General Political Thread 2013

www.nytimes.com/2012/12/23/opinion/sunday/friedman-send-in-the-clowns.html?partner=rssnyt&emc=rss&_r=0

"WHEN thinking about the state of the Republican Party, I defer to a point that the Democratic consultant James Carville made the other day: “When I hear people talking about the troubled state of today’s Republican Party, it calls to mind something Lester Maddox said one time back when he was governor of Georgia. He said the problem with Georgia prisons was ‘the quality of the inmates.’ The problem with the Republican Party is the quality of the people who vote in their primaries and caucuses. Everybody says they need a better candidate, or they need a better message but — in my opinion — the Republicans have an inmate problem.” The political obsessions of the Republican base — from denying global warming to defending assault weapons to opposing any tax increases under any conditions, to resisting any immigration reform — are making it impossible to be a Republican moderate, said Carville. And without more Republican moderates, there is no way to strike the kind of centrist bargains that have been at the heart of American progress — that got us where we are and are essential for where we need to go."

8:02 p.m. ET - CNN's Dana Bash reports the House will vote on the Senate bill without amendments Tuesday night at 9 p.m. ET, according to a senior House GOP leadership. If it passes the House, the bill will then move on to the president's desk.

Ok, they need to just do this and stop acting like petulant 12 year olds.

I don't like it, but without a deal my household loses 1/2 it's income due to unemployment being cut, and I lose my house. I have too big a horse in this race to get on my soapbox for this one.

Here in Massachusetts, it's close to a done deal that retiring House Rep. Barney Frank(D) is going to be the interim replacement for John Kerry's senate seat. I only hope that he decides to run for the seat in June.

You should tell your parents that 16 out of 20 of the leading welfare consuming states are republican led/red states.

Yeah, he's gonna be the one who runs, but I can hold out(with no hope) for Frank. Who's gonna take witty digs at the GOP after he's gone from government?

I also hope Markey has what it takes to beat Scott Brown. He wasn't on my shortlist of potential candidates. I have my fingers crossed he can run a good campaign and not pull a Martha Coakley on us.

Frank wasn't perfect but he was one of the good guys.

I realize you're gucking with me but there are only a few IMO. There are a lot of people I disagree with but respect because they're honest and intellectually consistent. But sometimes it seems like LD thinks everyone is the enemy, which can't be true.

Frank for instance, whatever your opinion of the entire Dodd Frank bill, was instrumental in getting the Volcker rule passed (which I suspect LD favors and is one of the key provisions in the bill) and also played a huge role in getting DADT repealed.

I trust him to navigate the next couple months in the interest of the citizens of Massachusetts. There's no one else I want representing us during the debt ceiling debate, personally.

And is it so much to ask for some Wall St. crooks and the politicians they paid off to go to jail? Seriously, we got a lot of worthy candidates who belong in jail. The entire Republican party for starters.

Ooo.. Biden

I cant wrap my head around this mentality....absolutely twisted!

I mean, even taken at face value, the answer is "Yes, the President's kids are more important than yours. Sorry."

As an aside, this style of advertising is really annoying. I believe Ford were the first to do it with their Dennis Leary/F-150/other-car-companies-are-feminine campaign, and I've seen it used in numerous other ads over the past couple of years. It's not that advertisers are held to a high standard or anything, but anytime I see this style used, I laugh about how poorly it comes off.