“Speaker Ryan”‘s press secretary, y’all. Note the timestamp: HE’S NOT GIVING UP HIS BIG LIE!
Weird trend: successful NYC/DC dwellers mocking an extra $1K in Americans’ pockets.
— AshLee Strong (@AshLeeStrong) February 5, 2018
$1.50/wk * 52wks = $78.00 https://t.co/f2qUuZJGhd
— southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) February 5, 2018
Actually, since $1.50 is roughly the price of a small fries at McDonalds, I think we have our campaign slogan here: "Let them eat French fries!" https://t.co/c2TO6JuPbF
— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) February 4, 2018
Though, despite “presidential” precedent, looks like the Grey Lady *still* won’t let Krugman use the word bullshit on its website…
… Should we keep giving Ryan grief over that tweet? Yes, we should – and not just because it shows how out of touch he is. By highlighting the tiny tax cut some workers will get as if that were the point and main result of a bill that blows up the deficit by more than $1 trillion, he helps illustrate the bait-and-switch at the core of the whole G.O.P. agenda.
For tax cuts aren’t free. Sooner or later, the federal government has to pay its way. Even if you don’t think the budget deficit is currently a big problem, except under very special circumstances anything that reduces revenue will eventually have to be offset by later tax increases or spending cuts…
So Ryan is patting himself on the back for giving a schoolteacher some French fries. What’s he planning to take away?
Well, we know the answer: Republicans constantly use the alleged dangers of budget deficits to argue for sharp cuts in social programs. You might have thought they’d lay off that rhetoric for a while after passing an unfunded $1.5 trillion tax cut, but in fact they barely paused; even at the height of the tax “reform” debate, people like Orrin Hatch declared that we can’t “spend billions and billions and trillions of trillions of dollars to help people who won’t help themselves.” Right now they’re dragging their feet on funding for community health centers, complaining about the cost…
It’s such an obvious scam that you might think either that its perpetrators would get embarrassed or that the public would get wise. But the first won’t happen. The second – well, we’ll see in November.
They’re Freedom Caucus fries. https://t.co/DbH3dcFa3Y
— Dana Houle (@DanaHoule) February 4, 2018
Paul Ryan: Can I take away all of your healthcare?
Me: ummm, no
Paul Ryan: [discreetly sliding $1.50 across the table like he’s trying to bribe a bouncer] how about now
— Migrant Twerker (@SortaBad) February 3, 2018
dmsilev
So apparently the House Intelligence [sic] Committee voted to release the D rebuttal to Nunes’ stupidity. Now Trump has 5 days to decide whether to go along or come up with a bullshit excuse for blocking the release. I’m going to bet on ‘bullshit excuse’; it’s not really going too far out on a limb.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@dmsilev: Just saw the news alert on my PC. I think that’s a pretty sturdy limb you’re on there.
Gin & Tonic
So one of the people in this “debate” has a Bachelor’s from Miami of Ohio, and the other has a PhD from MIT and a Nobel Prize in Economics.
Whom should I trust?
debbie
@Gin & Tonic:
Considering it’s Miami of Ohio, she’s way better at partying than he is.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: unanimous vote, weird.
MisterForkbeard
@dmsilev: The thing is, I’m not sure it’ll matter much. The Dems still won’t be able to refer to the classified information in a hard, definitive way. This means the memo is going to have a LOT of “Nunes memo is wrong – McCabe didn’t say that” and “The Dossier is absolutely not the basis of the FISA investigation approval”, and the media will start doing the “Republicans and Democrats disagree on charges, cloud remains over FBI.” thing.
ETA: By which I mean, Republicans probably aren’t too worried about this. Because:
1) Democrats won’t be able to put huge amounts of specifics into it. Republicans will still attack them for hypocrisy after the Dems protested the contents of Nunes’ memo anyway.
2) The media will basically shrug at the whole thing. The wind is out of the sails of the Memo now, and unless they can prove that Nunes openly lied and coordinated with Trump there won’t be much interest.
3) Media will push a “both sides” narrative, and Republicans will use this to claim they’re totally being bipartisan because they didn’t bar Dems from responding, even though they stopped it long enough to significantly blunt any pushback.
Basically, not much reason NOT to approve the release of the counter-memo unless it can prove some very specific things that probably won’t happen.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev: But when Orange Bigot decides not to release the Democratic response, it will show him up as being a coward with something to hide. Why not release everything and let the public come to its own conclusions? Why are you only presenting one side of a story? I don’t see how refusing to release the Democratic response helps Trump but he’s an idiot and probably won’t figure that out.
dmsilev
I get emails.
Subject line: “THE GREATEST PHYSICS DISSERTATION EVER”
“This book is a Physics dissertation, thus this book is Rap.” is something that I’m going to have to insist at least one graduate student put in their actual dissertation.
Aleta
Does a membership at Costco come with a weekly cart of groceries? A physical and tests? Prescription coverage?
Lapassionara
@Major Major Major Major: My thought also. Vewy stwange indeed.
dmsilev
@Patricia Kayden: I agree completely. It’d be in Trump’s best interests to sign off on the release, let the media do its usual shape-of-the-Earth-opinions-differ thing, and be done with it. Everything we’ve seen from Trump suggests that that’s not how he thinks.
However, there’s a joker in the deck. According to the NYT story I was reading earlier today, if Trump says ‘no’, the Democrats can put the question to the entire House and force all of the GOP Reps to go on record supporting Trump’s coverup. It wouldn’t take too many of those to be looking nervously at November to decide to vote to release.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: this is unadulterated genius.
Brachiator
The Democrats should rightly beat Hatch and all the Republicans over the head with this. Over and over.
jl
@Lapassionara: Unless the rest of the committee, D and R, know better than NUnes, or the rest of us, where this is headed.
May also just be considered necessary to avoid complete humiliation because a corrupt, rogue, loon who is supposed to have recused himself, tries to hijack the whole committee by issuing BS ‘memos’ in lieu of committee reports. . Nunes promising more of his BS memos may have made the vote unanimous.
Patricia Kayden
@Aleta: Nope. Just a chance to buy bulk groceries and reasonably priced house goods. I know you were being tongue in cheek to mock Ryan’s stupidity but I wish someone in the MSM would point out this fact to him.
jl
@dmsilev: ” the Democrats can put the question to the entire House and force all of the GOP Reps to go on record supporting Trump’s coverup. ”
Thanks. That is good news. If Trump refuses to release, I hope the Dems do just that.
Major Major Major Major
@jl: this was sort of my theory, it’s gone so far off the rails that the GOP thinks the truth might distract people from their lie.
dmsilev
@Major Major Major Major: If you’re really really bored, you can read the whole thing. It is, as claimed, 200 pages long. I made it through the first paragraph; that’s my limit.
Patricia Kayden
@dmsilev:
It feels as if that’s all Republicans ever do but yes, it would be interesting to see how they vote. I assume the Freedom Caucus will vote against releasing the Democratic response because White Jesus, Guns and ‘Merica.
MisterForkbeard
@Patricia Kayden: As always, you’re much better at saying what I want to say and in much less space. :)
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden:
This is Trump we are talking about. He desperately wants the public to believe only what he wants them to believe.
Trump believes that the memo “vindicates” him. Whatever that means. It doesn’t matter what the D version says.
Trump intends to use whatever he is spouting about the memo to further demonize the FBI and to try again to sack Mueller.
The American people don’t get a say in this little game, unless it is to blindly support Trump.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Pretty sure they’re both dudes (Ryan and Krugman). But your point about partying is well taken. When I was a student at Northwestern (1961-62), we had a well-earned reputation as a party school. But I was told on several occasions and good authority that Miami-Ohio had few competitors in that arena.
Major Major Major Major
@dmsilev: no thanks!
WaterGirl
@Major Major Major Major: So is this the committee backing away from the very poor decisions they made last week?
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
randy khan
I think that $1.50 is going to be in a lot of ads – “Paul Ryan bragged about a middle class family getting $1.50 a week from the tax cut, but they gave billionaires $1 trillion.” (Or something better than that.)
Patricia Kayden
@MisterForkbeard: Thanks. It’s a wonder we’re able to write coherently when we have to deal with an incompetent boor in the White House every day. It feels like Trump has been in the White House for decades. LOL.
@Brachiator:
Hmmmm. Not quite true. We will have a resounding say in November. Polls show that Trump is not a popular President and I doubt anyone outside of his racist supporters are going to play along with his game. Trump has lied so many times that his attempt to undermine Mueller is laughable. If it is a showdown between believing the inveterate liar Trump and the clean cut, no nonsense Mueller, I’m sure the majority of Americans will come to the right conclusion.
efgoldman
@dmsilev:
Not for nothing does MIT have an endowed chair/fund in humor.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Gin & Tonic: Obviously they guy with the buck fifty.
Lapassionara
@jl: I do not believe the R’s on the committee can feel shame, or have a conscience. So, it’s a puzzlement
dmsilev
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch:
Trump investigated the Birth Certificate (or at least claimed he did); shouldn’t that count?
NeenerNeener
@SiubhanDuinne: I think the Miami-Ohio grad being referenced was AshLee Strong.
Major Major Major Major
@Patricia Kayden: a plurality came to the right conclusion in 2016 ?
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden: RE:
The American people don’t get a say in this little game, unless it is to blindly support Trump.
What I meant is that Trump doesn’t believe that Americans have a say in this little game. He believes that he is totally running the show. Obviously, his fantasy is not the real world. However …
Trump is not running in the November 2018 elections.
I agree it is laughable. But we will see if he tries to use it as cover to try to go after Mueller and other FBI officials who he has designated as his enemy.
Again, this is about the political theater in Washington and the games that Trump and the GOP are trying to say.
I would be very happy to see mid term voters drop the hammer on many Republicans to punish them for going along with Trump’s foolishness, but I don’t know that this will happen.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic:
My fraternity was part of the Miami Triad so I’m know whom I’m trusting!
clay
@David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch: #s 2 and 5 are parody, right?
….
…. right?
Steve in the ATL
@Major Major Major Major: @MisterForkbeard: and speaking of triads, we now have three attendees of the legendary Thirsty Bear meetup posting on this thread!
Aleta
@Patricia Kayden: Yeah the advertising means something to Costco. But put that hypothetical membership together with less help for food stamps, less housing assistance for low income peeps and seniors (Rs new policy proposals) and it doesn’t turn into food.
Gin & Tonic
@NeenerNeener: No, I was referring to Paul Ryan.
SiubhanDuinne
@NeenerNeener:
Did not know she was a M-O grad. I know Paul Ryan is. Apologies to Debbie if I got it wrong.
--bd
John Dingell wins Twitter again:
https://twitter.com/JohnDingell/status/959851736935657473
John DingellVerified account @JohnDingell
John Dingell Retweeted
“Let them eat cake samples.” – @PRyan https://twitter.com/pryan/status/959831598412656640 …
Gin & Tonic
@Steve in the ATL: It is the stuff of legend? Already?
NeenerNeener
@SiubhanDuinne: I just assumed based on the “she”. This time I only made an @$$ out of me.
Steve in the ATL
@Gin & Tonic:
Yes, I was there.
ETA: I should probably note that several other totally excellent posters were there as well.
SiubhanDuinne
@NeenerNeener:
You didn’t. I thought Debbie might have thought one of the debate participants was Anne Laurie herself. Totally missed references to AshLee. No harm, no foul.
MisterForkbeard
@Steve in the ATL: This thread needs more beer in recognition of this fact.
Ohio Mom
I read the first I dunno, about 100 replies to AshLee’s tweet and she is getting reamed.
A lot of the comments start along the lines of “I’m from (fill in a State) and I’m mocking you.” The message being, This isn’t a weird trend, we are legion.
Almost makes me wish I had a twitter account and could join in the piling on.
Gin & Tonic
@Ohio Mom: You know they’re free, right?
Patricia Kayden
@Brachiator:
Trump’s policies, demeanor, lies, bullying and general incompetence will be factors for Americans as we vote in November. Democrats should tie him around the necks of each and every Republican opponent. Not very hard to do given how much they have rallied around his defense and are helping his (futile) effort to thwart Mueller’s investigation.
Mike in NC
That $1000 wouldn’t buy three bottles of Lyin’ Ryan’s favorite wine. Sad!
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
The “she” was AshLee Strong (the first tweet up top) who is Ryan’s press secretary. Apologies for not being clearer about that.
debbie
@SiubhanDuinne:
Reading downthread, we’re all wrong! ;)
Amir Khalid
@dmsilev:
I made it through a few more paragraphs. It just keeps on getting loopier. I really think that you and your colleagues should put together a greatest-hits collection from these submissions and publish it. These are worrying times, and we could all use the comedy relief.
MomSense
I think Fuck You Paul Ryan is the Republican I hate the most. He is so pleased with himself at the prospect of causing human misery. That he considers his cruelty to be moral is loathsome.
And he has the kind of face for which guillotines were made.
Brachiator
@Patricia Kayden: RE: Trump is not running in the November 2018 elections.
Some places this might work. Elsewhere it’s about the local politicians.
debbie
@MomSense:
He always has a smug face, no matter what he’s talking about. I think his true spirit animal is Eddie Haskell.
SiubhanDuinne
@debbie:
Got it! Thanks. Gendered pronouns have a lot to answer for.
Jeffro
Just a reminder that within the past week or so Trump has referred to Democrats in Congress, the media, and the FBI as “un-American” and “treasonous”.
Pizzagate Shooting II is, unfortunately, right around the corner.
Patricia Kayden
@Major Major Major Major: Sadly yes. Hopefully, Russian interference won’t be able to swing the mid term election in Republicans’ favor this November. My only question is will some Trump supporters finally get a clue when Ryan goes through with his granny starving plot to take away their Social Security and Medicare.
Fair Economist
@Brachiator:
No, but, bluntly, Americans don’t understand much about how the government works. Midterm elections are primarily about the President in spite of the fact he’s not running. Even state elections are heavily influenced by opinions of the President these days.
MomSense
@debbie:
He’s the worst.
Mnemosyne
@dmsilev:
If you ever get to the Museum of Jurassic Technology in Culver City, one of the displays is of a selection of the nutty letters the astronomers at Mt. Wilson have received over the years.
Though it’s sometimes hard to tell what’s real and what isn’t at the MJT (it’s basically a giant art installation commenting on natural history museums), I’m pretty sure all of the letters they use are real.
efgoldman
@Patricia Kayden:
i don’t think he can. He MAY be able to squeeze it thru the house (possibly in a lame duck session), but it’s filibusterable in the senate. No way Dems let it thru
Redshift
@Brachiator:
He wasn’t on the ballot in Virginia in November, either, but people didn’t come out in huge numbers just to vote against Ed Gillespie.
donnah
Also a Miami-Ohio grad, BFA, 1980. While we had a fair share of the party school reputation, no school in Ohio can hold a candle to Ohio University (not THE Ohio State University). They have the title.
Steeplejack
@SiubhanDuinne:
Debbie got something wrong. AshLee Strong is from Montana and went to college there. And, as G&T said, he was referring to Paul Ryan anyway.
terry chay
@Brachiator:
True, but Trumpism is. There is a difference, and, as pointed out in this article, it is quite possible that this formula will turn the midterms from “sea change” to “D landslide” (though I’m of the opinion the only way it will go from “landslide” to “unprecedented D landslide” is if the bottom falls out of the economy).
Steeplejack
@Steeplejack:
Helpful note: Just because Anne Laurie puts some tweets in apposition in her posts doesn’t mean that the tweets are actually responding to one another.
Ohio Mom
@Gin & Tonic: I can just see myself on twitter, roaming around and being snide and obnoxious, picking fights. — which is what I guess is what most people do, but I don’t think it will be a good look for me.
Omnes Omnibus
@Steve in the ATL: Mine started in Cole’s hometown. I am sure that means something.
Ohio Mom
@efgoldman: I am always less worried about Social Security and Medicare than I am about Medicaid surviving this era intact.
J R in WV
@SiubhanDuinne:
I never attended the school, but West Virginia University has consistently placed #1 or #2 in party school rankings since I can remember. I did visit friends in school there, many relatives and friends attended and graduated there including my parents.
The admin hates that reputation!!
Shana
@donnah: Kind of like Southern Illinois University’s (Carbondale) reputation compared to University of Illinois’s (Champaign-Urbana). God knows (or at least I know) UofI had a good amount of partying, but SIU had the rep. At least during the late 70s and early 80s.
Shana
@terry chay: My former congressman Tom Davis (R) who retired in 2010 when he smartly saw the Tea Party surge and said “To hell with that”, recently gave an interview to The Hill where he said a good night for the GOP will be a loss of 12 seats. A bad night will be a loss of 40 seats. He thinks it will be a bad night. The interviewer said he thought it would be worse than 40 seats.
Omnes Omnibus
@J R in WV: They don’t look at the D-III schools. Many private LACs can hold their own on a per capita basis against the big schools. Ask Steve in the ATL.
Steve in the ATL
@J R in WV: I remember a WVU coed’s quote in the ’80’s: “People think we’re just a bunch of drunken hillbillies…they’re probably right!”
Steve in the ATL
@Omnes Omnibus: @J R in WV: Omnes speaks the truth. There is a serious work hard/play hard culture at many of these private liberal arts colleges. Many of which are located outside of urban areas and carry strict honor codes, so rather than restaurants and bars there are just private parties (perhaps at OO’s beloved Delt house, par example–the Down Town Daddies!) where the bourbon flows almost as freely as the beer. I’m still hungover from tequila night at the Beta house in 1986.
Jacel
@Steve in the ATL: Fourth!
Jacel
@Fair Economist: I wish that Obama pretended to run for reelection in 2010 and 2014. It might have brought out a lot of Democratic voters to vote for candidates actually on the ballot in those midterns.