I spend more time than I should wondering what future historians from some other civilization or species or planet will make of contemporary American society.
It’s hard to imagine this they’ll be impressed by this (via).
More Qs. W/Krauthammer against, where are Rush, Sean, Gigot, Palin, Santo, Huckabee, Jeb, Christie on this? Will Rs put forth spending cuts?
— Mark Halperin (@MarkHalperin) January 2, 2013
Baud
LOL. He led with Rush and Sean.
Mike in NC
So he’s worrying about what the scum of the earth think about this? Fuck him.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Baud: Well, he oughta know who’s in charge of his own herd. I’m surprised he left off his hero, Hugh Hewitt– haven’t heard his name in a while, come to think of it. And please let “Santo” become a force in the post-Willard GOP.
Comrade Jake
I thought for sure Romney would be in the list.
kc
Hahaha! DougJ has a fake Halperin Twitter account! Nice work, Dougj. :)
Maude
Halperin has a failed novel.
Gov. Christie is waiting to see of they pass the two part Sandy bill.
Comrade Jake
I’m sure Palin could offer deep insight on the fiscal cliff.
PaulW
It’s interesting to note that Halperin is worried about the opinions of people WHO ARE NOT ELECTED OFFICIALS AT THIS POINT IN TIME.
Why should we be going by the opinions of people who for all intents are just a bunch of crazy people screaming on a street corner?
Baud
@PaulW:
Christie’s elected, which is probably why he’s last on the list.
cmorenc
@Comrade Jake:
Romney’s already been rendered a non-person in the GOP, at least as a public person. His influence from now forward will be more indirect through his activities on the fundraising circuit on behalf of other GOP organizations and candidates.
The Dangerman
Too busy getting high, too busy getting down low, too busy being utterly irrelevant, too busy field dressing a moose, who the fuck is that (Ron’s dead, right?), too busy playing bass, too busy trying to change his last name, too busy with a couple deep dish pizzas.
RobertDSC-iMac G5
Heh. I used Willard’s name in a FB discussion with a buddy of mine. Dude’s sharp as a tack and a very close personal friend. But he’s gone full wingnut retard over the cliff. I mocked him by saying he’d be getting less in his paycheck due to the payroll tax cut expiring but that Willard would be able to keep his $100 million IRA without much trouble.
Predictably, he got mad.
RobertDSC-iMac G5
He means Santorum.
Maude
@cmorenc:
Christie did his job during Sandy. That’ll get him mentioned last, every time.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@PaulW: @Baud: It is interesting that even Halperin doesn’t know what Jebbie and Christie think, the real candidates are afraid to poke their heads up.
I guess the aides who tell Palin what to say are on vacation, and she’s caught up in an HGTV marathon. Or Cops.
Comrade Jake
@cmorenc: ’twas a joke.
gogol's wife
@RobertDSC-iMac G5:
that is so funny. All I could think of was Ron Santo too, and I don’t even clearly remember who he was. He must have been a baseball player. I can hear the announcer saying his name on my mother’s transistor radio.
Maude
The HOuse is down to the Senate bill or nothing. The spending cut amendment bill is dead according to House GOP leaders.
f space that
@The Dangerman: Win !
SenyorDave
I assumed that Krauthammer would be making Grand Rounds at the hospital Hillary Clinton is at, since he obviously wants to be apprised of her condition. How else could the esteemed Dr. Krauthammer opine as to what medical condition Sec. Clinton is faking this week?
I swear he is looking and acting more like Dr. Strangelove each day.
Morzer
If alien future archaeologists manage to take us seriously after they unearth the Ryan Plan and our media’s reaction to it, Halperin drunk-tweeting shouldn’t be a major cognitive problem for them.
Mnemosyne
I’m guessing that they’re all laying low on the orders of their corporate masters and will pop back up once the law is safely passed in the House.
ploeg
Huh. What part of “moochers, looters, and freeloaders” doesn’t Halperin understand? I fully expect the House to pass a budget resolution with no numbers in it whatsoever. Bring that puppy in under 16 pages, because bills with more pages than that are BAD.
Culture of Truth
Was that english?
Brachiator
Halperin was clearly ingesting too many drugs getting his New Year on.
However, letting this thing drag over the holidays was bad for the blowhard wingnut pundits. Rush was on vacation, there was more holiday and sports programming, and in general people pay less attention to any of this stuff over the holidays. Not that their noise would have made much difference anyway.
CNN says that the House will vote on the Senate compromise before 9 pm. Down to the freaking wire.
ploeg
@The Dangerman: VIVA DEL SANTO.
Maude
@SenyorDave:
What kind of man says what he said about Clinton when she is very ill? This clot is serious and scary.
Comrade Jake
Time for a new post where we all bet on the number of votes this thing will get in the House.
Bex
Santo was too busy picking up his cilice from the dry cleaner.
Forum Transmitted Disease
It’s a good question. I’m hearing a lot of whining – A LOT – from Republicans of all stripes wanting spending cuts. Fine.
Name them, GOP. Name what you are willing to cut.
In order to have any significant effect on the Holy Deficit, you get three options:
Medicare/Medicaid
Defense
Social Security
Anything else that represents less than 1% of the budget (such as the ever-undefined “waste”) isn’t going to cut it. Neither will PBS. Or NASA. Or alternative energy programs.
Republicans are going to have to pick one of the three to cut, and any one of those will be electoral suicide for them.
Tom65
@Maude: The kind of man who wants to do as much damage as he can to the Clinton brand before ’16.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Maude: to say nothing of the absurd notion that Hillary Clinton is afraid of John McCain and Lindsey Graham.
If we ever figure out how many angels can indeed dance on the head of a pin, we’ll have to figure out who’s unchanged post-breakdown status in the Beltway is a bigger joke: McCain or Krauthammer.
quannlace
As has been noted, that’s a remarkable list. Except for Christie, the lone elected official, the rest are just a bunch of media blow-hards. And we’re supposed to care about their serious, serious thoughts on this…..cuz….why?
Brachiator
@Comrade Jake:
As long as it passes, I don’t much care. However, the number of Republican votes will be interesting. The super cynical view is that Republicans who lost in the November elections will be the only ones allowed to vote for the bill. Something more honestly bipartisan would be amazing.
Cacti
@Maude:
And that was enough to get the proprietor of this blog throwing his panties at Christie Kreme.
Baud
@Brachiator:
They need more than that. Pelosi isn’t lining up that many Dem votes to make up the difference.
lamh35
A Coup Before Our Eyes?
by BooMan
Cacti
So, when this bill passes the House, is Bohner finished as Speaker, or will Obama still have him around to beat like a mangy dog?
normal liberal
@SenyorDave:
Future (and chronologically careless) generations will believe that Krauthammer was the inspiration for Dr. Strangelove. Someday there will be poli sci classes devoted to analyzing the damage engendered by the crazy that is Fox. Or so we can hope.
I’m waiting for the rewrite of Brave New World in which references to Ford are swapped out for Murdoch.
JPL
@Comrade Jake: Redshirt earlier mentioned a voice up or down vote so that the repubs could claim they didn’t vote for it. That would be appropriate imo.
Litlebritdifrnt
If Hillary had been the nominee in 2008 she would have whooped McCain’s ass as badly as Obama did, McCain was a sorry ass nominee, really, I mean that is the best they could do? The Dems had two historic choices in 2008, the first African American POTUS or the first female POTUS, we chose the first AA POTUS.
Brachiator
@Baud:
Damn. This is going to be fun.
@Cacti:
Either way will be a win for Obama. Would Cantor make a play to oust Boehner?
pseudonymous in nc
@lamh35:
Au contraire: the teabagger caucus want the people with actual responsibility to be ones they can oppose. If Cantor took over the gavel, then he’d be in the same position as Boehner within months.
Litlebritdifrnt
@Cacti:
Oh for fucks sake, if praising a governor for doing his fucking job during a crisis equates to “throwing his panties” at someone then we are doomed as a fucking nation. When my house was two feet under water during Hurricane Floyd I couldn’t give a shit who the fuck was in charge just so long as I could replace my AC unit in the middle of September when it was 100 degrees outside and mold was growing off my floor at the rate of 2 inches a day. Luckily for me it was President Clinton and FEMA was actually functional. Grow the fuck up.
Raven
@Litlebritdifrnt: You swear pretty good for a Limey!
Cacti
@Brachiator:
A commenter on another site pointed out that if the votes were there to send back an amended bill, it would be on its way back, and that Cantor made his first power play and failed.
Linda Featheringill
@Brachiator: #42
Who knows? I can’t read him. Remind me to never play poker with him.
Mnemosyne
@Brachiator:
Baud beat me to it, but in order to get to 218 with the current House, they would need to round up a minimum of 25 Republicans to vote with the Democrats (and that’s assuming that every single Democrat votes for it), but only 8 Republicans lost their seats in 2012.
Knowing Nancy Pelosi, if it does come down to a recorded vote (rather than a voice vote with its plausible deniability), she’s going to require Boehner to deliver more votes than that before she releases her folks.
redshirt
Gosh! So waiting for Palin’s astute take on this. Let me try and guess:
“Greta, this is another example of the arrogance and lack of freedom from which Obama leads the Democrats to spit in the eyes of the American people who are the reason we have a Constitution and the Founding Fathers blessed us with liberty to stop hustling power grabs like Obama and the Democrat Party….”
redshirt
@Mnemosyne: My “whip count” says there’s 40-50 Repubs who will vote yes.
Unless Rush gets on the air ASAP.
Cacti
@Litlebritdifrnt:
And if “praising a governor for doing his fucking job during a crisis” was the same thing as “ZOMG I saw Chris Christie on the Daily Show and every dem should be very afraid of this straight talking juggernaut”…
You might have a point.
Mnemosyne
@Cacti:
@Brachiator:
I don’t think Cantor has the votes to do it, but I’d be curious to see if Ryan makes a run at it. That would be high comedy indeed.
dmsilev
@Brachiator:
Yond
CassiusCantor has a lean and hungry look.(you did say ‘a play’…)
Forum Transmitted Disease
@pseudonymous in nc: Within days, not months. Cantor’s very popular but he’s also – and I mean these words literally – an idiot. As in “very, very stupid.” He’s not got what it takes to lead effectively at all, and it will be open season on the House leadership positions if Boehner’s ousted. FWIW I think Cantor’s well aware of this, and doesn’t want the current situation changed at all.
Mnemosyne
@redshirt:
Rush isn’t going to block it. The big money boys have spoken, and they want the Republicans to stop dicking around and pass this fucking thing already.
Mike in NC
@Raven: Hah. When we were deployed to the Persian Gulf in the mid-80’s the crew of a Royal Navy destroyer came out and mooned us on the 4th of July. Good times.
scav
@redshirt: bit too heavy on the comprehensible boilerplate. hit youself with a store bought moose a few times, crawl into a salad spinner until you can see the USSR from the set of dancing with the fifth graders, wrap yourself in a stars and bars polar bear pelt , wink while standing on expense account jimmy choos and don’t forget to mention the importance of live concealed carry.
gbear
I’ll bet that Michele Bachmann doesn’t vote or votes present.
mk3872
Putting the mocking of Halperin aside for a moment …
How silly is it that the GOP is now demanding budget cuts ???
The deal that Obama was trying to get their House majority leader to agree to had SS growth cuts baked into it with chained CPI!!
Instead, they are going to sign onto the same deal (tax increases) without the entitlement cuts?
Good lord, what losers.
Raven
@Mike in NC: They get to drink onboard!
well, until 1970 anyway
BGinCHI
Halperin needs a nickname.
How about The Giant Asshole.
Rosie Outlook
@Litlebritdifrnt: We probably are doomed as a fucking nation, but I still want to congratulate you on that fucking righteous rant.
redshirt
@scav: Thanks for the tips! Back to the meth pipe so I can perfect my Palin technique.
Mike in NC
@Raven: I went aboard British, Dutch, and Canadian ships in the 80’s and they all had beer vending machines, plus what was served in the wardroom for the officers.
Gravenstone
@Raven: Some of the most inventive invective I’ve ever been privileged to hear came from the lips of a Limey.
Arundel
Halperin is allegedly a journalist, right? (An utter hack full-of-shit one, but.)
If he’s so interested why doesn’t he do some reporting, and maybe fucking call them and ask them? Or is that just something reporters in old 1940’s movies do? Not that I give a fvck about what those cretins think, but this is the state of our hack press these days. Actual reporting takes work, so much easier to Tweet an idle, stupid question. That flatters some of the worst, non-elected jerks in the world. Halperin is truly a hack’s hack, he is the worst.
Jeff(the other one)
@dmsilev: I think that was his play and it failed. If he had the votes to amend the Senate bill, that would be tantamount to killing it, and it would tell Boehner by extension that Cantor had the votes for Speaker.
Gin & Tonic
@Litlebritdifrnt:
Your choice of pronoun here vs your other rant is instructive.
Jeff(the other one)
@Arundel: Halperin is perhaps the single most useless waste of space in Washington. There is nothing that he has gotten right over the past 8 years, and that would include his name.
Brachiator
@Mnemosyne:
Pelosi certainly knows how to count the votes before letting legislation be considered. The same cannot be said for Boehner.
Looks like we are heading for a straight up or down vote, after some bloviating speeches are done, giving both Democrats and Republicans some cover.
Mandalay
@Arundel:
Caller ID makes that approach futile for Halperin.
Arundel
@Jeff(the other one): He is truly awful.
I just always remember the press conference that occured after Joe Biden said he supported marriage equality for gay people (but before the President said he agreed, the next day or so). Halperin was just so weirdly nasty to Jay Carney, there was practically spittle flying out his mouth, demanding to know whether Obama agreed. He had this angry look on his rat-face, and his tone was this 7th grade taunting : Is the President some sort of homo-lover or something? It was something, that made me go from just considering him a pathetic hack to activally disliking Halperin.
Of course he has another Gossip Girl book in the works about the 2012 elections, called “Double Down”, which means absolutely nothing and it will be terrible. And he will be rewarded and HBO will do a movie and oh God the unfairness of this cruel world never stops…
(Off-topic aside: Been watching HBO’s reruns of Veep with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, enjoying them immensely. Very funny, she’s a great comic actress, and the DC lunacy is so ripe for satire. )
Mandalay
@Jeff(the other one):
Though not as much of an outright asshole as Halperin, my vote goes to John King. His ability to spew four hundred words of drivel a minute and never ever say anything worthwhile, insightful, or even contentious, is incredible.
In terms of being a useless waste of space he takes some beating.
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@The Dangerman: I suspect that Santo refers to Santorum. I fondly remember Ron though, along with Ernie, Billy Williams, and Joe Pepitone. (Mom was from Chicago.)
Rat… upon reading more comments, I see someone has already supplied an answer. Sorry for being repetitive!
West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.)
@redshirt: Strong effort, redshirt! Ah, but what would Dennis Miller or Rush or Sean say in response? I’ll give a go with Miller: “Well, you’re right, babe, that Obama cat is flushing our hard-fought freedoms down the loo like he’s Charlie Sheen tossin’ finskies at a stripper!”
Ruckus
@Mandalay:
Nice. Cold. But nice. And deserved.
redshirt
@West of the Rockies (formerly Frank W.): LOL. Hey Coochie-Coochie-Coo.
fourmorewars
Um, you wanna know what future historians will say about us? I’m afraid all they’re gonna say about us is that we’re the blind, ham-handed fools/assholes who allowed a shitload of priceless Mesopotamian artifacts to be destroyed during a petulant, ultimately meaningless little military misadventure.
rachel
@dmsilev: The next bit of that quote goes, “He thinks too much.”
Heh.
El Cid
@fourmorewars: We were just part of that beautiful historical process by which old cities are destroyed and buried by the new chaos, and eventually to be rediscovered. Why, think of how much work the archaeologists will have trying to reconstruct early 21st century Baghdad life via the tiny bits jumbled up between current ruins and ancient ruins!