I was checking out Red State to enjoy some more GOP backstabbing, and came across this gem:
Mid-term elections tend to draw out more-closely engaged voters. This is why 2006 was so bad for us: the news was bad in general and in particular, and Republicans were shooting their own party for the evening news. It is also why 2010 was so very good: a critical mass of people was terrified of the things the Democrats were doing while running loose around the place, and demanded a stop to it.
Demographically, this group trends much whiter, older, and better-informed than the Presidential year electorate.
You see, Republicans do better in mid-terms cuz that’s when the smarter white people vote.
Bubblegum Tate
The “better informed” line is one I’m seeing a lot from my various Wingnut Barometers. They consider themselves fabulously well-informed. It goes without saying that they aren’t. Some of them are birthers (still!), nearly all of them are absolutely convinced that “Obama’s Personal Gestapo” (remember that one?) is going to start kicking in doors any day now, and they absolutely believe that Obama sided with the attackers at Benghazi. Basically, they fully believe every fringe lunatic talking point, and that is their basis for considering themselves “better informed.” It’s kinda sad, but also pretty fucking hilarious.
The Snarxist Formerly Known as Kryptik
FTFY.
Lynn Dee
Apparently “more closely engaged” equals “better informed” to conservatives. At least when it suits them.
RedKitten
And as we all know, the white Republican votes are the REAL votes. I mean, if we don’t look at the votes from black people, women, gays, liberals, or other undesirables, it’s obvious who REALLY won the election.
scav
and elections with only old white people participating are the only ones that produce realio-trurlio-actual broad mandates, ‘member?
beltane
The teabag caucus is now demanding that their congressional leadership only be drawn from real, authentically American red states, meaning that both OH & VA are on their Hate List https://twitter.com/#!/robertcostaNRO/status/286469442874007552
I know I’m being overly sanguine about this, but wouldn’t it be wonderful if 2014 saw the GOP largely confined to the borders of the former CSA minus VA & FL?
PeakVT
Fixed. The actually said as much in the previous paragraph, and then tacked on more because reality wasn’t saying quite what he wanted to hear.
Violet
So any guesses on what the electorate in the 2014 election will look like?
Soonergrunt
@RedKitten: You beat me to it.
And it provides the convenient sop for hurt fee-fees after they lose:”when you take out women and minorities, we win.”
Trinity
Wow.
MattF
Just put air quotes around every word. It reads much better that way.
hitchhiker
I really love that juxtaposition. A critical mass of whiter, older, better-informed people were terrified of “things the Democrats were doing”, so they rushed out and voted for the most spectacularly stupid collection of new congressmen ever assembled.
That’s funny. Watching the president have his way with these geniuses is better entertainment than I could ever deserve.
bryan
I thought being “more closely engaged” was something you did if you were heterosexual and starting down the path of protecting marriage?
GregB
Ah yes, I remember how scorningly well informed my rightwing friends and associates were prior to the election. All puffed up with their ignorant belief that they knew something that the rubes didn’t.
I already see some of the GOP Southern base is cracking and are demanding red state leadership.
Someone toss in some folding chairs, the wrestling among the GOP is going to get epic.
MomSense
Ha! And now the Republicans will try and cut Medicare and Social Security right before the older set vote. That is some brilliant strategery!
Bubblegum Tate
@Soonergrunt:
One of my Wingnut Barometers has repeatedly insisted that the whole “blue states send more tax dollars than they get; red states take more tax dolalrs that they send” thing doesn’t count because “blue states have all those ports and related, taxable activity,” so if you just take out the ports (oh, and a few other major blue state industries), then the blue states are totally mooching!
I frequently reply that I have made every shot I ever took in basketball–as long as you don’t count the ones that I missed.
Elizabelle
I have been hearing how safe the Teahadis’ congressional seats are, and I am wondering if that’s true. That gerrymandering has rendered them safe for a decade. Really?
You’ve got to have a lot of folks who don’t bother to vote in the midterms because Congressman Wingnut is going to be elected no matter what. Or assume their neighbors are all Cong Wingnut supporters (not) and that there aren’t enough anti-wingnut voters in the district.
Perhaps the moderates could bridge with the main street business community, who have got to be horrified at the constant cliff-diving of late.
I am thinking 2 years to identify and motivate actual swing voters in the gerrymandered districts, and recruit, train and fund some more reasonable candidates.
OFA is amazing at organizing. I am wondering if OFA’s superior targeting and the DCCC could flip some of those “safe” Republican seats.
Especially if the constituents get treated to 2 more years of fail parade politics.
Doable?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Brief pop quiz for these “well informed voters”:
1) True or False: Your taxes went up in 2009.
2) Who said, and about which President, “[President X] taught us deficits don’t matter”?
3) What was the title of President’s Daily Intelligence Briefing (PDB) of August 6, 2001. Extra credit for George W Bush’s response to it one week later.
Dave S.
Well, he was 2 for 3…
Villago Delenda Est
“Better informed” because they eat up the slop presented to them by Roger Ailes and his team of howler monkeys.
MomSense
@Beltane
I think there are only about 35 real swing districts now so it isn’t easy. My biggest concern is the constant sky is falling attitude from the left which fosters disappointment and lower turn out.
It was so frustrating to me at the beginning of this last election season that I had so many conversations with liberals who started out saying that they were disappointed that the President didn’t get anything done. Once I started informing them of all the things we accomplished–and setting the record straight on Obamacare, it was amazing to see the transformation. Of course they then blamed the President for not telling people what he had done–but it was a start.
Phoebes
Well, in a way they are right. We, the Dems, really screwed up by not getting out to vote in 2010, and we’ll be paying the price for years to come. As far as I am concerned, we are responsible for the 2010 debacle and I sure as hell hope we wake up and vote, vote, VOTE next year.
Cassidy
@MomSense:
This is known as a “day ending in -y” at Balloon Juice.
Kip the Wonder Rat
For whatever reason, this reminded me of a friend of mine who was absolutely certain a couple of years ago that Obama and the TSA were on the verge of lowering airport inspection criteria for Muslim women. I tried to point out all the various reasons why this made no sense, but he would have none of it.
When it didn’t happen and I pointed this out to him, he said something along the lines that it still was going to happen. So, about every quarter since then, I’ve asked him if it’s happened yet. He has never, ever figured out that Fox et al. were playing him, and worse, that they are still playing him.
Other than this, he’s a great guy; a real mensch. I just don’t talk to him about politics any more (unless he brings it up, which is when I immediately ask him about Muslim women and TSA inspections…I’m mean than way.)
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Bullshit (but you knew that). I worked the polls in 2010. I’ve never seen so many angry old misinformed white people in one day.
Supernumerary Charioteer
I, for one, have been enjoying the bugfuck slavering frenzy that the right-wing sites have been going through for the last week. The commenters are about evenly split between supporting Cantor and angrily proclaiming that the party has played them for chumps over the last four years.
Cassidy
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: You’ve never been to a country concert, I’m assuming?
Soonergrunt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Ooh, ooh, ooh, I know!
Reality A) False
Wingnut A) True
Reality B) Vice President Dick Cheney speaking about President Ronald Reagan
Wingnut B) I can’t hear you
Reality C) “Bin Laden Determined to Attack in United States” ex. cred “OK, you’ve covered your ass now.”
Wingnut C) Just shut up, OK?
gene108
I love this denial of reality.
If the Republicans had played the media better, the public backlash against the Iraq War, the Abramoff and various other scandals wouldn’t have mattered.
As it was, the problem is the Republicans didn’t keep their mess under wraps, rather than avoiding being corrupt warmongering assholes.
handsmile
@scav:
The assembly of tribal elders to vote on important matters is also known as a Loya Jirga.
I suspect that’s one reason why the Cheney administration and its apologists assumed it would be so easy to establish a democracy in Afghanistan.
Lee Rudolph
@MattF:
You’re just shilling for the Repetitive Motion Injury rehabilitation industry, aren’t you?
Bulworth
Except in years like 2006 when not every faithful Patriot is faithfully
cheering for the warclapping together for the Party.Chris
@Bubblegum Tate:
Krugman and a couple others wrote about this back in 2010. Basically they think they have access to some hidden wisdom (via their media bubble) that the rest of us are denied, much the same way someone reading the Protocols of the Elders of Zion believes they now understand how the world works and the rest of us are just credulous sheep who’ve swallowed the Jews’ media lies.
LAC
I see that denial is not just a river that runs through a part of the world full of dusky skinned folks who want to enforce sharia law in your local PTA.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@Cassidy: I expect the audience at a country concert is better informed than the voters I saw. They at least know who they’re going to see. I had one voter who didn’t know which party she had registered with.
Ruckus
Demographically, this group trends much whiter, older, and better-informed than the Presidential year electorate.
Maybe we need to add rationalization to the conservative toolbox. It can sit right along side projection. So far these seem to be the only tools they have.
FlipYrWhig
@Chris: I was going to say something similar. They think they’re better informed because they “know” bizarre shit that sensible people ignore. They know The Real Truth that the liberal media keeps the rest of us poor saps from knowing because we’d be outraged if we did.
jp7505a
Oh my, the fiscal cliff has been to much of a strain on our friends on the right. One of them is now holding up Cuba as a role model for the US to follow. It seems that the Cuban government is starting to privatize segments of the economy whereas Obama is installing socialism everwhere. I think these folks should really increase their meds.
SatanicPanic
Better misinformed.
Woodrowfan
@Bubblegum Tate: God knows the red states, like the Carolinas, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas don’t have any ports!
SFAW
@Kip the Wonder Rat:
You know who ELSE was “a real mensch”?
gene108
@Phoebes:
Part of that was real frustration about how badly the economy was still doing in 2010, how high unemployment was and so I think some people figured, why bother to vote this time around.
2010 was a strange confluence of a well funded and coordinated campaign strategy by right-wingers and a bad economy, which dampened people’s desire to support incumbents.
If anything, I hope the 2010 election will make sure lefties stay motivated to vote in 2014.
jp7505a
@Woodrowfan: And Texas, Louisana and Mississippi have all that oil they sell to the rest of us.
Woodrowfan
@FlipYrWhig: sounds like the Twoofers and every other tinfoilhead I ever met.
catclub
Other people say their hobby-horse in 2013 will be gun control.
Mine will be calling the Jan 1, tax deal “The Obama permanent tax cuts” and encouraging others to do the same.
The Bush tax cuts are a historical memory only.
Handy
“. . . the smarter white people?”
No such thing
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
@Elizabelle:
The Teahadist seats may be reasonably safe but it isn’t because of gerrymandering. Gerrymandering makes marginal districts less safe for the party which benefited from the redrawn districts, which is the price you pay for winning more seats for the same level of popular vote totals, than you would have won otherwise given neutrally drawn districts. It is the Democratic districts which are safer as a result of the 2010 gerrymandering.
My guess is that the Teahadists feel safer in their seats because of the ongoing GOPization of the southeastern states where Blue Dog Dems have been going extinct, leaving the GOP reps from those districts running for election in a 1-party state such that the GOP primary is determinative, and because northeastern and midwestern Republicans are not well represented in the Tea Party leadership so their opinions on the subject are not being aired widely in the news media (Peter King excepted, at least as of today). But the way the GOP slate from PA voted last night is indicative of the squeeze the latter group is finding itself in.
Culture of Truth
Paul Krugman is channelling your friend.
Southern Beale
That may be true (or at least, it may have been true in 2010 — except for the better informed part of course) but after the disaster that the 2010 midterms wrought upon America, I have to wonder if that will continue. I’m thinking some people learned a big lesson about staying engaged. I hope so.
Villago Delenda Est
Keep in mind that these “better informed” people are the ones screaming for the evil federal government to keep its grasping claws off their Medicare, from the comfort of their Medicare financed scooters.
Villago Delenda Est
@jp7505a:
Well, I’m sure that their private sector provided Medicare will do that for them!
JPL
The guy who cleaned my septic explained that the Others just don’t know how to vote properly. He was quite pleased that in order to renew GA’s driver license, you now how to provide a dozen documents. I guess shit cleaners know best.
Villago Delenda Est
@JPL:
As I’m sure you know, there 434 congresscritters who need to be tossed out like the rascals they are. MINE is perfectly OK, thanks!
...now I try to be amused
@Woodrowfan:
But they’re all under blockade… uh, the Civil War is still going on, isn’t it?
El Cid
“Better informed” means, among other things, knowing that global warming is a fake scandal made up by gubmit-paid scientists, evolution is possible for germs but not for man, and the Founding Fathers wrote the 1st Amendment so that our children would be taught prayer in school.
eric
keep laughing libtards. my sources tell me that obama is going to ban nascar in his second term because it uses too much gas. that is the kind of communist socialism you libtards believe in. Also, look for mashall law in 2015 so that he does not have to turn over the rains of power just like his ancestor african dictators.
mdblanche
@beltane: Interesting how that comment came from Tom Price, the only mooted challenger to Boehner who’s from a state that qualifies…
RSA
A quick Google search turns up this survey from Pew (in 2007), which finds in the section “Demographic Differences in What Americans Know” that people aged 50 and above are actually better informed. If I remember correctly, this was the same survey showing Daily Show viewers to be best-informed and Fox News least-informed. They don’t go into the combination of old Fox News viewers, though.
Culture of Truth
aw crap, obama’s gestapo is here
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: This is my rep
must thank tpm livewire.
Roger Moore
@Bubblegum Tate:
Except that there are plenty of Red States with ports. In terms of total tonnage, the largest ports in the US are dominated by the Gulf Coast, i.e. mostly Red states. It’s only when you look specifically at container freight that the top ports are all in Blue states.
Omnes Omnibus
@Villago Delenda Est: There is that one other guy – I forget his name, but he is okay too.
? Martin
@eric: Obama isn’t going to ban NASCAR. But if I were a tea party member, I’d be seriously suspicious that they only make left turns. I think we should start a petition to have the cars drive the other way around so they can make nothing but right turns. Right turns for liberty!
Bubblegum Tate
@Woodrowfan:
Yes, but those a Real Murrican Ports doing Real Murrican things, so they count. Ports in New York, California, etc. are full of creeping unionized Shariah and therefore shouldn’t count. Or something.
I have to admit, he’s made this “blue state ports don’t count” argument several times, and I still don’t understand it. I can usually follow the bread crumb trail through the crazy–I know what lies and fallacies and general nuttiness he’s relying on to make his crappy arguments–but this one? I’m stumped.
Redshift
@JPL: Oddly enough, this was an argument some lefties were making about the Senate just a few year ago. Of course, it makes more sense there than in reference to extremely safe House districts.
I do like the idea of declaring that congressmen from Virginia and Ohio can’t be reliable because their states voted for Obama, since it’s a step in the direction of writing off those states.
mapaghimagsik
@eric:
You had me at “rains of power”
Paul in KY
@Kip the Wonder Rat: I’m assuming you’ve just flat out told him that Fox was playing him for a rube?
Redshift
@ThatLeftTurnInABQ: Yeah, except apparently the way they solve that problem is by making fewer Democratic seats really safe. So the gerrymandered GOP seats are less safe, but they’re still mostly pretty safe. I don’t buy the argument that they’re safe until the next redistricting, but it’s going to make them pretty tough for at least one more cycle.
waciwa
Ha, wrong again Cole banned me because I pointed out that he was WRONG AGAIN saying no way there was going to be a fiscal wheelchair curb deal.
Anyways, typical Republican pettyness. So not only does he still harbor man crush feelings for asshole Republicans like fat bastard Christie and Senator Manchin, he’s still an asshole himself
(flips middle finger and starts thinking of another username to us)
waciwa, WRONG AGAIN COLE IS WRONG AGAIN
FormerSwingVoter
OT, but if you’d like a little gloating in your corn flakes this morning (afternoon):
http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/01/02/credit_suisse_fiscal_cliff_deal_leaves_income_lower_for_everyone_especially.html
The graph shows how the fiscal cliff combines with HCR payroll taxes on various groups by income. If your goal in this was a more progressive tax system, this is a big win for you.
Paul in KY
@eric: Man I hope so! Since I’m in on the plan, I get to be a ‘Bwanacommissar’ and rule over my very own camp of God fearing White Peoples ™.
Hope to see you soon (just don’t look me in the eye).
Paul in KY
@Bubblegum Tate: Make sure you mention all the Southern ports next time. That’ll probably send him over the edge.
eric
@Paul in KY: i will just greet you with the secret FEMA handshake.
beltane
@FormerSwingVoter: But I was told on DKos that this was a horrible capitulation that pushed the Overton Window far to the right, thus simultaneously throwing us under the bus while stabbing us in the back.
eric
@Paul in KY: as a heterosexual, I am aware of two southern ports and one northern port. In my experience, each is a taker. YMMV
eric
@beltane: stabbed us in the back of the bus
JustRuss
I’d love to hear some examples of Democrats running loose prior to 2010. Real ones, not the fantasies in Fox and friends’ heads.
Haydnseek
@jp7505a: Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi don’t own one drop of oil. The oil companies do, and they don’t sell it to us. They sell it on the spot market for the best price they can get. The idea that domestic production will reduce our reliance on foreign oil is one of the Rethugs most effective lies.
Roger Moore
@beltane:
I believe the phrase is “slapped us under the bus”.
Mandalay
Uh-oh. Mr Creosote has a sad….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/01/02/christie-blames-toxic-house-gop-for-sandy-aid-delay/
I do hope he doesn’t explode.
eric
@Mandalay: he had better hope he does not have to win any southern states to get the GOP nod int he primary….oh wait…
FormerSwingVoter
@Roger Moore: I recommend “capitustababustrayal”, but I don’t know if it’ll catch on.
lol
@RSA:
One of the problems with “most informed” surveys is that they generally only ask basic questions like “Who is President?” or “Who is the Speaker of the House?” and not stuff like “Did your federal income taxes go up in 2009?” or “Is the President a Muslim?”
Bubblegum Tate
@Paul in KY:
I’m sure it will. I’ve never gotten that far with him because I keep trying to get him to explain why he thinks “if you ignore the economic activity in blue states, blue states have no economic activity” is a valid argument. Maybe that’ll be the key to that explanation.
Haydnseek
@Haydnseek: ETA: The US actually exports a significant percentage of refined petroleum products, i.e.: gasoline. Next time you fill up, don’t blame the guy in the lexan booth when you pay at the self-serve gas station. The powers that be, financed by big oil, are sticking their pump right in your filler pipe. This is your America. Cherish it.
NorthLeft12
“Spending Hawks” that automatically stump for massive increases in the military budget? Oh yeah, those informed voters/congress people.
Chris
@jp7505a:
Context, motherfucker, do you understand it? Specifically, the difference between a country where the state has owned everything since 1959 and a country where the state has always been unusually weak and the last thirty years have been marked by a zealous campaign to privatize and deregulate damn near everything under the Sun? Privatizing some shit in Cuba and nationalizing some things in America would actually move both countries more towards a rational, pragmatic center and away from blind extremist models based on ideology for ideology’s sake.
Here’s another one for you; if I lived in Somalia, I’d be calling for bigger government. If I lived in North Korea, I’d be calling for smaller government. That’s not me being inconsistent. That’s the Somali and North Korean political environments being radically different. Try to keep up.
Redshift
@gene108:
Based on my canvassing experience, the problem isn’t lefties. Despite the moaning from some on the left, they’re not a big influence in that situation any more than they are in any other.
The real problem is that a large portion of our coalition of voters are people who are poorer and with less free time and attention than most. If there’s a well-funded presidential campaign and months of TV coverage, we can get them out to vote and have a sizable majority, but if there are only congressional campaigns with less resources, we can’t get to them all enough to get them out.
It’s not just having time on Election Day, either. There’s quite a bit of evidence that the reason we have lower turnout than a lot of countries is that we have so many levels of elections. A lot of people don’t want to vote unless they feel they are making an informed decision, and less free time and less campaign resources (and free media) directed at them make that more of an effort.
Mandalay
Meanwhile Malkin has other priorities, and is poutraged about the “left-wing Internet giant” Google….
http://michellemalkin.com/
I used to think that Malkin was a very crafty operator who had found a sleazy but lucrative way to make a living. Eventually I realized that she is just a dumb and nasty piece of work who truly believes the drivel she spews.
Ash Can
@Mandalay: That presser was entertaining. Christie cut Boehner so many new ones that the Orange One will be leaking gin for the rest of the year.
Cluttered Mind
@beltane: Tossed under a bus and then run over with tires made of knives, perhaps?
Chris
@Paul in KY:
Heh.
I knew they lived in an alternate reality, but it’s an interesting world where Miami and New Orleans don’t even exist.
Punchy
Maybe McCain can hand out tire gauges to all the Sandy victims, so they can keep their double-wides level.
Cluttered Mind
@Chris: Well, if they had completely succeeded in having their way, New Orleans would no longer exist…
MikeJ
@Chris:
Bush and Brownie tried.
Chris
@Redshift:
Unions used to be the big equalizers on that, in terms of getting out the vote among poor and working-class people, raising their level of political awareness and commitment and, among other things, making sure they didn’t just give up in the midterms.
We either need a resurgence in union membership or some alternate way of “getting out the vote.” (Ideally, both). Political machines, regardless of party or ideology, used to play a big part in doing that too, but they’ve taken a hit as well.
dead existentialist
@Ash Can: From a Molly Ball tweet on whether he would campaign for the GOP, and he said “Not the leadership”:
Mandalay
@Ash Can:
Right. This made my spirits soar…
I don’t think Christie takes kindly to being treated like an irrelevant piece of shit.
Perhaps this is a good time to remind Christie that Obama told everyone to respond to all calls for assistance within 15 minutes during Sandy.
Ash Can
@Chris: Um, you were directing your comment to the people jp7505a was referring to, and not directly to jp505a, right?
SenyorDave
@Mandalay: You can’t choose your relatives, but you can choose your friends (and your political party). Christie chose to be a member of a party that borders on traitorous. Fuck him. Plus, my wife is a retired teacher and no politician has denigrated public school teachers more than Christie. Fortunately, I only used to line in NJ, now I live in MD where the governor actually cares about public education.
Redshift
@Mandalay:
In my opinion, this is the big change in the GOP in the past fifteen years or so. Back in the Gingrich and Reagan eras, a lot of movement conservative congressmen knew that what they were proposing was BS, like telling the Religious Right “oh, those evil Democrats kept us from passing your abortion ban, please come out and help more of us get elected.” But since then, they’ve gone from fleecing the rubes to electing the rubes and true believers, and the fleecers have moved up the food chain where the payoff is bigger.
What they’ve ended up with is a congress of ideological idiots who aren’t smart enough to do anything successfully except say “NO!” and gum up the works.
Bubblegum Tate
@Mandalay:
I think the former description is better applied to Ann Coulter; Malkin actually believes the shit she’s selling. And because she insulates herself well inside her little bubble, all she ever hears is people telling her how smart and insightful and courageous she is, and she believes all that as well.
AliceBlue
@Paul in KY:
“Bwanacommissar” FTW!
I’ve just been reminded why I should not eat and/or drink while reading BJ comments.
Redshift
@Chris: I wonder if OFA can form a PAC or something to work on congressional campaigns nationwide. They might not be able to coordinate with the candidates, but frankly, I’d rather have Obama’s people running most of these campaigns than the individual congresspersons.
Maude
@Mandalay:
Christie has people who desperately need help in NJ.
He doesn’t put up with nonsense.
SatanicPanic
@Bubblegum Tate: The difference is that smirk you see on Ann’s face vs that angry stare Malkin’s
LAC
@Mandalay: Uggh, that heiffa. Lucky for her that her parents got the benefits of the immigration she is a happy to deny others. Or else she would be popping ping pong balls out of her hoo-haa in some bar in the Philippines, instead of spewing shit out of her mouth.
Chris
@Ash Can:
I was, yes, referring to the people he was referring to. My apologies for the unclarity.
Cassidy
@LAC: My first thought was “wow”, but then I’ve gone into that *netherspace a time or two, so drive on.
*not “that” netherspace [Malkin]. You couldn’t pay me enough.
Steeplejack
@RSA:
Venn diagram: “Old” = large circle. “Fox News viewers” = circle 99% contained in large circle. (One percent outside consists of Megyn Kelly fetishists, Media Matters and Daily Show interns collecting footage for mockery and satire.)
Roger Moore
@SenyorDave:
The big question is what Christie does about it. If he bitches and moans for a bit, then goes back to cooperating with the Congressional leadership as they dismantle our government, he deserves whatever bad things come his way. If this actually serves as a wakeup call and he starts questioning his party’s agenda in general, I’m all for it.
Another Halocene Human
@Chris: Privatizing some shit in Cuba and nationalizing some things in America would actually move both countries more towards a rational, pragmatic center and away from blind extremist models based on ideology for ideology’s sake.
Amen, brother.
japa21
@Chris: Chris, it might also be worthwhile to point out to him that all the states receiving more than they shovel out are “right to work for less” states, which means more of their people actually NEED federal assistance.
Bubblegum Tate
@SatanicPanic:
Bingo. Coulter knows she’s bullshitting; Malkin is dead fuckin’ serious.
Another Halocene Human
@LAC: Bullshit. She’d be breaking her back over a hoe while scheming to defraud her next door neighbors with another “great opportunity!” GRQ scheme.
Paul in KY
@eric: Good enough…
Chris
@Redshift:
Oh, I don’t know. There’s always been a certain amount of room for True Believer psychos in the party – Goldwater, for instance, doesn’t seem to have been any saner than the current crop. (Yes, the Republican Party didn’t rally around him like they do today, but that’s just because both parties were fractured at the time and movement conservatism hadn’t taken it over yet).
SenyorDave
@Maude: Christie has people in cities who needed help before sandy, and that didn’t stop him from having a poisonous nature with the NJ Assembly by his own choice.
Christie has acted like a responsible governor should during Sandy, like Andrew Cuomo has. Too bad he has spent most of the rest of his term acting like a partisan asshole.
Paul in KY
@AliceBlue: You may use it youself. Glad you liked it.
Maude
Hillary Clinton has left the hospital for home. NBC news tweet.
@SenyorDave:
I’m not defending Christie. I am in NJ and I don’t agree with his policies.
He is outspoken and that I do like. Not all governors do well with natural disasters.
Gin & Tonic
@SenyorDave: Christie is an asshole, as is Peter King. But I am sure getting a lot of enjoyment out of watching them bitch at the orange man.
Chris
@japa21:
True. The destruction of the safety net in red state America probably deserves a few threads of its own to expound on.
r€nato
yeah, you know what, just because you consume a lot of political commentary and deliberately-slanted ‘news’ it doesn’t necessarily follow that you’re better-informed.
Maude
@Gin & Tonic:
Boehner will hold a vote on Sandy by 1/15.
The pressure worked.
Roger Moore
@japa21:
Is it any surprise that states that have enacted “Right to Mooch” laws have no compunctions about mooching off the Federal Government?
Ash Can
@Chris: No need to apologize; my head’s been foggier than usual the past couple of days and it’s easy for me to miss subtleties. I wasn’t sure if it was my snark-o-meter that was on the fritz or not. Not surprised that it was in fact mine.
Maude
@r€nato:
Garbage in, garbage out. A lot of garbage in, a lot of garbage out.
Litlebritdifrnt
Someone on Hannity right now saying there will be a GOP meeting tonight and Orange Julius is going to be resigning as speaker.
Dave N.
@Kip the Wonder Rat:
I see this kind of thinking quite a bit from people. They are not opposed to much of anything Obama has already done, but they are afraid of the things they hear he might do, or what his thus far unrevealed, nefarious plans are.
LAC
@Cassidy: She is just such a snarky ass bitch. You just want to tap her on her empty little head and say “Ms. Maglalang…you do know that the “Turner Diaries” have no asian heroes, right? All this snuggling you are doing with white folks on the far right ain’t gonna help you much.”
Chris
@r€nato:
This.
A random cab driver in Moscow circa 1980, would probably have been much less “informed” than the Kremlin’s top economist. He would also have had a more accurate idea of the state of the Soviet economy (“shit is fucked up”) than the people who spent their entire lives poring over falsified reports written for political rather than informational value.
@Ash Can:
To be fair to yourself, this is Balloon Juice. It’s not always easy to tell :D
Calouste
@Roger Moore:
Christie is up for re-election this November, so Sandy aid is going to play a part in that election if it isn’t solved soon. He can’t just let things slide without giving his opponent easy sound bites like “How much aid did the GOP give us after Sandy? Nothing. What did Chris Christie achieve for New Jersey after Sandy? Nothing.”
Also, the explicit call-out from Peter King that the Southern GOP just hates NY/NJ, and that’s why the vote didn’t come up, might have Christie reconsider his chances in the 2016 GOP primary. It’s not like he will have the stacks of money and the incompetent opponents Romney had to make up for the fact that he is a Yankee.
Ash Can
@Maude: By 1/15? Two fucking weeks? That’s bullshit.
I had been thinking last night that in light of all the deals cut leading into the vote on the fiscal bill, it would be likely after all for Boehner to retain his Speaker’s seat, likely with Dem help. However, I just read a tidbit on LGF about some scuttlebutt coming out of DC on Twitter that Boehner spiked the Sandy vote last night to get back at Cantor for being a pain in Boehner’s ass during the fiscal cliff drama. If that’s true, and if Boehner is indeed looking at a two-week window for a vote on Sandy relief, I take back what I said last night. Everyone and his out-of-town cousin is going to be after his scalp.
Calouste
@Maude:
A promise from Boehner to hold a vote after tomorrow is not worth much. He needs to get reelected as Speaker first.
LAC
@Another Halocene Human: ho’ or hoe?
Villago Delenda Est
@Maude:
Christie is up for reelection this year.
One can bet one’s farm that he’s going to be vocal in support of his state’s needs in the wake of Sandy. He may be a blowhard, but he’s not stupid. Any ambitions he has beyond Trenton depend on reelection this year.
Party loyalty only goes so far when your party actively seeks to sabotage your personal career.
Mike in NC
Well, someone needs to tell Governor Christie that Speaker Boehner made it his New Year’s resolution to say “Go fuck yourself” to as many people as possible.
Punchy
@Litlebritdifrnt: The Drunk Orangeman is going to hang it up? Secondly, props for watching that abortion of a show.
Another Halocene Human
@LAC: She’s not pretty or smart enough to get one of those jobs in Japanese hospitals rubbing one out for sick CEOs.
Ash Can
@Litlebritdifrnt: Aaaaand right on cue. Not that I believe everything (or very much at all) that turns up in the Hannity cesspool, but he does have a pipeline into the GOP, so we shall see. It would make sense, at any rate.
Maude
@Ash Can:
I thought the same thing. They can do a bill from the old bill quickly. The House was going to split the bill and probably try to cut entitlements to match the spending.
That money should have been in the pipeline weeks ago.
I’m so sick of incompetence.
MikeJ
@Ash Can:
I wonder if it is wishful thinking or even the equivalent of leaving him alone in the library with a pistol.
NonyNony
@Litlebritdifrnt:
If this is true, I wouldn’t blame him. He needs to resign by going up to the podium and telling his caucus to “take this job and shove it”. Preferably while drunk off his ass.
But I doubt it’s true. Mostly because I can’t think that anyone else in the House GOP wants the damn job enough to force him out of it. Who would want to be chief cat-herder of that crowd? Cantor has already proven that he’s going to be worse at it than Boehner is.
Maude
@Villago Delenda Est:
Ding. ding. ding. We have a winner.
The mayor of Newark, I think part of his name sets off moderation, isn’t running for gov.
Christie wants to stay in office. If he fails with the Sandy funding, he’s in trouble.
The state has high unemployment and financial trouble due to his policies. That will drag him down, so it’s the money honey or don’t let the door hit you.
ETA, I’d like to see a decent Dem to vote for.
Maude
As it stands now, There will be a House Sandy vote Friday for $9 billion. Then a vote for $51 billion before the 15th.
I call BS. Sastids.
Joel
@eric: Poe’s Law strikes again.
Anoniminous
@Litlebritdifrnt:
I can’t see Cantor gunning for the job. Being a Speaker has definite responsibilities for getting stuff done. Cantor has been very careful to avoid any job where he is held responsible for results and outcomes.
Ash Can
@MikeJ: Like I said, it would make sense, and the timing is right, but I won’t consider it a sure thing until it’s a done deal.
@NonyNony: Sure, Cantor would be lousy at it, but that doesn’t mean he’s smart enough to realize it. I bet he makes a play for it. Whether or not he actually gets it remains to be seen, though — if Boehner really is out of the running, I can certainly see Pelosi cutting deals with Boehner’s faction to give the Speakership to someone more sensible (and unfortunately less entertaining) than Cantor.
Roger Moore
@Calouste:
FTFY. The Orangeman isn’t in control of his own caucus, so none of his promises are worth the paper they’re printed on.
jp7505a
@Haydnseek: But they do tax the stuff which helps them keep other taxes low. Sorry I wasn’t precise enough
Maude
NBC News tweet, HRC not out of hospital.
I wish they’d double check this stuff.
Gin & Tonic
@Roger Moore: Which makes Peter King the dumbest guy in DC today.
Mnemosyne
@Ash Can:
Cantor’s ego is probably big enough to make a run at it, but he wasn’t even able to round up enough votes to put some poison pill amendments on yesterday’s bill. I suspect Cantor vastly underestimated how much support he actually has in the caucus.
I’m guessing that if Boehner wants to keep the job, it’s his. If he says, “Screw you guys, I’m outta here,” I honestly don’t know who has enough support in the caucus to be elected Speaker if Cantor doesn’t.
jp7505a
@Chris: I guess I should have used the sarcasm font when I posted that comment!!!!!
geg6
@beltane:
You forgot to mention that they did all this to us in the veal pen.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Tea bagger on MSNBC just said Boehner’s going to resign. I don’t believe it, because as Richard Wolfe said, who wants teh job? but the rumors are a sign of how despised he is, I think.
Woodrowfan
@Maude: it’s more important to get it out 15 seconds sooner than it is to get it right.
Suffern ACE
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: resign from Congress?
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The only way I could see him resigning is if it’s part of a ploy to prove how important he is. I can imagine him thinking that nobody else could get enough votes to become Speaker, which would force the Republicans to come back and beg him to be Speaker. I wouldn’t trust his judgment about the outcome- I can easily imagine him trying the ploy only to have it fail spectacularly- but it’s a vaguely plausible reason why he’d be doing such a thing.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Suffern ACE: THis guy just said as speaker. The guy who said it was a hyperactive chair of one of the Tea Bagger groups, so I wouldn’t bet the farm, or even and old broken shovel. But everybody hates John Boehner.
Calouste
@Mnemosyne:
Maybe Paul Ryan has enough support. You’d expect that having been VP candidate gives him access to some campaign donors that would be able to switch some votes.
Redshift
@Maude: Yeah, given Cantor’s recent record on disaster relief, I wondered if Boehner decided it was better to take the heat from not bringing the bill up for a vote, if the alternative was that Cantor and the rest of the bozos were going to muck it up by making demands for “offsets,” with the result that nothing was going to pass last night anyway.
Violet
@Calouste: Oh man, the thought of Ryan as Speaker makes me physically ill. I thought he was going to be off the TV for awhile since he was a drag on the Romney ticket. Ugh.
Chyron HR
@jp7505a:
Oh, the sarcasm font. How incredibly clever of you.
Ash Can
@Mnemosyne: I don’t disagree; my main point was that I think he’ll make a run for it anyway. And I do see Pelosi cutting deals behind the scenes to get someone less prickly than Cantor installed as Speaker in the event Boehner’s out of the picture. (However, it would amuse me to no end if Pelosi were to back Cantor for the sole purpose of setting him up to be thrashed like a piñata in the Speaker’s position. :D)
lamh35
Boehner spox says he’s not resigning.
and I see from TPM that Al Jazeera is buying Current TV?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: Boehner’s office just called MSNBC to deny his imminent resignation. Between the vote and the NY/NJ rebellion, that is not a good way for Das Boner to end his day. Does anybody track the Merlot supply in the greater DC area? There may still be time to buy low.
Roger Moore
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
So we can expect it any minute.
catclub
@geg6: “us in the veal pen.”
Similar to an ink pen?
Peanut oil, baby oil.
Villago Delenda Est
@Roger Moore:
Well, he might not resign…but he might have his drunken ass handed to him by teahadist scum…aided and abetted by outraged blue state Rethugs who are pissed they were fucked over by the teahadists, and want to take it out on Orange Julius.
Redshift
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: I would imagine that Boehner’s taste runs to something stronger than wine. Especially now.
Violet
@lamh35:
Al Jazeera now has a great international sports network called BeInSports. A lot of the international sports that weren’t getting shown here. They’re growing.
Mnemosyne
@lamh35:
It would be kind of nice to have an actual news organization run Current TV.
Todd
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Speaking of MSNBC, they’ve got Fineman running his mouth. I now have him high on my evil list of “people I most want to see beaten to death with a combination of baseball bats and shovels by an enraged mob”.
RSA
@lol:
Right; there should be a few questions to test for whether the respondent is basically well-informed but also crazy.
@Steeplejack:
I think that’s true. If so, and if the survey is right about older people being best informed and Fox News viewers being worst informed, there must be some really smart old people who don’t watch Fox News as counterbalance.
Gex
@Bubblegum Tate: So he’s saying conservative red states are unable to develop a sound economy?
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Todd: turned it off when the glibertarian Smerconish started talking about George Bush’s legacy now being tax cuts. Even as I know they don’t give a fuck that the Iraq War and Katrina and 9/11 ever happened, I don’t need to hear it from ‘the mirror image of fox news’. And Stephen Moore…? even politics aside, I don’t know what ain’t right about that boy, but that boy ain’t right.
Todd
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
I switched to local news ahead of some mandatory basketball and football viewing.
wobbly
The guy is correct, basically, except for the “better-informed” description.
Nothing to laugh or snark about.
African-Americans, Latinos, old lady white women (like me) can’t just VOTE every four years.
We gotta vote every goddamn year.
cokane
He’s not entirely wrong. The demographics will favor GOP in midterm elections for years to come.
And the fact is… voters with lower incomes, lower education levels, and lower ages tends to break for Democrats. You are right to hit RedState for patting themselves on the back for courting supposedly more educated voters. But the fact remains that Democrats rely on low education, lower class voters to win elections, and these voters are hard to mobilize in nonpresidential years.
HinTN
@eric: What a wonderful troll, “the rains of power” – thou art priceless and hath made my day. Danke
Rosie Outlook
@HinTN: Is that anything like the rains of Castamere?
redshirt
@Rosie Outlook: But Salt! And Bread!
Greyjoy
@Rosie Outlook:
If we’re talking about Congress, it’s probably more like The Bear and the Maiden Fair.
ellie
I am so tired of being told I am not a real person or a real American. Fuck these assholes.