Like, Reid is a spineless bastard but he's not -dumb-
They could be doing useful shit but instead they're acting like the world ends in 30 days and it doesn't matter.
are they blaming Obama for the results?
Err...what useful shit can they do without the House coming along with them?
The only thing that comes to mind would be nominations and if you think the filibuster is frequent now you just wait until they try and approve anybody in the lame duck session.
Reid eliminated the filibuster for non-Cabinet and SCOTUS level appointments. And yes; I would like to see Obama and Reid fully staff the government while they still can.
Like, Reid is a spineless bastard but he's not -dumb-
They could be doing useful shit but instead they're acting like the world ends in 30 days and it doesn't matter.
are they blaming Obama for the results?
Err...what useful shit can they do without the House coming along with them?
The only thing that comes to mind would be nominations and if you think the filibuster is frequent now you just wait until they try and approve anybody in the lame duck session.
Reid eliminated the filibuster for non-Cabinet and SCOTUS level appointments. And yes; I would like to see Obama and Reid fully staff the government while they still can.
So what have they been doing on this for the last sixth months?
I mean, yea, I think this should have been going on for awhile now but they're still following most of the reasonable vetting procedures and those do take time and probably should.
Drop in the ocean, I know. But over $20 million spent in the race, $13.5 from outside groups (and a large chunk of that also being Ose's own money), huge down year for Democrats, and Bera held out.
Problem with term limits is that it makes it easier for shitty lobbyists to get what they want. Our current setup guarantees that there isn't much in the way of people who have expertise and term limits will reduce that limited expertise even more. Plus, we have the whole shitty revolving door thing. I suspect most politicians would just opt to be lobbyists once they can't go higher up in political hierarchy (a fair chunk of those fuckers would never be able to win anything outside of their heavily gerrymandered districts, well not without cheating and are too fucking egotistical to take a step down into heavily gerrymandered state and local districts).
The real solution to our Congresscritters campaigning too much would be to kill Citizens United with a constitutional amendment that makes it clear that money in politics is not part of the first amendment (would love it it official use the term "with all due respect, the Roberts Courts, which is arguable the worst court right now, can kind fuck off because it was fucking wrong on Citizen United and that decision was very harmful to US democracy!). The solution to Lobbyists having to much control outside of murdering Citizens United with a constitutional amendment would be to undo the damage that shithead Gingrich did and bring back a bureaucracy bench that has people with expertise on various things that legislation touches, who don't have any stakes in company profits and likely never worked for any companies (aka a route for someone to go from college straight to giving Congresscritters advice on, for example, nuclear energy without having any issues about them being biased because they were part of some energy companies board). Also not to mention reign in BS like ALEC by having legislation that requires them to be transparent because if they want write legislation for Congresscritters, than everything they do must be transparent and open to scrutiny and make it illegal for any government entity to give them funds (I think the asshole running the Virginia House of delegates actually blocked attempts to prevent ALEC from getting state funding, can't remember if they were or are getting any right now).
Those steps, along with killing gerrymandering would solve issues with bad incumbents entrenching themselves so that it's impossible to get rid of them. The cost of entry for challengers would be lower, since less money would be required to run against them. They wouldn't be able to gerrymander things in their favor, if districting by an independent board makes their seat safer, at least that would be based on how best to draw up the district rather than how best to make sure X keeps winning the district. I mean, I have no complaints if in a fairly drawn district, where money plays less of a role in campaign, if the constituents want to keep their a Congresscritter until that Congresscritter either dies or can no longer perform what is expected of someone in that role. I mean it's the constituents making the choice, rather than some BS where the district keeps getting drawn so that person can't lose and/or no one can get an adequate war chest to run against the person because the majority of the moneyed interests really like that person.
Like, Reid is a spineless bastard but he's not -dumb-
They could be doing useful shit but instead they're acting like the world ends in 30 days and it doesn't matter.
are they blaming Obama for the results?
Err...what useful shit can they do without the House coming along with them?
The only thing that comes to mind would be nominations and if you think the filibuster is frequent now you just wait until they try and approve anybody in the lame duck session.
Reid eliminated the filibuster for non-Cabinet and SCOTUS level appointments. And yes; I would like to see Obama and Reid fully staff the government while they still can.
So what have they been doing on this for the last sixth months?
Decent, but not good enough.
I mean, yea, I think this should have been going on for awhile now but they're still following most of the reasonable vetting procedures and those do take time and probably should.
From what I've read about the vetting process for positions that arguably shouldn't even require Senate confirmation, let alone important ones, it hasn't been reasonable since the transition team. But that's an argument for another day. Regardless of the merits of how deep a dive is being taken the results of the midterm should light a fire under their ass so that they can speed up the process to as quickly as possible and push people through the Senate as much as possible. You know what doesn't do either of those things? Idiotic symbolic votes about building a leaky pipe over the most important aquifer in the west that ultimately failed anyway.
Like, Reid is a spineless bastard but he's not -dumb-
They could be doing useful shit but instead they're acting like the world ends in 30 days and it doesn't matter.
are they blaming Obama for the results?
Err...what useful shit can they do without the House coming along with them?
The only thing that comes to mind would be nominations and if you think the filibuster is frequent now you just wait until they try and approve anybody in the lame duck session.
Reid eliminated the filibuster for non-Cabinet and SCOTUS level appointments. And yes; I would like to see Obama and Reid fully staff the government while they still can.
So what have they been doing on this for the last sixth months?
Decent, but not good enough.
I mean, yea, I think this should have been going on for awhile now but they're still following most of the reasonable vetting procedures and those do take time and probably should.
From what I've read about the vetting process for positions that arguably shouldn't even require Senate confirmation, let alone important ones, it hasn't been reasonable since the transition team. But that's an argument for another day. Regardless of the merits of how deep a dive is being taken the results of the midterm should light a fire under their ass so that they can speed up the process to as quickly as possible and push people through the Senate as much as possible. You know what doesn't do either of those things? Idiotic symbolic votes about building a leaky pipe over the most important aquifer in the west that ultimately failed anyway.
And increasingly sounds like the President would (will in the next Congress) veto anyway.
Self-righteousness is incompatible with coalition building.
Yeah, they'd need 2/3 from each chamber of Congress to override a veto. So even if the next Senate could have gotten more votes than this one on such a shitty thing, Obama's veto would have stood because they aren't going to get 67 and usually, a veto results in a bill getting even less votes the second go around. Hell, as I understand, even the republican voters that would be having keystone going through their states don't fucking want the thing. Yeah, I know the party isn't exactly great at listening to their non-moneyed and non-conservative base, but I'd think that would make the prospects of getting 2/3 of the House a bit precarious because Cantor certainly proved that if the base is livid enough, they'll just primary out the republicans they don't like.
Reid was dumb to have this vote. It should have been used on something useful. Like getting appointments through before the next Congress or getting what few non-shitty bipartisan bills are sill palatable to sane people through because I'm pretty sure that category is going to die with the next Congress. Let dumbass turtle waste time on a keystone vote and then use that against his party in 2016's general election instead of wasting time on it and upsetting the base.
Yeah, I get that term limits aren't perfect, but make the term close to twenty years and I don't think we would have the lobbyist issue as badly. Maybe a bit more than we do now, but not so much I think. Besides, I don't know what the average term span for a congress person is, but I don't think it's twenty years.
Yeah, I get that term limits aren't perfect, but make the term close to twenty years and I don't think we would have the lobbyist issue as badly. Maybe a bit more than we do now, but not so much I think. Besides, I don't know what the average term span for a congress person is, but I don't think it's twenty years.
The average years of service for Members of the 113th Congress, as of January 3, 2013, when the Congress convened, was 9.1 years for the House and 10.2 years for the Senate. The average years of service for Members of the 112th Congress, as of January 5, 2011, when the Congress convened, was 9.8 years for the House and 11.4 years for the Senate.
It has some fun graphs showing trends. The length of service has been increasing somewhat steadily recently, but by inches. A majority of the Congress has less than 8 years of service and only ~20% have more than 16 years in office and nothing about it is really all that predictive.
Alternately, double the number of congresscritters.
Seriously, when was the last time they added more people to the house? The proportions are so out of whack
It was legislatively capped in 1929 at 435. Last time more were added was 1913.
And the history of it is even worse than you are thinking. As in, let's just ignore a census for apportionment because of Irish and Italian immigrants worse.
It absolutely is. I was sad to see the big media networks not running more with that story; the republican platform is completely unsustainable.
Behind the Blue Wall there were some new Republican Governors, but their success was very specific and did not translate down the ballot. None of these candidates ran on social issues, Obama, or opposition the ACA.
- Vote suppression is working remarkably well, but that won’t last. Eventually Democrats will help people get the documentation they need to meet the ridiculous and confusing new requirements. The whole “voter integrity” sham may have given Republicans a one or maybe two-election boost in low-turnout races. Meanwhile we kissed off minority votes for the foreseeable future.
- Vote suppression is working remarkably well, but that won’t last. Eventually Democrats will help people get the documentation they need to meet the ridiculous and confusing new requirements. The whole “voter integrity” sham may have given Republicans a one or maybe two-election boost in low-turnout races. Meanwhile we kissed off minority votes for the foreseeable future.
Also, the current large numbers of old white racists nutcases will die.
Sure, there will be new, young white racists, but there will be less, and they will be less likely to vote.
man that site takes it to the GOP harder than I've seen a democrat do
If you thought Benghazi was a legitimate scandal that reveals Obama’s real plans for America then you’re an idiot, but these next two years will be a (briefly) happy period for you.
The part about that article that makes it great is that it's written by a republican that can plainly see that the party has gone insane; instead of working with democrats to achieve a fair middleground between conservatism and progression to deal with issues like a weak economy, forign policy or immigration, they focussed on useless crap like benghazi (which had more inquiries done then 9/11) and pure obstructionism.
The party desperately needs more of these people and it needs them at the upper echelons of the party and it needs them to have the clout and authority to purge the crazys so that the party can actually become viable.
+5
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
The only way for them to have that clout iso to secure them from primary challenge. Good luck with that.
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
The part about that article that makes it great is that it's written by a republican that can plainly see that the party has gone insane; instead of working with democrats to achieve a fair middleground between conservatism and progression to deal with issues like a weak economy, forign policy or immigration, they focussed on useless crap like benghazi (which had more inquiries done then 9/11) and pure obstructionism.
The party desperately needs more of these people and it needs them at the upper echelons of the party and it needs them to have the clout and authority to purge the crazys so that the party can actually become viable.
Even were they to get real leadership into the party, it's still going to take them a decade plus to undo the damage 30 years of compassionate conservatism has done. Frankly, I still think the GOP is dead, they just don't know it yet. They're going through a nasty death rattle, and eventually the entire thing is going to collapse around them.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
The part about that article that makes it great is that it's written by a republican that can plainly see that the party has gone insane; instead of working with democrats to achieve a fair middleground between conservatism and progression to deal with issues like a weak economy, forign policy or immigration, they focussed on useless crap like benghazi (which had more inquiries done then 9/11) and pure obstructionism.
The party desperately needs more of these people and it needs them at the upper echelons of the party and it needs them to have the clout and authority to purge the crazys so that the party can actually become viable.
Even were they to get real leadership into the party, it's still going to take them a decade plus to undo the damage 30 years of compassionate conservatism has done. Frankly, I still think the GOP is dead, they just don't know it yet. They're going through a nasty death rattle, and eventually the entire thing is going to collapse around them.
People keep saying this, but with the amount of money they throw around, I don't think they'll ever be dead. It's just too easy to buy elections in this country.
The Republican Party of today will be dead in the same way that the Democratic Party of 'segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever!' is dead. In that it just reelected a black guy to the Presidency.
that party still exists, they're just called republicans now. the question is what's going to happen to the GOP when it becomes clear they will never win another presidency. yeah they will still exist, because south carolina will always be horrible, but to what extent.
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Just_Bri_ThanksSeething with ragefrom a handbasket.Registered User, ClubPAregular
Mississippi will also always be horrible.
...and when you are done with that; take a folding
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Don't forget Alabama. Those three states are probably good reasons to go to the popular vote over the electoral college because I'm pretty sure we'll hit a point where the other states are just so far ahead of those three, that it won't be funny and neither of the major parties will have any idea how to win in them without alienating everyone else.
At some point the divisions in the Democratic party will split as we are reminded just how many people are only "liberal" because the current Republicans disenfranchise the group they belong to.
At some point the divisions in the Democratic party will split as we are reminded just how many people are only "liberal" because the current Republicans disenfranchise the group they belong to.
True, but that isn't going to happen until the republican party is completely busted; none of the democrats main demographics are stupid enough to try and break away until that happens.
Bush: History will be kind to me.
Obama: I am radioactive and any Democrat I touch will die.
No Obama. Stop that.
I got the impression it was the other way around. Some articles I read suggested it was the candidates saying they didn't want his help, while Obama was more then willing to stump for people.
+1
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
Bush: History will be kind to me.
Obama: I am radioactive and any Democrat I touch will die.
No Obama. Stop that.
I got the impression it was the other way around. Some articles I read suggested it was the candidates saying they didn't want his help, while Obama was more then willing to stump for people.
He's right though, a lot of the low information voters are going to be voting against Obama because he has been president for 6 years and hasn't fixed everything, and all they have heard from the media is that Obamacare is a failure, so they will be voting against him.
Posts
Reid eliminated the filibuster for non-Cabinet and SCOTUS level appointments. And yes; I would like to see Obama and Reid fully staff the government while they still can.
So what have they been doing on this for the last sixth months?
I mean, yea, I think this should have been going on for awhile now but they're still following most of the reasonable vetting procedures and those do take time and probably should.
Wheee! Bera won!
Drop in the ocean, I know. But over $20 million spent in the race, $13.5 from outside groups (and a large chunk of that also being Ose's own money), huge down year for Democrats, and Bera held out.
Feels good.
The real solution to our Congresscritters campaigning too much would be to kill Citizens United with a constitutional amendment that makes it clear that money in politics is not part of the first amendment (would love it it official use the term "with all due respect, the Roberts Courts, which is arguable the worst court right now, can kind fuck off because it was fucking wrong on Citizen United and that decision was very harmful to US democracy!). The solution to Lobbyists having to much control outside of murdering Citizens United with a constitutional amendment would be to undo the damage that shithead Gingrich did and bring back a bureaucracy bench that has people with expertise on various things that legislation touches, who don't have any stakes in company profits and likely never worked for any companies (aka a route for someone to go from college straight to giving Congresscritters advice on, for example, nuclear energy without having any issues about them being biased because they were part of some energy companies board). Also not to mention reign in BS like ALEC by having legislation that requires them to be transparent because if they want write legislation for Congresscritters, than everything they do must be transparent and open to scrutiny and make it illegal for any government entity to give them funds (I think the asshole running the Virginia House of delegates actually blocked attempts to prevent ALEC from getting state funding, can't remember if they were or are getting any right now).
Those steps, along with killing gerrymandering would solve issues with bad incumbents entrenching themselves so that it's impossible to get rid of them. The cost of entry for challengers would be lower, since less money would be required to run against them. They wouldn't be able to gerrymander things in their favor, if districting by an independent board makes their seat safer, at least that would be based on how best to draw up the district rather than how best to make sure X keeps winning the district. I mean, I have no complaints if in a fairly drawn district, where money plays less of a role in campaign, if the constituents want to keep their a Congresscritter until that Congresscritter either dies or can no longer perform what is expected of someone in that role. I mean it's the constituents making the choice, rather than some BS where the district keeps getting drawn so that person can't lose and/or no one can get an adequate war chest to run against the person because the majority of the moneyed interests really like that person.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
twitch.tv/Taramoor
@TaramoorPlays
Taramoor on Youtube
Decent, but not good enough.
From what I've read about the vetting process for positions that arguably shouldn't even require Senate confirmation, let alone important ones, it hasn't been reasonable since the transition team. But that's an argument for another day. Regardless of the merits of how deep a dive is being taken the results of the midterm should light a fire under their ass so that they can speed up the process to as quickly as possible and push people through the Senate as much as possible. You know what doesn't do either of those things? Idiotic symbolic votes about building a leaky pipe over the most important aquifer in the west that ultimately failed anyway.
And increasingly sounds like the President would (will in the next Congress) veto anyway.
Reid was dumb to have this vote. It should have been used on something useful. Like getting appointments through before the next Congress or getting what few non-shitty bipartisan bills are sill palatable to sane people through because I'm pretty sure that category is going to die with the next Congress. Let dumbass turtle waste time on a keystone vote and then use that against his party in 2016's general election instead of wasting time on it and upsetting the base.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
[ cite ] (pdf)
It has some fun graphs showing trends. The length of service has been increasing somewhat steadily recently, but by inches. A majority of the Congress has less than 8 years of service and only ~20% have more than 16 years in office and nothing about it is really all that predictive.
Seriously, when was the last time they added more people to the house? The proportions are so out of whack
It was legislatively capped in 1929 at 435. Last time more were added was 1913.
And the history of it is even worse than you are thinking. As in, let's just ignore a census for apportionment because of Irish and Italian immigrants worse.
She should just become a Democrat. It's basically the conservative party of the not-so-distant past now, with saner social stances.
Any Republican celebrating the "red wave" is blissfully ignorant of the factors leading to it.
It absolutely is. I was sad to see the big media networks not running more with that story; the republican platform is completely unsustainable.
Also, the current large numbers of old white racists nutcases will die.
Sure, there will be new, young white racists, but there will be less, and they will be less likely to vote.
Blurg
That article was very uplifting. Thank you for posting it Hedgie.
The party desperately needs more of these people and it needs them at the upper echelons of the party and it needs them to have the clout and authority to purge the crazys so that the party can actually become viable.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
Even were they to get real leadership into the party, it's still going to take them a decade plus to undo the damage 30 years of compassionate conservatism has done. Frankly, I still think the GOP is dead, they just don't know it yet. They're going through a nasty death rattle, and eventually the entire thing is going to collapse around them.
People keep saying this, but with the amount of money they throw around, I don't think they'll ever be dead. It's just too easy to buy elections in this country.
I'm sure they will find new and interesting ways to suck though.
chair to Creation and then suplex the Void.
battletag: Millin#1360
Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
True, but that isn't going to happen until the republican party is completely busted; none of the democrats main demographics are stupid enough to try and break away until that happens.
bring it.
Obama: I am radioactive and any Democrat I touch will die.
No Obama. Stop that.
I got the impression it was the other way around. Some articles I read suggested it was the candidates saying they didn't want his help, while Obama was more then willing to stump for people.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/23/politics/obama-election-new-car-smell/index.html?hpt=hp_t1
MWO: Adamski