cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

The President is a ni-BBBBOOOOOOONNNGGGGG!

cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

The same way they came to power in 1994.

1. Wait for Democrats to slow the growth of Medicare costs.

2. "Death panels!"

3. Profit.

SilentStrider: Are they trying to guarantee a repeat of 1984? At this point, all Obama has to do to win is run footage of Congress.

That's why they cut off the cameras!

I for one think that this topic / thread is troll-proof, but I am pretty sure I'm wrong.

They were just trying to save on electricity. This is the GOP being green, can't you guy see that?

Republicans: True Eco-Warriors.

You always see people throw around the word censorship, but isn't this actual real deal censorship?

The theatrical stunt also serves to underscore Provident Obama's claim this week that Congress is effectively in recess

Somebody got a little excited typing up the article.

SilentStrider: Are they trying to guarantee a repeat of 1984? At this point, all Obama has to do to win is run footage of Congress.

Ahh yes but what if the GOP leaves the cameras off forever?!? And then declared them on pro forma?!?

cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

Combine the typical midterm blowback on a first term president and pump it full of 9+% unemployment caliber steroids.

James!: The republicans are not going to win this fight.

This.

Republicans have historically been very good at spin, but lately, they've been picking all the wrong battles. The payroll tax fight was stupid, and even the American electorate will call bullshiat on this "we're in session even though we're not there" strategy to block appointments. It looks juvenile and foolish, no matter how you spin it.

coeyagi: I for one think that this topic / thread is troll-proof, but I am pretty sure I'm wrong.


You just had to go there...

While I do realize these pro forma bullshiat sessions so recess appointments couldn't be made were first done by democrats, I gotta wonder how the republicans are going to spin it so they can say they were actually open for business when they pull shiat like this.

It's not like the seven democrats out of 435 congressmen were going to be able to get a majority vote and pass any kind of legislation. If the republicans had been smart, they would have let them in to aid their argument that Obama's being unconstitutional.

They are boot strappy. 9% approval ratings don't earn themselves. To be less popular than brain tumors, you have to work at it.

Dr. Mojo PhD: The theatrical stunt also serves to underscore Provident Obama's claim this week that Congress is effectively in recess

Somebody got a little excited typing up the article.

I was gonna say... that's an odd 'typo'.

The timing of all of this seems very curious to me. It's like they 'waited' until the first of the year to begin these coordinated efforts.

Including these efforts by the White House to tie Mitt Romney to this GOP-frustrated Congress and their "We Can't Wait" projects.

It feels orchestrated, planned and masterfully led and the GOP is bumbling from mistake to mistake with no clear leadership or direction other than to lash out blindly with their tried and true wedge-efforts.

And it's just beginning. I almost feel 'bad' for the GOP.

Almost.

Karac: It's not like the seven democrats out of 435 congressmen were going to be able to get a majority vote and pass any kind of legislation. If the republicans had been smart, they would have let them in to aid their argument that Obama's being unconstitutional.

It would have worked in North Carolina...

Seven people isn't much of a "rush," and without the microphone on, it wasn't even great theatrics. It's also impossible to make the argument that this was a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Democrats' part, since there weren't even close to enough people there for a proper vote. As a newspaper headline, however, it's fantastic.

What a bunch of farking children. If you're not in recess, get your farking ass back in your chair and do the farking job we farking pay you to do, you farking babies! Fark!

I wish I could openly refuse to do my job and still have a job to come back to the next day.

Starry Heavens: It's also impossible to make the argument that this was a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Democrats' part, since there weren't even close to enough people there for a proper vote.

It's just as easy to say that it wasn't a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Republican's part, for the same reason.

we just need to wrap congress in a giant pro-formalactic.

Starry Heavens: Seven people isn't much of a "rush," and without the microphone on, it wasn't even great theatrics. It's also impossible to make the argument that this was a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Democrats' part, since there weren't even close to enough people there for a proper vote. As a newspaper headline, however, it's fantastic.

Well, in the same way that seven people isn't much of a rush, saying the pledge of allegiance and then adjourning isn't much of a 'session' and I think this action by the democrats that were there today was to highlight that fact (not to mention the republicans rushing out of the room and cutting the TV feed) rather than to perform any actual business.

Infernalist: The timing of all of this seems very curious to me. It's like they 'waited' until the first of the year to begin these coordinated efforts.

Including these efforts by the White House to tie Mitt Romney to this GOP-frustrated Congress and their "We Can't Wait" projects.

It feels orchestrated, planned and masterfully led and the GOP is bumbling from mistake to mistake with no clear leadership or direction other than to lash out blindly with their tried and true wedge-efforts.

And it's just beginning. I almost feel 'bad' for the GOP.

Almost.

All my life the Republican party has been a well oiled machine, with effective strategies and strong support among it's members. And the Democrats have been disorganized, easily driven off message, often publicly disagreeing with each other.

My how things have changed.

Infernalist: The timing of all of this seems very curious to me. It's like they 'waited' until the first of the year to begin these coordinated efforts.

Including these efforts by the White House to tie Mitt Romney to this GOP-frustrated Congress and their "We Can't Wait" projects.

It feels orchestrated, planned and masterfully led and the GOP is bumbling from mistake to mistake with no clear leadership or direction other than to lash out blindly with their tried and true wedge-efforts.

And it's just beginning. I almost feel 'bad' for the GOP.

Almost.

The TEA Party freshmen promised the moon to get elected, and now they're getting close to having to answer to their constituents with very little to show except horrid natinoal approval numbers and a seemingly rebounding opposition president..

When you add this angry, irrational block, looking for any fight they can get, to the fact that Boehner is an extremely weak speaker, you get the present god-awful mess that is the House majority.

But yes, Obama's people set this up from the beginning. It was actually Hillary's post-election strategy, proudly and publicly authored by James Carville and Paul Begala. They wanted to set Rush Limbaugh up as an intellectual leader of the party, splitting the radical right from the mainstream. Rush took the bait, then Glenn Beck ran all the way to the insane asylum with it. The TEA Party rose and was quickly astroturfed. Now, there's a very. very fractured republican party, a better outcome than they ever could have foreseen.

SilentStrider: Are they trying to guarantee a repeat of 1984? At this point, all Obama has to do to win is run footage of Congress.

The crushing election, or the book?

Both?

Karac: If the republicans had been smart, they would have let them in to aid their argument that Obama's being unconstitutional.

Alas, they are not.

Well I guess that means that the Republicans would prefer not to work... Let's fire them and put people in their positions who do want to work.

repeat

JohnnyC: Well I guess that means that the Republicans would prefer not to work... Let's fire them and put people in their positions who do want to work.

Shiftless layabouts looking for taxpayer handouts.

Karac: Starry Heavens: It's also impossible to make the argument that this was a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Democrats' part, since there weren't even close to enough people there for a proper vote.

It's just as easy to say that it wasn't a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Republican's part, for the same reason.

Agreed. However, I'm skeptical that most people will hear that retort at the same time.

theknuckler_33: Well, in the same way that seven people isn't much of a rush, saying the pledge of allegiance and then adjourning isn't much of a 'session' and I think this action by the democrats that were there today was to highlight that fact (not to mention the republicans rushing out of the room and cutting the TV feed) rather than to perform any actual business.

Agreed as well. I just wish the theatrics were even better.

Britney Spear's Speculum: repeat

Yeah, but doing it again is a great way to get it in the news again.

Starry Heavens: Seven people isn't much of a "rush," and without the microphone on, it wasn't even great theatrics. It's also impossible to make the argument that this was a good-faith attempt to conduct business on the Democrats' part, since there weren't even close to enough people there for a proper vote. As a newspaper headline, however, it's fantastic.


That's the point... They weren't actually there to legislate. They were simply there to show that they couldn't if they wanted to because they're in recess... therefore, Obama's recess appointments are legit.

Infernalist: The timing of all of this seems very curious to me. It's like they 'waited' until the first of the year to begin these coordinated efforts.

Including these efforts by the White House to tie Mitt Romney to this GOP-frustrated Congress and their "We Can't Wait" projects.

It feels orchestrated, planned and masterfully led and the GOP is bumbling from mistake to mistake with no clear leadership or direction other than to lash out blindly with their tried and true wedge-efforts.

And it's just beginning. I almost feel 'bad' for the GOP.

Almost.

The timing has purpose. recess appointments go until the end if the next Congress, meaning by waiting until the very start of this Congress the appointments last through 2013 indeed of just through 2012 if he did them in December.

cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

People are dumb.

cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

Very simple.
Lots of Republicans voted
Not enough Dems did...


/got to be in it, to win it

squegeebooo: The timing has purpose. recess appointments go until the end if the next Congress, meaning by waiting until the very start of this Congress the appointments last through 2013 indeed of just through 2012 if he did them in December.

More and more it seems like one side is playing chess while the other is playing checkers.

SilentStrider: Are they trying to guarantee a repeat of 1984? At this point, all Obama has to do to win is run footage of Congress.

I don't think you understand how this all works. At this point, Democrats and Republicans are so far apart, due to the GOP constantly moving right and dehumanizing/demonizing the Democrats, that there really isn't much middle ground to lose. Republican voters are going to vote Republican. The right wing "independents" are going to vote Republican. There are no horrible strategies that are going to unleash crushing defeat upon the GOP and cause these voters to switch. Speaker Boehner could replace the gavel with a baby seal and bash it constantly on CSPAN to open and close sessions and get people to quiet down, and these people would still vote Republican. The Republican nominee could, instead of answering a debate question, eat a live child on national television Ozzy style, and these people would still vote Republican. Local Republican staffers could go around burning down constituents' houses instead of handing out voter registrations, and these people would still vote Republican.

I don't understand how people can constantly go on about how "this, that, or the other thing" is finally the straw that will break the GOP's back and cause voters to leave them. IT NEVER HAPPENS. It's not going to happen.

cameroncrazy1984: Flying Code Monkey: cameroncrazy1984: Republicans in the house are so bad at governance and PR. How did they get elected in the first place?

People are dumb.

Oh, right. I keep forgetting that America is more Yahoo! News comments than Fark comments.

Is there a "Depressing" vote button yet?

This has got to stop. We cannot have a government paralyzed by ideological idiocy and remain a viable nation.