US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

um I hate to point out the rather obvious historical fact that the vast majority of presidents' major legislative accomplishments fall in the second term. there may be a brief flurry of activity, particularly on the foreign policy front, following re-election, but for the most part it's diminishing returns with a second term.

Obama is going to win re-election handily. dunno if I'll bother voting for him or not, there's no way any Republican candidate has a prayer in California so my vote is probably moot.

um I hate to point out the rather obvious historical fact that the vast majority of presidents' major legislative accomplishments fall in the second FIRST term

my guess is Walker doesn't give a fuck about the governership and has his eye on national office - which, with the gratitude and support of the Koch bros and the notoriety this stunt has brought him, seems entirely within his reach to me

I highly doubt this; I mean, anything's possible, but c'mon...

well he seems pretty blase about his prospects in Wisconsin

maybe he's eyeing a senate seat or something

I think he just wants a fuck-ton of cash, which a former governor with tea party idealogical bona fides can probably make pretty easily.

Obama hasn't had his innards replaced: he's governed exactly as we expected in 2008. My only surprise is his indifference about explaining his connections to the plutocracy.

?? i think the answer is right in front of us: he's a true believer. he thinks smashing the whole range of wisonsin's public assets is the best thing to do, because their existence is coercive and the people who administer them and depend on them are parasites.

xp re: walker

I don't see "true believer" and "opportunistic shitheel" as being mutually exclusive

if Wisconsin goes through with the recall & manages to oust him and then goes ahead and elects him to the Senate, well then Wisconsin is fucking stupid.

There I said it

Rub on your titties

LOL

as far as the future goes, i really don't know what to think. two things really get under my skin tho:

one, americans (big caveats here of course, americans aren't any single thing) have reacted to the current moment by becoming more conservative, by self-description

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/03/the-conservative-states-of-america/71827/

so if the country becomes meaner, more unequal, more precarious, it'll be more or less what it asked for.

second, all the apocalyptic elements of american political life are now totally mainstream.

http://depts.washington.edu/uwiser/racepolitics_research2011.html

To capture the difference between the two camps, we asked whether or not people thought the following proposition true: “Barack Obama is destroying the country.” If Tea Party conservatives were as extreme as some suggest, we thought asking a question of this type, i.e., fairly extreme, would tease out differences between the two camps. The data suggest the two conservative factions are divided on this question. Under these circumstances, 6% of non-Tea Party conservatives believe the president is destroying the country versus the 71% of Tea Party conservatives who believe this to be true.

i bang on about this constantly, but i don't think "tea party conservatives" are a new thing -- they've always been a part of the american right. but now they've been given a name, and are treated in a weird way as a parallel faction to regular-old republicans, even though they ARE regular-old republicans, of a kind. they've been empowered instead of kept in the closet. dealmaking is now basically impossible.

so, we're getting poorer and angrier, and the poverty and anger so far have only served to push the lever in a worse direction

they've always been a part of the american right. but now they've been given a name, and are treated in a weird way as a parallel faction to regular-old republicans, even though they ARE regular-old republicans, of a kind. they've been empowered instead of kept in the closet

This is exactly what I've been saying for months. If they're "new," credit timing and their ability to coalesce. But we dealt with these types in the recent past: the anti-Clintonites of the nineties, and the cadre of young professional lawyer types that came of age in the Reagan administration.

To be honest, with the exception of Goldwater's candidacy, before Reagan I have trouble defining what "conservatism" meant besides "anti-liberal."

Ford, Nixon, Rockefeller, Dole, Poppy Bush – what were they besides reluctant liberals?

Tea Party used to be, like, John Birchers and scary anti-communists and stuff. The angry "populist" contingent. It's not a new thing though that they want to control or drive the Republican Party, they've been doing that for at least twenty years.

Ford, Nixon, Rockefeller, Dole, Poppy Bush – what were they besides reluctant liberals?

LOL. Nowadays all the Democrats are reluctant conservatives.

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

in 1998, i thought that Newt Gingrich's career was v. probably ruined ... but no it wasn't. see any of another bunch of GOPers who "bounce back" after some catastrophe that would've done in a Dem.

Obama is also a "reluctant liberal" (when he's actually governing, when he's campaigning that's a different matter)

I don't know, Eisbaer: I saw little difference between his and Bill Clinton's campaign promises (and banal "change" theme).

also: Newt Gingrich IS ruined. He has less than zero chance of even coming in fourth place.

for one thing, Iowans won't tolerate his marital indiscretions; and the neocon wing things he's batshit.

yeah Gingrich is totally delusional at this point

pretty amazing to see the loser/deluded/opportunist candidates really swinging for the fences with the gutter-right stuff. trump is a birther! etc

to be fair the gop itself was dead just two years ago. now they have the house

the slight hope i have left is obama wins a second term and takes off the gloves without having to ever worry about running again. but i am also a huge sucker

Yes, getting fooled again when you actually remember this myth about Bill Clinton in 1996, no less.

Alfred generally otm. Obama was clearly this bastard before he was sworn in; just a bit worse now.

I don't think Gingrich will ever hold elective office again, or that he really wants to. Just needs a stage and a mic.

you make him sound like Nas

guys Santorum blames Social Security insolvency on abortion

wait what

does he really...?

I mean...

hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

too many aborted workers not paying into the system!

because y'know, there's just WAY more jobs than employable people in the country right now

if only companies looking to hire new employees had more people to choose from...

*shakes head sadly*

Steyn made a similar argument some while back saying, in a spectacular amalgam of abortion illiberalism, middle-class angst, racism and anti-immigrant prejudice, that as long as we allowed abortion, we were forced to allow too many un-assimilatable foreigners in to prop up economic growth and institutions like social security and that such increasing diversity was eroding ppl's liking for social security since (presumably white) more and more Americans felt that some other groups were cheating or gaming the system. In other words, he was arguing for a more 'American' underclass.

jim mcdermott for president
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KVT5BElFtk

sooo the kid who does all those tim pawlenty action trailers is a puma

http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2037966/revealed-banksy-online-political-video

funny

lol at 'remember november' and 'tea-paw'

but the Left won the narrative on that, Shakey, and Walker's career is v probably ruined....

Walker's career is probably stronger than ever. I imagine he proved himself 100x over as a steadfast knight in the oligarchy's war on the slob class. He even got 'Are teachers bottom-feeding scum?' as a serious talking point in the political spectrum. The bill still got passed and an historical protest movement was shut out of the media. In what ways have the Left won on this?

how is Walker's career stronger than ever? If the recall election ousts him, which seems very probable at this moment, what other options does he have?

If the recall election ousts him, which seems very probable at this moment, what other options does he have?

Fox News, of course. or a cush job at some right-wing think tank.

He's defeating the evil unions, he's standing up to walkouts, he's gotten people to hate on public school teachers, he's completely and utterly shameless in everything he does. If he doesn't have a future in politics, then I bet the corporate sector (or the revolving door between the two) has a place for him. Yeah, Fox News, maybe a Think Tank, maybe working directly for the Koch bros. He's certainly proven his worth to the Right.

^^^yep. he may well lose the governorship but I bet his attitude is "fuck it, my work is done here. Now on to my higher/more well paid calling"...

I'm pretty sure Rick Scott will suffer the same fate.

Rick Scott can just lol about in all that Medicaid money that he's diverting his way.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/03/gop-rep-im-struggling-on-my-174k-salary-video.php?ref=fpb

maybe there should just be a WI thread, at this point.

lol Real World alum

here's some morning entertainment:

http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2011/03/ayers_affirms_he_wrote_dreams.html

pretty good rule of thumb: never trust anyone without a sense of humor

Apparently some conservatives were so dumb they took this for an AHA! moment.

i think that's this guy's whole career basically

hahahaha oh my god