Hooray, liberals, we did it! That sucker Obama was all “I’m not doing reconciliation” then “Well, look, here are the facts” and then finally “I will pursue reconciliation.” Now, let’s see how this process will play out under Senate rules, shouldn’t be too burdensome… GAHHH.
People have been writing for months about how the Byrd rule would poop all over these fixes in reconciliation, making December’s Senate wars look tiny. So we’re getting bigger wars? Hooray!
At risk of oversimplification, the Byrd rule is designed to ensure that reconciliation is used to only make budgetary fixes, not policy ones, to existing legislation. Presuming the House passes the Senate bill, the House will then pass a reconciliation fix to the bill, after which the Senate will then try to pass that fix, too.
At this point Senate GOPers will repeatedly invoke the Byrd rule to ask the parliamentarian to strip individual provisions (ones fixing this or that in the original bill) out of the fix, on the grounds that they are policy fixes. If individual provisions are stripped, it would change the Senate’s version of the overall fix.
That would force the House to vote on it again and again, stalling the process further.
[...]
There’s a larger game plan here. By making it clear they will do their best to tie reconciliation in procedural knots, Republicans are hoping to frighten House Dems into believing reconciliation is doomed. If House Dems are persuaded that the fix later will fail, they will be less likely to pass the original Senate bill in the first place, perhaps killing it.
Here is a picture of the devilish Senate parliamentarian, Alan Frumin, now widely recognized as the most important man in America.
Be fucking scared.
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I dunno. I have faith in that mustache, Jim. That is the mustache of a serious man.
Alan Frumin eats his own pant legs for breakfast, while he’s wearing them!
Oh Jesus Fucking Christ, if this all happens, this health care bill will finally pass around the time I’m eligible for medicare which means I’ll celebrate it’s passage by protesting Democrats for getting the government involved in my medicare
Where’s that picture? Too hilly for Christchurch, not hilly enough for Wellington. Dunedin?
Note to self:
No need to buy shorts this year. Jeans can be cut above the knee. Worry about lack of jeans later.
[re=525394]Tommmcatt[/re]: When he was seven, Alan Frumin’s moustache killed a grizzly bear with its hair hands.
I can’t reconcile any of this. Especially those shorts.
“Rrrrroar! Mmhrmhmhmmm! Republican obstruction GOOOOOOD! Nom nom nom nom…”
[re=525403]RoscoePColtraine[/re]: Remember The Survivor episode of The Office? Michael had that same problem…
Meanwhile, nice photo of a wide stance!
Came across this little ode yesterday, and it seems presciently apposite. All together now:
A-well-a, everybody’s heard about the Byrd
Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, well, the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, well, the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, well, the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, don’t you know about the Byrd
Well, everybody knows that the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a
A-well-a, everybody’s heard about the Byrd
Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, don’t you know about the Byrd
Well, everybody’s talking about the Byrd
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
A-well-a, Byrd
Surfin’ Byrd
Bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb, aaah
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-oom-oom-oom
Oom-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-a-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Papa-oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Oom-oom-oom-oom-ooma-mow-mow
Ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, ooma-mow-mow
Well, don’t you know about the Byrd
Well, everybody knows that the Byrd is the word
A-well-a, Byrd, Byrd, b-Byrd’s the word
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow, papa-ooma-mow-mow…
Is that one of those pocket thingies tied to his shoe laces? He couldn’t afford a fannie pack? Good Lord!
I took one look at the shorts in that photo and immediately thought “THERE ARE DOZENS OF US! DOZENS!”
Carl Spackler: “Correct me if I’m wrong Sandy, but if I kill all the golfers, they’re gonna lock me up and throw away the key…”
Third place, Daisy Duke look-alike contest.
Judging from that pic, Frumin sorely lacks the backfield necessary to pull off Daisy Dukes. Fashion fail.
You gotta feel sorry for him in a way– he probably had one of the cushiest jobs in the country, one that comes with good government benefits– and now he’s the man in the middle of it. The Conservatives are already calling him a Communist Stooge, he’s going to have to listen to Mitch McConnell and Harry Reid yell at him for the next six months, and by the end of this, FOX News will have destroyed him after having a couple of guys in pimp suits edit an interview with him to make it look like he’s running a white slavery ring with ACORN.
OMG he’s being devoured by a SOCK MONSTER! Somebody save him! Oh, the humanity!
[re=525412]V572625694[/re]: I liked the Oak Ridge Boys ode near the end there.
I thought photos taken on the Hogwarts’ grounds were prohibited. Moreover I was led to understand the subject of such photos would move around. And do I detect some scrotum?
I read that Biden gets to overrule that shnook in the photo, so it’s all good. Did the media lie to me?
The shorts are just the right length for *accidentally* letting your cock peek out the bottom.
Great, the guy’s got my dad’s fashion sense. And I love the man, but would never let him be in charge of something like this.
Of course, we’ve got the media enabling the GOP strategy of pretending that the rules are different whenever it’s convenient for them, so suddenly reconciliation has always been controversial even though it never was, and has always been called “the nuclear option”, even though that was used for eliminating the filibuster (and itself changed from being the Republican leadership’s own term to a phrase made up by Democrats, much like teabaggers). And only the Daily Show and bloggers are willing to call them on this shit, despite the ease of watching old speeches and interviews with modern technology.
Gah, is it the weekend yet? I need a drink; several, in fact.
[re=525418]queeraselvis v 2.0[/re]: Justin Timberlake does it much better…
Perhaps we should just start delivering uninsured sick people directly into the Capitol to die.
[re=525408]SlouchingTowardsWasilla[/re]: It’s the tucked-in T-shirt and belt that seal the deal.
25 comments in and the word nevernude hasn’t appeared?
Where is shortsshortsshorts whenwe really need him?
JORTS!!!!! He must be from the south. Or are jorts a national thing all the kids are doing?
50 million uninsured vs. 1 pair of cut of blue jeans. $50 on the jeans.
Ugh. This is why the Dems were doing all that backroom deal shit to get the 60 votes. Every time Jane Hamsher and her ilk said “just use reconciliation” it drove me up a tree.
Ain’t democracy grand.
What is the opinion of shortsX3?
Just let me know when they settle that Big Ender/Little Ender question.
[re=525433]bitchincamaro[/re]: What’s it like in my head?
[re=525405]Extemporanus[/re]:
Then, at fourteen, his mustache waxed poetic, writing three operas and a hair-raising series of dramatic sonnets.
Who knows what greatness may still be lodged in a mustache of this magnitude?
Twunty McAsslefisting. That is all.
[re=525417]Scarab[/re]: Second Place, Geraldo Rivera look-alike contest.
(Tom Selleck took first, but was later disqualified when it was revealed that he was in fact John Stossel.)
[re=525426]magic titty[/re]: If you think someone’s cock could accidentally peek out of shorts that long, you must be hung like a whale. My hat is doffed to you, sir.
http://media.nowpublic.net/images//50/7/507925bc98b0d03d94a32b02b363c684.jpg
[re=525426]magic titty[/re]: Not if you’re as white as this guy.
[re=525439]bago[/re]: Focused and cob-webbie all at the same time.
[re=525418]queeraselvis v 2.0[/re]: The guy needs a cape, obvs.
[re=525444]Cicada[/re]: [re=525446]assistant/atlas[/re]: Wait. That’s not Harry Reems?
Oh man, the list of “Alan Frumin” anagrams is surprisingly fecund.
“Manful Rain”. “Faun Marlin”. “A Flan In Rum”. “Anal Rim Fun”. And so on…
I dunno. I kinda like a guy who recycles his jeans. And I remember (way back when – in the preJurassic 60s) when that was a pretty cool look.
[re=525461]Extemporanus[/re]:
“Manful Ran I”
He obvsly attended the same comm-college class as John Roberts: Picture Posing For The Awkward.
“…sit cloistered in the parliamentarian’s tiny office off the Senate floor in sessions that have come to be called Byrd baths. The provisions and amendments they rule nongermane have likewise come to be called Byrd droppings.”
Who knew that politics was so humorous? D’oh.
Charlie Crist just found his fuckbuddy/soulmate.
[re=525440]Tommmcatt[/re]: The Shadow knows…
[re=525479]Tommmcatt[/re]: Not looking like that, you didn’t.
Ah, the genius of our founding fathers…
Seriously, in other countries do they have to go through shit like this to get anything done?
[re=525415]Mad Brahms[/re]: Me too, sir/madam. Me too.
[re=525401]Lazy Media[/re]:sort of looks like Middlebury College?
(In the Socialist Republic of Vermont)
Well, it’s likely from the posture and hand position that he’s not a veteran (and thus not receiving free government health care already). Seems to be in decent shape, but locking your knees like that is not a good idea. Judging from the clothes and hair style, you’d think it was not that new a photo — but given the state of those ratty running shoes, he may be one of us who has a problem throwing out vintage clothing and embracing change. That might not bode well for the health care bill, but at least the Dems are finally going to give it a shot. Their cowardice until now has been shameful.
Suddenly, I don’t feel so bad about the fish belly whiteness of my legs.
I think shirt reads “New Zealand.” Obviously a statement in support of single-payer socialized medicine.
… but, then again, maybe the tattered shorts are suggesting that this health care bill will turn us all into bankrupt hobos.
When the end comes for Repubatards, it’ll be wearing a pair of cut-offs and ratty sneakers.
That has to be Colgate University.
[re=525647]DC mick[/re]: Oh my God you’re right. It totally is. How was New Zealand able to steal Colgate University?
And when it’s all over with, the US will still have the worst, most expensive, health-care in the Western world! :-(
At least he had the good sense to wear a belt. Proper accessories are the first rule of wearing Jorts.
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