Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

The party of Reagan has become the party of Putin.

The willow is too close to the house.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

And we’re all out of bubblegum.

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

Second rate reporter says what?

Come on, man.

Is it irresponsible to speculate? It is irresponsible not to.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

They fucked up the fucking up of the fuckup!

Good lord, these people are nuts.

The republican caucus is already covering themselves with something, and it’s not glory.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Sitting here in limbo waiting for the dice to roll

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

Let there be snark.

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

The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

You are here: Home / Politics / Republican Stupidity / Could Life Ever Be Sane Again?

Could Life Ever Be Sane Again?

by | 125 Comments

This post is in: ,

I’m sure you’re all sick of hearing about the two Republican clowns in my neck of the woods, but how they’re handling their toxic “no” votes on Wednesday is a revelation. Today’s tactic is hang the DJ:

Both Rep. Chris Collins of Clarence and Rep. Tom Reed of Corning said in response to questioning that it was a mistake for House Republicans to tie the funding of government to defunding of Obamacare – a strategy that they and the GOP leadership had agreed to under pressure from tea party forces.

Collins, in an interview, blamed the failed strategy on Sen. Ted Cruz, a Texas Republican who goaded several dozen ultra-conservative lawmakers in the House to pursue the shutdown strategy.

“I think Sen. Cruz has done a disservice to the Republican Party,” Collins said. “He is an extremist, and he’s the one that had the rallying cry of repeal Obamacare, defund Obamacare, delay Obamacare.”

Reed, on a conference call with reporters on Thursday, dodged a question about who was responsible for the House strategy – which could have succeeded only if President Obama and the Democratic Senate agreed to gut the health care law, Obama’s signature accomplishment. “It was a poor strategy,” Reed acknowledged.

Both of these assholes voted “No”. Their Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and public statements are all full of tea talk and anti-Obamacare graphics. I’d say they’re acting like scared little weasels but that would be an insult to polecats.

Assuming Boehner and McConnell straightjacket the insane portions of their caucus for the next year, my guess is that Wednesday’s vote isn’t going to be as toxic as current polls indicate. But when you vote for disaster on Wednesday, and then cry to reporters on Thursday about how Ted Cruz slipped a roofie into your drink and made you execute a “poor strategy”, that’s a campaign game-changer. If you could look in the spank bank of the average DCCC operative, this is the kind of story they fantasize about. Ted Cruz didn’t elect these fuckers. Ted Cruz is an oily McCarthy-looking flatulating anus from Texas who has about as much appeal in Western New York as open bedsores and penicillin-resistant syphilis. I am starting to think that you can put a solid -2 on the board for Republicans in your Congressional projections for New York in 2014.

Reader Interactions

125Comments

  3. 3.

    Villago Delenda Est

    It is always helpful when your opponent hands you attack ad material on a silver platter.

  7. 7.

    WereBear

    Ted Cruz is an oily McCarthy-looking flatulating anus from Texas who has about as much appeal in Western New York as open bedsores and penicillin-resistant syphilis.

    The first time I ever laid eyes on him, I couldn’t believe anyone would ever vote for him.

    Or allow him anywhere near themselves. Or trust him to not eat mud.

    Gah!

  8. 8.

    jibeaux

    Personal responsibility is for other people.

    To the extent I could, I checked what the wingers were writing to my rep during the shutdown. To a ONE, they referenced Benghazi somewhere. Some of them didn’t even mention shutdown/debt ceiling and only mentioned Benghazi. I literally used to visit the involuntarily committed in area hospitals as to whether they wanted to request a hearing on their commitment. At least half of them were noticeably, immediately more coherent than these guys.

  10. 10.

    Helmut Monotreme

    Who knew it was a bad idea to follow the guy whose end game was to force the US to default on its debts any way he could? Ted Cruz was only barely interested in shutting down the ACA, he wants the US to default, he begs for it, and he very nearly got it. If you look up “bad faith” Ted Cruz’s picture is right there next to at least two of the definitions.

  11. 11.

    Xecky Gilchrist

    inb4 “A year is forever in politics”

    but it took time to type this so I may have failed

  15. 15.

    dpm (dread pirate mistermix)

    @Redshirt: That is a damn good question. They’re doing a balancing act trying to appeal to the old school moderate Republicans while also placating the noisy teaturds. Where they get their money is from the usual sources – rich Republicans in the district are one source, but there’s also corporate and conservative PACs. I’m surprised that they didn’t try the Peter King move of voting for shutdown initially then voting against at the end. I think they could have sold that.

    @schrodinger’s cat: NY has 27 districts – we lost 2 in re-districting.

  17. 17.

    EconWatcher

    Gotta love the potential here for total intraparty warfare. Bringing up the immigration bill now might be enough to start the conflagration. Is there some other issue that would drive an even wider wedge? (I don’t mean that rhetorically–does anybody have other ideas?)

    I

  21. 21.

    Splitting Image

    Leaving aside the differences between the sort of people who vote in Democratic and Republican primaries, it occurs to me that the GOP is setting itself up for the same kind of fall that the Democrats did in 2010. The Democrats’ biggest problem that year was arguably not the vote on PPACA itself, but the fact that so many of them (especially the Blue Dogs) ran away from that vote during the election season.

    Ted Cruz will do fine, because he won’t even acknowledge that he did anything wrong, but the reps who voted for the shutdown before they voted against it, or who voted for it and defended themselves by claiming that Big Mean Ted made them do it (and took their lunch money into the bargain) are going to be campaigning from a very weak position next year.

    If they are dumb enough to do this a second time next year, it will be even worse for them.

  22. 22.

    schrodinger's cat

    Why does everyone say that Cruz is intelligent? I haven’t yet found any evidence of this supposed brilliance. I remember they used to say that about Paul Ryan and even Bobby Jindal.

  23. 23.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @WereBear:

    Aye, he’s done so, and furthermore, he’s doing it with deliberation on both the policy and political levels.

    He’s playing the fucking crazies like a violin, and they’re utterly oblivious to it.

  24. 24.

    Mike E

    OT but mebbe not…this ‘social media’ thing the kids do, it ain’t so bad after all now that it provides a conduit to the rest of the voting public and reveals how shit-flecked crazy these TEA fuckers are while bypassing the Village Media laundry filter.

    Thank you Al Gore for yer inventions!

  26. 26.

    srv

    Those great men who lead us are always the ones with arrows in their backs.

    And the House, always the toe lint for their Senatorial betters.

  30. 30.

    WereBear

    @schrodinger’s cat: Why does everyone say that Cruz is intelligent? I haven’t yet found any evidence of this supposed brilliance. I remember they used to say that about Paul Ryan and even Bobby Jindal.

    I believe they grade on a serious, serious, curve. :)

  31. 31.

    MattF

    @Villago Delenda Est: The Senate has its traditions:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Hruska

    When Nixon nominated a mediocrity to the Supreme Court, Hruska was there:

    Hruska is best remembered in American political history for a 1970 speech he made to the Senate urging them to confirm the nomination of G. Harrold Carswell to the Supreme Court. Responding to criticism that Carswell had been a mediocre judge, Hruska claimed that:
    “Even if he were mediocre, there are a lot of mediocre judges and people and lawyers. They are entitled to a little representation, aren’t they, and a little chance? We can’t have all Brandeises, Frankfurters and Cardozos.”
    This speech was criticized by many, and Carswell was eventually defeated.

  32. 32.

    Gene108

    Lots of GOP Congress critters are getting primary challenges in 2014 and those who voted to keep the economy from going boom are now attracting more primary challenges.

    The GOP turned their base into a bunch of spoiled brats, who never get told ‘no, you cannot have everything your way and the people, who disagree with you are not American-hating-traitors‘, so now the brats cannot accept the basic principle of governing: Compromise.

  33. 33.

    Kay

    “I think Sen. Cruz has done a disservice to the Republican Party,” Collins said. “He is an extremist, and he’s the one that had the rallying cry of repeal Obamacare, defund Obamacare, delay Obamacare.”

    I think the longer they talk abut the trials and tribulations of the Republican Party, the better it is for Democrats.

    This “disservice to the Republican Party” cost ordinary people 24 billion dollars. They should apologize.

  34. 34.

    TriassicSands

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Intelligence isn’t one thing, though people often think of IQ as intelligence. Cruz undoubtedly has a reasonably high IQ, which allows him to do well on tests and conventional measures of this kind of intelligence. Bill Maher recently talked about a phenomenon that has fascinated me for decades — how can someone (e.g., Ben Carson) be so intelligent about some things (in Carson’s case medicine) and so incredibly stupid about others. These are what Maher aptly called Stupid Smart people (or was it Smart Stupid people?). They are quite common. To call them intelligent and leave it at that is to tell an incomplete story. To call them stupid and say no more is also not enough.

    Cruz is one of today’s best examples of a Stupid Smart person. In some areas, which have no effect on other people (e.g., his college performance) he’s intelligent. In others, and in this case it is in areas that can ruin people’s lives, he’s a virtual idiot. Add to the mix an overdose of idiotic ideology, which one would have to be stupid to believe in the first place, and you get the big-mouthed lunatic we see smashing things wherever he goes.

    (Fans of emotional intelligence might argue that Cruz has a high IQ and a low EIQ.)

  35. 35.

    NonyNony

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Immigration ought to bring out all the crazies and haters out of the woodwork. I can’t think of a bigger wedge issue. It is an issue that separates the base from the moneybags, who support immigration.

    Eh. The moneybags only kinda sorta support immigration. In that they want to have the ability to flood the workplace with cheap foreign labor to drive down labor costs. If they can get that without supporting paths to citizenship for the incoming labor then that’s good enough.

    So it’s a wedge, but not in the sense that “a desire to blow up the economy” has become a wedge.

    What’s interesting is that what we’re talking about aren’t so much “wedge issues”. Republican bigwigs who are horrified at the attempt by the Tea Party to destroy the country don’t really have policy differences with those Tea Party Congressmen. Where they differ is in tactics – the bigwigs don’t want anything to be done that would hurt them. So that’s where you need to drive your wedge. Goad the Tea Party folks into doing something that is harmful to Wall Street profits.

    And really the only way I could see that happening is if Boehner were so stupid that he let’s the Tea Party go through all of this nonsense again in January (when the next government shutdown comes due) or, worse, February (when it comes time to raise the debt limit again). And if Boehner does that then I’m going to come to the conclusion that he’s secretly a liberal mole who has wormed his way into the hierarchy of the Republican Party and working to take them down from the inside by giving them EXACTLY what they want.

  37. 37.

    Anoniminous

    Pirate MisterMix:

    Assuming Boehner and McConnell straightjacket the insane portions of their caucus for the next year, my guess is that Wednesday’s vote isn’t going to be as toxic as current polls indicate.

    A big assumption. Boehner hasn’t shown any ability to preempt the Insane Caucus’ Insanity-of-the-Moment and the Turtle is hindered in the Senate by the rules of the Senate. There’s every reason for House and Senate TeaBaggers to keep cranking the volume up to ELEVENTY! It gives them leverage over their less insane GOP colleagues.

  38. 38.

    gelfling545

    Collins & Reed could have bravely stood against the pressure (well, I know Collins really wouldn’t, ever) but noooo. Collins district contains a great number of the more affluent western New Yorkers (hence the R bent) who understand what a hit they would have taken or have had it pointed out to them by their financial people. Unfortunately he is extremely well connected politically, I am told, so may not suffer as he should.

    ETA: My dislike of Collins is deep and abiding.

  39. 39.

    srv

    Yale researcher proves Tea Partiers are smarter than you are:

    It turns out that there is about as strong a correlation between scores on the science comprehension scale and identifying with the Tea Party as there is between scores on the science comprehension scale and Conservrepub.

    Except that it has the opposite sign: that is, identifying with the Tea Party correlates positively (r = 0.05, p = 0.05) with scores on the science comprehension measure:

  40. 40.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Kay:

    This “disservice to the Republican Party” cost ordinary people 24 billion dollars. They should apologize.

    The only apology from these assclowns I’m willing to entertain is a Captain Needa apology.

  41. 41.

    TriassicSands

    I’d say they’re acting like scared little weasels but that would be an insult to polecats

    In the US, “polecat” normally refers to a skunk, not a weasel..

  42. 42.

    gelfling545

    @RaflW: Suing whom, precisely? It’s a little like leaving your fortune to Jesus Christ in your will. You would have to prove that there was an actual representative available to be responsible.

  43. 43.

    Soonergrunt

    find a picture of either one of the jagoffs with Cruz in it, and his career as a congressman from New York is over.

  44. 44.

    shelly

    The Republican flailing to prove that the shutdown WAS NOT THEIR FAULT!

    Obama forced us into the shutdown. It was all part of his evil plan.
    If he only would have negotiated with us it would’nt have dragged on so long.
    Ted Cruz tricked us into going along with this completely unwinnable strategy.
    We only trying to do what the American people wanted (despite the reality of the polls.)

  45. 45.

    Boots Day

    “I think Sen. Cruz has done a disservice to the Republican Party,” Collins said. “He is an extremist, and he’s the one that had the rallying cry of repeal Obamacare, defund Obamacare, delay Obamacare.”

    How many times has this bozo voted to repeal ObamaCare again?

  46. 46.

    The Other Chuck

    @Kay:

    This “disservice to the Republican Party” cost ordinary people 24 billion dollars. They should apologize.

    I don’t want them to apologize. I want them to PAY.

  49. 49.

    fuckwit

    WOW, suddenly it all makes sense.

    Have a look at this chart. See a pattern?

    http://content.gallup.com/origin/gallupinc/GallupSpaces/Production/Cms/POLL/mmj6rr5b6kem323wnfrlva.png

    That chart is several cycles of repeated Buyer’s Remorse.

    Republicans are slick-ass salesmen, who successfully sell the hell out of a truly shitty, fradulent product, by making it sound perfect and amazing. They’re the best marketers this country has ever seen– ever since Mr. Van Heusen Shirts huckster.

    http://farm1.staticflickr.com/57/222214461_c70567c959_b.jpg

    Brilliant marketing. What they sell is utter crap though, but people buy it, then get upset about it, and want to return it… and then buy it again.

    No wonder the Rethug Projection chart shows “lies” as the #1 thing they accuse Obama of doing– that’s because the Rethugs themselves are the most sucessful liars ever.

    People seem to love what the Rethugs SAY. A lot. Enough to elect them, often! But then when they actually elected, people are shocked– shocked!– and outraged when they actually deliver the opposite! And, predictably, the Rethug policies destroy the country and their favorability polls take a shit.

    And then the Rethugs whirl up the marketing machine, and sell America on the great bullshit story, and America buys it yet again! And then Americans have a look at the shit sandwich they just got ripped off for, and get pissed off. Then they turn around and buy the shitty product all over again!

    WTF people???

    Bullshit vs. reality. The Rethugs are amazing at bullshit. They suck at reality. But the voters buy the bullshit, then get pissed off at the reality. Then forget about it, and buy the bullshit AGAIN– because they REALLY REALLY want what’s in that bullshit–, then get pissed off at the reality. This is the pattern we’ve been in.

    It’s a psychological problem, rooted deeply in denial and fantasy and projection– lies, faith-based lies in particular, deeply-believed lies, lies that are militantly and proudly immune to reality, core myths. There’s not much daylight between a used car salesman, a fundamentalist preacher, and a politician (particularly an R one): they’ll piss on your leg and tell you it’s raining, and if it looks like piss it’s just because YOU MUST BELIEVE HARDER until it doesn’t!

    It’s the nexus of American Bullshit: the toxic combination of religion, marketing, and entertainment.

    How the fuck do we break out of this horrible cycle? Will it repeat again? How can we stop it?

  50. 50.

    Anoniminous

    @TriassicSands:

    We don’t have an empiric and objective based definition of intelligence. Thus, any attempt to measure what one does not know is a mug’s game since the system of measurement is unknowable. Offset from a Bell Curve? Nanometers? Furlongs per fortnight? Time discrepancies and/or variations of initiation of N400 and P600 Event Related Potentials?

    Plus we barely know anything about Brodman Area 10 which is thought, based on little actual evidence, to be the “center” sic for high level cognitive functioning. And that thought is based on completely inadequate comparative neurological-anatomic studies of our fellow hominidae: gorillas, chimps, etc.

    shrug

  52. 52.

    Yatsuno

    @jrg: @Villago Delenda Est: Sigh. Why won’t those fags just shut up and go back in the closet like the good old days? Then we wouldn’t have to deal with these weird feelings we have for the neighbour boy mowing the lawn…shirtless…

  53. 53.

    Mike E

    @Suffern ACE: This SHUT IT DOWN tactic, how does it fucking work?

    ETA prolly too early to imbibe (not!) but I got me a Costco box of popcorn calling my name…

  55. 55.

    Botsplainer

    @Kay:

    This “disservice to the Republican Party” cost ordinary people 24 billion dollars.

    The Koch brothers got a hell of a return for their campaign and PAC investments, considering that direct cost and Krugman’s $700B estimate since 2010. I’m figuring that they’ve dumped about $500,000,000.00 to $1,000,000,000.00 into the political system in order to remake America into their own image, a big part of which includes impoverishing everybody else.

  56. 56.

    mclaren

    I am starting to think that you can put a solid -2 on the board for Republicans in your Congressional projections for New York in 2014.

    Not likely.

    A year is an eternity in politics. Just as Sarah Palin’s post-2008 bump didn’t mean she was going to be able to run for president in 2012, the mortification and ignominy that currently besmirches these thugs will evaporate by the 2014 elections.

    Voters are like planaria in a maze. You shock ’em with electricity 200 times, and they still don’t remember how to get to the exit.

  57. 57.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Ted Cruz made me run a red light and almost have an accident this morning. Fucker.

  59. 59.

    Mike E

    @mclaren: Agree on the math, and Dems would be wise not to factor in a correction of 8 or 9 when looking at a paltry 2 pt swing. Gotta hit the gas pedal hard in these districts.

  60. 60.

    cmorenc

    @schrodinger’s cat:

    Immigration ought to bring out all the crazies and haters out of the woodwork. I can’t think of a bigger wedge issue. It is an issue that separates the base from the moneybags, who support immigration.

    Timing is everything. Bring it up over next summer, so that it will be fresh on everyone’s minds come November.

  64. 64.

    fuckwit

    @mclaren: Nah, it’s simpler. Voters LOVE the bullshit story of the Reagan-to-Rove-era Rethugs. Love it. Eat it all up. But Rethugs are incompetent and nowadays actively destructive once they get into power, and voters get PISSED OFF at them for not delivering all the sunny shiny ponies they promised! And then their approvals go in the toilet. Then Rethugs start up the marketing machine promising a world of free candy and toys and ponies, and voters go, “Yay! That’s what I want!” and they flip the R lever yet again. And then the Rethugs run the country into a ditch again, and voters get all pissed off again, “I want to return this product, it’s broken!”. So they try the Democratic product. which is much better, but nowhwere NEAR as good as the marketing brochure for the vaporware R product! So, fuck this. And they the try to buy the same Rethug product yet again… this is pretty much how it’s been since 1980. One big Etch-A-Sketch. No wonder Rmoney thought he had it won.

    It’s a problem of fantasy and denial and wishful thinking vs. reality. It’s a long con.

  65. 65.

    cmorenc

    @mclaren:

    mortification and ignominy that currently besmirches these thugs will evaporate by the 2014 elections.

    Actually, it WILL still be around. The key problem will be motivating enough of: 1) the democratic base; and 2) disgusted non-affilated voters to actually turn out, instead of retreating into a lazy cynicism that politics is hopelessly broken, why bother? The GOP will base their ad campaign in 2014 around two things, one of course being to stoke as high a turnout as possible among their tea party base, the other being to DE-MOTIVATE as many of the voters who would more likely vote against them if they bothered to make it to the polls. Well of course disinfranchisement of a portion of the democratic base is a third element of that strategy, but I’m referring to what the themes of their public campaign, their ads will be.

  66. 66.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Totally OT, but provided as a public service, warning, and explanation:

    The Fighting Fashion Nightmares of the University of Oregon are taking it up to 11 this weekend, in their game with Wazoo (hiyas Yutsano!), wearing PINK helmets, in a symbolic gesture of support for the fight against cancer.

    You have been warned. May FSM have mercy on the feathers in our caps we call macaroni.

  67. 67.

    Botsplainer

    For an outstanding laugh, I took the time to go to The Atlasphere after tbogg mercilessly mocked it, and it has a prominent feature for libertarian dating/hookups.

    Its as unintentionally funny as you can imagine it. One of my views of it included an Objectivist psychotherapist looking for women, which sounds about a thousand kinds of awesome.

    http://www.theatlasphere.com/dating

    The jokes practically write themselves – the delivery of bodily fluids without compensation, the “what about me” questions as the dude finishes in order to go into the next room, the question of who pays for dinner, how to divide the duties of childrearing….

  68. 68.

    catclub

    Too bad no one follows up with the question: “So when did you realize this was a bad strategy?”

    Almost as good a question as the wife beating one.

  71. 71.

    Botsplainer

    Ladies (whether single or attached and married and looking), these fine catches are available for you!

    I’ll fill this out more extensively soon but for now I’m a morally ambitious Objectivist. I value resourcefulness and creativity in all areas of life not just work. For me there are no problems just opportunities. Intense is something I often here which some people find intimidatin…
    …

    I am a published writer and real estate entrepreneur. I desire a woman who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to express it. But she also knows that the world doesn’t revolve around her (though my world might). I am a real estate investor. I own rentals and usually have 3 to 4 fl…
    …

    I’d like to date somebody who has similar values as me and similar goals. I might have something in common with people at this site. I work as a Business Systems Analyst at a consulting company. I’ve been in DC doing consulting since 2008.

    Take a plunge! These are simply diamonds in the rough!

  74. 74.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Mike E: @Yatsuno:

    For what it’s worth, they’ve publically identified the gesture with the Kay Yow Cancer Fund (http://www.kayyow.com/ducks/), not with the Komen folks. The UofO is in the forefront of proper liberal political awareness. Well, except when it conflicts with Phil Knight’s business interests, of course…

  75. 75.

    Botsplainer

    God, I’m dying here…

    I’m a thinker. I am a traveler by nature. I find nature fascinating for a variety of reasons. Motorsports interest me greatly. I am inquisitive. I am constantly let down by the women in my life who are so self-defeating. I wish I could meet someone balanced for a change. I just quit …
    …
    Hello! I’m Josh, a New Yorker by way of Texas. My favorite hobby is exploring New York City. I look for ambition and self-awareness. I hope you know what you’re doing and why you’re doing it, and I hope you have aspirations for what’s next. I’m a digital marketing strategist with a l…
    …
    Born in Israel, where I completed my engineering education and was a Civil Engineering professor. 25 years ago I moved to the US with my wife and children. I managed and owned engineering consulting companies engaged in innovative projects. Both of us read Ayn Rand’s “The Fountai…

    Its like looking at a Ron Paul mailing list.

  77. 77.

    Botsplainer

    It gets even better…

    My father gave me “The Virtue of Selfishness” when I was 16. He said, “I might not agree with everything it says, but it is worth reading.” That book changed my life. Since then, I have read as much as I could find by or about Ayn Rand, and have labelled myself an Objectivist. I t…
    …
    I will fill this in later after I determine that there are more than 2 objectivists within driving distance. anyone intelligent and engaging. Hopefuly interested in sailing or learning to sail. I will fill this in later. Born NY traveled in central america and the carribean and so…
    …
    I ‘d rather update this later. Maybe I’m a busy person. I like to have fun and like to get out of the house. I’m going to be interested in somebody who is generally smart and may be different personality types.
    …
    I have a deep arrogance, an audacity that keeps me believing that I can do anything to which I set my mind. That coupled with a profound curosity about the world has made me into a rather good teacher (when I do not let lazyness degrade my performance). I however have certain …

    C’mon, Juicer women. Enter into a dialogue with one of these fine fellows.

  78. 78.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Botsplainer:

    C’mon, Juicer women. Enter into a dialogue with one of these fine fellows.

    Bot, you need to get help for that death wish of yours…

  79. 79.

    jl

    There are famous battle legends of lost legions, brigades, platoons, barely surviving ferocious enemy onslaughts.

    But can anything compare to the heroic story of Outpost Boehner?

    Painful
    TPM Josh Marshall

    ‘ When Obama asked Boehner what happened that had brought the government to a standstill. Boehner reportedly said “I got overrun, that’s what happened.” ‘

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/painful–4

  80. 80.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    @schrodinger’s cat: As someone who, like Cruz, has an Ivy League education let me tell you. Harvard has some brilliant people, but most of the smartest people I’ve known were/are not pedigreed.

    Also, it really is astounding how dumb people can be outside their narrow area.

    I mean, I’ll give Cruz this-he doesn’t come from money and he’s not a legacy. He earned his way into Princeton and Harvard. But that doesn’t mean I’m always going to give him the benefit of the doubt. It’s like with Bush- “Oh well he went to YALE so he’s not stupid he’s just sandbagging us.” Nah, stupid is a distinct possibility, no matter your pedigree.

  81. 81.

    Full Metal Wingnut

    As far as law school goes, well, it’s not a profession of geniuses. The hardest thing is not the material (not by a damn sight) but the curve, your peers, and the general atmosphere (which truly has to be felt to be understood). It’s part psychological, part masochism contest.

  82. 82.

    Trollhattan

    Our man in the Senate, Harry Reid, has evidently had enough of that famous senatorial gentility stuff.

    “He is a laughing stock to everybody but him. What has he accomplished other than raising some money for president? And if this man can get the nomination to be the Republican nominee for president, I pity the Republican Party.”

    “Ted Cruz is smart,” Reid added. “He has always been able to talk down to people. He is now in the Senate. People are as smart as he is. He can’t talk down to anyone anymore. But he has still not accepted that in his own head. He still thinks he’s smarter than everybody else. He might be able to work a calculus problem better than I can. But he can’t legislate better than I can.”

    http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/harry-reid-ted-cruz-smart-calculus-quote.html

    Harry SMASH. Who knew?

  83. 83.

    Botsplainer

    @Villago Delenda Est:

    Bot, you need to get help for that death wish of yours…

    OK, I’ll do equal opportunity. Here’s one for the guys, Fran, 39 years old, lives in the UK.

    Good health is important to me. I am careful about what I eat. I have two dogs. An atheist or non-religious person.

    Interestingly, she writes her come-on in a fashion that reminds me of Hemingway.

    Now, back to the real winners.

    NOTE: I prefer not to post a photo, but will supply one on request via an accessible link. I’m a successful consultant, writer, and published author. A few salient characteristics: prepossessing, culturally literate, high-achiever, creative, sense of humor and sharp wit. Stra…
    …
    I have enjoyed reading and discussing Ayn Rand for many years. I would lke to meet someone who understands and apprciates Objectivism but does not necessarily agree with all of Ayn Rand’s philosophy. I enjoy movies a great deal, especially intellectually stimulating ones. Also,…
    …
    I classify myself (only when asked) as a life long scholar. I have studied intensely life, as we think, perceive, working to mature, evolve, grow. Basically someone who watches and thinks and grows and typically is interested some of the above. See above. Life is about growing and …

  85. 85.

    Botsplainer

    @Trollhattan:

    “He is a laughing stock to everybody but him. What has he accomplished other than raising some money for president? And if this man can get the nomination to be the Republican nominee for president, I pity the Republican Party.”

    “Ted Cruz is smart,” Reid added. “He has always been able to talk down to people. He is now in the Senate. People are as smart as he is. He can’t talk down to anyone anymore. But he has still not accepted that in his own head. He still thinks he’s smarter than everybody else. He might be able to work a calculus problem better than I can. But he can’t legislate better than I can.”

    Holy shit – that’s a Brit level insult.

  86. 86.

    cckids

    @MattF: This was/is also a major, major factor to many of Sarah Palin’s nutso followers: “She’s just like me“, “She’s so REAL”.

    To which I started replying, respectively, “Sorry to hear that”, and “Real what?”

  87. 87.

    Trollhattan

    @Botsplainer:

    I have studied intensely life, as we think, perceive, working to mature, evolve, grow.

    Sitting. Cornflake. A van. Waiting to come. Eggman.

  89. 89.

    different-church-lady

    @Botsplainer: That kind of stuff is going to make for some mighty fine moments during the “getting to know you” film at his convention in
    2016.

    Wait, I thought those were Cruz quotes.

  91. 91.

    jl

    @EconWatcher:

    Looks like immigration reform might be real firecracker for the GOP. TPM says teabagger logic runs sort of like “We are really pissed our dumb stunt holding the economy hostage over ACA didn’t work, so we’ll take it out on the immigrants”

    So, the teabaggers and their House flunkies will be jackass bastshit crazy on immigration reform, in front of the whole country.

    I hope for cascade of self destructive behavior from the teabaggers. After they make obnoxious fools of themselves on immigration, then they will have two resentments to take out on the next issue that comes up. What that is God knows. Maybe Mother’s Day or Arbor Day? Defunding any federal support for animal control? The Supreme Being of your choice only knows.

    Republicans Vow To Block Immigration Reform After Shutdown Fight
    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/house-republicans-vow-to-kill-immigration-reform-after-shutdown

  92. 92.

    muricafukyea

    Bloggers like muckymux remind me of the characters in Idiocracy who would point and laugh and say “you sound like a fag”.

    His whole stick is point at Republicans and saying they are a bunch of clowns because….[insert todays shiny object]. It’s tired and old. Most of it is just political theater anyways. People like Bachmann and Cruz don’t actually believe 75% of the stupid shit they say. These are highly educated and very wealthy people not idiots. They just say what they say to gin up the rubes and piss off the left. That’s their job.

    People like muckymux totally buy into that because it gives them stuff to blog about every day. They say they hate these people and that they are a bunch of clowns but the truth is that muckymux would have NOTHING to blog about if it weren’t for these people intentionally giving them crazy shit to talk about.

  94. 94.

    Botsplainer

    The photos are awesome, too.

    Objectivism is very important to me. It would be great to meet someone who feels the same way. Independence, honesty, love for learning, sense of humor, optimism, dependability, emotional openness, faithfulness. I’m an actuary at a life insurance company. I’ve been doing this kind …
    …
    I’m a driven, hardworking, competitive, athletic, opinionated person. I love sports! I played soccer at a high level into college and that competitive spirit burns on. I love to think and I love my mind. I value confidence very much. Backpacking trips and/or travel usually a…

  96. 96.

    Trollhattan

    @Botsplainer:
    Yup, devastating and understated, perfect.

    I’m not one who believes political change occurs in anything but tiny increments, but if we can keep this version of the Democrats out of the storage container they might actually get some stuff done.

  98. 98.

    Anya

    Obama nominates a new Secretary of Homeland Security. Oh fun, a new black man to vilify and mistrust. Best part, he will be responsible for FEMA.

  99. 99.

    Botsplainer

    Kibbe is going for the split.

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/freedomworks-ceo-a-real-possibility-that-the-gop-splits-in-two

    During an appearance on CSPAN, the tea party leader responded to a piece in The Washington Times indicating that some “prominent Republicans are saying that if the GOP loses the 2016 presidential elections, the party will go the way of the Whigs — or formally split into a moderate party and a conservative party.”

    “I think that’s a real possibility because you’re seeing this clash between the new generation and — to me, it’s not just the old wing of the Republican Party versus the new wing —you’re really seeing a disintermediation in politics. It’s already happened with the Democratic Party,” Kibbe said. “It’s happening with the Republican Party now. And grassroots activists have an ability to self-organize, to fund candidates they’re more interested in, going right around the Republican National Committee and senatorial committee.”

    “That’s the new reality,” he continued. “Everything’s more democratized and Republicans should come to terms with that. They still wanna control things from the top down and if they do that, there will absolutely be a split. But my prediction would be that we take over the Republican Party and they go the way of the whigs.”

    When host Peter Slen asked who he meant by “we,” Kibbe said, “We being activists that believe in freedom.”

  100. 100.

    Lisa

    I live in Collins’ district and I work in Geneseo where his office is so I paid them a second visit yesterday (first was last week). Before I did so, I first called the DC office and asked why when I called them on Tuesday they told me that he did not want to default. The staffer told me that he didn’t vote to default, he voted not to raise the debt ceiling. I told him not to insult my intelligence and if he’s so concerned about fiscal responsibility (apparently his vote was just him following through with his campaign promise about government spending), what does he think about the $24 billion wasted during the shutdown. The staffer said “that’s just an estimate from S&P and I don’t buy it.” I laughed and asked him if he was now going to unskew the latest polls for me. Total jackass.

    The woman in the Geneseo office was much nicer (she also new me from my visit last week) and I apologized in advance if my exasperation and strong feelings about the crisis caused me to utter some strong words about her boss and her political party. She was a smart young woman and in our conversation last week it was clear she knew they they were lying when they said congressional staff was exempted from Obamacare. After calling Collins out as a TPer for his positions (they hate it when you say that btw), for all his lies and his lame statement on the vote, I asked her how it made her feel when he threw her under the bus with the full Vitter Amendment in the final version of the House bill that never made it to the floor. I said what that tells me is that he thinks she’s a lazy moocher, just like all the other people who should be denied affordable health care. A hard working low paid staffer who does so much grunt work for him and that’s how he treats her. I couldn’t stop myself from pointing out that I care more about her access to health care and decent standard of living than he does. She said she couldn’t talk about her own opinion, just that of the Congressman, but she could not deny that it wasn’t true. I saw it in her face that she was conflicted. When I told her that my interaction with my college students indicates that they think Republicans are batsh*t crazy, selfish, and bigoted and want nothing to do with them, she said “I know, we have a problem.” I also told her that the constituents who called to support him (which outweighed those opposed) are going to be singing a very different tune when they find out in the upcoming budget negotiations that he wants to gut their SS and Medicare, unless that is they die off in the next few months given their other demographic problem. She seemed to get that as well. Since I felt bad for having put her through the ringer first thing in the morning, I sent an email to Collins telling him that he did a great job hiring her and that he should be ashamed for even contemplating and/or considering voting to cut her pay for his own political career and that she and her fellow staff members deserve better from him.

    He didn’t win by a large margin, so maybe if we get a good Dem candidate and tar him with the TP label and get the local Chambers of Commerce (still waiting to hear back from the Livingston County CC about their views on his vote) to not fund his campaign we can get the seat back. Here’s to hoping.

  101. 101.

    Mobile Grumpy Code Monkey

    @gelfling545:

    I can haz standing? Can they show they’ve been harmed by the fact that homosexuals exist?

    Although given the degree of latency (or outright denial) among many right-wing males, maybe they can demonstrate mental anguish. It’s just not *fair* that other people get to be honest with themselves.

  102. 102.

    Trollhattan

    @muricafukyea:

    People like Bachmann and Cruz don’t actually believe 75% of the stupid shit they say. These are highly educated and very wealthy people not idiots.

    Didn’t think it was possible to read anything funnier than Randian singles ads, but I’ve been proven WRONG!

    What a Friday.

  103. 103.

    Suffern ACE

    @muricafukyea:

    Most of it is just political theater anyways. People like Bachmann and Cruz don’t actually believe 75% of the stupid shit they say. These are highly educated and very wealthy people not idiots

    Care to provide your insight into which is the theater and which isn’t? Also what that wealthy Bachman woman really thinks would be helpful. I bet she thinks a lot like you, but she just can’t say so out loud.

  104. 104.

    muricafukyea

    @Suffern ACE: It’s almost all an act. If you don’t realize that then you are the one being played along with all the true idiots. The rubes who continue to vote for her and send her money. The more outraged the left gets the more money the rubes send her. Get it.

    Bachman is no idiot. She is a highly educated lawyer. She has become very wealthy saying the crazy shit she says. Just follow the money. If you haven’t learned that yet then there isn’t much hope of you ever understanding anything.

    Don’t know anything about her husband but I’m guessing there must be a lot of money in the “fix your gayness” business which is why he does that…not because he’s an idiot either.

  105. 105.

    TriassicSands

    @The prophet Nostradumbass:

    skunks are members of the weasel superfamily.

    And we’re all mammals, but a skunk is not a weasel — in the US. In Europe, a polecat is a weasel, but in the US if I sent you out for a weasel and you brought back a skunk, I’d say your mammal ID skills stink. Then, I’d ask you to remain outside.

    This isn’t a biological question (or one of cladistics), but rather of common usage.

    (Another word that has different Old and New World usage is “buzzard,” which refers to different birds in the Old and New Worlds. I was simply pointing out the common usage difference.)

  106. 106.

    NickM

    @Botsplainer: I read that stuff and I just feel sad for the lonely people posting it.

    Which I guess is the apotheosis of a bleeding heart: feels sad for lonely sociopaths.

  109. 109.

    NonyNony

    @Botsplainer:

    Kibbe is going for the split.

    Kibbe makes formal declaration of war against Republican leadership, is how I think you meant to phrase that.

    But truthfully, the Tea Party wing has been at war against the Republican leadership for the past 2 years. Leadership thought they could go with an appeasement strategy so that everyone could just go along and get along, but the Tea Party refuse to play the game and be appeased. So war it must be.

  110. 110.

    drkrick

    Ted Cruz is an oily McCarthy-looking flatulating anus from Texas who has about as much appeal in Western New York as open bedsores and penicillin-resistant syphilis.

    Isn’t penicillin-resistant syphilis fairly popular among Tea Party types who think it’s a proportionate punishment for ungodly sluttish behavior?

  113. 113.

    Ed Drone

    @Kim Walker:

    Ted Cruz looks frightening like ol’ Joe McCarthy.

    Someone pointed out he looks more like Lou Costello, but I think he looks like Joe McCarthy as portrayed by Lou Costello in that old B-grade 1956 film, “Abbott and Costello Meet Tail-Gunner Joe.”

  114. 114.

    West of the Cascades

    @Redshirt: Good point about the chilling effects of choking on staff morale — you could just cut their health care premium support instead.

  115. 115.

    dmbeaster

    All this talk about the intelligence of Cruz…

    The guy is smart as a whip and getting exactly what he wanted. To assume that his posture which imperiled the GOP was the result of being a stupid smart person reads the situation wrong.

    The shortest way to describe this is to refer to the fact that Cruz identifies Jesse Helms as his childhood hero. The same Helms who filibustered for 16 days in the Senate to try and prevent federal recognition of the holiday for Martin Luther King, but who also had tremendous success advancing conservative causes by being completely pigheaded about it.

    Cruz could care less about the harm his posture has done to the traditional GOP or the threat to the fiscal soundness of the country. His posture has catapulted him to the strongest position in the GOP — he is the leader of the party right now whether traditional Republicans like it or not. He has created a national support base completely independent of party apparatus. That base believes that wrecking the country in order to stop Obama and the Democrats is preferable. I have yet to see anything about Cruz that indicates that he is stupid or does not understand the consequences of his actions. It is better to take him at face value and to realize that things went exactly as he wanted, than to assume his wrecking ball approach is somehow an indication of dimwittedness.

  116. 116.

    Chris

    @fuckwit:

    Bullshit vs. reality. The Rethugs are amazing at bullshit. They suck at reality. But the voters buy the bullshit, then get pissed off at the reality.

    People want to elect Republicans and get Democratic policies out of it.

    That’s been our politics in a nutshell forever and a day.

  119. 119.

    coin operated

    @muricafukyea:

    People like Bachmann and Cruz don’t actually believe 75% of the stupid shit they say. These are highly educated and very wealthy people not idiots. They just say what they say to gin up the rubes and piss off the left. That’s their job.

    Assumes facts not in evidence. As a matter of fact, I think there’s sufficient video evidence to disprove that statement in Bachmann’s case.

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @cckids:

    “She’s just like me“

    I recall when Monicagate central figure Linda Trip had a press conference and proclaimed to anyone listening that she was “just like you”.

    Right, Linda. Sure.

  121. 121.

    PopeRatzo

    The GOP in-fighting has just begun. In two months we’re going to see a mess that’ll make last week look like nothing.

    I just hope they come out real strong against immigration reform and women’s issues and get more strident about how “minorities are leeches”.

    I think the lid’s going to get blown right off the crazy now.

  122. 122.

    boatboy_srq

    @Botsplainer:

    morally ambitious Objectivist

    So, he’s hoping to develop morals that don’t clash with his Randian worldview, then? That actually explains quite a lot…

    @Villago Delenda Est: His world just wasn’t the same once he discovered a##less chaps. And the lawsuit makes so much sense now that his love affair obsession with the LGBT community is starting to look just teeny bit like honest adulation dated posturing. It’s fun to watch him immerse himself further in Teh Ghey every year just so he can keep squirming at its ICKYness.

    @coin operated: Dunno about that. Marrying Ladybird was a stroke of genius (on whose part, I’m not sure – but on one part at least).

  123. 123.

    boatboy_srq

    @Botsplainer:

    morally ambitious Objectivist

    So, he’s hoping to develop morals that don’t clash with his Randian worldview, then? That actually explains quite a lot…

    @Villago Delenda Est: His world just wasn’t the same once he discovered a##less chaps. And the lawsuit makes so much sense now that his love affair obsession with the LGBT community is starting to look just teeny bit like honest adulation dated posturing. It’s fun to watch him immerse himself further in Teh Ghey every year just so he can keep squirming at its ICKYness.

    @coin operated: Dunno about that. Marrying Ladybird was a stroke of genius (on whose part, I’m not sure – but on one part at least).

Comments are closed.