Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

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

A dilettante blog from the great progressive state of West Virginia.

Peak wingnut was a lie.

Second rate reporter says what?

I did not have telepathic declassification on my 2022 bingo card.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

Being the leader of the world means to be the leader of peace.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the GOP

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

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Not all heroes wear capes.

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

Schmidt just says fuck it, opens a tea shop.

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

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

“Everybody’s entitled to be an idiot.”

Republicans are the party of chaos and catastrophe.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

Republicans in disarray!

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

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

You are here: Home / Politics / Politicans / Zombie-Eyed Granny Starver / You know what to do

Reader Interactions

65Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    McCain’s return means that they have the votes to proceed. The media will tout the president’s big win, rather than talk about the 22 million losing health insurance.

  2. 2.

    MomSense

    @JPL:

    Call anyway. Give those fuckers plenty of warning that we are coming for their whole corrupt, sociopathic party in November 2018.

  3. 3.

    Baud

    @JPL: I don’t want to raise false hopes, but his return doesn’t necessarily mean they have the votes yet. They want him there I’m case it comes down to his vote.

  4. 4.

    Sab

    Waiting for that magical ten minutes when my R Senator’s office opens up before the interns turn on the answering machine.

  5. 5.

    David ?Canadian Anchor Baby? Koch

    Today is a vote on “Motion to Proceed” (which means bringing the bill forward for a floor debate).

    It would be nice if it failed. So people should call.

    But if “Motion to Proceed” does occur then you must call in order to kill it during debate.

    Highly charged bills have received a “Motion to Proceed” to the floor, only to be defeat during the floor debate.

    In 2007, the Bush administration worked with Ted Kennedy TWICE to pass immigration reform. On May 21st, their bill received “Motion to Proceed” by a 69-23 vote. After nearly 3 weeks of debate, it died on the floor by a vote of 45-50. Three weeks later, they tried to pass immigration reform again, and once again it received a “Motion to Proceed” on June 26th by a vote of 64-35. Only 2 days later it died on the floor by a vote of 46-53.

    In 2013. four months after the Newton massacre, a bill on background checks received a “Motion to Proceed” by a vote 64-34. After 10 days of debate, the bill was filibustered.

    So as Aesop would say: KEEEP FUCKING CALLING.

  8. 8.

    Iowa Old Lady

    I feel like a terrible person because I am fantasizing about McCain making the trip and dying in the process as a fitting symbol for this whole evil effort.

  9. 9.

    Ohio Mom

    I will call of course — I just want to take this opportunity to tell the powers of the universe that I was joking during the last lull when I remarked, “Gee, if I don’t have to call Portman everyday, what will I do to fill my days?” I’ll manage just fine, really. Don’t keep this going on my account.

  10. 10.

    rikyrah

    @Iowa Old Lady:
    You are not a terrible person.
    The terrible person is the muthaphucka who has gold plated insurance his entire goddamned life coming, IN THE MIDDLE OF TREATMENT..to take away Healthcare for MILLIONS ??

  11. 11.

    Patricia Kayden

    @Iowa Old Lady: It’s a shame that McCain would continue to destroy his legacy by hobbling back from surgery just to cast a vote for such an horrific bill. Shame on him.

  12. 12.

    Ohio Mom

    @Iowa Old Lady: If you are terrible person, then you are on the back of a very long line, you have lots of company.

    I can’t imagine anything I would less rather do after surgery than travel — as I recall, merely going out to lunch in the neighborhood two weeks after my big surgery was a grueling trek. I am enjoying the idea of McCain’s completely unnecessary discomfort.

  13. 13.

    ArchTeryx

    @Iowa Old Lady: McCain’s dying gesture is going to be to vote to commit mass murder. Out of pure racist spite.

    Wishing for the same slow, drawn-out, painful death he’s going to bequeath on hundreds of thousands of others doesn’t make you a terrible person. It’s more like Laser-Guided Karma. McCain deserves to burn in the 8th circle of hell.

  14. 14.

    rikyrah

    The only good thing about this is that we will be able to nail down what Legislative Evil they want to push. Will be no mystery.

  15. 15.

    Cheryl Rofer

    Axios has an explainer. I don’t know how accurate it is, given McConnell’s willingness to pervert normal order, but it looks complicated.

    The best, of course, is to persuade (call, call, call!) the Senate to vote against the Motion to Proceed and shut it all down. We’ve been fooled before.

  16. 16.

    HinTN

    Calls yesterday afternoon to the DC offices of Alexander and Corker were disconnected without even a ring. I left messages at their offices in Chattanooga urging them to vote No on the motion to proceed.

  17. 17.

    Patricia Kayden

    @ArchTeryx: President Obama, Secretary Clinton, VP Biden and Secretary Kerry all issued classy supportive statements when McCain was undergoing surgery and this is the way he repays all of those who were sending him warm thoughts during his recovery. Disgusting.

  18. 18.

    Patricia Kayden

    @rikyrah: These are the clowns who claimed that the ACA was opaque despite the fact that the ACA was debated for days, subjected to public review and amended by Republicans (with the intent to weaken it). Hypocrisy is real.

  19. 19.

    weaselone

    @Patricia Kayden:

    President Obama, Secretary Clinton, VP Biden and Secretary Kerry all issued classy supportive statements when McCain was undergoing surgery and this is the way he repays all of those who were sending him warm thoughts during his recovery. Disgusting.

    I really just don’t get McCain. There’s no reason for him to do this. He is literally dying. He’s got maybe 2 years, more likely 6 months and all the money in the world. If it were me, I’d try to do one of two things 1) spend time with my girls trying to check as many things off my bucket list as possible or 2) go back to DC, kick ass and not bother taking names. How messed up do you have to be in order to travel back to DC so you can carry water for the insufferable orange fraud in the White House and vote too screw over millions of people regarding health care.

    Seriously, even if I were a spite-filled A-hole, I don’t do what McCain appears to be doing. Obama and most of the Democrats have been fairly respectful of him. It’s people in his own party that have openly wished for his death, disparaged his service and are gleefully positioning themselves to trample over his still warm corpse to grab his Senate seat.

  22. 22.

    gvg

    Just sent email to Rubio. Told him voting on a secret bill was sure to be foolish. Thought of the phrase suckers bet after I hit send. I do emails because I know I will do those, wheras phone calls are difficult due to work and frankly I freeze up on phones and avoid them. I still try to do the phones too, but I am better on email.

    I hate Rubio. didn’t say it. I had just got a smarmy response from one of my last emails so i wasn’t happy.

  23. 23.

    germy

    @weaselone:

    There’s no reason for him to do this.

    Is it possible he has no idea what he’s doing? I remember his questions during the testimony, when he looked as confused as I’d ever seen him.

  25. 25.

    Tazj

    @weaselone: I don’t understand this either. Isn’t now the time to vote your conscience? Or to be independent or a maverick? Why enable a traitor and a madman?

    Maybe he feels great loyalty to his Republican friends in the Senate on the MTP and they’re the people who mean the most to him now. He obviously doesn’t care about his constituents, because even if the bill ultimately fails they’re being jerked around mercilessly,

  26. 26.

    Betty Cracker

    @gvg: I also received a smarmy email from Rubio last night in response to one of my earlier missives. He really ought to sign up for MailChimp or something so he can send his formulaic responses back quicker. I cannot abide that lying shitweasel.

  27. 27.

    Hafabee

    Just did my daily fax and call to my Senator Shelley Moore Capito (with some language I guiltlessly stole from a BJ thread a day or two ago

    Dear Sen. Capito,

    I have been your constituent for your entire Federal political career, first as District 2 House Representative and now as Senator.

    After your recent (and appropriate!) public skepticism of the Republican Senate health care bills, why are you suddenly this week POLITICIZING OUR HEALTH CARE by calling Obamacare a “failed law” (it isn’t!) saying that “Repealing, replacing Obamacare is the best solution for West Virginia” (it isn’t!)?

    “REPEAL AND REPLACE” IS A SLOGAN NOT SERIOUS POLICY, AND YOU KNOW IT. AS YOU SAID LAST WEEK IT WILL HURT NOT HELP WEST VIRGINIANS!

    You say you want a thoughtful replacement for the ACA. Well, the process this week in the Senate is anything but thoughtful. If the Motion to Proceed is passed, it’ll be fast, furious, and confusing — 20 hours of ‘debate’ (read partisan speechifying) followed by an unlimited number of amendments with a ONE MINUTE presentation followed by a TEN MINUTE vote each, so these amendments will be voted on without any clear idea of
    what’s in them, and certainly no CBO score.

    HAVE YOU NO SHAME? THIS PROCESS IS A DERELICTION OF YOUR DUTY AS A SENATOR! PLEASE VOTE “NO” ON THE MOTION TO PROCEED!

    Thank you.

  29. 29.

    low-tech cyclist

    @Betty Cracker:

    I cannot abide that lying shitweasel.

    Shitweasels at least are vertebrates. That’s more than can be said for Marco Rubio.

  30. 30.

    Chris

    @Tazj:

    This assumes that people like McCain have a functioning conscience as we would recognize it.

    He could very well be thinking “now is the time to vote my conscience! I will not take the easy road, the popular road, the road that lets voters indulge in yet another entitlement that they think they want now, but that I know will end up bankrupting the country and leading it down the dark road to communism. I will do the hard thing and sacrifice my reputation for the good of the country, for the long term good of us all!”

  31. 31.

    Juju

    @gvg: I’ve called and faxed the two Senators from NC and I got a smarmy email from Tillis saying he supports anything that repeals the evil, useless, economy destroying ACA, and I got a letter in the mail from Burr saying very much the same thing. I don’t know how much it will help to call Burr and Tillis again, but I guess it can’t hurt.

  32. 32.

    Ohio Mom

    Left a message, wrote an email, most of Portman’s mailboxes are full or are not picking up.

    I’ve said this before, his interns are exactly the kind of arrogant slackers you imagine young Republicans to be. They could come in early, stay late, do their best to keep up, but they purposefully avoid the phone. Horrible work ethics and habits.

  33. 33.

    rikyrah

    How To Call Your Senators:
    Dial 202-224-3121
    Automated system
    Press 1. Enter zip code.
    Leave name, say vote NO #BCRA
    Let’s go, America. pic.twitter.com/bxLEZuKMBz
    — Alyson Smith (@PedsAly) July 25, 2017

  34. 34.

    rikyrah

    Ted Kennedy fought brain cancer to deliver the #ACA. Will John McCain fight his brain cancer to help repeal it? #contrastincourage
    — DocStymie (@docstymie) July 25, 2017

  36. 36.

    rikyrah

    He could afford quality healthcare. He wanted the rest of America to have it, too pic.twitter.com/9nM9gXdmP8 via @laurenm cc: @BeschlossDC
    — David Beard (@dabeard) July 25, 2017

  37. 37.

    rikyrah

    1- Within an hour, will send out a long thread on 3 topics: the bill, the arm twisting & latest on what’s next.
    Follow if interested.
    — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 25, 2017

    2- The Senate purposely has shrouded what bill they will vote on so they can get a Motion to Proceed passed. But..https://t.co/XeHbC0LBv9 pic.twitter.com/v86osw6rJK
    — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 25, 2017

    3. People lose site that the fundamentals of the bill have been unchanged since Day 1.
    These 10 things have been true SINCE THE START.?? pic.twitter.com/9f7RT4knpo
    — Andy Slavitt (@ASlavitt) July 25, 2017

  39. 39.

    rikyrah

    Sen Capito

    Her voicemail box is empty. Fill it people. (202) 224-6472
    — 202-224-3121 (@justdreamin91) July 25, 2017

  40. 40.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @weaselone: I really just don’t get McCain. There’s no reason for him to do this

    I think the first rule of understanding McCain is: He’s really not very bright.
    Or maybe it’s: His vindictiveness is correlated to his delusional arrogance, and ThatOneCare is named for the Usurper who stole his chance to finally outrank his father and grandfather I mean be President (seriously, fucking daddy issues, man…)
    It’s one of those that should come first. I can never decide.

  42. 42.

    FlipYrWhig

    @Tazj: The other thing I keep coming back to is that if McCain DID vote against the thing it would be his media apotheosis. He’s already a legend to the media because he told dirty jokes on the campaign bus. But voting against would mean that he was remembered forever as the maverick and martyr to How The Senate Should Be and How Republicans Should Be. It’s an obvious play for McCain to make. And the way it’s looking like he’s _not_ going to make it really shows how little his legendary status has ever been based on.

  43. 43.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @FlipYrWhig: that’s all very true, and interesting

    all of McCains’ celebrity aides on twitter– Weaver, Schmitt, Salter– hate trump with a passion. Nicole Wallace, too. Makes you wonder who has the old dummkopf’s ear these days

  44. 44.

    Gerald Parks

    The FIRST white guy to lose to the Black guy wants to erase the Black guy’s signature achievement.
    Humpt …somehow …I am not surprised!
    22 to 32 million or more Americans left with NO health insurance …the legacy of a true patriot … really????

  45. 45.

    low-tech cyclist

    @FlipYrWhig:

    really shows how little his legendary status has ever been based on.

    McCain actually earned his ‘maverick’ reputation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, co-sponsoring lots of intelligent bills with Dems.

    But in mid-2004, he decided that the best way to the White House was to be a standard-issue Republican. He endorsed Bush, sucked up to people like Falwell, and voted the party line in all but a few instances. His maverick days are >13 years in the rearview mirror. That the press still sees him as he used to be shows how absolutely terrible they are.

  47. 47.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    In other news, the military is now publicizing the President’s semi-official, non-military activities, almost like a campaign of which they are a part

    NORAD & USNORTHCOM‏Verified account
    @ NoradNorthcom
    Yesterday, the @ POTUS spoke to @boyscouts attending the #2017NationalJamboree about hard work, perseverance & believing in yourself.

  48. 48.

    Uncle Ebeneezer

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: This speaks volumes:

    In congress, Rep. John McCain quickly positioned himself as a GOP hard-liner. He voted against honoring Martin Luther King Jr. with a national holiday in 1983 — a stance he held through 1989. He backed Reagan on tax cuts for the wealthy, abortion and support for the Nicaraguan contras. He sought to slash federal spending on social programs, and he voted twice against campaign-finance reform. He cites as his “biggest” legislative victory of that era a 1989 bill that abolished catastrophic health insurance for seniors, a move he still cheers as the first-ever repeal of a federal entitlement program.

    PS- A FB friend of mine dropped a truth bomb:
    “Yup. He’s been a “nothingburger” for a long ass time. Yet White liberals love to fetishize a “Good Republican” so they don’t have to be mad at their parents and grandparents for being terrible.”

    ^^^No Lie Detected^^^

  49. 49.

    Chris

    @FlipYrWhig:

    There was an LGM thread a couple months ago that made the point that people who had reputations in the media for integrity and maverick-ness usually didn’t have much to back it up, and had it mostly because they’d cultivated the reputation.

    It was about James Comey, but applies to McCain pretty well too.

  50. 50.

    hedgehog the occasional commenter

    Called Bennet’s office – he’s a NO. Thanked the staffer, asked her to pass on my thanks to the Senator and to tell him to keep fighting.
    Left a message for Gardner (R-Weasel in Human Form) to vote NO. He’s danced around saying how he’ll vote but is likely yes.
    Keeping Schroedinger’s Cat’s example in mind–we fight not because we are assured of victory or defeat but because we must.

  51. 51.

    Chris

    @Uncle Ebeneezer:

    One of the first things I remember reading that clued me in that McCain wasn’t all he was cracked up to be was General Zinni’s autobiography (the head of CENTCOM in the nineties) who recalls him as one of the primary activists for regime change in Iraq (at the time, through a ludicrously implausible plan of arming exiles to overthrow Saddam, that Zinni referred to as the “bay of goats” plan).

    Something else to remember, especially for those who contrast him with Bush.

  52. 52.

    Ohio Mom

    Finally got through to a Portman intern at the Cincinnati office.

    For what that was worth.

    On to the rest of the day!

  53. 53.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Chris: Charlie Pierce reposted his long profile of McCain from 97 or 98– the day they met was the day we all learned the name Monica Lewinsky. It’s mostly pretty favorable, and McCain’s twin hobby horses were regime change in Iraq and campaign finance reform. I can’t even remember what McCain-Feingold was supposed to be about, but Repbulicans hated it, it was bipartisan, and it was called “reform”. The details have faded, but the collective broder-gasm has never subsided

  54. 54.

    H.E.Wolf

    Called my 2 Senators directly; used Fax Zero to channel generations of my Sunday-School-teaching forebears and informed Majority Leader McConnell that if he forced this bill through, his name would be a hissing and a byword to generations yet unborn.

  55. 55.

    SiubhanDuinne

    It’s been ages since I’ve talked to an actual person in either of my Senators’ offices. I almost always end up leaving a voice mail message and hope it gets counted in their tally. Today, couldn’t even do that with Isakson — mailbox full in DC, no pickup at all (automatic or human) at the local office. With Perdue, local office rings constantly busy, but I did leave a v/m on his DC phone.

    Should take heart, I suppose, at the full v/m boxes and busy signals — it signals that a LOT of people are calling them, and I want to believe that a goodly number of those calls are of the “Vote NO!” variety. But that’s likely wishful thinking on my part.

  56. 56.

    tesslibrarian

    @SiubhanDuinne: This is why I fax and email both them, always starting with, “Since your office refuses to answer my phone call…”

    Also, if you fax, you can put shaming quotes from the bible in very large fonts their email forms don’t allow. (Matthew 25:40; Isaiah 10:1-3) Lapsed Catholic myself, but I’m all for throwing their hypocrisy in their smarmy little faces.

  57. 57.

    mai naem mobile

    McCains offices aren’t answering the phones .Just goes directly to VM and that’s full. Cowards.

  58. 58.

    Percysowner

    I got a person in Portman’s Cleveland office, so Yay! I called yesterday as well. I expect it to do zero good., but it’s worth a try.

  59. 59.

    blackcatsrule

    @tesslibrarian: OT but several years ago you wrote a post about a cat you had rescued who had been left behind after a move…I believe his name was Jack? I just wanted to tell you I still remember that story and it moved me so much I started volunteering at my local shelter since where I was living at the time didn’t allow pets. I now have two kitties and love them to pieces. Thank you.

  61. 61.

    Raven Onthill

    We do have some hope in McCain. He has nothing to lose if he votes against, and he is not going to telegraph his vote. Still, he is a slender reed who has broken before.

    Me, I have told my Democratic Senators to stiffen their spines, and to remind their Republican colleagues that a vote for this is participation in a crime against humanity; that this is a government acting to kill its own people. I do not understand why they have not thought it through to that point. But then, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!” It is not just salary but prestigious and powerful high office.

  62. 62.

    TenguPhule

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I feel like a terrible person because I am fantasizing about McCain making the trip and dying in the process as a fitting symbol for this whole evil effort.

    Don’t feel bad. Just pray that McCain and at least one other Republican Senator die before they can vote today.

  63. 63.

    TenguPhule

    @Patricia Kayden:

    It’s a shame that McCain would continue to destroy his legacy

    Destroy? Have you been paying attention to the dirty fucker’s political history at all? This would cement his legacy in stone as a testament to a life of corruption,evil and general “fuck all people of color”.

  64. 64.

    TenguPhule

    @Patricia Kayden:

    President Obama, Secretary Clinton, VP Biden and Secretary Kerry all issued classy supportive statements when McCain was undergoing surgery and this is the way he repays all of those who were sending him warm thoughts during his recovery. Disgusting.

    I regret nothing about popping the champagne over his diagnosis.

    I will celebrate when he finally does die. Because the world will be a slightly better place without him.

  65. 65.

    TenguPhule

    @weaselone:

    There’s no reason for him to do this. He is literally dying.

    As I’ve said before, this is underestimating Republican spite.

    This is McCain’s last “FUCK YOU N*GGER!” to President Obama.

    Yes, the same one who wished him well.

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