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

I see zero signs O will cave

d)"Victim of Love" will come next in the Eagles thread

fine, they need 18 republicans to agree. they need one and a half dozens

There will be a “mechanism” for revenue-neutral tax reform

motherfuck that. if you claim to be upset about debt & deficits and you support "revenue-neutral" tax reform, then you are mentally afflicted. period.

another thing: if the govt was reopened via this move, with only ~18 republicans on board, that would deny the GOP the cathartic hissyfit orgasm that they desire. the shutdown hasn't gone on long enough to enable them to cum all over the U.S. then the debt ceiling crisis arrives, a week or two later. there aren't enough Gallagher tarps in the world for the mess they would make.

um

exactly, which is why the petition discharge move will never work

url is there an Onion article yet where Boehner begs Obama to save his job?

close enough

They haunt my dreams at night. I have this one nightmare where I’m about to ask for a vote on a clean continuing resolution and then one of them—I think it’s Steve King from Iowa—looks at me with this eerie smile and says, “No, John. No you won’t.” And then the rest of them are suddenly standing behind him and they all chant in a chilling monotone, “No, John. No you won’t.” And then I wake up screaming, “No, John!!! No you won’t!!!” and I’m crying, and my wife is crying, and I’ve sweat through my sheets.

DC gettin downright apocalyptic

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=kKmdRZnjm2k

Why am I looking for a plan under the ACA that covers self-immolation? Oh, no reason.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2013/10/05/us/05states_337_2/05states_337_2-articleLarge.jpg

I get it, but I really wish they could find a better symbol of the shutdown's effects than the closing of national parks.

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/1383175_10103323715075209_1994725259_n.jpg

Federal judge cock-punches Darrel Issa for his "I murdered my parents, please be lenient because I am an orphan" chutzpah - http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/jurisprudence/2013/10/fast_and_furious_judge_amy_berman_jackson_lets_congress_know_what_she_thinks.html

How Democrats Got a Spine http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2013/10/the_intransigence_of_democrats_from_obama_on_down_to_red_state_senators.html

Wow reps can say "fuckin" in the press now?

If you're like 99 years old and face no danger of ever losing an election, sure.

NWS getting feisty. (Can't vouch for the reality of this but it's funny anyway.)

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-F3Giv78jzGM/Uk9OB_mwD3I/AAAAAAAAORI/5FGBx368RmA/s1600/NWS.png

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/pentagon-to-recall-most-furloughed-workers-hagel-says/2013/10/05/eb7ed346-2deb-11e3-8ade-a1f23cda135e_story.html

Paradoxically, however, the Pentagon’s announcement could actually relieve political pressure on lawmakers to end the shutdown by canceling furloughs for as many as 300,000 federal employees.

http://i.imgur.com/Rjh9vCA.png

real nice

NWS thing seems legit

http://forecast.weather.gov/product.php?site=NWS&issuedby=AFC&product=AFD&format=TXT&version=6&glossary=0

whoa http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/10/06/shutdown_has_put_house_in_play.html

A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that if the 2014 midterm elections were held today, Republicans "would be in grave danger of losing control of the House of Representatives."

But they're not

"Pastor says he turned his father's $40,000 retirement into $396,000 by flipping this 'Obama blunder'"

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/1379353_778533211290_811579556_n.jpg

But they're not

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Yeah, if elections were next week, Dems would probably lose, because OMG, Obamacare! And they shut down the government! And they want to take away our guns!

wow you guys really have opened my eyes to the reality of the situation http://i.imgur.com/xTIBfWr.gif

The administration's people said "entitlement reform" a couple times this weekend. Charles Pierce:

This pivot can still work. The president has demonstrated that he can be brought to a deal if someone properly engages his impulse to be a conciliator. They're never going to be able to do that by asking him to chloroform the Affordable Care Act. But if they start talking about The Deficit, they can get him to listen. If he starts to think about bipartisanship and about problem-solving, and about the rosy dream he painted in his famous 2004 speech at the Democratic convention, a speech that now sounds as though it were delivered by a five-year old, then he can convince himself to do anything. At which point, I will believe that, in doing what he did when he did it, Ted Cruz is the smartest man alive. And I do not, under any circumstances, want to believe that.

the thing is in the past all of obamas demands re entitlement reform have included revenue increases which is something the republicans are incapable of agreeing to, so grand bargaining is prob a non starter, as it was before

But if they start talking about The Deficit, they can get him to listen. If he starts to think about bipartisanship and about problem-solving, and about the rosy dream he painted in his famous 2004 speech at the Democratic convention, a speech that now sounds as though it were delivered by a five-year old, then he can convince himself to do anything.

but yeah youre soooo smart charles pierce *j/o emoticon*

Austerity, man. It'll be a good bargain, not a grand bargain.

adjectives cost money

austerity != entitlement reform

I didn't say it did, but philosophically, no, there's no real difference. In GOP bizarro world, the debt is out of control, and we can't saddle our kids with it, so everything must get reduced, including SS and Medicare, which are gonna go bankrupt soon anyway.

Yeah, they've already alienated the Chamber of Congress - Republicans might as well just jettison their other core constituency: old people.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/us/fed-up-on-the-prairie-and-voting-on-seceding-from-colorado.html

cute

so grand bargaining is prob a non starter, as it was before

Until Obama "caves" again.

youre in a cave

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/us/fed-up-on-the-prairie-and-voting-on-seceding-from-colorado.html

cute

― j., Monday, October 7, 2013 10:31 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

they shd call their state farm subsidies

I wish xp

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4N556wv-fmnhDlTlG8MBHnTZmmzyZhpsQizv5LFQM3rfdF6uBxA

http://i.imgur.com/5WBZeXd.png

lawl

tiny bit of good news (not sure on the specifics of this or if its some horrible trick) http://wonkwire.rollcall.com/2013/10/07/house-approves-backpay-furloughed-workers

is there any sort of significant movement to reform the districting/gerrymandering process? any group that's pushing a proposal to end it that has any weight behind it? anything, anywhere?

the next scheduled gerrymandering parade is 2020 - if there's any chance of reform before then, it would have to begin now (to give reform time to work through the machine, and also so that it would be possible to say that no one knows which political party reform would harm or benefit in 2020) , or else get pushed off to 2030 or later.

xpost yeah, i posted about that on one of the several shutdown threads. didn't get much press, but it was surprisingly a unanimous vote.

seems we are very far from any sort of gerrymandering reform