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

We tagged along with friends to a party during the 2004 Democratic Convention at the Kennedy School; they were doing some light networking but also we were all looking to get our drink on. Anyway, they do online fundraising and were looking to meet folks and Summers was there, not really talking to anyone or doing anything, and we all said "hey, we're alumni, let's introduce ourselves" so we walked over and said, "Hello President Summers, we are college alumni, it's nice to meet you" and he basically gave us a "whatever" look and turned his back on us. It was incredibly rude.

We spent the rest of the evening getting loaded and helping the provost of Northeastern University keep the Editor in Chief of the Improper Bostonian from starting a brawl with Bill O'Reilly.

He wasn't very nice to the Winkelvoss twins either

lol, I am glad he didn't retroactively yank my diploma for having the temerity to say hello to him at a cocktail party

in retrospect, the one thing I would have changed is I would have totally egged on the brawl

hah glad he lived up to his reputation

I mean, the thing that killed me is how long would it taken to have smiled and shake hands? Like three seconds! And we were the only people interested in talking to him; he kept scanning the room trying to catch ppl's eyes and everyone was actively shunning him (it was actually pretty funny once we all were pissed at him).

amazing he couldve gotten so far being that anti social, guessing he prob has a pretty fine tuned sense of who its ok to piss off and who not career advancement wise

fuck his views on monetary policy – what is his tipping policy?

i'm prob not remembering this right. some econ blog posted a detail from... well i don't remember... another economist's memoir?

anyway, the point is, summers, relatively early in his career, critiqued a slightly-younger academic's paper. one of his margin notes at the end was "very good, i think you should work for me" which he had crossed out and rewritten as "we should work together sometime". like he just cannot help being who he is.

A lot of surly assholes are excellent flatterers; I'm sure he would've offered Clinton a cee-gar if it'd have gotten him into Treasury.

worth reading:

http://billmoyers.com/2013/09/12/will-disillusioned-millennials-bring-an-end-to-the-reagan-clinton-era/

lol boehner apparently to bring house cr that defunds obamacare to a vote. we might be heading toward a shutdown in two weeks.

BRING IT

please don't bring it

come on disillusioned millennials, let's bring this fucking idiotic era to an end

lost in all this is that eventually, whether it's sept 30th or a week into october or 5 years from now in a mad max post-apocalyptic wasteland, the house conservatives will be coerced into finally passing a CR that leaves obamacare alone - WITH SEQUESTRATION LEVELS OF FUNDING. and that'll pass. the media will be too busy shitting their pants over the political battle and will lose sight of the actual funding level. democrats will be unable to veto the bill sequestration levels of funding (or below that, even - there's no limit to how shitty this congress is) because the public and the media will have viewed the republicans as already "compromising" given their generous offer to not torpedo a program that will save tons of lives.

or the gov't will shut down, and the republicans will get a black eye and then the dems will let them regroup like they did right after 2008..

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/17/this-is-not-a-crisis/?_r=0

I agree about the sequester unfortunately, that was a bad deal. otoh excited to see GOP marginalized even further, hopefully so much so that they lose control of the house in the next election.

or the gov't will shut down, and the republicans will get a black eye and then the dems will let them regroup like they did right after 2008.. - no way this happens again. not on the millenials' watch.

nd then the dems will let them regroup like they did right after 2008..

and the country is well and truly fucked because the sequestration is now the norm

Ugh. I do not want Elizabeth Warren to run for president. Let her stay in the Senate where she belons.

where she's one vote out of 100?

yeah that article has some interesting points (mostly about demographics) but she wouldn't be a good president imho and her chances of winning would be small - a candidacy at this point would be about her staking a claim for a larger role in the party (just like Dean), but I don't think she would win

a loud, liberal vote

yeah i remember when everyone was saying that if the sequester did happen it wouldn't last long cuz it would be political suicide, congressmen flooded w/ angry constituents, etc. and thinking they said the same thing about gramm-rudman and it became the status quo also.

tbf I did think there would a backlash, but the problem was that the pain was not immediate and direct enough - its effects were diffused and spread out over time, so it hasn't really registered with constituencies as I would have hoped. it becoming the status quo is sadface

in the run-up to the sequester, everyone was saying - from top down - that the cuts would be uniform for each agency, like taking an axe to the budget, etc. i don't know if that was just a lie or if the administration genuinely didn't think that there would be flexibility. when it actually happened, there was flexibility. the rich people were mad about delayed flights, so accommodations were made to them. rather than cutting a uniform amount from each sub-office, agencies were able to make huge cuts to specific programs - like grant programs. and so on.

http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-06-30/politics/40292466_1_sequestration-predictions-obama-administration

wondering to what extent gop making a last, desperate stand on obamacare is them on some level conceding they aren't taking the white house back in 2016. they're aware that obamacare getting a medicare like toehold will make repeal (or even open opposition) impossible long term but is a couple of years 'long term'? was medicare an issue at all in 1968? aware that there were other things going on to say the least and that nixon was no true conservative spokesmen (and might've passed some far more progressive health care legislation than the left could dream of today were it not for ted kennedy demanding an even more progressive bill or nothing - the same approach that scuttled hillarycare and that obama gets flack for not choosing) but it had been the 'death of liberty' just a couple of years beforehand and reagan was a factor in that race - did they fold their tents that quickly? then again old people vote and they've never hidden their wishes to do away w/ medicaid. long term success/gop acquiescence might be tied to whether the public files it alongside medicare and social security or if they think of it as 'welfare'.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/09/boehner-gop-leaders-obamacare-shutdown.php - this kinda echos some of costa's thoughts on twitter, that this isn't as much a shot fired as a sop to gop base in house and (though costa doesn't phrase it this way) a way to shut up ted cruz in the senate. not sure if mcconnell is gonna be delighted to have this fight or dreading it. if/when it fails does boehner (i can't even say 'gop leadership' cuz really what's cantor doing? what's ryan doing?) then bring a cr that can pass even if it requires significant house dem votes? does the base allow him to do this and survive? do house dems press their luck/make a stand and push for undoing domestic sequestration?

yeah i remember when everyone was saying that if the sequester did happen it wouldn't last long cuz it would be political suicide, congressmen flooded w/ angry constituents, etc. and thinking they said the same thing about gramm-rudman and it became the status quo also.

― balls, Tuesday, September 17, 2013 7:15 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha yeah that was the whole point of the sequester, welp

Chuck Todd's life got easier.

its the medias job only to accuse the media of trolling

when we push everyone who uses "message" as a poli verb off a cliff, that POS should be first.

TPM link now just says "oops, sorry, nvm".

Tried it again and it worked this time.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-24079227 What is peoples take on this? I know it's not US politics, but I think it shows the problems that come from the idea of political leaders etc. The criteria for success as a mainstream liberal voice for someone like Warren are, by their nature, going to alienate her base. And quietism isn't really an option for US pols (I'm not sure it's one for Italian activist nuns either. The platform she's endorsing is very appealing though)

It's interesting to see a real Christian...

Also, she's not Italian

My mistake!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/09/18/gingrey-im-stuck-here-making-172000/

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) lamented in a closed-door meeting Wednesday that his staff can get rich as lobbyists while he is "stuck here making $172,000," according to the National Review Online.

NRO Jonathan Strong reports that Gingrey said that staff may not make a lot of money on Capitol Hill, “but in a few years they can just go to K Street and make $500,000 a year. Meanwhile I’m stuck here making $172,000.”

During the meeting, Republicans discussed a proposal to exempt lawmakers and their staff from a new law requiring them to participate in federal health-care exchanges.

Gingrey and other lawmakers expressed concern about the financial toll the new law would take on them on their staffs.

Gingrey announced in March that he would run for an open Senate seat in Georgia; he faces a crowded GOP primary field that includes Reps. Jack Kingston and Paul Broun. Two-term Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R) is retiring.

"stuck"

http://slnm.us/cVUMp3R

brb guys, gonna go be a lobbyist for a bit so I can afford a unicorn

this 'peoples front of judea' shit btw cruz and the house gop would be popcorn.gif if it weren't so dangerous

i mean

https://twitter.com/ryangrim/status/380721904253800448

haha, Cruz is taking all kinds of criticism now because he dared suggest that the defund bill can't pass the senate. Will probably be the last time he states an actual fact.

wow, check this out. seriously, wtf

http://energycommerce.house.gov/press-release/the-roller-coaster-of-emotions-on-the-path-to-build-the-keystonexl-pipeline

the energy and commerce committee has basically posted a buzzfeed article in support of the keystone xl pipeline. on so many levels, seriously, wtf

What in the... Is this conservatives trying to court the young?

is this...is this normal? i have to admit i don't usually hit up house committee websites every day. is it normal to just post the equivalent of an advertisement for big oil? what about the dissenting voices on the committee?

I didn't even know individual committees had websites