American Politics Thread 2014

for you, wonks and wingnuts.

we can do better

I PREDICT A DEMOCRAT LANDSLIDE IN THE MIDTERMS THIS YEAR

yeah, actually, I'm having second thoughts about seeing "started by how's life" every time this gets bumped. but get to it, you guys. It's almost february

meanwhile Chris Christie is fucked.

Admitting privileges laws probably going to the Supreme Court; I'm not hopeful about a good ruling.

thanks how's life, the 2013 thread had the worst fucking thread title on ILX, this is much better

^^^^^

wait what happened to Christie?

Bridge-ghazi

“Is it wrong that I am smiling?” Mr. Wildstein texted Ms. Kelly.

“No,” she texted back.

“I feel badly about the kids,” he texted.

“They are the children of Buono voters,” she said, referring to Mr. Christie’s Democratic opponent, Barbara Buono, who was trailing consistently in the polls and lost by a wide margin.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/nyregion/christie-aide-tied-to-bridge-lane-closings.html?action=click&contentCollection=Politics®ion=Footer&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

traffic thing seems like small potatoes...? but I dunno anything about New Jersey really

neither does Alfred obv

so imagine you live...in or near...a city with a bridge...and somebody...say, the governor...made that bridge uncrossable by people who needed to use it to get to work...and did so as a gesture of political retribution...and there was a paper trail that said "this was revenge, he fucked over his own constituents to get revenge on his political enemies"

You don't know New Jersey.

you really don't have to know new jersey to know that this is a really, really bad look for anybody with any national aspirations

Sure it doesn't look good, but Christie just has to blame his appointees for getting carried away and the mainstream media that loves him will probably let it slide. Not sure how he's toast because of this:

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote in an Aug. 13 email to David Wildstein, one of Christie’s appointees to the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.
“Got it,” Wildstein replied.

Sure, he can look aggrieved and fire the aides, as he no doubt will.

he's fucked

CONTRARIAN TAKE: this is no big deal but will be cause for his own party to abandon him.

not like he really had much of a shot anyway

Wrong, this is a big deal

But yes he didn't have much of a shot

lol #1 boss fan new jersey governor chris christie

people will look back on this as the thing that killed christies chances but really he never had a chance

Pierce sez not so fast:

Moreover, Christie only has problems in this regard if you believe that the Republican base is ready for the kind of open revolt that got turned off pretty quickly in 2012. I still see grumbling and bitching and the eventual falling in line, especially if the Democrats nominate the Hildebeast, of whom the base has been having porn-vampire nocturnal visitations since 1991.

As for the bridge thing, Steve's correct that it likely will be dismissed out in the country as the kind of kick-the-liberals-in-the-balls maneuver that the base loves. It might shake up the independents a little -- Do you want vengeful, petty Big Chicken with his hands on the IRS? -- but they're largely a phantom constituency no matter how softly they are stroked by their favorite pundits. I suspect falls will be taken at lower echelons, and that nobody will be talking about the bridge closing by December of 2015. The only reason to believe Christie's doomed at this point is if you believe that a genuine Goldwaterish uprising is still possible in the Republican party. I don't.

The 'open revolt' lasted through March 2012 iirc.

CONTRARIAN TAKE: this is no big deal but will be cause for his own party to abandon him.

not like he really had much of a shot anyway

― goole, Wednesday, January 8, 2014 12:20 PM (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

imo its a big deal and he had no shot, if thats possible, but yeah there were a lot of powerful people who were just tolerating him who will take this opportunity to jump ship

like if he had a shot this would complicate things bigtime

so what you're saying is he had no shot

Hildebeast

I don't like Hillary but ugh

its just way too easy too see christie as petty corrupt jersey asshole

i dont think he had a shot xp

he was just never gonna be a fit culturally w the republican party, all that pallin around w the obungler didnt help either

Hildebeast

I don't like Hillary but ugh

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:30 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yeah what the fuck

wow so shocking seeing these gendered insults coming from the true blue holier than tho left who wouldve thought, next thing you know morbs will get up to it

Pierece is usually p. cool

its almost like extremely self righteous people feel like no one deserves their resepct

lol pierce is vv proud of himself 85/7

yeah he does talk about drinking a lot

"Will no one rid me of this turbulent bridge?"

I'm an ILM regular who rarely posts here. But as a resident of Livingston, NJ, I will add my two cents. Wildstein was our former mayor. He is insane, and bad bad news.

Until this morning I was sure Wildstein did this on his own.. I couldn't imagine Christie to do something that reckless and mean. Now it's clear his people were involved. Christie will get rid of that aide and say he knew nothing about it. Which makes him look weak, but that's better than looking like a psycho who shuts down bridge lanes for petty retribution over an election he won in a landslide. Can you imagine if an ambulance got stuck in traffic and someone died as a result?

If it turns out he ordered it or knew, all bets are off. Anything could happen. It's gonna be interesting, that's fer sure

yeah if theres proof christie gave the order hes DONE

could easily get rolled up in the cover up too

but i dont think there needs to be proof of his direct involvement for this to hurt him a lot, it just all fits together w his persona too well

next thing you know morbs will get up to it

you'd never know I wasn't part of the large "I love American Hustle cuz breasts" ILX caucus

next thing you know u gabbnebs will be talking about GOP PREZ 2016, huh? bcz Obama asshole

I don't see how people can think this is no big deal. Christie's entire brand is that he's a straight shooter who tells it like it is. If it turns out he's been lying about his involvement, that is destroyed forever. Then what is he?

next thing you know morbs will get up to it

you'd never know I wasn't part of the large "I love American Hustle cuz breasts" ILX caucus

next thing you know u gabbnebs will be talking about GOP PREZ 2016, huh? bcz Obama asshole

― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:51 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I thought you were leaving, boy you're a big fat liar, aren't you, sweet puppy?

Also, you're not making any sense, I think it's naptime

loving cool breasts isnt sexist morbs, and youre gay so its really like not a fair comparison, also you have a history of directing gendered insults towards hillary is what i was specifically refering to

I still see grumbling and bitching and the eventual falling in line, especially if the Democrats nominate the Hildebeast, of whom the base has been having porn-vampire nocturnal visitations since 1991.

i know a lot of ppl love pierce's work and he usually seems OTM to me but god i hate this kind of writing.

you can either pull that kinda shit or write seriously it's kinda either/or ain't it? fuckin', people.

ya i hate that gonzo ott style where youre blowing everyones minds w how fucked up things are via super vivid metaphor see also matt taibbi

yeah, i kinda hate taibbi's writing too. HST has a lot to answer for.

for sure

Yes. taIbbi is unreadable. It's like every sentence is screaming "I'm this generation's HST."

h8 hst too

h8st

HST wrote some great stuff up until the mid 70s or so. Then it gets rough.

did like this bit from Pierce's post today about Robert Gates:

I guarantee you, back in the 1860's, Woodward would have been the go-to stenographer for all those incompetent generals who Lincoln fired. (George McClellan would have loved him.) In the 1950's, Woodward would have been MacArthur's first phone call after Harry Truman canned his ass.

all the presidents men 2

haha Pierce reading Alfred's posts there or what

Who gives a shit about Bob Woodward

his mother.

pierce

from what i've read of civil war era journalism it was actually a lot closer to online comments trolling than it was to bob woodward

FreeRepublic.txt ‏@FreeRepublicTXT 17s
Christie attended more than 100 Bruce Springstein concerts. Does this “man” belong in any position or power, responsibility or leadership?

case closed

fantastic

from what i've read of civil war era journalism it was actually a lot closer to online comments trolling

Bob Dylan's Chronicles goes into this in detail. Those guys got nasty.

Washington Post conservative columnist Kathleen Parker on income inequality:

Some of the factors contributing to the income gap are, indeed, tough to tackle, and Obama is not, in fact, a god, as he now seems comfortable conceding. These factors include the loss of jobs for low-skilled workers and the apparent inability of this population, for whatever reasons, to become more skilled. (Perhaps legalizing marijuana will help. If it doesn’t provide enough jobs, at least more people will care less.)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/kathleen-parker-inequality-of-language-muddies-debate/2014/01/07/d69eef34-77dc-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html

jesus fucking christ the sanctimony

the poors and their love of marijuana, why don't they just learn how to manage a stock portfolio already

Stoners = Moochers

"apparent inability of this population, for whatever reasons, to become more skilled"

lol @ a newspaper columnist talking about "skills"

Definitely not a good look for Christie. But I don't think it will sink him, unless someone can definitively place his fingerprints on this. He needs to fire this Kelly person ASAP though.

Obama is not, in fact, a god, as he now seems comfortable conceding

lol they won't drop this line of criticism will they -- both columnists and Morbs.

When has Obama ever conceded that he is not a god? Therefore, he still thinks of himself as one.

http://www.bubblews.com/assets/images/news/2093540861_1378700504.gif

(Perhaps legalizing marijuana will help. If it doesn’t provide enough jobs, at least more people will care less.)

otm!

i still believe in my lord and savior black hussein obungler

btw christie lied, old lady died http://www.northjersey.com/fortlee/GWB_lane_closures_delayed_EMS_response_in_Fort_Lee.html

apparently he's claiming he was duped by a staff member

Not a peep from The Corner!

apparently he's claiming he was duped by a staff member

― Ornate Coleman (Moodles), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 5:46 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

damn what happened to his elite bullshit detector

please can someone else make the obvious joke about this.

i have been so prim and upstanding these long months about the fat jokes about this guy.

http://i.imgur.com/QP6CvRZ.jpg

Weeping statue of liberty has never failed me.

Tina Dupuy ‏@TinaDupuy 40s
"What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable." -Chris Christie.

lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfJvxuPPVNc

Fort Lee woman died as GWB closures delayed medical help, report says.

collateral damage

forget whether Christie is the second coming of Dubya. this shit is straight outta Nixon's playbook.

that said, and given just how shit some of the state- and county-level NJ Democratic leaders are, i doubt that they regret supporting Christie even after this.

Rick Wilson ‏@TheRickWilson 22m
They like safe bets. They like winners. They hate scandal. And they really, really hate surprises.

Rick Wilson ‏@TheRickWilson 22m
Christie's performance in this in next 48 is rather impt in the secret megadonor primary. They viewed him as being free of scandal.

ah yes the megadonor primary.. the real election

This Christie thing will be dismissed outside of NY because most people outside NY think that's how politicians in NY do stuff. See also: Chicago.

also lol "free of scandal"

Tina Dupuy ‏@TinaDupuy 40s
"What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable." -Chris Christie.

this is definitely one of the funniest sentences I've seen in awhile

lol super sister souljah http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/christie-needs-to-go-super-sister-souljah-on-bridge-scandal-20140109

hahaha

drudge went all in on christie creme yesterday

most people outside NY think that's how politicians in NY do stuff.

along with thinking NJ is part of NY

Hi! You're back, Bubbles!

Eliana Johnson ✔ @elianayjohnson
RT @JeffreyGoldberg: This WAS a traffic study. They were studying what happens to traffic when you close a bunch of lanes.

John Nolte @NolteNC
Country would be much better off if our media was as tough, demanding on Obama as they are Christie. If only to force this kind of action

boy this press conference ain't helping

lotta rob ford jokes coming from the right and left now

they fat lol

'MISTAKES WERE MADE'!

Amy Davidson ‏@tnyCloseRead 1m
Christie asking us to imagine how he felt "standing in my bedroom, with my iPad" reading Bridgegate e-mails.

haha this guy just cant stop lying

it's worked for him so far

true

lol this guy is such a scumbag

Perhaps not the smartest thing ever to invite us to imagine him standing in his bedroom with an iPad in his hands...

wait this thing is still on?!

Press conference was at 11 est? 4 days of traffic shutdowns and Christie knew nothing?

http://brucemctague.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Schulz-I-know-nothing.jpg

HE IS STILL TALKING

it's fuckin awesome really. the right-wing twitter spin is "THIS is how you do an apology press conference. answer EVERYBODY'S questions. no 'no further questions.' just answer until there are none"

the underrated a spin is "wow this dude loves to hear himself talk"

Sam Stein ✔ @samsteinhp
Halperin and Heilman's next book: "Lane Change"

lol @ "traffic study"

aero i hate to quibble but afaic can tell the right-wing twitter spin on this is BENGHAZI

er extra can tell there

FreeRepublic.txt ‏@FreeRepublicTXT 3m
This afternoon, Christie will announce, "I am a Gay American."

- and all will be forgiven.

just when you think they can't surprise you by finding the most hateful spin imaginable

FreeRepublic.txt ‏@FreeRepublicTXT 3m
This afternoon, Christie will announce, "I am a Gay American."

idgi

in a way tho i can see conservatives' point about this and benghazi, both christie and al qaeda are really into revenge

idgi

― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries), Thursday, January 9, 2014 6:08 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i think the 'joke' is "haha he will come out as gay and then it will all be good bcz you can't dislike gay people in obama's america"

my memory is failing -- that refers to someone in particular

mcgreevey

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BdjokkACMAA-_om.jpg

did Christie dip his face in carbolic acid

yes

powerful conservative images

the fun thing now is watching all the tales of further petty retributions leak out

yeah imagine how badly they'd fuck over someone who was in charge of a place where they actually needed votes to win

Gov McGreevey rather sleazily used coming out of the closet as a way to smother questions about favors for his boytoy (and skip outta Trenton).

but that scandal wasn't as fun bcz he was a thin Democrat

well he just resigned so no one cared to follow up

Also no one died

his problem is that the right wing of the republican party is against him and he won't get the nomination, right? am i wrong to suspect he would own in a presidential campaign though?

the right wing of the republican party was against john mccain and mitt romney

he won't get the nomination because he's an asshole and comes off like one not because of his politics or this scandal

who's gonna get the nomination though

I have no idea, but I expect the nominating process to be hilarious sad and scary (ie just like last time only moreso)

feel like it's gotta be a governor, no remaining party satraps in Congress that even want it afaict, and Rand Paul or Cruz will never make it

paul ryan has a good shot imho

Ryan/Palin ticket

*masturbates*

god why are you not permabanned

that would be blasphemy!

oh, you were talking to waterface, nvrmind

paul ryan has a good shot imho

― lag∞n

agree w/ this, dude is positioning for sure

the party loves him too, they totally lost their shit over him at the convention

plus those sad sad eyes, who can resist

gop loves guns and w/ paul ryan the gunshow is always in town

hey, you ladies get your tickets?

Josh Barro:

How did Christie not know? There were 117 days between when the Bridgegate story broke and when the governor learned that one of his Deputy Chiefs of Staff, Bridget Kelly, had called for the lane closures. One of his close confidants whom he just selected to run the New Jersey Republican Party, Bill Stepien, is also implicated. Despite the fact that increasing national attention was being paid to this story through the fall, Christie — who has a background as an aggressive prosecutor! — had no idea some of his closest allies were involved. Why was he so oblivious? Christie has been reduced to insisting that his staff has been out to control and lying to him about what they're doing. That's not an ideal talking point to have to lean on.

Why would Christie's appointees have thought this was a good idea? Politicians survive scandals of staff misbehavior all the time. But in this instance, the misbehavior was conducted on Christie's behalf, in order to execute a political strategy to benefit the governor. How did Christie create a culture in which his appointees in his administration and at the Port Authority would get together and assume this was something the governor would want them to do?

It begins:

KJL: What was your impression of Christie’s press conference?

HEWITT: That was one of the most fascinating, indeed riveting two hours in recent American political history. The comparisons to Nixon’s Checkers speech will arrive soon, and of course already have arrived vis-a-vis President Obama’s standard duck-cover-filibuster pressers. Authentic, transparent, unscripted and sincere. Very powerful.

lol yes the "Authentic, transparent, unscripted and sincere" Checkers speech

yeah christie didnt even use a teleprompter. white house or bust.

wait, the checkers speech was good? i thought it was considered despicable and self pitying, but i wasn't there... xpost

hewitt is amazing

"Nixon's speech was seen or heard by about 60 million Americans, including the largest television audience to that time, and led to an outpouring of public support. A huge majority of the millions of telegrams and phone calls received by the RNC and other political offices supported Nixon. He was retained on the ticket, which then swept to victory weeks later in November 1952. The Checkers speech was an early example of a politician using television to appeal directly to the electorate, but has since sometimes been mocked or denigrated. Checkers speech has come more generally to mean any emotional speech by a politician."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers_speech

the Checkers speech was "good" in the sense that it rescued Nixon's political career

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sh163n1lJ4M

and he managed to trick Ike into releasing HIS tax records, which resulted in Ike thinking Nixon was an untrustworthy louse

Ike was a little slow on the uptake there

man I don't know how Nixon comes off to people who didn't grow up on that shit but it's just SO fucking riveting to me, watching him in all his pathology

yep, easily the president with the most entertainment value, dude is just endlessly fascinating

yeah -- nixon is so deeply messed up and conflicted and sad and weird that he makes most of the nuts who came after him look downright boring by comparison. even oliver stone couldn't find very much interesting stuff going in in bush's head.

"in" Bush's head

with Nixon it's the self-pity, cold command, meanness, blubbering, inability to imagine life in anything but in campaign mode, and genuine intelligence that fascinate me, which is why no movie's ever nailed him.

reese witherspoon in 'election' comes closest.

thx now hearing Nixon saying "Fuck me Mr. McAllister"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8qRZvlZZ0DY

^^ lousy fucking actor

delivered as if he's just noticed an old friend from Japan

Tracy Flick: You might think it upset me that Paul Metzler had decided to run against me, but nothing could be further from the truth. He was no competition for me, it was like apples and oranges. I had to work a little harder, that's all. You see, I believe in the voters. They understand that elections aren't just popularity contests. They know this country was built by people just like me who work very hard and don't have everything handed to them on a silver spoon. Not like some rich kids who everybody likes because their fathers own Metzler Cement and give them trucks on their 16th birthday and throw them big parties all the time. No, they don't ever have to work for anything. They think they can just, all of a sudden, one day out of the blue, waltz right in with no qualifications whatsoever and try to take away what other people have worked for VERY, VERY hard for their entire lives! No, didn't bother me at all!

^^ unmistakable from a Nixon-written caption about the California governor's race.

*indistinguishable, that is

man I don't know how Nixon comes off to people who didn't grow up on that shit but it's just SO fucking riveting to me, watching him in all his pathology

― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, January 9, 2014 5:15 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

every time just... this guy was president?

“David and I were not friends in high school,” he said. “I was class president and an athlete. I don’t know what David was doing at that time.”

lol what a total douche

http://m.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2014/01/contrite-christie-one-story-away-from-oblivion.html

Christie is totally flunking gym now....

Interesting.. some of these people are keeping quiet now, but I wonder if they can be 'persuaded' to come out with their version of events during the primaries/general, if not sooner.

Maddow promoted alt theory that traffic gate was aimed at dem senate prez seems as likely as mayor theory.

it seems very unlikely that somethings not gonna come out show christie knew something about this before yesterday

even if he didnt order it its been in the news for a few months now hes got to have uncovered something before yesterday, i guess he didnt really have any other choice, but he set himself up

but hey he answered reporters questions for 2 hours yesterday so he is absolved of any wrongdoing.

Authentic, transparent, unscripted and sincere. Very powerful.

very talking
much press confernce

pizza

fat

cone on his head

every time just... this guy was president?

this excellent if hard to watch documentary sorta catalogues how incredible it is: he'd been around for a long time. he'd already done plenty of stuff that you'd think would permanently rule him out. instead he got elected twice.

x-post
And now Politico suddenly cares about Christie's past:

http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/01/15-chris-christie-controversies-you-missed-101999_Page2.html

15 Chris Christie Controversies You Missed

The GWB scandal wasn’t the governor’s first dip in hot water.

By OLIVIA NUZZI

January 09, 2014

this excellent if hard to watch documentary sorta catalogues how incredible it is: he'd been around for a long time. he'd already done plenty of stuff that you'd think would permanently rule him out. instead he got elected twice.

― combination hair (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Friday, January 10, 2014 11:38 AM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

cool ill check that out, he is pretty magical

Rachel Maddow's theory about Christie.

n 2010, Christie took the unprecedented step of refusing to reappoint a New Jersey Supreme Court justice for another term, which set off the New Jersey Democrats, who got back at Christie by shooting down all the other Supreme Court justice nominees he put forward. So when a Republican member of the New Jersey Supreme Court came up for reappointment last year, NJ Senate Democrats promised to make it a brutal fight, so Christie decided to stop the reappointment. He was furious at Senate Democrats, and held a press conference getting really angry with them. That press conference, expressing much anger with Senate Democrats, was held on August 12, 2013, a day before the Bridgegate e-mail was sent. And Fort Lee, the town that got backed up, is part of the legislative district represented by Loretta Weinberg. The leader of the Senate Democrats.

She also sez the installation of a new speaker with no history of animus towards Christie suggests he was hoping to run the clock.

first time I've seen a 2-page news spread inside the NY Times with the blurb heading in the top corner "CLOSED LANES."

Nixon and Christie have been successful pols even tho they are/were bad liars, bcz they tell lies ppl want to hear.

(ditto Obama obv)

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y462/staffpicks/Animated_GIFs/2qdy5o0.gif

I'd like to imagine that was 46 minutes of fighting the urge but then giving in to the inevitable.

lol

hah

all i know is if we fire public workers, jobs will rain down from the heavens

that's true. public workers like to keep all the other jobs in a little box that can only be unlocked after being fired

a lockbox, if you will

my favorite zelda puzzle xp

really, libs deserving Perrin tweets over this penny-ante NJ shit

no one deserves perrin tweets; they're inhumane

It does seem pretty silly in the scope of things, which is why I've only vaguely been paying attention (the most I learned about it came from that Maddow segment, and the worst thing from that seemed to be not renominating that judge).

starting to feel like we deserve a president chris traffic-jam christie for how disgusting/uncompassionate we are as a public tbh

^^^ how neo cons are born

lol if you think libs are the ones reveling in this

despite the growing gap between the riches and the poors, the sophisticates among us are conducting longterm stealth games that'll all work, don't worry

it seems very unlikely that somethings not gonna come out show christie knew something about this before yesterday

don't know why you'd say this christie is true-blue just watch his thursday press-conference he was authentic, transparent, unscripted and sincere

Authentic, transparent, unscripted and sincere. Very powerful.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn)

wait, are you serious?

traffic-jam is standing up for what is best in america, sticking it to the libs, beating them at their press conference gotcha games

wait, are you serious?

― Daniel, Esq 2, F

One of the most fascinating, indeed riveting two hours in recent American political history.

i can't even believe how insincere his tone of voice was, for two solid hours! that's impressive

libs AND righty morons who think Christie's a 'moderate' are reveling in this, yes

it's a union of the nation's two most robotic demos, let's sing Kumbaya

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y462/staffpicks/Animated_GIFs/2qdy5o0.gif

j0e, yr kinda repeating yrself, just like Obama

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y462/staffpicks/Animated_GIFs/2qdy5o0.gif

One of the most fascinating, indeed riveting two hours in recent American political history.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, January 10, 2014

are you serious?!? i think you might be serious!

Hugh Hewitt and I have timed our statements.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHuI0E2nHfM/URGdUhSSdAI/AAAAAAAApbg/TooKrt9jPTM/s1600/Chris_Christie_Corpulent_Clown.jpg

is there an echo in here

xp

fucking bridges, how do they work

this is traffic-jam's reverend wright moment, mark my word, libs

j0e, yr kinda repeating yrself, just like Obama

okay this did make me lol

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19c500pesn4mhjpg/ku-medium.jpg

harsh

lol liberal clown shops are so much more competent than conservative ones

their skills are more comparable when it comes to fixing climate change

http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y462/staffpicks/Animated_GIFs/2qdy5o0.gif

is that gif from one of those awful Batman movies? i know u luv em

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Gc87V3Urc_o/TsHcrOWYXCI/AAAAAAAAArM/Ca_bxJIB2KU/s1600/princesmilestartle.gif

lol

Did that little ball exist pre Obama?

you must have seen the movies, morbs, to think they're awful. or are you one of those people who harbours irrational hatreds of movies you've not seen?

I'd rather drink stump water than Obama water. Tell the government to stay out!

http://wvmetronews.com/2014/01/09/good-water-distribution-sites-established/

A NJ friend posted this on FB, saying "In Jersey, real estate development is the most frequent destination when you "follow the money.""

http://www.msnbc.com/up/watch/important-new-developments-in-bridgegate-114674243672

meaning what? i've seen this theory today (e.g., that the bridge traffic fiasco was somehow related to ft. lee being about to secure a 1b development project), but i haven't seen any reason why christie or his team would want to jeopardize it. it might make sense if christie hoped for another nj town to get the project, and he was using his office to try and influence the developers' decision. but if the pressure would simply kill the project, or cause the developers to look outside of nj to build the facilities, it would make little sense for christie to cause the traffic jams. maybe you can say christie didn't care whether the project helped or hurt nj, but normally people act in their own self-interest, and having a 1b project jolt nj's economy would be good for christie, even if it benefited a town or mayor christie didn't especially like.

maybe Christie had some friends willing to redevelop that site if the current project was scuttled

that's certainly possible. i'm just saying that, for someone who's been understanding this scandal through a "chrisite's dirty" lens, this new scenario is hard to process (at the moment).

in more mundane inside the beltway news:

http://thehill.com/news/senate/195144-senate-dems-plead-with-obama-to-abandon-social-security-cut

The December enrollment surge for the Affordable Care Act that the Obama administration long predicted -- and desperately needed -- has come to fruition.

As of Dec. 28, 2.2 million Americans have enrolled in private health coverage, according to new data released Monday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. More than 1.8 million of them signed up in December alone, a huge spike that has gotten the law closer to its original goals than most would have thought possible after HealthCare.gov's disastrous rollout in October.

The administration's original projection was 3.3 million enrollments in private health insurance by the end of 2013, so Obamacare isn't quite back on track yet. But considering the combined total in October and November was less than the administration had targeted for just the month of October, it's much closer to the mark.

nobody gives a fuck about the Christie bridge story
http://www.people-press.org/2014/01/13/christie-story-attracts-little-public-interest/

The weather, however, continues to fascinate.

not true i give a fuck

also its prob not over

and the presidential race hasnt started yet

yeah it was also cold as fuck across 2/3ds of the entire country

It's exciting to think that this will be linchpin issue in two years but it won't be

dandydonweiner, clairvoyant

it's not a very sexy story

Christie is not a very sexy man.

I think there's more juice in the story yet, and with all the investigations being launched, I wouldn't count it out just yet. Even if it peters out now, it's been a pretty remarkable trajectory from a small item in the Bergen Record to front-page national news.

I'm quite cynical of the American attention span and see no reason to change.

I don't even think Christie was or is a lockup for the nomination. I think his inner asshole-ness won't be able to stomach a national campaign.

"American attention span" is Beltway and news corporation excuse for concentrating on trivialities like HRC's hit list and Gates' memoir.

The administration's original projection was 3.3 million enrollments in private health insurance by the end of 2013, so Obamacare isn't quite back on track yet. But considering the combined total in October and November was less than the administration had targeted for just the month of October, it's much closer to the mark.

impossible it's settled that obamacare is a failure that will undo years of progressive notions about the role of gov't obamacare is a job-killing tax on the middle-class and many hard-working americans got policy cancellations and it's bad.

Christie is not a very sexy man.

another outrageous claim.

hey America, it's the Trans-Pacific Partnership pact. Not as much fun as saying it.

http://americablog.com/2013/11/bill-moyers-trans-pacific-partnership-free-trade-agreement-death-democracy.html

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/13/chomsky_tpp_is_a_neoliberal_assault/

There's an interesting Alexis Goldstein/Disorderly Conduct podcast about that! Courtesy A. hoos.

fuck the tpp btw

The NPR interview with Gates the other morning sounded almost like it was just an infomercial for his book. He's got lots of negatives in his past and present, but none were brought up

this is the guy who when he learned of the extra-constitutional junta the CIA and NSC had become during Poindexter's tenure said he didn't want to know LALALALALLA. Plus, uh, he worked for Bill Casey for six years.

I also read recently that his advice to Reagan re Russia was that Gorbachev was just trying to trick us with his reform efforts and that the Soviet Union would never change at all.

that was conservative cw as recent as 1991. ppl forget how much the right went after reagan for his foreign policy (disarmament mainly, but receptiveness to gorby in general).

George Will: "Reagan has accelerated the moral disarmament of the West by elevating wishful thinking to political philosophy." K-Ham: Reagan's changing his mind about Gorbs was "ignorant and pathetic."

More inside the beltway Gates worship and generic anti-Obama criticism

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/dana-milbank-robert-gates-waited-too-long-to-speak-out/2014/01/13/8e5b06ac-7c89-11e3-9556-4a4bf7bcbd84_story.html?hpid=z3

Of course, this is even less on the radar of most than the Christie scandal

Despite concerns for embassy security following the Sept. 11-12, 2012, attacks on two U.S. outposts in Benghazi, Libya, the bill provides $224 million less for embassy security, maintenance and construction costs than in fiscal 2013.

New budget bill

The NPR interview with Gates the other morning sounded almost like it was just an infomercial for his book. He's got lots of negatives in his past and present, but none were brought up

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, January 14, 2014 10:24 AM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

lol this gates ethering (posting in entirety cause of {easily breeched} wsj paywall)

Bret Stephens: Robert Gates's Dereliction of 'Duty'
Serving as secretary of defense isn't really a duty. It's an honor that shouldn't be treated as a burden.
Jan. 13, 2014 8:02 p.m. ET

There are evangelizers who prefer the company of the heathen and prudes known to spend their nights in strip clubs—presumably to keep a watchful and warning eye on the ways of the wicked.

And then there is Robert Gates in Washington.

The former defense secretary devoted most of his adult life to climbing the structures of power in Washington, D.C. He was deputy CIA director under Ronald Reagan and CIA director under George H.W. Bush. He then served at the Pentagon for 4½ years under both George W. Bush and Barack Obama —holding the job longer than all but four of his predecessors. He was retired with a Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Now he wants you to know he was offended, irritated, enraged, scandalized, "too old for this $%*&," and just plain itching to quit nearly every day he spent at the top.

Mr. Gates offers all this in his new memoir "Duty," which hits bookstores Tuesday but already has been widely quoted for the dirt it dishes on the Obama administration.

Among other political titillations: Hillary Clinton's 2007 opposition to the Iraq surge was entirely political, a function of the pressure she was facing from Mr. Obama in the Iowa caucus. The president had no faith in his own Afghanistan strategy even as he sent 30,000 additional troops to the country to execute it. Joe Biden has been "wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."

Also, decisions on foreign policy are made with "a total focus on politics." The Obama administration's national security staff was stuffed with arrogant micromanagers who thought they knew better than four-star commanders. "The controlling nature of the Obama White House, and its determination to take credit for every good thing that happened while giving none to the career folks in the trenches who had actually done the work" was offensive to him.

Such are the revelations in this book, at least the witting ones, and they helpfully confirm what people already know about this administration. More interesting, however, are Mr. Gates's unwitting revelations.

Take this vignette from 2010: That January, Mr. Gates called for "a highly restricted meeting of the principals to discuss the possibility of conflict with Iran with little or no advance notice." Nothing happened for a few months, until a story somehow appeared in the New York Times NYT +1.54% saying nothing was happening. Three days later, the principals met with the president in the Oval Office.

Mr. Gates describes the meeting in detail and then concludes with this nugget:

"I was put off by the way the president closed the meeting. To his very closest advisers, he said, 'For the record, and for those of you writing your memoirs, I am not making any decisions about Israel or Iran. Joe [Biden], you be my witness.' I was offended by his suspicion that any of us would ever write about such sensitive matters."

This is related without irony on page 393.

But it isn't only the president's sensitivity that angered Mr. Gates. "I was more or less continuously outraged by the parochial self-interest of all but a very few members of Congress," he writes. When Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert decided in 2007 to strike Syria's nuclear reactor and asked Mr. Bush not to disclose the existence of the reactor publicly—a request Mr. Bush honored—"I was furious." When, two years later, Benjamin Netanyahu pressed him to provide Israel with advanced military equipment to counterbalance a $60 billion arms sales to Saudi Arabia he is, again, "furious." On Libya: "I had considered resigning over the Libya issue."

He didn't, of course.

"I did not enjoy being secretary of defense," Mr. Gates writes at one point in the book. Fair enough; he could have retired after serving out the remainder of President Bush's term. He didn't. "People have no idea how much I detest this job," he quotes from an email he wrote in mid-2008, trying to scotch rumors that he would serve under the next administration. Fair enough; he could have turned down Mr. Obama's offer when it was made. He didn't. "If you want me to stay for about a year, I will do so," he told Mr. Obama after the 2008 election. Fair enough; he could have kept the promise to the letter. He didn't; he stayed on for another 29 months.

Those are choices Mr. Gates made for his own reasons. Serving as secretary of defense, after all, isn't really a duty; it's an honor and a privilege.

Honors and privileges, however, do have duties. One is: Don't treat them as a burden. Another is: Don't betray the confidence of those who bestow them on you. A third is: Resignation is honorable, but the tell-all memoir against a president still in office is not. When people wonder why Mr. Obama only seems to listen to Valerie Jarrett and other hacks, maybe it's because at least he can count on their loyalty.

Deep in the book Mr. Gates writes that "A favorite saying of mine is 'Never miss a good chance to shut up.'" His memoir is one big missed chance.

lol There was an error parsing the BBcode in your post:
Unknown BBcode tag: [Biden]

oops http://gawker.com/chris-christie-didnt-tell-you-about-a-meeting-with-his-1501226729

you sports fans can watch his State of the Stae address somewhere at 3pm, i'm sure

+1 on 'bridgeghazi'

New tool to battle cockfighting introduced in House

is it a stick

a large purse?

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/1-1-trillion-bill-to-avoid-federal-shutdown-covers-many-local-interests.html.1 Trillion Bill to Avoid Federal Shutdown Covers Many Local Interests

hogs at the fucking trough

something something benghazi

http://www.motherjones.com/documents/1005719-senate-intelligence-committee-report-on-the

x-post-- Lots of bad and good in the budget. More Headstart funding seems like a good thing to me even though I know some conservatives claim its not effective. There are lots of Republican amendments in it as well.

http://a5.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/qx3n2pg2de1ou3gjb6jg.jpg

christies brother

i wonder if christie cried after the springsteen thing last night

what happened

springsteen and fallon clowned on him in a music bit

aw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKHV0LLvhXM

Fallon playing a Gibson, Bruce playing a Takamine

there is much a man can bear, but THIS

You're right; B.C. Riches all round!

lol aero

you're a strange man, aero

he is a veteran of the takamine/ovation wars

explains a lot

j/k i dont know whats goin on

Why Democratic senators opposing the Iran deal are stupid.

Often there is cleavage within the executive branch

rowr

not too often, though

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/8c/Debbie_Downer.PNG

estremely intersting http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/01/16/obama-weighing-executive-action-on-minimum-wage

fuck yeah, thats my goodjobsnation & change2win crew

https://twitter.com/GoodJobsNation

http://takingnote.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/16/when-federal-contractors-break-federal-labor-laws/

that would be amazing xp

politics is so tedious. is chris christie the president yet?

chris christie has always been the president

Here’s some welcome news. At his meeting with Democratic Senators last night, President Obama indicated that he is giving serious consideration to executive action designed to raise the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, according to one Senator who was present.

yeah idk

let me repeat my old timey grumbling about the monarchial presidency whenever something about 'executive order' comes up

congress becoming so awful that it can't carry out any of its basic duties is a problem, but a president just walking around them doesn't make me any happier

systemic dysfunction is obvs a big part of our governments problems but as long as thats the baseline im happy for good things to happen however they can

systems don't work so great in the private section either fwiw

Imperial Presidency?
by goole January 17 1:52
Comments 4

Congress becoming so awful that it can't carry out any of its basic duties is a problem, but a president just walking around them doesn't make me any happier.

*straightens bow tie*

shots fired lol

Here’s some welcome news. At his meeting with Democratic Senators last night, President Obama indicated that he is giving serious consideration to executive action designed to raise the minimum wage for employees of federal contractors, according to one Senator who was present.

yeah idk

― goole, Thursday, January 16, 2014 1:53 PM (9 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it wld be pretty funny if this was just another hopeless gambit by bernie sanders

Another Hopeless Gambit: My Life in Politics by Bernie Sanders

lol otm great senator, even if i did vote for the weed party guy instead

i appreciate this alfred posting style

the monarchy seems concerned

http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/koch-brothers-are-outspending-everyone-for-a-gop-senate-takeover-20140116

Yeah, I do worry about the left gradually giving into the mystique of the strongman by way of the executive-order cutting of Gordian knots. Like, oh, thank god, we have a president who does things Congress won't allow...! Less worried about legal/illegal than the psychology that that sets up.

Dr. No is gonna retire at the end of this year due to prostate cancer.

oh well.

Obama sheeple be having fun in the comments section here.

Glenn Greenwald ‏@ggreenwald 18m
That's pretty RT @MotherJones "Individual freedom is the wellspring of human progress." – President Obama

yeah, that's bullshit. replicator technology is the wellspring of human progress

iirc it's

http://media.screened.com/uploads/0/5163/378495-2001_ape_monolith_super.jpg

so this NSA curtailment jazz - is there anyone who seriously believes the feds are going to legitimately restrict their own powers in any significant way cuz I don't really buy it for a second.

just seems like/PR damage control to me. oh sure the NSA won't maintain these records anymore, they'll let some other entity (some other gov't agency possibly? although how would that be any better than AT&T Really) maintain it and then get court orders to access what they want from their rubber-stamp top secret court, is there really any substantial difference there? either way the gov't gets yr shit - all of it - whenever they want it.

you cld see some changes in procedure or w/e but any meaningful rollback of the surveillance state is prob unlikely in the near future or ever idk

they'll let some other entity (some other gov't agency possibly? although how would that be any better than AT&T Really) maintain it and then get court orders to access what they want from their rubber-stamp top secret court, is there really any substantial difference there? either way the gov't gets yr shit - all of it - whenever they want it.

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 17, 2014 1:15 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this is actually a major difference cause the whole thing is they want ALL THE DATA so that they can build network models and do all sorts of predictive softwares and whatnot, its never been about listening in on individual phone calls or w/e, theyve been able to get warrentsto do that super easily even retroactively, its about total information awareness

the data is irresistible to them

not hard to see why tbf

there's no reason to trust anything Obama says on this issue at all. Worst presser ever.

Obama: Changes in NSA Procedures
by dandydon January 17 1:52
Comments 231

There's no reason to trust anything Obama says on this issue at all. Worst presser ever.

ive seen some pressers you wouldnt believe

Kevin Drum has drunk some weak tea.

i appreciate this alfred posting style

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, January 16, 2014 3:52 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Alfred: New Posting Style
by BIG HOOS aka the truckdriver January 16 3:52
Comments 325
i appreciate this alfred posting style

http://library.creativecow.net/articles/wilson_tim/Cinematic_Composition-DoF/assets/mirror.jpg

Dr. No is gonna retire at the end of this year due to prostate cancer.

― Pale Smiley Face (dandydonweiner), Friday, January 17, 2014 9:26 AM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

just figured out who this refers to. bummer! i mean, A Terrible Man and all, but one of the better ones imo.

aka the truckdriver

subtle lol

clue me in, fellas

pawlenty? puhlease

Coh-burrrn

please, USA, just fast-forward to the next presidency. this one is boring me now.

2nd terms are the worst

so INTERMINABLE

the next one will bore you right into East Germany

not necessarily.

looking forward to Pres. Cruz. for the lolz.

the next one will bore you right into East Germany

― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Friday, January 17, 2014 2:56 PM (43 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

newsflash they dont have that anymore

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) may have more integrity than the majority of his colleagues, but it is the integrity of someone who, if he stands alone with the whole world against him, never thinks for one instant that he might possibly be wrong and the whole world might possibly be right. That brand of integrity I can do without.

its cool hell prob be dead from cancer in a min

you don't understand, Hillary's gonna take us all BACK IN TIME to the halcyon Reagan era

xp

http://i.imgur.com/dlFWfkh.jpg

l,r: hillary, reagan, the obungler

r-l

http://cdn01.dailycaller.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/hilary1-e1388155970319.jpg

"i can see east germany from my house"

r-l

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, January 17, 2014 3:05 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

smh archaic gender roles

I can't deny I have often marveled at the similarities between Obama and Mary Steenburgen

they are of the same essence

oh yeah, i didn't actually SAY coburn in my post, whoops.

sorry, Sen. Coburn, get well.

Chris Christie

http://images.politico.com/global/2013/08/15/chris_christie_ap_328.jpg

and

http://media.tumblr.com/d52c21e81004a53416ef9733f3319800/tumblr_inline_mhayzoZLU51qz4rgp.jpg

separated at birth

meanwhile

Unseating Mitch McConnell in this year’s midterms will be like freeing Europe from Hitler’s Nazi control, according to Kentucky’s Democratic speaker of the House.

“It reminded me of the feeling our troops must have had when they liberated the European nations after World War II,” state representative Greg Stumbo said at an event for McConnell’s Democratic challenger, Kentucky’s secretary of state Alison Lundergan Grimes. “Can you imagine what it felt like that you were liberating a country?”

“Well, you’re about to liberate your state from the worst reign of misabuse that we’ve seen in the last 30 years,” he added.

Polls have shown McConnell and Grimes in a close race, although most give McConnell the lead.

UPDATE: 3:21 p.m. When asked about Stumbo’s comments during an interview with Lexington Herald-Leader, Grimes refused to disavow his comparison of McConnell to Nazis.

“People try to put words in my mouth all the time, so I don’t want to attempt nor would I ever try to speak for Speaker Stumbo,” she told the newspaper. “And what he meant, I’ll let you ask him directly what he meant by his comments.”

I can't deny I have often marveled at the similarities between Obama and Mary Steenburgen

because Michelle and Malcolm McDowell are so much cooler?

Stumbo is a great name for a pol to be played by some lousy comic in a bad movie.

stumbo: a cross fertilization between stumble bum and dumbo

misabuse is not a fucking word. goddamn illiterates.

because Michelle and Malcolm McDowell are so much cooler?

surprised you didn't go for the Ted Danson in blackface joke here tbh

Some of Florida's biggest money men will attend the state's various fundraisers for Gov. Rick Scott headlined this weekend by NJ Gov. Chris Christie, with one notable exception: Brian Ballard.

"The guy, as a person, is horrific," said Ballard, a top lobbyist and finance chair of former presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Like other Romney insiders, Ballard deeply resents Christie for the way the governor sidled up to, and gushed about, President Barack Obama in the 2012 campaign's final days just after Tropical Storm Sandy ruined parts of the Northeast's coastline.

"Charlie Crist got a lot of grief for what was called a hug of Obama. But what Christie did to Obama isn't suitable to say in a family newspaper," Ballard said. "I firmly believe he helped swing that election in Obama's favor just to help himself. I busted my ass for two years raising money and supporting Romney and this guy Christie just wiped his hands of us when we were no longer useful to him."

Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/nakedpolitics/2014/01/fls-brian-ballard-top-romney-fundraiser-dumps-on-horrific-chris-christie-before-fl-visit.html#storylink=cpy

Miss Abuse is pretty pricey iIrc.

Stumbo is an excellent political name.

the next one will bore you right into East Germany

Don't Brecht my heart.

would you like to apologize for that last post, Shakey?

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BeO2yUZCQAAcC78.png

Wow, big surprise, the thing that's going to ruin our lives for the next thousand years landed in the "we don't care about it/we're doing a great job I guess, I like hot dogs and spaghetti" quadrant

Tbf, only 10% more in both axes would move it the appropriate quadrant. Sorry USA

"Hug of Obama"

http://gawker.com/mayor-says-christie-refused-sandy-aid-unless-she-approv-1504086470

the whole world is drip dripping on poor chris not a bully christie

75% of americans satisfied with terrorism good work terrorists keep it up

after a rocky launch most people agree "terrorism is pretty good"

Yeah, Kornacki, a self-styled NJ expert based on reporting jobs there, has been impressive the last two Saturdays. Today he spoke live almost twenty minutes, laying out the facts.

uuuh http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/wildstein-story-to-tell-immunity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistakes_were_made

read that as christie alley.

Yeah, Kornacki, a self-styled NJ expert based on reporting jobs there, has been impressive the last two Saturdays. Today he spoke live almost twenty minutes, laying out the facts.

i have a feeling kornacki is going to ride this christie story as far as it will take him. seems like a more natural fit digging into this topic -- with all it's historical backstory and political intrigue -- than he is trying to inhabit chris hayes' ultra-wonk role on up. and good for kornacki, by the way.

the whole world is drip dripping on poor chris "not-a-bully" christie

that's how this is going to hurt christie. no-one's really going to care about an individual story, unless it's explosive, but after a while, he'll just have a bad-aura around him. poor president christie.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_j-tJbLLUsAQ/SapBoAwv_pI/AAAAAAAAANM/41Zc_JzGs1s/s400/mistakes.were.made.JPG

i'm still skeptical this will have any lasting dmg on his career. nb i never thought he could possibly win rep nom so re that it'll be a wash (tho we'll probably be blaming his inevitable early primary blowout on this scandal when it happens). ppl i've spoken to in the area who liked him before the scandal still like him.

aside from his rhetorical attacks on the tea-party and his hugging obama (which we can collectively describe as "bad-optics" for a republican presidential candidate), plus his accepting federal money, what policy-positions does christie hold that will cause him grief in the 2016 republican primaries?

sometimes pro-gun control

fair point. but watch the slowly evolving flip-flop

Focus on violence control, not gun control. (Nov 2013)
Vetoed outright ban on Barrett .50 caliber rifle. (Oct 2013)
We already have too many firearms in our community. (Jun 2012)
2009: No right-to-carry cross-state reciprocity. (Jun 2012)
Favors gun control measures from law-enforcement perspective. (Jun 2012)

http://www.politifake.org/image/political/1312/rino-christie-2016-rino-politics-government-politics-1387756756.jpg

lol. governor tub-o-guts.

there's a few comments, here-and-there, that could be used against christie. but he's savvy enough to sidestep the impact from those comments. he isn't mitt romney. the biggest issue for him, i'd say, is that he's been open to immigration reform that includes a path-to-citizenship. time will tell if he can pivot successfully from those comments.

but i think this bridgegate thing could hurt him long-term. if it keeps unfolding, he'll just have a bad-aura by the time he's formally running.

i agree w mordy that he had no chance to get the nom, hes a candidate that only the media could love, like guiliani, all this bridge etc scandal will tarnish him tho imo just w no particular electoral repercussions since its his final term as governor anyway, prob never had no shot at being a senator since jersey votes dem, maybe he cld be elected to the house idk, prob just go back to lobbying

he will be president for an unprecedented five terms.

http://www.centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/articles/senate-2014-a-coin-flip/

Lots of guessing until November

http://img.gawkerassets.com/img/19dg1w6vh0rc5png/ku-xlarge.png

the single greatest cover in the history of magazines

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lrogsnEuI01qmsec0o1_500.gif

the single greatest cover in the history of magazines

― second set all dead boys covers (underrated aerosmith bootlegs I have owned), Thursday, January 23, 2014 12:34 PM (18 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i know, the soul of the guy who did ali as st sebastian just petitioned to have himself damned to hell as lazy

i'm gonna animate the hell out of that when i get home, but unfortunately the internet will have already moved on to other ridiculous things

also everybody pretend i found and posted the photoshop of planet hillary as the wrecking ball with miley cyrus on it only it's bieber's mugshot on her shoulders. miley cyrus's shoulders.

disappointed bieber-on-hilaryball was not wearing the ralph lauren olympic outfit

shit, dude, where were you

it's already 2pm eastern, the internet has already been won for the day i'm sorry.

WTF that magazine

its rare all the pieces land in your lap like today, RIP me

https://twitter.com/GOPTeens/status/425331836852518913

hey GOPTeens your elephant has a huge case of blue balls

( https://si0.twimg.com/profile_background_images/378800000081542877/04d3b978376fdf65af0f8cc700bf6191.jpeg )

phat or wack?

http://www.theblaze.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/time_paulryan_20111205_04021.jpg

gopteens is a joke account fwiw sry

aw shucks

this changes nothing

teach the controversy

teach the controversy

Take it to the gay thread.

http://i.imgur.com/ejiCZkx.png

interesting

no shit? good for rick perry

hes planning on running again too is my understanding

seems like less to this story than meets the eye

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local/article/Gov-Rick-Perry-for-decriminalization-of-pot-5168667.php

obv nationally legalizing this is just a matter of time. maybe within the decade even?

what do u mean, goole? he said he supports decriminalizing pot -- isn't that the entire story?

reading the quotes from perry himself and his spokesperson, there is no policy change at all here, nor any proposed, but talking about drug courts that are already in existence. all that's news is that he used the word 'decriminalization' in public.

its more like he's against mandatory jail time (instead they go to "drug courts") which is pretty different from decriminalization imo

also Perry is a moron and an opportunist, don't expect anything from him

if reforming drug laws now represents an opportunity within the republican party well then hot damn! *fires off six shooter*

yeah i've always said that the end of the drug war (if not mass incarceration, tho i'm less optimistic there) will come from the right. fine with me!

would be great if this started in Texas!

feel like it maybe already started in colorado and washington

true....

pass it on guys. . .

*inhales*

not to mention california in 1996 (!)

i'd be p (s)toked if it continued in tx tho

if conservative states start stepping out its once and for all proof of libertarian ascendancy within the gop

which i guess ill take it

we can all dream

"I've got my #SOTU remarks in one hand and 2-month old Brynn in another. It really doesn't get much better than this!" the chair of the House Republican Conference wrote in caption.

I see the GOP is going to run with this 'I know you are but what am I' response to the war on women meme

screw it, let's just get rid of marriage altogether

http://www.news9.com/story/24543033/lawmakers-consider-preventing-all-marriage-in-oklahoma

good idea

drive marriage underground that way kids will want to do it sexy sexy marriage

Oklahoma lawmakers have never heard of cutting off one's nose to spite one's face.

OKLAHOMA OTM

oklahoma's also the state that allowed a christian memorial to be built on gov property, prompting satanists to submit plans for their own satan-related memorial

oklahoma is a cool state basically it has a panhandle

Tulsa is a really great town they have shockingly good pizza there

i visited tulsa once

Theyre also real afraid of creeping sharia law in Oklahoma too

to be fair, that's an especially serious concern in oklahoma.

those fuckers stole the sonics also

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/koch-brothers-2014-elections-102555.html

The billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch are convening some of the country’s richest Republican donors on Sunday at a resort near Palm Springs, Calif., to raise millions of dollars for efforts to shape the political landscape for years to come.

....

The Koch network raised an astounding $400 million in the run-up to 2012, spending much of it assailing President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats. After the Election Day letdown, the Kochs did an in-depth analysis to find out what went wrong and what they could do better. Among the areas identified for improvement were greater investments in grassroots organizing, better use of voter data and more effective appeals to young and Hispanic voters, according to sources.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/koch-brothers-2014-elections-102555.html#ixzz2rX6wzvJd

better use of voter data and more effective appeals to young and Hispanic voters

Hmmmm, what are they come up with for this. Well, Reagan fooled lots of young folks back in the day

me gusta tax cuts!

In the world of the Koch brothers, "more effective appeal" usually translates as "better leverages fear and ignorance".

no me gusta big government! me gusta el market libre!

http://reagan.eureka.edu/images/lead_applied/Reagan_Robe.jpg

Koch Brothers will have to counter this:

WASHINGTON (AP) — Income inequality is out, “ladders of opportunity” is in.
Eager to dispel claims that President Barack Obama is engaging in “class warfare” as he heads into his State of the Union address next week, the White House is de-emphasizing phrases focusing on economic disparity and turning instead to messages about creating paths of opportunity for the poor and middle class.

Sounds like a smart move. I think "income inequality" is kind of a clunker as a rallying cry.

too easy for the cancervatives to pillory 'income inequality' as demanding "anti-american" 'equality of outcome'

so conservatives are upset Obama hinted at more executive action

too easy for the cancervatives to pillory 'income inequality' as demanding "anti-american" 'equality of outcome'

Exactly. Too easy to caricature. If you're against "income inequality" you must be for "income equality" in which case cue Soviet Russia.

reminds me of the bit in that recent new yorker profile where it mentions that obama has been asking rich people for advice on how to speak about income inequality without making rich people mad. guess someone made a suggestion that he liked!

he had a seance with FDR, who advised him to "welcome their hatred." O left in a snit, didn't even tip the medium.

FDR was enough of a politician to know that, when he welcomed the hatred of the rich, that hatred was not politically potent enough to challenge his position or reverse his policies. At the moment the rich have a sufficient base of power that Obama is required to respect their feelings if he wants to get anything done. I wish that weren't true, but right now I can imagine the rich saying to OWS and other progressives, "we welcome your hatred", because their wholly-owned media can parley street demonstrations into reinforcing their propaganda about "liberals" and "the loss of morality and work ethic that once made this country great".

also, they are Obama's base

http://deathandtaxesmag.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/FDR.jpeg

^what's with all the light bulbs?

Not just Obama's base, but the base of ~90% of Congress. They have done their work well.

filled with pink champagne

and the base of anyone else who needs to raise the billion dollars that purchases the presidency.

(2 billion?)

what's with all the light bulbs?

Flash bulbs from cameras, would be my guess.

FDR ate light bulbs. they gave him strength

truly, the greatest generation

Josh Marshall on the origins of plutocratic insecurity:

It is that mix of insecurity, a sense of the brittleness of one's hold on wealth, power, privileges, combined with the reality of great wealth and power, that breeds a mix of aggressiveness and perceived embattlement.

Third, there is the simple fact of Obama himself. By various criteria you could argue that before Obama America hadn't had a progressive president in decades. Popular perceptions aside, Carter was actually part of the privatizing trend of the late 70s. And Clinton, while genuinely a progressive in many ways, served most of his presidency during a period when basically everyone was either getting rich or making at least some progress. And when everybody is getting at least some taste of the good times, these sorts of antagonisms find a way of getting overlooked or passed over. President Obama is far from being a Franklin Roosevelt or Harry Truman. But he is a progressive and sees the economy and the larger society's claims on the very wealthy differently than a Bush or a Reagan. And again, that was just not something any of these folks had experienced before.

But again, the answer is the confluence of these events, no one of them. It's worth remembering that Bill Clinton pushed through a reasonably substantial tax hike on upper income earners in 1993. President Obama meanwhile largely maintained the tax policies of George W. Bush, the guy who had in essence repealed Clinton's tax increase. These are all facts that are hard to ignore.

Obama is a progressive? Only in DC, folks....

well, he's black, so...

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/herman-cain-smile.gif

http://a.fod4.com/misc/Prince%20Zoom%20Cool.gif

shit! sorry....how the hell do you post a gif?

just put img tags around the link you just posted (click "Show Formatting Help" below, just beneath the "submit post" button)

http://a.fod4.com/misc/Prince%20Zoom%20Cool.gif

Thanks, Karl!

cancervatism is losing the farm vote. that's alright. farmers are a bunch of RINOs anyways

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/01/how-republicans-lost-the-farm/283349/

wow that would appear to be an act of journalism

Will see...

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/28/us/politics/farm-bill-compromise-will-reduce-spending-and-change-programs.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140128

The House is expected to vote on the measure on Wednesday. It is unclear when the Senate will take up the legislation. Many Senate Democrats are likely to be unhappy with the food stamps measure, which cuts roughly twice as much as senators approved in May.
Yet the food stamp cuts may not be large enough to appease House conservatives, who in June helped defeat a bill backed by Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio that would have cut $20 billion from the program. The House eventually passed a bill covering only nutrition programs that would have sliced nearly $40 billion from food stamps.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-raise-minimum-wage-for-government-contract-workers/2014/01/27/f7994b34-87cd-11e3-916e-e01534b1e132_story.html

President Obama will announce in the State of the Union address Tuesday that he will use his executive power to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for workers on new government contracts, fulfilling a top demand by liberal lawmakers and groups, according to a White House document.

chea

getting this done has been the DC wing of the Fight for 15/Fast Food/Low Wage Worker campaign, and today they get to say they won.

this is pure Stalinism

kinda exciting to see policy change in an actual SOTU speech

The dictator ruthlessly taking away something that Congress should be doing, or maybe not.

a $10.10 minimum wage is worse than hitler

comrade obama we thank you

minimum wage $20.20 by the year 3030

deltron zero son

living in a post-apocalyptic world, morbid, abhorrent, abolish minimum and abortion. now we just boarded, no mistakes galt, it's our taxes we must cut spending

*clap*

what rep is going to interrupt the potus and call him a liar this year

maybe ted cruz will decide to filibuster the sotu

anyone else watching this?

I cut my toenails and am ready to go!

I'm watching! He wasted no time cheering about all the good things and then immediate scolding republicans.

i like it. he's always been so good at giving speeches.

Wondering if he can sustain that direct approach across an hour or so

Ooh Boehner just glowered

that was lovely when he acknowledged boehner

this is the most boring speech he's ever given

He's going to tell a million anecdotes about working Americans

What in the fuck is in front of Boehner

weird how some folks stayed in their seats at the line about women earning less than men... i mean even if you think it's a crock or something or you hate women... it's not a good look.

equal pay for equal work / mad men reference /prince.gif <3
i like it

What in the fuck is in front of Boehner

― panettone for the painfully alone (mayor jingleberries),

Barack Obama

i think it's a doctrine among college republications and those who listen to them that this stuff about women earning less is disproven by whatever set of facts they cite in that other reality where they live

i think it's a doctrine among college republications and those who listen to them that this stuff about women earning less is disproven by whatever set of facts they cite in that other reality where they live

― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Tuesday, January 28, 2014 8:48 PM (24 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

that's true but in the immediate situation it's like, "stand up, idiot, you can hash this out later."

What's Ruth Buzzi doing there?

he's advocating a minimum wage higher than the wage offered by the supposedly heroic minneapolis pizza dudes

kind of undermines pizza dudes

Zing

http://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfHXI27CIAA8CIj.jpg

wait did he just say he's not going to drone bomb other countries anymore?

no he won't send troops into countries he's targeted for drone destruction

oh well that goes without saying obv

standing ovation for israel

Xpost Nah, he said he'd "limit" it. It's going to be a really strict limit. I bet each and every murder is going to have to be personally approved by Obama in a secret meeting, starting NOW

ugh, why even bother bringing it up then.

if you're going to mention drones in sotu u need to either be stopping them entirely, or dramatically ramping them up imho

good point about jfk and reagan

this is the most boring speech he's ever given

yay i spent my night wisely again

how old was he?

David Brooks just said that education can't be fixed if we don't address children's impulse control.

Wtf?!?!?!

david brooks somewhat otm

he means "children's impulses to smoke pot and grow up to be David Brooks"

sometimes i wonder if david brooks has ever left bethesda

Wow, this republican response is quite chipper! My wife remarked that she has the vocal cadence of a kindergarten teacher.

this reminds me of this ad that plays on daytime cable news with joan lunden inviting viewers to go to the website A Place For Mom to get information about caregivers for seniors

who is that delivering the gop response? wait, is that . . .

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfHTyE7CQAAWMg3.jpg

@― Spaghetti Sauce Shampoo (Moodles), your wife is OTM. She's got "spunk" like Lou Grant used to say about MTM eons ago.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/dad-delivers-state-of-the-union-rebuttal-directly,35093/

haha that picture

one for the lbj piners: http://www.theonion.com/articles/obama-throws-small-business-owner-into-seat-tells,35091/

when/where's the tea party butt?

he just finished

he was literally a butt

it was really great to see the EPA administrator applaud Obama's doubling down on the All of the Above energy approach with continued emphasis on natural gas.

i'm really proud of her for that courageous applause

she is a hero

when the history books about how the tide finally turned against climate change are written, gina mccarthy will be on the cover, applauding about the All of the Above energy approach

this history book will be written when miami is an underwater reef.

btw, just a week ago, the leaders of the notoriously courageous Big Green environmental groups sent Obama a letter begging him to rethink the idiotic All of the Above energy approach championed by Frank Luntz and George Bush:

We believe that continued reliance on an “all of the above” energy strategy would be fundamentally at odds with your goal of cutting carbon pollution and would undermine our nation’s capacity to respond to the threat of climate disruption

... an “all of the above” approach that places virtually no limits on whether, when, where or how fossil fuels are extracted ignores the impacts of carbon-intense fuels and is wrong for America’s future

...An “all of the above” strategy is a compromise that future generations can’t afford.

but whatever, go ahead gina mccarthy, clap. somehow you're in a position of power, and that depends on nodding at whatever the president says

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh7LBtrBq1g

Chuck Todd thought that Republican response was good. Amazing....

hey mordy i'm not sure if you posted that sarcastically or what but cool thx for posting it

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/01/28/1273163/-Some-truths-about-Cathy-McMorris-Rodgers#

Her father found a small orchard to rent in Kettle Falls and Cathy stayed for a year and then chose to attend the fundamentalist Pensacola Christian College, in Florida. While Cathy attended, it was unaccredited and only became accredited in 2013.

Christ, that rebuttal! They're just spitballing at this point, huh?

Chuck Todd thought that Republican response was good. Amazing....

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, January 28, 2014 11:26 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

chuck todd also wears fecal matter on his chin

oh

http://www.ny1.com/content/politics/political_news/202672/rep--grimm-threatens-ny1-reporter-following-state-of-the-union

like a boy

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BfHkBgTCQAEBez_.png

Who said 2013 was over.

lol punch pizza. had no idea that was happening.

it's pretty good pizza, if you're ever in the neighborhood.

Surprised that Charles Pierce liked what he heard:

Now, I do not expect to convince my Republican friends on the merits of this law. But I know that the American people are not interested in refighting old battles. So again, if you have specific plans to cut costs, cover more people, increase choice, tell America what you'd do differently. Let's see if the numbers add up. But let's not have another 40- something votes to repeal a law that's already helping millions of Americans like Amanda.

This promise to use the powers of his office is what likely is going to raise all those hackles that were going to be raised in any case unless he got up there and abdicated in favor of Mitt Romney but, really, he couched these assertions in the mildest fashion, making of himself just a guy who was just trying to do the job to which he had been elected. He would like to have done it a different way but, darned it the regular way just didn't work, and now it's time to take out the tire iron and give the old machine a good bash. There wasn't a scintilla of anger in his voice all night. There was just a rueful tone to it, as though he had finally gotten the joke that history had played on him with the election in 2010 of the opera boufee that is our current House of Representatives.

The speech was Clintonian in three basic ways. First, and most obviously, it was long, almost 7000 words, and he delivered it very, very carefully. (John Boehner's face seemed to darken as the evening went along, like the side of a mountain that faces the sunset.) Secondly, it made a conscious, and largely successful, effort to argue policy positions from anecdote. The opening passage was a list of his administration's accomplishments folded into what appeared to be parable form:

Mr. Speaker, Mr. Vice President, members of Congress, my fellow Americans, today in America, a teacher spent extra time with a student who needed it and did her part to lift America's graduation rate to its highest levels in more than three decades. An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup and did her part to add to the more than 8 million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years. (Applause.)An entrepreneur flipped on the lights in her tech startup and did her part to add to the more than 8 million new jobs our businesses have created over the past four years. An autoworker fine-tuned some of the best, most fuel-efficient cars in the world and did his part to help America wean itself off foreign oil. A farmer prepared for the spring after the strongest five-year stretch of farm exports in our history.A rural doctor gave a young child the first prescription to treat asthma that his mother could afford. (Applause.) A man took the bus home from the graveyard shift, bone-tired but dreaming big dreams for his son. And in tight-knit communities all across America, fathers and mothers will tuck in their kids, put an arm around their spouse, remember fallen comrades and give thanks for being home from a war that after twelve long years is finally coming to an end.
And all of them still live in a place called Hope.

And finally, and most important, the speech was undeniably partisan while remaining conciliatory. This is a wire-walk of which Bill Clinton was the master, and this president has learned to stay up there pretty deftly himself. For every dark caution about what he'd do if they didn't, he pitched to Congress the idea that they all ought to get together and do something because the country was getting pretty pissed at all of them. He even pitched Boehner, whose balls are buried in a Mason jar somewhere in a spot only Eric Cantor knows, and who, I suspect, would like to leave a legacy behind as Speaker that consists of something more than keeping the likes of Louie Gohmert -- and Twitter's new star bullgoose Texas loony, Randy Weber -- in four-point restraints, a lovely little lifeline while doing so.

The point is, there are millions of Americans outside Washington who are tired of stale political arguments and are moving this country forward. They believe, and I believe, that here in America, our success should depend not on accident of birth but the strength of our work ethic and the scope of our dreams. That's what drew our forebears here. It's how the daughter of a factory worker is CEO of America's largest automaker. How the son of a barkeeper is speaker of the House. How the son of a single mom can be president of the greatest nation on Earth.

He was extraordinarily strong in spots, particularly on voting rights, where he plainly had a lot to say, and said it all, and on the process of getting the country off what he rather daringly described as the "permanent war footing" it had been on since 2001. Some of the economic ideas, particularly the expansion and strengthening of the Earned Income Tax Credit, were sound and worthy of immediate action, which they won't get. I'm still a little vague on the MyRA thing, which smacked a little bit of the gimmick, and which, in any case, is just another stop-gap by which the country can forget that, once, everybody had a guaranteed pension, before the unions broke down and the sharpers on Wall Street looted what was left.

But, if this speech burned no barns, it didn't sound anything like a last chance, either. The president seemed to have a pen and one hand, and that well-worn olive branch still in the other. He is what he always has been, the coolest head in the room. You can never say he isn't that.

whoa - did not mean to post the whole thing

Washington Post writer Robert Costa suggested in a Washington Post labeled "analysis" piece that Republican Cathy McMorris Rodgers response to Obama's State of the Union was so marvelous that she is being considered as possible Republican VP candidate. Don't know Costa's work but he must also love Sarah Palin.

if robert costa say rodgers is being talked about as a possible vp candidate that means rodgers is definitely being talked about as a possible vp candidate

I don't even want to link to his fluff piece that does not even acknowledge that Rodgers has doubters, haters and folks who snicker at her right-wing Christian fundamentalist kindergarden teacher schtick

it's almost hilarious the extent to which they keep doubling down on the war on women. they know it's a problem for them and they know it's a more solvable problem for them than their problems w/ african americans or even hispanics but despite this they can't help but lapse into some weird mansplaining dobsonian lunatic. identity politics discussions on the left can get pretty ridiculous and are generally so lacking in good faith that they can be willfully destructive towards fostering understanding or building bridges to ppl who don't already 100% think and speak the same as you but they've at least taught even yr centrist dlc types to consider for one moment how what you say might sound to someone who doesn't share yr background. the right doesn't have any kind of experience in this arena and so when they do have to reach out it's either by attempting to disregard that difference - we both hate gays, we both hate muslims, we both like money, whatever - or to shout it down. so you end up w/ even non fringe characters like huckabee or rand paul (who somehow someway believes that americans aren't aware that bill clinton got a blowjob from monica lewinsky and that the gop focusing on this in 2016 will cause women to vote against hillary).

curmudgeon what doubters, haters, and folx did the rodgers response get from the right? i haven't seen anything but i didn't see the actual response either, the kingmaking powers of sotu response is highly overrated imo (it's not like bob dole was some unknown).

everything about the sotu is overrated

unless it's a screw up like Bobby Jindal nobody remembers this crap

crap gig IMO, you're forced to be whiny

http://images.politico.com/global/2013/02/05/130205_hillary_clinton_4_328_605.jpg

war hustler, faux muscler (l-r)

unless it's a screw up like Bobby Jindal nobody remembers this crap

http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr02/2013/2/12/22/anigif_enhanced-buzz-29763-1360727652-3.gif

miss the OG SOTUs

The immortal Dante tells us that divine justice weighs the sins of the cold-blooded and the sins of the warm-hearted in different scales. Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference.

x-post -

curmudgeon what doubters, haters, and folx did the rodgers response get from the right?

It did not of course, but I just naively thought that a Washington Post article that was not on the editorial page could at least acknowledge that this Rep has some doubters

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/henry-waxman-to-retire/2014/01/30/c06485fa-892d-11e3-833c-33098f9e5267_story.html?hpid=z1

gonna miss Waxman, dude is righteous

http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/01/30/wapo_abc_2016_poll_hillary_clinton_holds_staggering_61_point_lead_over_joe.html

yeah. nice point about those post-watergate congressional reforms in there, underrated era of legislative branch standing up to and curbing executive overreach in a manner that was actually productive and positive for democracy and government. contrast w/ this century.

lol, totally forgot about that pplains

Jon Meacham caught being a dumb asshole: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/The_Meacham_Theorem

balls totally otm upthread -- the "it's almost hilarious" post.

so you end up w/ even non fringe characters like huckabee or rand paul (who somehow someway believes that americans aren't aware that bill clinton got a blowjob from monica lewinsky and that the gop focusing on this in 2016 will cause women to vote against hillary).

yeah the more i think abt it the more i think that whoever came up with this 'war on women' framing is a real genius. what rightist can resist a war?? (larison sit down).

i've seen a couple conservatives grousing that "the media" is lying about huckabee, that the 'uncle sugar' remark was not his position but his characterization of liberalism's position on women. they are whining that liberals are lying about huckabee lying about democrats.

huckabee was at least on the level of the broad policy aims of a party. paul's 'what about monica' stuff is just walking into the firing squad. the proposition from the center-left underpinning the contraception battle is pretty simple: reproductive health is health, sex is part of life, it should be paid for like anything else. there is a simpler and less gross conservative counterargument, but it's identical to their whole argt against HC reform: fine but it's not the state's business. but you throw the word 'war' into it and they can't help but just say 'nuh uh you are'

huckabee/mcmorris rodgers 2016: the war on the peen?

i would think it's the war on the poonani

whoever came up with this 'war on women' framing is a real genius.

the most undeniably potent political phrase since "he's racist"

yeah nobody will ever beat that one!

well, "George Bush doesn't care about black people" is a very close second

War on Poverty
War on Drugs
War on Terror

Whoever came up with this 'war on women' framing had a bit of help coming up with the idea. But it's a damn sight better than 'Femghazi' would have been.

lol Aimless you win

I forgot how much Reps love WAR EVERYTHING

weren't the Femghazi one of the alien races in Babylon 5

Benghazi
Benghazi
no no no it only wants to depress you

Obama's issued fewer executive orders than Grover Cleveland.

whoopsie daisy

http://www.salon.com/2014/01/31/former_christie_aide_at_the_heart_of_the_bridgegate_scandal_christie_knew/

As if anyone ever believed Christie when he said he didn't know anything about it and, heavens, he would never have ordered such a terrible thing. At best, he must have thought there was no trail of evidence leading to him, reducing it all to conflicting testimony about the content of a few conversations. It remains to be seen what sort of evidence emerges. It would be sweet if there were a recording, as with Nixon.

The further comments re his former aide's high school reputation are really pathetic at this point.

That O'Reilly interview of Obama appeared predictable based on the NY Times take

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/03/us/politics/obama-is-tackled-by-oreilly-before-game.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20140203

Obama Is Tackled by O'Reilly in Pre-Game Interview
By PETER BAKER
Mr. Obama was grilled about the botched rollout of the health care law and the attack on the American post in Benghazi, Libya, among other issues.

remember the part in Cathy McMorris Rodgers' SOTU response where she mentioned "Bette in Spokane" who was facing a $700/month increase in her premium due to obamacare?

Bette’s tale had policy wonks scratching their heads; it was hard to see, given what we know about premiums and how the health law works, how anyone could face that large a rate increase. Sure enough, when a local newspaper, The Spokesman-Review, contacted Bette Grenier, it discovered that the real story was very different from the image Ms. McMorris Rodgers conveyed. First of all, she was comparing her previous policy with one of the pricier alternatives her insurance company was offering — and she refused to look for cheaper alternatives on the Washington insurance exchange, declaring, “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website.”

Even more important, all Ms. Grenier and her husband had before was a minimalist insurance plan, with a $10,000 deductible, offering very little financial protection. So yes, the new law requires that they spend more, but they would get far better coverage in return.

sigh.

and she refused to look for cheaper alternatives on the Washington insurance exchange, declaring, “I wouldn’t go on that Obama website.”

Well okay then. Enjoy bankruptcy.

i don't understand why they have so much trouble doing due diligence before mentioning anecdotes like that on national tv. it's not like there aren't plenty of real people out there who really are facing significant premium hikes (there are some notable examples on ILX).

Benghazi
Benghazi
no no no it only wants to depress you

My brain does this every time I see Benghazi

xpost

because their audience doesn't care, they just want to hear something that confirms their worldview.

this is 90% of all audiences though, including us

sure, also add in that the people delivering the message don't care whether it is truthful or not because they don't mind lying to their constituents and realize that anyone trying to verify their stories are already biased against their message in the first place

p@reene on why Christie will finish his term

http://www.salon.com/2014/02/03/chris_christies_survival_strategy_shamelessness_and_willingness_to_fight/

Sure. Anyone vindictive enough to approve of the lane-closing scheme in the first place will certainly be shameless enough to brazenly outface the people who point out his lies and manipulations. Nothing's going to pry the truth from him or get him to resign power, except perhaps a painful arm-twisting from a source he accepts is more powerful than he is.

i don't see Springsteen doing that

Ha ha

http://washingtonexaminer.com/the-house-gops-incredible-amazing-discovery-most-americans-arent-entrepreneurs/article/2543254

The writer of this piece about a recent House Republican retreat is a conservative btw writing for a conservative website

"Ninety percent of Americans work for someone else," Cantor said, according to a source in the room. "Most of them not only will never own their own business, for most of them that isn't their dream. Their dream is to have a good job, with an income that will allow them to support their family."

"We shouldn't miss the chance to talk to these people," Cantor continued, according to the source, "which is why we will present and pass our plans to relieve the middle class squeeze."

What was extraordinary about that portion of Cantor's presentation was not that it was out of place -- it was entirely on-target for a political party hoping to win elections in 2014 -- but that it came six years into the economic downturn, and decades into a protracted decline in middle-class standards of living. Could it actually have taken Republicans that long to realize they should address such problems, especially when Democrats have made huge gains appealing directly to middle-class voters?

Apparently, yes. And even now, not all House Republicans are entirely on board. "It's something that's been growing and taking time for members to get comfortable with," says a House GOP aide, "because they did spend the last decade talking about small business owners."

we shouldn't miss a chance to talk to 90% of americans

This is why most Americans generally pass up a chance to vote for these clowns.

In presidential elections that is, but somehow they get elected in the House and could control the Senate. Apparently there are enough middle class people who want to be small business owners and therefore vote for these clowns.

without gerrymandering they wouldn't control the House either.

Sunday Times op piece 2 weeks ago refuted that. tl;dr

Here it is.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/26/opinion/sunday/its-the-geography-stupid.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1&_r=0

Another possibility is that Democrats receive more votes than seats because so many of their voters reside in dense cities that Democratic candidates win with overwhelming majorities, while Republican voters are more evenly distributed across exurbs and the rural periphery. Perhaps even a nonpartisan redistricting process would still have delivered the House to the Republicans.

....

The problem for Democrats is that they have overwhelming majorities not only in the dense, poor urban centers, but also in isolated, far-flung college towns, historical mining areas and 19th-century manufacturing towns that are surrounded by and ultimately overwhelmed by rural Republicans.

Jowei Chen is an assistant professor of political science at the University of Michigan. Jonathan Rodden, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, is a professor of political science at Stanford University.

Hmmm. I'm usualy skeptical of rightwing Hoover Institution folks

http://www.poliscirumors.com/topic/huffington-post-takes-on-jowei-chen-and-jonathan-rodden

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/02/17/redistricting-didnt-win-republicans-the-house/?wprss=rss_ezra-klein

haha wait, since when does political science have a clone site of Economics Job Market Rumors? I should start an anonymous asshole board for psychologists

Christie? You should have seen the file we had on him. We could have sold him by the pound to every news organization on the eastern seaboard. Maybe we're doing that. Got you wondering, don't I?

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/romney-speech-020414

god this is the side of Charles Pierce that drives me crazy

keep it in yr pants, bucko

I have a screenname to uphold

i don't understand why they have so much trouble doing due diligence before mentioning anecdotes like that on national tv. it's not like there aren't plenty of real people out there who really are facing significant premium hikes (there are some notable examples on ILX).

― Karl Malone, Monday, February 3, 2014 8:55 AM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I suspect most people believe what they want to believe, and a big chunk of the GOP aren't very big on facts b/c who cares? their base sure doesn't. Bette in Spokane is a meme for them and will probably stay that way.

there's a weird echo-chamber-within-an-echo-chamber thing with that particularly bad example. even the _subject_ of the anecdote is complicit in not wanting to grasp some basic facts.

i'm sure we'll hear from her again, recanting her story, when she has a stroke and doesn't go into bankruptcy only because she "had" to purchase a plan that covered most of her medical expenses.

wait if you put an echo chamber in an echo chamber it's the same as just 1 echo chamber assuming the first one is well designed

Not if the audio input to the inner chamber is the output of the outer chamber!

CBO report proves Obamacare is a jobkiller!! Just ignore the fine print

It would be nice if they got Obamacare fixed up so that no one ever retires

you blowin my mind Karl! xp

But at that point you need microphones and speakers so why put the one inside of the other?

i'm not saying the echo-chamber-within-an-echo-chamber is a good or practical thing (whether in real life or with poor ol' Bette in Washington who had her doofusness exploited by higher-level doofuses), just that it's possible! ;)

good call. Kinda want one now though.

so Clay Aiken is running for Congress

if Gopher can be in the House, so can the dude who murdered "Bridge Over Troubled Waters"