It is just so depressing so many deeply stupid people are serving in Congress. Here is the latest:
Spending in health care is going to increase no matter what happens. It is going to increase at a completely unsustainable rate if we do nothing. Which is why we’ve been talking about reforming health care for the last couple of decades, and precisely why we’ve been talking about it intently for the last two. It is why we have been talking about “getting health care costs under control” for years. It is why Republicans, for all my lifetime, have been screaming that Medicaid and Medicare are going to bankrupt us- that is, until a couple of weeks ago when in an act of sheer political cynicism, the RNC and the Republicans decided to guarantee unlimited and unchecked Medicare benefits forever.
It is almost like these Republicans are so damned stupid they have no idea what the hell we are even debating. How are they supposed to have a coherent response or be constructive participants if they can’t even figure out the debate?
And that is Tom Price, the Chairman of the Republican Study Committee. The Republican “think tank” in Congress.
And it is “Democratic,” you silly ponce.
freelancer
Good thing the blizzard didn’t knock out Twitter.
/fumes
donovong
I would say that Tom Price is dumb as dirt, but it would be an insult to dirt.
Shalimar
I’m sure he is aware of all that. What he’s really saying is that Republican supporters are idiots who will believe anything. This is just twitter red meat to stir up the tea partiers.
scudbucket
Edit: It is just so depressing so many deeply
stupiddishonest people are serving in Congress.Fixed.
DougL (frmrly: Conservatively Liberal)
Isn’t a Republican “think tank” just an empty place where they think about getting tanked and then decide whether to hang out in the mens room or go to a titteh bar? I heard that they even have a diaper changing station in them.
demkat620
After what we have seen for the last nine years, what else did you expect?
gizmo
For the past month I’ve been involved in a voting rights case brought by the Republicans in upstate New York, which was resolved yesterday in the Democrats’ favor. On more than one occasion we made the mistake of giving those dimwits more credit for shrewd thinking than they deserve. They are clueless beyond belief, and have a very flimsy grip on the nuts and bolts of process and procedure. They are living in some kind of alternate universe. It’s very important to understand that before engaging them.
Brian J
Who knows if the reason behind this behavior is stupidity or simple depravity? It’s probably a mix of both.
Suffice it to say that regardless of what their motivation is, it’s yet another example of why I can never see myself voting for these losers. Say what you want about the Democrats, but the Republcans are too pathetic for words to describe.
SteveinSC
Partly why Democrats were at each other’s throats is because we don’t have a loyal opposition, we have 40 bomb throwers trying to shut down the govenment, leaving us with a handful of their fellow-travelers to deal with. The Republickers (sic) have taken themselves out of the process and are acting as wreckers abandoning their role as American legislators. For a crowd that claims their values are respect for the Constitution and patriotism, they are exhibiting neither. These people are hardly better than legislative terrorists.
lamh31
OT, but anyone else gonna watch the Saints vs Cowboys game tonite?
All I want for X-mas is for the Saints to beat the shizznitts outta the Cowboys!!!! The don’t even have to go to the Super Bowl (I would like that though), but just beat the ‘boyz, and I’ll be a happy “Who-dat-er”
arguingwithsignposts
@lamh31:
Given that it’s the cowboys in december, you’ll likely get your wish.
PeakVT
Lying or stupid: the debate continues…
Yutsano
@lamh31: Mmm…Romo getting smacked around by a team he thinks is probably beneath him. I might just enjoy this a bit too much. Plus I REALLY want that champagne popped by the ’72 Dolphins…and NOT because of the Colts.
Balconesfault
@Shalimar: Well, that’s been verified by any number of chain e-mails I’ve received over the years …
kommrade reproductive vigor
Shorter entire GOP: Blurgle meep! S ocialist fandago, drillbabydrill!
The only nuts they have a firm grip on …
Never mind.
Can you provide more details about the case?
The Dangerman
Perhaps it’s about time we had a qualifications test to serve; or, perhaps, a disqualifications test. Stupid fuckers (Bachmann and Palin, stand up, get outta here) need not apply. First, shoot all the lawyers (apologies to the JD’s out there). But, a little more seriously, remember how we went to the fucking Moon? That’s because Engineers ran the show (I’m an engineer, BTW). Then, the Bureaucrats took over and fucked everything up (and I have an MBA, too, so I guess I fall into that category, too).
J
John
Liked that “ponce”, as well as the general tone of this post. By any chance did you read Colin MacInnes London novels in your youth as I did?
The Grand Panjandrum
Which MENSA chapter meeting did he tweet that from?
wasabi gasp
Literalist and bad speller. Next.
tomvox1
It really is the key to understanding the GOP and in general to what passes for thinking on the Right Wing of this country: They are monkey-fucking cretins. Exhibit A… Well, they are all Exhibit A, it seems.
It’s not surprising really: If they even slightly believe the shit that they routinely spout on a whole host of issues, it means they were born dim. And if they are just doing it for the money, they have probably pickled their frontal lobes with a metric ton of booze and pills so they can live with themselves and sleep at night.
To pretend that they have anything to add to the public discourse on where we should be heading as a nation is the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the American public by the MSM…
Balconesfault
@The Dangerman: For what it’s worth, engineers tend to be lousy politicians. Think Herbert Hoover and Jimmy Carter?
handy
@Yutsano:
I don’t care if it’s the Donkeys or the Saints, just somebody for the love of god shut that Nick Buoniconti up once and for all.
Brian J
Come to think of it, didn’t the CBO project that after ten or so years, we’d actually be spending more overall, because we would simply have more people in the country, but be spending less per person? I think it was Kevin Drum who talked about this. If that’s the case, isn’t he wrong as well as stupid?
The Dangerman
@Balconesfault:
Can’t argue the point; engineers, by training or nature, aren’t very good bullshit artists.
Jean
Every time newspapers publish some GOP person using “democrat” as an adjective instead of “democratic,” they should put [sic] next to it. Simply childish.
Jean
Every time newspapers publish some GOP person using “democrat” as an adjective instead of “democratic,” they should put [sic] next to it. Simply childish.
mclaren
The American people have given the enthusiastic go-ahead to so many unsustainable policies that you have to wonder why health care gets singled out.
America currently spends north of 1.4 trillion per year on its military, broadly defined to include the CIA and NSA and NRO and VA and of course the Blackwater (now Xe) mercs which we now know are a CIA front.
At the same time, Americans drive around in SUVs and raise food using the most oil-intensive farming on the planet, in the middle of parched deserts like the San Joquin Valley irrigated by burning up even more fuel to pump the water in from thousands of miles away.
And then America has repealed usury rates, in defiance of the bedrock economic practice of every civilization for the last 5000 years, and we think somebody it will all work out when inflation runs at 2% but banks charge credit rates of 35% while the median wage of the middle class 2-income couple keeps declining.
And last but far from least, America eagerly outsources all its high-wage high-skilled jobs overseas, yet we keep borrowing more money from foreign investors to finance our insane military spending so we can continue futile losing foreign wars in third world hellholes.
Unsustainable?
America is running an unsustainability marathon. America is the all-time world’s champion Iron Man Triathlon winner of the global unsustainability contest.
Exploding health care costs are a drop in the bucket. For sheer unsustainability, America is racing ahead of every other nation in the world so far out in front of the pack the rest of the countries need a Hubble Telescope just to see how far ahead of them we are in sheer unsustainability.
Violet
@Shalimar:
Exactly. It’s like Mad Libs for teabaggers: “The ________ will increase spending. Instead of _________ Congress should cut taxes. ” Insert any proper part of speech and watch teabaggers froth at the mouth.
It’s so predictable it’s almost boring.
Joe Lisboa
OT, but anyone else gonna watch the Saints vs Cowboys game tonite?
I want to but I don’t know if it’ll be on regular TV here in Detroit. Google reveals nothing. Anybody know if this is one of the postponed games due to weather and, if so, if it’ll be one of the regular networks?
Also: Tom Price and his ilk are first against the wall. That is all. There, now we’re on topic.
mcd410x
Mudflats retweeted a Palin earlier: “Earth saw clmate chnge4 ions.” Ions. Because you don’t have to know any science to know you hate it!
Much like you don’t have to know anything about health care to form public policy! America, take a bow, you’ve had a great run!
Waingro
Engineers nearly always think they’re the smartest people in a room, despite often being total social retards.
I guess lawyers have the same problem, they’re just slightly more verbose and articulate assholes.
I think all decent people can agree that self-proclaimed “leaders” and “managers” are usually the dumbest motherfuckers in any organization.
dmvdc
This thread isn’t exactly the right place to make this point, but I’m going to make it here anyway.
There has been a lot of hand-wringing around here about how HCR legislation needs to get passed, even if it’s not perfect, etc. etc. etc., and how those wingers of the party need to back off and get with the program, etc. etc. etc.
Perhaps I’m moderate for a winger, so I may not represent all of us crazies out here in left-of-lala-land. But I think you need us.
Not because we’re such a huge chunk of the party, and if you don’t get our votes, well, you’re done and cooked, more Republican joy to come. Not for any practical reason, really.
You need us because without us you would become nothing but political hacks, fighting tiny, insignificant battles for tiny, insignificant gains, all in order to pat yourselves on the back for taking a step towards changing the boundaries of the debate–so that next time, next time, we’ll really advance the ball upfield, not just the inch we’ve moved.
You need us because you need to be reminded that “something” is not good enough. You need us to remind you that there are people out there who do have a vision of a better country. You need our purity. Yes, it’s likely that our pure visions will never win. But we’ve been to the mountaintop, while you’ve been fighting in the trenches. We have seen the Promised Land, while you have been rolling in the mud.
You need us for our vision.
And, in the quiet moments, when we’re honest with ourselves about the shape of our society, and about our dreams, and about our realities, we admit:
We need you, too.
beltane
We are engaged in a terrifying race to the bottom. Just as the Democrats have hit a new, all time low in courage and integrity, the Republicans remind us that they are exponentially worse. This is looking like a slow motion version of the fall of the Soviet Union. Sigh.
beltane
@mcd410x: Did she mention if they were negative ions or positive ions?
Give her credit for authenticity. The woman is every bit as stupid as her fan base.
Chuck Butcher
@The Dangerman:
As someone from a family of BSMEs and who studied that I don’t think the problem is about bullshit. The problem is that the nature of practical application of science makes engineers think the world works that way. It just flat doesn’t.
Taking the absurd reduction, the fact that 2+2 always equals 4 has no application to humans. They absolutely refuse to behave in that manner. If you want an example, just take the HCR debate around here.
The Grand Panjandrum
@mcd410x: Give the half-term former governor a break. Physics isn’t called hard science for nothing.
Leelee for Obama
I like Naomi Klein’s definition of a think tank: Places where people are paid to think, by people who make tanks. QED
calipygian
The climate is knocking the shit out of the DC area right about now. Of course is should be able to change four charged subatomic particles.
This truly is a “Brawndo gives what plants crave” moment for the Tea Bagger Warrior Queen.
comrade scott's agenda of rage
John: You seem constantly amazed at the stupidity of Congress people.
They. Are. Not. Rocket. Scientists.
Our country’s history is replete with a Congress full of dumb fucks.
Now is no different.
SiubhanDuinne
Waiting around here to see A Mom Anon weigh in. Tom Price is her Rep, his wife is her City Council member (BTW, they are both physicians), and I know them both personally (slightly) in a very different context. I feel obliged to mention that they are really nice people *and* I wouldn’t vote for either one of them if you paid me serious money. But it’s been useful for me to learn that it really is possible to separate politics from persons.
Leelee for Obama
@dmvdc: This. It is an absolute truth that was spoken by a man much smarter than any of us: “We must all hang together, else we will surely all hang separately.” Ben Franklin
We need each other to help make this country a better place, for all of us. One hopes that we can disagree, vociferously, and still understand that alone, we can do little, together, we can accomplish much.
beltane
@SiubhanDuinne: A neighbor of mine is a former Republican state rep who was voted out of office three years ago. He is an incredibly sweet man who is not overly conversant with the issues. Now that he has a lot of time on his hands, he rototills the neighbors’ gardens for them with his tractor. He is so much better in his house than in the statehouse.
AhabTRuler
Yep, that’s that old civility thing. It’s how you get through a dinner with someone that you called a traitor the day before. It allows everyone to get along so nicely.
NobodySpecial
This is just lying to serve his agenda is all. Probably it’s a Luntz-approved message.
calipygian
@SiubhanDuinne: And Hitler liked kids and dogs. I’m sure he was a great guy as long as you still had your entire penis.
Lots of Christians are nice people. Lots of those nice Christian people would stone you to death if you were gay and society were just a little less organized.
Nice to your face doesn’t mean they are good people, especially if they are policy makers. I’d rather deal with total asshole good people than people who are nice and personable to your face and fucking liars on twitter.
zoe kentucky in pittsburgh
The stupid– it burns, chafes and irritates.
Um, if you insure tens of millions more people then spending is certainly going to go up, fucktard. Actually the bigger point is that it’s going up whether or not we pass HCR, that’s sort of the WHOLE FUCKING PROBLEM. You know, skyrocketing costs, unaffordable premium increases, etc.
Wow, it sure was nice to be annoyed at a GOPer for a minute.
Chuck Butcher
@Leelee for Obama:
Oh man that’s funny. Quote one of the ultimate trouble makers in service of, of … oh crap.
matoko_chan
Well…..conservatives are the Stupid Party, and they know it, and they are all butthurt about it because it is true.
Someone needs to tell Friedersdorf that you can’t get to Cooltown on the Conservative Express.
It doesn’t go there.
ow ow ow make it stop!
haha, Conor you’re killing me.
lawls, you’re right Conor…..Beck is exactly as cool as these choads.
AhabTRuler
Yes, I think you have indentified the late Robert Novak’s one redeeming quality.
The Grand Panjandrum
@dmvdc: I need another fucking beer.
TGP +4
The Dangerman
@Chuck Butcher:
Again, can’t argue the point; just to bring this to the current debate, I’ve watched several CongressCritters on CSPAN drone on and one and on and on about the exact same talking points. Not bipartisan, what’s the rush (my favorite), cutting medicare, etc. It’s that level of bullshit that grates on my nerves. I want to take things apart, put things together, make them work optimally; I guess I’m saying an Engineer could politically drown in detailing or examining the minutiae.
+ (I forgot; thanks DougJ for the cocktail thread)
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
In a sense you should be thanking Rep. Price because he’s giving you a sneak preview of how they are going to demagogue this for the next 11 months. Get your talking points in order because 2010 is going to be a long year.
Fact is, best case scenario on the Senate bill is that it slows down the runaway freight train a bit, not stop it. We’re also not addressing the incomprehensible sums being spent on the global military Empire. I feel sorry for anybody younger than me.
Leelee for Obama
@Chuck Butcher: Yessss, exactly! It’s why he’s my favorite founder. The “Fart Proudly” stuff was really just a gift, KWIM?
The Republic of Stupidity
scudbucket
Edit:Edit: It is just so depressing so many deeply
stupiddishonest, and stupid people are serving in Congress.There… Fixed-Fixed.
AhabTRuler
Yeah, but that’s the point; societies (and people) don’t respond to that. Indeed, engineers’ inability to understand or adapt to human nature or human limitations is a widely-understood phenomenon.
Chuck Butcher
@The Dangerman:
Since I do construction and play with/build fast cars I am scarcely critical of engineers in that capacity. I take things apart and put them together for fun, and that had included politics. I also understand that cfm in and out of an engine is a different concept from an electorate.
Svensker
@Joe Lisboa:
It’s on the NFL Network. You can check the the NFL schedules and it will tell you where, when and on what stations.
The Dangerman
@AhabTRuler:
Added to my Amazon wishlist; thanks!
The cover photo of that goes back to my original point; well, kinda. The Challenger disaster was the result of some very poor engineering decisions, true, but, ultimately, it was a bureaucractic fuckup. This was illustrated beautifully when Feynman (a hero of sorts) asked for some ice water at the hearings; something so very complex was so very simple in the end …
lamh31
Seriously, Tell me this ain’t the definition of a circular firing squad:
Progressives Target … Progressives
Chuck Butcher
@Leelee for Obama:
That’s why I was laughing. Ben was talking to the weak kneed settle for whatever crowd about the idea that their troublemaker leaders were gonna get hung and right along with them the settle for crowd. There wasn’t any doubt in anybody’s mind Ben was gonna get hung in the face of failure.
I know I’m gonna get hung, I just choose to do it outside the company of … well that wouldn’t be polite now would it.
Chuck Butcher
@Leelee for Obama:
That’s why I was laughing. Ben was talking to the weak kneed settle for whatever crowd about the idea that their troublemaker leaders were gonna get hung and right along with them the settle for crowd. There wasn’t any doubt in anybody’s mind Ben was gonna get hung in the face of failure.
I know I’m gonna get hung, I just choose to do it outside the company of … well that wouldn’t be polite now would it.
Brian J
@comrade scott’s agenda of rage:
There’s probably some truth to that, but doesn’t it seem like we’re witnessing a new breed of super idiotic, incredibly nasty, highly belligerent douche bags, the sort that have no interest in actually governing, in action? I mean, I’m sure there have always been fights in congress, some that included guys as dumb as Tom Price, but it also seemed like people were interested in getting stuff done. Is it really so different now than it was in the recent past?
lamh31
Not enough, well, here’s another:
Do you want someone to run against Obama in the 2012 Primary?
I’ll say what I alluded to in another thread: you wanna depress minority turnout for Senators, then go ahead and primary Obama, and watch as African Americans, and a large number of Hispanics vote for Obama, and no one else. Less we forget, there was a large AA vote, but it did not always turn into votes for Senators as well. I can actually see more incidences where AA vote, cause believe you me, AA will vote, but instead of voting straight dem ticket, they will only vote for Obama, the hell with the rest of the Dem ticket
Just Some Fuckhead
@Brian J: You effectively have a 60 person senate with none of the quorum numbers being adjusted to account for 40 missing senators.
Chuck Butcher
@lamh31:
I’ll bet they don’t figure giving money and time and votes to “this” guy meant they were doing it for corporate welfare by mandate and tax money. Evidently they’re not on your side in anything is good enough. They probably think you’re the firing squad, but well…
AhabTRuler
Well, Diane Vaughn would tell you that the decision was the result of the normalization of deviance (i.e. acceptance of hot gas blowby and o-ring erosion over the operational life of the bvooster design), which came out of NASA’s “Go fever”. Thus for her, it is a matter of “corporate culture.” Perrow disagrees with that conclusion, instead arguing that the accident was a result of pushing technology to the limits of a human being’s ability to comprehend the complex systems and react to abnormalities.
The Grand Panjandrum
It is well worth your time to go over to Our Lady of Perpetual Outrage and read some of the comments about the news that the Democrats have the votes for cloture. It does my heart good to know they believe the rule of law no longer exists in our country and soon
Karl Marx’sTeddy Kennedy’s ghost will manifest itself in order to tear up the Constitution and eat our children.SiubhanDuinne
@calipygian 7:38 pm
Exactly, which is why I would never vote for Tom Price. Because I find him a pleasant man in no way means I condone his political philosophy, tactics, or record. But I don’t see who benefits if I see Tom and Betty Price at a reception and decide the only honest thing to do is attack them because of a vote, a tweet, or a moment of hysteria on the House floor. I would rather treat him like a hiuman being and save my acfivism for where it can do some good.
john@MM
This ‘democrat party’ bit is really silly and childish. It would be so simple to put a stop to it. If a Gooper uses it during a discussion the Democratic spokesperson should say something like, “You mean to tell me I’m supposed to debate politics with a person that doesn’t even know the proper names of political parties in this country? Please tell me you are joking.” They need to be put in their place every time they use this childish stunt.
lamh31
So Chuck Butcher, you figure that progressive blogs are correct in going after “Bernie F’in Sander”?????
And Al Franken who just what… less than 24 hours ago, was a “progressive” hero for “supposedly” shutting down Lieberman??
And Sherrod Brown, who came back to DC damn near right at the end of his mother’s funeral just to cast his “yes” vote for the stimulus.
so these three Senators “deserve” to have their progressive bona fides questioned…
Comrade Darkness
Maybe this isn’t the best spot for this, but what the hell.
John, thank you for your continued efforts on running this blog.
That is all.
The Grand Panjandrum
@lamh31: It’s a little early in the cycle for a Chicken Little routine, isn’t it?
TGP +5
Just Some Fuckhead
@The Grand Panjandrum: So what will change if we blow up the filibuster?
The Dangerman
@AhabTRuler:
I’ll have to read the book, but at the end of the day, the Engineers and the Managers have to find a way to compensate for all the unknowns of complex systems. Call it margin of safety or redundant systems or whatever.
I crapped on the bureaucrats over the Challenger disaster, but the Columbia disaster is on the shitty design. Foam flying off the tank was a normal part of the process; having a leading edge that could have been damaged by such foam was a disaster destined to happen. Truth be told, the shuttle fleet should probably have been grounded after Columbia, but instead now they go the NFL route (check the instant replay) and inspect closely on station. Not really good enough…
AhabTRuler
Not possible.
ETA: And the STS is a failure of politics and government. It was conceived under one political paradigm, but redesigned and built in another. You couldn’t design a safe and reliable spacecraft with the funding and expectations that were established by politicians.
dmvdc
@lamh31:
Everyone always “deserves” to have their progressive bona fides questioned.
Question everything, my friend.
[Which is not the same as “attack everything,” of course.]
Max
No NFL thread?
Geaux Saints!
Ruckus
@PeakVT:
Lying or stupid: the debate continues…
That’s why I couldn’t see it as a debate, I always thought it was both.
Kirk Spencer
@matoko_chan: I know, I know. If you have to tell people you’re the cool kids, you’re not the cool kids.
The Dangerman
@AhabTRuler:
Exactly right.
Brian J
@lamh31:
Here’s what I’d like to ask people who are suggesting this: exactly who the fuck are you going to get that’s better than Obama? Leaving aside policy, he’s great as a candidate and would likely run a better campaign than anybody I can imagine. There’s no guarantee he’d attract the same level of passion as he did the last time–although given some more legislative successes and the assured insanity of the Republican nominee, I’d give him better than average odds–but who is going to do better than him?
Until they provide answers to this question, they need to stop bringing this up.
calipygian
@AhabTRuler:
Complete assholes, no matter their persuasion, are easy to deal with. You know EXACTLY where they stand all the time.
Lieberman included. Which is why Harry Reid couldn’t lead a Star Trek convention to a brothel.
Chuck Butcher
I said they probably figure the firing squad is the corporate tools, if you vote for corporate tooldom how the fuck is it possible to separate you from other corporate tools? If the folks you mentioned stood up and filibustered this piece of shit you’d then call them … what?
Ah well….
calipygian
@SiubhanDuinne:
I don’t know. I went to a community meeting with my State Assemblyman prepared to either be nice to him, or completely savage him with the stuff I researched on the Internet, depending on how the meeting went.
Elected officials work for us. I dont give a shit if they are nice or not. I want them to be effective and work for my interests. Tom Price needs someone to savage him and embarass him at a public function.
FlipYrWhig
@Brian J:
Good thing we don’t have super idiotic incredibly nasty highly belligerent douche bags who have no interest in actually governing on the liberal side. It would be pretty annoying to deal with that on a day to day basis.
mr. whipple
FlipYrWhig: thank you for the earlier compliment.
MrW: +4.
metricpenny
Tom Price is my congressional representative. He’s not so much being stupid, as partisan. It is a Republican district, in a Republican county (Cobb), in a Republican state (Georgia).
A popular sign around the county is a picture of a tombstone for America. Born – July 4, 1776 Died – November 4, 2008.
Moved to the county for the great public schools and had every intention of moving when the child graduated from college in December 2008. Well, we all know what happened to the real estate market.
My saving grace is the internet. Especially Ballon Juice. So glad John had his epiphany.
Skepticat
It doesn’t bother me in the least that Republicans think that they can upset people by using “Democrat” rather than “Democratic.” It’s laughably childish proof of how ridiculous they are and how little of substance they have. I do get somewhat perturbed, however, when we give them the satisfaction of mentioning it.
Amy
Maybe because the House is out of session, but the sound of crickets seems to be emanating from House members. Have any come out all freaked out to say they can’t support the Senate bill? Somehow Dean’s call to kill the bill and start afresh hasn’t impressed.
By the way, I think after the bill is passed and Obama EXPLAINS what’s in it to the American people in the State of the Union address, his numbers and approval for the bill will climb and climb and climb.
Cat Lady
fix’t for accuracy.
Texas Dem
The Republican strategy here has been so bad from the very beginning, I’m starting to think they actually wanted HCR to pass. The best way to kill HCR would have been to cut a deal with Baucus, who would have gladly moved the bill to the right in order to attract a few Republican votes. And that would have caused liberals to bolt, thereby splitting the Dem. caucus. Instead, the GOP managed to get all 60 Senate Dems marching in the same direction–an impressive achievement, when you think about it. Demint was right: this was a battle. But it wasn’t Waterloo. The appropriate historical analogy is Stalingrad.–a bloody battle of attrition that ended with one side suffering a titanic defeat from which it never recovered. The GOP will pick up seats next year, but they’ve lost the decisive policy battle.
NOTE: The other day I said that HCR was dead. Looks like I was wrong about that, thank God. Now let’s hope that Byrd doesn’t drop dead before this mother finally passes.
Texas Dem
Update: Cowboys just scored again! 24-3 Cowboys!
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Check this one out; seems we’ve got Obama all wrong, he strong-armed hapless Sen. Nelson into capitulation.
Comedy gold.
kay
@lamh31:
They’re going to primary Bernie Sanders?
While they were discussing doing that, Bernie Sanders got 10 billion inserted in the manager’s amendment for community health centers.
Community health centers provide primary care, including dental care, at 40% less than the cost of visiting a for-profit medical center or private practice.
Sanders just DOUBLED funding for actual health care. Not health insurance. Health care. It’ll save hundreds of millions in Medicaid costs, and people will actually be able to walk in, get seen, and get care. It could expand access to community health centers to 25 million people.
That’s what he was up to today.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Bruce (formerly Steve S.): lolz
Although, if true, it would be disappointing that such a strongarmed tactic was deployed on behalf of the Health Insurer Bailout Act of 2009.
Clueless
The G(NO)P doesn’t need to debate anything – if it has a D next to it’s name it must be drowned at birth. No need to understand ANYTHING except which way your lobbyists are telling you to vote
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtMV44yoXZ0
AngusTheGodOfMeat
@Texas Dem:
But, according to BJ wisdom, you are Weak and Afraid unless you want it to be dead. I received this information in a secret coded message earlier this evening.
D-Chance.
How ’bout them Cowboys!
The Romoboys are now 6-13 in December… but you take what you can get after Xgiving. And it takes away the ‘Battle of Undefeateds in the Super Bowl’ hype.
Speaking of taking away, congrats to the NFL for making sure as few fans as possible saw the top two teams in the league this week. Sunday’s marquee game on a real network? Cincinnati vs San Diego. Oh, the tingle going up the leg at the thought of that one…
Bruce (formerly Steve S.)
Can you imagine the phone call these two had?
Obama: Look, asshole, either you accept this anti-abortion language, the stripping out of the public option and Medicare expansion, and compulsory transfer of billions of dollars to private enterprise, or the Air Force base gets it. Capiche?
Nelson: [gulp] But, but, but…
Obama: Nothing personal, you understand, it’s strictly business. Now, get off your bourgeois knees and sing the Internationale with me.
Twenty U.S. senators apparently take this seriously. How about that.
WaterGirl
@Skepticat: I went searching through threads tonight trying to find out how your cat was doing and I was very happy to hear he is doing so well. What a relief.
It took me 10 or 15 threads (going backwards from the most recent one) searching for “Skepticat” in order to find out. If there is a better/easier way to do that, I would appreciate it if someone would enlighten me.
Texas Dem
It was close, but they held on. But I think our field goal kicker will be out of a job tomorrow (he missed an easy one from 24 yards, and nearly cost us the game), so if anyone out there has any job openings for a shitty field goal kicker, I’m sure he’d appreciate the help.
kay
@lamh31:
Well, I checked the leading liberal health care blog, and the 10 billion dollars for community health canters doesn’t matter, because Maria Cantwell was somehow involved and she’s sullied and insufficiently pure, so the money’s tainted, or something.
I think they may have to refuse it, on principle.
Chuck
He is not stupid.
The people voting for him are. Perhaps that’s a snobbishly elitist broad brush (can a brush be elitist?), so I’ll qualify: the people voting for him based only on his soundbite political framing are stupid. They could be smart in other ways, because we’re all stupid in some ways, and in this case they are his useful idiots.
He is not stupid. He is smartly manipulating stupid people with language that stupid people believe and understand.
Now Michelle Bachman on the other hand? Dumb as a stump, and I think that insults the stump.
gwangung
@kay:
And rich. An internet millionaire. Like Grayson.
AhabTRuler
“Mr. Snyder, I have Jerry Jones on line 1”
kay
@gwangung:
I don’t know that it matters, because according to Keith Olberman, many of the health care reform dissenters are going to be in health insurance jail.
Health insurance jail is a little like Barack Obama’s despised FEMA camps, but way bigger.
Soon as this passes, we’re packing them off. Righties to FEMA camps, Lefties to health insurance jail.
Texas Dem
Roger Corman presents…… Caged Heat II, starring Jane Hamsher.
kay
@gwangung:
Keith Olberman makes 4 million dollars a year. He’s the highest paid on-air personality on MSNBC.
I don’t know why he’s all of a sudden refusing to purchase health insurance.
gwangung
@kay: Well Cantwell is very much a corporate person, having worked high up at Real Networks and other places that offer stock options. Doesn’t have to worry about health insurance, and has very much a internet/business outlook on life.
On the other hand, she represents a fairly liberal/progressive constituency in Washington (very much a Puget Sound background, as opposed to the eastern side of the Cascades). She’s more of a friend than they fear (though probably not as much as one as they’d like)(and that ambiguity drives some people crazy).
kay
@Texas Dem:
There are going to have to be lots of health insurance trials, if there’s a criminal penalty that includes jail time.
I don’t know how this health insurance jail thing works, and I keep hearing about it.
None of these learned commentators threatening those without health insurance with prison time have ever heard of due process?
Not that Keith Olberman is worried about that, of course. As I mentioned, he makes 4 million dollars a year, so is able to purchase health insurance, and does.
Just Some Fuckhead
I’m worried the IRS is going to become as hated as the Federal Reserve.
kay
@gwangung:
She voted against Canadian prescription drug importation. That’s why she’s on the “bad list”.
Sorry. No community health centers for you! Tainted money. Cantwell walked by it.
Many will have to sacrifice to punish Cantwell for that vote, but it’s well worth it, I assure you.
kay
@Just Some Fuckhead:
I don’t hate the Federal Reserve.
Anyone who wants Congress to set interest rates and monetary policy is insane.
A bipartisan commission composed of Ron Paul and Allan Grayson setting interest rates and monetary policy. That’s a great idea.
We’ll show that Ben Bernanke. We’ll put Ron Paul in charge of the money supply. Because he knows so much about the economy.
FlipYrWhig
@kay:
It’s the same gulag, but through it, righties and lefties learn that they really have common cause. Then they break out. It’s like The Defiant Ones. Starring Jane Hamsher and Michelle Malkin.
cleek
no, dummy. it’s not that they don’t know what the debate is. it’s that they don’t want us to know what the debate is.
remember, the GOP’s goal is “THIS BILL MUST FAIL”. even if it passes, it must be seen as a failure. so, if the real bill isn’t a failure, then they’ll create a strawman that is.
it’s about perception, not reality.
gwangung
Well, they’re getting plenty of help on that from the usual and unusual set of suspects…
Anne Laurie
@Brian J: [
I give you Preston Brooks, pride of South Carolina, who actually, physically beat his much smarter & infinitely more decent fellow Senator Charles Sumner bloody on the floor of the Senate — while his confederate kept bystanders from ‘interfering’ at gunpoint. (Brooks would later demonstrate the quality of his own metal by backing down when challenged to a duel by a third Senator with a reputation as an excellent shot.) Congress has always had its percentage of “super idiotic, incredibly nasty, highly belligerent douche bags, the sort that have no interest in actually governing”, but at least we and the Secret Service have managed to restrict their modern bullying to vile language & the encouragement of domestic terrorism.
A Mom Anon
Price is a tool. There may have been a time when he really was a “nice guy”,but that ship sailed quite some time ago. He’s thrown in with Red State and the teabaggers. All he cares about is who’s writing him checks and blowing smoke up his ass. A doctor,lying about a plan to fix healthcare,offering NOTHING useful himself,AND he’s stirring up the already hateful pot of goo that is this disgusting “movement” he’s a part of. Bastard.
He’s mean and selfish,just like the people who repeatedly vote for him are. How do you fight Spite effectively? That’s what motivates much of this,Spite. With a capital S on purpose.
The political climate here is fucked. The Dems won’t spend money here or do any work here,it’s Georgia,white suburban Georgia. It wasn’t always as bad as it is now,in a getting along with your neighbors kind of way. They’ve gone full metal insufferable,it’s so sad. The local gop managed to stir up alot of fear and resentment after 9/11 and it fucked up our community. I have no patience left for these nitwits. My life is full enough,and not in a good way right now. LOL,pisses me off,can’t you tell?
Maude
@A Mom Anon: I was thinking of you last evening. How are you?
think tank = tink tank
short for tinkerbell, clap louder.
A Mom Anon
@Maude:
I’m ok,my little family unit has had a tough couple of years,we’re hanging in there. We keep getting hit with things that stop forward progress,it’s frustrating. Thanks for asking.
JD Rhoades
George Snuffleupagus: your critics say it is a tax increase.
Mr. Obama: My critics say everything is a tax increase.
And there you have it.
Tom Jones
Our elected ‘representatives’ in DC are nothing but a bunch of selfish confused whores. I apologize for insulting proper whores.