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

Charles Pierce on the consequences:

If he's talking about the economy and we, somehow, we come out out of this with a bogus "bipartisan" solution along the lines of the bogus Simpson-Bowles extravaganza, the Republicans will have won more than the Democrats have, because feeding Vaal on entitlements is their policy, not that of the Democrats. If he's talking about the Republicans coming to their senses, he's just wrong. I know I can get boring on this point but, to reconfigure the party the way Purdum and others seem to believe the party will be reconfigured in the wake of the fiscal apocalypse the Republicans have brought upon us, you would need a party establishment powerful enough to force the issue, and there...is...no...Republican...establishment. There are independent centers of power, none of whom are particularly indebted to the party, and all of which have the money to pursue their own interests and their own imperatives regardless of what may happen to Reince Priebus and Mitch McConnell, and, frankly, regardless of whether or not the party ever elects another president. These independent centers of power already are working their wills out in the state legistatures, which is where the next generation of Republican congresscritters will be produced. Those people are deeper into the izonkosphere than Ted Cruz is. When will this great reconfiguration show itself? Two decades from now? Three?

If he's talking about the economy and we, somehow, we come out out of this with a bogus "bipartisan" solution along the lines of the bogus Simpson-Bowles extravaganza, the Republicans will have won more than the Democrats have, because feeding Vaal on entitlements is their policy, not that of the Democrats.

the republicans already have won on this, because they've managed to make the fact that the CR continues funding at sequestration levels a very minor part of the story that no one cares about. they've succeeded in cutting govt spending in the midst of a weak economy and a continually expanding population.

and in the end, the Dems don't care enough to fight w/ strong "messaging."

i fear this sort of thing will be pretty much standard for a good while since it's created an opportunity to get something that's increasingly valuable to politicians: prolonged attention from the media. at least until it blows up in someone's face.

they claim that no one should worry, they'll fight the sequestration levels of funding during the NEXT CR fight (which would be in December, if the current timetable holds). i can see how they're fucked this time around though, at this point. after all the garbage with boehner and crew adding health-care amendments to the bill, sending it back to the senate where they'll be removed, and then back to the house for a last minute session before the fiscal year deadline, there's no opportunity for the democrats to raise the funding levels.

but it's ok because in December everyone will have learned their lesson and the republicans will discuss funding levels in a very reasonable manner.

There are indications that Obama has realized that negotiation over this issue will only lead to the Republicans to make huge demands in return for CRs and debt limit extensions every few months, so he may as well put a stop to that now, before it goes any further. Hence, the coming debt default.

Both sides are ready to take it that far. so it will happen. The real political battle will be over who is at fault for the resulting catastrophe, not over whether the catastrophe will happen. That's already been decided.

“Today the Republican Party has been infected by a small destructive faction,” Reid said. “These extremists are more interested in putting on a show, as one Republican colleague put it, than legislating.” He urged Republicans to “defy the anarchists” and pass a clean spending bill that would avert a shutdown.

All 54 members of the Democratic caucus voted to end debate on the bill. They were joined by 23 Republicans. The 19 Republican senators who voted no were Mike Crapo (Idaho), Ted Cruz (Tex.), Mike Enzi (Wyo.), Deb Fischer (Neb.), Charles E. Grassley (Iowa), Dean Heller (Nev.), James M. Inhofe (Okla.), Mike Lee (Utah), Jerry Moran (Kan.), Rand Paul (Ky.), Rob Portman (Ohio), James E. Risch (Idaho), Pat Roberts (Kan.), Marco Rubio (Fla.), Tim Scott (S.C.), Jeff Sessions (Ala.), Richard C. Shelby (Ala.), Patrick J. Toomey (Pa.) and David Vitter (La.). Two GOP senators — Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Orrin G. Hatch (Utah) — did not vote.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-poised-to-vote-on-spending-measure-that-house-republicans-vow-to-reject/2013/09/27/5e5bc59c-2778-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html

morbs is gonna love this poll, but:

The latest survey from Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling released Friday found Cruz as the top choice for 2016 among Republicans nationwide. With 20 percent support, Cruz narrowly edged Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who claimed the support of 17 percent of GOP primary voters. New Jersery Gov. Chris Christie (R) trailed the two junior senators with 14 percent, followed by 11 percent for former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R). Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) each picked up 10 percent.

question on the senate version of the bill:

The Senate legislation keeps the government funded at the current austerity level of $986.3 billion. It makes three changes to the House-passed bill: it includes funding for Obamacare; it strips out a provision to prioritize debt payments in the event of default; and it keeps the government funded until Nov. 15, rather than Dec. 15.

why did the democrats want to change the CR to expire in 11/15 rather than 12/15?

Republicans being bad guys is good for bizness.

shutdown: it's the right thing to do

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/27/wonkbook-we-may-have-a-shutdown-after-all-and-that-may-be-a-good-thing/

As Alec Phillips put it in a research note for Goldman Sachs, "If a shutdown is avoided, it is likely to be because congressional Republicans have opted to wait and push for policy concessions on the debt limit instead. By contrast, if a shutdown occurs, we would be surprised if congressional Republicans would want to risk another difficult situation only a couple of weeks later. The upshot is that while a shutdown would be unnecessarily disruptive, it might actually ease passage of a debt limit increase."

Some House Democrats have also come to believe that a shutdown might be the best way forward. It provides, in their eyes, a relatively safe space for the showdown Republicans clearly want to have. It's visible and dramatic enough that the GOP will feel the public's ire. But it's low stakes enough that the damage to the economy, though real, will be modest. Better to shoot yourself in the foot than shoot yourself in the head.

The hitch in this theory is the calendar. A shutdown would begin 17 days before we hit the debt ceiling. There's just not that much time for the shutdown to play out before the debt ceiling crashes down.

But that might be okay. One reason Republicans in Congress aren't more concerned about the debt ceiling is markets aren't particularly concerned. But if Congress began exhibiting signs of real irresponsibility -- like by shutting down the government -- markets would get concerned in a hurry, and Republicans would begin getting calls from Wall Street and CEOs of major companies well in advance of the 17th.

It's a mark of the insane and reckless turn in our politics that shutting down the government so one of our to major political parties can get the brinksmanship out of its system is emerging as the sober, responsible thing to do. But here we are, greatest nation the world has ever known.

america r stupd

11/15 rather than 12/15?

The Dem position is that the sequester needs to end and the CR needs to be a brief stopgap on the way to passing a real budget. It ups the ante and dares the Rs to fold on a weak hand.

cool friday we're having here in the USA

https://twitter.com/hughhewitt/status/383678645618737152

https://twitter.com/RepJeffDuncan/status/383682679587094528

https://twitter.com/djperry1973/status/383687222832021507

nice!

I was just coming to post your reply!

lol

nicely done

Russia and Iran are probably more tractable than House republicans.

yes!

I mean, OBAMA CAN GET THE IRANIAN PREZ ON THE PHONE TODAY WHAT ABOUT TED CRUISE

I was originally going to write "think about how that reflects on you" but figured that would be lost on dude

lol i knew that line would pop up eventually

lol this is from like 3 hrs ago

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/383678315514834944

Preston Mui ‏@PrestonMui 1h

@BenjySarlin @dylanmatt Well, one is a blindly fanatical group set on the destruction of the US and the other is Iran.

that said i hope nobody has too many illusions about a deal with iran's president, it's not clear to me how much authority he even has over iran's nuclear program.

though on the other hand, if iran's clerics have their thumb on everything, why did they allow rouhani to run, if not for something like this?

lol oh god

https://twitter.com/BenjySarlin/status/383698085735858176

http://i.imgur.com/vvRIUi9.png

cool pic

no thumbs up no credibility

no sirens no credibility

it's the little things, huh guys

wow sick burn

http://electwendydavis.com/about-1.html

House Republicans held a closed-door meeting Saturday in the Capitol, which started around noon, and may vote later in the day on a new continuing resolution to keep the federal government open.

Leaders plan on bringing up a bill that delays Obamacare for a year, repeals the law's medical device tax and adds a military pay exemption in the event of a shutdown, a GOP leadership aide told TPM. It will fund the government through Dec. 15.

Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) has said the House probably won't accept the "clean" bill to avert a government shutdown. GOP leaders are mulling several options on what to do next. One possibility, according to sources, is to attach two Obamacare-related provisions to the continuing resolution -- repeal of the medical device tax, and a provision denying members of Congress subsidies under the health care law -- and send it back to the Senate.
But Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) categorically ruled that out on Friday.

"Let's be absolutely clear: we are going to accept nothing that relates to Obamacare.," he told reporters after the bill passed, calling on Republicans to "get a life" and talk about something other than Obamacare.

lmao

government worker me is not laughing

to be fair i'm not sure why congressional members get subsidies or what that actually means. I'm not sure they do?

The discussion re federal health care subsidies for congressmembers has been very convoluted.

Republican Vitter is fixated on this, and I found this Democratic response amusing:

Vitter's amendment would have gotten rid of government contributions that help cover federal workers' health care coverage. According to the National Journal, Reid and Boxer floated legislation that "would ban senators from getting government contributions for their health insurance costs if there is 'probable cause' they solicited prostitutes." In 2007, Vitter got embarrassingly caught up in the "D.C. Madam" scandal when his phone number surfaced during an investigation of a D.C. prostitution ring. He addressed the issue by saying he committed a "very serious sin."

http://m.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/09/democrats-remember-david-vitters-prostitution-scandal/69411/

Diaper David Vitter

http://mrkt.ms/18Bt2ZF

aw poor innocent centrist ceo everyone so mean to him

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/09/29/shame-on-us-how-businesses-brought-the-debt-limit-mess-onto-themselves

"This isn't just another bill," Bachmann continued. "This isn't load limits on turnip trucks that we're talking about. This is consequential.

well THAT's gonna piss off the turnip truck lobby, right there

(xxp) ^^^ from the surely non-partisan author of The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy: The Untold Story of How Democratic Operatives, Eccentric Billionaires, Liberal Activists, and Assorted Celebrities Tried to Bring Down a President—and Why They'll Try Even Harder Next Time

do they just want to get rid of goverment-paid healthcare for congress members?

First sensible idea I've heard in weeks.

Bill Kristol, sour and ornery, and a liar on "This Week."

ya call that news eh

http://dish.andrewsullivan.com/2013/09/26/the-promise-of-paul/

amazing

10 ways to hack the government using this one mean spirited unelectable ideologue