.
Heh, indeed. Jon Chait at NYMag:
The belief that President Obama not only should but can lure Republicans to support higher taxes on the rich is the most insanely wrong thing that is believed by respectable people. Washington Post editorial page editor Fred Hiatt’s column [yesterday] once again recites this belief, which is both preposterous and banal. The combination of the banality and the preposterousness is what lends this belief its special fascination. There are, after all, all sorts of fantastical beliefs at large among the American population — conspiracy theories involving aliens or the World Trade Center, or pseudoscientific theories linking vaccines to autism, and so on — that attract adherents who are alienated in some way from the established channels. The interesting thing about Tax Trutherism is not only that is is shared by esteemed elites but that, somewhat like the predations of Bernie Madoff, esteemed elites are the only people who are taken in by it…
Hiatt builds his column around the premise that, if Obama had used “leadership” to persuade Republicans to support policies they find abhorrent, his party would be poised for success in the midterm elections. Sadly, he observes, lack of partisan comity has left Obama unpopular and his party on the run. “Instead of a partisan president on the defensive with slipping poll numbers,” Hiatt writes, “Obama could have been, as he had once promised, the president of both red and blue America.”
Hiatt’s political theory, that high-profile agreement between the parties would lift Obama’s poll numbers and benefit his party, has some real basis. But it also happens to be Mitch McConnell’s political theory. And McConnell wants to win the midterm elections. So it is not clear why Republicans are going to want to help Obama shore up his poll numbers and prevent them from winning seats in the fall election….
Apart from waiting to hear from Cole about his friend, what’s on the agenda for the evening?
Chris
FTFY
dr. bloor
Chait’s as confused as his subjects if he thinks “respectable” and “Hiatt” belong in the same paragraph.
The Dangerman
Yes, I remember the 90’s, when the Republicans didn’t make Clinton’s life miserable … hold on.
Well, how about the 70’s, when the Republicans…
khead
– Chris Christie. A man who has apparently never heard of a place in his own state called “Atlantic City”.
eric
@khead: dont they get tax revenue from cigarettes?
Cacti
@khead:
Who would want to live in Denver when you could live in Newark?!
LOL
dollared
Amen. But I think it’s pretty clear that Hiatt is part of the set-up. I can’t tell you how many “Wall Street Journal Pro Business Independents-or-Republicans” have told me that Obama’s a failure because he has offended Republicans, and so it’s all his fault that the two sides can’t reach agreement.
Hiatt has to know that that’s simply f-in untrue, and he’s in on the scam as part of his support for the neocons.
danielx
The belief that President Obama can lead or lure Republicans to anything whatsoever, including an open bar with free gold ingots as party favors, is enough to brand anyone truly holding such beliefs as a simpleton at best, someone hard pressed to count to twenty without taking off his shoes. If Fred Hiatt seriously believes this, after
sixforty years of Republican insanity, he doesn’t need to be the editorial page editor of the Washington Post. He needs therapy and a number of remedial courses, including but not limited to contemporary American political history.If on the other hand Hiatt is just engaging in the usual Villager wishful wanking, it’s detestable and despicable but completely within the bounds of normal Villager behavior, norms and mores. It’s not like living down to expectations is anything new in that particular environment.
Citizen_X
@khead:
This statement by itself is hilarious. The fact that it’s comparing New Fucking Jersey? Hoo boy.
Hey Christie: people sing about Colorado. The only person who sings about Jersey is Springsteen, and he mostly sings about leaving it.
kindness
So Chiat is reasonable and Hiatt is howling at the moon looney.
How Hiatt keeps his day job I gotta wonder.
French Revolution anyone?
Citizen_X
@eric: And liquor?
But the Devil Weed is different. Because hippies, I guess.
khead
@eric:
NJ gets a lot – or used to get a lot – of revenue from gambling in AC where there’s a casino on every corner. I used to drive there for day trips just to gamble.
Suffern ACE
What is going to determine whether or not Dems lose is whether or not their voters turn out. That’s about it.Whether or not taxes are raised on Rich folks this instant isn’t even a top of mind issue for Dem Voters. If those voters decide to stay home its not because they think rich people taxes are too low. And if the Republicans win, its pretty much the same story it has been for 30 years – people don’t think Republicans mean to take away their social social status because they “earned it.”
NonyNony
@khead:
So … coastal elite mocks the Western heartland? Insists that their values aren’t his own?
I wonder if Christie has completely given up on his Presidential ambitions.
Roger Moore
@kindness:
Kneepads.
Suffern ACE
I do think, however, Obama should start showing some leadership and going to the UN and asking them to put sanctions on Fred Hiatt’s assets and declaring a no fly zone over Cleveland Park. Its the least a world leader can do.
Anne Laurie
@Citizen_X:
And “those people” (minorities). Nixon’s henchman admitted, after Watergate, that marijuana laws were about keeping “college students and Negroes” from voting, because they were overwhelmingly Democratic voters. The fact that marijuana terrified the blue-collar Repubs into voting against their own economic interests was a nice bonus, of course.
danielx
@khead:
Fuacck! From what I’ve heard any number of people are contemplating moving to Colorado, including a lot of people moving there for access to medical-grade herb without going through a lot of horseshit.
I have not noticed lately, or indeed any time at all, that New Jersey is having put up barriers to keep potential new residents from overrunning the place. Come to that, I’d a hell of a lot rather have stoners than gamblers moving to or visiting my state; they’re a lot easier to get along with and generally smarter.
Suffern ACE
@NonyNony: The western heartland is not Boulder and Denver. The western heartland involves folks who get together and hold barn raising parties and whatnot.
Iowa Old Lady
I live in Bruce Braley’s house district and he’s running to replace Tom Harkin in the Senate, so we have a Democratic primary coming up in June (I think). The paper interviewed the candidate I like, asking her among other things about Stand Your Ground laws. She said she opposed them. A gun group published her home address on FB. She’s been getting death threats.
Roger Moore
@NonyNony:
No, he’s assuming that he can win over the people in Colorado who don’t like legalized pot and the out of state riffraff it brings in, as well as all the people in the rest of the country who are worried about legalized pot.
khead
Hmmm… apparently I forgot. Ca$ino or gambl$ must mean mod hell.
So @eric:
NJ gets a lot – or used to get a lot – of revenue from gambl$ in AC where there’s a ca$ino on every corner. I used to drive there for day trips just to gambl$.
Roger Moore
@Iowa Old Lady:
Because nothing says “responsible gun owner” like threatening to kill people you don’t like. Just remember, a well armed society is a
polite societysociety where people are afraid to step out of line for fear of being murdered.Amir Khalid
I’m waiting to see how Betty Cracker gets on with making herself a pair of 3D clip-ons. I’ve already tested my own homemade pair and they worked great. With so many people wearing glasses, it’s a pity the multiplexes don’t offer them as an option.
Citizen_X
@Suffern ACE:
Fixed, for REAL America.
mike with a mic
@kindness:
You don’t actually want a revolution or change of the status quo in this country. The left isn’t willing to invoke the sort of violence, blood in the streets, and genocide against a class of people that it would take to actually wrest control from the plutocrats, so there will be no liberal revolution. The right actually is willing to go through what it will take, and make no mistake that is violence and killing, to separate the rich from their spoils.
It’s always only been the threat of drawing and quartering the lord, murdering the lords children, raping the lady, killing the livestock, and burning the whole castle down to the ground that caused people to give up power. When a huge part of your movements mantra is that such violence is wrong and off the table your movement is worthless. It lacks the bite to make it’s bark worth anything. The moment we took violence off the table is the moment we lost any ability or right to even beg, let alone make any demands.
You’d prefer the status quo to a chance.
JPL
I’m a tad concerned that the Roberts court will rule against Aereo Internet and decide that open air waves is a fallacy.
My antenna works great for my location and I don’t need Aereo but I depend on open and free broadcast.
also, My paranoia is due to the Roberts effect, not the Fox effect.
Gene108
I have not lost anybody to the”Fox Effect”, but I had a friend, who along with her mother, turned out to like Fox News.
This was about 9-10 years ago, my friend was about 60 and her mother well into her 80’s. My friend had a lot of trouble with depression and managed to get off SSI and found work driving a school bus. We have since lost touch and gone our separate ways as happens sometimes.
Anyway, what I think appealed to them about Fox News is that it portrays “traditional” American authority figures in a flattering light; much the same way they were portrayed in popular media when they were young.
The police officer is trust worthy, for example.
I think a large part of the appeal of Fox News ( and Reagan) for white viewers is it presents a world view of the (white) Americans doing good things for “traditional” American values, without dwelling on things the Left brings up that makes white people feel bad like the lingering effects of segregation and how that created unfair advantages for white people.
I think that is a large part of Fox News’ appeal, at first glance.
Amir Khalid
@Roger Moore:
Governor Harkonnen still thinks he can be president? Now that’s an optimistic man.
Bokonon
@Roger Moore: They’ve abandoned the “respectable gun owner” model except as an advertising gimmick. They’ve adopted a scorched earth model – where anyone who says or does anything they dislike gets their personal safety threatened (and credibly), and any politician or public figure who crosses them pays a steep price in terms of harassment. No rules, no boundaries.
Witness that horror show confrontation between the militia members and the federal government in Nevada the other week, and tell me that this idea of gun ownership giving you the power to intimidate people and violate whatever rules you want isn’t getting out of hand.
My grandfather was a long-term NRA member and champion marksman. He would be absolutely disgusted by these guys.
Redshift
@mike with a mic:
You’re as delusional as ever. In what country do you see the right “separating the rich from their spoils”? In this one, we see them willing to threaten violence and killing to make sure the rich aren’t separated from their spoils.
KG
@khead: I wouldn’t want to live in a major city in Colorado. But that’s mostly because I don’t like the cold. Don’t mind visiting it and enjoying some fine skiing, but living there? Nah.
But what’s wrong with headshops? We have a bunch of them in Southern California and “it” isn’t completely legal here. They’re usually pretty cool places to check out. And, they’re businesses, which means jobs and taxes and stuff. So, he’d rather have empty strip malls?
Bobby Thomson
@Roger Moore: A well armed society is Bioshock Infinite.
JPL
OMGoodness, this is hilarious, Scalia apparently doesn’t know about free and open airwaves and private business.
link Although all the comments are good, I liked the first one.
also, Thanks to Steve Benen for the link
Jay C
@mike with a mic:
Sorry man, your comment needs a minor “fixt” to reflect contemporary American political reality’ viz.:
They may not plan it that way, but that’s the ultimate outcome, anyway….
lamh36
Another Bridge Scandal in New Jersey Pops Up
Davis X. Machina
@Redshift: I think OP’s unclear, rather than suggesting what you’ve taken as his meaning.
“The right actually is willing [in pursuit of its ends] to go through what it will take, and make no mistake that is violence and killing, [the kind that would be needed in any putative left revolution] to separate the rich from their spoils.”
Jennifer
fixed that for him.
SiubhanDuinne
Someone on his FB page said that they had postponed surgery as they were concerned about issues with heart and lung function.
I wish I knew how to pray, because if I did, I’d be doing it good and hard. As it is, I continue with white light, warm thoughts, and good vibes to Holly and all who love her.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Maybe someone with more knowledge than I, will explain that decision. How sad, I also send good thoughts and prayers for her recovery.
this is his twitter account
https://twitter.com/Johngcole
Culture of Truth
Some say no one policy can unite the different factions of the GOP represented by Ron Paul, Chris Christie, Mitch McConnell, Peter King, Ted Cruz, John McCain, Louie Gohmert, Sarah Palin, John Boehner, Rick Perry and Mitt Romney. But there is:
Tax cuts for rich people.
JustRuss
@Citizen_X:
Born To Run Away?
Keith G
@mike with a mic: You needed to edit this sentence so that it fits in with the other premises in your argument.
That typo understood, yes you are making a significant point. Generally speaking, the Right is willing to destroy the village, while the left is not. The Right brings AR-15s to knife fights while the Left brings a treatise on non-violent conflict resolution.
edited
MikeJ
@Jennifer: I think the Republican base doesn’t like Obama because he is black. I think elected Republicans don’t want to work with Obama because they don’t want a Democrat to get even partial credit for anything good that might happen. I have no doubt whatsoever that they would be just as obstructionist to president Hillary Clinton, or Dean, or Edwards or president John Boehner if he had a (D) after his name.
Litlebritdiftrnt
@Gene108: Right after my husband had his heart attack and he was in “cardio rehab” he started coming home after his sessions and spouting the most ridiculous bullshit that he had “see on tv”. Turns out that the tv in the rehab facility was tuned to Fox News 24/7 and he was absorbing Glen Beck, while it was easy disabusing him of the notions that Beck spouted, it really got tiresome having to do so three times a week.
john fremont
Born and raised in New Jersey and I still like living in Colorado.
Litlebritdiftrnt
OT but this piece in Newsweek about food waste is brilliant. Could one of the FP people do it justice?
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/04/25/our-preference-perfect-produce-making-us-sick-248213.html
Baud
If the parties were reversed, Hiatt would be praising the Republican president’s leadership in not caving to Democrats.
mai naem mobile
The re publicans are not going to work with obama as long as he is black. maybe David Brooks should send Obama some skin lightening cream
SiubhanDuinne
Open Thread?
I hate talking cars.
I have always hated talking cars.
MikeJ
@Citizen_X:
Fountains of Wayne, perhaps?
skerry
Good read about MLB and Josh Leuke, the Ray’s rapist pitcher
burnspbesq
@Citizen_X:
I’ve lived in Denver, and I’ve lived in New Jersey. As soon as you can go to the Metropolitan Opera or the Blue Note without flying for four hours, I’ll consider moving back to Denver. It’s the most uncultured place I’ve ever lived, and that includes Orange County and Lexington, VA.
Violet
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
That is a great article. I didn’t know this about the EU:
I’m going to have to look at the produce section in Sainsbury’s the next time I’m in the UK.
Keith G
@SiubhanDuinne: How do you feel about talking horses?
Wiiiiiilberrrrrr. Snort.
burnspbesq
@lamh36:
The Pulaski Skyway was badly in need of overhaul in the 1980s, when I drove over it two nights a week to get from my office in Newark to my grad school classes at NYU. That it is still standing is quite miraculous.
Fuck Chris Christie and his criminal neglect of New Jersey’s aging infrastructure.
Iowa Old Lady
Clearly OT: An ad just popped up on FB that says Katie Couric is 86. I’m waiting for confirmation from the Newsmax headlines.
Roger Moore
@KG:
The big cities in Colorado aren’t that cold. Colorado is further south than most people think, and it doesn’t have the nasty lake effect weather you get in the upper midwest. It isn’t that snowy, either, since it’s too dry to get a lot of precipitation.
Cassidy
This was funny. #myNYPD
SatanicPanic
@Keith G: In our defense only one of these ever has positive results.
Mike E
@mai naem mobile:
Cream? Don’t you mean the pen that Brooks used to sign that contract with Satan?
Mike in NC
“Fargo” is on FX tonight. Last week’s debut episode was quite good.
Villago Delenda Est
Needless to say, but I shall anyways, Fred Hiatt is yet another convincing argument that my nym is the way to go.
Wipe them out. All of them.
Litlebritdiftrnt
@Violet:
It is a brilliant idea. I wrote a post years ago whereby I railed against Food Lion’s labeling produce as “grade A fancy” (strawberries or whatever) I mused what if I was willing to pay less for “grade B homely” strawberries, or perhaps I was willing to pay even less for “grade C down right ugly strawberries”. I know from my own gardening experience that I would never throw away a tomato because it had a slight case of blossom end rot, no I simply slice that bit off and use the rest of the tomato. Instead of “unsightly” produce being trashed or ploughed under it makes much more sense to sell it for hugely discounted prices to people who understand that the nutrients are the same regardless of how it looks.
Gin & Tonic
Wonder what local hero Edward Snowden thinks about the new Russian law requiring ISP’s and service providers with customers in Russia to maintain user data for not less than six months and to maintain it physically in Russia? Or of Pavel Durov’s decision to leave Russia permanently? Or maybe he can comment on Alexei Navalny’s conviction for slander?
Roger Moore
@Culture of Truth:
Also, too:
Fuck the poor
Say “No!” to everything Obama proposes
Fuck the poor
Hand out lots of cash to their cronies
Fuck the poor
jl
@mai naem mobile:
” The re publicans are not going to work with obama as long as he is black. maybe David Brooks should send Obama some skin lightening cream ”
I used to think that, but now I think the only policy the GOP would cooperate with is every Democrat resigning between Obama and first GOPer to succeed him. So, with House in GOP hands, it would have to be a package deal with Obama and Biden both resigning and turning themselves into a sovereign county sheriff, or maybe exile to another planet with no way back. If House were Democratic and Senate Republican, then Pelosi would have to go too, and McConnell would be tapped.
Keith G
@SatanicPanic: While I think the “ever” notion is arguable, it is also the case that there are other choices.
Davis X. Machina
@jl: In other words, the one-party state.
The GOP is the only Leninist party of any consequence in the parliamentary world.
mike with a mic
@Redshift:
My point is that since the left is unwilling to engage in violence, it cannot enact actual economic revolution. It might as well shut up. If you won’t fight you can’t even beg, and fighting takes blood. The right is willing to. So our only hope for revolution is the right, not the left.
Hence why I said you don’t want revolution. The left cannot do it and cannot be considered anything more than empty because it swore off violence. The right can, and retains all rights and does not have to beg because it is willing to fight… you just don’t want what they offer. If the left was willing to actually spill blood and fight, there would be hope it could change the economic reality we face. But as it has sworn this off, the only thing it’s good for is laughing at and widely mocking.
Till you have a left willing to kill, burn, bleed, and do worse in the fight…. the left can be ignored and laughed off as the most deluded part of American politics and utterly impotent on economic matters. They can’t even beg, they can just hope not to be crushed.
Davis X. Machina
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
My cardio uses a treadmill, but achieves the same effect. It’s a stress test.
Roger Moore
@Litlebritdiftrnt:
Or to food processors who are going to render it unrecognizable anyway. Does it really matter that food is ugly if it’s going to be pureed?
Violet
@Litlebritdiftrnt: Yep, it makes a lot of sense. And if it’s rebranded as trendy athen that’s definitely steps towards making it happen. Plus, this:
It’s important for all of us that we reduce food waste.
Chris
@MikeJ:
I think both of them would be just as obstructionist to any president with a D after his name, because whether or not he himself (she herself?) is black, he/she is still seen as the Leader of These People.
Cassidy
@mike with a mic: Sorry, but no. They aren’t willing to engage in violence. They’re willing to bluff and use woman and children as human shields, but they’ve had plenty of opportunity to start some sort of insurrection and they haven’t taken it. They’re waiting for someone else to have the balls. They’re chickenshit.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: A few of their lunatic fringe are ready to use violence, but that is about it.
Cassidy
@Omnes Omnibus: I wouldn’t even give them that much. They just recently had the perfect opportunity with the Bundy mess. They had the the cameras, the media narrative, the numbers…what they lacked is the will to actually commit to violence. They were like the guy in high school yelling “hold me back”.
Chris
@Cassidy:
This.
The plain fact is that Bismark’s system is working. The welfare state means that most people have too much of a stake in the system to be willing to tear it down. We had a near-revolution during the Great Depression and an actual revolution during the Civil War (one from each side of the aisle): since then, nothing. If the wingnuts succeed in tearing down the safety net, then civil wars and revolutions become a real possibility… if not, I call bullshit.
Baud
@Cassidy:
The abortion killers and Stormfront murderers engage in violence. But they don’t do anything to advance their cause by doing so.
catclub
@JPL: “a tad concerned”
Only a tad? This beatdown seems foreordained. I only thought that concern that they will harm cloud applications owned by Amazon, Google and Microsoft, has slowed the beatdown. otherwise they would already have hammered Aereo.
I will be pleased if Aereo survives, … and very surprised.
Omnes Omnibus
@Cassidy: I mean people like Scott Roeder, Eric Rudolph, and Tim McVeigh. Bundy just falls in the mainstream of right wing blowhards.
catclub
@MikeJ: Who sang “Take me home, to Bayonne” to the tune of Country Roads?
Roger Moore
@Baud:
I think the abortion terrorists are doing something to advance their cause. They may not be advancing the political campaign to outlaw abortion, but they have been successful at scaring a lot of doctors away from offering legal abortion services. Doctors who could provide abortions as a small part of their practice aren’t willing to go there because they’re afraid of the backlash. As a result, there are large parts of the country where abortions are practically unavailable even though they’re still theoretically legal. That’s accomplishing at least part of their goal.
schrodinger's cat
I have a new post about the other Brooks who writes for the NYT now;
Brooks Brother is a Riot
Added Bonus: It has 1% kittehs!
Chris
@Cassidy:
It seems like the real nuts, the people who really are willing to get their hands bloody, fall into the “lone wolves” category – either one person, or a very small amount. Most of the people who’re actual organized militias seem to just sit around in goofy uniforms bragging about the things they’re TOTALLY going to do when the Fed’rul Gub’mint goes TOO FAR.
(“Too far” = sooo… beyond the murder of four Americans in Benghazi, beyond the usurpation of the throne by a foreign citizen, beyond the institution of death panels that’re going to murder Americans… one wonders what it exactly it WILL take for them to get their friggin’ revolution on the road).
TG Chicago
This can’t be said enough. Obama branded himself as a guy who’d bridge the partisan divide. In response, Republicans (especially McConnell) decided that they needed to make sure that didn’t happen. So they refused to work with Obama on anything.
That’s the most important political story of the Obama presidency, and it’s rarely mentioned.
StringOnAStick
I live in Colorado and I don’t see how legalizing weed has changed much, other than hopefully making the courts less busy, ruining fewer young lives over a joint, and reducing the prison population going forward; it is an acknowledgement of reality more than anything else.
Sorry we’re not the cultural utopia some people desire. I live here for the outdoors and the lifestyle. I’ll be climbing 13,000′ and 14,000′ peaks to ski them until the end of May, I climbed a good part of Longs Peak last Sunday, and I can go mountain biking or hiking right out my front door any time I want. We have over 300 days/year of sunshine here on the west side of Denver. I haven’t been into the weed since I was in my early 20’s, but I’m fine with people having the ability to do so without risking everything in their future to an overzealous cop. The bank the state is making on the weed taxes isn’t huge though about half of it is legally required to go to school maintenance and construction, just like how voters approved the state lottery years ago as long as a large percentage went to purchasing and maintaining open space and parks. When the state legislature tried to change that formula to supporting the prison complex instead, voters put a quick and firm stop to that.
We may have some fucked up stuff what with the wingers in CO Springs and the usual complement of sovereign righty whackjobs in various locations (it is the west after all). However, this state is solidly purple and trending blue, so we are making progress. Progress in the form of less stupid, life-ruining pots busts makes the Outlaw Joisey Whale cry; oh boo hoo! Tell it to your Jersey buddy Springsteen. Oh right, he detests your plutocratic knob-polishing ass…..