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

hey man, don't rock the boat! loose lips! meanwhile never mind that the DJIA and the income/wealth gaps keep setting records. no biggie! and that'll all take care of itself, some day, anyways

the sequester already happened is the thing you dont seem to understand, there was no way for the dems to be all hey can we just get a redo on our huge fuck up back there xp

hey man, don't rock the boat! loose lips! meanwhile never mind that the DJIA and the income/wealth gaps keep setting records. no biggie! and that'll all take care of itself, some day, anyways

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, December 12, 2013 1:20 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

you are all fucking morons with horrible reading comprehension, bye

to repeat myself, what patty murray got was an end to crisis budgeting. the GOP was perfectly happy driving at every cliff they could, and with a 2yr deal in place they can't.

if it makes you any happier, i have doubts whether the the murray-ryan deal will pass. everybody seems to hate it and key pressure groups are scoring against it. the right is near-uniformly hating ryan for being a sellout, what does that tell you?

'fiscal cliff' and 'debt ceiling' moments were damaging to the economy, both in GDP and in hiring. whether that is a good trade for long-term UI, idk.

but the GOP either disbelieves their antics were harmful, or at least, not harmful to anyone they care about. they'd do it again every chance they've got, it's their only play.

they also know that democrats are spineless. can't help but imagining if the GOP had the power the democrats do right now, and how they'd be negotiating

do you read anybody on the right at all?

sure do

google give up you are in conversation with three simultaneous morbes

Let me make things easier: http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/366034/some-thoughts-budget-deal-yuval-levin

one of whom is actual morbs but w/e

I generally think funding government services through user fees is much better than doing so through general revenue, so I take a move toward (slightly) greater reliance on such funding in a few programs to be a reduction in the burden on taxpayers in general without an increase in the size of government. That’s a good thing, but it’s certainly not unreasonable to describe such user fees as targeted taxes either. What the Democrats didn’t get is what they want and have insisted they would not do without: income tax increases.

this man has a phd

I'm the one who absolutely does not read anyone on the right; life is short

it's important though you keep up with all the latest on the right or risk dismissal as deficient in reading comprehension

are you a bot

"they also know that democrats are spineless."

the reason i asked is this is way off. the median conservative opinion of the dems is that they are all-powerful, ruthless, willing to use any procedural trick in the book, with an army of mindless and easily-disciplined voters keeping them in power, and a cynical lying media carrying their water.

median conservatives are an interesting crew for sure. remind me who grover norquist's counterpart on the left is, who has all the democrats' signatures on an un-constitutional petition never to vote for a tax cut on the rich

When will interested parties in the US media finally say 'projection, much?' to GOP whiners?

median conservatives are an interesting crew for sure. remind me who grover norquist's counterpart on the left is, who has all the democrats' signatures on an un-constitutional petition never to vote for a tax cut on the rich

― reggie (qualmsley), Thursday, December 12, 2013 12:53 PM (46 seconds ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

there isn't one as far as i know.

unconstitutional?

the full faith and credit of the united states isn't to be questioned . . . except if that involves raising taxes. then forget it

to repeat myself, what patty murray got was an end to crisis budgeting.

By agreeing to a lot more than half of what Republicans wanted. As for the negotiating, Murray supposedly was ready to agree to Ryan's original call to reduce fed contributions to pensions for current federal employees by a large number. But then, 2 Democratic reps from Maryland who are on budget or other relevant committees and have lots of government workers in their districts, pushed Murray and therefore Ryan to reduce the amount and change it to future hired fed civilians and cost of living cuts for future hired military folks who retire per military rules between the age of 40 and 66 (while still being allowed to get paid as private sector employees). Murray had to be pushed on this aspect to get not a left-wing purist deal, but just a more meaningful less bad agreement on this portion of the budget.

unsophisticated to suggest she could have done any better and/or that's part of a longterm trend iirc

Yes, the Republicans are gonna say no to a large Dem budget that includes closing loopholes, raising capital gains rate, etc. etc., but why not put those Dem ideas out there first for media and public consumption and then compromise from there; and then why not also play hardball in trying to make up for a past error in agreeing to the sequester budget. Republicans don't let prior mistakes get in their way of pushing hard for what they want.

so instead of going for everything, they should do nothing. what about closing just one tax loophole?

the Dems are NOT spineless; they believe in getting elected, full stop

It is pretty hard to have anyone represent you in congress who can't get elected.

it's even harder to get them to represent you after

It's all a matter of who is holding their leash. Usually it's big campaign contributors.

Budget passed House.

Budget to US: Drop dead

Yay oh wait

conservative disillusionment w/ paul rino right now is pretty funny

But it still passed the House:

332-94 margin, the House passed the Murray-Ryan budget deal last night, with only 32 Democrats and 62 Republicans dissenting. You kinda have to dig to find coverage of this development in the real world, since more attention is being focused on the alleged “civil war” between John Boehner and “outside” conservative groups.

Most of the Democratic opposition to the deal came, predictably, from the membership of the House Progressive Caucus

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2013_12/murrayryan_budget_advances048180.php

those pie-in-the-sky Naderite dreamers

no hope, no change here

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/white-house-to-preserve-controversial-policy-on-nsa-cyber-command-leadership/2013/12/13/4bb56a48-6403-11e3-a373-0f9f2d1c2b61_story.html?hpid=z1

The Obama administration has decided to preserve a controversial arrangement by which a single military official is permitted to direct both the National Security Agency and the military’s cyberwarfare command, U.S. officials said.

The decision by President Obama comes amid signs that the White House is not inclined to impose significant new restraints on the NSA’s activities — especially its collection of data on virtually every phone call Americans make — although it is likely to impose additional privacy protection measures.

not a leading rightwing thinker but "Since taking over the House of Representatives in the 2010 mid-terms, they have reshaped the political debate around cutting spending and reducing the deficit rather than stimulating growth and investment. This deal, although it contains a bit of short-term stimulus, doesn’t do much to change this."

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/johncassidy/2013/12/budget-deal-shows-gop-holds-the-whip.html

it's almost as if the largest grass roots movement of the past thirty years swept them into office w/ the largest wave election in american history go figure

the tea party is not grass roots and barely a movement

now THIS is a movement

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

piece on the demographic doom argument and possible overselling of - http://www.democracyjournal.org/31/demography-is-not-destiny.php

polls showing some rebound for obamacare and obama, possible dead cat bounce but also possible the 'worst' is over. presumably cancellation wave has peaked so bad news cycles maybe in the past. byron york et al have been selling this argument that aca has hurt obama w/ millenials but any dip there almost surely just a reflection of larger decline and if tied to any issue more likely to be nsa or just dumb disillusionment right? which both tie into a certain libertarianism but any lack of support for obamacare there would be symptomatic and not causative right? curious if the 'govt can't solve problems, govt is the problem' trend in polling that's prompted a million 'obamacare has killed liberalism for a generation' thinkpieces from the left and right will hold in any way remotely long term ie current levels six months, a year from now. midterms will almost definitely be ugly anyway but w/ the grownups clearly back in charge of the gop the opportunities for damage control via tea party overreach are gonna be a lot lower than in 2012 or 2010. some pol could probably combine public sentiment for taxing the rich w/ public sentiment for shrinking the govt into a serious deficit hawk position. if, yknow, the public remotely actually gave a fuck about balancing the budget.

with so few seats in contention doesn't look like Dems will suffer blowout in House. As for millennial, threaten to fine them and they'll sign up at the last minute, like everybody else.

yeah I see parallels in obamacare with how people go about their business on tax day - freaking the fuck out to get it done at the absolute last minute. its how we roll.

meanwhile in georgia hopes are pinned to jason carter and michelle nunn and yes that carter and that nunn. heard someone on the radio describe michelle nunn as a typical liberal like her 'notoriously liberal' father which almost caused me to swerve off the road. possible there's enough carpet baggers that have moved to the state since her dad was in office that that line could be sellable.

Here we go again re the debt limit, maybe?

From Wall Street Journal

With a bipartisan budget deal now on track to pass, the debt limit is looming as a focal point for the next high-stakes fiscal battle between Democrats and Republicans, as well as between tea-party and business-friendly factions of the GOP, as candidates position for the midterm elections.

Conservative lawmakers and advocacy groups are pushing GOP leaders to make big demands of President Barack Obama early next year in exchange for increasing the debt limit, which the Treasury says should be raised sometime by early March for the government to continue paying all its bills.

lol gl gop

yes, lets take the attention off of Obamacare and remind folks how bad we can be

be vv surprised if they carried through w all but a halfhearted attempt

yeah i thought the whole point of the budget deal was showing that the gop are grownups capable of governing and that stunts like the shutdown are in the past and weren't their fault anyway (hence all the 'the budget deal only got done cuz the tyrant obama wasn't involved' stories popping up)

heard someone on the radio describe michelle nunn as a typical liberal like her 'notoriously liberal' father which almost caused me to swerve off the road.

lol'd irl at this

Some good reading on Abscam, and the Church Committee, whether you were around in the '70s or not:

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/11/30/the-real-life-fbistingbehindamericanhustle.html

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/14/abscam_the_nsa_and_the_70s_the_real_american_hustle/