Month: September 2015

A week from today, things just might get real for the TanMan, Weeper of the House John Boehner, as he needs to pass a “clean” continuing resolution to keep the government running on October 1.

The mutineers of the GOP House Freedom Caucus, who have taken their captain hostage, have pledged not to vote for any funding bill that includes funding for Planned Parenthood. Without their 30+ votes, the Tan Man needs to violate the so-called “Hastert Rule” — the majority of the majority party (GOP) support in order to advance a bill — and cobble together a bipartisan majority with Tea-Publicans who do not want to shut down the government and the Democrats, which gives Nancy Pelosi some leverage. Oh, the horrors!

This may be the trigger for Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) of the GOP House Freedom Caucus to bring up his resolution to force a vote on vacating the Speakership. Boehner coup talk has House GOP on edge:

Growing chatter about a possible coup against Speaker John Boehner has set Capitol Hill on edge.

Talk that conservatives might use a government-funding showdown to overthrow the powerful Ohio Republican has triggered a flurry of behind-the-scenes jockeying among lawmakers eager to move up the leadership ladder.

And that has lawmakers wondering more than ever if Boehner’s days as Speaker are numbered.

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After the first GOP presidential primary debate, the media villagers declared Carly Fiorina the winner of the “kiddie table debate” that almost no one actually watched. This is how the Beltway media villagers create a narrative, or “spin.” Too many Americans just read the headlines in the newspaper (the 11% who still actually read a newspaper) and accept it at face value.

The conservative media entertainment complex then began a concerted effort to browbeat TeaNN (formerly CNN) into changing its debate rules so that Carly Fiorina could appear on the prime time fight card in the next debate. TeaNN caved under pressure from the right-wing and altered its rules so that Fiorina could appear with the top ten at the second debate. Call it wingnut affirmative action.

The Beltway media villagers’ narrative was predetermined before the second debate: Carly Fiorina was going to be declared the “winner” regardless of what happened, because the GOP needs her to attack Hillary Clinton and to provide cover for the misogynist males running.

Sure enough, the Beltway media villagers all proclaimed Fiorina the “winner” of the second debate. The media narrative had its intended effect: Fiorina has enjoyed a post-debate surge in the polls.

Carly Fiorina, like Willard “Mittens” Romney before her, is proving that it’s not what you say but how you say it that matters to the GOP electorate. Virtually everything she said during the second debate was either false, a distortion of facts, or wrong headed on public policy — but she sounded convincing because she said it with such conviction. As Charles Pierce at Esquire put it, Carly Fiorina: Strong, Crisp and Effective If You Ignore the Facts. This is the artistry of the con artist.

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