Our government actually made some laws today! What a concept! DADT repeal: signed. 9/11 responder relief: passed. New START treaty: ratified. But Vampire Weekend frontman/KidsPost blogger Ezra Klein has a theory:
The answer, I think, is that there are plenty of Senate Republicans who aren’t too comfortable with the class of conservatives who got elected in 2010. These legislators knew they had to stick with McConnell before the election, as you can’t win back the majority by handing the president lots of legislative accomplishments. But now that the election was over, the bills that had piled up were, in many cases, good bills, and if they didn’t pass now, it wasn’t clear that they’d be able to pass later.
The incumbent — and the outgoing — Republicans know that the fact that Republicans will have more power in 2011 doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll use that power to pass sensible legislation. So those of them who wanted to pass sensible legislation decided to get it all done now, even if that meant handing Reid and Obama a slew of apparent victories in the lame-duck session.
Good. Things were beginning to look a little optimistic. [WP]
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Now Tom Coburn and John Kyl can go home and climb back under the rocks they came from.
Now Tom and Kyl can blow me and tell me the flavor.
I just thought about that.
You are right. They should go back home and crawl under a rock.
It's a Festivus miracle!
Wait. Did we miss the Feats of Strength?
They took place in the Congressional shower. Barney Frank won.
We skipped right to the Airing of Grievances.
Better to let the president have his victories in a tidy, easily-forgotten bunch, they figure. Come January, Fox-n-frenz will make like none of this ever happened, and 62% of America will go along with that version of history.
Plus, all of the victories have occurred during the holidays, when no one is paying attention.
Still, hopefully Daily Kos will shut up now.
Man, that was a close one in Foxboro the other night, huh? I'm hoping the Pats win out and get that coveted homefield throughout the playoffs, don't think there's much to prevent that. Falcons looking pretty good, too!!!
Congress what?
So now the Republican senators have made it perfectly clear that what they opposed on the grounds of principles before the election was only a political ploy, that they'd rather see America beset with problems than give a political opponent a victory they might win elections with, and that they were playing chicken with Harry Reid — and lost. Well I hope all the idiots, liars and rubes who supported and/or voted for these charlatans has a moment of shamed recognition, because you're not going to get a more open statement of the GOP's heartless cynicism — and their ultimate ineffectiveness — than that.
And if that doesn't work, then think about this — they caved to Harry Reid.
Well I hope all the idiots, liars and rubes who supported and/or voted for these charlatans has a moment of shamed recognition,
Not a fucking chance, amigo.
This much shit actually getting done kind of blows my mind. Seems all the 'hostage' rhetoric may be effective. Can we hold Balentimes Day hostage next and pass a jobs measure?
The English Language fails me, so I go a British expression: "I am gob-smacked!" (I know, I know
how about "well blow me down!" ?
AAArrrrrgh, Matey! Or….. is that a wooden leg, or are you just glad to see me?
Can I bum a fag to go with my spotted dick?
Har, Har, Har!
Well, I'll go to the foot of our stairs. (Courtesy of my Granny , who spoke crazy dialect Lancashire)
Funny!
That phrase – meaning "to go to hell" – is immortalised in a really screwed up Jethro Tull concept album from 1973.
It doesn't actually mean that, as used by my family it is more a slightly ironic expression of amazement as in “Sarah Palin just said something really bitchy , well I'll go to the foot of our stairs.”
also, p's for everyone!
P's on earth, good will to worthly Wokette skum.
And all on the day I became a p centurion. I would like to think my snark had something to do with it.
january jones did a nice little op-ed on snarks in the paper today, and boy is she hot as hell.
Congratulations, sir. You have finished out the year by attaining one of the most coveted accomplishment in all of cyberspace.
And Christmas was saved!!!
Hooray for Rudolph Reid's Shiny Red Nose. Thank God (Santa Claus) that our prestigious lawmakers won't have to go work in their congress cubicles between Xmas and the new year, that would be a sacrilege.
Watch the Democrats somehow fuck this up so it looks like the R's wanted it all along.
Don't worry, the media is hard at work on how to make it seem that way.
Well it's good to know that Congress might as well have been on a two year fucking vacation until this 'lame duck' session. I'm glad to know my tax dollars have been paying for these 535 fucksticks to play grabass for the past election cycle. I want a fucking refund.
I'm about ready to urge that re-election of legislators be forbidden, so that they're all lame ducks from day 1.
The thing is, there shouldn't be anything special about these last few days – this is what they should be doing all the time.
Exactly, if they can get all this done in two weeks why have we payed them to do a bunch of political grandstanding the past two years. We should equip all Congressmen and women with those little shock callers and if so many people vote at once then they will get blasted. Maybe they would actually do shit, then.
… with those little shock callers and if so many people vote at once then they will get blasted
My God, that's a great idea!
Well, I'm sure they will have to break out the oxygen tanks for the olds on Capitol Hill, but the party at Barney Frank's should be worth all this activity.
So, come January, everything will be back to the normal. The Republicans will either tear December 2010 out of the history book, or highlight key parts of it to make it look like the Dems gave amnesty and tax cuts to gay, Russo-Mexican, terrorist soldiers.
Meh. Now, off to repealing health care, DADT, financial regulation, defunding the stimulus…
If Harry Reid changes Senate rules come January I will love him long time. Otherwise, we're fuckin' screwd for at least the next two years, y'all.
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