Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Everybody saw this coming.

I’d try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

So it was an October Surprise A Day, like an Advent calendar but for crime.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

I didn’t have alien invasion on my 2023 BINGO card.

Take your GOP plan out of the witness protection program.

Damn right I heard that as a threat.

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

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Accountability, motherfuckers.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

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

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

After roe, women are no longer free.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I know this must be bad for Joe Biden, I just don’t know how.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

An almost top 10,000 blog!

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

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Reader Interactions

220Comments

  1. 1.

    O. Felix Culpa

    Well-insured Senator McCain
    Sadly has cancer of the brain;
    Alas and alack,
    He hurried back
    So insurance for others won’t remain.

  2. 2.

    Chris

    Reposted from downstairs:

    John Sidney McCain III is a terrible human being. He is a juvenile delinquent who became a senile delinquent. He spent his school years picking fights and his time at the naval academy racking up hundreds of demerits. His record didn’t merit a career as an officer, but as the son and grandson of admirals, he rode a wave of nepotism into the cockpit of several planes, and crashed them. Then it was off to Vietnam to drop napalm on children. In short order his plane was shot down, and he was captured. He then heroically… failed to die? Came home, cheated on his wife, married an heiress, got elected to Congress and immediately got involved in a corruption scandal, told nasty jokes about the then teenaged Chelsea Clinton’s appearance and about women being raped by apes (though I suppose that’s still better than Sarah Palin charging raped women for forensic kits)… ran for president and got smeared by Bush, then embraced both Bush and his tactics, running a smear campaign against Obama.

  5. 5.

    dedc79

    I don’t get it. Does McCain’s skin release some kind of pheromone that journalists are helpless to resist?
    I’ve seen countless kids have an easier time accepting that Santa Claus isn’t real than most journalists seem to have accepting that Maverick McCain has always been a fraud.

  8. 8.

    rikyrah

    Capito is a piece of shyt, Cole.
    A worthless piece of shyt.
    And, I hope you contact her to tell her how much you appreciate her betraying the citizens of your state.

  9. 9.

    ChrisH

    I was rather astonished at myself last night after I read the news McCain would be flying back to DC. I very truly and honestly thought “I sure hope he pops a vein and dies in flight.” I don’t feel a deep hatred towards him but the world would objectively be a better place if he hadn’t made it to cast his vote.

  10. 10.

    MisterForkbeard

    Not surprised about Capito at all. I did some have some hope that McCain would have some shame, that coming back early from his state-funded medical care would shame into not trying to steal that same care from millions of others. But I guess not.

  11. 11.

    MoeLarryAndJesus

    So I just got a 12 hour Twitter suspension/limitation for calling some motherfuckers motherfuckers over this bill.

    They’re still motherfuckers.

    As for McCain, when they freeze his brain in hopes of a future cure, I hope he spends his cryogenic suspension reliving his prison camp frolics. The evil prick.

  12. 12.

    *Name Withheld*

    I’ve been withholding my opinion on this, but my dad died of a glioblastoma and I take some sick sick satisfaction that this fucker is going to suffer, and there isn’t shit his family can do but suffer along. Couldn’t happen to a better person.

    Maybe I’ll feel differently some day, but I doubt it.

  15. 15.

    Roger Moore

    It says everything about the Village media that they care more about the speech than the vote.

  16. 16.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Chris:
    So in short he represents everything wrong with modern human civilization

  17. 17.

    germy

    @Roger Moore:

    It says everything about the Village media that they care more about the speech than the vote.

    When they’re not horserace announcers, they’re theater critics.
    Policy is too complicated for them to discuss or explain.

  19. 19.

    Betty Cracker

    Beltway reporters are suckers for a dramatic war story. Hell, the whole country is. McCain parlayed that fascination into a decades-long public career that was otherwise pretty undistinguished — and on balance detrimental to the country.

  20. 20.

    geg6

    I wish them all nothing but sorrow, pain and death. You know, exactly what they have sentenced millions of innocent people to with their evil work this day.

  21. 21.

    rk

    In all this misery one thing is glorious. Trump is trashing that worthless POS sessions daily. Trump just now said something along the lines of “Sessions only supported me because of my large crowds in Alabama”. If session resigns I’m assuming he’d be in serious legal jeopardy. If I were Sessions I’d make sure I take Trump down with me.
    Last week I felt sympathy for McCain. Today not so much.

  22. 22.

    jl

    I read in news blurb that even with McCain, McConnell could only get 50 votes for his stunt.
    Not sure whether that is good news that they are right at the razors edge, or bad news since it shows how ‘malleable’ these scumbags are that one or two golden passes are enough to get anything through. Even a motion to proceed on a bill when there is no bill.

    And media seems entranced with McCain’s big speech about principles and service and honor, which given his vote, seems hollow, all talk and no walk. Which is what McCain has been well over 95 percent of the time.

    He’s the only one, and his docs, who knows how bad the prognosis is. Maybe he wanted to give a valedictory speech. I think it’s a sad spectacle.

  25. 25.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Betty Cracker: He also, as somebody pointed out earlier, told reporters dirty jokes instead of talking about how he came to Christ. And he can be genuinely funny. And you can draw a direct line from Sarah Palin to Donald trump.

  26. 26.

    gene108

    Didn’t John McCain also have skin cancer?

    Fucker has lived to 80 because he’s had excellent access to health care throughout his life.

  31. 31.

    schrodingers_cat

    From the last thread, its seems like we have GMTA, moment, JGC.

    All the tire swing kids in the MSM can go fuck themselves now. Last week they were singing paeans to Saint John of Arizona.

  32. 32.

    Laura

    Fuck these fucking fuckers and may they and their loved ones die the kinds of death they have happily ensured for theirs and other citizens, all in order to enrich their already too fucking rich owners.
    Never. Ever. Going. To. Forget.

    I’ll say it, I hope John Sidney McCain dues a miserable, painful death. Soon.

  33. 33.

    geg6

    @Betty Cracker:

    But his story really isn’t all that dramatic. I’ll bet there were lots of other Vietnam POWs whose stories were much more dramatic. McCain’s story is basically one of a privileged fuck up who fucks up his way into a prison camp in Vietnam. There were prisoners, I’m sure, who actually fought bravely before being taken prisoner and who weren’t fucking up when shit got real. Do we ever hear their stories? Not that I recall. The only Vietnam era POW I’ve ever heard of is this piece of shit.

  35. 35.

    jl

    @rk: One tactic I mentioned in the previous thread is for people to get anonymous twitter accounts and egg Donnie on to fire as many Senate confirmed positions as possible, and as soon as possible. That’ll keep the Senate busy for awhile, trying to confirm the new appointments.

  40. 40.

    jl

    @Major Major Major Major:

    Another commenter was right in thread below, can’t let up on contacting Congress.
    Probably need to keep it up until beginning of new Congress in 2019 at least.
    A while ago I suggested someone make contacting Congress an organized sport, with leagues, box scores and championships.
    Cool trophies!
    That will keep people involved.

  44. 44.

    Chris

    @geg6:

    It probably helps that in his generation, draft-dodging was such a norm for children of the rich and powerful that for McCain to have shown up to a combat position at all makes him stand up next to his contemporaries. (Especially in a Republican Party that increasingly came to love chickenhawks like Reagan and Dubya). In the kingdom of the blind, the one-eyed man is king.

    Even though, to be clear, I completely agree with your view of the guy.

  46. 46.

    germy

    Kirsten Gillibrand‏Verified account
    @SenGillibrand

    I am hard-pressed to remember a vote in the U.S. Senate that has treated the American people with less respect.

  47. 47.

    TenguPhule

    @germy:

    I am hard-pressed to remember a vote in the U.S. Senate that has treated the American people with less respect.

    Until the next one.

  49. 49.

    bemused

    @ChrisH:

    Even if McCain couldn’t have voted, I’m cynical enough to think there would have been back room deal or arm breaking to get another yes vote.

  52. 52.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Simon Maloy‏Verified account @ SimonMaloy 1h1 hour ago
    McCain giving an ornery speech after going to absurd lengths to vote exactly how McConnell wanted him to vote is uncut Maverickism baby

    Marianna Sotomayor @ MariannaNBCNews
    HELLER says leadership told him that their goal is to pass healthcare by Friday. “Let’s put this behind us,” he said.

  53. 53.

    TenguPhule

    @rk:

    Last week I felt sympathy for McCain. Today not so much.

    Sympathy is wasted on Republicans.

  55. 55.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    It says everything about the Village media that they care more about the speech than the vote.

    Village is right. Village is always right.

  57. 57.

    rikyrah

    Senate Republicans overcome hurdle, advance ACA repeal crusade
    07/25/17 04:16 PM
    By Steve Benen

    It wasn’t easy, and it took quite a bit more drama than anyone expected to see, but Senate Republicans took their first meaningful step this afternoon toward taking health care benefits from millions of Americans.

    With Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote, Republicans moved forward on health care reform Tuesday as the Senate successfully passed a key motion to proceed to debate on repealing and possibly replacing Obamacare.

    Momentum built over the course of the day as several previously skeptical members announced they would support Senate GOP leaders after they began detailing plans for more votes over the next days to shape the details of the legislation.

    It’s important to understand what did and did not happen today. Senate Republicans did not, for example, repeal the Affordable Care Act, in whole or in part. Today’s 51-50 vote was a procedural step, not a vote on the substance of any health care legislation.

    If even one additional GOP senator either missed the vote or voted “no,” the Republicans’ repeal crusade would have effectively ended today. But with two GOP senators – Maine’s Susan Collins and Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski – voting “no” instead of three, it means the process can and will move forward.

    Perhaps the most striking vote was cast by West Virginia’s Shelley Moore Capito‏ (R), who assured voters just last week, “I will only vote to proceed to repeal legislation if I am confident there is a replacement plan that addresses my concerns.” She appears to have broken her word: there is no replacement plan that addresses her concerns, but Capito voted the way her party told her to on the motion to proceed anyway.

  62. 62.

    Hoodie

    @Major Major Major Major: narcissism. Con artists plug into people’s tendency to view themselves as special, and the law of the mean doesn’t apply to them. Trump was going to”shake things up,” which gives the impression that the whole thing is just a harmless experiment or theater, instead of actual human sacrifice.

  64. 64.

    Shell

    I hope John Sidney McCain dues a miserable, painful death. Soon.

    Unfortunately, my father had the same diagnosis, so I think thats gonna come true all too soon.

  67. 67.

    jl

    @Baud:

    ” Participation Trophies! ”

    Nice to see you are thinking about how to apply your experience in politics to other endeavors.

  68. 68.

    Major Major Major Major

    @Hoodie: Yeah, for a while (long story) I was doing web development for several middle-to-big-name “self-help guru” types in NorCal. I’m familiar with the general way they operate. But I’m still always surprised.

  70. 70.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @Shell:
    And then we’ll be expected by the media to bow our heads in sorrow for the passing of such a principled elder statesman, just like Reagan in 2004

  71. 71.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    Naturally, McCain had to directly contradict his vote by complaining about a lack of bipartisanship and regular order

    One last spit into the eye of common decency from MaverickyMcMaverick.

  72. 72.

    jl

    @catclub: Good point. McConnell’s tactic also accomplished his goal of avoiding bipartisan effort at health care bill at all and any costs, even risk of complete failure of GOP to deliver any of its promises. The promises were lies, but that is another matter. And of course, in face of complete failure to deliver a Big Lie, the GOP could always change its mind. But this is the thoroughly modern GOP, and it will never do that.

  74. 74.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    So because the GOP couldn’t agree amoung themselves they voted to proceed on something to mysterious for anyone to understand? Did they decided they were some Catholic Church council debeating metaphyics or something?

    Figures it took a guy with brain cancer to get it done.

  77. 77.

    TenguPhule

    And once again, the countdown to Treasury Insane funding options on American Federal Debt is now down to 6 days.

    And still no vote scheduled. And these stupid fucks are about to take a vacation they don’t deserve.

    sigh.

  79. 79.

    jl

    @rikyrah: Capito, Heller and Portman need to get some hell from their constituents for what they did today.
    Capital needs to hear some W VAers call her out on lying.

  80. 80.

    kindness

    Republicans are good at serving their Masters though. Their Masters? Certainly not the voters of their respective states or they would never have voted for McConnell’s heaping helping of shit. No, it’s the donors who fund their election/re-election campaigns.

    I tell you Roberts is the worst Supreme Court Justice in my lifetime.

  84. 84.

    Quinerly

    @bemused:
    One could wonder. I do believe she has said she didn’t vote for Trump. Perhaps when Trump hears about her speculation with a Dem and begins tweeting about her, she will enlighten us further.?

  85. 85.

    jl

    @kindness: Big donors threatening a funding boycott if they don’t see their poorer fellow citizens living in mental and physical misery and dying premature deaths in return for ginormous tax cuts for rich people, is a big part of the explanation for the farce on display in Congress.

  86. 86.

    TenguPhule

    @burnspbesq:

    They still have to come up with a bill that can get 51 votes.

    As this vote just demonstrated, they’ll vote for whatever McConnell tells them to vote on. Regardless of what’s in it.

  87. 87.

    weaselone

    @rikyrah:

    Is that really the roadmap? I assumed that the part where they voted on the form of the Wealthcare Bill would come during the final amendment phase where the would basically wipe the slate clean on and bring out what they actually intended to vote on.

  88. 88.

    Hungry Joe

    Heard on the radio yesterday: GOP senator (can’t remember which one) explaining that they promised their constituents that they’d pass a health-care bill, and it doesn’t really matter what’s in it — what matters is that they keep their promise.

    It doesn’t really matter what’s in the bill. He actually said that.

  89. 89.

    MomSense

    I’m going to call my Senators and say thank you.

    Then I’ll take a walk in the woods with my pup and see what the trees are up to today. Tomorrow it’s back to the phones.

  93. 93.

    Schlemazel

    @kindness:
    Hang on to that thought. There are a lot of old bodies on that body & hair furor may yet get to nominate more evil to the bench

  94. 94.

    jl

    @NCSteve: @TenguPhule:

    The Onion makes a good point, how do you argue against Nothing? Can’t really make any specific arguments against a complete blank. What are the talking points that will really grab people’s attention.

    Maybe best thing would be to just vote for nothing. I’ve suggested a bill that is just the title ‘Trump’s Big Beautiful Top and History Health Care Bill!” He’d sign it. I thought up a name that would go with the acronym BATSHIT bill for a comment, but I forgot what it was.

  95. 95.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TenguPhule: Likely. A couple of Senators will talk about how they really don’t WANT to vote for the bill, but the Democrats utter refusal to help them steal insurance from 22+ million people forced them to vote for this less-than-perfect bill. Also, the Democrats are to blame for McConnell’s tactics – which they absolutely disapprove of, but not enough to change their votes.

    Bonus points if any of them uses Obama’s “Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good” as part of their reasoning to repeal. That’s just an extra fuck-you to Democrats that they won’t be able to resist.

  96. 96.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Thoroughly Pizzled:

    Another grave I’ll have to piss on. This project will take years.

    Can’t remember who said it, or whom it was in reference to, but I remember somebody who wanted to plant catnip on top of and all around the grave of a despised relative or politician or boss so that cats from miles around would come over, ingest the nip, and mark their territory. Night after night after night.

  97. 97.

    bemused

    @Hoodie:

    That’s a good way to put it, people thinking it was theater, entertainment instead of actual human sacrifice. Damn fools didn’t bother their heads worrying what the Trump act would do for or to them in real life. Now a lot of them are still in denial that they and their loved ones will be human sacrifices.

  98. 98.

    jl

    @weaselone: ” Is that really the roadmap? ”

    My understanding is that McConnell will introduce a shell bill, literally a bunch of meaningless text and that there will be a votarama on ‘amendments’, which are really entire texts of various bills that have been previously drafted, which can be plugged into the shell.

    So, if my understanding is correct, they were literally voting to proceed on a ‘nothing’ bill today, a sham bill. A fake.

  99. 99.

    TenguPhule

    @bemused:

    Damn fools didn’t bother their heads worrying what the Trump act would do for or to them in real life. Now a lot of them are still in denial that they and their loved ones will be human sacrifices.

    “But they weren’t supposed to carve my still beating heart out of my chest!” Wailed the member of the “Aztec Cut your heart out of your chest” Party.

  101. 101.

    Mike in DC

    Why are Dems voting no on the sanctions bill? Can someone explain that to me?

  102. 102.

    bemused

    @Quinerly:

    Yes, one of my first thoughts was how soon will Trump hear what Collins said. He’s got a lot on his tweet shit list to cover these days but he doesn’t leave any negative comment about him alone for long.

  105. 105.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @jl:

    I thought up a name that would go with the acronym BATSHIT bill for a comment, but I forgot what it was.

    Bill Allowing Trump to Say He’s Incredibly Talented?

  106. 106.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TenguPhule: I use the “Leopard’s-Eating-People’s-Faces” party line fairly regularly. It gets the point across rather wonderfully.

  107. 107.

    Mike J

    Mark A.R. Kleiman‏ @MarkARKleiman 16 minutes ago

    Just a reminder:
    all those horrible neo-liberal corporate blue-dog Democrats
    voted to protect health care for working people.

  111. 111.

    Timurid

    I made my calls today… but my Senators are guys who’d rather play Twister in traffic than defy their party bosses and Donald Trump.

  112. 112.

    Mark

    Kentucky put McConnell and Paul in the senate. Other poor southern whites voted for Republicans. They’re getting what they voted for.

  113. 113.

    gratuitous

    All right! Kegger on the White House lawn. Whoo hoo!

    Good news, everybody: The Senate calendar is so wide open according to the Maverick John McCain™ that the Senate can spend days debating a bill that he will vote against and won’t pass. Bud Lights all around!

  116. 116.

    TenguPhule

    @Betty Cracker: Its not futile. On the other hand we did just see 51 Republicans are willing to ignore all of the rules to do whatever the hell they want. It keeps things in perspective.

  117. 117.

    NorthLeft12

    @Hungry Joe: I kinda believe what you are saying is true. They are so determined to live up to the repeal promise that they would pass anything, even if it is a meaningless gesture or an exercise in craven cruelty. They just don’t want to be labelled as incompetent losers.

    Note to the GOP…you are incompetent, no matter what happens with this fiasco.

  118. 118.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    @TenguPhule:

    As this vote just demonstrated, they’ll vote for whatever McConnell tells them to vote on. Regardless of what’s in it.

    In what sense? they voted to keep on talking, about something, they aren’t sure what and if they told us the magic poney would run away.

    This sounds more like they voted just to see if they could get 50 votes on something.

  120. 120.

    jl

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    ” Bill Allowing Trump to Say He’s Incredibly Talented? ”

    Good idea. They could use the same combo text/title for everything.
    They’ve voted to proceed on Nothing. Why not pass the same bill over and over again, and Trump can have a big signing ceremony every day?

  124. 124.

    kindness

    Well we all know what is now going to come down the pike. It’s not a secret. The Senate will debate amendments to this bill and vote for some and not others and then the last amendment will be one by McConnell which will wipe away the entire bill and all the agreed upon amendments and put forth an entirely new bill which will be completely undefenseable and Republicans will then pass the rotten piece of shit.

    McConnell has tried so hard to break every Senate comity rule so of course he’ll do this.

  126. 126.

    Van Buren

    @Shell: My father, also a Naval Officer who served in Vietnam, died of kidney cancer before his glioblastoma could kill him.
    Fuck Agent Orange.

  127. 127.

    jl

    @The Truffle: That last thing that was actually a real proposal written down on paper and stuff? No. Amazing to get AMA and other doc groups, Nurses associations, big insurers, hospital association, AARP and public interest groups united on the same side of legislation. But the Senate GOP can do that.

  128. 128.

    karensky

    Just received a fundraising request from Tom Perez at DNC stating that the Senate had repealed the ACA. WTF. It was a vote to proceed not a vote on repeal. I am just freaking furious at this bullshit. The DNC doesn’t have a message or a plan but now they are telling me to send money or…

  130. 130.

    TriassicSands

    @dedc79:

    …Maverick McCain has always been a fraud.

    But even if he were at one time what they thought he was, he is so obviously not that person anymore that Tommy (The Who) could see it immediately.

  131. 131.

    jl

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    ” Will there be a firetruck too? Trump loves firetrucks. ”

    Hell with you. Mnemo acronymed something up in a minute. Why don’t you offer up something with ‘Big Red Firetruck for Trump to Ride’ (BRFTR) in it?

  132. 132.

    ? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?

    @NotMax: If you’re still around I’d like to apologize about what I said last thread. It was uncalled for. As angry and scared as I get that’s no excuse

  134. 134.

    LurkerNoLonger

    For everyone wondering what happened, this from the Pod Save America guys on Facebook explains things clearly:

    What the Senate just did is truly unprecedented, and a bunch of reporters who’ve been covering these debates for a long time have said as much. They just voted on a motion to proceed to debate the bill that passed the House. This gives them 20 hours of debate, during which any Senator can propose amendments to the House bill. McConnell has promised (so he could get Rand Paul’s vote on the motion to proceed) that the first amendment would be on repeal-and-delay: repeal Obamacare completely with a 2 year delay on implementation that gives them time to come up with a solution. This will not pass. Probably won’t even get 40 votes. Then they’ll move onto a vote on the BCRA, which is the Senate version of the House bill that died last week (only difference is that it may have $100 billion extra Medicaid money that McConnell promised Portman). This will not pass because Collins and Murkowski are nos, and so is Rand Paul on almost anything but straight repeal (with all these votes, GOP can only lose 2 – 3 kills it). Once votes on straight repeal-and-delay AND the BCRA, fail, it’s anyone’s guess what happens next. McConnell will try to craft a bill ON THE FLY that can get 50 votes. Hard, but as we’ve seen, not impossible. One idea he’s floating is something called “skinny repeal” which would ONLY repeal the individual mandate, the employer mandate, and maybe the medical device tax. Lindsay Graham and a few others have already said they’d oppose this, but the idea in general is to get some kind of bill – any kind of bill – to pass, so it could go to a House-Senate conference committee – another closed door process where a few Reps and Senators would try to craft a compromise that would then be voted on AGAIN by the House and the Senate. So, basically, everything is a complete fucking shitshow.

  135. 135.

    Cheryl Rofer

    @Mike in DC: Not a full explanation, but could be because the EU complained that the details of the sanctions are counter to what they can tolerate. More news coverage would help, but we are now in a world where Trump’s dysfunction is acting on the nation the way alcoholism or other dysfunctional behaviors can continuously disrupt a family.

  137. 137.

    Felonius Monk

    @Mark:

    They’re getting what they voted for.

    Unfortunately, we are also getting what they voted for.

  138. 138.

    jl

    @TriassicSands: In terms of politics, McCain never was. He cooked up his maverick schtick as PR to clean up his image after he almost got nailed in an old savings and loan scandal. That was a big bipartisan scandal with both Ds and Rs going to jail or almost going to jail. It was one of his major bipartisan efforts.

    Sadly, McCain has always been a corrupt cynical fraud in Congress. He goes together with Graham very well.

  139. 139.

    TriassicSands

    @karensky:

    Just received a fundraising request from Tom Perez at DNC stating that the Senate had repealed the ACA. WTF.

    I’m getting an increasing number of fundraising emails that are either flatly dishonest or grossly hyperbolic and misleading. I don’t respond to Republican tactics. Every email that has that kind of subject is immediately deleted. Well, not immediately. First, I unsubscribe to the sender and explain why (if they ask). I won’t give a cent to anyone or any group that misrepresents facts and the truth.

  140. 140.

    nellcote

    via twitter:
    Ben Jacobs‏Verified account @Bencjacobs

    The Senate chamber broke out into laughter as the vote ended when a Bernie Sanders/John McCain hug turned into something resembling a waltz

  141. 141.

    burnspbesq

    Capito is counting on the House Freedom Caucus to find whatever piece of shit the Senate sends to conference to not be shitty enough, thereby bailing her out.

  142. 142.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Will there be a firetruck too? Trump loves firetrucks.

    Back in the 1930s and ’40s, the Stratemeyer Syndicate published a series of books with titles like Honey Bunch: Her First Little Club, Honey Bunch: Her First Trip to a Big Fair, and the like.

    I’m thinking we should create a market for Donny Dinkydigits: His First Little Firetruck, Donny Dinkydigits Christens His First Aircraft Carrier, Fun With Donny Dinkydigits and the New York Times Interviewers, and so many more.

  145. 145.

    TriassicSands

    @jl:

    I’m not arguing that he ever was, only that regardless of what he was in the past, the mythic Maverick is not what he is now and it is obvious. So, for those who naively (and maybe innocently) bought into it in the past, their responsibility is to appraise the man for what his is now, not what he was or might have been 20 years ago.

  147. 147.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @nellcote:

    The Senate chamber broke out into laughter as the vote ended when a Bernie Sanders/John McCain hug turned into something resembling a waltz

    Fuckem both. Well, Sanders voted NO, of course, but fuckim anyway, just on general principle.

  148. 148.

    MisterForkbeard

    @TriassicSands: Likewise. I get rid of all the emails with hysterics or misleading titles in the them. This is NOT how you approach your dedicated and knowledgeable followers. Maybe the low-info people?

  150. 150.

    TriassicSands

    @The Truffle:

    Yes. The American Let’s Kill as Many Poor People as Possible Foundation is 100% behind Trumpcare. I think they’re the only ones.

  151. 151.

    jl

    @LurkerNoLonger: Thanks for the info. I didn’t know McConnell was using the House bill text as the filler in the fake bill that they are proceeding on. It’s irresponsible and dishonest legislation of around 15 percent of the economy, and millions of people’s lives on the fly. Legislation by speed date and game show lightning round, basically.

    I hope some constituents of GOP moderates give some lively input to their offices for voting ‘yes’ to a scheme like that.
    What they actually did, apart from McConnell’s dishonest schemes, is to just vote to proceed on the House bill (so, Capito, Heller lied and Portman weaseled). They should hear about this vote.

  155. 155.

    Mnemosyne

    @jl:

    So, if my understanding is correct, they were literally voting to proceed on a ‘nothing’ bill today, a sham bill. A fake.

    Which is why it made perfect sense for the original Hollow Man, John McCain, to drag himself cross-country to vote for it.

  157. 157.

    Roger Moore

    @LurkerNoLonger:

    the idea in general is to get some kind of bill – any kind of bill – to pass, so it could go to a House-Senate conference committee – another closed door process where a few Reps and Senators would try to craft a compromise that would then be voted on AGAIN by the House and the Senate.

    So the basic plan is to replace the House bill with Lorem ipsum, pass that, and write the actual bill in conference.

  158. 158.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    With Vice President Mike Pence casting a tie-breaking vote …

    Well, at least I got the one positive thing that might come out of this debacle. Pence is smeared with the shit of this bill and won’t be able to claim later that he opposed it.

  159. 159.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Elizabelle:

    Love the Venn diagram. Well done.

    I just saw that, after I left the site for a couple of minutes and then came back. It wasn’t there before, was it?

    It is perfect.

    (EDITED to add blockquote section.)

  160. 160.

    SFAW

    All you McCain-trashers can fuck off. I have it on good authority — the Best Authority! Huge Authority! — that McCain’s brow was furrowed EVEN MORE DEEPLY than it ever has been, including the last 20 times he voted to fuck over non-wealthy Americans.

    Or maybe those were just the scars left by the brain surgeons trying to find his.

    It’s been obvious since at least 2000 that he has the integrity of a mayfly. (With apologies to mayflies everywhere.)

    Fuckem.

  162. 162.

    TenguPhule

    @Mnemosyne:

    Pence is smeared with the shit of this bill and won’t be able to claim later that he opposed it.

    Pence will claim ignorance of what he voted on and probably be believed by those who know him personally.

  164. 164.

    TenguPhule

    @Roger Moore:

    So the basic plan is to replace the House bill with Lorem ipsum, pass that, and write the actual bill in conference.

    Yep.

    “Our new compromise only wipes out 18 million from insurance! Praise us Praise us!”

  170. 170.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @jl:

    Where’s your acronym with the big red firetrucks for Big Donnie?

    Acronyms are for government types, I’ve only worked in the real world were we use real words.

  172. 172.

    Jeffro

    @Thoroughly Pizzled:

    Another grave I’ll have to piss on. This project will take years.

    I know, right? And here I thought I had my first post-retirement road trip all planned out and everything…

  175. 175.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule:

    As this vote just demonstrated, they’ll vote for whatever McConnell tells them to vote on. Regardless of what’s in it.

    except for all the recent times where they refused to vote for what McConnell wanted them to vote on, so there were no votes then.

    The majority leader, whether Democrat or Republican, has a relatively weak hand in corralling his fellow senators.

  176. 176.

    ThresherK

    @NotMax: “Time was you could just find nuggets of integrity just sittin on the riverbank, as big as a golf ball. Then y’had to dig for specks the size of poppy seeds. Now all we have is the abandoned museum.”

  177. 177.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    except for all the recent times where they refused to vote for what McConnell wanted them to vote on, so there were no votes then.

    But by getting them to vote on this one he’s got them in the “Voted for it before voting against it” bind. It was all talk before. Now its put up or shut up time.

    So the odds of them splintering over a second vote after reconciliation are now much lower.

  179. 179.

    Jeffro

    @Hungry Joe:

    they promised their constituents that they’d pass a health-care bill, and it doesn’t really matter what’s in it — what matters is that they keep their promise.

    It doesn’t really matter what’s in the bill. He actually said that.

    Maybe some lazy reporters could be bothered to ask the GOP’s constituents what they think of that approach? ” ‘Pass something, no matter what’ – what do you think, Mr. and Mrs. Heartland Voter?”

    Y’all watch – half of them will respond with some variation of “as long as them other folks don’t get no health care, I’m fine with not havin’ gubmint health care”. We call these folks the white working class (praise be their name)

  180. 180.

    SFAW

    @Roger Moore:

    I’m also not sure if you’ve heard, but John McCain was a POW!

    Really? No jokes? You wouldn’t be kidding me, would you?

    Well, then, my respect for him has multiplied about a gazillion times.

  181. 181.

    catclub

    @LurkerNoLonger: I Hope the main point is to simply fool your GOP constituents by voting for at least one of those bills
    that does not pass, and then using that vote, combined with MTP vote, to claim you voted to repeal Obamacare.

  182. 182.

    Quinerly

    OT??? I have to get my laughs where I can. Bloody Bill Kristol just said Trump “doesn’t have the nerve to fire Sessions.” I’m still chuckling. Would love to see Kristol tweet that.

  183. 183.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule: Hey! I addressed just that in may later comment – which I read before seeing your response.
    Multiple votes mean multiple opportuinities to claim you voted to repeal Obamacare – nevermind that those votes failed. EG at least one should need 60 votes.

  184. 184.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Hungry Joe:

    Heard on the radio yesterday: GOP senator (can’t remember which one) explaining that they promised their constituents that they’d pass a health-care bill, and it doesn’t really matter what’s in it — what matters is that they keep their promise.

    I’m pretty sure that was Burr.

  185. 185.

    sharl

    Hoo boy, Weigel tracked down the ID of a young dude in the audience shouting at Dem Senators speaking after the vote, who claimed to be a White House staffer (an intern I assume) – for example, shouting out Pocahontas! while Elizabeth Warren was speaking. So, y’know, the usual classy stuff.

    IMO this was legitimate journalism on Weigel’s part – I would consider it doxxing if the guy turned out to a random asshole with no actual government affiliation. Of course – and Weigel had to know this was coming – he’s now getting a bunch of shit about doxxing and whatnot.

    Trump will love this guy, of course. He may not make him the next AG, but only because one of few remaining cooler heads on his senior staff will talk him out of it.

  189. 189.

    Quinerly

    @Chris:
    The Guardian has a link up re the hug and the tango. I grabbed the link and stole your line. Was in the mood to needle my last two BS supporters on the Book of Faces. Thank you. You are the Chris that we all like.?

  190. 190.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    Multiple votes mean multiple opportuinities to claim you voted to repeal Obamacare – nevermind that those votes failed. EG at least one should need 60 votes.

    Problem is, they can’t vote against any of those bills without becoming “for it before against it”.

    They saw what happened to Kerry.

  191. 191.

    jl

    @catclub: Can fool the GOP dupes at home, but won’t be able to fool the big donors. The donors have threatened withhold the big $ at election time if Congress doesn’t give them hunormous giga-tax breaks. I think that is a big reason we are witnessing Congress shit itself up in public.

  192. 192.

    Jeffro

    @kindness:

    Well we all know what is now going to come down the pike. It’s not a secret. The Senate will debate amendments to this bill and vote for some and not others and then the last amendment will be one by McConnell which will wipe away the entire bill and all the agreed upon amendments and put forth an entirely new bill which will be completely undefenseable and Republicans will then pass the rotten piece of shit.

    This is true. And in their little weaselly minds, each GOP Senator will think, “Well, I voted against Horrible Amendment X, and/or Horrible Amendment Y, and so I’ve got cover when the whole thing goes through.” I mean, they could each take turns doing this so that they can say to their constituents with a straight face: “I didn’t vote to take away anyone’s health care.”

    But of course, they’re lying. And so we need to pound the living shit out of them with, “Whatever comes of this – any bill, and every aspect and amendment of it – You. Own. This.” Pound on GOP Senators and Reps, pound on the media to cover it this way, tell your friends and neighbors.

    The Democrats (and a couple Republicans) voted 100% lockstep to try and save health care for 32 million people. The Republicans voted 97% to strip that from 32 million people to give several hundred billion bucks back to billionaires.

  193. 193.

    Jeffro

    @Quinerly:

    House overwhelmingly votes in favor of new sanctions on Russia.

    I hope they’re prepared to override Trump’s veto…this vote has the same ‘smell’ to it that their votes to repeal Obamacare did.

  194. 194.

    catclub

    @TenguPhule:

    They saw what happened to Kerry.

    he won all his senate re-election bids and then became Secretary of State, and respected party elder? I might take that.

    This vote is one of the few where the for-it-before-against it charge of hypocrisy will NOT work, because you can claim (and have massive news reporting agreeing) that what you voted for the first time was NOT what the final vote was about.

  195. 195.

    TenguPhule

    @catclub:

    This vote is one of the few where the for-it-before-against it charge of hypocrisy will NOT work, because you can claim (and have massive news reporting agreeing) that what you voted for the first time was NOT what the final vote was about.

    What does truth have to do with Republican campaign ads?

  196. 196.

    Mnemosyne

    @rikyrah:

    I try not to go there, but frankly I’m surprised that Tillerson manages to get from place to place on his own two feet and doesn’t have to be wheeled everywhere. He probably has to take a break after every 10 steps he takes.

  197. 197.

    MCA1

    @catclub: I take heart in that being perhaps the most logical motive behind this whole “You get a bill! And you get a bill! And you get a bill!” approach. Every R Senator will have cover with their own idiot constituents and can explain why the other versions of the repeal that they voted against were crap. And they’ll have a fig leaf, which is all the media will need, to say they voted against some versions as a way to say the howling protestors at their town halls are being hysterical, since nothing passed and the ACA is still the law. And McTurtle can go “Well, we sure did try. What we need is more Republican Senators.”

  202. 202.

    gammyjill

    Compare and contrast the actions of Democratic and Republican senators who have brain tumors and are, basically, dying.

    Democrat Ted Kennedy dragged himself to the Senate in 2009 and cast an important vote in favor of extending health care to millions.

    Republican John McCain dragged himself to the Senate in 2017 and cast the 50th vote to deprive millions of people health care.

    Quite a difference, I’d say…

  205. 205.

    SFAW

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    I’ve been yelled at about it on this very blog.

    Well, far be it from me to dispute the wisdom and judgment of the snarling jackals esteemed commenters here.

    But that raises another question: Judean People’s Front or People’s Front of Judea?

  209. 209.

    Roger Moore

    @SFAW:

    But that raises another question: Judean People’s Front or People’s Front of Judea?

    People’s Front of Judea! The Judean People’s Front are a bunch of splitters!

  210. 210.

    tybee

    I’ll say it, I hope John Sidney McCain dues a miserable, painful death. Soon.

    i approve this message

  211. 211.

    Tehanu

    I read that speech. The lies in it about Obamacare totally negate the platitudes about working together and respect. He knew perfectly well what the Yes vote will do to everyone in this country who isn’t rich or on the Congressional health plan, and he did it anyway. Fuck him, that cancer can’t kill him fast enough.

  214. 214.

    Omnes Omnibus

    Fuck fucking Charter or Spectrum. Fix the fucking outage. Or if you can’t do that, give me either fully functional TV or internet while you work on the other. #firstworldproblems

  217. 217.

    eemom

    Haven’t had time to read the thread, but I do hope some of our little haloed “nobody deserves cancer” angels are buzzing around on their little clouds playing their harps this evening.

    Cuz for my part I’ve degenerated even further from their pious moral rectitude than I did yesterday. John McCain deserves a miserable, agonizing death from cancer.

    Indeed, cancer was made for the likes of John McCain. Unfortunately, however, the Koch brothers’ billions apparently got to it, too.

    #golly

  218. 218.

    J R in WV

    I have to do this. I should save this as a text file, so I can just copy it in everywhere I need to make this point.

    John Sidney McCain III was a failure as a student at the Naval Academy, more demerits, lower grade point average than any one with two Admirals as father and grandfather.

    John Sidney McCain III was a failure as a Navy Pilot, crashed more planes than any pilot whose father and grandfather were not Admirals. John McCain III dropped his bomb load into a flaming deck of burning jet fuel, against SOP, managed to escape from his about to explode Navy jet, and took charge of a damage control team fighting the worst fire on an aircraft carrier since WW II wait, no, he didn’t… according to his auto-biography he ran below decks and waited for better men than he to control the fire that nearly sank the newest, proudest aircraft carrier in the US Navy.

    The day after the catastrophe, he caught a ride back to the Viet Nam mainland on a helicopter that brought NY Times reporter R J Apple to the Forrestal to report on the catastrophe, for “a little R & R (Rest and Recreation)”.

    John Sidney McCain was a failure as a husband, he abandoned his first wife to hook up with his girlfriend, soon to be second (fabulously wealthy) wife, who funded his political career. Then he called his wife (the rich second wife) a lewd pejorative word in front of reporters with a live mike. Hint: It was ancient English slang for the sexual parts of a female prostitute.

    John Sidney McCain is a failure as a Senator, just watch what he’s doing to the average American person’s health care. Now that he really needs health care (for the 80th time) he’s ready and willing to shitcan the health care of everyone else, as long as he gets his health cared for. McCain is a truth free zone, an honor free zone, a walking and talking piece of excrement.

    hero? no fuqin’ way! His ancestors are spinning like tops learning about their most well known descendant!

    John Sidney McCain III was a failure as a

  219. 219.

    TenguPhule

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    Fuck fucking Charter or Spectrum. Fix the fucking outage. Or if you can’t do that, give me either fully functional TV or internet while you work on the other.

    You sound a little upset.

  220. 220.

    Luigidaman

    Portman is a prick. The idiot farmers and scumbags who vote for him will keep him in office until he croaks. Ohio is moving to the new Confederacy.

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