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

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/

advocacy groups are pushing GOP leaders to make big demands

the leopards have not changed their spots

Good times in the press corps

Blah blah blah, DC is fake, Kentucky is real ....la dee dah...zzzzz

Marcy Wheeler: NSA review group a whitewash.

Probably you can't have a group of complete outsiders tell the national security teams how to run their business, unless you want a bunch of idealistic, utopian bullshit hopes-n-dreams recommendations.

Full employment. A higher inflation target to make monetary policy work better in these times, alongside government spending to ensure the Federal Reserve can do its job. Paired with a much more active role for the government in public investment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/18/opinion/edsall-is-the-safety-net-just-masking-tape.html?hp&rref=opinion&_r=0&pagewanted=all

i want to marry Mike Konczal btw

ps dean baker & jared bernstein's short book getting back to full employment hits a lot of these points and is awesome and free to download at CEPR

Probably you can't have a group of complete outsiders tell the national security teams how to run their business, unless you want a bunch of idealistic, utopian bullshit hopes-n-dreams recommendations.

― Multiple Miggs (dandydonweiner), Thursday, December 19, 2013 3:39 PM (

The Guardian article makes clear you can't even have a few suggestions from former insiders considered.

konczal is awesome and so is that latest baker freebie (http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/books/getting-back-to-full-employment-a-better-bargain-for-working-people). the other freebie of baker's i read rules too (http://www.cepr.net/index.php/publications/books/the-end-of-loser-liberalism). i suppose baker's been too correct about scamerica for years now ever to be influential with the assholes who run the show, but it's good to know there are people consistently calling bullshit on those assholes

well and it amazed me that the other night i went to a thing where he was shilling the book and it was *packed*, i was like "wow this is a room full of people in expensive suits with gray hair who get it, i didn't know that was a thing"

that is awesome to hear. for spotting the housing bubble way ahead of time, dean baker should be chairman of the fed or at least secretary of the treasury afaic

sorry dude, rip

http://washingtonexaminer.com/article/2540989

i

what

that's some great journalism there. that guy should be very proud of himself. not creepy at all.

non-celebrities who volunteer to participate in public service ads are the worst

http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/conservatives-freak-over-pajama-boy

The conservatives are making this attack bcz they understand the role of symbols and irrational emotional reactions in politics. This is what reactionaries excel at.

Sarah Palin and the Duck Dynasty guy are palling around now