Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

The arc of the moral universe doesn’t bend itself. it’s up to us.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

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

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

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Democrats have delivered the Square Deal, the New Deal, the Fair Deal, and now… the Big Joe Biden Deal.

Democrats are back in array!

We know you aren’t a Democrat but since you seem confused let me help you.

Another missed opportunity for Jamie Dimon to just shut the fuck up.

Wake up. Grow up. Get in the fight.

They are lying in pursuit of an agenda.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Chutkan laughs. Lauro sits back down.

A consequence of cucumbers

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

This blog will pay for itself.

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

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

We’ve had enough carrots to last a lifetime. break out the sticks.

The new republican ‘Pastor’ of the House is an odious authoritarian little creep.

You are here: Home / Pet Blogging / Cat Blogging / There’s that number again

There’s that number again

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The Republican giveaway to the rich tax bill isn’t popular:

New Hart Research polling finds the Republican tax bill is very unpopular in Sen. Bob Corker’s home state of Tennessee (30% approve), Sen. John McCain’s and Sen. Jeff Flake’s home state of Arizona (26% approve) and Sen. Susan Collins’ home state of Maine (22% approve).

The average of 22, 26, and 30 is very close to one of our favorite numbers.

Also too, I got a request to do more fundraising for Doug Jones. Here you go.

Goal Thermometer

Reader Interactions

85Comments

  2. 2.

    Yutsano

    @jackmac: Yup. They need to pass SOMETHING. Anything. Fuck norms, rules, votes. They need 50 so Pence can break the tie. All their sweet sweet oligarch cash is riding on that.

  3. 3.

    TenguPhule

    @Yutsano:

    Fuck norms, rules, votes.

    Yep, all the middle class tax cuts are temporary.

    All the corporate tax cuts are permanent.

    They’re not even trying to hide what they’re doing at this point.

  4. 4.

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

    @Yutsano:
    Is there a record for how many times a single VP has had to break ties in the Senate? This isn’t normal. You shouldn’t constantly need the fucking VP to break ties like this. It’s a sign that your agenda is deeply unpopular and divisive.

  5. 5.

    Calouste

    Corker and Flake are retiring, and McCain will most likely be dead before he is up for election again. I expect the first two to value a RWNJ sinecure in retirement over the concerns of the people in their state.

  6. 6.

    Kraux Pas

    I recently saw the tax bill referred to as a “tax on the future.”

    Let’s see; it lowers taxes on millionaires and partially offsets the costs by raising them on low-income workers, it is likely to raise the value of the dollar and certain to lower the costs of investing offshore which will push jobs out of the country, and we will eventually have to pay for the services the government provides.

    I like this phrase for this or any tax-cut bill bull the Republicans propose. It’s pithy and adequately scary for anyone with a little foresight.

  7. 7.

    What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?

    I get that they think they have to pass this tax bill because they have to pass something or their donors go home, but…have they considered what happens to their voter base if they pass this bill and a significant chunk of it sees their taxes go up after a couple decades spent marinating in small government anti-tax propaganda? There aren’t enough GOP mega-donors to win an election for dog catcher. In the end, they need votes to get elected. The “representative Paul Ryan voted to raise taxes on millions of middle class families” ad writes itself, and seems like it would appeal to the very sensitivities of folks who generally vote for him.

  10. 10.

    Yutsano

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    The “representative Paul Ryan voted to raise taxes on millions of middle class families” ad writes itself

    That ad is ready and waiting, since the House already passed their version. It really doesn’t matter now if the Senate does for the purposes of House political ads. This NEEDS to be beaten into every House Republican election. They voted to increase taxes to give tax cuts to the rich. Short and simple. And then let THEM explain it.

    @Mike J: Sort of. It allowed more moderate Republicans to take over the legislature. So they can’t get over the tribalism part but they can at least be somewhat pragmatic.

  11. 11.

    danielx

    I can see a commercial with assholes boarding a private jet and laughing over the rubes who voted for those who gave the tax break on said jet.

  14. 14.

    Kraux Pas

    @Calouste: Yeah, they’re screwing people in lots of arcane ways. How about their caps on deductions for school supplies and graduate studies?

    Who ever said Rs can’t put effort into policy? As long as the policy is “screw the poor” they’ll do their research and give it a 110% effort.

  18. 18.

    RepubAnon

    @danielx: Yes, and a series of “Muffy and Buffy” ads, with two clueless trust fund kids who never pay taxes, and don’t understand why their servants do pay taxes.

  19. 19.

    sharl

    Well, SOME people like the idea of the tax change legislation, or at least don’t mind it:

    NEW: The financial heft behind a leading pro-Roy Moore super PAC is coming from GOP mega-donor Richard Uilhein https://t.co/Bx1oBgVWy4— Lachlan Markay (@lachlan) November 27, 2017

    Roy Moore Super PAC Financier Finally Revealed: Newly released documents show Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein is the moneyman behind a group seeking to send Moore to the Senate

    The chief financier of a leading pro-Roy Moore super PAC is a deep-pocketed Republican businessman who dropped eight figures on 2016 races alone and is looking to continue propping up the party’s most conservative candidates.

    Illinois businessman Richard Uihlein provided $100,000 to the group, Proven Conservatives PAC, since September, according to a new filing with the Federal Election Commission, making him by far the group’s top donor. That money, which hadn’t been previously disclosed, has financed a host of ads boosting Moore’s candidacy in the face of widespread sexual assault and harassment allegations. The group has also run ads attacking Moore’s primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL), and his Democratic general election rival Doug Jones.

    Uihlein is a far bigger name in GOP politics. The shipping and office supply mogul and his wife donated a combined $26.4 million to federal campaigns, party organs, super PACs, and interest groups during the 2016 election cycle, according to FEC data.

    That spending has kept up this year.

    With funds provided by Uihlein and a handful of other donors, Proven Conservative PAC has spent more than $120,000 on about 15 television spots for ads boosting Moore and casting Strange as a D.C. insider and Jones as a liberal extremist. While Uihlein has been active elsewhere, the PAC itself has not reported any electoral activity outside of Alabama.

  20. 20.

    Batten Down the Hatches

    Done. Not a huge donation but it feels good to do something.

    Thanks for the frequent reminders.

  22. 22.

    JoeyJoeJoe Junior Shabadoo

    Kansas Republicans did lose a State Senate seat and a dozen State House seats in 2016 even as Hillary was losing badly, so there has been some effect

  23. 23.

    Brachiator

    @Mike J:
    @Mnemosyne:

    Has it hurt Republicans in Kansas?

    The article on the impact of tax cuts in Kansas is very instructive, because it reveals the primary intent of Congressional Republicans.

    “This is designed to shrink government. It is not designed to grow business,” state Representative Stephanie Clayton told me. “I’ve seen it. It shrinks government. It doesn’t grow business.”

    The GOP leadership and their plutocrat masters don’t care about growing the economy. The plutocrats are plenty rich already and the tax cuts will just shovel more to them. And the middle class will be strangled, but they can be ignored and fed propaganda from the Clear Channel/Meredith/Fox/Sinclair syndicate. But the federal government will become smaller and less effective. And that will make the Koch Brothers and their ilk very happy.

    And it’s interesting to see that Kansas Governor Brownback never backed down from the state’s disaster and is moving on to become the United States Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom.

  26. 26.

    geg6

    Apparently, Project Veritas is at it again (though the news flash on my phone does not say who the woman works for). Someone approached the WaPo with a very dramatic story about Roy Moore that turned out to be false. Seems to one of their sting ops.

    Idiots think Marty Barron is as stupid as they are.

  27. 27.

    Amir Khalid

    I have heard of only two Republican arguments being advanced for this ghastly tax package: Trump needs a legislative win, any win at all, to avoid looking ineffectual as President; and Congressional Republicans need a win to appease their billionaire donors. Not a peep about what’s good for the nation, which according to every objective analysis will be harmed both immediately and in the long run.

  28. 28.

    geg6

    @Mnemosyne:

    Apparently, some Oklahoma lawmakers are telling their people the same thing. If there are two states that should know best that this trickle down shit is really tinkle on, it’s Kansas and Oklahoma.

  30. 30.

    Schlemazel

    @Brachiator:
    Never forget David Stockman. He was St. Ronalds first budget director who went to DC believing in trickle-down bullshit. He quit very early and wrote a book that should be required for its description of what he learned in DC. They are not interested in tax cuts per se, they never believed laffer, never thought trickle-down works. They wanted one thing & one thing only – to destroy the Federal government so that it was incapable of interfering with anything every again. The main cause was racism but health and safety issues were high on the list. They are very close to achieving their goal, may actually have done it we will see

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @geg6:

    Because they make shit up about their enemies, they assume that we do the exact same thing, so therefore all of the allegations against Trump and Moore must be fake.

    It must be very weird to live in a world where evidence doesn’t actually prove anything.

  36. 36.

    Adam L Silverman

    @geg6: Here you go:

    In a series of interviews over two weeks, the woman shared a dramatic story about an alleged sexual relationship with Moore in 1992 that led to an abortion when she was 15. During the interviews, she repeatedly pressed Post reporters to give their opinions on the effects that her claims could have on Moore’s candidacy if she went public.

    The Post did not publish an article based on her unsubstantiated account. When Post reporters confronted her with inconsistencies in her story and an Internet posting that raised doubts about her motivations, she insisted that she was not working with any organization that targets journalists.

    But on Monday morning, Post reporters saw her walking into the New York offices of Project Veritas, an organization that targets the mainstream news media and left-leaning groups. The organization sets up undercover “stings” that involve using false cover stories and covert video recordings meant to expose what the group says is media bias.

    James O’Keefe, the founder of Project Veritas who was convicted of a misdemeanor in 2010 for using a fake identity to enter a federal building during a previous sting, declined to answer questions about the woman outside the Project Veritas office, a storefront in Mamaroneck, N.Y., on Monday morning shortly after the woman walked inside.

    “I am not doing an interview right now, so I’m not going to say a word,” O’Keefe said.

    In a follow-up interview, O’Keefe declined to answer repeated questions about whether the woman was employed at Project Veritas. He also did not respond when asked if he was working with Moore, former White House adviser and Moore supporter Stephen K. Bannon, or Republican strategists.

    The group’s efforts illustrate the lengths to which activists have gone to try to discredit media outlets for reporting on allegations from multiple women that Moore pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his early 30s. Moore has denied that he did anything improper.

    A spokesman for Moore’s campaign did not immediately respond to a message for comment.

    The woman who approached Post reporters, Jaime T. Phillips, did not respond to calls to her cellphone Monday morning. Her car remained in the Project Veritas parking lot for more than an hour.

    After Phillips was seen entering the Project Veritas office, The Post made the unusual decision to report her previous off-the-record comments.

    “We always honor ‘off-the-record’ agreements when they’re entered into in good faith,” said Martin Baron, The Post’s executive editor. “But this so-called off-the-record conversation was the essence of a scheme to deceive and embarrass us. The intent by Project Veritas clearly was to publicize the conversation if we fell for the trap. Because of our customary journalistic rigor, we weren’t fooled, and we can’t honor an ‘off-the-record’ agreement that was solicited in maliciously bad faith.”

  43. 43.

    TenguPhule

    @Amir Khalid:

    Not a peep about what’s good for the nation, which according to every objective analysis will be harmed both immediately and in the long run.

    The Republican boilerplate of “It will create jobs and decrease the deficits, eventually” is getting entangled with “Don’t worry, the temporary tax cuts will be made permanent” and the mixed messaging is starting to permeate to even the media’s dull awareness.

  46. 46.

    TenguPhule

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:

    but…have they considered what happens to their voter base if they pass this bill and a significant chunk of it sees their taxes go up after a couple decades spent marinating in small government anti-tax propaganda?

    They blame the Democrats.

    Its not coincidence that the worst parts of their bill take place five years from now.

    They’re presuming Democrats will be in power and ready to take all the blame.

  49. 49.

    TenguPhule

    @? ?? Goku (aka The Hope of the Universe) ? ?: Let the punishment fit the crime. Complete public outing of every possibly available detail to the point that going forward, no judge or jury in any court in the land will ever believe her testimony ever again. i want her public shaming to the point where her own relatives disavow her.

    And that doesn’t even begin to describe what I want done to O’Keefe.

  51. 51.

    Duane

    @Kraux Pas: I see the so very smart Repubs tacked “and Jobs Act” onto the tax scam’s title. What a blatant, deceitful attempt to mislead. They should add ” and Magical Unicorn Act, Too.” They don’t even try to hide their disdain for us any longer.

  53. 53.

    MisterForkbeard

    @What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?: Their voter base won’t care.

    First, as TenguPhile says they’ve timed it so that the results are in the future and can be obfuscated and blamed on the Democrats.

    Second, even if the tax bill hit IMMEDIATELY they still wouldn’t care or believe it. I saw an article about a year ago that involved journalists talking to a bunch of republicans and shown (over and over!) that Obama had lowered their taxes, even going so far as showing them their own tax returns from the past several years and watching the tax rate go down. None of them believed it was real. Likewise, these are the same people that believe Trump is really Christian and that he’s reformed from his p*ssy-grabbing days… or that the tape was faked to begin with. They’re all brainwashed.

  57. 57.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Adam L Silverman: So complete surprise, the Republicans are grasping at straws to come up with any reason at all to reassure voters they can vote for Roy Moore. I’m not sure why they bothered – the rank and file are already convinced the allegations have been disproven or show that he ‘honorably’ asked permission from the parents of legal teens to date them.

    They just don’t care.

  60. 60.

    sharl

    The 30-second Doug Jones ad attached to this tweet is awesome:

    AL-Sen: The Doug Jones campaign has rotated in new creative –Jones to-camera: "Roy Moore compares preschool and early childhood education to Nazi indoctrination. Folks, we're 49th in education because of thinking like that." pic.twitter.com/bYnGtvJLYZ— Medium Buying (@mediumbuyingllc) November 27, 2017

    I hope there are enough voting-eligible Alabama folks that agree.

  62. 62.

    James E. Powell

    @chris:

    Exactly. By next fall, FOX & Rush will have them all believing that Trump cut their taxes into half of what they would have been under Obama. CNN & the NYT will give the “some say” and “both sides” treatment so no one but the already committed will have any idea what the truth is. Republicans are very good at this because they all tell the same lies over and over. Democratic countermeasures have all failed because Democrats are unfocused and unwilling to explain why taxes need to be paid.

  63. 63.

    Adam L Silverman

    @sharl: Here you go:

  64. 64.

    Another Scott

    @Timurid: As usual with Twitter, it raises more questions than it answers.

    Twitter is horrible for conveying actually useful information to normal people. :-/

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  66. 66.

    sharl

    On the topic of the latest O’Keefe sleaze, THIS is why I always want to know where the money is coming from for shit like this!

    The problem with Project Veritas is that its targets have to catch it every single time. Project Vertias only has to fool someone once to do considerable damage.— Ian Millhiser (@imillhiser) November 27, 2017

    it already has; i hope we can all understand now that ACORN was driven out of existence via a racist con job. https://t.co/b38DjHvUIO— Seth D. Michaels ? (@sethdmichaels) November 27, 2017

    the lost history is that ACORN warned about the housing bubble/mortgage fraud before anyone and that is why they were destroyed https://t.co/vh3bR0pY4m— Atrios (@Atrios) November 27, 2017

    I think Atrios is likely correct, though I would love-LOVE-LOVE to have captured recordings of these secret gazillionaire backers providing targeting instructions to the pond scum they hire for these hit jobs, like O’Keefe.
    A boy can dream…

  68. 68.

    TenguPhule

    @sharl: The intelligence we could get from O’Keefe about domestic threats to democracy more then justifies sending him on a one way trip to a CIA blacksite.

  74. 74.

    Brachiator

    @Schlemazel:

    They wanted one thing & one thing only – to destroy the Federal government so that it was incapable of interfering with anything every again.

    They remind me of Dick Cheney, who believed that the brute force method of creating your own reality actually works. It is simply destructive.

    The odd thing is that Trump’s biggest supporters are willing to go down with this failed effort. They will believe despite it all that Trump really is trying to make America great again. And knowing Trump, he will blame those he duped for not being strong enough or smart enough or good enough to be worthy of him.

  78. 78.

    Brachiator

    @TenguPhule:

    The Republican boilerplate of “It will create jobs and decrease the deficits, eventually” is getting entangled with “Don’t worry, the temporary tax cuts will be made permanent” and the mixed messaging is starting to permeate to even the media’s dull awareness.

    I don’t think you can blame the “media’s dull awareness.” News stories have been pretty clear about the impact of this crappy tax bill.

    The GOP is rushing to get things done in the dead of night and in secret. Even rank and file Republicans in Congress did not see what the committees were doing until they were done.

    But the GOP can thank the distraction of the holidays and the fact that most people are not going to pay attention to stories about economics, even when it affects them.

    On top of this, you can see the GOP claiming that the CBO lies or is inaccurate, or that any cautions or negative assessments are just Democratic Party fake news.

    Now you can blame lazy and stupid pundits, as opposed to straight reporting. I caught a bit of the ABC Sunday pundit show and Cokie Roberts and others speculated whether the GOP would be able to get things done by Christmas, but never said anything about the lack of merit in the tax bill.

  79. 79.

    different-church-lady

    @Another Scott:

    Twitter is horrible for conveying actually useful information to normal people. :-/

    Which is exactly why everyone uses it — people will always choose the worst technology for what they want to accomplish.

  82. 82.

    p.a.

    Those 20% numbers are impressive given the media’s innumeracy and obsequious channeling of strong daddy rethug bullshit. Somehow the dem’s messaging is getting through the filters.

  83. 83.

    Spaniel

    @Mnemosyne:

    … and riddle me this? Who is the Speaker of the House that worked for Sen. Brownback a few years ago is a force to push this tax across?

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