If you took away Bloomberg’s billions and made him into a deadbeat dad, he’d probably sound a lot like this (via):
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Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
“Loving your country does not mean lying about its history.”
Reality always lies in wait for … Democrats.
Polls are now a reliable indicator of what corporate Republicans want us to think.
Hey Washington Post, “Democracy Dies in Darkness” was supposed to be a warning, not a mission statement.
“Facilitate” is an active verb, not a weasel word.
Sadly, media malpractice has become standard practice.
So many bastards, so little time.
I swear, each month of 2025 will have its own history degree.
If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!
Good lord, these people are nuts.
If a good thing happens for a bad reason, it’s still a good thing.
The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.
They are not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.
White supremacy is terrorism.
I might just take the rest of the day off and do even more nothing than usual.
This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.
Following reporting rules is only for the little people, apparently.
Stamping your little feets and demanding that they see how important you are? Not working anymore.
The revolution will be supervised.
Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.
Trumpflation is an intolerable hardship for every American, and it’s Trump’s fault.
Celebrate the fucking wins.
When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.
Come on, man.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I always liked him best with the James Gang. I’m old…
kthnxbai
JCT
So classy, hope the morans who elected this asshat are happy with themselves. Race to the bottom! Yeah!
Keith
That guy was just asking for someone to put a cigarette out on the back of his neck.
Mnemosyne
Heh. That happened about one town over from where my parents live (in the summer, anyway — they’re snowbirds).
We’re not real big on that whole “emotion” and “hysteria” thing in Chicagoland, so this will probably hurt Walsh in a pretty major way even with Republicans.
lamh35
ugh, I’m really disgusted by those people outside Coach Joe’s House cheering him on like he won some great victory. Ugh, there are real victims of that Sadusky guy. Joe P, is NOT the one who needs support in all this.
I would love any of those outside Joe P’s home cheering to look at their sons or nephews or lil brothers and decide how appropriate these “cheers for Paterno” would feel is it was their loved ones who were preyed upon.
Seriously he a goddamn football coach, not a god. Is football so important to some people?
Hunter Gathers
He’s been redistricted into another GOPer’s seat, so we won’t have Joe Walsh to kick around much longer.
sven
One thing this crisis has clearly shown is the extent to which many elected officials simply don’t understand the issues they are supposed to be handling. This has always been true to some extent but as policy issues have become more complicated, the gap continues to grow. This is where the issue of political access has particular salience. Elected officials who clearly understand the stakes may be corrupted but it is dollars rather than face time which does the damage. For those who are over their heads, the parade of donors presenting ‘experts’ can make a strong impression. Unfortunately, this problem is spreading rapidly to the state and local levels.
rikyrah
I’m going to ask this again……
why the fuck isn’t he IN JAIL FOR NON-PAYMENT OF CHILD SUPPORT?
Comrade Mary
I want to kick the living shit out of that man.
Spaghetti Lee
Don’t worry, after Joe loses next year, he can join fellow two-bit unemployed huckster Newt Gingrich in fighting to protect families.
Another Steve
Foolish consistency. Little mind. Hobgoblin hilarity follows.
Maude
@lamh35:
They see him as a victim. He’s been around along time and is a celebrity. I doubt they care one whit about the children.
lamh35
@Maude: That’s def prob it. Ugh it pisses me off though. I don’t have children, but I do have cousins, neices and nephews. The idea that anyone would dare deem accomplishments as a football coach over any of my family kids, is just ughh. and like I said, thay ain’t even my kids and I get pissed thinking about anything happening to them
Villago Delenda Est
@lamh35:
I believe that the answer to this question is “not only yes, but Nittany Lions yes!”
It’s pretty sad, I’ll agree with you there.
scav
He is a loon and we’ll be well rid of him but I will give him this: he is apparently on-camera and more or less interacting with people that disagree with him. Low bar and I’ll still drink to his exit but he’s a sincere loon, not entirely a grifter loon. Damning with faint praise is what I’m aiming for (but there are people I’ll damn without even that).
Take Them at Their Turd
Classic. Get the facts wrong, raise your voice, get in the face of anyone who disagrees with you, raise your voice again, then blame both sides equally, following the instructions on page 1 of the false-equivalency playbook. Ladies and gentlemen, the “civil” version of
your(sorry; “the”) the 21st-century Republican Party in action.If Joe Walsh had a third brain cell, it would have no choice but to take the other two to court for failure to provide child support. The judge would then be forced to throw out the suit on the grounds that the first two don’t have the necessary means to provide support.
Rome Again
Who? Oh, I’m sorry. There is only one famous Joe Walsh in my world and this loser ain’t him.
ETA: and yes, I DID see the post title, thanks! :)
Villago Delenda Est
@rikyrah:
IOKIYAR
J
@sven: What is more, don’t understand because they deliberately cultivate ignorance, which they do because the crazy system of incentives in our politics rewards ignorance with money and esteem.
Joel
This is how I imagine Roger Clemens as a congressman.
JasonF
That’s my representative!
Sigh.
Steve
If this guy is not a one-termer there is no hope for humanity.
scav
@JasonF: Sincere condolences.
Mark B.
I’m not terribly bothered by his manicness*, but his doctrinaire devotion to pretending that getting rid of all government intervention is going to make everybody rich … is just fucking stupid. Private enterprise needs regulation to keep them from destroying the commons and engaging in deceptive and predatory practices. The effect of removing regulation would be for the most predatory and irresponsible businesses to gain an economic advantage over businesses which take a larger view. We’ve seen exactly that happen with the deregulation of the mortgage industry during the Clinton and Bush years. We don’t need to go further down that road to know it’s an economic loser.
*Although his attempts to talk over and silence people who disagree with him is just rude, but to be honest, I’ve seen worse. You want a job, don’t you?
Mino
The scariest thing is we’re getting more stupid as Republicans hamstring education. And rewrite the text books.
Kristine
@JasonF: Mine, too. It’s so depressing.
Mino
And Bloomburg was making the same Barney Frank defense of the banks just recently. And HE knows better.
sublime33
Thank god my subdivision got gerrymandered so that I am about 500 yards outside his district.
Mark B.
Well, if he fucks up too bad, he just can have accountants pay for it all.
JCT
@Mark B.:
Well-played.
Woodrowfan
idiot, the feds don’t prop up the post office, it’s supposed to be self-supporting.
boss bitch
From Twitter: Kenneth Vogel
RossInDetroit
@Mark B.:
Needs to be a tag. Badly.
Speedy
@Steve: Funny , I said the same thing about Bachmann , so we’re already officially screwed.
JD Rhoades
He’ll have either a nationally syndicated radio talk show or a FOX news show within six months. The rubes love them some raging, screaming, frothing-at-the-mouth wingnuts.
Linda Featheringill
In Mississippi, the issue of defining a person beginning at fertilization is losing by 14 points but only 16% of the vote is in.
msskwesq
Representative Walsh is on his way out. Redistricting will take his seat away soon. As a Chicagoan, I can tell you NO ONE supports this bozo. His deadbeat status and his crazy tea party ideas are not popular in Illinois. Most people are really embarrassed by his representing Illinois in any way.
Carnacki
I really liked the woman in this video. Even though he got in her face, waving his hands and trying to intimidate her, she didn’t back down at all and seemed to know her facts.
hells littlest angel
I would enjoy watching Walsh step into an open elevator shaft.
msskwesq
@rikyrah: I agree with your question, why is he not in jail for this dodging of child support? As an attorney, I am occasionally appointed by the court to represent parents that are behind in child support. Most of my clients are far behind, but not to the $100K level as is Walsh. Furthermore, most of them are either disabled, unemployed, and/or low wage earners. THEY go to jail in most cases. It costs the state more to go after these parents than they are ever able to collect in back support. Walsh is getting the upper-class court pass. Sickening. I hope the judge in his case does the right thing and forces Walsh to pay the support in full or go to jail. I won’t hold my breath.
Jay in Oregon
So this asshole Walsh likes to get in women’s faces and try to shout them down when they don’t kowtow to his opinions.
I can’t imagine why he’s divorced.
The Republic of Stupidity
Joel
You know you’ve seen enough wingnut bullshit when Rep. Walsh’s behavior in this video doesn’t even qualify as a “meltdown”.
James Hare
As somebody who pays his child support, this fucker really annoys me. I haven’t seen my 11 year old daughter in 5 years. I can count the number of times I’ve seen her on my fingers. I still pay my obligation because that is the very least I can do. Men who don’t live up to their child support obligations are the lowest kind of scum. This asshole has no right to yell at anyone because he can’t live up to the most basic human responsibility — looking after your own kids.
Cluttered Mind
Republicans are vehement supporters of family values. They don’t seem too keen on supporting actual physical families though. What was it that Newt told his second wife when she confronted him about his philandering? It was something like “It doesn’t matter what I do, only what I say”, wasn’t it?
Uncle Omar
@rikyrah:He’s safe as long as Congress is in session…they have constitutional immunity from process while in session. We used to have a Congress-critter who owed money all over the State, but until he was defeated, no one could drag his worthless ass into court. Perhaps in January, 2013, Mr. Walsh will have the opportunity to sample the fine cuisine at the Cook County lock-up. But, I’m sure he’ll plead that he doesn’t have a job and therefore can’t pay.
William Hurley
….and the dead-beat dad is certainly consistent!
I was reminded of the scene in 48 Hours where Eddie Murphy asks for Nolte’s badge and a gun before heading into the hillbilly bar. Murphy educates “Jack”, telling him that “the only thing that kept us from kicking their (the cops’) asses were their guns and badges”.
So, if the dead-beat family award winner were to carry on like that in any bar in America without his Congressional “badge”, the conversation would end with Joey trying to mumble the “whys” and “hows” of his state to an ER doctor through the hole where his teeth used to be.
G
@rikyrah:
Much as the right wing and Joe himself would like it we don’t really have debtor’s prisons. We do have some really scary areas to live, or even some bridges to live under for the really destitute. I think we figure why should taxpayers give deadbeats three hots and a cot when they can die of exposure, starvation and lack of medical care for free.
Mathew chapter 25 verse 31 notwithstanding, that appears the polilcy of the country, a policy set by the “Christian” Right
JasonF
@Kristine: Howdy, neighbor!
The sad part is that I just moved up here from the city about six months ago. Until then, I was represented by Jan Schakowsky. What a difference a few miles makes.
Don SinFalta
This Joe Walsh? He just needs to turn his petty head and walk away.
shortstop
I’m sad that I can’t see this vid but happy at the brilliance of Doug’s headline.
David Smith
Here’s another copy of the exchange between constituent and representative. http://youtu.be/nb73zqY6lZM
I don’t think this man understands who is supposed to listen to who.
Rorgg
@JCT: Yeah, I’ll admit it, I voted independent in IL-08 in 2010, which helped Walsh unseat Melissa Bean, who was a horrific Blue Dog. But I’d already written and told her I wouldn’t vote for her again, and daggummit, I’m a man of my word.
Walsh is doomed in any case. The new district drawn is basically a ring around exurban Chicago, pretty heavily red, but more importantly, it also includes another sitting GOP rep, so he’ll probably not even make it out of the primary, or have to try to run in another district that’s not so red.
Rorgg
@Uncle Omar: The McHenry county lockup, you mean. Woodstock is lovely in the winter. Just ask Bill Murray.