.
"I have accepted a seat in the House of Representatives, and thereby have consented to my own ruin…" — John Adams, 1770
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) October 8, 2015
Count on Politico to be earnestly solicitous of the badly bruised (self-abused) Republican caucus, describing “The 14 days the House went to hell”:
…[T]he man whom party honchos are begging to run for one of the most powerful jobs in Washington — 45-year-old Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin — wants none of it…
The upshot is that House Republicans, for the time being, will be left with the same speaker several dozen of them just forced out — only in lame-duck form. Which nicely sums up the state of the House GOP Conference: Those who want to be speaker can’t line up the votes, and the one person who’s popular enough to win is desperate to avoid the job…
With Ryan demurring, literally dozens of lawmakers have been floated — or floated themselves — for the speaker’s job. Yet it’s not clear if any of them have support. Here’s a short list: Reps. Lynn Westmoreland (Ga.), Conaway, Peter Roskam (Ill.), Tom Cole (Okla.), John Kline (Minn.), Darrell Issa (Calif.), Marsha Blackburn (Tenn.), Jeff Miller (Fla.), Bill Flores (Texas) and Pete Sessions (Texas). That’s 4 percent of the House Republican Conference…
And that doesn’t even include one of the first and loudest aspirants to lunge for the throne:
Remember when Chaffetz stupidly exposed Benghazi as a CIA outpost on nat'l TV? The media seems to have forgotten pic.twitter.com/17BGts53Ty
— Pat Bagley (@Patbagley) October 9, 2015
… possibly because Rep. Chaffetz was forced to wrap up his week by admitting that his personal show trial against Planned Parenthood “failed to find any wrongdoing.”
Another highly-touted candidate has made it as clear as possible that he’d just as rather some other notoriety-seeking grifter accept the poisoned chalice:
Gowdy on Ryan “I have spent more time trying to talk him into running than I did my wife into marrying me” @jestei http://t.co/2VTRdJyZ5U
— Michael Tackett (@tackettdc) October 9, 2015
Artificial Silk Magnolia Kathleen Parker, who believes Ryan has a “higher calling” (no, seriously, she says that), brings up another caltrop on the road to Tehadi supremacy:
… …[T]he extortionist Freedom Caucus booted two of their membership’s top three fundraisers with Boehner and former majority leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who lost his seat last year to a tea party candidate, and now have rejected the third, McCarthy. Not only have these three brought in the biggest hauls through their campaigns and super PACs but they’ve also been the most generous — including to those who now smite them.
The Freedom Caucus’s preferred choice for speaker, Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Fla.), has raised $5.6 million since his election in 2010 and shared just 2 percent of that amount, according to opensecrets.org, which monitors such things. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (Utah), who picked up the speakership ball as soon as McCarthy fumbled, has raised just $3.4 million since 2008 and shared only 7 percent. Compare this with McCarthy’s trove of $25.5 million since 2006, of which he shared 34 percent with party and colleagues…
weird that the guys who want to destroy the government and promise to break it are crying like children because they fucked it up on purpose
— decomposing dadbod (@Mobute) October 8, 2015
Moonbat snarksists, of course, have our own preferences. Jim Newell, for instance:
… Newt Gingrich — As every annoying D.C. pundit will tell you over and over again: Actually, the speaker doesn’t have to be a member of the House. So why not a former speaker who led House Republicans to their first majority in 40 years?
This is a half-joke, and it’s only worth bringing up because Gingrich, with his supremely comical ego, is almost certainly thinking about it in the back—or front—of his mind. The McCarthy stunner produced any number of juicy quotes Thursday. None, however, topped this one from Gingrich: “This is why George Washington came out of retirement—because there are moments you can’t avoid.”…
Ezra Klein, at Vox, suggests “House Republicans should elect Mitt Romney speaker. No, really.”
Thinking they should just put the Speaker's job on http://t.co/iO7WNqH46h and hope for the best.
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) October 9, 2015
I have a jingoistic patriotic preference for the local Chauncey Gardiner, as described by Mr. Charles P. Pierce:
… A person much smarter than me has a great suggestion for the House Republicans if they fail to convince Paul Ryan that he can still do zombie-eyed granny-starving from the Speaker’s rostrum….[W]hy not a hunka-hunka man who presents well on television.
Former Senator McDreamy, come on down!
He’s not doing anything now except holding open houses for passing political vagrants and insulting his betters. Give him a spot where he can ride in limos and not do much. The man is perfect for the job. And, if the Democrats somehow take back the House, he can hand the gavel to Nancy Pelosi, since he’s quite used to surrendering to women by now…
Whatever happens, the one pundit most liable to be graded 100% correct over the short term is Ed Kilgore, at the Washington Monthly:
… [B]race yourself, dear readers, for an orgy of celebration of Ryan by GOPers over the weekend, up to and including the sentiment that he ought to be running for president instead of these bozos who can’t seem to figure out how to deep-six unintentional comedy acts like Donald Trump and Ben Carson.
boatboy_srq
Geez. I leave for a couple weeks and the GOTea makes enough political Noh to write times full of snark.
Is it time to buy stock on ConAgra? We should be running low on popcorn by now…
dianne
I don’t understand all this talk about not having to be a member of the house to be a speaker. Don’t speakers
get a vote? How can a non-member speaker vote if they aren’t a member at all.
boatboy_srq
TOMES full of snark. Edit linky no worky on mobile. FYWP.
boatboy_srq
@dianne: All it means is that the GOTea is beginning to realise how truly they’re fvcked: all their anti-incumbency purity primarying has left them with a crowd that should never have been left to run a lemonade stand let along sit in Congress.
Ziggurat
@dianne: Voting in the House, like being a member of the House, is not found in the speaker’s job description. Previous speakers have voted because they were members, not because they were speakers. Speakers rarely cast a vote in any case.
(In fact, Article I does not say what the speaker is or does at all really – only that he is one of apparently several officers chosen by the House.)
Keith G
While last minute white knights are as common in partisan politics as unicorns, I have thought for a while now that if there were a GOP establishment who were able to “draft” a savior (yes, very unlikely) after the inevitable primary process meltdown , Ryan would be their top choice for that position.
It’s not like there is a long list to choose from.
MomSense
Oh my. The list of possible speakers is like a who’s who of hell no.
boatboy_srq
@MomSense: Isn’t that true for the entire caucus?
MattF
Krugman, on his blog, performs the necessary task of debunking Ryan. Of course, as noted, this doesn’t mean that Ryan isn’t the R’s best choice, just that the best choice happens to be an ambitious con artist.
MomSense
@boatboy_srq:
It really is. I could root for the most absurd speaker for the laughs but how would we identify the most absurd one? GOHMERT is probably on the more reasonable side of the spectrum. The other problem is that Speaker is actually important. Much as we are all mocking this situation, it’s really quite a serious problem.
Keith G
@dianne: While Zggurat covered it, what I think is always lost in this discussion is that the defacto speaker needs to be (for the party that elects him) a first class wiz in parliamentarian tactics.
I emphasized ‘defacto’ because these Constitutional offices were created by a group of guys who eschewed party politics, at least while they were in Philadelphia.
An outsider speaker just cannot have the chops to make the trains run on time, both for the majority party and for the House in general. I just do not see them (the GOP) choosing an outsider. In fairness, there is only one person who has shown those chops recently and she is in the minority party.
Frankensteinbeck
What is up with the obsessive use of this description? They didn’t force him out. He quit. If anything, we’ve just proven that they don’t have the power to force him out. ‘I am sick of your whining’ is not the same as ‘I submit to your power.’
@Keith G:
I don’t see why. If they drop the Hastert Rule, which isn’t a rule but was Boehner’s pure dumbfuckery, there are enough votes to get basic legislation passed. We won’t get things improving, but we won’t get this hostage nightmare, either.
raven
@dianne: It’s not “talk” its the law.
Frankensteinbeck
Also, I think it says something about how unpleasant it is to try and herd those bitchy cats that Paul Ryan, ambitious, narcissistic bubblehead extraordinaire, does not want the job and won’t take it if it’s handed to him on a platter.
Amir Khalid
So there is no way for a Republican to win the Speaker’s job now without support from those who expect the Speaker to do unacceptable and destructive things to the country? This is supposed to be the stuff of theoretical worst-case scenarios.
gene108
I wish the media would point out the Republicans are not quibbling about what to do, but rather how to do it.
Keep playing a long slow game progressively chipping away at abortion access, make miscarriages potentially criminal offenses against the State, rip out the social safety net, funnel more money to billionaires, etc.
Or force a budget crisis and debt default and get everything in one fell swoop.
Republicans no longer want to “govern”, where governing in a representative democracy is seen as producing outcomes that benefit the most people, but rather “govern” in a style that is dedicated to a strict rigid ideology of tax cuts, gutting social spending, restricting abortion rights, and letting businesses run amuck.
Baud
Kudos to Ryan for not wanting to make the same mistake his wife did.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
I see at least one possibility that isn’t completely ridiculous. A Republican who is not a mental case could cut a deal with Nancy. He doesn’t need any Democratic votes. He just needs the non-Teabagging Republicans to vote for him, and for about twenty Democrats to not show up to vote at all. Similarly, that Republican doesn’t have to be a good guy, he just has to be practical enough to make deals and want to keep the government running. It doesn’t seem to be happening, but it’s not out of the question. The big limiter might be that they’re all too proud to accept that giving up the Hastert Rule would make Nancy more powerful than whoever took the Speaker job.
@gene108:
No, there is a difference here. Screwing over poor and minorities and shoveling everything to the rich is not the same as blowing up the entire system. The latter hurts people that the ‘moderates’ do not want to hurt – most specifically, the rich. The rich get screwed just like the rest of us on a debt default, and in an extended shutdown businesses get cut off of more sweet government welfare than the poor. To us, who care about, you know, actual regular people, this doesn’t seem like much of a difference. To them, it is.
amk
According to the gop ass kissing bw media’s fluffery, lyin’ ryan is meant for greater purpose like presidenting. So by playing a complete coward now, isn’t the dead eyed granny starver killing his own chances of achieving his greater calling?
Botsplainer
This is what you get when you let white conservatives run an institution
Discord, division, confusion, ineptitude…
WereBear
I loved this!
It’s no coincidence that Republicans eliminated eighth grade Civics. Their side gets bombarded with emails that explain things in their own twisted fashion.
Our side should compensate by adding TEACHING to their fundraising emails or otherwise Explain how government works.
Because people don’t know. And I think some of them would like to.
Amir Khalid
@Frankensteinbeck:
And what Republican would care to be seen as Nancy Pelosi’s sock puppet? Restoring a functioning House of Representatives couldn’t compensate for such a humiliation.
gene108
@amk:
Being Speaker is usually not a pathway to the Presidency. I am not sure, if anyone went from Speaker to being elected President.
Botsplainer
@Baud:
That there is some A1 snark.
Kudos.
Frankensteinbeck
@Amir Khalid:
His lack of power would be pretty quiet and de facto, and there are no shortage of perks to the Speaker position. It would still be a big leg up to someone who could swallow his pride at least a little. That there are none of those in the House Republicans, like I said, is believable and probably the situation.
Some of this might be personal. Boehner and Nancy loathe each other. She might be hanging him out to dry. Hell, his jackass Hastert Rule abuse might have been because he hates her, not Obama.
EDIT – I really cannot sufficiently stress how much Boehner is at fault for the obstructionism we’ve seen since 2010. He didn’t have to do it. He was way worse than any of his predecessors. That fact was just a background detail until now, but with people claiming the Tea Party has all this power it’s worth harping on. No, they didn’t get us into this. Boehner did. He’s been their best friend, and as usual it’s not enough.
amk
@Frankensteinbeck:
It would make more sense if the tables are turned and the so called ‘sane’ repubs either absented themselves, or better yet, voted with the dem caucus and brought back Nancy, who at least was an effective speaker. Electing a repub, even a sane one, doesn’t guarantee stability.
Frankensteinbeck
@amk:
It would make more sense in terms of running the country, but it takes about sixty Rs to not show up for that, and the results of their action are much more obvious and likely to get them punished. Nancy can definitely deliver twenty. No problem, if you convince her it’s worth it. Getting sixty Rs to agree to put her in power… whew. Much harder. Not TOTALLY out of the question, but much less likely.
amk
@gene108:
otoh, it’s not an embrace of death either. I am sure, if & when this liar runs for the top job, his opponents are likely to bring his cowardice to light.
amk
@Frankensteinbeck:
thugs need 20 to 30 and she needs 30. If it is just the numbers game, both are doable and she would make much more sense given how the thugs fucked
the poochmurka in the last 6 years they had the gavel.Frankensteinbeck
@amk:
She needs 30 to vote FOR her, 60 to abstain. They need 11 to vote for, 22 to abstain. Biiig difference. Not voting is good cover, not all that obvious, doesn’t make a good sound bite for campaigns against them. Voting with the enemy? Very dangerous. You go first.
amk
@Frankensteinbeck:
If 30 vote for her, then why would she need the 60 absentees?
And most importantly, why would she and the dems need to cover for their fuck-ups?
NotMax
“Freedom Caucus”
Freedom from what? From government?
In all humility, I floated the Romney name not long after Boehner’s announcement. Neener, neener, Ezra. :)
And talk about jumping the gun – made the monthly grocery/bill paying trip to town on Friday, and saw this bumper sticker:
For President 2020
Kanye West
NorthLeft12
Really, this was an actual headline somewhere? So where has the House been for the last five plus years? Purgatory? Maybe. Definitely not Limbo.
Amir Khalid
@NotMax:
Kanye West has very popular in-laws, so there’s that.
Baud
@NotMax:
I look forward to debating Kanye as I seek reelection.
Amir Khalid
Hallp! Hallp! My comment is in moderateration! Hallp!
Baud
@NorthLeft12:
You mean the news media hasn’t explained that this is the type of attitude that Obama has had to deal with since 2011?
I’m shocked.
Gvg
iF there are 30 republicans actually out there thinking of voting for Nancy, they should just go all in and switch parties. Then she is majority leader and stuff gets done. accomplishments they can use to defend. oR they can retire. i don’t see this as really possible but it should be.
How many votes to just repeal the unnecessary debt ceiling law totally? It doesn’t do what it was supposed to do in the first place and has been used as a threat inappropriately to many times.
gf120581
@gene108: Only one…James K. Polk. All the way back in the tender year of 1844.
If you still have national ambitions as Ryan clearly does, being Speaker is definitely not what you want.
Shakezula
My favorite part, if I had to pick one, is watching the same assholes who not a year ago were still praising the Teahaddists as the Hot! New! Thing! are now trying to scold them into behaving. Ha ha ha ha. Good luck with that. And fuck you.
Botsplainer
I’m just thinking aloud that the basic problem is the pedophile rule installed by kid-fucker Dennis Hastert, which is how that needs to be referenced every time a piece of legislation doesn’t hit the House floor.
bystander
Ryan uses his children as the reason he doesn’t want to be Speaker. He DID however want to be the VP.
I also love the speculation that he’s waiting for 2020. To fail again, no doubt.
Baud
@bystander:
I love the confidence that the GOP will lose next year.
Germy Shoemangler
@Baud:
I hope Kanye throws his support behind you after your inevitable nomination.
I’ve got two Baud! 2016 yard signs. Lots of honking as traffic goes by (Canada geese)
MomSense
@Botsplainer:
Oh my I forgot all about that. How could I forget???
Frank Bolton
@Botsplainer: I think you mean conservatives in general. Brasil is currently fighting for its life against the plutocrats and the conservatives in Japan are cheerfully steering the country into a demographic death spiral thanks to their hostility to immigration and indifference to women’s rights — which causes fertility to collapse in post-industrial countries. And don’t even get me started about India.
Let’s face it. Conservatives don’t really become insane; they were and are always insane. The only thing that changes is their level of desperation. And American conservatives definitely feel the breath of the reaper on their neck, hence their flailing despite their superficially good position.
debbie
Between Gingrich’s willingness to sacrifice himself to return as Speaker and Kasich’s ability to self-destruct by opening his mouth (“Get over yourself”), this has been another great week in GOP politics.
I had not heard Chaffetz’s admission that there was no wrongdoing at PP, but combined with McCarthy’s admission that Benghazi-mania’s sole purpose was to hurt Hillary, the Dems should have a killer advertising campaign for 2016.
Germy Shoemangler
@debbie:
I honestly wouldn’t know that if I didn’t read blogs like this.
I didn’t see it mentioned on any of the network news shows. They did a lot of talking about the initial allegations, though…
NotMax
@Germy Shoemangler
Which reminds me to post a small jest before the late night shows steal it.
Bernie Sanders, at 74, is positioned to lead the first campaign to utilize Get Off My Lawn signs.
(rimshot)
debbie
@amk:
Nancy Pelosi must stay out of this. She will only galvanize the Goopers into consensus. Stand back and enjoy the chaos and do nothing to shorten it.
Germy Shoemangler
@NotMax: good one!
debbie
@Germy Shoemangler:
And if someone doesn’t come up with a dollar amount of the waste of these investigations and use that to hang the GOP on their Petard of Fiscal Responsibility, then the Dems don’t deserve to win any election.
Another Holocene Human
Wow, late to the party but John Kasich really showed his true colors with that “Taylor Swift” comment. You asshole.
Also, Linkin Park? That was my generation. Stupid, out-of-touch asshole.
Chris
@Botsplainer:
… in short, you have a ghastly mess!
OzarkHillbilly
@Germy Shoemangler:
Your mistake is watching the TV when you should be reading the Guardian. It was at the top of the page yesterday.
Chris
@Frankensteinbeck:
Point to you for Indiana Joned reference.
JPL
@debbie: If Boehner was a strong speaker, he would have gathered the freedom caucus and given them an either/or solution.
Germy Shoemangler
off-topic, non-political comment (trigger warning: personal references ahead, containing last night’s dream):
Had an outrageously vivid dream last night. I was back in the little house I grew up in. Parents dead; my siblings and I were preparing it for sale (this part actually happened twenty years ago). But here’s the weird part:
I started exploring, and found old rooms I’d either never seen before, or somehow half-remembered. They were dusty and old, accessible by winding staircases. Filled with antiques that I examined with amazement. Old books, tools, electronics… looked like from the 1920s. I found an old attic, and peered out the window. Followed a maze to a basement that looked like it could have been a nightclub at one time; a small stage with a separate stone staircase that led to it; another small hallway that led to the audience section. More antiques; some musical instruments and novelties.
Explored some more, and found a small bistro! People were having lunch, a lady asked me if I wanted a seat. I told her this was my house, and I needed directions back to the “normal” part of the house.
My overall feeling was one of awe and joy, like finding hidden treasure.
amk
@debbie:
yup. no firefighting help from the dems.
Jeffro
Two thoughts this fine morning:
1) Ryan will agree to serve as Speaker for one year (or approx that time – there may be a benchmark of some sort he’ll aim at that would keep him there roughly a year) and then INSIST, I say INSIST that he will step down after the year is up…unless the entire GOP begs him to stay, or puts him on the presidential ticket again, etc etc. (By the way, GOPers who want Ryan in are smart: he is basically a Teabagger in pseudo-intellectual clothing)
2) Loathe as I am to recommend a George Will column (other than the one on astronomy he wrote last week)…y’all really should read him today: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ted-cruz-calculates-a-path-to-the-nomination/2015/10/09/a5d6d3a6-6dff-11e5-b31c-d80d62b53e28_story.html
I’m telling you, Cruz could very easily end up on the GOP ticket next summer. The only thing keeping him from the top of the ticket is him, and for that I think we all owe him a debt of gratitude.
Chris
@Frank Bolton:
Don’t forget Europe. Austerity crazed elites at the top, neo-fascists rising from the bottom.
bemused
I watched a short clip of John Kasich telling group of New Hampshire people that Social Security would need to be lowered to save it. He dismissively tells a man who would be upset with that, You’ll just have to get over it. The audience laughed. What the hell is wrong with these people.
OzarkHillbilly
Texas. It’s a whole ‘nother country:
Since March this year, a sworn promise and supporting documents are enough to satisfy the state oil and gas regulator, the Texas Railroad Commission. Energy Transfer applied in February, when the requirement to claim common-carrier status was even less stringent: checking a box on a one-page form which the commission would take at face value. Under a new rule, a company’s failure to comply with reporting requirements may result in a $1,000 fine – four times less than the possible penalty under Texas law for adults who give alcohol to minors.
Advertisement
Disputes are left to the courts. According to the commission’s website: “In Texas, pipelines are not required to be permitted before being built. There is no statutory or regulatory requirement that a pipeline operator seek or receive from the Railroad Commission either a determination that there is a need for the pipeline capacity or prior approval to construct a pipeline and related facilities. Additionally, the Railroad Commission does not determine or confer common carrier status for pipelines.”
The article is about yet another conservative wet dream, building a 42.5 inch nat gas pipeline thru Big Bend country (not Big Bend National Park) for generating Mexican electricity.
Ben Cisco
I doubt they intended it, but Politiho perfectly described the lot of them – floaters.
Schlemazel
@amk:
I’d see a deal that used Dems to elect the SotH (either by voting or by being gone) as throwing gas on the fire not firefighting. The raging loons would elevate their frothing 1000% if the Dems could claim any role in filling the job. That SotH would have no support or sway with the Loonytoon caucus and the only way anything would come out of the House would be with the votes of at least 40 Dems, probably more. This would insure more sane results (never a bad thing) and a sky filled with flying monkeys demanding the destruction of any gooper that was suspected of complicity. The resulting bloodbath primaries would be a net gain for D seats and lifetimes of animosity withing the GOP. I believe it would hasten the end of the Republican party which would be the best thing that could happen for America today.
I got my first wish when boner quit, that no gooper could muster the support, now I just want the second part plays out in some manner.
Kay
@debbie:
Tough talk from a guy who took millions of dollars from Lehman Bros for a “job” he was completely unqualified for, other than having connections in government. The preening and strutting of the crony capitalists when they scold the peons makes me furious.
John Kasich doesn’t get to talk down to people who are economically insecure. He feathered his own nest the moment he left government. He took care of himself, first, but no one else is allowed to do that without a stern lecture on sacrifice from the multi-millionaire.
debbie
@JPL:
A member of that caucus was interviewed on NPR this morning, and it was that either/or that got them to rebelling against the establishment. I don’t think the Freedom Caucus would have accepted anything less than total obeisance to their cause.
Schlemazel
@Ben Cisco:
The whole party seems to be made of of floaters or sinkers.
Edit: and they are all stinkers.
debbie
@Kay:
Kasich’s reaction to the reaction to his comments made the local news last night. His hair akimbo, he snapped and said people were making entirely too much of his remark. At the end of the clip, he looked into the camera and accused Democrats of being responsible for the overreaction.
More of this, I say!
amk
@Kay:
with a record over 60% approval rating from his own state, which he supposedly fucked up, why can’t he and why won’t he?
JPL
@debbie: Wow! It sounds like Boehner used an empty threat. Thanks for the info.
Frank Bolton
@Another Holocene Human: I’ve always maintained that John Kasich was a paper tiger. Especially once his ‘you’ll just have to get over it’ comments when it came to cuts to Social Security get promulgated. You can’t win the nomination or general election by coming out for Medicaid expansion and against Social Security.
Depending on how Rubio pans out, Right to Rise may get their wish and see Jeb Bush winning the nomination after all. By default, of course.
beltane
@Kay:
It makes lots of people furious, including white, working class Republican voters, hence Donald Trump’s popularity with this demographic.
benw
@Schlemazel: when it comes to governing they’re shrinkers.
@debbie: liked for “akimbo”!
Poor Kasich can’t figure out why people are mad, he made that same joke to his rich buddies last week and they thought it was HILARIOUS.
Also, don’t I remember that Paul Ryan was a TERRIBLE veep candidate? Lost and confused in his debate, stiff convention speech, and even the very, very gentle questioning about his fraudulent budget sent him scurrying away from the press for weeks? Even the VSP desperate to play him up seemed kind of stunned IIRC.
scav
@amk: Evidence would suggest that such behavior is exactly what a certain percentage of the electorate longs for, if not demands. So long as they’re in charge of defining exactly who the downtrodden, economically ensanguinated population is.
beltane
I saw a Rubio ad on TV last night (the joys of living near NH). It was thin gruel delivered by a candidate who presents himself as a fortysomething year old middle schooler.
amk
@scav:
yup, as long as voters keep rewarding pols for horrible behavior (debt default redux, anyone?), why would or even why should they change?
Kay
@debbie:
I look at a lot of Social Security statements, because people bring them to me. Kasich must have no idea that a lot of people in Ohio do a very complicated retirement analysis that goes like this “you have 947 dollars a month. How much is your rent? Do you own your car? What year? How many miles?”
He’s such a fraud. What he wants is to take a big chunk of the money people put into SS and put it in the stock market, because it makes these people crazy that they don’t have access to that money. They think they’re entitled to it. I would donate to a group that simply ran ads on Social Security. They should use plain language- “John Kasich wants to steal 50 dollars a month from people who make 11 dollars an hour, when and if they ever retire”
JPL
@Frank Bolton: It might be worth reading the link that Jefro at 60 provides.
George Will is not a columnist that I normally read, but he does show a path to a Cruz victory.
Schlemazel
@benw:
I wouldn’t mind except they insist on dragging all of us down with them.
Amir Khalid
test
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
No need to get all testy on us!
scav
@Schlemazel: Or, is he testing us by withholding his text?
Amir Khalid
@Schlemazel:
I didn’t mean to get testy with anyone. Earlier today, I had two comments go into moderation for no apparent reason, FYWP. Sorry.
benw
@scav: I think he’s telling us there will be a test. Everyone get your #2 pencils.
Josie
@Jeffro: This is really interesting. I noticed that in all the ink spilled over the congressional explosion, this was lost:
http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/256476-cruz-trump-wont-get-nomination
It looks like Cruz is making his move and finally challenging Trump. Of course, if Trump notices, he will fire back, but maybe Cruz thinks that Trump is losing his mojo. If he could inherit Trump’s, Carson’s and Fiorina’s voters, he could make a credible run for the nomination. Scary thought.
Chris
@benw:
I’ve seen this exact misunderstanding take place when I was in college, between 1%er or upper middle class friends on the one hand and working class friends on the other. The former simply didn’t realize that jokingly calling their fathers’ employees “the plebes,” or telling jokes that revolved around people like their audience’s parents being lazy moochers, might not get the same reaction from these people that they presumably did around the family dinner table.
beltane
@Amir Khalid: Congratulations! You have passed the test with flying colors. You are now the new Speaker of the US House of Representatives.
Omnes Omnibus
@Josie:
Okay, name a GOP candidate about whom that isn’t true.
Amir Khalid
@beltane:
Shit. What did I ever do to you guys?
Schlemazel
@Amir Khalid:
Don’t be sorry, I was only pulling your leg.
@benw:
If a small quiz is a quizy is a small test a testy?
i’d link to beltane’s comment but that would probably run me afoul of FYWP but you all know who I mean:
Now why would you want to damage Amir like that, what did he ever do to hurt you?
EDIT: aaaaaannnnnd I see Amir beat me to it!
JPL
@Omnes Omnibus: It appears that Trump is the adult in the room. Yes the presidential field is scary.
Omnes Omnibus
@Amir Khalid: Nothing personal. Just wrong place, wrong time. Sorry, Mr. Speaker.
Mike E
Best. Birthday. Ever.
JPL
@Mike E: nice Enjoy your day!
Germy Shoemangler
“Respect Are Country Speak English”
http://boingboing.net/2015/10/09/misspelled-signs-written-by-pe.html
MattF
A cake whose recipe includes a strobe.
max
@JPL: It appears that Trump is the adult in the room. Yes the presidential field is scary.
EXACTLY! And he’s a complete clown. All the UMC media types have been running around telling me how terrible Trump is, and it’s like, ‘Compared to fucking WHAT, exactly? The rest of those assholes? Those guys are all fucking complete shitheads.’
max
[‘Carefully pay attention to the scientifically aggregated polling, unless it tells you something you don’t want to hear, in which case, NO WAY.’]
benw
@Schlemazel: and a small grump is a grumpy, which is what I’ll be if Speaker Khalid doesn’t whip his goddam caucus into shape.
@Mike E: happy birthday!
Dolly Llama
@Jeffro: I love that the Will column no longer has to include the disclaimer that Will’s wife is/was a Scott Walker campaign operative. And that Cruz inherited Walker’s Georgia operation wholesale.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: I also find myself “unemployed”! Ha ha ha!
/ Willard “Mitt” Romney
That should have hurt him more than it did. Yeah, yeah, he lost. But that should have hurt him more than it did.
Following the thread back up to Kasich and his “get over it”– between him and Speaker Ryan on the one hand, and Chaffetz and PP on the other, maybe Republicans will actually have to talk about what they believe this time.
Chris
@Germy Shoemangler:
A group of people, collectively called “Respect,” are English, and are primarily identified by a dialect known as “country-speak?” Maybe that’s what they were trying to say?
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The 47% quote was a kick in the nuts for his campaign, at least, wasn’t it?
Amir Khalid
@benw:
Wait! You have to be American to be Speaker of the House, right? Right?
MattF
@Amir Khalid: Where does it say that?
MattF
@Germy Shoemangler: Y’know… it took me a while to figure that one out. You can set the bar too low…
JPL
Time to buy popcorn… lol
http://www.ajc.com/gallery/news/opinion/best-luckovich-october-2015/gCXKp/
Brachiator
@Josie:
Trump, Carson, and Fiorina are leading in the California preference polls. Cruz is not really registering.
Trump is holding at 17 percent. Then things get interesting.
Neither Cruz nor Jeb! seems to be exciting California Republicans. I think that Cruz may drop out of the race soon, even if you get a raging Tea Partier as Speaker of the House to bolster support for him. Cruz control is just not working.
Jeb! is still the weak echo of the moneymen and needs to show some reason for his candidacy.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/election/article38177247.html#storylink=cpy
ETA: I just listened to a radio news story in which Trump was asked his opinion of Ryan as potential Speaker. He is being treated as a statesman now whose political opinions matter. Nobody seems to much care what Jeb! thinks.
Gimlet
Now I feel so bad about myself.
http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/10/a-liberal-scrapes-the-bottom-of-the-barrel.php
by John Hinderaker
Liberals pursue many policies that cause people to die. They release felons from prison, or never incarcerate them in the first place; they make war on the police, causing murder rates to spike; they impede the ability of pharmaceutical companies to bring life-saving drugs to market; they drive up the cost of energy, exposing the poor to dangerous temperature extremes; they promote gun-free zones that turn innocent people into sitting ducks; they pursue weak foreign policies that cause many thousands to be killed by tyrants and terrorists.
These are just a few obvious examples. Yet conservatives don’t call liberals murderers. We extend them the presumption of good faith.
Schlemazel
@Gimlet:
assrocket is an example of what Ann Coulter would be if she had a solid source of income & didn’t need to inflame the moran brigade to make a living. A man worthy of being ignored.
dmsilev
@Gimlet:
I see Hindrocket is willfully ignoring the language the abortion-banners use ALL THE FUCKING TIME.
Chris
AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
benw
@Amir Khalid: You wish! But you don’t have to move to the US, we can set up a Skype connection for you. Or better yet, just tweet out your ideas and let your caucus get them enacted!
@Gimlet: Ha! It’s convenient to have all the insanity condensed into one helpful summary paragraph, so thanks !
Frankensteinbeck
@amk:
Sorry, I had to go to bed. The number difference is because the speaker is decided by majority who vote, not majority of all Representatives. So, if everyone votes and 30 Rs defect, Nancy has a majority. If 60 Rs do not vote, she has a majority of everyone who did vote, and wins. Turn that around, and 11 Ds have to defect for a majority of all Representatives, but if 22 Ds do not vote, the 218 non-Teabaggers have a majority of everyone who does vote.
Ruckus
@Frank Bolton:
Let’s face it. Conservatives don’t really become insane; they were and are always insane. The only thing that changes is their level of desperation. And American conservatives definitely feel the breath of the reaper on their neck, hence their flailing despite their superficially good position.
This.
Conservatives look at history, distort it beyond recognition, and then want to go back and relive it. Going through life only looking in the rear view mirror really is a waste.
WereBear
@Frank Bolton: Because they are basically DEgenerative, not generative or creative or innovative or even freakin’ supportive.
Parasitical.
Josie
@Brachiator: I hope you are right about Cruz. He worries me more than any of them.
Matt McIrvin
@gene108: I looked it up. James K. Polk was the only one.
Henry Clay and James Blaine were both major-party nominees, and John Bell ran in 1860 on a third-party ticket.
WereBear
This is why their plummeting ratings is a good thing.
Matt McIrvin
…I guess I should amend that: Henry Clay ran in the bizarre election of 1824 in which the party system was in chaos; he got electoral votes but wasn’t a major-party nominee.
Amir Khalid
@Brachiator:
In other words, Cruz isn’t attacking the Donald from a position of strength. And The D has an obvious weak point to attack: Ted’s grandstanding but counterproductive way of attacking from the right his own party’s tactics, which has won him not a single battle of note and probably cost him any chance of gaining allies in the Senate.
WereBear
@Brachiator: I believe it was you who recommended the Logitech Ultra thin iPad keyboard?
In any case, I have it, I love it, I’m using it now!
Elizabelle
@Josie:
Public service from The New York Times: special report on high end campaign donations.
Which is f*cking bullshit.
138 of those families are GOP donors; 20 support the Dems.
Ted Cruz is hoovering up an incredible amount of gazillionaire cash.
Didn’t get to spend that much time with the NYT data; in some cases it’s not broken out as you or I might like to see.
Does note that Jeb! Bush’s Right to Rise took $500,000 from a person in Hong Kong for whom they could not ascertain nationality. Political donors must be US citizens or hold US green cards.
And note: this is just the cash the US team could trace.
Your democracy, for sale right heah. I hope John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy choke as they look through this. (Roberts may not mind the GOP getting all the heavy donors but — oh– there goes the cover of pretending money is not speech.)
FWIW, didn’t see the name “Trump” in there, on a quick glance. LOL.
catclub
@Elizabelle:
it is to laugh. Probably Sheldon Adelson, but no reason it is not a non-citizen.
raven
I suppose the football thread will be when the hostesses team plays. Let me be the first to say that people get hurt playing football. OH NOES!
Elizabelle
I stand corrected.
Donald J. Trump is in there. $1.8 million in contributions. I think this is mainly to his own campaign, for use of the jet and corporate offices (read that elsewhere yesterday).
Hillary Clinton is down for $300,000.
The Bush family has given $850,000.
Happy scrolling through. List of donors by industry and name.
NY Times: From Fracking to Finance, a Torrent of Campaign Cash
scav
@Elizabelle: They’re more likely to choke up with tears of joy. Their baby is taking its first toddling steps, and it’s in the right direction.
Mike J
@bemused:
CNN tells me that Democrats are already “pouncing on” his comment. So both sides do it, it’s all just politics and electioneering if Democrats dare to notice anything stupid a Republican says.
MomSense
@Elizabelle:
Ok, but what is the end game for these 138 high end Republican donor families? Is it really just short term de-regulation and political favors? I have to wonder because they are doing fine now. In fact I would argue that the relative stability without any real attack on their financial domination serves them far better than the total collapse the Republican economic policies delivered,
shell
No worry of loss of mojo needed…if the Donald starts to slump it will be because hes finally getting bored with his whole charade and is thinking of moving on to other things.
Brachiator
@Josie:
I thought that Cruz might be a strong contender early on, but he has not captured public attention to the degree of any of the non-mainstream contenders like Trump, Carson and Fiorina. And Cruz comes across more as a surly pain-in-the-butt than an outspoken maverick.
As is the case with many of the GOP hopefuls, money is keeping Cruz afloat:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/ted-cruzs-litigious-hedge-fund-backer-emerges-top-2016-donor
I guess that Cruz and others with sufficient financial backing but weak poll numbers are trying to stay relevant until actual primary voting begins.
In Cruz’ case, this still may not be enough to justify his candidacy.
@Amir Khalid
Cruz is an odd duck. He wouldn’t know a position of strength if you drew him a diagram, and seems to enjoy alienating people who might by his natural allies.
henqiguai
@Amir Khalid (#90):
WereBear
@MomSense: If they could do long term thinking they wouldn’t need to bribe legislators so much.
Mike E
@raven: A nice bit for a beleaguered program.
Brachiator
@WereBear:
Probably was not me, but I am glad that you are enjoying it. Do you use an iPad or iPad mini?
Frankensteinbeck
@Mike J:
Television newscasters are exactly the demographic that agree with Kasich and think his joke was hilarious. Witness how when Brokaw ranted about how people would have to learn to live without ‘entitlements’, the whole table nodded soberly in respect for how wise he wise. They are actually giving us the benefit of the doubt that we’re just playing political games to score with the mooching poor, because the only other two reasons they can think of are ‘Democrats are naive children’ and ‘Democrats are sour farts who have no sense of humor.’
@MomSense:
Ego. The end game is to establish beyond doubt that they are superior people who got their wealth by being hard-working geniuses. Stomping on the poor provides a rush of power and gives them a chance to go ‘See? I made it. That’s how great I am.’ They get applauded by other rich people for being smart enough to cut costs by firing employees, and the same treatment for saying the poor need to learn to deal with it. Add to that, it’s really easy to convince yourself that what’s good for you is good for everyone. Most of them honestly believe that giving them more power to grind the poor and cutting their taxes will stimulate the economy. They see all their friends benefit, after all. Never ascribe to malice what you can ascribe to stupidity, but also never ascribe to greed what you can ascribe to malice. People love, love, love feeling self-righteous.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
To borrow a line from Carville, 138 to 20 is not a tie!
I’d bet that at least 50% of those people would unhesitatingly describe the inheritance tax (which phrase I’m told polls badly, though it seems to me to hit the nail on the head) as confiscation, a good 10-20% call it tyranny in all sincerity, and the rest would be vaguely aware that this sounds ridiculous to most people, and would know to frame it terms of “double-taxation” or some such buzzwords.
One of my political touchstones is the memory (I’ve done a couple google searches and can’t find it) of an article from I think Newsweek, I think by Howard Fineman , from the ’96 election. The reporter was covering a GOP fund-raiser being held by a Texas couple at their weekend house on the coast, the hostess stood in front of the plate glass windows overlooking the ocean and their private dock with its 20-something foot fishing boat (again, all from memory) and explained to the ink-stained wretch that Clinton’s tax policies were making things hard for middle class people like her. The reporter was very much making a point, and the hostess meant every word, and probably read that quote and the setting with pride and not one whit more of self-awareness than when she said it. The same attitude as that UofC law professor who explained that every dime of his and his wife’s six-figure salaries was carefully budgeted to cover their high-status, high-visibility uber-yuppie lifestyle, and Obama’s tax policies were only gonna hurt the cleaning ladies and landscapers he was going to have to fire.
raven
Go Illini!
WereBear
@Brachiator: iPad mini.
Tiny keyboard, but even this early in the learning curve I can tell it’s far better than the onscreen keyboard for touch typing.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
There is one more little thing, that might not be so little. We’ve seen how powerful it is with the voting base (it catapulted a nobody into the lead), but how strong it is with the rich has stayed quiet:
Racism. No shortage of these people are going ‘Something has to be done. A NEGRO is president, now!’
Brachiator
If you are in Southern California, here’s a two-fer. Go see the movie, The Martian, and also go to the JPL open house to really see how they science the shit out of things.
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/open-house.php
You can also check out the open house online.
bemused
@Mike J:
I have to assume audience was made up of mostly wealthy Republican voters who don’t have to rely on SS. I remember Prez GW didn’t win over audiences when he ran around the country trying to tell Americans putting their money in private accounts instead of receiving SS would be fantastic for them, freedom and all.
trollhattan
Soccer/futbol will consume Saturday, and a nice Saturday at that. Much driving.
Saw Los Lobos last night and they really brought it–perhaps energized by their R&R HOF nomination the day before. Great show.
catclub
@Brachiator: Cruz is in the best place to sweep up the outsiders’ voters if/when they collapse. He has not hit Trump.
2. Cruz is one of the few with both kinds of money a) Superpac second behind Bush b) small donors, in which he is the top GOP candidate. Obama was the top with small donors in 2008.
As long as the mainstream (Bush, Rubio. Kasich) all stay in and split the bulk vote, Cruz has a very good chance of being the main far right candidate, where consistent 25% can mean winning all the delegates. Reverse Romney is how Jamelle Bouie puts it. None of the other far right candidates (huckabee, santorum, jindal) have the combination of money and popularity that Cruz has. I think he goes a long way.
trollhattan
@bemused:
Boy oh boy, wouldn’t it have been the perfect after-dinner turd on the platter that was the Dubya administration to have first privatized SS over to 401ks or somesuch, then crater the economy as he headed for the exit? As if he hadn’t already done enough damage?
benw
Something I haven’t seen mentioned here, I first saw it in Gail Collins’ NYT piece, Jeb’s reaction to the House disarray:
Jeb the outsider! Jeb doesn’t understand these confusing acronyms! Jeb can’t stop using the word “stuff”!
trollhattan
@catclub:
I have mixed feelings about this. My presumption is Cruz is too vile to ever win any votes other than full-on crazies (lookin’ at you, Texas) and thus, represents an automatic Republican defeat, but my innate revulsion of the twit means I couldn’t possibly survive him lasting deep into the campaign.
Chris
@Frankensteinbeck:
“This” to all that.
I think the thing underlying it all is that once you’re at that level of wealth and power, material gain becomes an abstraction – they’ve already bought everything they need and most of what they want, so life becomes more about intangible, emotional things. They want gratitude, respect and recognition for their awesomeness, and not just from their supporters but from everyone. They want to smack down the arrogant loudmouths who insult them by not showing that respect and recognition. They want to keep hearing the applause of all the sycophants who tell them that they’re being responsible and leaderly by smacking down those arrogant loudmouths. They want to silence the voices in their own heads whispering that maybe they’re not awesome and superior, and they do that by lashing out at the people who’re actually saying the same things. Etc.
Brachiator
@WereBear:
Yep. I am currently using a Microsoft Universal keyboard with my Nexus 7, and sometimes with the larger iPad.
I seem to be collecting portable keyboards, and am currently looking at the EC Technology Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard. It’s currently selling for half price, $35, on amazon and has received some good reviews. I like that when folded it is about the size of a big smart phone.
WereBear
@Chris: Nice assessment, contrasting the tangibles and the intangibles.
Another Holocene Human
@JPL: If Boehner were a strong speaker he would have cut their metaphorical balls off right after they were sworn in. Instead, he gave them nice chairs and shit. Was Boehner never a state legislator? This is not how the sausage is made!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Chris: You aptly brought up the 47% tape upthread, I thought one of the moments (along with referring to Benghazi as an “opportunity”) that didn’t get enough attention was when Willard angrily hissed that “I inherited nothing!” Technically true, as he I guess was exponentially richer than his pappy by the time the old man snuffed it, but the son of a Detroit CEO, governor of what was then (I think?) the fourth or fifth largest state in the country and cabinet secretary, graduate of Cranbrook and Harvard, was righteously indignant that anyone should suggest that he was born on third base when in fact he hit a grand slam with his Willard brain! The anger was revealing.
To say nothing of the little nest egg of stocks they had when the first got married, that the internet estimated at IIRC about $350K in 2012 dollars. Doesn’t everyone’s parents put aside a little something for their kids?
Keith G
@Frankensteinbeck: Well, I’m assuming that a party that selects a Speaker of the House still wants to have at least some of its legislative agenda successfully addressed during the term of said Speaker. Even in the face of a reasonable and principled opposition, that often means navigating a difficult maze of parliamentary tactics.
Brachiator
@catclub:
Cruz certainly hopes to sweep up the support of candidates who drop out, and he has played nice with Trump.
Cruz also seems to have an impressive ground game:
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/dont-forget-about-ted-cruz
HOWEVER, I don’t think it is clear that people who support Trump, Carson or Fiorina would love Cruz to the same degree. It’s not just a matter of their political positions, but a matter of personality; otherwise Cruz, who has been around for years, would already be polling more strongly.
I still think that Trump will drop out sooner than later. On the other hand, many of Carson’s supporters seem to want a theocracy; I don’t know where they would go if and when Carson drops out. I just don’t see Cruz as the natural beneficiary of these folk. And GOP insiders just don’t seem to like Cruz. Whether they can successfully contain him remains to be seen.
But I think you are right that Cruz should not be under-estimated.
Frankensteinbeck
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
The moment he got out of college, he was handed a highly lucrative job on a silver platter by friends of the family. This kept happening, jobs where he literally could not lose, because his rich buddies wrote in that he got to keep financial gains, and losses were dumped on the stockholders. That is his real inheritance, how being born on third base works. And it’s so, so easy for him to believe that anybody could have gotten jobs like that if they were as smart as him.
EDIT – @Keith G:
Oh, yeah, to be good at the job, definitely. To turn it into a Republican victory. I thought you just meant to get it and keep things running.
WereBear
@Brachiator: Sweet! Perfect for when you park yourself somewhere with a flat surface, yet very portable.
I’ve been about portability since the first laptops cost as much as a used car. Couldn’t indulge then, can now!
Eric U.
the thing about privatizing SS is that they can’t afford to do it. It’s still paying rich people’s taxes for them
Frankensteinbeck
@Keith G:
Now that I understand, I’ll agree with you further and highlight the difference: To perform the basic job would require minimal intelligence and modesty. To do it well would require supreme deviousness. There is no in-between. Boehner kept trying to be the latter, and couldn’t even accomplish the former.
Ridnik Chrome
@Germy Shoemangler: I actually found that interesting. I have no problem listening to someone relating his or her dreams, if the person is a good storyteller. FWIW, I’ve had similar dreams about the house where I grew up (destroyed in a fire thirty years ago). In one of the freakier ones I dreamed I woke up in my old bedroom in that house. I’ve had the “hidden room” dream a few times, too. It seems to be a pretty common one…
trollhattan
@Brachiator:
Channel surfing last night I crossed paths with “The 700 Club” and after overcoming my surprise Pat Robertson is still alive listened to the last couple minutes of his remote interview of Carson. I mention remote because Robertson would clearly have jumped in Ben’s lap and started necking had he been in the studio. How many ways can the word “brilliant” be worked into a single conversation? Answer: many, x2. Ben, for his role, seemed to savor having his balls polished from afar.
Cervantes
@gene108:
Not directly.
James Polk went from being Speaker to being elected Governor of Tennessee, and then a few years later was elected President.
And no Speaker of the House has become President through the line of succession (both the President and the Vice President would have to be incapacitated; hasn’t happened yet).
Cervantes
@Kay:
It’s quite infuriating enough even without the preening and strutting.
Anyhow, let’s not get too mad; let’s get even.
SiubhanDuinne
@Ridnik Chrome:
I have these kinds of dreams all the time. I refer to them collectively as my “architectural dreams.” Sometimes the setting is one I know or have known IRL, sometimes it is completely unfamiliar. There are usually lots of halls and doors and elevator banks and Escheresque staircases.
bemused
@trollhattan:
They probably would have conveniently forgotten those privatize SS town halls even if some of them had attended one and just blamed the Democrats. Fair and balanced Fox would have corrected their faulty memories.
ruemara
@Cervantes: I sincerely believe we could see an attempt at removing two obstacles to the Speaker becoming president, if we had someone like Ryan in position.
Villago Delenda Est
You know, some big money boys in Germany in the 30’s thought they could pull the strings of some wild and crazy messiah figure, too, and look what happened to them.
Chris
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Well, his entire self image is based on the idea that he Built That, that nobody helped him and he earned everything. That’s why he gets to have all the money. If other people don’t have it, it’s just that they weren’t as hardworking and clever. Not his fault.
So of course he’s going to get defensive about any suggestion that he benefited from unearned privilege. If it’s true, then the entire narrative of which he’s the hero falls apart.
Ruckus
@Chris:
Is it bad of me to appreciate that a lot of people with physical wealth have so little real self worth they have to lord their money over others with smaller bank accounts? I wonder if they understand that even with all the money in the world they can’t purchase themselves even a tiny bit of humanity? Maybe they figured that out and are hoping that no one else notices.
Myiq2xu
That Chaffetz quote is highly edited and misleading.
“Did I look at the finances and have a hearing specifically as to the revenue portion and how they spend? Yes. Was there any wrongdoing? I didn’t find any.”
Jeffro
@Dolly Llama:
I know, right? I wonder if she went over to the Rubio campaign…guess we’ll know soon enough…
I did not know that, wow. Would have thought they might go to Bush or Rubio. It will be interesting to see the remaining GOP candidates pick up staff and assets as the others drop out. Cruz is sharp enough to make it a major focus at this point, I’m sure…
Jeffro
@Josie: Y’all need to read the Will op-ed on Cruz’s strategy for picking up delegates all along the way…
Jeffro
@catclub:
Seconded. The R base loves him – both the Teabaggers and the fundies. I don’t think he can win over a majority of the big donors/Establishment, but he’s already got himself a sugar daddy or two and can stay in this thing quite a while. Long enough to tell Rubio, “You can’t win without me and the support of my people in November”
rikyrah
@Kay:
tell the truth, Kay.
tell it.
rikyrah
@Kay:
you are so righteous on this, Kay.
you should make the ads.
jl
When did George Washington come out of retirement to do what?
To work on the Constitutional Convention… that is the only temporary retirement Washington took before he left the Presidency. I guess Newt is getting very grand ideas in his head.
Chris
@Ruckus:
I suppose the part of me that took the Catholic Sunday school education to heart would answer by rote that it’s never right to take pleasure in other people’s suffering. But hell, the rest of me does that all the time anyway.
Yeah, by all means appreciate it: it’s the only kind of penalty most of these people will ever pay for being such assholes. (We may be taking pleasure in their pain, but it’s not like that pain is starvation or homelessness or bankruptcy or an illness too expensive to treat).
Ruckus
@Chris:
Yes, it is of their own making so maybe not so bad they suffer for it. Which of course they won’t, because fairy tales don’t come true.
Shantanu Saha
Clearly the best candidates to take over the speakership are Bibi Netanyahu and Vladimir Putin. The entire Republican caucus has serious man-crushes on both of them.
I think Putin has the inside track, though. Once Speaker, he could ride into the House bare-chested on his horse, and start leading with leadership. He could threaten to hit anyone who defied him with cruise missiles launched from the Caspian Sea. He could stand up and make Obama submit to him.
Xenos
@Villago Delenda Est:
Their grandsons are the captains of industry in the Germany we have today. A great many of the industrialist survived the war, were not charged for political crimes, and went on their merry way building the post-war order.
Matt McIrvin
@Cervantes:
It was much more likely before the 25th Amendment provided for the appointment of a new Vice-President to fill a vacancy. If it were not for that provision, I think the Speaker of the House would have become President when Nixon resigned.
LBJ had no Vice-President for his first partial term. Neither did Harry Truman.
Procopius
I don’t have any interest in who McKay Coppins might be when he’s at home, but he is an ignoramus about history. The John Adams quotation is from 1809. There was no House of Representatives in 1770. There wasn’t even an American government in 1770. What a maroon.
Procopius
@Frankensteinbeck:
I think you’ve got a good point there. Even more, the rich own a whole lot more Treasury Bonds than the poor do.