Indefinite Detention? But I Have Soccer Practice at 4: U.S. Politics 2012

^^

Yes.

and Donna Brazile.

I guess Glenn Greenwald's one appearance on "This Week" offended George Will enough to rescind future invitations.

Will this Dallas rich guy's donations help him out (in the nuclear waste dumping biz)? He has donated $18.7 million to Republican political organizations—

http://www.tnr.com/article/politics/magazine/102778/harold-simmons-campaign-donor-2012-gop?page=0,0

A billionaire knows that it never hurts business to have a passel of politicians deeply indebted to you, so although he probably has a laundry list of favors he'll be pushing for, he probably views his donations as much as a kind of insurance as anything else. He's just making sure the politicians don't get any fancy-pants ideas about mere voters being important.

Minnesota's party of fiscal responsibility to be evicted from its St. Paul headquarters for non-payment of rent:

http://www.startribune.com/politics/statelocal/148535875.html

i wonder what this means for this year's contests. amy klobuchar's opponent will probably not be short of money (but obv not as not-short as al franken's eventual opponent)

yay! (xpost)

well the new head says they're negotiating the back rent. considering commercial property vacancies i doubt they'll be out on the curb.

I just like that they're so in debt and and being embarassed

Drones for urban warfare.

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/24/drones_for_urban_warfare/

what could possibly go wrong?!

This is one of the dumbest articles I've ever skimmed

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/obamas-foolhardy-trip-to-north-carolina/2012/04/24/gIQAkOQTfT_story.html

http://i.imgur.com/L7WTp.png

one day I hope to grow up and become an opinion writer

Pulitzer Prize winner Kathleen Parker

"The Pulitzer Prize in fiction takes dead aim at mediocrity and almost never misses" -Wm. Gass

http://news.yahoo.com/why-jon-huntsman-is-leaving-the-gop--not-because-they%E2%80%99re-communists-.html

did we talk about this?

x-post -I read that stupid Parker article. She believes that Obama visiting John Edwards' state of North Carolina is somehow worse than anything Bush ever did, but the press just won't admit this.

Bush staffers were well familiar with this routine, which is why they never would have allowed him to be in such a situation. Perhaps, as another close political observer suggested to me, the Obama White House has no such concerns. The media simply do not come after Obama in the same way they did Bush, notwithstanding recent research showing that Obama received the most negative coverage of any presidential candidate during the Republican primary. The Bush White House was under siege and conducted itself accordingly. No T’s went uncrossed.

"notwithstanding recent research"

x-post
Maybe Huntsman will start hanging out with Tom Friedman's third party

did we talk about this?

I prefer he stay a Republican.

not gonna lie, if one of the major political parties actually implodes during my lifetime and is replaced by something else I am gonna be PSYCHED

unless, of course, the net effect is worse.

the gop is already imploding

But despite that, they still successfully filibuster in the US Senate, control the US House of Representatives and have lots of influence in state governments throughout the US

yup

when parties fall apart they are usually replace by something more 'extreme'. the reason for a party's dissolution is usually that there is a need or an issue of its potential sympathizers that isn't being voiced as well as they'd like

Rich ppl between age 55 and death still run nearly everything. Too bad they live so damn long.

Well, something more "extreme" is mandatory to convert us from an economy entirely focused on the limitless gobbling of resources. One party refuses to acknowledge the possibility of such a move, the other barely does.

when parties fall apart they are usually replaced by something more 'extreme'. the reason for a party's dissolution is usually that there is a need or an issue of its potential sympathizers that isn't being voiced as well as they'd like

well atm the gop is in a process of whittling itself down to the extremist right ~30% of america and in the process throwing a lot of elections it can win - including this one. plus is boxed in by long-term demographics. that's really not sustainable 2nd party in the longer-term...it doesn't really need a single issue.

also morbs otm unfortunately

politics can probably stay irrational longer than manhattan can stay above water

when parties fall apart they are usually replaced by something more 'extreme'.

Is this true? Examples?

whigs/know-nothings and the birth of the republicans, both dems and the GOP + wallace in the 60s

at a very rough guess i'd say the atrophy of british liberals and the rise of labour but i'm really talking out of my ass there

that's a small sample set and one that doesn't compare super well to american politics in 2012, I think.

the Republicans were more extreme than the Know Nothings?

opposition to slavery was 'extreme' and totally unserved by any political party at the time until the republicans showed up. know-nothings served the interests of northern laborers via nativism; republicans followed by expressing that anxiety contra 'the slave power'

well, the Dems didn't replace themselves in the '60s! They "evolved," partly out of necessity when the most extreme Southern racists began to leave.

yup

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Party_System

ppl disagree as to whether we are still in this or not

I say this a lot but comparing politics today to politics in the 1800s seems pretty fruitless.

one thing you can say is that the party system changes (nominally) v. infrequently.

another thing you can say is that the gop's politics just simply cannot sell on a national level forever + at the same time the only people left in the party are people who have had second helpings of kool aid.

For the GOP's policies, see also the Dem's actions.

another thing you can say is that the gop's politics just simply cannot sell on a national level forever + at the same time the only people left in the party are people who have had second helpings of kool aid.

Maybe not forever, but as I mentioned above, it's working pretty well for them now in many states and in parts of the US govt.

well some states have a lot of kool aid, the massive economic downturn gave the gop a lot of cover, and the american political system allows a minority senate to fuck shit up. but that doesn't mean the gop hasn't boxed itself into a really poor place nationally.

Forbes columnist analysis! Warning: Quotes Rasmussen polls as truth

http://douglasschoen.com/why-president-obama-is-unlikely-to-significantly-improve-his-standing-among-male-voters/

Also warning: considers comparing poll results over the last 30 years to be in any way useful - oh yeah some of you guys love that shit.

rasmussen proves male voters are dumber, more racist, anti-obama

2 conservative House Dems lose their primaries to more liberal opponents, primarily because of their opposition to healthcare and climate change legislation

^^^in Pennsylvania btw

well, also because of redistricting

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/25/robert-draper-anti-obama-campaign_n_1452899.html

almost feel like there's a lesson here...

"I never made a commitment that somehow we were going to give carte blanche to large-scale producers and operators of marijuana – and the reason is, because it’s against federal law. I can’t nullify congressional law. I can’t ask the Justice Department to say, “Ignore completely a federal law that’s on the books” . . . .

The same person who directed the DOJ to shield torturers and illegal government eavesdroppers from criminal investigation, and who voted to retroactively immunize the nation’s largest telecom giants when they got caught enabling criminal spying on Americans, and whose DOJ has failed to indict a single Wall Street executive in connection with the 2008 financial crisis or mortgage fraud scandal, suddenly discovers the imperatives of The Rule of Law when it comes to those, in accordance with state law, providing medical marijuana to sick people with a prescription.

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/26/obama_justice_and_medical_marijuana/