Doesn't matter (0.00 / 0)

They go bowling on Wednesday instead.  PhRMA got a date Wednesday, baby!

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by: marxmarv @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:10:19 PM CST

The Simpsons' Pundit Nelson Mundtz Nailed It: (4.00 / 5)

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:33:16 PM CST

Damn! (0.00 / 0)

Mis-spelled his name!  Well, now ya'll know just how sleep deprived I am.  

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:34:51 PM CST

[ Parent ]

So, if this trend continues, we get stuck ... (4.00 / 3)

...with a Republican Senator from Montana who will make Baucus look like Bernie Sanders, and the health industry will give Baucus a cushy, multi-million sinecure on which to live out his retirement. Lovely.

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by: Meteor Blades @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:39:08 PM CST

But (4.00 / 3)

we do get a chance to support a real Democrat 6 years later.

And considering that Baucus should have been gone after what he did to  undermine the Dem trifecta in 1993, it's not a decade too soon.

"You know what they say -- those of us who fail history... doomed to repeat it in summer school." -- Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Season 6, Episode 3

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by: Paul Rosenberg @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:43:17 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It was not our choice to sell out his constitents (4.00 / 6)

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by: bruhrabbit2 @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:59:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It was not our choice to sell out his constitents (4.00 / 1)

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by: bruhrabbit2 @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:59:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

It was not our choice to sell out his constitents (4.00 / 1)

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by: bruhrabbit2 @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 17:59:31 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Pointing out the Emperor has no clothes... (4.00 / 6)

...doesn't make us culpable for his hypothermia.

Forgotten Countries - a foreign policy-focused blog

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by: Englishlefty @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 18:31:25 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Um, there's a primary election (4.00 / 4)

Maybe you didn't know that.

Just sayin'

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by: David Sirota @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 18:40:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Will Baucus be primaryable? (4.00 / 4)

Low approval ratings don't necessarily indicate yes, as much as we'd like them to.

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by: liberalmaverick @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 19:43:37 PM CST

[ Parent ]

We could sure use a good one. What are our choices? (0.00 / 0)

Change
"We must break up the banks and never again let them get so big that they distort our politics and take down the economy.

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by: HousesofProgress @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 13:09:11 PM CST

[ Parent ]

shrugs (0.00 / 0)

We'd need to ask someone with detailed knowledge of Montana politics...

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by: liberalmaverick @ Thu Nov 19, 2009 at 18:15:54 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Maybe. (0.00 / 0)

Run a primary opponent against him from the left and see if you can't replace him with a candidate who will win in the general election.  Make sure said candidate is vetted so you're not running another Obama -- someone who talks a good game but who doesn't follow through.  And if that doesn't send the message, run an independent against him from the left.  The purpose of this si to either scare him into moving left or replace him with the real deal.  Yes, that might mean a GOPer gets in, but it's not like that would make any difference at this point.  Right now the choice is between a conservative Democrat and a conservative Republican.  That's not a choice, not in any way that counts.

Single-Payer is the ONLY viable public option.

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by: Single-Payer Advocate @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 11:26:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I do not know (0.00 / 0)

Whether Max will run for another term, considering that he will be near 70 years of age. But he has spent 34 years in DC and really doesn't have a life outside of the Senate.

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by: Ed in Montana @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 12:22:13 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Unfortunately (4.00 / 1)

The Democrats abide.

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by: zot2323 @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 19:04:28 PM CST

Digging a little deeper (4.00 / 1)

This year, 42 percent said they would vote Republican and 28 percent Democratic. Last year, nearly 43 percent of likely voters said they'd vote for a Democrat and nearly 41 percent a Republican.

What is happening outside of this echo chamber is that well-meaning libertarians who turned against the GOP in 06 and 08 (don't DARE call them teabaggers...) have now said to hell with the Democratic party.

After the blood shed next November, perhaps we can begin the task of PERMANENTLY annealing them to a governing coalition that includes Progressives.

Alternatively, Progressives can continue their strategy of arrogance towards libertarians and have no voice in governance at all.

You can't build an "Uprising" on the left alone: it has to be left-right.

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by: Paul Goodman @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 20:05:25 PM CST

There aren't that many libertarians (4.00 / 4)

and all of them didn't go to the Democrats. This is an inchoate anti-establishment vote, which we should own and don't, mostly because of the bailout and subsequent ass-kissery towards Wall Street. Having this element swing right could be very dangerous. I agree with reaching out to honest and well-intentioned libertarians, but that isn't most of them. Their importance, though, is not in their numbers, it's in the fact that they are the only element of the conservative coalition that is coherent and has a body of ideas behind it that they are willing to speak openly.

What the democrats need to do is let anti-establishment populist voices back into the coalition.

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by: bento @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 21:48:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

You don't run with a movement that is divided against itself. (0.00 / 0)

Sure, alliances can be formed on matters like civil liberties.  But on matters of policy, Libertarians are as bad as any other party of conservative ideologues.  There isn't enough in common with them to form a lasting working relationship.  Now does this mean we can't try to make a case for why progressivism works and anarchy doesn't?  No.  But we have to be realistic about who our friends and enemies are.  Libertarians might be useful, but they can never be trustworthy political allies.

Single-Payer is the ONLY viable public option.

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by: Single-Payer Advocate @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 11:30:26 AM CST

[ Parent ]

baucus and lebowski (4.00 / 1)

From OpenSecrets.com here are Max Baucus's top ten corporate sponsers:

Lawyers/Law Firms $1,610,273
Securities & Investment $1,488,935
Insurance $1,191,163
Health Professionals $1,049,576
Lobbyists $758,484
Pharmaceuticals/Health Products $757,905
Real Estate $708,517
Hospitals/Nursing Homes $570,491
Pro-Israel $550,589
Commercial Banks $528,407

You don't get much more crony capitalist than this. Would that it could be true that he and all the other Blue Dogs could be voted out of office for numbers like these. Is it really true this might be catching on among the electorate?

As for The Big Lebowski, let's see how much you know:

1] who was the better bowler, Walter, Donny or The Dude?

2] Which of the three nihilists said,  "Ve vant ze money, Lebowski."?

3] Did Treehorn's thugs drop a wolverine, a ferret, a mink or Walter into The Dude's bathtub?

4] How many times did Walter and The Dude say the word "fuck"?  Is the number larger or smaller than the "fucks" used in Glengary Glen Ross?

5] What did Walter say that prompted The Dude scream, "God damn you Walter! You fuckin' asshole! Everything's a fuckin' travesty with you, man! And what was all that shit about Vietnam? What the FUCK, has anything got to do with Vietnam? What the fuck are you talking about?"

6] Was Walter really a Jew?

7] Walter snarls, "You're entering a world of pain, son. We know that this is your homework. We know that you stole a car." Did the kid really steal the car?

8]  "Walter, I love you, but sooner or later, you're going to have to face the fact you're a goddamn moron." Was Walter ever employed at the RNC?

9]  "Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not 'Mr. Lebowski'. You're Mr. Lebowski. I'm the Dude. So that's what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino...." What would YOU call him?

10]  Was Maude naked when she said, "My art has been commended as being strongly vaginal which bothers some men. The word itself makes some men uncomfortable. Vagina. [Men] don't like hearing it and find it difficult to say whereas without batting an eye a man will refer to his dick or his rod or his Johnson."  

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by: george walton @ Tue Nov 17, 2009 at 22:39:27 PM CST

Well, Rehberg is not so great...... (0.00 / 0)

So what does this mean?

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by: SeanAriel @ Wed Nov 18, 2009 at 13:11:03 PM CST