Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

This country desperately needs a functioning fourth estate.

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

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

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Live so that if you miss a day of work people aren’t hoping you’re dead.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Somebody needs to explain to DeSantis that nobody needs to do anything to make him look bad.

So many bastards, so little time.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Come on, media. you have one job. start doing it.

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

The revolution will be supervised.

“Joe Biden deserved better than he got from some folks in his own party.”

Pelosi: “He either is stupid, or he thinks the rest of us are.” Why not both?

You come for women, you’re gonna get your ass kicked.

At some point, the ability to learn is a factor of character, not IQ.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

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

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Late Night Big Talk Open Thread: Cue the Tiny Violins

Late Night Big Talk Open Thread: Cue the Tiny Violins

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Play a sad chorus for Politico and “The anxieties of the GOP majority“:

… At 4 p.m. on Wednesday, 30 or so members of the 2012 GOP freshman class of the House of Representatives gathered in a conference room in the Capitol Visitor Center for what’s become a monthly conclave. For the junior representatives, this was a chance to get some face time with Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio). Everyone knew that the next evening, President Barack Obama planned to deliver an in-your-face rebuke to Boehner, who’d warned the president not to “play with matches” and act on his own to suspend deportation of millions of immigrants.

All of those gathered had reason to be angry: Here was the president pretending, absurdly, that he hadn’t just had his butt whipped in the midterms, and defying the biggest GOP House majority-to-come in more than 80 years. Almost exactly a year before, some in the room had been among the most vocal Republicans pushing for a government shutdown as a legislative strategy against Obama.

But now came a stern message from Boehner: The GOP shouldn’t take the bait this time. And as discussion moved around the table, there was little desire for another shutdown, even from the conservatives, over the president’s executive action on immigration. No one wanted to let Democrats off the mat and hand them a political win — especially not now, barely two weeks after the GOP’s historic midterm victory. “There was definitely a sense that they didn’t want to do that [the 2013 shutdown] again,” said an aide to one of the participants.

Outwardly, Republican rhetoric toward the president hasn’t softened much, especially since Obama’s speech Thursday night. The consistent meme is that he is behaving like an unconstitutional monarch…

What has changed is the underlying balance of power in the party and, perhaps, the terms of debate within the GOP over how to deal with the Democratic Party and its surprisingly aggressive leader. Obama might be behaving like a usurping monarch without a mandate, in the eyes of the newly powerful GOP, but no one is seriously threatening to impeach him — as Republicans have repeatedly done in past years. Nor, despite the angry rhetoric, does there seem to be a serious possibility of government shutdown…

Me, I am not at all sure that the fReichwing’s noisy newbies will settle for merely refudiating condemning and deploring the supposed anti-Constitutionalism of That Black President in ‘Their’ White House. But maybe I’m just a cynic?

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  4. 4.

    The Dangerman

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    In Wisconsin…

    I found the same thing in WA last Thanksgiving; I suspect the Costco in Portland gets bumper crop business.

    ETA: Seriously, WA, WTF is up with a liquor tax that makes you want to go hit a pot bar? Hold on…

  5. 5.

    BR

    Maybe I’m overthinking this, but isn’t it a good thing that the GOP is attacking Obama for being too president-y and decisive and go-it-alone and such? Sure, they’re saying it’s a bad thing but isn’t this a ‘don’t think of an elephant’ situation?

  7. 7.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BR: I think that the GOP leadership is shitting its pants right now. They can do what their firebrands what which is stupid or they can try to be sensible and piss off the firebrands.

  9. 9.

    BR

    @Cathie from Canada:

    I’m hoping it’s not Hillary’s campaign that they’ll be trying to trash at that point, but yeah, otherwise I think you’re right that they just might go for it despite it being a bad idea.

  10. 10.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Cathie from Canada: Why would they? Other than hate? They won’t have the votes to remove him and the one thing that will cause the Obama coalition to turn out in force for someone like HRC is an impeachment of Obama. What is their upside?

  12. 12.

    Yatsuno

    @Omnes Omnibus: Their base. Their base is practically demanding that the Republicans do everything they can to stop THAT ONE!!! before he takes us to socialist hell. And yes they think that.

  14. 14.

    eemom

    Dumbshit “impeachment, I tellz ya” predictions have been on a fixture on this blog since 2010. Can we move the fuck on already, plz?

  15. 15.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @BR: Embarrassment about what?

    @Yatsuno: I agree that their base want it and they may be forced by their base to try. I just don’t see how it actually moves their agenda forward.

  16. 16.

    Amir Khalid

    @Omnes Omnibus:
    I’ve noticed that the Tea Party tendency are not unlike the Spanish Inquisition. With them, one thing counts for quite a lot: hate, and a nihilistic, reckless partisanship. Okay, that’s two things …

  18. 18.

    Howard Beale IV

    @Omnes Omnibus: If the GOP tries the impeachment stunt, they will be branded as the party that will always impeach a sitting Democratic President.

    Is that what the GOP really wants to known for?

  20. 20.

    burnspbesq

    This is probably quite silly, but I keep waiting for just one Republican to actually read the fucking statute and wake up to the inescapable reality that Jeh Johnson, the Secretary of DHS, is doing exactly what a Republican-controlled Congress ordered the Secretary of DHS to do back in 2006, i.e., establish a set of priorities for removing people not in this country lawfully.

  21. 21.

    BR

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Who knows…they probably would love to find some document, take two sentences out of context, and wave it around on the floor of the house while yelling about something or the other, blaming Hillary and Obama for something imaginary. They do this daily, but the media might go along.

  23. 23.

    SFAW

    @Howard Beale IV:

    Is that what the GOP really wants to known for?

    Why not? The electorate hasn’t been interested in making the Rethugs pay for all the other insane bullshit they have pulled.

  24. 24.

    SFAW

    @burnspbesq:

    This is probably quite silly,

    Wrong Python sketch.

    Certainly not the current Pope, who is acting like an actual Christian.

    My point exactly. They’re more into the “vengeful God” thing. Of course, if there truly were a vengeful (and just) God, most of those assholes would have been cratered by now. So, it looks like the atheists are right, after all.

  26. 26.

    Mike E

    @eemom: Well, them chickens ain’t gonna fuck themselves.

    Also, the media has to make a living putting the toothpaste back into the tube. Too.

  28. 28.

    burnspbesq

    Yo, Mayhew, Mr. Referee, Sir: perhaps you can explain how the fcuk Zach Scott managed to escape being sent off today.

  31. 31.

    Kryptik, A Man Without a Country

    So I noticed this morning that the execrable Rudy Giuliani was lecturing Michael Eric Dyson how the only reason white policemen end up in black neighborhoods (jumping off a discussion regarding Darren Wilson and any possible indictment regarding the Michael Brown killing) is because…surprise surprise,…to stop that super insidious massive epidemic of black people killing black people. You know, forget the fact that white-on-white murder is at a similar rate. Nope, black-on-black crime is always the REAL problem and if it wasn’t for the goodness and the grace of white policemen, blacks would be killing themselves into extinction or something.

    It’s infuriating that this asshole still gets the time of day, forget a plum TV spot to lecture a black professor about how blacks are essentially the real problem.

    It’s despairing just how many people outright agree with Giuliani. But, you know, there it is. All over the goddamn place, priases of Giuliani ‘telling it like it is’. Just come out and say it and stop coaching it, you assholes: you think all blacks are sub-human, uniquely violent savages that need to be tamed by the great white hope.

    Christ all.

  36. 36.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Kryptik, A Man Without a Country: I think that you should limit your media consumption. Or never mind , fuck it. It’s all going to hell in your view. Let’s just give up. It’s your conclusion, isn’t it? The fact that assholes have always been around doesn’t really matter. You gave the fuck up. Congratulations. That kind of view is fucking pathetic. Stop being tiresome.

  37. 37.

    Villago Delenda Est

    The ni*CLANG* is being uppity, and something must be done.

    No matter what the long term cost.

  38. 38.

    Mike J

    @burnspbesq: We only have the highest turnout, year in, year out. Like, double the attendance of lesser burghs. The Sounders’ average attendance is 2k more than Stamford Bridge holds.

  39. 39.

    Linnaeus

    So I actually read on Facebook (yes, I know) an acquaintance’s comment that went like this: “There was another guy in the 1930s who thought that a group had a disproportionate share of the wealth. What was his name? Oh, yeah, Hitler.”

    Another gem: “Bush saved the world from terrorism”. And another: “Free riders should be profusely thanking their benefactors.”

    This guy’s an engineer and has a law degree (from a decent school, though I don’t know if he practices currently). I can’t even.

  41. 41.

    Linnaeus

    @The Dangerman:

    ETA: Seriously, WA, WTF is up with a liquor tax that makes you want to go hit a pot bar? Hold on…

    That was done to make the liquor privatization initiative passed in 2012 revenue-neutral, so the state wouldn’t lose money.

  42. 42.

    Linnaeus

    @GregB:

    Check his diploma..sounds like it might be written in pencil on a Blimpie’s wapper.

    If only. I know this man reasonably well, and outside of politics, he’s quite pleasant. And he’s not stupid. But he’s off the deep end when it comes to politics.

  44. 44.

    Another Holocene Human

    So WaPo claims that Bill Cosby used to party with Hugh Hefner and Shel Silverstein in the swingin’ 60s and I just had to look that up because I grew up with his poetry books and they were creepy. as. fuck.

    This article
    http://www.cracked.com/funny-1904-shel-silverstein/

    and this thread
    http://www.imamother.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=151549

    kinda sum up how I feel about his work.

    Although an unsigned comment elsewhere on the intert00bs claims he was nice as a neighbor when the commenter was a child.

  48. 48.

    Another Holocene Human

    Ew, Anne Laurie. You linked to Politico.

    We’re gonna need something stronger to wash out that smell.

  49. 49.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Linnaeus: Engineer. Can’t and won’t engage in any critical, systemic thinking. “I will follow accepted procedures for this narrow domain. If I deviate, I will get sued, lose my license, and my house and material things that I’m doing this soul crushing job to obtain”. Plus you said he’s a lawyer, so he knows he’ll get sued and he’ll lose.

    A not-wingnutty engineer is that pleasant exception. (The ones I know had a sciences background and could have done science if they wanted to.)

  52. 52.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Kryptik, A Man Without a Country: Maybe it was ironic, setting up the doddering old fool against Dyson just to show how sorry Team White Supremacy really is and that all of their memes are stuck in the past, grandpa. I mean, this is the guy who pinned his presidential hopes on winning Florida and we all know how that turned out. This is the guy who promised his friends he’d officiate their wedding when NYS passed SSM and then hid under a bush when it came to pass. This is the guy who got drop-kicked by Smilin’ Joe Biden and Biden didn’t even have to break a sweat.

    Team Stop’n’Frisk is sorry. And those internet annoyances who post non-stop about it are sorry too. If you pay attention sometimes other posters will challenge them about not actually living in the city and they’re always silent.

    They’re white flighters who hate Black people and look for news items that feed their hate. They’re all over the comments and always 100% full of shit.

    Worry about the chief of police, the mayor, the DAs, the precinct leadership, the courts, worry about that stuff. Don’t worry about some bitter old retired white moochers and looters who feel so insecure about their decision to live in Pleasantville that they troll urban newspaper websites all fucking day long to post racist bile.

    If you loved your life in the burbs without reservation, why would you be on NYDN or philly.com all day? Or AJC, for another example? Or Boston.com? Wouldn’t you be enjoying your lovely suburban lifestyle (snort)?

    They are jealous and angry about what they can’t have, whether it’s power, recognition, or maybe the vitality of city life that they turned their backs on versus the anomie and tedium of suburban existence. They’re absolutely obsessed … and that’s the complete opposite of being content with their life choices.

  53. 53.

    SRW1

    Methinks that if Politico was present at the meeting it was not a conclave and that if they weren’t, they are spinning for somebody. Given the contrast between John Boehner’s portrait as this stern leader in the piece and the reality of his usual reflexive caving to the crazies in his caucus there isn’t even a prize for guessing correctly which of the two it is and cui bono the whole exercise.

  54. 54.

    SRW1

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I think you are right, they won’t do impeachment, but the ‘upside’ would be that it may be seen as a necessity to feed something to the restless crazies lest they stay home.

  57. 57.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @Tommy: If the lawsuit is tossed pretty quickly, they’ll have no choice and hold impeachment hearings. If they can string out the lawsuit for 2 years, well the near sheriff will be gone.

  58. 58.

    Chris

    @SRW1:

    I think it’s this exactly.

    Really, the fact that they don’t have the votes is a plus, not a minus. It means they can go all out on impeachment, give their base every bit of the spectacle they’ve been wanting for ages… with no actual consequences. There’s no fallout, but it covers their ass with the lunatics that might otherwise try to primary them; they get to go back to their districts all sorrowful and “I’m sorry, folks. We tried. Heaven knows we tried.”

    As for “do they really want to be seen as the party that tries to impeach every Democratic president” – I don’t think they care. Their base certainly wants them to be that way. The mushy milquetoast moderate middle is taken care of by the MSM, which will breathlessly report every accusation in the names of “both sides do it,” so the moderates at most will break even; a good chunk of them will come away convinced that yes, every individual Democrat really is evil and corrupt, and that if it looks like the Repubs are impeaching all of them, it’s because the Democratic Party is rotten to the core and not because the GOP wants to make America ungovernable for anyone but them. That leaves the 45% of voters that are reliably Democrat, but who cares what those hippie communist anti-American latte-sipping Volvo-driving politically correct welfare queens think anyway?

  59. 59.

    Chris

    But now came a stern message from Boehner: The GOP shouldn’t take the bait this time. And as discussion moved around the table, there was little desire for another shutdown, even from the conservatives, over the president’s executive action on immigration.

    Since immigration is one of the few things that actually still provokes debate within both parties rather than between them… does this mean that the country club Republicans (the ones who like having immigrants to mow their lawn and clean their toilets) are putting their foot down?

    When they say “the underlying balance of power in the party has shifted,” does this further mean that the last elections are taken as proof that Republicans who act like moderates can get farther than those who don’t (as in 2010)?

  61. 61.

    Tommy

    @OzarkHillbilly: Those are some shrums I don’t want!

    IMHO the far right just can’t keep upping the ante. The outrage meter has to go someplace eventually. That is impeachment. I’ve said this for years and still think I am right, it will happen.

  63. 63.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @Tommy: I don’t think they will come even close to impeachment. The lawsuit will move forward, probably expand and the GOP leadership can only hope that will be enough to placate their masses. They may also convince themselves to try another gov’t shutdown, thinking this time will be different. But impeachment has absolutely no chance of doing anything other than inflaming the Democratic base, which by the way, impeachment over immigration will have the lugubrious effect of locking in a sizable demographic for the DEMs well into the future that the GOP just simply can not afford to surrender.

    They have allowed themselves to be painted into a tight little corner from which there is no easy escape. They need the Hispanic vote. They need their base to vote. Their base hates Hispanics. Hispanics (will) hate their base. The only thing working in the GOP’s favor is the Democratic Party.

    There is hope yet for Republicans.

  64. 64.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @OzarkHillbilly: The base really hates anyone that’s not like themselves. Not just Hispanics, Asians too. There are plenty of undocumented Asians, the majority of their undocumented overstay their visas. While they may like their grandkids, they probably think they’re kinda weird with their piercings and tats and it’s a good thing they don’t vote.

  67. 67.

    TR

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Republicans are the dog that finally caught the car it’s been screaming at and chasing. They don’t know what to do with it now that they’ve caught it.

  68. 68.

    Woodrowfan

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Why would they? Other than hate?

    Isn’t that enough? it was enough for them to impeach Clinton. I am curious how they will disrupt President Obama’s next State of the Union address…

  69. 69.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @Chris: Dunno.

    It’s been obvious that Issa’s committee has been trying and trying to find something to attach to Obama that would be an excuse to start impeachment hearings. Issa is moving – Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah is taking over. I don’t know much about him, but I expect the “work” to continue.

    Remember what they did with Clinton. It doesn’t matter that even less is there with Obama – they’ll keep looking…

    Yes, not having the votes can be a plus in their eyes. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if they appoint a special committee to start impeachment hearings even if they don’t have the votes for a trial or conviction. It would keep things in the news (which they like) while having little risk for them (most people would tune it out after a while) and while winding up the Teabaggers (which they also like).

    A potential sign of what’s to come is with the budget. The Continuing Resolution runs out December 11. The debt limit “suspension” expires March 15. Sequestration is continuing unless things change… Maybe a clean CR will pass in December. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to slip poison pills in again (like they tried to do with restrictions on abortion in DC in the past).

    There are lots and lots of things that aren’t getting done because a budget hasn’t been passed. I don’t see much talk about passing a real budget anytime soon.

    There will also be battles over appointing judges, etc., etc.

    They’re going to find something to do to make Obama’s life as difficult as possible. That’s what they do. Even while the country suffers for it.

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  70. 70.

    Thoughtful David

    @OzarkHillbilly:
    I think they will get close. In fact, I don’t see how they can avoid it. Boehner isn’t in charge of his caucus. He can not bring it to the floor, which I think he will do, but I think a bill for impeachment will be introduced and will garner a list of co-sponsors that is a majority of the House. Boehner will then be in a tough spot: he either has to bring it to the floor and know what that will do to Republican prospects for the future, or not do it and probably lose his job. We’ll see what he does.
    I also think there is a 100% chance of a government shutdown, probably more than one. Boehner can prevent impeachment from coming to the floor, but in the case of budget bills, he doesn’t have any leverage: if he brings a shutdown bill to the floor, it passes, and if he doesn’t bring it to the floor, the government shuts down anyway. Because he has no control over his caucus, he’s in deep doo-doo.
    I also think there’s a fair chance the government defaults on our debt. Same reason as for the shutdowns: a bill to default on the debt will be introduced, and if Boehner brings it to the floor, we default, and if he doesn’t bring it to the floor, we also default.
    It’s going to be an ugly couple of years.

  71. 71.

    sparrow

    @Another Holocene Human: It is shocking to see the political difference between say, your average physics department vs. electrical engineering. One will be 90% dem, the other 90% conservative/libertarian types.

  76. 76.

    Another Holocene Human

    @BillinGlendaleCA:

    I have a general rule of avoiding fungus.

    I prefer mine from a warehouse in Pennsylvania. The woods? A ha ha ha.

    Although it turns out those puffballs were edible. Too bad we were playing puffball soccer with them.

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