Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

Let there be snark.

Battle won, war still ongoing.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Bark louder, little dog.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

We’re not going back!

Despite his magical powers, I don’t think Trump is thinking this through, to be honest.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

Today’s GOP: why go just far enough when too far is right there?

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

“woke” is the new caravan.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Everybody saw this coming.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

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

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World Series Open Thread

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My apologies- I forgot to put this up earlier even though I was watching the damned game slaughter.

In my defense, I was cooking a later dinner. Found some beautiful lamb shanks at the grocery, seared them, then threw in a mirepoiz, some mushrooms, some potatoes, a shallot, some tomato paste, a little red wine, and some beef broth, and slow cooked it for a couple of hours. We’re eating it right now and am in heaven. Also too, got a bottle of Hendrick’s, which I think is the best gin on earth in that price range.

Reader Interactions

210Comments

  1. 1.

    General Stuck

    No problem. My attention is glued firmly onto politics right now, until the election. Sports will still be there after the election.

  3. 3.

    damn good mr. jam

    Except for Bulldog, which is ten bucks cheaper. And Brokers, which is five bucks cheaper than that.

  7. 7.

    The Dangerman

    @General Stuck:

    My attention is glued firmly onto politics right now, until the election. Sports will still be there after the election.

    I’m basically done reading too much analysis until after the election; there is some monster disinformation out there right now and one side or another is in for a rude surprise on 11/6.

    ETA: Bottom 7, Sandoval may be up again this inning.

  8. 8.

    Sean

    One word: Giants. By the way, are any of the people who attended the Berkeley meetup back in August reading this?

  9. 9.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    I’ll never understand why people drink gin. It just makes me think about Jack the Ripper’s victims.

  11. 11.

    Ladyfriend

    This is seriously tasty. I would marry Cole’s kitchen and have its babies if it weren’t for the fact that I am voting for Obama, and therefor I am not allowed to marry or breed, lest I create a singularity and then the whole world would perish.

    In the mean time, I will eat this fucking outstanding food and watch you all continue to speculate about me. It’s highly entertaining.

  12. 12.

    Cacti

    @Yutsano:

    Sports-related but OT: Gery Bettman needs to die. Slowly and painfully.

    The NHL needs to die, with something better rising from its ashes.

  13. 13.

    Exurban Mom

    So “Barry Manilow” is trending on the twitter feed…apparently because McCarver was talking about him during a WORLD SERIES GAME? WTF???

  15. 15.

    The Dangerman

    @Yutsano:

    Gery Bettman needs to die. Slowly and painfully.

    I feel the same way for the genius that decided the Lakers need to be on a channel that no one carries (as the providers aren’t interested in the highway robbery involved). The LA market is NOT happy (sports bars are especially pissed).

  16. 16.

    Gravenstone

    @Exurban Mom: He was riffing on a crack from his moron partner about SF fans chanting “Barry” back in the day.

    And damn, what the hell got into Panda tonight?

  19. 19.

    Alison

    @Gravenstone: I swear, I despise those two idiots. If someone would get a damn petition going to NEVER HAVE THEM BE THE ANNOUNCERS AGAIN I would sign that shit in a nanosecond.

    Not only do they ramble and babble on during the game about totally unrelated shit, they’re also both boring as fuck.

  20. 20.

    trollhattan

    @Exurban Mom:
    Zito was killing, the crowd was chanting “Barry” and dude #1 noted it, saying they used to chant for another Barry and dude #2 quips, “Barry Manilow played here” and dude #1, completely missing the joke responded “I meant Barry Bonds.” And a funny joke thereby died a horrible death.

    I don’t watch much beezbol so don’t know the announcer dudes by voice. Also, too, anybody who wants to poke Bonds with a rusty pitchfork has my approval.

    Also, also, too, this is a righteous pounding.

  21. 21.

    forked tongue

    Sorry for going off topic–I don’t give a damn about sports, but this is an opportunity for me to get into a comment thread fairly early:

    Is it too late for someone to start up a T-Shirt line with the slogan “Rape Is Where Miracles Happen–Vote Republican”?

  25. 25.

    Cacti

    @forked tongue:

    Is it too late for someone to start up a T-Shirt line with the slogan “Rape Is Where Miracles Happen—Vote Republican”?

    If rape pregnancy is a gift, aren’t rapists performing a charitable act?

  26. 26.

    smith

    Hey, you never know, things can change, but this is already looking like the 2006 World Series where the heavily favored Detroit Tigers got shellacked by the underdog St. Louis Cardinals in five.

    Just like in 2006, Detroit had a long stretch between winning the ALCS and Game #1 in the WS and they are playing a team (2006 – Cardinals, 2012 – Giants) that had to go to Game #7 in their NLCS(2006-beating the favored Mets, 2012- beating the favored Cardinals) and are just lighting it up and have serious momentum.

    But, hey, like I said above, you never know. Maybe Detroit rights the ship in Game #2, maybe the Giants are shooting their wad tonight with all these hits and runs.

    Of course in the NY Yankees series, Detroit pitchers were facing batters who were so comically bad (other than Ibanez) they couldn’t hit water if they fell out of a boat.

  29. 29.

    PsiFighter37

    And not to spam (and OT from sports), but my fiancee has a petition on the WH website to make Election Day a federal holiday. She’s not really a political junkie at all, but she has become pretty passionate about this – after all, making is easier to vote is what Democrats are all about, right?

    Click here to sign up! You’ll make her day (she checks who has been signing up quite often).

  31. 31.

    PeakVT

    @Cacti: We can’t be far from the day when some Republican proposes tax cuts for rapists. Church and state separation, dontchaknow?

  33. 33.

    Alison

    @Craig: LOL seriously. And FFS, I don’t care how good a pitcher is, acting like it’s OMG SO INCREDIBLY AMAZING THAT ANYONE COULD GET A HIT OFF HIM is just ridiculous. Not that I expect those dumbshits to have the combined brainpower of anything above, say, a seagull.

    Fuck, the seagulls are even smarter. You see how they gather at the park in the 9th? They always know the right time for things, unlike Buck and McCarver.

  34. 34.

    Mr Stagger Lee

    @Yutsano: And Then Some!!!!He is going to find out that the casual fan, will be occupied by the NFL,NBA, College B-Ball, Daytona, and then comes spring training. Meanwhile the die-hards have gone ballistic with another wasted non season. If I was the head of NBC Sports I would send a hit team after that smarmy prick.

  37. 37.

    Birthmarker

    @Cacti: If someone breaks into my house and shoots me in the head, aren’t they really just sending me to heaven sooner?

  38. 38.

    PsiFighter37

    Oh, and your dinner sounds delicious. I had a frozen turkey burger from Trader Joe’s and a protein bar…so yeah…not eating as finely as Mr. Cole is.

    That said, the chicken meatballs (grounded from all thigh meat) with pesto that we made last weekend was awesomtastic. So tender, and the pesto wasn’t overpowering – the recipe actually calls for a lot of baby spinach to be mixed in. Goddamn it was good. I wish I wasn’t so damn lazy during the week and cooked more often.

  40. 40.

    The Dangerman

    @PsiFighter37:

    …a petition on the WH website to make Election Day a federal holiday.

    Steak and a Blowjob Day (March 14th) will be a Federal Holiday before Election Day is a Holiday. Admire the desire, but it ain’t happening.

  41. 41.

    PsiFighter37

    538 just updated its forecast. Forecast probability at 71%, now-cast at nearly 75%. I can almost taste that stale-ass phenomenon known as Joementum emanating from the Republican side! Not that it will make any difference to the Kool Kidz in pushing whatever narrative they think will get them page views.

    9 days until Ohio. I’m fucking pumped, baby. We’re going to win this thing.

    ETA @The Dangerman: Gee, thanks. I know it’s not LIKELY to happen, but this is the first time my fiancee has gotten somewhat passionate about something politically related, so I’m just trying to help that passion maybe turn into something more if she can get a decent amount of signatures.

  42. 42.

    Michael

    Don’t know if this has been posted already, but OT:

    Egyptian security forces say they killed a suspect in the Benghazi attack.

    Linky

  43. 43.

    Cacti

    @The Dangerman:

    Steak and a Blowjob Day (March 14th) will be a Federal Holiday before Election Day is a Holiday. Admire the desire, but it ain’t happening.

    Early voting is the solution to an election day in the middle of the work week.

    Hence the GOP’s opposition to it.

  44. 44.

    Ed in NJ

    @Alison:

    And considering that Verlander, up until this season, has been horrible in the postseason, this is more reverting to form.

    Go Giants!

  45. 45.

    Cacti

    @Ed in NJ:

    And considering that Verlander, up until this season, has been horrible in the postseason, this is more reverting to form.

    He certainly does seem to get the nerves on the big stage.

  46. 46.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @Alison: I like the fact that he actually says things like “How bout Pablo Sandoval?” as they sum up at the end of innings.

    Because “How about them Giants?” is the kind of expensive professional commentary you just can’t get at your local bar.

  49. 49.

    The Dangerman

    @PsiFighter37:

    …so I’m just trying to help that passion maybe turn into something more if she can get a decent amount of signatures.

    Can I sign up as The Dangerman? ;-)

    Tell ya what, I’ll look at it in a day or 2 or 3 and sign up anonymously. Early wedding present from TD.

  50. 50.

    Mnemosyne

    Watched Murders in the Rue Morgue per Steeplejack’s reminder. A great big “meh,” though the visual quotes from The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari were interesting.

    Now watching the far superior The Black Cat, with Bela Lugosi playing the good (or at least not-as-bad) guy.

  51. 51.

    stormhit

    @Cacti:

    I don’t think the Giants swinging at and doing damage with pitches that were out of the strikezone necessarily means nerves were a factor. Sometimes people are just going to hit letters-high HRs off you.

    And judging him based on is rookie year is just kind of silly.

  53. 53.

    some guy

    Wait, this can’t be right, I was given assurances by the locals here hat the President would NEVER cut Social Security of Medicare benefits, at least not in the way Simpson-Bowles, using the Diamond-Orzag plan, imagined they should be cut. Never!

    And we can easily meet — “easily” is the wrong word — we can credibly meet the target that the Bowles-Simpson Commission established of $4 trillion in deficit reduction, and even more in the out-years, and we can stabilize our deficit-to-GDP ratio in a way that is really going to be a good foundation for long-term growth. Now, once we get that done, that takes a huge piece of business off the table.

    boy did the President ever prove me wrong today. at least he’s being honest about his continued desire to have a Grand Bargain. hooray, catfood for everyone over 55, on me!

  54. 54.

    The Dangerman

    @PsiFighter37:

    Assuming Dangerman but you never know.

    I see it’s actually fairly anonymous; I’ll use my alternate address (still legal) so Pismo Beach won’t show up.

    ETA: Oops, forgot; it’s fairly well known in these virtual parts I’m a Dude.

  56. 56.

    Hill Dweller

    Colbert’s first segment was genius.

    Colbert offered Trump a million dollars to the charity of his choice if he would let him dip his balls in Donald’s mouth.

  59. 59.

    jgaugust

    Plymouth > Hendricks > All other gin

    Also, fuck the Giants. I am indifferent to the Tigers, but being a Dodger fan living in SF the past three years has been brutal.

  61. 61.

    Susan S

    @redshirt: Ummm..I never found out..what’s a miorapoiz[sic] This reminds me of dragging thru Henry James in high school. I even did a paper..Henry James an French Phraseology. Lord, haven’t thought of that for fifty years. PS..Not a fan of baseball but isn’t it fun when someone hits homer after homer. God speed, you all..I’m off to St Thomas for a week. Daughter Cinnamon, the art law one, has to babysit two picky cats for the duration. And when I get back..this nightmare will almost be over..God protect us from the vile and the stupid.

  67. 67.

    redshirt

    Susan S Says
    @redshirt: Ummm..I never found out..what’s a miorapoiz[sic] This reminds me of dragging thru Henry James in high school. I even did a paper..Henry James an French Phraseology. Lord, haven’t thought of that for fifty years. PS..Not a fan of baseball but isn’t it fun when someone hits homer after homer. God speed, you all..I’m off to St Thomas for a week. Daughter Cinnamon, the art law one, has to babysit two picky cats for the duration. And when I get back..this nightmare will almost be over..God protect us from the vile and the stupid.

    I’m not sure what’s going on here, but I do know I like it. :)

  68. 68.

    some guy

    @Anya:

    seriously?

    how the fuck do you think Simspon-Bowles achieves $4 trillion in reductions?

    seriously, are you that clueless?

  69. 69.

    Steeplejack

    @PsiFighter37:

    I just tried to sign the petition. Had to set up an account, and now I’m waiting for them to send me the e-mail confirmation.

    One other option she should think about is to have voting on Monday and make it a federal holiday. Three-day weekend! There’s nothing magic about voting on Tuesday, as far as I can tell.

    And I would be in favor of making it compulsory to vote, as it is in Australia and Brazil, with a small fine ($20?) to get you off the hook.

  71. 71.

    JoyceH

    Hey, does anyone else think that ad Romney did for Mourdock looks hinky? Since when does Romney talk about ‘the liberal Ried/Pelosi agenda’? It didn’t sound like him at all – frankly, the thing looked like a hostage video.

    Why did Romney do an ad endorsing this candidate, the one guy and no other?

  73. 73.

    James E. Powell

    An Obama-led effort to cut social security benefits will have the same fate as the Bush-led effort to reform immigration.

    And it’s not like we are all going to just sit here and let it happen.

  74. 74.

    lamh35

    Not surprisingly Obama killing it on Leno right now. When Leno asked about Trump Obama deadpans:

    “This all dates back to when we were growing up together in Kenya. We had constant run-ins on the soccer field. He wasn’t very good” ~

    gotta see the video. he timing is spot-on.

    Also when asked about Murdouck, he brought up SCOTUS and Roe vs Wade and also “rape is rape”. Male politicians should not be making choices for women on their health.

  75. 75.

    ? Martin

    @some guy: Dude. Reading comprehension. The only thing he commits to is the $4T deficit reduction, which actually isnt that hard to do. Bush tax cuts. Done.

  76. 76.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Steeplejack:

    And I would be in favor of making it compulsory to vote, as it is in Australia and Brazil, with a small fine ($20?) to get you off the hook.

    I don’t like that idea. Lots of people are apathetic enough about voting already without turning into something they get fined for like a speeding ticket. I don’t like the small turnouts in lots of elections, but I don’t think penalizing people who don’t vote is the answer. I would love to see election day made into a holiday, or at least moved to a Friday or Saturday (but then what about the Jewish vote if it was Saturday?)

    Of course, with the current GOP the way it is, the money thing is even less likely to pass. (“They’re taking YOUR MONEY to help THOSE PEOPLE vote for TAX-AND-SPENDOCRATS!”)

  77. 77.

    Hill Dweller

    The budget Obama proposed earlier this year/late last year reduced the deficit by 4 trillion over 10 years, without touching SS, Medicare and Medicaid.

  78. 78.

    Mnemosyne

    @Anya:

    That’s my question, too. Apparently “Simpson Bowles” is some kind of coded phrase that allows some guy to know that Obama is referring only to the parts of the deficit commission’s report that some guy doesn’t like and not to anything else in the deficit report, like an increase in the withholding cap.

  79. 79.

    BGinCHI

    Good coincidence: had lamb burgers tonight. We buy ground lamb from a little farm down state that guarantees our lambs are frolicking constantly before their time is up.

    Go Giants!

  82. 82.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Martin Miller’s is the best gin (in the US) in that price range. (Plymouth is good, Aviation is good.) Hendrick’s is very fine, but it’s really idiosyncratic with the rose and cucumber, and I like gin to be gin. Although gin season is at an end for me: calvados until the first frost, then whisky. As for lamb, Americans seem to shy away from it — one reason I was told is that the preference for ice-cold drinks with meals doesn’t work well with lamb fat, another is that any gaminess offends the palate. But if you buy lamb, you can be pretty sure that it’s been raised well, which is more than you can say for most meat in the country.

    I enjoyed Tim Lincecum’s Wayne’s World revival; tomorrow it’s Fister vs Bumgarner and a day of people making bad jokes on Twitter.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    how the fuck do you think Simspon-Bowles achieves $4 trillion in reductions?

    Tax increases. It’s right in the report. Did you just skim over those parts while you were searching for something, anything that would support your preconceived notion that Obama is chomping at the bit to kill Social Security and Medicare?

  86. 86.

    ? Martin

    @Steeplejack: Tuesdays we’re chosen because you used to only be able to vote at county hall or the courthouse. It took a day for most people to get there on horse. You weren’t supposed to travel on Sunday, so Tuesday it was.

  88. 88.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    What fascinates me about this attitude is that I hear it a lot from smug know-it-alls who think that all politicians are liars, and that high-ranking Democrats in particular are venal liars, but this particular out-of-context quote from a random interview: that’s obviously the inescapable truth. Apparently Obama only stops lying to specifically break promises, and also, no politician has ever said something to the media that they don’t really intend to follow through on. What a strange world you must live in.

  89. 89.

    some guy

    @? Martin:

    oh, of course, sure, you’ve convinced me. why would I believe the published words of the President of the United States when I can trust a BJ commentator?

    So when you combine the Bush tax cuts expiring, the sequester in place, the commitment of both myself and my opponent — at least Governor Romney claims that he wants to reduce the deficit — but we’re going to be in a position where I believe in the first six months we are going to solve that big piece of business. It will probably be messy. It won’t be pleasant. But I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I’ve been offering to the Republicans for a very long time, which is $2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in spending, and work to reduce the costs of our health care programs.

  90. 90.

    ? Martin

    @some guy: $4T in reductions would take us to the 2008 budget, which we still managed without cuts in entitlements. As employment comes up and stimulus spending falls off the $4T will happen almost without doing anything.

  92. 92.

    some guy

    The President is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security—and securing the basic compact that hard work should be rewarded with dignity at retirement or in case of disability or early death. That’s why he has called on Congress to work on a bipartisan basis to preserve Social Security as a reliable source of income for American seniors and as a program that provides robust benefits to survivors and workers who develop disabilities. He believes that no current beneficiaries should see their basic benefits reduced and he will not accept an approach that slashes benefits for future generations.

    http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/seniors-and-social-security

    there will be no Slashing, dagnabbit. reducing benefits by 3% and raising the retirement age are NOT slashes, dagnabbit.

    got it.

  94. 94.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @redshirt:

    I like the idea of mandatory voting. The small fines for nonvoters could go towards election infrastructure – voting locations, voting machines, clipboards, etc.

    Mandatory voting really requires the kind of system where the election board actively registers people, so you need that infrastructure in place first, and that will only happen when a majority of Americans embrace the concept of wanting everybody to show up and vote. A centralised federal citizenship database freely accessible to state election boards would address that (and put paid to the bullshit about voter fraud) but OH NOES BLACK HELICOPTERS etc.

    The OSCE’s interim report on the US elections [pdf] is worth a read, just because it puts in very neutral terms the basic facts of how America votes.

  95. 95.

    Steeplejack

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    I would love to see election day made into a holiday, or at least moved to a Friday or Saturday (but then what about the Jewish vote if it was Saturday?).

    What do you have against Monday, as I suggested?

    As to the fine for not voting, I think it solidifies the idea that voting is a citizen’s duty. Twenty bucks is a small price to pay for the privilege of sitting out and saying, “Both sides are awful.”

    This could even motivate the Republicans. Yes, they’ll say, “They’re taking your money to help those people vote for tax-and-spendocrats!” I guess they’ll just have to add: “So get out there and vote, goddamn it!” LOL. (But really they know that more voter turnout is not good for them.)

  97. 97.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Poll Watcher: I wonder if the Tigers are deliberately throwing the series. It’s like they don’t want to win.

    \blogs we monitor and mock\

  99. 99.

    some guy

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    Random? The story leads the Post tomorrow, and will most likely make it to A1 on the Times as well. minimize it all you want, the President of the United States released a transcript today where he explained that, if elected, enacting a Grand Bargain is his NUMBER ONE PRIORITY.

  100. 100.

    redshirt

    @pseudonymous in nc: How about wherever you’re registered to receive mail, you’re registered to vote? Seems like a pretty good 1-1 correlation between mail and mandated voters. Also too – where to send the notice of the fine.

    Too 20th century? Mobile phone only voters?

  101. 101.

    Steeplejack

    @redshirt:

    I think Ladyfriend is ABL’s friend Heather from the Dem convention road trip. I have no evidence for this beyond a close textual analysis of the two ladies’ comments here, but it would be irresponsible not to speculate.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    reducing benefits by 3% and raising the retirement age are NOT slashes, dagnabbit.

    Funny, I didn’t see anything about 3% cuts or raising the retirement age in your link. Did you pull those numbers out of somewhere other than your ass, or is that more of the stuff from the deficit commission report that you’re totally convinced will be implemented while continuing to ignore the parts of the report you aren’t able to whip yourself into a frenzy about, like raising the salary cap and making it easier for people who worked manual labor to retire early?

  104. 104.

    Comrade Luke

    I have a bottle of Hendrick’s that I bought because the woman I was dating loved the bottle/packaging.

    She ended up breaking it off with me, OVER EMAIL, and MAILING MY THINGS VIA UPS, with no explanation.

    Not a fan of Hendrick’s.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    Hmmm. So ABL was doing a little matchmaking when she decided the three of them should go to the DNC together and then just happened to schedule all kinds of things for herself to do during the day, leaving John and Heather alone as much as possible?

  106. 106.

    ? Martin

    @some guy: Because the President is running for office and he needs to convince independents that worry about the deficit and, like you, don’t understand basic math. The GOP has convinced the public that drastic steps are needed to fix the deficit. All we need to do is unwind the damage that Bush did and its fixed.

    But apparently you trust the GOPs alarmism on this over Obama.

  108. 108.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @redshirt:

    How about wherever you’re registered to receive mail, you’re registered to vote?

    That’s the obvious way — and one way Elections Canada does it, I believe — but I suspect there’d be a lot of whining about STATESRIGHTS because the USPS is a federal entity.

    But for fuck’s sake, putting the burden on voters to register — and giving fuckwits in state legislatures ample opportunity to increase that burden — is plainly anti-democratic. It’s a very quiet form of voter suppression. This is one of those situations where the US doesn’t need to imagine itself a new-fangled solution when plenty of alternatives exist in Foreign.

  109. 109.

    some guy

    @Mnemosyne:

    nope, didn’t pull them out of my ass,. they come from
    a)Dean Baker
    b)EPI
    c)CPBB

    buy sure, feel free to pretend the President isn’t actually saying what he’s saying in his published interview, or on his whitehouse.gov website, or in his previous embrace of the Chairman’s mark of S-B. . seems to be a very popular sport around here, pretending that up is down and down is up.

  111. 111.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    Of course, you picked out one small part of my argument and ignored the rest.

    Look at it this way: I assume you think Obama is a congenital liar about a lot of things. Like that quote you pulled from his website: The President is committed to protecting and strengthening Social Security. You probably think that’s a lie and we’re all fools for believing it, right? But the part where he says he’s committed to cutting $4T from the deficit, obviously he’s not only being 100% honest there, but he’s obviously got some plan that gets rid of any obstacles. You dismiss any good thing he says and play up and swear by the truth of any bad thing he says. It’s the definition of cherry-picking. The only proof you’ll accept as legitimate is stuff that proves whatever point you’re trying to make.

    And if I may, you seem pretty naive about politics, too. Bolding ‘bipartisan’ as if it’s a word that’s supposed to shake us to our core. Is this honestly the first time you’ve seen a politician talk glowingly about bi-partisanship and then completely not give a shit when it comes time to actually make laws? Hell, the fucking Republicans have talked about how the president needs to be more bi-partisan for four years, and we all know how sincere that is. The only people who actually care about bi-partisanship are media hacks who see it as the holy grail and blogosphere hacks who see it as a mortal sin.

    I just think it’s weird. Everyone knows in the abstract that politicians aren’t always honest and often outright lie about their goals. But when it comes to something specific that you’re incredibly willing to believe, because it confirms the negative opinion you already had-well, they’re not liars then. Obviously, they’re completely honest about this and lie about everything else. It’s completely inconsistent.

  113. 113.

    redshirt

    @pseudonymous in nc: True that.

    Would this not be a winning political position, though? Mandatory voting? Not in those words, of course, but in the idea you, as a politician, want EVERYONE to vote. The poor, the rich, the redneck, the sophisticate, man, woman, every great citizen of this great country… yadda yadda.

    It would be a great new battle front against the Republicans, cuz you know they’d be against it, and you could clearly frame it as voting rights vs. non-voting rights.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    I thought you said all $4 trillion was coming from cuts? You really need to get your story straight here. If $2.6 trillion will come from increased revenues, then we’re talking about (at most) $1.4 trillion in cuts, not the $4 trillion in cuts you came in here screaming about.

    So what else have you lied about? I still can’t help but notice a distinct absence of links to back up, well, anything you say. Bolding the scary scary word “bipartisan” doesn’t count.

  116. 116.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    I have to warn you that Some Guy is one step above a troll (if that). We went through this whole thing with him a week or two ago when he was saying that the Obama plan to gut Social Security was the exact same as Ryan’s. No links, then links to pages that didn’t say what he said they said.

    Here’s the whole depressing thread. Déjà vu all over again.

  117. 117.

    some guy

    By Lori Montgomery and Peter Wallsten, Published: October 24

    President Obama, criticized as failing to offer a vision for a potential second term, has begun sketching out his agenda with greater specificity in recent days, including a pledge to solve the nation’s in­trac­table budget problems within “the first six months.”

    In an interview made public Wednesday, Obama said he would pursue a “grand bargain” with Republicans to tame the national debt and would quickly follow that with a push to overhaul the nation’s immigration laws.
    …………..

    but there will be no “slashing,” and no “current” SS benificiaries will see their benefits reduced, at least according to the President’s Plan.

    I feel better already.

  118. 118.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Craig:

    Buck and McCarver are ALWAYS idiots. ALWAYS. Consistently, year after year. It’s what they do. They of course are employed by Fox, so what do you expect? Fox’s sports division is as shitty as their Rethug propaganda division.

  119. 119.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    I also like this logic. “It’s going to be on the front page of the Washington Post! How could it not be completely accurate?” Yeah, no newspaper has ever printed something because they like the narrative it creates before, especially not the Post.

  120. 120.

    some guy

    @Steeplejack:

    wow, you really are as stupid as some of the folks around here claim. when did Diamond or Orzag morph into Paul Ryan?

    First Dean Baker and Jan Shankowsky became Republicans, and now Diamond and Orzag have morphed into Wisconsin congressmen?

    this is a truly transformative magical space.

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @some guy:

    Obama needs to strike a “bargain” with the Rethug/Teatard garbage, and then after he throws them all in some makeshift reeducation camp, informs them that he’s altering the bargain, and they should pray he does not alter it further.

    Then he does.

  123. 123.

    Steeplejack

    @Mnemosyne:

    As I said, it would be irresponsible not to speculate. Plus there was photographic evidence of Heather ingratiating herself with Lily, the cornerstone of the Cole family structure. Need I say more?

  124. 124.

    some guy

    @Steeplejack:

    and just another little insight for you, but Mnemosyne (and others here) know me and know my political position from prior encounters at other blogs, but thanks for telling them how they should perceive me. do you offer these translation services for free, or is there a fee?

  125. 125.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    Perhaps you missed this important post by CPBB, which points out that the “cuts” you’re freaking out about have already happened.

    Wait, let me guess — the CPBB is full of mindless Obama apologists and you’re never going to cite them again since they’re not backing up the PANIC! narrative you’re trying to sell.

  128. 128.

    Steeplejack

    @redshirt:

    Frankly, that read like someone stumbling in here and drunk-posting on the wrong blog. Except for the “mirepoiz” reference.

  129. 129.

    Wil

    In 2010 the infamous ‘they’ (sports announcers and sports columnists) talked about the mighty Phillies pitching and how on earth would the low-scoring Giants ever make it?

    Then in the 2010 World Series it was all about the even mightier Rangers pitching and how they were just unstoppable.

    And the Giants knocked them all down.

    Now here we are again, the unstoppable Tigers pitchers. After the Giant beat the crap out of the first unstoppable Tiger pitcher tonight, the announcers were immediately talking about how tomorrow night’s Tigers pitcher is something to be truly feared.

    Too bad we can’t just watch the game with no announcing at all, just the noise of the ballpark and the game.

  130. 130.

    Mnemosyne

    @Steeplejack:

    Oh, I remember some guy from previous threads. Lots of fact-free scaremongering and unattributed quotes with no links, but very weak on actual numbers.

    I guess we need someone to jump out from behind the couch and scream “BOO! SIMPSON-BOWLES! BIPARTISANSHIP! GRAND BARGAIN! CAT FOOD! CAT FOOOOOOOOOODDDDD!” to get us all in the mood for Halloween.

  131. 131.

    some guy

    @Mnemosyne:

    you must mean the part where CPBB says

    The Bowles-Simpson plan included revenue and benefit changes designed to restore long-term solvency to the Social Security trust fund. For purposes of presentation, the Bowles-Simpson documents and public statements by the co-chairmen excluded the Social Security solvency proposals in some aspects of their presentation and included those proposals in others. The Social Security proposals were usually not counted in the deficit reduction totals or in the ratios of spending cuts to revenue increases, as the co-chairs described the Social Security proposals as not having been done for the purpose of deficit reduction. These proposals were included in calculations of the resulting levels of revenues, spending, deficits, and debt. In this analysis, we present the plan using the same approach as the co-chairs.

    rather than the part where CPBB explains that their plan switches the COLA index to a chained CPI which over a 20 year span for the average benificary will amount to a 3% reduction in benefits, or the part where CPBB explains that “These caps mean that the amount of Bowles-Simpson deficit reduction that policymakers have not yet achieved comprises another $1.4 trillion in program cuts, mostly from mandatory or entitlement programs, $2.5 trillion in revenue increases, and additional savings from both spending and revenues if the Social Security proposals are included.

    but it’s all good, since you seem to accept (at least tacitly) that the CFPP is saying exactly what I claimed above, as I said above. good job, M.

  134. 134.

    Non-Existent Patricia

    @Susan S: Mirepoix refers to the “magic three” and is french short-hand for onions, carrots and celery. According to the chef husband they’re meant to infuse their flavors into whatever you’re cooking.

    Edited for the pleasing of my grade school teachers.

  136. 136.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @Mnemosyne:

    I would be a happy man if I never heard the phrase ‘grand bargain’ again. It started as a less-than-meaningless media-approved catchphrase about any number of theoretical plans that often had nothing to do with each other, and many of which didn’t stand a chance in hell of becoming law. It should have died an ignoble death right there, like most political meme-of-the-days, but for some reason, a panicky tribe of purity trolls latched onto it and decided out of thin air that it meant a highly specific worst-case-scenario involving massive SS/Medicare cuts that would inevitably happen at the soonest opportunity. Every mention of it, even the most tired, perfunctory interviews and PR statements, was objective proof of its inevitability. It’s about the most bizarre ‘prediction’ that I’ve ever seen.

  137. 137.

    Michael

    Superman quits job, trashes newspapers:

    In the comic book series’ latest issue, which went on sale Wednesday, an outraged Clark Kent quits his job at The Daily Planet after his boss berates him. “I was taught to believe you could use words to change the course of rivers — that even the darkest secrets would fall under the harsh light of the sun,” the superhero’s alter ego says in a newsroom outburst. “But facts have been replaced by opinions. Information has been replaced by entertainment. Reporters have become stenographers. I can’t be the only one who’s sick of what passes for the news today.”

    writer Scott Lobdell said Kent is much more likely to start his own blog than he is to search for new work in the news business.

    Ha.

    http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/24/showbiz/superman-quits-job/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

  138. 138.

    Steeplejack

    @some guy:

    Here are two direct quotes by you in the previous thread I mentioned:

    “No wonder why Obama said he and Rmoney basically agreed on Social Security during the debate.”

    “[. . .] the only time the OFA site mentions Diamond and Orzag is when they use their study to attack Romney for doing savagely what they themselves propose to do in a gentlemanly manner.”

    Wow, you really are as stupid as some of the folks around here claim.

    Nice try, fucktard. I’m done with you. Mnemosyne and Martin can tag in if they want to.

  139. 139.

    some guy

    Here is tl:dnr version of what CBPP (Center for Budge Policy and Priorities) says about the Simpson-Bowels plan for SS:

    The Social Security proposal from the co-chairs of President Obama’s fiscal commission is not a suitable starting point, let alone a reasonable outcome, for Social Security reform because it relies far too much on deep benefit cuts to restore solvency to the program and makes a number of harmful changes.

    http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3402

    be sure to examine how CBPP diagrams the 3 different ways this plan will cut (not slash, heaven forfend if we slash) benefits.

  140. 140.

    Michael

    I just don’t get what’s so hard about this sentence:

    And we can easily meet—“easily” is the wrong word—we can credibly meet the target that the Bowles-Simpson Commission established of $4 trillion in deficit reduction

    He doesn’t say he wants to adopt Simpson-Bowles wholesale or even partially; just that he wants to hit the TARGET OF $4 trillion in deficit reduction.

    As Martin pointed out, a huge portion of that is accomplished just by not reenacting the Bush tax cuts. Obama already laid out a budget that hits the $4 trillion target without using the Simpson-Bowles spending cuts. So why the hell is anyone diving into the details of Simpson-Bowles? Reading comprehension fail.

  141. 141.

    some guy

    @Steeplejack:

    “No wonder why Obama said he and Rmoney basically agreed on Social Security during the debate.”

    were you listening to the first debate? did you not hear the President say just this?

    “[. . .] the only time the OFA site mentions Diamond and Orzag is when they use their study to attack Romney for doing savagely what they themselves propose to do in a gentlemanly manner.”

    again, another example of an insight born out by what the President said today. but hey, thanks for digging out that old thread for me, I hate it when I am proved so prescient.

  143. 143.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    No, I meant the part where the CPBB said this:

    Of the nearly $2.9 trillion of program cuts in the Bowles-Simpson plan, about half — or just under $1.5 trillion — have already been enacted.

    There is a great deal of debate about chained CPI vs. COLA, but I notice that you keep concealing the fact that the “3% cut” would be in benefits to people who won’t be eligible for them for another 20 years, not to current beneficiaries, and that the “cut” means that benefits will increase more slowly over the next 20 years.

    But, hey, if you want to get yourself into a lather about getting 3% less when you go on Social Security 20 years from now, knock yourself out. I’m not eligible for Social Security until 2036, which you may recognize as being after the predicted date when SS will only pay out 75% of benefits instead of 100%, so a 3% decrease sounds pretty fucking good to me when I’m currently facing a 25% decrease.

  144. 144.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    @Michael: There’s something you must understand about “some guy”. He is absolutely convinced that Obama is a closet right-winger who is hell-bent on destroying the New Deal and Great Society. Nothing will convince him otherwise.

  147. 147.

    cckids

    Watching the President live – he’s here in Vegas tonight. I’m not there, but local TV is carrying his speech. The crowd is huge – local TV & papers estimated 5000 people in the park 1 hour after the doors opened at 6:30, with “several thousand” more in line at 9:00. This park is in what they call a “blighted” part of town; I was a bit surprized they booked him there, but glad so many will see it.

    The crowd is EXTREMELY fired up, bordering on rowdy. Lots of cheering & call-outs. Obama said that people need to carefully consider the character of who they’re voting for, as we don’t know what may happen in the future, so “you need to vote for someone you can trust”. Dozens of people called out “we trust YOU”. It is great to see. Very diverse crowd, having lots of fun.

    PS. Romney/Ryan were here yesterday, they were in “The District”; the Whole Foods, REI, gated community area. The RR campaign gave out estimates of the crowd at 5-6000, but the police/fire people say the absolute maximum capacity was 4000. From the pics, really white crowd, ready to boo everything.

  148. 148.

    some guy

    @Michael:

    yes, hit the target. from today’s published interview: ” But I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I’ve been offering to the Republicans for a very long time, which is $2.50 worth of cuts for every dollar in spending, and work to reduce the costs of our health care programs.”

    so S-B asks for slightly less than $3 in cuts per dollar raised in revenues, but the President wants $2.50 in cuts for the same revenue increase.

    OMG, what was I thinking!!!!!!

  149. 149.

    Mnemosyne

    From the Social Security Administration per Media Matters:

    After 2022, trust fund assets will be redeemed in amounts that exceed interest earnings until trust fund reserves are exhausted in 2036, one year earlier than was projected last year. Thereafter, tax income would be sufficient to pay only about three-quarters of scheduled benefits through 2085. [Social Security Administration, accessed 9/19/11]

    So apparently I’m supposed to take a 25% decrease in benefits when I retire instead of a 3% decrease in benefits because Grand Bargain! Bipartisanship! Cat food! Cat foooooood!

  150. 150.

    some guy

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    There’s something you must understand about “some guy”. He is absolutely convinced that Obama is a closet right-winger who is hell-bent on destroying the New Deal and Great Society. Nothing will convince him otherwise.

    Exactly, which is why I’ll be spending Mon and Wed mornings this week doing GOTV for President Kill List.

    does anybody NOT use straw men and reductio ad absurdem arguments around here anymore

  151. 151.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    It’s a very thorough deconstruction of the Simpson-Bowles plan. The only thing that’s missing from it is any evidence that Obama himself supports any of it. He’s only mentioned once: to point out that Obama appointed them chairs of his commission. It doesn’t say anywhere that he agrees with their arguments, or that he’s in any way obligated to turn them into a law.

    “But he appointed Simpson and Bowles to the commission, so logically he supports every word!” Uh huh. See, I see S-B as less the power behind the throne and more a political stunt. The media and the Republicans, because they are stupid hacks, demand that Obama ‘do something’ about the deficit, so he digs up two old has-beens who have media-approved bipartisan credit and has them cook up a plan to distract said stupid hacks. Nowhere in that equation does it say that Obama supports/is obligated to support whatever they come up with, and you have yet to prove that he does or is, despite many, many attempts. It’s a pretty big missing link in your logic chain.

  152. 152.

    Radio One

    I like both teams, but I’m going to have to go with the Tigers, because I was really rooting for the Nats to win the NL, and Detroit is obviously the underdog. At least the Yankees are done for the year.

  153. 153.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @redshirt:

    Would this not be a winning political position, though? Mandatory voting? Not in those words, of course, but in the idea you, as a politician, want EVERYONE to vote.

    I don’t think so, and it pains me to say it; I think the winning position is “bring back literacy tests”, a spirit that lives on in the Voter ID bullshit.

  154. 154.

    Anne Laurie

    @Ladyfriend: As long as Tunch & Lily* be for you, who can be against you?
    .
    .
    .
    (*Even Cole’s not silly enough to give a Jack Russell Terrorist like Rosie blackball rights)

  156. 156.

    some guy

    @Mnemosyne:

    congratulations for buying into the rightwing frame. if enacted, the changes will mean you won’t be able to retire until you are 69, the chained CPI will reduce your benefits by 3% over the first twenty years, and your baseline benefits, as the CBPP carefully explains in their charts, will be reduced further.

    all to appease the Gods of Deficit Reduction by a cutting a fully-funded program that has nothing (now or in the future) to do with the deficit.

    good on you, the BJ Center Right Fight Club motto is strong and true, “I get mine, fuck you.”

  157. 157.

    Anne Laurie

    @Michael:

    writer Scott Lobdell said Kent is much more likely to start his own blog than he is to search for new work in the news business.

    Well, Superman’s got a headstart on the professional blogging wardrobe, since he already goes to work in his pajamas…

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    @Spaghetti Lee:

    The especially funny part is that, even after four years, some guy still hasn’t caught on to the fact that Obama adopts Republican phrases to sell his own, very different programs. So he talks about pulling troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan as “deficit reduction” and cutting programs the military didn’t want anyway as part of the “Grand Bargain.”

    I mean, you’d think he would have been clued in after the nothingburger of a deal that was the debt ceiling fight (where post-fight analysis showed that the Republicans got pretty much nothing) but apparently some guy is not capable of observation and learning.

  159. 159.

    Michael

    @some guy: you just quoted this:

    But I am absolutely confident that we can get what is the equivalent of the grand bargain that essentially I’ve been offering to the Republicans for a very long time,

    So…the grand bargain he’s been offering does not include changes to Social Security. How do you get from that to the conclusion that he’s going to change Social Security?

  162. 162.

    some guy

    @redshirt:

    what part of explaining the Presidents plan to reduce Social Security by embracing the Grand Bargain is a Dolchstoßlegende ?

    The WH released the transcript, they have made a political calculation that embracing Deficit Reduction and embracing S-B is a political winner. they are wrong, but that is their strategy, not mine.

  163. 163.

    Redshift

    @cckids:

    Very diverse crowd, having lots of fun.

    Toward the end of the GMU rally in Fairfax last week, I snapped a picture of a young black man sitting and chatting with two older white women, because it so captured for me what this campaign is like. Democratic events are always more diverse than Republican ones, of course, but there is still nothing that compares to an Obama rally.

    You know how the progress in gay rights is attributed in part to the fact that many more people know someone who is openly gay, and it’s harder to maintain prejudices when it’s not a sinister “other”? I think there will be real effects for a long time because people who have worked on this campaign (and the one in ’08) have interacted with sorts of people they would never have met otherwise.

  165. 165.

    Steeplejack

    @Radio One:

    I, too, was rooting for the Nats–and, to a lesser extent, the Orioles. Now I’m kind of uninvolved. Nothing against the Giants or Tigers, they’ve just never hooked me. I am glad St. Louis is out. I don’t really know what it is, but any series with them always feels boring to me.

    My only ambivalence about the Yankees was that I would really like to see Ichiro cap his stellar career with a World Series ring, and if he had to do it with the FTFY I was prepared to grit my teeth and ride it out.

    I am a little surprised that more has not been made of the fact that the Yankees not only cratered but have been revealed to have under the Batmobile façade the guts of a mid-’90s Chrysler K-car. They are old and decrepit–really, really old and decrepit.

  167. 167.

    The prophet Nostradumbass

    I think it’s hilarious that “some guy” now claims that he’s involved in GOTV operations for Obama, after spending multiple posts here going on about how godawful he thinks Obama is. Does he work “Catfood Commission” and “President KillList” into his GOTV spiel?

  170. 170.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Steeplejack: Oh, great. My Orioles got beat by an old and decrepit K-Car. I thought we got beat by some good pitching and lucky hits. Now I feel just swell.

  172. 172.

    some guy

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    actually, my friend (and professor) who is one of the OFA organizers asked me not to mention President Kill List, even though she said she agrees with me.

    I hate phone banking, so door to door “Do You Know about early voting?” it is.

  174. 174.

    gwangung

    The especially funny part is that, even after four years, some guy still hasn’t caught on to the fact that Obama adopts Republican phrases to sell his own, very different programs.

    I suspect he’d swallow Jonah Goldberg’s schtick whole heartedly.

  175. 175.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    if enacted, the changes will mean you won’t be able to retire until you are 69, the chained CPI will reduce your benefits by 3% over the first twenty years, and your baseline benefits, as the CBPP carefully explains in their charts, will be reduced further.

    And, again, this is worse than my current guarantee of a 25 percent reduction in benefits … how, again? I was born in 1969 — give me the numbers, not a bunch of handwaving about how this is totally worse than what will happen without any changes to the current program.

    good on you, the BJ Center Right Fight Club motto is strong and true, “I get mine, fuck you.”

    So I’m supposed to accept a 25 percent reduction instead of a 3 percent reduction so your iddle fee-fees won’t be hurt?

    Also, you seem to be a little confused — the “Bowles-Simpson” that the CPBB refers to is the PowerPoint presentation that Bowles and Simpson did to undermine the deficit commission’s report before it was released. When Obama and other politicians refer to “Bowles-Simpson” or “the deficit commission,” they’re talking about the actual commission’s report, not the B-S PowerPoint presentation.

    You need to stop conflating the CPBB’s criticism of the deficit commission’s report and their criticism of the Bowles-Simpson PowerPoint presentation, because the CPBB themselves are very careful to differentiate between the two.

  176. 176.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @Wil: At the ’79 Series in Baltimore some insufferable Pirates fan was sitting next to me watching Cosell on a portable TV.

    At one point of the game, when he was cheering for the wrong team, I hit him with my hat. Not just for the inappropriate cheering of the wrong team in MY BALLPARK, but for Howard Fucking Cosell.

  179. 179.

    some guy

    @redshirt:

    why?

    does it bother you that I am an Obama voter, an OFA volunteer, and yet alos think the plans for a decade-long kill list is an abomination? that Tim Geithner should be indicted? that Social Security must be protected from the likes of Erskine Bowles and Peter Diamond? that we as Democrats should be working our asses off to get Obama to stop violating the 5th Ammendment to the Constitution?

    just because so many here are Centrist cheerleaders doesn’t mean every Obama voter believes in the credo “I get mine, fuck you.”

    ps: too many typos, time for bed. night.

  181. 181.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    what part of explaining the Presidents plan to reduce Social Security by embracing the Grand Bargain is a Dolchstoßlegende ?

    You mean other than the fact that the president is not actually using “grand bargain” to refer to the same things you are, and yet you’re convinced that he’s totally going to cut Social Security because he used the magic phrase “grand bargain” that, in your mind, always refers to Social Security cuts because shut up, that’s why?

  182. 182.

    some guy

    @Mnemosyne:

    too funny. with those 4 rather large caveats they cite? sure, if those 4 conditions are met there wouldn’t be any problem.

    the first of the four (The change needs to apply to both benefit programs and the tax code, and the proceeds from applying the chained CPI to the tax code should go entirely for deficit reduction. Using some or all of those proceeds to finance a reduction in tax rates should not be acceptable.) sure sounds like something you would buy at the SnowBall Outlet in the 9th or 8th Circle of the Inferno.

  184. 184.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    You know, those phrases actually have meanings. You can’t just pull them out whenever you lose an argument.

    Like, ad hominem? How so? I did not attack you personally. I attacked your logic, which is different. Reduction ad absurdum…what exactly about my argument was ‘absurd’ or impossible? The idea that Obama sees Simpson-Bowles more as a gimmick than as a serious source of policy advice? It that what you think is impossible? And what straw man do you think I’m presenting? You’re the one who’s been saying all thread that Obama mentioning Simpson-Bowles means he actually supports it. That’s not something I made up.

    I pointed out that you have yet to prove that Obama actually supports what you say he supports. That’s not a logical fallacy on my part, it’s a critique of the evidence you’ve provided: it’s insufficient to prove your point.

  185. 185.

    some guy

    @Mnemosyne:

    Nope, it’s pretty clear that the “Grand Bargain” means exactly what the Villagers and the President say it means, and have been saying for two years, not what some Center-Right BJ commenters want it to mean.

    Obama was smart enough to drop the deficit reduction bullshit for most of this re-election campaign, and now he tells us it’s his first priority. but don’t worry, it’s just a gambit, a ploy, he won’t replace Geithner with Bowles, he won’t slash SS, no “Current” benificiary will see “their” benefits reduced.

    Jesus.
    PS: as I have said before, I am aware that S-B is not an offical recommendation, but simply the fantasy of Grampa and Erskine. yup, I get it. and nopw it’s the President’s fantasy, too. hooray

  187. 187.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @handy: We were in the lower deck. In Section 34, Wild Bill Hagy territory, he’d have been drenched in beer and pounded.

    I miss Memorial Stadium. Summer of ’79, a student ticket was $1.50, you brought in your own beer, and if you were downwind of 34 (the student tickets were in 36) you got a nice contact high. And I could walk to the stadium.

  188. 188.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    Nope, it’s pretty clear that the “Grand Bargain” means exactly what the Villagers and the President say it means, and have been saying for two years, not what some Center-Right BJ commenters want it to mean.

    And your proof of this is … ?

    Again, I provided you with several examples where Obama used Republican/Village phrases to promote his own, more liberal agenda instead. He does this pretty often. And yet the phrase “grand bargain” is magically exempted from this common pattern of Obama using Republican/Villager phrases to promote more liberal programs because shut up, that’s why?

  190. 190.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    I am aware that S-B is not an offical recommendation, but simply the fantasy of Grampa and Erskine. yup, I get it. and nopw it’s the President’s fantasy, too. hooray

    Wow, your magical powers of telepathy are amazing since you know so clearly that when the president refers to “the Simpson-Bowles commission” or “the deficit commission,” he’s really secretly referring to the Bowles-Simpson PowerPoint presentation and not the Simpson-Bowles deficit commission’s report.

  191. 191.

    some guy

    And, again, this is worse than my current guarantee of a 25 percent reduction in benefits …

    are you sure you don’t work for the opposition? who guaranteed you a totally solvent program would cut your benefits by 25% has Grampa Simpson been whispering in your ear? again?

  193. 193.

    some guy

    so I guess we won’t be getting M’s interpretation of what Obama really means by Grand Bargain, or where Obama plans to get $4 trillion in deficit reductions?

    Maybe he could point us to more CBPP webpages that prove my points?

  194. 194.

    Spaghetti Lee

    @some guy:

    I am aware that S-B is not an offical recommendation, but simply the fantasy of Grampa and Erskine.

    So, you’ve admitted you’re wrong about the core argument you’ve been trying to prove this whole thread? Yet you keep blathering.

    and nopw it’s the President’s fantasy, too. hooray

    “It’s not official policy, except it totally is, even though I can’t prove it.” Airtight argument you’ve got there.

    Seriously, you finally admit that Obama doesn’t support the S-B plan, but then insist that any time he uses a certain unrelated phrase, it’s obviously code for the exact policies of the S-B plan? What kind of pretzel logic is that?

  196. 196.

    Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason

    @handy: Memorial Stadium: You could see my sister-in-law’s house in Ednor Gardens from the right field upper deck.

    We’d be in the the apartment and say “Gee, it’s a nice night out, let’s go sit in the upper deck and watch the sunset.” With 10,000 fans at a Cleveland game.

    It got a little crazier after July 22nd (Tankard Night) when they started winning and filled the ballpark. Seems like we all sat in the stands looking at each other and thought, “Hey, cool, the game’s better with lots of fans.” And after that they started getting 20K to 40K for all the games.

  197. 197.

    Mnemosyne

    @some guy:

    who guaranteed you a totally solvent program would cut your benefits by 25%

    At least pretend to follow my links, dude. It’s from the Social Security Administration’s official 2011 solvency report — Social Security pays out at 100% of benefits until 2038, and then starts paying out 75% of benefits. You’re not really much of an expert on this if you have no idea what the Social Security Administration is reporting about its own program, are you?

    so I guess we won’t be getting M’s interpretation of what Obama really means by Grand Bargain, or where Obama plans to get $4 trillion in deficit reductions?

    Again with the “$4 trillion” lie that your own link to the CPBB proved was a lie 50 comments ago. Totally amazing. The Gish Gallop at work.

    ETA: As far as what the “grand bargain” means to Obama, I’m guessing it probably means the same thing as “deficit reduction” — doing the things he wants to do (like getting health insurance coverage for all Americans and cutting the defense budget) and calling it part of a “grand bargain.”

    If you have proof that, unlike every other time Obama has used a Republican/Villager phrase, this time he actually does mean it in the exact same way the Republicans and Villagers use it, please present that proof. But given that you’re continuing to spout the “$4 trillion” lie after your own links showed it was a lie, I doubt you’re even going to respond.

  198. 198.

    FlipYrWhig

    @some guy: I think “grand bargain” means agreeing to a mix of revenue increases and spending cuts, no more, no less. The revenue increases are the Democratic side of the bargain, and the spending cuts are the Republican side. Thus they grandly bargain together. Towards the numerical goal that the S-B deficit reduction commission also worked on. But not the same in every particular. Ergo, a grand bargain that has common goals with S-B need not be very like S-B at all.

  200. 200.

    Mnemosyne

    @FlipYrWhig:

    Obviously, I’m going to have about as much luck reasoning with some guy about this subject as I would trying to reason someone out of a belief that Harold Camping correctly predicted the date of the apocalypse. Twice.

    That probably means it’s time for bed.

  204. 204.

    Death Panel Truck

    @The Dangerman: Hey, hey, hey, now…steak and a blowjob day isn’t on March 14.

    It’s two days earlier, on March 12…my birthday. Just ask Mrs. Truck. ;)

  206. 206.

    different-church-lady

    @some guy: So, it’s not Obama you hate so much as it is us. Got it.

    Claim Obama’s going to do something. Pull out a quote that says he’s not going to do it, then claim he’s clearly a liar for saying that. Then claim you’re working for him. Man, that is some overproof trolling you’ve got in that cocktail.

  209. 209.

    What Have The Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @stormhit: I wholeheartedly concur with this statement. He had a bad night but I don’t get all the Verlander hate.

  210. 210.

    kindness

    People….there will NOT be a ‘Grand Bargain’. Republicans will never vote for a tax increase. Democrats are learning (again) that any serious effort to cut budgets is bent out of shape by Republicans during election times telling the public how Democrats are killing Grandma with their plans.

    The bush43 tax cuts will be allowed to expire and a new plan will be introduced next Congress that does not give the top 2% a reduction. If only they could go back to taxing Capital Gains at regular income rates (like Ronald Reagan’s bill had it) rather than the 15% it is now. I don’t have high hopes for that but it would be the right thing to do.

    And the Giants….Go Giants! I’m loving that the talking heads all acted like Detroit was God’s gift. Loved Colbert’s come back to Trump too.

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