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

I love how in the final analysis the GOP is reduced to begging to get, of all things, less healthcare for themselves AND the ability to threaten to go through this whole process again in a couple months. great goals you guys have, heckuva job brownie etc.

"our demands are that we are allowed to shoot ourselves in the foot. also, some more bullets"

These guys are such dumb fucks. Two weeks later and the ACA portal still can't work, making the most superficial case for the horror of this law, yet they're getting nothing now.

and at this point once they resolve it the media might just shrug off the website thing as old news

Hail Mary dead in the water at this rate

https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/390233153559748608

https://twitter.com/robertcostaNRO/status/390235324778954752

Costa on NRO:

My sources tell me House Republicans will likely postpone tonight’s vote on their plan to end the fiscal impasse. “The votes aren’t there,” says a leadership aide. “We’ve been amending the bill all day, but we’ve been unable to get people around this strategy.”

This development leaves Speaker John Boehner with few options as Thursday’s debt-ceiling deadline nears, and it throws the action back toward the Senate, which has been working on a bipartisan package.

so were I John Boehner my strategy -- to be kind -- would be to vote on the Senate plan without a Hastert rule so that congressman can return unblemished to the rabid dogs in their districts.

I suspect we'll see just that soon enough.

yeah I kinda don't know what Boehner's holding out for here, unless he really thinks he's about to lose his job in which case lol YA BURNT ASSHOLE

Why should these fuckers give a shit what anyone, or any poll, says? The irony is that the nuts are safe. It's the slightly less nutty that are less safe, because if they cross the nuts, they could very well earn nut primary challengers. Advantage: nuts. There is little Republican political advantage to being reasonable here, afaict.

Like, who the hell would replace Boehner, and how would his replacement be any different vis a vis (did I use that correctly?) the Tea Party crazies? Unless a Tea Party crazy became speaker, which could, sure, lead to long term Dem gains, once they break absolutely everything and poop on the pieces.

well suck it up Boehner, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few (or the one, ie, you you fucking imbecile)

the only leverage I could see is that if they fuck up the party nationally enough then they'd be in the safe district of a minority party, which would still be really fun for them but they wouldn't get to pass laws and the lobbying money might be less xp

presumably Cantor wants Boehner's job. not sure about Ryan. Amash wants it but I doubt he has the support.

I'm not saying it would be better.

xp

I mean let's game this out - Boehner passes some compromise w/out the support of his caucus, loses the Speakership, Cantor or some other figure more appealing to the Tea Party takes over, and then presumably all legislation grinds to a halt due to their intransigence, and maybe they try this default/shutdown stunt again at the next possible opportunity, in which case things REALLY go downhill...? could happen.

and maybe that's Boehner's concern but I sort of doubt it.

i've resisted saying this for a while but i would be happier w/ speaker cantor than speaker boehner

ryan's never really shown interest in leadership in the past, think he prefers being the 'brains' of the party

o mordy you make it too easy

w/ cantor at least you're cutting out the middle man somewhat

sad to say I suspect Mordy would prefer Cantor strictly for tribal reasons...

yeah, at least on a pragmatic level i think he'd be more effective at keeping his party in line - if he were speaker right now i think a deal would've already been passed

don't worry, i have no interest in speaker shakey xp

costa confirms it, no vote in the house

https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/390238414031040512

I dunno if he'd be more effective, these people aren't really controllable

xp

i don't know if they can be better guided by their party leaders but i know that pretty much anyone else would show more [whatever intangible quality] 'leadership' than boehner

After looking at what Boehner's gone through the last three weeks, no sane person would accept the speaker's position. So obvs it will have to be a nut.

there have been inklings of cantor's interest in the past but i kinda think if he was gonna make the move it would've been in january. i could be wrong though.

More and more I think it's becoming clear that this is just about Boehner's job

It's a rough economy. Gotta keep a job if you have one.

might get a whole lot rougher pretty soon

balls, do u think us is going to default?

poor Juan Williams up against Rich LOLry and George Will on FOX.

Would you get booted if you turned to Rich and said, "You're the guy who felt starbursts of joy when Palin winked at you, right?"?

"you betcha"

Boner

I mean, that's what his penis does

In that situation

I have to go now

"You don't call pain default," Will said.

"These are splittable differences," Will said.

"You're a happy warrior tonight!" Juan Williams said.

I know it's been noted here before but George Will is such a weirdo

btw Pat Robertson called on the GOP to wave the white flag, i'd link it if i thought you hobbyists didnt have enough schadenporn to read.

i'm still like 'surely there's no fucking way' but man, that amazing grace shit. i posted this last night - http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/14/for-many-hard-liners-debt-default-is-the-goal/?_r=0 - but i think a cabal of generally genuinely pretty dumb ppl who've been living in an echo chamber that is telling them that they're doing the right thing so far (been plenty of congressmen saying the only phonecalls they've gotten from constituents have been positive), that debt default is a thing to be desired, that if it does turn out bad obama will only get the blame anyway, that the polls are in their favor or if they're not they're skewed, and that the gop didn't lose in 95/96 or if they did it was only cuz they didn't hold out longer. you're talking about a group of wannabe martyrs that's deepest wish is to be alive when the apocalypse happens, and the spectre of wall street doesn't mean what it might've once since most of them consider themselves 'anti-wall street'.

I know it's been noted here before but George Will is such a weirdo

― Ayn Rand Akbar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, October 15, 2013 6:58 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

btw Pat Robertson called on the GOP to wave the white flag, i'd link it if i thought you hobbyists didnt have enough schadenporn to read.

― eclectic husbandry (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, October 15, 2013 7:01 PM (7 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbqHZiap_u4

youre brilliant

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowldc/files/2010/12/fonzie_henry_winkler_happy_days.jpg

How much extra does the speaker job pay? Because Boehner would still have his primary job.

hell I'd take the job

The current salary (2013) for rank-and-file members of the House and Senate is $174,000 per year.

House Leadership
Speaker of the House - $223,500
Majority Leader - $193,400
Minority Leader - $193,400