Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

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

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

rich, arrogant assholes who equate luck with genius

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

This really is a full service blog.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

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

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

The poor and middle-class pay taxes, the rich pay accountants, the wealthy pay politicians.

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

Some judge needs to shut this circus down soon.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Bark louder, little dog.

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Eh, that’s media spin. biden’s health is fine and he’s doing a good job.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

You can’t attract Republican voters. You can only out organize them.

After roe, women are no longer free.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

That’s my take and I am available for criticism at this time.

You are here: Home / Nope. Still Don’t Feel Sorry For You

Nope. Still Don’t Feel Sorry For You

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Yep, still not feeling sorry for these fucking assholes:

I went back this spring just after the House passed the AHCA, the bill to repeal and replace Obamacare that would cause 23 million fewer Americans to have health coverage, according to Congressional Budget Office estimates. The optimism was gone. Resignation had replaced it.

“You know, thinking about it, I’m not even sure what I expected. I just thought it would miraculously work out wonderful for everybody,” Bobbi Smith, a 62-year-old Obamacare enrollee who voted for Trump, says. “So I guess maybe I didn’t put enough thought into what I would expect from a health care act.”

***

This includes Kathy Oller, an Obamacare enrollment worker who supported Trump in the 2016 election. She feels let down by the Republican health care plan — “If they take the expanded Medicaid away, it really, really is gonna kill Kentuckians because they won’t have health insurance,” she says — and she’s already seeing other ways that Trump health policies are hurting Kentucky. Obamacare sign-ups, she said, were slower this year, as people in Kentucky were confused about whether the health care law still existed.

But Oller doesn’t regret her vote for Trump — “I don’t have regrets,” she says plainly — and she trusts that Rogers, whom she has also voted for, knows what he’s doing. She gets most her news from his weekly emails to constituents; she cites his arguments for why the law needs to be repealed.

Maybe what this world needs is fewer Kentucky voters, which the Trump bill will most certainly help accomplish. After all, you can lead a horse to water, but you can’t stop it from yelling racial epithets and then drowning itself.

I don’t feel bad for these mother fuckers in any way, shape, or form. They didn’t think, and when they did, they came to the wrong conclusion or decided they didn’t care the Democrats were worse. Which is fine. They are free to do that. But the problem here is they are fucking me and a lot of other people, because this week, while we’re investigating Trump and Russia and Trump is agitating a war in Qatar and Iran, the Senate is working behind closed doors to screw every single American. So go fuck yourself Kathy Oller and Bobbi Smith.

Reader Interactions

295Comments

  1. 1.

    Turgidson

    but you can’t stop it from yelling racial epithets and then drowning itself.

    Top notch stuff right there.

  2. 2.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    “You know, thinking about it, I’m not even sure what I expected. I just thought it would miraculously work out wonderful for everybody,” Bobbi Smith, a 62-year-old Obamacare enrollee who voted for Trump, says. “So I guess maybe I didn’t put enough thought into what I would expect from a health care act.”

    Four words: Eat shit and die.

  3. 3.

    bystander

    As a side note: Why is anyone surprised that Dan Coats is acting like a partisan d/bag? Was he ever anyway else?

  4. 4.

    Trentrunner

    With every victory the GOP has, I will think about this woman and people like her, Trump voters, getting a strange pain in their side, an odd headache. And I will wish for them the most protracted, intractable cancer diagnosis that has insanely expensive experimental treatment that is both painful and humiliating, even while it sucks dry any assets they have.

    And then, after months or years of these drains on their finances and their hopes, I hope they die an excruciating death of bleeding and shitting to death in front of their horrified families, who are spattered like hillbilly Jackson Pollock paintings come to life with the rancid bodily fluids of their Trump-voting loved one as they writhe and scream when death finally, happily wins.

    I may be a tad angry about this.

  6. 6.

    (((CassandraLeo)))

    I’ve got no sympathy for any of ’em. No sympathy for third-party voters either, nor anyone who had the opportunity to vote for Clinton and didn’t, and frankly I don’t even have much sympathy for people who voted Clinton only after spending the whole general election trashing her. I’m stressing the fuck out about whether I’ll ever be able to afford health insurance in the future. I have no sympathy for the people who actually bear culpability for the election outcome. Fuckem, as efgoldman is fond of saying.

  9. 9.

    Jeffro

    The funny thing is, Trumpov’s stance on health care – as with most any issue, really – obviously depended upon whomever had last whispered in his ear. THAT is the thing these ignorant morons should have voted against. Not necessarily where he stood on the issues, but the fact that he doesn’t KNOW any issues, and can be made to react for or against most anything by either a) telling him Obama was against or for it, b) telling him it benefits billionaires, or c) telling him that people will adore him if he does/doesn’t do ‘X’

    The guy’s a complete idiot, unprincipled to the core, and cares only about himself…so this is who they would elevate to lead our country/the free world?!? I could care less if they were focused on his health care positions du jour (du hour, du minute). He’s the dumbest, biggest asshole the GOP could have put forward (and that’s saying something).

    So…just as I don’t really care about his positions or why these people voted him into office, I truly don’t care what takes him out of it, either.

  10. 10.

    TenguPhule

    Kathy Oller, an Obamacare enrollment worker who supported Trump in the 2016 election

    Not only did she screw herself out of healthcare, but her own job.

    These people are bound and determined to prove that Darwin was wrong through personal examples.

  11. 11.

    Bill E Pilgrim

    And just the periodic reminder which shouldn’t even be necessary but is and also won’t do a bit of good no matter how many times it’s proven:

    Trump voters weren’t working class

    According to the election study, white non-Hispanic voters without college degrees making below the median household income made up only 25 percent of Trump voters. That’s a far cry from the working-class-fueled victory many journalists have imagined.

    You can pretty much imagine that “25% of less than half the country are white and angry” would be somewhat less compelling as a subject to lavish nonstop articles and punditry about, thus the myth continues with the more adjusted for-sensationalism-not-to-mention-propaganda-purposes figures.

  14. 14.

    JMG

    I hate suffering, and if these people had screwed themselves just because they were as dumb as they obviously are, I would feel bad for them. But they’re putting on their “woebegone white folks” face for a big city reporter. In truth, they voted out of malice, out of the belief that Trump would give them stuff by taking it away from non-white people. So fuck ’em. They can ponder their white identity as their white cell count declines.

  15. 15.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I never want to hear from another Trump voter, but I assume reporters keep at it because they’re as incredulous as we are. Surely these voters will see their mistake now! But they don’t. It’s like Dr Phil asking a wife who’s been cheated on how her decisions are working out for her. She kind of knows but she keeps going back to the guy.

  16. 16.

    jacy

    Yep. Hope everyone who voted for Trump endures bankruptcy, destitution, pain, and death. And I don’t even feel guilty about it anymore. Fuck ’em.

  17. 17.

    Jeffro

    Still waiting for all the articles about Clinton voters – you know, the majority of voters? By almost 3M votes? – and how there hasn’t even been a shred of genuine outreach to them and their needs, or to bring the country together in any way. Not with president* double down, though…

  18. 18.

    TenguPhule

    because this week, while we’re investigating Trump and Russia and Trump is agitating a war in Qatar and Iran, the Senate is working behind closed doors to screw every single American.

    And who knows what next week will bring.

  19. 19.

    TenguPhule

    @jacy:

    Hope everyone who voted for Trump endures bankruptcy, destitution, pain, and death.

    And not necessarily in that order!

  20. 20.

    dmsilev

    “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.” – H. L. Mencken

  21. 21.

    JDM

    You know what, though, we should definitely make whatever changes we have to to the Democratic Party and our values to get these people to vote for our candidates.

  22. 22.

    Ruckus

    @Trentrunner:
    I’m a cancer patient. I’ll let that sink in a moment.

    I wish every dumpf voter gets cancer. Stage IV cancer. And they find this out on the last day of whatever healthcare insurance they have, work, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare, life savings. I hope they suffer horribly and die.

  23. 23.

    different-church-lady

    @TenguPhule:

    And who knows what next week will bring.

    I do: the Senate will be working behind closed doors to screw every single American.

  25. 25.

    different-church-lady

    Let’s start a pool: who will be the first to blunder in and scold us about our angry rejection of the common clay of the new west?

  27. 27.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady:

    Let’s start a pool: who will be the first to blunder in and scold us about our angry rejection of the common clay of the new west?

    Goblue72 for the under.

  29. 29.

    hovercraft

    @bystander:
    According o the villagers he is/was a respected “statesman”, twice elected senator, two different stints, a diplomat or something, and just an all around, good guy who’s being brought down by this president. He was on his way to a dignified retirement and stepped up to serve his country and now is being brought down by the Shitgibbon.

  30. 30.

    Nora

    She almost got her statement right. She should have said, “I guess I didn’t put any thought into my decision at all.” I suppose the reporter was especially pleased to find someone who had personally profited by the passage and working of Obamacare but who was still stupid enough to vote for its demise; I’d like to think people that stupid are hard to find (I’m probably wrong, but I try to be hopeful).

  32. 32.

    TenguPhule

    @different-church-lady: I’ve tried to think of what few fake scandals they smeared Obama with that haven’t already proven true for Trump.

    I think I’m down to gun-running and FEMA concentration camps.

    Anyone else recall more that haven’t already occurred with Trump?

  34. 34.

    Jeffro

    @Baud: Even invisible people would leave, like, mysterious footprints in the dirt, or the occasional empty snack food wrapper lying around. At this point, I’m not sure anyone BUT Trumpov voters voted last November.

    (Kremlin: “you’re getting warmer…”)

  37. 37.

    Mnemosyne

    @Jeffro:

    Still waiting for all the articles about Clinton voters – you know, the majority of voters? By almost 3M votes?

    I hope you have a comfy chair to wait in, because it’s gonna be a looooooong wait.

    It really is as basic as the fact that most journalists are white, so it genuinely never occurs to them to speak to anyone outside that circle. They want to hear from people like themselves, not those Others.

  38. 38.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @TenguPhule: Don’t forget the black helicopters and Agenda 21 where the pansy negro gives away national sovereignty to the UN, creating a global totalitarian state, silly!

  40. 40.

    JMG

    It is tempting to think that the big city reporters are seeking out the especially stupid and deluded Trump voters for these stories, but there have been about a billion of them now, and they’re all the same. The people willing to talk on the record (an important distinction) are either really stupid, really racist, or really both. These are the ones who still have the faith, the faith that being white will be rewarded by God in this world and the next.

  42. 42.

    Mike in NC

    Good article. “That man [Trump] has a head for business” said one clueless rural Kentucky douchebag. They all need some suffering as the Angry God intended.

  43. 43.

    TenguPhule

    @Baud:

    1) He’s shown he’s a suit of Tan.

    2) Well, with school children

    3) Okay you got me, I can never see Trump doing this one.

  44. 44.

    FlipYrWhig

    @JDM: Wry. What they think they want is The Government, which is always run by black and brown-loving liberals, to cut the free rides and welfare, and then, having done that, there will be more than enough of everything to go around for all the hardworking People Like Us. This is 100% of the reason why people who aren’t lousy stinking rich vote for Republicans and at least 75% of why the ones who ARE lousy stinking rich do. They are not changing their minds. We just need to outvote them.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:

    gives away national sovereignty to the UN, creating a global totalitarian state, silly!

    Well to Russia, who is a member of the UN security council.

    ETA: And black helicopters pre-date Obama to Clinton.

  47. 47.

    Ruckus

    @JDM:
    The only changes that can be made for these assholes to vote democratic is to change our values to agree with theirs. Two words for that. FUCK NO. There are more of us, we shouldn’t give up our values, which by the fucking way help those fucking assholes who couldn’t possibly vote for a woman or at least not vote for complete fucking moron, douchebag, dumbass. Notice that our values help them, save their lives, puts more money in their pockets and is far better for jobs. And they voted against all that. And if we had an actual democracy we would have won. So FUCK THEM, FUCK THEIR HORSES, I hope they get sick and die.

  49. 49.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Quinerly: That’s Mulvaney. I don’t have to read anything but the headline to know this is a Mulvaney idea.

  50. 50.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: Actually there was a gun walking case where the ATF stepped on it again a month or so ago in Florida. Jacksonville I think.

  51. 51.

    different-church-lady

    @JDM:

    You know what, though, we should definitely make whatever changes we have to to the Democratic Party and our values to get these people to vote for our candidates.

    So then, the new Democratic Party platform:
    * Brown people are your enemy
    * Black people are your enemy
    * Poor people are your enemy
    * Muslims are your enemy

  53. 53.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro:

    The funny thing is, Trumpov’s stance on health care – as with most any issue, really – obviously depended upon whomever had last whispered in his ear.

    On a lot of things, yeah. He knows nothing about the issues involved in, say, moving the US Embassy to Jerusalem. So the last person who talks to him is going to have an outsized influence.

    But on some things, like Obamacare, it doesn’t matter what the facts and the impact of destroying it would be, he wants it gone. Obama made a fool out of him, so Obama’s legacy has to be destroyed.

    MJ: Donald Trump is completely obsessed with revenge

    […]

    At the second presidential debate, GOP nominee Donald Trump went where no major candidate has gone: He vowed that if elected he would prosecute and imprison his opponent. This promise was a pure act of vengeance and drew much scorn. But Trump’s supporters, who have long rallied around the “lock her up” meme, embraced his declaration. Days later, Trump expanded on his pledge: He said he would also throw Clinton’s lawyers into the hoosegow. And after the New York Times and other media published the accounts of women who said they had been groped, grabbed, and kissed against their will by Trump, the former reality television star threatened payback against his accusers and the press. Next he attacked GOP House Speaker Paul Ryan after the top Republican dared to suggest that the US electoral system worked fine while Trump was claiming it was rigged against him.

    Donald J. Trump ✔ @realDonaldTrump
    “Revenge is sweet and not fattening.” – Alfred Hitchcock
    4:53 PM – 15 Dec 2014

    Revenge—it’s a big part of Trump’s life. Following the first presidential debate, he spent days of valuable campaign time (and hours of valuable sleep time) slamming Alicia Machado, the former Miss Universe. At other times during this contest, he could not let go of his feud with Rosie O’Donnell. He tried to smear Judge Gonzalo Curiel, the American-born federal judge hearing a fraud case against Trump University, as a “Mexican” unqualified to preside over this litigation. For days, he derided Khizr and Ghazala Khan, the parents of an Army captain killed in Iraq, after Khizr criticized him during a speech at the Democratic convention. He launched misogynistic attacks against Carly Fiorina and Megyn Kelly. Rather than attempt to unify his party after a divisive primary fight, he threatened to finance future campaigns against GOP rivals, most notably Ohio Gov. John Kasich. He encouraged violence against protesters at his rallies. And there were the mean and nasty nicknames: Lyin’ Ted, Little Marco. Why all the insults, bullying, and grudge matches? There is a reason. Trump fervently believes in retaliation. How do we know? Because he has said numerous times that he is driven by revenge and that it is a basic tool to use in business. He is obsessed with payback.

    In speeches and public talks, Trump has repeatedly expressed his fondness for retribution. In 2011, he addressed the National Achievers Congress in Sydney, Australia, to explain how he had achieved his success. He noted there were a couple of lessons not taught in business school that successful people must know. At the top of the list was this piece of advice: “Get even with people. If they screw you, screw them back 10 times as hard. I really believe it.”

    […]

    It’s not just stupid. He’s vengeful.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  55. 55.

    TenguPhule

    Ben Carson, truly Trump’s rival when it comes to saying stupid shit.

    Ben Carson, a neurosurgeon and the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, has defended massive cuts to his own agency , saying “we have to stop the bleeding if we’re going to get healing”.

    Speaking before a Senate committee, he offered no objections to the budget proposed by the Trump administration, which envisions a funding reduction of $7.4bn compared to 2017, or almost 15%. In a surprising turn, Carson praised the work of a federal homelessness agency that the Trump budget eliminates.

    Every stereotype of a stupid man of color, Ben Carson obligingly provides. Every single one.

  59. 59.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @Joe Falco:

    I still have my regrets voting for Bernie in the Georgia primary.

    Heretic! Burn him at the stake!

  65. 65.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Jeffro:

    Good god damned point! Zero outreach to HRC voters, except maybe from BS voters who here and there are still reaching out with extended middle fingers.

  68. 68.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Baud: John Cole is interested as well. This is not the first time he has written a post about it. The best way to deal with T voters is to ignore them. I don’t need to know what they think for the nth time.

  69. 69.

    JMG

    @Another Scott: What goes around, comes around. When he leaves office, one way or the other, a Democratic administration will be bound by its voters to make sure the miserable fuck spends the rest of his life in prison. The thing about revenge, you can never be sure you bat last.

  71. 71.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Has Trump worn a tan suit?
    Too fattening.

    Has Trump given a video address to school children?
    He met with Aryan kids today in Ohio.

    Has Trump eaten arugula?
    He doesn’t eat anything green, it would upset his delicate palate, maybe if you dipped in batter and deep fried it.

  72. 72.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    Obama made a fool out of him, so Obama’s legacy has to be destroyed.

    They’ll never truly succeed. Most Americans know better these days, even if too little too late. They’ll can’t mind wipe us. And as sad it would be for millions to begin losing coverage in 2019, myself probably included, that can be used as cudgel in 2020 and beyond, if people face real consequences for their actions.

  78. 78.

    Jeffro

    @Another Scott:
    My original comment:

    he doesn’t KNOW any issues, and can be made to react for or against most anything by either a) telling him Obama was against or for it, b) telling him it benefits billionaires, or c) telling him that people will adore him if he does/doesn’t do ‘X’

    So, yeah, option ‘A’

  80. 80.

    Major Major Major Major

    Maybe what this world needs is fewer Kentucky voters, which the Trump bill will most certainly help accomplish.

    No matter how few Kentucky voters there are they’ll still get as many senators as California. Le sigh.

  83. 83.

    rk

    @Jeffro:

    Still waiting for all the articles about Clinton voters – you know, the majority of voters?

    Well according to one of the stupid Trump kids, they’re not even human. Only thing he didn’t say was that they should be put down like one of the animals that he hunts.

  84. 84.

    bystander

    @hovercraft:

    …now is being brought down by the Shitfgibbon

    As well as Dan Coats may be. A perfectly fitting ending to Coats’s career.

  86. 86.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Baud:

    True. It seems you can assemble a hundred of anything (doctors, football players, Lutheran ministers, biologists…)

    27% will be morons.

    Of course, some groups may have more idiots, bigots, misogynists, etc… GOP voters come to mind.

  88. 88.

    Ruckus

    @JPL:
    Read it? Unless I’m missing something, an alternate understanding of english perhaps, not only did I read it, I wrote it. Yes it’s a bit longer than THIS!, but I felt there are more than enough pixels to accommodate both.

  91. 91.

    Yoda Dog

    @Joe Falco: Wilmer was fine before he declined to accept defeat and help defeat the fascist toddler. His behavior since this has been fucking despicable though. Fuck that guy.

  92. 92.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @rk: Or even more darkly in concentration camps.
    Dehumanization. Literally what Hitler did

  93. 93.

    Adam L Silverman

    @schrodingers_cat: Mom is not going to be happy to hear that. Neither are the alte kakers at the Elders meeting next week. I’m not sure if this will have to be covered in old or new business, but it is clearly going to impact our world domination plans.

  98. 98.

    Jeffro

    @Adam L Silverman: OMG, how’d I ever miss that. one. article. that came out in early June, seven months after the election?

    I’m not knocking you of course, Adam…just double- or triple-eyerolling the media at this point…where were/are the articles about the majority (now approaching ‘vast’ majority) that had to settle for rule by a political minority at best, which at this point has essentially devolved into an abusive marriage with some discount Corleone? (and one owned by even seedier thugs at that?)

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There is no reason to resort to stereotypes.

    No offense meant, that is literally one of the only two things Trump thinks they’re good for.

    ETA: Sorry, Poe’s law varient.

  101. 101.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: I know, I was just being a smartass and playing out the snark. So no worries. I’ll go back and put sarc tags on that.

  102. 102.

    TenguPhule

    @Peale:

    do you honestly expect the Dems to try to do healthcare reform again before 50 million actual voters are without insurance? They got 0 credit for what they did.

    Credit, hell. They got PUNISHED for their good deed.

  103. 103.

    piratedan

    apparently Ms. Oller was so busy being white that she forgot that she was also a person….

  105. 105.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @Ruckus:

    Call me a pearl clutcher, but does such rage hurt you more than it does them?

    Yes, I fucking despise them, too, and I sometimes give in to that anger by yelling at Mara Liassen, Mark Halprin, Hannity, et al. But too much of that turns your guts to acid, which works at us from deep inside.

    Take time off to point and laugh at them, too, and to GOTV.

    *I feel quite certain, Ruckus, that you do those positive things, else you wouldn’t be here!

  106. 106.

    Chris

    I’ll say it over and over: I can forgive stupidity, I can’t forgive malice. Those people didn’t vote for Trump because they thought he’d make their lives better. They did it because they thought he’d make our lives worse. That he’s also doing to them what they wanted to do to us is the only richly deserved part of this whole disaster.

  111. 111.

    hovercraft

    @TenguPhule:
    So I’ve decided he’s an idiot savant. He was a brilliant neurosurgeon, but a complete and utter moron in every other regard. Also a very useful house …………
    He’ll have to try much harder to become Massa’s favorite though, Clarence Thomas is well established in that role.

  113. 113.

    joel hanes

    @Thoughtful David:

    Darwin’s evolution actually requires that the stupid ones die.

    Misconception.

    What matters is the number of descendants in the grandchild and following generations.
    If you win by that metric, you win evolution — doesn’t matter when you die.

  118. 118.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @Peale: We just need better PR is all and a greater willingness to be louder and more aggressive. If 2018 doesn’t go well and Dems win presidency in 2020 they’ll be hamstrung anyways. It’s an issue that can be used to beat Republicans over the head with to win elections. I never said it wasn’t going to get worse before it gets better. It will.

    If enough people get fucked over, and Dems can convince enough voters that the GOP is at fault, they could win back control and bring affordable healthcare back. Maybe even some form of single payer if things shift enough. Who knows what the polticial landscape will look like 5-10 years from now

  122. 122.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?:

    Who knows what the polticial landscape will look like 5-10 years from now

    At this point in time I’m worried what the literal landscape is going to look like by then.

    Between the EPA getting gutted and the move to try and sell off as much public land as possible before the jig is up, America promises to look very different in the future.

  123. 123.

    Adam L Silverman

    @different-church-lady: I honestly think the party basically needs to find qualified, which there are plenty of, people of color, especially women, and get them to run for office up and down the ticket from municipal special districts to the presidency in every election and in every district. They get first crack if they want it. And then support them to the hilt. Find qualified people to run their campaigns and do their strategic comms and serve on their staffs. And marry this to a platform that benefits everyone and is delineated in clear, concise language that is hard to twist and to misconstrue and just hammer the messaging over and over and over.

  125. 125.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @TenguPhule: I think all of that is going to contribute to a backlash that not even voter suppression or oligarch funded propaganda will be able to overcome

  127. 127.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    And marry this to a platform that benefits everyone and is delineated in clear, concise language that is hard to twist and to misconstrue

    And would you like a unicorn to go with that too?

  132. 132.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    @different-church-lady:

    Yeah, saw the pool after responding to Ruckus.

    Still worry though about the effect of bile though…. Don’t let’s roll over and pee on ourselves with impotent worry over sounding shrill. Just don’t poison yourself with rage.

  133. 133.

    Camembert

    @JMG:

    Democratic administration will be bound by its voters

    Or it could refer to us as fucking retards. But let’s hope your version is the new thing we actually go by.

  134. 134.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @TenguPhule: True. But it is what is. Just more cleanup and rebuilding that will have to be done.

    Rome wasn’t built in a day

  136. 136.

    MoxieM

    @Iowa Old Lady: That’s a hella shitty analogy. I’m a formerly cheated-on spouse, and I can tell you that I had Not. One. Clue. Being lied to your face very convincingly will do that–cheaters are entitled narcissistic, selfish cowards. It was not my fault, and none of my doing. If someone makes innumerable decisions to betray and steal from a family who are committed to love and support that person. Well, It’s fucking hard, let me tell you. Worse than any of the other catastrophes in my life. Waaay worse, and like most ~ 60 year olds, I’ve had my share. But I promise you, that I didn’t “go back”, and I am nothing like a dumb ass Trump voter, and I resent the fuck out of that analogy. It’s called blaming the victim. For example: “that guy who got mugged…why did he keep getting up and walking down the street to go to work? what a moran! Just like a Trump voter.” Uhh, no. Trump voters made selfish, racist, stupid, racist, poorly thought out, racist, hateful and racist decisions. It’s nothing like being (actually) psychologically abused for years. Nothing at all.

  137. 137.

    James Powell

    We Democrats can never hope to get these people to vote for them.

    We are the party of the Ns, the Fs, and the Bs. They hate us.

  139. 139.

    Another Scott

    @Jeffro: It doesn’t matter what the details are – as you say, and I agree, he doesn’t care about details. He wants Obamacare gone. Because he’s vengeful.

    The Teabaggers could simply change the name of the PPACA to Great Leader Trump’s American Best HealthCare in the World Act (GLTABHCWA) and he’d be fine with it. But Obamacare has to go, as far as Donnie is concerned.

    IOW, we’re talking past each other a little. :-)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  140. 140.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Baud: That’s exactly what I was thinking. How many more years of this are we going to endure. There has been zero obsession over President Obama voters or Secretary Clinton voters.

  143. 143.

    JPL

    @Ruckus: I was asking about the Raw Story link that Quinerly had. I’m enraged by Trump’s actions and those of his supporters. Truthfully, they don’t give a shit about anyone but themselves.

  145. 145.

    Adam L Silverman

    @TenguPhule: What you all do in your private time, provided everyone is a consenting adult, is y’all’s business. I do not need to know it. No one needs to know it!

  146. 146.

    efgoldman

    @hovercraft:

    According o the villagers he is/was a respected “statesman”, twice elected senator, two different stints, a diplomat or something, and just an all around, good guy

    You’re kidding, right? Coats was, is and will always be a bog-standard Indiana RWNJ hack.

  147. 147.

    MomSense

    I called Senator Collins’ office (voicemail) and begged. I begged her not to vote for the Republican bill. Then I cried.

  148. 148.

    Yoda Dog

    @Adam L Silverman: Hell fucking yes. Between the B-bros and the trumplicans, I am fucking over the vast majority of white guys forever. (FULL DISCLOSURE: Im a white guy..)

    To your point, I’m rooting very hard for Senator Harris, both tomorrow at the hearing and going forward. I love her. She is everything our party needs in a leader right now, imho.

  149. 149.

    BBA

    It is a deep flaw in the Constitution that we can’t just deny white people the vote.

  153. 153.

    efgoldman

    @Nora:

    I’d like to think people that stupid are hard to find

    Nope. Just go to rural Ohio, PA. IN, MO…. and swing a dead cat. You’ll hit at least a dozen of ’em.

  154. 154.

    TenguPhule

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What you all do in your private time, provided everyone is a consenting adult, is y’all’s business. I do not need to know it. No one needs to know it!

    It has four limbs and a pair of wings, what more do you want?

  155. 155.

    Baud

    @Adam L Silverman:

    What you all do in your private time, provided everyone is a consenting adult, is y’all’s business. I do not need to know it. No one needs to know it!

    Wait, I thought we were going to try to be more like Republicans.

  160. 160.

    Patricia Kayden

    @MomSense: Sadly I wouldn’t count on Collins to do the right thing. I believe she’s voted in support of Trump on pretty much everything even when she’s expressed skepticism beforehand. Cannot stand her.

  164. 164.

    TenguPhule

    @MomSense:

    I begged her not to vote for the Republican bill. Then I cried.

    You do realize she’s going to be using your message for self pleasure, right?

  166. 166.

    TenguPhule

    @Patricia Kayden:

    If only we could limit the suffering to just Trump supporters but alas.

    I believe its still legal to discriminate based on political party preference.

  171. 171.

    ? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?

    @TenguPhule: What do you want me to say? That no one is going to get hurt? I’d be lying if I did. I’m just trying say that not all is lost and that there is a way out of this. Neither Trump or the GOP are as invincible as they’d like us to believe. Everything ends; even cults of personality and political parties

  173. 173.

    Mary G

    Somebody’s worried about his criminal case. Link is to the Guardian.

    Greg Gianforte, the Montana Republican who assaulted a Guardian journalist on the eve of his election to the US House of Representatives, has issued a full and unequivocal apology to the reporter and agreed to donate $50,000 to the Committee to Protect Journalists.

    The congressman-elect apologized to the reporter, Ben Jacobs, in a letter received late on Wednesday as part of an agreement that settles any potential civil claims.

    “My physical response to your legitimate question was unprofessional, unacceptable, and unlawful,” Gianforte wrote. “As both a candidate for office and a public official, I should be held to a high standard in my interactions with the press and the public. My treatment of you did not meet that standard.”

    The discussion of the false version first put out by his campaign is a masterpiece of very expensive damage control and evasion:

    “Notwithstanding anyone’s statements to the contrary, you did not initiate any physical contact with me, and I had no right to assault you,” he wrote. “I am sorry for what I did and the unwanted notoriety this has created for you. I take full responsibility.”

    It’s a mystery why anyone would think you were accused of starting the fight!

    The kicker’s at the end:

    On 2 June, a coalition of press freedom organizations filed a complaint with congressional ethics officials asking that Gianforte be investigated and disciplined for the assault. Gianforte did not respond to a Guardian request for comment that day, but did file papers for a 2018 re-election campaign.

  174. 174.

    Davebo

    @Patricia Kayden:

    Collins is a female version of McCain. She’ll furrow her brow, express deep concerns then vote either the way she’s told to or the way she planned to all along.

  176. 176.

    efgoldman

    @TenguPhule:

    Every stereotype of a stupid man of color, Ben Carson obligingly provides. Every single one

    No need to bring color into it; he embodies the stereotype of every stupid man, just like his boss.

  178. 178.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka Junior G-Man) ? ?: Not picking on you or anything, but provided we win, there is still a lot of work ahead. And some of it is going to be lost for good anyway even in the best outcome. Don’t want it forgotten, that’s all.

  180. 180.

    geg6

    Fuck these assholes and fuck any media that give them the spotlight. They should all eat shit and die. I hate them and I’ll hate them forever.

  181. 181.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Davebo: @Baud: Reminds me of the brilliant McSweeney’s reporting on the Winners and Losers of the Recent Nuclear Holocaust.

    WINNERS: Congressional Republicans: Widespread destruction aside, this was a kumbaya moment for a caucus that has had its share of family spats of late… Concerns that a more deliberative Senate would splash cold water on a rare show of Republican unity proved unfounded when Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), the human fulcrum perched stoically at the precise center of American politics, revealed in a nationally televised special that she would vote to authorize nuclear war to balance out the fact that she had recently broken ranks with her party on an agriculture appropriations bill.

  185. 185.

    tobie

    I was so despondent today after the Coats/Rogers/McCabe/Rosenstein hearing in the morning and the GOP spin on Comey’s opening statement, that I wrote a letter for my mother instead to fax to her Republican Senator. I’m pasting it below if anyone wants a little push to contact their GOP senator. FaxZero is a really useful tool.

    ***********************************************
    I am a proud resident of Florida. I am also a proud mother of two and grandmother of two. Three of my children and grandchildren purchase health insurance on the individual market. I am extremely worried about the healthcare they will receive if the Affordable Care Act is repealed and replaced with the AHCA. As the Congressional Budget Office has shown:
    1. At least 23 million Americans will lose health insurance if the AHCA passes.
    2. Premiums will rise over the next ten years and especially for those 50 and over, which applies to my two daughters.
    3. Block granting Medicaid payments will leave millions of struggling Americans without health insurance, which will lead to public health crises in turn.
    4. Removing protections for people with pre-existing conditions will effectively price them out of the market.
    5. Repealing the Essential Health Benefits provisions will result in health insurance policies that cover virtually nothing and are not worth the paper they are printed on.
    The AHCA puts the lives of countless Americans at risk. Do the right thing. Strengthen the ACA. Your colleagues in the Senate have many wise ideas about how this could be accomplished (for instance, allowing Medicare to negotiate drug prices). The AHCA neither expands coverage nor improves health care. Do not vote for it.

  186. 186.

    Corner Stone

    @geg6:

    Fuck these assholes and fuck any media that give them the spotlight. They should all eat shit and die. I hate them and I’ll hate them forever.

    Hmmm…yes. Yes.

  190. 190.

    jacy

    @mainmata:

    I understand the reason for the sentiment but that’s just morally wrong to want.

    Nope — I don’t think it’s morally wrong to want. It would be morally wrong to ACT TO MAKE IT HAPPEN. But it is definitely not morally wrong to want. I had cancer. I would be dead, literally, without the ACA. My children would be motherless. I’ve had 53 years of trying to be empathetic to everyone — even the worst people. But I’ve had that burned out of me by these people. It makes me feel good to hate them, because that anger would have to go somewhere else if I didn’t. I’m not a bad person, but they’ve just exhausted my mental goodwill and I will save it for someone else.

  192. 192.

    ArchTeryx

    And this is just why I’ve been celebrating almost nonstop at getting this job, because my state health insurance is likely going to kick in just as my Medicaid is taken away. I have my lifeboat seat. How many tens of millions don’t, and how many hundreds of thousands will simply die?

    Cancer don’t check party registration. Democrats and Republicans will die together from lack of health care. All sacrificed to the Moloch that drives the Republican party – the unholy offspring of Greed, Malice and Spite.

  193. 193.

    Mary G

    @Adam L Silverman: No, that’s the full and final settlement of any and all civil claims. Plus the GoFundMe that someone started to get him a new pair of glasses took in $7,500 and he’s also donating that to CPJ as well. Ben Jacobs is much nicer person than I am. I’d have taken it to trial, refusing any and all offers of settlement, just for the discovery process, even knowing that a Montana jury wouldn’t give me squat. I’m pretty sure Greg’s got more violent episodes in his closet.

  197. 197.

    hovercraft

    @Baud:
    Are you sure? She frequently expresses concern and or disapproval and then turns round and votes with the evil turtle, so she may be a POW or maybe a hostage suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

  198. 198.

    Neldob

    Maybe billboards are a way to communicate with these voters. Sort of some basic information, like Republicans want to end Medicare and Social Security, vote for x who supports it. Or flyers at the grocery store that look like a Nat’l Enquired.

  199. 199.

    ArchTeryx

    @Baud: It’s a pretty crappy job for a PhD, but a) it’s a state job, b) it’s permanent – not temporary, and c) it comes with full benefits. Which means health insurance.

    That’s my lifeboat, so long as I pass my year’s probation. Going to be a very tight and very stressful year, but once it’s over, I’m in the state for life.

  201. 201.

    Yoda Dog

    @geg6: Here, here.

    I, for one, don’t wish them to all die face down in a mudpuddle. I just wish them justice. Whether or not those two things dovetail is none of my concern.

  205. 205.

    Mary G

    @ArchTeryx: I missed that you got hired, congratulations. I too am privileged to be personally insulated from the nightmare that the ACHA is going to unleash on the poor and sick, probably, but I have an imagination.

  208. 208.

    Citizen Alan

    @mainmata:

    I don’t give a s***. These animals will murder your children for a laugh. They have forfeited any right to common decency. Don’t coddle them.

  209. 209.

    rikyrah

    Key GOP centrists open to ending Medicaid expansion
    06/07/17 05:20 PM EDT

    GOP moderates in the Senate are open to ending federal funding for ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion, but want a longer deadline for ending the additional funding than their leadership has proposed.

    Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) have proposed a seven-year phase-out of federal funding for the Medicaid expansion, beginning in 2020 and ending in 2027.

    Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) proposed a shorter, three-year phase-out that would end in 2023 at the Senate lunch on Tuesday.

    http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/336814-key-gop-centrists-open-to-ending-medicaid-expansion

  211. 211.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Someone asked earlier if Trump will be live-tweeting. He’s at least going to watch the Comey testimony.

  212. 212.

    ArchTeryx

    @Tilda Swintons Bald Cap: Not happy for those who didn’t find seats on a lifeboat as the ship sinks from under them. I’m no less a health care evangelist now then I was when it was my ox getting ready to be slaughtered. At least this way, I can keep fighting the fuckers instead of dying a protracted and lonely death.

  218. 218.

    JPL

    @Cheryl Rofer: That’s unfortunate for the DC bar that is going to buy rounds of drinks for every time he tweets about Comey. There could be several tweets in that two hour period.

  220. 220.

    Mnemosyne

    @MoxieM:

    It’s nothing like being (actually) psychologically abused for years. Nothing at all.

    I disagree with you a bit, but it will require me to scrape up a tiny bit of compassion for Trump voters. I think a lot of them probably are abuse survivors, particularly emotional abuse, and Trump’s constant lying and self-aggrandizement seems normal to them, because that’s what Mommy or Daddy was like.

    They’ve basically been told all their lives that they need to sacrifice their own well-being to keep Mommy or Daddy happy, and the Republicans came along and pushed those exact same buttons. It’s not a coincidence that the one cousin of mine that I know voted for Trump was raised by a narcissistic mother.

  223. 223.

    ken

    @Jeffro: There have been articles and reporting about the Clinton voters: all the marches and protests. And we’re mad. Also, I think the media is waiting for a comeback story, so you don’t get “Clinton voters” you get articles about the special elections, Ossoff and Quint and Perriello….

  227. 227.

    jl

    @JPL:
    ” That’s unfortunate for the DC bar that is going to buy rounds of drinks for every time he tweets about Comey. There could be several tweets in that two hour period. ”

    Several? God knows how many Trump will pump out. Sounds like a risk of one of those mass alcohol poisonings they have in Russia (RUSSIA!!??). Anyway, local public health authorities should be on alert tomorrow morning.

  228. 228.

    efgoldman

    @MomSense:

    I called Senator Collins’ office (voicemail) and begged. I begged her not to vote for the Republican bill.

    I’m sure she’ll have some aide tell you she’s very “concerned” and has some “doubts”.
    And when voting time comes, she’ll do whatever Yertle McTurtle needs/wants her to do.
    Gawd, how can you STAND her?
    Is she really gonna’ run for governor? I suppose she’ll appear to be a great relief after two terms with Governor Mucilage.

  229. 229.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    This would be (at least approved by) Mitt Romney’s niece, George’s granddaughter, part of the old school Republican establishment and one of those Mormons we sometimes hear want no truck with President Grabber?

    Michael C. Bender‏Verified account @ MichaelCBender
    60-some RNC staffers—including some in windowless room in HQ clipping video—to lead anti-Comey push for White House

    I think this is a mistake, then I think, what percentage of the country knows who Comey is and what’s going on tomorrow? 35%? 40%?

  231. 231.

    KhefnNoKY

    Somewhere long ago I found the gov’t site that showed Hal Rodgers’ 6th Congressional district is like the number 3 Congressional district receiving federal aid of all cong. districts. His bringing home the bacon and being re-elected while keeping them stupid. These people hate. These people are perpetually, generationally on the draw. These people are vengeful. These people are slighted that the lazy blacks in Rep. John Yarmouth’s Louisville district receive the same federal benefits they deserve more.
    After Years of their hate toward PBO & Beshear, they elected Matt Bevin because some county clerks refused to sign marriage certificates. They are unsalvageable.
    As they favor, lessons are only learned the hard way. Let them find the resources locally to deal with generational poverty. Let them find locally the money to fight and heal the opioid crisis in the hollers. Let them line up in the darkness at an abandoned strip mall or grocery to receive free health, dental and eye care.
    I will donate what I can to charities to help. I will continue to donate furniture and house goods to Father Beiting’s Appalachian Mission so they have a place to sit or lay their head or a spoon to eat from. But I have no intention to assist people who have doom themselves and taken the my child and the rest of this country down the sh!thole bc they hated PBO and this pres*dent is determined to erase Obama’s work.
    And I still want to deck every last Bernie or Stine supporter.

  232. 232.

    efgoldman

    @Baud:

    And she’s not even a POW.

    No, but she’s had RWNJ capture Stockholm syndrome for years and years and years and…..

  237. 237.

    jl

    @Sab: Don’t venture out into that smoking, cratered, hellhole of no-man’s-land in the great Hillary-Bernie war. You’ll be cut down in a second. Makes Verdun look like an ice-cream social.

  240. 240.

    Redshift

    My reply to Klein:

    And? Since helping them didn’t earn their support & they won’t abandon their tribe, what can we do other than shame them into not voting?

    I think that’s a pretty decent practical argument in favor of mockery. Is there any actual argument against, other than that it might make them feel bad?

  242. 242.

    MomSense

    @efgoldman:

    Mary Mayhew resigned from DHS and announced she is running for Governor. She’s a horror show but no match for Collins should she decide to run.

    @jl:

    I’ve left every kind of voicemail imaginable – indognant, angry, incredulous, frustrated, resolved, etc. Mostly I get a message saying her voicemail is full.

    I don’t know what to do anymore. I don’t know if anyone listens to the professional left podcast here but bluegal said something really important. The Republicans are now known by teens and young children as the party that makes their moms cry. It’s so true.

  245. 245.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Davebo: Collins is a female version of McCain. She’ll furrow her brow, express deep concerns then vote either the way she’s told to or the way she planned to all along.

    Wouldn’t surprise me if she actually thinks she’s giving careful thought to every issue, considering it from all angles, then votes the way Mitch wants her to every time.

  249. 249.

    efgoldman

    @rikyrah:

    Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) have proposed a seven-year phase-out of federal funding for the Medicaid expansion, beginning in 2020 and ending in 2027.

    Of course they do. Gets the greedy assholes thru at least one more election cycle before the fuckheads who voted for them realize what’s happened.

    [BTW, this idea was actually floated while Boehner was still speaker, and the house was passing a new repeal bill every other week, but the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging flying monkeys wanted all or nothing]

  250. 250.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Of course, they wouldn’t need to pass polygraph waivers if the Congress actually provide enough funding to clear the backlog and keep up with the workload.

    This reminds me of a story I heard on ATC yesterday:

    […]

    GEOFF BENNETT, BYLINE: Let’s meet Raymond Delgado. He’s a 68-year-old Marine Corps vet.

    RAYMOND DELGADO: I served in Vietnam. I was in the Marine Corps from 1966 to 1969.

    BENNETT: Delgado is diabetic, and he has heart problems. He says a year ago, he was admitted to the VA’s West Los Angeles Medical Center for an angiogram procedure. And during his weekend-long stay…

    DELGADO: They ran out of food to feed us.

    BENNETT: He was sharing a hospital room with three other veterans.

    DELGADO: Things we were supposed to eat, they didn’t have it. They said they were out of it, out of it, out of it, out of it. So they bought us potatoes, small potatoes. I told the gentleman, I can’t eat potatoes. I’m a diabetic. He said, well, that’s all you’re going to get.

    BENNETT: Delgado says he was discharged due to the food shortage, and he had to wait more than a month to get that angiogram rescheduled.

    DELGADO: It’s frustrating. It’s frustrating, you know?

    BENNETT: It’s a shared frustration. Montana Senator Jon Tester teamed up with Republican senators Johnny Isakson and Marco Rubio to craft legislation to reform the VA. Tester is the top Democrat on the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.

    […]

    DAN CALDWELL: It’s a system that is failing the VA, making it harder to bring in better employees and also keeping bad employees around in jobs where they can often harm veterans.

    BENNETT: Caldwell’s group supports the Senate legislation. Leading the opposition is the union that represents VA employees. The union argues that the VA’s most pressing problem isn’t culture or management. It’s manpower. VA Secretary David Shulkin says there are 49,000 vacancies at the department. J. David Cox is president of the American Federation for Government Employees. He says if you want to fix the VA, start by shoring up the staff.

    J DAVID COX: To fill the 49,000 vacancies that’s existing at the VA today that Congress has already appropriated the money for so that, number one, there wouldn’t be the waitlist so that veterans could receive the care that they deserve – that would be true accountability.

    BENNETT: The lawmakers backing the bill acknowledge the VA’s hospitals and clinics do need to add thousands more employees and make them more accountable. Geoff Bennett, NPR News, the Capitol.

    “Reform” and “protecting whistleblowers” and “making it easier to fire bad employees” is all well and good (depending on what is meant by “bad employees”, of course), but what about the obvious question?

    Why wasn’t there enough food at the hospital?

    Why are there 49,000 vacancies?

    Maybe the main problem with the VA is lack of funding? How about some more money?? It’s kind of amazing how well a system can work if it is given adequate funding to accomplish its mission…

    (sigh)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  251. 251.

    Yoda Dog

    @Sab: Well if we’re exchanging anecdotes, then most all of the bros I know bitched and moaned all the way til November that Bernie got screwed, the DNC fixed the race and HRC was impure of progressive gravitas…. or something.

  252. 252.

    Ladyraxterinok

    @Quinerly: Èach day we painfully relearn that there are no depths to which they will not sink. Ìf we were to pray that God would open their hearts to the pain and suffering of real people–and that in fact was done–I think there would be an epidemic of death by heart attack.

  254. 254.

    West of the Rockies (been a while)

    Just read on NPR a story of angry shareholders of a zoo in China feeding a live donkey to tigers to protest a lack of returns on their investment.

    Ugh. Human beings everywhere are capable of being utterly reprehensible.

  255. 255.

    jl

    @MomSense: Sorry to hear about your experience with Collins. Hope that you got some response from her. I can understand your frustration and despair.

    One thing about DiFi, is that I do get a response almost always obviously a form letter, but at least a relevant response every time I issue a constituent instruction. Sometimes within a few days, on other topics, might be weeks later.

    I recently i sent a response to a response, informing her that she was not following my constituent instructions, and was hopelessly wrong and a no good miserable excuse for a Senator. Looks like some staffer put my on all her mailing lists in revenge.

  256. 256.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Another Scott: There are 49,000 vacancies because of the sequester. These positions are on the official Table of Distributed Allowances (TDA – the shedule/list of existing positions at any specific Federal workplace). But because of the sequester a lot of them aren’t filled. Largely because the funding is held up or is being temporarily reallocated to pay for other things. In other cases it is because the VA has gotten a bad reputation – fairly or unfairly – and has trouble finding personnel. In other cases the flash to bang between application, interview, initial offer, final offer with on board date, and the actual proposed on board date takes so long that people take other jobs because they have to pay bills.

    As for the food issue: I have no idea.

  257. 257.

    Mary G

    @MomSense: The children are watching. Hang in there. We have to face some awful losses, but we can’t give up and we can limit the damage. Have you tried tweeting? I’m enjoying bugging Darrell Issa.

  259. 259.

    MoxieM

    @Mnemosyne: Nearly everyone I know in similar circ.s to me–surprisingly quite a few, of many genders, has been deeply triggered by the election and subsequent shitstorms of the *resident. Deeply so. Many of us have CPTSD from years of psychological abuse, but it tends to teach us skills to spot the narc! (like a really crappy midway game…) less so make us vulnerable to the blandishments and manipulation. I guess if you’re vulnerable, it’s the consequence of an unexamined life, tant pis. And, I don’t feel in the least sorry for folks who voted that way and will suffer.

  260. 260.

    Mnemosyne

    @Sab:

    Nobody is mad at people just because they preferred Sanders in the primary. We’re only mad at the ones who continue to insist that he didn’t really lose, it was all a set-up by the Evil DNC and Crooked Hillary, who totally fixed the race so Sanders would lose by 3 million votes.

  261. 261.

    Starfish

    @rikyrah: Those tests should be waived for everyone. They are bullshit that make sure those jobs are filled with white people who look like the people giving the lie detector tests.

  262. 262.

    J R in WV

    @(((CassandraLeo))):

    I worked my ass off making phone calls into Ohio for Hillary, and contributed on a regular draw-down schedule… you can do that now, tell Act-Blue to suck yea much money weekly or or monthly, etc.

    I contributed to congressional candidates too, always do, some first-timers, some running for higher office, congresswomen running for the Senate, etc. But mostly worked for Hillary. I had signs in the back windows for a while, but found that they interfered with my vision making turns and backing and such. Probably didn’t matter anyway, solid red state, after all.

  263. 263.

    efgoldman

    @KhefnNoKY:

    I still want to deck every last Bernie or Stine supporter.

    Satisfying, but too quick. They should all lose their jobs, their scholarships, mummy and daddy’s nice house they live in…
    Let them live like the people who actually USE AND NEED the ACA,

    Fuckem

  264. 264.

    Another Scott

    @Adam L Silverman: Thanks, but that doesn’t really answer the question (even though it is the correct answer).

    Why is the sequester still impacting things in the Federal Budget? Because the Teabagger Congress cannot do its job.

    The VA (and all the other government departments) are not going to be fixed by “reforms” that “protect whistleblowers” and “ease firing of bad employees” when the problems are mainly due to lack of staff and lack of resources.

    The ATC story did not leave me better informed about problems with the VA nor how the legislation was going to fix things. Will it improve the hiring backlog? Will it eliminate the problems of diabetics not being able to eat on the weekends? It doesn’t seem like it…

    IOW, the VA story (like the polygraph exceptions story) is another illustration of the problems the Teabaggers have unleashed on America. But the reporter was unwilling to give us the big picture, or address obvious questions in the report.

    Thanks.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  265. 265.

    efgoldman

    @jl:

    Make it clear you are telling those miserable so-and-so what to do.

    I’ve got two true blue senators, and a Jewish, gay congresscritter with an Italian name. I let them know how I feel from time to time, but I don’t need to beg, cajole, or demand. They know what the right thing is, and they do it.

  266. 266.

    efgoldman

    @Adam L Silverman:

    As for the food issue: I have no idea.

    When i was at basic at Ft Polk, 68/69, the company mess would sometimes run out of ham or roast beef or turkey before the last platoon finished.
    Always wondered why, until the time I had KP and saw the mess sergeant loading up a cooler in the trunk of his car a half hour after the delivery truck left.
    Just sayin’.

  270. 270.

    Mnemosyne

    @MoxieM:

    There are people who grew up with an abusive parent or had an abusive romantic relationship who are able to realize that it was bad and free their minds. But there are also quite a few people who are never able to free themselves, and often get into a Stockholm Syndrome mindset where they rationalize what was done to them, make excuses for their abuser, and (most importantly) lash out at anyone who tries to point out that they were abused and their abuser is a horrible person.

    Those are the people to watch out for, because they’re completely willing to rationalize themselves right into a vote for Trump and to lash out at anyone who threatens the alternate reality they’ve created for themselves where all the abuse they suffered was for their own good and made them a better person.

  271. 271.

    Sab

    @Mnemosyne: I agree with you, but we get a lot of anti-Bernie comments here on BJ. I just don’t want to alienate the Bernie people I know who worked for Hillary and are still working for Democrats. I am probably treating them like snowflakes when they are not, but I recognize a lot of them did work hard for us in the general election and I don’t want to alienate them.

    I am living in a blue city in a red state, so I am not challenging you or Yoda Dog, just saying my experience with Bernie folks is different, and I don’t want your comments to piss off my bernie guys. But on the other hand my local bernie guys are on board and not snowflakes so they can withstand your comment that is appropriate to your state/district but not to mine.

    I think you would like my local bernie guys. Weird thinking in Ohio. Why was Nina Turner a Bernie Bros? I will never understand that.

  274. 274.

    J R in WV

    @ArchTeryx:

    Congratulations on your job. Be a square peg in the square hole ’til you pass the probation period, then you can loosen up a bit. Also, once you’re hired, and through probation, I expect you can apply for better positions without going through probation again. That’s how it is here, anyway.

    Best of luck with the job, co-workers, etc!

  276. 276.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sab: supporting Bernie made people feel virtuous, as if they were more highly evolved and idealistic than the rest of us cop-out compromisers (or neo-liberals, or secret Republicans, or whatever we are according to NR et al)

    Virtue-signaling = Hey, look at what a good person I am!
    self-virtue-signaling = Hey, who’s that hero I see in the mirror!

  277. 277.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @ArchTeryx: Welcome to state employment. Even if it’s not the job you imagined, may it be a start on life getting better.

  280. 280.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Sab: well, it was an update on a bunch of bullhsit I made up, but… FWIW, YMMV, and all that.

  281. 281.

    Ruckus

    @West of the Rockies (been a while):
    @Chris:
    West you make a good point. But Chris makes a far better one. I too can forgive stupidity, to a point. But malice? No fucking way. How many people on this blog have heath issues? Lots of us. Many/most of us have some connection to the government for our healthcare needs, be it money, the exchanges, the VA (me). These assholes voted against their own interests to fuck us over. And that’s just the health care issue. What about voting? What about banking regulations? What about taxes on the rich, oh wait, I mean no taxes on the rich? What about foreign relations? What about the climate? What about infrastructure? What about SS? What about grift and corruption?
    And you want me to be polite? I had hoped that my retirement might be at least not living on the street and maybe it won’t be. But fuck the people who have decided that a democracy doesn’t need to think about the citizens that make it up, unless they are willing to be subservient to the wealthy and bigoted old white men.
    I am pissed off and see no need to hide that. I’ve worked and paid into SS for 55 yrs and am still working, I’ve suffered the loss of 2 small businesses, one to an earthquake and one to a fucking republican recession. My whole life was about trying to live the american dream, hoping that things like civil rights, healthcare would get better. I’ve gladly paid my taxes because I know we are in this together, friend or foe. But that’s not what republicans want. They want us to die. Reciprocity is fair play.

  282. 282.

    Ruckus

    @jacy:
    I’m a bit older and male but the outcome is the same. I just have no more fucks to give for the people that fucked everyone because of their hate, bigotry, stupidity, cult idealism…………

  283. 283.

    AxelFoley

    @Trentrunner:

    With every victory the GOP has, I will think about this woman and people like her, Trump voters, getting a strange pain in their side, an odd headache. And I will wish for them the most protracted, intractable cancer diagnosis that has insanely expensive experimental treatment that is both painful and humiliating, even while it sucks dry any assets they have.

    And then, after months or years of these drains on their finances and their hopes, I hope they die an excruciating death of bleeding and shitting to death in front of their horrified families, who are spattered like hillbilly Jackson Pollock paintings come to life with the rancid bodily fluids of their Trump-voting loved one as they writhe and scream when death finally, happily wins.

    I may be a tad angry about this.

    You need to stop holding back.

  284. 284.

    Camembert

    @Sab: I was a Bernie guy, and I voted for HRC, and I just wasn’t surprised that it was close enough that Tr45 could steal it, which is . . . why I was a Bernie guy.

    Economy was lousy due to the sequester and Obama letting the banksters off the hook, Obama killed the 50-State Strategy and hired James Comey, HRC still didn’t have a good answer for why she took all that money from those douchebags, and Obama made HRC look like a liar about the TPP (where, to be fair, she was opportunistic at best).

    I have no idea how anyone who supported HRC has time to even consider Berniefolk after Obama shanked her so brutally, but I don’t know how anyone could put up with his “let me be clear” schtick after Year One either.

    Anyways.

  285. 285.

    TenguPhule

    @Camembert:

    HRC still didn’t have a good answer for why she took all that money from those douchebags,

    FFS, Very big companies flushed a lot of money away on getting pointless speeches and she could put it to better use then any Republican Douchenozzles who would have taken it. If you can’t take their money, drink their booze and then go ahead and vote against them anyway, what’s the point?

  286. 286.

    DonkeyKong

    When republican governors are elected in off years in blue states they alway begin by taking hostages (education, public unions and healthcare) and threaten to shoot them if they don’t get what they want (tax cuts and reduced government services for “those people”)

    In red states they avoid that protracted battle altogether, the hostages shoot themselves.

  287. 287.

    NorthLeft12

    Maybe I am just an ignorant Canadian, but does Kentucky have what anyone with more than grade three education would call an immigration problem?

    My own gut feeling is that a person who is concerned about America’s “immigration problem” is undisguised code for “I am raving racist”. Allows you to hate on whichever group you want to.
    That goes double for citizens concerned about “crime in the streets”.

  288. 288.

    Kay

    @NorthLeft12:

    The problem for these GOP voters in Kentucky is there’s no political payback for addressing their problems. Democrats got absolutely slaughtered on that health care law. If the major benefits went to people in red states and they still won’t consider backing a Democrat there’s no political justification for the downside. Democrats at the state level can do a lot to improve coverage in-state, in areas where they are elected, and they’ll be rewarded for it.

    When the health care law passed, Chuck Schumer said Democrats wouldn’t realize any political gains because the people who support health care reform support Democrats already. It’s perhaps cynical but it struck me as true at the time and it has turned out to BE true. They can’t expect politicians to continue to put their necks on the line with no political payback. These voters may not only kill Obamacare. They may kill any chance of meaningful health care reform, ever. It’s a huge political risk with very little political gain. Many of them got single payer too! They got a public program- Medicaid. One of the voters quoted in the piece says Medicaid is the best insurance he has ever had. It didn’t matter.

  289. 289.

    Kay

    The people who promote single payer as politically beneficial for Democrats have to explain states like Kentucky. Bernie Sanders has to explain Kentucky, because according to populist political theory, covering white lower income people with a single payer government program was supposed to make them flock to Democrats. In fact, once they got it would be “impossible” to take away because they would rise up and vote against Republicans who took it away once they had it. That was the political calculus that was supposed to be at work here. What happened? These people are literally voting against their own single payer health coverage. Some of them are actual cancer patients so there’s no “I won’t get sick” assumption here.

    These people are voting on something else. We can cast around for what that “something” might be but it has become more and more clear it wasn’t that Obama “abandoned” them. Obama knew damn well none of them voted for him and he’s the ONLY President who gave them access to affordable health care- often FREE coverage.

  290. 290.

    Kay

    Trump has already abandoned these people and all but one who are quoted are still supporting him.

    That lady in the piece who survived cancer with Obama-provided health insurance? She does not care how she pays for treatment next time, obviously, since she apparently gave it little or no thought. I don’t know- you tell me. Democrats are supposed to spend years on another health care law, survive yet another extinction-level political drubbing on her behalf? Other than pure altruism, why would they do that? They can put in a pretty good plan at the state level in states they control. These GOP voters without health care need Democrats more than Democrats need them, at this point.

  291. 291.

    Ruckus

    @Kay:
    @Kay:
    And people wonder why I’m mad and disgusted. Old saying that you can’t fix stupid. And nearly half of this country is trying to prove it daily.

  292. 292.

    Camembert

    @TenguPhule:

    If you can’t take their money, drink their booze and then go ahead and vote against them anyway, what’s the point?

    So what you’re saying is that CANDIDATE X is willing to take our money, drink our booze, and then vote against us, too? This is not an endorsement!

  293. 293.

    Camembert

    @Kay:

    Democrats are supposed to spend years on another health care law, survive yet another extinction-level political drubbing on her behalf?

    You know, it wasn’t absolutely required that the law take five years to kick in. That was to hit a completely arbitrary budget target. The law was coming on during a recession; it might have been a good idea to queue up new government spending as quickly as reasonably possible. It’s not like they used the intervening time to actually solve the tech problems.

    I think you’re right that both sides are in some senses excessively optimistic. Berniecrats were/are hoping that white folks could be induced to vote their own interests if the pot got sweet enough. Establishment folks were hoping that they could coast by on elite support. It might just be that electing a black guy means the white social contract is simply over, and we should tend our gardens and move to blue states.

  295. 295.

    JDM

    @FlipYrWhig: @Ruckus: @different-church-lady:

    Not sure if any but FlipYrWhig picked up on the dryish snark. Yes, what would satisfy them is just what Lincoln said in his Cooper Union speech would satisfy the slave states; just say they’re right and we’re wrong. That’s what’s at bottom of all these articles, even if the writers, and the editors who assign them, don’t realize it. I agree with those who say we should go the opposite way, therefore inspire others to vote instead, work against gerrymandering and voter-blocking laws, and let these people – if they ever decide to wake up and stop hitting themselves – follow later.

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