Welcome Back Senator McCarthy, by Michael Davis – Straight No Chaser #151
January 20, 2010 Michael Davis 0 Comments
I could not wait until Friday. Truth be told, I’m considering moving to Canada or shooting myself in the head. So, I may not be around this Friday.
In the midst of the greatest change in the history of The United States, in the middle of what would have been sweeping reform to help millions of Americans LIVE longer…
“Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
…Massachusetts has elected a Republican and killed healthcare and now the GOP is poised to filibuster EVERYTHING so NOTHING is done for the next three years. I can hear the rest of the world now…
“Those stupid idiot Americans.”
“Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
I’m afraid to turn on the news. I’m afraid to go on-line. I’m afraid to look at a newspaper. I’m afraid that if I hear O N E right wing ASSHOLE speak on this I may go on a killing spree at some local country club.
“Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
Goodbye healthcare.
Goodbye rational thought.
“Give us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses longing to be free…”
Hello 1950.
Martha Thomases
January 20, 2010 - 6:30 am
I say, let them filibuster. Let them show the American people their real priorities. This notion that the Democrats need 60 votes to get anything done is bullshit. Bush/Cheney caused a lot of damage without a 60-seat majority.
John Tebbel
January 20, 2010 - 7:29 am
It happens every so often in history. The rich and cruel have backed the government up the ungovernable tree.
Buncha two bit senators from the “get me out of here” states are cheap enough for the grifters to put in their pocket.
One of the limits of federalism.
If you think Michael is kidding about keeping your eye on the exits remember what a cultured, fine place Germany was for a while, all those universities, scientists, bakeries and how they threw it all away because the politicians could scare them by appealing to their lizard brains, running around the excellent game theory morality we can otherwise achieve.
Nothing lasts forever. A wise rabbit has three holes.
Mike Gold
January 20, 2010 - 8:27 am
I can’t afford to move to Canada, so I’ve been thinking a lot about shooting myself in the head.
But I won’t go alone.
The fact is, MOTU, this one’s on Obama. Totally. It’s not enough to conduct a brilliant campaign. As president, you’ve got to take charge. And he hasn’t done that. He didn’t do that on the economy, he most certainly did not do that on health care.
I don’t have a horse in the health care race. By the time that law would have gone into effect, I would have been a couple months away from Medicare, in the event I’d still be alive. But the health care plan was bullshit from the get-go (making a deal with Big Pharma to protect their profits) and with each negotiation it got substantially worse.
The current bill is actually worse than nothing; they would be fining me for not getting insurance coverage that would not cover my needs that I couldn’t afford anyway. It would have been cheaper to pay their fine, which I wouldn’t do. Were I but a few years younger, I’d be in prison, where I’d get better health care than I do now.
The Bushies liked to throw around the word “appeaser.” Sadly, this word best describes the Obama Administration’s approach to bipartisan politics. They have fallen into every trap the Party of No has set.
Maybe Martha’s right, and maybe three more years of childish stonewalling will undo the Republicans. But I doubt it. Unless Obama grows a pair in the next couple months — or he takes over as host of the Tonight Show — the Repubs will get back their majority in the Senate. Look at the races that are up for grabs.
Electing a black president is a wonderful symbol, but symbols bring attention to problems; they don’t solve them. People do. We elected the wrong black president: we needed Samuel L. Jackson.
John — Four, if you count BOTH nostrils.
Arthur Tebbel
January 20, 2010 - 9:06 am
Don’t believe the hype people. All of this moving to Canada/suicide talk out of the MOTU is about one thing…
He is afraid to play me in Soul Calibur.
MOTU
January 20, 2010 - 10:31 am
Martha,
You know I love you. I would take a bullet for you but sadly I have to tell you this-I’m about to beat your son so badly in Soul Calibur that he will be crawling home to you, weeping like a little girl.
A little girl who got into the wrong van.
Don’t hate me.
MOTU
January 20, 2010 - 10:35 am
Mike,
I hate it when you are right…I mean correct.
MOTU
January 20, 2010 - 10:48 am
Art,
Don’t bleed on my floor.
Better Dead Than Red
January 20, 2010 - 1:24 pm
“Hello” MOTU, I just thought that I would say “Hello” on your own blog to let you know that I missed you too 😉
Vinnie Bartilucci
January 20, 2010 - 5:51 pm
My favorite part of the reaction to this has been the finger pointing. Every Democrat has tried to find the reason this happened, all the time pointing out that it in no way represents a referendum on anything.
Brown’s line about “This isn’t Kennedy’s Chair” was as big a homerun as Bentsen’s “You’re no Jack Kennedy”. It made people sit up and take notice of a guy that had no chance just a couple weeks before.
But my favorite one? The people who are claiming it’s because the Democrat candidate made the mistake about the Red Sox pitcher.
Let that bounce around your bean. The theory is, she lost because she didn’t know enough about sports.
I honestly don’t know what’s funnier, the fact that they’re floating that as a possible reason, or the fact that they might be right. The idea that a potentially viable candidate be struck down because they blew a trivia question.
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Ever since Nixon ostensibly lost the Kennedy debate because he looked bad on TV, we’ve been getting our heads turned for the most damn fool reasons. Bad haircut, joke at what we’re told is the wrong time (there’s NO such thing as a bad time for a joke – I plan to tell a few at my mother-in-law’s memorial service this Friday), all sorts of reasons that are not “can not do the job”, the only one that should matter.
The more this kind of thing happens, the more amazed I am that ANYONE wants to go near politics. We’re getting closer and closer to the world Douglas Adams spoke of, where the people who most want to rule are the ones who should under no circumstances be alloweed to do so. We’re gonna have to go to the draft process of the planet Bismoll.
I’ll tell you this much, there’s gonna be a lot of sports almanacs sold inside the beltway this year.
Mike Gold
January 20, 2010 - 6:04 pm
Vinnie sez “But my favorite one? The people who are claiming it’s because the Democrat candidate made the mistake about the Red Sox pitcher.”
Vinnie, I take it you’ve never been to Boston. Or talked to a Red Sox fan. At the risk of overusing a word, the word “fundamentalist” comes to mind.
Aside from that, I’m on record (above) on who to blame for the Democrats’ loss, although I appreciate the fact that their candidate overall ran a shit campaign. Still, I stand behind my argument above and it damn well better be seen as a warning sign for Obama.
BUT… Douglas Adams was right, way back when he wrote that concept. AND a few years ago, Mike Judge did an excellent documentary about all this. It’s called “Idiocracy” and I highly recommend it.
MOTU
January 20, 2010 - 6:11 pm
I hate Boston, I hate the Red Sox. To paraphrase Alan, FUCK THE RED SOCKS.
I feel better now…
MOTU
January 20, 2010 - 6:11 pm
…no, no I don’t.
Vinnie Bartilucci
January 20, 2010 - 6:47 pm
Oh, I know all about the zeal of the Red Sox Nation, but that doesn’t mean I can’t hang my head and weep at the fact that there are people whose decision process includes the phrase, “Well, he looked like a real competent fellah, but then I found out that he only attended 47 home games last yeah…I don’t want a guy like that making choices for me”.
Rick Oliver
January 21, 2010 - 7:16 am
I know at least one lifelong Democrat who doesn’t even live in MA who contributed to the Republican senate candidate because he was so enraged over the proposed healthcare legislation and wanted the Republicans to have that extra vote that would block it.
This is a mixed blessing for the Republicans. They really couldn’t have crafted a bigger corporate giveaway themselves, and as long as they didn’t have enough votes to filibuster they could have cheerfully voted no to appease their “base”, with complete confidence that the bill would pass anyway, which would appease their patrons.
It reminds me, somewhat ironically, of the old Al Franken routine about why he was a liberal back in the days when the Republicans controlled the Congress. The gist of the routine was that he could feel good about himself for voting for the liberal candidates, knowing full well that they or their policies didn’t stand a chance against the Republican majority, and so Franken’s comfortable lifestyle didn’t risk any real threat from liberal programs that might raise his taxes.
Vinnie Bartilucci
January 21, 2010 - 7:26 am
So much of politics involves making oneself LOOK like you’re doing (or trying to stop) something. It’s the Washington equivalent of making a move for the check at the diner, but not so big a grab that someone let’s to pick it up.
R. Maheras
January 21, 2010 - 7:50 am
Until the Democrats and Republicans start to understand the independent mentality, listen to their grievances regarding current issues, and take the independent more seriously, both parties power will continue to see-saw and both sides will continue to struggle during elections. It was the independent vote that won the election for Scott Brown in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans 3 to 1; it was the independent vote that made the difference in the two recent governor’s races in states where the Democrats normally do well (Va. and N.J.); and it was the independent vote that significantly helped Obama and the Democrats rise to power in 2008.
The independents may not have a viable party, but neither side can win without them.
Mike Gold
January 21, 2010 - 8:28 am
Actually, it’s the MAJORITY vote of the independents that sway elections. They’re even less of a monolithic force than the Republicans and the Democrats.
That’s why we need to end the two party system which, of course, won’t happen until pigs fly AND mate with flying monkeys in the air (WARNING: flight hazard). A fair lineup today would be the Republicans, the Democrats, the Libertarians and the Progressives. That would give the voters a real choice. Although I would probably vote Bull Moose. That’s the party that has appealed to me the most over the decades. “It takes more than a bullet to stop a Bull Moose,” Teddy Roosevelt said. Yes, it took an election.
As for Massachusetts, please keep in mind that their reputation as a Democratic state is highly overrated. Just ask Governors Weld, Cellucci, Swift and Romney, the four consecutive Republican governors who ran the state from 1991 through 2007.
Marc Alan Fishman
January 21, 2010 - 2:01 pm
I hate that this country, for all it was founded on, has found itself in deadlock since Obama took office. I’ve tried so very hard to see silver linings.. and all I see are the joke writers sharpening their swords to piece Obama for the lack of movement.
Is the damage done by the Bush Cheney Era so bad than Obama can’t move through to waste? Or is he trying to hard to make friends and negotiate? In the end, no healthcare. No end to don’t ask/don’t tell, no rights for gays to marry, and now the democrats are looking as weak as they did under the header of John “3 packets of Ketchup dear” Kerry in 2004.
For all the piss and vinegar we folks on this board have, it kills me that we can’t clone a MOTU or a Mike Gold or a Vinny or a Martha… and vote them into office.
Alan Coil
January 21, 2010 - 2:03 pm
.
.
DOESN’T MATTER.
The Supreme Court Jesters today ended Democracy.
The corporations are now in charge.
I think I want to go watch Rollerball.
Vinnie Bartilucci
January 21, 2010 - 2:30 pm
“it kills me that we can’t clone a MOTU or a Mike Gold or a Vinny or a Martha… and vote them into office.”
I will not run, and I will not serve if elected.
One Google search and I’d be impeached before I got my first box of action figures unpacked.
Obama, like Clinton before him, has tied himself to Heath care so closely that when it falls (and fall it will, for no reason other than it was The Other Guy’s Idea) it will be viewed as a failure by him personally. Obama is personally connected to things far more than any other president I can recall. The Republicans will pat themselves on the back for their success and people will go without health care. And they’ll get the majority back, or close enough as to make it a horse race again, and we’ll return to the glorious stalemate this country has become.
And Alan? Really? The conservicans and Libocrats have equally deep war chests. Raising the spending limits only mean both sides will spend the same larger amount of money. Besides, with the loopholes for the third-party commercials, the money was being spent regardless, just via other hands.
Rick Oliver
January 21, 2010 - 2:36 pm
Vinnie:
There are broader implications for today’s Supreme Court decision. It’s yet another decision that supports the notion that corporations are “people”, with the same rights and privileges as flesh-and-blood citizens.
Vinnie Bartilucci
January 21, 2010 - 3:04 pm
“It’s yet another decision that supports the notion that corporations are “people”, with the same rights and privileges as flesh-and-blood citizens.”
They are, and they do.
It is why corporations were created.
It’s been used and misused to business’ advantage, certainly, or it wouldn’t have been created. But if a corporation were not viewed as a discrete entity, from whom would the government collect the taxes? Does the money belong to the owner of the company, or the board, or who? Like fire and sarcasm, the corporation can be used for good or evil. This is because humans are involved.
You can argue that you don’t like it, but it’s not a “notion”, it’s a legal fact.
Linda Gold
January 21, 2010 - 3:59 pm
Take me with you when you leave for Canada please.
Linda Gold
January 21, 2010 - 4:06 pm
Actually Vinne, are you aware of how that “legal fact” came into being? It was slipped in the backdoor by a legal clerk who took it upon himself to alter the judicial ruling that would have denied corporate per personhood.
Reg
January 21, 2010 - 7:36 pm
Co-sign with Linda. I feel like I’m Richard Pryor standing front of the judge and the judge sez ‘do you have any dreams n*****? We want those too!
And they’ve crushed them.
Mike Gold
January 21, 2010 - 8:08 pm
The Supreme Court ruling is not the problem. Our legal concept of “corporations” is the problem.
Nine decades after we decided each black person is merely 2/5ths of a human, three decades after the Dred Scott decision, we bestowed full humanity upon business, as defined as groups of people whose sole motivation for existence is the creation of profit. As history has proven to us time and time again, these “beings” use all means necessary to twist the laws and morality to facilitate that goal.
The most effective technique used by the Corporations has been the successful promulgation of the belief that any interference of Corporatism is, in fact, godless communism and, therefore, anti-American. The fact that they have the balls to sell communism as slavery is astonishing: we are, in fact, all slaves of Corporatism. If we cannot afford to buy their products we are not worthy of life — no need to give us deadbeats access to medical care, since we cannot feed the Corporate Beast.
Of course, corporate executives and decision makers and financiers can be from ANY nation, and in the past decade we went along way towards becoming the United States of the U.A.R.
Get rid of the Corporate Being concept and the free speech issue no longer applies. Until then, the United States of America will continue to be not a nation of laws and of free people, but of disposable slaves to the Corporations.
Jeremiah Avery
January 22, 2010 - 12:15 pm
With the restrictions on corporate spending on campaigns being lifted, we’ve now turned the election process into friggin’ NASCAR; which will probably appeal to the Joe “I’m ignorant and proud of it” Six-Pack crowd. Sure, the politicians are all bought and paid for already, but now does it have to be so overt?
MOTU
January 22, 2010 - 12:15 pm
Hi everybody!!! I love it here in the great north! Hold on a sec…I’m about to ask a native where the Asian girls hang out…
I’m coming home ;(
Alan Coil
January 22, 2010 - 12:22 pm
What you talkin’ about, MOTU?
What part of the north? Ann Arbor has lots of Asian women. Toronto, which is in the Great White North, has plenty of Asian women.
North Dakota…not so much.
MOTU
January 22, 2010 - 12:44 pm
Vinnie, “said “it kills me that we can’t clone a MOTU or a Mike Gold or a Vinny or a Martha… and vote them into office.”
I’m 4 a women’s right to choose, 4 gay rights, 4 civil rights, 4 human rights, 2 black, I like sex 2 much and have to much mouth to ever be elected to anything.
Background check-hell they could check my pants and my election would be over…I’m 2 big.
WHAM! Rimshot! I’m here all week try the veal!!
MOTU
January 22, 2010 - 12:44 pm
Ann Arbor??? T H A N K S A L A N !!!!!!
Mike Gold
January 22, 2010 - 4:41 pm
Ann Arbor’s a GREAT town. Just stay away from the fragels. I ate one about 30 years ago and still haven’t passed it. Toronto’s an even greater town — it’s my favorite city in the world (this may come as a shock to some). I’d move there in a heartbeat if I weren’t an American.
MOTU, do not discount the appeal of Inuit ladies. Why do you think Linda hasn’t agreed to move to Alaska?
BTW, when I did a comics shop appearance in Anchorage (there were three stores there at the time) we had a two-hour turnout of more than 300 people. I had to schedule a follow-up appearance for several days later. We got over 300 that time; it lasted well into the night. Most fun I ever had at a store appearance… with one or two possible exceptions — and I’m limiting that to those where I kept my clothes on.
mike weber
January 25, 2010 - 3:05 pm
If the Republicans manage to deadlock everything, the MSM (you know – the Evial Librul Mainstream Medis?) will spend the next three years blaming Obama and the Democrats for nothing getting done.
Were it a Republican Administration ion the same position, we;d hear a lot about how the Dems were refusing to cooperate.
Tell me again, Uncle Dick, how the MSM are controlled by a Liberal Agenda…