.@GOPLeader McCarthy just got "Chaffetzed."Something I know a little something about. #selfpromoter #powerhungry
— Jon Huntsman (@JonHuntsman) October 6, 2015
Oof – Chaffetz was Huntsman's former chief. https://t.co/EzgYyURvz1
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) October 6, 2015
Investigation: Secret Service tried to discredit US lawmaker http://t.co/ZWdTPScWg7
— Jason Chaffetz (@jasoninthehouse) September 30, 2015
Conclusion: Lawmaker does a fine job discrediting himself. https://t.co/9f8q8j0zUD
— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) October 1, 2015
Excellent summary of the “grandstanding charlatan” from Digby, at Salon:
… Everywhere you turned, it seemed Jason Chaffetz was on television, so much so that if you didn’t know better you might think he was running for speaker himself. Lo and behold, by the weekend, he was. A week that started off with him brow-beating the director of Planned Parenthood ended with him on “Fox News Sunday” and explaining to Politico that his rationale for running for Speaker was his superior communication skills. (And truthfully, compared to McCarthy, he’s Winston Churchill.)…
The son of a man once married to Kitty Dukakis, wife of 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael, Chaffetz started off as a Jewish Democrat, then converted to Mormonism during his last year of college in Utah — and Republicanism when former President Ronald Reagan was hired as a motivational speaker for Nu Skin, the “multi-level marketing” company (think Amway) which employed Chaffetz for a decade before he entered politics. He worked as chief of staff for the famously moderate Gov. Jon Huntsman and then beat the very conservative Representative Chris Cannon by running against him from the right in the 2010 Tea Party electoral bloodbath. On Election Night, Cannon said, “the extremists who don’t want to win elections have taken over the party. We don’t want that to happen in Utah. Politics is way too important to leave to the boors.”…
And despite his politically eclectic past, Chaffetz has stuck to his arch-conservative guns during the five years he’s been in Congress. He wants to slash Social Security, ban gay marriage and look into impeaching President Obama. Still, he sees himself as a sort of mediator between the hard-core Tea Party insurrectionists and everyone else — perhaps because he’s been everything from a liberal Democrat to a moderate Republican to a hard-right zealot, depending on where the opportunities lie at any given moment.
He is a good communicator, except for the fact that he seems to have a tiny problem with the truth, which he perfectly illustrated in the Planned Parenthood hearing, when he offered up a chart so misleading that it caused Politifact to call it not only misleading, but, quoting one expert, “ethically wrong.” And while he may have a point that Kevin McCarthy screwed the pooch on Trey Gowdy’s Benghazi committee, his own history of being loose-lipped and excitable puts McCarthy’s little faux pas to shame…
Pass the popcorn… and the Gallagher-style plastic ponchos.
shell
Fuck, it really is like Middle School.
Baud
AL, you know only Dems are capable of being in disarray. Republicans are engaging in a spirited debate among their various diverse constituencies.
Right to Rise
Jeb rising yet again, up four in latest PPP poll, and it’s from a Democrst firm!
The Ad Surge is working and working good. As I said before, Jeb is getting a fresh new second look from many GOP insiders.
Iowa Old Lady
Why was the SS after Chaffetz?
Arm The Homeless
The ratfvcking trolls at Hotair have worked the regulars into a lather about how much of a squish Mr. Chaffetz is on immigration.
This election has been a field day for political trolls of all stripes. I almost feel bad for Allahpundit… almost.
Honoré De Ballsack
The son of a man once married to Kitty Dukakis, wife of 1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael, Chaffetz started off as a Jewish Democrat, then converted to Mormonism during his last year of college in Utah…
I can understand why he converted. Polygamistic impulses apparently run in his family.
Or Salon needs to hire a copy editor.
burnspbesq
I must be getting cranky in my advancing age. I can no longer see the comedic potential in this shit.
Cervantes
@Iowa Old Lady:
He was embarrassing them with one of his Congressional … investigations.
raven
Ni-Skin has human placenta in it. Suck on that.
schrodinger's cat
@Arm The Homeless: Allahpundit? That sounds like an oxymoron
Right to Rise
Oh, and what’s more, Trump is stalling. Beginning of a trend?
#AdSurge
#FreshLook
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Right to Rise: Did you eat paint chips when you were a child?
Baud
@burnspbesq:
Wait until the conveyer belt starts going really fast and Chaffetz is forced to eat all the chocolates.
Arm The Homeless
@burnspbesq: You know you will have crossed a personal Rubicon when old acquaintances start referring to you as a Hippie.
Somehow, I suspect that you already have. I have family that thinks I may have been brainwashed by graduate school. YMMV
Right to Rise
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
You would rather hurl insults than admit that the fundamentals of the race are starting to point To a Jeb victory #FreshLook
jl
I’m voting for Chaffetz for president, even if I have to write him in. I want a real businessman, somebody with a record of success in the private sector to save us from the mess we’re in.
And I can’t think of anyone better to save Social Security (which will be drunk, unwashed homeless and dead broke next week, begging quarters from us by next week in front of 7-11 stores, except when the cops chase him away) than some nutcase attention addict who spent ten years in the multi-level marketing industry!
You know a guy like that can dream up creative schemes and do great deals. For sure.
Edit: Except he needs to write out something a cap, like, I dunno “I gonna make a great deal for you!” and wear it all the time. Then I’ll know he means it, he has it on his HAT! That will seal the deal.
WereBear
Cat Fans! Animal Appreciators! Feeling like a Patron?
I am having one of my twice-a-year fund drives:
Way of Cats Fund Drive – Fall Equinox
Because the blog grew 20% since the last one, and my paycheck… did not.
If anyone can help, I’d appreciate it. For the kitties.
BillinGlendaleCA
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford:
He still does.
Diana
this is too good not to share:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2015/10/06/3709463/grammar-presidential-candidate-supporters/
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
In terms of getting Jeb where he needs to be, a four percentage-point rise in the polls from the single-digit depths is but a baby step. He’s still very far behind the Donald, Ben Carson, and Carly.
Oh, by the way, have you seen this?
Arm The Homeless
@schrodinger’s cat:
S/He is the longterm resident “Moderate” at that shit show. A less interesting Dougj! personality.
This election cycle is going to break my mind. I can see it coming.
Right to Rise
@Amir Khalid:
It’s all about trends and what’s causing the trends, in this case the Ad Surge which is just in its beginnings…
Schlemazel
I think we are missing a real opportunity kids. We need to start letter writing campaigns to convince each of these goofballs that they are the ONLY true conservative in the race for speaker and they simply must stand their ground and never surrender. With any luck we can male each of them believe it and then the real fun will begin.
schrodinger's cat
@Arm The Homeless: Allah = God in Islam, Pundit = Hindu Brahmin learned man. Does not compute.
scav
@BillinGlendaleCA: Well, how else does one scoop up ergot guacamole? Stands to reason.
some guy
In New hampshire, Jeb! was at 16.3 on July 23rd, now he’s at 9.0 in the RCP averages. Onward to victory, comrades!
BillinGlendaleCA
@Right to Rise: I’ll be serious for a second with you, Ad surges only work short term. Over the longer term they not only have diminishing returns but negative returns. People get burnt out on them and actually start to hate the candidate(see iCarly and Meg, CA 2010).
ETA: Probably like any other “surge”, though they may show diminishing returns rather than negative returns.
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid: This is too good to not quote in part!
Arm The Homeless
@Amir Khalid:
Jeb! i is holding out until last call. If 2012 was any indication, we will have at least 6 “Flavors of the Month” until Super Tuesday.
If it weren’t such a corrosive agent on our politics, a few dozen billionaires all cat fighting through proxy candidates would make for great fiction.
Right to Rise
@some guy:
Trends baby, trends. Look at the trends SINCE the Ad Surge.
@BillinGlendaleCA:
Worked for Arnold!
22over7
@Arm The Homeless: My daughter recently remarked that the bumper stickers on the back of my Rav4 make me look like an old hippie lesbian. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
Chris
@Right to Rise:
You know hashtags don’t do anything on Balloon Juice, right?
some guy
@Right to Rise:
wow, he’s moved from being in fourth place at 7.7% to being in fourth place at 9.0% At this pace he’ll definitely be in fourth place on election day in NH.
Burn that donor money, Jeb! burn, baby, burn
Woodrowfan
@BillinGlendaleCA: he likes the Cool Ranch flavor ones..
Yatsuno
@BillinGlendaleCA: Miranda Cosgrove is never gonna forgive her.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Right to Rise: Arnold was more like the Donald, jeb? not so much.
Roger Moore
@jl:
Just the person to tell us that Social Security is a giant Ponzi scheme.
some guy
rut ro, the rats are leaving the SS Jeb!
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/run-2016/2015/10/05/marco-rubio-knocks-jeb-bush-out-of-top-tier-of-the-chase
Amir Khalid
@Right to Rise:
Jeb’s problem is, he’s terrible at campaigning. He’s asking the most reviled POTUS of recent times, W, to help him shore up his popularity. The PACs supporting Jeb could buy up all the ad time in America between now and Election Day 2016 with their UNLIMITED CORPORATE CASH!, and it would still not make him a competent politician.
Arm The Homeless
@schrodinger’s cat: I never claimed it was tautologically, or ontologically sound.
I’m just eatin’ popcorn in the cheap seats.
Chris
@some guy:
“I’M INVINCIBLE!”
“You’re a loony.”
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
There’s just one problem?
Doug R
@Right to Rise: You know the margin of error on those surveys is about 5%. Which means he’s probably at -1%.
some guy
speaking of polling “trends” in GOP Land:
elmo
@some guy: The troll gave away the game last night in the Jeb = Seahawks babbling. Something about winning isn’t about scoring the most points, but having the most faith and determination.
That’s when I was sure it was a DougJ troll.
Schlemazel
@Chris:
10 out of 10 for the Python reference! Insanity does seem to be the theme got the GOP.
Gin & Tonic
@some guy: RtR misunderstood the Brinks. Trucks. Backing up. They’re there to haul away BushCo’s cash to pay all his consultants.
Kay
Yay! I hope every Republican runs on that. Democrats don’t have to get fancy. Just run ads showing these people, one after the other, and say “he will take your Social Security” “she will take your Social Security”….
I feel like anyone who even raises this at this juncture should just get hammered, so it’s wholly deserved.
jl
@BillinGlendaleCA: Jeb? can campaign one tenth as well as Arnold?? Really?
That is so funny, in a ha ha kind of way. RtR has to be a spoof troll.
DougJ was asked point blank if he would disavow his roll in troll, and IIRC DougJ never answered. Case closed.
Amir Khalid
@Chris:
Well, that’s what all the individual problems add up to.
Doug R
@BillinGlendaleCA: He used to be Right To Lead.
Gin & Tonic
@elmo: DougJ would do better. And besides, he’s specifically denied it’s him.
WereBear
I would think the Speaker position would be decided by mud wrestling, like most of their decisions.
David Koch
My God. Obama is out of control.
jl
@Gin & Tonic:
” he’s specifically denied it’s him. ”
Damn! I didn’t see where DougJ said that.
OK, some other apprentice spoof troll practicing. I can’t believe RtR is the real thing. Can we get UCC in here?
Kay
@jl:
Everything he says Democrats should just respond “you’re going to take their Social Security?”
Like “are you mad?”
Arm The Homeless
@elmo:
I keep sayin’ Dougj needs to reprise BIRDZILLA! so everyone can be in on the joke. Trollin’ is just busqin’ for the interwebs. Except instead of money, or maybe a girl’s phone number, you get fake internet points.
Upvote This…x
Doug R
@David Koch: It’s about friggin time.
WereBear
@David Koch: I believe this is part of a long term plan he’s working on.
Hope so, anyway.
jl
@Kay: Well, I dunno, I might go for it. Suppose I get bonus points in my USAway private Social Insuraty account for every USAway Social Insuraty enrollees I can sign up in my Social Insuraty sub-distributorship. Hey, say it;s just two, and they go out and sign up two, and I double my bonus points…
You can work it out, those four sign up two each… I’ll be rich!
Mandalay
@David Koch:
Which just goes to show that not everything that matters is either determined or blocked by Republicans in Congress.
And here’s another story, which is at the start of what will be the most significant social change in the USA in the next few years:
Not a Republican in sight, yet the rest of the dominoes will be falling in the next few years. No right to lifers will be able to stop it because this mostly affects old people, and old people vote. In droves.
BillinGlendaleCA
@jl:
We’ll all be rich!!!
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Roger Moore:
Well, who better to tell us all of the ins and outs of running a Ponzi scheme than a guy who’s actually done it, amirite?
I mean, he couldn’t possibly have any other motive for wanting access to those billions of dollars.
jl
@Mandalay: Not enough GOPers in California legislature to do anything but block tax increases. They have no effect on anything else.
And their leg caucuses are also in leadership disarray by House GOP standards.
David Koch
He’s gone nutz. Not even FDR would do something this radical. Gays running the Army – what’s next appointing a Lesbian to the Supreme Court?
bystander
Salon is ripping the lid off Sanders’ claims of supporting gay marriage before HRC. He was supporting registered partnerships! And just why was she slow to back same-sex marriage?
I may have to vote for President Kasich just to show them.
Kay
I;m getting emails to go to debate gatherings by the Sanders campaign but they aren’t sending me to the closest ones on their own map. I don’t know why they want me to go to Indiana when I can go 15 miles from here.
I feel unwelcome now :)
Baud
@David Koch:
This is unlikely to change anyone’s mind about the TPP (and perhaps shouldn’t), but you’ll enjoy this Krugman column.
Looking forward to the release of the text.
WereBear
@Kay: Tell them they have a lousy algorithm. Tell them you haz a sad.
Baud
@Kay:
Debate viewer fraud!
Mandalay
@jl: Yes, the Republicans are in disarray in California, but I believe that red states like Alabama and Oklahoma will eventually become right-to-die states as well. Almost everywhere will (except maybe Utah?).
Republicans who are terminally ill may decide to reconsider their vote when they see that their guy is opposed to allowing them to die with dignity.
Having the law change in CA is a big deal, and others will follow. We’ve won on gay rights, and we’ll win on right-to-die.
David Koch
mai naem mobile
Jason.Chaffetz looks like a chimpanzee. We just need a photo of him picking lice off Trey Gowdys scalp hair like chimps do.
J R in WV
@22over7:
Alright, now we come to a time and place that requires a documented list of all the stickers on the back of your vehicle~!
Give! You owe it to all the other old hippies on this blog.
beltane
Is Jeb? really using “Fresh Look” as his new slogan?It sounds as though he’s marketing himself as a new type of sanitary pad.
WereBear
@beltane: He should be so useful.
Mandalay
@David Koch:
I love our president but there is a lot of truthiness in that claim.
Baud
@Mandalay:
None whatsoever.
Bobby Thomson
@Amir Khalid: interesting piece. Disagree with two points. “Stuff happens” wasn’t taken out of context, and pubs don’t do elder statesman.
gf120581
Huntsman’s hatred for Chaffetz is understandable. It wasn’t so much that he backstabbed him and supported someone else in 2012, it’s because he backstabbed him and supported Romney and the hatred between the Romneys and the Huntsmans is deep and bitter (remember how Huntsman’s dad was supposedly the source of the “Mitt hasn’t paid income taxes in a decade” story that Reid repeated?). Hunstman probably considers Chaffetz somewhere along the level of Benedict Arnold.
I’m not exactly sure now Chaffetz can argue he’s better than McCarthy anyway. Yes, McCarthy pretty much single-handedly broke the Benghazi toy, but on the other hand, Chaffetz was the one who got humiliated by the PP head.
sharl
Sounds bad, if not in fact…dire.
Roger Moore
@elmo:
If it’s based on the Seahawks, wouldn’t it be that winning isn’t about scoring the most points but about having the refs things call things your way, no matter how wrong they are? That seems like it would fit their last game and the Bush family success story.
Morzer
@sharl:
But… but… BRINKS TRUCKS!!!
Baud
Steve Benen continues to do the Lord’s work
mai naem mobile
@beltane: sounds more like a kitty litter product to me which is appropriate for a Bushy for all the shit they leave for their succesor presidents to clean up.
shell
@Right to Rise: Ha-ha-ha-ha! Yeah, having old C-Plus Augustus joining the advance team must have really goosed his numbers. Stuff happens!
Mike in NC
@some guy: They say JEB! is about to soar at any moment. Like a fucking chicken!
gf120581
@Baud: Apparently Huckleberry developed a particuarly virulent case of Alberto Gonzalez Disease. (“I don’t know.”)
sharl
@Morzer: Excellent point, and certainly one I’m glad you raised! From my first link above (bolding is mine):
So sad, but true. And I’m certain nearly all of the other GOP candidates would be as willing as JEB! to put a devoted and honorable family man or woman through some additional government-imposed hell to add to a pre-existing private Hell. So I guess JEB! wouldn’t really be missed after all.
Maybe he could buy a pickup truck and market reverse home mortages – with all of us Boomers out there, definitely a growth market. Or he could shave his head and revive those Telly Savalas commercials on TV for Player’s Club.
David Koch
PPP National Poll Oct 2-4
Trump………27%
Carson……..17%
Rubio………..13%
¿Jeb?………..10%
Cruz…………..7%
Fiorina………..6%◄
Huckabee…….4%
Kasich…………4%
Looks like Carly-mania is declaring bankruptcy.
JustRuss
Ugh. My wife and I got sucked into Nu Skin for a while, visited their HQ in Provo once. Very nice on the surface, but really just a skeevy racket with nice packaging.
David Koch
PPP National Poll Oct 2-4
Clinton……..42%
Sanders……24%
Biden……….20%
Without Biden:
Clinton……..51%
Sanders……28%
African Americans (Clinton gets 51% to 30% for Biden and 13% for Sanders), and women (Clinton gets 48% to 22% for Sanders and 17% for Biden.)
Frankensteinbeck
@Baud:
I will definitely be interested in Krugman’s follow-ups when he gets the details. His political analysis makes me roll my eyes, but he knows his economics. While the man has to screw up and disappoint me sometime, I’ve never regretted trusting Obama yet. I will breathe a big sigh of relief if it turns out the Republicans got played again, signing up to support a deal that doesn’t say what they thought it would say.
equs_1776
@Baud: Like that will ever happen.
Baud
@David Koch:
She should merge with another loser candidate and declare the combined campaign a success.
Baud
@equs_1776:
Like what will ever happen?
@Frankensteinbeck:
Yeah, I hope he pissed them off again.
Mike in NC
@Gin & Tonic: The trucks backing up at JEBzzz headquarters are only loaded with cases of Red Bull and No-Doze.
Bobby Thomson
@Chris:
Schlemazel
@Baud:
then after they fire her keep all the campaign cash and leave the workers without/
Bobby Thomson
@Mike in NC: I’ll just leave this here.
Mandalay
@David Koch:
Those polls don’t count because without inventing Biden as a mythical candidate there’s no horse race. If Biden says he’s definitely not running the pollsters will draft Michelle Obama as the mythical candidate.
I can already see the headlines:
“Michelle trounces Clinton among black American women!!!”
“Clinton campaign floundering with black voters!!!”
“Black America rejects Hillary!!!”
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@Baud:
I guess Graham never heard of this little thing called the Congressional Record where everyone’s votes are recorded for posterity.
At a minimum, his Senate colleagues should make him stand up and apologize to the people of New Jersey and New York, but they probably won’t.
PaulW
@shell:
The only difference is that in middle school you have to cope with atomic wedgies. In Congress, they’re eager to drop atomic bombs…
Frankensteinbeck
@sharl:
Hey, that reminds me. I’ll ask again. Does anyone have a link to that video of Jeb:( getting mad at the reporter who asked him if he meant to say ‘stuff happens’? I found his naked anger jarring. It’s a video everyone should see, a peek at the arrogant mean-spirited toddler behind the mask.
PaulW
@Chris:
*gasp* no WONDER I haven’t been able to get people to favorite my tweets! /cries
Baud
@Mandalay:
And if she were running away with it, all the headlines would be about her coronation.
The media is a disgrace.
PaulW
@Right to Rise:
Trump may be stalin but Jeb? is finnish.
…too punny?
shell
So, the first Dem debate is next week. Are they still only committed to six?
Well, at least we dont have to endure the kiddie table.
A guy
All the so called good that planned parenthood does for so called women’s health is negated by the murder of unborne children
BillinGlendaleCA
@shell: If Handsome Joe sez he’s running within 24 hours of the start of the debate, he’s in.
BillinGlendaleCA
@A guy: Does your state issued ID have you birth date or date of conception?
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@A guy:
Have you figured out what a Pap smear does yet? If not, I’m not sure why we should listen to you about women’s health.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Tests for Pap? Something made of Pap that you put on something? Anyway sounds icky.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@BillinGlendaleCA:
No comments from the peanut gallery.
Elizabelle
@Baud: Yeah, saw that. It’s good to have the right enemies, or at least parties who are severely inconvenienced.
BillinGlendaleCA
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): Heh, these Costco peanuts sure are good.
Bobby Thomson
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): That’s how Jeb? refers to the Willie Horton ads.
Kay
@WereBear:
Have you been to a debate viewing gathering? There’s always the person who wants silent listening- “I came to listen”
Well then you’re in the wrong place!
Felonius Monk
Isn’t a chaffetz just a severe form of jock itch?
Baud
@BillinGlendaleCA:
It’s when someone insults your daddy.
JPL
@Felonius Monk: He sounds more like a grifter to me. If his current gig doesn’t work out, you might see him preaching about magic god potion to treat your ailments.
Baud
@Felonius Monk:
I’ve always wanted to ask: are you a fan of Thelonius Monk, or is there another connection with your nym?
sharl
@Frankensteinbeck: I hadn’t heard about JEB! getting pissy in response to a reporter’s question on the “Stuff Happens” business, but I’m not surprised.
I found a You-Tube clip that may be what you have in mind. I edited the URL to start at the 53s point, where President Obama’s response to ‘stuff happens’ is replayed. JEB!’s response comes after that. Unfortunately the video shoot comes from behind him, so his facial expression is unseen. But judging from his voice…yeah, he’s a bit peeved.
Mnemosyne (iPhone)
@sharl:
I’m assuming it’s similar to the tone certain trolls here take when they can’t understand why people get all upset about mass murder. So what, people are dead, why should we do anything?
jl
@Frankensteinbeck:
Bush’s irritated petulance and resentment that someone asked him to explain himself is the first minute and a half. You get bonus Jeb? quotes that apparently attack swimming pool and traffic safety laws and regs.
Jeb Bush on Oregon Community College Shooting: ‘Stuff Happens’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKWsFEnzdjA
Chris
@sharl:
It’s amazing how entitled these people have gotten. Like Ann Romney snapping that we’ve seen all of her tax returns that we’re going to see, or Palin bawling to the right wing media about the mean liberals asking “gotcha” questions like “what papers do you read?” They’ve gotten so used to media unquestioningly going along with their charade that every time there’s a hint of anything else, they react as though they’ve been slapped in the face.
Origuy
Bobby Jindal goes after the father of the Umpqua shooter: “a complete failure.” At LGF.
Frankensteinbeck
@sharl:
@jl has a better link. Yours cuts off while he still sounds dignified. He doesn’t get yelling mad, he just sounds offended that anyone would dare question his wisdom, and he has to explain himself to a pea-brained prole.
Chyron HR
@A guy:
Is the so-called good that your huge gun collection allegedly does negated by the murder of born children?
sharl
@Frankensteinbeck: I agree – jl’s link is much better. And if you watch it further, at the 2:00 mark he starts talking about accidental child drownings in swimming pools. It gets cuts off before he goes into detail about how such tragedies don’t necessarily require a government response, e.g., improved laws, tighter enforcement, whatever.
But (via @daveweigel via @JGreenDC), someone actually checked on that (it may have a lead-in ad). Brief quote from the article follows, but if you don’t want to dive into the whole thing, this chart from the article says it all IMO.
I would be morbidly, apprehensively curious as to the typical leading GOP candidates’ cost-benefit “analysis” of that data, though. {{{shudder}}}
oldgold
I live in Iowa. Jeb! is spending a bundle on TV advertising. Every damn night we are being inundated with his Florida Miracle malarkey. My guess is it working, but only to a limited extent on those who will actually participate in the caucus.
Frankensteinbeck
@sharl:
Resenting government regulations of all kinds is a conservative thing. Putting fences around swimming pools is exactly the kind of thing they have always railed against as stupid coddling of the weak, forcing them to suffer inconveniences for dangers that they’re sure must be imaginary.
22over7
@J R in WV: Lol! Well, There’s a “peace, love, and green chile” sticker with a peace sign made out of green chiles, a laid-back frog in a lounge chair sticker, a “USC Mom” sticker, and the LBGT rainbow Hillary sticker.
Elizabelle
Haven’t read the thread, but Chaffetz was such a jackass to Cecile Richards.
That will come through loud and clear. People will be wishing for the Orange Man.
Shana
@JustRuss: Sounds like Mormonism in a nutshell.
catclub
@Schlemazel: My theory, which I have, is mine.
catclub
@22over7: No Coexist?
catclub
@Mnemosyne (iPhone): The interesting thing to me is that GOP is likely to vote aid to SC before aid to NJ. I wonder if we should tell them there are proportionately more black people in SC being helped by that aid?
The real key is who runs the politics of the state. GOP in SC. Similar to LA getting ignored by GWBush after Katrina – governor was a Democrat, Mississippi getting more – governor was Haley Barbour.
22over7
@catclub: Nah, no Wiccan sayings, no dragons. But the car’s only a couple of years old, so who knows? XO
TG Chicago
Chaffetz is awful, but the Secret Service ratfucking is disgraceful. The SS has been acting like idiots for the past few years, and investigations are badly needed. It’s scary that with their pants around their ankles, the SS is resorting to Nixonian tricks like this.
The entire SS needs to be cleaned out and rebooted from scratch.
Mandalay
@TG Chicago:
It certainly is, and I hope some heads roll, but I have limited sympathy for Chaffetz. Like Feinstein, he didn’t give a flying shit about our security services ratfucking the little people as a matter of policy, and both only became outraged when they were personally affected.
Jparente
@J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford: Too much Carbon Monoxide at birth?
A N O'Ther
Mrs O’Ther and I went to a Chaffetz townhall shortly after he was first elected (we were constituents, no longer so because of redistricting). At one point he got a difficult question about healthcare (something about mortality rate versus spending or something equally wonkish). He considered for a second and came back with the perfect answer for his audience (note the careful use of the word believe):
“I believe that in America, we have the best healthcare system in the world”! The place erupted into chants of U-S-A U-S-A. I was reminded of Nuremberg 1938.
The really scary thing though was the look on Chaffetz’ own face – he was drinking it up, intoxicated with the power. So, yes, it was a lot like 1938. Fortunately, he missed the second part of the “evil genius” job training.