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

ekaterinburg i mean.

I look duly ashamed by my failing to understand the link between the renaming of Soviet cities and US politics. :)

WashPo: "House Republicans huddled late Monday and, according to a GOP aide, gave the speaker an ovation when he informed them that he was advising the House Administration Committee to begin preparing for a possible shutdown."

sorry i was just complaining as an aside about perry anderson's writing

the point was to compare lula to obama, kind of

house republicans eagerly anticipating a short taste of the government free world they urgently seek

Glenn Greenwald today:

One thing is for certain: right now, the Democratic Party is absolutely correct in its assessment that kicking its base is good politics. Why is that? Because they know that they have inculcated their base with sufficient levels of fear and hatred of the GOP, so that no matter how often the Party kicks its base, no matter how often Party leaders break their promises and betray their ostensible values, the base will loyally and dutifully support the Party and its leaders (at least in presidential elections; there is a good case that the Democrats got crushed in 2010 in large part because their base was so unenthusiastic).

In light of that fact, ask yourself this: if you were a Democratic Party official, wouldn't you also ignore -- and, when desirable, step on -- the people who you know will support you no matter what you do to them? That's what a rational, calculating, self-interested, unprincipled Democratic politician should do: accommodate those factions which need accommodating (because their support is in question), while ignoring or scorning the ones whose support is not in question, either because they will never vote for them (the hard-core right) or will dutifully canvass, raise money, and vote for them no matter what (the Democratic base). Anyone who pledges unconditional, absolute fealty to a politician -- especially 18 months before an election -- is guaranteeing their own irrelevance.

It was often said that Bush/Cheney used fear as their principal political weapon -- and they did -- but that's true of the Democratic Party as well. When it comes to their base, Democratic leaders know they will command undying, unbreakable support no matter how many times they kick their base, because of the fear that has been instilled in the base -- not fear of Terrorists or Immigrants (that's the GOP's tactic), but fear of Sarah Palin, the Kochs and the Tea Party

that they have inculcated their base with sufficient levels of fear and hatred of the GOP

Seems to me the GOP have done most of the heavy lifting to make this happen.

i think that's right on, but weirdly only half true. the contemporary american right IS terrifying, and not only the "GOP" but the socially-rooted backlash itself that the official party is trying hard to chase after and domesticate.

greenwald has this funny trait of being unable to heap scorn on one party at once

lol xp

greenwald has this funny trait of being unable to heap scorn on one party at once

Because there's plenty of blog colleagues who heap scorn on the Republicans already?

I read Greenwald these days when I need a slap to remind me why I left the Democratic party years ago.

sucker, I never joined

which means you're probably ahead of me in the bar in heaven.

although I think the only time I haven't voted for a Democrat was 1992, when I voted for my dad for President

(my logic being if I was voting for the person I'd like to see running the country, that person was him, and really screw both Clinton and Bush)

actually that's not true, I've voted Green in local elections several times

i think that in both economics and nat'l security Something Is Happening Here that is bigger and deeper than whatever one half (or the other) of our duopoly is up to in narrow terms.

any day's news will remind me why I'm not a Democrat...

Although I am usually a registered Democrat bcz in NY, the primary is usually the election. (This was until we started having Republican mayors.) However, I may ditch that in the near future, as I imagine our govs, sens and mayors will be scum (and the congresspeople interchangeable) for the rest of my residency.

Well, sure, goole, that's why paranoics like Oliver Stone have something genuine to worry about.

But election-wise we are stuck unless you consider the write-in vote for DJP's Dad an option...

What will Harry Reid do today? Below is from Washington Post blogger Greg Sargent. Reid is supposed to meet with Boehner this afternoon without Obama. Boehner's meeting with Obama apparently included the below:

With a government shutdown looming and budget talks apparently at a standstill, Democratic aides are accusing the GOP of moving the goalposts for compromise yet again.

A senior Senate Democratic aide tells me that in today's private meeting at the White House, Speaker John Boehner signaled to the President and to Harry Reid that Republicans were not willing to support any budget compromise that can't garner the votes of 218 Republicans in the House. That would be a break from the GOP's previous posture: Republican leaders had appeared willing to reach a deal that could pass the House with Republican and Democratic support, even if it meant losing some Republicans.

why the hell don't they call the bluff

218/242

i wonder what the significance of this number is

Hell. I didn't leave the Democratic party so much as they left me.

^Reagan quote

i gave a little money to the obama campaign in 2008 because i figured if i was gonna vote for him i might as well do something that mattered more, and the democratic party sent me a like WELCOME TO THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY! letter and card and like BADGE, and i wasn't sure if i was actually in them or if i was in some kind of ranger-rick junior democratic party deputy club for people who made $20 donations, and i sat down and wrote this sort of mid-sized email like, hey, pulling for you guys in 08 and honestly have been pulling for you guys in every election i've been conscious for, but i don't really actually want to like be in your party because i mean you know the national security state and the corporate domination of the legislature and the betrayal of labor and the rightward collapse of the party system. so i'm not in the democratic party, as far as i know.

but i used to be.

your penultimate post reads like an excised verse from "Losing My Edge."

someone will be writing a three-paragraph exegesis of it any minute now i hope

i sat down and wrote this sort of mid-sized email like, hey, pulling for you guys in 08 and honestly have been pulling for you guys in every election i've been conscious for, but i don't really actually want to like be in your party because i mean you know the national security state and the corporate domination of the legislature and the betrayal of labor and the rightward collapse of the party system.

rofl. did you go through a couple drafts? its really hard to let political parties down gently.

probably would have been better to do it in person

im a registered democrat because when i registered to vote everyone i knew was all about being "independent" and "eff the two party system" or whatever stuff 18-year-olds say so my contrarianism/self-loathing projection kicked in and i registered as a democrat

i'm still registered as a Democrat. i also live in Hudson County NJ where even corpses are registered Democrats and anyway i can still vote in primaries and thereby do my part to keep a check on some of the scuzziest scuzballs that Hudson County tends to puke out onto the world.

i gave up on obama after scotty brown was elected (shoulda given up on him after he appointed geithner -- when it really became clear that The Fix Was On -- but can't turn back the clock).

speaking of dem politics, debbie wasserman-schultz is the new chair of the DNC

And Boehner now wants 40 billion in cuts rather than the 33 he originally proposed.

so, shutdown, then

im a registered democrat because when i registered to vote everyone i knew was all about being "independent" and "eff the two party system" or whatever stuff 18-year-olds say so my contrarianism/self-loathing projection kicked in and i registered as a democrat

― ban drake (the rapper) (max), Tuesday, April 5, 2011 4:29 PM (1 hour ago)

lol otm! same here - other reason is primaries votin

I'm a proud registered Dem, because to 99% of the population, Dem still means what it used to (maybe) mean. Of course, that's part of the problem, but I have no prob identifying as such, despite my frustration. Anyway, xposty, that Greenwald logic is stupid. I'd hazard that Obama is not taking Dems for granted but actually losing the support of both people on the fence and disappointing, jaded supporters blowing off the voting booth.

That's what Greenwald is arguing -- and taking Dems for granted isn't a strategy, just a given, since he assumes most of us will vote for him without question.

I could post this on a baseball thread, but I'll put it here instead. Ross Douthat wrote a column in response to a piece by baseball writer Bill James:

http://douthat.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/04/where-are-the-shakespeares-of-topeka/#more-12581

James's response upon being alerted to this by a reader: "Who or What is Ross Douthat?"

I agree that Obama doesn't have to worry about his base voting for another candidate. His problem is disenchanting his base into not voting for anyone.

...thereby ensuring a solid Republican majority in Congress.

for better or worse thats not going to happen. self-identified liberals still support obama by a wide margin; losing his "base" in the sense of the lefty netroots types might be a problem if he had to go through a primary with hillary again. but he wont!

Or it's entirely possible Obama wins but loses the Senate. Reagan's landslide in '84 didn't flip the House to the GOP.

all i care about right now is, will i get my fucking federal tax refund before the end of April?!?

Doesn't the website tell you? If you filed on a certain date, isn't the direct deposit refund scheduled for a particular pay date?

Maybe I shouldn't pay that big tax bill if there isn't going to be anyone to cash the check.

Or it's entirely possible Obama wins but loses the Senate. Reagan's landslide in '84 didn't flip the House to the GOP.

I think this is unlikely given the GOP governor shenanigans and the impending shutdown. GOP is so fucking stupid and self-destructive (well, just destructive in general) it's really breathtaking to behold.

i file tomorrow or thursday ;_;

(more accurately, my accountant files tomorrow or thursday)

there is a scheduled deposit date -- but if the gov't is shut down, then i dunno if they'll make the deposit

His problem is disenchanting his base into not voting for anyone.

Exactly. When elections are won by slim margins, that silent majority sitting on their hands will matter more and more. But then I guess that's the obvious outcome when huge hunks of the population are more or less extraneous to the national debate.

GOPthe American public is so fucking stupid and self-destructive (well, just destructive in general) it's really breathtaking to behold.

fixed

TurboTax = greatest invention ever.

lol yes

otoh this is the kind of GOP bluff-calling I wish had happened back when the Dems had a congressional majority

xp

Never a good idea to underestimate or insult the public, Eisbaer