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

i think the 'message' ought to have been clear enough -- the republican leadership knew it had no credibility on personal sexytime issues, and hasn't since mark foley and 'wide stance' and 'appalachian trail' and all that. now they've put in place a no-tolerance policy and been able to claim a big scalp in return.

i have some sympathy for dems arguing that big tony aka the wiendriver ought to stay, nothing illegal, let's not be prudes here, leave it to his district etc etc, but this is america man, ppl are weird about dong, and it's not all about him anyway, deal with it.

also it has more to do w/ the newsworthiness. shoulda just cheated on his w/ a 30 year old notprostitute. 'worse' than what he did, but not gonna be in the news for weeks.

sbs self for the word newsworthiness

nah man that's it entirely. sure, it's really silly that this is a huge deal because of its grade-school graphic nature, while all kinds of other nefariousness don't have this kind of zing. but the 'silliness' of it can't be argued away. this is this is a democracy or isn't it? if people care, no matter the 'merits', it's an issue, that's the culture we're in, either govern accordingly or get into another line of work.

all the people defending the guy seem to have some total blind spots about that tbh.

really he should have changed his damn name 20 years ago. "Anthony Vienna" has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?

tbh, and this is a self-selecting poll of ppl obv, the only thing I see most of my friends doing re: discourse around this whole situation is pointing at and laughing at headlines

tellingly, my friends who work with politicians called him as DOA when the whole thing broke and he was claiming he'd been hacked

yes let's not forget he lied through his teeth about the whole thing

I don't care about the lying: most guys and many women lie about sex.

At the height of the Clinton impeachment, lots of Beltway types bemoaned Clinton's lying during grand jury testimony, without noting that most grand juries either impose less punitive measures or dismiss entirely lies about consensual sex.

Disbar him, fine. But don't try to impeach him.

i guess lots of these fiscal conservatives have experience blowing off debt ceilings

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/some-republican-freshmen-in-congress-hold-major-debt-disclosure-forms-show/2011/06/15/AG26OYWH_story.html?hpid=z3

Among the 87 new GOP members of Congress, the documents show, at least 30 had liabilities totaling $50,000 or more in 2010.

Those debts included large mortgages on investment properties, as well as student loans and credit card balances. At least seven freshmen had credit card debt exceeding $15,000.

but anthony weiner sexted his dick and lied about it

interesting that his dick has a cellphone

the luxuries of power

what? fuckin everybody in this country is underwater

the post tries for zing but gets this totally wrong

The newcomers have helped press a simple GOP message about the public debt: The country has too much and must reduce its burden immediately. These documents seem to show that, in their private lives, some freshmen took a more nuanced view: Debt could be useful, when put toward furthering ventures in real estate, farming or other businesses.

more like: any attempt to cut into mortgage interest tax deduction credits on second homes or investment properties would be dead for exactly this reason

if people care, no matter the 'merits', it's an issue, that's the culture we're in, either govern accordingly or get into another line of work.

how many "people"? there was no vote taken.

as for "lied about it," he lied every day of his career about important shit.

http://www.salon.com/news/anthony_weiner_dny/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2011/06/14/weiner_sigh

like bike lanes

they say they don't like debt, but they have debt!!! just, smh. way to reify the bullshit logic that public and private debts are comparable, washington post.

xps

well be happy at least one of the lies got him, then

yeah morbs are you happy or not happy about this, you sorta have to pick a side

when is Morbs ever happy in a political thread??????

this post story just keeps getting dumber

The documents present the most complete financial picture to date of a group that promised to remake Washington with the values of the American heartland.

Judging from members’ bank accounts, the freshman class has elements of both places.

you couldn't caricature the paper this badly if you tried

iatee, he was a right-wing shit Democrat, I'm glad he's gone. It's for the wrong reason.

you sorta have to pick a side

like btwn D & R, rite. cuz then it's a game.

basically!

sadly it is!

really good doctor i think you're not cynical enough

xp lol

tbh pretty much the entirety of life experience is a game with varying levels of stakes

http://kidsdungeonadventure.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/chutes-and-ladders.jpg

every way you look at it you lose

A game of thrones, if u will

well... yes
most people enjoy playing though, which is why we don't usually see millions of people all intentionally committing suicide

bread & third-way circuses

less bread coming soon

i'm not the only one that read "three-way circuses" right

I think approaching politics with the 'game' mindset instead of 'what do I consider to be morally right and why are people in power not doing that, always' sorta explains the ilx politics divide. for the most part we don't argue about actual policy.

but I mean even in democracies w/ sane, reasonable, moral people in power, politics still operates entirely as a game! there's always going to be interest groups w/ different ideas, votes to be counted and traded.

but that's been reduced in the US system to a binary -- see, the PBS Newshour has David Brooks AND Mark Shields

which has killed our civilization, and this thread

oh for fuck's sake

we've had binaries since... well since before we've even had a country. every country has binaries!

and once they stood for different things

but if you are confident that the two-headed monster has covered the spectrum of appropriate/plausible responses to our apocalyptic problems, well, it's gr8 to be you.

i'm not confident of that, no

what? fuckin everybody in this country is underwater

the post tries for zing but gets this totally wrong

/The newcomers have helped press a simple GOP message about the public debt: The country has too much and must reduce its burden immediately. These documents seem to show that, in their private lives, some freshmen took a more nuanced view: Debt could be useful, when put toward furthering ventures in real estate, farming or other businesses./

I think it's a fair critique because of the constant repetition of the talking points about how government should be run like a business, a family has to balance the budget and can't keep spending, blablabla. It's really common to hear arguments from politicians/pundits to the effect that government and a family budget are not dissimilar.

right, so the post should run with the idea? i mean, what's the counter-argument there, "these guys are deep in the red, so we might as well let the government do the same?" it's basically the same!

maybe i've been reading too much brad delong, but the real hypocrisy the post should point out is that these guys would be doing themselves a huge favor if they pushed the appointment of 'dovish' fed governors / pushed the fed to actually hit a 2% inflation target.

if indebted gop reps continue to support the gop voodoo economic policies that guided the country while said reps went into debt, then i think 'the post' has a point

THAT ISN'T THE POINT THE POST WAS MAKING THOUGH

poor post

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/06/16/t1larg.pawlenty.tweet.jpg

nice try loser

so...guess it's just romney vs perry at this point

Is Perry really going to enter?

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/06/obama-and-boehner-accuse-each-other-of-flip-flopping-on-libya-and-war-powers-act.php?ref=fpb battle of the War Powers Act flip-floppers

i kind of hope he does

i have kind of missed his batshittery since leaving texas

i am not really someone who cares about how macho his politicians are but god tim pawlenty looks like A HUGE WUSS does he see this??

Pawlenty-is-a-wuss was cemented when he cut off his mullet

but I mean even in democracies w/ sane, reasonable, moral people in power, politics still operates entirely as a game! there's always going to be interest groups w/ different ideas, votes to be counted and traded.

I don't have an opinion on this but it seemed like a good time to post this underrated jam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IqxX4JsoYk