If Boehner wanted to become legendary, he's stop this and announce a complete split of the Republican Party from the Tea Party. I mean "we're not going to caucus with the tea party anymore" kind of split.

Sure it would cost them the "majority" but it would create a much more functional House because compromise would be necessary for everything. Republicans and democrats could work in earnest to get what we all need to get done, and the Tea Party would be completely marginalized.

And while there is a loss in the very short term, it sends a message to conservative americans around that they need to stop sending people to washington who have no desire to rule, only to stop the government. They're not politicians, they're ideological demagogues and serve no purpose for the GOP and Boehner.

It would be the same kind of schism that hurt the conservatives in 1912 and put Wilson in the White House, but in the long run strengthened the party and eliminated a wacky arm that was more destructive than anything else.

But thanks to no term limits, Boehner is going to keep being a shitty leader and his myopic need to get reelected will prevent him from making one of the boldest and impactful moves a Speaker has had the chance to make in decades.

[Edited on October 14, 2013 at 10:38 PM. Reason : .]

10/14/2013 10:36:09 PM

Quote :

"Oct 2008: "You'll never get elected and pass healthcare." Nov 2008: "We'll never let you pass healthcare." Jan 2009: "We're gonna shout you down every time you try to pass healthcare." July 2009: "We'll fight to death every attempt you make to pass healthcare." Dec 2009: "We will destroy you if you even consider passing healthcare." March 2010: "We can't believe you just passed healthcare." April 2010: "We are going to overturn healthcare." Sept 2010: "We are going to repeal healthcare." Jan 2011: "We are going to destroy healthcare." Feb 2012: "We're gonna elect a candidate who'll revoke healthcare NOW." June 2012: "We'll go to the Supreme Court, and they will overturn healthcare." Aug 2012: "American people'll never re-elect you-they don't want healthcare." Oct 2012: "We can't wait to win the election and explode healthcare." Nov 2012: "We can't believe you got re-elected & we can't repeal healthcare." Feb 2013: "We're still going to vote to obliterate healthcare." June 2013: "We can't believe the Supreme Court just upheld healthcare." July 2013: "We're going to vote like 35 more times to erase healthcare." Sept 2013: "We are going to leverage a government shutdown into defunding, destroying, obliterating, overturning, repealing, dismantling, erasing and ripping apart healthcare." Oct 2013: "WHY AREN'T YOU NEGOTIATING???""

10/14/2013 10:43:39 PM

^^ I've been calling this for the past 3-4 years.

10/14/2013 11:29:20 PM

very interesting exchange.

http://www.upworthy.com/congress-did-something-so-spectacularly-creepy-that-its-too-unbelievable-to-make-up?g=2&c=ufb1

10/15/2013 12:22:14 AM

So how can republicans blame the tea party for this?

They are really shutting the government down over a law they helped craft. Wow.

10/15/2013 9:36:20 AM

So the House is going to try and pass their own bill in opposition of the Senate bill. It's basically a gift basket of GOP demands in exchange for a short term DL raise and CR. Of course, there is no guarantee it'll even pass the House and it's DOA in the Senate. The WH also just responded to it with this,



So we're basically in the same situation we've been in for 2 weeks. Either Boehner brings the Senate bill to the floor of the House, where it will easily pass, or we default. Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.

[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 11:26 AM. Reason : :]

10/15/2013 11:24:24 AM

A tea party exit would be a blessing for GOP

http://www.cnn.com/2013/10/14/opinion/frum-tea-party-third-party/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

10/15/2013 11:32:03 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/news/fiscal-crisis/2013/10/15/republican-leaders-back-off-new-plan/?_r=0

Quote :

"After more than two hours, Republican leaders walked back from a plan that had emerged this morning. Speaker John A. Boehner told reporters there are “no decisions about what exactly we will do.”"

10/15/2013 12:01:37 PM

At this point Boehner might actually want to call a vote but he can't because only Eric Cantor has that power. Or Cantor's designee.

10/15/2013 12:21:39 PM

I'm pretty sure that rule only applied to the original CR the Senate passed weeks ago. There is nothing stopping him from bringing this new Senate bill to the floor.

10/15/2013 12:47:26 PM

I was under the impression that it applies to any bill that originates in the Senate.

10/15/2013 12:49:07 PM

The whole "America vs the Coalition of Europe/Russia/China war" scenario in many near future movies/games seems more plausible by the day.

10/15/2013 12:51:51 PM

^^I dunno, you might be right. But that rule never stopped Boehner from bringing a bill to the floor, only regular members who wanted to make a "motion to dispose". They can't pass a rule that stops a Speaker from doing his regular job.

[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 12:54 PM. Reason : :]

10/15/2013 12:54:45 PM

No, I think it did only apply to the CR, I'm wrong.

But I don't think Boehner could even call it. They explicitly asked if even the Speaker could call a vote and I think they said he could not.

Link: http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/BILLS-113hres368eh/pdf/BILLS-113hres368eh.pdf

[Edited on October 15, 2013 at 12:58 PM. Reason : ]

10/15/2013 12:57:49 PM

Hahaha wow, our legislative system is fucking stupid.

10/15/2013 1:01:46 PM

Our legislators are fucking stupid.

10/15/2013 1:03:59 PM

And the award for the most hilarious tweet to come out of this whole thing goes to,

Quote :

"@sahilkapur:Lindsey Graham says Rs overplayed their hand and now Dems should "for the good of the country, kinda give a little.""

10/15/2013 3:40:51 PM

Well, when you're dealing with an insane individual, it may be beneficial to engage in their delusion a little in order to placate them.

10/15/2013 4:34:51 PM

The Vitter amendment is fucking retarded

10/15/2013 5:48:13 PM

So the House bill is dead, they won't even hold a vote on it. They couldn't make it crazy enough for a majority of their own members to support it.

10/15/2013 6:00:59 PM

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/14/sarah-palin-obama-impeachable_n_4098643.html

The entire thing is laughable, but this is my favorite part.

Quote :

""It’s time for the president to be honest with the American people for a change. Defaulting on our national debt is an impeachable offense, and any attempt by President Obama to unilaterally raise the debt limit without Congress is also an impeachable offense," Palin wrote."

10/15/2013 7:13:09 PM

Someone should tell Palin that Obama hasn't even been sent anything to sign.

10/15/2013 7:14:13 PM

I love it. She's like Obama has to single-handedly do this or he'll be impeached. By the way, he's not allowed to do it.

10/15/2013 7:27:23 PM

I'm very much enjoying watching the GOP establishment rise up today to smack down the Tea Party wing.

10/16/2013 12:39:12 PM

^ http://www.vice.com/read/well-that-was-stupid-the-shutdown-crisis-is-over?utm_source=vicefbus

10/16/2013 4:44:59 PM

Yep, looks like the only resolution that every could have happened is, lo and behold, happening.: Obamacare is still in place, the country was disrupted, some moderate degree of economic damage was done, and the GOP was weakened as a party due to pissing off 95% of the country and ultimately totally caving to the Democrats on a huge stage, because they had no other option.

What the fuck did these morons think was going to happen? I'm sympathetic to almost every cause this was driven by, but the means were sketchy and it was a fight that had zero chance of success. All downside, no potential upside. Fucking stupid.

Beyond that, I bet the GOP could have actually gotten more of what they wanted in terms of spending cuts, etc if they had played it cooler, engaged in more carefully targeted fights that they actually could win, etc, rather than sprinting headfirst into a wall without any real plan and biting off WAY more than could have even conceivably been chewed.

Oh, and if there is any chance remaining to kill Obamacare, it is the GOP absolutely dominating the 2016 elections. With Congressional approval ratings a 5%--FIVE FUCKING PERCENT--and the GOP eating by lion's share of the blame for it, well, good luck in 2016. If there was any lingering hope of killing Obamacare, this dumbass half-cocked attempt at defunding it might be the nail in the coffin of hopes for getting rid of it.

Quote :

"But thanks to no term limits, Boehner is going to keep being a shitty leader and his myopic need to get reelected will prevent him from making one of the boldest and impactful moves a Speaker has had the chance to make in decades. "

I hear what you're saying and in some ways agree, but consider this:

A lot of the wingnuts behind this clusterfuck are not career politicians, and I don't think a lot of them give a fuck how many times they ever get re-elected. They are willing to go full-retard, tilting at windmills, with no (or maybe in their minds, remote) chances of success, and damn the political consequences, because they aren't in it to be politicians. Like all combatants with nothing to lose and no fear of destruction, they can do disproportionate damage.

I think we're kinda damned if we do and damned if we don't. They'll either be myopic and overly concerned with short-term benefit and their own self-interests, or a dangerous number of them absolutely won't give a fuck.


[Edited on October 16, 2013 at 5:45 PM. Reason : ]

10/16/2013 5:26:51 PM

10/16/2013 5:31:36 PM

^^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gIcqb9hHQ3E
Worth the few minutes it takes to watch it

10/16/2013 5:51:42 PM

http://gawker.com/tea-party-republican-defends-being-on-medicaid-while-op-1446552792


Seriously

10/16/2013 11:48:08 PM

Makes me wonder if people could have real jobs and also be politicians, would people like him get elected?

He seems dumb as a log, and a myriad of people should be able to beat him in a race.

10/16/2013 11:58:17 PM

Not if he wins a primary and gets a free ticket because of a severely gerrymandered district.

10/17/2013 12:46:33 AM

Pandering to the Tea party is just incredibly unproductive. Their goals are just so unrealistic that it's embarrassing. It would be like a group of far left libs arguing for a 70% tax hike on the top 2 %.

I for one, as somebody from the left, am glad that the conservatives are there to monitor spending and to remind us about our debt. But why not do something productive about the situation instead of having a radical conservative group guide us into a meaningless game of stalemate.

10/17/2013 5:36:11 AM

The shutdown cost about $24 Billion and could cost $700 Billion in the long run, it also required the US to spend more on borrowing:
http://pgpf.org/sites/default/files/10112013_crisis_driven_report_fullreport.pdf

yay for fiscal conservatives!!

10/17/2013 9:20:22 AM

There is now a petition by MoveOn to try the House GOP leadership for sedition:
http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/arrest-and-try-house.fb40?source=c.fb&r_by=6609567

10/17/2013 9:44:28 AM

here is the law for sedition:
http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2384

Quote :

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both."

they did conspire to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of a law but not by force; so you would have to show that they were conspiring to put down the government (unless the by force after destroy applies to overthrow and put down, in which case they did not).

but I'll sign it anyways because i'm curious what kind of LOL's the official white house response would bring

10/17/2013 10:18:18 AM

Quote :

" A staggering 35 percent of household wealth in Russia is owned by just 110 people,"

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/report-110-people-35-pct-russias-wealth-20515906

I feel like this is what the GOP wants to happen in the US. Its the end game of deregulation.

10/17/2013 10:49:26 AM

I'm totally in favor of sedation

10/17/2013 11:36:49 AM

LOL @ Duke - like the GOP had ANY chance of killing off the Affordable Care Act in 2016, even if they won every fucking election in the country. Because what they want to be is the party that revokes millions of people's health care.

[Edited on October 17, 2013 at 9:27 PM. Reason : .]

10/17/2013 9:24:30 PM

^ health insurance != health care. They could repeal Obamacare and replace it with something that actually would work, not that whatever bullshit they would propose would likely work any better

10/17/2013 9:39:58 PM

Quote :

"I feel like this is what the GOP wants to happen in the US. Its the end game of deregulation."

Because if there is one thing Russia is known for, it's limited government and a deregulated market with no government interference?

Not to say that he GOP actually wants small government, but I thin blaming Russia's economic woes on deregulation might be missing a few things.

10/17/2013 9:48:40 PM

It's cronyism to the extreme and of course that's exactly what each political party wants. "Deregulation" as a Republican platform is a farce. It's a byproduct of "pander to big business."

10/17/2013 10:19:30 PM

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/10/criticizing-obamacare-lot-easier-if-you-make-obamacare-worse/70646/

Ted Cruz's spokesperson complaining about being forced onto the ACA exchanges.

10/17/2013 10:54:40 PM

Not a single conservative media echo chamber ran a story railing against the Vice President for bringing muffins to the terrible, horrible, no-good, very bad EPA this morning. I am disappoint.

10/17/2013 11:03:21 PM

you're kidding... MUFFINS? fuck you Joe Biden... fuck you...

10/17/2013 11:04:43 PM

http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/18/ted-cruz-failed-to-disclose-ties-to-jamaican-holding-company/?hpt=hp_t2

10/18/2013 2:24:53 PM

MUFFINGATE

10/18/2013 4:48:07 PM

^I loled

10/19/2013 7:29:00 AM

Ted Cruz: Democratic sleeper agent.

10/19/2013 2:13:42 PM

Quote :

"Even some Republican backers of a comprehensive reform effort say that passing anything that requires negotiation with Democrats is a bad idea. Advertise | AdChoices “For us to go to a negotiation, to the negotiating table with President Obama after what he has done over the last two and a half weeks, I think would be probably a very big mistake,” Rep. Raul Labrador, R-Id., told the Huffington Post this week. Labrador, who was once a member of a bipartisan House group seeking middle ground on immigration, said that passing even small immigration bills in the House is now “not worth doing.” "

http://nbcpolitics.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/20/21026903-did-shutdown-poison-the-well-for-immigration-reform?lite

Lol. They get a taste of their own tactics and then start whining about it.

10/20/2013 4:37:55 PM

Hahahahahah, "the president was mean to us when we tried to tank the entire world's economy so we won't talk to him anymore!". And exactly how is that different from what they were doing before? Obama is literally throwing them a lifeline with immigration reform, it's the GOP's funeral if they don't take it.

10/20/2013 5:10:39 PM