Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Come on, man.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

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

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

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

This really is a full service blog.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires republicans to act in good faith.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

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

It’s time for the GOP to dust off that post-2012 autopsy, completely ignore it, and light the party on fire again.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

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

You are here: Home / Cue the World’s Tiniest Violin, Ted Cruz (Office) Style

Cue the World’s Tiniest Violin, Ted Cruz (Office) Style

by | 138 Comments

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Ambrogio_de_Predis_007

Via Brad Friedman, we learn that Sen. Ted Cruz’ speech writer and senior communications adviser Amanda Carpenter put this up on the Twitter machine:

It’s almost November and I have no idea what my health plan will be or what it will cost in January. This. Is. Awful.

Well, maybe if you hadn’t spent the last whatever helping your boss help the GOP conspire to take away your congressional staff health benefits…

…Aww.  Fekkit.  Not even going to try to argue the logic.  Just — if you don’t want gov’t. to help you, don’t kvetch when it doesn’t.

Or, to put it another way:

BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!

Image:  Associate of Leonardo da Vinci (Francesco Napoletano?), Angel with violin / Panels from the S. Francesco Altarpiece, Milan, between 1490 and 1499.

 

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    IowaOldLady

    Yeah, welcome to the world that many uninsured people have lived in and your boss tried to maintain. IOW, STFU.

  4. 4.

    Tone in DC

    This is worse than a few months ago, when the g00pers were moaning about some airports being closed due to the sequester.

    WAAAAHH! When we said cut spending, we meant to cut only services and payments that pertain to Those People!!!! eleventy!!

  6. 6.

    Lector Peregrinus

    As per usual, self-awareness is for the little people.

    I’d say that, also as per usual, Factio Grandaeva delenda est, but after a few years, I’m beginning to think that grandaeva has rather positive connotations in Latin, certainly much more positive than the GOP deserves.

  7. 7.

    dmsilev

    Well, if your boss had had his way, the answer would have been “figure it out for yourself, you greedy moocher”.

    He was willing to trample over you and your colleagues to make a meaningless political point. How loyal are you feeling this day?

  15. 15.

    kindness

    Not being a Twitteree I can not tell this ‘fine’ woman what I think. Perhaps some here who are conversant in Twitereeze can possibly suggest something that might be helpful/insincere/snark enough to merit a mention on this fine blog at a later point in time.

  16. 16.

    grape_crush

    It’s no surprise that the same people who seem to lack self-awareness and empathy also lack a sense of irony. I’m sure this person was A-OK with salmonella outbreaks and people working without pay, but the moment Something Government Does affects her? Piss and moan.

    Chickens, home, roost. It’s a shame that her counterparts in other Congresscritters’ offices that don’t work for right wing douchebags like Cruz are probably going to be affected…but for Ms. Carpenter, I have nothing but a hearty, hi-ho-go-fck-yourself.

  18. 18.

    sherparick

    Brad DeLong had an interesting post today about a conversation he had 20 years ago when he was a young Assistant Deputy in Lloyd Bentsen’s Treasury Department in Clinton’s first term. Basically, it was the attitude that Southern Republicans (former White Bourbon Southern Democrats) had about middling and working people, sick, poor, and diabled and what they had to do to get health care. http://delong.typepad.com/sdj/2013/10/maeve-reston-reports-from-hugo-oklahom-obamacare-meets-extra-resistance-the-view-from-the-roasterie-xii-october-16-2013.html

    Basically, the expectation is that if you were not rich or had insurance, then you should be expected to beg for it, or as his interlocutor explained to him: “…then you need to go beg at your church. And only after you have begged at your church, and begged sincerely and abjectly enough, might your church find itself paying for you out of Christian charity–the benefit of which is to save their souls, not your body!”

    As Corey Robin says, the reactionary is really about restoring Feudalism, a male, patriarchal aristocracy of Tywin Lannisters types can grant a grace to one or send another to the rack depending how he feels that day. And to whom deference must be paid.

    So Amanda, I guess you better go to your Church and ask Ted to pass the hat for you,

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    For a nice moment of hilarity, check out this and this, adjacent stories at TPM. Heritage Action will regard a ‘No’ vote as a key point on their scorecard. The Chamber of Commerce will regard a ‘Yes’ vote as a key point on _their_ scorecard.

    Guess we’ll find out experimentally how many GOP Reps big business and the frothing maniacs have in their respective corners.

  22. 22.

    Mark B.

    From what I’ve read from Ms. Carpenter, she’s a nasty little creep. I’m not very sympathetic with her plight. Especially since a lot of the uncertainty was created by her boss, who she supports fully.

  24. 24.

    Chris

    Anyone care to place bet on which of the following will be the teabaggers’ narrative?

    1) Ted Cruz, that spic, irresponsibly led the nation to the brink of disaster; we must purge this dangerous bomb thrower (who’s probably really a liberal and in any case a nonwhite No True Conservative) and return to a party dominated by white people True Conservatives.

    2) This debt crisis was a valiant effort in a noble cause. Alack and alas, the Biased Liberal Media warped too many people’s minds and the RINO Republican Establishment stabbed us in the back and joined the Democrat Party in order to overrule us. The solution, clearly, is to stand firm with True Conservatives like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, and purge all these RINOs in the next election.

    3) Derp. Uh, debt crisis? What debt crisis? There wasn’t any debt crisis. It was probably Obama’s fault anyway… look, look over there and the Next Scandal That Will Surely Sink Obama One And For All!

  28. 28.

    Ash Can

    OK, I was out all afternoon visiting an elderly relative, but WTF is this poor thing whining about, anyway? Is it a done deal that staffers are in fact going to lose their health insurance subsidy? Yes, that would suck, especially for all the folks who do all the actual work in these offices. Miss Thang can just get her clueless ass onto the exchanges along with all of her co-workers, then.

  33. 33.

    Elizabelle

    You know who else has Cruz Buyer’s Remorse?

    The Houston Chronicle editorial board. Why We Miss Kay Bailey Hutchison:

    We miss her extraordinary understanding of the importance of reaching across the aisle when necessary. Neither sitting Texas senator has displayed that useful skill, and both the state and the Congress are the poorer for it.

    One reason we particularly believe that Hutchison would make a difference in these hectic days is that if she had kept her seat, Cruz would not be in the Senate.

    When we endorsed Ted Cruz in last November’s general election, we did so with many reservations and at least one specific recommendation – that he follow Hutchison’s example in his conduct as a senator.

    Obviously, he has not done so. Cruz has been part of the problem in specific situations where Hutchison would have been part of the solution.

    And then they reach over to slap David Dewhurst — whom Cruz defeated — for going full metal wingnut in the aftermath. The Chron finds it “painful to watch.”

  34. 34.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @dmsilev: I had the same question. Am I even more confused than I thought I was? They didn’t even get the medical device tax delayed, did they?
    ETA: Chris Murphy rubbing their faces in getting “zero, zip, zilch, nada”

  35. 35.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Amanda Carpenter (Human Events, Townhall.com, Moonie Times, DeMint staffer) has been on the wingnut welfare payroll for a long, long time.

  36. 36.

    BGinCHI

    Ms. Carpenter will be blaming the media in 3..2..1 if she hasn’t already.

    The Whambulance just can’t come fast enough for these cry babies.

  37. 37.

    bemused

    And (@Rawstory) a goober Trey Gowdy berated National Park Service head on park closings for 6 minutes! I didn’t watch the video yet. I can only take so much stupid in one day.

  38. 38.

    Ash Can

    @dmsilev: Then I really don’t understand what she’s talking about. Maybe she tweeted this after giving her boss two weeks’ notice because she’s sick of his stench of fail getting stuck in her clothing and hair.

  39. 39.

    Lector Peregrinus

    @Elizabelle:

    Glad as I am for that, they mention that Dewhurst had been considered a moderate in the Texas GOP. Cruz was always, always, one of the Tea Party darlings.

    If they knew they wanted a senator who would “reach across the aisle” (pardon me while I recalibrate my sarcasm meter) why the hell did they endorse the guy they knew wasn’t going to be moderate?

  41. 41.

    Comrade Luke

    Matt Binder is retweeting the hypocrisy of people who are telling people on welfare to “get a job”, and it’s pretty awesome.

    https://twitter.com/mattbinder

    Start at “Dakota Yates” and work your way up to see the complete and utter lack of self-awareness on display.

  44. 44.

    rikyrah

    About two weeks ago, as tea partiers in the GOP-controlled House were forcing a government shutdown, some House Democrats sent a private and informal message to House Speaker John Boehner: if you need to break with the die-hard conservatives of your caucus to keep the government running and avoid a debt ceiling crisis, we might be able to try to help you protect your speakership, should far-right Republicans rebel and challenge you. This offer was conveyed to Boehner just as he was entering what has turned into the toughest stretch of his speakership, according to two senior House Democratic lawmakers who each asked not to be identified.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/10/16/13930/338

  45. 45.

    Arm The Homeless

    The sheer irony of the whole shit-show would make me laugh if there weren’t people actually being hurt by it. The “I told you so!” I have saved up for a Cruz staffer I am familiar with is empty solace when I think about people I know furloughed because of such venal, ignorant little wankers.

    I am appalled, yet not at all surprised that it was my congressman who was the slimy mortician singing the dirge for the GOP yesterday. His local office has been on perma-voicemail for at least a week. What a kick in the ass to volunteer for 2014.

  46. 46.

    The Red Pen

    @Chris: It’s mainly #2 with a dash of #3.

    Anyone calling Cruz a quitter is being immediately banned at Free Republic. The marching orders have been issued.

  47. 47.

    geg6

    Hehehehehe…anybody catch Boner’s whining concession speech statement on not using the Hastert Suggestion this time around?

    The House has fought with everything it has to convince the president of the United States to engage in bipartisan negotiations aimed at addressing our country’s debt and providing fairness for the American people under ObamaCare. That fight will continue. But blocking the bipartisan agreement reached today by the members of the Senate will not be a tactic for us. In addition to the risk of default, doing so would open the door for the Democratic majority in Washington to raise taxes again on the American people and undo the spending caps in the 2011 Budget Control Act without replacing them with better spending cuts. With our nation’s economy still struggling under years of the president’s policies, raising taxes is not a viable option. Our drive to stop the train wreck that is the president’s health care law will continue. We will rely on aggressive oversight that highlights the law’s massive flaws and smart, targeted strikes that split the legislative coalition the president has relied upon to force his health care law on the American people.

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_10/boehners_timid_sheep_moment047347.php

  48. 48.

    catclub

    @Tone in DC: “when the g00pers were moaning about some airports being closed due to the sequester. ”

    I wish it was just the Goopers complaining. Telling the FAA not to inconvenience rich people was the worst possible response to sequester cuts. If those had stayed in place, the sequester would have a much better chance of being lifted.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @dmsilev:
    This show of party unity will no doubt impress Republican voters and encourage them to turn out in numbers next year.

    Meanwhile, I imagine that the bunker scene in Der Untergang is being played out in the Tea Party’s corridors of power as we type. And there’s some rather disappointed guy going: “Mit ihrem eigenem Blut werden sie bezahlen! Sie werden versaufen, in ihrem eigenem Blut!“

  50. 50.

    geg6

    @catclub:

    I agree with you. The sequester would be a distant memory if the almighty “business travelers” would have been inconvenienced for months on end.

  51. 51.

    MattR

    @Ash Can: It is the “uncertainty” of it all that is so devasting to poor Ms Carpenter. Nevermind that the majority of the uncertainty is the result of actions taken by her asshat boss.

    @geg6: @catclub: Agree with both of you. The whole point of the sequester was that it was supposed to be so painful that all sides would be forced to compromise and reach an agreement. Refunding the FAA completely defeated that purpose.

  52. 52.

    Pongo

    @IowaOldLady: My thoughts exactly. My tweet would have been ‘it’s almost November and my 12th anniversary of being ‘uninsurable’ on the private market. It’s. Been. Awful. Thanks, Douchenozzle.”

  53. 53.

    lamh36

    I saw this woman yesterday. I also responded to her:

    wait, BWHAHAH. so this woman who works for the “architect” of this whole bit blames OBAMA….

    @psddluva4evah 21h
    @amandacarpenter @allanbrauer Sweetie, you need to look at the people in your own house for wanting to take away your healthcare plan dope

  54. 54.

    scav

    Yes, Amanda, the certainty of having no health care plan at all would be a far far better state for you and the Cruz cohort. Embrace your ideals and go without one into that brave new world of your fantasies.

  55. 55.

    catclub

    Meanwhile Ted Cruz is on his wife’s insurance policy – the gold plated one from a big bank –
    JPMorgan?

  56. 56.

    lamh36

    @zbyronwolf 1m
    In other news – tonight we could see the first African American elected to the Senate since Barack Obama in 2004.

  58. 58.

    Kay

    @Ash Can:

    Then I really don’t understand what she’s talking about.

    How many people understand what they’re talking about with this? Why would they make this the central Obamacare issue of the last two weeks? Of all the things to hinge a revolution on, they choose this?

    I don’t understand it either, and I’ve followed this fairly closely. Two weeks they’ve dominated the news with it. Maybe they could start over and state clearly what it is they object to about staffers and Obamacare. Ten minutes, tops.

  59. 59.

    Trollhattan

    “Just. Awful.” is having Ted Cruz for your boss. [first typed as “i shaving” which, if one were shaving Ted Cruz, would definitely be far worse.]

  61. 61.

    kc

    @Lector Peregrinus:

    Her entire Twitter stream is nothing but bitching about the ACA. And she never acknowledges that it’s the Republicans who want to end her own subsidized health plan. Nope. It’s all because of Obamacare.

  64. 64.

    StringOnAStick

    @catclub:

    Meanwhile Ted Cruz is on his wife’s insurance policy – the gold plated one from a big bank –
    JPMorgan?

    Nope, Goldman Sachs. Figures, doesn’t it?

  65. 65.

    kc

    @Kay:

    I don’t know if the GOP politicians are that stupid, or if it’s just that they know their constituents are that stupid.

  66. 66.

    Kay

    @kc:

    There’s something unfair about it because I don’t know, unions. Anyway, it’s a huge issue that everyone should be outraged about.

    No one knows what they’re talking about. Do they want to talk about their employer health plan? Can they give us a hint?

  68. 68.

    Roger Moore

    @Kay:

    How many people understand what they’re talking about with this? Why would they make this the central Obamacare issue of the last two weeks? Of all the things to hinge a revolution on, they choose this?

    I think it’s pretty obvious what’s going on. They started the shutdown with the goal of defunding Obamacare. When they realized that was a complete non-starter, they branched out and started making other demands so they wouldn’t look like complete jackasses, but they had to include something about Obamacare in their demands so they could claim they had targeted it and done something. The best they could come up with that had a chance of getting through was dinky little stuff like delaying the medical device tax and defunding benefits for Congressional staffers. It sounds like the only thing they’re actually getting is an income verification step that may represent what’s already in the law, but at least it gives them something to show to their rabid constituents.

    ETA: In case it’s not clear, this is the real world reason, not the public excuse.

  69. 69.

    Eric U.

    it is somewhat amusing that they have been misleading people about the ACA for so long that now they have to understand it because they made it affect them.

  70. 70.

    feebog

    Yes Amanda, not knowing if you have health care insurance sucks doesn’t it? Welcome to the world of about 45 million fellow Americans. Perhaps you could scuttle over to Senator Grassley’s office and thank him for inserting this into the AHCA.

  72. 72.

    boatboy_srq

    This. Is. Awful.

    (Ted Cruz (R – Uninsured/Preexisting-Condition) speech writer and senior communications adviser Amanda Carpenter)

    Ms. Carpenter: now might be a good time to recall that your boss doesn’t think someone like you has a job, let alone professional employment that merits [gasp] benefits. Don’t fret: you always have your local Emergency Room.

  73. 73.

    MattR

    @Roger Moore:

    It sounds like the only thing they’re actually getting is an income verification step that may represent what’s already in the law, but at least it gives them something to show to their rabid constituents.

    And the irony of that concession being more “big government” will be completely lost on them.

  75. 75.

    Violet

    Is it a good idea to call Ted Cruz’s office to yell at his staffers for him being a quitter and for caving? Would it maybe encourage more of his self-sabotaging behavior?

  76. 76.

    Mike in NC

    So has terrorist leader Ted Cruz demanded a plane to take him to the Cayman Islands, along with $5M in small unmarked bills?

  77. 77.

    kc

    @kc:

    Oh, I see, she’s whining about the Grassley amendment, not the Vitter thing.

    Yes, it is shameful that all these Republican pols are willing to shaft people like her out of sheer spite. I wonder why she keeps working for them. I’m sure when she signed on she thought all the spite would be directed at the lazy poors, not hardworking GOP staffers like herself.

  79. 79.

    Turgidson

    @Elizabelle:

    But I’m sure that when it comes time to make endorsements for the next round of governor/senator etc. races, that same paper will dutifully endorse these same knuckledragging dolts rather than consider an endorsement for a tax-and-spend, amnesty-loving Democrat candidate.

  80. 80.

    Baud

    She can go on the DC exchange right now and look up plans and sign up. I don’t understand her complaint.

  81. 81.

    Roger Moore

    @MattR:

    And the irony of that concession being more “big government” will be completely lost on them.

    Big government means stuff that affects them. Making life as miserable as possible for Those People is a legitimate daddy state function of government.

  82. 82.

    kc

    @Kay:

    I think she’s upset because all staffers will have to buy insurance on the DC exchange, thanks to Sen. Grassleys’ dumb-ass spite amendment to the ACA. But if I understand correctly the federal government will still pay what it paid before (I think) for her coverage. Sheer stupidity, because the ACA wasn’t designed to kick people out of employer-provided plans, but hey, the GOP stuck it in there.

    She’s whining, “Waah, I worked hard to find doctors I like for my small children and now OBAMACARE DC EXCHANGE WAAHH!”

    It’s a good thing I don’t have twitter or I’d tell her to get off the goddamn government teat like a good little Galtian if she doesn’t like it and make enough money to pay out of pocket to see whatever doc she wants.

    Hypocritical dumb-ass.

  83. 83.

    boatboy_srq

    @Baud: Actually, as an employee of a member of the Texas delegation, she might have to go on the Texas state exchange website, and… What? Oh.

  84. 84.

    Kay

    @Roger Moore:

    but they had to include something about Obamacare in their demands so they could claim they had targeted it and done something. The best they could come up with that had a chance of getting through was dinky little stuff like delaying the medical device tax and defunding benefits for Congressional staffers.

    Right, and honestly, I have lost track, but I have some vague memory that this thing was OSTENSIBLY based on the “unfairness” in how Obama was applying the law. We first had to defund and then had to delay based on unfairness.

    So that’s the unfair part? Something having to do with how it is or isn’t applied to staffers, who may or may not then get federal subsidies to be on a slightly different exchange than the exchange they’re on?

    It’s just sort of a let-down, frankly. They started with this broad indictment on how “Americans” were being treated unfairly by Obama with his Chicago deals and backroom machinations and now we’re down the details of her health care plan?

  85. 85.

    Trollhattan

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Hmmm, aren’t they having one of their “events” this week?

    “Reimagining Depilation: the iShave.”

    Automagically leaves either a four-day Yasser shadow or hipster neck beard, controlled by you through iOS7 the iHair software.

  87. 87.

    Trollhattan

    Uh, WSJ, a little early for victory laps and taunts, no?

    Matthew Dalton, Wall Street Journal tweets: “Looks like it’s time to dial back your Shutdownfreude, Europe, and deal with your own crappy economy and dysfunctional politics.”

    That’ll learn ’em.

  89. 89.

    Trollhattan

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Heh, indoozle.
    “It was Steve, he touched me!”
    “No, I think he passed rigth through you.”
    “I’m suing anyway.”

    Hey, are you a double-dad now? I lost track of the proceedings.

  93. 93.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Roger Moore:

    It sounds like the only thing they’re actually getting is an income verification step that may represent what’s already in the law, but at least it gives them something to show to their rabid constituents.

    President Obama will issue a signing statement something like this::

    Regarding Affordable Care Act subsidy eligibility determination, I am directing the Internal Revenue Service to perform the income verification mandated in this bill. This will prevent duplication of effort, since the IRS is already doing this per the provisions of the ACA, and thus it will not cost the American taxpayer a single cent more.

    If the Republican Party insists on a duplication of effort, they will need to find the additional revenues to support it. Not budget cuts, additional revenues. Let them specify just whose taxes they are willing to raise, by how much, in order to duplicate the work that the IRS is already performing with great professionalism & competence.

    And if they fall into that one, all forms of additional revenue–including a tax hike for the 1%–are back on the table.

  96. 96.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Chris:

    2) This debt crisis was a valiant effort in a noble cause. Alack and alas, the Biased Liberal Media warped too many people’s minds and the RINO Republican Establishment stabbed us in the back and joined the Democrat Party in order to overrule us. The solution, clearly, is to stand firm with True Conservatives like Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin, and purge all these RINOs in the next election.

    Either purge the RINOs or form a new party:

    So, the question remains – should we form a new party? A party which won’t have Beltway squishes and tools of the Ruling Class who will cut us off at the knees? Now, remember, one thing a Third Party guarantees is President Hillary Clinton, and probably for a full 8 years. A new party might be able to get a majority by 2024, but the chances of getting it sooner are very, very small. Or should we still work on the GOP and see if by “primarying” a few more squishes the rest might get the message? Might understand that the GOP is either the party to dismantle Big Government, or its nothing?

  97. 97.

    Trollhattan

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Congratulations, that’s GREAT! My best wishes to you and the (mostly) sleepless fam.

    All good here. Wife.gov has a bday ending with with a 0 this month, so her minions are instructed to fete her “the entire month.” I generally don’t look forward to Halloween, but this year I can’t wait.

  98. 98.

    Steeplejack

    @BGinCHI:

    That’s just the blatantly visible damage—the tip of the iceberg. The underlying damage of Republican spending cuts goes much deeper.

    Krugthulhu:

    Macroeconomic Advisers has a new report out about the effects of bad fiscal policy since 2010—that is, since the GOP takeover of the House. The way it’s written, however, might confuse some people. They say that combined effects of uncertainty in the bond market and cuts in discretionary spending have subtracted 1% from GDP growth. That’s not 1% off GDP—it’s the annualized rate of growth, so that we’re talking about almost 3% of GDP at this point; cumulatively, the losses come to around $700 billion of wasted economic potential. This is in the same ballpark as my own estimates.

    And they also estimate that the current unemployment rate is 1.4 points higher than it would have been without those policies (a number consistent with almost 3% lower GDP); so, we’d have unemployment below 6% if not for these people.

  99. 99.

    kc

    @Baud:

    I don’t understand her complaint.

    I think she wants the government to keep its government hands off her government health care.

  102. 102.

    Chris

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Schro – I think the big moneybag people are the ones who’ll come out of this feeling vindicated. The lesson they’ll take away from this is that while the teabaggers have their crazy moments, The System can still rein them in. Therefore, the conclusion is to continue supporting the teabaggers, their valuable ally against the left, safe in the knowledge that they’ll never be allowed to go TOO far.

    In other words the break between teabaggers and 1%ers some of us were hoping for, as the French say, ain’t for tomorrow.

    Probably for the best. Bringing the big business community to its senses would probably take an actual default, or something similarly huge and unpleasant.

  104. 104.

    Patrick

    @MattR:

    And the irony of that concession being more “big government” will be completely lost on them.

    These idiots have no clue. They scream big government, yet have no problem spending unlimited dollars on defense, screaming about Terri Schiavo, getting angry about national parks being shutdown, forcing poor women all kinds of humiliating procedures before allowing them an abortion and what have you.

    The Tea party is no different than a screaming 3-year old who has no clue.

  105. 105.

    ally

    Excuse me if I’m late to this topic (and I know this isn’t an open thread), but I’m desperate. Is it possible those toenail fungus ads are some kind of veiled sabotage on this site, to drive away readers? I’m usually pretty good at ignoring ads that don’t interest me, and I know ads are essential to keeping the lights on here, but there are three huge, extremely graphic pictures of toenail fungus on view right now and sorry, it makes me leave.
    Sadly,
    ‘bye

  106. 106.

    JC

    Well, if this is over now – and I hope it is, though nothing is over UNTIL it is actually over – a few things:

    a. This exact same strategy, was broadcast a long time ago by Boehner – I wish I had kept the link. something around. But the plan was “Put on a show of resistance for the Tea party types”, before coming to an agreement.
    b. So for Boehner, it’s a win. He goes up in the eyes of his caucus, for ‘fighting the good fight’
    c. For Cruz and teahadists, it is a – at least temporary – win. Funding goes up, and they represented their crazy constituencies – they are heroes in the eyes of those who elected them. As well as being a fundraising bonanza.
    d. For Obama, he stood strong. The opinion of him went up, he looks good in the eyes of us who wanted him not to give in, and the press as well.
    e. For the press – more drama! More ratings! (I’m sure this applies to this humble blog as well.)
    f. For the business community, while it looks bad – the actual debt default was averted, and the baseline still is at low tax rates, rather than any forward progress on other issues.

    Everyone is happy – except of course, those who ARE hurt by the shutdown, and the lost output, damage to the reputation of the United States of America.

    The cynic in me is curious about, is what happened ‘under the radar’, while we mesmerized by the train wreck of the last month?

    What bills were passed?
    What regulations changed?
    What other things might have been done this month, to serve campaign donors?

    Maybe that is just the cynic in me. I should stop being so cynical?

    The good news though is, this should alienate non Teahadist people, even more from the GOP. So that is very good.

  107. 107.

    Hungry Joe

    Just saw a clip of Cruz saying that the deal does nothing to help the millions of Americans who are hurting because of Obamacare; it provides no relief for people just coming out of school who can’t find a job because of Obamacare; and then there are the skyrocketing insurance premiums because of Obamacare. And the seniors who’ve had their insurance cancelled because of Obamacare.

    I can’t remember ever seeing anything like this — as in, what’s been going on the last few years — in American politics. It’s now okay for a U.S. Senator not to just twist facts, to come up with crackpot interpretations and suggest imbecilic solutions, but to go on national television and simply make shit up.

    (Well, okay — McCarthy did it. But he was an outlier, and got himself 86’d.)

  108. 108.

    Gex

    @Eric U.: And that as Americans found out that Obamacare = ACA = policies that a majority of Americans approve of, the approval numbers for the ACA went up.

    I can’t believe they unintentionally caused some of their voters to become better informed on an issue. That’s never going to work for them given the policies Americans support when not associated with a party label.

  113. 113.

    Trollhattan

    @ally:

    Our choice was between boobs and nasty tonails. I now have a bumper sticker that says, “Don’t blame me, I voted ‘boobs.'”

  114. 114.

    Yatsuno

    @Trollhattan: My backpay is in there. Schweet.

    Although…am I wrong to be pessimistic here? Steve King was making noise about trying to blow shit up still…

  116. 116.

    Rathskeller

    I don’t read RedState.com every day — because that would be insane — but I do love checking in on it on days like today.

    Erickson says they were never wrong and they’ll fuck those guys up come next election. Interestingly, right at the time of the government shutdown, he wrote that it was all a mistake, they should “embrace the suck” and just vote a clean CR. Apparently since then, his followers whipped him into shape, or he’s been listening to Churchill speeches.

  117. 117.

    Patrick

    @Hungry Joe:

    Just saw a clip of Cruz saying that the deal does nothing to help the millions of Americans who are hurting because of Obamacare; it provides no relief for people just coming out of school who can’t find a job because of Obamacare; and then there are the skyrocketing insurance premiums because of Obamacare. And the seniors who’ve had their insurance cancelled because of Obamacare.

    If this clown is so concerned about people being hurt by the ACA, when the hell is he going to demand that Medicare is being defunded? If people are hurt by the ACA as he claims, then the same logic should apply to Medicare. Yet, these “people” who depend on people who are on Medicare for votes, are too hypocritical to say much about Medicare.

  119. 119.

    kc

    @Hungry Joe:

    It’s now okay for a U.S. Senator not to just twist facts, to come up with crackpot interpretations and suggest imbecilic solutions, but to go on national television and simply make shit up.

    It’s the Obama admin’s fault for not selling the truth hard enough.

  121. 121.

    MattR

    @Patrick:

    The Tea party is no different than a screaming 3-year old who has no clue.

    I have to disagree. A screamng 3 year old may grow up to be a responsible adult.

  122. 122.

    Mike E

    Fuck ’em.

    OT but nice Goodyear commercial during the NLCS with a Park Ranger rescuing some trailblazing repub yahoo who ostensibly neglected the 4 wheel pickup package offered to him by his car dealer. Insurance? Bah.

  123. 123.

    Seanly

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Takes too long. Arsenic has to accumulate in the body to kill the recipient. Obiligatory – no violence or actual poisoning is condoned.

    @Bubblegum Tate:

    A new party might be able to get a majority by 2024

    Umm, by splitting the ever smaller percentage of white people born before 1959? Even being nice & throwing in the white folks born between 1959 and 1979 (my age cohorts, plenty of whom are Republican douchecanoes), the demographics for a rightwing party & an ultra rightwing party are ultimately doomed. I predict this new party would top out somewhere between 26% to 28% of the electorate.

    I love how deluded some of these folks are. They truly believe the lies told to them by the grifters running their party.

  124. 124.

    Hungry Joe

    @ranchandsyrup: Thank you! Hope you like the book.

    My wife continues to make progress. She’s 90-95% recovered, with a real shot at 100% — as long as no more cars crash through the wall. She’s back at work … with an office that does NOT have a wall facing the parking lot.

  125. 125.

    Roger Moore

    @Patrick:
    Big government is when it happens to them, or if it involves giving anything to Those People. If it involves giving stuff to them, it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. If it involves doing something unpleasant to Those People, they either don’t care or are pleased.

  128. 128.

    Elizabelle

    @ally:

    Try ad blocker.

    schrodinger’s cat recommended it, and I no longer see toenail fungus, bimbos with boobs that conservative men need to see, or Newsmax headlines.

    Complete and utter win.

    And you can “unblock” ads on sites that don’t show you fungus.

  129. 129.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Violet:

    I don’t see a downside to him self-sabotaging some more. Except for the innocents who are collateral damage as he flails about.

  130. 130.

    chopper

    @Hungry Joe:

    “this deal does nothing for all the people with horrible toe fungus because of obamacare, or the millions who are going to be abducted by aliens because of obamacare…”

  131. 131.

    Hungry Joe

    @ranchandsyrup: Right back at you.

    Two daughters! A few weeks ago we drove our ONLY up to UC Davis to begin her freshman year. Great school, perfect fit, but some serious empty-nest stuff going on around here.

    You know how everyone says they grow up so fast? Well, they don’t. It takes FOREVER. But when finally they do …

  132. 132.

    Patrick

    @Roger Moore:

    Big government is when it happens to them, or if it involves giving anything to Those People. If it involves giving stuff to them, it’s doing what it’s supposed to be doing. If it involves doing something unpleasant to Those People, they either don’t care or are pleased.

    These folks are also the ones that claim they are good Christian folks…

  134. 134.

    Mike G

    @Patrick:

    These folks are also the ones that claim they are good Christian folks…

    Yet they seem to get a boner at the thought of punishing people and making them suffer for the crime of not being wealthy.

  135. 135.

    LanceThruster

    BWAHAHAHAHAHAH!

    Boy, how I love the sound of that.

    I went to one night of a two-day taping of an unfunny Rich Little comedy album, and when the stage producer kept signalling for max laughter on very weak jokes to sweeten the soundtrack, I started to do a very loud and very pronounced fake “Ed McMahon” laugh. For some strange reason, our night was edited out.

  136. 136.

    Bubblegum Tate

    @Seanly:

    I love how deluded some of these folks are. They truly believe the lies told to them by the grifters running their party.

    They believe it with the zeal of the newly converted even though they aren’t newly converted at all. You couldn’t ask for a better rube.

  137. 137.

    LanceThruster

    @Patrick:

    “If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it.” – Stephen Colbert

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