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[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Haha, you can really tell this is pissing him off.

Glad that the Democrats have figured out how to play the obstruction game.

That's the funny thing, they're not even playing a game, they're just doing what should be obvious.

 

[Barzul]

So Capito, Portman and Collins have all come out against repeal and delay. Legit think some of these senators feel disrespected by McConnell's approach. He's treated them like house members, Senators should be way more powerful.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Dems shouldn't give an inch.

They should show up with a UHC/Single payer solution in hand.


At they very least focus on Medicaid expansion in red states

 

[teiresias]

Was in the OT thread, and sometimes GAF ads are on point.

 

[Zolo]

It is becoming quite obvious that the only solution for republicans here is to openly craft a bill with democrats. GOP senators are already calling for it.

That said, I'm not convinced Ryan/McConnell will ever allow it. Too much pride, too much arrogance.

Ryan has pride?

 

[Maxim726X]

So Capito, Portman and Collins have all come out against repeal and delay.

Wow, that party is shot.

Have no idea why they started with Healthcare... Gonna be hard to summon the political capital to get anything done at all.

 

[Autodidact]

Ryan has pride?

No, but he has fear. If he tried to work with Pelosi on health care, the Freedom Caucus wouldn't rest until they'd deposed him.

 

[PBY]

If the repeal/delay fails, as we assume it will, I can't believe what a staggering failure it is that the Rs couldn't repeal this.

Frankly stunned.

 

[Valhelm]

They should show up with a UHC/Single payer solution in hand.


At they very least focus on Medicaid expansion in red states

Single payer or even just medicaid expansion should be a pretty good way to turn out young voters in 2018, yeah?

 

[Crocodile]

Okay, I know Beltway media have to be polite and pretend these Republicans have actual intelligence or guiding principles, but can we stop acting as though Rand Paul has any complex, reasoned objections to this or any bill? He hates poor people because if they had any worth or intelligence, they'd be rich. Their poverty conveys their stupidity and unwillingness to work; ergo, they must be punished. His ideology can be distilled into those few hateful sentences.

I could see a compromise bill passing the Senate but probably not the House. The moderates might agree, but too many representatives have to answer to blood-red districts that would crucify them for working with Democrats.

The hypothesis that Rand Paul actually doesn't want people in his state to lose their insurance (since they gained so much) but has to maintain his rep as a conservative/libertarian firebrand and has to talk the talk makes sense to me honestly.

 

[Brawly Likes to Brawl]

Wow, that party is shot.

Have no idea why they started with Healthcare... Gonna be hard to summon the political capital to get anything done at all.

They spent the better part of a decade making Healthcare their main point of contention. If they did nothing after gaining power they would look like idiots to their base.

 

[benicillin]

So Capito, Portman and Collins have all come out against repeal and delay. Legit think some of these senators feel disrespected by McConnell's approach. He's treated them like house members, Senators should be way more powerful.

There was a thread on Twitter by a former Reid staffer who worked with/near McConnell's office I read earlier that said as much.

Was this linked earlier? https://twitter.com/AJentleson/status/887137073785909250

 

[KingV]

The Moderate Darlings will not nuke the filibuster. Without it, they would actually have to take positions and be the deciding vote on unpopular bills.

Nuking the legislative filibuster would be a huge benefit for the Democratic Party. They should do it ASAP.

It's become clear that you can get rid of almost any big program via reconciliation, but you can't start anything new with it. When one party only wants to get rid of shit, the filibuster holds the other party back.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

So Capito, Portman and Collins have all come out against repeal and delay. Legit think some of these senators feel disrespected by McConnell's approach. He's treated them like house members, Senators should be way more powerful.

McConnell was totally ignoring key votes like Paul and Collins through the entire process. Not really sure what his plan was, but he made a terrible error in that regard.

My guess is Collins' hard no during this entire process is one part wanting to keep her reputation, and another part being annoyed she was entirely ignored during the whole process.

 

[BoogieWoogie]

The republicans better take a long hard fucking look at impeaching Trump right now, because with the healthcare disaster at their feet, 2018 is also going to probably be when shit will start flying from the Mueller investigation.

 

[Blader]

That's a shame.

Exactly what you want in a whip, lol

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

If the repeal/delay fails, as we assume it will, I can't believe what a staggering failure it is that the Rs couldn't repeal this.

Frankly stunned.

It falls squarely on the WH, any other Republican Pres would get something done. The lack of direction, poor approval, and toxic personnel haven't put up the megaphone needed for major legislation.

 

[Crocodile]

Schumer's analogies and the fact he is reading his presentation of this sheet of paper is triggering me. If had to give a presentation straight off a piece of paper I'd be lambasted >_<

That's a shame.

Cornyn is such a moron. He always saying "I'm confident we'll have a vote" like a few days before these bills go up in flames. Truly incompetent LOL

 

[benicillin]

Woaahhh Mueller knows the 8th and they're cooperating with the investigation? Probably *not* Trump then, but wow!

Special counsel investigators are seeking information from the still-publicly unidentified eighth person who attended the June 2016 meeting with Donald Trump Jr. at Trump Tower, this person's attorney Scott Balber said Tuesday.

"The eighth person has been identified by prosecutors and we are cooperating fully with prosecutors as a result of the investigation. To preserve the integrity of the investigation we are declining to identify him at this time," Balber told CNN.

Emin Agalarov is an Azerbaijani-Russian pop star who has previously done business with the Trumps alongside his father, Aras Agalarov, a Russian real estate billionaire with ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Balber's comments offer a rare glimpse inside Mueller's investigation into allegations that Trump's campaign colluded with Russia.
The eighth person has been described by sources familiar with the circumstances as an employee and US representative of the Agalarovs.

 

[Box of Kittens]

Is there any article that examines the nuances of Unemployed Man, Katie Trashginty, and Feingold's losses? Specifically, how did popular former senator Feingold run BEHIND Hillary if the state loved him so much? Who were these Clinton/Toomey voters that accounted for Trashginty's underperforming Hillary? Did Unemployed Man's parlor trick of assembling a rifle on television have any appreciable effect on polls?

We've probably addressed these questions. If so, just ignore me.

I have also rechristened Kelly Ayotte as Kelly Nayotte due to her being denied a second term.

Regarding the Wisconsin Senate race, Republicans normally clean up in the Milwaukee suburbs and Johnson was no exception. Trump still won those suburbs, but underperformed relative to Johnson. Johnson won the "WOW" (Waukesha, Ozaukee, Washington) counties north and west of Milwaukee by almost 143K votes, Trump won them by less than 108K.

Trump also generally underperformed Johnson in the cities. Milwaukee County and Dane County (Madison) make up the Democratic power base in Wisconsin, so it's not surprising both Johnson and Trump lost those counties by wide margins. But while Johnson lost them by a collective margin of over 268K votes, Trump did even worse, losing by just over 309K. Trump similarly underperformed Johnson in most counties that were home to smaller cities like Green Bay, Appleton, La Crosse, or Eau Claire.

Where Trump did better than Johnson is in rural parts of Western Wisconsin where Democrats have traditionally won. Lafayette, Crawford, Vernon, Richland, and Columbia Counties all went Feingold/Trump, while no counties went Johnson/Clinton. Trump also outperformed Johnson in most Feingold/Clinton and Johnson/Trump counties in Western Wisconsin. It wasn't enough to make up Johnson's "advantage" in urban and suburban counties, it was enough to win the state.

Long story short, the story painted by the Johnson/Trump comparison is a pretty familiar one for the election. Trump cleaning up in rural areas (even by Republican standards) while losing ground in the suburbs.

 

[balladofwindfishes]

Cornyn is such a moron. He always saying "I'm confident we'll have a vote" like a few days before these bills go up in flames. Truly incompetent LOL

20 minutes before the first senate bill died, he was out there saying they had the votes and were preparing to do the vote the next day.

Are we witnessing a GOP coup in the senate? That twitter chain posted earlier seems to imply that, along with senators either lying to or ignoring Cornyn.

 

[FloydtheFathead]

Rand is a no on clean repeal? What in the world does the guy even want? Complete destruction of the system where nobody has any health care at all?

Nothing because he is one of the few who can have his cake and eat it too since he can suffer no consequences for it. He knows repeal completely will devastate the state, but can play to his base and his pseudo bs libertarian credentials.

Mitch is boned, he has to go to the Dems if only so he can say "we tried to negotiate, but they wouldn't budge." Dems should make it clear that they won't meet unless there are clear conditions in place where they have ultimate control on fixing ACA or something along those lines.

 

[Autodidact]

20 minutes before the first senate bill died, he was out there saying they had the votes and were preparing to do the vote the next day.

Are we witnessing a GOP coup in the senate? That twitter chain posted earlier seems to imply that, along with senators either lying to or ignoring Cornyn.

A Moderate Coup, the latest in our series of lukewarm geopolitical tomes.

 

[Kusagari]

The fact that the "moderates" flat out told the Freedom Caucus wing about McConnell saying the Medicaid cuts wouldn't happen, which I doubt the turtle ever planned on, shows that the Senate is in complete disarray.

McConnell has lost all control.

 

[FloydtheFathead]

The fact that the "moderates" flat out told the Freedom Caucus wing about McConnell saying the Medicaid cuts wouldn't happen, which I doubt the turtle ever planned on, shows that the Senate is in complete disarray.

McConnell has lost all control.

If not for the fact that they hate Cornyn more than him, Mitch should be worried about his leadership.. in fact, I'm shocked that the moderates haven't put their feet down and threatened it openly

 

[balladofwindfishes]

A Moderate Coup, the latest in our series of lukewarm geopolitical tomes.

I don't think it's limited to just moderates. Johnson seems pretty annoyed he wasn't included in the bill creation process and has been a no the entire time, despite stuff being added that could appeal to him

Seems like the entire senate is turning against McConnell and Cornyn

If not for the fact that they hate Cornyn more than him, Mitch should be worried about his leadership.. in fact, I'm shocked that the moderates haven't put their feet down and threatened it openly

They could call for Cornyn to step down and a completely new majority leader be picked, if things start getting dire (which they are)

 

[shinra-bansho]

Lol it's not obstruction when you can't even whip a simple majority in the Senate.

 

[Loxley]

I'm just thinking back to the day after the election when Ryan got up on a podium and proudly went on and on about "a new, united Republican party".

Yeah, how's that working out?

 

[BobTheFork]

I'm just thinking back to the day after the election when Ryan got up on a podium and proudly went on and on about "a new, united Republican party".

Yeah, how's that working out?

He should have created a new 'Contract with America'
Worked well last time.

 

[whyamihere]

This is what McConnell gets for running his caucus the way he does.

 

[Maxim726X]

The fact that the "moderates" flat out told the Freedom Caucus wing about McConnell saying the Medicaid cuts wouldn't happen, which I doubt the turtle ever planned on, shows that the Senate is in complete disarray.

McConnell has lost all control.

The ideological divide we all knew existed... Except for McConnell, evidently.

 

[Aaron Strife]

This is what McConnell gets for running his caucus the way he does.

That twitter feed about Reid's style versus McConnell's is incredibly enlightening.

Who would have thought that McConnell, whose only significant tactic over the last eight years was "say No to everything, obstruct, baby!" would be a terrible leader?

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

Hmmmmmmm

 

[BlastProcessing]

@poniewozik
Unusual level of chyron shade on Fox this morning

 

[Ernest]

Unnamed source from CNN but still a great quote.

A Republican close to the White House who is also in frequent touch with the Hill said there is more than enough blame to go around.

"He was playing with a firetruck and trying on a cowboy hat as the bill was collapsing, and he had no clue," this top Republican told CNN this morning, mocking the "Made In America" week at the White House.

A perfect distillation of Trump as president.

 

[Autodidact]

That twitter feed about Reid's style versus McConnell's is incredibly enlightening.

Who would have thought that McConnell, whose only significant tactic over the last eight years was "say No to everything, obstruct, baby!" would be a terrible leader?

Link, please?

Hmmmmmmm

22% no + 16% not sure (code for "yes, but don't want to say so") = 38%, about the same as his approval ratings.

 

[Maxim726X]

A cautionary tale for Democrats- Don't let the crazies run your party.

 

[RustyNails]

How likely is political mastermind McConnell going to revive turtlecare again after recess?

 

[BoogieWoogie]

Unnamed source from CNN but still a great quote.

A perfect distillation of Trump as president.

Why won't they impeach him? Fucking hell you want Pence! Give it to Pence!

 

[ShadowSwordmaster]

A cautionary tale for Democrats- Don't let the crazies run your party.

This is very important.

 

[Wilsongt]

A cautionary tale for Democrats- Don't let the crazies run your party.

Too late!

 

[balladofwindfishes]

How likely is political mastermind McConnell going to revive turtlecare again after recess?

They need to pass a budget, so he can't really.

A cautionary tale for Democrats- Don't let the crazies run your party.

Been saying this for awhile. We don't want a Democrat tea party. At least on a federal level. State and local is a little different, since the tea party has a lot of success there (in terms of actually doing stuff).

 

[Ernest]

And some choice words from that liberal rag, The Wall Street Journal:

Mr. Trump will probably ignore this advice, as he has most of what these columns have suggested. Had he replaced James Comey at the FBI shortly after taking office in January, for example, he might not now have a special counsel threatening him and his family.

Mr. Trump somehow seems to believe that his outsize personality and social-media following make him larger than the Presidency. He's wrong.He and his family seem oblivious to the brutal realities of Washington politics. Those realities will destroy Mr. Trump, his family and their business reputation unless they change their strategy toward the Russia probe. They don't have much more time to do it.

 

[Maxim726X]

Why won't they impeach him? Fucking hell you want Pence! Give it to Pence!

Because it would be a lame adminstration as opposed to a grossly incompetent one.

 

[FloydtheFathead]

Why won't they impeach him? Fucking hell you want Pence! Give it to Pence!

Because they'll lose his base if they do that

 

[ItWasMeantToBe19]

And some choice words from that liberal rag, The Wall Street Journal:

This article is wildly generous because it assumes Trump is innocent.

Trump is not innocent.

 

[Plinko]

I feel like they could pass tax reform and get a little momentum going again. Everyone keeps saying it's "harder than health care," but I'm not sure that's true.

 

[Ziltoidia 9]

I feel tax reform isnt as hard because tons of people arn't going to be losing something. Yes, 95% of the tax cuts go to only a few percentage, but most people don't know all the break down of it.

 

[Maxim726X]

I feel like they could pass tax reform and get a little momentum going again. Everyone keeps saying it's "harder than health care," but I'm not sure that's true.

Tax reform is harder *if* they actually want to touch Medicare/SS, which the crazies probably want to gut.

 

[Wilsongt]

Like the spending blueprint released this year by President Trump, the House plan envisions major cuts to federal spending over the coming decade, bringing the budget into balance by relying on accelerated economic growth to boost revenue. Under the House plan, defense spending would steadily increase over 10 years while nondefense discretionary spending would decline to $424 billion — 23 percent below the $554 billion the federal government is spending in that category this year.

Unlike Trump’s budget, the House proposal cuts into Medicare and Social Security — entitlement programs that the president has pledged to preserve. The House plan also makes a less-rosy economic growth assumption of 2.6 percent versus the 3 percent eyed by the Trump administration. Both, however, exceed the 1.9 percent figure used by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in its most recent economic estimates.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...t-606am:homepage/story&utm_term=.b6e2d5c8cc10

America needs a bigger dick to wave.