Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We still have time to mess this up!

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

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

They love authoritarianism, but only when they get to be the authoritarians.

The words do not have to be perfect.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

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

No Justins, No Peace

White supremacy is terrorism.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

You cannot shame the shameless.

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

Don’t expect peaches from an apple tree.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

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

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

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Come on, man.

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Give a Little Bit

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Yesterday’s quote of the day from Lindsey Graham:

“We won’t be the last political party to overplay our hand,” he said. “It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better.”

All the adults in the room (example: the WSJ opinion page) are saying that it’s time for the House to give up and just pass what the Senate sends over. My guess is that it won’t go that easy.

Reader Interactions

171Comments

  1. 1.

    John S.

    Nice special pleading by Huckleberry, but there is no way Democrats would ever do this. And even if they tried, Republicans would make up the rules as they go along to neutralize the Democrats, just like they always do.

  4. 4.

    J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford

    “It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little?“

    Seriously? Republicans give a little?

  6. 6.

    Voytek Dolinksy, Dean of Students

    When you’ve lost the WSJ Opinion page, or more spefically Lindsay Graham, which is the equivalent of Ernst Stavro Blofeld telling you to “take it easy”, you’ve really, really lost.

    All I can say is wow.

  7. 7.

    Botsplainer

    “Please leave Columbia be, General Sherman. You already burned Atlanta, and we’ve learned our lesson. We pinky swear promise to be good.”

  8. 8.

    Corner Stone

    Chuckles Todd just used the cowardly formula that Boehner was “caught between the right and the left, and losing the fight”.
    Boehner is not “caught” by the “left”. He’s being bullied by about 30 TP congresspeople.

  9. 9.

    NonyNony

    And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little?

    That Huckleberry – what a card! His jokes are hilarious. Once he finishes up in DC he definitely has a career working stand up circuit!

  10. 10.

    Corner Stone

    Ooooo! Sen Manchin coming up on Chuckles’ show!
    I’ll get the broken glass ready now.

  12. 12.

    MattF

    I think the only remaining question is when Boehner will cave. I hope sooner rather than later, but we shall see.

  13. 13.

    Belafon

    I believe the point of the last few weeks has been that Obama has given up things to Republicans because he thought they would act like leaders. He learned his lesson that they won’t give up anything. And when he fixed that the Republicans gave up nothing. So no, Graham, you won’t.

    BTW, the NYT has a story about Obama deciding after the 2011 negotiations that there would be no more concessions:

    More than two years ago, President Obama was still in the thick of his previous showdown with Republican House leaders over the nation’s debt limit when he called five senior advisers into his office. He did not ask their advice, one said. Rather, he told them, in a way that brooked no discussion: From now on, no more negotiating over legislation so basic and essential to the economy, and the country.

    “I’m not going through this again. It’s bad for democracy. It’s bad for the presidency,” Mr. Obama said, according to the adviser, who declined to be identified describing internal discussions. The president then told the group — his Treasury secretary, chief Congressional lobbyist, chief economic adviser and both his and the vice president’s chiefs of staff — to spread that word, “even in your body language.”

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    The Morning Plum: John Boehner’s `moment of truth’ arrives

    By Greg Sargent

    October 16 at 9:01 am






    From the very beginning of this whole crisis, two facts have been plainly obvious to anyone who cared to appreciate the basic dynamics of the situation:

    1) The incentives always argued overwhelmingly in favor of Dems refusing to concede any meaningful ground to the GOP demand for major unilateral concessions in a context where Republicans were using the threat of extensive harm to the country to get their way. This was the only way to prevent this from happening to Dems — and the country — again.

    2) There was never any compromise that could prove acceptable to both Tea Party conservatives on one side, and Obama and Senate Dems on the other. One side believes it must reserve the threat of widespread damage to the country as leverage to cripple the Obama presidency before it destroys the country. The other wants to end use of that as leverage for good. That core difference was inherently unbridgeable.

    Today, with Senators close to a deal to reopen the government and lift the debt limit, John Boehner may finally have to come to terms with those two facts, and accept their implications: The only way out of this mess is through an alliance of non-Tea Party Republicans and Democrats.

    The collapse of the House’s plan to end the crisis — precipitated by conservatives who said it didn’t extract enough in concessions on Obamacare in exchange for averting widespread harm to the country – once again confirms point two above. Meanwhile, Jackie Calmes has a good piece reporting on the White House’s conclusion early on that the only real option was to refuse to legitimize GOP extortion tactics, having been badly burned in 2011. This basic White House motive should have been obvious for weeks.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/10/16/the-morning-plum-john-boehners-moment-of-truth-arrives/

  15. 15.

    PeakVT

    “Sure, we jumped off a cliff. Now the Democrats should stand under us to soften the landing.”

  16. 16.

    catclub

    @MattF: “I hope sooner rather than later.”

    He can only cave at the last minute, otherwise he loses his speakership.

    The problem is if the last minute turns out to be a little too late, due to any slight miscalculation by the Treasury.

  17. 17.

    Patrick

    “We won’t be the last political party to overplay our hand,” he said. “It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better.”

    Unless the GOP is completely destroyed/embarrassed by them trying to take down America, they will try this again. Doesn’t Mr Lindsay agree that America needs to insure that no party will try this again? Thus a lesson need to be handed out.

  18. 18.

    rikyrah

    Default Was Never An Option

    by BooMan
    Wed Oct 16th, 2013 at 09:03:53 AM EST

    A few days ago, Rolling Stone published a Tim Dickinson article on the inner doings of “the Republican suicide machine.” It’s a big piece, and on page four there is a description of John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and their relationship to the business community.

    Boehner and Cantor have learned to speak the language of the Tea Party – the majority leader more fluently than the speaker – but their real job is to keep the old Republican-patronage machine humming. In their political bloodlines and in their donor networks, both Boehner and Cantor are deeply connected to the politics of Rove. Boehner’s signature accomplishment was steering George W. Bush’s education initiative No Child Left Behind to passage – a law that [Heritage Action president Michael] Needham decries as “a gargantuan federalization of education” and “an anathema to conservatives.” For his part, Cantor was a key member of the 2003 Tom DeLay whip team that twisted arms in an infamous all-night session required to pass the deficit-financed Medicare prescription-drug plan, a Rove-driven gift to Big Pharma and the most sweeping expansion of the program since the days of Lyndon Johnson.
    Looting Main Street

    Boehner is renowned as a “Chamber of Commerce Republican” – and the campaign-finance data are unambiguous: In the 2012 election cycle, Boehner was the House’s top recipient of campaign cash from 34 different industries, from hedge funds and investment firms to coal mining, student­loan companies, hospitals, nursing homes and Big Tobacco. He was also the top recipient of campaign cash from lobbyists themselves, raking in $393,000 according to data compiled by the Center for Responsive Politics. In D.C., the speaker’s clubby network of staffers and lobbyists is known as “Boehnerland,” and its members include heavy hitters for Citigroup, UPS, Altria, AmEx, Akin Gump and the National Federation of Independent Businesses. “The Boehner folks barbecue on Sunday together, they go on vacations together, they name their kids after each other,” says the former leadership aide.

    Although he’s positioned himself as a kindred spirit of House insurgents, and has even joined the RSC, Cantor is perhaps more deeply knitted into the Republican establishment than Boehner is. It was Cantor’s prodigious fund­raising talents that elevated him to the fast track in 2003, when he became chief-­deputy whip after just one term in Congress. Married to a former Goldman Sachs VP, he speaks the language of the investment class and is said to sell financiers on the “return on investment” of their political donations to the party. He’s been a fierce defender of the hedge-fund loophole that taxes the income of top investors at less than the rate of their secretaries – once arguing that taxing “carried interest” at normal rates would hurt “the average blue-jean-wearing American.” Over his career, he’s raised more than $2.4 million from the investment community.

    John Boehner and Eric Cantor are a little different than freshman lawmakers like Rep. Ted Yoho of Florida whose day job in 2009 was cutting the balls off large mammals in his veterinary clinic. Rep. Ted Yoho was recently quoted saying that a default on the debt would “stabilize” global markets. That’s the kind of clown that Boehner and Cantor have been trying to humor and placate.

    If you want to know why I have been so serene about the threat of default, it’s because John Boehner and Eric Cantor are creatures of big business, and they have almost nothing in common with the Tea Baggers who forced this crisis upon the Republican leadership.

    From there, it was easy to game this thing out. Boehner would never get his caucus to pass anything, and he’d be weakened and forced to rely on Democratic votes. He would never default.

    http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2013/10/16/9353/3839#1

  19. 19.

    C.V. Danes

    @Belafon:

    I believe the point of the last few weeks has been that Obama has given up things to Republicans because he thought they would act like leaders.

    That is a part of it, certainly. But I believe the other point is that the crazy wing of the Republican party is no longer even Republican, in so much as the party has no control over them.

  21. 21.

    rk

    Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little

    No, the republicans would kick the democrats when they are down, and think of numerous ways to torture the country for daring to elect democrats. I have actually been surprised as to how the democrats have managed to hold their own.

  25. 25.

    C.V. Danes

    What’s going to happen, I wonder, when Obama has to go on the air and explain to America why the government is going to prioritize interest payments to wealthy bond owners over Social Security payments to those who need them to eat?

    Not sure the country is going to be receptive to making granny and grandpa starve so that China can be made whole.

  26. 26.

    Belafon

    @C.V. Danes: You’re right, and Obama may be giving Graham a gift he hasn’t yet recognized: I (Obama) am showing you the way out of the Tea Party wilderness.

  27. 27.

    catclub

    @Belafon: Wow. And here I just posted ‘YEARS’ in response to Rikyrah.

    Years, indeed.

    Of course, many here, and MYglesias, for example, were telling him in the start of 2011: “Do not negotiate over raising the debt ceiling.”

  28. 28.

    PurpleGirl

    Senator, from where I sit, the Democrats have been giving a little bit for years now. So, NO, it’s time for the Republicans own up to what they thought they’d do. It’s time for the Republicans to STFU and commit seppu-ku. I’d be more than pleased to be a second and do the decapitation. (I haven’t had my morning coffee yet.)

  29. 29.

    bemused

    There is a lot being written trying to answer the question what the hell is wrong with delusional chapter of the House Republicans and their 27% crazy supporters. I think they also have outsize egos or very low self esteem or whatever it is that makes them feel dissed at the drop of a hat. Recently John McCain warned Dems better understand what goes around comes around if they try to humiliate the House GOP and Rep Marlin Stutzman said “We’re not going to be disrespected”. I’ve noticed this same reaction for a long time from far right Republicans in all walks of life. They get enraged when their crackpot ideas are challenged and their feelings are so bruised, they are meaner than cornered rattlesnakes.

    I suppose it’s a lack of emotional maturity. They do remind me of toddlers who think they are the center of the world and have over the top tantrums when thwarted from getting what they want and want right now.

  30. 30.

    Gian

    @C.V. Danes:
    I just wish he could do it by congressional district.

    you elected a t-bagger? you lose your federal transfer payments first.

    you earned your social security? vote for someone who doesn’t want to destroy it next time.

  31. 31.

    catclub

    @C.V. Danes: That is a hypothetical that will never happen.
    He _might_ say that rich bondholders will not be paid so that SS payments can continue.

    He would more likely say that the congress has to do its job and fix this, stat.

  32. 32.

    catclub

    @bemused: Southern conceptions of honor.

    I view protecting ones honor as the worst manifestation of the sin of pride.
    While humility is the first virtue.

  33. 33.

    MattF

    @C.V. Danes: For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Treasury payment system is particularly flexible. As I understand it, there’s two payment systems, one for interest on Treasury debt and one for everything else. Both systems pay out in the order that the bills come in. More to the point, the whole system architectures for Federal payments are based on the principle of paying as bills in the order that they come in, and the Treasury is really really really unhappy and reluctant about requests to do it any other way.

  34. 34.

    Cermet

    What better way to tame the beast than to drive this circus’s to the last minute allowing some cover for the majority of thugs and show that teabaggers want to destroy the country. Then allow it to be saved in a bi-partisan manner while letting the senate democrat’s carry the water and be the source of the ‘bill’ (nicely letting the thug senators off the hook with their empty no votes). Bonehead isn’t stupid and he had to neuter the teabaggers while still holding his precious … I mean speakership … . I am glad the debt ceiling fight will startup in time for the beginning of the next election cycle – people need to be reminded exactly what is at stake for the country. Bonehead, at least, had one good idea for the democrats.

  35. 35.

    Corner Stone

    Sen Manchin sounds like a naive child. Seeing as how he keeps saying the same type things every time he opens his mouth, I can only conclude that’s how he actually looks at life.
    “bi-partisanship, comity, gut check, good of the country, etc”

  37. 37.

    Corner Stone

    @C.V. Danes:

    when Obama has to go on the air and explain to America why the government is going to prioritize interest payments to wealthy bond owners over Social Security payments to those who need them to eat?

    I don’t have a credenza to fax you for verification, but I can guarantee you Obama would never, ever say anything close to that out loud.

  38. 38.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    If Democrats went too far over the edge, the republicans would throw them an anchor. Given that the shoe is on the other foot, well, for the good of the country Obama should throw them cast iron bricks. He can paint them orange (or red and white) if he wants to.

  39. 39.

    Culture of Truth

    “It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little?

    Ha ha! No, they would not, and thanks for clarifying, Linds

  40. 40.

    SFAW

    @PurpleGirl:

    Graham’s not the one you should be egging on. Yeah, he’s a dick, and the Senate would probably be better off without him (assuming SC somehow gets de-crazified before the next senatorial election – not a good assumption). But there are probably 20 or more other Rethugs who should be exiled before Graham.

    And, I don’t think I could stomach being a kaishakunin, but that’s just me.

  41. 41.

    EconWatcher

    I know it’s natural to focus on the last clause, but it really is remarkable to see the two that go before it:
    “We really did go too far. We screwed up.”

    The Tea Party is not going to take this sitting down. We’re going to get past this one, but they’re not done. I’d never thought before this debacle that the GOP would actually crack up, but I’m really thinking that way now.

  42. 42.

    RobertDSC-iPhone 4

    Y’all screwed up the country in 2008, Lindsey. What was your response? Record obstruction. So go fuck yourself.

  44. 44.

    Corner Stone

    mistermix, isn’t one of the next lines of that song, “of my life for you” ?

    Ummm, no thanks.
    Although if he were talking about giving me a little bit of his love for me, then maybe we could talk.

  45. 45.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    @Nied: Technically it was the battle of Missionary Ridge that started the March to the Sea. The Army of Tennessee had to fall back into Georgia after that.

  47. 47.

    eric

    the best part of Graham’s comment is that AFTER he made it, the House GOP refused to give a little for the sake of their own Speaker (and the country obviously), so, no they would never ever give a little if the Dems went too far (whatever that nonsense means in a two party system).

  48. 48.

    max

    @bemused: There is a lot being written trying to answer the question what the hell is wrong with delusional chapter of the House Republicans and their 27% crazy supporters.

    They may as well be on Mars, is why – Erick Son of Erick on imploding:

    Reid knows how to beat McConnell. If Reid fights hard, McConnell backs down and tries to blame others. McConnell’s lieutenants attack Ted Cruz so “the Leader” can deflect from his own legislative impotence. And he continually is one step behind Reid in his knowledge of how to use the Senate’s complicated rules to win a fight. You will see no defunding of Obamacare because Republicans are giving up.

    Well, Reid may well be a master of parliamentary procedure, but the strategy is easy enough – figure out which position these idiots are going to suicidally charge and then make sure your artillery is between them and their objective. Not that it will sound that way on Fox.

    They may as well be the Bloom County kids.

    max
    [‘Only appropriate cartoon.’]

  50. 50.

    Botsplainer

    @Nied:

    :That reminds me: If this was the Republican’s Gettysburg, when do we start our march to the sea?

    Burning mansions and mcmansions alike from the suburbs and exurbs all over the South. Let the wails of their women and shouts of their children serve as a lesson and warning to the rest of the country…

  51. 51.

    EconWatcher

    @bemused:

    I’ve always thought emotional immaturity was the key to what makes people far right. It’s not intelligence; while many of them are stupid, some (eg Cruz) are quite smart in an academic sense. But they just don’t think and behave like adults. Which is not to say that everyone on our side does. But the lack of adulthood is their defining characteristic.

  52. 52.

    bemused

    @catclub:

    Honor defense, ignorance, rage, delusional thinking, being easily terrified add extreme religiosity and we have a group of folks impossible to deal with on any rational level. The sooner they are discredited back to shouting on street corners, the better.

  53. 53.

    SFAW

    And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country the Koch Brothers et al., kinda give them a little extra shove over the cliff? Fuck yeah!

    Edited to include the words Lindsey really meant to say.

  54. 54.

    Ash Can

    Lindsay, dear, don’t take sips from John Boehner’s glass. It isn’t tea, and it isn’t good for you.

  56. 56.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Andy Zaltzman came up with the best analogy to the teabaggers’ behaviour: auto-erotic asphyxiation.

  57. 57.

    C.V. Danes

    @MattF:

    For what it’s worth, I don’t think the Treasury payment system is particularly flexible.

    I would agree with that. After all, this is, by definition, one of those “black swan” events for which a system would not usually be programmed to handle.

    For what its worth, if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to, he would just order the Treasury to continue business as usual, and dare congress to impeach him. I’m sure that’s a national conversation he would just love to have.

  58. 58.

    TAPX486

    The only difference between Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell is the tools they want to use in destroying the federal government. Cruz wants to use a truck bomb and is indifferent to any collateral damage. McConnell would prefer a scalpel. The McConnell approach is to reduce funding to various agencies and impose limits on what they can do. The result will be that the EPA, for example, continues to exist as a nameplate on the door and not much else.

    When they have a GOPPER in the White House we will get the James Watts at interior who gave away large tracks of federal land at fire sale prices to timber and coal interests or we will get Brownie who runs an agency into the ground thru planned incompetence.

    The GOP/teaparty wing at the Supreme Court will continue to give us business friendly decisions like Citizens United or decisions that hamstring the federal agencies like the upcoming decision on EPA rules governing green house gases ( I know the case hasn’t been argued but if anyone thinks Roberts and company will back the EPA needs to get out more).

    The GOP is not really opposed to income redistribution or the social safety net. They are more than happy to redistribute income up to the 1% thru the tax code or out and out subsidies. They are also happy to provide the 1% with a safety net when required. The recent farm bill demonstrates both points. Crop subsidies for wealthy agro-business are fine as are crop insurance. Food stamps and unemployment compensation are of course socialism.

    The Koch brothers came out against breaching the debt limit, not because of the damage it would do to the constitutional order of the US and the place of the US in the world but because it would have affected their checkbook. If they could have seen a way to make a profit from breaching the limit they would have said go for it.

    Its all about tactics not goals. Cruz and the crazies want to take the express train and the sane wing wants to take the local, but they both want to get to the same station – government of the 1%, by the 1% and most importantly for the 1%.(sorry Abe).

  60. 60.

    Tom the First

    So, the Republicans shutdown government because they don’t like a law that was passed by both houses of Congress, signed by the president and upheld by a right-leaning supreme court, and now when they’ve inevitably failed in this act of petulance, they ask for mercy?

    “Look into your heart, Harry Reid.”

    http://vimeo.com/31762275

  61. 61.

    artem1s

    @catclub:

    He can only cave at the last minute, otherwise he loses his speakership.

    already lost that. he is finished in practice anyway. and the advantage of keeping him around because he speaks ‘moderate’ has long past. having lost the fight over ACA, the teahaddists will start looking for someone to punish. he may not lose his seat,… yet.

    he decided not to learn from history, cause overreaching and shutting down the government worked out so well for Newt. time for Boehner to start writing his memoirs and hit the Sunday talk show circuit.

  62. 62.

    C.V. Danes

    @Corner Stone:

    I don’t have a credenza to fax you for verification, but I can guarantee you Obama would never, ever say anything close to that out loud.

    Nevertheless, the people will be wondering where the money is going when those Social Security checks start not showing up. And the answer better not be “China.”

    Just sayin’

  63. 63.

    Corner Stone

    @C.V. Danes:

    For what its worth, if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to,

    I’m not sure what “spine” has to do with that decision.

  64. 64.

    LAC

    @Corner Stone: LOL!! I swear, I do not know why Chinless doesn’t just become Boehner’s press secretary. He spends more time making up excuses for that bourbon infused spray tanned empty suit than anyone else in the media.

    And Lindsay Graham needs to take a few seats. Give him a couple of weeks and he will be back on the air, screeching about Bengazi or something that helps him against that primary challenge he is so scared of.

  66. 66.

    RaflW

    @robertcostaNRO 8:49cst
    Per Sen sources, Boehner has agreed to take up the Senate’s plan and allow it to pass with Dem votes.

    Costa is not always right, or more accurately, what Costa is told often changes again after he relays it, but the deal may yet happen.

    We still have a shit-assed Congress with an insane rump party and an inept, dangerous fool at the helm (and yes, jackals, I mean Boehner). So there is that. Happy Christmas Chaos if the deal being discussed materializes!!

  67. 67.

    dmsilev

    So I guess those Republicans who were comparing this to the Battle of Gettysburg were right.

    And they just reenacted Pickett’s Charge.

  68. 68.

    Belafon

    @RaflW: I’ve enjoyed reading Costa, but I think you have to treat his tweets as a near real time image of Republican chaos.

  69. 69.

    dmsilev

    @Botsplainer:

    Burning mansions and mcmansions alike from the suburbs and exurbs all over the South. Let the wails of their women and shouts of their children serve as a lesson and warning to the rest of the country…

    Obama! What is best in life?

    To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their bloggers.

  71. 71.

    TAPX486

    @C.V. Danes: The whole idea of prioritizing the debt is an effort by the GOP to change the subject. They are defining ‘debt’ in a very narrow legalistic way. Sure on the corporate balance sheet debt, i.e. bonds, is a separate entity but there are entries for salaries, taxes ands accounts payable. The corporation owes that money also. Unfortunately the bond holding 1% have made sure that they get to stand at the head of the line if the company goes bankrupt. If the only thing that counted toward my credit rating was the mortgage, then I would pay that every month while telling Visa and MasterCard to go whistle. See how far that gets you in life.

  72. 72.

    peach flavored shampoo

    Per Sen sources, Boehner has agreed to take up the Senate’s plan and allow it to pass with Dem votes.

    The Dow certainly believes it to be true.

    Goodbye, John. Hello Speaker….Jordon? Iowa King? Bachmann?

  73. 73.

    SFAW

    @dmsilev:

    To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their girly-men, all-hat-no-cattle bloggers.

    I realize modesty forbade you from including those descriptors.

  74. 74.

    Keith P.

    The thing Graham is skipping is that they’ve overplayed their hands over and over and over again. There’s no motivation for the Dems to save them because every time they have in the past, they’ve gotten burned.

  75. 75.

    Patrick

    Goodbye, John. Hello Speaker….Jordon? Iowa King? Bachmann?

    Boehner will go down as one of the worst Speakers of the House ever.

  76. 76.

    Kyle

    @bemused:

    I think they also have outsize egos or very low self esteem or whatever it is that makes them feel dissed at the drop of a hat…“We’re not going to be disrespected”.

    It’s also the mentality of street gangs — you bumped into me on the street, I will beat you/knife you/shoot you to avenge this “disrespect”.
    They held the country and the world economy hostage. They all belong in jail.

  77. 77.

    Ash Can

    @C.V. Danes:

    if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to

    I too am disgusted with Obama for having no spine in this whole clusterfuck and immediately caving to the GOP’s ransom demands.

    Oh, wait.

    Really, you were fine up to this point, then you went completely off the rails. If learning very quickly from a mistake and doing this (for crying out loud, Belafon posted this directly above) and then sticking to his guns throughout this entire latest circus translates to “spineless” to you, you need to take another look at what you think the word means.

    And BTW, you’re ascribing action (or lack thereof) to him that he hasn’t even taken. We haven’t yet reached a point of severe enough crisis that he would need to follow any procedures of last resort. How do you know he wouldn’t take exactly the extraordinary measures you describe, if he had to? You’re assuming a lot, and with very little basis.

  78. 78.

    Guy

    I know this ain’t over yet, but for the first time I feel slightly optimistic about how this is going to end. I have been worried that the hostage takers might actually shoot the hostage this time, but instead it seems the house GOP pointed the gun at its own head and pulled the trigger. Sure didn’t see that coming.

  84. 84.

    RaflW

    @max:

    Ewik bin Ewik sez: You will see no defunding of Obamacare because Republicans are giving up.

    Giving up is typically what one does when fully cornered and whupped, Ewik. Or do you want McConnell to actually have a celebrity death match? Would that work for you?

    I’m sure the propaganda machine will reframe this as a strategic retreat after bruising Obama horribly, but we’ll all still point and laugh. The 27% will harden in their resentment of Obama, and the RINO hunt will be very big this cycle.

  85. 85.

    Corner Stone

    @RaflW:

    Costa is not always right, or more accurately, what Costa is told often changes again after he relays it, but the deal may yet happen.

    Costa’s reportage is almost like a real time word cloud. The size of the truth word changes as the shouting gets louder.

  86. 86.

    catclub

    markets are going up. I wonder what they do if Ted Cruz does not give unanimous consent to a vote.

  87. 87.

    dmsilev

    @SFAW: Infographic that needs to be made: John Boehner’s blood alcohol content as a function of time over the last couple of weeks.

    We’ll find out that since last Friday, he’s technically been embalmed.

  89. 89.

    nemesis

    For what its worth, if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to, he would just order the Treasury to continue business as usual, and dare congress to impeach him. I’m sure that’s a national conversation he would just love to have.

    Oh, please. Thats just brilliant. And stuff.

    One thing for certain, the gop will attempt this same style of coup again in a few months. Kudos to the WH and Dems for staying relatively united and acting as the reasonable adults in the room.

  91. 91.

    TAPX486

    @Patrick: Orangeman will keep his job for one simple reason – these cowards like to throw the grenades not catch them. Cruz looks like the same type of coward. He is always ready to stake out a hill for someone else to die on.

  92. 92.

    shortstop

    Ah, the classic “Why didn’t you save us from ourselves?” argument. I recall it being trotted out during the Schiavo incident — after which many pundits suggested that Democrats should have “done more” to prevent wingers from making total jackasses of themselves — and a few other cherce occasions.

  93. 93.

    Robert Sneddon

    @C.V. Danes: ” if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to, he would just order the Treasury to continue business as usual, and dare congress to impeach him. I’m sure that’s a national conversation he would just love to have. ”

    No he wouldn’t. He’s got a job to do, a country to run, he’s CinC of the largest military force on the planet as well as the administrator for the justice system, business and finance, revenue collection etc. This three-ring-circus clown show the Legislature is indulging in is distracting him from his own job, like attending the big international conferences, talking with heads of state and applying American soft power where it needs to be applied. He shouldn’t be firefighting in his own back yard; the Constitution says it’s up to the Legislature to deal with funding the government not him.

  94. 94.

    shortstop

    @peach flavored shampoo: I don’t think he’s going anywhere. The speaker is elected by the whole House, not just the majority caucus: he or she needs a minimum of 50 percent plus 1. There isn’t anyone else who is both willing to run and able to get a majority of Republican votes, much less get enough Dems to go along.

    He will, however, live in infamy as an absolute, unmitigated disaster at his job.

  97. 97.

    SFAW

    @TAPX486:

    Cruz looks like the same type of coward. He is always ready to stake out a hill for someone else to die on.

    “Let’s you and him have a fight!”

  98. 98.

    patrick II

    @C.V. Danes:
    I think Obama may have been planning that, but more as a last resort. He wanted to assert congress’ s responsibility first and let them see the edge of the cliff first.

  103. 103.

    Corner Stone

    Fucking Lt. Gov Dewhurst (R-TX), just shut your stupid cracker ass mouth. You lost to the nutter Cruz, and no matter how many calls you make for impeaching Obama you will never win the TP’s hearts.

  104. 104.

    Tom Q

    To add to what others have said: not only is this not the first time the GOP has “gone too far”, Lindsay Graham himself was deeply involved in one of the previous cases — being one of the odious House Managers who argued the impeachment of Clinton in the Senate. I’ll wait patiently for anyone in the mainstream press to remind him of that.

  105. 105.

    SFAW

    @Robert Sneddon:

    This three-ring-circus clown show the Legislature is indulging in is distracting him from his own job,

    “My fellow Americans: for the last two months, the grandstanding, childish, and churlish games the Republican members of Congress have been playing have forced the important business of the US Government to take a back seat. Their behavior, in addition to wasting the valuable time of our citizens, has sought to delay the execution of the ACA, a duly passed law, deemed constitutional (and therefore legal). In addition, their actions, by their very nature, may have given aid and comfort to the enemies of the United States of America.

    “Chapter 18 of the US Code includes definitions of Treason, and of Seditious Conspiracy. I have asked Attorney General Holder to determine whether any member of Congress has, through his/her recent actions, committed acts described under the appropriate Sections of the US Code. If he determines that any member of Congress has committed such acts, he will prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.

    “In closing, I say to my Republican ‘friends’: Fuck me? No, FUCK YOU!”

  106. 106.

    Ksmiami

    @catclub: if Cruz attempts anything he’s a dead man… Quite literally warren buffet and the Koch brothers will slice him to pieces and sell his remains to McConnell and ayotte to feast on

  107. 107.

    Corner Stone

    I get so tired of former D Senate staffer Jimy Williams saying “both sides are guilty of X or Y”.

  108. 108.

    shelly

    I prefer Charles Pierce’s nickname for him ‘ Huckleberry J. Butchmeup.”

    Cause wasn’t Graham just the other day channeling the Incredible Hulk when he was warning ” “This is a very frustrated Lindsey Graham,” he added. “Which is a very dangerous thing.”

  109. 109.

    C.V. Danes

    @Robert Sneddon:

    This three-ring-circus clown show the Legislature is indulging in is distracting him from his own job…

    With all due respect, his job is to protect the union. Steering the country through the constitutional crisis unleashed by the Republicans is his job, and is undoubtedly the most important thing on his plate right now. The rest of the world can take care of itself for a while until we can get this crap sorted out.

  111. 111.

    fidelio

    First of all, let me show you all the senatorfrom South Carolina’sdead ringer. It is a remarkable resembance, isn’t it? Perhaps we should cpmsider the cinematic connection, instead of insulting Huckleberry Finn when we speak of the man.

    Then, let me address this: “We won’t be the last political party to overplay our hand,” he said. “It might happen one day on the Democratic side. And if it did, would Republicans, for the good of the country, kinda give a little? We really did go too far. We screwed up. But their response is making things worse, not better.”

    I’ve heard it said that in Grover Norquist’s (et al.) ideal dynamic for Washington, the Democrats are supposed to be the long-suffering wives who do as they’re told or else. Does Senator Chucky’s comment fit in with that, or what?!

  112. 112.

    Cermet

    @Corner Stone: Hold it! There really is a more useless job in Tex-ass than Gov?! Really? Now that is funny – lost to Teddy boy and is more worthless than the Tex-ass Gov! HAHAHA.

  113. 113.

    C.V. Danes

    @Ash Can:

    How do you know he wouldn’t take exactly the extraordinary measures you describe, if he had to? You’re assuming a lot, and with very little basis.

    I believe that he will do what it takes to preserve things, when he has no other choice. And perhaps he has to do that so that there is no wiggle room for the Republicans to worm out of their responsibility for what happened. My point is that he should not fear impeachment. I believe the people will be overwhelmingly behind him on this.

  114. 114.

    catclub

    @fidelio: Time to go read
    http://vagabondscholar.blogspot.com/2012/07/the-four-types-of-conservatives.html

    “The Democrats are supposed to be the long-suffering wives who do as they’re told or else.”
    The ‘or else’ being that the children do not eat.

    One of the types of conservative is the irresponsible one:
    ” Reckless Addicts”. This is the largest type of the four.

    The Democrats know that actual people are hurt by government shutdown.

    ETA: I went and read it, and have to add a quote:
    “Alternatively, think of an adult addict, abusive to his wife and children, recklessly blowing through all their savings and going deeply in debt, all to feed his habit. He doesn’t care about the future; the welfare of others, even those he is supposedly responsible for, simply does not matter. Whatever conscience he has is deeply buried, and he will never stop his behavior voluntarily, without intervention.”

  115. 115.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @shortstop: many pundits suggested that Democrats should have “done more” to prevent wingers from making total jackasses of themselves
    That’s been a Broderist plank for years– Of course the Republican base is insane and the Republican establishment completely cowed. Why can’t you damn Democrats find reasonable solutions to make them look good? Invite Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan to the “living quarters” for lemonade and cribbage?

  116. 116.

    Patrick

    @C.V. Danes:

    For what its worth, if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to, he would just order the Treasury to continue business as usual, and dare congress to impeach him.

    OK – how do you think the economy/markets would react when impeachment proceedings starts? And how do you think the economy/markets would react when the predictable lawsuit would reach the USSC regarding the constitutionality of such a move by Obama?

  117. 117.

    dmsilev

    Fat lady has sung:

    The head of the Heritage Foundation’s political arm said that Republicans understand they won’t be able to repeal Obamacare until at least 2017.

    In an interview with Fox News, CEO of Heritage Action for America Michael Needham was asked what conservatives could do to fully remove the law with Democrats controlling both the Senate and the White House.

    “Well everybody, understands that we’ll not be able to repeal this law until 2017,” Needham said Wednesday. “We have to win the Senate and win the White House. Right now it is clear that this bill is not ready for prime time. It is clear the bill is unfair.”

  118. 118.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Oh, christ, I thought it would take till noon till the “IF OBAMA HAD ANY BALLS….” chorus to start.

  119. 119.

    fidelio

    @peach flavored shampoo: All you need to be speaker is a simple majority.

    So you can’t count on Boehner being replaced, seeing how many votes Nancy can call on. If she wants to cut a deal, and ratchet the misery up for poor Orange John yet further, all she needs is a few Republicans who hate the Tea Party caucus enough to hold their nose and vote to retain the pickled gentleman from Ohio.

    Cantor and others would scream and shout, but there are enough who hate him and think he’d be even worse than Boehner in terms of maintaining bearable levels of functionality.

  121. 121.

    dmsilev

    Robert Costa ✔ @robertcostaNRO
    RT @sahilkapur Multiple Senate sources say Boehner has agreed to vote first on the Reid-McConnell deal. Game over.

  124. 124.

    shelly

    many pundits suggested that Democrats should have “done more” to prevent wingers from making total jackasses of themselves

    Oh God, this type of argument makes me NUTS! There was a rw radio host actually criticizing the House yesterday but then went back to bashing the Prez. “Why hasn’t Obama done more to allieve the pain during the shutdown.”
    It’s as if the House Repubs started beating up on some hapless victim while turning to Obama and saying ‘Why aren’t you doing more to stop us from beating up this guy? It’s really all your fault!”

  125. 125.

    Corner Stone

    @Cermet: Actually, in Texas the LTG position is more powerful than the Gov spot. The job is responsible for much of the day to day running of the state.
    In Texas the Gov is largely a ceremonial figurehead. He gets to kill people, sign legislation and appoint people to spots on commissions, committees, boards, etc.

  126. 126.

    fidelio

    @catclub: Reacting to your edit: Yes. This is what it sounds like, more than anything resembling the art of the political deal as practiced by Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and down through Sam Rayburn and Tip O’Neill. Whatever else you could say about these congressional figures (and there’s a lot that could be said), they operated towards their opponents as people who had a legitimate place at the table and whose constituencies had a right to have their interests taken into account. They knew that a deal strongly disadvantageous to one side would call for a payback later on, and dealt with it like rational people.

  127. 127.

    C.V. Danes

    @Patrick:

    OK – how do you think the economy/markets would react when impeachment proceedings starts? And how do you think the economy/markets would react when the predictable lawsuit would reach the USSC regarding the constitutionality of such a move by Obama?

    I think they would react more predictably than if we just went off the cliff. We’ve been through impeachments before, and we’ve been through lawsuits before. What we have not been through before is a default.

  129. 129.

    Patrick

    @shelly:

    Oh God, this type of argument makes me NUTS! There was a rw radio host actually criticizing the House yesterday but then went back to bashing the Prez. “Why hasn’t Obama done more to allieve the pain during the shutdown.”

    It is the GOP who has claimed forever that the government is the problem to EVERYTHING. Yet, NOW they are confessing that the government shutdown was painful.

    Maybe there was something good that actually came out of this stupid shutdown after all.

  130. 130.

    Pillsy

    @rikyrah:

    I have to admit that I don’t really get the intensity of the Booker hate, but it might help to think of it as voting against the thoroughly revolting Steve Lonegan.

  132. 132.

    Patrick

    @C.V. Danes:

    I think they would react more predictably than if we just went off the cliff. We’ve been through impeachments before, and we’ve been through lawsuits before. What we have not been through before is a default.

    Right. We don’t know. Markets hate uncertainty. And there would be uncertainty until the USSC ruled on the constitutionality by such a move by Obama. In the meantime, it is likely that the interest rates would indeed go up because of the uncertainty. Just as if we had defaulted in the first place.

    Obama was asked about this, and he had ruled against just because a prolonged lawsuit (which would be bad for the markets), not because he is spineless.

  133. 133.

    Roger Moore

    @Patrick:

    Maybe there was something good that actually came out of this stupid shutdown after all.

    I think it has helped to remind people who are on the fence about the many important things the government does that they don’t normally pay attention to. I don’t think the teabaggers will pick up that lesson, though, because that’s not what they do.

  134. 134.

    Patrick

    @Pillsy:

    I have to admit that I don’t really get the intensity of the Booker hate, but it might help to think of it as voting against the thoroughly revolting Steve Lonegan.

    I don’t hate him, but Booker really messed up when he was on national television and criticized Obama’s ads against Romney and had the audacity of comparing them to the Jeremiah Wright attacks from the the GOP.

  135. 135.

    fidelio

    @Roger Moore: I’d go for Foghorn Leghorn, myself, if we’re looking at a cartoon comparison. Huckleberry Hound was a far more inoffensive character.

  136. 136.

    Corner Stone

    I get so tired of TV anchors using the Dow or “The Markets” as some barometer of proof for their argument. I don’t like it when Fox does it, and I don’t enjoy seeing MSNBC doing it either.
    So, I guess I am saying “Both Sides!”

  137. 137.

    bjacques

    GOP/Teabag debacle is starting to play like Reservoir Dogs. The guy staying outside in the getaway car knew his buddy was trigger-happy, but since they’d both done a lot of successful jobs together and the buddy hadn’t killed anyone yet (just a few pistol-whippings), it was all good.

    This time, though, the jewels are in the safe and the buddy has the employees on the floor and is going to start executing them until one of them gives up the safe’s combination (then kill the rest anyway), but his gun has jammed. Police sirens in the distance, but the buddy is obsessed with the jewels and is trying to unjam his gun and stick to the plan. The getaway driver is wondering whether loyalty extends to waiting and risking getting caught.

    Since he’s an accomplice to what could become a capital crime in most states, he’d be better off shooting his buddy. He could always claim he was on the street and heard the commotion, and pretend to be the hero. Except that the buddy is a made man and the driver isn’t.

  138. 138.

    NonyNony

    @peach flavored shampoo:

    Goodbye, John. Hello Speaker….Jordon? Iowa King? Bachmann?

    I’m putting a marker down right now. Unless Boehner resigns because he is fed up with the job and doesn’t want to do it anymore, he will continue on as Speaker into 2014.

    It’s been obvious for a while that everyone hates him and he still has the job. Nobody who could get support to do the job wants it, and nobody who wants the job has enough support to take it from him. You would think that this last few weeks of stupid would have changed that dynamic, but I doubt it.

  139. 139.

    fuckwit

    What stunned me was the gloating by Grover Norquist in 2011, which indicated to me that Rethugs live in a parallel universe from the rest of us.

    Norquist thought it was stupid and naive for Obama to NOT hold the Bush tax cuts as ransom in to make the Rethugs dance on a string. He fully expected Obama to hold the Rethugs hostage, like the Rethugs are doing now. He was stunned that Obama wouldn’t use that leverage to squeeze the Rethugs. He thought Obama was a complete idiot for not doing that.

    Which tells you they live in a different world, where functioning government doesn’t matter, democracy doesn’t matter, the Constitution doesn’t matter, elections don’t matter, respect for the people doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is WINNING. It’s a deeply cynical, anti-democratic view of life. It’s a criminal, mobster, law-of-the-jungle view of life.

    In other words, Norquist is such a sociopath, he has no idea what ethics look like, and mistakes them for weakness.

    That’s who we’re dealing with: people who think democracy is only for the weak and naive. Hell, they are people who think ETHICS are only for the weak and naive.

  141. 141.

    fuckwit

    @dmsilev: I think we need to tell that clown: FUCK YOU IT IS NOT A BILL IT’S A LAW GO WATCH YOUR MOTHERFUCKING SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK YOU GODDAMNED MORON.

  142. 142.

    fuckwit

    @SFAW: You can’t. This was explored in a previous diary. Only the House can prosecute members of the House for treason, only the Senate can prosecute members of the Senate. AG has no power in this situation.

  143. 143.

    feebog

    @C.V. Danes:

    So you have gone from this:

    ” if Obama had half the spine as those of his predecessors he looks up to, he would just order the Treasury to continue business as usual, and dare congress to impeach him. I’m sure that’s a national conversation he would just love to have. ”

    to this:

    I believe that he will do what it takes to preserve things, when he has no other choice. And perhaps he has to do that so that there is no wiggle room for the Republicans to worm out of their responsibility for what happened. My point is that he should not fear impeachment. I believe the people will be overwhelmingly behind him on this.

    While I appreciate that you have walked back your original comment, it was the “half the spine” part that ticked me (and others) off. Yes POB made a mistake in negotiating with Republicans in 2011. His mistake was thinking he was dealing with politicians, not terrorists. He learned from that mistake. I think he understands the law a hell of a lot better than you do, and with the counsel of some other people who understand the law a hell of a lot better than you do, has decided that what you suggested is not a viable option. So, if I may make a suggestion, just STFU and lurk for a while.

  144. 144.

    SFAW

    @fuckwit:
    I thought it was also discussed, n the previous diary, re: things they do inside the Capitol vs. things they do outside the building, and how they weren’t necessarily protected if three of them met at the local watering hole and discussed their various monkey wrenches.

    Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but maybe they (whoever “they” is) really do care about the distinction.

  145. 145.

    fuckwit

    @Kyle: It’s insecurity born of weakness. Their time is up. They know it. Demographics, social change, the realities of science, the realities of an interconnected world, the realities of climate change, etc. The teabagger contingent has lost, and they know it. They’re showing the classic signs of small-man syndrome: paranoia, hypersensitivity to insult, violent hair-trigger temper, talking big and acting belligerent with bravado. They are just like teenage punks in that sense. Or the Confederates.

  146. 146.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Patrick: And they’ll get the chance to try this again in a few months if we have to go through this nonsense in February.

  149. 149.

    Corner Stone

    @fuckwit:

    He was stunned that Obama wouldn’t use that leverage to squeeze the Rethugs. He thought Obama was a complete idiot for not doing that.

    IMO, the way the Bush Tax Cuts were handled was a huge mistake.
    I don’t agree with Norquist about the mindset, but the end result is the same. And now we’re here.

  150. 150.

    Corner Stone

    It’s hilarious that the Houston Chronicle is now calling out Sen Cruz. After they endorsed him in the previous Senate race, of course. But still, pretty damn funny.
    Why we miss Kay Bailey Hutchison
    “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.”

  151. 151.

    slippy

    @Patrick:

    An epic bitch-slapping smackdown needs to be dealt the Republicans. And they need to feel like someone’s about to JUMP THEIR FUCKING SHIT every minute of every day for like the next 10 years, just to get the picture clear in their fucking thick skulls.

  152. 152.

    max

    @fidelio: I’d go for Foghorn Leghorn, myself, if we’re looking at a cartoon comparison.

    Foghorn Faintingcouch!

    max
    [‘[‘I do declare.’]

  153. 153.

    Roger Moore

    @SFAW:

    I thought it was also discussed, n the previous diary, re: things they do inside the Capitol vs. things they do outside the building, and how they weren’t necessarily protected if three of them met at the local watering hole and discussed their various monkey wrenches.

    Which is ridiculous; this is Law 101 stuff. Unless you’re planning a crime, you can’t be convicted of criminal conspiracy. Since the Republicans’ legislative acts are themselves legal, there can be nothing criminal about getting together to plan them, no matter where it’s done.

  155. 155.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Reading the MSNBC scroll, House Republicans are now denying they ever tried/wanted to repeal, or even defund, Obamacare.

  156. 156.

    catclub

    @Corner Stone: ” the way the Bush Tax Cuts were handled was a huge mistake.”

    There were still innocent children around, i.e. not only losing the SS reduction, but also raising taxes on everybody, which probably WOULD have brought on a recession – in 2012 – which likely means no re-election.

    The cynic would say that the only thing that mattered was the re-election. I am not that cynical, since the recession would bring more suffering for all of us, first.

  158. 158.

    Patrick

    @feebog:

    Yes POB made a mistake in negotiating with Republicans in 2011. His mistake was thinking he was dealing with politicians, not terrorists. He learned from that mistake

    I think the key reason he negotiated with the GOP in 2011 was that he was up for re-election just 17 months later. If we had defaulted in 2011, the economy would have been in a tail-spin and Obama would not have been re-elected. IOW, I don’t think he made a mistake. I think it was a conscious decision with his back against the wall.

    This time it is different. He has no re-election to worry about. He will not back down.

  160. 160.

    SFAW

    @Roger Moore:

    You know, I’m getting really tired of you correcting me. Killjoy.

    On the plus side: I’m not a lawyer, so it would be REALLY embarrassing if I were, and you still had to correct me. As it stands, it’s only somewhat embarrassing.

  162. 162.

    Corner Stone

    @catclub: I think you’re referring to just the aftermath of what might have happened, alternatively. My contention, at the time as well as now, is that the actions taken before, during and after that issue were a mistake. I’ll not re-hash all my rantings but will simply say the measures that were granted, while significant and important for real people, were not worth the negotiations that were entered into.

  164. 164.

    StringOnAStick

    The Houston Chronicle, McGrumpypants, even the Kochs are now signaling the TP’s to take note of reality, and why is that? $, that’s why. Oh sure, it was tons of fun play acting as the Great Saviors of the Constitution, feeling butch (Hi, aunt Pittypat!), getting a righteous-gasm with every TV spot, but now shit’s about to get real and the guys that run companies are wildly doing the time-out signal. Will the TP’s actually accept that signal? This is more than just the difference between the political class (who make their money by begging rich guys for it) and the corporate overlord class (who run companies, and use some of the profits to buy the political class).

    The Rolling Stone article Booman referenced by rikyah at #18 had an excellent sub-point that this whole thing came to pass because of one of the side effects of Citizens United. Since the TP’s get their funding directly from their crazy and wealthy base, Boehner has less control over them because he can’t threaten their campaign funding if they step out of line, at least not enough of it to matter. The Koch’s/Frieze’s/Adelson’s can buy their politicians directly now instead of going through umbrella organizations.

  165. 165.

    shortstop

    @Pillsy: Last night I was wondering if it makes Michael Caine sad that in many photos, Steve Lonegan looks just like him. Then I started wandering around various right-wing cesspools and discovered that a lot of them really, really believe that Lonegan is going to crush Booker because all the polls, except for Lonegan’s sooper sekrit internal one, are so darned skewed.

    So that was my Tuesday night. Lame as it was, it’s still more dignified than tonight will be for New Jersey Republicans and their national supporters, who will be reliving the evening of November 6, 2012 in Groundhog Day-esque fashion.

  170. 170.

    hueyplong

    Even though the sample size is still small, we ought to be able to agree that Ted Cruz is the worst ever Speaker of the House.

  171. 171.

    fidelio

    @StringOnAStick: The end of earmarks is a factor as well, if not as large, and not as identifiably important to those members of the House not used to the notion that they’re supposed to deliver for their districts. (If you haven’t been in long enough to learn how these things are, or rather were, done, and if you think of your district as important to you only because it gives you a platform for your grandstanding, the entire notion is irrelevant, of course.)

    The late Ned Ray McWherter was Speaker of the Tennessee House before he spent two terms as governor. He was a master of the “”go along with this or else” maneuver. Both as Speaker and as Governor he was supposed to have kept a picture of a bright, shiny new piece of road construction machinery hanging in a place in his office. If a legislator was being obstinate, he’d point out the picture and say “Take a good look, ebcause that’s the last time anyone in your district is going to see one of those.” (Road construction funds in Tennessee matter a lot; we’re a spead-out sort of state, and bad roads mean no development and no jobs.) The end of earmarks make this sort of negotiating (You need this for your people, but I have to have this; can’t we work it out?) much harder. It closed the last crack left by campaign fundung via rich nutjobs.

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