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

so...the pressure gets put on cantor to bring to a vote, suddenly a few million people in America learn who he is, realize that he looks like the nazi guy in Indiana Jones, he's holding up the entire agreement, and he caves. boehner and cantor go down in flames because they're not true american patriots any longer.

paul ryan for house speaker

CNN just broke: the deal is: government opened immediately, debt ceiling lifted until February; the Democratic concession is income verification.

― the objections to Drake from non-REAL HIPHOP people (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Monday, October 14, 2013 3:56 PM (27 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this says the same + some reinsurance thing delayed for the dems idk both those concessions seem pretty cosmetic, the deal seems to consist of reopening the government and lifting the debt ceiling, aka if this goes through the democrats 'won'

http://blogs.rollcall.com/wgdb/senate-debt-limit-framework-emerges-medical-device-tax-off-table

if the reports are true that a only small minority of republicans wanted the shutdown in the first place it kinda stands to reason that prob boehners job isnt in danger from bringing the clean cr to the floor, unless theyre just sick of his shit generally

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 7m
So GOP interest group that wants delay of medical device tax loses, but Dem interest group that wants delay of Cadillac tax wins?

Larison sums up the Ericksons of the world rather well:

It is most of what is wrong with movement conservatism summed up in one short post: lie to your audience, evade responsibility for failure, and then urge people to throw their money away to fund more of the same “activism” that helped create the current mess.

it's so cool that he shut down the govt for 2 weeks so that he could extend his role as house speaker by 2 weeks

^^^this

Boehner's such a fuckwad

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 1m
The hope is that, as Sen Dem aide says, "Republicans get to say they delayed/repealed a terrible Obamacare tax."

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 1m
Labor unions that self-insure fall under the law and are thus subject to the 3-year tax. Sen Dems are pressing to delay or repeal the tax.

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 1m
So there's a 3-yr tax on insurance companies that creates pool to fund high cost of insuring people with expensive pre-existing conditions.

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 1m
ACA says everyone gets coverage -- "anyone with a bellybutton" -- even if you have a pre-existing condition.

Ryan Lizza ‏@RyanLizza 1m
Some background from Sen Dem on the so-called reinsurance tax, AKA the bellybutton tax, which Dems are seeking as part of Senate deal.

what if your pre-existing condition is not having a bellybutton?

my uncle (now deceased) used to always tell us he didn't have a bellybutton

he was killed a by a death panel

Tax for those without bellybuttons would be The I Dream Of Jeannie tax.

How long will it be until we find out Ted Cruz pays prostitutes to piss on him in hotel room showers and call him Burger King?

You know who didn't have bellybuttons? Adam and Eve. Admin is anti religion.

xp That would depend on how well he tips them.

Admin is an awesome nickname for God

lol

wisdom from the Gergler:

"The question for Boehner is whether to fall on his sword and prevent a default, or take the country into default because of the Tea Party," Gergen said. "At the end of the day ... I think he'll fall on his sword, even it means the end of his speakership. If he does that, I do think his days as Speaker will be numbered."

seems pretty clear this is headed for a vote, so anyone want to make odds on Boehner keeping the spearkership...?

i say he stays

yeah, I dunno if Cantor or Ryan really have the support

Foxx for Speaker!

http://cdn.rollcall.com/media/newspics/318/foxx_072612.jpg

what a country

i say he stays also

done

it would be funny if he stayed based on a vote made up largely of democrats and moderate republicans

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/361217/boehner-weighs-his-options-jonathan-strong

http://bit.ly/1btcJQ7

Digby blog re the draft Senate proposal and the result down the road:

it seems to me that by pushing the negotiations right up against the next round of sequester cuts, the Republicans will potentially have yet another hostage --- along with the threat of another government shutdown and another debt ceiling breach.

possible, i read the move as the dems going 'say what one more time, i double dawg dare you' but they could definitely be too cute by half. possibility they're setting a trap for the gop there to gain leverage on sequester cuts (since the doomsday scenario of sequester didn't work last time)(probably an underrated factor in the gop attempting this latest gambit), but very possible they're setting one for themselves. sequester last time didn't work cuz it was something philosophically the gop was in favor of (there were some details they had qualms w/, namely defense cuts) and they didn't have to do anything for it to happen, the hard work had been done in august 2011. here in a sense they'd have to work for it again, though it's possible (and the argument would be stronger) that the democrats forced a shutdown and default is they pushed the issue. it might not work but it gets that round of cuts on the table at least.

https://twitter.com/travistritt/status/389421384470122496

james woods is an odious pile

All-American-Girl ‏@incognito1949 13 Oct

@Travistritt @RealJamesWoods Travis the movie was good but Tom Hanks has lost it. wants obama 2 violate the Constitution & run for 3rd term.

i just can't even

lol China starts to get pissy and suddenly the sides can see their way to a resolution.

Woods has an IQ approaching 200, I've heard.

prob closer to evil than stupid

I do admire him for slapping Robert Downey hard, tho

http://image.toutlecine.com/photos/e/t/a/etat-de-choc-1988-01-g.jpg

nights you'll never remember w/ friends you'll never forget

Woods has an IQ approaching 200, I've heard.

I wasn't aware that's how they measure penis size.

Written by a dude I sang with in college who used to be a great, great falsetto singer:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/15/opinion/changing-the-debt-ceiling-game.html?_r=0&adxnnl=1&smid=fb-share&adxnnlx=1381845621-+pg16y1UYwBl3rUshonGIQ

“We’ve got a name for it in the House: it’s called the Senate surrender caucus,” said Representative Tim Huelskamp, Republican of Kansas. “Anybody who would vote for that in the House as Republican would virtually guarantee a primary challenger.”

x-post Interesting idea. But the House has other thoughts right now:

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif,) said the new House plan was designed to be attractive to Democrats and would follow key timelines that have been established in Senate negotiations — funding government agencies until Jan. 15, for example, and raising the debt ceiling until Feb. 7. But the plan would also include a two-year repeal of the medical device tax and a provision eliminating the employer health care contribution for members of Congress and White House officials, provisions that are likely to generate strenuous opposition.

I don't get the medical device sales tax issue.

Tina Dupuy ‏@TinaDupuy 5m
GOP: We HAVE to get something out of shutting down the government...guess a pay cut for our staffers will have to do.

story behind the medical device tax is during the writing of the ACA all the major industries affected by it were brought in and asked to give up some aspect of profitability in exchange for all the new customers the law would bring them, like insurers are now forced to take everyone regardless of preexisting conditions, everyone except the medical device people played ball, so they just taxed them

its one of the ways money is raised to run the ACA, and its a booming highly lucrative field, and theyre being babies about it so the republicans are on the job

Shows you how many weird products aren't taxed in this country.

This one weird way to get rid of your medical device tax

And of course when the Republicans seek to get rid of these taxes they never mention how it will increase the deficit, or mention a substitute way of funding the ACA.

---------

Charles Pierce in Esquire re the upcoming budget negotiations and the sequester:

"Current spending levels" are what's kicking the hell out of people around the country. I just thought I'd mention that, since nobody else seems to give a damn. The president already has told John Harwood on CNBC that actual increases in the income-tax rates are off the table as far as he's concerned. That leaves only "entitlement reform" as a basis for any kind of bargain, and we all know where that goes. Austerity -- misbegotten, cramped, and utterly unsuited to the nation's most immediate needs -- remains the fundamental philosophy behind economic thinking in both parties, and will be the philosophical basis for any agreement. If the replacement for the sequester are simply another system of cuts that maintains this level, it's hard to see how the Republicans don't walk away from this still with far too much of a win for their vandalism. And, of course, the monkeyhouse is still open for business.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Deal_Of_The_Month_Club?src=spr_TWITTER&spr_id=1456_26929798

its one of the ways money is raised to run the ACA, and its a booming highly lucrative field, and theyre being babies about it so the republicans are on the job

― lag∞n, Tuesday, October 15, 2013 9:39 AM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there's a li'l more to it than that. the med device industry is located in blue/urban/research centers (MN, MA specifically) so getting rid of the tax has 'bipartisan' appeal for regional economics reasons. both klobuchar and franken have been pushing the issue for a long time, for instance. warren, too? i think?

The president already has told John Harwood on CNBC that actual increases in the income-tax rates are off the table as far as he's concerned.

oh god charles pierce do you really believe obama wouldnt take income tax raises if he could get them, hes already done it once in the form of the expiration of the bush tax cuts on the wealthy, you are a very silly man

well they won the biggest midterm wave election in american history and there were predictable consequences, a few weeks of bad press doesn't magically undo that, esp w/ a second term midterm that should give them the senate coming up.

xpost