2015 American Politics Thread: The 114th Congress Is in the House!

presumably to go cry in his G&T

what a weirdo http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/john-boehner-in-twilight/2015/09/25/124fc54a-6399-11e5-8e9e-dce8a2a2a679_story.html

Boehner moved a few steps over and closed his eyes for a moment, seeming to recall what it was like for him as Pope Francis entered the Capitol. His blue eyes grew moist and his voice shaky. He asked me to stand inches from him, in essence standing in for Pope Francis as he recreated the scene, perhaps hoping to savor the rush of it all again while the memory was fresh.

Sherman and I looked at each other, both a little uncomfortable. But Boehner’s unprompted interest in telling us the details about his own experience was too compelling to leave. We listened.

Faced with watching the same awful movie again, Boehner decided to offer himself as a sacrifice to conservatives who wanted him out: I will leave if you vote to keep the government open. Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, one of the most vocal opponents of Boehner, summed it up during remarks at the Values Voters Summit in Washington on Friday.

Luke Russert ✔ @LukeRussert
Rep. Bridenstine (R-OK) at Value Voters Summit: "bad news, Leadership told us we have 2 fund PP, amnesty, Ocare Good:getting new Leadership"
10:38 AM - 25 Sep 2015

The truth was that Boehner and his allies knew that a coup attempt was brewing and that putting it down would have taken considerable effort and was not a sure thing. North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows (R) had put in a legislative measure to vacate the chair of the speaker over the summer, and insurrection was in the air.

Boehner, having achieved a life goal of bringing a pope to Capitol Hill, quite clearly saw two paths for his future. The first was to continue banging his head against the wall built against his priorities by the tea party wing of the party. The second was offering his resignation up as a way to try to move the party forward -- in the near term and the long term.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/09/25/john-boehner-just-sacrificed-his-career-for-the-good-of-the-republican-party/

“So. So, the pope puts his arm around my left arm,” Boehner said as he pulls my arm up to his shoulder. Boehner was now fully committed to acting it out. “Hold on, hold on,” he said as I pulled my arm away. “Let me finish. The pope says to me, ‘Please pray for me.’”

“Please pray for me,” Boehner said as he dipped his head. “He said, ‘Please pray for me.’”

Boehner stood there for another 10 seconds, not saying a word, his hands at his sides, and then turned sharply toward his security detail, the now open doors and a shimmering sunset on Capitol Hill.

As Boehner stepped away, Sherman and I jolted back. I asked if he had anything left to accomplish as speaker, that maybe the pope’s visit was it for him. He narrowed his eyes and issued a gruff but coy, “No.” I wasn’t sure if he meant it as a brush off of the question or an answer to it. Sherman asked if he was resigning. Boehner laughed as he ducked into the back seat, and he was gone.

bizarre. something kind of Nixonian about his pathos.

Never knew Costa could be quite this snarky:

“The pope, he comes up the steps right there. He comes right here,” Boehner said, pointing down at my feet. “Right here? I asked. “Right here!” Boehner said, smiling. “Right here. When he gets here, there are all of these kids he is going to bless. And you know how I get.”

“You start crying?” I asked.

worst slashfic ever
xp

this whole thing is so utterly stupid I cant wrap my head around it..

I really don't think this is particularly confusing, and I would chalk it up as a pretty big win for the conservative branch of the GOP, at least for the short term. Boehner resigned in exchange for a clean budget and no shutdown. I know that it seems like the conservatives were really eager for a shutdown, but even they know that it would be a disaster, making the GOP look bad while not achieving any of their goals regarding Planned Parenthood. Now they have Boehner's head as a trophy and the cover they need to walk away from the brink without losing face. Of course, they may find themselves back in the same position before long once they realize that they still can't pass their extreme agenda even without Boehner standing in the way.

they're going to be right back at square one as soon as the next hot-button right wing extremist cause comes to the fore, and the next speaker's going to have the same exact problem as Boehner. Pretending like Boehner was the problem - and not the basic math - is idiotic, but hey these people are idiots.

Now they have Boehner's head as a trophy and the cover they need to walk away from the brink without losing face.

going back to my fake quote earlier:

"we finally ousted the RINO who was preventing us from defunding planned parenthood! in return, we agreed to fund the government, including planned parenthood. hooray!"

i still don't understand why the 20-30 freedom caucusers would feel free to vote to fund PP at this particular moment, as all the diehard conservatives are slapping each other on the back. wouldn't they be falling on the sword as well, to do that at this point?

They think they'll have a clearer path forward to defunding PP, and a lot more ultracon objectives on top of that, with a Speaker they can push around and take lunch money from.

exactly, plus they can show their constituents that they stood up to the hated speaker

i.e., they're showing an alarming ability to think in the longer term and use basic tools like the thighbone of a wild pig. sxp

lol

man, politics got especially italianate today, thanks pope

Pierce:

​Way I figure it is this. In their private chat yesterday, Boehner explained to the pope the problems he was having with the flying monkey caucus, and Papa Francesco who, after all, heads a bureaucracy with a long history as a seething cauldron of ambition, scandal, murder and betrayal, as well as a unique tradition of crazy institutional proceedings (See: Cadaver Synod), listened to Boehner's plight and said, mildly, "Jesus H. Christ in a Fiat, my son, these people crazy. Get out while you can." That's the way I'm going to figure it, anyway.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a38246/john-boehner-the-inmates-running-asylum/

yeah I dont know when the GOP decided to switch to the parliamentary form of governance but it seems to be what were working with now

xp

Now's Boehner's chance to throw his hat into the GOP presidency ring. He could run as a moderate. I mean, who knows that else the Pope told him?

Pareene: http://gawker.com/dont-cry-for-john-boehner-1733048706

Because he was dealing with a Congressional caucus increasingly made up of ideologues and idiots, and because he was occasionally forced to betray conservatives in order to stave off catastrophes, moderate pundits occasionally speak, with some fondness, about John Boehner as man who tried his best to keep his unruly conservative colleagues from doing too much damage.

There is no particular reason to feel any sympathy for the man.

John Boehner was and is an unprincipled ward-heeler who simply couldn’t weather the transition of the Republican Party from a corporatist party with a sizable conservative base to a purely conservative party. Boehner came to power when the priorities of the House Republican caucus were driven by what was effectively straight-up bribery, and his power came from his close ties to industry lobbies. This is the guy, as we all ought to be regularly reminded, who passed out checks from tobacco companies on the floor of the House.

Boehner’s problems as speaker stemmed from the fact that the conservative base that the Republican donor class exploited for a generation is now effectively in complete control of the party. Ironically, that control was solidified by the same event, the 2010 midterm election, that put Boehner into the speaker’s chair.

god the last thing we need is another point of evidence for the right wing that they can frustrate and harass their way to victory

They can in the ruthlessly gerrymandered House. Harder in the Senate, and very hard in a national election. My guess is it's 2030 before demographic shifts really put the House in play again, so we've got a long ride here.

The question is, how much more can an even more conservative leadership hamper legislation? Can only imagine how horrific it will be to watch the Tea Partiers face off against Clinton.

nice start to the press conference, really

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11D6AVD3gAI

I've mentioned this story. In 2008 my political reporter friend, in DC for color, hung out on Election Day at the National Democratic Club. An hour after Barack Hussein Obama had been declared the winner. In walks Boehner, not sober. "You guys ran a helluva campaign. My hats off to ya," he said at the bar. Whereupon he bought everyone at the club a drink. My friend said Boehner might've had at least 65 packs of Marlboros on his perosn.

boehner bowing out . . . after the pope comes to town . . . following scott walker's lead . . . taking aim at the false profit, the jackass ted cruz . . . to help further narrow the field? and what's the tears?

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/outgoing-boehner-rails-against-republican-false-prophets-on-face-the-nation/

So they will get a temporary spending bill through apparently, and then likely the new House leader may shut down the government December 11th, when the temporary one runs out. Always the same kind of fun here in DC

ShutDownMas! Wheee!

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal-a/2015_09/the_can_kicked_down_the_road_a057822.php

Elizabeth Warren:

I have often spoken about how America built a great middle class. Coming out of the Great Depression, from the 1930s to the late 1970s, as GDP went up, wages went up for most Americans. But there's a dark underbelly to that story. While median family income in America was growing - for both white and African-American families - African-American incomes were only a fraction of white incomes. In the mid-1950s, the median income for African-American families was just a little more than half the income of white families. And the problem went beyond just income. Look at housing: For most middle class families in America, buying a home is the number one way to build wealth. It's a retirement plan-pay off the house and live on Social Security. An investment option-mortgage the house to start a business. It's a way to help the kids get through college, a safety net if someone gets really sick, and, if all goes well and Grandma and Grandpa can hang on to the house until they die, it's a way to give the next generation a boost-extra money to move the family up the ladder. For much of the 20th Century, that's how it worked for generation after generation of white Americans - but not black Americans. Entire legal structures were created to prevent African Americans from building economic security through home ownership. Legally-enforced segregation. Restrictive deeds. Redlining. Land contracts. Coming out of the Great Depression, America built a middle class, but systematic discrimination kept most African-American families from being part of it. State-sanctioned discrimination wasn't limited to homeownership. The government enforced discrimination in public accommodations, discrimination in schools, discrimination in credit-it was a long and spiteful list. Economic justice is not - and has never been - sufficient to ensure racial justice.

bizarre. something kind of Nixonian about his pathos.

"Pray with me, Henry."

Warren finally nailed it, while on the other side Jeb keeps doubling down on black people and "free stuff," and Trump proclaims folks to poor to pay taxes "winners" while quietly not noting how much he's giving to those who inherit wealth via his plan to get rid of the estate tax

http://gocomics.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c5f3053ef017d3be345fc970c-320wi

http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-0929-goldberg-boehner-successor-20150929-column.html#navtype=outfit

To replace Boehner, why not Newt Gingrich for speaker?

Jonah Goldberg

Jonah could pass for Newt's illegitimate son imo

Jonah could pass for gun on the bottom of your shoe

man concealed carry has gotten out of hand

Listening to Al Gore discuss environmental policy and citing books and obscure journal articles (by name!), I think he sounds so intelligent and well informed that I understand why he lost.

he's on Chris Hayes.

He was outsmarted by hanging chads.

still get pissed at 'lol al gore invented the internet' jokes. wasn't crazy about him (i remember him from the 80s)(not talking about pmrc) and though i do think it's an outrage he 'lost' i can't pretend that alot of the catastrophes of the bush era (9/11, afghanistan, the financial collapse) wouldn't have happened anyway if gore had won. some awful policy isn't enacted and some good policies are and the supreme court might look different (though maybe not, and it might look worse). it's not like if carter had won in 80 or even humphrey in 68.

pretty sure Rehnquist would still have died of cancer

Hmm feel like a couple things are missing from balls' list of dubyasasters what could they be

o yeah there are plenty of dubyasasters that wouldn't have occurred - the new orleans levees specifically were an issue that clinton paid attention to that bush went 'lol whut' and slashed funding for and a gore administration would have mounted a competent response. i can also believe that while we almost definitely wouldn't have occupied iraq that more ops similar to desert fox might have happened. 9/11 probably still happens (maybe al qaeda was a point of emphasis for the clinton administration grasped that bush's new national security team didn't but considering how much of it occurring was the result of missed signals at lower levels i can imagine it still happens), we still go in afghanistan, and even if gore doesn't continue deregulation or emphasise a 'home ownership society' like bush the damage was done on that front, collapse was inevitable w/o changes the democratic party at the time had no interest in broaching nevermind pursuing. at the same time i can imagine that nobody resigns from scotus during his first term (always thought nobody resigning during bush's first term was maybe a result of some understanding following bush v gore), he loses reelection after republicans attack him for allowing 9/11 to happen, for not winning afghanistan/killing bin laden, and for the recession (and god knows what else). the next guy then gets o'connor's retirement and rehnquist's death then maybe get's reelected and at a minimum probably get's souter's seat (jps might have stayed on the court).

I think it's pretty possible Gore would have prevented it. Not above entertaining the notion that an arrogant stance towards foreign affairs could totally lead to Bush seeing a possibly life changing memo and not taking it seriously, thinking "I'd like to see them try then I could do [exactly what his swiftly and effeciently did]". Gore didn't have this baggage did he? Middle Eastern terrorism is what papa Bush cut his teeth on -- he was head of the CIA. It's kind of in the family. So maybe Gore doesn't have that blind spot.

re: balls's scenario - - I dunno, I mean it's not like Kerry or anybody saw any percentage in running on "Bush let 9/11 happen and failed to win Afghanistan and get Bin Laden" ticket in 2004. no reason to assume gore wouldn't still be enjoying some kind of post-9/11 leadership afterglow. incumbency effects are strong, and he'd really have had to just tank his whole first term to lose IMO. obviously these are all hypotheticals and counterfactuals but i don't think it's that easy to just say gore wouldn't have gotten to nominate anybody to the court.

but yeah the big one here is the Iraq war - even if there were "ops similar to desert fox" that doesn't mean a half a million dead (at least), al qaeda in iraq, total fucking chaos from there, abu ghraib etc. etc. i mean we are talking about an absolute disaster of a foreign policy at every level, that was a pet project of this particular administration from before they walked in the door.

will leave someone else to address the economic collapse - i'm just not versed enough in it. always felt to me very much like black monday 87, where the preceding years of deregulation and gutting the SEC enabled this to happen. dunno how much that applies here though or how different it would have been under gore. definitely would not have gotten the bush tax cut, no child left behind, and various other damaging things. but i bet gore would have seized the initiative to finally do something about those terrifying human-animal hybrids. bush was all talk on that one.

it's not like Kerry or anybody saw any percentage in running on "Bush let 9/11 happen and failed to win Afghanistan and get Bin Laden" ticket in 2004. no reason to assume gore wouldn't still be enjoying some kind of post-9/11 leadership afterglow.

yeah i think you're misunderstanding what republicans would be willing and able to do in a campaign vs what dems would (i mean the gop used 9/11 against the dems to take back the senate in 02). also i think the public cut bush some slack as he'd been on the job less than eight months, gore would've owned it completely and aspects of how the clinton administration (or really the cia) managed to let bin laden 'get away' after clinton put in place a 'can we plz have some degree of certainty of what we're bombing before we bomb it' rule after pathetic cia intel led to us bombing the chinese embassy in sarajevo (plus a pharmeceutical factory in sudan, though that really wasn't a major motivation in the decision). they've dug for some plausible impeachment case (w/ obama and hillary if need be) w/ benghazi and then acted like just because they didn't find anything doesn't mean they can't as outraged as if they did. they repeat the 'bush kept us safe' line despite, yknow, the bloodiest day in america since antietam, and then get hysterical that obama can't claim the same because of ft hood. i have no doubt the party that superimposed bin laden's face over max cleland's would have blasted gore hard and often for letting 9/11 to occur.

no child left behind had considerable democratic support, ted kennedy was a big fan. education policy in general doesn't really line up neatly along party lines - diane ravitch served in the bush I admin, arne duncan might as well work for the gates foundation.

another thing is that it is very very hard for the veep who gets elected to the white house to get reelected. only two men have managed it and jefferson belonged to a different party than the president and won the white house by beating him while nixon had an 8 year hiatus between his vice presidency and presidency.

i admit it's plausible gore could've prevented 9/11, i mean it's plausible james woods could have prevented it and he couldn't prevent sean young from gluing his dick to his thigh. i just don't think it was likely. failures like that are systemic. not that the bush national security team wasn't especially set up for failure on that front (i can still remember reading the 9/11 commission report and damn near losing my shit after reading that condi rice basically didn't know what al qaeda were on 9/11. they'd only bombed a couple of embassies, a us navy ship, and some barracks (and that's just the plans that succeeded) and we'd only already bombed afghanistan and sudan once in response but i guess that escaped the damn head of the nsa's notice cuz she'd decided this century was going to be about keeping an eye on the russkies), but it's not like there'd been a huge turnover at the fbi and cia after 8 months. they bear responsibility but it's comparable to how a commanding officer bears responsibility when a sentry falls asleep at a post.