Don't think i've ever read an AP lead like this http://t.co/khFdPDqYFh pic.twitter.com/S19Z0DD0RK
— Sam Stein (@samsteinhp) October 9, 2013
@darth @existentialfish @NickBaumann Hopefully the part where they draw and quarter him.
— billmon (@billmon1) October 9, 2013
*poster* RT @existentialfish: Phil Gingrey: Debt Limit Fight Chance For 'Braveheart' Moment http://t.co/SVYwBBT27Y http://t.co/zWTswYWmjx
— darthredpandacare™ (@darth) October 9, 2013
.
Somebody needs to tell the GOP that neither Monty Python nor Mel Gibson make documentaries.
It’d be funnier, if these maroons weren’t trying to take us all down with them…
Elizabelle
It’s bad when your U.S. Congress is passing for ComicCon.
Chyron HR
I think of the GOP as being more like that one Mel Gibson character who drove around fighting a personal war against the evil scheming mutants who destroyed society.
cmorenc
These GOP politicians proclaiming that the consequences of a government default wouldn’t be that bad should be willing to follow their own advice and default on their mortgages, credit-card payments, and business loans. The consequences indeed wouldn’t be all that bad for awhile, until the bank cancels all their credit cards, begins to foreclose on their mortgages, and their business can’t get any further loans to smooth over cash-flow/inventory ups and downs. Well, they can try to renegotiate their mortgages with their banks while in default…after all, that’s worked SO well for SO many people upside-down on their mortgages to Bank of America, now hasn’t it?
? Martin
Nothing to see here…
Obviously the veterinarian from Florida has a better handle on how our financial markets work than the guys that manage half a trillion dollars in mutual funds, because freedom.
IowaOldLady
It also amazes me that they claim paying some bills and not others wouldn’t be default. Seriously, to have good credit, you have to pay ALL your bills. Otherwise, everyone is going to assume that they’re next on the do-not-pay list.
Hill Dweller
I see the wingnuts are changing demands mid-shutdown today. They’ve replaced the defund Obamacare demand with some vague gibberish about debt and spending. If the consequences weren’t so dire, I’d find these clowns ineptitude hilarious.
Furthermore, despite the obviousness of the wingnuts’ scheme to shut down the government in hopes of extorting policy concessions unavailable using normal legislative means, way too many of the sociopaths in the Village are still claiming it is fault of both sides or worse, it’s Obama’s fault. These idiots deserve every bit as much scorn as the Republicans. Their years of enabling is a large part of the reason wingnuts don’t fear pulling this sort of shit.
Hal
Being anti-science isn’t just a lack of belief in evolution or climate change. It’s a disbelief in mathematics, economics, medicine, and a massive belief in things like conspiracy theories and Satan walking the earth in human form, just waiting to engage in some voter fraud. These are the people the teatards sent to Congress. They are folks who want to blow society back to the stone age any way they can.
Trinity
Per TPM : Fidelity Sells Off Its U.S. Government Debt
And awaaaaaaaay we go!
Bill E Pilgrim
On the contrary, I’ve often said that all you have to do is step off the train in London to realize that Monty Python was a documentary. I say this with affection, and say it to my UK friends all the time. I was just there in fact, and it was no less true.
NonyNony
@Hill Dweller:
Ah – the strategic retreat combined with a rewriting of history has begun. By the end of the week the shutdown will ALWAYS have been about “government debt” and not about Obamacare at all. And they will probably try to convince their base that “getting” the Dems to agree to a continuing resolution to keep funding at sequester levels shows that their strategy of shutting down the government in exchange for concessions was totally the right thing to do. Because they got what they wanted. Which, of course, was always to keep funding at sequester levels. And had nothing to do with Obamacare at all.
Just wait – by 2016 they will be convincing the base that the Affordable Care Act that went into effect on October 1, 2013 was, in fact, the thing they replaced “Obamacare” with after they successfully repealed it. Because “repeal and replace” was totally their strategy all along, and obviously they were successful at it. Now gimme money and your votes.
Villago Delenda Est
I concur.
Draw and quarter the teatard shitstain.
Roger Moore
@Chyron HR:
Aren’t the GOP the evil, scheming mutants? It seems much more in character.
dmsilev
@NonyNony: There are some on Planet Wingnut who see this happening and are very very sad. Because they very very much hate Obamacare and very very much want the world to know that.
Tone in DC
@Hill Dweller:
Sad, but true.
A few of these M$M empty suits are coming around, belatedly.
Roger Moore
@IowaOldLady:
Josh Marshall has a pretty good rundown on why there is no magic bullet solution to hitting the debt ceiling. What it boils down it is that what really matters is whether people who want to buy treasuries (or otherwise deal with the US government) have confidence that they’ll be paid. A solution may be completely legal and technically deal with the problem but still be a failure if it spooks people and drives up rates on our debt.
Roger Moore
@NonyNony:
I’m not so sure about that. I would give fairly good odds that their story will change again by Friday.
Mike E
@Bill E Pilgrim: And, wrt Andy Murray, prescient.
burnspbesq
Since this is an open thread …
Jason Isbell almost certainly won’t win the Grammy for Song of the Year, but he should.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClugMhMbrRg
Hill Dweller
@Roger Moore:
President Obama made the exact same point yesterday. Default, or anything close to it, will cost us much more in the long run than raising the debt ceiling by normal means.
This is obvious to a thinking person; which precludes the majority of the Republican party.
schrodinger's cat
@cmorenc: Fidelity money managers seem to be agreeing with me that the risk free rate is no longer risk free.
Shana
@Bill E Pilgrim: On a related note: Fran Leibowitz once said “Rome is a very loony city in every respect. One needs but spend an hour or two there to realize that Fellini makes documentaries.”
LanceThruster
burnspbesq
@LanceThruster:
Villago: Do I get to kill Republicans?
Obama: All you want.
Villago: EXCELLENT!
Flukebucket
That poor, poor fucker. Hopelessly stuck in that $172,000 a year job that he keeps running for. Who will save him from such selfless sacrifice?
hoodie
@Hill Dweller: The “anything close to it” part is something that hasn’t been emphasized enough. People are already doubting our political stability, that we can be manipulated by a bunch of crazy assholes like these. One thing I haven’t heard much talk about is that there would also be a permanent risk premium attached to Obama caving to the GOP, because it normalizes the idea that the credit of the US can be held hostage using the debt ceiling law, irrespective of which party controls which branch of government. These assholes have already increased instability with the indiscriminate use of the filibuster. The debt ceiling gambit is one step further on the road to a banana republic.
Villago Delenda Est
@burnspbesq:
I’m in good company. Billmon no doubt would join me.
Fascists were put on Earth by FSM to be disposed of.
LanceThruster
@burnspbesq:
xD
burnspbesq
@Villago Delenda Est:
On balance, I prefer capture and enslavement, but it’s a close call.
Uncle Cosmo
1. billmon FTW!
2. If the GOP is so concerned about “saving face” there is a simple solution to their problem: Ask for something that Democrats want. Then Obama can cave & we can all go home. (Snickering.)
nellcote
in that first AP article:
Targeting? they still refuse to get that story correct.
burnspbesq
@nellcote:
I’ve known Sarah since the mid-90s. I can absolutely imagine her going along with the gag.
She is a highly competent lawyer AND a highly competent administrator.
Mike G
It also amazes me that they claim paying some bills and not others wouldn’t be default.
These are the simpletons who always say the government needs to balance its budget “like a household”. So are they now encouraging American households to default on their debts? Are they no longer morally condemning individuals who recklessly choose not to pay their bills?
Robert Paehlke
My suspicion is that perhaps someone might be using the reduced attention of inspectors during the closure to put some of the ‘not-so-perfect’ items in the freezer on the market.