Democrat Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, has been engaged in a filibuster on the Senate floor; he doesn’t like the Obama/GOP tax plan.
Good optics
I may not agree with him, but I applaud the man getting up and actually going through with a filibuster. After watching numerous drama-free, procedural “declared filibusters” through the latter part of Bush’s presidency–actions that really meant, “we’re just obstructing and going home”–Sanders is putting his money where his mouth is (or, rather, putting his mouth where the money is) and taking a stand.
I say good on him!
Those who are snarking about it, or bemusedly looking on, should beware: This is an extremely powerful optic. People who have no idea what Sanders is talking about will start cheering him for the sheer novelty of a filibuster. Those who have romantic memories of Jimmy Stewart reading the Constitution and Paul’s Epistle to the Corinthians on the Senate floor will confer that same romance upon Sanders’ efforts. The press, always ripe for “something new” and on board with Sanders’ politics, will talk up his courage to make such a “heroic” stand.
Don’t laugh at this. Americans love the cowboy, and a filibuster is a cowboyesque optic: one man standing against all comers, attempting to stem what he views as a ruinous tide. This move by Sanders, if he sticks with it, may capture imaginations nor usually engaged; it could have wide repercussions.
Everyone who loves politics should wear the phrase “do not get cocky” on their wrists, and teach it to their children. Politics turns on a dime. That’s why two years is such a very, very long time.
:::After 8.5 hours, Sanders yields. I guess Clinton’s message got through. Missed opportunity for Dems to galvanize nation:::
UPDATE:
Meanwhile: Bill Clinton appears to have taken over the presidency from a weary bored in over his head Barack Obama, who said, “bite me, this job is hard; you take over! I’m gonna go shoot hoops with Reggie!”
This is bad, bad optics!
Realllly bad optics!
This astonishing scene does draw attention away from the filibuster. And Clinton must know how bad it makes Obama look; Obama could not demonstrate that he’s not up to par any more clearly.
Best Tweet! And another good one
Satire is sometimes prophetic! 
UPDATE II:
This is surreal and priceless; Clinton at the podium, pointing his finger, saying “I’m out of politics, now,” while defending Obama, who is demonstrating just how out of his depths he is, or–perhaps more correctly–that he just doesn’t have that “first class temperament” of legend.
Video here
If SNL tried to play this scenario for laughs, people would say it was too out there! This is like a politco-junkie’s longest, strangest trip, ever!
UPDATE III:
Ace is just stunned, and links to a picture taken by Jake Tapper. Go see.
Remember this playlet from 2008?. I wonder what promise Don Clinton extracted from Obama for today’s assist?
On second thought, it may have been a brilliant move to bring Clinton in–for the sake of easing the minds of his base–but it was not brilliant to leave the room with Clinton at the podium.
Either way, it seems to me that without Rahm at the helm, Obama has no one directing him.
Instapundit: “Help me Bubba-wan; you’re my only hope!
Allahpundit: Clinton is Apparently President Again
Bookworm: Something Very Weird is Going On in DC
Chris Matthews: Goes Full Drool
Ed Driscoll: has the best round-up!
Kim Priestap: wonders if Clinton will be Obama’s COO?
Iowahawk (prescient, from 2008): Obama Names Bill Clinton President
Well, touching on that, here is what I wrote just about a year ago:
I suspect that what Obama wanted was to be the King, not the President. The King’s role is largely ceremonial. In time of national tragedy the King goes before the camera and says, “this is very sad.” If he can assign blame on a perceived enemy he does so, and then he steps aside and retires to his amusements while those actually in charge clean up the mess and determine how to prevent future messes. Everyone loves the King, defers to the King, rushes to do for the King, but the King -who tends to get bored and distracted by the dry business of actually governing- is responsible for very little, and most are just as glad of it.
Best Comment: In this thread: “and they said Bush ‘lacked gravitas’?”
More from Hot Air
Check back for more updates! Meanwhile I’m back on my assignment!
More:
Jammie Wearing Fool
The Corner
Dave Weigel
Doug Powers at Michelle Malkin’s
Related:
Jonah Goldberg
Noisy Room
Archangel: “Where do you think the “death panels” come into play?”
Nowhere, actually; that’s a rhetorical contrivance from a right wing that has altogether given up on honesty.
Actually, Europe, whether it’s got a neo-liberal, liberal-liberal, national socialist (????) or just out-and-out socialist/Marxist state is having a lot of problems, not the least of which involve absorbing immigrant populations, large numbers of whom remain on the dole, and out of work, while trying to appease those who are still working, by keeping up their generous retirement plans, cradle-to-grave healthcare, 4-week vacations, benefits, etc., as the pool of people actually working shrinks, and demands rise.
(Just to reiterate—I get suspicious when people start throwing around esoteric terms such as “Neoliberal”, “National socialist”, etc.; in fact, I think any term involving the prefix “neo” should be banned. But that’s just me.)
There’s the sad spectacle of Greece, as well as the current student riots in the U.K. over raising tuition for students.
Such prosperity as Europe has doesn’t seem solid, or lasting. For one thing, they aren’t reproducing, and will soon be overwhelmed by their Moslem populations, which, for better or worse, will create a new, very un-European culture.
It should hardly be surprising that America wants to create its own society; after all, it’s populated by people who fled Europe (and other countries) to find freedom here. No reason we should want to do things exactly as Europe does, especially since it doesn’t seem to be working out for the latter.
JDC, I gave up on you when you started defending Mengele’s experiments, and Stalin’s Russia.
Repentence is open to everyone; God will replace the stone in your breast with an actual human heart, but you must pray to Him. I will pray as well. Prayer is what you sorely need.
Christ and Marxism do not mix, and you cannot serve two masters. Agape!
I am using the term “Agape” purely in the term of love and charity. Love and charity are what you need now, for you are beset by evil, and I am sorry for it.
Seriously. Pray!
JDC- actually, no… its not a contrivance. Sweden’s healthcare system is the model upon which all other socialized healthcare systems follow. Within that model, committees exist with the sole purpose to determine who gets what treatment… regardless of family input. If the state determines that nanna’s 5 more years isn’t worth it to the state, they deny treatment. These are facts. It is socialisms gift to humanity. To this day I still crack up when Sweden’s (maybe it was Finland’s) doctors went on strike in the 90′s. The death rate actually dropped.
I echo Rhinestone. I didn’t bother correcting the use of the term agape. His use was my use. In that vein, I pray that you study scripture without class bias and through the eyes of faith. Faith in a God that knows no class. The state is not GOD, though Marx simply wishes it were thus. Any thought system that denies free is simply an evil incarnation.
BTW- Your strawmen fell apart on their own because you began from a false premise. You fancy yourself as logical so you should realize that if one begins with false premise, then the entire argument is false… regardless how verbose the argument is. Simplicity is a wonderful thing. Which explains why human logic with all its maneuvers and convolutions is no match for the simplicity of God.
Agape
I’m getting the impression that nobody is actually reading what I’m typing, so I’ll keep this one super-short to avoid you all reading things I didn’t say into my words:
1) Hoooly hell. I never defended Mengele. Read what I wrote. No, wait, here, let me make it even simpler: I was saying that just because he was a monster doesn’t mean nothing even a little positive came from his life. We all agree Hitler was despicable, yet many of us drive Volkswagons. Do you understand? Is anything about that confusing? If we are to say that Socialism has no value whatsoever because of Monster X or Y, we may as well say aspirin has no value whatsoever for the same reason.
I also forgive you for saying that I am heartless despite not even knowing me, and basing your judgment on an extremely egregious misreading of me. I promise I will never make such a character judgment about you in such a frivolous manner.
2) Neoliberal is not an esoteric term to me, but I do admit that my background in economics may be the reason for that. To clarify: it is the culture of privatization and deregulation that has taken hold of the orthodoxy as of the early 80s. It is, incidentally, also why tuition rates are going up – not just in Greece. Check out what California’s been putting its state schools through, recently.
3) Can you back up your statement about Sweden’s death panels? Do you have any sources you can point me towards? I’d love to read about it, but I haven’t been able to find any record of it.
4) What strawmen? What was my false premise? What logical fallacy have you accused me of? Do I even get to know what charges are being brought to bear against my logic, or has my fate been determined as Herr K. in Kafka’s Trial?
I have actually demonstrated where and why your statements were strawmen. Pointing back at me and saying “yeah, well STRAWMAN right back at you” is not an exercise in logic. It’s barely even rhetoric. It’s childish, and now is the time to put away childish things.
The trajectory of this discussion has been such that so far the only way you’ve been able to contest anything I’ve said has been to (either deliberately or not) misinterpret and misrepresent me. If you can’t actually bring a real argument of your own to bear that isn’t “neener-neener you’re a sinner who should pray for forgiveness” then I’ll politely take my leave, for this discussion will indeed have already ended, but not by my hand.
“Just because he was a monster, doesn’t mean nothing a little positive came out of his life.”
Re-read these words. Think about them. You are defending him, and you are defending Socialism, responsible for countless deaths in the 20th Century.
Listen; a “little positive” does not make up for great evil. I would happily give up Volkswagens, if it meant there would be no Hitler; I would give up asprin, in exchange that the horror of Nazi medical experiments never occurred.
You need to pray, and you need to study scripture, without class bias.
Nothing can excuse the millions murdered, and lives blighted, under Stalin and Mao. Whatever they achieved wasn’t worth the cost in blood and agony.
Marx and Jesus are opposed to each other.
Agape.
“A little good does not make up for a great evil” is a fine sentiment. However, evil also does not invalidate good. Sorry to break it to you, but every time you use aspirin you are validating this point. Bargaining (“I would give up [blank] if [blank] etc”) does not strengthen your case. It can’t be undone and we must simply move forward understanding that even a broken clock is right twice a day.
“Socialism” (remember, an economic system and completely detached from the authoritarian connotation you’re trying to apply to it) was not directly responsible for “countless deaths.” People who have claimed to stand for it and used that argument to bolster totalitarian regimes, sure. People use anything others will rally behind as a justification for that sort of thing. Sometimes it’s for glory. Sometimes it’s equality. Sometimes it’s the pursuit of wealth. Sometimes it’s God. I imagine you’re able to acknowledge that atrocities committed in God’s name don’t diminish God, but rather missed the point. It’s really not a huge step to realize that that thinking can be applied elsewhere. These things are worth considering, before throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
And even then, the simple fact remains that “some people killed other people” is not a valid reason for why workplace equality cannot exist.
Also, what, exactly does “without class bias” mean?
Finally, please don’t tell me what I ‘need’ to be doing. I don’t do that to you, and I’m the one you’re accusing of advocating totalitarianism.
Again, you are making excuses for dictators, JDC. You are using the “Hitler made the trains run on time!” excuse.
Other countries industrialized, and made progress in medicine without torture, secret police and wholesale murder.
We cannot undo what happened in the past, but we can make sure it does not happen again in the future, by falling for the same old lies.
The means shape the ends. You do not get good from evil.
Socialism IS authoritarian, by its very nature. You cannot serve Jesus and Marx; Christianity is not about using other people to further the ends of the state, even supposedly noble ends.
Reading the Bible without class bias means that, when you read it, you open yourself up completely to the word of God. You put away all envy and hatred of those you consider to be of the “wrong” class, and all bias in favor of those you consider to be the “oppressed.” You take the 10 Commandments to heart, realizing they apply to all, not just Socialist designated bad guys, and good guys; you will ask yourself if the Kingdom of Heaven can really be achieved by political means, and, even if humans are happy to forget mass murder, God will be quite so forviging at judgment.
Archangel has given you some good pointers in his previous posts. You should go back and read them.
You need to pray, and you need to read the Bible, without trying to force Marxist interpretations on it.
The broken clock argument will not fly. If your clock is broken, you replace it with one that tells the right time, all the time. If your political system is so broken that it’s killing millions of its own citizens, ruining your economy and miring people in poverty, you get a new one, that doesn’t do that.
You do not commit evil acts hoping something good will eventually come out of them.
Archangel’s comments #49 and #53 are very good; re-read them. Read the Bible, and pray.
Agape.
Workplace equality can be achieved without “Some people killing other people.”
If someone tells you murder is the only way to achieve equality, would you follow him, or would you denounce him?
The compounds that go into making asprin were discovered by a French chemist in 1899, and Bayer—a capitalist business enterprise—began distributing it in the United States. It was used during the 1918 Influenza epidemic. Will you stop taking asprin because it was popularized by an evil coporation? Haven’t corporations actually done more good in the world, than either Nazis, or Marxists? (No, they’re not perfect, but isn’t their overall track record better?)
Read the Bible, Pray.
Agape.
Rhinestone, I am at a loss. Not because your arguments are unimpeachable, or even particularly good – or, in quite a few cases, borderline incomprehensible (you really don’t understand the meaning of the “broken clock” idiom?) – but because I can’t seem to figure out who the person you are debating could be, or if he or she ever existed.
Now, I am sure I appreciate you taking the time and effort to share all of those words with me. Thing is, there is a three-pronged process at work in discussion, particularly when text is involved: Read -> Comprehend -> Respond. In your case it seems more akin to Read [the first word of every line] -> Go Into Paroxysms of Ill-advised Evangelical Antagonism -> Respond.
I sincerely hope you find the person who said the things against which you’re arguing, so you can get some closure for all of that misplaced ire. However, if your aim is to shoehorn me into their position, then I’m afraid you’re in for a long and pointless series of disappointments, and I’ll have none of that comedy of errors; consider this my last reply until you can parse what I’ve actually said.
JDC, I think we both made ourselves pretty clear on where we stand.
Because you are a Socialist, you are willing to forgive great evil, if you think a future Utopia will emerge from it. Even when socialist societies collpase, you want to find some good in them that made it all worthwhile. I comprehend this.
You need to read the Bible, without trying to force it into a Marxist box. You should also go back and re-read Archangel’s posts.
Agape.
Today, Instapundit posted a great discussion on Communism and those who minimize the evil which always accompanies it.