US Politics Thread |OT| THE DARKEST TIMELINE

[benjipwns]

"We should have some quality time with this guy -- weeks and months," Graham said. "Don't torture him, but have some quality time with him."

Take him out to a fancy dinner at Olive Garden, go to a movie, maybe afterwards a nice cuddle on the couch watching Scandal.

Show him some nice YouTube videos on your phone...

[Joe Molotov]

The March 1st one.

[benjipwns]

How was he supposed to know the Democrats would undermine the war effort over the next three weeks before it started?

[Kara]

The March 1st one.

April 4 is p. good too.

[Mandark]

Topical once again!

http://thismodernworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kristolrevised3a.jpg

Only liked that post cause demi hasn't implemented "Despair" or "Seethe" buttons yet.

[Great Rumbler]

Somewhere, Dick Cheney's sitting by the phone, waterboard all ready to go.

[fizzel]

http://m.

Yanks, should I feel bad for liking Hillary. I remember holding back puke whenever someone across the pond told me how good Blair was for Britain.

[Phoenix Dark]

I wish she became president in 2008 instead of Barry the amateur. :trollbron:

On a serious note I think she's fine. Infinitely better than whatever alternative republicans trot out. I'd rather have her making foreign policy decisions than these chickenhawk neoconservative distinguished mentally-challenged fellows.

Say what you will about Obama, at least we're not knee deep in multiple wars. Which is where we'd be if McCain or Romney were president.

[Great Rumbler]

She's okay, far better than whatever nutjob comes out of the Republican primary, that's for sure. Not the greatest choice ever, though.

[Phoenix Dark]

She's quite a Wall Street goon though. For all my complaints about Obama, at least he's not giving speeches to execs saying they need to be treated with more respect.

But I think she'll be a good president which means defending Obamacare, not being a dick on gay rights or race issues, nominating decent judges, and not starting new wars to me.

[Great Rumbler]

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the suspect captured by U.S. special forces on Tuesday for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attack, reportedly said he was motivated in part by the anti-Islam online video made in America, according to the New York Times.

[Joe Molotov]

Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the suspect captured by U.S. special forces on Tuesday for his role in the 2012 Benghazi attack, reportedly said he was motivated in part by the anti-Islam online video made in America, according to the New York Times.

And people say waterboarding doesn't work. 

[Oblivion]

If by "water boarding" you mean "appointing him as the new director of the CIA", then I would agree.

[Oblivion]

Did anyone see Hilldawg's interview on Fox News? Heard it went pretty well. And conservatives on twitter are bitching about it being a "softball" interview.

[Great Rumbler]

The RNC decided to try their hand at an anti-Hillary Sportscenter commercial parody for some reason. I think it was supposed to be funny.

[Brehvolution]

That's the kind of sense of humor that is lost on many conservatives.

[Steve Contra]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/dick-cheney-and-liz-cheney-the-collapsing-obama-doctrine-1403046522

THIS FUCKING GUY

[Trent Dole]

Just looking at the subtitle I immediately think he's talking about our previous leader.

[Great Rumbler]

What's really hilarious is that Dick Cheney knew as far back as 1991 that this would be the exact result of an invasion of Iraq:

[Oblivion]

http://www.politico.com/story/2014/06/glenn-beck-iraq-liberals-right-107981.html?ml=la

Welp, humanity had a good run.

[Joe Molotov]

http://online.wsj.com/articles/dick-cheney-and-liz-cheney-the-collapsing-obama-doctrine-1403046522

THIS FUCKING GUY

I felt having Liz co-write this piece really added a lot of credibility.

[Brehvolution]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/harry-reid-dick-cheney_n_5507113.html

"If there's one thing this country does not need, is that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars," he said. "Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history. To the architects of the Iraq War who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say, Mr. President, thanks, but no thanks. Unfortunately, we have already tried it your way and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."

[WanderingWind]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/18/harry-reid-dick-cheney_n_5507113.html

"If there's one thing this country does not need, is that we should be taking advice from Dick Cheney on wars," he said. "Being on the wrong side of Dick Cheney is being on the right side of history. To the architects of the Iraq War who are now so eager to offer their expert analysis, I say, Mr. President, thanks, but no thanks. Unfortunately, we have already tried it your way and it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."

God that gave me a freedom boner

[Brehvolution]

It's the "Thanks but no thanks" etherx9000 that got me.

[Phoenix Dark]

come on Barry, style on these cacs. just do it breh
 

[Joe Molotov]

For second I saw that quote and thought maybe Obama had said it, but of course it would have to be Harry Reid. He's the only one with the nards to just say shit.

[DCharlieJP]

i love how GOPpers can see all these deeply laid out plans and conspiracy theories for Bamsy being a Muslim terror enabler yet they can't see how an ex-board member of Halliburton who oversaw a nontender agreement to give Halliburton war contracts for Halliburton to then over charge and under deliver to the military whilst taking billions in profit from tax money as anything other than "oh that is just a coincidence"

I bet Cheney is popping a boner at the thought of a potential HB payday coming his way if there's a jaunt back into Iraq

[benjipwns]

" it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."

World War I?
Vietnam?
New Coke?

[Oblivion]

KARL:  I wonder if you've had the chance to see this op-ed piece that former vice president Dick Cheney has written in the Wall Street Journal that has a rather critical tone to it toward the White House.  He says, "rarely has a U.S. president been so wrong about so much at the expense of so many," talking about the situation in Iraq and in the Middle East generally.


CARNEY:  Which president was he talking about?

 

[benjipwns]

http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/06/18/3137-county-analysis-obamacare-increased-2014-individual-market-premiums-by-average-of-49/

There are hundreds of aspects of Obamacare that people argue over. But there’s one question that matters above all others: does the Affordable Care Act live up to its name? Does it make health insurance less expensive? Last November, our team at the Manhattan Institute published a study indicating that Obamacare had increased the underlying cost of individually-purchased health insurance in the average state by 41 percent in 2014, relative to 2013. We’ve now redone the study on a county-by-county basis, complete with a brand-new interactive map. Depending on where you live, the results may surprise you.

Among men, the county with the greatest increase in insurance prices from 2013 to 2014 was Buchanan County, Missouri, about 45 miles north of Kansas City: 271 percent. Among women, the “winner” was Goodhue County, Minnesota, about an hour southwest of Minneapolis: 200 percent. Overall, the counties of Nevada, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Arkansas haven experienced the largest rate hikes under the law.

The best-faring county for both men and women was St. Lawrence County in northern New York, with premium decreases of 70 percent in 2014 relative to 2013. The New York City metropolitan area—the five boroughs, Long Island, and Westchester County—are the clear winners under Obamacare, with decreases in the 63 to 64 percent range.

Obamacare bails out New York’s death spiral

There’s a reason why New York does so well. In 1992, then-Gov. Mario Cuomo (D.) signed a law barring health insurers from charging different rates based on age, gender, health, or smoking status: what wonks call pure community rating. Naturally, older and sicker people thought this was a great deal, while younger and healthier people dropped out. As I detailed last summer, New York quickly became the poster child of the dreaded adverse selection death spiral.

Obamacare’s regulations are similar to Mario Cuomo’s, with two key differences. First, Obamacare has an individual mandate forcing young people to buy costlier insurance than they need. Second, many low-income people qualify for subsidies under Obamacare, encouraging healthy (but poor) people to sign up. Indeed, Cuomo’s successor George Pataki (R.) instituted a subsidized exchange called “Healthy New York” that did somewhat mitigate the Cuomo death spiral for those who were poor enough to qualify.

In addition, Obamacare allows a slightly wider age-rating band than New York; the federal law allows insurers to charge older individuals three times as much as younger ones. Since older people consume around six times as much health care as younger people, this is still a rip-off for the young in most parts of the country, but it doesn’t make a difference in the Empire State, which has deliberately chosen to maintain its requirement that age can play no factor in health premiums.

Women face rate hikes in 82% of U.S. counties; men 91%

Across the country, for men overall, individual-market premiums went up in 91 percent of all counties: 2,844 out of 3,137. For 27-year-old men, the average county faced 91 percent increases; for 40-year-old men, 60 percent; for 64-year-old men, 32 percent.

Women fared slightly better; their premiums “only” went up in 82 percent of all counties: 2,562 out of 3,137. That’s because Obamacare bars insurers from charging different rates to men and women; prior to Obamacare, only 11 states did so. Because women tend to consume more health care than men, the end result of the Obamacare regulation is that men fare somewhat worse.

Relative to men, the average rate increase for women was less extreme: 44 percent for 27-year-olds; 23 percent for 40-year-olds; 42 percent for 64-year-olds.

[Oblivion]

That's nice and all, but he seems to minimize one rather minor detail: the fact that the premium hikes don't include the subsidies.

[Oblivion]

Republicans were not happy with Katie Britt�s bizarrely dramatic State of the Union rebuttal. �What the hell am I watching?� one Trump adviser wondered to Rolling Stone

More: https://t.co/vRpEAfKBZHhttps://t.co/vRpEAfKBZH

— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) March 8, 2024

https://twitter.com/SenatorReid/status/479299157191315456/photo/1

[benjipwns]

I'm biased but I don't understand why Reid's (and Kerry who used this more than anyone) explanation that he was misled is supposed to make me want him in power or excuse him anymore than Beck.

[Oblivion]

Cause maybe Reid and Kerry didn't want to go into Iraq?

[Mandark]

Are we meant to take that manhattan institute thing seriously?

[benjipwns]

So they were lying then?

[benjipwns]

Are we meant to take that manhattan institute thing seriously?

It'll be the GOP talking point in about 48 hours if they get off Iraq.

[Mandark]

Are we meant to take that manhattan institute thing seriously?

It'll be the GOP talking point in about 48 hours if they get off Iraq.

I'm pretty sure most of the GOP has no problems getting off on Iraq.

[Mandark]

I think the implicit excuse for Kerry/Reid/Edwards/Hillary/etc. is "his approval rating was fucking seventy percent and everyone was still freaking out about explodey brown people, gimme a break" which is probably going to stay implicit cause of the etiquette of electoral politics.

[benjipwns]

I'm pretty sure most of the GOP has no problems getting off on Iraq.

This is Obama's problem, he pulled out too soon.

[benjipwns]

I think the implicit excuse for Kerry/Reid/Edwards/Hillary/etc. is "his approval rating was fucking seventy percent and everyone was still freaking out about explodey brown people, gimme a break" which is probably going to stay implicit cause of the etiquette of electoral politics.

Yes, of course, I just would like to see someone ask them these kind of gotchas. Same with Republicans. For entertainment purposes.

[Mandark]

The last thing the American voting public wants to hear is that they were complicit in the Iraq war, and that their representatives were giving them what they (at the time) wanted.

[benjipwns]

So you're saying I shouldn't campaign for Mike Roger's House seat on that platform?

[benjipwns]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/hillary-clinton-imploding_795328.html?nopager=1

To understand the weakness of Hillary Clinton's position, you need to understand her appeal as a candidate. She has no identifiable political legacy, no issue or set of positions that mark her ground. Instead, she is a symbol, as Ross Douthat put it last week,  which seeks to unite the Democratic working-class (her base in 2008)  with the identity-politics impulses that drive the core Obama voters. She is, in that way, a continuation of the Obama appeal, but without any of the political or policy baggage from the Obama administration. In fact, she's one of the few Democrats who can run without any firm attachment to Obama's tri-partite political legacy of Obamacare, high unemployment, and a stagnant economy. Clinton can be Obama's heir, but it's hard to pin any of those problems on her.

The only part of Obama's legacy that will stick to Clinton is his foreign policy.

For four years, that seemed like a great arrangement. But suddenly, over the last year, it's begun to look quite perilous. Obama_perhaps you've heard this?_got bin Laden. But other than that, his foreign policy record is disastrous: Libya, Egypt, Syria, the South China Sea, Crimea, Iraq, Afghanistan. It is difficult to find a spot on the globe that is better off today than when Obama took office. And yet Obama's foreign policy is the only entry of substance on Hillary Clinton's resume right now. Which means it will carry double the weight.

For Obama, Putin and Crimea are a mid-size political problem, ranked somewhere above the Keystone pipeline. For Clinton it's an existential problem because foreign affairs are the only measures for her basic professional competence.

Think about it from the perspective of a Democratic voter: Hillary Clinton was wrong on Monica Lewinsky during the (Bill) Clinton years, wrong on gay marriage and Iraq during the Bush years, and now wrong on Putin and Syria and Egypt and the whole of American foreign policy during the Obama years. What has she ever been right on? And if you're a Democratic voter, at some point you start to wonder, Can't we do better?

[Great Rumbler]

The Hillary Hate is so strong.

[Great Rumbler]

 

[Trent Dole]

We could probably have a better nominee, but is there a better person who could actually win in 2016?

[Boogie]

" it was the biggest foreign policy blunder in the history of the country."

World War I?

American involvement being decisive in ending the war and America being a moderating influence on the Paris Peace Conference is a blunder now?   

[Great Rumbler]

We could probably have a better nominee, but is there a better person who could actually win in 2016?

That's the problem right there, although I'll be shocked if a genuinely viable candidate makes it out of the GOP freakshow that's lining up for 2016.

[Oblivion]

Romney was the least distinguished mentally-challenged candidate last time (not counting Huntsman cause he never had a chance), and he became virtually indistinguishable from the morons he ran against.

I occasionally do worry at the idea of a "serious" Republican like Jeb Bush, Paul Ryan or Scott Walker running, but I expect the same thing to happen to them that happened to Mittens.

[Great Rumbler]

2016 feels like it's setting up for GOP going all-in on a hardcore Tea Party-type to keep that wing of their party from going full revolt. Cantor getting slapped down recently being the first step in that process.

[Phoenix Dark]

1964 redux.

[Human Snorenado]

Scott Walker and Chris Christie are in escalating amounts of legal trouble. Who else that's beholden to the Chamber of Commerce will run? Jeb? Huntsman? Romney again?

I hope Ted Cruz gets the nomination.

[Steve Contra]

It'll have to be Jeb.  Huntsman is fucking toxic to nearly all of the 'pubs that vote in primaries (like crazy toxic.  You'd think he was black or some shit).  Christie is yeah, well fucked.

[Oblivion]

Jeb said that we should be kind to the Messicans, and this is gonna require some major redemption on his part. We're talking about supporting something along the lines of Crypteia, at minimum.

[Oblivion]

McCain said that Paul, Rubio and Cruz all come to him for foreign policy advice and that he’s not surprised that Republicans still lean on him for his views. McCain said his advice is still popular among Republicans because lawmakers are looking to be led by “who’s highly regarded” – and that means the two amigos.
 
“We have had long experience and haven’t been wrong,” McCain said.

[Great Rumbler]

"Andrea, if you took your car into a mechanic and he destroyed the whole car and you couldn't even turn it on, you wouldn't go back to the same mechanic when there's a problem," she added.

[Oblivion]

[Great Rumbler]

There's always something bad going on the world, usually several different things, and there's really very little that America can do to keep those things from happening or stop them when they do. We can barely even keep our own selves together most of the time.

[Joe Molotov]

The only bad thing about Joe Walsh getting fired is that now his kids won't be getting their child support from their unemployed dad again (if they were anyway).