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

http://www.rushimg.com/cimages//media/images/obamateaparty5/1193644-1-eng-GB/obamateaparty.jpg

digging Obama as movie villain here

so Christine Lagarde, the IMF babe,

gross

oh lol missed Shakes' post.

I love Sara Robinson tbh.

http://www.alternet.org/story/154144/why_patriarchal_men_are_utterly_petrified_of_birth_control_--_and_why_we%27ll_still_be_fighting_about_it_100_years_from_now?page=0%2C3&paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark

That same frantic panic over the loss of the ancient bargain also lies that the core of the worldwide rash of fundamentalist religions. Modern industrial economies have undermined the authority of men both in the public sphere and in the private realms; and since they're limited in how far they can challenge it in the external world, they've turned women's bodies into the symbolic battlefield on which their anxieties over this play out. Drill down to the very deepest center of any of these movements, and you'll find men who are experiencing this change as a kind of personal annihilation, a loss of masculine identity so deep that they are literally interpreting it as the end of the world. (The first rule of understanding apocalyptic movements is this: If someone tells you the world is ending, believe them. Because for them, it probably is.)

scary as hell

http://www.democracycorps.com/attachments/article/954/dcor%20rpp%20fg%20memo%20100313%20final.pdf

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/simgad/18053778015677764682

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2013/10/will-debt-ceiling-extortion-ever-return.html

i don't think i'd seen this put so succinctly:

The debt-ceiling fight was not brought on by Ted Cruz and his baying hordes. It was actually the preferred strategy of mainstream Republicans, especially Paul Ryan. The Ryanites opposed shutting the government down because they wanted to extort Obama with default. The crazies who favored the shutdown were actually willing to lift the debt ceiling so they could keep the shutdown going.

That is to say, debt-ceiling extortion was not the tool of Republican ultras, unwilling to acknowledge political limits. It was the tool of the calculating party leaders. They viewed the debt ceiling as a smart leverage play to fulfill their goal of winning concessions without giving any in return.

yeah this seems exactly right

The plan includes a proposal offered by McConnell in the 2011 debt ceiling crisis that allows Congress to disapprove of the debt ceiling increase, which means lawmakers will formally vote on whether to reject a debt ceiling increase until Feb. 7. Obama can veto that legislation if it passes. If Congress fails as expected to gather a two-thirds majority to override the veto, the debt ceiling would be raised.

let the republicans have their hissyfit, let them vote their consciences and reap the press associated with the presidential veto, just dont let them do any real damage

Chait noted the same paragraph: it looks like the burden is on Congress to keep the president from acting unilaterally to raise the debt ceiling under extraordinary circumstances. If I'm reading this correctly, this is a hell of an unexpected concession.

yeah but its just a one time thing, i doubt they are planning on trying this all again in a couple months anyway

never say never

i didn, i said doubt

Man, Limbaugh: " Now, the Democrats never stop whipping up their base. Have you noticed?"

uh...

lol republicans having a sad

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

I could be wrong, but I think I remember Pelosi saying she doesn't want to be speaker again. Who's next? Hoyer?

if you don't gawk at idiots you aren't really following american politics

Truth bomb

those comments were misinterpreted iirc. if the Dems re-take the House (not likely) she will totally be Speaker again.

xp

The office of Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) pushed back hard Friday against a report indicating the House minority leader is not interested in the Speaker's gavel if Democrats win back the House.

“The Leader fully intends to be a Member of a Democratic Majority in the 114th Congress,” Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill said in an email. “The rest is up to her colleagues, as the Leader has long stated publicly.”

lol politics

i have been watching cnn for like an hour and a half today and have heard the phrase 'kicking the can down the road' approx. 146 times.

nobody's happy, because we're just kicking a can down a road.

<sadface> Basically we're already a European social democracy arguing over when retirement age should kick in, only with a magnificently overfunded military. I kind of sympathise with the Right over the deficit only they're specifically wrong on almost every single issue that crosses their path.

A child used to kick a can in the street

Xpost

kicking a can down the road is pretty much the essence of industrial capitalism. (also im weirdly tempted to argue that insofar as Brit Hume's description of the Cruz-ites upthread is correct then they've also got a problem with capitalism broadly defined.)

from the Beinart story:

Now that Republicans are backing off those demands, the press is saying they’ve caved. But that’s like saying that the neighborhood bully has caved because after demanding your shoes and bike, he’s once again willing to accept merely your lunch money.

Most of the press is missing this because most of the press is covering the current standoff more as politics than policy. If your basic question is “which party is winning?” then it’s easy to see the Republicans as losing, since they’re the ones suffering in the polls. But the partisan balance of power and the ideological balance of power are two completely different things. The Nixon years were terrible for the Democratic Party but quite good for progressive domestic policy. The Clinton years were, in important ways, the reverse. The promise of the Obama presidency was not merely that he’d bring Democrats back to power. It was that he’d usher in the first era of truly progressive public policy in decades. But the survival of Obamacare notwithstanding, Obama’s impending “victory” in the current standoff moves us further away from, not closer to, that goal.

From the focus grooup pdf qualmsley linked:

They think they face a victorious Democratic Party that is intent on expanding government to increase dependency and therefore electoral support. It starts with food stamps and unemployment benefits; expands further if you legalize the illegals; but insuring the uninsured dramatically grows those dependent on government. They believe this is an electoral strategy—not just a political ideology or economic philosophy.

IOW, those dastardly, underhanded Democrats keep doing things that make them popular with large numbers of voters! The unspoken piece of this is that this teeming unwashed democratic majority are not truly worthy of being citizens or having votes. They aren't respectable enough. If they were respectable people, like you and me, they'd vote republican and not for horrific Islamic Kenyan socialists like Obama.

Thoroughly comfortable with the Grim Reaper working on them over the years.

"Wait there seemed to be less of us at this NRO cruise than last time."

Most of the press is missing this because most of the press is covering the current standoff more as politics than policy. If your basic question is “which party is winning?”

im pretty sure this whole fucking standoff was more about politics than policy. I dont think the GOP believes in the difference between the two any more.

Rubio saying he's going to vote no, because what's more presidential than ignoring a bipartisan effort and watching the world's economy go into a tailspin?

world's economy is not going into a tailspin

Republican presidential campaigns have more to do with increasing media presence until you get on the wingnut welfare wagon or a cush pundit slot. Loudly being an asshole contrarian helps this.

xpost -- ...it's already there hyuk hyuk

exactly Ned

btw anything anyone says now won't matter in the next presidential campaign anyway

That's why they still let Biden keep his mouth open.

But Rubio gives it a spin:

“I cannot support this deal because it postpones any significant action on pro-growth and spending reforms and does nothing to provide working class Americans even one shred of relief from ObamaCare’s harmful effects.

“Until we tackle the real threats to the American Dream, we are going to continue finding ourselves in these kinds of messes. America is better than this, and the American people deserve better.”

Unfortunately, America is not actually better than this.

Oh cool: it turns out English is Rubio's second language after all.

“Until we tackle the real threats to the American Dream, we are going to continue finding ourselves in these kinds of messes. America is better than this, and the American people deserve better.”

"And that's why I'm announcing my resignation, effective immediately."

Haha, yes!

man if rubio and ryan are the top contenders for the republican nom, two precocious lil boys trying so hard to act adult

what are the harmful effects of ACA that working class Americans need relief for?

rand paul owning them so hard every debate

what are the harmful effects of ACA that working class Americans need relief for?

― Moodles, Wednesday, October 16, 2013 7:53 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

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website glitches

The perfect crisis for a culture that waits in line for new cell phones and pays more attention to internet speeds more than national politics.

rather be free to go bankrupt paying medical bills than be forced to endure website glitches. that is some extreme boostrapism

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