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

good lord i hate the whole "nuke" metaphor for this. anyway,

The Senate didn’t actually go nuclear today. But the majority took out a nuke, put it on the table, and made clear they can detonate it whenever they feel like.

It’s clear now that Reid will change the rules if he believes it necessary. But so too will McConnell. If Republicans retake the Senate in 2014 and the presidency in 2016, there’s no way Majority Leader McConnell will permit Democrats to routinely filibuster or otherwise obstruct President Christie’s nominees. If they do, he’ll throw Reid’s words back in their face and make the change Reid threatened to make today.

The result is that the minority's ability to filibuster executive-branch nominees was weakened, even if it wasn’t fully eliminated. The minority can use the filibuster against particularly objectionable nominees that the majority isn’t overly committed to confirming. But they do so with the express indulgence of the majority. If the minority uses it too often, or chooses a nominee the majority really wants to confirm, the privilege of filibustering nominees — and that’s what it is now, a privilege granted by the majority — will be taken away. No majority is going to take that nuke off the table.

i agree with klein's take on this, and i think that it's a good thing. even if when republicans take over the senate, it's fine that democrats won't be able to abuse the filibuster to block nominees. that's how govt. is supposed to work. you're not supposed to gum up the works every time your team isn't in power. you're only supposed to do it the majority nominates someone who is truly an abomination.

why didn't reid pull the trigger on this back in 2009?

xpost

If Republicans retake the Senate in 2014...

even if when republicans take over the senate, it's fine that democrats won't be able to abuse the filibuster to block nominees.

before someone freaks out, i meant that the minority party won't be able to block filibusters routinely, as a default approach, like it is now

xp I know. I just thought it was odd that the forgone conclusion that the next GOP president is Chris Christie.

Supposedly McConnell reneged on a deal he made on nominees with Reid in 2009.. go figure.

how to improve the experience of reading politico by a factor of approximately 50,000:

http://cat.www.politico.com.meowbify.com/

take montana to town

http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/311199-tribes-lawsuit-could-decide-who-controls-senate-in-2015

in which Elizabeth Warren kicks ass: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONEcoq9pjac&feature=player_embedded

president warren

we get the presidents we deserve

*hangs head*

there was a good article, I forget where, that was talking about whether warren was proposing this stuff in order to 'move the goalposts' (good) or if she actually believed anything she was proposing was more than just a PR stunt at this point (bad)

Check out the Lamar Alexander quote.

wow.

Halle-fuckin-lujah! You election nerds need never think of him again.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/brian-stelter-reports-nate-silver-leaving-new-york-times-to-join-keith-olbermann-at-espn/

Olbermann needs to be left on the side of a highway somewhere

Halle-fuckin-lujah! You election nerds need never think of him again.

http://www.mediaite.com/online/brian-stelter-reports-nate-silver-leaving-new-york-times-to-join-keith-olbermann-at-espn/

― playwright Greg Marlowe, secretly in love with Mary (Dr Morbius), Friday, July 19, 2013 10:00 PM (Yesterday)

glad to see that he'll be focusing on the more important things now

Olbermann needs to be left on the side of a highway somewhere

― dude his voice is soooo much more tolerable than danny brown (President Keyes), Friday, July 19, 2013 10:49 PM (Yesterday)

tbf this describes most of connecticut

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2013/07/perry_voodoo_doll.php

i know we must have talked about this somewhere, but this is an amazing thing for the speaker of the house to say:

“We should not be judged on how many new laws we create. We ought to be judged on how many laws we repeal.”

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/07/21/19596802-boehner-judge-congress-by-how-many-laws-it-repeals-not-passes?lite

not by itself an inflammatory remark. I'd have felt the same if I'd been elected to Congress in 2006.

yeah, maybe. and it's true that for about 1/3 of americans, he IS judged by how many laws he repeals, or how much he can freeze the workings of the government.

That is a horrible thing to say

how many laws have they repealed?

Zero

Well I guess they repealed some stuff that was blocked by the senate

they're doing even worse than we thought

sure would be nice if the GOP had a president signing their legislation!

lol weiner

now that 'thedirty.com' is in the news again, let's look back at the OTHER time a site to talk about banging chicks in scottsdale, ariz. made its mark on the american polity

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2010/08/ben-quayle-denies-writing-for.html

hi goole!

Obama Seeks to Reset Debate Over Direction of the Economy

In remarks to supporters on Monday night, Mr. Obama acknowledged what the speech wouldn’t do: it would not “change any minds,” he said. And it would not offer any new proposals. The president said the address on Wednesday would be “thematic” rather than prescriptive. Any new ideas will come in a series of other speeches in the weeks to come.

What’s the point?

because everyone is paying attention to political news in the summer

be prepared for my speech on Wednesday in which I will prepare you for later speeches

he should have done this through 15-second SNL ads

haha otm

the point is to continue perpetuating the illusion that there is a point

That remark about 'how many laws we repeal' basically says that every Congress before this one was wrong-headed and passed laws it never should have passed and ought to be repealed. But those Congresses were precisely as legitimate as this one, elected by the voters and sent to DC to legislate. So, I must conclude Boehner is an idiot who can't think his way out of a paper bag, or else he just says stuff he thinks sounds good without thinking at all.

I think in Boehners mind politics is the same thing as governing so burning down the other dudes shit is regular business.

SAC indicted

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/07/25/us-usa-healthcare-republicans-idUSBRE96O0EJ20130725

FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity, a conservative issue group financed by billionaire brothers David and Charles Koch, known for funding conservative causes, are planning separate media and grassroots campaigns aimed at adults in their 20s and 30s - the very people Obama needs to have sign up for healthcare coverage in new online insurance exchanges if his reforms are to succeed.

"We're trying to make it socially acceptable to skip the exchange," said Dean Clancy, vice president for public policy at FreedomWorks, which boasts 6 million supporters. The group is designing a symbolic "Obamacare card" that college students can burn during campus protests.

Americans for Prosperity launched a $1 million TV ad campaign against the healthcare law this summer to test its message in swing states of Virginia and Ohio. The 30-second ad presents a young pregnant mother who asks questions that suggest the law will raise premiums, reduce paychecks, prevent people from picking their own doctors and leave her family's healthcare to "the folks in Washington."

freedom works

...just says stuff he thinks sounds good without thinking at all.

^^^ From "welfare queens" to "death panels" to Michele Bachmann's entire political career, GOP have mastered talking loud, saying nothing.

I think they're excellent at it!

They truly are! I've often said I wish progressive causes had spokespeople so adept at tossing red meat and getting their base motivated. I mean, they kinda do, but...

Some laws Boehner does not want to repeal:

NYTimes
Top News
House Defeats Effort to Rein In N.S.A. Data Gathering
By JONATHAN WEISMAN
The 217-205 vote was far closer than expected and displayed the shifting allegiances and fierce lobbying on both sides of the issue.

nice to see him working with Obama there

Nancy too.

http://www.squareone-learning.com/cartoons/nancy.jpg

oh man mccain's gonna lose it

https://twitter.com/markknoller/status/360433838339526657

mccain's already visited, kerry and him led the effort toward normalization of relations