Mitch McConnell. So it doesn’t surprise me that he and most of his caucus will stand down on filibustering Reid’s bill.
Danny
@103
And Union Thugs.
Barb (formerly Gex)
@18 Just called John Kline’s Washington Office. They wouldn’t say where he stands on the vote, but were taking constituent input. I encouraged him vote no and I am in his district.
I feel dirty now. Time for a shower.
eemom
the normally humorless NPR webpage had a headline up awhile ago
then they changed it to
it really is amazing how quickly the vultures react to the scent of blood.
Don Henley was a friggin prophet.
Cermet
Does not matter if McConnell has control, he only needs at most ten and Reid gets it to pass; if not, he and the other thugs know the Pres then has full control and addresses the American people as the MAN and handles the problem or blames THEM – maybe thats bad or good but they lose all control and they hate that more than a win by that ‘Man’ the uppity President.
Steeplejack
@General Stuck:
Nice one.
quannlace
The only downside of that is Boehner’s loss is Cantor’s gain. And I would really hate to see anything that help’s that sociopath.
Davis X. Machina
@Steve: Convert fervor. They’re the worst. Still lost his seat, tho.
Danny
@FlipYrWhig
Sweet schadenfreude
Dr. Psycho
Boehner has watched this clip so many times in the last 48 hours that he has come to believe it’s what really happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pipyvVQ6nX4
Barb (formerly Gex)
freelancer Gotcha, buddy.
shortstop
Too late for that. He’s done, too.
Litlebritdifrnt
JPL @82 here is the clip
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#43936114
JCT
@111 Barb
I’m about to move to AZ, I called Flake’s office as a new constituent and urged him to vote no. Had a great time chatting up the gal on the phone about how happy I was to be moving to such a fine state. Luckily I had a BIG drink before I called.
JPL
Barb (formerly Gex) I did the same thing with my rep on Wednesday… A shower does help.
ppcli
@opie jeanne: That’s a great story – perfectly captures the refusal to let *anything* budge the contemporary right-winger from their version of reality. I mean – who would know more about how many kids Nancy Pelosi has? Pelosi herself, or Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and the anonymous authors of viral email rants? Question answers itself, doesn’t it?
Danny
robertcostaNRO Robert Costa
Fwiw, I just spotted members ordering appetizers. It’s going to be a long night. #safebet
19 minutes ago
Yevgraf
I guess this is what happens when you let West drive the car – he goes all Thelma…
Stillwater
@yeahyeahwhatevs (Studly Pantload, once upon a time): I haven’t paying enough attention to this. I thought the bill being voted on in the House was the Reid Boehner bill. That must not be right. Is that right that it’s not right?
freelancer
@Barb (formerly Gex):
Cleek already got me, but Thanks! Once it gets a wide release, we should create a public Juicer circle or whatever.
Elie
Is it me, or it just seems to me the republicans are casting about, not really knowing how to get out of this jam. They throw out an insult or two now and then, but its clear Boehner has one oar and his boat is just going round and round nowhere. I have no idea what they are going to do but sooner or later they will have to do the job or go home.. Clean Bill — coming but not till the last minute…
dmsilev
@Stillwater: No, Reid’s bill and Boehner’s bill are two different things. They have some similarities, but differ in important ways. Most notably, Reid’s bill raises the debt ceiling through the end of 2012, whereas Boehner’s plan would have us repeating these fun and games in 6 or 7 months.
Jennifer
$100 bucks says the Orange Man cries when he introduces the bill for voting.
scottinnj
So if boehner goes down on this (I think a no vote on this would have to be deemed a vote of no confidence ie if he were Prime Minister in a parliamentary system he would be out), is it better or worse with Speaker Cantor? I think, to some small degree, Boehner may actually care, but Cantor is a pure ideologue. Cantor is such an ideologue he was actually chewed out the other night by Larry Kudlow on CNBC – Kudlow of course is such an apologist for Corporatism that he makes Ayn Rand look socialist.
Stillwater
@dmsilev: Ah. Good. Thanks. I was two days behind what’s actually going on.
JPL
Litlebritdifrnt Thank you. He is a pretty good interviewer which means people will stop coming on his show. The only thing he missed was that the top 1 percent pay most of the taxes because that is where the wealth is.
I stopped listening to Sharpton when he ranted about the Tawana Brawley controversy decades ago. Maybe he has changed his tune but in the past he has made some comments that I don’t support.
Russalot
The senate is going to take Boehner’s bill and modify it to their liking and send it back to the house and dump something so odiferous to house republican and dare them to vote it down and “OWN”their votes.
eemom
oh look, another disaster waiting to happen.
Stillwater
@dmsilev: Boehner’s plan would have us repeating these fun and games in 6 or 7 months.
Is that because he and his caucus are unhappy with the numbers and want get more cuts or is it just politics?
Omnes Omnibus
@ Jennifer: I say OM doesn’t have the votes and doesn’t put it on the floor.
opie jeanne
@dmsilev 90
What is a “contested primary”?
Commenting at Ballon Juice since 1937
ABL, we think too much alike. Throughout this drama I keep thinking about what the last house accomplished. Nancy is his only option if he doesn’t want default to be his middle name. He has one choice – a clean bill with the Dems and a couple of non-crazies.
RareSanity
@Keith G:
You have to enter their name in the options page, make sure you select how you want the comments to be obscured, then press the “add” button. Also, make sure you’re using the Ballon Juice list and not the Little Green Footballs one. After you add a name, you need to refresh the Balloon Juice page so the filter can do its magic.
@cleek:
For the past two days, I’ve been working on a context menu for the Chrome extension. I’ve been wanting to learn about extensions so I thought this would be as good a place as any to start.
May even be able to convert you to the Chrome version. :-)
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Omnes Omnibus: Exactly. The AOS has tried arm twisting without complete success.
shortstop
Do we look stupid to you, young lady?
El Cid
Pelosi’s among the best, most skilled, most principled, and courageous political leaders the Democratic Party has ever had.
JPL
Am I the only person tired of the bragging about a reply button. Okay..maybe a little green with envy.
eemom
here are some more sweet morsels of schadenfreude from Steve Benen:
hoisted on their own tea petard. tea hee
MikeJ
@Keith G: Have you added anybody to pie? Click on the wrench, go to tools, then extensions. Under Balloon Juice Pie Filter, click options.
Pick an abuse style from the list box, add the name of the person you no longer wish to hear from to the text box below that, and hit add.
When you refresh a b-j comment thread that has a comment from that person, the text will be replaced with pie love, or REDACTED, or disemvowelled.
MikeJ
@MikeJ: Hah! Looks like I broke the primary function with the reply button fix.
I’ll look at after dinner.
General Stuck
This has to be my biggest fear of damaging the integrity of my good fake name.
lacp
…and at night’s end, standing alone at the podium, bitter orange tears pouring down his orange cheeks…..
jwb
eemom: Hoocoodanode that letting nuclear waste build up without a plan for long-term storage and disposal would be a problem?
MikeJ
@MikeJ: And now oddly, after submitting a comment, I see it working. I’d guess it’s caching weirdness, maybe with a new version of chrome thrown in. None of the reply button code touched anything else.
I’ll still look at it.
WereBear
I agree. She got stuff done as Minority Leader, too, that makes Boehner look even more pathetic.
I’m in customer service, and every so often we get some one who makes me want to ask them what planet they are from. And explain that one this one, our wills are often thwarted.
RareSanity
@MikeJ:
Works fine for me…
I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that Reality Check’s comment was “REDACTED”
jwb
Gnrl Stck has a ring to it. Makes me think of Gnarly Stick.
Yevgraf
The more I think about it, his stated intention on getting his bill passed was all “Leeeeeeroy Jenkins…”
MikeJ
@RareSanity: I’m still tweaking my new box and all sorts of things act weird on it. It’s the first win7 box I’ve had that’s actually mine (I don’t have to hand it back to evil megacorp when I finish their project.) Add to that I’m usually a linux guy and there’s a lot a weird stuff to poke.
cleek
@RareSanity:
no way. i hate the Chrome UI.
Dr. Psycho
[email protected]: “hoist on their own tea petard”.
Or maybe just hoist on their own petulance.
ChrisNYC
Interesting post from Nat. Review:
A senior Republican member tells me that Boehner is nearing 216. Still, he says, the “no” votes are rallying together and shaking up the final whip count: “They think they have the momentum.”
Once one “no” vote announces, he says, the media attention and cheers from fellow conservatives becomes a huge factor — and influence others to join the camp. “Saying no, at [this] hour, is like scoring a last-minute touchdown,” he says. “They are loving the spoiler role, from what I can tell. It’s a big problem for Boehner — not devastating, but big.”
RareSanity
When you lose the support of the Kaplan Daily Editorial Board, and you are a Republican, it is time for some serious self examination.
Arclite
@ yeahyeahwhatevs
Right, that was kind of my point. I don’t think the Teatards are any less trouble than the Blue Dogs were for Nancy, but she managed to twist them a bit, although they certainly caused their share of trouble. Boehner just seems completely without control.
Keith G
@RareSanity: Thanks. I thought I did all that as directed, tho I will try it all again.
scav
@MikeJ: so the silver naked lady mudflaps box with giggle jam and I forget all what event last night was as blissful and manic as you hoped?
RareSanity
@cleek:
What don’t you like about it?
It’s hardly there.
Linda
It’s easy to rag on someone like this–and in Boehner’s case quite tempting–but this needs to be said: when you are asking somebody to march over the ridge, it helps if you are somebody they know from way back, and can trust. The teaparty people don’t know anybody, and distrust everybody in Washington. Pelosi, OTOH, knows everybody in the Democratic Party from way back, and they know her, and more importantly, trust her. Furthermore, her background as a fundraiser gaver her some of the most important skills you need in party leadership, and that is how to develop relationships. Threatened ass-kickings accomplish some things, but not everything.
This is a lesson to all the boneheads who think it’s good to be a political virgin, who thing the whole world be better if all the politicians were amateurs. Hell no it wouldn’t. See this past 2 weeks for an important lesson in why that’s so wrong.
Keith G
@MikeJ: I will try again as directed (after dinner). I originally tried to pie R. C. yesterday, but to no avail.
edit
jl
@159 ChrisNYC
So, the teanut House GOPpers think this is a team sporting contest of some kind?
If the GOP disarray continues, they will stink themselves up so much that no big sugar daddies in the funding or media world can save them.
The House GOP will be revealed to be complete incompetent and irresponsible clowns, even to low info voters.
I mean, not being able to do anything is is an easy to grasp sign of stupid.
Then if these fools don’t lose in their primaries they will lose in the general election.
I have to believe enough of them are sane and that the the bill will pass sometime before the beginning of business Friday.
If they don’t, then the Senate bill will be the only game in town, and might be marginally better.
As I’ve said before, I think the real test for how bad the outcome is, how easily can the cuts be reversed by sneaky out of sight votes. Remember, the whole debt crisis is nonsense, and costs of reversing the cuts will be zero. The benefits of reversing them will be huge for certain constituencies, and helpful for the economy.
So, I hope for a plan where the cuts in good spending will be as easy to reverse as the cuts in boondoggles and pork, which I think will start being reversed immediately after any grand bargain or similar bogus nonsense is passed.
The Other Bob
Boehner’s best bet to come out of this at least looking statesman-like would be to pass a clean bill with the help of Pelosi. The TPer’s will freak out and make themselves look even more crazy.
Oh, who am I kidding.
El Cid
Robert Greenstein of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, outlines the grave risk posed by the Boehner plan:
“…[T]he greatest increase in poverty and hardship produced by any law in modern U.S. history.”
gwangung
Linda: one HELL of a good point. Bravo.
Elie
Just watched McCain getting it from the rear from Sean Hannity. Ya know, no matter how many times I know that McCain is a complete asshole, moronic old man, its still surprising to see him lick Hannity’s (or anyone’s) ass like that. Flat.Out.Lies. There is no respect for truth, integrity or the honor of what is best for our country…
Good God! Really. Will these folks ever do the right thing, even at the last minute? I feel like we are dealing with demons, not crazy people — demons… Makes me feel like I am in some gothic horror story…
lamh34
This whole business with Boehner tonight has me thinking of this scene from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory. I don’t know if I should be disturbed, scared, or entertained. I’m feeling a little bit of all 3 in regards to all this maneuvering.
Willy Wonka’s Crazy Psychedilic Boat Ride
MikeJ
@scav: It’s getting there. Nice just to be able to play with it with no concern about what other people will say when you hand it back. I’m super picky about computers and everything has to be just so. I have to have all my modes installed in emacs and shit shouldn’t bounce around unless something is on fire or I’m watching porn.
A new computer is a whole new world of being annoyed that things aren’t right and being happy when it is fixed.
John O
Rep. Michael Burgess (R-TX), emerging from the Speaker’s office with a suspiciously satisfied look on his face, and has been considered either undecided or a no vote for Speaker Boehner’s debt plan tells reporters he’s now a “yes” vote, wiping himself in front.
Does Boehner have the votes yet? “Apparently not, or we’d be upstairs voting and I would be shopping for yachts. Wait, I’m doing that anyway!”
Fixed.
I think no more than one or two to go. But it’s still funny as hell.
Anya
dmsilev @90 ~ She actually wrote that, or is it a parody? Maybe she’s just fucking with us. I cannot believe anyone can be that unserious, specially, at a time when our economy is in a perilous state.
TooManyJens
@John O:
He added, “Not you, Senator Craig.”
Mark S.
@John O:
Geez, I think Larry Craig was more subtle than that. That’s some confidence!
John O
Thanks for finishing that one off, as it were.
John S.
@172 lamh34
Round the world and home again
That’s the sailor’s way
Faster faster, faster faster
There’s no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There’s no knowing where we’re rowing
Or which way the river’s flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they’re certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing
Davis X. Machina
This is just a measure of how far into the digital age Congress has come. So many of its procedures are now automated, and so much of its paperwork is now done via e-mail, that no one can find any actual envelopes to stuff the campaign contributions into.
Boehner can’t very well walk around the floor of the House handing out ones and zeroes, can he?
Someone ran out to Staples, so we’ll be cool soon.
scav
@>MikeJ: I am so not in your class but the first thing I have to do after any new software install is sit down with an O’Reilly’s Annoyances book (if available) and turn everything the fuck off.
@RareSanity: In re: Kaplan Daily Editorial Board. So now everybody’s trying to play the grownup card. Here’s the motivational clip for that. Eccleston Doctor.
Loneoak
Expressions of idiocy replaced with pie loyalty oaths AND I get the reply button back?! Three cheers for MikeJ and the Chrome pie filter!
bago
MikeJ , look up the godmode hack for win7. It will make your tweaking that much simpler.
Zyla
@davis x. machina:
There’s always bitcoin :V
Davis X. Machina
@Zyla: Do networks accept quatloos in exchange for airtime?
Skippy the Wondermule
I can be so slow sometimes, I am now realizing that many TPers want a default, so in the resulting chaos there will be less money for the government to spend, which by definition for them is a good thing.
I have trouble believing that but it appears they are that crazy. Woof.
I bid 50 quatloos that they are all untrainable and will have to be disposed of.
lamh34
I think Boehner et al waiting 4 overnight vote to hold out against sleepy reporters.. they will pass the bill & have ’til morning news to fine tune their spin.
John O
Boehner is humiliated even if he wins. And Cantor, who the President has whupped upside the head more than once, could be Speaker.
I don’t see how Clown Show can’t be tagged on anything to do with these geniuses. And our Founders win again.
Thymezone
We all know how this is going to turn out. Right?
Meanwhile the brave champions of BJ couldn’t even muster a response to my offer of ten dollar bets that there wouldn’t be a default. Ten bucks, the price of a good hamburger, fries, drink, and piece of pie. So brave are the purveyors of doom and cynical snark that they couldn’t pony up ten lousy bucks to put their money where their mouths are.
So sure are they of their forecasts of doom that they don’t want to risk ten crummy dollars to have the last laugh on a guy they have loved to hate for six years. Hell, for that matter, the front pagers could gin up a bet between each other and have some fun with it.
This is such a happy place.
I got one commenter to take me up on the bet. One. “Courage of conviction” is apparently a phrase that has no useful application in this establishment.
Shame. Shame.
Lawnguylander
We can’t judge Boehner leadership skills with the coalition he’s trying to manage, we can only laugh at him for trying at all. He’s like a guy who’s recently been named manager of a baseball team after he has spent years in the front office of that team successfully helping to fill it with a bunch of guys just like Ty Cobb except for the talent. Meanwhile AAA affiliate manager Cantor wants to replace Boehner and field a squad of raccoons and honey badgers who don’t give a shit.
Ben Cisco
@Lawnguylander:
That’s how I saw it, and I’m sticking with it.
stickler
Thymezone:
Nobody’s taking you up on your bet because the Teabaggers are insane.
I happen to think you’re right: there won’t be a default, and the “compromise” will be a right-wing shit sandwich.
But the thing is this — these folks are low-information Congresspeople, higher than a kite on the Galt sauce. Many of them actually believe that a Federal default will improve the nation’s credit rating. They’re crazier than shithouse rats.
Boehner and even grifters like Palin, you can bet on: it’s all about the Benjamins and re-election (same thing, most of the time). But Louis Gohmert? The man doesn’t even know which way to look for the sunrise. And I’d guess he’s suspicious of heliocentrism, let alone Darwinism.
Thymezone
#196 — The TBs are insane, but they are not running the country. That’s what this whole “crisis” is actually about, whether they are or not. And they are not. And they are a few days away from finding that out, and they will find it out one way or the other.
If you think that the 4 leaders on the hill, the Cabinet, and the White House are going to sit by and watch and wring their hands while the country goes into default and into the toilet then … go ahead and bet me ten bucks. If you and the country are lucky, you’ll be paying me the ten bucks soon enough and we can all have a good laugh.
Larry O’Donnell prett much explained it tonight: All Boehner has to do is go to Pelosi’s office and say, I need your votes, what do you need from us? Then he rounds up his noncrazy votes and gets it done. That’s how government actually works. If he does that, he’ll get a signable bill out the door that can pass the Senate. If not, then he will become the goat, the ex-speaker, and completely powerless. He goes down in flames worse than Gingrich did. Ten years from now nobody will remember his name.
Boehner is the Speaker of the House, not the Speaker of the Republican Caucus.
Tyro
All Boehner has to do is go to Pelosi’s office and say, I need your votes, what do you need from us? Then he rounds up his noncrazy votes and gets it done. That’s how government actually works. If he does that, he’ll get a signable bill out the door that can pass the Senate. If not, then he will become the goat, the ex-speaker, and completely powerless.
Actually, he’s ex-speaker either way, because in both cases he faces a rebellion from his own caucus. The only way he holds on to his seat as speaker is if he gets a Republican bill passed.
L. Ron Obama
Thymezone:
Why would anybody take a lose-lose bet? They’re either gonna lose ten bucks or everything.
The Raven
The Tea Party Republicans seem to have betrayed him. These people have a real shot at becoming a ruling party.
And they know no loyalty.
Comrade Kevin
@L. Ron Obama: It’s kind of like offering someone “Double your IQ, or no money back”.
Roger Moore
@Thymezone:
I’ll agree with Tyro that putting together a compromise bill that requires Democratic votes to pass will likely end his speakership as surely as letting us default. Making a deal with the Democrats on something the Teabaggers care this much about will permanently lose their support. The only way Boehner could fight off a challenge to his speakership is with Democratic support. Trying that would fracture the Republican caucus and likely lose him the inevitable primary challenge in 2012, even if the deal itself didn’t do that.
Q.Q. Moar
Thighmaster sez: “a guy they have loved to hate for six years.”
Are you talking about you? Because if you are, I’ve never heard of you before, although I would wager that any number of people has hated you for much longer than six years.
“Courage of conviction” is apparently a phrase that has no useful application in this establishment. Shame. Shame.”
Wow, you’re so much better than the rest of us. Funny how it doesn’t show except when you stop to point it out.
AxelFoley
@Citizen_X:
LMAO
jimmiraybob
Dear ABL, love JRB.
Thymezone
#199 — the same reason everybody takes a ten dollar bet. For the hell of it. That’s why.
If they’re right, they lose everything. If I’m right they only lose ten bucks. Wow, Jack Benny had a tougher choice when the bandit asked him for his money or his life.
Ten bucks versus everything. Hmm. I … don’t …. know …
#196 — as you probably know, I have no use for heliocentrism. It’s for losers.
Thymezone
#201 — hey, if I just wanted ten bucks, I could just stand outside Safeway and ask for it. Where’s the sport in that? It’s hot and people feel sorry for the street guy.
Thymezone
“You’re so much better than the rest of us”
Hey, tell me something I don’t already know!
Thymezone
An evening at Buffoon-Juice:
A: We’re doomed! Doomed I tell you!
B: What shall we do?
A: Post that we’re doomed!
B: This guy over here says he wants to bet you that we aren’t doomed!
C: What an asshole!
…. rinse and repeat ……
Thymezone
#202 — We have to imagine that Boehner, the foolish Republican drunk who leveraged a career in selling plastics and playing mediocre golf into being the third in line for the presidency without doing much of anything, is going to sit by and become the poster boy for a fiscal calamity that hurts little old ladies and veterans and even his rich patrons.
I think he’ll come up with a better idea before too much longer. The “Boehner Bill” is just a placeholder and he knows it. The only purpose it serves is to round up a few more votes for the real vote next week.
What I’d like to know is what his favorite drink is. Do you think he is a vodka on the rocks guy? Scotch? I don’t see him drinking beer, he looks too lean. Martinis are really not that good for the digestion, and those glasses look gay …..
Thymezone
Boehner’s Three Legged Stool Of Doom … via Fivethirtyeight.
Xenos
If the Boehner Bill is a placeholder, what is it a placeholder for? I have seen nothing that indicates Boehner or the Teapartisans have a plan B.
As for Boehners drinking, I always assumed he was a Bourbon guy, but mixed in some way… maybe just with some seltzer water, to keep his girlish figure and to not hamper his golf game. Back when I was a kid people like him drank Rye and 7UP because the Cuba Libre’s were for chicks.
stinkdaddy
Even-more-conservative Boehner bill passed, and if recent trends are any indication will pull ‘negotiations’ even further to the right. Nice pre-emptive touchdown dance, ABL. Maybe it might be time to stop acting like you have this whole thing figured out?