Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

đŸŽ¶ Those boots were made for mockin’ đŸŽ”

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

Republicans don’t want a speaker to lead them; they want a hostage.

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

A democracy can’t function when people can’t distinguish facts from lies.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

The GOP is a fucking disgrace.

Reality always lies in wait for 
 Democrats.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

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

They’re not red states to be hated; they are voter suppression states to be fixed.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

A lot of Dems talk about what the media tells them to talk about. Not helpful.

This year has been the longest three days of putin’s life.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Jesus, Mary, & Joseph how is that election even close?

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: Perspective

Wednesday Afternoon Open Thread: Perspective

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Monday’s Washington Post article on Rep. Aaron Schock’s new Downton-themed office appeared in the Style section, but Tuesday’s update was relegated to the gossip column:

… Because it is a day ending in “y,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wasted little time asking the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate whether Schock (R-Ill.) broke House rules by accepting professional interior design work for free. House Ethics rules prohibit lawmakers from accepting free “gifts of services.”…

USA Today politics editor Paul Singer went through Schock’s public office expenditures from previous years and found he’d spent around $100,000 on office furnishings. Those totals wouldn’t include this new renovation if he did use taxpayer dollars to pay for his fancified office.

ETA:

That would be this John Dingell: “Having served for over 59 years, he has the longest uninterrupted Congressional tenure in U.S. history”.
***********
Apart from quibbling about tastefulness and/or value for money, what’s on the agenda for the remnants of the day?

Reader Interactions

129Comments

  1. 1.

    Mike in NC

    I’m Shocked at his bad taste and await wingnuts soon bringing up how it was worse when Hillary Clinton decorated the White House Christmas tree with ornaments made from aborted fetuses (I read the book!).

  2. 2.

    Another Holocene Human

    Oh, this is what they care about, his Napoleon complex office (useless rep, fancy office?), not the way he creeps on naked teens at military academies and shit.

    People in the closet about their sexual orientation are the worst kind of creeps that exist because that unconscious motivation keeps oozing out at inappropriate times.

    Go shack up with Eric Massa and have some bipartisan “talks”.

  3. 3.

    Another Holocene Human

    It is hard to express the full measure of contempt I am dragging around for Aaron Schock and the dumbclucks who voted for him you guyz!

  5. 5.

    Mary G

    I could have sworn that the reason why Schock’s office staff was so perturbed that this got out (beyond the obvious “of course he’s gay” and hideous taste issues) is that when he got elected in the 2010 election, he made a huge deal out of sleeping in his office on a cot with a sleeping bag. He was not like the Washington insiders who spent hard-earned taxpayer dollars on themselves. Now everyone knows he is.

    But I can’t find anything on Google about it, so maybe I am confusing him with one of the other assholes that arrived then. I did find that one of his campaigns reported spending $2,600 on cuff links!

  6. 6.

    Another Holocene Human

    Somebody exile him to the Island of Misfit Reps with Alan “I’m going to Disney World!” Grayson and the ghosts of misfit reps past, Steve Stockman (TX-primaried) and Steve Southerland (FL-lost in the general).

    Oh, and take Ted Yoho with you. You’re going to need a large animal vet on an island (?).

  7. 7.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    Republicans always say government doesn’t work, and then go and make it so every time.

    In other, more responsible societies, this man would be in prison.

  10. 10.

    Amir Khalid

    It looks like we will definitely not have Andrew Sullivan to kick around anymore: He’s not just quitting the blogging scene, but also putting The Dish away for keeps on Friday. He figures his staff cannot hope to carry on without him, the main attraction. (I rather suspect he’s selling them a bit short.)

  11. 11.

    Mandalay

    @Mary G: As far as having done anything illegal goes, those cuff links you found look like a far more promising line of attack than his tacky office.

    Didn’t Jesse Jackson Jr go to jail for paying for expensive personal crap from his campaign fund?

  14. 14.

    Mandalay

    @Amir Khalid:

    It looks like we will definitely not have Andrew Sullivan to kick around anymore

    I just searched in vain for the word “refund” on his web site. I suppose he’s too distraught, and mentally drained, to repay the suckers who just forked up for a year’s subscription.

  15. 15.

    Mike in NC

    @Amir Khalid: I’m sitting here in my enclave on the coast, getting a little misty-eyed about Mr. Sullivan’s impending swansong. Oh, wait. I’m not.

  16. 16.

    danielx

    But does Schock’s office have an $8,000 wastebasket like the office of John Thain, late of the late Merrill Lynch?

    Inquiring minds want to know.

  18. 18.

    Arthur

    I’m finishing a pot of my chicken and rice soup for my 16 yo daughter who was diagnosed yesterday with Mono…it’s a recurrence as she had it in 6th grade.

    Poor, girl. Lethargic, sore neck, sore belly…her throat hurts so much she has to brace herself to swallow. On top of that, she has a sinus infection. Fever broke last night, but blood tests show elevated liver enzymes. She is having an ultrasound tomorrow AM (liver and spleen), another blood draw Friday, and follow up check Monday morning.

    The Mrs. is out of town for work, and I feel helpless. Just doing my best to make her comfortable. Raided Kroger’s freezer last night and brought home a couple of different types of popsicles. Thank the FSM for the internet as all of her teachers have sent homework assignments via email.

  19. 19.

    Hal

    USA Today politics editor Paul Singer went through Schock’s public office expenditures from previous years and found he’d spent around $100,000 on office furnishings.

    How do you manage to procure that much money for office renovations? Especially when your job is dependent on being re-elected every 2 years.

  22. 22.

    jl

    This is the guy with the weird $$$McWhorehouse red office interior decoration?

    How did he or his staff figure he could keep what his office looks like secret? Am I missing something? If not, the guy is stupid.

  23. 23.

    Peale

    Sure, its a little weird to be obsessed with the style of Edwardian England based on a TV show. But has anyone mentioned the cash Steve Scalise is shelling out for his cosplay chamber of horrors? No one dares mention that he makes his legislative assistant dress like Sailor Jupiter?

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    @jl:
    Yeah, I was wondering about that too. Don’t lobbyists and other Congresspeople drop by? Don’t his constituents come to see him?

  26. 26.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    How did he or his staff figure he could keep what his office looks like secret?

    @jl: He seems to have been keeping a lot of things secret.

    Am I missing something? If not, the guy is stupid.

    I don’t think you’re missing anything. Just another Congressional psychopath who’s going to take all the money from the rubes who elected him while voting in legislation that will keep them all poor and stupid for decades.

  31. 31.

    Larv

    @Peale:

    I don’t think they wanted to keep it secret, at least not from people in DC who might actually see it. What they didn’t want was an article specifically about it, especially one that mentioned that he has an interior decorator or that it was inspired by Downton Abbey. That would just feed the rumors about Schock’s sexuality (not that there’s anything wrong with that). Nobody in DC that might drop by particularly cares, but his handlers don’t like those sorts of things getting back to his home constituency in rural Indiana, who might not be as understanding.

  32. 32.

    Arthur

    @Iowa Old Lady: Thanks!

    I was the SAH parent until the kids “got too big to cuddle” and went back to school for a diploma and teacher certification; this year I am substitute teaching…super convenient right now.

  33. 33.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Another Holocene Human:

    Joe Walsh was indeed the “deadbeat dad,” but it was actually Joe Wilson who yelled “You lie!” during President Obama’s address to Congress on health care (not the SOTU as most memes have it).

    / Tiresome Pedant

  34. 34.

    Violet

    @jl: It’s a terrible color and would be brutal for those who work in it. I’m sure the Congressman only has office hours every so often. His staff has work work there all the time.

  38. 38.

    jl

    @Larv:

    ” Nobody in DC that might drop by particularly cares, but his handlers don’t like those sorts of things getting back to his home constituency in rural Indiana, who might not be as understanding. ”

    If they thought that a austerity talking GOPer who spends $$$ on some weird-ass McWhorehouse red, Regency-debauched Dumpy Abbey deluxe pompous-ass office secret, then i think they are as dumb as rocks.

  39. 39.

    burnspbesq

    As an American, I am extremely pleased that Raheem Sterling chose to play for England instead of Jamaica.

  43. 43.

    OzarkHillbilly

    @WereBear: I rather suspect they’ll be just fine. I can hear the interview now:

    “What are your qualifications?”
    “I put up with Andrew Sullivan for years.”
    “You’ll do anything for a buck, won’t you? You’re hired.”

  44. 44.

    Roger Moore

    @Amir Khalid:

    He figures his staff cannot hope to carry on without him, the main attraction.

    There’s probably some justice to that. It’s not just that the main attraction is quitting. It’s also that the better members of his staff are likely to see this as a logical time to go job hunting. If they’re good enough to keep his blog afloat, they can probably do better as a primary blogger under their own byline rather than sticking with The Dish.

  47. 47.

    Buddy H

    @Arthur: Sounds like you’re handling things very well. Lots of dads would be overwhelmed. You’re making chicken soup, getting popsicles. Best wishes to you.

  48. 48.

    Amir Khalid

    @Violet:
    What we’ve seen of the office suggests that it doesn’t give off a very Congress-y vibe. Don’t Representatives typically go for personal and local memorabilia in a sober, vaguely patriotic atmosphere?

  51. 51.

    Roger Moore

    @Peale:

    No one dares mention that he makes his legislative assistant dress like Sailor Jupiter?

    It could be worse; he could make her dress like one of the Sailor Starlights.

  53. 53.

    Mandalay

    Nobody could have predicted…

    A Chicago-area police officer was acquitted on Wednesday of charges of reckless conduct stemming from the fatal beanbag gun shooting of a 95-year-old World War Two veteran in a nursing home, the State’s Attorney’s Office said.

  54. 54.

    srv

    It’s really sad that you people can’t reach out or support a guy like Schock who enjoys the liberal PBS just like you.

    This just shows again that there are no bridges to liberal fascism.

  55. 55.

    trollhattan

    Thank you, Republicans, for making this possible.

    With measles breaking out in California, two state senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would eliminate the ability for parents of school children to opt out of vaccinating their kids based on a personal belief.

    http://www.sacbee.com/#storylink=cpy

    About dang time.

  59. 59.

    srv

    Dave Frumsplains Bush-lite has a true heir:

    Is Jeb Bush a Republican Obama?

    Margaret Thatcher famously said that her greatest success as a politician was the rise of Tony Blair to lead a party he called New Labour: “We forced our opponents to change their minds.” As yet, Barack Obama can make no similar boast. Just the opposite: He radicalized his Republican opponents, and empowered most those who agreed with him least. With the presidential campaign of Jeb Bush, Obama can finally glimpse Thatcher-style success. Here, at last, is an opponent in his own image.

  60. 60.

    Mike in NC

    I look forward to when the Koch brothers finish buying up all three branches of the federal government, then start renaming things around DC to honor themselves like some debauched Roman emperor.

    Reagan-Koch International Airport, the Koch Center for the Performing Arts, Koch Cathedral, etc.

  61. 61.

    trollhattan

    @Mandalay:
    Ninety-five? They couldn’t contain/run away from a 95-year old man until it was his nap time? Was their shift ending?

  64. 64.

    Mnemosyne (iPhone)

    @trollhattan:

    I’m guessing that, as is the case with many cops, the fuckwad didn’t realize that “non-lethal” is short for “non-lethal for most healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 55 with no underlying health conditions.” What kind of idiot thinks you can fire any kind of projectile at a 95-year-old man without seriously injuring him?

  65. 65.

    Calouste

    @Mandalay:

    Wrana was shot with five beanbag rounds at a distance of five to six feet

    One beanbag round at 5-6 feet is probably enough to kill a 95-year old. Who could have been safely disarmed by anyone with a minimum of judo training or something like that.

  67. 67.

    catclub

    @Roger Moore:

    The point of an ethics investigation is to answer that kind of question.

    The point of controlling the Ethics committee is to only ask it if you know and like the answer.

  68. 68.

    CONGRATULATIONS!

    With measles breaking out in California, two state senators introduced legislation Wednesday that would eliminate the ability for parents of school children to opt out of vaccinating their kids based on a personal belief.

    @trollhattan: I hope it passes but, sadly, Brown will likely veto it. He’s been very supportive of that brand of lunacy in the past.

  69. 69.

    Hal

    @srv:

    He radicalized his Republican opponents, and empowered most those who agreed with him least.

    Obama radicalized them? Republican voters lost their minds at the sight of a black man in office and went on to vote in the most right wing people they could run for office. Amazing that Frum would put the blame for Republican intransigence on Obama and not on the people the voters put in office.

  70. 70.

    MomSense

    @Amir Khalid:

    O/T but that article on The Debunking Handbook you linked to several months ago has been very helpful. My son used it as the subject of a psychology paper and I recently sent it to several friends who are public health officials. They are now using it to change their communications strategies on vaccinations.

    I still think it would be a great topic for discussion here. Thanks, again.

  71. 71.

    Mandalay

    @trollhattan:

    …eliminate the ability for parents of school children to opt out of vaccinating their kids based on a personal belief

    That sounds good, but it will not necessarily achieve much. Parents currently opting out based on “personal belief” can simply switch to opting out based on “religious belief” without having to be attached to any specific religion.

    California, and almost all the other states, should follow the example of Mississippi where opting out is only permitted for medical reasons certified by a doctor.

  73. 73.

    Peale

    @srv: Jeebus. What the fuck is that? Jeb Bush promises to run the country to the right of his brother. Repeating the same mistake again is “transformative?”

  74. 74.

    PsiFighter37

    Any LA-based Juicers up for a meetup on Friday night? It seems like my HS buddies who are out there won’t be free to meet that night, so I have nothing to do at the present. I know we did one at Golden Road brewing a couple years ago – that was fun!

  77. 77.

    Mike in NC

    @Hal: David “Axis of Evil” Frum has probably sent a resume to all 30 Republicans running for president. He gives a bad name to all other shameless hacks.

  78. 78.

    danielx

    @Mnemosyne (iPhone):

    What kind of idiot thinks you can fire any kind of projectile at a 95-year-old man without seriously injuring him?

    A Chicago-area police officer, that’s what kind. In fairness, he might not be an idiot – he might have known a beanbag round could be fatal and just not have given a flying fuck.

  82. 82.

    Amir Khalid

    @danielx:
    In other words, he might have been indifferent to any harm he might cause, rather than unaware of it. Not exactly reassuring.

  88. 88.

    BillinGlendaleCA

    @PsiFighter37: As I replied in the other thread, I’m game if not too far from Glendale. Golden Road was fun and about 5 blocks away from me(I walked there last time). I don’t have to try to move my aged car a great distance(it’ll be 30 in Dec.).

  92. 92.

    JPL

    @raven: It looks good. In the house I previously lived in, I had the molding painted in the front entrance hall. I have limits on high I will go. Moxie would drop her ball at the bottom of the ladder and couldn’t understand why the painter wouldn’t climb down and play.

  93. 93.

    danielx

    @srv:

    With the presidential campaign of Jeb Bush, Obama can finally glimpse Thatcher-style success. Here, at last, is an opponent in his own image.

    Right. Any day now B. Barry Bamz is going to interfere in someone’s end of life decisions and send the DHS nazis to invade a nursing home to carry out his evil designs. Right after he has all the tea partiers sent to FEMA camps and forces them to get gay married. And takes everybody’s guns, of course.

    Clearly he’s just like Jeb Bush.

  94. 94.

    MomSense

    @Arthur:

    Good on you for taking such good care of your daughter. I always hate when my kiddos are really sick. It is such a helpless feeling. I hope she feels much better soon.

  95. 95.

    trollhattan

    @Mandalay:
    IIUC the current California statute lumps religion in, not separately:

    The only way to file a valid personal belief exemption without a doctor’s signature this school year was to state that a student is “a member of a religion which prohibits me from seeking medical advice or treatment.”

    http://www.sacbee.com/site-services/databases/article8203365.html#storylink=cpy

    Interestingly, the largest local cohort opting out are Pentecostal Russian-speaking immigrants. Don’t tell HODOR! we’re going to infringe on their rights and such.

  96. 96.

    danielx

    @Amir Khalid:

    Or alternatively he might have known very well and just wanted to see how the hardware worked. Or he knew and enjoyed it.

    Or, again, he might just have been your ordinary idiot.

  97. 97.

    burnspbesq

    @CONGRATULATIONS!:

    sadly, Brown will likely veto it.

    Governor Moonbeam might have vetoed it. I’m not sure that’s who we have these days. I’ll bet Governor Son of Pat signs it.

  98. 98.

    JPL

    All I want is someone to challenge a person when they said I earned $2.50 cents an hour and did just fine.

  99. 99.

    Elizabelle

    @Amir Khalid: Any word on whether Sully will leave the existing Dish posts up? It would be cool to access the archives. Hate to think all will disappear.

    Checking his site now.

  101. 101.

    trollhattan

    @Amir Khalid: @danielx:
    There isn’t a chance in Hades their training failed to spell out lethal/non-lethal use. The higher-ups and the weapon manufacturer and their insurance companies want very much to see these gizmos correctly.

    Again, a 95-year old man holding the planet’s scariest knife is a threat only to himself if managed correctly. Its just not that hard.

  104. 104.

    Elizabelle

    Incidentally, Professor Krugman is not broken up over Andrew’s impending blog retirement:

    Floor Waxes, Dessert Toppings, and Blogging

    I see from Ezra Klein that Andrew Sullivan says that he’s stopping blogging; Klein and others are offering various encomiums. You’ll pardon me if I don’t join in. You see, I remember Sullivan declaring that the “decadent left” was poised to become a fifth column in the war on terror — and of course I remember the campaign of character assassination he waged against yours truly for daring to criticize his then-beloved George W. Bush and his wars. If he ever apologized for any of that, I never heard about it.

    … you’re missing a crucial part of the history of political blogging if you fail to acknowledge the importance, back in the early 2000s, of right-wing warbloggers — which is where Sullivan started. You hardly hear about most of these people now, but for a while cheering on the Rumsfeld doctrine and giving it to lily-livered liberals was a big part of what the blogosphere — certainly the part given any attention by mainstream news media — was about.

  106. 106.

    Mandalay

    @trollhattan: Gotcha – you are correct. Since religious beliefs fall under the umbrella of “personal beliefs” in California, that pending legislation would do a lot of good: over 17,000 kids in CA will finally have to get vaccinated.

  107. 107.

    Mandalay

    @danielx:

    he might have known a beanbag round could be fatal and just not have given a flying fuck

    More likely that he knew a single beanbag round might not be fatal:

    Wrana was shot with five beanbag rounds at a distance of five to six feet, and he died shortly afterward

    How on earth is the best solution for disarming a ninety five year old man with a knife to shoot him five times with beanbags from five to six feet?

  112. 112.

    danielx

    @trollhattan:

    Albino Cobra would be a great name for one of those cage fighter dudes!

    Also sounds like a great name for a covert operation of some sort, maybe overthrowing the government of some South American country, say Venezuela…

    Good times.

  113. 113.

    Mandalay

    Another public figure caught lying his vile ass off:

    NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams admitted Wednesday he was not aboard a helicopter hit and forced down by RPG fire during the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a false claim that has been repeated by the network for years….

    The admission came after crew members on the 159th Aviation Regiment’s Chinook that was hit by two rockets and small arms fire told Stars and Stripes that the NBC anchor was nowhere near that aircraft or two other Chinooks flying in the formation that took fire. Williams arrived in the area about an hour later on another helicopter after the other three had made an emergency landing, the crew members said.

    It looks like Geraldo’s fog of war was contagious.

  114. 114.

    Morzer

    @danielx:

    Albino Cobra would be a great name for one of those cage fighter dudes!

    Isn’t that Lindsey Graham’s nom-de-plume on Chaturbate?

  117. 117.

    Mandalay

    @Baud: Being smarmy is one thing, but this was an especially offensive self-serving lie.

    I think it should end his career, but unfortunately it probably won’t.

  120. 120.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @Hal: My thought exactly.

    Obama is divisive, because he’s blah. That’s what it amounts to, but you’ll never get a hack like Frum to admit to it, because, he’s a hack.

  121. 121.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @danielx: If you’re going to go after egregious entitlements, Conrad Hilton the Current is your star exhibit in doing so.

  123. 123.

    Roger Moore

    @Mandalay:

    I think it should end his career, but unfortunately it probably won’t.

    It would be good if lying were enough to get you fired from today’s media, bu all evidence suggests it is not.

  124. 124.

    cckids

    @Mandalay:

    California, and almost all the other states, should follow the example of Mississippi

    Bet you never thought you’d write those words. (Though I agree in this case)

  126. 126.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Roger Moore: It’s sad nobody here recognizes a great Sailor Moon reference. I do remember those Starlights cosplays at cons and, um, well … I understand there was something called Kekko Kamen that was even more clothing optional but that was just a little before my time.

    Did StarS ever even get broadcast in the US? US and Japanese cartoons always have had this disconnect about “age appropriateness” whatever that is because, sure, let’s say two characters always shown with cherry blossom petals and love bubbles when on screen together are “cousins”. And rice balls and soy sauce are so furrin, call them chicken nuggets and ketchup. Black … ketchup. Yup, that’s the ticket.

    And make those male characters female! Otherwise it looks gay! Nobody can tell the difference, all Asians look alike, amirite?

    Sailor Moon was a great education.

  129. 129.

    Another Holocene Human

    @Larv: What rumors about his sexuality? Aaron Schock creeps on guys. Case closed.

    His office just speaks to his priorities, and it doesn’t sound like his constituents (lol, how much money did they donate to his campaign? like they count) rate all that highly.

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