US POLITICS: AMERICANS, PLEASE WELCOME YOUR NEW PRESIDENT... SCOTT BROWN!

"There is no doubt that ... having this intense a focus on the sausage-making process in Congress is never helpful."

Tell you what, the campaign finance thing is some seriously bogus news. Is Fox News going to be blanketing every market in the nation this fall with 'fair & balanced' mudslinging ads? I guess that depends on what is more important to Rupert; cash (democrats in office = viewers) or a hard right agenda

Corporations should seriously just run for office. Cut the behind-the-scenes bullshit and just do it. I'm sure their lawyers could make the case that refusing to let them would be an infringement on their rights, and thus unconstitutional.

pay no attention to the rat turds in this sausage!

"Scaling this reform back" is like trying to cut down on the production of new MGM musicals

Adam, you do know that Goldman Sachs = Treasury Dept

morbs otm, i want this bill passed but "scaling it back" means... no bill at all basically

BTW that quote is from my president

democrats are not condescending for like the 400000th time unless all politicians everywhere are

I kind of hate to break this to you but something like 95% of American politicians, regardless of party affiliation, are self-aggrandizing, condescending cumstains. It comes with the territory. The trick is making them think that doing what you want them to do plays directly to their self-interest and ego.

lol youre not breaking anything to me

i am irritated with democrats being singled out as "the condescending party" which is chapter 2 in the fox news user manual

I hate to break it you but I think you are correct.

bad news. the test came back and you are...otm. u_u

"Scaling this reform back" is like trying to cut down on the production of new MGM musicals

in love w/you for this simile tbh

I think the point is that Democrats deliver their condescending message in an imperious, condescending manner, whereas Republicans deliver their condescending message in a heavily coded wink-wink nudge-nudge "you and me, we could totally be buds" manner that does not read as condescending to the people they are trying to reach; compare the rhetoric styles of John Kerry and Sarah Palin, for example.

http://politicalsham.com/John%20Kerry%20Wind%20Surfing.jpg

right, so we just need to do condescension the right way

^^^^ yes basically

is FDR dead?

by the way--anyone on this board who wants to see the senate bill passed, as shitty as it is, please take five minutes to call your congressional rep, especially if he or she is a progressive

Adam, you do know that Goldman Sachs = Treasury Dept

But why don't they take it a step further? Unfortunately, the 2nd and 3rd requirements may be filled but as the company was started by a German immigrant Marcus Goldman in 1869, it's status as a 'natural born citizen' may come into question. I'm sure there are ways around this. The company was 'born' in New York City, after all.

it's not as if the qualities of "terrible", "best option available" and "better than the status quo" are mutually exclusive.

it's a dog bill. pass it!

especially if he or she is a progressive

lol don't think I need to bother calling Pelosi fwiw

The company was 'born' in New York City, after all.

is it too late to get an abortion

which dog bills have not been passed ever? Yes, there are some spending bills passed with 90% agreement (I'm guessing) but history is littered with big bills that are dogs and then require "reform" later on down the road.

I really don't get the aversion to fucking putting chips on tables. Oh wait--the idea of losing permanent status as a member of Congress means that some of these fucking slugs will have to go find a real job if they get booted from office.

This may be 20/20 hindsight, but maybe health-care reform in the first year of the Obama term, in the midst of a recession, may have been a bit too ambitious? I think they should probably acknowledge that health-care reform is going to be a very complicated business, that it's taking up too much of Congress's time right now, that maybe they should enact some kind of temporary enlargement of Medicaid/Medicare as a stop-gap measure and turn their attention to financial reform, unemployment, housing foreclosures, etc. Then if they survive the midterms with majorities intact, take that as a mandate for some serious nuts-and-bolts reform.

I really don't get the aversion to fucking putting chips on tables. Oh wait--the idea of losing permanent status as a member of Congress means that some of these fucking slugs will have to go find a real job if they get booted from office.

― Obama needs a John McCone (Dandy Don Weiner), Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:35 PM (4 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

what you mean as a lobbyist?

too late for that shit, the Republicans obviously smell blood in the water. Dems can either charge forward and look bold and arrogant and action-oriented or they can scale back and look like pussies - either way they are likely to lose at the polls. Question is which course of action will minimize the damage. I'm inclined to say the former is the better option because at least it will shore up the base.

er x-post

This may be 20/20 hindsight, but maybe health-care reform in the first year of the Obama term, in the midst of a recession, may have been a bit too ambitious? I think they should probably acknowledge that health-care reform is going to be a very complicated business, that it's taking up too much of Congress's time right now, that maybe they should enact some kind of temporary enlargement of Medicaid/Medicare as a stop-gap measure and turn their attention to financial reform, unemployment, housing foreclosures, etc. Then if they survive the midterms with majorities intact, take that as a mandate for some serious nuts-and-bolts reform.

― o. nate, Thursday, January 21, 2010 12:37 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

i mean--thats basically the kind of thinking that has created the modern (shitty) democratic party

"lets wait till we have a mandate, like, i dont know, huge majorities in the house, senate, and control of the executive branch"

unemployment, housing foreclosures

thought they already did summa that

some kind of temporary enlargement of Medicaid/Medicare as a stop-gap measure

Didn't someone already try this and get shot to SHIT?!?

ah that's bullshit. health care reform IS a fiscal issue, congress really doesn't have anything better to do (legislate? us? pshaw!) medicaid enlargement IS part of the package (iirc), and it's not as if the battle for financial reform, unemployment (what is congress supposed to do about this, btw? hire more pages?), or foreclosures is any easier or faster or even different.

why do they need to wait until after '10 to get another "mandate," wasn't '08 good enough? what the fuck, they're going to go down in flames anyway, pull the trigger already.

xps heh

Whatshisface, Lieberman torpedoed that, among other idiots. Even though he had CAMPAIGNED ON the idea of expanding Medicare for years, he suddenly changed his mind when it might have allowed the HCR bill to pass.

I think it looks a bit desperate for the Dems that as soon as they get the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate they try to enact one of their perennial, capital-R Reform Agendas, which on the surface at least, seems to have little to do with the probably reasons why they were elected (to wit, the Republicans royally fucked up the economy, the deficit, foreign policy, etc.).

you know who looks like the biggest idiot in this mess is fucking Harry Reid. I never liked him much anyway but now the dude is obviously totally ineffectual to boot. Pelosi, by contrast, is practically a knight in shining armor.

seems to have little to do with the probably reasons why they were elected

this is wrong. healthcare was like number two issue behind the economy for voters in 08

I think I said this before but the real problem here is that Republicans actually understand how federal government works (ie, the minority party hamstrings every fucking thing they can in order to keep the country in a state of paralyzed stasis, forcing the states to fix their problems) and the Democrats don't (because they keep acquiescing to batshit Republican plans that make the country worse).

btw I think this system is categorically awful and should be abolished but the only replacement I'd really be happy with is one where I was named dictator in perpituity

and Obama did their big economic stimulus package FIRST in case you don't remember. ARRA funding is just now starting to really hit the private sector afaict

x-post

well o.nate i don't know what to say to you other than, you're wrong. no, it doesn't look desperate.

xp i dunno shakey, harry ried is gonna get burned over this and he knows it. pelosi will be in washington as long as she cares to be.

I think it looks a bit desperate for the Dems that as soon as they get the 60-vote supermajority in the Senate they try to enact one of their perennial, capital-R Reform Agendas, which on the surface at least, seems to have little to do with the probably reasons why they were elected (to wit, the Republicans royally fucked up the economy, the deficit, foreign policy, etc.).

... wait "desperate?"

from eschaton, this is awesome

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/duncanblack/metrofail.jpg

I think I said this before but the real problem here is that Republicans actually understand how federal government works

I salute our new Fearless Leader because he is OTFM here. Compare how McConnell has handled the Republican Senate Caucus compared to the Dems under Dubya, who couldn't maintain any kind of unity and let the Rep majority roll right over them.

what looks desperate is democrats collapsing like a house of cards when their 60-vote majority is reduced to a 59-vote majority

I think I said this before but the real problem here is that Republicans actually understand how federal government works

It helped that being in the minority for 40 years gave them plenty of time to study the mechanisms of the fed bureaucracy.

i dunno shakey, harry ried is gonna get burned over this and he knows it.

yep, he's a goner at this point. I think he can kiss his Senate career goodbye, he's already not well-liked in his home state and now on top of that he won't even be able to point to any accomplishments as Senate Majority Leader as a reason to keep him. He's gonna lose that seat in November.

Dunno who will get the majority leader nod after him (Schumer? Dunno if he's a good fit, tbh.)

healthcare was like number two issue behind the economy for voters in 08

Well, the economy is still shit though, so maybe they should take care of that first. And I don't really buy the argument that healthcare and the economy are one and the same, and I don't think the voters will either. Everyone realizes that the benefits of healthcare reform to the economy (presumably increased efficiency and cost-containment) are not going to happen for many years, regardless of whether the plan is passed now or in a year's time. I think voters are perhaps saying: Yes we voted for you, but not to enact something that looks suspiciously like a Democrat pet project - but because we trusted you more than the other guys to fix the economy. This is a bit like the GOP taking Bush's re-election in '04 as a mandate for Social Security reform - it wasn't.

? well again, what is there to say. no, it's nothing like social security privatization.

o. nate where do you get your news, politico?

why would ppl that voted overwhelmingly for dems be put off by a suspiciously dem pet project?