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

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

more and more anti hillary inevitability think pieces every day pieceshttp://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/09/is-hillary-clinton-our-only-chance-for-a-woman-president.html

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2013/09/is-hillary-clinton-our-only-chance-for-a-woman-president.html

unelectable vs ineluctable vs gabbneb

do think, and this relates to richs rand paul piece too, that if youre going to run an establishment figure its better if its not an out of date unpopular establishment

warren 2016

http://www.papermag.com/uploaded_images/patrotic_animated_4th-of-July-fireworks.gif

warren is v appealing in terms of her political philosophy, but she's premature in terms of her experience and training for the presidency. she'd try to do the right things, but she'd get all tangled up and fail. give her a chance to learn the ropes first and how an insider gets things done and she'd be a fine choice.

now or never sry aimless

I'm quite happy with a liberal senator voting in the Senate as a liberal.

and fwiw ive never seen anyone demonstrate any correlation between washington experience and avoiding 'tangled up and fail' as president