Looks like the Do-Nothings will take a vote on immigration reform before they flee DC, according to TPM:
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote on Friday night on two bills, first on the GOP’s border supplemental and then on their proposal to end the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
Vote schedules often change but the current plan is to start voting on the first bill between 8:00 and 8:30 p.m. and wrap up both of them around 11 p.m.
It’s just a hastily built stage for the usual carnival barkers, though:
“This House is going to make a resounding statement today that says, ‘Stop, Mr. President. Don’t violate the Constitution,'” King said.
Bachmann called it “the most monumental vote that we will take in this entire term.” She said it was a “very good bill that people can be proud of,” declaring that it was about “stopping the invasion of illegal foreign nationals into our country.”
Useless fucksticks.
dmsilev
Obama gave a pre-emptive response at his press conference this morning. ‘Raised middle finger’ basically sums it up.
OzarkHillbilly
If King and Bachman are your voices of choice, what choice do you have?
JGabriel
TPM:
“Don’t violate the constitution.” Right. These people are about as familiar with the US Constitution as they are with the Bible they pretend to love.
NotMax
Fig leaves.
raven
Fuck em all.
dmsilev
@OzarkHillbilly: Crazy and Crazier. Determining which is which is left as an exercise for the reader.
(trick question; they’re both ‘crazier’)
raven
Man, the morning crew is up in here!
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@dmsilev: This is one of those unusual situations where can actually use Craziest in a comparison of two levels of crazy.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@OzarkHillbilly: Well, you can listen to the voices in your head, or you can listen to the voices in their heads.
BGinCHI
Now that’s leadership!
Ron Fournier must be running out of lube.
Ben Cisco (onboard the Defiant)
Friday news dump, indeed.
No one will care about these “votes” besides their base. (how low can they go?)
The rubes must be wound up at all costs.
Roger Moore
The Clown Anti-Defamation League wishes to have a word with you.
askew
I can’t believe Boehner let Bachmann and King oversee these bills. And we are supposed to believe that Boehner is going to hold off these nutjobs from impeaching Obama?
dmsilev
@askew: Boehner’s “leadership” team is hilariously bad at its job.
Karen in GA
OT, but I like the series of pictures, so here. Iggy helps out.
Back on topic: The most monumental vote in their entire term, Bachmann says. At this point I’m amazed it’s not the only vote in their entire term. “Useless fucksticks” is right.
Roger Moore
@askew:
We are supposed to believe that, while the wingnuts are supposed to believe that impeachment is right around the corner. In practice, he seems to be achieving the opposite of the desired effect. Democrats are convinced he’s weak and will give in to calls for impeachment once his harebrained lawsuit plan gets laughed out of court, while wingnuts think he’s weak and unwilling to launch an impeachment. If he were able to convince people, he wouldn’t have to keep coming up with plans to prove that he’s serious.
Roger Moore
@Karen in GA:
What do you mean? They’ve voted to repeal Obamacare a whole bunch of times.
Karen in GA
@Roger Moore: I only count duplicates once.
askew
@dmsilev:
That they are. I am half expecting this latest bill to fail. His team can’t count votes and have had to pull multiple bills from the floor before they failed. He’s like the anti-Pelosi.
Schlemizel
@raven:
Not just a good thing by itself – it beats the hell out of the trolltown review in the last 2 threads
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@dmsilev: I’m not convinced that Boehner is that bad at his job. I have a very strong suspicion that NO ONE could successfully guide that clown cavalcade (and, no, I won’t apologize to clowns for the comparison, those creepy fuckers) to anywhere this side of Looneyville. For all I know, he’s the greatest leader since Cesear Augustus.
. . .
Okay, that last sentence went a little far. Boehner’s a tool but it’s not like there’s anyone else who could do better with this crew. Sometimes, the problem is the followers.
big ole hound
I hope the Prez vetoes what ever crap they come up with and use his socialtist directive power to do something useful and then takes money from some military pork project to pay for it. Somehow we will survive but the rest of the world has to be laughing as they dodge bullets. One beer to many?
Frankensteinbeck
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
‘No one could drive that clown car’ is an acceptable premise. However, a competent Speaker would not be repeatedly pantsed by his own caucus, offering bills he cannot get them to pass. Maybe he ain’t drivin’, but he should at least see the cliffs they’re jumping off.
Villago Delenda Est
I really wish someone would show some mercy and accidentally drop a 16 ton weight on Cray-Cray Eyes Bachmann last week.
SiubhanDuinne
Isn’t it “willfully ignorant fucksticks”?
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@Villago Delenda Est: Why do you hate 16 ton weights?
Villago Delenda Est
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): You do have a point. The “followers” are pretty bad at following, or taking any direction whatsoever. I do believe it would be several orders of magnitude easier to herd cats than it would be to herd teatards.
Thoughtful David
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
His job is to serve the United States. At which he has failed miserably as a leader, supposedly third in line and ready to step in should something happen to Obama and Biden.
If he were actually doing his job, instead of trying to fellate the right wing, he would have brought a bunch of things up for vote, which would have passed with Democratic votes, and would have actually done something for the country.
But he hasn’t the balls to do what’s right. The Republican caucus is damning the nation for its little temper tantrum, and he shows no leadership skills to do what’s right. Which have been basically to tell the likes of Bachmann and King and Gohmert to fuck off.
Villago Delenda Est
@askew:
So, Mark Penn is leading his team?
Villago Delenda Est
@Thoughtful David:
FTFY.
schrodinger's cat
Obama’s presidency has really opened my eyes wide to the crazy, that I never even knew existed in this country.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: That’s what the Bill Weir of CNN tweeted but willfully ignorant and useless f..ksticks works fine.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
And that’s just on Balloon Juice.
JPL
Is anyone watching the vote?
Karen in GA
@SiubhanDuinne: To be fair, the willfully ignorant are pretty useless.
Schlemizel
I have heard so much about Lincoln’s speech at Cooper Union so tonight I decided to look it up and read it.
It is not great oratory but it is a stunningly good discussion of the history of slavery expansion and its restraint in American history. It does have some flourishes that are proto-Lincoln. It also intensifies my belief that what we are seeing in politics today is in fact the Antebellum politics.
The best line to exemplify that:
SiubhanDuinne
@JPL:
I was just sorry that Bill Weir apologized. I thought he was spot on.
schrodinger's cat
@Baud: The difference is that the crazy on BJ is funny. The crazy in the Congress not so much.
Mike in NC
After a taxpayer funded five week vacation, these fucksticks will return to DC rested and refreshed and enthusiastically beating the impeachment drum. Please proceed, asswipes.
JPL
@SiubhanDuinne: Had he stopped typing at willfully ignorant, it would have been okay. CNN probably frowns on the f..ksticks though. It’s now my favorite saying though, so I appreciate his sentiment.
KG
Every story starts with a bad/wrong decision. In this case, it was the GOP leaderahip’s decision that their number one priority was making Obama a one term president. Once you publicly say that, you’ve painted yourself into a corner because your side will accept nothing less and the other side won’t trust you to work in good faith. It may have been cynical (and probably was) but before they knew it, their base elected a bunch of true believers, and a fresh coat of paint was on the floor.
What shocks me about this mess is that Bohener doesn’t seem interested in his legacy. A Speaker interested in his legacy and the best interests of the country (because unless you’re going the Eugene McCarthy route, as a politician those two things are entwined) would have used what part of his caucus he could along with the Democrats to fashion a working majority to pass meaningful legislation. That way plays out two ways: his caucus revolts the next term and refuses to nominate him for Speaker; or, enough of his caucus comes to it’s senses and plays ball
Amir Khalid
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Were Ted Cruz a Representative rather than a Senator, I suspect he could lead the House R caucus — or at least suss out which shiny object it was headed for right now, and walk at the front of the crowd, thus seeming to lead. That alone is still more than Böhner can manage.
I suspect the problem here is as much a recalcitrant House majority that won’t follow anyone as it is a despised-by-everyone Speaker who can’t lead.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Thoughtful David:
If this is your belief, you are going to find American politics perpetually disappointing.
askew
@Villago Delenda Est:
Well that would explain their incompetence.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Amir Khalid:
No, he’d be a complete failure as Speaker. He’d fail in a very different way than Boehner does, but it would be a more profound failure. Quite spectacular, though.
KG
@Karen in GA: PT Barnum would disagree
KG
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN): having the Senate reject every bill or require a conference on all of them would be something. So would the repeated failures to override vetoes.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@Villago Delenda Est:
I keep telling people: IT’S ST CLOUD! (Okay, we can blame Stillwater, too.) THEY’RE NEVER GOING TO ELECT ANYONE EVEN SLIGHTLY USEFUL.
Given that the district is never going to elect anyone who isn’t evil, I’m actually happier if they at least elect someone entertaining and obviously insane. I feel the same way about Louie Gohmert’s district.
srv
Olds vs n00bs:
Roger Moore
@askew:
Or at least they can’t seem to hold people to their promises on the way they’re planning on voting. I get the feeling that there have been a few times when the wingnuts turned on him and refused to vote as promised, and his whips were unable to keep them in line.
Roger Moore
@JPL:
It was the dildo lobby, which didn’t like the comparison.
Villago Delenda Est
@efgoldman: I’ve got a better idea. Use the idiots who elected her in the first place for the medical experiments.
SiubhanDuinne
@Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN):
Well, but technically Thoughtful David is correct. The position is Speaker of the House, not Speaker of the majority party, even though that is de facto what it is because the selection is always along party lines. In most* Parliamentary systems the Speakership is explicitly a non-partisan position and remains aloof from partisan divisions. Dunno if that would ever work here.
* I say “most” as though I’ve actually researched all the parliamentary governments across the globe. I really have no idea. But in Canada and the UK the position is nominally non-partisan.
Villago Delenda Est
Noisemax strikes again!
Ben Carson Picks 2016 Campaign Manager
Oh please please please, FSM, let it be Mark Penn.
schrodinger's cat
@SiubhanDuinne: Both the Speaker and the Leader of the Opposition have a rank equivalent to that of a cabinet minister.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: You fail to appreciate how far off the deep end they are. If Boehner threatened to cut off their pet project, they’d run straight to the nearest microphone to crow about how they’re standing up to corruption in Washington and how Boehner is nothing but a representation of everything they’re fighting against.
That’s not to say that they don’t want that federal spending in their district (there are only a few of them that are crazy enough to go that far), just that anything that turns into a public fight over spending like that is going to work to the Teatard’s personal advantage.
Roger Moore
@efgoldman:
Which is exactly why the Tea Party has been so vigorous in attacking earmarks and other forms of pork. It hasn’t done much to bring the budget under control, but it has done a lot to free the backbenchers from party discipline. Cutting off their pork doesn’t work when they’ve already cut off their own pork, and they’re in a sufficiently safe district that they don’t have to depend on party favors for reelection.
raven
Anyone else watch Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Honourable Woman?
MobiusKlein
@srv: Gah, I biked right by that demonstration this morning.
I’m not quite an old, but neither a noob.
If they’re going to complain about the google bus, can they also complain about the 1000 other trucks, cars, vans, and crap blocking muni stops (and everything else on the road too.)
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: How long do you think Boehner would last in a primary if he was relying on Democratic votes to remain Speaker?
schrodinger's cat
Antidote to the crazy, a glass of Purrlot
schrodinger's cat
The Clowns passed the mean and nasty bill, Cruz’s brainchild, faster deportations and ending the Deferred Action.
Anoniminous
@schrodinger’s cat:
And it is DOA in the Senate.
schrodinger's cat
@Anoniminous: I know but that they have passed this nasty bill says a lot about them and the people they represent and none of it is good.
satby
@Thoughtful David: this, this THIS! Orange Julius is no better than a traitor to the nation and a disgrace to his office.
Baud
@schrodinger’s cat:
They’ve been doing a lot of talking over the last few years.
SiubhanDuinne
@Villago Delenda Est:
That would be awesome to the max. For realz.
SiubhanDuinne
@schrodinger’s cat:
Yup. Right.
Anoniminous
If anyone can stand it, check out the comments here.
Warning: vile doesn’t being to describe it.
...now I try to be amused
I believe her. Do-nothing Congress indeed.
Baud
@Anoniminous:
Wingnuts angry that the house passed anything?
Anoniminous
@Baud:
A sample:
Baud
@Anoniminous:
At least he doesn’t believe both sides are the same.
Anoniminous
@Baud:
For small favors let us give … thanks?
Suffern ACE
@Anoniminous: with 52% unemployment, I’m glad the president’s policies have favored the youth so much.
Karen in GA
@Anoniminous: CHEMTRAILS!
schrodinger's cat
@Anoniminous: If the general unemployment is 52% how can the white unemployment just be 18% when they are about 70% of the population? Math FAIL.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat: I was told that there would be no math.
Tissue Thin Pseudonym (JMN)
@efgoldman: How many of them were courting Democrats’ help on a regular basis. The primaries that have actually been run are utterly irrelevant to the fantasy primary in which John Boehner goes to the Republican electorate saying, “Please re-elect me so that I can continue to let Nancy Pelosi set the agenda.”
Given that you’re usually pretty sensible I’m surprised that you don’t recognize how spaced out your argument is.
KG
@schrodinger’s cat: obviously he forgot the decimal point between the five and the two
schrodinger's cat
@KG: Isn’t 5% the natural rate of unemployment as postulated by Milton Friedman, then what are they complaining about?
* It is 6.2% right now.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): Math is fun, ask DougJ.
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: I like the gay rights section. Tired of shouting in all caps, he whispers those sections in lower case. Either that or he didn’t notice that he was already shouting when he typed it.
KG
@schrodinger’s cat: we all know why they are complaining… The president is a democrat and he’s, um, near
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat: My highest score on my IB exams was in math.
schrodinger's cat
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name): What’s IB?
ETA: Google says it is International Baccalaureate
Suffern ACE
@schrodinger’s cat: my guess is that he’s counting the labor participation rate somehow. Kind of like the illegal immigrant number he uses includes pretty much everyone who wasn’t born here.
Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name)
@schrodinger’s cat: Google is correct.
SiubhanDuinne
@efgoldman:
Thanks, no problem, I have been keeping up with it on a dedicated FB site. There are people over there who can and do track down every article, every opinion piece, every official and unofficial communication from the participants. Appreciate your staying on it, though.
Anoniminous
@Omnes Omnibus (the first of his name):
And here I was hoping it meant “International Bolshevism.”
@schrodinger’s cat:
1. It can’t
2. Yup indeedy
But Teh Mathz b hard and it much easier to HIT THE CAP LOCKS KEY!!11!!1!
Anoniminous
@Suffern ACE:
He’s not using Labor Participation Rate either. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics the LPR is 62.9%.
He probably pulled the number out of his ass.
BruceFromOhio
@Anoniminous:
OK! OK! I MORE! I MORE!
Gravenstone
@Anoniminous: WTFF? /over
Montysan0
@Anoniminous:
I always wonder: do nutters like this keep comments ready to paste into posts, or do they write it out each and every time?