Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Speaking of republicans, is there a way for a political party to declare intellectual bankruptcy?

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Accountability, motherfuckers.

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

“woke” is the new caravan.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

The revolution will be supervised.

American History and Black History Cannot Be Separated

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

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

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Bark louder, little dog.

We are aware of all internet traditions.

In my day, never was longer.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

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

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

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Reader Interactions

139Comments

  3. 3.

    askew

    What’s scary is that CNN has learned nothing from their Obamacare ruling screw-up and that they get insanely huge ratings for these types of breaking news. So millions got the incorrect news.

  4. 4.

    dmsilev

    I assume that the media’s response will be
    (a) Convene a set of round-table discussions where Serious Discussions of the Role of the Media will be held.
    and
    (b) Keep chasing elusive ‘scoops’ and ‘breaking news’ events with all the attention span of a hyperactive 2 year old.

  9. 9.

    Cassidy

    Even I am a little bit surprised by the amount of misinformation being spread on this one.

    Seriously? These idiots would whore out their own wives and children if they thought it would get them a scoop.

  12. 12.

    dmsilev

    @Ben Grimm: It’s just an image showing the text of the FBI statement. Via TPM and the AP, the text is

    “Contrary to widespread reporting, there have been no arrests made in connection with the Boston Marathon attack,” the FBI said in a statement. “Over the past day and a half, there have been a number of press reports based on information from unofficial sources that has been inaccurate. Since these stories often have unintended consequences, we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.”

  13. 13.

    Trentrunner

    Oh, and CBS is reporting that the suspect is a “white male,” not “dark-skinned,” as CNN’s John King reported.

    As someone tweeted, CNN should just run a yule log for a few weeks.

  14. 14.

    Another Halocene Human

    Omnes said something earlier that resonated with me. I think it’s going to turn out that the perp is more like Newtown and Aurora. Specifically, I think (with the timing) that it’s going to be a Breivik sort. Breivik’s trial was followed obsessively by the white supremacist set. After he heroically started off the race culture war, the Trollords of the North exiled him to a cold, dark ice cave from which he shall never emerge. So the would-be Breiviks have learned to hide their little light behind the rock.

    I truly believe the person behind this is unable to connect with others and feels rage when he (or she) sees throngs of happy people enjoying themselves. Hurting them and making them afraid gives this person pleasure. And with that motivation, staying anonymous is even more important because fear is heightened when you don’t know who did it and don’t know where the next strike will be.

  16. 16.

    Kay

    It’s not just around terrorism, either:

    The police announced to a press hungry for sensational crime stories that the young men had been part of a gang of teenagers who were out “wilding,” assaulting joggers and bicyclists in Central Park that evening. The ensuing media frenzy was met with a public outcry for justice. The young men were tried as adults under New York laws of the day — and convicted, despite inconsistent and inaccurate confessions, DNA evidence that excluded them, and no eyewitness accounts that connected them to the victim.

  17. 17.

    Bulworth

    we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.”

    Kind of like the principal telling the kidz to behave themselves.

  19. 19.

    Nemo_N

    I wonder if the “it can’t be a white guy” mentality contributes to all the bad reports.

  20. 20.

    Jay in Oregon

    @Trentrunner:

    As someone tweeted, CNN should just run a yule log for a few weeks.

    Fire everyone, close the main office and replace it with a Build-A-Bear store; it’d be a more productive use of the space.

  23. 23.

    scav

    Can I just add I find the highlighted a gem of pointed underspeak.

    we ask the media, particularly at this early stage of the investigation, to exercise caution and attempt to verify information through appropriate official channels before reporting.”

  24. 24.

    peach flavored shampoo

    CNN cant take their dick out of their own ass without screwing something up. Why would we beleive such a shithead media outlet?

  25. 25.

    Ben Franklin

    Either CNN got punked by an angry source or he’s under arrest and they have other suspects they don’t want to spook. Some local Boston cop got his clock cleaned by his betters at the FBI for the leak.

    I think it was King who called it and I imagine he made sure his source was sure, before letting his ass hang out there. A little embarrassing.

  28. 28.

    reflectionephemeral

    Things is, for official developments (e.g., an arrest, or in another context, an athlete signing a contract), it really doesn’t matter much who gets it first.

    At least, not in a “providing a useful service” sense; I guess it’s worth a ton of extra clicks, and I guess that’s what matters.

    There are many times & places for reports from outside journalists rather than official announcements to get to the root of a story; that’s just not the case with this story right now.

  29. 29.

    Davis X. Machina

    There’s a fine line between stepping on your own dick, and using it instead of a treadmill. CNN crossed it a while ago.

  30. 30.

    nellcote

    It’s sort of impressive how fast “news” flows from right wing blogs to CNN. I think they broke their record today.

  32. 32.

    Chyron HR

    @Trentrunner:

    Oh, and CBS is reporting that the suspect is a “white male,” not “dark-skinned,” as CNN’s John King reported.

    They meant his skin was dark with GUILT. Metaphorical-like.

  33. 33.

    Alex S.

    @Dave:

    Yes, the possibility to politicize the shit out of this tragedy causes as much dread as giddiness, in some cases both emotions in the same people. For some reason, it’s worse than anything since 9/11.

  34. 34.

    Woodrowfan

    BBC also reported “dark skinned”

    Given the Time Square attempt it could well have been an Al-Quida(ish) attack or as the normal RW white racist nutbag. let’s wait and see.

  35. 35.

    Davis X. Machina

    @Alex S.:Casualty-wise, as a disaster, Monday was on a par with the 1919 Great Molasses Flood.

    Of course, we didn’t invade the West Indies after that one.

    But then we didn’t have cable television or think-tanks yet.

    Progress is a very mixed blessing.

  36. 36.

    RaflW

    CNN, which hasn’t exactly been covered in glory lately, is really turning to sh*t in this whole Boston situation.

    Never mind that Fox is far worse, with dangerous idiots like Steve “he must be guilty because they’re searching his appt” Doocy.

    At this point nearly all the networks are desperate to report something. Tough darts, police investigations don’t move at the pace of a 46 minute police procedural on TV. And they could be spending plenty of time on things like Mark Sanford being dumped by the GOP money-men because he may have been trespassing (stalking?) his ex wife’s place in February.

    That’s some juicy, right-up-cable-nooz alley stuff, right there.

  37. 37.

    Calouste

    @Woodrowfan:

    Any credibility the BBC had in their American reporting they lost years ago. It’s just CNN with a different accent these days.

  39. 39.

    Seanly

    CNN makes stupid blunder? It unpossible! More importantly though, Headline News is back to coverage of recapping reality TV shows and the Jodi Arias trial. We must carry on!

  41. 41.

    RaflW

    @Seanly: Headline News is back to coverage of recapping reality TV shows and the Jodi Arias trial. We must carry on!

    Good. They can’t do as much damage to the national psyche with that dreck.

  42. 42.

    ArchTeryx

    The entire media disaster around Boston once more, especially strongly, brings to mind a bit from that classic “Dirty Laundry”, by Don Henley, more relevant now then it was in the 80s:

    I make my living off the evening news
    Give me something – something I can use!
    People love it when you lose
    They love dirty laundry…

  43. 43.

    dmsilev

    Dumbest statement of the day award goes to Louie Gohmert (a frequent winner):

    Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX), one of the most conservative members of the House, said on Wednesday that Islamic terrorists were training members to pretend to be Latino in order to infiltrate the United States.

    I don’t know what to say. I just don’t.

  44. 44.

    Alex S.

    @Davis X. Machina:

    And I guess that people feel more comfortable to discuss bombs than guns because bombs are always bad and guns are always good, so Ft. Hood, Aurora, Virginia Tech etc… were not this kind of open battle because there’s a gun debate and for the media both sides do it! With bombs, you know that there was a bad man and you just look forward to blame the other side for it.

  45. 45.

    RaflW

    @Punchy: Copycat call-in bomb threats are not uncommon after something like Monday’s tragedy. There are damaged souls out there at the end of telephone lines/unlocked cellphones/twitter accounts.

  46. 46.

    Chris

    @peach flavored shampoo:

    CNN cant take their dick out of their own ass without screwing something up.

    “We apologize for the error in the news. The people responsible for the sacking of the people who have just been sacked have just been sacked.”
    /CNN on suspect-in-custody? controversy

  52. 52.

    Roger Moore

    @dmsilev:

    Dumbest statement of the day award goes to Louie Gohmert

    Don’t crown the champion until the race is over. There’s a good chance of somebody saying something even dumber before the end of the day. And, yes, there’s a reasonable chance that it will be Gohmert topping his own stupidity.

  53. 53.

    Violet

    @dmsilev: Hey! That’s what I predicted yesterday the wingnuts would say. Louie Gohmert is slow. In more ways than one obviously.

  55. 55.

    ericblair

    @dmsilev:

    I don’t know what to say. I just don’t.

    Vaya con Allah?

    Official response from CNN: We at CNN take our responsibility SQUIRREL!

  57. 57.

    Roger Moore

    @RaflW:

    Copycat call-in bomb threats are not uncommon after something like Monday’s tragedy

    Also, too, consider the case that there genuinely hasn’t been an arrest. In that case, there’s a known bomber out there, which makes this kind of threat especially credible. Blowing up a press conference about the bombing investigation would be a really spectacular follow-up attack.

  58. 58.

    Trollhattan

    The Globe also has Brigham and Women’s Hospital being evacuated (whatever that means).

    Many of the victims were taken there.

    ETA. Evidently a suspicious car. Evacuation has been lifted.

    I can understand the general jitteriness.

  59. 59.

    the Conster

    Holy shit what a fucking day to be in the middle of Boston. It’s like the epicenter of teh craaazzzeeeeee.

  60. 60.

    David Koch

    Bush lackey Fran Townsend was the source.

    Seriously, is there anything bushies can’t fuck up.

  61. 61.

    kindness

    It would be inappropriate to speculate that the FBI has been interrogating Senator Rand Paul and has shipped him off to Guantanamo Bay for further interrogation over the Boston bombings. So I won’t.

    But I would not be upset if Rand Paul were to suddenly find himself in a cell at Guantanamo. Except to suggest they should have taken Senator Cruz with him as well.

  63. 63.

    CorbinDallasMultipass

    @MomSense: I think the implication of that report is that because the AP leaked the report, the FBI is pissed because they think the bomb threat was called in by a sympathizer who wanted to disrupt the arrest/arraignment going on at the courthouse who wouldn’t have known without the leak. Or maybe there really is no arrest and a sympathizer called in with the false impression they were disrupting the arrest/arraignment.

    But that is just my super irresponsible speculation and who the fuck am i.

  66. 66.

    reflectionephemeral

    @Trollhattan: From what I’ve heard, the Brigham & Women’s evacuation is apparently unrelated; a driver who locked his keys inside the car was helped by a valet parking attendant noticed there were gas cans inside the car, and alerted security.

    But, I’m now walking away from news sources. This frenzy for info NOW really doesn’t help, so I guess I can stop hitting refresh at Boston.com.

  67. 67.

    OmerosPeanut

    The first thing I thought on reading that twitter post was “Speaking truth to power.” But then I wondered: is that ever applicable when it’s the FBI speaking? If not, this time deserves to be the exception.

  69. 69.

    Punchy

    ETA. Evidently a suspicious car.

    You’ve got to be shitting me. What the hell is a “suspicious car”? Too much rust? Illegal u-turn? Driving by a guy with a beard?

    This is out of fucking control.

  70. 70.

    Suffern ACE

    @dmsilev: Yeah, but they give themselves away quickly when they order hummus instead of black beans and make their pernil out of lamb instead of pork.

  71. 71.

    Anoniminous

    Source telling BSNS* the bomber is a gay Negro Martian from Islamicabad Uzarabiastan.

    You hear it first on BSNS.

    —————————————————————————

    * Bullshit News Service

  73. 73.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @David Koch:

    Seriously, is there anything bushies can’t fuck up.

    One car funerals are outside their area of competence. Stupid fuckers fuck up fucking, they’re so fucked up.

  75. 75.

    David Koch

    BREAKING NEWS

    CNN is reporting that the Supreme Court has overturned Obummercare!

    oh wait..

  76. 76.

    Schlemizel

    AMERICAN CABLE NEWS NETWORK!

    WE GET MISINFORMATION OUT TO YOU FIRST!

    Why wait for rumors, spin, lies and bullshit when we can dump that crap on you before them.

  78. 78.

    mclaren

    Oh, really. This is the same FBI that leaked all kinds of deliberately false allegations about Steven Hatfield, who was harassed and slandered and smeared by the FBI with countless leaks to the press to the point where he lost his job, his friends, his house, his life savings…?

    Hey, FBI assholes — what goes around, comes around. You deliberately leak false info about suspects to try to get ’em to confess, and you know what happens? Pretty soon, the press and the public get used to these kinds of “unofficial sources” claims, so everyone starts to believe anything that gets bruited about from “unofficial sources.”

    Hey, FBI assholes! Don’t like this kind of out-of-control paranoid rumor-mongering by the press? Then don’t fucking feed it with `unofficial sources’ leaks whenever you find it convenient to do so, you scumbag motherfuckers.

    I’m getting seriously sick and tired of the U.S. government doing things and then complaining and whining and whimpering and the American public starts doing the exact same things. Don’t like paranoia? Stop feeding it with this crazy post-9/11 police-state mentality?

    Want to conduct a sane rational forensic investigation of the latest terrorist bombing? Then stop treating terrorism as a military problem which requires America to kidnap foreigners and torture ’em, and demands that America invade other countries without evidence and without provocation, and necessitates sending American assassins all over the world to murder women and children, and requires that we use drones to murder thousands of innocent women and children in third world countries, all without any evidence or any criminal charges or any logical foundation other than fear and and out-of-control suspicion.

    If America (and the FBI) are serious about investigating these kinds of innocents as crimes, then America should treat these kinds of incidents as crimes. Shut down the post-9/11 paranoia factory, shutter the post-9/11 police state, end the DHS, and let the FBI investigate these kinds of crimes as crimes. When suspects are identified, arrest them, read them their rights, charge them and try them in a court of law. No kidnapping and shipping people to Gitmo for torture. No warrantless wiretapping. No sneak-and-peek warrants that violate the fourth amendment.

    You can’t have it both ways, people. If you want a reasonable sensible process of police investigation, you’ve got to have the rule of law. Courts. Trials. Charges. You’ve got the obey the constitution.

    If you want to make an end run around the constitution, then you can fucking forget about police investigations, because the whole thing will rapidly turn into a crazy witch hunt, with innocent people fingered as guilty, botched evidence, tortured confessions, and such a crappy case you can’t take it to trial because your “evidence” consists of crap like NSA warrantless wiretaps and statements from people kidnapped and sent to foreign countries for waterboarding.

  80. 80.

    MCA1

    Can the FBI issue a similar note to the internet and all its denizens, asking us to stop sleuthing on our own and posting pictures of some guy with a backpack that may or may not have straps that look something like an object in a picture that supposedly was a police photo of a detonated bomb? Before we go all pitchforks on this guy and his name’s all over twitterdom after somone who totally knew that dude in high school, he was a total dick! puts it out there in public?

    Could be worded shortly enough: “Back the fuck off, amateurs. We have all the pictures, too.”

  82. 82.

    Jeremy

    @mclaren: Mclaren you need to take that up with Congress because they approved all of those things. Also DHS is not going anywhere because government agencies once created rarely never go away. Same thing happened in some European countries where they have heavy security after terrorist attacks.

  84. 84.

    Gian

    If they have a good photo and have refrained from releasing the suspect photo I surmise they don’t need to ask for the public to help them figure out just who is in the picture . Yet. So they have leads. If the bombs were triggered by cell phone and the phone companies can source the phone based on time and rough triangulation of the signal even if it was cash prepaid i bet they can find the store it came from and when sold.

  86. 86.

    RareSanity

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Cole’s post “Something Else to Think About” is in the top five on the front page of reddit.

    Expect some tough sledding for the next hour or two.

  87. 87.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Until I hear otherwise, I’m of the opinion that Dick Cheney is behind the Boston Massacrethon. I just can’t imagine any one else having that capacity for evil.

  90. 90.

    nellcote

    @Punchy:

    You’ve got to be shitting me. What the hell is a “suspicious car”?

    Gas cans in the back seat of a car parked in the hospital parking lot.

  91. 91.

    Just Some Fuckhead

    Every time we update this piece of shit blog, it gets worse. John, can we just go back to the AOL forums where it all started, when me and you and your mom would play word games and laugh about the Pirates while you brushed kitty?

  93. 93.

    patroclus

    @Jeremy: Yeah, I just went down to the Works Progress Administration to check on my Reconstruction Finance Corporation loan which was for a Civilian Conservation Corps project in conjunction with a National Youth Administration grant because my AFDC payment was too low and instead I got confused and went to the Interstate Commerce Commission/Civil Aeronautics Board building which was temporarily being used by the Public Works Commission and the Resolution Trust Corporation because the Federal Home Loan Bank Board had moved to the Office of Thrift Supervision building. Good point!

  94. 94.

    gnomedad

    Andy Borowitz:
    “Authorities who have spent the past forty-eight hours combing CNN in the hopes of finding any information whatsoever have called off their search, they confirmed today.”

  98. 98.

    David Koch

    Background checks defeated in senate.

    online progressive always say you can pass any legislation if you use the Bully Pulpit.

    Obama used the bully pulpit and 90% of the country supported him and it still lost.

    Well, what are you going to say now about the mystical Bully Pulpit?

  99. 99.

    mclaren

    @Jeremy:

    The classic fallacy of the cherry-picked argument. Show me the evidence that congress ever required the FBI to conduct its investigations by unofficially leaking rumors to the press in order to pressure suspects.

    Steven Hatfill. Richard Jewell. Wen Ho Lee. The list goes on…and on…and on.

    Congress has nothing to do with the irresponsible grossly illegal behavior of the FBI in leaking “unofficial sources” whenever it’s to the FBI’s perceived advantage to do so.

    If the FBI doesn’t like a firestorm of out-of-control rumors in the press, then the FBI can damn well stop its grossly illegal practice of leaking rumors from “unofficial sources” whenever it feels like it.

    I have zero sympathy the FBI. Sow the wind, reap the whirlwind, assholes.

  100. 100.

    nellcote

    Butthurtness from anonymous teevee exec to Politico:

    “While it’s a shame that credible “old media” organizations can blow something as big as this, it’s equally a shame that the twitterverse, blogosphere, etc, feels the need to dance on their graves.

    The snark on Twitter has reached new heights… it’s not about getting to the truth or serving the public good, it’s about who can make the wittiest joke to impress their friends. This is an important story for the nation, and reporters from organizations new and old are trying to cover it. People make mistakes.

    But, the Fourth Estate, flawed though it is, was set-up to be a watchdog for the Republic. Is there now a Fifth Estate — the social media universe that purports to be keeping an eye on the Fourth estate but really is just looking out for themselves?”

  102. 102.

    askew

    @David Koch:

    They’ll say his chained-CPI was such a betrayal to progressive ideals that the base of the party abandoned Obama and he didn’t have the support to get background checks done. For emoprogs, there is always a way to blame Obama 100% for the rest of government’s failure.

  103. 103.

    jl

    @nellcote:

    ‘ While it’s a shame that credible “old media” organizations can blow something as big as this ‘

    How has CNN ever been an old media organization, with or without scare quotes?

    And nowadays, is CNN even an organization? Not that I can see, other than the marketing department and deranged exec suits spinning it desperately this way and that?

  104. 104.

    Dolly Llama

    Wanted to try and post something before the site collapses. Talk to you all whenever I see you again.

  106. 106.

    dance around in your bones

    Three times since the server upgrade the site has gone down and now it is as slow as molasses. I are confused. {{{obligatory bitchfest}}}

  107. 107.

    dance around in your bones

    Three times since the server upgrade the site has gone down and now it is as slow as molasses. I are confused. {{{obligatory bitchfest}}}

    eta: then I got a timeout. WTF? over.

  110. 110.

    David Koch

    @Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism: right. and all power of his statements and the mystic bully pulpit makes the high information voter feel good, and for some, it even creates a tingle moving up their leg, but in the end it’s empty for it doesn’t translate into results not even when watered-down bipartisan bills are involved.

  113. 113.

    beltane

    @David Koch: It does make a difference if we look at this defeat as the beginning of a larger war. If this is it, and we sit around waiting for the next inevitable massacre, then yeah, it was all for nothing.

  114. 114.

    JPL

    CNN is saying that a man with a gun was arrested on Capitol grounds this afternoon. really

  118. 118.

    pat

    Harry Reid switched his vote to NO so it can be brought up again. Don’t ask me how this works, but that’s what I read somewhere.

  119. 119.

    Groucho48

    @David Koch:

    I made that point a week or so ago in a thread on gun control stuff. Someone else commented that the Obama-blamers will still find a way to put it all on Obama. Sure enough. USA Today:

    http://www.azcentral.com/news/politics/free/20130417obama-gun-control-weight-office.html

    Basically,the article is…well, yeah, Obama used the bully pulpit, but, he let Biden do the heavy lifting in Congress. We can only speculate what would have happened if he had personally intervened.

  124. 124.

    Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism

    @David Koch: For once, the speech was scheduled to interrupt the evening news.

    OTOH, the local news reported that the bill was defeated by a majority of the Senate voting against it and had a handy quote by Burr *hackspit*

  125. 125.

    PeakVT

    @Comrade Luke: That’s most likely due to Senate procedures. If the Majority Leader votes against a bill, he retains the right to re-animate it at some point in the future.

  126. 126.

    MaryJane

    Heidi Heitkamp wont’ even be up for re-election til 2018.
    She’s a cowardly cunt.

  127. 127.

    Tonal Crow

    Of this phenomenon, Bobo says:

    The breakdown of bipartisan comity in Washington has enabled media on both sides of the political spectrum to engage in conspiracy mongering. From the liberal media’s fixation on “proving” that George W. Bush “lied” us into Iraq, that guns autonomously kill people, and that abortion is a “right”, to conservative outlets’ proclaiming that Pres. Clinton murdered Vince Foster, that breakdown has had serious consequences.

  128. 128.

    dance around in your bones

    @Trollhattan:

    A prophecy fulfilled; for it is written in the Book of Tunch:

    “Verily I say unto thee, that this night, before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me [service] thrice.”

    Heh, funny. Would 30 pieces of silver solve it? Oh wait, that was before those words were spoken.

    But really, hasn’t the site gone wonky a bit since the server upgrade? I shudder to think what the site upgrade will do. Bet the cool little striped pants guy with the cane and megaphone will be nowhere to be seen, anyway.

    :::sobs:::

  129. 129.

    danimal

    I used to like and respect CNN.

    Now I flip past Piers Morgan like he is a carrier of a deadly disease.

    What a shame.

  131. 131.

    Tonal Crow

    Aaaaand in today’s installment of “if we outlaw guns, people’ll just kill each other with hubcaps”:

    http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/suburbs/des_plaines/chi-retired-cop-drops-gun-shoots-self-at-des-plaines-school-20130416,0,6741199.story

    A retired police officer accidentally hubcapped himself when he dropped his 1957 Rocketship Chevy hubcap inside a Des Plaines, Ill., school while attending his grandson’s Boy Scout troop meeting. The man was carrying his licensed, loaded hubcap inside a fanny pack Monday evening at Iroquois School, and when he dropped the pack the hubcap went off and a hubcap projectile struck him in the leg. The man was hospitalized. Police did not file charges because no laws were broken. “Of course, the district does not condone bringing hubcaps on school grounds,” said the school’s principal, Michael Amadei.

  132. 132.

    Roger Moore

    @pat:

    Harry Reid switched his vote to NO so it can be brought up again. Don’t ask me how this works, but that’s what I read somewhere.

    AFAIK, only somebody who voted for the winning side of a measure can move to reconsider it later. This is a reasonable parliamentary rule intended to prevent opponents of a bill from endlessly demanding it be reconsidered as a stalling tactic. In practice, though, Senators can change their votes after the outcome is clear, so somebody who wants to bring it up later after it’s been voted down can change from yes to no, be on the winning side, and keep the right to move to reconsider.

  136. 136.

    David Koch

    @Groucho48: that’s the Beltway media version of the Bully Pulpit. Their retarded version is if Obummer only had Inhofe over for a super bowl party and a barbeque, he’d vote for climate change legislation.

  137. 137.

    Tonal Crow

    @Suffern ACE:

    @Tonal Crow: wow. It’s as if the conservatives stopped conspiracy weaving 20 years ago.

    I see that my Bobo trolling is well-tuned, but needs some updating. I made up that load of GOP on the fly.

  138. 138.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @Kay: Mob justice is not justice. When bad things happen we’re often thirsty for blood, but Richard Jewelling/central park fiving people is immoral and unforgivable.

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