Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

You can’t love your country only when you win.

“More of this”, i said to the dog.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Consistently wrong since 2002

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

Tick tock motherfuckers!

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

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

Let there be snark.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

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

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

Accountability, motherfuckers.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Open Thread: Panoramic, Wide-Screen Fantasies

Open Thread: Panoramic, Wide-Screen Fantasies

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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…

Reader Interactions

33Comments

  3. 3.

    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?

  4. 4.

    ? Martin

    Nothing to see here…

    Portfolio managers at Fidelity Investments have been selling off their government debt holdings over the last couple of weeks, said Nancy Prior, president of Fidelity’s Money Market Group. While Fidelity expects the debt ceiling issue to be resolved, the Boston-based asset manager said it is taking steps to protect investors.

    Prior said that Fidelity no longer holds any U.S. debt that comes due in late October or early November, the window considered by many investors to be the most exposed if the government runs out of money and defaults on its obligations.

    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.

  5. 5.

    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.

  6. 6.

    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.

  7. 7.

    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.

  9. 9.

    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.

  10. 10.

    NonyNony

    @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

    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.

  12. 12.

    Roger Moore

    @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.

    Aren’t the GOP the evil, scheming mutants? It seems much more in character.

  13. 13.

    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.

  14. 14.

    Tone in DC

    @Hill Dweller:

    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.

    Sad, but true.

    A few of these M$M empty suits are coming around, belatedly.

  15. 15.

    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.

  16. 16.

    Roger Moore

    @NonyNony:

    By the end of the week the shutdown will ALWAYS have been about “government debt” and not about Obamacare at all.

    I’m not so sure about that. I would give fairly good odds that their story will change again by Friday.

  19. 19.

    Hill Dweller

    @Roger Moore:

    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.

    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.

  21. 21.

    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.”

  22. 22.

    LanceThruster

    [At Sterling, when arrows rain down on the Scots.]

    Stephen: The Almighty tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he’s pretty sure you’re fucked.

  25. 25.

    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.

  29. 29.

    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.)

  30. 30.

    nellcote

    in that first AP article:

    Some GOP lawmakers have been hammering Ingram for months because she once headed the IRS division that targeted conservative political groups for extra scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. Hall said she left to run the agency’s health care office in 2010, about six months before a top deputy learned about the targeting.

    Targeting? they still refuse to get that story correct.

  31. 31.

    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.

  32. 32.

    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?

  33. 33.

    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.

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