Obviously, the numbers vary from poll to poll, but they seem to agree that the Republicans are beginning this government shutdown with historically low approval ratings. Which makes sense, because the man who is always wrong about everything thinks the GOP should stand pat, refuse to negotiate, and actually send their members home to talk to their constituents. And what time could conceivably be more opportune for talking with your constituents than when your poll numbers at an historic low and the government is shut down because (among other things) your party doesn’t like birth control for the ladies?
Meanwhile, it is now abundantly apparent that the House has a new Speaker, who happens to have been born in Canada.
Glad to see Obama using the “bully pulpit” again today. He needs to stay in front of the people. Above all do not negotiate with terrorists.
Sen. Mikulski is angry enough to chew nails…
” the House has a new Speaker, who happens to have been born in Canada.”
Hmmm– that could lead to constitutional issues given that the speaker is 3rd in line for the presidency in the event that the president and vp can’t perform their duties (I know he’s not actually the speaker, but if he were…)
no, he’s a natural born citizen, at least according to accepted interpretations.
However, we can still use him to annoy canadians when they make fun of us because our country is INSANE.
Also a citizen of Cuba, by parentage.
Which, unlike the Canadian citizenship, he hasn’t renounced.
Well he’s gotta be a Castroist Commiepants then.
This presumes their opponents pack a punch, and aren’t offering up the medical device tax as they run for the bomb shelter….
As for Tailgunner Ted, it’s been recently pointed out that the Speaker doesn’t need to be a member of the House, haha.
Can you imagine how mad the manufacturers of those medical devices are? They have spent million on lobbying congress and all they got was legislation in last hours before the government shut down.
Yeah, well they never DID develop a working GOP brain implant, so it’s their own damned fault.
New speaker, eh. Did Rush Limbaugh retire?
Ha, you beat me to it.
I saw a clip of Kristol talking about this the other day, and thus began to wonder what is that special something that makes him so consistently wrong about everything.
I suppose it’s because he’s a deeply committed ideologue. But even most ideologues do not rack up the kind of record that Kristol has. So there must be additional factors.
First, not only is he a true believer, but the ideology he believes in, neoconservatism, is a spectacularly por one for making judgemtns about the world today . It clings to ideas and thought-patterns that were already grossly exaggerated by the late period of the Cold War. when neoconserrvatism originated — while preserving the smugness of an Establishment worldview. Most ideologies have at least a kernel, or more than one kernel, of truth. I’m not sure this one does.
Then there’s another reason — Kristol, while utterly lacking in common sense, has a good head for debating. So he is impressed with his own logic-chopping, and in his own mind always does a great job reasoning from the inevitably false premises he takes for granted. So why should he ever change his views about anything?
As for Cruz being the new leader of House, it just confirms for me that whoever described him as “very, very smart” (and I know a lot of people have) was using that word in some sense that doesn’t apply to politics.
A stopped clock is right twice a day.
But a clock that is 3 hours slow is always wrong.
Heavy
There’s something wildly fascinating about the leaked story of the Speaker trying to lead the GOP caucus through a legislative strategy only to have a freshman Senator convene a call of dissident House members in order to organize and whip their opposition to their own Speaker. That is groundbreaking. Also insane, too.