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

they should just do some silly thing about congressional health plans every time they need a face-saving compromise

would you save that face?

is the WWII memorial thing just a right-wing meme or is it likely to get some traction? I can't tell from looking at Twitter since that in no way resembles the real world

I've been reading a lot about politics and power in the Byzantine Empire the past few days. We have it good by comparison, but still...

A conservative friend of mine was all het up about it on Facebook, but fuck if I'm going to click on his link to a Michelle Malkin piece. (xpost)

americans are fucking idiots = wwii thing will prob get some traction

wait what is the wwii memorial 'thing'

they were ultimately let in, right? and the only reason they were hindered is because the house gop shut down the government, which normally runs such things as the military and its memorials

it's total bullshit, but

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/house-republicans-dc-monument-closures-government-shutdown-97758.html

*very white voice* Actually Obama purposely shut down the WWII memorial out of spite. Look it up.

americans are fucking idiots = wwii thing will prob get some traction

agree w/ this

According to an NPR interview with a high ranking official of the nat. park service, the wwii vets were let in to the memorial under an exemption for "first amendment rights on the DC mall", which bit of harmless sophistry was delightful and very reminiscent of Byzantium and its theological contortions.

They're voting on the funding that will give them the most face-saving press.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn

They should build a Benghazi memorial right next to the WWII memorial, and then make sure it never closes and is under 24-hour guard.

wwii thing got traction for this cycle but obv doesn't have legs though hopefully the shutdown doesn't either

seems weird that they even had to block off the WW2 memorial -- iirc it's pretty much just an open-air thing.

the general fecklessness and panic of the republicans atm makes me have a glimmer of hope that the bargain won't be so bad. Fox News is silly even by their standards right now.

but obv doesn't have legs

why do you hate veterans

at this point i think it's obvious these republicans dgaf what most americans think, this WWII thing is prob just to give affirmation to their supporters. they've been able to bring our government to its knees with just the support of a small base of radicals and true believers, so what do they need with the rest of us. they're basically just free to do whatever the fuck they want now unless people get their shit together to actively stop them.

it's nice to think these people will lose in the long run, but uhhh ... how's that gonna happen?

that shut-down-the-military-too article was otm

seriously, shut it all down -- air traffic controllers, customs, nsa, medicare, everything

how else will we get past 'i'm from the government and i'm here to help'?

of course if a "deal" means chained CPI and "entitlement reform" we might as well stay closed until China buys us on eBay.

how's that gonna happen?

Boehner gets the boot and is replaced by someone the non-tea-party reps can back.

guys the military academy football games will not be canceled, we can all breathe easy

Boehner gets the boot and is replaced by someone the non-tea-party reps can back.

what about the massive amounts of money, finely tailored districts, and legions of followers who support these people? the system of laws that keeps it in place? i guess these authoritarian yahoos will naturally come to their senses and the billionaires supporting them and our laws that let them do so will just ... i don't know, cease to exist somehow. i guess it's pretty easy.

i don't know, this shit's pretty messed up, but that's old news. this gov't shutdown is just a natural consequence of all this fucked up stuff we've been witnessing the past few years and belongs to a bigger scheme of things.

The non tea party reps alreadt back boehner, thats not the problem

Do the Tea Party types get Koch et al money as well, or do those types mostly give money to mainstream Republicans?

Hey, wow, a first person account of the ramifications of all this bullshit, from me! If the shutdown goes on for more than a week, apparently it could delay closing on our new house in a couple of months, since the IRS will not have had adequate time to pull tax records and whatnot. Fun! Maybe we'll be homeless for a while.

aw man

sorry Josh. :(

sux

http://gawker.com/gop-congressman-makes-park-ranger-apologize-for-shutdow-1440577868

I am so sick of these fucking racist assholes

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took heat from his Republican colleagues Wednesday in a closed-door meeting to discuss the government shutdown, Politico reported.

At the meeting that was hosted by the Senate’s conservative Steering Committee, one GOP senator after another pressed Cruz to offer a proposal to end the shutdown, according to Politico. The junior senator from Texas reportedly had no solution nor could he explain how he would defund the Affordable Care Act – an effort led by Cruz and Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) that served as the impetus for the current shutdown.

jeezus

of course, it doesn't. u.s. senators at least have to pretend to be halfway sane every 6 years so they can get a majority of votes across the state. u.s. reps can just fart and as long as the have financial backing and say they're on the correct team, they'll be fine.

americans are fucking idiots = wwii thing will prob get some traction

― |citation needed| (will), Wednesday, October 2, 2013 9:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agree w/ this

― Andrew Kornfan, Wednesday, October 2, 2013 9:53 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

americans are... trenchant

fwiw it seem to have gained traction for fox news and their friends, not very noteworthy

if you guys really believed americans are fucking idiots, there wd be no politics threads.

i believe, some americans are idiots

everyone is an idiot sometimes

some people are idiots most of the time

if you guys really believed americans are fucking idiots, there wd be no politics threads.

you believe it and you're always here

wow doesnt really shed too much light on our current political situation, almost a sort of idiotic opinon

xp

A sweeping national effort to extend health coverage to millions of Americans will leave out two-thirds of the poor blacks and single mothers and more than half of the low-wage workers who do not have insurance, the very kinds of people that the program was intended to help, according to an analysis of census data by The New York Times.

Because they live in states largely controlled by Republicans that have declined to participate in a vast expansion of Medicaid, the medical insurance program for the poor, they are among the eight million Americans who are impoverished, uninsured and ineligible for help. The federal government will pay for the expansion through 2016 and no less than 90 percent of costs in later years.

predict all those states will get on board in a couple years once this shits not dominating the news, its free money from the feds and theres tremendous pressure from all sorts of corporate and social interests to accept it

http://i.imgur.com/Svs3g6R.png

lol

yep, once the efficacy of fucking over your own state's most vulnerable people for short-term political gain is maxed out, they'll quietly expand medicaid. whadda country

the constitution was a bad idea http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2013/10/juan_linz_dies_yale_political_scientist_explains_why_government_by_crisis.html

haha, mcconnell and rand paul had a nice private conversation with the camera and the mic on:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/03/rand-paul-mitch-mcconnell-hot-mic_n_4036591.html

"I just did CNN and I just go over and over again 'We're willing to compromise. We're willing to negotiate.' I think... I don't think they poll tested we won't negotiate. I think it's awful for [Democrats] to say that over and over again," Paul said.
"Yeah, I do too and I, and I just came back from that two hour meeting with them and that, and that was basically the same view privately as it was publicly," McConnell agreed.

Paul added, "I think if we keep saying, 'We wanted to defund it. We fought for that and that we're willing to compromise on this', I think they can't, we're gonna, I think... well, I know we don't want to be here, but we're gonna win this, I think."

oops. what's funny is just before that, mcconnell looks down at his mic and says "i'm all wired up"

sociopaths http://gawker.com/gop-congressman-makes-park-ranger-apologize-for-shutdow-1440577868