Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Bad people in a position to do bad things will do bad things because they are bad people. End of story.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Republicans: slavery is when you own me. freedom is when I own you.

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

You’re just a puppy masquerading as an old coot.

An unpunished coup is a training exercise.

You are so fucked. Still, I wish you the best of luck.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

FFS people, this was a good thing. take the win.

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

Republicans can’t even be trusted with their own money.

Democrats are back in array!

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

Well, whatever it is, it’s better than being a Republican.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

I’m just a talker, trying to find a channel!

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Wednesday Evening Open Thread: No Wonder They’re Blind to Others’ Suffering

Wednesday Evening Open Thread: No Wonder They’re Blind to Others’ Suffering

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(Steve Sack via GoComics.com)
__
One a day when the idiocracy is in full cry, thank goddess for Mr. Charles P. Pierce, our generation’s Finley Peter Dunne:

… Let me just say now for the record that, if John Boehner and Eric Cantor and the rest of the children who regularly decline to govern, all those folks who put the “jerk” in “jerk-off,” can be persuaded to roll around in thorn bushes rather than waste the nation’s time with another giddy spasm of self-abuse, not only would I support them wholeheartedly, I would be more than willing to sell tickets…

The institution of the Senate has taken a lot of heat over the last three years as the place where good policy ideas go to be killed by Republican vandals. However, as is made plain by today’s extended exercise in flogging the dolphin, the Senate is also the place where the lunatic emanations of the craziest House Of Representatives in American history usually disappear. For this, we should be at least marginally grateful. If you want to see what the real Republican plan for health-care reform is, lend an ear to David Dreier, one of the allegedly “reasonable” Republicans in the House.

“While I don’t think that someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars of health care provided, I do believe there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions,” Dreier said.

This is a mock government we have now — a succession of events so fundamentally detached from reality that it’s a wonder the people engaging in them don’t arrive at the House chambers on the backs of unicorns. Internet conspiracy fantasies drive congressional investigations. For the 32nd time, the House votes to repeal an act that will not be repealed, and that they know will not be repealed, and engage the entire legislative branch of government as set decoration for a thousand 30-second spots on local televisions stations back home. This is not what a serious democracy does. This is what a campaign does, over and over again. It makes you wonder on which side Cantor parts the hair on his palms.

*************
Apart from self & general abuse, what’s on the agenda for the evening?

Reader Interactions

142Comments

  2. 2.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Like Baud, I’m wondering why the front pagers are dancing all over each others’ feet. Like the Rockettes.

  7. 7.

    Linda Featheringill

    Crazy day. Internet was down for several hours and so no work today.

    I see that WaPo still has their headline up [GOP to Uninsured: Drop Dead]. I wondered if it would survive the day.

    Romney went to the NAACP today. It would have been impolite of them to not invite him and it would have been rude of him to refuse to speak. But you know, the way it turned out, it was just weird.

    I did enjoy the “end of quotation” bit. :-)

  10. 10.

    gnomedad

    And yet the massive tumor known as David Dreier is still pulling a government paycheck.

  15. 15.

    Villago Delenda Est

    FYWP is having its slow processing of comments problem again, which sometimes results in multiple posts.

  17. 17.

    jimmiraybob

    I do believe there can be a structure to deal with…”

    Here’s a structure fer ya:

    “Bring out your dead!”
    [cough cough…]
    [clang]

    Customer: “Here’s one.”
    Cart Master: “Ninepence.”
    Dead Person: “I’m not dead!”
    Cart Master: “What?”
    Customer: “Nothing. Here’s your ninepence.”
    Dead Person: “I’m not dead!”
    Cart Master: “’Ere. He says he’s not dead!”
    Customer: “Yes, he is.”
    Dead Person: “I’m not!”
    Cart Master: “He isn’t?”
    Customer: “Well, he will be soon. He’s very ill.”

    –M. Python

    [moving picture talky version (youtube) here]

  18. 18.

    Villago Delenda Est

    FYWP is having its slow processing of comments problem again, which sometimes results in multiple posts.

  20. 20.

    Richard Fox

    As someone whose dad died of a massive brain tumor… may I say it would be a fine thing to see how Mr. Dreier comports himself when someone close to him is similarly afflicted. What a disgusting, awful fool.

  21. 21.

    JasonF

    I’d like to live in a world where nobody ever gets a massive tumor. But if someone has to get a massive tumor, I can think of nobody who I’d rather it be than David Dreier.

  22. 22.

    scav

    Maybe we can add Synchronicized Posting as an Internet Olympics Event. And then something like the FYWP Steeplechase for comment-side-posting.

  25. 25.

    gbear

    I’m taking a break from reading news stories and watching video clips today. I don’t have the stomach for it today…

    At any rate, I already know who I’m going to vote for this fall.

  27. 27.

    jl

    People with massive tumors will be the new wedgie special interest group?

    Did he throw in coal miners with black lung too?

    Sick and dishonest comment from Ibid,

  28. 28.

    MattR

    “While I don’t think that someone who is diagnosed with a massive tumor should the next day be able to have millions and millions and millions of dollars of health care provided, I do believe there can be a structure to deal with the issue of pre-existing conditions,” Dreier said.

    That structure is called the individual mandate. His scenario cannot exist if everyone has decent health insurance from the moment they are born throughout their entire life.

  29. 29.

    scav

    @MikeJ: We’ll try to put you into the leapy-over-silly-bar-thingys stage then. I can probably manage the in-over-my-head leg. Anybody good a crashing through bushes?

  30. 30.

    Litlebritdifrnt

    DH is getting used to his new Android. He is on his way to the mountains and asked me to look up a motel for him. I found one and texted the info to him. He thought it was cool as hell that he could just touch the phone number in the text message and it dialed it for him. Like magic! Methinks he is going to become dangerous once he figures out everything that the phone can do.

    BTW I think that we can expect a rant of epic proportions on the “people with a massive tumor” thing from ABL. Because well shit.

  31. 31.

    stratplayer

    Charlie Pierce is by an order of magnitude the greatest satirical (yet thoroughly substantive) political commentator of our time, and one of the greats of all time. Satire, of course, is the traditional weapon of the powerless against the powerful, which is why conservative “satire” is so painfully unfunny and comes off as just plain cruel. Pierce properly reserves his caustic wit for the arrogant, corrupt frauds and poltroons who are ransacking America in the name of a bogus notion of “liberty.”

  34. 34.

    Tony J

    @Linda Featheringill:

    Yeah, I saw that, and to give Miller credit, this is a great idea –

    “Here’s what you should do, Mr. President. In the debates this fall, pull out a small, laminated card you’ve had made as a prop for this purpose. Then remind Mitt Romney that the ranks of the uninsured today are equal to the combined populations of Oklahoma, Connecticut, Iowa, Mississippi, Kansas, Kentucky, Arkansas, Utah, Oregon, Nevada, New Mexico, West Virginia, Nebraska, Idaho, Maine, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Rhode Island, Montana, Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Alaska, Vermont and ­Wyoming.

    Read that list slowly, Mr. President. Then ask your opponent: Would America turn its back on the citizens of these 25 states if everyone there lacked basic health coverage? That’s what we’ve been doing for decades. You knew it was right to act when you were governor of Massachusetts, Mitt. How can you pretend we don’t need to solve this for the nation? And how can you object with a straight face when your own pioneering plan was my model?” emphasis mine.

  35. 35.

    MattR

    Wish I could figure out why I am in moderation. Not sure if it was soemthing in Dreier’s statement that I quoted or if it was my commentary that the individual mandate solves his quandary.

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Tony J:

    And how can you object with a straight face when your own pioneering plan was my model?

    “Because the teahadists have a solid grip on my balls.”

  38. 38.

    beltane

    Rush Limbaugh defended Mitt Romney’s performance at the NAACP today by referring to Romney as “Snow White with testicles.” Does this mean that Limbaugh is Prince Charming?

  39. 39.

    beltane

    Ugh, I got put in moderation for quoting something Rush Limbaugh said today. Serves me right for quoting him I guess.

  40. 40.

    Larryb

    I have to say that the banner ad for the used body armor emporium is awesome! Who needs viagra when we can get our kevlar freak on?

  41. 41.

    LanceThruster

    @Richard Fox: That will be completely different because of…shut up, that’s why! (most sincerely sorry for your loss and pain )

  45. 45.

    redshirt

    I’ma hang with all my Martian Peeps tonight. You wouldn’t know them, but they’re super cool, and really like me! They really do…

  46. 46.

    Alison

    It’s my birthday, and all I ask from the world is to stop sucking so much. IS THAT SO HARD?

    Apparently so. Alas. I got lots of money to spend on books though, so that’s good. I noted to my mom that I am now the age she was when she had me (though she was nine months past her birthday at that point) and we both felt hella old.

  48. 48.

    Sawgrass Stan

    on the agenda tonight: going up in the attic to finally hook up our speakers, once the temperature drops below the melting point of lead. While I’m there, maybe I’ll find out if that scratching and stuff is due to rats, squirrels, or possums.

    Also, since Our Congress repealed the ACA again today, I just thought I might bring up this personal note: the hospital where my wife had her double mastectomy in April sent us a very nice letter today asking for our help in getting our health insurance co. to pay them. Seriously, they said, “Could you please help us get paid?”
    Bring on RomneyCare!!!

  49. 49.

    JPL

    On firefox, I’m okay but it seems that chrome is getting hit with in moderation posts.

  52. 52.

    jl

    @Alison: Happy birthday, you dang kids tiddiy, feelin’ all old fer no dern reason at all, Alison.

    Edit: ‘cept if you find yourself yelling at clouds, let some one here know, they will talk you down.

  54. 54.

    JPL

    s.t.o.r.m.s l.a.s.t nt. so e.a.r.l.y to bed.

    p.l.e.a.se….f.i.x the m.od.er.at.i.on pr.ob.le.m

  55. 55.

    scav

    @MikeJ: Which would include me (CSDS: Chronic SNL-deficiency Syndrome), but are you still up for the jumpy-over-bars leg? We could copy imagery from Upper Class Twit of the Year racing if you need more visual incentive.

  58. 58.

    Davis X. Machina

    This is not what a serious democracy does. This is what a campaign does, over and over again.

    We might as well put Al Davis on the penny, and replace E pluribus, unum — collectivist nonsense, and in a dead language to boot — with “Just Win, Baby!”

  62. 62.

    trollhattan

    Things that makes me happy:

    A Who Quadrophenia documentary.

    http://www.guitarworld.com/whos-pete-townshend-premiere-quadrophenia-documentary-500-theaters-july-24

    Ethics complaint against Darrell Issa.

    On Wednesday, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington filed complaints against Issa with the Justice Department and the Office of Congressional Ethics. Both complaints revolve around allegations that Issa violated federal law by including material from a sealed wiretap application in the Congressional Record.

    http://blogs.sacbee.com/capitolalertlatest/2012/07/post-29.html#storylink=cpy

  63. 63.

    trollhattan

    I’m in moderation too. Anybody else in here have a beer? It’s 104 and I have to ride my bike home tonight.

  65. 65.

    scav

    @lamh35: Not seeing anyone ahead of you is usually a sign you’re ahead, but closing your eyes while running doesn’t mean you’re actually winning. But this would still seem to be a more logical course of action than whatever it is that Willard’s apparently come up with there.

  67. 67.

    Alison

    @jl: I don’t yell at clouds, but I do find myself getting all cranky at the loud kids outside at the pool. Close enough…

  68. 68.

    trollhattan

    This is meta–my comment about being in m o d e r a t i o n is in m o d e r a t i o n. Kewhl.

  70. 70.

    NotMax

    With the summer Olympics fast approaching, when does Rafalca get loaded into a carrier and strapped to the top of a jumbo jet to get to London?

  71. 71.

    MikeJ

    @Alison:

    but I do find myself getting all cranky at the loud kids outside at the pool

    Basketball in the street outside my house is the worst. Hour after hour after hour of thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump thump.

  73. 73.

    El Cid

    Given where I thought it was going, I thought it might be a good thing that the Spanish elected the conservative government it did, because I wouldn’t want the main leftish alternative to get blamed for this.

    Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy on Wednesday unveiled another batch of budget savings worth 65 billion euros over the next two-and-a-half years in what constitutes the biggest fiscal adjustment in Spain since democracy was restored over 30 years ago.
    __
    The measures — which include a rise in the standard value-added sales tax rate to 21 percent from 18 percent and an increase in environmental levies, as well as cuts in benefits and wages for civil servants and the unemployed — came just a day after the European Union agreed to give Spain another year to bring its public deficit back within the EU ceiling of three percent of GDP, albeit with a number of strings attached.

    If there ever turns out to be a plus side, at least in Spain it’ll be Rajoy and the People’s Party (the right wing Partido Popular) associated with the move to punitive austerity to save the banksters and their German investors with the blood of transit workers and the like.

    The hike in the sales tax is almost certain to depress consumer spending further at a time when the economy is already expected to shrink by 1.7 percent this year…

    And it wouldn’t be a true evil movie government if they didn’t cancel Christmas.

    The other measures unveiled by Rajoy include eliminating the extra payment made at Christmas to civil servants at all levels of the administration, as well as to lawmakers for this year, which will save some five billion euros.
    __
    The extra payment will be restored in 2015 but in the form of contributions to workers’ pension pots rather than in cash.

    Let me predict now the unfunny punchline — when it comes time, it’ll turn out that they just can’t afford all the expensive pensions these lazy greedy unions are demanding our hardworking taxpayers pay them.

  74. 74.

    NotMax

    @MikeJ

    Tend to rationalize a similar situation here (really bad garage rock band macerating the same song over and over and over) in terms of being like a non-lethal version of the V-2 rocket.

    It’s only when the noise stops that one should become wary.

  75. 75.

    Violet

    @Alison: Happy Birthday! Hope you do something fun and treat yourself.

    Heard the official NPR line on the Romney speech. Nothing on the booing. Just that some of it wasn’t well received, or something like that. Then commentary on how Obama polls at having 85% of the black vote, or something. Basically the typical “Brave Sir Romney for facing his opponents” crap. Bleh.

  78. 78.

    Alison

    @MikeJ: I don’t know. When the kids play Marco Polo and just yell the words over and over and over…gaahhhhh

    Tempting the moderation fates to just say thanks for all the birthday wishes :)

  79. 79.

    Hal

    @lamh35:

    I call that the “Harpo, who dis woman?” face…gender neutral, and can be used when addressing a full of shit female or male.

  80. 80.

    Richard Fox

    @LanceThruster: Thanks very much for the kindness. The subject hits too close to home, and people like this really have no place in public life. I can only imagine what his family has to endure in private. Thank heavens that is something beyond my experience.. Cheers.

  81. 81.

    Randy P

    @Amir Khalid: Excellent movie. Saw it with my wife. Lots of property destruction and things blowing up, which tends to really detract from her enjoyment of a film, but she found plenty to like in it. The new Peter Parker is wonderfully geeky, Martin Sheen was a great Uncle Ben and Sally Field was a great Aunt May despite not having classic Aunt May white hair, Rhys Ifans (a Welsh actor who keeps popping up in the most interesting places) was a great villain, and the girlfriend is a science geek herself. On several occasions she thinks her way out of a dilemma with some on-the-spot physics. I loved it.

    Aside: I’m a pretty good speller and never knew the spelling “dilemna” was wrong till just now when the spell checker complained. I’ve been doing it wrong my whole life.

  82. 82.

    hhex65

    Have there been any demands for President Obama to publicly apologize to RmoneyBot v.3.0 for the offense he was forced to endure today? I put a wager down with Ladbrokes on that being the next big story.

  84. 84.

    General Stuck

    the Senate is also the place where the lunatic emanations of the craziest House Of Representatives in American history usually disappear.

    Yup, Pierce is right, and it is nice to see a much read pundit type venture into such nuance where the truth is usually found in political analysis. The Senate is what I think it was Madison said – the ‘cooling saucer’ of the tyranny of majorities in The People’s House.

    And why getting rid of the filibuster would let that majority run riot over the minority. And while it is true that today’s GOP is grossly misusing this power, nuking the cloture rule right now, or anytime, would turn a short term victory into an unmitigated disaster for the republic. It is why we have elections on a regular basis to hopefully correct such abuses of minority power. And sooner or later the rubes will stop long enough to notice what is happening, and do something about it. We may most of us be living under bridges by then, but it will happen. And if it doesn’t, just bend over backwards and kiss yer ass and this country goodbye. There are hardly ever easy answers to problems in a democracy, that is at best a managed train wreck.

  85. 85.

    GxB

    @Darkrose: Mine too – I want to see a conjoined thought bubble overhead, its contents: “Cracker, please…”

    Actually looking forward to Crazy Uncle Joe’s visit tomorrow. His gaffes are at least honest and he’s only saying what everyone (sane) is thinking. I think he’ll have a lot of honest warm smiles from the same crowd too.

  86. 86.

    Tonal Crow

    Romney’s Bain,
    Is a mighty pain,
    For his Presidential hopes.

    He lies, and lies,
    and lies again,
    and inundates Teh Snopes.

    But it’s nutty teatards,
    He implores,
    Not ordinary folks.

    So come November,
    With our bucks — and calls to out the vote —
    It’s back to Boston,
    Or St. Kitts,
    Where Mitt, defeated, mopes.

  88. 88.

    Hal

    I can almost buy this as true…

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/11/1108731/-The-Chronicles-of-Mitt-July-11-2012

    Hello, human diary. It is I again, Mitt Romney, your better.
    This morning I gave my planned speech to the NAACP. It turns out that the NAACP is not, in fact, the National Association for the Advancement of Corporate People; I had not read the name correctly.

    ++++++++++++++++++

    In hindsight, however, I wish I had known earlier that the speech was going to be given not to an association for Corporate People, but for Colored People. I could probably have added many anecdotes to my speech, possibly involving sport. And I have a wonderful story to tell about the time I did not let the dog out, which as I understand it seems to be one of the overriding domestic policy concerns of colored Americans.

  89. 89.

    Hal

    I can almost buy this as true…

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/07/11/1108731/-The-Chronicles-of-Mitt-July-11-2012

    Hello, human diary. It is I again, Mitt Romney, your better.
    This morning I gave my planned speech to the NAACP. It turns out that the NAACP is not, in fact, the National Association for the Advancement of Corporate People; I had not read the name correctly.

    ++++++++++++++++++

    In hindsight, however, I wish I had known earlier that the speech was going to be given not to an association for Corporate People, but for Colored People. I could probably have added many anecdotes to my speech, possibly involving sport. And I have a wonderful story to tell about the time I did not let the dog out, which as I understand it seems to be one of the overriding domestic policy concerns of colored Americans.

  90. 90.

    rikyrah

    @lamh35:

    I’ve seen this face before in the mirror. It’s my “Bitch please…” face!

    BWA HA HA H HA HA HA AH AH HA

    that was a classic.

    also, the elderly woman was a classic too.

  93. 93.

    lamh35

    Mitt Romney Tried to Rig NAACP Crowd by Flying in His Own African Americans

    According to NAACP official Hilary Shelton, Mitt Romney tried to rig the crowd at the convention by flying in his own non-member African Americans to cheer for him…
    Many of Romney’s claims were debunked by Senior Vice President for Advocacy and Policy and the Director of the Washington Bureau of the NAACP, Hilary Shelton who said that the only African Americans Romney met with after his speech were those that he brought with him. Mr. Shelton explained that Mitt Romney flew in his own African-American supporters who were not affiliated with the NAACP, in order to have some people in the crowd cheering for him.
    Romney did not meet with any of the convention rank and file after his speech, and only met with the African-Americans that he planted in the crowd.

  96. 96.

    mainmati

    @General Stuck: While I agree in principle with your comments on the Senate, it was actually set up originally to protect the rural, agricultural, slave owning states and so has long since become deeply unrepresentative. We used to have both GOP and Democratic Senators from those rural states that had national visions and were even statesmen (e.g. J.W. Fulbright or Frank Church) but nowadays those states are all represented by cynical knuckle-draggers, like Mitch McConnell or Jeff Sessions.

  98. 98.

    El Cid

    @lamh35: What’s wrong with that?

    Why, this nation was founded upon the principle that successful Americans could import their own African Americans.

  99. 99.

    Hypatia's Momma

    This probably falls under self-abuse:
    Hypatia update!

    Sadly, J.&I were unable to swiftly raise funds for the MRI, so I’m sticking with weekly “grooming” visits to the vet, the medications, and general despair. The “grooming” sessions are working out well for the interim, though. The vet is super-nice and, if he has time, gives her a quick check-over for obvious problems (constipation, etc.) and then has one of those wonderful vet-techs give any necessary info.

    I’m also thankful that he doesn’t dismiss me as just some paranoid pet owner. Last week, I mentioned that she had some symptoms that made me suspect either another UTI (fffffuuu) or crystals. The UTI seemed a likely culprit, so I started her on Clavamox. However, after four days she wasn’t improving at all; in fact, she was getting worse. So, for her next visit, the vet did one of his “quick-checks” and, yeah, she has crystals. NOT stones, just crystals, which is such a relief. I don’t think I could stand her going through a third cystotomy.

    She’s now on Hills s/d diet for 4-6 weeks, both canned and dry. And clavamox. Plus all the other medications she was already taking. And I can’t give her extra snacky-snacks as that would fuck up the diet. My poor, sweet, Darling Dumpling is just having a hell of a time.

    She remains in good spirits and is very loving and adorable, the fat little wretch. Thanks again, to all of you who have helped. :)

  101. 101.

    beltane

    @lamh35: Is this for real? I am at a loss for words to explain my reaction to this if it’s for real. If it’s not real it is satire worthy of Stephen Colbet.

  102. 102.

    lamh35

    FUCK YOU MITT ROMNEY..

    Breaking news from Maddow!

    OMG!

    Romney tonight at a fundraising event responded to booing;

    “Remind them of this, if they want more stuff from Government tell them to go vote for the other guy-more free stuff. But don’t forget nothing is really free.”

    Reported by Pool report!!!!

  103. 103.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @lamh35: Well, in that case, he might not have been lying when he… Never mind; I’ll go with my assumption that he is always lying until it lets me down.

  104. 104.

    Hill Dweller

    @lamh35: Yep. Maddow just reported Romney told the audience at a fundraiser after the NAACP speech that if they(the booing crowd) wanted something free to vote for the other guy. In other words, the black people that booed me are just mad because they aren’t getting free stuff from the black guy in the White House.

    Willard is a fucking scumbag.

  107. 107.

    j

    Just saw on Rachel MAddow’s show Romney responded to being booed at the NAACP convention today.

    He said “Hey, if they don’t like it they can go vote for the other guy — More free stuff”.

    He then went on to say to his lily white GOP crowd that “THEY” want the federal government to fix all of “their” problems without having to do anything “themselves””

    He sure knows how to light that flaming cross.

    So Mittens is plating the KKK card early.

    And WHY is he having a fundraiser with Cheney?

  108. 108.

    El Cid

    @Hill Dweller: I’m sure Romney just meant something innocuous, like he figured they expected him to bring free fried chicken or chitlins or some other food appreciated by this culture.

  109. 109.

    El Cid

    @j: Reagan at least had the decency to refuse the KKK endorsement he received after his speech about ‘states’ rights’ he unveiled in Neshoba County, Mississippi, at least, after a few days.

  110. 110.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @j:

    And WHY is he having a fundraiser with Cheney?

    Everyone in the GOP must pay homage to their Dark Lord.

  111. 111.

    El Cid

    Aaaaand on cue:

    Count Sen. Joe Lieberman as a “no” on President Barack Obama’s tax plan.
    __
    The Connecticut independent has just decided he will vote against the plan, saying it’s “not what we need now,” especially since it stands virtually no chance of becoming law before November.

    So bracingly independent!

  112. 112.

    beltane

    @j: Very distasteful for a princeling born with a silver spoon in his lying mouth to be talking about “free stuff” when his whole life has been about receiving free stuff and cheating the taxpayers of this country.

  115. 115.

    amk

    @lamh35: NAACP got sucker punched on this. Enough with being polite. You are an activist org. Then show it by bringing in people who support you, not scums like mittbot, who are hellbent on destroying you.

  116. 116.

    Paula

    Tonight, I ate the rest of my home-made plum-nectarine-peach sorbet! Deeelicious!

    I love my Cusinart ice cream maker! I store the canister in the freezer, so I can have sorbet in 35 minutes!!! It’s the best way I know of to use up over ripe fruit!

    Anyone ever use Splenda in sorbet? We’re the results good?

  117. 117.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mr Stagger Lee: Luckily, I don’t know what a young Dick Cheney looks like. No need to post a link; I’ll accept your word as to the resemblance.

  118. 118.

    karen

    I need help in dealing with my mother. In a liberal way, believe it or not.

    My mom has been working with OFA, she was at the phone banks and will be handing out Obama leaflets in the mall on Friday.

    Here is the problem I’m having. She was telling me that Obama’s $250K and over tax plan is a mistake because $250K is not a lot of money. Not that it was poor or even middle class, but that if you had two incomes that made $250K by the time you paid child care, mortgage and other expenses, that $250 isn’t that much.

    My mom is on Long Island and has always lived in downstate NY. They don’t have $250K incomes but they know people who do.

    I think Obama may be using that $250K as a negotiation. I also think that $250K can be quite a lot of money in some states and that by making his amount $250K it makes the GOP look bad, like they’re defending rich people.

    We ended up in an argument where we had to agree to disagree. Am I right or is my mother?

    Thanks Balloon Juicers!

  119. 119.

    El Cid

    The Onion is first in coverage.

    HOUSTON—During an address Wednesday to the National Association for the Advancement of White People, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received a lengthy standing ovation from the group of 2,000 Caucasians who had gathered to hear him speak.
    __
    The NAAWP, a 400-year-old organization with a membership of nearly 8 million whites nationwide, is expected to be firmly in Romney’s camp come November. “Thank you, thank you so much,” said Romney, whose speech was repeatedly interrupted by wave after wave of raucous applause and numerous chants of “We love Mitt!” “I love you, too. Really, this is too much.” Romney’s reception came in stark contrast to the welcome given to President Barack Obama, who spoke to the NAAWP last Thursday and was loudly booed for saying, “Hello, thanks for having me.”

    Also, Ron Paul makes campaign stop in his whimsical, wheezing magical jalopy.

    For the horror inclined, the Tea Party is quiet… Too quiet.

  120. 120.

    Gex

    Best opening argument to an Internet argument ever: “I’m going to assume for the sake of argument that Jesus existed and the Gospels are correct about the things he said.”

    Translation: “Let’s assume I’m right. Then you’ll see that I’m right.”

    It was a thing of beauty to see the underlying assumption of every person who’s argued religion with me brandished so boldly and with pride over the intellectual rigor of the argument. I mean, they stated their assertions!

    And the idea that we should have to just accept their assertions over our own is taken as given.

    I dunno. I am just tickled that this dude is sitting there all impressed with his fancy-schmancy argument.

    ETA: Got no problem with belief. Just no tolerance for people who can’t see that doubt is part of that stuff. I mean, no one ACTUALLY knows. If you start doing P therefore Q style rhetoric, you’re acting like you’ve created a mathematical proof of God, and I will call bullshit.

  123. 123.

    HRA

    Looking and searching for where anyone has said the smile on Willard’s face during the boos was as if this plan had worked perfectly. Yes, this was the plan. Use the word, Obamacare,you will get booed and the holdouts in the party will realize you are one of them. Scum of the Earth!

  124. 124.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @amk: The NAACP is not a partisan organization. IIRC they have invited the major party candidates to speak at their convention for years. Do you really think anyone there was shocked by what Mitt was like? Was anyone other than the Hate-Obama crowd impressed by what Mitt did? I say the answer to both questions is no. I don’t see where the sucker punch comes in.

  126. 126.

    xian

    @karen: tell her it’s just a small tax on income in excess of $250,000 a year. Did she in, the Clinton-era rates, which these would be for every dollar past $250,000 and then the bump to 39.6% (a 3.6% increase) for dollars in excess of a million a year.

  127. 127.

    Hypatia's Momma

    @Paula:
    I’ve tasted sorbet made with Splenda and I didn’t care for it. It wasn’t awful but it wasn’t all the great, either. On the other hand, I’m a bit sensitive to the taste of sweeteners and can nearly always tell the difference.

  128. 128.

    karen

    @Paula:

    Is the ice cream (sorbet) easy to make and do I need to get rock salt or other things along with the regular ingredients?

  129. 129.

    beltane

    The audience was perfectly polite to Romney until he very deliberately and ungraciously provoked them. If he mocked Mother Teresa in front of a Catholic audience he would be similarly booed. Mitt did not just come across as a racist, he came across as someone who actively despises all Americans who are not of his race, religion, and social class. He’s just a high-rent version of Sarah Palin.

  130. 130.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @amk: They got to see him in action and see if he would even try to be human. He didn’t. Do you think that Romney wouldn’t have spun being the first major party candidate who wasn’t invited to speak as a way to show his goons that he really is one of them? Of course he would have.

  132. 132.

    amk

    @Omnes Omnibus: As if they needed to get to “know him better”? As for a non-invite, the friggin’ media would have a snitfit. So what ? They were already calling them all sortsa names and an invite is not going to up their profile.

  133. 133.

    NotMax

    @karen
    Carefully point out the difference between “income” and “taxable income?”

    After deductions, credits, etc., etc., having $250K in taxable income puts one in the top 5% of taxpayers.

  134. 134.

    Hypatia's Momma

    @beltane:

    He’s just a high-rent version of Sarah Palin.

    Man, sometimes I just want to set aside my tiny (but much loved) code of ethics… *sigh*

    I will be a good feminist. I will be a good feminist. I will be a good feminist…

  135. 135.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @amk: I am saying that Romney would get his moment either way. A non-invite would be seen as a purely partisan act on the part of a non-partisan organization. Is Romney worth breaking a long tradition over? The NAACP members showed up to see the speech – obviously they were interested in hear what he would say. They clearly saw value in it. You don’t. Fine, your goals might not be completely congruent with their goals. They might put a higher value on free speech and debate than you do.

  137. 137.

    j

    1) The budget has been passed through by the House under a provision called “Deemed and passed” which the republitards call “demon pass’ as if it were a road in Colorado. The reason for that is to HAVE a budget without some republifuck adding a poison pill onto it which would necessitate a presidential veto. YOU republifucks did that so you assholes cAN complain about it now.

    2) The state senators were DOING THEIR JOBS representing their constituents by denying snotty Scotty and his republitard henchmen a quorum, NOT ball washing the Kock brothers and filling up their wallets.

    3) Again, poison pills. AND BULLSHIT!! The asswipe republitards in the senate have filibustered more legislation this term then at any time in history. In addition, only one republifuck can put a hold on any piece of legislation just by putting in a “secret hold”.. Cornyn and Sessions are the champions of that play.

    4) Same complaint as #3, Ace. Pay attention to your own wingnut rants, will ya? Try staying sober for a bit.

    5) Oh, that was rammed through by the GOP congress and signed by Drunky Mc Flight Suit. Any and every democrat who said anything about it was called “terrorist lover” and “unamerican”.

    6) No, asswipe. Just today the republitard house sent through their 33rd useless resolution to overturn the PPACA knowing full well that it is a meaningless waste of time. And so far it has cost the taxpayers millions of dollars for their stupid stunts.

    Not to mention all of their hundreds of anti-womens’ choice bills they tried ro ram through.

    Funny thing, though, they NEVER send through any JOBS bills, although Boner said he would be about nothing but (his words) “Jobs, jobs, jobs”.

    Another lying piece of shit republitard. Who woulda thought!

    Does this answer fulfill your GOP internship requirements?

    Good. Now go move to that Libertarian paradise known as Somalia. It’s republitard fools like you that make MY USA look bad.

    Go away, please. And take your jingoistic rah rah “American exceptionalism” bullshit with you. YOU republifucks are the reason we aren’t number one in any area except blowing things up.

    It never used to be that way until St. Ronnie and his “greed is good, I got mine fuck the rest” policy.

    Get lost. Turn off FOX. Learn how to turn a tuning knob on an AM radio.

  138. 138.

    catclub

    @karen: Five times the median is a lot. Find out what the average new car price is, now ask her if a car that costs five times the average is expensive.

    I looked it up on the internet: “Average price of new car sales transaction hits $30748, an all-time …”

    PLus when you get to taxable income versus total income, and still have over $250k, that is a lot.
    Long Island is nowhere near average.

  139. 139.

    Groucho48

    Latest right wing talking point…Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is a hypocrite because she has money in offshore accounts.

    A quick google shows that the basis for this is that she has up to $15000 invested in an IRA that has invested in another financial group that has investments in a couple of overseas banks.

    So, she has no money in offshore accounts. And, at best, a trivial amount invested in foreign companies.

    Google is already up to around 9000 hits for this. What is the best guess at the time needed to reach 100000 hits? I’ll go with 36 hours.

  140. 140.

    j

    Hmmm. I was not hallucinating @# 137. There really was a scary crazy man. There was, there really was. I swear!

  141. 141.

    FlipYrWhig

    @karen: Pretty much everywhere BUT a hub of banking and finance like NYC, $250K is a hell of a lot of money. And, of course, as others noted, dollars $1-$249,999 still pay a lower tax rate, it’s just dollars $250,000 and up that have to pay a notch more under this plan.

  142. 142.

    Anne Laurie

    @j: Cole has blog standards, one of which is that he can’t keep me from deciding to trashcan Repub robo-spam in my personal posts. Standard trollshite is standard, but life is too short for vast blocks of cut’n’paste off Limbaugh’s talking points.

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