Hilarious watching conservatives attack Romney for saying the same type of things they supported him saying in the primary and general campaigns.

They supported him saying that 47% are looking for handouts and can't take personal responsibility, but now that he said they received "gifts" it's a big no-no. Now that they know their internal polling was wrong, they're acting like they weren't a part of it and believe something totally different.

Lindsey Graham is about as irrelevant as a human being ought to be

I excited!!:

On the first day of the new session in January, the senators will have a unique opportunity to change the filibuster rule with a majority vote, rather than the normal two-thirds vote. The change can be modest: If someone objects to a bill or a nomination in the United States Senate, they should have to stand on the floor of the chamber and defend their opposition.

I'm joining Senator Jeff Merkley and six other newly elected senators to pledge to lead this reform on Day One, and I hope you'll be right there with us. Our campaign didn't end on Election Day -- and I'm counting on you to keep on working each and every day to bring real change for working families. This is the first step.

-- E. Warren, dropping the mic

The filibuster rule needs to change for sure and they should do it regardless, but I can't imagine it ultimately being very helpful given the composition of the House.

I dunno. One day, the Republicans will have a majority and I'll be glad 40 Democrats can keep them from doing bad things.

maybe so, but that's not the way things are supposed to work. they should be able to enact their agenda.

Re-reading that Ponnuru excerpt, particularly the part about '68 thru '88, I'm wondering if American politics might really be this simple: the middle 90 percent of the electorate by income distribution now sees more of itself, in terms of values, circumstances, and concerns, in the bottom 5 percent than the top 5 percent.

The Wall Street cheater might or might not be more common than the welfare cheater, but he's both apt to do vastly more damage and, fucking crazy though this is, probably less likely to face consequences for cheating. And while it's true Obama and the Democrats have been disgracefully lax in not prosecuting financial sector misdeeds, at least they claim to think its wrong and aren't pledging to re-ultra-de-regulate. Maybe that's enough.

Ok, it's not *that* simple. Not close. But I do think there's something to the idea that the disconnection of the super-rich from the whole society, and the Republicans' adoration of them and unquestioning embrace of their virtues and priorities, have hurt the party in a big way.

even Bobby Jindal, with whom i completely disagree with on just about everything, said as much, basically saying Republicans falling on their sword for uber-rich people is counterproductive and just plain stupid.

At least some of the Enron guys went to jail. Skilling very well could die in jail.

The Enron guys had the bad luck to break the law in ways people could understand, and to have been so close to W. that if he'd tried to protect them, he would have blown himself up. The last crash was so much more protracted, involved so many more people, and was so deeply linked to systemic and mostly/totally legal political corruption that the perpetrators were able to skate.

i don't guys, we got madoff. i mean, wasn't he the only crook on wall street?!?!

TenuredVulture wrote:I dunno. One day, the Republicans will have a majority and I'll be glad 40 Democrats can keep them from doing bad things.

But that won't be the case. The Republicans are more of a presidential party than a Congressional party and the old bull committee chairs can be pushed to the side. When next we have an R president, if the Ds have say 45 Senators, then the Rs will happily do away with the filibuster so their president can get what he wants. The Ds would never consider going all the way to abolishing the filibuster, because they are a Congressional party, where the old bulls reign supreme and don't really much care whether the president is a D or an R. They have more negotiating power, when he is an R. They want the filibuster to make sure they retain that power, even if they have only 45 votes.

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
Reports are out there that many CEOs of charities are getting overpaid, while their causes are seeing very little. Do your research before donating this holiday season!

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
@redcross CEO’s salary in 2011 was $951,957. Where is the outrage?

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
@unicef Caryl M. Stern CEO is driving around in a Rolls Royce while her charity is getting less than 5 cents per donated dollar. She should be ashamed!

Donald J. Trump ‏@realDonaldTrump
@unicef Caryl M. Stern CEO is driving around in a Rolls Royce while her charity is getting less than 5 cents per donated dollar. She should be ashamed!

God he's awful.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/charities.asp

Charity Navigator and Forbes rate UNICEF at 91% and they have publicly stated that there is no Rolls Royce.

So Trump is now retweeting spam e-mails that I'd normally get from my 89-y.o. grandmother. Yet people actually listen to him?

He's probably writing the spam that your grandmother forwards to you

ROMNESIA variant

where you've made money due to being ruthless and begin thinking everything you say is true because you will it to be

Couldn't they sue him for libel?

/knows nothing about libel law

So... Iran is thought to be behind the latest Hamas/Israel poopfest in Gaza. Oh lovely.

Phan In Phlorida wrote:So... Iran is thought to be behind the latest Hamas/Israel poopfest in Gaza. Oh lovely.

that's what the CIA wants you to think, mannnn