Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

New McCarthy, same old McCarthyism.

In after Baud. Damn.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

“That’s what the insurrection act is for!”

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I really should read my own blog.

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself. We’re allowed to grow past that.

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

Republicans are radicals, not conservatives.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

If you are still in the GOP, you are either an extremist yourself, or in bed with those who are.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

You are here: Home / Politics / Activist Judges! / Thursday Evening Open Thread: Winning

Thursday Evening Open Thread: Winning

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(Tony Auth via GoComics.com)
__
People misunderstand the Eeyore philosophy — what the classicists call Cynicism has been degraded into a cheap wiseguy excuse for inertia. But when you understand the Way of the Donkey, you know that of course the house always wins, that rust never sleeps, and that Coyote is always hungry. The joy of life is to understand all this and still celebrate the joys (however fleeting) of the wins (however compromised). To quote Mr. Pierce, and President Obama:

To hang your fortune on chance.

The president finally has found the six-word answer on why health-care reform — any health-care reform — couldn’t wait until the second term, or on a jobs package, or on a Wall Street bailout, or something else that tickled Rahm Emanuel in his funny places. People were getting sick because they couldn’t afford to stay well. People were dying because they couldn’t afford to get well. This is a moral imperative with which every industrialized nation on the planet, except this one, had grappled successfully. And today, in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision largely upholding his own admittedly flawed attempt to come to grips with it, the president was more eloquent, and more convincing, than he’s been at any point during the prolonged — and occasionally ridiculous — fight over the law itself. He talked about all those American citizens who had to worry “not just about the cost of getting sick, but the cost of getting well.” Those people, he said, shouldn’t be forced to “hang their fortunes on chance.”…

The popular opinion among the pundits is that the president should now walk softly on this issue, or that the issue will fade as the campaign rolls on. I think that would be as big a mistake as his pulling back in the face of the manufactured outrage of 2010 was. The president should talk about this every day….He got a win today. So did the people who no longer have to hang their fortunes on chance. To hell with repeal-and-replace. The president should run on maintain-and-improve. His defenders back when the law passed kept saying that the ACA was worth passing because it was the first step toward the progressive goal of universal coverage. If he really meant what he said today, that should be the president’s position now and forever…

Although, if I’m being totally honest, I was betting Doghouse Riley’s line:

Did you feel this coming? I thought I did, but only a fool predicts Court decisions, even in this benighted 5-4 age. It’s a political decision, and the political winds just shifted alee. Roberts’ “tax-based” decision sounds for all the world like the sort of thing that happens whenever any Grand High Poobah decides to get tricky. It’s overwrought and stupid, and transparently does what it was really designed to do, except for the fooling people part. I guess we can’t ask for more, except the massive stroke that Scalia has deserved for years now.

(Guess I better be careful, or I’ll be infringing on DougJ’s Moore Award turf.)

What other fleeting, incomplete, flawed wins are up for celebration on this evening’s agenda?

Reader Interactions

131Comments

  2. 2.

    BGinCHI

    A little while ago the temp here was 99 and it said “feels like” 109.

    Feels fucking hot would be more accurate.

    Tonight’s activity: panting between sips of white wine.

  5. 5.

    dmsilev

    @BGinCHI: There’s a reason I’m still at work. One fringe benefit of working 40 feet underground is a certain degree of not-give-a-fuck about the outside weather.

    I still have to go home at some point. And I live in a brick kiln walkup.

  7. 7.

    Mary G

    I am a fully paid up member of the Way of the Donkey (love the phrase), but I am giddy with joy today. I really thought John Roberts was going to sell his soul.

    I might even fish the Obama “Hope” yard sign from 2008 out of the garage and put it out to annoy the wingnuts across the street and next door and up the street and…

  8. 8.

    Linda Featheringill

    It’s hot. I know you folks further south would laugh at me if I told you the actual temperature so I won’t.

    We have a major heat wave in the US right now. Weather dot com says that [geographically] half of the country will have temps over 100. Apparently the heat supposed to last for a few days.

    You guys in the worst of it take care of yourselves, and anyone you’re fond of, in the next few days. It looks like you have some killer temps coming your way.

    And Al Gore’s adipose tissue hasn’t kept the heat away.

    Edited because I can’t spell.

  9. 9.

    Loneoak

    What other fleeting, incomplete, flawed wins are up for celebration on this evening’s agenda?

    A journal listed my first name incorrectly in the table of contents (a completely different name, not a misspelling and not even phonetically close). They shipped it out before noticing. Then they noticed that the printer fucked up the page order and physcially misprinted the journal. So they sent out corrected copies to everyone, which I received today.

    A win for me via a double fuck up by them! It’s a weird world, I tell ya.

  10. 10.

    Phylllis

    @BGinCHI: Went out to water the hanging baskets a little bit ago and the concrete patio was hothothot under my feet. We usually walk around dusk, but I think it will be too hot even then.

  13. 13.

    Mike E

    My lame duck Gov. maybe, just maybe, will veto the shitty fracking bill just passed here in Mayberry. C’mon, sweet mojo…

  14. 14.

    Loneoak

    @BGinCHI:

    Enzo is totally into chomping on frozen cucumber slices these days. Good for a cool down and teething relief.

    Not to be cruel, but the weather here is … um … decidedly not like Chicago.

    PS: The County shut down the weekly Beauregard party because of a crotchety neighbor complaining it violated a use agreement! Appeals are forthcoming, but it was a pissy thing to do.

  15. 15.

    RP

    What other fleeting, incomplete, flawed wins are up for celebration on this evening’s agenda?

    Jesus…you just can’t resist, can you? What is wrong with you?

  16. 16.

    JGabriel, Statist Minded Ideologue of the Left

    @dmsilev:

    One fringe benefit of working 40 feet underground …

    What are you, a subway engineer? Somehow, I thought you were a programmer.

    .

  17. 17.

    Valdivia

    @BGinCHI:

    the feels like it’s fucking hot is coming my way tomorrow and staying so all weekend long. So not looking forward to that.

    tonight: hopefully some sleep, finally after a white night, some netflix, some wine. plenty of celebrating too, today was a good day.

  19. 19.

    General Stuck

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    What is “fleeting, incomplete, [or] flawed” about today’s decision?

    Nevermind. The natives need to find a fly in their ointment. File it under nature.

  20. 20.

    JGabriel, Statist Minded Ideologue of the Left

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Weather dot com says that [geographically] half of the country will have temps over 100.

    I turned the AC on early this afternoon, so as to keep the apartment cool before the heat kicked in, and I am now basking in the relative coolness of my city hovel.

    .

  21. 21.

    The Populist

    It’s amazing how much whining I see on boards ranging from lulzy anti-Obama troll boards to places where hardcore cons congregate.

    I’ve read many saying today America died, constitution is over, time to move to a new country, etc. To that I say move to a new country idiots. Shoot, I’d allow them to take Alabama, Texas or Mississippi with them and they can live in their messed up fantasy utopia and stop bothering the rest of us.

  24. 24.

    Cermet

    You know, who gives a flying fuc& why Roberts did it or what other issues might arise in the future – it is a victory over the teabaggers and other retarted thugs; I will enjoy this for now and also, millions will have health care who would not have if we lost. How many thousands would have died, as well? We won and it is President Obama’s victory more than anyone’s and he gets the credit. It is a good day.

  25. 25.

    Raven

    @jeffreyw: No shit, I was in a staff meeting with my boss sitting right across from me. I was sneaking peeks at scotusblog and they said yes. I hit CNN and they said no. I had to just sit there!

  30. 30.

    burnspbesq

    Just to mess with a certain person (you know who you are):

    SQUEEE!

    Also, Laettner teh kitteh was so happy about the Supreme Court ruling that she went out and stomped on Gimel Martinez killed a rat and left the carcass by the front door.

  31. 31.

    BGinCHI

    @Loneoak: That’s a travesty. The winery party shutdown, not the cucumber.

    Xavi eating that mashed up rice stuff plus banana. Frozen veg a good idea as he’s getting those bottom teeth.

    Jealous of your weather, but not of your cranky old haters.

  35. 35.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    It is supposed to be 105 here this weekend (feels like 110) and my DH thinks it is a good time to go out and mow the back lawn (which is a weed fest). This may end up with me chaining him to his recliner.

  37. 37.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Anne Laurie: If you take a look at many of the earlier posts and their comments, there seems to be a determined effort to see this decision as negative in some way. Well, fuck that; this is a big fucking deal.

  38. 38.

    WereBear

    It is 75 degrees here.

    Of course, no one wanted to join me in the winter, when it is below zero by double digits. This is the yin and yang of where I live.

  40. 40.

    David Koch

    I watched goopers interviewed tonight and they had the most pained look on their faces.

    Halperin was reeling as he desperately spouted that the decision was Great News for Romney.

  42. 42.

    shortstop

    Well, I don’t care how hot it is. I’m fixin’ a big glass of icy limeade and taking it out on the deck, where I’ll shove some crushed mint into it. I may even have some Indian spiced nuts, because this is a speshul day.

  43. 43.

    batgirl

    @The Populist:

    To that I say move to a new country idiots.

    I don’t think they will find a new country that they would want to live in that doesn’t have universal health care.

  44. 44.

    Valdivia

    @David Koch:

    funny story: my mom was in the gym this afternoon and she bumped into Halperin. When she said she had just seen him on tv (my mom does this, randomly walk up to people she sees on tv and talks to them) he asked–did I look good? Fucking asshole. I told my mom next time she bumps into him to kick him between his legs. :)

  48. 48.

    J. Michael Neal

    I finished the rough draft of my novel at 11:45 this morning. My brain has been completely fried ever since.

  50. 50.

    J. Michael Neal

    It’s still about 90 here but fortunately (no snark) it’s a relatively dry heat, by Minnesota standards.

  51. 51.

    JGabriel, Statist Minded Ideologue of the Left

    __
    __
    David Koch:

    I guess Russ Feingold knew what he was doing when he voted to confirm John Roberts.

    Roberts is still the same justice who wrote a concurring opinion for the majority in Citizens United, comparing it to ending segregation.

    So, while I’m relieved by today’s decision, I don’t think any of us need to join the John Roberts fan club just yet. Roberts basically agreed with the conservative dissenters in most of their reasoning, voting only on the narrowest of grounds to uphold PPACA.

    (ETA: Or did my snark meter fail to go off?)

    .

  52. 52.

    Valdivia

    @shortstop:

    My mom didn’t know as of this am that Halperin is evil and deserving or derision. And yet she thought it was such a stupid thing to ask.

    But I am on her case about the MSM. I have many times explained to her how Cable is making us all dumber but she still listens to Williams on NBC every night. I think she got an inkling today when CNN botched up the announcement that it is better to trust the web and blogs than these jerks.

  55. 55.

    Davis X. Machina

    @burnspbesq: That’s a man who gets up every morning, depressed and sighing, because he leaves behind a wonderful dream where he is by turns standing in a schoolhouse door or pulling the lanyard on a Parrott rifle on the Battery in Charleston…

  56. 56.

    Tonal Crow

    Although, if I’m being totally honest, I was betting Doghouse Riley’s line:

    …Roberts’ “tax-based” decision sounds for all the world like the sort of thing that happens whenever any Grand High Poobah decides to get tricky. It’s overwrought and stupid….

    No. Roberts’s tax-and-spend argument is far from stupid, and almost correct. The mandate penalty is indeed a tax, but that’s broad-brushing it. What it really is, is a side-effect of a new tax and an accompanying tax credit. The new tax is a flat “mandate tax” that, in the first instance, (nearly) everyone must pay. The tax credit permits you to avoid paying the “mandate tax” if you have qualifying health coverage.

    Looked at in this way, the “mandate tax” is just like hundreds of other tax credits, under which you avoid some portion of a generally-applicable tax if you do something that the government deems desirable (like buy a house with a mortgage, or adopt a child).

    All this “penalty” stuff is just so much verbiage. The functional core of the thing is a tax with an accompanying tax credit.

    And the Court has always held that Art.I s.8 cl.1 gives Congress virtually unlimited power to enact taxes and tax credits.

    Riley needs to read some caselaw.

  58. 58.

    lamh35

    So, I tried to buy tickets online for movie I want to see tomorrow is already sold out at like 2 theatres! All the tickets were bought online. Wow! That’s the first time that’s happened when I’ve bought tics online.

    ETA: forgot to add the movie, it’s that male stripper movie Magic Mike. I had to call the box office. There had better be some nice physiques and lots of partial nudity in this movie for all this trouble I went to to get tickets. This is girls night and all the girls (i.e. me and my gays as Kathy Griffin would say) wanted this the fun part of our “drinks and fun” girls night.

  60. 60.

    CA Doc

    Such a great historic day! The only disconcerting thing is how close they came to throwing the whole thing away, when so much of the law presented no constitutional question at all. But a win’s a win and it means so much to so many of my patients (even though they don’t all know it yet)
    Have to go to a meeting, but planning a little toast tonight when I get home :)

  62. 62.

    Valdivia

    @Martin:

    thank you. even better idea. the funny thing is that my mom who is the sweetest lady ever, also took up kick-boxing a few years ago so her kick will be specially efficacious :D

    @J. Michael Neal: congrats! a toast to you all the way from the Capital of the Empire.

  64. 64.

    Dee Loralei

    Mrs Obama gave an amazing speech today, I was so rapt, I forgot to live tweet LOL. Actually my battery was low and I was tired of peck and find on my iphone. Heading out to a city-wide celebratory OFA meet and greet and nosh. I made a kick-ass chocolate cake! I was out in the 100+ temp waving signs for 2 hours before I went inside for the speech. Mayor Wharton also gave a great speech!

    I’m exhausted and still hot, and I’ve been home for a few hours. Will check back in later, if I’m still sentient after my long day.

    Today was a great day to be a Democrat! Except for the Holder thing.

  67. 67.

    lamh35

    list of the 21 Dems who voted for civil citation against AG Holder:

    Jason Altmire (Pa.)
    Ron Barber (AZ)
    John Barrow (Ga.)
    Dan Boren (Okla.)
    Leonard Boswell (Iowa)
    Ben Chandler (Ky.)
    Mark Critz (Pa.)
    Peter DeFazio (OR)
    Joe Donnelly (Ind.)
    Kathy Hochul (N.Y.)
    Ron Kind (Wis.)
    Larry Kissell (N.C.)
    Jim Matheson (Utah)
    Mike McIntyre (N.C.)
    Mike Michaud (ME)
    Brad Miller (NC)
    Bill Owens (N.Y.)
    Collin Peterson (Minn.)
    Nick Rahall (W. Va.)
    Mike Ross (Ark.)
    Tim Walz (Minn.)

  69. 69.

    JPL

    Holy crap…the network news media is finally talking about the good points of health care..

  70. 70.

    J. Michael Neal

    @Valdivia: Right now I’m doing my volunteer tutoring gig; fortunately no one has asked my fried brain for help yet. When I’m done, I am entirely undecided as to whether to go out drinking or go home and go to bed.

  72. 72.

    jl

    ” Roberts’ “tax-based” decision sounds for all the world like the sort of thing that happens whenever any Grand High Poobah decides to get tricky. ”

    Roberts floated the tax interpretation at oral arguments. So it was in his mind. Just a question of whether he wanted to use that trick or not.

    Question in my mind is whether the 4 losers decided to try and wreck as much as they could and would not compromise?

    Is there a core of 3 wingnut (or 4 if Kennedy is going that way) on the court so reactionary Roberts won’t go where they want to go?

    Guess we will find out next year.

  77. 77.

    James E. Powell

    I don’t know if it matter to him, but Chris Matthews is really giving Chief Justice Roberts a tongue bath.

    Bob Shrum observes that the Republicans will use this to fire up their base. Given that the president is so black, can their base be fired up any more than they already are?

  79. 79.

    JPL

    @shortstop: ABC and a tad on CBS but not as strong.. they both showed folks waiting for the ruling who had pre-existing conditions.

  82. 82.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Well, fuck that; this is a big fucking deal.

    Yes, that would be why I put “Winning” in the post title. Haven’t read all the comments yet, but when the blog’s unofficial haterz-eeyore-pessimist-alte-kacker has to point out that A Good Thing Happened Here, well…

  85. 85.

    Yutsano

    So I decided to venture into work today, only to discover I am totally locked out of my system. So I’ve been sitting around doing nothing and getting paid for it. But at least I’m getting paid for it.

  87. 87.

    JPL

    @Anne Laurie: gotta say.. a long time conservative friend asked her husband why this a bad decision..and after his ranting he couldn’t answer. we have paid for bad health care for those that couldn’t afford it and now it’s time to pay for decent health care.

  88. 88.

    El Cid

    @Tonal Crow:

    The mandate penalty is indeed a tax, but that’s broad-brushing it. What it really is, is a side-effect of a new tax and an accompanying tax credit. The new tax is a flat “mandate tax” that, in the first instance, (nearly) everyone must pay. The tax credit permits you to avoid paying the “mandate tax” if you have qualifying health coverage.
    __
    Looked at in this way, the “mandate tax” is just like hundreds of other tax credits, under which you avoid some portion of a generally-applicable tax if you do something that the government deems desirable (like buy a house with a mortgage, or adopt a child).

    It struck me that way from the very beginning — mortgage insurance tax credit, child tax credit, earned income tax credits, etc.

    It seemed to me that it might have been wiser to set it up as such, since the “mandate” sounds so much scarier and obviously suggests some legal challenge to this Soviet tyranny, but I’ve heard a few Democratic politicians and analysts say that they feared it would be more difficult to pass with the term “tax” on it.

    I thought you’d promote it as a “health insurance tax credit” and make it sound great, yay, a tax credit, except people might be expecting some sort of net tax credit increase rather than ‘yay we’re not charging you any more than you’re paying now!’

    I dunno, the “health care tax” or “health care mandate” would likely have been just as much a scream-phrase for the right during Stalin Summer (the TeaTard occupations of Congressional town halls and rallies of Revolutionary War costumes for FREEDOM).

    It gets even weirder when it’s pointed out that there’s little, and maybe even no, enforcement for anyone not following the “mandate”.

  89. 89.

    David Koch

    Today, more than any other day, proves why who nominates supreme court justices is a paramount importance.

    I’ve always been shocked how a number of hard core lefties have little interest in the Court.

    I mean, think about it. If you peruse hard core leftist blogs, they only talk about the Court when a bad decision comes down, but they never talk about the judiciary on a regular basis like they do economics, or gay equality, or foreign policy, or the environment.

    That’s just weird. The Court has an impact on every subject the care about.

  90. 90.

    shortstop

    First FB unfriending: High-school classmate living in Wasilla, AK (no, really) flounces off my friend list after reading my amused update about conservatives who want to leave country but cannot find developed nation without universal healthcare. I had failed to notice that she’d just posted her intention to sell her house and move to Costa Rica.

    I suspect there will be more before the night is over.

  91. 91.

    beltane

    @James E. Powell: Bob Shrum failed to observe that the Republican base is perpetually fired up in a way that usually only applies to someone who just had a habanero enema.

  94. 94.

    shortstop

    @Valdivia: That’s why it’s so fucking funny! A number of other people are announcing their intention of moving to…Canada!

    And I guess I should have said “developed or developing” country.

  95. 95.

    beltane

    @Valdivia: If these rugged wingnuts insist on remaining in the western hemisphere they will have no recourse but to move to Haiti, a country that fits their description of a Galtian paradise.

  96. 96.

    shortstop

    @beltane: I though those were illegal since the Democratic nanny state took over. Maybe you can still get them in Nevada, though.

  97. 97.

    Valdivia

    @shortstop: @beltane:

    indeed they are going to be hard pressed to find places where the galtian paradise even remotely exists. As Obama said in the 2008 election-it’s like they take pride in being ignorant.

  100. 100.

    jl

    @Valdivia:

    I’ve always wondered how Figueres Ferrer pulled it off.

    The commie democratic socialist reformer who got away with it.

    But all the big pols fighting to rule were so lefty that maybe the US just threw up its hands and gave up.

  101. 101.

    lamh35

    So um question…ChristianMingle.com??? Shouldn’t Christian’s be mingling at chruch????? I’m just saying.

  102. 102.

    JPL

    @David Koch: second mistake of the day.. who are you talking about… just because a few sites screamed doesn’t mean the left …sorry.. no more compliments for your posts…

  103. 103.

    Anne Laurie

    @beltane:

    If these rugged wingnuts insist on remaining in the western hemisphere they will have no recourse but to move toinsist we invade Haiti, a country that fits their description of a Galtian paradise.

    I’m seriously expecting the Redstate Trike Farce to call for the US to “liberate” Haiti sometime just after Labor Day. My best guess, it will be cloaked as “border protection” because “those people” are dirtying up our nice cruise-ship playground, what with the cholera and the poverty and the orphans, so the Xtianist Jeebus will tell Pastor Saddleback that we need a bold band of 21st-century Rough Riders to remember the Maine impose Good Protestant Liberty where those 19th-century Frenchies failed in their duty…

  109. 109.

    beltane

    @Anne Laurie: The poor dears will certainly feel as though they must invade something, if only to erase the painful feeling of emasculation they are experiencing right now.

  110. 110.

    bootsy

    I have my own little office at work but am forced to keep the door open. So I heard a burst of wingnutty excitement at around 10am.

    Then, silence.

    Then, someone calling out angrily: “Call CNN and tell them their coverage sucks!”

    LOLMFAO

  112. 112.

    David Koch

    @JPL: I don’t want to give anyone undeserved attention, I will give as examples defunct blogs like “open left” and “MYDD” who possessed administrators who said Court picks were low priority. In fact, one high profile admin said Court picks are completely irrelevant, and voting has to based on other criteria. Left is an incorrect characterization. As you say, just because they call themselves left doesn’t make it so. Populist maybe more accurate.

  113. 113.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @J. Michael Neal:
    Finishing my first novel was one of the greatest moments of my life, except the moment was actually about twenty four hours later. It takes awhile for the empty whole where your book was to fill with other emotions. It will give you an amazing sense of accomplishment. I wish you the best of luck getting published.

  114. 114.

    bemused

    A friend wants to know where to get a gigantic Obama sign for their yard, like the size of a freeway sign. I have no idea. Anyone?

  116. 116.

    rikyrah

    I just wanna thank Nancy Smash this evening. When Scott Brown was elected, and Democrats began to despair, she told them to buckle up and gird those loins and helped the President drag the ACA over the finish line.

    thank you, Nancy Smash.

  118. 118.

    elsa

    @lamh35: hm, wonder if this had the effect he intended. I’d heard he may have been concerned about his legacy; oh well, I guess if he gets to be a hero out of this but it benefits us in the end, I will endure it.

  119. 119.

    Geoduck

    @shortstop:

    WTF is wrong with Peter DeFazio? Isn’t his district deep blue?

    Like my state Washington, you never know with Oregon. The liberal masses in the big cities usually swamp the national votes, but out in the hinterlands, it can be a real patch-work. DeFazio’s been in forever it seems, but before him, the seat appears to have flopped regularly back and forth.

  120. 120.

    elsa

    @Raven: They totally punked themselves. What a clusterfuck, jeez. Will Wolf Blitzer ever be able to masturbate another “conservative” guest again?

  123. 123.

    rikyrah

    I got an email earlier today from a Sistafriend. Between the two of us, I am the political junkie- we don’t talk politics very much. But, her email was so simple. She said,

    ” I was worried FOR HIM.”

    She didn’t have to explain to me who HIM was. I understood.

    I respect President Barack Obama for many reasons, most among them is the fact that he inherited a mess, and in addition to trying to clean it up, he CHOSE to tackle healthcare. It wasn’t the ‘safe’ thing to do, but it was the right thing to do.

    There has been a concerted effort from the moment this President was sworn in, to diminish and disrespect all that he has done and tried to do. To try and erase this man’s place in history.

    Today’s decision will take care of that.

    Loved this final piece from Rev. Al’s show yesterday.

    http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755884/#48005283

  126. 126.

    Bobby Thomson

    @Omnes Omnibus: :

    If you take a look at many of the earlier posts and their comments, there seems to be a determined effort to see this decision as negative in some way. Well, fuck that; this is a big fucking deal.

    There are bad things about it.

    1) Five votes to gut the commerce clause in ways that wouldn’t have been conceivable even in 19th century. (If regulating something that makes up almost a fifth of GDP doesn’t constitute regulating commerce, nothing does.) This is a big fucking deal.

    2) Five votes to gut the provision extending Medicaid to poor people without kids so that those people are at the mercy of Jan Brewer and Scott Walker.

    Yeah, there’s plenty to celebrate, but I’m feeling a lot like Winston Wolf here.

  127. 127.

    Valdivia

    @jl:

    that is a good long story. but you know he was part of the League of the Caribbean. which has an interesting left/right connection.

    Unfortunately the son fell very far from the tree. sigh.

  128. 128.

    Lurker

    @rikyrah:

    There has been a concerted effort from the moment this President was sworn in, to diminish and disrespect all that he has done and tried to do. To try and erase this man’s place in history.

    If there’s justice, future generations will continue to give President Obama credit for doing what he did to help sick Americans and their families. “Obamacare” will be as casual and as natural as the terms “Social Security” and “Medicare” and “Interstate” in the future.

    I am grateful right now for everything everyone did to get the Affordable Care Act written and signed into law. From the lawmakers to the bloggers to everyone here who called their Senators and Representatives in 2010. Thank you all.

    And thank you, President Obama.

  131. 131.

    wrb

    @shortstop:

    that this court is completely dysfunctional and under control of the most radical justices of my lifetime.

    He contains a large amount of mavricky prickishness,

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