Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Thad]

I think you're making a serious mistake in positing that we should give a goddamn what the tea partiers think; trying to appeal to the far-right fringe is a big part of what's killing the Democrats.

Yes, there needs to be an answer to groundswells like the tea parties.  But that answer is not "convince the tea partiers to vote Democratic".  It's the same winning strategy as "Keep watering bills down so Rush Limbaugh will stop calling you a socialist."

[Dooly]

Well, saying "fuck 'em" about those sorts of people was pretty much what caused the Civil War, wasn't it?

[Thad]

Rather an extreme example, and not exactly one with a right answer.  If I say it was the right thing to do then it'll sound like I'm saying we should have another Civil War, but on the other hand you're not about to get me to say Lincoln should have tried to negotiate and build consensus.  There are some things you don't fucking compromise on.

[Brentai]

Like assassination.

[Pacobird]

Sherman's March to Rural Kentucky

[PhoenixUltima]

At least Oregon's democrats held up fairly well. I'd say "God bless Oregon" but, y'know, atheist.

[Mongrel]

Also, didn't the Tea Party write themselves out of Alaska, now that the the Senate seat winner is the former Republican-turned-independent? (Can't recall the name.)

I mean, I know it's Alaska, so nobody cares, but it's still a seat.

[Pacobird]

Lisa Murkowski.


You know those "corrupt, good-old-boy Republicans" everyone crowed about how Palin went after when she was nominated for VP?  They were talking about her dad.  Palin rallied tea partiers in Alaska to primary Murkowski, a consistently-conservative senator in a totally safe seat, for basically no other reason than that they are political and personal enemies.  Murkowski then started a write-in campaign, probably on the argument that if the tea party actually gets what it wants everybody in Alaska will starve to death.

So no, I don't think Murkowski's going to hang left as a result of getting primaried but I would be surprised if she weren't on the front lines of the GOP's internal power struggle (whatever the consequences of that may be).

[Thad]

Murkowski.

TECHNICALLY they haven't read all the write-ins, but we know they outnumber Miller votes by enough that she's almost certainly got it.

At any rate, she's still a Republican.  She's more moderate than Miller, but in practice she's been just as much an obstructionist as he would be.

[HERE COMES A NEW REPLY]

...Yeah, what Paco said.

I'm curious as to whether the Republicans will trip all over each other to kiss her ass like the Democrats did with Lieberman under similar circumstances.  But I have a hunch they won't.

I DO think there's trouble brewing between the Tea Party and the establishment, and it's going to be a big deal come '012.  But for now, at least, they're all on the same side.

[Shinra]

I think it'd be hilarious to see conservatives shoot themselves with a tea party candidate in 2012. I don't think they have a chance of winning regardless, but seeing a 50/30/20 split would be about the best thing ever.

Rather an extreme example, and not exactly one with a right answer.  If I say it was the right thing to do then it'll sound like I'm saying we should have another Civil War, but on the other hand you're not about to get me to say Lincoln should have tried to negotiate and build consensus.  There are some things you don't fucking compromise on.

I want to point out that Lincoln hadn't even begun to write policy when the south seceded, and many historians agree that he probably never would have ended slavery outright if he hadn't needed an excuse to conscript liberated slaves.

To be fair, if my region was utterly marginalized by the electoral college, I'd probably be pretty pissed off too. But the south of the 1800s and the south of today are pretty vastly different things, and the tea party claims of 'we don't have representation in government' are pretty laughable, since the nation seems to usually split roughly down the middle in political bents.

[Burrito Al Pastor]

They have representation in government insasmuch as any individual nonwealthy American citizen does. (Namely, representation of your choice between two similarly useless parties.)

[Mongrel]

Remember that Oklahoman ballot initiative on religious law?

Way to go, retards

The Oklahoma ballot measure orders judges not to consider Islamic or international law when deciding cases.

But Rick Tepker, a law professor at the University of Oklahoma School of Law believes the "Save Our State" constitutional amendment may have the unwanted side effect of preventing judges from referencing the Ten Commandments. Tepker called the measure "a mess."

"Many of us who understand the law are scratching our heads this morning, laughing so we don't cry," he told CNN. "I would like to see Oklahoma politicians explain if this means that the courts can no longer consider the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that a precept of another culture and another nation? The result of this is that judges aren’t going to know when and how they can look at sources of American law that were international law in origin."

[Smiler]

That won't change much, because the same people who are afraid of Muslims are also the people who believe that this is the United States of Jesusland. The Ten Commandments are a part of OUR COUNTRY!

[Shinra]

Did I mention yet that we voted no to increase our per-student spending past 49th in the country, but voted yes to set a huge pile of money on fire in a court battle with the federal government to opt out of health care that we can never actually win because the supreme court already said states couldn't opt out of health care?

Oklahoma politicians are completely fucking spineless. The republican party is overwhelmingly dominant here (big surprise) but right now every incumbent is shitting their pants trying to avoid primary challenges from even further right republicans or tea party candidates, so a bunch of different laws that should have been voted on by the state legislature ended up as ballot questions this year, so we can blame our voters for being morons rather than our politicians. There was no safe way to vote on some of these initiatives, the health care opt out one esp., given that voting against it would have implied support of health care reform (rather than not wanting to piss away money on an unwinnable battle) and voting for it would have been a vote for wasteful spending.

Fuck everyone in this state, really. I think when I get my CDL and some money together, I'll rent a cheapo apartment in another state just so I can claim residency somewhere else.

[Mongrel]

"This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed."
—Newly-elected Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) is outraged that his government health care plan doesn't kick in for a month. Attending a benefits session for new members, Harris, who ran on a platform of opposition to Barack Obama's health plan, "stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care…. Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap."

EDITED BY THAD to include source.

[Mongrel]

Oh hey, I though I'd provided the source link. Whoops!

Thanks, I suppose!

[Shinra]

"This is the only employer I’ve ever worked for where you don’t get coverage the first day you are employed."
—Newly-elected Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD) is outraged that his government health care plan doesn't kick in for a month. Attending a benefits session for new members, Harris, who ran on a platform of opposition to Barack Obama's health plan, "stood up and asked the two ladies who were answering questions why it had to take so long, what he would do without 28 days of health care…. Harris then asked if he could purchase insurance from the government to cover the gap."

EDITED BY THAD to include source.

Solid proof that republicans don't live in reality. Has anyone here (you know, the working class) ever worked a job where it took less than 90 days for insurance coverage to start? I know I sure as fuck haven't.

I worked one job where it would have been a six month wait if I'd become a permanent hire.

[Pacobird]

the suspicious thing about privilege is that once you see it somewhere you start seeing it everywhere

[MarsDragon]

Solid proof that republicans don't live in reality. Has anyone here (you know, the working class) ever worked a job where it took less than 90 days for insurance coverage to start? I know I sure as fuck haven't.

I worked one job where it would have been a six month wait if I'd become a permanent hire.

I'm pretty sure I have coverage with HP right now. At least, they made me sign up for health benefits within 30 days of hire for 2010 and a couple weeks later for 2011 and I got a big package in the mail about my medical benefits. I haven't actually tried to test it by going to a doctor yet.

But I somehow lucked into a really good job or something, so I bet I'm not normal.

[Shinra]

they usually have you sign up for benefits immediately, but benefits usually don't kick in until after your first quarter of employment. You might want to talk to human resources personnel before you find yourself in a medical emergency and realize you don't actually have health insurance.