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

oh dont get all county on us morbs

I'm gonna give morbs that one actually

the Seattle mayoral election is heating up

VA Gov. this year, will be interesting if Ken Cuccinelli can overcome serious bribery scandal to win against whoever the other guy is.

WHOEVER the other guy is

haha Terry McAuliffe.

I learned in elementary school that Virginia had a black governor once!

a couple real class acts they got running right now

mcauliffe has a pretty sizeable lead but yeah that race

Dana Loesch ‏@DLoesch 41m

It's 3am, do you know where your senator is? If not on the floor to #StandWithCruz you should be concerned. #MakeDCListen

Any pictures of the Cruz shoes?

heh, when i tuned in last night for a spell i saw this caption:

http://a3.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/quazxojtewlvqh5vqzxm.jpg

burn

getting a martin sheen in the dead zone vibe from this guy

the c-span2 burn is the deadliest of all

his diaper must be so squishy

Josh Marshall ‏@joshtpm 3m
He's now asking Reid if he can be allowed to do a real filibuster.

Josh Marshall ‏@joshtpm 3m
Cruz just referred to his 'filibuster' which is actually just standing and talking while nothing else was happening.

lol

YA BURNT

damn harry

https://twitter.com/jbarro/status/382891382022475776

"This is not a filibuster. This is an agreement he and I made, that he could talk." -- Majority Leader Harry Reid on Ted Cruz.

With a potential government shutdown looming in less than a week, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas said it would be “nonsensical” for his fellow Republicans to support any effort to bring government to a halt over the health care law.

“I don't think it's a good option,” Perry told “The Fine Print.” “There's still time to sit down and try to fix Obamacare.”

rick p, sensible moderate

*fires six shooter in the air*

die poors, die

Senator Ted Cruz’s verbal assault on the health care law ended on Wednesday when the Senate voted 100-0 to end debate

wait... so even Cruz didn't vote against ending debate? this fucking clown

hahahahahahaha

they actually voted to open debate

that's not what the NY Times says but whatever

cruz is trying to rally the GOP faithful to filibuster the closing of debate (friday or saturday)

nytimes is confused, cloture is scheduled for later this week, cruzes whole epic speech happened totally outside of the procedure for this bill

is ted cruz still president I am confused

they get it right here:

Wednesday’s vote is the first in a series that will culminate in a final vote on Sunday. Later this week, Mr. Reid will formally introduce a new version of the House stopgap-spending bill stripped of the health care language and shortened to keep the government operating from Oct. 1 to Nov. 15 rather than Dec. 15, as the House wanted. The biggest vote will most likely come this weekend, when Democrats must win over 60 senators to cut off debate on their leader’s bill.

unfortunately they confused matters by including this bit earlier in the article:

The vote ended debate and the Senate will formally take up a bill the House passed that keeps the government open through Dec. 15 while gutting the president’s Affordable Care Act.

Ted Cruz and the Power of Conviction
by David French

As I type this post, Senator Ted Cruz’s filibuster is winding down, and while the leftist outlets (and, sadly, some Republicans) spew forth their vitriol, I can’t help but think that moments like this and Senator Rand Paul’s “Stand with Rand” filibuster represent key turning points for the conservative movement. I’m far less interested in the Washington inside baseball of who’s mad at whom and far more interested in the effect of passionately demonstrated conservative conviction on our culture.

The Left has long understood the raw cultural power of conviction. How many of our key institutions have been transformed through the sheer force of will expressed by a passionate minority? People with conviction dictate the terms of debate, transform the decision-making paradigm of even the largest entities, and lay the groundwork for larger cultural transformation. This work is rarely, if ever, done with majority support but instead at the urging of the most committed, most dedicated, and most vocal. Thus, our great institutions often change without any public referendum, merely passive acquiescence. Indeed, one reason why people like Senator Cruz can be all-too-successfully labeled as “extremist” in the wider culture has been the power of leftist conviction at work in key cultural institutions.

I always find references to the conservative "movement" funny. I mean, aren't they against movement in principle

i love how both liberals and conservatives consider the other side to be these stone cold killer strategic geniuses who their own side gives into all the time

when the Koch bros wishlist gets regurgitated consistently & reflexively by every nitwit ever-so-slightly to the right of Clinton i think you can say that the modern conservative 'movement' def has legs and that there's some pretty canny strategy at play.

(re nitwits- i'm not talkin about just pols, either)

(though i certainly concede that long game demographics are not their friend)

lol http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/senate-gop-s-constituents-are-confused-about-obamacare-vote

Meanwhile in Texas (away from teh Cruzer) Wendy Davis will make a "big announcement" on October 3rd.

<cough>gubernatorial run

It has to be that, because she can't win her own district anymore thanks to gerrymandering.

http://storify.com/froomkin/green-eggs-and-c-span

DOJ still going to sue over Texas gerrymandering. Texas Repubs haven't learned to be subtle about fucking over minorities.

Dunno about Wendy 4 Guv. I'll vote for her, but she's going to lose and then what does she do, mayor of Fort Worth?

Schreiber points out the obvious: it's "better" for Boehner to shut down the government than default on the debt.

Unlike in the past, Obama has shown no indication of folding on this point.

In 2011 Obama gave in to debt limit negotiating, I hope Schreiber is right that it will be different this time

lol at obama nearly prank calling boehner last friday night

things are looking a little ominous again...

The Senate is now expected to approve a stripped-down government-funding bill Friday and send it back to the House, where its fate is unclear. GOP leaders insisted Thursday that the House would not approve a simple funding bill without conservative sweeteners. “I do not see that happening,” Boehner said.

Rep. Patrick J. Tiberi (R-Ohio), a close Boehner ally, predicted that the speaker would amend the government-funding bill to add a one-year delay of the individual mandate, which requires all Americans to have health-insurance next year.

Another Boehner ally, Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), predicted that Boehner would instead seek to add a measure that would eliminate subsidies for members of Congress to buy health insurance — although some Republicans complained at the morning meeting that such a move would create an economic hardship for their families, GOP aides said.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats — appearing at a news conference with a countdown clock ticking away the hours, minutes and seconds to a shutdown — said they would not approve a funding measure that required any concessions related to the health-care law.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/republican-hard-liners-block-strategy-to-avoid-federal-government-shutdown/2013/09/26/ae905f9e-26e4-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story_1.html

Darth Vader? well yeah, that's why Dem pajamas-wearing nerds love him

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/26/sorry_obama_america_imperialism_is_alive_and_well_partner/

so even boehner indicates that the GOP house is going to add some bullshit to the bill. democrats say they won't vote for any bill with health-care related bullshit in it. and regardless, if the house amends the bill, it'll have to go back to the senate again (and then probably back to the house again after the senate rejects the amended bill), which would just eat up a bunch of time.

Eating up a bunch of time is logical to Boehner if it allows his Tea Party wing to feel like they have been heard

yep. plus the house republicans have every incentive to shut the government down over the demands. they're in gerrymandered districts anyway, they're safe. plus, only 25% of the country is following the issue closely anyway. there's this article in the WP today about john boehner's district in ohio that's not even really necessary to read because it's so predictable. "there's a shutdown happening? i didn't know about that", "well, boehner will take care of it, he always does", "oh, i just care about hot dogs and comic book movies at this time, no further comment", "if they would just stop their goldurn arguing over there then perhaps we would be free", etc