Busy Monday here — you?
Read a fucking book.
mistermix has been a Balloon Juice writer since 2010.
Captain Obvious Checking In
Rubio: House GOP likely to kill immigration reform:
Last week, some notable GOP lawmakers said their government shutdown effectively killed the immigration billâs prospects. Yesterday, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) echoed their arguments.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio (R) said that President Obamaâs handling of the 16-day government shutdown has made the path to reforming the countryâs immigration system more difficult.
Republicansâ lack of trust for the president, Rubio said on âFox News Sunday,â makes the prospect of a final bill bleaker than ever.
That’s this week’s excuse. Next week’s will be something to do with the White House vegetable garden and Michelle. The week after, it will be Bo’s turn.
The House GOP was never, ever going to vote for immigration reform. The only way for the House as a whole to pass the Senate’s bill would be for Boehner to put the bill on the floor so Democrats could join the few Republicans who aren’t part of the nativist rump of the GOP in a bi-partisan vote for reform. If last week showed anything, it proved that the only thing that will make Boehner bring something to the floor for a bi-partisan vote is the spectre of sure, immediate and catastrophic national ruin. Immigration reform doesn’t live up to that standard, so it ain’t gonna happen. The end.
Freedom Isn’t Free
We asked him about the people who say he’s lost their vote; people like retired veterans who were on the verge of losing their disability checks next month.
He said the stalemate in Washington was necessary to achieve party goals.
“I feel like my mandate when I was elected was to go reduce the size of government, lower taxes, and increase freedom, and freedom isn’t free, and sometimes you have to make a small sacrifice to move forward with what you’re after,” Congressman Farenthold said.
In 2010, Farenthold won an 799 vote squeaker over long-time Democratic Rep Solomon Ortiz in a district that stretched from Corpus Christi to Brownsville and was 70% Hispanic. In 2012, re-districting moved Brownsville and other southern counties out of the district and added in some rural northern counties to make TX-27 a R+13 safe seat, and Farenthold won 57-39. His new district is just under 50% Hispanic and majority minority (55%), so pissing off veterans is probably not in Blake’s best interests, but he’ll probably survive the next election if he learns to shut his fucking mouth. That said, this should be an interesting district to watch for voter suppression, and the effect of doing nothing on immigration reform.
It’s easy to say “50 state strategy” and talk about fighting in districts like TX-27 but think about the task of recruiting and fundraising. If you’re running for this seat, you’re essentially waiting for lightning to strike. In a target-rich environment like 2014, the DCCC isn’t going to put money into a R+13 when there are so many swing districts up for grabs. Farenthold can raise a couple million bucks by virtue of being a Member of Congress. Your job is going to involve a year of begging for money to raise probably 1/3 of what Farenthold can. As you raise that pittance, which is just enough to hire a couple of staff and get some ads on the air, you’ll have to put thousands of miles on your car traveling the district to address whatever social clubs and party gatherings will hear you. It’s a year or 18 months of hard labor, bad food, little sleep, taking shit from mouthy Republicans, kissing babies and kissing ass, all with the almost certain reward of being crushed in November.
Open Thread: Watch Agains
Last night Dr. Strangelove was on TCM and I watched it for at least the 10th time. Ripper’s precious bodily fluids monologue was the highlight of this watching–the cinematography, Sterling Hayden’s performance, and the writing are all spot-on. If only someone would script and film one of Ted Cruz’ speeches as well as Kubrick did this one, some shit might be turned into art. So what are some movies that you can watch again and again? I’ll have a drink of grain alcohol and spring water, and you mix yourself whatever you want for this open thread.
The Right Relationship is Everything
JP Morgan Chase is heading towards a $13 billion fine, plus:
While the deal would put those civil cases to rest, it would not save JPMorgan from a parallel criminal inquiry from federal prosecutors in California, the people briefed on the talks said. Under the terms of the preliminary deal, the people said, the bank would also have to assist prosecutors with an investigation into former employees who helped create the mortgage investments.
JP Morgan has set aside $9.2 billion in legal fees for its various troubles, and has budgeted $23 billion for litigation and settlement costs overall.. I just turned on Meet the Republicans for a few minutes and Maria Bartiromo informed me that this kind of over-regulation is killing the economy. Looking at these numbers, it’s obviously that if JPM didn’t have to deal with pesky regulators and fines, they could do so much more good for our economy than they’ve already done in the last half-dozen or so years.
Death Panels are in the Past, Let’s Move On
The obvious thing is that the Republicans totally stepped on their own chances of pointing out what a clusterfuck the Obamacare rollout is. They’ve never had a coherent narrative of just what was wrong with Obamacare, and when actual problems materialized they looked away for some reason.
I’d have to consult a psychiatrist or a circus owner to get an expert opinion, but I have a couple of unschooled guesses why the Obamacare rollout isn’t occupying banner headlines on Fox and shooting to the top of Memeorandum.
First, the right is dealing with an audience that’s been told that Obamacare will lead to an end of the American way of life as we know it, create panels that determine whether you live or die, and make you stand in line for hours to get even a band-aid from some doctor (not your own) toiling under the thumb of faceless bureaucrats. Compared to all that, a website that crashes or takes a long time to complete an enrollment is almost a good news story.
Second, if you start talking about exchanges having trouble signing people up, you must acknowledge the fact that people are signing up. If you acknowledge that, you acknowledge that a four year effort to kill off Obamacare has amounted to precisely nothing.
It’s similar to the messaging on gay marriage. The right spent years telling us that same sex marriage would lead to people marrying dogs or turtles. None of their dire predictions panned out, and they’re losing that fight pretty decisively. So, instead of reporting every food poisoning incident at a gay wedding reception, they’re looking for the next threat to the white, straight American way of life. Goldline isn’t going to pay for ads on a network reporting about petty inconveniences — it’s only the threat of impending apocalypse that moves product.
Death Panels are in the Past, Let’s Move OnPost + Comments (107)
Morning Crazy
Reader JB sends this re-telling of Obama’s press briefing (original here), and if you want to sample some wingnut tears, here’s a taste:
âStop listening to the evil assholes who, with their voices or their pens or their computers or their activism, continue to fight my attempt to fundamentally transform this wretched capitalistic country. That flawed document you crackers all fetishize, the Constitution, and the rich white slave owners who drafted the ridiculous and largely obstructionist thing, would want you to do just that: shut up and let the professional political class manage you like the filthy herd animals you are. Economic units arenât supposed to talk back. So know your place, tea-tards.
My only quibble is that “tea-tard” should not be hyphenated.
In the same vein, James Fallows has posted a massive load of correspondence with “Atlas Shrugged Guy”, the person who wrote him immediately after the 2012 election and announced he was going Galt. Almost two years a year later, the world is still going to hell in a bucket, to hear his telling, but he’s apparently still in business and doing as well as he ever has. As with most of the big-talking Galt goers, he’s evasive about how he’s really doing.