Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

“woke” is the new caravan.

There are consequences to being an arrogant, sullen prick.

Of course you can have champagne before noon. That’s why orange juice was invented.

Their boy Ron is an empty plastic cup that will never know pudding.

The lights are all blinking red.

Imperialist aggressors must be defeated, or the whole world loses.

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Nothing says ‘pro-life’ like letting children go hungry.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I conferred with the team and they all agree – still not tired of winning!

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Joe Biden can go out like FDR, not by dying in office, but by crushing the fascists.

Incompetence, fear, or corruption? why not all three?

Hi god, it’s us. Thanks a heap, you’re having a great week and it’s only Thursday!

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

There is no compromise when it comes to body autonomy. You either have it or you don’t.

There is one struggling party in US right now, and it’s not the Democrats.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Every reporter and pundit should have to declare if they ever vacationed with a billionaire.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

You are here: Home / La commedia ê finita

La commedia ê finita

by | 56 Comments

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Finally:

With the Treasury Department warning that it could run out of money to pay national obligations within a day, the Senate voted overwhelmingly Wednesday evening, 81 to 18, to approve a proposal hammered out by the chamber’s Republican and Democratic leaders after the House on Tuesday was unable to move forward with any resolution. The House followed suit a few hours later, voting 285 to 144, to approve the Senate plan, which would finance the government through Jan. 15 and raise the debt limit through Feb. 7.

Meet the next budget negotiation, same as the this budget negotiation, though. For once, William Galston is probably right:

It’s hard to see how the U.S. can govern itself unless corporate America pushes the Republican establishment to fight back against the tea party—or switches sides.

Keep fighting. Remember: doesn’t matter who the president is — Obama, O’Malley, Warren Clinton — these crazy bastards have the power to flush the country down the toilet under our current system. It only stops when we become a supermajority.

Reader Interactions

56Comments

  5. 5.

    Dolly Llama

    This was supposedly a vote the Chamber of Commerce was “scoring” against those who voted against it. Yeah, right. Let’s see their contribution list about this time next year. They’ve been useful idiots, and they will continue to be useful idiots.

  6. 6.

    mike in dc

    I tend to doubt that corporate America will be pushing the establishment to fight back…mainly because it’s not entirely clear the establishment will win this time around.
    Supermajority rule seems to be the only remotely plausible path out of this crap. If they’re actually incapable of stopping anything or putting Dem control in jeopardy, then they will come begging to make a deal to get something for their districts and hold on to their seats.

  8. 8.

    SFAW

    On the plus side, it looks we can now place a dollar value on the position of Speaker of the House:

    it’s been estimated that the Shutdown cost the USA approximately $24 Billion, and we had a 16-day Shutdown so that Boehner could keep his job, so res ipsa loquitur, QED, LS/MFT, and Penumele iki bobo.

  11. 11.

    scav

    I would feel slightly better if Da capo wasn’t also abbreviated D.C. but I’ll take my flute of tears with a dash of bitters and squeeze of lemon with glee all the same.

  12. 12.

    Bill D.

    Then we need to set in place autopilot mechanisms so that the government can continue even in the event that Congress is hamstrung or entirely out of commission. A continuing-resolution type of setup should be automatic if appropriations for the new fiscal year are not passed. Meanwhile, the debt limit serves no useful purpose- it does not constrain the executive branch, which is obligated to spend all amounts appropriated and which can not raise taxes on its own. It only serves as a kind of periodic embarrassment to Congress, but that has never stopped Congress from raising spending or cutting taxes when it felt like it, regardless of the effects on the current deficit or the cumulative debt.

    Belgium had no political government for two years due to political gridlock, but the administrative and judicial functions of government continued without a break thanks to such prior arrangements.

  16. 16.

    lamh36

    @TomLevenson 1m
    “@CarrieNBCNews: Pelosi on House floor: “My colleagues, do you think that your recklessness was worth $24b to our economy?”” <- #NancySmash!

  18. 18.

    Groucho48

    According to a Kos diary, one of the provisions of the Senate bill

    An increase in the debt ceiling until Feb. 7, but it also continues the ability of the Treasury to use extraordinary measures to extend that period, so that’s not a drop dead date. It also includes language allowing President Obama to waive the debt ceiling, which could be overridden by a vote of disapproval by Congress that could then be vetoed by the president

    If that’s true, and it survived the House, doesn’t that pretty much take away the debt ceiling as a weapon?

  24. 24.

    David Fud

    @Groucho48: Sounds that way, would be smart for the “moderate” GOP members to defang the crazies that way, so they aren’t constantly shooting the GOP in the foot. Would be comforting to see something authoritative and definitive on that.

  27. 27.

    SFAW

    @Redshirt:

    Oh, I thought you meant me, personally. (Hangs head in shame.)

    Yeah, SNAP would be good. Subsidizing college would be pretty good, too. (I’d be saying that even if the SFAW-ette were not currently in college.) Funding Head Start for 10-20 years. Rounding up all the TeaTards and shipping them to their Glibertarian paradise, i.e. Somalia (although that work could probably be done with volunteers). Alzheimer’s research.

    Buying the Mets a Front Office that has a fucking clue. Funding research into football equipment which will actually prevent CTE.

    There are others, but these would be a good start.

  28. 28.

    CaseyL

    @lamh36: “This is not a nation under God and never has been! The Constitution was written by three Masons!”

    She enunciates very well, I’ll give her that. She’s a reporter? For which publication?

    ETA: Apparently a House stenographer – or, more likely, now an ex-House stenographer.

  29. 29.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Groucho48:

    If that’s true, and it survived the House, doesn’t that pretty much take away the debt ceiling as a weapon?

    The House voted on the Senate version. So if that section is in there and means what that diary says it means (I haven’t read it), then yes, the debt ceiling is toast as a real weapon.

  32. 32.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @CaseyL:

    She’s a reporter? For which publication?

    A stenographer. Who deserves sympathy and care.

    No jokes, other than to say that if your job was to transcribe the House of Representatives, you might have a moment as well.

  33. 33.

    Redshirt

    @SFAW: If I had 26 Billion, personally, it’s a different story, of course. Bond Villain Lair sounds pretty sweet. But for the Government, that’s some walking around money.

  34. 34.

    RaflW

    corporate America pushes the Republican establishment to fight back against the tea party—or switches sides

    O hell no. Corporate America has enough power over the center-right Democratic Party already.

  35. 35.

    divF

    @SFAW:

    I’m hereby putting in a request to DougJ to use more excerpts from the collected works of Fee Waybill for posting titles.

  43. 43.

    PsiFighter37

    @CaseyL: Some babbling about Freemasons, I think? Perhaps she took that shitty Dan Brown novel “The Lost Symbol” a bit too seriously.

  45. 45.

    CaseyL

    @PsiFighter37: Did you see the video? She walked up to the well calm as anything, and didn’t rant or yell; she declaimed. A perfect surreal note to end the day on. If it was a breakdown, as seems likely, I hope she recovers.

  46. 46.

    Redshirt

    @Groucho48: That’s two sources, right?

    That Hill article is awfully nonchalant in mentioning this fact. Which is monumental, if true, since it means Congress can no longer – ever – hold the world hostage by threatening not to pay the bills.

  49. 49.

    Groucho48

    Well, from a Politico article and from the link in post 44, it seems as though it will only apply to the current bill, not to any future debt ceilings.

    Too bad. That would have been a major, major victory.

  50. 50.

    MikeJ

    @CaseyL:

    If it was a breakdown, as seems likely, I hope she recovers.

    She didn’t sound any crazier than the elected Republicans in the chamber.

  53. 53.

    burnspbesq

    @SFAW:

    Love that song. Fall of my senior year, I had the Saturday morning show on the college radio station. I played that song at exactly 7:00 a.m. on the morning of the MCAT. That night, a pre-med came up to me in the campus pub and wanted to fight.

    I would like a solid gold Third Reich swizzle-stick, now that you mention it.

  54. 54.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    @fuckwit: It’s Pagliacci. You may know that but just saying.

    Carnage all over the stage, okay that’s enough laughs for tonight folks, wasn’t that fun?

    No one is even sure who in the opera sings the line, a detail nicely fitting the empty space where any leadership of the GOP used to be.

  55. 55.

    Creative Anarchy

    @Redshirt:
    If I mathed it right, several months of fully operational government. Wallstreet lost many times over the money that was “saved” shutting down the government. But at this point we don’t really know how much the shutdown cost. As we bring government agencies back online we could find out that neglect of their duties for several weeks had a very high price tag.

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