Get Biden his electric corvette! He’s earned it.
Get Schumer all the blue suits he wants.
Thanks to the D caucus, who from left to right swallowed omitted priorities or provisions that troubled them to keep their eyes on the available prize.
Thanks to Joe Manchin, who demonstrated that he’s actually the most rightwing Democrat in the Senate, and not actually a Republican. He did good for his party and the country, however imperfect the final result may be. It’s a damn sight better than any previous President and Senate has achieved.
And, yes, thanks to Kyrsten Sinema, who in the end charged an entirely manageable price for her vote. Hell, I even think the $4 billion for drought relief in th west is both good policy and exactly what senator from that region should seek. Yes, I’d rather tax the plutocrats way more than the bill first suggested, and Sinema stripped that out. But I’m cynical enough to believe carried interest was put into the bill so that she would have a demand that could be met. Sausage must be made, my friends…and in the end, she voted yes when it mattered most.
Also too, I want to thank the Republicans for failing to line up ten of their own to get insulin price caps through. (Seven Rs did vote yes, not enough to get by the filibuster threshold.) Every diabetic in the country (under Medicare age) and everyone who cares for someone facing this trouble now really knows who has their back and who doesn’t. I’m pretty confident this point will be made more than once in the next three months. And damn well should be.
And finally: suck it McConnell and your entire miserable, America- and planet-hating caucus. Go run on privatizing profit and socializing misery.
All of which is to say…this is a Big Biden Deal:
Dubbed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, the package would authorize the biggest burst of spending in U.S. history to tackle global warming — about $370 billion to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below their 2005 levels by the end of this decade. The proposal also would make good on Democrats’ years-old pledge to reduce prescription drug costs for the elderly.
PaulB
This is great news for [checks notes] John McCain.
Baud
I haven’t been this excited about a bill since Obamacare.
zhena gogolia
I’m so proud to be a Democrat, and I love Kamala!
ALurkSupreme
Great job, Dems!
Urza
In the long term, the environmental part of this bill may save more lives than Obamacare.
Suzanne
Wooooohooooooooo!
This is tremendously great.
No matter what happens in future elections, Joey B can live the rest of his life knowing that he made this country a better place.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
Madam Tiebreaker!
Formerly disgruntled in Oregon
Celebrate! Gotta enjoy the wins.
Next, let’s send a bigger Dem majority to Congress in the midterms and do it again next year, even bigger and better! Let’s get insulin capped, and let’s bring back the fully refundable child tax credit.
Let’s do this!
Suzanne
And, I will also note, as someone who gave many hours volunteering for the campaigns of Kyrsten Sinema — holding my nose the entire damn time — it is somewhat restoring to see this. That time was worth it.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: He stepped in when we were at the lowest point I can recall in our contemporary history.
Omnes Omnibus
Love the Whistler.
I put a marker down about a year ago that the Dems would pass some version of the BBB, that Manchin would eventually come through, and that it would be good enough to run on in 2022. I recall that there were doubts.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: Definitely.
PaulB
I like, too, that 43 Republican Senators will have to explain to their constituents why they opposed a cap on insulin prices.
I should also add that this was a big deal for me, personally, as extending the improved ACA subsidies will save me in the neighborhood of $6,000 next year.
A rather obvious prediction: Republican responses to the bill will be to:
1. Lie about its contents and consequences, repeatedly and blatantly.
2. Take credit for its contents and consequences, repeatedly and blatantly, often in the same speech/interview.
jnfr
And just to note for the record, from the beginning with the orginal Build Back Better legislation, straight through to now, it has NOT been progressives or the Progressive Caucus that have stood in the way. With exception of Bernie being Bernie, and having no effect, we were never the stumbling block. It was “moderates” (conservatives) who slowed this down.
And I’m very glad they came around, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t want this story to continue that it’s leftists’ fault that Biden’s been having a hard time.
Baud
@Suzanne:
@zhena gogolia:
👍
zhena gogolia
@Omnes Omnibus: You’re just like my husband, OO, you’re always right.
randy khan
The insulin vote was such an own goal that it’s kind of shocking. Sure, lots of their constituents won’t get what they did, but I can’t see why you’d want ads up saying – completely truthfully! – that you’d voted to allow price gouging on a medication that millions of people need every single day.
Subsole
@zhena gogolia: Much like Obama before him, funnily enough…
Baud
@randy khan:
This will be the Insulin and Abortion Election.
zhena gogolia
@Subsole: Yeah, but this was lower. As much lower as the distance between Dubya and TFG. (No fan of Dubya, don’t get me wrong.)
Baud
@jnfr:
I agree. On BBB, progressives have been supportive and the problems have come from the centrists.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Not always. But I was this time. And this is also why no one kicked Manchin or Sinema off of any committees or moved their offices to a sub-basement somewhere.
West of the Rockies
@Baud:
Absolutely! Next to Obama Care, this is the best.
Tom Levenson
@Omnes Omnibus: Yup. Just as with “independent” Joe Lieberman [spits]. He was a huge fucking impediment to just about everything, but he still served us better pissing out than in.
zhena gogolia
@Tom Levenson: Proud to say he’s not representing CT any more. We have two stellar senators.
Ken
I’d hope you recall it, the most recent ones were yesterday! And there have been plenty of warnings for the last two weeks that Manchin, Sinema, and/or Sanders were going to sink the bill. This is not the quality of punditry for which I come to Balloon Juice.
(Though that’s because I don’t come for the punditry, but the cat videos, flower pictures, and mockery of Republicans.)
Dan B
I’d rephrase McConnell being a planet hater. He loathes people. He loathes science. He doesn’t care that there is a very high chance that most children will experience horrifying weather and wars over shortages of food and water. It’s quite possible that there will be chaos in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere over destruction of crops from weather, exacerbated by McConnell’s ideological twin Putin.
Spanky
The Insulin Reduction Act, thanks to Republicans.
MazeDancer
@randy khan:
Totally crazy. Ads write themselves. So do the town hall questions, except they don’t have any.
One-third off on heat pumps could pay for itself in 3 or 4 years.
My oil bill went up 800 bucks past season. And now that I have to run the AC for a couple of weeks instead of just 1, it could be good to have.
NorthLeft
@randy khan: To me, a Canadian, the gobsmacking part of the insulin fiasco, is that the original discoverers/creators of insulin gave up all potential financial gain from this wonder drug as they realized how critical it was to the health of diabetics around the world.
Some would call them naive.
Suzanne
@randy khan: I think rates of diabetes are higher in red states, too. It’s so fucken dumb.
Voting against it wasn’t just bad policy. It wasn’t just harmful to people. It was D U M dumb.
SiubhanDuinne
Tom, that Whistler painting is magnificent! Love it.
Baud
@Suzanne:
Too bad there’s no Jon Stewart for diabetics.
Chetan Murthy
@Ken:
Hand to Bible, I did *not* expect ’em to be able to resist. I was *certain* that it’s just in
a scorpion’sSinema’s nature. I was wrong. Or more precisely, I was wrong, that she’d just keep upping the price to be bribed.zhena gogolia
@SiubhanDuinne: Apparently Ruskin hated it. Wikipedia tells me.
Omnes Omnibus
@zhena gogolia: Ruskin was wrong.
Van Buren
@PaulB: Nailed it.
Wanderer
This is a BIG deal! Congrats to Senate Dems and MVP. Thrilled that the country will benefit and President Biden will have gotten a heavy lift completed. I am glad.
Suzanne
@Chetan Murthy: Sinema has no principles, but she isn’t dumb. She was my Congresscritter for many years, and she usually voted the right way.
Van Buren
@randy khan: To do it days after the burn pit BS really sends a message to anyone who cares to listen.
SiubhanDuinne
@Formerly disgruntled in Oregon:
[In Littlefoot voice]: Yup yup yup!
Dan B
@Baud: It would be nice to include corporate price gouging but two issues are plenty. Insulin is a perfect proxy for corporate greed.
zhena gogolia
McConnell reacts (Cauvin):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKFGM8gPAxM
Baud
@Chetan Murthy:
Several people including me believed she doesn’t want to be the lone holdout.
PaulB
I’m still chuckling over Ted Cruz’s tweet about “Stop Biden’s shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents. Stop the Manchin-Schumer bill,” complete with a dramatically over-the-top video. If that’s what Congressional Republicans want to run on this year, I’m fine with that.
Considering that I didn’t receive my income tax refund until a couple days ago, after mailing it to the IRS in early March, I figure they could use some added help. An agent I spoke to earlier this year said they likely wouldn’t finish processing returns until mid-September.
Sure Lurkalot
The co-discoverers of insulin wanted their life saving drug to be affordable. From Wiki:
Ken
This was a Monty Python skit, wasn’t it?
VOICE IN CROWD: “What about burn pits?”
MICHAEL PALIN: “Right. This will be the Insulin, Veterans and Abortion Election.”
ANOTHER VOICE: “What about school shootings?”
PALIN: “Ah yes. Our four election issues are Insulin, Veterans, Abortion, and Gun Control –”
THIRD VOICE: “Oil companies posted record profits!”
PALIN: “Five issues. This election will be…”
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
Thanks for the memory
But we were intelligent people,
No tears, no fuss,
Hooray for us.
Awfully glad I met you
Thank you so much.
Dan B
@MazeDancer: We got ductless heat pumps in 2010. In Seattle I figured we’d use the AC one day per year when it hit 90°. Ha! Plus the warmth is wonderful. It’s much nicer than forced air. The only better heat is radiant which I grew up with. Our two indoor unit system cost $3,500.
bbleh
@zhena gogolia: @Baud: I appreciated the giggle when she announced the final vote tally. As noted elsewhere, it seemed good-natured, actually happy. I imagine attending parties with Democratic Senators, which seems like reasonable fun, and then Republican ones, and OMG run away.
Baud
@Ken:
“What have the Democrats ever done for us?…”
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
Bravo.
Tom Levenson
@MazeDancer: Speaking as someone who just bought a heat pump…
(I’m fine with it, of course. And anyway, MA subsidies for the net-zero solar and heat pumps system we put in were damn good on their own.)
bbleh
@Ken: @Chetan Murthy: Concur. My working hypothesis is that there was a good deal of carrot-dangling and arm-twisting behind the scenes. I will also recall that Schumer helped very much to make Sinema, which leads me to assume he has means to break her.
Dan B
@Suzanne: I saw a map of diabetes rates. Alabama and Mississippi were crazy and the more conservative the higher except for rural areas in the west. It was confederate states plus Indiana and Appalachia. Off the charts.
bbleh
@Suzanne: @zhena gogolia: @Baud: @Subsole: I fifth the motion. [Groucho mode]: And speaking of fifths…
West of the Rockies
@Ken:
Well, of course, the burn pits. The burn pits go without saying!
Ken
@SiubhanDuinne: I can’t take full credit, a couple of weeks ago someone posted a Scottish National Party video touting their accomplishments, with more than a hint of the Python skit, and asked “why don’t the Democrats do this?”
(The video stuck in my mind chiefly because, although in English, it was subtitled in English. Also because I needed the subtitles; the accent was as opaque to me as those of the last couple of Doctors.)
Baud
@Subsole:
Isn’t Obama about to go to the White House for his portrait unveiling?
SiubhanDuinne
@zhena gogolia:
OMG LOL! That’s by far the best thing Cauvin has done in months! Glad to see him back in the groove.
LevelB
With the exception of ObamaCare, and the civil rights, voting rights legislation of the 60’s, I cannot think of a more landmark and needed law (added – in my lifetime. Yes, I am old). It really feels good to win. I honestly wondered if democrats would recover from their support of the Iraq invasion (I still choke up thinking about that).
Anyway, definitely proud to be a democrat.
LevelB
mvr
@Suzanne: Yeah I believe I sent money to her campaign several times. Maybe it was money well-spent after all.
Suzanne
Tempering my joy somewhat: Spawn the Youngest woke up from a nap and is now rubbing her feet on me. Eeeeaaaaaaagggggggghhhhhgggggghhhhhhh whyyyyyyyy.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ken:
The original sketch is brilliant, which means that anyone quoting and/or parodying the OS will also automatically be brilliant. Embrace the win.
HumboldtBlue
@Ken:
Well done.
mvr
@jnfr: I’m still a little worried about the house though I expect that if anyone can get this through it is Nancy Pelosi. Am I just being nervous for no reason?
bbleh
@zhena gogolia: That is one of the funniest things I’ve seen in weeks. Thank you!
Baud
@mvr:
Probably will be ok. Nothing is official until it’s done.
bbleh
@mvr: Am I just being nervous for no reason?
Are you a Democrat? Then, no; it’s natural. Relax … [cracks up]
Baud
@mvr:
@Baud:
There’s so much joy in Whosville right now, any Dem that bucked the party would have a death wish.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Yes, but not until next month.
ETA: September 7th.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna40493
cmorenc
My older adult daughter’s seat-mate on a flight from DFW to Grand Junction, Co this moning was none other than Lauren Bobert, R-six shooter. My daughter was returning from a couple of weeks with us at our house on the North Carolina coast (Sunset Beach), and Bobert was returning home from C-Pac. My daughter’s political leanings are vastly different (fortunately) than Bobert’s, but as is more often than you’d guess from typical BJ comments about what horrible people RW GOPers are in their policies and public pronouncements, according to my daughter, Bobert was pleasantly civil to chat with face-to-face outside of any sort of political context. Daughter said Bobert was far more petite in size than she expected, and with Bobert not wearing eyeglasses on the flight, my daughter didn’t at first recognize who her seat-mate was until Bobert introduced herself.
I once met Jesse Helms on the street in downtown Raleigh by chance, and he was very personable and pleasantly civil face-to-face, a sharp contrast with his monstrous policy views.
You can draw you own conclusions – maybe the Devil himself is very civilly pleasant to interact with face-to-face, so long as you don’t dig down under the surface too far.
mvr
@Baud: I was kind of thinking something along those lines myself, but there was some talk that what Sinema had removed was going to cause some people heartburn.
Thanks in any case for the reassurance!
mvr
@cmorenc: It would be very hard to restrain oneself under such conditions.
Baud
@cmorenc:
I hope your daughter was masked.
Fair Economist
This is such a relief and such an accomplishment. Bravo Majority Leader Schumer!
HumboldtBlue
@Baud:
sept. 7
MazeDancer
@bbleh: Representative Jayapal, Chair of the Progressive Caucus, tweeted: encouragingly:
oldgold
Chuck (Can’t find my ass with both hands) Grassley is falsely claiming he voted yes on capping insulin prices.
Chuckles race with Admiral Franken just got closer.
Ksmiami
@zhena gogolia: And ffs people, let’s Re-elect Biden if he wants it. His presidency is one of the most impactful of my adult life.
Baud
@MazeDancer:
👍
bbleh
@MazeDancer: Once again, progressive Dems show they are team players. Push hard for what you want, then settle for what you can get. Practical, geddit? Not radical lunatics?
Media, I trust you will take note! [cracks up again] oh man, I am on a roll tonight …!
Chetan Murthy
@cmorenc:
Southern hospitality never stopped ’em from lynching and burning innocent Black people. Or as Lord John Whorfin put it: “History is made at night! Character is what you are … in the dark!”
Tom Q.
So, question: stipulating that this is a wonderful victory, a proud day for Democrats, proof that the party is the one that gets things done, etc. … would it have been better to do more or less this a year ago, or is it better now?
I ask because I think Biden’s image/approvals began its slide roughly a year ago, when it became apparent COVID wasn’t disappearing (thanks to 1/3 of a nation being too dumb to vaccinate), the Afghanistan pullout had a poor beginning (and was villainized by the press, to its everlasting discredit), and Build Back Better negotiations collapsed. Would getting a triumph like this then have offset some of the damage, and put Democrats into a stronger position for the midterms?
Or was some of that polling damage inevitable, given the inflation issue, and is the party better off making it happen now, when gas prices are falling (so noticeably even the press is grudgingly mentioning it), the Jan. 6th Committee has done a better job of damning the GOP than we ever dreamed, the Roe reversal has energized the Dem turnout machine, and a series of events (Buffalo/Uvalde/Highland Park, the al-Zawahiri targeting, GOP votes against veterans and cheaper insulin) have put them on what seems a glide path to a far better midterm than anyone imagined?
I don’t have the answer here; I think it’s a legitimate question.
HumboldtBlue
@oldgold:
19 of the GOP Senators who voted no today introduced bills/amendments in the past that would have capped the price at $35. They just want people to hurt, so Democrats pay the price.
Wapiti
@Dan B: In the map I glanced at, the reservation counties in the west stick out. I wonder if the diabetes rates might generally follow poverty rates.
MazeDancer
@Dan B: Was thinking cost would be twice that. Upstate NY gets colder than Seattle. But I have a small house.
@Tom Levenson: Sorry you missed the bigger savings. But you got it installed. Thinking there might be a big demand with the discount.
Living about 150 miles West of you, about the same weather wise, will be interested to hear how you fare.
Dan B
@oldgold: That dint take long. But maybe he believes it. Gotta give him the benefit of the doubt.*
*NOT!
Ksmiami
@Omnes Omnibus: when Manchin went on Fox News to sink BBB after months of negotiations with Biden, I must say, it wasn’t looking good….
Chief Oshkosh
@Suzanne:
That is a great observation and a very nice (and true!) sentiment. Thank you for posting it.
Fake Irishman
@Omnes Omnibus:
you did put down that marker. Baud and Major Major Major were in your camp as well. I leaned in your direction cautiously and I am glad you were correct.
It’s good to see that not everything is cynicism all the way down.
Also, to everyone who was a bit cynical about this whole process in the comments on this blog: I know you’re not because some of you who ranged the most are among the ones who work the hardest in the campaigns and in your communities to make these good things happen. (Hi Kay, Betty and Suzanne among others) Thank you as well.
Another Scott
@oldgold: There were some insulin amendments that got GQP votes.
(Repost) RollCall:
We don’t want marginally-attached voters to have their eyes glaze over by efforts at explaining these various votes. (Let the GQPers be in Kerry’s Trap of “I voted for it before I voted against it!” :-/)
“Bottom line, my Republican opponent could have joined the effort to cap insulin prices for everyone in the final bill. S/he refused. That’s wrong and there’s no excuse for it.”
Cheers,
Scott.
bbleh
@cmorenc: @Chetan Murthy: It is said that TFG is charming and charismatic in person. I’m sure Stalin was too, when things were going his way (as they usually did).
And in return, I’m happy neither to be impolite to such people nor to wish them, say, the same that they would righteously impose on immigrant children seeking asylum, or on teenage rape victims seeking to end their pregnancies.
They are not monsters because they behave monstrously in face-to-face encounters with other people whom they do not perceive as Others. They are monsters for other, more salient reasons.
C.P. Ballinger
@Ksmiami:
Nope, let’s not risk it. Do you really want Congressional hearings and investigations about the first son?
Brian Stelter: “What about Hunter? Hunter under federal investigation, charges could be coming at any time. This is not just a right-wing media story. This is a real problem for the Bidens.”
h/t https://www.mediaite.com/tv/brian-stelter-suggests-hunter-biden-turmoil-could-force-president-to-bail-on-2024-bid-its-a-real-problem-and-not-just-a-right-wing-media-story/
randy khan
@Baud: From your lips to the Flying Spaghetti Monster’s delicate orrechiette-shaped appendage.
Geminid
. More good news this evening: Egypt brokered a ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad that took effect a little over three hours ago, at 11:30pm local time. Two salvos of rockets were fired from Gaza minutes after the ceasefire but it has been quiet since.
Spanky
Sheesh.
Well frankly, I expected the trolls to come out earlier.
Baud
@Geminid:
👍
randy khan
@MazeDancer:
The progressives won’t be the problem. This bill is filled with things they want (not so much the pipeline bit, but if that’s the price for hundreds of billions on climate change, so be it).
The ones to watch are at the other end of the caucus. They’ve been very quiet, which may be an encouraging sign.
Dan B
@MazeDancer: We should have installed three interior units because the downstairs is more chopped up than the semi-open plan of upstairs. It has meant installing some radiant infrared (electric resistance) panels. They’re not too expensive – I shopped around – but even with low electricity prices they’re pricey to operate. It was an extra $1,000 to install another unit because the piping would have had to wrap completely around the house. It would have cost $1,000 – $1,300 for a high efficiency gas furnace to replace the one that was about to fail but the ductwork downstairs was lousy. It left the bathroom and bedroom cold, not just cool but very cold. Your price may vary depending on the layout of your rooms. Our upstairs unit is over the front door so you get a cool breeze or warm breeze on entry. We lucked out but it’s not uncommon.
HumboldtBlue
CaseyL
Getting this bill passed is a MAJOR accomplishment.
I’m more relieved than anything else – if the GOP was able to stop capping insulin by raising a point of order so they could filibuster it, I worried they’d raise a point of order on every other part of the bill or pull some other parliamentary shenanigans. I worried about Sinema right up until she actually voted in favor. I worried that one of the Dem Senators would sprain an ankle, get sick, or whatever, and not be able to vote.
But I am so pleased, so proud of our President, VP, and Senators. I’ll even give Manchin a kudo or two, blindsiding the GOP by coming up with a bill he would support at all in the first place, when they were so sure BBB was dead and buried,
Dan B
@Wapiti: That and minority percentage may be as well but high minority counties in Washington State aren’t so it’s likely poverty.
bbleh
@randy khan: saw somewhere (here?) that Gottheimer has said that since the SALT change failed, he’s cool with it. He’s a good bellwether imo.
Another Scott
The good news reports keep coming. Rachel Cohrs at STATNews:
This bill has many, many big Biden deals.
Cheers,
Scott.
HumboldtBlue
@C.P. Ballinger:
What nonsense. First, which committees are going to investigate and for what reason? The Dems control the House and Senate. Hunter is a private citizen with no ties to the administration, and in the end all you are doing is echoing right-wing bullshit talking points and carrying water for the GOP.
oldgold
The Senate was, is and will remain a terrible mistake.
Omnes Omnibus
@Tom Q.: This is when it happened. Let’s not worry about might have beens.
Betty
@zhena gogolia: Impressive. I assumed he was just good at Trump.
Jackie
@oldgold: A great ad would be Chuck’s words superimposed over his actual nay vote during the vote today. The video is already posted calling him a liar.
Omnes Omnibus
@C.P. Ballinger:
Have you considered fucking off? Would you like us to assign someone to help you consider fucking off?
C.P. Ballinger
@HumboldtBlue:
Take a look at the Cook Political Report, Sabato’s Crystal Ball, and other reputable sources. The Republicans have a great chance at taking back the House of Reps. It’s nice to fantasize about the outcome of the midterm races, but you need to live in the real world.
Dan B
@HumboldtBlue: That’s hopeful. In the meanwhile the CDC is doing a bad job of getting vaccines and treatments for MPV (Monkeypox) to people who need them. It’s quite possible that it will begin to spread to straight people and to animals which could make it endemic. Blame will go to the LGBTQ community who have bern pleading for treatments for months. The right wing is turning on its quarantine-the-perverts message, shades of 1981.
Chetan Murthy
@C.P. Ballinger: And you really think that what Dems do, will affect the GrOPers’ plans to investigate, investigate, investigate? Really? Recent arrival to Planet Earth, are you? We can suggest some good books to get you caught up.
HumboldtBlue
@C.P. Ballinger:
Oh fuck off. I couldn’t give three fucking whoops for what pollsters are reporting, the only poll that matters is the midterms.
Elsewhere. Lindsey Graham is taking the passage of IRA well.
zhena gogolia
@Ksmiami: oh but Maureen Dowd says he shouldn’t run!
Baud
@HumboldtBlue:
No wonder they love guns.
mvr
@Tom Q.:
I think that media like narratives and they get bored easily. Also, they can’t not do some version of both-sides. So either way we were going to get the negativity. They were going to find something to support the Biden failure narrative no matter what. So better to be in a position to get the comeback narrative as the election comes into view. Or so it seems to me.
Ruckus
@PaulB:
“I like, too, that 43 Republican Senators will have to explain to their constituents why they opposed a cap on insulin prices.”
No, they won’t. Have to or do. At best they will blame dems. But them be wrong about anything?
Never gunna happen. They only have bullshit buttons, and bullshit rationals. They lie, they are not the conservatives of yore. Who weren’t exactly a lot better but even a little bit was something.
Now?
It’s bull and shit all the way up and down.
David 🌈 ☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@Baud: How is it the media and republicans never ask “what have the Republicans ever done for me”
I guess if they did it would sound like this (link)
Dan B
@C.P. Ballinger: What a day to crap in the punch bowl at the victory party. Your realism = today is terrible, horrible, and I’m going to stomp my feet!!!! Get a clue.
zhena gogolia
@Betty: his Pence is perhaps his finest.
Scout211
@HumboldtBlue:
Agreed, and like too many news stories every single day that garner too many clicks and too much attention, the words like “may” “might” “could” make a story sound like it’s real and factual, but it is not. I read that Stelter story earlier and gave it not a second thought. He is a reporter who reports about reporters. I’m sure he would love to report about the reporters reporting these things that “could” happen, maybe, about Hunter Biden. He’s just teeing them up right now to see what happens.
Also, I don’t read reporters correcting these maybe-it-could-happen stories when they fizzle into nothing. They just move on.
Rant over.
Ruckus
@HumboldtBlue:
Lindsey didn’t understand that it’s overpopulated with right wing fucks like himself that we don’t like. Real, actual humans are fine.
Now OTOH he does seem to realize that insulin is a life saving medication. Baby steps into the real world Lindsey……
oldgold
@Jackie:
Grassley can survive being a shown to be a liar – he has many times. Where he is now vulnerable has to do with his age. As such, I would attack along the lines that the old fool doesn’t know how he voted.
Baud
@zhena gogolia:
That video was quite funny.
Ruckus
@HumboldtBlue:
Seconded.
Jackie
@C.P. Ballinger: Just curious, but, didn’t these same pollsters predict a Hillary win? Cell phones have made most polls unreliable.
Ohio Mom
@bbleh: Oh yes, my old optometrist once met Trump, many, many years ago, at an eyeglass frame trade show — turns out that Trump’s failed business ventures include a stab at the eyeglass frame business. Cliff reported that Trump was very personable and very charming. Not that Cliff was ever going to vote for him, the subtext of this story was Inexplicable Things.
Spanky
I, personally, ignore trolls when they show up. Attention is what they crave. Do not feed them.
BC in Illinois
How will the Republicans respond to people who criticize their votes against a bill that does so much good on so many levels?
They attack the bill as a budget-busting, job-destroying monstrosity, filled with pork.
I’ve seen this line already. They undoubtably figure they can keep it up until November.
NotMax
No Medium Cool again?
:(
Baud
Worrying about what Republicans will say is a waste of time. They always come up with something to say. Voters will buy it or they won’t.
Omnes Omnibus
We need a Dark Brandon origin story that somehow incorporates the Onion Joe meme. A radioactive can of Schlitz, perhaps?
Ruckus
@Spanky:
Rewarding them with a hardy FUCK OFF now and again is a bit stress reliving and therefore they provide a bit of health.
OTOH if they’d just shut the fuck up, go away and die in a fire, we’d never have reason to utter those 3 immortal words – FUCK OFF ASSHOLE What’s the satisfaction in not being able to say that?
zhena gogolia
@NotMax: I was wondering too
Mai Naem mobile
@Suzanne: i think she’s done so much damage to herself politically she may lose the Dem primary in a couple of years. If Katie Hobbs wins the governorship, Sinema may be better off being appointed to some trophy job by Biden and end her political career and move onto a media/lobbying gig.
Ken
@HumboldtBlue: Lines like Graham’s always remind me of the early Simpsons episode, where Mr. Burns is watching Homer on the security cameras and says “And yet, if I were to have him killed, I would be called the bad guy.”
Suzanne
@Mai Naem mobile: I think that is 100% her goal anyway.
Mai Naem mobile
@oldgold: i happened to be flipping channels and ended up watching CSPAN with Grassley talking at a hearing. I’m used to his ‘aw shuck, I’m an Iowa farmer grandpa shtick’ but this time he came across as old and honestly, he’s lost a step or two. He didn’t come across as confused, just old and mangled his speech a little.
Mai Naem mobile
@Suzanne: that’s true, she’ll have ten media offers on the table because she’s so mavericky and quirky with a whacky sense of style.
Geminid
@Mai Naem mobile: Even if Katie Hobbs wins, I don’t know if Biden could lure Sinema away from her Senate seat. It’s hard to think of a better political job than Senator.
Suzanne
@Mai Naem mobile: Media pays a lot more with much less effort.
The Moar You Know
@HumboldtBlue: that’s the most honest thing I’ve seen a conservative say in my lifetime. They just flat want to kill most of the people around them.
Suzanne
@The Moar You Know: That has to be a joke.
different-church-lady
@PaulB:
Oh you kidder you!
different-church-lady
@C.P. Ballinger: Dude, you’re a bit muddled on the difference between midterm elections and presidential year elections.
Steve in the ATL
@Spanky:
Ugh, so smart. Nobody respond to Omnes!
Traveller
@SiubhanDuinne: That is a Whistler painting?!? I was going to comment on it myself, but I thought it was some unknown Japanese watercolor…that it was Whistler makes this somewhat more interesting….but it is a magnificent piece of work regardless.
Ksmiami
@oldgold: Just ask the Romans…
raven
@Steve in the ATL: I don’t respond to him because he is elcorrecto!!!
PaulB
Sure, why not? Your point is rather idiotic for three reasons:
But since you’re a rather obvious troll, I rather doubt that you’ll have anything worth reading in response, so welcome to the world of pie. Enjoy yourself there.
Ksmiami
@zhena gogolia: Maureen who? Life is so much better when you ignore the villagers
PaulB
Pretty sure that Popehat was joking when he wrote that. The fucked up thing is that we really cannot tell. And reading the comments in response to his tweet, nobody else can, either.
eclare
@Ksmiami: Bravo.
Ksmiami
@Omnes Omnibus: On Wednesday, we wear pink…
eclare
@PaulB: So, wait, that was a parody of Lindsey? I thought it was real.
different-church-lady
@PaulB: Poe’s Law is a harsh mistress.
Ksmiami
@PaulB: the GOP- party of villainous trolls; There is no bottom.
different-church-lady
I really don’t see how Biden can recover from this success.
eclare
@different-church-lady: Hahaha….I hope you are feeling better today.
Steve in the ATL
@different-church-lady: well played.
MagdaInBlack
@cmorenc: Hannibal Lecter had impeccable manners.
different-church-lady
@eclare: Thank you. A bit. I spent the afternoon replacing the ineffectual 2” chicken wire squirrel barrier around the tomatoes with 1”, and then we enjoyed grilled chicken sausage while being treated to a lightning show.
Everything sucks slightly less and some people know what to do about some of it. Which is a hell of an improvement from the previous seven months, no?
Mai Naem mobile
@Geminid: i think she enjoys the attention and media would give her that. I read somewhere that she didn’t even know what she wanted during the BBB negotiations. Other senators had approached her. You can’t negotiate with somebody if you don’t even know what the hell they want. Manchin at least knew what he wanted . Sinema seemed like she just wanted the attention.
Chetan Murthy
@MagdaInBlack: And fine taste! Why, he knew what wine to pair with liver!
Frankensteinbeck
@different-church-lady:
I know Twitter isn’t the real world, but damn is it going crazy with Dark Brandon memes. I get the sense Democrats feel energized and hopeful.
eclare
@different-church-lady: I know it is redundant, but better is better.
different-church-lady
@Frankensteinbeck: I’m so old I can remember when Reagan was a goner in year two.
Omnes Omnibus
@cmorenc: The Devil is a gentleman.
James E Powell
@zhena gogolia:
And I think Maureen Dowd shouldn’t write or appear on TV.
JustRuss
@PaulB:
Yeah, I’m hoping to retire next year, this makes it a lot more possible.
Ksmiami
@different-church-lady: He didn’t actually do anything – it was Voelker that restarted the economy
Ksmiami
@James E Powell: whatever claptrap she puts on paper.. it doesn’t qualify as writing
different-church-lady
@Ksmiami: Yeah, but I’m not comparing achievements, I’m comparing zeitgeists.
Now that I think about it, Reagan was also “too old.”
J R in WV
@Spanky:
C.P. Ballinger is a troll, which is why I have way already put him in the pie safe, which I heartily recommend to everyone here tonight. Don’t ignore them, put them away where they can’t annoy you!!!
SFAW
@C.P. Ballinger:
Thanks very much for your concern. It will be forwarded to the appropriate group, where it will be given all the consideration it merits.
Ken
@J R in WV: So you don’t think that we have a sacred duty in these cases?
Betsy
@Ken: Excellent bit writing!
Since Monty Python is out of commission, you should maybe see about signing on with Foil, Arms, & Hogg.
Ksmiami
@different-church-lady: I know- I just think the Reagan idolatry is ridiculous since his Presidency was mostly a fugazzi
Steeplejack
I love that Whistler painting. Gonna see if I can jigger a piece of it into wallpaper for my computer or my phone. I keep forgetting he did stuff other than “Whistler’s Mother” (Arrangement in Grey and Black No. 1).
Dopey-o
Keith Richards said that every time he’s met the Devil, he found him to be a charming, engaging person, who throws great parties.
Steeplejack
@Dopey-o:
I hear he’s a man of wealth and taste.
Amir Khalid
@MagdaInBlack:
Except, of course, when he subjected you to a creatively-styled death without even asking your permission.
Bill Arnold
@PaulB:
The GOP lost big with the Hunter Biden story in 2020. They stupidly spent effort trying to grab late-election-cycle news cycles with a story that smelled strongly of years-old fermenting bullshit, with probable Russian involvement. The non-RW press was unwilling to bite into what smelled like bullshit. The “laptop” provenance story was particularly unbelievable.
Steeplejack
@zhena gogolia:
His McConnell is really good! First time I’ve heard it.
jnfr
@Baud:
And we are on the right side of both those issues.
EM
@C.P. Ballinger: Yes, and three months ago it also showed that the Repubs were likely to win the senate. But time passes and things change. The election is still over three months from now. Life is not static. You need to live in the real world.
Mo MacArbie
@Omnes Omnibus: Dead thread, but I’d go Old Bohemian.