Election 2010: Teabaggin' the Ds & Rs

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Hank Chinaski

and the record company supposedly had expertise in finding commercially viable new wave bands. what happened to it?

It went out of business in 1996, out of fear that HCR would impose ruinous reporting requirements.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

That's not the point. The point is, the revenue expected to pay for the portions of HCReform not covered by medicare cuts is grossly underestimated. What makes up the shortfall? Borrowing.

The new costs were funded by Medicare cuts and other provisions in the HCR package, not by general expectations about the economy. I had no idea you were so confused about this, but it explains a lot.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Force the hypocrites in the Tea Parties to make that argument. Grow some fucking balls and make these "I want stuff cut, but not my benefits" people stand on the public stage and expose themselves for the illogical, unduly self-righteous pieces of shit they are. Most of these dumbass pieces of trash don't even pay any taxes. If they want to talk deficit cutting, and why they shouldn't have to pay for others' benefits, I want to have a discussion about why people in households like mine have to pay for their drugs, and the SS benefits these trailer park patriots get for having sciatica, or "bipolar disorder." ("Oh... I couldn't wurrk even if the Mexicans hadn't took ur jobs. I'm on dis-a-bility.") I want these assholes to explain why they deserve more than the people below them whose benefits they say we should cut. Because from what I'm seeing, we should throw these useless Tea Party people into the street with the rest. If they want a "Let them eat cake" society, I have news for them:

"You're the cake eaters. And I'm tired of paying for you and having to listen to your bullshit. You've served your purpose in keeping my taxes low. Now fuck off. Go die of whatever trumped up malady is keeping your fat, untrained ass on workers' compensation."

The Rolling Stone article about the Tea Party -- all those people in Kentucky going to Tea Party rallies on their Medicare-bought golf carts, which they qualified for by stuffing their fat faces at Krispy Kreme and KFC in between smoking binges -- prove how the Tea Party is full of shit.

And what effect did that have in the election? Hypocrisy sells, it tastes good. The problem isn't taxation and isn't government spending. It's my taxes and the money the gummint spends on other people. Especially blacks.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I don't know. That was a rant.

Board motto?

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Cletus Miller

1. Taibbi has been trying. I still love this bit (from here) after a Palin rally:

"I'm anti-spending and anti-government," crows David, as scooter-bound Janice looks on. "The welfare state is out of control."

"OK," I say. "And what do you do for a living?"

"Me?" he says proudly. "Oh, I'm a property appraiser. Have been my whole life."

I frown. "Are either of you on Medicare?"

Silence: Then Janice, a nice enough woman, it seems, slowly raises her hand, offering a faint smile, as if to say, You got me!

"Let me get this straight," I say to David. "You've been picking up a check from the government for decades, as a tax assessor, and your wife is on Medicare. How can you complain about the welfare state?"

"Well," he says, "there's a lot of people on welfare who don't deserve it. Too many people are living off the government."

"But," I protest, "you live off the government. And have been your whole life!"

"Yeah," he says, "but I don't make very much."

2. Relying on the Dems to do anything about this is *almost* as bad as relying on the Rs to do something about it-->they're both more interested in being re-elected than anything else, at least the Ds are open to paying for *some* of the giveaways.

Fuck me. STP, Sidd, STP.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

And where's the repeal of Medicare Part D? Why aren't the fucking Dems slamming the GOP with that?

Because the kind of people who might find that argument most appealing are, by and large, going to vote for the party that promises to cut taxes for wealthy people and corporations.

Like yourself. If Democrats slammed the GOP in the way you describe, you would like being stroked on the issue, and then you would go support the GOP again.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

The new costs were funded by Medicare cuts and other provisions in the HCR package, not by general expectations about the economy. I had no idea you were so confused about this, but it explains a lot.

Money's fungible. I don't want to be insulting about it, but for God's sake, get your fucking head out of your ass.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

I don't know. That was a rant. But there has to be a way to change the discussion and call these fucking people what they are.

Only way that starts to happen is when Rs and their media machine stops seeing them as useful.

[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Because the kind of people who might find that argument most appealing are, by and large, going to vote for the party that promises to cut taxes for wealthy people and corporations.

Like yourself. If Democrats slammed the GOP in the way you describe, you would like being stroked on the issue, and then you would go support the GOP again.

I think I disagree with everything in this post.

[sebastian_dangerfield]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

The Rolling Stone article about the Tea Party -- all those people in Kentucky going to Tea Party rallies on their Medicare-bought golf carts, which they qualified for by stuffing their fat faces at Krispy Kreme and KFC in between smoking binges -- prove how the Tea Party is full of shit.

And what effect did that have in the election? Hypocrisy sells, it tastes good. The problem isn't taxation and isn't government spending. It's my taxes and the money the gummint spends on other people. Especially blacks.

Too true. Racism is the last bastion of the truly low searching from way to feel they are not At The Bottom.

"Oh shit. I'm an uneducated ward of the govt. I've no future. My life is shit. What currency do I have with which to purchase some self esteem? Ethnicity, melanin... I'll harken back to the past, when that shit counted for something."

That's what tea partiers secretly, perhaps subconsciously, want: To feel like they aren't one the lowest, stupidest sectors of the country.

[Cletus Miller]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

I think I disagree with everything in this post.

Quoted since Hank has you on ignore.

[Adder]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Too true. Racism is the last bastion of the truly low searching from way to feel they are not At The Bottom.

"Oh shit. I'm an uneducated ward of the govt. I've no future. My life is shit. What currency do I have with which to purchase some self esteem? Ethnicity, melanin... I'll harken back to the past, when that shit counted for something."

That's what tea partiers secretly, perhaps subconsciously, want: To feel like they aren't one the lowest, stupidest sectors of the country.

As much as I love some tea party bashing, let's keep in mind that they are (at least according to various pollsters) on average higher than median income and education (or whatever the right formulation is).

They're also older, of course, and thus more likely to be on guvment teet, but they aren't necessarily all At The Bottom.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by sebastian_dangerfield

Money's fungible.

No shit, Sherlock.

I don't want to be insulting about it, but for God's sake, get your fucking head out of your ass.

You are saying something truly stupid: "HCR was too expensive because the economy is in lousy shape." This is truly stupid because part of HCR was to do various things (e.g., Medicare spending cuts) to create savings to pay for other things, the things you focus on and don't like. No matter how good or bad the economy, HCR made the budget better.

Now, you could be trying to saying something a little smarter than you haven't worked your way around to articulating yet: "Because the economy is in such lousy shape and revenues are down, we should have done the budget-improving things in the HCR package and not the budget-negative things that I obsess about, and used those savings to pay for all the things that we can't afford because we're bankrupt and the economy sux and rich people will move to Brazil if you ask them to pay the kind of taxes that most other developed countries make their rich people pay."

In that sense, yes -- money is fungible. But the only reason there was any political willingness to tackle entitlement reform and cut Medicare (by Democrats, mind you -- Republicans demogogued against the issue you care about) was that it was part of a package that would give people something else they want, healthcare reform. If Democrats cut Medicare to balance the budget, they would get voted out of office, and you would be part of the problem. Because you would pocket those savings, in a notional way, and then still vote for a Republican who promised you lower tax cuts in the upper brackets.

Anyway, I think what you are trying to say is actually the truly stupid I said first, since you've repeated that point about three times in the last day.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Sidd Finch

I think I disagree with everything in this post.

I think Sebby has been very clear that he will vote for the party that will lower his taxes. He likes the idea of fiscal responsibility, but not enough to actually vote for the more fiscally responsible party if the other party is promising to lower his taxes.

In that way (if only that way), he is a typical Republican.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally Posted by Cletus Miller

Quoted since Hank has you on ignore.

Too bad Hank won't know who Sidd was responding to.