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

The number of pieces I've seen/read in the last month along the lines of "here's how Davis MIGHT win" make it seem like a hugely uphill battle. Mainly, the gist of the articles is that Abbott has to fuck up his campaign.

I would say it's highly unlikely unless a large block of voters turn up who don't usually vote.

It looks like the big red Wendy block crashed into the blue Davis block like a downed UFO. Really, it should be the other way around, symbolically speaking.

Wendy Davis for Texas for Governor

Oh no, woman who crashed her car into the White House reportedly dead, we will never know the truth.

Unless ... it was the kid all along!

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs24/i/2008/019/1/3/Maggie_shooting__by_leif_j.png

Seriously, I hope the kid in the back is OK.

So, I looked up Greg Abbott. You might remember a guy saying a few years ago that carbon dioxide can't be harmful because it's naturally produced? That was him. He also thinks the Americans With Disabilities Act is unconstitutional, even though he's a paraplegic who's wheelchair-bound. Der.

That does worry me, though. How will Wendy Davis look beating up a guy in a wheelchair?

Erick Erickson: "Democrats keep talking about our refusal to compromise. They don’t realize our compromise is defunding Obamacare. We actually want to repeal it."

haha

Here's what the grande dame, George Will, wrote today:

“If Reince Priebus from Kenosha, Wisconsin, is the Republican ‘establishment,’ God help us,” says the chairman of the Republican National Committee, Reince Priebus. His physical presence is almost as unprepossessing as James Madison’s was, and his demeanor is self-deprecating. But with meticulous — Madisonian, actually — subtlety, he is working to ameliorate a difficulty that has existed for two centuries and in 2012 wounded the GOP.

will is the weirdest guy

Cool that we shut down the government when it tries to give people health care but torture? Too Big To Fail Bank bailouts? indefinite detention? the NSA? the TSA? killing American citizens wo due process? Yeah those things are cool just go w it.

http://i.imgur.com/SCkmQG5.png

lawl

lol, bourbon just out of frame

Ross Douthat ‏@DouthatNYT 17m
So per @robertCostaNRO, current GOP strategy is: Shut down govt for almost 3 weeks to obtain ... repeal of medical device tax.

heh

It appears Charlie keeps the bottle at the office.

One would hope so

important ongoing shift imho http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-03/republicans-are-no-longer-the-party-of-business

^ yeah, my current hope is that business interests will force moderate republicans to stop backing the madmen. or at least that the indulgence of lunatics will hurt the party's voter and $$$ draw as time goes on.

the latter cold comfort if they manage to re-tank the economy along the way

The saddest aspect of this whole fiasco is that any "solution" will likely really just mean, per the last few similar battles, that yet another repeat of the exact scenario merely gets pushed back a few months. And then here we go again.

we don't have government, just elections and shutdowns

if the gop doesnt get anything and takes a hit in public opinion the chances they'll try it again soon are p low - last shutdown was 17 years ago - but the debt ceiling def needs to be eliminated, that is a for sure time bomb

listened to Glenn Beck for a minute in the car last night, and it was the usual wacko crazy about Obama personally kicking WWII vets in the balls, then I almost ran off the road when his proposed solution was "de-fund the GOP. never give them another dime." I guess he's always been out there, but I assumed Tea Party intransigence was solely directed at Democrats.

will is the weirdest guy

― lag∞n, Thursday, October 3, 2013 11:59 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

http://www.goatsandglory.com/videos/549/

never forget george will's sports machine

I assumed Tea Party intransigence was solely directed at Democrats.

it's funny since the Tea Party seems to see the stakes in terms of "purity" that it's ALWAYS gonna be the pathogen that closest to home that is seen as the most dangerous. it's almost like the old communist party.

and of course it's a fruitless self-defeating pursuit.

tbf the gop has been playing them forever

since 1952 at least

it's hard to resist apocalyptic rhetoric like "this is the end of the GOP as we know it"--which is probably way overstating it--but i dont see how they can keep squaring that circle. a party which emphasizes exclusion to the extent they do are always gonna be vulnerable to autoimmune disorders (which is a way of interpreting this Tea Party insurrection from within).

but i dont think a conservative party can really be recalibrated along other lines. that's kinda what conservatism is.

yeah theyve got some problems going forward

its interesting they have still managed to nominate fairly moderate presidential candidates, if they could do that w/o making them jump through sick hoops and promise all sorts of vile things they might not be in such bad shape, seeing as they have a structural advantage in congress

also known as "cheating"

its not cheating it bad rules

http://24.media.tumblr.com/37a70bb3028bc93f10980d5d73d1619b/tumblr_mu3ay3gfyr1qzjlovo1_500.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/mHZiM3H.png

republicans think everything is lynching, weird

jesus christ, that cartoon

i love that cartoon tbh

The shorts are fin sweet

This focus group study of the current Republican party is pretty amazing.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hw1lpW9gNhE/Uk7l8D75ASI/AAAAAAAAOQk/uOgXFvMyb3E/s400/1157cbCOMIC-school-time-rock-just-a-law.jpg

Gotta admit, skimming that focus group report really does depict the GOP as a desperate, flailing, reactionary minority whose virulence stems from its belief that it's losing. Like a cornered dog.

it's hard out there for a simp

From the Business Week article lagoon linked:

Asked by the Associated Press if he had heard business groups express alarm about the economic impact of a shutdown, Republican Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California replied, “No. And it wouldn’t make any difference if I did.”

That's rather breathtaking coming from a Republican Congressman. This is why conventional wisdom about the Wall Street tycoons stepping in and stopping the House crazies is mostly wishful thinking.

they're seriously going to have to put up and start threatening these clowns with big money donations to moderate/ Dem challengers.

well big business doesnt have to stop the house crazies they just have to convince boner to allow a vote

It would be easier to make him weep in self-pity than to get him to grow a pair.

naw all signs point to him caving, and hes done it before

http://a2.img.talkingpointsmemo.com/image/upload/c_fill,fl_keep_iptc,g_faces,h_365,w_652/gop-tax-cuts.jpg

look at that young man back there

fucking Rohrabacher. the Rep for where I grew up iirc