Lindsey Graham is "very dangerous"

By Michael J.W. Stickings

John McCain's little sidekick is pissed off:

Sen. Lindsey Graham is angry. He’s frustrated. He's upset. In his own words, he's "very dangerous."

With the government shutdown now in its 12th day, and a possible U.S. debt default looming on Oct. 17, the veteran Republican was in the mood to lash out at everyone Saturday. President Barack Obama, House Republicans, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans — they were all the target of Graham’s ire.

"The president is a pathetic leader. He's only engaged in the last couple of days," Graham said after the Senate blocked action on a Democratic plan for a "clean" debt-ceiling increase through 2014. "Every time you get close to getting a deal over here with our Democratic friends, they move the ball because some poll comes out. Our friends in the House apparently can’t muster the votes to send something over here to open up the government. So it's dysfunction at every level."

But the 58-year-old Graham wasn't through venting yet. "You can blame us [Republicans], we've overplayed our hand, that's for damn sure," Graham said. "But their response, where the president and [Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid] basically shutting everybody out, and when you try to negotiate, they keep changing the terms of the deal... it's very frustrating."

"This is a very frustrated Lindsey Graham," he added. "Which is a very dangerous thing."

With all due respect, Senator Graham, which admittedly isn't very much, go stick a fist up your self-righteous ass.

It's your pathetic party that's doing this, holding the country hostage over its extremist right-wing agenda, threatening global economic catastrophe over the debt ceiling, shutting down the government because you and your fellow Republicans refuse to accept the results of democratic elections that don't go in your favor, because an insanely irrational hatred of Obamacare has taken hold of your insanely irrational party.

And you're a huge part of the problem, sucking up to the far right because you fear a primary challenge, engaging the Tea Party when it can boost your and your party's electoral fortunes, putting your own ideological and partisan priorities ahead of the country whenever it suits you.

Like I said, go fuck yourself.

President Obama and the Democrats are fully within their right not to negotiate with terrorists.

No help here

By Mustang Bobby

Gov. Rick Scott (R-FL) won’t let Florida’s state agencies pick up the slack.

Ten days into a partial shutdown of the federal government that has no signs of easing, Gov. Rick Scott’s chief of staff ordered that no state funds will be used to offset any federal programs that run out of cash as a result of the federal gridlock.

In a draft letter directed to the governor’s agencies, Adam Hollingsworth, Scott’s chief of staff, said that absent a federal resolution, “it is important that we ensure that state funds are not committed as a temporary backfill to federal programs as a matter of course.”

A day after more than 100 fishing guides, kayakers and paddle board operators held a rally to protest the closure of the Everglades National Park, the governor also rejected calls to use state funds to open closed federal parks in Florida.

The federal government said Thursday it will allow states to use their own money to reopen some national parks. Governors in Utah, South Dakota, Arizona and Colorado have suggested they will do that, even though it is uncertain whether they will get reimbursed.

It’s no surprise that the most important thing to the governor is whether or not the state would get reimbursed. Magnanimity and empathy for the people out of work never entered into the equation.

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

A.M. Headlines

(CBS News): "Obama, Republicans keep talking as government shutdown enters second weekend"

(Politico): "Ted Cruz confronts President Obama at White House"

(TPM): "Rep. Pete King: Obama should donate to Ted Cruz"

(The Hill): "Obama tells Senate GOP he's willing to talk Obamacare changes"

(NBC News): "First Thoughts: A divided GOP cannot stand"

Listening to Now: Chucho Valdes - "Border-Free"

By Richard K. Barry

From Chucho Valdes' website:

Winner of five Grammys and three Latin Grammys, the Cuban pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader Chucho Valdés has been a key figure in the evolution of Afro-Cuban jazz for the past 50 years.

This is from his newest recording Border-Free (2013).

P.M. Headlines

(The American Conservative): "Ted Cruz’s debacle"

(Matt Taibbi): "Democrats must top Ted Cruz's Hollywood ending"

(Charlie Cook): "How Democrats can get to yes"

(Jonathan Karl): "Analysis: Republicans are working out the terms of their surrender"

(New York Times): "Chemical weapons watchdog wins Nobel Peace Prize"

Vidit ergo Lesus. . .

By Capt. Fogg

Yes, yes, we've all heard, Pope Francis may be infallible but the guy who mints the medals isn't. Somebody substituted an L for an I (which can look damned similar in certain typefaces) and somebody else didn't notice and so it went out the door as Lesus instead of Iesus. I'm an old man, I can sympathize about reading small print and at least it didn't say Lexus. We have too many of those on the road as it is.

Of course growing up in the Galilee, the name was יהושע or Yehushua but we won't quibble. The sign on the Cross said IHS, not LHS and of course the J is not part of the Roman alphabet.

Vidit ergo Iesus publicanum et quia miserando antque eligendo vidit, ait illi sequre me. says the Gospel of Matthew. If we're going to be talking about alphabets of course, it's really מַתִּתְיָהוּ Matityahu or 'gift of Yahoo' (you see, the Bible predicts the Internet) and it's a story about how Jesus didn't despise the tax collector and so the tax collector became a follower, or so I think. My latin has become a bit like a Toyota after ten winters in Chicago. But anyway, like most Bible stories, there's good advice there: "Don't get too chummy with the man from IRS lest he followeth you around, asking questions.

Anyway, I don't know how many have already been sold in Rome. I don't see any on eBay yet, but I'll bet collectors will bid them up if he faithful can part with them. Will we see money changer's booths in Vatican Square exchanging new medals for old, or will they find their way out the back door and onto the collector market? Inquiring minds and maybe pious minds want to know but if you flip these things for a profit, don't forget that publicanus cognoscere cupit nimis -- the tax man wants to know too.

(Cross-posted from Human Voices.)

Vimeo of the Day: Mauna Kea Heavens Timelapse

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I picked this one not just because it's some gorgeous timelapse photography of the awesome night sky as viewed from a leading observatory in Hawaii, and not just because I'm fascinated by space and our efforts to learn and understand what's out there, but because the music is the brilliant "All is Violent, All is Bright" by God is an Astronaut, one of my favorite bands.

As astronomer/photographer Sean Goebel explains:

Timelapse of the observatories atop Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The summit is at an altitude of nearly 14,000 ft and is the premiere site for astronomy in the Northern Hemisphere. As an astronomy graduate student at the University of Hawaii, I've enjoyed excellent access to the facility. Some of my favorite still images of Mauna Kea can be found at sgphotos.com/photostories/maunakea.

This montage was filmed on three nights in April (I was observing on one of the telescopes and would walk outside when things got boring) and four nights during summer 2013. More information (i.e. "What's up with the lasers?" "What gear did you use?") can be viewed at sgphotos.com/portfolio/timelapse/makingmaunakeaheavens/.

Turn off the lights. Turn up the sound. And enjoy.

Mauna Kea Heavens Timelapse from Sean Goebel on Vimeo.

Quit while you're ahead

By Mustang Bobby

Michael Kinsley thinks President Obama should give in to the GOP.

The media will no doubt call Obama weak because he gave in. So let them. Sticks and stones. Meanwhile, will the Republicans really take the past couple of weeks as a precedent and push him around on every issue that comes up? Highly unlikely. They are already getting most of the blame. They surely don’t look forward to trying to convince voters it was such a swell experience that they’re going to put us through it again and again.

Yeah, because the Republicans have a deep sense of shame and self-awareness.

Sheesh.

(On the other hand, this will get him a lot of invites to Beltway cocktail parties where, after a couple of vodka and tonics, folks are going mumble something about how he might have a point there.)

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

Behind the Ad: A veterans group slams the GOP

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive "Behind the Ad" series.)  

Who: VoteVets.org. 

Where: National cable outlets.

What's going on: In this piece, a national veterans organization criticizes Republicans for the government shutdown. 

On the Hustings

(Nate Silver): "The six big takeaways from the government shutdown"

(NSNBC): "GOP plummets, Obamacare soars in shutdown standoff"

(The Guardian): "What the Virginia governor's race tells us about the 2014 midterms"

(The Hill): "Teachers’ union targets Republicans over shutdown"

(Real Clear Politics): "Governor election polls"

GOP craziness may end crisis

By Frank Moraes 

Jonathan Chait wrote what I think is a very insightful article today, even if the title is a bit deceptive, "House Republicans' Ransom Demands Falling." What I would say is that their demands are changing, not falling. He provides some important history about the current standoff. The House Republican leadership (John Boehner, Eric Cantor, and Paul Ryan) have been planning this blackmail scheme, most likely since Romney lost the last election. The idea was to use the Debt Ceiling to force Obama to accept the usual Republican budget policies. You know: cut tax rates (supposedly without cutting overall taxes, but you know how that goes), cut entitlements, and so on.

Unfortunately, Ted Cruz ruined their plan by getting all the Republicans to support a government shutdown threat to somehow end Obamacare. This was the real reason that Boehner was promising his caucus a fight on the Debt Ceiling and why he tried to get the continuing resolution (CR) out of the way. Most observers (including me!) thought it was just Boehner's usual short term planning: get the CR out of the way and then deal with the Debt Limit. But that doesn't seem to be the case. I was right about one thing, though: all the supposed reasonable Republicans don't exist. Boehner is just as extreme as all the rest; he may just be a little more tactical.

Read more »

Michael Kinsley is an idiot, appeasing the Republicans would be a disaster

By Michael J.W. Stickings

One-time liberal wunderkind Michael Kinsley hasn't been worth reading in, like, forever. But yesterday at the New Republic, which also used to be worth reading, he really outdid himself with his inanity.

I only know this because his stupid piece has been making the rounds. Yes, it is so inane that Kinsley is finally worth talking about again, if only to wonder at the enormity of his inanity.

In brief, Kinsley argues that President Obama should give in. It's not that he, a liberal, sides with the Republicans over the shutdown and debt ceiling, just that the president should do what he has to do for the good of the country.

He says the president should "speak to the nation" and tell Americans, while pinning the blame for this whole mess on the Republicans, that he'll agree to a one-year postponement of Obamacare in return for a debt ceiling increase that would last a year and of course for the government to reopen.

Yes, forget the polls showing how the shutdown is hurting the Republicans, and forget the fact that Republicans are already caving, desperately looking for a way out. Kinsley wants the president to reward the Republicans for their far-right-wing ideological extremism, hyper-partisanship, Tea Party fervor, and hostage-taking ways by giving them what they want. (Because, of course, the only way to ensure peace in Europe was to give you-know-who what he wanted.)

Read more »

John Boehner is a dink

By Richard K. Barry

The Democratic National Committee has this gem on its website. It's Boehner saying that Republicans should be judged not by how many laws they create but by how many laws they repeal. Yes, he really said that. 

I do understand that Republicans hate government and think that the private sector can solve all of our problems. I get that. I just find it really idiotic. The Republican Party should rename itself "The Party of Those Who Are Doing Just Fine, Thank You Very Much." It doesn't make much of an acronym, but you get the point. 

If you listen carefully to Bob Schieffer's question, though, you will notice that Boehner ignores the second half, which is that the Speaker is presiding over one of the least popular Congresses in history. Maybe that's because, when it comes right down to it, a lot of people think that what we do collectively is pretty important and those people are judging by how obstructionist the GOP has been. 

A.M. Headlines

(Wall Street Journal): "NBC/WSJ poll: Shutdown debate damages GOP"

(Washington Post): "Obama, Republicans in debt talks on two fronts"

(The Hill): "Fed up with House, senators grab at reins of fiscal debate"

(Detroit News): "28-year sentence for Kilpatrick prompts strong reactions"

(USA Today): "Malala Yousafzai favored to win Nobel Peace Prize"

Listening to Now: King Khan & the Shrines - "Thorn in Her Pride"

By Richard K. Barry

I subscribe to Rolling Stone. Partly it is for the articles, but I also like to have some clue about contemporary music, just because I do. 

In the back of the magazine is a list of the current "Top 10 College Radio Albums." Sitting at number 6 is King Khan & the Shrines with the album Idle No More. This is a cut called "Thorn in Her Pride."

P.M. Headlines

(USA Today): "Obama seeks more from GOP short-term debt limit deal"

(New York Times): "Obama and G.O.P. fail to agree on debt limit plan"

(Politico): "GOP, W.H. to keep talking after Obama meeting"

(The Hill): "Gallup: Cruz’s favorability rating plunges"

(CNN): "Mercury Seven astronaut Scott Carpenter dies at 88"

The saving grace of saving face

By Carl

Comes the salvage operation for the House Republican caucus:

House Republicans, increasingly isolated from even some of their strongest supporters more than a week into a government shutdown, began on Wednesday to consider a path out of the fiscal impasse that would raise the debt ceiling for a few weeks as they press for a broader deficit reduction deal.

That approach could possibly set aside the fight over the new health care law, which prompted the shutdown and which some Republicans will be reluctant to abandon.

In a meeting with the most ardent House conservatives, Representative Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, laid out a package focused on an overhaul of Medicare and a path toward a comprehensive simplification of the tax code.

Somebody blinked, in other words. 

Read more »

Willful ignorance

By Mustang Bobby

George F. Will has the remarkable ability to say something really stupid but coat it with a layer of intellectualism. For example, this interview yesterday morning on NPR.

In an interview with NPR’s “Morning Edition,” host Steve Inskeep asked Will about President Barack Obama’s argument that Republicans are short-circuiting the system by using government funding and the debt ceiling as leverage to dismantle Obamacare, rather than repealing the law outright.

“How does this short-circuit the system?” Will said. “I hear Democrats say, ‘The Affordable Care Act is the law,’ as though we’re supposed to genuflect at that sunburst of insight and move on. Well, the Fugitive Slave Act was the law, separate but equal was the law, lots of things are the law and then we change them.”

Yes, we did change the law… through the legislative or judicial process, not by holding the government hostage with threats of financial ruin. That’s short-circuiting the system.

There have been ample opportunities to dismantle Obamacare. The House has tried more than forty times, but the bills they pass don’t go anywhere because that’s how the system works. The Supreme Court weighed in and left it largely intact. There was a presidential election where one candidate said he would repeal the law on his first day in office — thereby revealing that he didn’t understand the system, either. None of it worked, so yes, that’s the law and it’s still the law.

We’re not genuflecting at the sunburst of insight of Obamacare; we’re honoring the system of laws and procedure that we’ve had in place for over two hundred years. (By the way, I’m sure it was entirely unintentional that Mr. Will cited two laws that impacted African-Americans when talking about repealing a law that is the hallmark of the country’s first African-American president. Right.)

(Cross-posted at Bark Bark Woof Woof.)

On the Hustings

(Politicker NJ): "Booker leads Lonegan by 11 points"

(Public Policy Polling): "Christie holds almost 2-1 lead In New Jersey gov Race"

(The Hill): "Christie visits GOP on Capitol Hill"

(Politico): "Young, longest-serving House GOPer, to retire"

(Roll Call): "Ex-House chief of staff to run in Pennsylvania"

Losing badly, Republicans look desperately for a way out of their self-made political crisis

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Gotta love these headlines and what they, and the articles below them, say about the current state of the Republican Party:

-- New York Times: "As Pressure Mounts, House G.O.P. Weighs Short-Term Debt Deal";

-- The Hill: "House GOP 'negotiators' to meet Obama";

-- Washington Post: "Key Republicans signal willingness to back down on effort to defund health-care law"; 

-- Politico: "GOP quietly backing away from Obamacare"; and

-- Politico: "GOP unity frays, frustration builds."

And the divisions on the right, among conservatives and key Republican stakeholders, are only deepening. Consider, for example, John Podhoretz's piece, "Suicide of the Right." (Forget that Republicans across the board are responsible for the rise of the Tea Party and the GOP's ongoing move to the ever further right.) Consider also these:

-- NBC News: "Kochs to Congress: Focus on spending, not Obamacare"; and

-- Huffington Post: "Heritage Action Bails On Debt Ceiling Fight." 

Even Paul Ryan is caving, distancing himself from the Obamacare defunding nonsense and, while obviously remaining unabashedly partisan and self-promotional, advocating (Republican-friendly) compromise that is rather more conciliatory than anything we've seen from him before.

Republicans obviously still think they can get out of this with some of their demands met, and thus far there's no indication they're genuinely willing to negotiate in good faith.

But the simple fact is that the government shutdown, with the fight over the debt ceiling coming up next, has been an utter disaster for them.

Read more »

Americans hate Republicans

By Michael J.W. Stickings

Unpopularity, thy name is the Republican Party:

With the Republican-controlled House of Representatives engaged in a tense, government-shuttering budgetary standoff against a Democratic president and Senate, the Republican Party is now viewed favorably by 28% of Americans, down from 38% in September. This is the lowest favorable rating measured for either party since Gallup began asking this question in 1992.

Don't get me wrong, the Democrats aren't exactly knocking it out of the park either. They're at just 43% themselves.

But it's pretty clear that Americans' ire and frustration is targeted -- understandably, justifiably -- at Republicans.

And that the Republicans -- holding the country hostage to their extremist right-wing demands and sabotaging American democracy in the process -- are dragging the Democrats down with them into the abyss, or at least trying to.

A.M.Headlines

(Politico): "GOP quietly backing away from Obamacare"

(Wall Street Journal): "Shutdown standoff shows signs of a thaw"

(New York Times): "Business groups see loss of sway over House G.O.P."

(Gallup): "Republican Party favourability sinks to record low"

(Reuters): "Munro, 'master of the short story', wins Nobel literature prize"

P.M. Headlines

(Christian Science Monitor): "Government shutdown affecting military death benefits: Charity steps up"

(Washington Post): "For Janet Yellen, Obama’s Federal Reserve nominee, quiet patience paid off"

(New York Times): "As pressure mounts, House G.O.P. weighs short-term debt deal"

(National Journal): "Republicans are awfully close to violating the Constitution"

(New York Post): "Suicide of the right"

Waning Boehner

By Carl

We’re starting to see the last throes of a desperate man at the head of a desperate caucus:

Boehner, responding to President Obama’s hourlong news conference, said he remained "disappointed" that Obama refused to consider talks centered on House-passed spending measures that included provisions tied to the healthcare law and that would "provide fairness" to Americans.

He also insisted that any action to raise the nation’s debt limit should be in concert with steps to limit future borrowing.

"There is going to be a negotiation here," Boehner told reporters. "It's time to have that conversation, not next week, not next month; the conversation ought to start today."

Translation: "You! Yes, you behind the bikesheds, stand still laddy!"

Foot-stomping and holding your breath until you turn….well, a normal white person would turn blue but someone of your hue would be more gray, I suppose…is the clearest sign of desperation you’ve shown so far, Weaker Boener. It all but cries out, “Look at me! I’m still relevant! I’m still relevant, dammit!”

The take-away from this quote is that President Obama has uncovered an endgame that circles around Boener and the Teabaggers, one that either Boener did not expect or was unprepared for.

It starts with this, however:

President Barack Obama has invited the House of Representatives Democratic caucus to a meeting at the White House to discuss the budget crisis and the looming debt limit deadline, a White House official said on Wednesday.

Other caucuses will be invited in coming days, the official said. The meeting Wednesday will take place at 4:30 p.m.

We’ll likely see a proposal cobbled together today, possibly kept private, until the President can meet with Boener and present it as a done deal, take it or leave it. I suspect the protocol will be House Democrats, Senate Democrats, Senate Republicans, House Republicans, with the last two possibly being invited simultaneously to prevent attempts to subvert the deal.

Lest anyone think that President Obama has any reason to be patient with Weaker Boener, I will merely mention two words: Grand Bargain. He couldn’t deliver his caucus despite a handshake with the President. Why should Obama pay him any courtesy now?

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

Senator Warren tells it like it is

By Richard K. Barry

In a speech from the floor of the Senate. Very impressive indeed.

On the Hustings

(Greg Sargent): "GOP shutdown shenanigans giving Dems a big recruiting boost"

(ABC News): "High court leery of campaign contribution limits"

(The Hill): "Obama warns of 'anything goes' campaign finance system"

(Roll Call): "Congresswoman endorses Democrat in Mass. special election | #MA05"

(TPM): "RNC steps up Latino outreach with new hires"

(Real Clear Politics): "Virginia Governor - RCP poll average: McAuliffe (D) up by 6.2 percent"

(ABC News): "Chris Christie faces off with challenger Barbara Buono, does not rule out White House bid"

The terrible bargain

By Frank Moraes 

The last week, I've been hearing a lot more about the lauded Grand Bargain. This is the Holy Grail of centrists throughout Washington. Basically it would be a law that both cut entitlement spending and raised taxes. Obama even alluded to it at today's press conference where he said, "And whenever I see John Boehner to this day, I still say, you should have taken the deal that I offered you back then, which would have dealt with our long-term deficit problems, would not have impeded growth as much, would have really boosted confidence." God, how I hate to hear the president talk that way! It shows that he really doesn't understand how the economy works.

A Grand Bargain would be terrible for the economy. Since it cuts the amount of money spent on Social Security, people would have less money to spend. That would cause the economy to grow slower than it normally would. Since it raises taxes, people would have less money to spend. That would cause the economy to grow slower than it normally would. See the pattern? There was a time when some economists argued that businesses would be so impressed with the government's fiscal rectitude that they would decide that the future was bright and so start hiring. The theory was that this "confidence" would be so great as to offset the negative effects of the policy (that is, taking money away from people).

Read more »

Americans don't need no education

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Times reports on a rather significant skills gap that is leaving the U.S. behind:

American adults lag well behind their counterparts in most other developed countries in the mathematical and technical skills needed for a modern workplace, according to a study released Tuesday. 

The study, perhaps the most detailed of its kind, shows that the well-documented pattern of several other countries surging past the United States in students' test scores and young people's college graduation rates corresponds to a skills gap, extending far beyond school. In the United States, young adults in particular fare poorly compared with their international competitors of the same ages — not just in math and technology, but also in literacy.

More surprisingly, even middle-aged Americans — who, on paper, are among the best-educated people of their generation anywhere in the world — are barely better than middle of the pack in skills. 

Yes, America is truly exceptional in its educational mediocrity. And that's being generous.

Maybe genuine and sustained commitment to, you know, education would help. And by that I don't mean the right-wing education "reform" (e.g., charter schools) that excites conservatives and would essentially segregate the country into the few who get it and the many who don't. I mean a focus on quality accessible public education from pre-school programs all the way through affordable higher education.

Oooh, so radical, huh? Well, what you got now ain't workin'.

Calling bullshit on the Republicans' desperate supercommittee ploy

By Michael J.W. Stickings

The Republicans have backed themselves into a corner. They've allowed a teabagging minority of their own party to shut down the government, they're toying with global economic catastrophe by threatening to vote against a debt ceiling increase, and, in general, their petulant-child approach to fiscal policy amounts to nothing more than hostage-taking. And the polls are clear: The American people are correctly blaming them for causing the current crisis.

So what do they do? Allow a majority in the House to prevail with a vote on a "clean" continuing resolution to reopen the government? Nope. Rein in their bluster and agree that the debt ceiling isn't something to use as a political weapon? Hardly. Accept that Obamacare is the law of the land and stop trying to kill it by any means possible? Yeah, right. Say enough is enough to Ted Cruz and his teabagging radicals? Of course not.

No, they posture, grandstand, and attempt, with one last-ditch effort, to turn the tables on President Obama and the Democrats:

House Republicans will bring to the floor a bill to create a bipartisan, bicameral committee to address the current fiscal impasse that has shut down much of the government and threatens a debt default.

A GOP leadership aide said the committee wouldn't just handle the continuing resolution needed to fund the government. It would have broader jurisdiction similar to the 2011 Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction, also known as the supercommittee, and would cover the debt limit and other fiscal issues.

A GOP appropriations aide also described the working group as similar to the supercommittee, but on a smaller scale, and without instructions.

"I want to have a conversation," said Speaker John A. Boehner, R-Ohio. "I'm not drawing lines in the sand. I'm requesting to sit down to resolve our differences."

Boehner said, "There's no boundaries here. There's nothing on the table, there's nothing off the table. I'm trying to do everything I can to bring people together and have a conversation."

What complete and utter bullshit.

Read more »

Behind the Ad: Stand up to the Tea Party

By Richard K. Barry

(Another installment in our extensive "Behind the Ad" series.) 

Who: Organizing for Action

Where: Nationally on cable news programs.

What's going on: Organizing for America is President Obama's former campaign arm.

MSNBC:

Charging that "Tea Party Republicans are threatening an economic shutdown," the ad says that "refusing to pay our nation's bill" would "endanger American jobs" if the country defaults. "Tell them to stand up to the Tea Party," says the ad's narrator. "Enough already."

Presumably the "them" are more reasonable Republicans, whoever they might be.

A.M. Headlines

(Fox News): "Boehner dismisses Obama's position on fiscal crisis as 'not sustainable'"

(Politico): "Chris Christie makes point on Obamacare"

(New Republic): "A short-term debt limit increase would be a disaster"

(Bloomberg): "Recession looms if Treasury uses tools to prevent a debt default"

(New York Times): "Many in G.O.P. offer theory: Default wouldn’t be that bad"

Listening to Now: Gipsy Kings - "Bamboleo"

By Richard K. Barry

This is interesting. Here's the Wikipedia entry on this:

Bamboleo is a Spanish word for swaying. It is used very famously in the Venezuelan folk song Caballo Viejo from Simon Diaz. The lyrics say: "Bamboleo, Bambolea, Porque mi vida yo la prefiero vivir asi", referring to someone who lives life as they choose, perhaps old and resistant to change or settling down. 

The Gipsy Kings' song is an adaptation from the original Caballo Viejo. 

Giving John and Jane Q. Public the keys

By Richard K. Barry

If you ever needed proof that direct democracy would not be a great idea, consider the recent Fox News poll that found 58 percent would not vote to raise the debt ceiling. 

Most Republicans (78 percent) and a majority of independents (57 percent) would vote against raising the limit. So would almost all Tea Partiers (88 percent).

Government by plebiscite. That'll work. 

P.M. Headlines

(Reuters): "Obama says Republicans must end 'threats' on fiscal impasse"

(USA Today): "IMF: Risks to global economy are growing"

(New York Times): "Obama says he will negotiate once G.O.P. ends ‘threats’"

(Public Policy Polling): "Congress losing out to zombies, Wall Street, and...hipsters"

(Dave Weigel): "Crisis? What Crisis?"

Newtered

By Carl

In every crisis, there is a watershed moment where the solution – or at least, the denouement – appears. Thus endeth the shutdown:

Senate Democrats could introduce a bill to raise the debt limit this week, according to a Democratic aide. Considering the procedural roadblocks the measure could face, aides said they have to get the legislation rolling well before Oct. 17, when Treasury Secretary Jack Lew has said the government will run out of borrowing authority.

It was uncertain whether Democrats can muster the 60 votes they would need to push a debt ceiling bill, with no strings attached, through the Senate. The measure would likely run into opposition from Senate Republicans such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has been leading the drive to make delaying Obama's healthcare law a condition for raising the debt ceiling.

I disagree with the Tribune in one respect: I think it will be fairly easy to get 60 votes, despite the grandstanding of Cruz. Even Rand Paul has signaled that he wants negotiations to begin in earnest to re-open the government, even if he lies and even if he clearly helped plan it. He has, I think, seen the writing on the wall, and he has to differentiate himself from Ted Cruz if he wants to make a dent in the GOP primary season in 2016. Showing himself as reasonable could garner him a lot of kudos, even as he maintains his nutcase caucus.

Read more »

You cannot reason with these people

By Mustang Bobby

The shutdown and the debt ceiling have always been about more than just the budget and spending, and just about everyone who has been watching this knows that. It’s about one party re-fighting every election they lost: about the Republicans unable to accept the fact that other people from other parties get to live in the White House, and that they don’t always get their way. And even if they don’t win, they have to exert the most pain they can on the people they lost to and never mind any collateral damage. It’s all or nothing, and “nothing” is not an option.

Which is why it doesn’t surprise me to hear Republicans talking about winning at all costs, even if they don’t know what they want. It’s a matter of pride and honor on the level of samurais inShogun; the slightest lack of due deference is punishable by death.

It’s not about the money. It never has been. The budget and the debt ceiling are the hostages here, the innocent bystanders who just happen to walk into the hold-up at the time the robbers pulled their guns and started shooting into the ceiling. That’s why you have Tea Partiers telling us that we can get along just fine with the government shut down and defaulting on our debt payments is actually a good thing.

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On the Hustings

(The Hill): "Scott Walker gets Democratic opponent"

(Politico): "Politico poll: Government shutdown backlash boosts Terry McAuliffe"

(The Hill): "Obama cousin plans Tuesday event on Senate plans in Kansas"

(Roll Call): "Dem super PAC targets Rodney Davis in Illinois [Ill-13th]"

(Roll Call): "Another Democrat vies for open House seat in Detroit [MI-14]"

Feds can't prioritize—and shouldn't!

By Frank Moraes

On Friday, I wrote about something that is really bugging me, Debt Ceiling Crisis Options. I hate the idea that is being pushed by many conservatives that the Debt Ceiling is no big deal. On Bloomberg TV, John Boehner said, "Those who have loaned us money, like in any other proceeding, if you will—the bondholders usually get paid first." What he means is that the United States government has a greater obligation to bond holders than it does to Social Security Recipients.

What I find so vexing about this is that there is a very casual class war going on here, "Of course the rich must be paid first!" I just don't see any difference between the bond holders and the Social Security recipients. Both groups paid the government money in the past in exchange for returns now. It is true that if we are late, bond holders may well think twice before they loan money to the government again. But isn't it also true that people will be less inclined to pay payroll taxes for a benefit they may or more not receive? (I have thought about this a lot. Those who would cut Social Security never seem to think that support for the highly regressive payroll tax is dependent upon a decent return.)

NPR had a very good segment on this tonight, In A Debt Crisis, US May Have To Decide Payment Priorities. It quoted Boehner, of course. But the meat of the piece was a interview with Mark Patterson who was the chief of staff at the US Treasury from 2009 until this May (now at the Center for American Progress). He said that if you asked any recent Treasury Secretary of either party they would tell you this idea of prioritizing the bond payments is "a god-awful idea." He also provided an excellent analogy:

I liken it to a household. If you are a homeowner and you decided to pay only your mortgage payment, but you stopped paying your utility bill, your credit card bill, your student loan bill and your car payment, your credit rating would go down the tubes even though your mortgage was still current.

What this is really all about is more cover for John Boehner and the Republicans. He wants to crash the economy and then stand back and say, "Well, if you did what I said, everything would be fine! Don't blame me." But it is still a good talking point. I'm sure the Fox News viewers will just love up—right up to the time when their Social Security checks stop coming.

And Patterson goes further. He notes that the Treasury's system is not designed to do what too many Americans do each month: figure out how much of each of its bills it will pay. The system is designed to pay all of its bills in full all the time. So even if Obama agreed with Boehner that the bond holders are ever so much more important than our retired citizens (and I'm very much afraid that he does), we proably couldn't manage it. If this continues on, it will be a clusterfuck.

(Cross-posted at Frankly Curious.)

A.M. Headlines

(Politico): "Democratic cracks open in debt-limit fight"

(New York Times): "Little fear on Wall St. of default, at moment"

(National Review): "House of indecision"

(Washington Post): "The House GOP has nothing to show for its government shutdown"

(CBS News): "Debt ceiling taking center stage as government shutdown continues"

P.M. Headlines

(New York Times): "Obama challenges Boehner on budget vote"

(TPM): "White House: Obama will never negotiate on the debt limit again"

(Greg Sargent): "Senate Dems to call GOP’s bluff on debt limit"

(Washington Post): "Republican disapproval grows in budget battle, Post-ABC poll finds"

(Political Wire): "Coburn dismisses debt ceiling"

Why is Weaker Boehner killing kids?

By Carl

There are more than enough votes to put a clean continuing resolution (CR) up for a vote.

So why won’t Weaker Boehner do it?

He’s Speaker of the House, and can destroy any member of his caucus who opposes him (oh, for the days of a real Speaker who could wrangle his people back into line!)

He has enough evidence that the shutdown is playing as a deeply unpopular Republican strategy. Even among conservatives!

And he’s already signaled that he will bring the debt ceiling to a vote next week and expects it to be raised, so he clearly has some stroke still.

So what’s he waiting for? The attempt to paint the shutdown as Obama’s doing, the attempt to smear the President as unwilling to compromise, has flown about as well as a three year old’s excuse that he didn’t stuff all that toilet paper down the drain, that somebody snuck in the house and did it.

Indeed, Boehner is facing a major leadership crisis in the House as Democrats and moderate Republicans seek to bypass him and force a vote on a clean CR. He must know the clock is ticking. Is he determined to destroy the US – and by the extension, the world’s – economy? Is it possible he’s thrown up his hands and decided that the Teabaggers need to learn a lesson…at the expense of 7 billion other people on this planet, including 330 million Americans?

If there was ever a time to stop drinking and start thinking, Mr. Weaker Boehner, that time has come.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

On the Hustings

(Los Angeles Times): "Ten years after recall, California still feels effects"

(Politico): "Harry Reid talks tough, ramps up for 2016"

(San Francisco Chronicle): "GOP tensions on display at California convention"

(The Hill): "Christie looks to run up the score"

(Politico): "Virginia governor race 2013: Shutdown roils contest"

How the shutdown ends

By Frank Moraes

Following up on my afterword in the last article, Matt Yglesias has an interesting (very short) article about how the government shutdown will resolve itself. He is riffing on a tweet by the front man for everything House Republican, the National Review's Robert Costa, "The theater of the standoff is integral to House GOP unity; unless you go to 11th chaotic hour, many on right will yell, 'Ya caved!'" I'm sure that's important in the thinking of the House Republicans, but I think it's silly. The base is going to say "Ya caved!" regardless of when it happens. People like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh have primed the base to think that all the Republicans have to do is hold out long enough (Four months? Two years? Whatever it takes!) and they will win.

I think it is really strange. The Republicans have been absolutely fantastic at managing expectations outside the party. Everyone expects that they will do nothing or at least nothing good. So when they manage to approve pay for furloughed federal workers, there is dancing in the streets. But when it comes to managing expectations inside the party, the Republicans are hopeless. I don't think there is any secret to why it is: Fox News and the radio ranters are what define the thinking of the base. But after all this time, I would think the party would have taken control.

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A.M. Headlines

(The Hill): "White House challenges Boehner on CR"

(New York Times): "A federal budget crisis months in the planning"

(Huffington Post): "Nobel Prize for medicine: James Rothman, Randy Schekman and Thomas Sudhof" jointly win prize"

(BuzzFeed): "11 Supreme Court cases that could change the U.S. in the coming year"

(New York Magazine): "In conversation: Antonin Scalia"