John Boehner is out, folks. The NY Times:
Speaker John A. Boehner will resign from Congress and give up his House seat at the end of October, according to aides in his office.
Mr. Boehner was under extreme pressure from the right wing of his conference over whether or not to defund Planned Parenthood in a bill to keep the government open.
Holy hell.
[UPDATE] National Journal’s Alex Rogers with this home run tweet:
Yesterday Boehner’s office said: http://t.co/sYx9VXPaLVpic.twitter.com/4kGeZ224Qo
— Alex Rogers (@arogDC) September 25, 2015
Bwahahahaha. And yeah, Imani is right, I’ve been waiting to write this headline for years.
Cain
Holy shit!
satby
Makes you wonder exactly what shoe is about to drop.
raven
Damn
jayjaybear
OMG…the Republicoup is here! Time for some contradiction-heightening!
Morzer
It’s been emotional.
Yatsuno
The real question is who ends up herding this group of cats?
Manyakitty
Do we have any predictions about which of the worse evils will replace him?
Botsplainer
As I said below – this ain’t good.
We’re defunding over Planned Parenthood.
We’re also getting a raging asshole as Speaker. Secret Service is gonna have to reallocate all its Treasury responsibility to Presidential and Vice-Presidential protection.
benw
Wow – and nothing but the bare bones statement in the Times. Everyone surprised by this!
TaMara (BHF)
Damn. This is not going to end well. What raging asshole is going to take his place?
Lee
Hooooolyyyyyyy Shiiiiiiittt
Yeah this is going to be bad.
beltane
Both sides do it!!
Yatsuno
@Botsplainer: Shit. He literally just gave up any authoritah he had to get the caucus to line up with the clean bill the Senate has. Welp…hai der forced vacation!
John O
Yeah, this is certainly going to throw all the cards up in the air in the House.
I guess I hope the Republicans elect a lunatic, but that’s dangerous business. Better the drunk you know…
Patricia Kayden
Tears are falling everywhere!
David Koch
Osama bin LadenWhitey BulgerAndrew BreitbartMitt RomneyBob NovakDavid BroderDennis HasterttFIFABoehnerBAMF
Rey
He was such a blubbering mess yesterday. Not surprised, which sociopathic Repub do we get now??? btw, I really like having Brian Williams on MSNBC when important stuff like this happens, makes them seem legit- LOL
benw
@beltane: Excellent point!
Kay
@Botsplainer:
I agree. I think Boehner and Obama have a solid working relationship (as much as humanely possible) despite all the bullshit Boehner pumps out for the base.
Betty Cracker
Boehner was never anything more than an ambitious bagman. He didn’t understand he was signing up to run an asylum for the criminally insane, but that’s where he ended up. He couldn’t contain the Kamikaze Kaucus when they crashed the government over funding the ACA, and I guess Boehner didn’t fancy finding his stones back in the tea party vice over the even dumber and more pointless defunding of PP. So long, Weeping Cheetoh!
ET
I live/work on the Hill and I think the tectonic plates on the Hill start to move.
Suzanne
I wonder if he is resigning to avoid embarrassment, and, if so, what sort exactly.
Or maybe he is sick of being associated with those fuckers he leads.
Gavin
OK, so the culture wars never stopped.. no real news there. But why would he resign his seat? Something smells fishy.
schrodinger's cat
So who is going to be the speaker now?
Morzer
I wonder if the old story about Boehner having an affair might turn out to be true.
schrodinger's cat
@Suzanne: He had a change of heart after listening to Pope Francis?
White Trash Liberal
Speaker Gohmert and a default followed by debt ceiling collapse.
Anya
I blame the Pope
Yatsuno
@Suzanne: A resignation this sudden is either immediate health concern or scandal. As he still gets a rather sweet pension no matter what (with an awesome health kicker to boot) it makes no difference to the AOS. I wonder why though.
Redshift
@Yatsuno: But on the other hand, he also eliminated the threat of consequences for relying on Democratic votes to pass the funding bill, so it may make a shutdown less likely, paradoxically.
Morzer
@schrodinger’s cat:
Not Eric Cantor. HA! HA! HA!
MattF
I’m poised between “Ha ha” and “Uh-oh.”
FlipYrWhig
Any chance he was prompted to this after listening to the Pope’s speech about public service and whatnot?
FlipYrWhig
@schrodinger’s cat: One wavelength, we are on it…
JMG
I assume the next Speaker will be out of Boehner’s leadership cadre. I also assume this move allows him to do whatever he damn pleases in terms of cooperating with Pelosi on a continuing resolution on the grounds of “you can’t fire me, I quit!” By Christmas, he’ll have some cushy K St. job like President of the National Association of Golf Course Owners and the next budget crisis will be some other sap’s problem.
Emma
So who put the horse’s head on his bed?
MattF
@FlipYrWhig: Um, “Gosh, I’m such a shithead, I’d better quit.” Sounds right to me.
Botsplainer
My money is on Kevin McCarthy.
It will be an atrocious year. These fuckers are just wanting to see the world burn.
mai naem mobile
I blame the Pope. Thank Frank.
beltane
The gastrointestinal bug that caused the Donald to be vomited up onto the national stage is going to bring forth another doozy for House Speaker. They should just go the full Gohmert just so we can watch the Village contort themselves in trying to depict the Repugs as sane.
Baud
He’s now free to cut a deal with Pelosi to keep the government open and pay our debts.
Yatsuno
@JMG: That makes the most likely candidates either McCarthy or Scalise. Fuck.
Elizabelle
Not surprised at all. Good for him. My only question is was his final decision made before or after Pope’s visit.
Baud
@Redshift:
Beat me to it.
Redshift
If a scandal or health issue doesn’t come to light, my bet would be that he’s resigning with enough time left in Obama’s term to prove that it wasn’t just that he was a bad Speaker, nobody can herd these cats.
D58826
@TaMara (BHF): Ted Cruz of course. Surely he can be a Senator, run for president and preside over the House all at the same time. And In his spare time he can lecture the Pope on morality.
Was feeling a bit optimistic that the Senate bill and Nancy would combine to get the House to pass a clean CR by 9/30. Noe who knows. On the other hand Nancy might still ride to the rescue.
Jack the Second
Does the election of the speaker require a majority or a plurality? If Republicans can’t get their act together, could we see a Speaker Pelosi in the near future?
TG Chicago
Has the stock market started to tank yet? Because this clearly indicates that we can expect a shutdown. And the economic turmoil will clearly be Obama’s fault. :-P
I wonder how many “both sides” journalists will point out that the crazies ousted Boehner because he was (in their belief system) too willing to compromise. My guess=zero. Committed centrists are as bad as wackadoo wingers in clinging to their ideology despite the contradictions of reality.
And obviously the wingers were listening to the pope yesterday, as he was going on and on about working together….
beltane
@FlipYrWhig: I heard he was heavily criticized by his caucus for being too excited by the Kenyan Muslim Communist pope’s visit.
Elizabelle
On radio, a pundit said that all Boehners friends who are moderate GOP are out of their seats in Congress. Alert me if we hear that truth from our corporate press.
Betty Cracker
@Yatsuno: It might be a health issue or impending scandal. But my guess is he just doesn’t have the stomach for another government shutdown fight, at least not one where he has to put his speakership in the hands of the lunatics in his own caucus.
Elizabelle
@Redshift: yes. And gives his successor a leg up on 2016 elections. Smart move.
Morzer
@beltane:
Orange Julius gave them the pip by palling around with.. well, you know.
catclub
@Emma:
Paul Ryan did reiterate his support two days ago.
Bill E Pilgrim
So forevermore it will be: “John Boehner, failed Speaker of the House of Representatives”.
Failed to stand up to extreme right wing nut cases, failed, despite some middling attempts, to exert the kind of authority people in that position have traditionally exercised. Failed.
Another tough-talking swaggering conservative who in his actions turns out to actually be a whining coward.
Cue David Brooks, Charles Krauthammer, the Ghost of David Broder, and the entire young gentelmen’s Betlway chorus en masse: “If only Barack Obama had met him halfway instead of insisting on being a hard-left socialist, Boehner would still be Speaker”
dedc79
First order of business post-resignation: a 72 hour bender.
Morzer
@catclub:
Was that support expressed in the form of charts and graphs and a budget plan full of sound and fury?
catclub
@Morzer:
I think Speaker of House does NOT have to be a member. Maybe Trump? Antonin Scalia? Ann Coulter?
Keith G
If this is happening because of idealogy, good for John Boehner I wish he done this earlier.
While his drinking and smoking certainly have
taken some years of his life, saving the Republican Party from itself has also taken a toll on his life span. Now, he can just walk away and let the assholes be the complete assholes that they are and let the public decide from that who should have power in this country.
Botsplainer
More I think about it, this feels like a chess move specifically to benefit Calgary Ted.
shell
Is it really that shocking? Surprised he lasted this long dealing with the new lunatic fringe of his Congress. Maybe the jockeying for power will take attention away from the shutdown/Planned Parenthood kerfuffle.
beltane
John Boehner is now free to spend his days on the golf course. Given a choice between golf and trying to reason with teabaggers, who can blame him for choosing golf?
catclub
@TG Chicago:
Not yet. Up 1%+
dmsilev
It’s interesting timing. You’d think he’d have waited a week to make the announcement, so that either the budget would have been kicked down the road (continuing resolution for a few months) or that we’d be in a shutdown state. Now, this upends the whole thing. Maybe it’s a “fuck it, I don’t care any more” moment, and his last effective act as Speaker will be to pass something with the help of Pelosi.
Morzer
@catclub:
There’s always Scott Walker…..
Bill E Pilgrim
@shell:
Maybe the jockeying for power will take attention away from the shutdown/Planned Parenthood kerfuffle.
By all accounts the determination of the Tea Baggers to vote against any budget that doesn’t include defunding Planned Parenthood is exactly the cause of his resignation.
Kay
@Morzer:
It’s a really old story. We have a former Dem county chair who said he had a reputation as a “skirt chaser” when he was in state government. Even the language is old. :)
gogol's wife
@Yatsuno:
My God, when somebody mentioned “Kevin McCarthy” above, I thought they were referencing Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and that what we can expect is to be running on a highway at night trying to get someone to listen. That still seems more likely to me than any other prospect.
GregB
If only President Obama had invited Boehner over for a gin and tonic brunch every morning at 10:00 a.m. this could have been avoided.
beltane
I can’t wait to see how David Brooks explains this to us.
Keith G
@GregB: you are assuming that it would be a good idea for Obama to help avoid the state of affairs. I’m not so sure that’s the case.
Allow me to add, that I recognize your snark.. I think that this is good news for the President and for Democrats in general
Betty Cracker
At least Boehner kept his staff informed. From yesterday (linked in Z’s update above):
Oops.
CONGRATULATIONS!
Yeah, as some folks have said above, this is Not Good. Government shutdown for sure.
schrodinger's cat
@shell: I was expecting him to resign as the Speaker after the midterms.
Chris
@shell:
Might just be that a lot of Republican congressmen realized they’d never be able to give the lunatic voters everything they wanted, but didn’t want to be the ones to have to say that out loud… so instead they were happy to leave Boehner in his place and let him take all the heat.
SenyorDave
I used to wonder what it would be like if in some alternate reality Boehner, early on in his term as Speaker, had said something like:
I don’t agree with the President and the Minority Leader on many things, but we all have a job to do and that entails working together. For my part, I pledge to seek compromise whenever possible and hope my counterparts on the other side of the aisle will do likewise.
D58826
If Boehner and Nancy succeed in avoiding a shutdown and a debt limit crisis maybe the last line from Tale Of Two Cities would be a fitting end to his career – ‘Nothing in his (public) life became him like the leaving it’
Bill E Pilgrim
@beltane: It’s Obama and the hippies’ fault.
The tea baggers are never at fault for being hard liners, they’re always just a sort of force of nature with no agency of their own but simply acting like scorpions act; it’s the responsibility of “moderates” to manage and accommodate them.
In Brooks World.
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker: I checked over at RedState to see how they are reacting (short version: they’re expecting Boehner’s replacement to “sell out conservatism”), and there was a mention that Boehner’s office gave other members of his “leadership team” just about 5 minutes warning before going public.
Mingobat f/k/a Karen in GA
@dedc79: How will we even tell?
Shana
@Morzer: Signifying nothing?
Poopyman
@D58826: You beat me to it. Ted Cruz has been spending an offal lot of time (sic, btw) on the other side of the Capitol, and I have no doubt one of his acolytes will be his sock-puppet Speaker.
Better belt yourselves in. It’s gonna be a rough ride now that Boehner’s decided to spend more time with his liver, or whatever’s left of it.
Paradoxically, I wonder if the disaster that’s about to befall us will increase the odds the Dems can retake the House?
NAAHHHHH!
ET
I have a co-worker who sees him at the Starbucks on Penn and 3rd in the early AM and said he didn’t have as much security today as he has had in the past and she thought he wasn’t looking well. Wonder what the tipping point was.
Lee
I agree with Redshirt above. I think this will let him pass whatever he wants with the support of the Dems before he leaves.
So short-term this is a good thing. Long-term it is going to be a gigantic clusterfuck.
Tim C.
This could actually be terrible news. Orange crush was a typical GOP douche, but he knew the world was round. We could very well be in for a total flat earth takeover.
Matt McIrvin
Obama has to be thinking now about how to game a third shutdown/debt ceiling crisis so that it doesn’t get Donald Trump in the White House.
The 2013 iteration was the first time in my life that I thought an actual breakup of the United States was a non-negligible possibility.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
I think Boehner listened to what the Pope had to say yesterday, realized how similar it was to everything Obama has been saying for 7 years and decided he no longer wanted to deal with the shit-flingers in his party.
No scandal, no health concerns. Just exhaustion. Could you imagine what it would be like to have to lead that collection of morons, bigots and assholes? All the perks in the world aren’t worth it.
Peale
@dmsilev: hopefully they’ll get the debt ceiling lifted as well. If it wouldn’t be so destructive, part of me want the government shut down and not reopened until there is an election. Make the election about continuing to have a federal government. Yeah, there would be a rather large recession that would last years. But I’m getting a bit tired of this as well.
Botsplainer
@ET:
Given his staff’s apparent lack of knowledge and the number of tears yesterday, I’m still thinking rehab or cancer as a key component.
Belafon
@Jack the Second: A majority. I think it’s only happened once where the minority party held the speaker’s position.
beltane
@dmsilev: Maybe it did have something to do with the pope’s visit, something that impelled Boehner to get up and say “Screw this shit.”
Morzer
@Poopyman:
I think it’s about time that the GOP let their freak flag fly and showed the world just how crazy they really are. Might be the best thing for all of us to bring the whole stage set crashing down on the asylum.
Belafon
Steve Scalise is the current number 2, the self proclaimed David Duke without the baggage.
If he stays in power and a Republican becomes president, we’ll be back to the early 1900s. The first order of business will be removing minorities from government positions.
Ryan
Wonder who else the Pope is going to exorcise while in country.
Patricia Kayden
@Anya: I blame Obama. Thanks Obama!
Poopyman
@ET:
Right about when the elbow gets above the shoulder. Rimshot!
gelfling545
@schrodinger’s cat: I was hoping that might be the reason he got all emotional: that he looked into his sinful wicked heart & was appalled. Well, maybe. I guess anything could be possible.
beltane
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Boehner was visibly moved, almost to the point of having a breakdown. If he was already planning to step down, the need to feel at peace may have become overwhelming.
Belafon
@Belafon: Update, sorry, fed invalid information. Scalise becomes Majority leader. McCarthy could move up to Speaker if they were to vote on next in line.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Botsplainer: I can’t game that far out (and I’m not certain the AOS can, but there’s plenty of folks around him who can), but I’ll defer to your analysis.
Also, too, sorry to hear about your incident. I missed the description, and should probably do some actual work instead of looking for it.
dmsilev
@Ryan: Will he take requests? I’d like to request he go after Dick Cheney.
catclub
@beltane:
That would be a real shame, because I bet the POPE would want to bring a message that gives reasons for keeping on and NOT giving up.
beltane
Maybe this was like Henry IV at Canossa: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_IV,_Holy_Roman_Emperor
catclub
@Belafon:
Men are a minority in this country.
Botsplainer
@Belafon:
I’m thinking that the apparent goal of movement conservatives is a polity that has the outward trappings of a free democracy and a pretty sounding, unenforceable set of constitutional rights. Power, however, will be in the hands of puppets controlled by financial elites, mostly inherited. Think Mexico under the PRI in the 70s and 80s, or Venezuela in the decades prior to Chavez.
beltane
@catclub: Yes, but Boehner may have felt he wasn’t up for martyrdom, which was the next step on his path if he obstructed the will of the tebaggers. He is not a courageous man by any means.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Botsplainer: My thought was serious health issue as well. The ladies’ man scandal talk has indeed been around since his OH statehouse days and “skirt chaser” was still in common usage, as Kay pointed out.
catclub
@Peale:
This seems to make it possible to bring up bills that pass with mostly Democratic support. It would really be funny if he brought up that Immigration bill that has never gotten a vote in the House.
The far right has lost any leverage over him. Interesting!
dmsilev
Apparently one story that is circulating is that Boehner wanted to step down last year and hand the Speakership over to Eric Cantor, but that plan went down in flames after Cantor got Tea-Partied in his primary.
Morzer
@beltane:
He’d lost his zest.
ArchTeryx
@Emma: @catclub: Horse’s head, nothing. Someone from K Street put a big check under his bed with a little handwritten note: “Good only until October.”
Amir Khalid
@Yatsuno:
Maybe the Republicans could give one of these guys a call.
Poopyman
From the WaPo:
JPL
@ArchTeryx: Doesn’t he have to wait before becoming a lobbyist.
Eric S.
When ever I think of the GOTea I can’t help but think of this. Some people just want to watch the world burn.
Botsplainer
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q):
Just heed the warning – never, ever, ever go and hand-deliver an invoice at the home of a client in order to shame them into taking care of it. It has worked in the past – but nobody has ever been there to greet me.
I’m convinced that the only reason I’m alive today is that there were two of us in the car and I kept shouting that neither of us was armed as my hands were up and visible in the window. He could come up with a lie on one shooting, but he could never explain two.
J.D. Rhoades
@SenyorDave: The Teahadists would have literally slit his throat on the House floor.
Hawes
@Anya: Francis’ first miracle on his way to canonization
BGinCHI
A bit late to the party, but I’m guessing Boehner will have some choice words for his GOP colleagues.
Now we will see whether he is made of stern stuff or just tears and booze.
Keith G
The reporting is a Boehner had planned to resign much earlier, but political leadership considerations within the caucus forced him to stay later than he desired. And the Hill newspaper is reporting that Congressman Ryan is not going to be a candidate for Speaker of the House.
Eric S.
@beltane:
Please, please, please give me a 3rd choice.
Botsplainer
@Poopyman:
Christ on a stick.
They’re working with Cruz.
Next head on the block is the Turtle, but Turtle is a master conniver of longstanding, and actually does have a core philosophy that the government is about governing.
raven
@BGinCHI: did you hear about Ort getting thrown in jail?
Poopyman
@Eric S.: Ummmm, a regular on Morning Joe?
Amir Khalid
I’ve always wondered why Böhner hung on to the Speaker’s job for so long, when it seemed such a rotten place to be. His own caucus despised him, and the Democratic party couldn’t cut deals with him because he had a hard tme delivering his party’s House votes.
Chris
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
I don’t know if I believe it, but I kind of hope it’s true. Or the romantic in me does, maybe.
Wingnut Uncle retweeted something the other day that had a picture of John Paul II and one of Francis next to each other, with the caption “THIS GUY RISKED HIS LIFE AGAINST COMMUNIST OPPRESSION – THAT GUY THINKS YOU SHOULD EXPERIENCE IT.” (Which is pretty much the teabagger reaction in a nutshell). When the hysteria and “if you’re not with me you’re against me” demands for purity have reached the level of absurdity where people can unironically call a Pope a communist and not see how fucking ridiculous they’ve become… I can see that being the kind of last straw that convinces someone that “I just don’t want to deal with these barking lunatics anymore.”
yellowdog
@D58826: Cruz could be elected Speaker. There is no requirement to vote for a person who is a member of the House of Representatives.
sharl
What I’m hearing on the radio now is that Boehner is a committed, serious Catholic, and he’s been trying to get this and previous Popes to speak before Congress for years. So yesterday was a huge personal victory for him. The speculation from those I’m listening to is that this is him leaving on a (personal) positive note.
This speculation seems plausible to me, especially given the bleak and uncertain future facing him if he had decided to stick it out.
Right now the off-the-record chatter seems to be favoring a CR (Congressional resolution) that would temporarily fund Federal operations through December, allowing the House to work out its leadership issues and decide how to proceed on the budget issue.
Hawes
For Boehner to get his soft landing on K Street, he will probably need to raise the debt ceiling until 2016, get a CR to cover a few more months – maybe longer – and then ride off with a hearty, “Fuck you, Teanderthals!” to his Krazy Konservative Kaucus.
The result will either be GOP moderates allying with Democrats to get a guy like Charlie Dent into the speakership or complete abdication to the Krazy Konservative Kaucus.
If the former, maybe we see some weak immigration legislation and some mild voting rights protections.
If the latter, well, Lenin said you had to heighten the contradictions. A Krazy Kaucus speaker could, potentially, possibly flip the House.
D58826
@Poopyman:
.
I’m not sure why they think this will avoid a shutdown. If either provision is in the final bill Obama will veto it and there are not the votes to override. We then are back to square one.
As far as the teaparty voting for the CR, why not they got the scalp they wanted
Hal
If does a press conference, how hard is he going to cry?
Poopyman
Renowned Buzzfeed reporter asks …
(h/t zombie Dick Nixon’s tweet)
beltane
@Botsplainer: Turtle knows where the bodies are buried. He isn’t going anywhere and he certainly isn’t going to follow Ted Cruz on his cliff jumping mission.
EZSmirkzz
Well ladies and gentlemen, now you’ve got your wish. You’ll no longer have John Boehner to snicker around any longer.
RaflW
Yeah, I think we know why he was so boo-hoo when the Pope was visiting. I mean, he cries easily, which is actually admirable, but he must have known the putsch was coming.
schrodinger's cat
@EZSmirkzz: Hi DougJ!
boatboy_srq
@Redshift: The resignation is well timed for that. By resigning in 30 days, he stays on as SOTH long enough to broker a budget bill. There’s a small part of me that wants the agreement to terminate in 12 months or so – just in time for the 2016 general election, so we can see what b#tsh!t-crazy GOTea misbehavior looks like right before the US heads to the polls.
This could be the masterstroke of the Establishment GOP that the VSPs insist still exists: by enabling a bipartisan budget for the 2015 cycle and then stepping aside, Boehner a) hints that there are still GOP congresscritters who actually believe in government functioning effectively and b) sets up the Teahad for The Big Bad Fall right before a major electoral cycle. Assuming the wingnuttiest among them will behave predictably (and predictably crazy), this could relegate the nativist/Bircher/Birther craziness to a corner for some time.
SenyorDave
@J.D. Rhoades: But the Villagers would have showered him with love
Morzer
@Poopyman:
Oh you know, only the pope before this one.
Amir Khalid
@Poopyman:
A Pope did resign, just a couple of years ago. Does this Rosie Gray person actually not remember that?
Mike in NC
@dedc79: Boehner leaving to spend more time with his close friends Jim Beam and Jack Daniels. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on the way out, douchebag.
All hail Speaker Goehmert!
BGinCHI
@raven: NO. What happened? I thought he was in poor health….
RaflW
@D58826:
Damn. If they actually manage to destroy ACA I think that will be the end of the GOP. Their base may think it’s still a great idea, but millions of people would lose insurance, post haste. It is true sociopathic insanity, but by no means will that deter the current Republican stampede of evil.
JPL
Dave Weigel is tweeting the Cruz speech
Cruz to social conservatives: “You want to know how much you terrify Washington? Yesterday, John Boehner was the speaker of the House.”
Cruz says that Obama’s meeting with Xi Jinping is a meeting “between the world’s most powerful communist and the president of China”
BGinCHI
@schrodinger’s cat: Seriously. He’s not even trying anymore.
Manyakitty
@Amir Khalid: I hoped that was a joke…
NickM
For a moment, I thought that a disastrous House Speaker over the next year could help turn things around in 2016.
Then I remembered I’m living in a country where Donald Trump is considered a legitimate candidate for President.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@Botsplainer: Yikes. I’m so very glad to hear you made it out in one piece. Among the reasons I admit to not missing practice. She says as she prepares to play co-counsel on a criminal case, with an official meeting with client, and big dog defense dude, this afternoon.
In admittedly poor taste under the circumstances, I’ve mentioned before that criminal law is so much more polite than family law. I’m really sorry to hear you had that adventure.
David Koch
Big news day unfolding:
catclub
@JPL: He has to wait before becoming a registered lobbyist.
He can be a senior counsellor to some lobbying firm, and just sit in his office and make phone calls and introductions.
RSA
@schrodinger’s cat:
Maybe his “private audience” took place in a confessional, and this is his penance.
shortstop
@JPL: No matter what comes out of his smarmy, smirky mouth, no matter how much he riles up the crazies, he’ll never get above 6 percent in the polls. And that makes me smile.
yellowdog
@Chris: Does EVERYONE have a wingnut uncle? I don’t because they have all died. I suspect that a couple of them would have fit the classification, but I didn’t have much to do with any of them. I know at least one of my many cousins is a fervent Trump supporter.
scav
@Morzer: & @Amir Khalid: There you go again, trying to confuse a reporter with facts, mere facts and memory games (unless applied correctly to events witnessed in a limited number of TV shows or movies). Silly biological entities.
mai naem mobile
I wonder if this.has.something to do with Dennis Hastert. I think his court dates coming up. I’m guessing he just got tired and had planned this and was waiting for the Pope visit.
beltane
@JPL: Ted Cruz needs to be put in a straightjacket. No wonder Boehner stepped down, he’s set for life, why spend the remainder of his career acting as the role of insane asylum warden.
Dissatisfied Customer
This is great news for John McCain!
shell
With all this uproar over Boehner, I cant seem to find out. Did the Pope already make his speech, will make his speech and when? Thought it was supposed to be at 10am.
beltane
@yellowdog: Yes, he’s called Crazy Uncle Liberty and he lurks somewhere in everyone’s family tree.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@beltane: Hell, the Turtle buried some of the bodies. But it’s going to get (horrifyingly) interesting.
beltane
@shell: The Pope’s speech to Congress was yesterday at 10am. Boehner, a devout Catholic, was an emotional wreck before, during, and immediately after the speech. Today’s speech was in front of the UN General Assembly.
catclub
@yellowdog:
Both my parents are only children.
srv
This is good news for Donald Trump.
Eric S.
@Poopyman:
Honestly, I’ve never seen a single second of this show. It is TV and not radio, right? The rest of you do make it sound horrible though.
geg6
@Baud:
This was my first thought when I saw the headline.
shell
@beltane: The UN, thats what I meant.
MikeTheZ
@Poopyman: So there probably will be a shutdown after Obama vetoes the reconciliation bill that they slip ACA Repeal into…
scav
@shell: This should at least get you to the Guardian liveblog of it and other current papal activities. Why not, here’s the Guard on current Blatter Splatter to max-out linkages.
raven
@BGinCHI: check the flagpole
It was littering!
boatboy_srq
@Amir Khalid: Yes, and the very first time that happened, too. Popes tend to leave the Vatican feet first. OTOH, there’s a history of unpopular/unfavorable Pontiffs being quietly poisoned (one reason rumours about JP1 being poisoned persist: there’s precedent), so there IS a mechanism for removing an unpopular Pontiff – just not one that’s especially pretty.
Aleta
Hoo boy
(From the Nyt link in Z’s post)
danielx
@Betty Cracker:
I have to admit that after a few years of trying to persuade lunatics (who cannot be put in straitjackets nor yet medicated into docility) not to piss in the potted plants and fling shit at the walls, I’d be contemplating trading in ulcers and headaches for a few martinis after eighteen rounds*. With great longing.
*If I played golf, which I regard as one of the more egregious wastes of time and pseudo-exercise ever invented. I don’t give a shit how much business is done on golf courses.
DTTM
I made the mistake of listening to a few crabby Tea Party types calling C-Span who were ecstatic and want the Turtle to go next, all because they have not impeached our Prez who is Destroying “DESTROYING! I tells you!” the U.S.
They really hate PBO with an irrationality I don’t understand. Is it as simple as skin color aka birtherism?
This is why I worry about our future with megalomaniac opportunists like Trump going against an increasingly vulnerable HRC.
These right wingers really want to smash the system with no concern for the consequences and it worries me.
beltane
Boehner was going to hold a press conference but decided at the last minute not to address reporters. How strange. This is one Boehner press conference I’d actually want to watch.
Botsplainer
@Aleta:
I’m saddened that the Weathermen don’t seem to be around anymore.
In a just world, that asshole would need to check the underside of his car with mirrors every time he left the house.
RaflW
@MikeTheZ: Well, there will be an override vote and then (maybe?) a shutdown. Perhaps a couple rogue Dems will vote to override, the ACA will collapse, and we’ll have finally seen the stark reality of Republican disdain for actual living, breathing humanity.
But, yeah, shutdown seems very likely.
The point, I suppose, is that the GOP will no longer be doing show votes with no consequences. McConnell is in a very tight spot, not that he’s ethical or even humane, but he knows how damaging actually passing repeal would be. The ACA is working and he and plenty of even the asinine Villagers know it.
boatboy_srq
@Aleta:
That’s rich coming from a spokesbot for an outfit committed to making Ahmurrca a paradise for the Right Kind of People.
Alex S.
Shutdown, here we come, FUCK YEAH!!
Omnes Omnibus
Boehner and Pelosi will work out a deal on the budget and then Boehner will drunk drive his golf cart into the sunset. Following this, the GOP crazies in the House will fling poo at the rest of the world as we go into the general election season.
Aleta
They want someone who won’t even speak to the President for the rest of his term.
RaflW
Yep.
OK, an ex NFL punter understands that Boehner resignation means the wheels are comin’ off the GOP. Pundits?
? Martin
Man, this is going to be ugly.
Botsplainer
@Aleta:
Aide: “Congressman Scalise, the President is on line 1”
Scalise: “Just tell that boy to fuck off”
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
My son asked me who he got caught in the men’s room with.
danielx
@DTTM:
That’s a large part of it, and indeed many of the Republican base need nothing than contemplating the idea of a black man in the Oval Office to give them their daily rage fix. However, if Obama’s last name was Anderssen and he was pale as Marley’s ghost with blue eyes, his policy stands would still get him labelled as a Traitor to All that is True, Good and Right about America. The wingnut base has been conditioned for the last three decades to regard anybody to the left of Genghis Khan as UnAmurikan, and they’ve absorbed that conditioning with relish.
Matt McIrvin
@RaflW: At this point, they’re not going to destroy the ACA unless they can get a Republican President in. I don’t think there is any threat left that they can hang over the Democrats’ heads to get them to cave on that, since the ploy would be so transparent.
amk
will the gop ass kissing media start the republicans in a disarray meme at least now? I doubt it.
mclaren
Why is anyone surprised? This offers more evidence of the further rightward drift of the Republican party. But we already knew that from the insane Republican presidential candidate lineup.
Really GREAT news for Democrats here. The big problem is that the House hitherto has remained a fortress of far-right Republican power. But with a new extremist as Speaker, the House Republicans will recklessly embark upon self-destructive quixotic effort after self-destructive quixotic effort — trying to shut down Medicare?
You got it. Think that will go over well with voters? Ha!
Voting for a debt ceiling government shutdown? You betcha. And the voters will explode with rage as their social security checks and medicare checks and food stamps and VA hospital visit evaporate. Yeeeeeee-hah!
Voting in favor of impeaching the next Democratic president? Yup. And the public will recoil with the kind of disgust previously only seen in episodes of FEAR THE LIVING DEAD.
This is a huge win for the Democrats. I predict a shift from Republican control back to Democratic control in another 3 years because of this. Once the public gets a taste of the full failed crazy extremism of the House Republicans, you’ll see voters fleeing the Republican party like the plague. The big problem for Repubs is that the House holds the power of the purse — and when you shut off someone’s money, that really angers them here in America.
In Shithole America you can kill someone’s children or murder their wife or husband or put them in jail, and they’ll get mildly annoyed…but they’ll get over it. Force Americans to use the world’s shittiest and most corrupt health care system so that their children or spouse dies of some preventable disease, gun down a parent’s children in the insane War on Drugs, or blow away someone’s kids in a pointless endless unwinnable foreign war, and Americans will get a little bit peever — but only a little.
But in Shithole America if you take away someone’s money, they will explode with the kind of rage only witnessed in other cultures in parents grieving over dead children. The House Republicans are going to destroy themselves, and it’ll be ugly to watch because of the sheer number of Americans who get brutalized as collateral damage. But in the end, the Republican party will permanently damage itself.
Voting against abortion gets a few liberals upset… but voting to end Social Security and then having a Democratic president veto the crazy bill, that’ll really open voters’ eyes.
BGinCHI
@RaflW: I think this is right.
Let us hope they proceed. Go ahead and putsch out the moderates (I can’t believe I’m calling Boehner a moderate). Long knives.
The GOP is on its way to being a small, evangelical white supremacy party.
Aleta
@Botsplainer: “paranoia runs deep” — he’s got someone who does that already
mdblanche
@Morzer: Tired and emotional as the Brits would say.
boatboy_srq
@DTTM:
Yes, most likely. Those People aren’t qualified to attend postsecondary schools: everyone knows that they need quotas and lower standards to get in, because their natural capacities are too low to make the grade. So for any one of Them to achieve some high office must needs have cheated somewhere to get there. Nobody they know would admit voting for one of Those People, so the ballot had to be rigged. Plus he has a funny name, which is not Ahmurrcan at all. Etc. etc. They cannot grasp the idea that there are some people who aren’t exactly like them who can achieve great things, and they’re too invested in “we gave them Freedom™ and it wasn’t enough” to admit anything different. It’s one reason the Southern Strategy was so successful for so long: the folks who accepted Atwaterian campaigning just knew that busing would put their kids in the same schools with uneducable thugs, that Affirmative Action meant that incapable unqualified Other people got special treatment and unmerited promotion, that Welfare™ was paying single POC women to stay home and have a dozen baybees (with a matching dozen fathers – hence the focus on “restoring the family”) on their tax dollar, etc. So a non-white POTUS simply has to be either a master schemer or the tool of some larger nefarious plot (probably cooked up at the UN) to take away their
moneypropertydaughterscountry.Aleta
@Aleta: edit: strikes deep
Ksmiami
@RaflW: just wait till the insurers on k street have their say. Congress if it isn’t already will become even more irrelevant… “Is that gasoline I smell?”
Botsplainer
Some friends and I wargamed the picks of a Trump administration:
POTUS: Trump
VPOTUS: Ivanka (they can turn Blair House into condos, Ivanka can double up as FLOTUS)
SECDEF: Lindsay Graham
TREAS: Dick Fuld
STATE: John Bolton
LABOR: Scott Walker
CJSCOTUS:Ted Cruz
AG: Mark Levin
SPEAKER: Gohmert!
US CIVIL RIGHTS COMMISSION: Steve Scalise
Matt McIrvin
@DTTM:
It’s overdetermined. It’s racism, it’s decades of increasingly unhinged opposition to anything a Democrat does or says, and it’s the presence of a propaganda apparatus that allows people to envelop themselves in these nonsensical assertions hammering away at them 24 hours a day.
I am sometimes in situations where Fox News is playing on a public TV screen. It feels like an almost physical assault: all these people agreeing with each other in alarmed and hectoring tones about nonsense that they all agree should make you angry and scared, scared and angry and hateful. There are people who voluntarily listen to this all day long and just leave the TV there as background noise.
Jeffro
@Bill E Pilgrim:
So very, very, sadly true.
different-church-lady
@mclaren:
If the country survives.
mclaren
@BGinCHI:
Bingo!
In Shithole America, if the gov’t kills your kid, a parent will sigh with sadness. But if the gov’t takes away $100 a month, the same parent falls to hi/r knees weeping uncontrollably, rending their clothes, and tearing their hair out while howling with grief.
Remember: the governing system in Shithole America is capitalism, which means “moneyism.” Money is what counts in Shithole America, not people. Mess with peoples’ money and they’ll erupt with the kind of maddened frenzy only seen in antique lynching photographs.
It will be a sight to behold when the House votes to shut down Social Security or Medicare and a Democratic president vetos the bill.
Jeffro
@mclaren:
Totally agree. Wouldn’t put it past Nancy Smash! to get in front of a camera today, pleading for moderate Rs and Independents to please join with the Democrats and save our country from the radical extremists in the Tea Party wing.
Pleeease, Nancy???
Geeno
I think Boehner did this as a kind of FU to the rest of the caucus. I doubt there’s anyone eager to jump into his shoes; that’s why he still has the job after all. He probably sat in a meeting with some of the wingnut caucus and heard yet another ultimatum, and he just said “fuck this”.
catclub
@boatboy_srq:
Ben Carson, oddly enough, excepted.
Botsplainer
Oh, nearly forgot – Rick Scott to head HHS
feebog
@MikeTheZ:
No, that’s why the Boner is sticking around for a month. He can now use Democratic votes to pass at least a short term resolution. I would not be surprised to see action on the debt limit before he leaves as well.
beltane
@BGinCHI:
That is what it’s looking like. Whatever Boehner’s real reasons for leaving, the optics of a Catholic Speaker of the House being pushed out of office within 24 hours of a pope’s address to Congress are very, very bad. Other than some extreme RW nutjobs like Antonin Scalia, the GOP is an evangelicals only party, with all the untethering from traditional civic values this entails. There can never, ever be any appeals to the consciences of people who know they are “saved” and whose shit is therefore inacapable of stinking. Theirs is a nihilist parody of Christianity.
BGinCHI
@mclaren: I’m weighing the benefits of being complimented by you.
This could be bad for my rep.
debbie
Hearing the audience cheering when Rubio announced Boehner’s resignation at the Value Voters Summit is chilling:
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/25/watch_conservative_voters_wildly_cheer_as_marco_rubio_announces_john_boehners_resignation/
I first heard it on the radio and immediately flashed back to the video of Palestinians dancing and cheering the news about 9/11.
BGinCHI
@beltane: We believe in nussing!!!
/German Nihilists, bowling alley parking lot
DTTM
@boatboy_srq:
Hence the rise of Trump, which really does scare the hell out of me, because HRC may not be able to overcome this anti-establishment sentiment, and definitely not Sanders. I really wish VP Biden had the energy to get out there and keep the crazies behind the door.
catclub
found over at Slate.
BGinCHI
@debbie: Or, you know, Nuremberg.
b1narys3rf
The only hope of decimating or at least reducing the R majorities in both houses is that their screwups are so bad, and Hillary is able to take advantage of it enough, that a Presidential election year makes the difference.
Sadly, I fear that HRC’s team are not up to it, even if they’re handed opportunities on a silver platter.
Every half-sane oligarch in this country needs to be weighing in both behind and in front of closed doors against what the Rs are about to do, but I wonder if there are enough with the courage.
It is absolutely insane that in one of the few countries to have anything resembling a real recovery after the events of 2007-8, one major political party is now insane and delusional enough to try flushing it down the toilet. The 2014 election emboldened them again. To every Dem who failed to show up and vote, and to Debbie Wasserman Schultz, I say EFF U.
ET
@Botsplainer: That is what my co-worker thought as well.
mclaren
@different-church-lady:
Don’t despair. America has been through worse periods and came out okay. Look at the haymarket riots in the 1880s and 1890s, when the gov’t sent militias in to gun down striking women and children at the behest of the Pullman Company.
Look at the Palmer Red scare in the 1920s, when boatloads of progressives were stripped of their citizenship and deported unconstitutionally.
Look at the Vietnam war, when Nixon went berserk and sent the national guard out to arrest so many people in Washington D.C. protests that entire stadiums had to be razor-wired off and filled with arrestees.
Or how about the Alien and Sedition Act?
This is peanuts. Come next November, we’ll have a Democratic president and a Democratically controlled senate. That’s plenty of power to countervail the insane Republican-controlled House.
Meanwhile, the Repubs in the house will fly their full far-right freak flag, and the entire country (except for the usual 27%) will recoil with appalled disbelief of a kind formely only seen in the last reel of a horror movie.
I for one look forward to seeing the House vote for a military appropriations bill that includes a rider abolishing the IRS. When the Democratic president vetoes that monstrosity even the far-right voters will reluctantly approve.
BGinCHI
@DTTM: Fuck it. Let them out. Let’s do this now and get it over with.
These fucking nuts need to drive themselves right off the cliff in full view.
Grumpy Code Monkey
@Dissatisfied Customer: Okay, can we all agree that joke’s sell-by date passed a long time ago? The can is starting to swell.
Shit. This is truly unexpected. But I wouldn’t have held out near as long without shooting at least one of those assholes, so I can’t judge.
Christ, the thought of Speaker Gohmert makes me ill.
boatboy_srq
@catclub: Carson, like Cain before him and West before him, are the exceptions that prove the rule. They can claim that they never took no handouts, that their rise to prominence is entirely due to aptitude, fortitude and Grace™, and that most Other People who look just like them are lazy iggerant moochers who deserve no pity.
BGinCHI
@mclaren: Add these examples to your history, just for completion’s sake:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFvujknrBuE
JPL
@debbie: Wow! Strange values indeed.
gian
@Anya:
Someone probably beat me too it but they were reporting yesterday that he’d been trying for over 20 years to get a Pope to speak to Congress and JP 2 and Benedict turned him down.
And he was crying (and looked sober) yesterday.
I think he got a lifelong goal accomplished and sees no future in dealing with the nihilists like cospeaker Cruz
Mike J
@debbie: The look on Rubio’s face says he knows what his fate will be if he ever dares compromise on anything.
debbie
@Mike J:
Paging Dr. Frankenstein: Meet the monster you created.
Botsplainer
Fuck, I’m actually finding myself nodding along with McLaren.
I’ve got a lot going on, and that’s just the dingleberry on top of the shit sundae.
mclaren
@DTTM:
LOL! VP Biden is the craziest of the crazies.
Biden is a DINO who is more extreme than all the most far-right Republican extremists on every issue but gay marriage.
“…Let me put it another way, Mr. President. In the past 1,000 days, Congress has given the power to the President to take away every penny a drug dealer makes, seize their houses, their cars, their boats, their jewelry, lock them up without parole or probation, and even execute them if need be…. (..) He wants the death penalty. I want it. He wants a change in habeas corpus. I do. He wants a change in the exclusionary rule. I want it… But that is it, by and large. [President Bush] does not want more prosecutors. He does not want more prisons, and he does not want more police. He does not want more aid to local law enforcement. He does not want help to fight juvenile gangs in America. The list goes on.” — Senator Joe Biden, 1991.
Source: “Joe Biden’s One-Man Band.”
This is the supposedly “sane” candidate you want to run for president.
Are you drunk, brain-damaged, or just wacked out on hard drugs?
Lie down and sleep it off, kiddo. You’ll make sense in the morning.
Omnes Omnibus
@BGinCHI: Yep. This.
debbie
@JPL:
Did you catch the guy in the upper left corner cheering and waving his tricorn hat?
beltane
The wingnuts on Twitter are saying that Boehner was an “oath breaker”. What on earth are they talking about? I don’t want to go Godwin, but does the Republican party now have oaths and things like that other political party I will not mention? These people are scary and need to be chased back under their rocks.
max
Time for a government shutdown. Crap.
max
[‘Here we go again.’]
BGinCHI
@Omnes Omnibus: Don’t make me come all the way over the ocean and sort that fucking place out.
I got stuff to do here.
boatboy_srq
@DTTM: Trump is fearsome only in his ability to motivate the GOTea base in ways that Koch/Adelson/Murdoch never could: he speaks as One Of Us™ (so to speak) and holds accountable the very people who are funding the other candidates and hoping to hold on to power (behind the scenes of course). Assuming he gets the nomination, he’s beholden to a GOTea who’s honked off just about every voting demographic except Entitled Resentful White Men. ANY Rethuglican in the WH in 2017 is cause for concern, but given the alternatives (pResident Cruz, anyone?) Trump seems less bad than most with his take on investment banking, hedge funds and inherited wealth (above a certain point). I certainly won’t vote for him, but should he get the WH I’d be less likely panic than I would be with most of the rest of that pack. I’m more worried about a SOTH Huelskamp, King or Gohmert than I am of The Donald.
Botsplainer
@mclaren:
Ah, there’s the McLaren I know.
Thanks for that, you were making me nervous.
Anoniminous
Well.
This was unexpected.
Wondering if the resignation was the price needing to be paid so the GOP nutburgers would pass the funding bill.
gian
@beltane:
He has to released from his curse by isuldurs heir … Or the Pope. Tolkien was Catholic after all
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@RaflW: To be fair, he’s a really intelligent and thoughtful ex-NFL punter. And my opinion has nothing to do with the fact that he’s hot. I’ve always been able to tell the difference; he’s the all too rare combination.
Matt McIrvin
@mclaren:
Wait, I thought it turned into Shithole America.
schrodinger's cat
The lunatics have finally taken over the asylum.
srv
@mclaren: You and your facts will never make any headway against the BJ ideology or idolatry.
We need another 100,000 Clinton Cops. Remember that one?
mclaren
@b1narys3rf:
This is the common wisdom right now, but let’s look at the record of Hillary’s moves over the last 6 months. She has so far been pitch-perfect.
I don’t see a single misstep.
HRC’s campaign had a perfect campaign launch video, her talking points have been excellent, she’s come out on exactly the right side of the pharma debates and the TPP, she’s moving fast to take progressive high ground on all these issues. (Whether she actually governs that way is another matter, like Obama, who always faked left and then moved right.)
These stands strongly appeal to the mood of the country right now. The Republicans don’t realize how ugly the mood is right now for plutocrats, and how bad the economy still is even in 2015 — the Republicans haven’t really internalized the brutal fact that the top 1% has captured 93% of the GDP growth coming out of the recovery since 2009.
People are pissed, and even the Republicans I’ve talked to can’t stomach Jeb’s tax-cuts-for-billionaires plank.
As for Trump, forget him. He’s already self-destructing (as others have pointed out on this forum) by dialing it down to appeal to voters in the general election. Trump’s antics may appeal to the Republican primary voters, but they alienate likely voters in the general election.
I just don’t see any way for a Republican to win the White House next November.
dlm
I didn’t read all the comments so this may have been mentioned. After watching him break down a few times while the Pope was speaking, I thought he was taking the messages to heart. I think he can’t stomach the dirty, stab you in the back politics anymore. And of course, the insanity of it all.
beltane
@Matt McIrvin: Shithole maybe. Hellhole America has not been achieved quite yet. Give it time.
gian
@gian:
Isildur. Fat fingers on my phone
Botsplainer
@boatboy_srq:
One thing for me over the past 20 years – it has become readily apparent just how mediocre Our White Betters in the conservative movement really are, and just how white privilege enabled them to collect credentials and income that bolstered their mediocrity.
redshirt
I don’t know what to think until Chuck Todd tells me what to think.
So what do I think?
Karen
I think the conversation went like this:
GOP “Here is what you’re going to do. Quit Congress and keep your dignity. If you don’t, then you will face a humiliating and embarrassing demotion so (some GOP guy) who is more in line with our platform and will command the opposition party will take your place.”
schrodinger's cat
This is a problem for the GOP right now. Why not let it play out before freaking out and hitting the panic button.
schrodinger's cat
@redshirt: Run around like your hair is on fire because we are all going to die.
raven
@schrodinger’s cat: aw come on, don’t ruin their fun!
Brachiator
Just saw the news and wham! over 200 posts already.
I imagine that the Tea Party people are wildly celebrating. Could we be closer to the madness of another government shutdown?
I share the sentiments that things may get worse, and it certainly ups the ante on the GOP presidential Hunger Games.
@feebog:
RE: So there probably will be a shutdown after Obama vetoes the reconciliation bill that they slip ACA Repeal into…
Interesting speculation. There are a number of tax and budget issues remaining (esp the tax extenders). I suppose that the Wizard of Orange could be staying around to help get these items taken care of smoothly, but I am just not used to the idea of Boehner actually co-operating with the President and the Democrats to get things done.
I’m still reeling at the news.
Months ago, we had the pundits all weighing in on what the lame duck presidency of Obama would be like. Now we have Obama still finding ways to get things done, and Boehner looking like lame duck a l’orange.
Anoniminous
@redshirt:
That vanilla ice cream is better with chocolate sauce, whipped cream, and a big cherry on top?
Elizabelle
@catclub: I was thinking I’d have LOVED to be a fly on Nancy Pelosi’s wall when she found out about this.
My question: is it possible she will emerge a lot stronger now? The Tea Party types are whackadoodles living in a bubble of epistemic closure. I don’t see them being able to effectively govern.
Maybe this will blow up very badly on the Tea Party types. Outside of their email chain and talk radio world, they are extremely unpopular with the American public.
This actually might end well, do you think, after a lot of conniption in the meantime?
Kerry Reid
@Botsplainer: Except that the Weathermen tended to blow up themselves and low-ranking people in law enforcement rather than major players.
Elizabelle
@Brachiator: Flaming lame duck a l’orange.
Still full from breakfast, but it’s popcorn time.
PaulW
that dead pool list for Presidential candidates should have an updated list for dead pooling the series of failed Speakers the Far Right are going to shove into that office before they find out their shutdown obsessions don’t work for sh-t.
LanceThruster
Holy Weeping Cheetos, Batman!
boatboy_srq
@Botsplainer: I’m still trying to decide whether the overt racism/sexism/anti-Otherism in the GOTea is conviction or projection.
Roger Moore
@JMG:
My prediction is that he’ll be the new head of DISCUS, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States. He’s retiring to spend more time with his good friends Jack Daniels and Jim Beam.
mclaren
@beltane:
Boehner compromised. He refused to run defectors out of the Republican party when they crossed the aisle to vote against the gov’t debt ceiling shutdown.
To today’s movement conservative, compromise = treason.
If you want to see the future of the Republican party, look at Ann Coulter. And her career over the past 15 years is very instructive. She went from appearing on major Sunday political talk shows and writing columns for TIME magazine to being shunned by the major media and relegated to fringe talk radio shows and lunatic outlets like Glenn Beck’s fading show. Her extremism made her so unpalatable to the general American that she has simply faded from view.
Ann Coulter (and soon the entire Republican party) is now out where the buses don’t run, in terms of media coverage and social impact. They’re out in the political wilderness along with the chemtrails fanatics and the David Icke aliens-control-all-the-world’s-royal-families nutjobs.
The same thing will happen to the Republican party.
PaulW
Seriously, though. With the likelihood of the Far Right hijacking the House to push their Shutdown agenda, how many of the remaining RINOs – the Main Street Republicans who are actually keen on policy and stuff – are going to jump ship and join up with the Dems to shift the majority control?
Infamous Heel-Filcher
They poll poorly, but still get elected. They are popular enough with the only people who matter: those who show up to the polls every election (and not just on the first Tuesday of November of years divisible by 4).
Jeffro
So folks, what do we think this does for Mr. Jeb! “lose the primary to win the general” Bush? Think the modern GOP is going to go along with that kind of milquetoast crap? LOL
Hey Marco and Ted, let’s see y’all really duke it out now…
Frankensteinbeck
@DTTM:
There is no anti-establishment sentiment, or at least not more than the meaningless slogan it ever was. Trump catapulted to the lead by saying Mexicans are racists and murderers. Spot #2 on the Republican side is Carson, who says racist shit that’s almost as bad, but with My Best Friend Is Black flavor. White racism will never have more general election power than it did during Obama’s presidency, and Trump is a catastrophic -50 approval among Latinos. Hillary and Bernie are running a pretty normal primary, except maybe friendlier than most. What’s going on over there has no application to us other than showing off exactly what the GOP is made of.
@Jack the Second:
Last time this came up, the answer was ‘There is a very real possibility this could lead to Pelosi as speaker, because the vote goes with the majority of Reps who actually vote. If enough Republicans sit out the vote, she wins.’ Normally that is an absolute impossibility, but these are weird times.
Gin & Tonic
@mclaren: Who are you and what have you done with mclaren?
boatboy_srq
@Karen: More like:
GOTea: We’re gonna replace your a## with somebody who’ll do what we want. We’re tired of you bending and caving, and we want someone who’ll oppose unGodly Kenyan cryptoMuslim IslamoFascoSoshulism Every. Single. Day.
Boehner: Fine. I’ll give you thirty days’ notice. Good enough?
GOTea: GREAT!
[pause]
Boehner: Now, about that budget resolution…
GOTea: [facepalm]
Elizabelle
I’m feeling good about this, more and more. The GOP is crazy to be going after Planned Parenthood. Even if we don’t have a government shutdown, it’s a stupid, stupid stunt to even contemplate.
Maybe stuff like this has to happen to wake up peeps to realize there aren’t as many moderate Republicans out there as our corporate media mouthpieces have led them to believe.
Might we be seeing the beginning of peak wingnut and a reckoning at the polls in 2016?
Elizabelle
@boatboy_srq: You called it.
PaulW
@b1narys3rf:
Actually, by forcing this situation where the Republicans are self-destructing like this, in full view of the world and public at large, this might have the advantage of convincing enough Americans to avoid voting Republican for the next ten generations.
Of course, we may end up with a scorched crater where most of the East Coast used to sit, but it’ll be worth it.
DTTM
@mclaren: I wish I could be as sanguine about HRC’s chances, but yet another story in the Times which shows her caught in a lie about Huma’s multiple jobs. This stuff has been driving her unfavorables higher and higher and drowning out her message.
Baud
@Elizabelle: Maybe GOP in Disarray will also encourage more good Democrats to run in more districts, increasing our chances in November 2016 of making positive gains.
Brachiator
@BGinCHI:
@beltane
Don’t think this is quite right. The Tea Party Ascendant is very different from the Christian evangelicals (even though there is overlap). You also have a smattering of neo-libertarians of varied and no religious conviction. The white supremacist branch of the party must tussle with arch-nationalists who can include a Bobby Jindal as long as everyone bows down to a rigid vision of Christian America. And the money and Chamber of Commerce wing of the party does not understand how they lost control.
Heliopause
Funny thing, I get up here on the left coast and instead of covering this genuinely important political news the cable networks are instead showing pointless, soporific religious rituals on my television.
Elizabelle
@Infamous Heel-Filcher: Maybe this will instill some fear of the crazies in saner voters and get a few more to sacrifice their time to show up and vote.
Maybe fear is not such a terrible organizing principle after all.
Anoniminous
@Elizabelle:
GOP holds a 59 seat advantage. Typically the party with the most seats votes for Speaker and the minority party stays out of it. This time? I don’t know. Dems hold 188 seats and it takes 218 to elect. Thus 30 GOP and 188 Dems have the numbers to elect.
And see: @PaulW
mclaren
@Brachiator:
Even better. The crazed Tea Party fanatics will try to ram through a shutdown but Boehner will block them. Because what can the GOP leadership threaten Boenher with now? He’s on his way to becoming a fantastically well-paid lobbyist, so like the honey badger, he doesn’t give a fuck.
Thus the Republicans in the house will not only reveal themselves to the general voters as insane, but impotent as well. Two great flavors that go great together!
Peale
@PaulW: none. It’s an election year and defecting will end their careers. Well, actually we only have four months every two years that aren’t election years. I think we’re the only country that opts for 20 month election years.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
@boatboy_srq: I’m thinking lots of it doesn’t have be be either/or
mclaren
@Brachiator:
Exactamundo. Remember that the Tea Party is entirely a fake creation of the Koch brothers, a bought-and-paid-for trojan horse exclusively designed to slash environmental regulations and cut the capital gains tax. The social wing of the Republican party is an entirely different animal, one in which ICBMs (Insane Conservative Billionaire Monsters) like the Kochs have no interest, except as useful idiots.
schrodinger's cat
@Peale: I have never understood the rationale behind elections held every two years..
Jeffro
Oh hey look: Ted Cruz is already on this, surprise surprise
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/ted-cruz-john-boehner
Elizabelle
Fox Watching: seems to be Andrea Tantaros up. PBO and President Xi to hold a Rose Garden news conference in a few. They were throwing out all kind of charges China will have to answer for. Cuz, you know, Reds.
Now they’re back to the other big story of the Day: the Pope.
Have not heard the word “Boehner” yet.
Not enough going on on this big news day.
scav
The flaming purity stomping works until it doesn’t work, and they apparently decided that nothing more is needed than more fervent purity stomping and flaming inside of their tent, because it’s theirs theirs theirs as well as their country and their religion (that interfering pontiff, not following the voices of Kim Davis etcetera) and their planet to drive into the ground at high speed. What part of theirs don’t we apparently get? It’s clearly Everything. GOP Outreach don’t even extend to all members under the tent anymore. It’s their party and they’ll stomp if they want to.
Jeffro
Also – not sure if this has been covered yet but – wonder how Eric Cantor is taking the news?
SO CLOSE, Eric!
lol
Frankensteinbeck
@boatboy_srq:
Distinction without a difference. Projection is a way you make yourself sincerely believe something. Psychology and neural science is very clear: All this crazy projection and rationalization and refusing to see what you don’t want to see happens first. Logical thought happens second, and may or may not be able to overcome any of that.
schrodinger's cat
@Jeffro: The theologically pure party doesn’t need any Catholics or Jews in leadership positions.
mclaren
@Elizabelle:
We haven’t yet gotten close to peak wingnut. That would be something like…oh, say, voting to shut down Medicare + Social Security and transfer the funds to a war with Saudi Arabia and Iran and Egypt.
2016 is too close for a reckoning at the polls as far as the House of representatives is concerned. There will almost certainly be a reckoning in the senate, and in the presidency. But we need another 2 years to get a full taste of the foetid dementia of the House extremists once their deepest id gets unleashed.
Your average voter doesn’t follow politics unless something huge looms. Say, a gov’t shutdown, or the House voting for a bill that abolishes habeus corpus and declares martial law in the Global War on Terror — a bill that then gets vetoed by the president. That would get voters’ attention.
Mike J
@scav:
And the doesn’t work depends entirely on your definition of work. If your only goal is to continue to get elected, it could work far, far, far beyond any utility in accomplishing what you claim to be your goals.
Frankensteinbeck
@mclaren:
The Tea Party the Kochs bought and paid for are the social conservatives. Do you think there’s a magical group of primary voters waiting for an instruction sheet and fifty dollars? The candidates the Kochs got into power are the ones trying to blow up the country, not the ones merely voting to lower rich people’s taxes. The Kochs are greedy, but they are also batshit insane. They’re not the Chamber of Commerce.
Elizabelle
@Peale: Time to drag up a favorite NY Times op ed by a poli sci prof at Duke: Cancel the Midterms. **
He’s right. It becomes a permanent campaign, and you get a different 2-year electorate than you do for 4-years.
What’s more, our congresscritters represent their funding sources now. Not their constituents. So let’s drop the crap about being able to vote them out of office. It’s not easy.
** I see that National Review put up an article in response: “Let’s not cancel the midterms.” They call Professor Schanzer’s well-reasoned essay a “rant.” Hot Air calls the idea a “tantrum.”
So you know they realize the GOP would not hold as much power at all if they had to face a presidential year electorate.
We might need to change our system of elections, to protect democracy.
scav
@Mike J: But you’re still extrapolating that the working to get elected will continue in the future because it did so in the past. I’m not so foolish as to predict when, but the puddle will eventually shrink to the size of the rotting fish.
mclaren
@Jeffro:
Very good point.
Jeb is trying to appear moderate even as the far-right extremists mount a putsch inside the Republican party. This is only going to make things harder for Jeb.
I still think Jeb will be the eventual nominee, but this weakens him even further in the general election. We may well see the kind of lack of Republican enthusiasm for Jeb in the general that destroyed Romney’s run in 2012.
Plus, seriously…can you imagine the devastating ads HRC can run against Jeb in the general election? They just have to quote Jeb’s tax plan and run clips from the 2009 financial crash. It’s a no-brainer. The campaign ads practically write themselves.
gian
@Elizabelle:
I’m sure the GOP has the unskewed polls saying that targeting PP is genius.
Either that or echo chamber of hate radio
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle:
Peak Wingnut is a lie. And no, there will be no reckoning at the polls in 2016. The modern GOP is a classic example of “careful what you ask for”. They wanted gerrymandering to maintain easy seats? You got it! But now they can’t control the monster and the crazier you are the better your chances of election. How can leadership threaten any member whose only goal is re-election?
You want to get rid of pork? You got it! But now leadership has zero leverage beyond committee membership and what rwnj wants to be part of establishment leadership?
You want UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH? You got it! Now guess what? The billionaires have stuffed the traditional millionaire funding mechanism under the couch so much scattered cushion change.
In short, there is no mechanism for reckoning until maybe 2030 census, if we make it that far.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone: Well that’s depressing.
Peale
@mclaren: boehner can block the shutdown one more time, but apparently we are opting to just delay it until December 31.
Brachiator
@DTTM:
Problem is, I am not sure there is much of a coherent message yet.
Matt McIrvin
@schrodinger’s cat: I think the idea originally was that the House of Representatives was supposed to be a close representative of the will of the voters in every state, so there was a rapid feedback cycle. And the Senatorial elections were staggered for the opposite reason, so there would always be somebody with some seniority in there.
Of course, the framers of the Constitution didn’t foresee this resulting in a perpetual campaign.
Corner Stone
The Tea Party started as a fake movement filled with racist revanchists who babbled incoherently about taxes and spending as their cover. That ugly face has been stripped away to leave a core of outright racist social wingnuts who hate everyone but them. Their religion is a figleaf to what they really want done.
Betty Cracker
@mclaren: It might go down that way. Scary times, but we might get a tasty omelette after many eggs are broken.
mclaren
@Peale:
Yes, Boehner will at best be able to manage a delaying action. That leaves Obama yet another chance to become the hero and make the R’s look like criminal lunatics. Which is great as far as I’m concerned.
The important point is that the next president (a Democrat) will get most of the benefit of vetoing the insane Republican house bills. All good news.
RaflW
LA Times has a piece on McCarthy, who could become Speaker. Not a nice fellow, of course.
Anoniminous
@Matt McIrvin:
Originally the Senate was indirectly elected by the state legislators.
mclaren
@Brachiator:
Respectfully, I must disagree.
The Democratic party has now coalesced around a unified agenda: reform health care even more (particularly wrt pharmaceutical prices), reduce inequality through aggressive gov’t action including progressive taxation, and more financial regulation.
In fact, the Democrats are now more unified in favor of these major initiatives than at any time in the past 30 years. It’s the Republicans who are now in disarray, offering a disparate melange of incoherent half-baked nostrums — Jeb’s tax-cuts-for-billionaires (been there, done that, crashed the economy and impoverished the country), Trump’s deport-all-the-Mexicans (a tired rehash of Pete Wilson’s disastrously failed agenda in California in 1995), Carson’s ramp-up-the-global-war-on-terror (once again, been there, done that, everyone’s tired of it including Republicans). Nothing but failed policies tried under Dubya’s maladministration.
It’s the Democrats who have now unified strongly in favor of progressive policies that are hugely popular with voters. That’s a huge change, by the way. First time in my lifetime.
ET
The Librarian of Congress who announced his retirement as of 12/31 just a few weeks ago just announced his retirement has been moved up to 9/30. A race off the Hill!
RaflW
@a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q): Yes to all. He was great on same sex marriage in MN, too.
mclaren
@Elizabelle:
When you’ve been around as long as I have, you’ll know that these “we need a fundamental change in the American electoral system” come and go every 4 years. Nothing ever comes of it.
To paraphrase Don Rumsfeld, we go into elections with the electoral system we have, not the one we want. There is simply no national appetite for major changes in the wonky details of the our electoral system of the kind you describe. It would mean an amendment to the constitution, and with current political gridlock, that ain’t gonna happen.
jurassicpork
Boehner’s Top 10 Reasons for Resigning.
Corner Stone
I seriously doubt there is any scandal involved. IMO Boehner just said fuck it all. I can get a no show job making millions while golfing around the world. And I’d choose to stay here and watch this place get crazier for at least the next four years? Nah to that nonsense.
I personally hope he goes out on a high note and brings along 30 or 40 R members to vote with the almost entire D block to get 3 or 4 useful bills through as a big FU to the nutters and a final flag to alert the public.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
@Yatsuno: The one with rabies.
mclaren
@schrodinger’s cat:
It actually made good sense, prior to the advent of TV advertising that forced House representatives to spend enormous amounts of time raising campaign money.
The House acts as a fast-feedback mechanism to respond quickly to changes in voter sentiment while the senate serves as a longer-term circuit breaker to dampen excessive enthusiasm and shut down unwise policies. Ingenious, really.
Debbie
@Corner Stone:
The best part is that the GOP glommed onto the Tea Party thinking they’d be of use in their Rovean drive toward a permanent majority, but they in fact are the ones ensuring the GOP’s status as a permanent minority.
Lay down with ravening dogs, and you’ll wake up feeling like a chew toy.
Jeffro
@mclaren: If the Tea Party elements are out to purge the party of squishes like Boehner, and we have the anti-establishment candidates polling above 50% combined in the primaries…I’m not seeing how Bush gets it done.
Perhaps I’m giving them too much credit, but my guess is the GOP Establishment will look ahead and see how badly Bush would do in terms of
– general campaigning
– uniting the party’s Tea Party, Establishment, and religious right wings
– against HRC (both generally and also making the ‘no dynasties’ argument)
– possibly bringing out younger or Latino voters
(again, not agreeing with their logic or arguments, just guessing what’s on their minds)
In the face of all that…they’d still go with Bush? Rubio can take orders just as well. Every giveaway to big business and billionaires in Bush’s tax plan can be proposed by Rubio just as well. Rubio has more cred with the TP and with the fundies, that’s for sure.
What I think will be more and more interesting is watching Cruz go after Rubio…but delicately, perhaps?…in the hopes of winning rather than extorting that VP slot…
Keith G
@Corner Stone: Exactly.
JoeShabadoo
@Matt McIrvin: They also didn’t see the number of representatives being capped at 435. The United States population in 1911 was 94 million. Now its 322 million. We still have the same number of representatives.
228 million more people split among the same number of representatives. As far as I’m concerned this is one of the biggest problems with the electoral system today. And people wonder why so many don’t vote because they think it doesn’t matter. Having one representative for so many people also greatly increases the power of money over the individual voter because of the need for huge and expensive outreach.
catclub
@mclaren:
also the broken voting machines.
The 2000 election has probably made voting machines worse – easier to hack, and more prone to breaking.
ThresherK (GPad)
My blood work came back. Cholesterol is going down like VW Stock.
My mechanic quoted me $1650 on repairs to the older car, which I declined, freeing me to consign its to jalopydom and look for a newer used car.
John Boehner is out as the mask of normal on the GOP crazee.
And it’s Friday.
Feeling pretty good right now.
pseudonymous in nc
I think the spokesbot’s explanation is on the money here: the nutjob caucus was planning a coup, and having brought Papa Francisco to Congress, Boehner’s now all “fuck you I’m done, I am so done”.
mclaren
@Jeffro:
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I’m not seeing how Jeb pulls a win out of the general election even without this new wrinkle.
But then again, remember that the Republicans are by and large authoriatarians. When their leaders shout “Jump!” they make like frogs.
The other thing the 2012 election taught me is that the Republican party really is a smokescreen for oligarchy. All that counts in the Republican party is cash. Romney was deeply hated by the rank and file as a cultist (they think Mormons are on the same level as Scientologists) and as a squishy pseudo-liberal ex-pro-choicer. But once Romney’s cash started gushing, all other considerations became moot.
Jeb has the same kind of deep pockets, and it’ll buy him the nomination. Not the general election, though.
scav
O! I suddenly remembered how “uncertainty” was once touted as ever so dangerous to the holy markets and to be avoided at all costs. Oh dear. Wither shall they turn to, the sober business suited types. This wasn’t the tiger they brought to the dance.
mdblanche
@boatboy_srq: Why not both?
feebog
@Brachiator:
I’m going with the theory that he has no more fucks to give and is tired of the crazies in his caucus. He has done a miserable job controlling them, but he asked for the job, so little sympathy from me. Passing a continuing funding resolution and upping the debt limit could be his FU to these guys.
jl
Gutless wonder. Cheap two bit hood Boehner walks off.
To avoid turmoil that would damage institution, he says. WTF wimp ass BS is that?
What about trying to get the country through a fiscal shutdown crisis caused by crazies in his own caucus.
So, the guy wanted to be a GOP machine boss in the House, and if that doesn’t work out, he just walks?
Only silver linings I can see are, as some other commenters have written, rips the mask off the ‘reasonable GOP daddy’ line. Not tough, not responsible, can’t git ‘er done, hypocritical corrupt crony capitalist machine politicians all the way down (which is an insult to turtles both real and mythical)
And, very good chance the country will get to see the House GOP crazy play havoc with the country for a whole year before the election, which might educate enough voters to improve results in the general.
Jeffro
@mclaren:
Great point, agree completely. Perhaps I am giving the oligarchs too much credit, but from my view Rubio would be more likely to win the nom and possibly the general, therefore being a better “investment” for them.
Rubio’s campaign and PACs are #3 on the GOP side, at about $42M on 8/1/15 vs Bush’s $120M – a big gap, but still a significant amount of support. Perhaps even more importantly, since there’s no limits on PAC giving, one GOP sugar daddy could bring them to parity (or put Rubio far ahead) in the time it takes to write one check.
Goblue72
The Tree of Liberty must be periodically watered with an Orange Julius.
mclaren
Source: Paul Krugman’s latest op-ed, New York Times.
Meanwhile, Jeb Bush’s latest policy speech lays out massive deregulation of a kind not seen since the Reagan years.
This is an example of the kind of tone-deafness to public sentiment that proves absolutely fatal to a politician.
The house is flooding and Jeb is yelling “Fire!”
mclaren
@Goblue72:
Sir, you have won this thread for today.
Brachiator
@mclaren:
I think that, unfortunately, except for the drug cost proposal, this stuff is too diffuse and abstract for people who are not political wonks.
The Republicans may lie with over-simplifications, “tax cuts equal more jobs,” but what you think is the Democratic message is not an effective response.
Also, the idea that progressive taxation has anything significant to do with income inequality is an odd notion that I see offered here and elsewhere, but without substantiation.
I agree that the Republicans are in disarray, but Trump’s vile but easy-to-comprehend promise to deport all the illegal immigrants is clearly popular with a segment of the voters. What is the Democratic Party response to this?
The Democrats show potential, but I don’t think they have arrived yet.
shell
Of course, cause Cruz assures them that the Democrats will get the blame if it does. Cause that worked out so well the last time. And the time before that, with Gingrich.
catclub
Paul Waldman at Plum Line. Not exactly high praise, but accurate.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2015/09/25/was-john-boehner-a-victim-of-circumstance-or-an-incompetent-bumbler/
CONGRATULATIONS!
@mclaren: Thank God, someone who isn’t running around with their hair on fire about Hillary. Some idiot posited that she needed to “do something” because the GOP was getting all the press these days.
To which I say two things:
1. When your opponents are busy cutting each other to shreds with knives, don’t step into the middle of that.
2. She can just kick back, do what she’s doing, and start her campaign AFTER the GOP has their designated loser.
She hasn’t fucked up once, as you said. And I expect that to continue. She may not be quite as personable as her husband but she is a lot smarter. She’ll be just fine as a president.
Elizabelle
What’s this, a Boehner presser? Was outside, and came into this fresh delectible.
Elizabelle
The Q: you were obviously emotional yesterday. Did Pope Francis lead you to this decision?
A: says Pope said kind words about his commitment to kids and education, and asks that JB pray for him
Elizabelle
Reporter: Mr. B, you have said “A leader who doesn’t have anyone following him is just a guy taking a walk.”
Now the question: do you feel you were pushed out?
A: I feel good about what I’ve done, tried to do the right thing for the country ….
Another reporter trying again, since a nonanswer …
Doug R
@Jack the Second: I like your thinking
Elizabelle
JB: I would not describe it as having had enough … having a vote like this, is not very healthy. Says he’s trying to strengthen the institution.
“If the Congress stays focused on the American people’s priorities, there will be no problem at all.”
And there, said with a straight face …
GregB
Speaker Gohmert!
Elizabelle
First person he called: his wife. And then … his Chief of Staff; told him late yesterday he was thinking of resigning today; that he’d sleep on it …
walked to Starbucks, went to Pete’s Diner, said Yeah, I think today’s the day. Sr. Staff meeting at 8:45; told them “this is the day”
Elizabelle
What will he miss?
Well of course all of you [reporters]. Laughter.
Says he’ll miss the camaraderie in the House. Uh huh. He talked to Maxine Waters yesterday after 5:00; she says she watched him yesterday and called to say she was really proud of him. They started in House at same time …
burnspbesq
@Botsplainer:
McCarthy seems like the most likely option, but that Chicken Little voice in my head says Scalise.
rikyrah
@Betty Cracker:
tis true.
he became Speaker in the wrong time for him. 15-20 years ago, he would have been perfect for the job.
PS- I don’t mean that he would have been anymore effective, just that his brand of incompetence wouldn’t have been obvious so fast.
Elizabelle
Boehner has acted with a lot of humor and dignity.
Reporter says he seems like he feels relieved. Boehner sings, zippity do dah.
Says decision just made this morning, hasn’t sunk in, made for the right reasons … END
Amir Khalid
I don’t know why. But the mere fact that the Republican party’s Teabagger tendency is celebrating Böhner’s demise from the House makes me suspect that it is going to turn out badly for them.
boatboy_srq
@Frankensteinbeck: Rephrasing then, because there does seem to be a difference: do they really think Other people are stupid/evil/psychotic, or can they not handle their own evil/stupidity/psychoses so insist that Others are worse? Because you don’t have to be stupid/evil/psychotic to think other people are.
schrodinger's cat
@Amir Khalid: The Republican party is in free fall, whether they take this country and the world economy with their debt ceiling shenanigans, along with them is the question.
Elizabelle
@Amir Khalid: Yup.
C-Span callers: first two callers: Democrat line praised him, GOP lady ripped into him for caring more about “the institution” than the people. Talks about how Freedom Works helped her with some issue or another.
The Republicans. They are anarchists. Burn it down, they say.
Elizabelle
Did anyone notice David Brooks waking up, kind of, in today’s column? Something shocked him.
“The American Idea and the GOP.” He notices the GOP has become exceptional, and for the wrong reasons.
As always, the readers comments were better.
Jeffro
@shell:
Actually, Cruz is actively campaigning against both GOP squishes like Boehner & McConnell AND Obama/Clinton/PP/Dems in general. He thinks he’s going to grab all that Trump- and Carson-led anti-establishment anger in both the primary and the general.
Or, at least do well enough to extort himself a VP slot.
Joel
@Corner Stone: That’s about the sum of it.
Elizabelle
The Tea Partiers are burning up the C-Span phone lines. As always. This lady is a classic. Ted Cruz fan, used to be a Democrat (she says) but saw the light with Ronald Reagan.
Now she says Abraham Lincoln set the slaves free, and Martin Luther King — she’s saying nice things about him too. She says everyone should vote.
Well all righty.
Next caller: prob Dem line, sounds like an African American lady: says she was worrying about Boehner yesterday. Says God told Boehner to stop down.
Well all righty again.
Kendall
@catclub: But surely the right kind of minority.
beltane
@Elizabelle: Maxine Waters? Boehner’s just trolling them now. Good for him.
mr_gravity
Maybe he’s going to run for president.
I kid.
the Conster
From Twitter: The GOP have finally created one job.
Elizabelle
@beltane: I know. That was superb.
I think he’s just plain had enough. WaPost headline said shutdown is less likely now. If Boehner accomplished that, good for him.
A mad at Tea Partiers Boehner who’s off the Tea Party tiger’s back could be grand theatre. A pageant, even.
a hip hop artist from Idaho (fka Bella Q)
I like Pierce’s take:
Elizabelle
Black self-described conservative woman on C-Span: she says Boehner is anti-conservative. She wants Mitch McConnell to step down next.
That tiger won’t feed itself. Enjoy, GOP.
OK. She endorses Dr. Ben Carson.
Paul from independents line: Thinks “best thing Boehner has ever done is smoke cigarettes.” That’s a direct quote.
Elizabelle
C-Span, David Jolly, Boehner supporter: says JB did the right and honorable thing.
Started out talking about the idiots in his party who will divide them all. Jolly is very upset.
“Those within our party who seek to divide us and shut down the govt, they can take a small victory …”
Good to see knives come out among the tiger tamers.
Elizabelle
Boehner’s supporters are talking about the “shutdown caucus.”
Will that make it to the mainstream media? It was said by Republicans, so maybe they’ll report it …
Ruckus
@schrodinger’s cat:
The fact is that the crazies think that destroying politics and the government is the answer to everything and having convinced a not small enough minority that they are right gives them some power to do exactly that. Only time and effort will tell and that is a very risky solution. But it has happened before so maybe they will.
Maybe JB trying to hold it all together is the problem. Maybe the whole mess needs to come to a head. That most likely won’t kill the issues but it may give them a stark choice of get along or get out. One can only hope.
beltane
@Elizabelle: The big money people do not care for the “shutdown caucus” so maybe the media will report it. It will be interesting to hear the responses of the Clown Car. Big money might not want a shutdown, but Republican primary voters sure will. Who will they pander to, that is the question.
Elizabelle
C-Span: Thomas Massie says teatard members heard from their supporters at Town Halls over the recess, it’s not an accident this happened just after they got back.
Reporter: Will there be a shutdown?
Massie: “I don’t know what the President has planned.”
schlemazel
Sorry if this is covered by someone above but 350+ comments is too man to read. Short term I am betting this is great news. For all his failings Boner is not crazy, he wanted government to work. My bet is that he is going to force votes for a continuing resolution and maybe a couple other things that have been blocked up in the House. He knows this is fatal to him that the wingnuts will come howling in fury at the adults doing the right thing. He can now shoot them the double birds, laugh and walk away. As much as I hate the mans politics I actually feel sorry for him and respect the job he did of trying to control the shit factory his party wants so badly to be.
Long-term the question is who replaces him. My guess is it won’t be some relatively sane asshole but one of the full bore loonies, Gomert or King say. The best case would be those assholes nuking each other and that a ‘moderate’ Republican, or better yet an actual Democrat gets the Speaker-ship based on Dem votes. This would not only cause huge waves of vitriol splashing against Republicans further sundering the shit factory but also give the House saner leadership that would be mostly immune to the wingnuts.
Karen
Vote for Bernie all you want. But when HRC or whoever else is running becomes the Dem candidate, vote for them even though they aren’t perfect. Look at it this way. Any Dem candidate would be preferable over President Cruz. President Huckabee. President Fiorina. Just think of that. At least with a Dem you get at least 50 or 60% of what you want. With the GOP, you not ony get nothing you want but you get 100% f what you don’t want.
catclub
OT: What about Syria ( and Russia)?
http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-09-25/why-putin-wants-to-meet-obama
the Conster
All I know is that every day I wake up and see Obama presidentin’ on my teevee, is a good day. I pray for his health and well-being every damn day.
BruceFromOhio
I think this is further evidence that the Democrats are in disarray.
This is also excellent news for John McCain.
WDS
I certainly wouldn’t celebrate too much – it appears that the one high on the list for the job is FAR worse than Boehner … one article describes him as David Duke without the baggage. All this smacks of “A known devil, etc…”
boatboy_srq
@Karen:
THIS.
Mike J
@b1narys3rf:
GE already announced they’re moving jobs to France because the crazy people killed the ExIm bank. The problem isn’t that the crazy people don’t care, it’s that they actively work for the worst possible outcome for America, all in hopes they can blame it on Obama.
Elizabelle
C-Span 1 will rerun Boehner briefing at 2:00 p.
boatboy_srq
@schlemazel:
I can easily see this as a situation where the Speaker’s chair is empty for some extended period: the Teahad doesn’t have the votes to put one of theirs in that chair, the Establishment (or what’s left of it) certainly doesn’t, and it’s unlikely at best that Dems could persuade enough GOTea members to vote for Pelosi to give it back to her. I figure we’ll go 4-5 rounds of ballots before anyone emerges as even the leading contender.
Mike J
@Elizabelle: Are you going to repeat every line of it here that time too?
Elie
@CONGRATULATIONS!:
I agree.
Sigh– these are very scary and unpredictable times, however. I hope her team is paying attention and modeling different scenarios through this period. Things might get really crazy in my opinion… There is functionally no Republican Party anymore. Its a group of factions without a coherent core leadership or message beyond “every person for themselves”. There is no coherent policy or strategic vision — just reactionary excess… they are completely unable to govern in my opinion and are completely irresponsible but dangerous in their unpredictability. Chaos theory is probably the best model.
Its the prolonged stress of dealing with such events that raises doubts in my mind about anyone over 70 being President. Hillary is ok on the age but I just pray she is fit to tackle what is ahead. The movie “Gravity” comes to mind — a series of unexpected catastrophes requiring a hell of a lot from leadership that will not have time for self doubt…
Poopyman
Yet another WaPo opinion piece (like all of them) that I’m not going to read:
Riiiiight.
the Conster
@schlemazel:
I get the feeling that this is an overplay by the wingnuts, as extremists are wont to do. Overreach, and you fall. There is only so much crazy that institutions – especially financial institutions – can withstand. There’s way too much at stake to let a few obviously delusional nutballs from the hinterlands hijack the rudder of the ship of state, and starting today, you’re going to see the sand start getting thrown into their gears by the MSM and the money class. Nobody with skin in the global financial game likes this kind of uncertainty/insanity, and the crazies need to be put back on the sidelines.
catclub
@schlemazel:
I agree with this. But put yourself in the shoes of one of those moderate GOP reps who would vote with the Democrats to pass those bills. Where will they be when the speaker and all the senior GOP spots are taken by far right crazies? This consideration may make them tend to vote more with the far right than they would if Boehner was staying on to take heat ( and give out favors).
We shall see.
Matt McIrvin
@Anoniminous: Indeed. But even so, the schedule of the Senate elections is actually written into Article 1. The 17th Amendment kept the timing the same but changed the method of election.
schlemazel
@boatboy_srq:
No, Nancy stands no chance. What would be lovely would be a blew dog Dem – Say a Colin Peterson – getting 30-40 moderate GOP votes and all the Dems. The rabid wingnuts would immediately start blaming each other and set the party on fire. Now it is certain that some of those 30-40 goopers would pay with their seats but they just might do it because the see the crazy up close.
For this to happen we need to have the sort of ego-driven pissing match currently going on for President. 3-4 wingnuts each driven by personal enrichment and refusing to back down. That opens the door. I sincerely doubt this can happen but damn it would be fun to watch! I expect the sort of blood letting to occur but eventually one rat to rule them all and in the darkness bind them. That should cause a lot of hurt feelings and back stabbings which is a good start.
catclub
@Mike J: I saw that too, but it sure is not getting much coverage in the media.
SoupCatcher
@Elizabelle:
Thanks for the heads up!
Boehner’s entrance to that press conference was awesome!
Zip a dee doo dah, indeed.
b1narys3rf
@Mike J:
And when Tim Cook, Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, the Costco guys etc. start hemorrhaging money, they need to open up cans of whoop ass. Could they and would they? At this point if the electorate is this asleep, maybe that’s what has to happen. Big Business (other than Adelson and Kochs) should openly declare the Confederate Party as financial traitors.
Elizabelle
@SoupCatcher: Yeah. He sees the upside of not having to deal with these assholes anymore. More power to him.
Elie
@the Conster:
We keep hoping that there is a coherent and rational something that will take over in the Republican Party at some point, but I just am not seeing it. That may not be totally bad as it hopefully might push them out of power, but I don’t know. We are in for some scary and unpredictable times at the hands of people who don’t know what they are going to do next themselves. That is the most scary part — the complete ad hoc quality of events these days. The Republican “leadership” (such as it is) is not leading anything but just reacting within its various factions. Like putting a five year old in the driver’s seat of a running bus, the kid can’t reach the pedals and steer at the same time so the bus can end up in the ditch or kill a lot of folks before it runs into a tree. (Yes, I think they are that bad). And who will stop it? Who would they listen to? That’s the thing…
WaterGirl
@Mike J: I have no intention of watching the orange man, and I really appreciated the Q&A from Elizabelle. You didn’t?
patroclus
He was a terrible Speaker and I’m glad he’s leaving. His replacement will probably be far worse.
Gravenstone
@mclaren: Aaaannnddddd here’s the nutcase McLaren we’ve all come to know and loathe. Wondered where you’d been hiding yourself today. Apparently the meds finally wore off?
jl
@Brachiator: One of Sanders main policy proposals to reduce income and wealth inequality is government funding for a massive jobs program, with focus on improving infrastructure. You think the voters cannot understand that?
I hope HRC proposes something similar.
So, in terms of communication seems like half of the major declared Dem candidates are there.
Omnes Omnibus
@jl:
Source.
Chris
@yellowdog:
Well, not everyone. But don’t worry, my uncle is wingnut enough for many.
@catclub:
That’s cheating.
The Raven on the Hill
“After Speaker Boehner fulfilled his dream of the pope speaking, he is just plain tired of dealing with the right wing extremists.”—Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), quoted at Talking Points Memo.
Hunh.
Gravenstone
@Amir Khalid: The optimistic view is that the Tea Party have just become the dog who caught the car they’ve been chasing. Leading to that eternal question, “now what?”.
Jay C
@schrodinger’s cat:
Not to mention that the Founders wrote the Congressional election cycle into the Constitution going off the (bad) example of the British Parliament, which in those days, IIRC, often sat for many years at a time, with elections (which had a more-restricted electorate than any American state) fewer and further between. The idea of a fixed-term legislature was supposed to provide continuity of government – even more “continuous” in the Senate – but give the people a chance to make any changes by popular vote before too long.
Also: originally, Congress only met for a few months out of the year; the more-or-less-continual annual session is an artifact of relatively modern times.
Brachiator
@jl:
First of all, you acknowledge that this is what is mainly coming from Sanders; it is not official Democratic Party policy, so we come back to the issue of a coherent message coming from the Democratic Party.
The Republicans oversimplify by promising prosperity (via more jobs) for everyone. And if you are a laid off middle aged man, a woman of almost any age, a guy with an advanced degree, a former car salesman the “focus on improving infrastructure” does not necessarily raise your hopes for getting a job. Infrastructure jobs sounds like construction, especially when someone says “shovel ready,” and seems like it might be targeted to specific areas and younger men without college degrees.
Lastly, the average person wants a job so that they can earn money, take care of themselves and their family. If they don’t have a job, or have been unemployed for a while, reducing “income inequality” sounds like some highfalutin abstraction.
This is not to say that income inequality is not important as an overall goal, but it’s not speaking directly to the immediate needs of most people.
ETA: I ran across some stuff that suggests that infrastructure projects may have a broader impact, but you have to take time to explain it. It is not immediately apparent.
Even though he got hell for it even from fellow Democrats, the Affordable Care Act is easy to explain and the Republicans stupidly hurt themselves when they attack it. “Obamacare got me health insurance.” Boom. Done. Republicans tried to demonize it by associating it with Obama, and folks go, “I can go to the doctor now. Thanks, Obama.”
And when liberals say stuff like “Oh, we need to have policies that will replace the Affordable Care Act with a single payer system,” you put people to sleep. “Expanding coverage and keeping it affordable” speaks directly to their needs. “Republicans got nothing but repeal it and good luck…” Again, boom!
Note that when Hillary says “I am going to make getting prescription drugs cheaper,” people hear it and easily relate.
J R in WV
@yellowdog:
My wingnut uncle told racist niCLANG jokes, trying to get the goat of his non-racist relatives, whenever we visited up there.
Then his only niece visited, with her partner, a wonderful black lady named Theresa, who was a teacher, and lead singer in her church choir.
Props to Uncle, never heard another racist dog-whistle from him for the rest of his life. Not fun any more. He was a good guy, turret gunner on a heavy bomber in the south Pacific in WW II. I just learned from his son last year that before joining the Army Air Corps he drove moonshine from the still into town. A very contradictory guy, but basically a good person.
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
Wonkish for days.
AxelFoley
@David Koch:
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: Oh ffs. “Boost public investment in infrastructure and scientific research.” Pretty damn clear cut to me.
PaulW
@Peale:
There are Republicans in Purple/Blue states that are not necessarily in the safest of gerrymandered districts. Their own bases within those districts may not lean wingnut. They don’t have to switch fully to Democrat, they could just go Independent and could win that way in 2016 if the voter base approves.
But there may not be enough of them. There has to be about 30 to 33 of them to pull that off. I count 68 Congresspersons in the Main Street Partnership, which is last I heard the more moderate group of the GOP http://republicanmainstreet.org/members/ and it’s likely those are the ones who could have a say in this.
rikyrah
@Botsplainer:
Turtle is way smarter and wilier than Orange Glo.
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
Oh ffs back at you. You’re not the average voter. You should know better.
And “boost public investment” is not the same thing as “where’s my goddam job.”
People like James Carville have been admonishing the Democrats to keep it simple since Bill Clinton was running. They don’t always listen and give an advantage to the Republicans.
J R in WV
@Gravenstone:
While I have written many a F U post to mclaren over the years – today you are just wrong. And mclaren is right in most of what he has to say.
Mclaren, you don’t have to thank me, either. Right is what it is. Carry on!
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: Fundamentally, jl and I were talking about the fact that both Sanders and Clinton have a jobs plan that involves rebuilding infrastructure. You seem to be stuck on the fact that their websites are not wording these plans as sound bites.
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: Did you read the specific post Gravenstone was responding to?
Brachiator
@Omnes Omnibus:
I made my objections clear in my main response to jl . It has nothing to do with soundbites. People want to know “what’s in it for me?” They are not interested in grand proclamations of progressive principles, or in infrastructure plans that do not provide for more and better paying jobs throughout the economy.
Omnes Omnibus
@Brachiator: Does this statement from HRC’s website better fit what you are looking for?
equs_1776
@Jeffro: I wonder if Boehner finally just said, fuck these guys. If he passes a debt continuation to December with the votes of the whole House, including Democrats, then the Louie Cruz-GOP can get sorely-deserved credit for shutting down the government for Christmas. To stop PP, which has broad support.
Elizabelle
I had faith you could get this one over 400 comments. Good work.
Listened to McConnell’s tribute to Boehner — sounded like an obit. Reid’s was graceful, and then got interesting (although I forget just what he said)….
Anyway, I see the Orange one and the Other one (you know, the black guy responsible for all the wingnut derangement) having a good laugh over this one.
The prospect of a resigned House Speaker and a President out of f*cks to give sounds like a good situation to me.
@equs_1776: Yup. Life is too short to deal with the morons in the Tea Party and their fellow travelers.
burnspbesq
@Brachiator:
Conflating a bunch of stuff there that ought not to be conflated. Let’s unpack, shall we?
(1) It’s probably correct, as you seem to be asserting, that a more progressive tax structure (side note: it’s an open question whether U.S. Federal and State taxation, in the aggregate, is progressive, because of the hugely regressive effect of state sales taxes) won’t, in and of itself, do much to reverse the trendilne of the U.S. GIni coefficient.
But …
(2) So what? The case for progressive income taxation has never depended on any putative ability to remedy income inequality. You make an income tax progressive for one or both of two reasons: (a) you think it’s fair to tax higher incomes at higher rates, because higher income earners benefit more from the mechanisms of the state, or (b) the Willie Sutton Principle.
(3) it’s far too easy to get obsessed with income inequality and, as a result, ignore wealth inequality, which IMV is just as pernicious. If you want to do something about wealth inequality, you do it by having estate, gift, and GST taxes that people actually have to pay, with a steeply graduated rate structure. (Yes, I know I’m skating past the idea of an inter vivos wealth tax, and I justify it on grounds of bowing to political reality).
Brachiator
@burnspbesq:
Yep. My point here is that some folks seem to think that a high marginal tax rate will produce magical results with respect to restraining income inequality. They will refer to past high historical tax rates without considering or understanding the concept of effective tax rates.
Agree with you on estate taxes. One side problem here is that wealth inequality is harder to measure. IRS states deal with incomes, AGI, tax rates. Good comparisons of wealth are harder to come by.
Full metal Wingnut
@boatboy_srq: Nope. Ratzinger was not the first to resign. Just the first in a long, long time. Centuries.