US Politics - The Nuclear Option goes pfft

[awesome possum]

These statistics are what every Democrat should be hammering home on the road to next November.

(Since 2010 Republicans) introduced:

1. 44 bills on abortion (one just the other day reaffirming existing legislation on this subject)
   
2. 99 on religion
   
3. 71 on family relationships
   
4. 36 on marriage
   
5. 67 on firearms and gun control
   
6. 552 on taxation—and though most were to reduce taxes, there have been no significant changes on tax law with all time invested and bills introduced
   
7. 445 bills on “government investigations”
   
8. 0 jobs bills.
   

Didn't they run on and have their "historic" and "mandated" win in 2010 based on job creation?

[Shryke]

For what little it might be worth, there has been an MSM blurb or two lately to the effect that Bachmanns entire New Hampshire staff up and quit without giving notice. Bachmanns 'core' staff apparently didn't know about this until later, and when they did find out, apparently lied about it. Commentators on MSN are saying that this is not that important because she is going all out for an Iowa strategy.

Maybe her campaign is self destructing?

Yeah, I've heard this a bunch too.

It's not really surprising. Perry entering the race hamstrung her so bad, her kids can't walk.

[Shryke]

Nevade backs on, meaning the GOP Primaries might not start till 2012!!!

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/22/nevada-g-o-p-relents-on-early-primary/

The Nevada Republican Party decided on Saturday to push back the date of its presidential caucuses to Feb. 4, a move that brings a sense of order to an otherwise chaotic primary calendar and keeps New Hampshire from scheduling its voting before the New Year.

The Republican National Committee had implored Nevada to reconsider its decision to hold the caucuses on Jan. 14, and the Nevada Republican central committee agreed on Saturday.

“We just basically want to be the adults in the room here,” said Amy Tarkanian, the Nevada Republican chairwoman. “This is not a matter of New Hampshire being a bully or telling us what to do.”

The decision represented a victory for the New Hampshire secretary of state, William M. Gardner, who had threatened to schedule his state’s primary in December. He is now expected to set the primary for Jan. 10, one week after the Iowa caucuses that are scheduled to kick off the Republican nominating contest on Jan. 3.

But looks like Mitt's been a bad boy:

Nevada’s initial plan to hold its caucuses on January came, in part, at the request of the Mitt Romney campaign. But the decision touched off a wave of controversy, including pledges by most of the Republican candidates to boycott the Nevada caucuses.

I wonder if this will effect him in NH and Iowa.

[alguien]

Thought this might be the appropriate thread to post this Onion article, a great Paul Krugman Halloween spoof:

This Sure Is A Spooky Time For The Economy by Paul Krugman

Greetings…it's your favorite dead-itorial writer, Paul "Bearer" Krugman, here to talk to you again about some rather, shall we say, chilling developments in the national economy. Ah, yes, it is a very dark and stormy night indeed for our financial system, dear readers, the kind of night that sends shivers up one's spine and sends the national unemployment rate soaring to nearly 10 percent. So curl up under your covers, and keep the candlelight close, because I will now tell a tale of economic woe so terrifying it may just make your hair stand on end.

...

Sometimes I lie awake in bed having frightful nightmares about the demons and monsters that creep and crawl through Wall Street. Even holy water can't ward off these depraved madmen, I'm afraid. I ask you, how long must the American people pay for the spooktacular failures of the Bush administration? Until we find a way to wrest power away from the top 1 percent favored by the Bush-era tax cuts, I'm afraid we may be headed for a grave calamity that would make John Maynard Keynes himself spin in his coffin…

:laugh:

[lokisnow]

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12485

Shows that a reverse Robin Hood has been in effect since Reagan. Rob from the poor to give to the rich. ;)

[Horza]

I'm sure there will be a relatively strong contingent of 'military contractors' left behind.

Still.. good news.....

Yeah, 5,000 hired soldiers under State Department command to secure the largest embassy on the planet with no legal immunity. That's going to be a barrel of laughs.

[Lord O' Bones]

Yeah, 5,000 hired soldiers under State Department command to secure the largest embassy on the planet with no legal immunity. That's going to be a barrel of laughs.

Speaking as a military contractor, we are the enemy, and no mistake. You want to fix this country, we should be number two against the wall (or in therapy for you gentle types) after the reckless financiers.

[Horza]

I'm pretty sure most Iraqis feel the same way, which is the more immediate worry there.

[tzanth]

I dont know if this has been posted yet, but apparently Mitt Romney is a big fan of The Yeard. :ack:

Don't know if Tairy would be pleased that a presidential candidate reads his books, or disgusted at the support of such an effete spouter of jibber-jabber.

[Shryke]

Less then 24 hours. Romney's spine is getting more maliable with age:

Mitt Romney apologized Wednesday for declining to take a position on a ballot question in Ohio that would uphold a law rolling back collective bargaining rights for public employees.

"I'm sorry if I created any confusion in that regard," Romney said at a Fairfax event to rally support for Virginia Republicans ahead of their state and local elections next month. "I fully support Gov. [John] Kasich's, I think it's called Question 2."

The previous day Romney had refused to say that he supported the measure despite repeated questioning, even though he had already come out in support of the law -- which is actually titled Issue 2 -- earlier this year.

"I am not speaking about the particular ballot issues," Romney said during the visit to Ohio Tuesday. "Those are up to the people of Ohio."

http://www.huffingto...kusaolp00000008

He shows up at the phone bank to stop the repeal of the union-busting law, says he's not for it but not against it, gets torn apart, is 110% in favour of union-busting the next morning!

[Shryke]

Also, kids these days....

The last week of August was a very generous one at the Smitherman household in Austin, Texas. Barry Smitherman had recently been appointed commissioner of the Texas Railroad Commission by Gov. Rick Perry, following a stint as chairman of the Texas Public Utility Commission. That week, Smitherman, his wife Marijane, and three of their four children each donated thousands of dollars to Rick Perry's presidential campaign.

Barry, Marijane, and their son Wyatt, a sophomore at Texas A&M University, donated the maximum allowed, $2,500, according to campaign finance disclosures. Their only daughter, who appears to be of middle school age judging from her dad's campaign website, also donated $2,500. And one of her brothers, who is a junior in high school according to his Twitter feed, donated $1,000. Smitherman declined to respond to questions from The Huffington Post about whether the money belonged to his children or to him.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/25/perry-2012-donations-children_n_1030771.html

[Shryke]

Romney is trying to save his persona for the general election by not going Tea Party. Or at least he is until he feels too much pressure and caves, but he'd prefer if he could somehow win the nomination without having to move too far right.

Romney is willing to say, do and be whatever it takes to get him to the Oval Office.

Sadly, the one thing he can't ditch (being Republican) may be the biggest thing in his way.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

I have some sympathy for Romney in that Ohio ballot issue. The underlying law they're essentially trying to repeal (which is confusing itself given that you vote "yes" if you don't want to repeal) was drafted pretty poorly. I support the principle, but they could have passed a much better law.

[Shryke]

A group of gay active and retired military personnel who are married sued the federal government Thursday for the same benefits as straight military couples, arguing it's a matter of justice and national security.

The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Boston says the government's Defense of Marriage Act violates their constitutional rights and asks the military to recognize their marriages and provide spousal benefits.

Under the federal Defense of Marriage Act, the Pentagon is required to ignore same-sex marriages, which are legal in six states and Washington D.C. and were legal for a time in California.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/gay-lesbian-service-members-sue-government-14825501

And the inevitable challenge to DOMA begins!

[TrackerNeil]

Romney is willing to say, do and be whatever it takes to get him to the Oval Office.

Sadly, the one thing he can't ditch (being Republican) may be the biggest thing in his way.

Well, keep in mind that these days it can be difficult to keep track of just what positions/policies a Republican may support and which he/she must eschew. What's on the approved list today might be anathema tomorrow. The individual mandate is one such policy; Social Security is another.

And, of course, Mitt Romney is just a toad who will adopt whatever position is necessary for election.

[Tempra]

The details are trickling in on the student loan thing, but don't take any of this to the bank as it's still not well-understood.

It sounds like it's:

1) Just a speeding up of a law that was already on the books for 2014 to come to 2012.

2) Not that many people are likely to be eligible. It matters what loans you have, when you got them, whether or not you're getting more, and other stuff.

I thought for a second I might be eligible, but I'm probably not. It sounds like it's targeted mostly at people who are in undergrad as we speak. Stay tuned for more details.

This is my understanding as well. The change does nothing for graduates saddled with debt.

I am not sure what the government can do, frankly. I think the best (realistically speaking) outcome is allowing graduates to refinance student loans at a reduced rate.

[lokisnow]

my stafford loans dropped below 50% of principle this last week, which coincidentally also finished paying off my loans for my freshman and sophmore years (those two years were slightly less than half, but the payment pushed me over both. Currently they're at 3.75% with about 10.5k left to pay off, so refinancing would be nice but not huge, it earns about $8 interest per week. My Fiancee, however, just graduated law school with six figures of debt, so refinancing that would be amazing. as even a half percentage point reduction would result in huge reductions in interest.

[Tempra]

my stafford loans dropped below 50% of principle this last week, which coincidentally also finished paying off my loans for my freshman and sophmore years (those two years were slightly less than half, but the payment pushed me over both. Currently they're at 3.75% with about 10.5k left to pay off, so refinancing would be nice but not huge, it earns about $8 interest per week. My Fiancee, however, just graduated law school with six figures of debt, so refinancing that would be amazing. as even a half percentage point reduction would result in huge reductions in interest.

Yeah, grad loans at 6-8% are highway robbery.

[Ormond]

http://abcnews.go.co...rnment-14825501

And the inevitable challenge to DOMA begins!

This is far from the first legal challenge to DOMA.

http://www.lgbtqnation.com/2011/06/court-rules-doma-unconstitutional-in-bankruptcy-case-of-gay-couple/

http://www.metroweekly.com/poliglot/2011/08/doj-tells-court-that-edith-win.html

http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2010/07/08/106728/mass-doma-case/

There are so many different cases on there way through the courts that it's almost a certainly the SCOTUS will have to eventually make a ruling on this.

[Former Lord of Winterfell]

Yeah, grad loans at 6-8% are highway robbery.

Lenders compete. If those rates really are outrageous, then you should be able to get a better rate just on a general loan, rather than specifically for student debt.