The Politics Thread

[DRW50]

I just can't believe we'll be doing this again in a few months.

I hate when people say other countries must think we're stupid and must be disgusted by us. Some part of me just instinctively feels hurt when people say that. But what else can people be saying at this point? We must be a laughingstock.

And the media is likely working overtime to try to tell us how this is great for Chris Christie and Ted Cruz.

[AdelaideCate007]

I think the question most people not from the US have is how it gets this bad without anyone doing something or trying to intervene. It just seems like the US government is content to let the US go into a free for all while they fight with each other and try to blame the other side for the mess.

Edited October 17, 2013 by AdelaideCate007

[quartermainefan]

There is no one to intervene unless you want the military to launch a coup. Unlike a parliamentary system the US system has these differences built into the system. It never seemed to be a problem before recent times, but the last 20 years has seen the rise of the rabid right, and they do not acknowledge anyone being a legitimate president that comes from the other party. They no longer seek to govern, they just seek to oppose and destroy. They tried it with Bill Clinton, and they tried it just now with Obama. There may not be any answer because the republicans control all these states and state governments and have rigged the districts so all these insane tea partiers actually reflect their constituents.

Republicans courted these psychopaths and peddled anti-intellectualism and fear of anything that is "other", and that is now who makes up their party. According to various news sources the old Republicans (Wall Street) are thinking they may no longer be best served by the republicans. Perhaps that, driving the party broke, may be the way to break the tea party.

[marceline]

We are a laughingstock and we should be. I don't mind when people from other countries throw shade because we deserve it. Part of what drives and emboldens the tea party is the myth of American exceptionalism. It keeps people from recognizing our problems and for looking toward other countries for solutions. Look at health care. Every civilized western nation has some form of universal health care but not us. We're so special that we have people fighting for a system where getting sick can bankrupt you.

[DRW50]

I mind it mostly because I think it becomes a catch-all and a lot of good people get dragged down along with the Americans who genuinely deserve scorn. In this case, I'm so disgusted by the whole thing because we know that a majority of the country did not vote for hostage crises every few months. That was supposed to be the whole point of the 2012 elections. Yet, thanks to gerrymandering, nothing will ever improve.

[marceline]

True a majority didn't vote for a hostage crisis but at the same time look at how many people don't vote at all. Or don't pay attention to anything political. Look how many people don't understand simple things like the separation of powers and therefore they think the President is in charge of everything. Look at how many people were livid over WWII vets being turned away from memorials or vacationers not being able to go to national parks, yet couldn't have cared less about NIH clinical trials or WIC. These people all hate government yet cry like babies when their own part of it doesn't work. Look how many people truly believed that defaulting on our debt wouldn't have had a serious effect on the economy.

It's the ignorance and hypocrisy that makes us a joke.

[DRW50]

That's true. I don't talk to any Republicans I know now, not about politics, so I don't know how much traction the national monument stuff got.

It just seems like there's been a shift away from the GOP claiming they are acting for the people to claiming they are acting for those in their district. The new message seems to be, louder than ever, that most of America can !@#$%^&*] off.

[marceline]

That's very, very true. It's their way of pretending that that they are acting in someone else's interest when in fact it's all about superPAC donors.

[DRW50]

I think what incenses me the most is for years the GOP mantra was, "Pay your bills," and then when the default approached, the Tom Coburn types started basically saying that defaulting on money the country owes isn't so bad at all. I've never heard anything like it.

[marceline]

Right?! Is there a better example of GOP hypocrisy? The party of fiscal responsibility was running around saying "Meh, we don't have to pay ALL or our bills and we certainly don't have to pay them on time!"

It's another example of how damaging magical thinking and anti-intellectualism can be. It's the same thing that brought us UnskewedPolls and talk of a Romney landslide. Even now, they aren't admitting that they lost this battle just like they lost the battle to make Obama a one-term president (which was their NUMBER ONE goal), the battle against Obamacare, and the SCOTUS case against Obamacare. Instead of accepting the fact that they lose, they come back with corruption and voter suppression. Republicans know they can't win on their ideas, so they either rig the game instead or try to destroy the system altogether.

Edited October 18, 2013 by marceline

[DRW50]

I know what you mean. We're already hearing the spin about how this is actually good for them, because they're unified now (even though nearly 150 of them didn't vote for the bill). And of course, it's all proof that Republicans in Congress aren't conservative enough.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/for-house-republicans-lessons-in-loss-20131016?mrefid=HomepageRiver

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/lesson-learned-here-s-what-conservatives-are-taking-away-from-the-shutdown

Joe Biden is the Muffin Man.

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/photo-biden-brings-muffins-for-returning-epa-workers

[LeClerc]

Anyone have any thoughts on the reportedly extremely low levels of enrollment in the healthcare exchanges so far?

I've seen various numbers being bandied about, the highest being 36,000. The administration's goal was reportedly 7 million by the end of this year.

[marceline]

I'm not too worried about those numbers just yet. Mainly because we're in open enrollment and people have months to sign up. No matter how much people try to simplify it, health insurance is hard to figure out even when you get it through work and have an HR department rep there to answer all of your questions. We're in open enrollment at my job and I guarantee you most of us won't sign up until the last minute, myself included. It makes sense that people who have literally NEVER had health insurance would be overwhelmed by whatever information they receive. Have you ever really tried to read through an insurance plan? It's insane. Add in the website stuff and that's not a perfect recipe for enrollment.

My prediction (based on absolutely nothing) is that enrollment will stay slow and flat until mid-December then it will jump right before the signup deadline which will only make the sites slow and crash again. What's disgusting for me is watching Republicans in the states work so hard to make this fail. I can't even begin to tell you the machinations Mary Taylor, our Lt. Gov. who is also the Director of the Ohio Dept. of Insurance, has gone through to sabotage the rollout in this state. The lies, the kneecapping, etc...it's a dereliction of responsibility that is only surpassed by the work our Sec. of State has gone through to make it harder to vote. I wouldn't be surprised if Taylor had been sitting in the server room with a pair of wire cutters.

Edited October 18, 2013 by marceline

[Ann_SS]

Ha, I raise you the Florida Republicans led by the grotesque corrupt governor Rick Scott who tried to pull a Jeb Bush and commit election fraud to steal the election for Romney and is now sabotaging the ACA by every means possible including preventing the navigators from working at the state community health departments. I understand how they justify their racism and hatred of people of color, the poor, and the sick, but it never ceases to amaze me that these people consider themselves, Christians.

Edited October 18, 2013 by Ann_SS

[DRW50]

RIP former House Speaker Tom Foley.

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/tom-foley-dies-98529.html?hp=r2