Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

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

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

You passed on an opportunity to be offended? What are you even doing here?

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

I like political parties that aren’t owned by foreign adversaries.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

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

Republicans choose power over democracy, every day.

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

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

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Seems like a complicated subject, have you tried yelling at it?

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Narcissists are always shocked to discover other people have agency.

Many life forms that would benefit from greater intelligence, sadly, do not have it.

America is going up in flames. The NYTimes fawns over MAGA celebrities. No longer a real newspaper.

You are here: Home / Elections / Local Races 2018 and earlier / Open Thread: Another Liberal Dem Running for the House

Open Thread: Another Liberal Dem Running for the House

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Among the many news stories that got overlooked while the GOP terrorists were holding the economy for ransom: Massachusetts had a primary on Tuesday for Ed Markey’s old seat in the House of Representatives. Senator Warren sent out an email that she wasn’t endorsing any candidate “because we are lucky to have a number of great candidates. The men and women running in this election have a tremendous amount to offer to the Commonwealth, and many of them worked their hearts out for our campaign last year…”, Katherine Clark had a head start at fundraising, plus the endorsement of EMILY’s List. Peter Koutoujian was spoken well of by people I trust, including Charles P. Pierce and the owner of Waltham’s Back page Books. Carl Sciortino had the best YouTube ad.

Results, per the Boston Globe:

State Senator Katherine M. Clark bested six Democratic rivals Tuesday, winning her party’s nomination in the race to succeed Edward J. Markey in the House of Representatives and setting her on course to probably become the state’s newest member of Congress.

Clark, a Melrose lawyer, captured 31.6 percent of the vote. Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian and state Representative Carl M. Sciortino trailed with 22 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively.

As the Democratic nominee in a liberal district north and west of Boston — one that voted by more than 30 percentage points for President Obama over Mitt Romney last November — Clark is now the strong favorite going into the December general election. She will face Frank J. Addivinola Jr., who won the Republican primary Tuesday night…

Now, my fellow Massholes, it’s up to us to show up and vote on December 10 to make sure that the Repub carpetbagger goes back where he belongs (Boston).

Reader Interactions

138Comments

  1. 1.

    Tom Levenson

    I’ll be there. Good news about walking the sprout to school — my polling place is the gym there. No excuses for missing a vote…

    Or rather I would be, but I actually live in Joe Kennedy’s district.

    Ah well.

  2. 2.

    PsiFighter37

    @Tom Levenson: Any thoughts on what people think Kennedy’s political future holds? I would assume he’ll sit pretty where he is and run for the Senate once Warren or Markey have served a couple terms and retire.

  5. 5.

    the Conster

    I voted for Karen Spilka because Metrowest has needed a representative for forever. But the Dem candidates positions were all aligned, so it came down to ground game and name recognition, because turnout was really low. Hatred and fear really does drive up turnout. It was a great ballot to have though, when you’re fine with all of the candidates.

  6. 6.

    Capt. Seaweed

    @PsiFighter37:

    Any thoughts on what people think Kennedy’s political future holds? I would assume he’ll sit pretty where he is and run for the Senate once Warren or Markey have served a couple terms and retire. becomes President.

    Fixed.

  7. 7.

    aimai

    @the Conster: Yeah. I agree. I was really pretty sure any of them would have done well for us. Although oddly enough I was turned off by Will Brownsberger, who I went to highschool with. The flyer I got from him emphasized some weird thing about online schools. I’ve got way bigger fish to fry with my congressperson’s work than someone who is touting online schools for a vanishingly small population.

    I liked Carl S’s ad but I really wanted to increase the representation of women in the MA pool. We only have one other woman in the House and thats ridiculous. So I went for Clark. I don’t think we’ll have any trouble getting her in at the real election. Republicans are damned thin on the ground around here.

  8. 8.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Capt. Seaweed: I doubt that will happen. I also think it is perfectly reasonable and desirable to have good people in the Senate rather than viewing it as the minor leagues for people who want to be president. Aside from Obama, do you know how many people went directly from the Senate to the White House? Two. JFK and Harding. It isn’t a high percentage play.

  9. 9.

    PsiFighter37

    @mdblanche: Ray Kelly probably has a nice little wingnut welfare job lined up at Giuliani’s banking/consulting firm that he built on the bones of 9/11 victims.

    @Capt. Seaweed: I really dislike progressives who have this pie-in-the-sky dream of Elizabeth Warren becoming president. She underperformed Obama by nearly 10% in a presidential election year…she’s not a natural politician. She’s going to serve 2 or 3 terms in the Senate, and that will be that.

    I will videotape myself taking tequila shots for the viewing benefit of the Balloon Juice populace if she runs for president in 2016. Forget about winning – I will do this if she even bothers to declare that she’s running.

  10. 10.

    PsiFighter37

    @efgoldman: If Deval Patrick (or someone of his caliber) had run against Brown, his ass would’ve been steamrolled by mid-double digits, easily.

    I like Warren, but she is not presidential timbre when it comes to political skills.

  11. 11.

    NotMax

    @PsiFighter37

    Just shots? Hardly worth a look. Upending and emptying the bottle, maybe.

    Also too, tequila? Bleargh.

    (And no, I don’t presume she will run, nor wish her to. Much happier she stay where she is and diligently work her strong points from within Capitol Hill.

  12. 12.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: Her age, her apparent lack of a burning desire for the job, and the fact that she is well placed in the Senate are the factors for me to not want her to run.

  13. 13.

    TheMightyTrowel

    OT bushfire season has started with a vengeance down here. Big fires in NSW this week and possibility of getting much worse next week when teh temps go up again. So far things are calm and cool where I am, but shit these fires are scary.

  15. 15.

    J.W. Hamner

    I’ll certainly be voting for her… Tom Levenson’s kid’s school (mentioned above) is very likely where I vote, and a place I walk by twice a day, so no excuses for me either.

    I voted against her in the primary (voted for Sciortino) because the Globe’s endorsement said she was interested in a Grand Bargain on the budget and entitlements (noted as a positive naturally)… and while I feel like we should be able to get a true Pinko Commie in a district that contains much of Cambridge, it’s not like she won’t be a great representative.

  17. 17.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @efgoldman: By well placed, I mean that the position matches her skills and the Senate is a place where she will probably do well. And do good.

  18. 18.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TheMightyTrowel: I was thinking of the weirdos I’ve known from there. One kept trying to pick up European girls by promising to show them the scar from where they removed his second head.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    @PsiFighter37: Nothing wrong with dreaming — as long as you have the good sense to wake up and vote for whomever actually wins the nomination when the time comes. I think Warren would be great. She’s not a natural politician, but she has a way of explaining complicated stuff in an understandable way. I think it’s possible her folksy manner might actually appeal to people outside of the NE better than it plays in MA.

    I’m not saying it’s likely she’ll run or that she would win; just saying it doesn’t strike me as a dumb pipe dream. Hell, if I had a nickel for everytime someone told me BHO could never win…

  20. 20.

    Tom Levenson

    @PsiFighter37: No idea. Didn’t pay much attention to him, frankly. I was sort of in denial that I was losing Frank as my rep. Plus — he still looks to me like he’s 12 years old, so the idea of him as a Senator seems particularly absurd.

  21. 21.

    TheMightyTrowel

    @Omnes Omnibus: You see, that sounds bonkers, but for the right kind of woman that would work. And I’m betting if dude was into asking people that, he was looking for a really specific kind of lady.

    But yeah, Tassie is full of nutbags.

  22. 22.

    mai naem

    I would like to see Warren either stay in the Senate or have an appointed position at the SEC or the CFPB or AG or even the USSC. I really think as a prez candidate she would be portrayed as the nagging mother/wife and it would stick. The thing is it’s a good thing to have somebody so on our side who is so knowledgeable about the financial industry in the senate. A lot of old liberal senators are leaving or have left. You need to fill that void and Warren fits that need perfectly..

  26. 26.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @mai naem:

    The thing is it’s a good thing to have somebody so on our side who is so knowledgeable about the financial industry in the senate. A lot of old liberal senators are leaving or have left. You need to fill that void and Warren fits that need perfectly..

    Yep. And again, her career does not show the single minded ambition that seems necessary to run for president. She’ll be a good Senator; let’s let her do that.

  27. 27.

    Suzanne

    I would like Elizabeth Warren to move to Arizona and kick Jeff Flake’s ass. I like her in the Senate. I just wish she represented ME.

    So. About that exam I took last week, the one in which the screen totally blacked out and I didn’t even see one third of the test?

    I passed.

    FUCK YEAH.

  29. 29.

    PsiFighter37

    @Betty Cracker: Yeah, but everyone knew BHO would run at some point. I just don’t see that in Warren.

    @Tom Levenson: It is tough, but at the same time, it’s not like Barney is super-truly progressive when it comes to financial matters (which, given he was chair of the Finance Committee, does matter). But he is fun to watch going head-to-head with a jerkoff like Joe Kernan on CNBC.

  30. 30.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Clark, a Melrose lawyer, captured 31.6 percent of the vote. Middlesex County Sheriff Peter J. Koutoujian and state Representative Carl M. Sciortino trailed with 22 percent and 16.1 percent, respectively.

    Honestly, that’s a situation where I’d like some kind of preference voting. Especially in primaries. Makes it a lot easier to move forward towards the general election.

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    She’ll be a good Senator; let’s let her do that.

    Unfortunately, the modern Senate seems pretty good at making one-termers out of people who, in the past, would have had long and useful careers as senators. There’s a “aim up or move out” to it these days.

  31. 31.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @pseudonymous in nc:

    Unfortunately, the modern Senate seems pretty good at making one-termers out of people who, in the past, would have had long and useful careers as senators.

    Like whom?

  32. 32.

    PsiFighter37

    @Omnes Omnibus: Like Mike Johanns, DUH!

    In all honesty, it’s been a combination of Republicans getting lazy and wanting to get their grift on, as well as a lot of long-tenured Democrats (Conrad, Dorgan, Ben Nelson, Jeff Bingaman, Ted Kennedy, Robert Byrd, John Kerry, Daniel Inouye, Daniel Akaka, etc.) retiring/passing away. I do feel that there a large number of new Democrats (Tom Udall, Jeff Merkley, Sherrod Brown, Tim Kaine, Mark Warner, Al Franken, etc.) who have recently signed on and seem like they will be in the chamber a long time unless they have a serious political misstep.

    Democrats are more dedicated to government service, so the trend shouldn’t be a surprise.

  35. 35.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @PsiFighter37: You don’t think Warner at least has his eyes on the Big Chair? maybe Kaine? The one thing Cokie Roberts said that didn’t make me want to chew on tin foil was that all Senators fantasize the presidential seal at the bottom of their bathroom mirrors every morning. I imagine Franken, Brown and a few others (Warren) are too pragmatic to waste much time dreaming. I think Kelly Ayotte signed on as Shemp in the Three Neocon Stooges thinking it would give her foreign policy cred, just in case.

    Speaking of dead Senators, and you did, I heard yesterday that one of the riders on the bill last night was a $170K payment to Frank Lautenberg’s widow. I’m not one of those who thinks Senators are overpaid, or over-pensioned, but wasn’t Lautenberg one of the richest members of the Millionaire’s Club?

  36. 36.

    Botsplainer

    What the fuck is wrong with these assholes?

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-switch/wp/2013/10/17/georgias-anti-obamaphone-rule-just-hurts-poor-people/

    The controversy over what critics have derisively called the “Obamaphone” program is back.
    In an attempt to take on fraudulent subscribers in the nation’s Lifeline program — a service dating to the Reagan administration that gives poor people access to government-subsidized phone lines — Georgia plans to start charging low-income Americans $5 a month for the privilege of getting what residents of other states get for free.
    The new rule could wind up punishing more poor people than criminals.
    Georgia’s state public services commissioner, Doug Everett, justifies the rule by saying that there are more free phones floating about in his state than there are people who are eligible for the Lifeline program. According to his estimates, there were at one point roughly a million Lifeline phones active in Georgia, representing more than one phone per qualifying American.
    …
    Georgia’s policy, which goes into effect Jan. 31, will bill customers directly, whether they are law-abiding beneficiaries of the program or not.

    In an interview, Everett admitted that “some people will be hurt” by the fees, and he had “no idea” how effective the rule would be.

    Sherman didn’t kill nearly enough white Southern folks, nor did he burn out a sufficient number of stately homes, churches or courthouses.

  38. 38.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Omnes Omnibus: Jim Webb might have had his blue-doggish moments, but you can imagine him carving out a long-term role there in previous decades; he decided to step away. Hillary Clinton fits that description too. And the incumbent halfway down the National Mall, of course.

    And the idea of going back to the Senate is largely unthinkable in modern politics.

  39. 39.

    fuckwit

    @pseudonymous in nc: Um, maybe it has something to do with THE RETHUGS FILIBUSTERING A FUCKING HAM SAMMICH FOR CHRIST’S SAKE. Who the hell would want to be a legislator in a body that dysfunctional? I notice the trend of people wanting to GTFO happened right about the time the R’s started topping from below.

  40. 40.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @aimai:

    I am pretty sure that Warren is one of those people who will try to serve as long as she can and most other Senators still do that.

    Oh, I wasn’t accusing Warren of treating the Senate as a stepping stone, not at all. I was talking in more general terms about the political forces that seem to turn it into one: the need to start fundraising for re-election as soon as you get elected, even though the next campaign doesn’t start for five years, and the transformation of the Senate into a kind of more pompous House rather than having some earned gravitas from having people there for six-year terms. (Dicksplashes like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee should really be in the House.)

    @fuckwit: You’ll hear no disagreement from me on that..

  41. 41.

    StringOnAStick

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: The payment to Lautenberg’s widow is the legally mandated standard thing that happens when a Senator dies, and it isn’t means tested. It would be nice if she gave it to charity though given their level of wealth.

  42. 42.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Botsplainer: Modern conservatism is the haunting fear raging obsession that some undeserving Poor, somewhere, is getting something for free

    @pseudonymous in nc: Webb frustrated me a lot, but there were reason he was a Republican most of his life, a lot of the votes he took must have been personally tough for him. And few people in public life reacted to the Iraq War with more conviction. Also, he gave Obama one of the strongest endorsements I heard during the 2012 campaign. I was surprised and impressed, and I suppose grateful.

  44. 44.

    PsiFighter37

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I don’t think either VA senator will run for the White House. Warner had his eye on 2008, but with Hillary running then (and probably again in 2016), he’s not going to have a realistic shot. I think he’s content cruising as the most popular politician in Virginia until he decides to retire.

    I don’t think Kaine has the gravitas to pull it off. Only chance would have been if Obama selected him as the VP candidate in 2008 (Biden has proven useful, but I still think that on a standalone basis, Obama should’ve picked Sebelius). I think he and Warner will hold both of Virginia’s Senate seats for at least the next decade (given that a Governor T-Mac is most definitely not someone interested in a Senate seat).

    ETA: Pretty sure the Lautenberg widow payment is standard Senate practice.

  45. 45.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @StringOnAStick: Thanks. Weird that they had to vote on it, but everything is so fucked nowadays. As I said, I don’t begrudge her the money, it just seemed a really odd thing to tack on to a bill like this. You’d think it would be passed voice vote.

  46. 46.

    StringOnAStick

    @fuckwit: Exactly. How demoralizing to do all the grim work/begging-for-dollahs necessary to get into either House, only to have to spend your time spinning your wheels while an asshole like Cruz wastes hours filibustering/campaigning/gettin’-his-his-grift on. It would take a stronger stomach and will than I’ve got to keep the idealism needed to not just walk up to these bastards and knee them in the nuts for what we’ve just been through. Crude, but stated for truth.

  48. 48.

    LeftCoastTom

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Webb ran, in part, talking about the need to replace ‘affirmative action’ with something else that speaks to a broader set of systemically excluded people, talking about Appalachians. OK…doesn’t sound great on the face of it, but once he got in…where was his bill? If it was that important, and if it was a real thing instead of a ‘lets bash AA but be polite about it’ thing, then shouldn’t he have proposed a bill that actually outlined what he was talking about?

  49. 49.

    PsiFighter37

    @Omnes Omnibus: I don’t think Webb ever had the hunger for it. Sure, he jumped in and got lucky in 2006, but he always came off as someone with his very specific interests (rural Virginia and the Scots-Irish, southeast Asia foreign policy) that really didn’t have the interest on the rest of the gamut of issues that makes you an influential senator. He also has a relatively young (second) wife and young kid, and perhaps the prospect of another slugfest with Allen didn’t suit him (he never came off as enjoying electoral politics in 2006, which explains why he was doing squat in the polls until Allen decided it’d be a smart idea to utter racial slurs on camera).

    Clinton and Obama were never sticking around for the long term…anyone who says that is full of horse excrement.

    That said, there’s a good generation of young Democrats who will probably stick around for a long time. The only ones off the top of my head who may be looking towards higher aspirations are Booker, Klobachar, and Gillibrand. I might be forgetting someone, but those are the only 3 who might not stick around for the longer run on the Democratic side.

  51. 51.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Omnes Omnibus: Yeah, on reflection I’m behind the times on this one, and the newest crop of Dem arrivals (and the incumbents running for 2014) look like they’re in for the long haul as long as they do their jobs and keep their voters happy. Unfortunately, that probably applies to some of the GOP dicksplashes as well.

  52. 52.

    mdblanche

    @PsiFighter37: I don’t know if I’m just imagining it, but it feels like the turnover in the House and especially the Senate has been greater than average in the last few years. I think I saw that a majority of Senators are either in their first term or a year into their second.

  53. 53.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @PsiFighter37: That is pretty much what I was trying to say. Webb is someone who, in the past, might have stayed for a while. BHO and HRC were checking a box on their pre-WH checklist. The others you mentioned could easily be around for a long time. Booker and Gillibrand, maybe. Klobacher, I doubt.

  54. 54.

    pseudonymous in nc

    Wider point being that while it’s a pretty long haul to end up chair of a big Senate committee, you want to have more junior senators in there who have that career path in mind, without becoming a captive of outside interests along the way.

  55. 55.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    on the other side, I think Paul Ryan will pull a Palin when his 2016 run fizzles out. The ones who surprise me as young-men-in-a-hurry are Rubio, who seriously needs time to add some heft to his image, and Christie. He’ll be term-limited out in 2017 (I think?), and some time on the outside would be good for his image (see Clinton, Hillary) while he waits for 2020 or ’24, when I think he’d be barely sixty. I don’t take Cruz or Paul seriously as national candidates.

  56. 56.

    PsiFighter37

    @mdblanche: I’m pretty sure Senate turnover has been really high. Let me see if I can do this from memory, but the new Democratic senators currently there since 2006 are:

    -Mark Begich (AK)
    -Brian Schatz (HI)
    -Mazie Hirono (HI)
    -Jeff Merkley (OR)
    -Tom Udall (NM)
    -Martin Heinrich (NM)
    -Mark Udall (CO)
    -Michael Bennet (CO)
    -Heidi Heitkamp (ND)
    -Claire McCaskill (MO)
    -Tammy Baldwin (WI)
    -Amy Klobachar (MN)
    -Al Franken (MN)
    -Joe Donnelly (IN)
    -Sherrod Brown (OH)
    -Bob Casey (PA)
    -Kay Hagan (NC)
    -Mark Warner (VA)
    -Tim Kaine (VA)
    -Joe Manchin (WV)
    -Ben Cardin (MD)
    -Bob Menendez (NJ)…know he was appointed in 2005 after Corzine became governor, but close enough
    -Cory Booker (NJ)
    -Kirsten Gillibrand (NY)
    -Richard Blumenthal (CT)
    -Chris Murphy (CT)
    -Bernie Sander (VT)
    -Jeanine Shaheen (NH)
    -Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)
    -Elizabeth Warren (MA)
    -Ed Markey (MA)
    -Angus King (ME)

    I’m too lazy to count, but pretty sure that is a majority of the Democratic caucus in the Senate…that just feels like a lot of turnover.

  57. 57.

    burnspbesq

    Warren to the SEC? No thanks. There’s no reason to believe that she would be better at that job than Mary Jo White, who has decades of highly relevant experience.

  58. 58.

    burnspbesq

    Noted in passing: as of when her credentials are accepted by the Emperor’s representative, Caroline Kennedy is our new Ambassador to Japan.

  59. 59.

    mdblanche

    @PsiFighter37: I might have miscounted but I think I got 32. That’s even more than I realized and I think the figures for the Republicans over the same period are pretty high too. It’s been a real changing of the guard since 2006.

  60. 60.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @PsiFighter37: Some of that is natural generational turnover. The Born-during-WWII/Early Boomer Senators are retiring. The Late Boomer/Gen X ones are coming in.

  61. 61.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @burnspbesq:

    Caroline Kennedy is our new Ambassador to Japan.

    On that broad topic, the Dublin embassy is still awaiting the appointment of someone suitably Oirish, nearly a year after Dan Rooney resigned. They could always throw Tweety a bone there.

  63. 63.

    fuckwit

    @PsiFighter37: THAT IS AWESOME! Many of those (Franken, Warren, Brown, Gillibran, Sanders, etc) are strong progressives and, hopefully, the younger ones will be there for a generation.

  64. 64.

    PsiFighter37

    @mdblanche: Crap, I forgot Jon Tester. Dammit, so close!

    For the GOP (this is a bit sketchier, as they all suck so I don’t remember the individual ones), it’s also pretty high:

    -Dean Heller (NV)
    -Jeff Flake (AZ)
    -Mike Lee (UT)
    -Mike Johanns (NE)
    -Deb Fisher (NE)
    -Whoever replaced that old-school toilet twerker Larry Craig
    -Ted Cruz (TX)
    -Jim Moran (KS)
    -John Hoeven (ND)
    -John Barrasso (WY)
    -Roy Blunt (MO)
    -John Boozman (AR)
    -Roger Wicker (MS)
    -Marco Rubio (FL)
    -Tim Scott (SC)
    -Bob Corker (TN)
    -Rand Paul (KY)
    -Mark Kirk (IL)
    -Ron Johnson (WI)
    -Dan Coats (IN)
    -Rob Portman (OH)
    -Pat Toomey (PA)
    -Kelly Ayotte (NH)

    Maybe forgot some of the no-names, but yeah – still think that’s a majority of the GOP caucus as well.

  65. 65.

    mdblanche

    @Omnes Omnibus: And the served in WWII died off. A year ago there were three WWII veterans in the Senate. Now there are none; two of them died in office.

    @PsiFighter37: 23, so just a bare majority of their caucus, and a majority of the Senate overall.

  66. 66.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @Omnes Omnibus: Exactly. It’d stop him plugging his bloody book, for one. And it’s not like ambassadors to pleasant countries do anything but host parties.

  67. 67.

    pseudonymous in nc

    To extend the hilarity, can we get Mullah Doug J to start a “Tweety for Ireland” campaign on the twitters? It’s what Tip and Ronnie would have wanted.

  73. 73.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Anya: Why not? Her grandfather did it. Also it is a perk that can be given to the Great and Good or to party faithful; Caroline Kennedy is both.

    ETA: She endorsed Obama very early in 2008 and stumped hard for him. Also being an ambassador is considered to be prestigious.

  74. 74.

    pseudonymous in nc

    @NotMax:

    Know by any chance if that has take place yet?

    Failed 48/52, which was a slap in the face for Enda Kenny. FG is now looking for ways to broaden the Seanad elections, including allowing all graduates to vote for some members, not just TCD and NUI for their holdover constituencies.

  84. 84.

    different-church-lady

    I got eleventy billion robocalls over that fucking primary — I repeat, fuckin’ PRIMARY. It got to the point where I’d just pick up the phone and hang it up immediately so they didn’t fill up my voicemail.

    And the kicker is not a damn ONE of them was from Clark.

  87. 87.

    TriassicSands

    I finally got around to listening to Obama’s remarks following the re-opening of the government. They were all perfectly reasonable and mostly utterly irrelevant in a country with the Modern Republican Party running around trying to wreck the place. Offering the House the opportunity to “make the Farm Bill better” is just silliness — the House Republicans’ idea of improving the Farm Bill is gutting Food Stamps. They are a lost cause, and I seriously doubt that nothing that’s happened the past two weeks will have taught the House Republicans a damn thing. They’re too stupid, too crazy, and too mean spirited.

  89. 89.

    mai naem

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Rendell was a strong Hillary backer. Don’t think Obama will appoint him to anything.

    Some guys can pull off the bald thing, Ted Cruz ain’t one of them. He’s going to look pretty unattractive bald. Also, we’ll really be able to see how big his head really is.

    I heard on some political show, partly the reason for Caroline Kennedy being appointed Ambassador to Japan is because the Japanese take it as a compliment when the US appoints a “celebrity” as Ambassador.

  90. 90.

    piratedan

    @TriassicSands: granted, but he’s the President and as such, one of the unofficial parts of the job is to make a public effort to try. Yes, 27% of the country would interpret his reading of one fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish as code for the black helicopters to be launched and the secret FEMA camps activated, but he’s their President too and as such, try to reach out to them. If they continue to refuse to listen, that’s on them, I would rather he keep trying (despite my darker side wanting him to be the “good democratic tyrant”) than to write them off. Perhaps its all about setting a standard for proper Presidential behavior in difficult times.

  93. 93.

    Suffern ACE

    @burnspbesq: No, thank you. I think we just spent a few million dollars to get her into the Senate. Unless she can do both jobs, I’m not interested in having another Senate race in Massachusetts.

    @pseudonymous in nc: You know, if you swapped his names, Patrick Deval might be an Irish sounding enough name to take up that post.

  94. 94.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @TriassicSands: Right, after everything that just went on Obama foolishly decided to ask the House to do something…. Maybe his remarks were aimed at someone else. Hmm?

  96. 96.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @NotMax: this you don’t even have to play backwards

    Robert Costa ‏@ robertcostaNRO 12h
    Just sat down w/ McConnell. Asked him about Cruz’s ascent, where he fits within the conference. He had no comment–at all. Stone-faced.

  97. 97.

    SatanicPanic

    I wish I had a link, but I read earlier that Ted Cruz showed up at a Republican Senate meeting and was suggesting that they could force Democrats to take unpleasant votes on some bill he’d put forward. Another Senator had to point out that the minority party can’t force the majority to vote. I don’t know why but that pissed me off. The dude has been in Senate for a year, but didn’t know something so basic. That’s the man who caused our economy $24 billion in damage.

  100. 100.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @SatanicPanic: I don’t know why but that pissed me off. The dude has been in Senate for a year, but didn’t know something so basic.

    I think we can stop calling him smart, and he should apologize to the “lesser Ivies” and all their students and alumni

  104. 104.

    burnspbesq

    @Suffern ACE:

    No, thank you. I think we just spent a few million dollars to get her into the Senate. Unless she can do both

    Works for me. My respect and admiration for both of those fine public servants is well known, and I think they are both currently in the jobs for which they are best suited.

  106. 106.

    fuckwit

    @Omnes Omnibus: Because she is a troll. She’s trolling all of pop culture. According to her recent R$ interview, she has been taking career advice for the last year from Kanye– a man who has been called a jackass by none other than the President of the United States, twice–, which explains everything. I for one have had enough of whatever it is she’s trying to do.

  107. 107.

    piratedan

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I think its one of those cases where he suffers from the misconception of believing that because he has a certain amount of expertise in one area that it somehow extends to competency/excellence in others. I don’t think he believes that he has any limitations and the way that he’s fluffed within the echo chamber, easy to see that being self sustaining.

  111. 111.

    Shalimar

    @Botsplainer: I don’t understand. How does a $5 tax for all subscribers to the program do anything to address those committing fraud? It seems like that makes it worse for all the people who actually need the program, without doing anything to address fraud by those who don’t.

  112. 112.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @fuckwit: At this point I will say the jury is out. She was made into Hannah Montana by Disney and her parents. She is rebelling against that image now. Let’s see how it plays out. There is talent there. What she does with it is up to her. Do you want to be judged by who you were at 20? I don’t.

  114. 114.

    different-church-lady

    @Omnes Omnibus: Her voice didn’t suck exactly — it just got on my nerves very quickly. Something about the quiver.

    I’ll say this much — it’s a damn sight (er… sound) better than Katy Perry’s.

  115. 115.

    amk

    @TriassicSands:

    He should use the bully pulpit. He should not use the bully pulpit.
    He should use the bully pulpit. He should not use the bully pulpit.
    He should use the bully pulpit. He should not use the bully pulpit.
    He should use the bully pulpit. He should not use the bully pulpit.
    He should use the bully pulpit. He should not use the bully pulpit.

    stoopid firebaggers.

  119. 119.

    max

    @Shalimar: I don’t understand. How does a $5 tax for all subscribers to the program do anything to address those committing fraud? It seems like that makes it worse for all the people who actually need the program, without doing anything to address fraud by those who don’t.

    It’s not a 5$ tax for all subscribers. It’s a 5$ tax for people who aren’t paying subscribers (only way to determine a low income)/using the program. So if the phone company if obeying national regulations and collecting a small fee on all paying subscribers and then using that money to fund the lifeline program, then Georgia says we require 5$ from all those people.

    It isn’t clear to me that the rule is legal, but if implemented people who can’t pay cash for a phone will have to give it up. (That is, poor people will lose their phones.) People who are somehow on the service but not qualifying (however many of those there actually are) will presumably cough up the fee.

    The rule is actually aimed at merely hitting poor people (who are going to be presumed to be mostly minorities), not fraud (how could it have anything to do with fraud), so the baggers are going to be happy. Simply because it inflicts damage on the ostensible 47%. I expect they see it as somehow taking back money that should be going to upstanding white people. (Which seems to me to be a legal issue- the feds implemented the original rule, so the state of Georgia is substantially trying to interfere with federal law with an unequally applied tax.)

    Jim Crow had lots of stupid laws like that, and the baggers love that kind of thing.

    max
    [‘I’d expect a suit.’]

  121. 121.

    different-church-lady

    @Suffern ACE: There’s no doubt she’s still going to be with us in 20 years. The question is, is she still going to be with us in a Madonna sort of way, or a Michael Jackson sort of way?

  122. 122.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Suffern ACE: Nah, I am just suggesting that people try to make sure that their generational biases don’t cause them to dismiss potential upcoming talent. Me, I know that my real favorite musical era was the late 70s to early 90s – when I was 15 to 30. My guess is that is most people’s musical base period. They are going to like things from that time frame and things that sound like they evolved from that period. The new can be weird. I am working at being open minded – hell, I introduced SP&t to pornstep. I was so proud.

  123. 123.

    SatanicPanic

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: He was in some other meeting and they kept asking him what his plan was. Nothing. He just kept changing the subject. My opinion of all the idiots who went along with his plan was already pretty low, but wow these House Tea Partiers are fucking dumb.

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