BURNPIT: U.S. Politics, August 2022

Cheney seems like she's gonna have a nice career giving speeches to companies which lean Republican for tax/regulatory reasons but hire mostly college grads who, last I checked, don't much like Trump either

Because we'll be dead. xpost

Dobbs + inflation moderating/gas prices coming down looking to be pretty significant tide turn for Ds

passing the climate bill too, since it **finally** gives the Dems something significant that they can point to and say it never would've happened had they not won those 2 Senate seats in GA

Cheney = Instant MSNBC contributor

The Cheney & Psaki Show

Republicans lost their opportunity for “Donald who?” years ago. The great mistake for many of us was imagining there would be enough of them who wanted an off ramp.

Well, he's gonna die some day. With any luck, some day soon.

Trump dying would be the best thing for everyone, absolutely everyone

I think Mittens sorta pulled it off, but there's no less popular position in US politics than the anti-Trump Republican. And Mitt is almost certainly the last of that breed for a long time. If Cheney wants to get serious about continuing in Congress she should become one of those Manchin/Sinema type Democrats. idk if that could win in Wyoming but if Manchin can win in WV who knows. and as we've seen getting someone in 'enemy' territory is kinda the only way Dems can make the math work sometimes, given how badly the deck is stacked against them.

She might get some traction in Wyoming as an independent. Can't see her winning there as a Democrat.

all these people are ghouls

If she tried to switch parties her father would shoot her in the face.

wyoming will never ever vote for a democrat, not within 3 generations after bill clinton

The last Dem presidential nominee to win Wyoming: LBJ.

Lol unperson

Somebody’s running for President

https://www.politico.com/news/2022/08/17/pence-jan-6-committee-testify-00052381

He'll get 3480 votes.

maybe he'll run on hanging himself

“If there was an invitation to participate, I would consider it,” Pence told a packed room at the New England Council and Saint Anselm College’s “Politics & Eggs” event on Wednesday morning.

idgi is he a politic or an egg?

“ In fact, the former vice president, who is typically reticent to talk about his experience on Jan. 6, 2021 — when rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol to disrupt the counting of Electoral Votes and chanted “hang Mike Pence” — seemed uncharacteristically open to talking about it down the line, perhaps in the memoir he referenced that is scheduled to be released just after November’s midterm elections.”

That “perhaps” is the writer winking

James Carville: “The problem the Republican Party has is, they got really stupid people that vote in their primaries. And … really stupid people demand to have really stupid leaders. That’s where the Republican Party is now,” he said.

that's it in a nutshell

fascist != stupid. Carville is a waste

Carville's a relic
his wife Mary Matalin changed her party registration to libertarian in 2016 lol

Anyone who proposes interviewing James Carville about politics in 2022 should be fired on the spot. That said, he's not wrong. Republican primary voters are stupid. They're fascists too, of course, but they're stupid first. And it's okay to admit it, to call them stupid to their faces, and laugh at them when they talk.

And the leaders aren't necessarily stupid, they're just willing to pander to the stupid masses.

Not defending Carville, on principle. But there is a base-level ignorance — or a level of ignorance in the base — that's pretty significant. It's a dimness about the world in general coupled with evangelical suspicion of education and knowledge as corrupting influences. And of course a tremendous amount of entitlement. Proudly stupid, defiantly stupid. Smuggling-ivermectin-into-the-ICU stupid.

Republicans are stupid.

But also, shhhhhh don't tell D leaning voters about certain compromises in a just passed bill ---

The two biggest benefits for seniors in the IRA are the Medicare negotiation of certain high-cost prescription drugs, and the $2,000 out-of-pocket cap. But while price negotiations technically start next year, no consumer will see the benefit until the new prices begin in 2026, and even then on only 10 drugs (another 15 are added in 2027 and 2028, rising to 20 by 2029 and subsequent years).

You could squint and maybe understand the need for a little delay in setting up a negotiation regime. There are some parameters to set up, like the benchmarks for prices and the penalties if drug companies refuse to deal. Maybe you have to train negotiators. But none of that can possibly explain the three-year delay between the beginning of negotiation and the realization of price discounts for seniors. To be crass, it means that substantial numbers of seniors living now will not be alive when the reduction in certain prescription drug prices is realized.

https://prospect.org/health/prescription-drug-price-reforms-wont-happen-for-years/

well it gives the pharma industry time to elect a different president

i also wouldn’t be surprised if that short list of drugs includes a handful whose exclusivity is going to run out shortly after the negotiation period opens

It also means that if and when the law actually leads to lower Rx prices for normal people, no voter except for Ezra Klein’s third cousin will connect it to the IRA.

It could also be one of those fun situations where in 6 years, the cost of a certain Rx has gone up 75%, due to the unavoidable conditions of life sucking so badly and things always getting worse. But without the IRA, the cost would have gone up 125%. Triumph

good morning!

lol these people will lie about every single thing, whether it matters or not

EXCLUSIVE: I’ve obtained audio from the Cheney campaign of the concession voicemail Rep. Liz Cheney’s left for Harriet Hageman last night.

The audio contradicts the narrative Hageman gave on Hannity tonight that she “didn’t address any kind of concession or anything else.” https://t.co/SZTxyyEmTn pic.twitter.com/LodE9YVVIW

— Olivia Beavers (@Olivia_Beavers) August 18, 2022

Liz always sounds as if she's reading minutes of a PTA meeting.

Get in the pit

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/nyregion/weisselberg-trump-guilty-plea.html

The Republican senator Rick Scott has warned Americans not to apply for new positions with the Internal Revenue Service because he says his party will defund them if it takes Congress later this year...

what a fucking asshole

The Republicans have drained the IRS to the point that it struggles to perform its basic functions.

joke country

"We need to grow our teeth back, fast. So part of those teeth, in this particular set of terms, is voting with the ballot before we have to vote with bullets" -- Stephen Lowell, a GOP-endorsed candidate for a Minnesota senate seat in the Twin Cities suburbs pic.twitter.com/B5LQigB74Y

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 18, 2022

xp
take my life...please!

I notice that guy says "who wants to participate in a game that it looks like you're going to lose?" rather than "a game that's rigged"

i know everyone disagrees but i'm just going to say that 'republicans are stupid', whether true or not according to whatever measurement you might have in mind, is not a message that makes democrats look appealing to anyone except people who think they're smarter than everyone else. really, it's just a different side of the same meritocratic white-supremacist bullshit that republicans trade in, which makes sense given that democrats are more partners with the gop than antagonists in any meaningful way.

i know everyone disagrees but i'm just going to say that 'republicans are stupid', whether true or not according to whatever measurement you might have in mind, is not a message that makes democrats look appealing to anyone except people who think they're smarter than everyone else.

Did anyone suggest putting it on campaign posters or bumper stickers?

i'm going to go out on a limb and say that there simply isn't any coherent statement you can make re the smartness of democrat vs gop voters. if you really think so you need to reexamine your own bullshit.

Don't worry, map, your status as The Smartest Guy In The Room and The Guy Who Sees Through You All remains unchallenged.

Dems won't have to run on Republicans-are-stupid, not with the series of bills signed by Biden and the horrors happening in Florida, Texas, Mississippi, etc.

I just saw a headline that Ron DeSantis is announcing that 20 people have been convicted of voting illegally thanks to his new "voting integrity office." From the soundbite, it looks to be convicted felons who voted without having their civil rights restored.

iirc, several years ago the voters of Florida approved a measure restoring voting rights to released felons. (smacks head) oops! I forgot, the Republican legislators immediately decided to repeal law that because what's the use of a racist carceral system if it can't totally disenfranchise black men for the rest of their lives?

Did they repeal it, or just make it prohibitively difficult and costly to complete the process by requiring full repayment of court costs, etc.?

Either way, their goal was obvious.

you're right. I forgot that twist. makes it easier for white-collar felons to regain their rights, but poor people, nope.