American Politics Thread 2013: I'm a cool Rodham grandma in the USA

Yeah.

This title sucks

I am not ok with it

get off the island

ditch the Rodham please

at least do that

if he ditches the rodham then it's not a pun anymore

as Rodham, the asshole would only be running some law firm in Chicago defending corporate polluters right now

FEMINIST ICON

ilx really has got water on its face thanks to this outrageous thread title

it's really what holds the thread title together xp

She is a feminist icon you sexist pig

oink oink

it's been long established that I'm a sexist, racist, neo-Nazi babyeater

tbf i was unaware that u ate babies

I did see a bumper sticker the other day that said "Ready for Hillary 2016"

Also: what can Clinton boast of as an accomplishment as secretary of state? No snark – genuinely looking for a defense cuz looking at Iraq, Afghanistan, Arab Spring, Libya, the Oval Office and NSC exerted pretty strong control.

she follows orders well. #sergeantschultz

oh, here we are

cool title!

Shut up, Ghoul

kinda disappointed that "Shrilary" didn't find its way into the thread title

or Shrillary even...

Maybe we can get Morbs to bring back "Hitlery Clinton."

maybe we can get you to bring back ... naaaaah

bye

naptime already?

yay naptime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbh4u_oA0rk

http://images.politico.com/global/070507_hillary1.jpg

lol @ phil

Hillary strikes me as smart and generally capable. She's probably a demanding boss who has no problem ordering underlings around to do whatever she wants. I don't think she has a natural feeling for power or how to use it in situations where she doesn't have unchallenged authority.

She has so far demonstrated no extraordinary qualities, which is an improvement on many of our presidents.

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/rubio-introduce-senate-bill-ban-abortions-after-20-weeks_738579.html

Rubio's getting his conservative bona fides in order for republican presidential primaries in 2016 and not as concerned with closing the gender gap.

More good news: http://www.popjustice.com/interviewsandfeatures/a-lengthy-neil-tennant-interview/116349/

lol and this: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/03/us/politics/obama-administration-to-delay-health-law-requirement-until-2015.html?ref=politics

(Tennant-Lowe thrilled too no doubt)

meanwhile north carolina going all in on crazy today

North Carolina needs to end Sunday voting to stop voter fraud. Uh huh

rubio you fuck

man you aren't kidding about NC

http://www.wral.com/senate-tacks-sweeping-abortion-legislation-onto-sharia-law-bill/12621503/

not the onion

lol

In NC the Republicans are taking vengeance for being effectively shut out of state government for the past 20 years. Now that they control the House, Senate and the Governor's house the gloves have come off and they are trying to undo as much in the way of progressive legislation as they can through any means possible. Unemployment benefits, voter id laws, abortion, even attempting to put in place a new regressive tax code. The legislature has been attempting to further undermine city governments (which are almost always Democratic)by putting various municipal services (the Asheville water system, the Charlotte airport, etc.) under the control of ostensibly "independent authorities" which have boards composed largely of state appointees. The countryside has effectively declared war on the cities. The backlash has already started but a lot of damage has been done and I don't think we'll ever get some of these things back.

This might be too much information for this particular board, but it's really frustrating. I wrote to my state Senator and his reply was basically, well, hopefully the next election goes better for us once the people of the state realize what they really voted for.

Hillary is a tough boss - so tough, my friend's husband who worked for her decided to throw himself behind Obama in '08. However I'd wager that while at SoS she seemed not to be as bad as she used to be, which suggests her First Lady years were probably more stressful.

she's quoted as saying 'fuck the white house correspondents dinner' in a new book so kudos on that front at least

boehner and the hastert rule and how his hand was forced - http://www.nationalreview.com/node/352631/print

The real horrors these days emerge from statehouses.

Yep, people can yuck all they want regarding the aging conservative white men party and their success in presidential elections, but in numerous statehouses they continue to have success

'pro life' people mishear a prochoice chant about 'the state' at tx lege as 'hail satan'

#hailsatan now trending nationally

It's pretty transparent that the NC reps tacked the anti-abortion stuff onto a bill banning sharia law so that they can run ads claiming that anyone who votes against the anti-abortion stuff is secretly wanting to impose sharia law on NC.

I feel compelled to wonder whether sharia law allows for abortion rights. My hunch is that it would be even more restrictive of abortions than the stuff the republicans proposed. Irony?

yeah, i was composing an onion-esque headline in my head: "NC-sen bans, imposes Sharia law in same bill"

'pro life' people mishear a prochoice chant about 'the state' at tx lege as 'hail satan'

Ha, if only, but of course this would never be allowed in Obama's nanny state that wants to stomp out all religious expression.

First they took our Krampus, then they forced us to renounce our satanic overlord....

As a fan of a certain Mr. Tyler my first reaction to the hail satan thing was "oh cool!"

Koch Bros influence is overrated imho, they're kind of an easy target but there are so many other groups basically writing terrible legislation

OTM. Picking out one group or another misses the point.

Koch Brothers help fund ALEC, one of the largest of such legislation writing groups http://www.thenation.com/article/161973/alec-exposed-koch-connection

From today's W. Post article:

The filings show that the network of politically active nonprofit groups backed by the Kochs and fellow donors in the 2012 elections financially outpaced other independent groups on the right and, on its own, matched the long-established national coalition of labor unions that serves as one of the biggest sources of support for Democrats.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/koch-backed-political-network-built-to-shield-donors-raised-400-million-in-2012-elections/2014/01/05/9e7cfd9a-719b-11e3-9389-09ef9944065e_story.html

x-post

I know there's the Chamber of Commerce acting upon behalf of business and a zillion others all influencing Congress for years in ways that Luntz wants to pretend does not happen.

there is a hivemind out there

but Scorsese's transgressive, numbing film will wake everyone up

wake them up until the next bright shiny crusade appears

this country loves to take a nap

sometimes at the movie theatre

Yeah it's pretty clear that American politics overwhelmingly represent the business community (and have since the beginning).

Actually even before the beginning.

and now after the end

i haven't read that yet, but this sentence -- "Luntz dreams of drafting some of the rich CEOs he is friends with to come up with a plan for saving America from its elected officials." -- could be a slightly unfair gloss on him?

i mean, i'm well primed to hear pinochet behind every business-centrist utterance, but that's pretty blatant

^^ crux of that sentence is "saving America from", which is a bit crafty, but not a bit subtle.

(we should have a new thread but i can't think of a title)

i guess we're long into the 'wheels coming off' stage here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/robert-gates-former-defense-secretary-offers-harsh-critique-of-obamas-leadership-in-duty/2014/01/07/6a6915b2-77cb-11e3-b1c5-739e63e9c9a7_story.html

^^^ this story was MADE for FOX News/Sunday morning fare

Bob Woodward's ego and Bob Gates' ego

hah thats what you get for having a republican in your administration you fucking idiot

Gates’s severe criticism is even more surprising — some might say contradictory — because toward the end of “Duty,” he says of Obama’s chief Afghanistan policies, “I believe Obama was right in each of these decisions.”

ok get the fuck outta here

Everyone in DC loves this congenital spook and liar whose ass was never subpoenaed for Iran-Contra.

the article makes it seem like gates is mad obama wasnt lovin all these FUCKED UP bush admin wars and wouldnt implicitly trust the generals, etc when he came to office. well, no shit.

"Similarly, in a battle over defense spending, “I was extremely angry with President Obama,” Gates writes. “I felt he had breached faith with me . . . on the budget numbers.” As with “don’t ask, don’t tell,” “I felt that agreements with the Obama White House were good for only as long as they were politically convenient.”"

this also assumes obama has control over the fucking budget. yeah how has that process been going the last 6 years?

At a March 3, 2010, National Security Council meeting, Gates writes, the president opened with a “blast.” Obama criticized the military for “popping off in the press” and said he would push back hard against any delay in beginning the withdrawal.

According to Gates, Obama concluded, “ ‘If I believe I am being gamed . . .’ and left the sentence hanging there with the clear implication the consequences would be dire.”

Gates continues: “I was pretty upset myself. I thought implicitly accusing” Petraeus, and perhaps Mullen and Gates himself, “of gaming him in front of thirty people in the Situation Room was inappropriate, not to mention highly disrespectful of Petraeus. As I sat there, I thought: the president doesn’t trust his commander, can’t stand [Afghanistan President Hamid] Karzai, doesn’t believe in his own strategy, and doesn’t consider the war to be his. For him, it’s all about getting out.”

ok seriously this man is defense secretary genius guru?

“I got up at five every morning to run two miles around the Mall in Washington, past the World War II, Korean, and Vietnam memorials, and in front of the Lincoln Memorial. And every morning before dawn, I would ritually look up at that stunning white statue of Lincoln, say good morning, and sadly ask him, How did you do it?”

is he trying to consult for sorkin in his dotage or something

the loneliness of the middle distance runner

think Gates should hook up with Frank Luntz.

I would ritually look up at that stunning white statue of Lincoln, say good morning, and sadly ask him, How did you do it?”

By telling McClellan to go fuck himself?

Gates was so aggrieved about Obama that he kept his limo privileges and stayed four years.

getting thru this luntz piece -- he's a sneaker pimp lol

Many xpost but thanks for the podcast linkage hoos. Alexis was always a highlight back when Chris Hayes did Up.

Every kind of dismal political cliche on display here:

Republicans acknowledged that, with unemployment still at 7 percent and one in six Americans living in poverty, they needed to make a stronger case that their reforms would help struggling families.

“There’s also a recognition among a lot of Republicans that we have not done a good job messaging conservatism, messaging the fact that we are conservatives not in spite of our concern for the poor, but because of it,” Mr. Lee said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/09/us/politics/republicans-move-to-reclaim-poverty-fighting-mantle.html

help me find something!

last year sometime this map was going around of the world's racial attitudes. 'surprisingly' the western hemisphere looked pretty chill but europe was not and africa and asia were all bigoted as hell:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/05/15/a-fascinating-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-racially-tolerant-countries/

someone linked to an analysis of it saying that it had big problems both in the stats themselves and in the presentation of them. anyone know what i'm talking about?

a correction on wonkblog links to this, which showed huge errors in the numbers for bangladesh, but that's it:

http://sites.tufts.edu/inclusivecommerceblog/2013/05/16/surveys-gone-bad-when-yes-means-no/

hah thats what you get for having a republican in your administration you fucking idiot

yeah, at least have someone who will think the same things but be a party soldier so Hil can succeed you as Drone Chief.

now call her a bitch

no wait call Pelosi a bitch

you're a syphilitic cunt, how's that?

i have Gonorrhea in my nose

Frankly, Morbs, I don't have a lot of time for gay men who use phrases like 'syphilitic cunt'.

v nice, you didn't even have to wave your diploma from PCU at me.

Maybe you should worry more about why an impacted colon like waterface is still in the playpen.

right now i'm wondering what's taking them death panels so long

What does where I went to college (or parody of same) have to do with your basic reflexive misogyny?

the gates 'revelations' seem like classic beltway disconnect - obama was skeptical the surge would work in afghanistan! - the kinda thinking that the al qaeda flareups in iraq recently are a disaster for obama cuz they show he shouldn't have cut and run in iraq. this isn't quite directly tied into that but the neocon revisionism and pushback on iraq recently has been out of control.

misanthropy, dear, misanthropy xp

(you might look at who chimed in with "bitch" above; one speaks gutter to gutter)

also bye thread

see you tomorrow

or IN HELL?

Time has possibly come to leave the board, bullshit is at an all-time high

Ssh! Quiet, unless you have something to say relevant to the thread. Just take a break.

Morbs, my post was about your conduct. Whining that other kids did it too doesn't cut it with me; you're the one reaching for the misogynist imagery at the slightest provocation.

The reaction to Gates here in the UK is basically "...", everyone's like 'of course Obama wanted to leave, didn't he campaign on that, stupid Republican is stupid...'

I didn't call anyone a bitch

Time has possibly come to leave the board, bullshit is at an all-time high

― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, January 8, 2014 10:36 AM (2 minutes ago)

Huh. Seems at an all-time low to me.

American Politics Thread 2014