Groundskeeper is gonna be upset about that, I imagine.

9/4/2014 6:23:53 PM

Surprise surprise none of you ridiculous hacks would show any outrage over this gutless turd on immigration.

Democrats would hate to lose the Senate over something silly like righteousness after all.

9/7/2014 12:55:46 AM

It's a dangerous strategy. On the one hand, it gives democratic politicians some breathing room.

On the other hand, it creates an opening for Republicans to swoop in and save the day (lol).

It's a characteristic lack of gumption on Obama's part.

9/7/2014 1:03:47 AM

He's just doing the same thing that Harry Reid is doing, avoiding tough votes. It's sad, and I imagine a 'pub would do the same thing in this political environment. Yet another example of why this country is fucked.

9/7/2014 4:14:12 PM

No no no, he's the best.

Let TSB tell you why.

9/7/2014 10:51:17 PM

Shrike and eyewall41 are really his only fans here

9/8/2014 9:32:39 AM

Yeah I know, I'm supposed to be a good liberal and hate him for the NSA, drone murders, and "Kowtowing to Wall Street". I like to think I can see the forest through trees. Maybe I learned something from the GOP over the years, shit never gets accomplished if you eat your own.

9/8/2014 12:03:32 PM

^

He's still doing a better job on most things than Romney would have, and definitely better than any of the current GOP front runners.

9/8/2014 12:07:19 PM

I actually think Romney would have been a lot better (just not any of the people he would have brought with him)

Quote :

"Maybe I learned something from the GOP over the years, shit never gets accomplished if you eat your own."

but if at least one of those items is one of the main things you want him to do, one of the main things that needs to be done for the sake of the country, you still wouldn't be disappointed?

[Edited on September 8, 2014 at 12:21 PM. Reason : .]

9/8/2014 12:19:56 PM

I think Romney would have been a shameless corporatist shill, which is the worst thing to have economically right now.

It's hard for me to say on Iraq, but i'd think Romney would have had an increased US presence at least.

[Edited on September 8, 2014 at 12:23 PM. Reason : ]

9/8/2014 12:23:05 PM

I don't disagree that that's what he would have done, I just think he would have acted that way because of the people he would have surrounded himself with.

I think their policies would have been very similar, but Romney would have done much better with political theater

[Edited on September 8, 2014 at 1:07 PM. Reason : .]

9/8/2014 12:55:03 PM

Quote :

" Yeah I know, I'm supposed to be a good liberal and hate him for the NSA, drone murders, and "Kowtowing to Wall Street". I like to think I can see the forest through trees. Maybe I learned something from the GOP over the years, shit never gets accomplished if you eat your own."

You can make the argument that Nixon was more liberal than Obama, precisely because of the "good little liberals" who opposed him. EPA, car legislation, etc. all happened under his presidency because of the power that the left wielded.

So, I don't buy your argument that you should mindlessly support a loser just to keep the big bad conservatives out from hiding underneath you're bed.

Obama is a pussy, dude. You gotta pull him in your direction, otherwise he'll only respond to the criticism from the right.

9/8/2014 2:16:53 PM

0%

Quote :

"The White House believes that Congress’s 2002 authorization of the Iraq war — and not just the 2001 authorization to fight Al Qaeda — provides a legal justification for President Obama’s air campaign against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, the Obama administration said Friday."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/13/world/americas/obama-sees-iraq-resolution-as-a-legal-basis-for-airstrikes-official-says.html?ref=world

9/14/2014 1:52:35 AM

You can't really be surprised by this. Obama has pretty much given up any pretense of caring about the Constitution or checks and balances, and 48-49% of the people in the US will lap up whatever he says about it anyway.

9/14/2014 9:52:35 PM

http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2014/09/12/239712_new-sparks-fly-between-cia-senate.html?rh=1

Any chance Obama shows some spine and does something about Brennan? I'm guessing absolutely not.

9/15/2014 10:22:31 PM

9/16/2014 12:31:01 AM

I truly believe that America should stay out of these affairs, and any actions that it does on the contrary justifiably gives foreigners a reason to vilify the USA.

9/16/2014 3:00:50 AM

Pretty much, yup. Not to mention the tremendous damage that perpetual war does to our society.

9/16/2014 4:54:21 AM

^^^Maybe ISIS should take a look at that ratio and rethink their beheadings.

1.7 million to 3k? Odds aren't looking good for them. But you are incorrect on the 3k, because thousands more Americans lost their lives in the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. So find those numbers and then update your meme.

[Edited on September 16, 2014 at 8:09 AM. Reason : adfa]

9/16/2014 8:08:18 AM

as long as we are making comparisons, it's still probably less than the number of gun deaths in a major city over the same time period

9/16/2014 8:25:09 AM

Quote :

"You can't really be surprised by this. Obama has pretty much given up any pretense of caring about the Constitution or checks and balances, and 48-49% of the people in the US will lap up whatever he says about it anyway."

Or maybe "cleaning up bullshit directly resulting from the war" counts as the same war. I don't know.

I actually think we should cut our losses and gtfo but I don't think this argument is unreasonable.

9/16/2014 9:52:47 AM

has anyone mentioned our 3000 ebola troopers?

9/16/2014 10:41:07 AM

https://www.aclu.org/blog/national-security-human-rights/fear-isis-triggers-double-threat-checks-and-balances

I can't understand why the Obama admin is invoking the aumf? At best, it would make republicans who supported bush more likely to support this new military action. But it doesn't seem like it apples to Isis, and it seems like there are other statutes that could clear them to attack Isis.

I wonder how Clinton got around congressional approval for using the military before aumf...

9/16/2014 11:24:58 AM

Clinton used a lot of military contractors

9/16/2014 11:32:49 AM

Quote :

"Or maybe "cleaning up bullshit directly resulting from the war" counts as the same war. I don't know. I actually think we should cut our losses and gtfo but I don't think this argument is unreasonable."

By this logic though, no president since Bush 1 would have needed congressional authorization to use military force in Iraq. I don't think that's a path we want to go down. I mean I get the idea that you need some degree of latitude, obviously just because you kill Osama doesn't mean all use of force ends right there. At the same time, there has to be a line somewhere, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that one of those lines is when you official pull out troops and hand governance back over to the country's legitimate government, even if that legitimate government collapses months later.

9/16/2014 12:36:18 PM

By that logic we could go into Germany, Italy, or Japan to "clean up."

9/16/2014 1:31:04 PM

Quote :

"By this logic though, no president since Bush 1 would have needed congressional authorization to use military force in Iraq."

No, Post Desert Storm Iraq wasn't the shitstorm we left Iraq in after Desert Freedom.

Quote :

"At the same time, there has to be a line somewhere, and I don't think it's unreasonable to say that one of those lines is when you official pull out troops and hand governance back over to the country's legitimate government, even if that legitimate government collapses months later."

We destabilize a country, prop up a flimsy government, and then watch it crumble into chaos and the line was drawn? <shrug>

Quote :

" By that logic we could go into Germany, Italy, or Japan to "clean up." "

If post WWII Germany, Italy, or Japan was anything like Post Iraqi Freedom Iraq, then maybe you'd have a point. But it's fun to ignore context and deal in absolutes, right?

9/17/2014 1:25:30 AM

Ok, fine, you don't like the choice of Gulf War I, how about Vietnam then? When we left, that country was still destabilized, with a government that we promised continued aid for and then left hanging high and dry when the North Vietnamese made their final offensive. Again, by the logic of "cleaning up bullshit" any president since could have gone back to Vietnam without congressional authorization, especially in the immediate aftermath when the North Vietnamese sent millions to "re-education camps" and executed thousands more.

The point being "cleaning up bullshit" isn't sufficient reason to ignore the constitutional requirement for congressional authorization for use of force (or for that matter, reason for congress to shirk their responsibility in defunding such operations if taken without authorization).

9/17/2014 10:01:27 AM

I get that there's a statute of limitations to this concept. Going back to Vietnam today would be ludicrous but immediately after I don't think so.

9/17/2014 10:43:40 AM

Yeah, but that is entirely different. There was another party in that conflict with a stake in it. Here, we are on the only party involved/leading the charge. There is literally nobody out there now that we could pass this bag onto.

[Edited on September 17, 2014 at 11:45 AM. Reason : a]

9/17/2014 11:44:31 AM

Quote :

"If post WWII Germany, Italy, or Japan was anything like Post Iraqi Freedom Iraq, then maybe you'd have a point. But it's fun to ignore context and deal in absolutes, right? "

But "cleaning up" here is too subjective.

9/17/2014 11:56:04 AM

^^ The Iraq war was an international coalition

9/17/2014 12:32:42 PM

Coalition. Of The Willing, SON!



40 Nations.......Ready to ROLLLLL!

9/17/2014 4:27:27 PM

Obama's administration hasn't done anything to keep Scotland in the UK. We are losing our biggest ally overnight and nuclear weapons are going to be removed from Scotland which will leave nato vulnerable to Russia. This is a complete global failure by Obama foreign policy.

9/17/2014 4:31:17 PM

we need a new william wallace to supplement those pussy brits

now we will have TWO allies

(always look on the bright side of life)

9/17/2014 4:43:31 PM

Uh, what do Scotland's nukes have anything to do with being vulnerable to Russia.

9/17/2014 6:57:13 PM

all of their operational nuclear weapons are loaded on subs

the only bases that can tend these subs are in scotland

9/17/2014 7:39:33 PM

Yeah, I'm well aware of that, but is E Man just trolling or does he actually think that matters? Either Scotland will loan out that base to England or those nukes will be disarmed. In either case, it doesn't really make Russia any more/less 'scary'

9/17/2014 7:49:47 PM

pretty much his every post is flippant, sarcastic, or generally retarded

9/17/2014 8:23:22 PM

The nukes better not be disarmed. From what I've read they're on loan from US, given to the UK. If anything we get them back.

Or we nuke Craig Ferguson's homeland.

9/17/2014 9:03:22 PM

Why don't we have troops on the ground fighting this separatist group?

9/17/2014 9:11:18 PM

^^ Nope. We gave the Brits access to Trident missiles, but the warheads are entirely the product of the UK.

9/17/2014 11:14:38 PM

my tone was more like fox news trying to take any random event in the world and somehow twist it to build fear and blame that fear on the failure of obama's foreign policy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJeqcVb-mAY

9/17/2014 11:35:40 PM

We need to get over there and show them Limeys what it takes to preserve a union.

9/18/2014 12:18:00 AM

Just FYI, voting in the referendum for Scottish independence will end at 5PM Eastern, and results are expected around 2:30AM Eastern (respectively 10PM and 7:30AM in Scotland).

9/18/2014 5:33:10 AM

I wonder how this would affect the dollar if the Scotts pull out

9/18/2014 9:10:11 AM

Good for them if they withdraw from the UK.

9/18/2014 9:20:40 AM

it would be pretty awful for them

9/18/2014 9:31:38 AM

could it be that the pound will loose value, and then the dollar will compensate and gain in its standing?

9/18/2014 10:23:43 AM

A lot of their gripes seem to be things States are allowed to do here in the U.S..

9/18/2014 10:24:37 AM