12 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

1. Will Obama be nice enough to R's, will he "meet them halfway" (about 9/10ths of the way for their purposes) on immigration, taxes, infrastructure, that Keystone XL that will bring America to Greatness, and that stupid Obamacare that is killing our economy so that R's will be doing the Bipartisan Happy dance?

   No.

   It will never be enough. He could never concede enough. He could never give enough on policy to meet the outrageous number of lies that Republicans tell to us every day.

   If the last 6 years have told us anything, it's that Republicans cannot be counted on to act honestly in working on solutions to our biggest problems nor that they are interested in anything but the most political, short-term gains that can be made in the next election.

   Our best hope for progress the next 2 years is this: F* them. F* their lies. F* bipartisanship. Stand up for clear, Democratic, Popular/Populist/popular policies and let the chips fall where they may. (That's certainly how they've treated Obama and his policies.) That they can put that execrable Joni Ernst on to lie about "Obamacare" once again is reason enough.

   And time for Michael Bennet to step up and prove to Coloradans that he is someone worth voting for in 2016.

   Have a nice day everyone!

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2. How US Senate ConservaDems lie to us:

    West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin:

   "The Keystone XL pipeline would also allow us to move away from dependence on foreign oil produced by countries who are not our friends, and to move closer to our goal of achieving North American energy independence."

   Based on remarks like these, it's clear that lawmakers like these would be eager to make sure that any oil that flows across our country would stay in our country. Heitkamp even said we "have the opportunity to make sure" that Keystone oil comes right here. After all, if we're just a conduit so that Canadian oil can be exported around the world, how would Keystone help bolster American energy independence one whit?

   That of course explains why this trio of Democrats all voted with the Republicans to defeat Markey's amendment on Tuesday.

   Oh, wait, no it doesn't.

   Conservative or "moderate" Democrats are gonna take some votes we don't like some of the time. That's a fact of life. But Markey's amendment is good, populist politics, which is why senators from red states like Jon Tester (Montana), Joe Donnelly (Indiana), and Claire McCaskill (Missouri) all supported it. If anything, it's the kind of legislation you'd be happy to see your opponent oppose, since you can easily frame a vote against the amendment as a vote against U.S. interests.

   But now Manchin, Warner, and Heitkamp are not only on the wrong side of this issue, they also look like phonies. And no voter likes a phony.

   But ConservaDems tell themselves they are political geniuses for: 1) triangulating against Obama (who understands Keystone is an environmental disaster waiting to happen and is only microscopically effective economically, except to Trans Canada and Koch Industries); and 2) pretending they are helping America achieve energy independence, when they're only helping energy extractors (who don't need the slightest bit of legislative or taxpayer help any more).

   But CDems didn't notice that most Americans don't give a crap about this pipeline and most voters finally approve how Obama is doing his job now that he's acting on long time progressive policies. And voters are not as dumb as Manchin and the like believe: those very same voters fired most of the ConservaDems remaining in congress this last election.

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   1. It's stunning to me how completely Senators Manchin, Tester, McCaskill and Donnelly have failed to grasp the stark lesson of the Red State Senate Dem Massacre of 2014.

      Why vote for a fake Con, when you can just as easily vote for the real thing?

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   2. I'm pretty sure they know perfectly well it's passing through from another country for exports to other countries. 

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      1. That is not bad. Importing , adding value, exporting means jobs and profits
         And those are good things. If GOP will add 18 cents to gas tax , say 6 cents a year for 3 years, Obama should sign XL to complete an imfrastructure deal.

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         1. Whatever, it's certainly not what Rs and rightie Dems say it is nor does it do what they say it will do. If it's such a great idea why are they so dishonest about it? Why don't they present the arguments you present for reasonable discussion? Why do they rely on fiction to support their position? You don't.

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3. Our very own, dear Senior Senator Mikey Bennet still yearns for some of that old fashioned bipartisanship:

   Agree that it's time for Dems & Repubs to move past the gridlock & move forward on common sense ideas to help rebuild the middle class #SOTU

   ​Here's Thomas Mann on those prospects:

   Instead of seeking common ground to set the stage for bipartisan cooperation, he will use the opportunity to sharpen differences between the parties, particularly on taxing the wealthy.

   And a good thing he has made that choice.

   Except for the handful of matters on which legislative action cannot be avoided (such as funding the government, extending the debt ceiling, and reauthorizing such essential government activities as defense and infrastructure) or that manage to stay below the surface of ideological or partisan conflict, there is no potential for productive cooperation during this period of divided party government.

   The President’s public embrace of a policy is usually sufficient to ensure overwhelming Republican opposition.

   No one, not even our senior senator, would deny that last sentence.

   And surely we can count on Republicans to uphold their half of the Bipartisanship Bargain, just as Bennet would have us believe, right?

   Things the Republican Party could not bring themselves to clap for tonight, a (much) condensed list.

   • An improving economy
   • A soaring stock market
   • Americans getting health insurance
   • Mention of "solar power"
   • Tax cuts for working families (A tax cut Republicans don't like?)"
   • Affordable childcare
   • Tax cuts for families with children (Another one?)
   • Equal pay for women
   • "America has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and all advanced economies combined."
   • A "free and open internet"
   • Rewarding companies that "invest in America" (C'mon, really?)
   • "Working Americans"
   • A resolution for the use of the force against ISIL
   • "Trying something new" with Cuba
   • Acknowledging that climate change exists
   • Prohibiting Torture
   • Not persecuting "people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender."
   • Closing Gitmo
   • Making "voting easier for every single American"

    

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4. On a lighter note

   https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/elanlee/exploding-kittens

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5. Parents earning more than $3,760 are ‘too rich’ to qualify for Medicaid in Texas
   

   A common misconception about the Medicaid program is that all poor people automatically qualify for the health insurance program. They don't — and depending on where you live, it can be incredibly hard to get coverage.

   There's a big divide between the states that participated in Obamacare's Medicaid expansion and those that didn't. States that signed up extended Medicaid eligibility to all adults earning up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $16,105 for an individual.

   But if you live in one of the 23 states that didn't expand coverage, the limits can be really strict, according to a new report from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The result is that a lot of people end up being caught in a gap where they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid but too little to get assistance through the new Obamacare health insurance exchanges.

    

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   1. In Rick Perry’s Texas (now Abbott’s), that upscale income.

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6. Why do republicans hate America?  http://www.vox.com/2015/1/21/7866089/netanyahu-boehner-congress

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   1. Because they will not be happy until America has a tax and regulatory system like Somalia.  

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