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

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

glad they found each other

Is this better or worse than another week of black Santa/black Jesus?

These things give us a chance to go ha ha; but meanwhile the budget stays at a level near what Paul Ryan wanted, unemployment insurance has not been extended, and the President rejected a proposed NSA change

less entertaining than ha ha

less ha ha than eat shit plebes

more samantha powers interventionism - http://bit.ly/1etlQpL

so why does the US obliterate so many Afghan/Yemeni weddings?

http://www.salon.com/2013/12/20/american_medias_deplorable_record_on_drone_war_coverage_partner/

"Fifteen Yemenis on their way to a wedding were killed by a US drone. But it wasn't a gay wedding, so Obama's off the hook." - DP

They hate us for our freedom. We hate them for their nuptials.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2013/12/a-sharp-progressive-joins-the-doj.html

this is excellent news, especially if it means obama is warming her up for a long-overdue appointment to the federal bench. i saw her speak at my school when i was an undergrad -- really smart and interesting lady

https://pic.twitter.com/UQ9cvGAONY

the intellectualizer in me wants to say that this stockman race will be interesting in showing just how strong The Crazy is vs an established (and very conservative!) pol in the gop, and how the rest of the party handles it.

but that's bullshit really it's just kind of entertaining.

This McCain feature in Sunday's NYT magazine is a treat.

http://mobile.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/magazine/john-mccain.html?hpw=&rref=magazine

I couldn't believe an editor got away with assigning a cover out of it though

I saw the cover and thought do I really want to read more about McCain, and skipped it. So it really has stuff in it worth reading?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/edward-snowden-after-months-of-nsa-revelations-says-his-missions-accomplished/2013/12/23/49fc36de-6c1c-11e3-a523-fe73f0ff6b8d_story.html?hpid=z1

http://www.washingtonpost.com/todays_paper/updates/

Washington Post newsprint headline for their top of page A1 interview: Edward Snowden: 'I already won'

charles pierce is killing it

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/Christmas_In_Two_Nations_Part_One

fuck you, republicans

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/christmas-serial-part-2-122413

eat shit, "conservatives"

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/christmas-serial-part-3-122413