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Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

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Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

After roe, women are no longer free.

“And when the Committee says to “report your income,” that could mean anything!

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

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

In my day, never was longer.

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

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

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

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Cruz Control

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Thank goodness for Kthug:

No, this story is all about the G.O.P. First came the southern strategy, in which the Republican elite cynically exploited racial backlash to promote economic goals, mainly low taxes for rich people and deregulation. Over time, this gradually morphed into what we might call the crazy strategy, in which the elite turned to exploiting the paranoia that has always been a factor in American politics — Hillary killed Vince Foster! Obama was born in Kenya! Death panels! — to promote the same goals.

But now we’re in a third stage, where the elite has lost control of the Frankenstein-like monster it created.

So now we get to witness the hilarious spectacle of Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal, pleading with Republicans to recognize the reality that Obamacare can’t be defunded. Why hilarious? Because Mr. Rove and his colleagues have spent decades trying to ensure that the Republican base lives in an alternate reality defined by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Can we say “hoist with their own petard”?

Of course, the coming confrontations are likely to damage America as a whole, not just the Republican brand. But, you know, this political moment of truth was going to happen sooner or later. We might as well have it now.

Yep.

Reader Interactions

67Comments

  1. 1.

    WereBear

    But, you know, this political moment of truth was going to happen sooner or later. We might as well have it now.

    I’d rather have it now than later!

    Since we missed “sooner” several curves back…

  3. 3.

    scav

    Whatever is in the water, it’s catching. The ping-pongs in this little sideshow are charmingly loony. UKIP’s Bloom Loses Party Support Over Slut Remark. For some reason, I’m most caught by the PR smooth-moveness of smacking a reporter with a conference brochure topped by UKIP accusations of racism. Seems to be a death struggle over the spotlight, but all very muddled. Guard liveblog on conference. Cleaning fridges at the very beating heart of political matter. Hellufa outreach program they got going there.

  4. 4.

    clone12

    @clone12:

    “Meanwhile the poll finds that despite majority opposition, only 27 percent support shutting down major parts of the government to stall implementation.”

  5. 5.

    Elizabelle

    An ugly photo in today’s NYTimes:

    John Boehner and a crowd of well dressed, exclusively white people — GOP congresscritters all — standing behind a podium that says #SenateMustAct.

    To defund healthcare reform for the rest of us, in the midst of continued slow recovery from the Great Recession.

    Ugly bastards. Cantorweasel is there with them, to the right.

    If I had Betty Cracker’s mad photoshop skillz, I would insert Joe McCarthy and KKK members and everyone else who stands for the GOP’s creed these days.

  7. 7.

    Violet

    Are Medicare benefits and Social Security payments going to stop? That’s about the only way I can see to get the attention of the largest demographic of Republican voters.

  8. 8.

    Violet

    @Elizabelle: That’s an odd photo. The people to the left of the podium look very tiny. They all look like they’d need something to stand on if they were at that podium.

  10. 10.

    scav

    @scav: Oh please, the coming headlines, UKIP’s whip loses its Bloom over sluts and smacking . . . and theirs will be better as it’s their job. . . can’t wait.

  11. 11.

    shortstop

    Don’t wanna be Nancy Negative, but this will have no effect on either their behavior or the way they’re perceived. Twenty-seven percent are cheering it on; another quarter is shrugging and making excuses for it. The other half of the country is powerless to stop it. There’s no moment of truth, only moments that make you go urrggggh.

    Ima look at scav’s links for entertainment after that little shower of pessimism.

  12. 12.

    feebog

    Nailed It! Going to be gone all weekend, starting about now so ya’all play nice and I’ll catch up witcha Sunday evening.

  13. 13.

    gbear

    So now we get to witness the hilarious spectacle of Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal, pleading with Republicans to recognize the reality that Obamacare can’t be defunded. Why hilarious?

    It’s not hilarious. It’s not hilarious at all. Krugman can laugh because he can afford to ride this out, but if congress fucks things up, half the people in this country are going to go over the cliff, and no one in congress who’s willing to do this is going to have to pay a thing for doing it. This is completely sick.

  17. 17.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    The Rethugs will be very careful to make sure only “those people” are affected, not the teatard cretins that are their base.

  18. 18.

    cokane

    It’s even worse than Krugman writes. I cannot imagine a major political party continuing to exist as a competitive party in any Western democracy that engages in these saboteur tactics. Only in America could a party be so incompetent and crazy yet still get rewarded. And they will get rewarded in 2014, sad to say.

  21. 21.

    RoonieRoo

    @Violet: Also, if you listen to any of the press conferences/statement being given by the GOP, they are all stating loudly that OBAMA is going to shutdown the government. So those that will lose their SS/Medicare payments that are Teaparty will firmly believe that Obama caused the shutdown.

    There is no loss for the GOP on this at all.

  22. 22.

    srv

    @WereBear:

    I’d rather have it now than later!

    All these Obots now going nihilist. Funny how it’s so fashionably hip now, but the DFH’s were crazy back in 2009 when it would have mattered.

  23. 23.

    e.a.f.

    defunding “Obamacare” simply isn’t going to work. Once people have had the opportunity to benefit from it, going back simply won’t happen. It is like that saying they had after WW I, “How are you going to keep them down on the farm, after they’ve seen Paris?”

    The Republicans might want something else to hang their hat on. come election time, you just need one or two people to get out there and say their kids lives were saved because they had “Obamacare”.

    Now if those idiot Republicans can get over their wanting to “defund” food stamps, life could continue as in a normal country. There is a picture in 1951, Life, showing a woman with her child in the southern U.S.A., who starved to death. If it happens again, the Republicans will “wear” it to the end of time.

    Other G 8 countries have social safety nets. They may not work all the time, but they do try. If the Republicans want to “defund” food stamps, they are taking the U.S.A. into a new category of countries. Syria kills children with chemical weapons. The U.S.A. kills its children, by starvation. Nice slogan for someone to use.

  24. 24.

    gbear

    Who was the lone republican who voted against the house bill? Was s/he a lone voice of sanity or did they vote against it because there weren’t enough cuts to satisfy them?

  25. 25.

    Violet

    @RoonieRoo: That’s what I think. I think Republican voters will think Obama shut down the government because he’s a petulant child who refuses to listen to reason and defund Obamacare. That’s how they’re selling it and that’s what their voters will believe.

    I have heard contrasting statements on local news and on NPR while I was in the car, so I know they’re out there. I am not sure how well they’ll get through. The interviewer on NPR said the Republicans want Obama to defund his signature legislation and asked the guest political expert how likely it was that this would happen. The guest just laughed and said something like “zero chance.”

  26. 26.

    beltane

    @e.a.f.: Mass hunger tends to create social instability. Desperate people will do desperate things, and these desperate things will be easier to achieve to the easy availability of firearms in this country.

  27. 27.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    Jesus fucking Christ on a pogo stick. So the GOP fantasy budget the House just passed is only funding until December??? What a useless pack of fuckers.

  28. 28.

    Judge Crater

    This whole circus is the political equivalent of Clinton’s impeachment. The right-wing crackpots would, of course, prefer the drama and moralistic bombast of an impeachment process, but this will have to suffice.

    Since the advent of Gingrich, no Democratic administration or movement has been “legitimate”. Yes, they won the election but that is merely symbolic. The laws they pass can be defunded, the elected politicians (Clinton) can be forced out, etc.

    They don’t give a rat’s ass about government or governing. Monkey-wrenching is all they know.

  29. 29.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Judge Crater:

    Since the advent of Gingrich, no Democratic administration or movement has been “legitimate”.

    This has been true since the reign of Ronaldus Magnus, greatest President evah, according to the howling monkeys of the right.

    Shitty grade Z movie star, greatest President evah!

  32. 32.

    Chris

    So now we get to witness the hilarious spectacle of Karl Rove in The Wall Street Journal, pleading with Republicans to recognize the reality that Obamacare can’t be defunded. Why hilarious? Because Mr. Rove and his colleagues have spent decades trying to ensure that the Republican base lives in an alternate reality defined by Rush Limbaugh and Fox News. Can we say “hoist with their own petard”?

    Actually, what really makes that hilarious is to read it in light of Karl Rove’s “We create our own reality!” speech. Karl Rove has just rediscovered that just because you create something doesn’t mean you can control it, something most of us learned when we were children watching Jurassic Park. Ah well.

  33. 33.

    LanceThruster

    At least when Caligula had Incitatus installed as consul, it was the entire horse, and not just the hindquarters.

    I truly hope the GOP continues towards the cliff at full gallop.

    “Will no one rid us of these turbulent pests?”

  36. 36.

    azlib

    We can blame the idiotic Hastert Rule for all of this. It is clear a majority of the majority in the House want this or are too scared of a challenge from the right in the next primary. Koch money egging these idiots on or more likely scaring the so called “moderates” in the Republican Caucus adds to problem.

    A shutdown will not be pretty, but it may be the best thing to create enought chaos and pain for the American people to wake up. The Republicans will be blamed for this disaster. They got the blame in 1995-1996 the last time this happened. Ironically, one of the issues back then was the Republican effort to cut Medicare funding among other things. Clinton vetoed the appropriations bill passed by the Republican Congress.

  38. 38.

    Shakezula

    Of course, the coming confrontations are likely to damage America as a whole, not just the Republican brand.

    Color me not concerned. Look at what eight years Bush got us and what a continued lack of confrontation would get us and tell me that wouldn’t be a much bigger disaster.

  39. 39.

    Anna in PDX

    @clone12: Wow. That number, it just keeps coming up. I am trying to convince myself this is just confirmation bias, or the Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy, or something, but it is starting to seem altogether uncanny.

  43. 43.

    beltane

    @Shakezula: What’s bad for the Republican brand is what’s good for America. It’s about time that blame for this country’s problems be placed on the shoulders of the Republican party and on the supporters of the Republican party.

  44. 44.

    Anna in PDX

    @srv: I actually don’t think reacting to nihilism with a “knock yourself out jackass” is the same as “going nihilist” but YMMV.

  45. 45.

    Roger Moore

    @Violet:

    That’s an odd photo. The people to the left of the podium look very tiny.

    It’s taken with a wide angle lens from quite close to the podium. That type of shot exaggerates near-far relationships, making things close to the camera (like Boehner) look big relative to things further away (the people behind him). It also distorts the things closest to the edge of the frame; take a look at Cantor’s face, for instance.

  47. 47.

    Violet

    @Roger Moore:

    take a look at Cantor’s face

    I’d rather not. Can’t take that much weasel at one time. But thanks for the explanation. I figured it had to do with the lens, but wasn’t sure how. It really does look odd. The podium and hashtag look really huge and tall, while the people on the left look shrunken. It is the kind of photo that doesn’t give me any confidence in the group, irrespective of what they’re saying.

  50. 50.

    Redshirt

    The Civil War rages on. If only we had handled Reconstruction in a different manner – imagine where we’d be today?

    Not still fighting the Civil War, I bet.

  53. 53.

    Violet

    Lindsey Graham just tweeted that he now supports the House bill to defund Obamacare. Link. Feeling a little re-election pressure, maybe?

  54. 54.

    burnspbesq

    @Violet:

    Can’t take that much weasel at one time.

    It’s a shame we can’t get rid of Cantor by dropping him into a barrel of Dip.

  55. 55.

    shelly

    “defunding “Obamacare” simply isn’t going to work. Once people have had the opportunity to benefit from it”
    **********

    I think that’s why we seeing this near-hysteria from the Congressional Tea partiers. Oct.1 st is coming fast and once people really start to experience it…
    So the mad scramble to Defund! or Delay a year! Why can’t we just delay it a year?!

  58. 58.

    Bobby Thomson

    Of course, the coming confrontations are likely to damage America as a whole, not just the Republican brand.

    IFTFY. Bothsidesdoit, IOKIYAR, wash and repeat.

  60. 60.

    Bobby Thomson

    @gbear:

    It’s not hilarious. It’s not hilarious at all. Krugman can laugh because he can afford to ride this out, but if congress fucks things up, half the people in this country are going to go over the cliff, and no one in congress who’s willing to do this is going to have to pay a thing for doing it. This is completely sick.

    This.

  61. 61.

    TAPX486

    @gbear: I think there was a bit of the snarky in the use of ‘hilarious’.

    What is depressing and mysterious is that so many of these programs benefit residents of red states and Obamacare will do the same. They continue to vote for politicians that are happy to cut the noses off the faces of the voter in order to make the 1% happy.

  62. 62.

    Keith G

    @TAPX486: Yeah that was a sarcastic ‘hilarious’. As far as…

    …half the people in this country are going to go over the cliff….

    …goes many of those folks are already in the ditch (to change your metaphor) and many more are joining them every week. I think the only rational choice we have for improvement is to confront this toxic ideology on its own terms and finally have it out. There is no bargain. To relent now only sets up the next crisis.

    This is like October 1961. If Obama is believed to be steadfast, I feel they will back down: but we must be willing to go all the way to make it likely that we won’t.

    That’s brinksmanship.

  63. 63.

    moderateindy

    I think this is an instance where, as the gov’t shutdown/ debt limit showdown gets close, Obama, himself, needs to take to his bully pulpit and really get harsh with the Repubs. I think the messaging for this needs to come from the highest level in order for it to gain the most attention He needs to call them out, and take the chance to knock down some of the lies. He can’t be “nice” politically, and instead needs to straight out state that because the Republican party can’t overturn legislation that was passed by the Congress, and declared constitutional by the Supreme court, (the way all laws are passed or changed), that they are willing to ruin the economy to get their way. He also needs to actually point out that independent sources like the CBO say that ACA will reduce the deficit, and not add to it, and if the Republicans are saying something else that they either don’t know what they’re talking about, or are actually lying to the people. I know pols don’t like being that blunt, since the message can be lost because the media will focus on the style of how the message was delivered, and not the actual substance, but I think this is a rare instance where this kind of bluntness, coming from the President, would work.

  65. 65.

    Scott Alloway

    @Keith G: Would that be October, 1962, when we watched the subs stream down the Thames River in New London/Groton? As 12 year-olds, with classmates’ dads on those boats, we knew real shit was up.

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