@ThePlumLineGS I'd take that deal. But only if I got to carve the Gadsden snake logo into Ted Cruz's forehead.
— billmon (@billmon1) October 15, 2013
.
According to the Washington Post Shutdownpocalypse liveblog, it looks like the Heritage Foundation has decided to call in its markers and show the rest of us exactly how many Repub Reps it owns, body and whatever-passes-for-a-soul. The Post is also talking about threats of a national downgrade by the credit rating agencies and the possibility that Social Security checks might not go out, so they’re not fans.
Meanwhile, Alex Pareene’s evisceration of the latest “centrist nation” #brandyammer is hilarious:
Esquire, a magazine about fancy clothes and ordering drinks like an asshole, has teamed up with NBC News to poll a bunch of soft-liberal white voters. They discovered that those voters exist, they’re white, and they’re a bit liberal. This proves that the country is not divided. You can’t argue with all these charts and graphs! Even when the charts and graphs don’t prove anything, let alone what the words introducing them claim…
But let’s look at this “Center” more closely in terms of actual policy, to see whether this “Center” looks like the imagined “Center” of a Sunday show panel guest. This “Center” has dumb beliefs about “government spending” and a “balanced budget” because those issues are generally explained poorly and constantly lied about, but it is well to the left of the Washington consensus on specific economic issues. This “political center,” which is, again, primarily (but not entirely) a soft-Democratic white plurality, supports raising the minimum wage, hiking taxes on millionaires (59 percent support!) and taxing carbon emissions (yes, a carbon tax polled well in a survey of “the Center”), and financial regulation. We’re definitely still a center-right nation as long as you only pay attention to vague beliefs about the importance of balancing the budget and ignore the strong national desire to soak the rich…
Jim, Foolish Literalist
the Lite Guv of Texas has called for Obama’s impeachment. I think he’s the highest ranking actual eleced official, assuming a Lite Guv ourtanks a backbench ‘critter.
gbear
Open thread type question: I just tried to get onto Steve Benen’s site (Maddowblog) and was told I had to be registered and log in. Was there any advance notice about this? Is anyone else getting shut out? Pisses me off because he was one of the best quick-stops for finding out what is happening in DC.
BGinCHI
Garbage in, garbage out.
Chuck Todd was trolling out that stupid fucking poll today, which is, I think, meant to show that people hold a lot of different ideas, many of them stupid and ill-informed.
Oddly, he didn’t have any comment about whether “political analysts” like himself bear any responsibility for the low info voter’s low goddamn info.
You know where education is well and truly broken? Beltway reporting.
Culture of Truth
I’d told you the House crazy caucus would Just Say No
dmsilev
@gbear: I think you have to register if you want to leave a comment, but not for just reading it. Works fine for me just now.
BGinCHI
@gbear: Same post has been up since right after lunch, so no idea what is happening there. Probably Steve is making a paper mache whale for tonight’s show.
srv
Haven’t we already had 6 months of Sequester?
Ack, the giant head of Friedman on that link, you should make that NSFL or Friedman warning. People get hurt that way.
As Limbaugh always said, centrists are just people without convictions.
MikeJ
@gbear: Probably doing maint. Commercial sites don’t use .htaccess for membership.
PsiFighter37
Tomorrow is going to be a volatile day in the markets. Today was the first day I felt that the rest of the markets are starting to get really nervous about this debt ceiling situation. The complete incompetence of the GOP is starting to piss off even the genteel assholes on CNBC who report on this stuff.
I cannot believe we are one asshole move from Ted Cruz or the rest of his shitstain buddies in the Senate from defaulting. And John Fucking Boehner proved his utter worthlessness with that incredibly embarrassing presser earlier today. Blathering on about ‘fairness to all Americans’? Were the rest of those clowns drunk as well when they had a meeting earlier today?
Get ready for a look over the precipice tomorrow, and maybe it’s a good time to see if that jacket you’re wearing doubles as a parachute.
weichi
So things very clear stand exactly where we all thought they stood for many months: no way to raise debt ceiling or end shutdown without relying on D votes in the house. Will Boehner go down that road tonight or tomorrow? Or will he hope that the shutdown has postponed X-day to beyond Oct 17 by a bit, and pray for something to happen that changes the dynamic?
weichi
Generally the guardian’s live-blogs are much better, but they seem to have shut down for the day. Any alternatives to the post?
lamh36
@robertcostaNRO
“The votes aren’t there,” says a leadership aide. “We’ve been unable to get people around this strategy.” http://natl.re/19MY576
Cacti
Fitch puts U.S. on notice of possible credit downgrade.
Dollar subsequently drops vs. Yen.
Joseph Nobles
David Corn suggested clean CR and then Democrats staying out of any Speaker election, letting Boehner keep the gavel. I thought the Speaker had to be elected with a majority of the House. If that’s not the case, if it’s just a majority of those who vote, then let’s do that. Though I think any R who voted for Boehner after he let the clean CR pass would get primaried, too. So. Damn.
lamh36
Trollhattan
As the “assholes” tagline is in play, I have to link this story, which has had me seething since reading it this a.m.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/10/14/maryville_rape_case_the_horrifying_details_of_what_happened_to_daisy_coleman.html
It’s enough to make anybody angry, but if you have a daughter…I can’t even start.
dmsilev
@weichi: For reporting on the GOP House o’ Clowns, try Robert Costa’s Twitter feed
piratedan
@lamh36: yeah the strategy of still finding a way to insert a poison pill into each CR that allows us even more leverage down the road and having it be rejected isn’t working so lets just keep on doing that…….
MattR
@Joseph Nobles: From the Congressional Research Service –
(EDIT: The Democrats could also agree to vote for Boehner which would greatly reduce the number of Republican votes he needs)
Jim, Foolish Literalist
But I’m willing to bet Maria Bartiromo is still giving them her most supportive sneers and smirks.
@lamh36: I can’t even keep track of what they’re refusing to vote on anymore. Can Boner really not know how pathetic he looks?
EconWatcher
NRO is reporting as of a few minutes ago that Boehner can’t line up the votes for anything and won’t hold any vote tonight, so we’re back to the Reid/McConnell show.
I think this is good, because the Senate Republicans held off to see if Boehner could get a bill done. He can’t, so they will, and in the end, I think, Boehner will have to pass it in the House with Dem votes.
aimai
@Trollhattan: This is the new Hyde Amendment–they know they aren’t going to have a chance for more fuckery much longer and this is the way they are going to give their voters what they want.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
Then he babbled something about Obamacare.
Mike in NC
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
What are the odds this boob spends a lot of time helping clear brush at Rafe Cruz’s “ranch”?
Baud
@EconWatcher:
This was always going to go until the last minute. Boehner doesn’t have to fish or cut bait until Thursday.
lamh36
hahahaha…they’ve lost Jennifer fuckin’ Rubin!!!
dmsilev
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: My understanding of today is
a) This morning: Boehner and company come up with a plan to pass a CR/debt bill with a scaled down Vitter amendment cutting off subsidies for members of Congress, Pres, Veep, and Cabinet secretaries. Conservatives object that this isn’t sufficiently anti-Obamacare and it dies.
b) This afternoon, Boehner and company make the plan more anti-Obamacare by returning to the original Vitter amendment, aka the ‘fuck over your own staff’ proposal. Late this afternoon, conservatives objecting that this is not sufficiently anti-Obamacare cause the plan to die
c) This evening, who the fuck knows. Presumably the Senate, having watched a and b in morbid horror, get back to working on their plan.
PsiFighter37
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: That’s because she’s a dumbass and sucks as a reporter, asking followup questions like a dog chasing a squirrel, instead of processing anything that anyone is telling her.
@EconWatcher: Boehner is fucking pathetic. Does anyone actually respect this overtanned turdblossom in D.C.?
dmsilev
@lamh36: Fuck, they’ve lost Jennifer Rubin? I didn’t even think that was possible.
lamh36
WHY CONGRESSIONAL STAFFERS HATE THE VITTER AMENDMENT
POSTED BY RYAN LIZZA
PsiFighter37
@lamh36: She must have a lot of plastic surgery, because she sure doesn’t look like she was around when Teddy Roosevelt was president.
weichi
@dmsilev – thanks!
Redshirt
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: The House will begin Impeachment proceedings within 6 months. And to that I say: Bring it on.
Let’s get this fight over with, and crush these bastards in 2014.
Baud
@Redshirt:
Agreed. History will not look unkindly to Obama for being impeached in these circumstances, and there is no chance of conviction.
Punchy
Is debt ceiling officially/technically Wed. Nite at midnite or Thurs. Nite at midnite?
MattR
@dmsilev: I just assumed that was the parody account, but a google search tells me that the real Ms Rubin managed to have it suspended about a year ago.
MattF
@dmsilev: They lost Rubin quite a while ago. She’s held to an anti-Cruz line for months.
…And Republican House fails again:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/16/us/politics/congress-budget-debate.html?hp=&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1381876393-xN+cowN38fE6E+en+gQ9NA
According to the WaPo, some House Republicans are complaining “You mean, we shut down the government in order to screw our staffs?” It’s quaint, but there is a shred of human feeling there.
Schad
The downward trajectory of Dave Weigel’s Twitter feed suggests that he’s either hitting the booze, or the madness of the House GOP is contagious.
piratedan
@Redshirt: makes it a shame that we can’t have a vote of “No Confidence” on Speaker Boehner and call for new elections….
burnspbesq
All Hail our new six-legged Messiah!
http://smg.photobucket.com/user/burnspbesq/media/antchrist_zpsa4a08cca.jpg.html
Baud
@Punchy:
Thursday midnight. But a guy on Chris Hayes last night said that he thinks the government has enough cash on hand to pay bills until next week.
We’re down to the change in America’s sofa cushions.
lamh36
Redshirt
@Punchy: There’s actually not a hard deadline, if I have it correctly. We’ve been throwing balls up in the air for months to avoid default, and it’s Jack Lew’s calculation that tomorrow is the last day we can do that and still cover our debts.
MattR
@Baud: I believe we are also busy checking the pockets of all the pants and jackets we have not worn in a while.
Baud
@burnspbesq:
I, for one, welcome our new insect overlords.
NotMax
Esquire proves it is possible to cut the pie into so many slices that all anyone gets is sticky crumbs.
PsiFighter37
@lamh36: Fuck them. Do they really want to see the market shit its pants tomorrow before they act?
They need to get their fucking act together without taking a sledgehammer to people’s retirement accounts.
Suffern ACE
@MattR: the key word is “individuals”. We need a way to vote in a group like the Nobel committee can do. Is there a group like doctors without borders that agrees to be a legislature in countries like ours while we wait for our next election?
Redshirt
@Baud: Indeed. And I hope smart Dems are using this shutdown for strategic purposes in negotiations – that is, to show America how fucked up these Republicans are, in time for voters to make a difference in November 2014. Because the only way this country can return to even a semblance of normalcy is for the Dems to re-take the House.
Or, darkly, let the Repubs take over everything.
lamh36
And the ship begins to sprout leaks…
Issa: ‘I’ll Vote For A Clean CR’ To Fund Government (VIDEO)
C. Isaac
@PsiFighter37:
That’s a feature for them, not a bug. They want chaos and anarchy.
All to destroy “that one”.
Baud
@Redshirt:
This will be Chris Christie’s campaign slogan.
lamh36
@lamh36:
More from Rubin:
MattR
@PsiFighter37: I don’t know that the Republican quoted was rooting for the market to collapse. I think he was just expressing a view that many of here hold – that it will take a collapse of the market for the Tea Party folks to view raising the debt ceiling as an issue with serious consequences.
the Conster
The Republicans and the Tigers pitching are going to kill me. Not necessarily in that order.
PsiFighter37
@MattR: They probably are rooting for it, all these fucking survivalist hicks sitting with their guns in the middle of fucking nowhere.
We need fucking grownups running this country, who realize there’s a bigger world out there that exists beyond their goddamn front porch in the middle of Bumblefuck.
So mad right now.
John O
Gotta think the smart money is on a market bath tomorrow. Which someone, somewhere, will make shitloads of money on.
Suffern ACE
@Baud: vote for Chris. He’s merely ominous and mendacious.
Baud
@Suffern ACE:
The GOP is nothing but a protection racket at this point.
Patrick
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yes, she will. She is not a reporter, she is Republican pundit.
Redshirt
@Baud: Wasn’t this one of Romney’s campaign points? An accurate one? Vote for me, because if you don’t, my Party will fuck everything up.
srv
Rubin is just another RINO.
Why are we talking about this meh news when real history is being made”?
Redshirt
@the Conster: We got a run! Scoring binge!
Baud
@Redshirt:
I think it was.
NotMax
@PsiFighter37
Responsibility and duty have become quaint concepts.
MattF
@Redshirt: Well, intelligent gangsters don’t shoot their assistants. I think none other than McCain said that they’re down to blood relatives and paid staff. And the latter are seriously wavering.
IowaOldLady
My writing group meets tonight, thank god. Sitting here watching this is making me antsy.
PsiFighter37
@srv: Someone should tell that asshole that, unlike a bottomless pile of cash that you win from the lottery, Edward Snowden is not going to pay the bills going forward.
I’m sure he’ll figure it out. Grifters gotta grift, after all.
Cermet
@Baud: Oh, please. This isn’t even on the radar of the thugs. If the President use special powrs to address the debt ceiling, maybe but unless and until, not a chance by the majority of thuigs. Even amoung the teabagger thugs only a few have voiced that opinon… so far.
fuckwit
@C. Isaac: NO NO NO. They want chaos and anarchy to destroy “those ones”. This has been their goal since the Civil War, which they’re stll fighting. The goal here is the destruction of the Government of Northern Aggression. They want to drown it in a bathtub. They have its head underwater already, right now!! This is awesome for them. Now they just need to hold hits head under the water for another year. They’re working very hard at that right now.
Kay
@lamh36:
I want a formal, signed surrender from him :)
John O
@srv:
Got a great laugh out of that one.
Pretty exciting stuff to watch for political junkies.
MattR
@PsiFighter37: I understand where your emotions are coming from, but this is also a Republican who hopes that Boehner caves which is not an attitude I would expect from one of the nihilist, survivalist bunker types you describe.
fuckwit
@Jim, Foolish Literalist: HOLY SHIT! If they’ve lost Issa, they’re done, this is over, and we have survived the worst.
pseudonymous in nc
I did the stupid Esquire test and ended up in the bleeding-hearters. Needs way moar calibrating leftwards.
MikeJ
@Kay:
Should we allow officers to keep their sidearms this time?
Kay
Fleecing the base.
fuckwit
@MikeJ: But not their horses.
PsiFighter37
@fuckwit: Mr. GTA probably can understand that his pile of cash will be worth a lot less if this keeps up.
Kay
@MikeJ:
It has to include the phrase “cessation of hostilities”. And it has to be a scroll.
HinTN
@PsiFighter37: @Suffern ACE: Come on psi, that’s bumfuk you maroon. It’s clear you ain’t no country boy.
fuckwit
I’ll say this once more. The teabaggers are not taking hostages to extract concessions from the other side. They are taking hostages in order to kill the hostages. That’s their goal. There is no point in negotiating with them. Their goal is to keep the government shutdown for as long as possible, which will de-facto fire all the employees or make them quit. That’s the reason behind punishing the congressional staffers with medical care costs too: make them quit, thus slashing that payroll. Their goal behind holding the debt ceiling hostage is not to get concessions in order to release the debt ceiling, it’s to never ever again raise the debt ceiling, causing social programs to be summarily effectively ended, and the US goverment’s ability to to issue bonds to be destroyed, and thus the US government to be destroyed. This is not a negotiation, it is intentional, premeditated sabotage. That is what is going on here.
MattR
I was happy to have just received a call from the National Resources Defense Council who wanted to connect me with my Congressman’s office so I could tell him my desire to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. I ended up passing on the offer because I have already made those calls myself, but I was very glad to see the NRDC making the effort (or paying a third party group to do so).
Anna in PDX
@PsiFighter37: I know, my meager 401K is going to take such a beating because these guys can’t run the country to save their lives. Also mad, but even madder that they have hit the very poor even harder than they have hit middle class people hoping to retire some day.
aimai
@fuckwit: The only person negotiating with them is Boehner. In a sane world Obama and Reid and McConnell tried to cut them out but Boehner stands in the way.
PsiFighter37
@fuckwit: If they plan on shooting the hostage, I hope a lot of them will a) enjoy their money being worth a lot less, and b) they will enjoy being out of a fucking job next year, because even the morons who voted them in will know who stopped their Social Security checks from coming.
Kay
It won’t tell you anything you haven’t figured out, but I just like the headline.
Turgidson
@lamh36:
So…Jennifer Rubin is…what, a hundred years old? She remembers the Roarin 20s before the bottom fell out while a Republican was president?
That was the last time the GOP could lay a credible claim to being the party of “financial stability.” Although I’ll grant that they’ve maintained a decent grift by claiming, loudly and repeatedly, to be that party, in spite of so very much evidence to the contrary.
Eric U.
@pseudonymous in nc: re: esquire poll, I’m pretty sure that if you believe some pretty crazy shit on the right, you can end up in the center. There is no crazy shit to actually balance that out with.
Jay C
So: am I being petty in being pissed that WABC in N Y is pre- empting Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune for a mayoral debate between Joe Lhota and Bill de Blasio?
lamh36
MattF
@Jay C: I suppose they could have arranged for the candidates to be contestants on the quiz shows, satisfying everybody. Hmm.
sparrow
@MattR: So for the first time in my life, I actually decided I would call or at least check in on what my kinda douchey but Dem congressman is doing. But on his website, Ben Cardin (who I don’t like much) claims all offices are closed and no communication is possible because of the shutdown. How are ya’ll calling your reps?
lamh36
sparrow
@lamh36: By “conservative Republicans” they mean teabaggers, so that’s not really news, right?
John O
@lamh36:
Only need about 20 Republicans to pass one, though. I don’t know if I’ll ever stop laughing if it comes down to a clean CR passed by majority Dems.
LesGS
@burnspbesq: I know this is inappropriate, but would the symbol of the AntChrist be the Patriarchal cross?
dmsilev
@lamh36: That’s OK. Democrats + a couple dozen vaguely sane/frightened GOPpers would be enough.
Cassidy
@sparrow: Cardin, Benjamin L. – (D – MD)
509 HART SENATE OFFICE BUILDING WASHINGTON DC 20510
(202) 224-4524
Contact: http://www.cardin.senate.gov/contact/
lamh36
raven
Jamie Dupree @jamiedupree 2m
Reid spokesman says Reid & McConnell are again negotiating, “optimistic that an agreement is within reach”
Collapse
MattR
@sparrow: I used the number for the legislative office in DC from the “Contact Rodney” link on Congressman Frelinghyusen’s House webpage. In retrospect, I should have taken advantage of the NRDC’s offer to reiterate my position to my supposedly moderate Republican representative. (EDIT: I would guess that Cardin still has staff to take constituent calls and record their opinions, but he wont be able to do anything to help any constituents who are having an issue)
jenn
@sparrow: Calling your congressman vs. your senator will probably be more important, if you’re only going to call one. However, I’ve been able to talk to my senators’ local offices and both the local and DC office of my congressman, so if your senator really isn’t taking public comment because of the shutdown, he’s a schmuck who deserves to get reamed!
lamh36
Svensker
@Suffern ACE:
Omnivorous.
TAPX486
The cutting edge theory in cosmology is the 11 dimension multi-verse where there are an infinite number of bubble universes, including our own. Each universe has its own laws of physics. The GOP has gotten to the point that they are beyond the 11th dimension and are off in bubble universe of their own where the rules of Calvin ball apply.
If Boehner and 17 republican can not come up with the balls and backbone to put country above tea party then I hope(pray to FSM) that Obama invokes the 14th amendment and dares anyone to challenge him and make his day.
Hill Dweller
@lamh36:
Knowing it will take Dem votes to pass anything in the House should strengthen the Senate Dems/WH’s negotiating position. I hope they push for a clean debt ceiling/funding extension, with no extraneous issues attached.
Jay C
@MattF:
Yeah, you’re right: I’m probably being petty; after all, the main difference between political debates and popular game shows is that on the game shows, the responses are less predictable…..
Eric U.
I don’t really understand the failure of the House to pass anything, they could at least pass the 47th bill defunding obamacare just for practice or something
PIGL
@fuckwit: I agree. Those 50 congressmen should be dragged screaming from their offices and hung like dogs from the lamposts, their bodies left for the crows. If not, where does this end? With them or their masters doing the same to millions of us.
Or dropped from helicopters into the North Atlantic; that would work, too.
In all sober earnest, I do not understand why these men are allowed to continue political activity.
rikyrah
October 14, 2013
“Where Are the Riots?”: China Watches the Shutdown
Posted by Jiayang Fan
“Is the US government shutdown worth celebrating for the Chinese?” asked a post on Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter, almost two weeks after Washington locked itself into its political impasse. Thanks to a weeklong national holiday commemorating Communist China’s birth, which began, as luck would have it, on the same day D.C. decided to close its doors, the Chinese have had plenty of time to contemplate the question: Is a two-party democracy a system to envy or simply political delinquency?
China, as the chief holder of U.S. Treasury bonds—around $1.28 trillion—and thus one of the larger parties that wouldn’t be paid in the case of a debt default, may have justifiable cause to be concerned. America is hurtling toward the default deadline, on or around the 17th, having seen no sign of a real breakthrough over the weekend.
For the Communist Party, it has proved an opportune moment to propagandize and opine upon the perceived narcissism of China’s rival. “It is America’s arrogance that led to the U.S. decision to bypass the United Nations and launch a war in Iraq. It is the same arrogance that often lets America use its domestic policy to kidnap the global economy,” the People’s Daily, the Party mouthpiece, declared.
“As U.S. politicians of both political parties fail to find a viable deal to bring normality to the body politic they brag about, it is perhaps a good time for the befuddled world to start considering building a de-Americanized world,” pronounced Xinhua, the official state news agency.
For the apparatchiks in Beijing, a de-Americanized world will surely equal a Sinoized one. “Such alarming days when the destinies of others are in the hands of a hypocritical nation have to be terminated,” Xinhua continued. “Instead of honoring its duties as a responsible leading power, a self-serving Washington has abused its superpower status and introduced even more chaos into the world.”
The Chinese public is not unfamiliar with chaos. Beijing is known for its allergy to anarchy at all sizes and scales, which is why the Chinese, so far, have been the ones most baffled by the so-called shutdown. “Where are the riots, where is the looting and the pillage?” one perplexed Weibo user asked, echoing the sentiment of many sporting the #美国政府关门 (#USgovernmentshutdown) hashtag.
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/10/where-are-the-riots-china-watches-the-shutdown.html
raven
Jamie Dupree @jamiedupree 9m
McConnell spokesman on renewed Senate talks: “They are optimistic an agreement can be reached”
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@fuckwit:
Helter Skelter
They’ve been on edge, anticipating a race war, for as long as I’ve been watching them.
dmsilev
Bored and want to see a train wreck? (I am). Check out the National Review article on the failure of the House to hold a vote and scroll down to the comments. The true believers are trying, but they’re actually outnumbered by folks posting stuff like this:
Note the 11 likes and 4 dislikes.
Cacti
@srv:
fix’t
Bubblegum Tate
Did you all know that Obama is staging a bloodless coup? The capital letters mean it’s true!
The “THIS IS NOT HYPERBOLE” at the end is just so perfectly Grandpa Simpson. “I am not a crackpot!”
Baud
Baud
lamh36
MazeDancer
One fascinating stat in the Esquire survey was that 21% do not watch sports on TV. So a fifth of subscribers is subsidizing the rest. No wonder we can’t get a la carte cable TV. Because if a fifth exits, it would be hard to sell as many mega priced sports options.
Now, I recognize that not watching sports on TV puts me in the .002% of this blog. And I try to think that the 10 or 20 bucks a month I have to pay for stuff I don’t watch is just a gift to sports fans I know – BJ included. (BTW – 5 bucks alone is for ESPN.) But really, I’d rather not pay for it. Like many, I would like to pay for what I’d like to watch.
Stil,l it was an interesting piece of knowledge that, naturally, cable TV is a bit more vague about when discussing the sports subsidy.
dmsilev
@Baud:
The overweight soprano in the horned helmet is warming up her voice.
Baud
@dmsilev:
If this ends well, Booman will be crowing. He’s been all “chill, baby” for several days now.
Baud
Steve Benen @stevebenen 2m
Remember when Pelosi was Speaker? How exceptional she was at the job? I wonder what she thinks watching Boehner fail so spectacularly.
Jay C
@rikyrah:
Well, there you go: after all, the Chinese are noted (infamous, even) for their VERY long views on political history: maybe they’re right in being bewildered at the lack of riots and pillage…
It’s just that over here, the proper targets of said pillage are just slightly more up-for-discussion …..
dmsilev
@Baud: There’s still the Senate and the possibility of someone like Cruz screaming “I OBJECT!” and gumming up the works for a couple of days. 67 votes to change Senate rules without invoking the nuclear option. Wonder whether that’s something Reid and McConnell are talking about.
the Conster
HOLY FUCKING SHIT RED SOX1111111!!
PsiFighter37
@dmsilev: Wonder how soon the Teabaggers will call for a speakership vote after this.
I would also imagine that this is going to do McConnell no favors in his primary against whoever the hell’s running against him. And Grimes raised more cash than him in Q3, too.
Prediction: neither Boehner or McConnell are leading Republicans in the House or Senate come 2015.
Baud
@dmsilev:
Cruz will pull a faux filibuster like he did before. Cruz controls the lemmings — he is not one of them.
Redshirt
Sox win!
Tomorrow, America wins.
PsiFighter37
@Baud: He’s also a fucking coward and won’t have the stones to try and delay this. I would bet his wife, who apparently works at Goldman Sachs, has also told him that his fun is up and to stop fucking around.
Redshirt
@the Conster: I can’t believe we’re up 2-1, given the dominating Tiger pitching. Baseball! What a sport.
Mike E
@MattR: That’s been my gig lately, tho I am doing GOTV calls now. I’ll be recruiting LTE writers and attendees to statewide alternative energy events.
Livin’ the dream in Dystopia…
Comrade Mary
Jonathan Strong: it’s all over, the House will take the Senate deal.
PsiFighter37
@Comrade Mary: Great, so we’re going to get to go through all this nonsense again in a few months?
I mean, there’s no political downside for the Dems, given I have no doubt the GOP will pull this stunt again down the road (unless Obama starts getting starry-eyed about grand bargains again – hopefully he knows better after this shitshow), but this is not good or healthy for the basic functioning of our government.
The only enjoyable thing will be the incredible amounts of intra-Republican warfare that will break out after this.
Hal
If I ever doubt the bubble some of these Republicans live in I just think of my co-worker who blames the entire shutdown on Obama. Obama won’t reopen the Government and she’s not getting her survivor benefits it the shutdown continues. How’s she going to pay her rent? It’s all Obama’s fault. If he wasn’t President, everything would be great. This is someone who believed that part of the ACA was to deny cancer treatment to anyone over the age of 70. Reasoning and fact explaining will not get through to some of these folks, so I don’t expect any of those few dozen Republican Congresspeople responsible for the shutdown to ever see it as anything but fighting the good fight.
gogol's wife
@Comrade Mary:
Who the hell is Jonathan Strong? Does he actually know anything? And sorry but I’ve been working all day, and need to go back to that, but what is the Senate deal anyway? How much do the Democrats have to concede? (I don’t mean to sound as if I’m badgering you, but this whole situation has me really agitated. The damage that’s already been done . . . over NOTHING!)
dmsilev
@PsiFighter37: The word dolchstosslegende comes to mind. Assuming we make it through the next couple of days, the recriminations over the next couple of months will be fascinating to watch.
Hill Dweller
The Senate Dems shouldn’t give Republicans a damn thing. Hell, they should insist on extending the debt ceiling to 2015, in order to prevent a downgrade of our credit; a relatively short term CR at current funding levels; and a legitimate budget conference to negotiate a budget for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Baud
@PsiFighter37:
They still have to negotiate an actual budget, although I think this strengthens Obama’s hand. That said, it’s not like the GOP will get nothing in a budget deal (if they can agree to one). There is no substitute for defeating the GOP at the polls.
dmsilev
@gogol’s wife: Strong is a reporter for National Review, so a guy decently-well connected with conservative Republicans. Senate deal hasn’t been publicly released (or even finalized yet), but the latest reports were that the GOP would at best get a fig leaf. If the Senate bill has to pass the House primarily with Democratic votes, the Rs may not even get that much.
gogol's wife
@dmsilev:
Ooh, that sounds good. I hope Jonathan Strong knows what he’s tweeting about.
Knight of Nothing
@John O: given that members of congress can basically perform insider trading, it would be interesting to know what moves guys like Cantor and Boehner are making.
John O
@dmsilev:
Can these clowns actually pass the Senate compromise? I’m not so sure.
John O
@Knight of Nothing:
Yes, IMO, this should be knowledge instantly available to the public through law.
PsiFighter37
@Hill Dweller: If we go to a budget conference, I’d be shocked – mainly because the Senate GOP has been scared shitless by what Paul Ryan has been proposing. And if we do, it’ll be fruitless – there’s a reason all these other committees failed…the GOP has no interest in actually doing the hard work of governing now.
Whatever escalates the infighting within the Republicans, I’m all for it. At this point, that party needs to be broken irreparably.
PsiFighter37
@John O: We’ll have to see if ‘moderate Republicans’ actually exist.
If the Senate manages to pass something tomorrow, only to have the House vote it down, watch the stock market take a nice little dive.
the Conster
@Redshirt:
BOSTON STRONG. FOLLOW US.
John O
@PsiFighter37:
Again, isn’t this about the right time for Reid and Obama to demand a clean bill that covers both “crises?” I mean from the Senate. What’s the downside?
In any case, the dynamics sound like they’re going to be a little bit different when this all rolls around once more in 3 months.
Ash Can
@Baud:
@lamh36:
CRRRAAACK!
hilts
@the Conster:
Red Sox 1 Detroit 0
Yeah Bitches!
Go Red Sox and Long Live Jesse Pinkman!
the Conster
@hilts:
I LOVE THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, RED SOX, PATRIOTS, TOM BRADY, JESSE PINKMAN, MIKE NAPOLI, JOHN LACKEY, BARACK OBAMA AND HARRY REID!!!!! 4EVAH!!!!!!
SiubhanDuinne
@Jay C:
Answer: I am being petty in being pissed that WABC in N Y is pre- empting Jeopardy and Wheel Of Fortune for a mayoral debate between Joe Lhota and Bill de Blasio.
Question: What is Jay C’s pettiness, Alex?
M _ Y _ R _ L D _ B _ T _ . I’d like to buy an “A,” please, Vanna.
Redshirt
@the Conster: Don’t forget the Bruins and the Celts!
SFAW
@Hill Dweller:
plus putting up the fee for the gaming license
Jay C
@SiubhanDuinne:
Isn’t that the “Express” space, Siubhanne?
And the bonus puzzle is
B_R_D.
the Conster
@Redshirt:
AND ELIZABETH WARREN, GAY MARRIAGE AND ROMNEYCARE!!!!
AMEN.