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

i don't think we want to run so far away from ryan's slash-and-burn plan that we start saying medicare cost growth isn't a problem. it would outrun even clinton and (to my knowledge) pre-reagan tax regimes.

Any plan that isn't as radical as the Ryan plan will belong exclusively to the Democrats, politically speaking, because the Republicans identified themselves with the Ryan plan. The Ryan plan will not happen, so they will not pay a political price for embracing it. otoh, the compromise plan will happen, and the entire political price among disgruntled seniors will be paid by the Dems. This is how it works out IRL.

Many Washington observers expect that Biden and other negotiators in the White House-led talks will work right up to the Aug. 2 deadline. Some Republicans have suggested that markets would not necessarily be upset if they blow past it.

I guess Biden and Obama won't throw Congressional Democrats under the bus (a different cliche than I used earlier!)until August. It would be nice if Reid and others objected, but I'm not counting on it. Obama and the Dems should just stick with the already set out Dems Medicare proposal, but that's not their style.

well here's something: all the "courageous" governors who have slashed "spending" may be hitting a wall pretty quick

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/88874/the-hidden-tradeoffs-gop-candidates

details from MN, NJ, TX, VA, IN. basically, fiscal discipline is a mirage, and massive property tax hikes from starving localities aren't. great job!

Some Republicans have suggested that markets would not necessarily be upset if they blow past it.

very delicate journalistic style here

fiscal discipline is a mirage, and massive property tax hikes from starving localities aren't

Yeah, this is what I was saying about Pawlenty's "no tax increase" smoke and mirrors on the MN thread: while the value of my home plummeted in the last few years, my property taxes kept going up. I don't why it's headlined "hidden tradeoffs" though, it's painfully obvious.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RET2Z5AVJ8A

her face!

(at 1:03 when he calls her a liar)

oh god

Elijah Cummings (D-MD): Ohhhhhhh

In addition, Republicans criticized Warren and the CFPB for what they saw as discrepancies between the agency and the rest of the federal government. Rep. Ann Marie Buerkle (R-NY), for example, pointed out the disparate salaries of bank regulators when compared to other federal workers, "The starting salary is $70,000, top salary is $140,000. Why are these folks getting paid much more than someone else in the federal government?" Warren tried to explain the rationale behind the pay scale -- regulatory agencies need to be competitive with banks to recruit the best talent -- but Buerkle wouldn't have it, and offered vague insinuations of misconduct as a response, "This is the government, not the private sector, and this regulatory agency needs to answer for a huge disparity regarding the federal jobs and these positions."

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=05&year=2011&base_name=whos_afraid_of_elizabeth_warre

need a warrenohface.gif

Wow -- Warren's lost a lot of weight.

http://www.gifsoup.com/imager.php?id=2546577&t=o

my god

she wants to punch the shit out of that guy

Every time I've seen Elizabeth Warren speak on a talk show she immediately convinces me she's both the smartest and most compassionate person in the room.

That entire clip is almost painful with stupidity. How DOES she stay so calm???

she is one of my wife's favorite ppl in the HLS sphere of influence

How is that guy the chairman. :(

she did the bk text i used when i was in school, so i went out and learned about her, it was <3 immed.

Warren looks like the kind of woman who could recite Chapter Seven of The Wealth of Nations while draining snake poison from Mitch McConnell's leg.

if you know what i mean

unfortunately the snake then died.

http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/aa-woman-winking.jpg

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2011/images/05/24/t1larg.warren.05242.jpg

amazing

Dag. That guy is a grade-A dick. But what else is new, right?

In other news, I'm not even going to post The Corner's gism-covered posts about Netanyahu's speech to Congress.

well here's something: all the "courageous" governors who have slashed "spending" may be hitting a wall pretty quick

http://www.tnr.com/blog/jonathan-chait/88874/the-hidden-tradeoffs-gop-candidates

details from MN, NJ, TX, VA, IN. basically, fiscal discipline is a mirage, and massive property tax hikes from starving localities aren't. great job!

what's especially funny here is that in NJ we went through that exact same thing a decade before with the pre-Chris Christie Christie. and Whitman came w/n a rat's hair of losing her job when the public figured it out.

“All of this has happened before and all of it will happen again,” indeed.

WTF they are seriously, seriously calling this Warren hearing "Who's Watching the Watchmen"????

people behind warren in the still above appear to be enjoying the comedy

Yet another arrogant, entitled elitist appointee by the most arrogant, narcissist man on the planet. Who does she think she is to talk to members of Congress so rudely??
BY DISGUSTED WITH OBAMA on 05/24/2011 at 15:47

I'm positive Disgusted with Obama posts on this thread regularly.

Hochul gonna win ny-26. Pretty good sign!

Not even really that close.

Good! Now maybe Steny Hoyer can shut the fuck up.

Warren/Feingold 2012

morbius otm

Hochul gonna win ny-26. Pretty good sign!

― Clay, Wednesday, May 25, 2011 1:53 AM (12 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
Not even really that close.

― Guayaquil (eephus!), Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's great that a Dem is winning in a traditional Republican district on a don't let the Republicans destroy medicare platform, but as I said yesterday if there wasn't a 3rd party candidate, she might have lost.

... okay?

If a meteor had crashed into the Earth, we might have all die, but that isn't what happened.

It's great that a Dem is winning in a traditional Republican district on a don't let the Republicans destroy medicare platform, but as I said yesterday if there wasn't a 3rd party candidate, she might have lost.

Nate Silver said the Dem still would have won by two points.

x-post
In other news, I'm not even going to post The Corner's gism-covered posts about Netanyahu's speech to Congress.

― The Edge of Gloryhole (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn),

The Washington Post and others are also still beating up on Obama for daring to say "1967 borders"

x-post- Uh nevermind. Nate's math is better than mine.

In other news:
How Joplin, Missouri aid is being paid for (from Washington Monthly blog):

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced yesterday that congressional Republicans would like to help the victims of the brutal tornado in Joplin, Missouri, but emergency aid wouldn’t be automatic. The community would get its federal disaster relief, just as soon as the GOP received a ransom: off-setting spending cuts.

He wasn’t kidding. When Tom DeLay was the House Majority Leader, Republican agreed that emergency disaster relief should be immediate. But by 2011 standards, Tom DeLay was a moderate.

And sure enough, House Republicans yesterday approved a $1 billion aid package, right after they got their payoff.

House Republicans, who require spending cuts whenever new spending is proposed, said the FEMA funds would be paid by cutting $1.5 billion from an Energy Department loan program for the production of fuel-efficient vehicles.

refusing to respond to the kind of disaster that climate change contributes to until cuts are are made to the kind of program that helps to mitigate climate change.

brilliant. those fuckers

Credit where credit is due.

(He's still a crazy semi-racist Aqua Buddha.)

Assholes like Rand Paul just want to limit the reach of the federal government so that local governments can step in as the fascist enforcer of choice. I'd believe his principled blather if his so-called libertarianism extended to drugs and abortions.

well, the Senate is made of alliances, holy and otherwise, so I'd work with him if I was a lib fighting like hell to keep the Patriot Act from getting extended.

House Republicans, who require spending cuts whenever new spending is proposed, said the FEMA funds would be paid by cutting $1.5 billion from an Energy Department loan program for the production of fuel-efficient vehicles.

jesus christ, talk about divide and rule