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[Incognito]

And yet it's on the front page of the Daily Caller, at the same time that Eric Cantor's "leaked memo" about how Obama is refusing to negotiate hits National Review. And McConnell goes out of his way to say that Obama is privately as well as publicly resisting negotiation.

Don't kid yourselves. This is a messaging effort. McConnell even SAYS he's wired. You don't think he would have stopped Rand if he started talking about the Civil Rights Act?

It's a setup. They think it makes them look good. Which might be the saddest part, but then, it's Rand and McConnell.

Yeah. I like how he tells Rand he just got back from a 2 hr meeting with the prez. As if that fact wasnt broadcasted throughout the day.

 

[TacticalFox88]

So I'm watching CNN and Blitzer is actually calling out the House GOP on the whole clean CR vote. It's like sometimes he can remember he's a journalist and this is one of those times. Why can't he do this shit more often? It's not that hard Blizter.

When CNN and Wolf Shitzler is calling you on your BS you know the GOP has lost the narrative.

 

[Crisco]

I'd keep the medical device tax but shitcan the employer mandate. But not for a clean CR - I'd agree to it later during budget negotiations.

Why would they scrap the employer mandate? I would only support that if it came alongside an expansion of the subsidies to incomes well beyond 400% of the poverty level.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

When CNN and Wolf Shitzler is calling you on your BS you know the GOP has lost the narrative.

Yep. They've lost this battle but have yet to realize it. Now it's just a matter of how much heat they can deflect. Damage control, really.

 

[B-Dubs]

When CNN and Wolf Shitzler is calling you on your BS you know the GOP has lost the narrative.

He is making Huelskamp sound like a kidnapper or hostage taker here, well he let the guy hang himself. I can't believe he's actually doing his job. Normally he's un-watchable, but the last few minutes have been approaching good journalism.

 

[rocketknight]

“Carol, you’re beautiful but you need to be honest as well,” Rokita finally said, eliciting an eyebrow raise from Costello.

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2013/10/03/2725901/todd-rokita-mansplains-to-carol-costello/

If women weren't meant to be mansplained to they'd have a way of shutting that whole thing down. Oh wait - she did.

 

[The Librarian]

If women weren't meant to be mansplained to they'd have a way of shutting that whole thing down. Oh wait - she did.

#rimshot

 

[pigeon]

Why would they scrap the employer mandate? I would only support that if it came alongside an expansion of the subsidies to incomes well beyond 400% of the poverty level.

* The employer mandate accomplishes very little because there's ALREADY a substantial tax benefit to offering health care to your employees.
* The employer mandate is actively bad because we should be pushing people AWAY from employer insurance and onto the exchanges to maximize their bargaining power and improve labor's position (since receiving cash is always better than receiving services as compensation).

 

[gcubed]

i'm really surprised by the lack of Reid's comments being all over the news.

* The employer mandate accomplishes very little because there's ALREADY a substantial tax benefit to offering health care to your employees.
* The employer mandate is actively bad because we should be pushing people AWAY from employer insurance and onto the exchanges to maximize their bargaining power and improve labor's position (since receiving cash is always better than receiving services as compensation).

you really think more then the absolute minimum of employers would give an employee more money due to not offering health insurance?

 

[PhoenixDark]

Why would they scrap the employer mandate? I would only support that if it came alongside an expansion of the subsidies to incomes well beyond 400% of the poverty level.

It's bad policy and promotes employer insurance. Ezra Klein has discussed it before.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs...te-shouldnt-be-delayed-it-should-be-repealed/

 

[B-Dubs]

So apparently we aren't getting any jobs numbers from last month due to the shut down.

EDIT: Wow. Blitzer is really sticking with slamming Boehner for not bringing up a clean CR. What is going on here?

 

[xnipx]

* The employer mandate accomplishes very little because there's ALREADY a substantial tax benefit to offering health care to your employees.
* The employer mandate is actively bad because we should be pushing people AWAY from employer insurance and onto the exchanges to maximize their bargaining power and improve labor's position (since receiving cash is always better than receiving services as compensation).

But we won't receive the cash. It will just increase the businesses bottom line. Especially if we increase the income limit for subsidies. Why is business against obamacare again? Lol

 

[pigeon]

you really think more then the absolute minimum of employers would give an employee more money due to not offering health insurance?

Well, not in this economy, but yeah. In a competitive market, employers will offer more than other employers to get quality employees. Generally, this means offering more money, but in our economy it also means offering better health care. This is a bad incentive, though, and we should eliminate it, in which case, yeah, employers will have to offer more money to compete with other employers.

 

[TacticalFox88]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

What the hell is going on?

Obama playing Hardball
Reid sayin fuck you to the GOP
Dems being united
Most Americans blaming the GOP for their fuckups like they should
WOLF BLITZER DOING HIS FUCKING JOB!

I'm in the goddamn Twilight Zone.

 

[Baraka in the White House]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

What the hell is going on?

Obama playing Hardball
Reid sayin fuck you to the GOP
Dems being united
Most Americans blaming the GOP for their fuckups like they should
WOLF BLITZER DOING HIS FUCKING JOB!

I'm in the goddamn Twilight Zone.

All they need to do is remind people that this all started over Obamacare. If it becomes even slightly more popular as time goes on - and it almost certainly will - then people need to be reminded of who was willing to shut the government down in order to stop it from happening.

I'm hoping this was America's tipping point. I'm hoping the GOP finally overreached.

 

[izakq]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

What the hell is going on?

Obama playing Hardball
Reid sayin fuck you to the GOP
Dems being united
Most Americans blaming the GOP for their fuckups like they should
WOLF BLITZER DOING HIS FUCKING JOB!

I'm in the goddamn Twilight Zone.

What's going on with Blitzer?

 

[JetBlackPanda]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

What the hell is going on?

Obama playing Hardball
Reid sayin fuck you to the GOP
Dems being united
Most Americans blaming the GOP for their fuckups like they should
WOLF BLITZER DOING HIS FUCKING JOB!

I'm in the goddamn Twilight Zone.

hold on here.. whats the status of the WW2 monument??

lol these idiots deserve everything that happens to them.

 

[bonercop]

And yet it's on the front page of the Daily Caller, at the same time that Eric Cantor's "leaked memo" about how Obama is refusing to negotiate hits National Review. And McConnell goes out of his way to say that Obama is privately as well as publicly resisting negotiation.

Don't kid yourselves. This is a messaging effort. McConnell even SAYS he's wired. You don't think he would have stopped Rand if he started talking about the Civil Rights Act?

It's a setup. They think it makes them look good. Which might be the saddest part, but then, it's Rand and McConnell.

The bolded part is a good point. Hadn't considered that. People in the other thread where encouraged by that little tidbit after all, and I imagine it would have the opposite effect with tea party people.

still though, they totally come across as a pair of scheming slimeballs there:

heheheheh, i spent the whole interview repeating "we want to negotiate"

 

[KingK]

But we won't receive the cash. It will just increase the businesses bottom line. Especially if we increase the income limit for subsidies. Why is business against obamacare again? Lol

Yeah, that's the problem I have getting rid of the mandate. I'd be 100% for getting rid of the mandate and replacing it with an employer payroll tax to fund increased subsidies on the exchanges though.

 

[rocketknight]

I'm gonna be so pissed off when we give them a device tax repeal etc. in return for a CR/debt limit raise. I can't help but think that that's what's going to happen in the end.

 

[AnotherNils]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

What the hell is going on?

Obama playing Hardball
Reid sayin fuck you to the GOP
Dems being united
Most Americans blaming the GOP for their fuckups like they should
WOLF BLITZER DOING HIS FUCKING JOB!

I'm in the goddamn Twilight Zone.

It only took 5 years.

 

[BLACKLAC]

I'm gonna be so pissed off when we give them a device tax repeal etc. in return for a CR/debt limit raise. I can't help but think that that's what's going to happen in the end.

Then you haven't been paying attention.

 

[pigeon]

But we won't receive the cash. It will just increase the businesses bottom line. Especially if we increase the income limit for subsidies. Why is business against obamacare again? Lol

Apparently people really have just completely forgotten what happens in a functioning economy! That's cool, though, it's because we haven't had one in a while. But back in the Clinton years, when unemployment was incredibly low, wages as a share of GDP did indeed rise:

Since wages are the price of purchasing labor, it should be clear that sustained low unemployment is necessary to drive them up, which is why it's so important that the Fed do a better job of adhering to its dual mandate. But yes, in a strong economy, employers will absolutely replace their health care plans with cash if their employees can get good plans on the exchanges, for the same reason that they all want to offer health care plans now: because doing so will be the cheapest way to raise wages.

 

[Clevinger]

Holy shit at Blitzer!

Going in!

https://twitter.com/eScarry/status/385817503458275328

 

[xnipx]

Apparently people really have just completely forgotten what happens in a functioning economy! That's cool, though, it's because we haven't had one in a while. But back in the Clinton years, when unemployment was incredibly low, wages as a share of GDP did indeed rise:

Since wages are the price of purchasing labor, it should be clear that sustained low unemployment is necessary to drive them up, which is why it's so important that the Fed do a better job of adhering to its dual mandate. But yes, in a strong economy, employers will absolutely replace their health care plans with cash if their employees can get good plans on the exchanges, for the same reason that they all want to offer health care plans now: because doing so will be the cheapest way to raise wages.

I know how it SHOULD work. But I'm speaking in terms of today's economy. What incentive does an employer have to raise wages if the government will foot the bill for healthcare? Why doesn't Walmart raise wages rather than rely on the government to subsidize their employees through welfare and food stamps??

Which is exactly why big business SHOULD be supporting obamacare (minus employer mandate but larger subsidies) and a push for single payer. I just wanna know what logical reason they have to be against it ideologically

 

[kingkitty]

Real compromise is agreeing to that low CR amount + Vitter amendment + repeal of medical device tax + seventeen year delay of individual mandate.

America wants this. Democrats are fumbling. Republicans are winning. #ReidObamaShutDown

I've been reading a lot of RedState lately...

 

[AntoneM]

Found out my grandfather died last night. I'm a federal employee who is exempted from the furlough. I can't take leave without putting myself on a furlough. That means I can choose between going to my grandfather's funeral (1200 miles away) and paying my mortgage, electricity, phone, gas, and food.

But it's OK because my representative asshat and senators fuck-bags haven't felt the impact.

 

[789shadow]

Found out my grandfather died last night. I'm a federal employee who is exempted from the furlough. I can't take leave without putting myself on a furlough. That means I can choose between going to my grandfather's funeral (1200 miles away) and paying my mortgage, electricity, phone, gas, and food.

But it's OK because my representative asshat and senators fuck-bags haven't felt the impact.

Send an angry letter to your Rep.

 

[cooljeanius]

Found out my grandfather died last night. I'm a federal employee who is exempted from the furlough. I can't take leave without putting myself on a furlough. That means I can choose between going to my grandfather's funeral (1200 miles away) and paying my mortgage, electricity, phone, gas, and food.

But it's OK because my representative asshat and senators fuck-bags haven't felt the impact.

So make them feel the impact. Let them know about this.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Did you guys see that presser with GOP reps in medical garb? Wow

 

[TacticalFox88]

Tropical Storm Karen has formed in the Gulf of Mexico and will move into the southern United States this weekend with heavy rain, gusty winds and rough seas.

Karen will continue to move along a curved northward path over the central Gulf of Mexico through Friday. During Saturday, Karen will begin to turn toward he northeast and will make landfall along the upper Gulf Coast Saturday night, east of New Orleans and west of Panama City, Fla.

There is a chance Karen becomes a hurricane prior to making landfall. Shortly after being officially named a tropical storm, Karen's maximum sustained winds had reached 65 mph. The threshold for a tropical system to become a hurricane is sustained winds of 74 mph.

Good thing FEMA has been slimmed down by 86%!!

 

[cooljeanius]

Did you guys see that presser with GOP reps in medical garb? Wow

CLOWN SHOES

 

[rocketknight]

Then you haven't been paying attention.

Okay.

Found out my grandfather died last night. I'm a federal employee who is exempted from the furlough. I can't take leave without putting myself on a furlough. That means I can choose between going to my grandfather's funeral (1200 miles away) and paying my mortgage, electricity, phone, gas, and food.

But it's OK because my representative asshat and senators fuck-bags haven't felt the impact.

My mom works for the Department of the Interior, and one of the people under her has to postpone her wedding (that had been planned for a year) for the same reason.

 

[pigeon]

I know how it SHOULD work. But I'm speaking in terms of today's economy. What incentive does an employer have to raise wages if the government will foot the bill for healthcare?

The math works the same either way. In today's economy, leaving aside all moral questions, the problem we're having is that the sticky price of labor is above the "correct" price, so businesses will keep pushing and raises will keep stagnating until they manage to get the price of labor down to what it "should" be. Adding the employer mandate doesn't change that -- it just means that employers won't be able to reduce the price of labor by removing health care, so they'll reduce it in a way that will cost cash directly, which is worse for the same reason that getting cash directly is better than getting health care. (Again, assuming the exchanges operate.) The outcome is worse with the mandate either way.

 

[Doc Holliday]

Boehner Tells Republicans He Won’t Let the Nation Default

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/04/us/politics/debt-limit-impasse.html?_r=0

Boehner stepping up?

 

[AntoneM]

Alright. Sent this to Jeff Flake and will send it to the rest:

I am a federal employee with VA. I have been informed that I am exempted from the furlough and for VA that takes effect Monday or Tuesday. I just learned, this morning, that my grandfather who lives in North Dakota passed away. I have the choice of going on a furlough (I can't take leave) and attending the funeral; or, paying my mortgage, electricity, gas, phone, and for food. Please end this shutdown. It does hurt people.

 

[Cloudy]

i'm really surprised by the lack of Reid's comments being all over the news.

Cos everyone knows it's more GOP BS. The guy's wife is a cancer survivor as well and unlike the Republicans, he is actually a huge NIH backer

 

[cooljeanius]

Alright. Sent this to Jeff Flake and will send it to the rest:

I am a federal employee with VA. I have been informed that I am exempted from the furlough and for VA that takes effect Monday or Tuesday. I just learned, this morning, that my grandfather who lives in North Dakota passed away. I have the choice of going on a furlough (I can't take leave) and attending the funeral; or, paying my mortgage, electricity, gas, phone, and for food. Please end this shutdown. It does hurt people.

Too short, not angry enough. You need to make them really feel what you're going through here. Edit: Of course the letter will probably just get filed in the database of angry letters by an intern, but still...

 

[East Lake]

@robertcostaNRO 54s
Shots fired at the Capitol

.

 

[Cloudy]

Robert Costa ‏@robertcostaNRO 40s

Capitol is on lockdown, shots outside the Capitol

WTF

 

[pigeon]

Shots fired (real shots) in the Capitol.

 

[B-Dubs]

What the hell is going on?

EDIT: AP reporting says it's a lockdown. Shots fired.

 

[AntoneM]

Too short, not angry enough. You need to make them really feel what you're going through here. Edit: Of course the letter will probably just get filed in the database of angry letters by an intern, but still...

I wanted it short so it would be read. Also, more flies with honey and such.

 

[East Lake]

 

[B-Dubs]

The shots were fired on the Senate side of the building.

EDIT: According to Reid there has been 1 injury. No idea who.

EDIT2: via Pigeon in the other thread.

https://twitter.com/Chris_Moody/status/385834078001717248

 

[East Lake]

That's me in the pic btw. Selfie

 

[pigeon]

Cops were chasing a black car, cornered it, there were shots fired. Could potentially have been unrelated to the Capitol, even.

Report says "one officer injured but not wounded." Presumably that means not shot, so nobody hit.

edit:

https://twitter.com/peteschroeder/status/385834173107564544

 

[Fenderputty]

Just got the AP update. Holy shit.

 

[Diablos]

So no one has died. Hope the injuries are not crippling (i.e. paralyzed) in nature.

edit: In this time of crisis maybe do something charitable -- and have some fun in the process.
https://www.humblebundle.com/weekly
Quite a sale.

 

[bodyofanamerican]

Rep. Tim Griffin, a Republican from Arkansas, seemed to blame Democrats for the shooting, tweeting, “Stop the violent rhetoric President Obama, Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. #Disgusting”