13 thoughts on “Friday Open Thread”

1. Today's the big day. Unless they pull the bill and it isn't. Again.

   It's the moment Republicans have been living for for the last 8 years.

   And if the House doesn't pass the bill today, Trump has told them they're stuck with A.C.A. and need to move on to something else.

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   1. Trump may be a bit smarter than given credit for. If the Ryan-ites blow this one, time to move onto tax reform. And maybe fix the parts of the Affordable Care Act that need fixing, and leave the rest.

      Obama was always open to a fix, but too many of the Ryan-ites, plus the Freedom Caucus, wanted to just destroy it without having a replacement. Talk (Repeal Obamacare!) is just a lot of hot air when you’re out of power (White House) and are free to take pot-shots at the occupant. Now Republicans “own” Obamacare.

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      1. Democrats may start finding their way to the oval office, now…seeking opportunity. 

         Still…something must be done about the influence of Bannon, Miller, Stone, Priebus and the rest of the stormtroopers. Trump didn't really give a shit about health care anyway.

         He has billions of dollars to make to benefit his family and his ego. The RNC, The Freedom Caucus, all those Trumpians, the entire MAGA coalition.. can just go pee up a rope. They put him where he wants to be…practically immune to prosecution. What more could a thief desire?

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2. Dems always playing defense. Win CO, play defense. +3Million in the popular vote, lose more state seats. Have a president elected twice with larger margins than Trump could ever dream of, fall down in the off years.

   It cannot continue this way:

   The battle over Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch wasn't lost during his Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. It was lost long before, in 2016, when progressives failed to adequately express the outrage they felt over the way Republicans blocked the nomination of Merrick Garland. It was over when the offices of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles Grassley weren't flooded with angry letters and emails and phone calls from people demanding that Garland get at least a hearing and a vote. It was over when no one called the mighty Republican bluff.

   (We have to be Bipartisanshippy at all times. Republicans laugh at the thought.)

   It was over when the Obama administration inexplicably failed to press the legal and political case it had to get Garland that hearing and a vote. It was over when too many Democrats believed, tragically, that they could wait out Garland's nomination and have President Hillary Clinton renominate him. It was over when Donald Trump became president. It was over because conservatives always have cared more about the federal judiciary than liberals, or at least always have had a better cynical strategy to ensure ideological primacy in the nation's courts. Neil Gorsuch is to blame for none of that. He ends up being the guy in the right place at the right time. Like the guy who takes home the prize at the fair because the guy with the winning ticket can't find it.

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   1. Dems were too dependent upon Obama to do all the heavy lifting. And far too many Dems took Hillary's election for granted. Now many Dems are getting motivated; look at the big jumps in membership in and donations to liberal groups like the ACLU, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club. Too little, too late.

      People like the former Pols poster Blue Cat got tired of me warning about complacency last year, as an anti-Trump Republican. "Yeah, we get it" was the refrain. Turns out they really didn't get it.

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      1. Oh, we got it and kicked ass in Colorado.  We could have used you in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania though, chb.

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         1. Also Minnesota & New Hampshire which barely went for Hillary. Those states should not have been that close.

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      2. Re: Blue Cat.  I miss her dearly, though if she had stayed on we doubtless would have had to endure more of those Morgan Carroll/Andrew Romanoff/anybody else running against Mike Coffman Stinks lectures.  AC tries his best, but nobody could put down Coffman's Democratic opponents like Blue Cat.

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         1. I don't think Blue Cat has abandoned us, V. I think I have caught her literary fragrance in the cyberbreeze here a couple of times.

            Cats have nine lives….each can have a different name.

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            1. Well, if a new poster starts multiple criticisms of morgan carroll and is knowledgable about Jewish cooking, we'll all share your suspicions.  

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               1. 

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               2. I, too, miss her wisdom.  Haven't seen her in the DP letters recently, though.  Time heals, hope it does for her too.

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3. Trump/Ryan today.  Many days like this to come finding even lower depths to explore

   

    

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