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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112151: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:19:26 AM

Senate is in recess right now, so if Obama wants to do it and not leave it to whoever succeeds him, he has to do it NAO.
Can't. McConnell made sure that all Recess sessions are considered Pro-Forma, which are the recess periods where Obama can't appoint replacements.

edited 15th Feb '16 11:19:52 AM by PotatoesRock

Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#112152: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:20:14 AM

Nah the problem with the far-left wasn't hysteria, it was the advocation of violence I belive, it got into serious "all cops are murderers who need to be shot" and "we need to stage a violent revolution against the corrupt capitalist system" territory at times.

As for other aggressive argument makers, beyond Fighter who else does that?

edited 15th Feb '16 11:21:42 AM by Silasw

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#112153: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:20:20 AM

EDIT-

[up][up]Oh

edited 15th Feb '16 11:20:50 AM by FFShinra

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#112154: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:21:25 AM

And again, Obama has no real reason to make a recess appointment when he can instead use the whole thing as Exhibit 1,205,653 in How Republicans Are Intentionally Sabotaging Our Government.

AngelusNox Warder of the damned from The guard of the gates of oblivion Since: Dec, 2014 Relationship Status: Married to the job
Warder of the damned
#112155: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:21:57 AM

You guys are dooooomed! I say doooooomed!

Out of context post ho!

edited 15th Feb '16 11:23:15 AM by AngelusNox

Inter arma enim silent leges
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#112156: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:22:11 AM

[up][up]Obama's primary objective is to govern, not make Republicans look like fools. That is a consequence of their own actions. However, if he is obstructed from governing by their foolishness, he is not going to be shy about pointing it out.

edited 15th Feb '16 11:22:43 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
FFShinra Since: Jan, 2001
#112157: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:23:38 AM

[up][up]You channeling Jack?tongue

This is gonna be a sucky year for American politics.

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#112158: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:24:27 AM

[up][up]He does both, depending on the circumstances. This is a case where a recess appointment wouldn't help much and would lead to more crap getting on him than it would be worth, while insisting that the Senate do its job would put the ball in their court and force them to fumble it.

It's like not doing the trillion-dollar platinum coin to fuck the debt ceiling.

edited 15th Feb '16 11:24:54 AM by Ramidel

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#112159: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:28:26 AM

It's like not doing the trillion-dollar platinum coin to fuck the debt ceiling.
I still think that should have been done, just as a "screw you" to Congress, but I can be vindictive at times. Since the debt ceiling was raised, it turned out to be the correct decision, but I believe that the debt ceiling itself is inherently unconstitutional and continuing to treat it as if it is legal is only serving to shove the problem down the road for future administrations to deal with.

edited 15th Feb '16 11:29:45 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112160: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:31:19 AM

For those not getting the Pro Forma bit:

Essentially McConnell is playing the equivalent of accounting tricks for politics. He's saying "We're not 100% at recess, just informally at recess"

And it's likely the reason McConnell and the Senate Republicans are being such a massive and gigantic tools about this is besides any ideology, the GOP is suffering a No True Scotsman fallacy. If they allow Obama to get a nomination either heard or passed, you prove you're not sufficiently Republican and then you get Primaried by a more hardliner rightwing conservative.

Basically bad feedback loops since 2010 keep feeding back in on themselves, per usual.

We're basically getting to the point that, and I don't advocate this, the other party would basically have to outlaw or kill the members of the opposition party to get anything meaningfully done. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Hopefully the system snaps back at some point, 'cuz this shit is getting annoying.

Otherwise we're going to get to the point to prove you're sufficiently Republican, you'll have to prove you've never breathed the same air as a Democrat.

edited 15th Feb '16 11:35:42 AM by PotatoesRock

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#112161: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:34:16 AM

We can only hope that there is enough anti-GOP sentiment in the swing states to vote out all the Tea Party nuts. I have a feeling that if Clinton/Sanders win, they will have a shitty time getting a justice appointed; unless the Dems get a filibustered proof Senate majority.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112162: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:36:35 AM

Wasn't the Filibuster recently declawed by Reid before 2014?

Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#112163: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:38:53 AM

@Fighteer: From a governance perspective, it would have been correct. Politically, however, it would have given Republicans credibility among swing voters, and I can see why Obama preferred to force a shutdown when all the shit was going to fall on Congress' side of the fence.

Same thing here. Getting a temporary Supreme Court majority isn't worth looking like you've made a blatant power grab, when a Republican failure to act puts the ball in play on your side for November.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112165: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:43:42 AM

Though I think Shinra was on point, the main problem is that the Evangelical and Libertarian wings took over when the War Hawks and Business wings fucked up with Iraq and 2008. The only way this gets fixed is the GOP fractures in half or something discredits the Libertarian/Evangelical wings. But I fear those wings may suffer from "We cannot fail, we can only be failed" syndrome. Which is a bad sign for Democracy.

Meanwhile:

Black Lawmakers And Their Staffers Split On Bernie Sanders

Eschaton Since: Jul, 2010
#112166: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:46:29 AM

@Rationainsanity: To Sanders' credit, he has been much more open about playing the long game and the importance of (young) Democrat voters in taking back Congress.

Though, has a president ever explicitly told people "remember, go vote Democrat in your congressional election!"; is that kind of promotion even legal? (Did Obama say anything to that effect and I just don't remember?)

Ogodei Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers from The front lines Since: Jan, 2011
Fuck you, Fascist sympathizers
#112167: Feb 15th 2016 at 11:50:38 AM

One would have figured the fact that basically everybody who got challenged from the right in 2014 survived (Eric Cantor was just the super-high-profile exception) would make them less likely to fear the talk radio bogeyman. Mcconnell himself survived his challenge handily.

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112168: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:06:33 PM

I think the reason McConnell is playing things so safe is remember, according to all information, this is not a good year for the GOP with Senate seats. A lot of the GOP seats scooped up were done so in 2010 in the Tea Party wave which could easily be overturned this year, so he's basically trying to avoid his guys being primaried and thus getting a clown-shoe candidate that the Democrat can turn into a fun-house mirror joke in the general, OR scare off the general election voters for the Republican side from coming out to vote at all.

SolipsistOwl Since: Jan, 2016
#112169: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:13:08 PM

President Obama has already stated that he won't make a recess appointment, which I think is a smart move.

Circumventing Congress would only allow the Republican debate to further criticize Obama's administration for executive overreach, while attempting to go through the 'proper channels' and facing Congressional obfuscation will shift voters to Democrats.

edited 15th Feb '16 12:14:30 PM by SolipsistOwl

Shawnsummer7 Since: Jan, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#112170: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:21:27 PM

I'm finally back guys (sorry I was gone so long, was engulfed in work).

So with the Supreme Court blocking Obama on climate change, Congress blocking him on Scalia's replacement and pretty much anything, what would Obama be able to do in his final year, best case scenario? Does the Equality Act have a shot at being passed at least?

PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112171: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:23:37 PM

McConnell has said no controversial or major legislation will be passed by the Senate this year, so no. No, it dies out back behind the Capital Building and is left to rot.

Pretty much all Obama can do is Executive orders at this point.

edited 15th Feb '16 12:23:53 PM by PotatoesRock

Shawnsummer7 Since: Jan, 2016 Relationship Status: Yes, I'm alone, but I'm alone and free
#112172: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:30:29 PM

Well, too bad Congress made no effort to compromise with him. I guess politically it'll just be election based then.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#112173: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:34:22 PM

[up][up] Obama can still issue Presidential Findings, can't he?

edited 15th Feb '16 12:34:54 PM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On
Aszur A nice butterfly from Pagliacci's Since: Apr, 2014 Relationship Status: Don't hug me; I'm scared
A nice butterfly
#112174: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:34:38 PM

So basically, next election might be not just about the executive branch but the legislative branch too?

It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes
PotatoesRock Since: Oct, 2012
#112175: Feb 15th 2016 at 12:36:21 PM

[up][up][up]They did and then it became January 1st, 2016 and McConnell started thinking about November.

He's paranoid about losing the Senate to the Democrats, and thus losing a potential chance to seize of the Legislature, Executive and Judiciary branches. Because again, a fair number of the GOP seats up this year aren't in Republican strongholds. (Hell, Rubio only got elected due to a fucking split vote.)

The Repub playbook is "Don't rock the boat (please let Trump vanish and let Rubio stop glitching) and lets get all three branches so we can herald in a new golden age of Republican government."

edited 15th Feb '16 12:38:20 PM by PotatoesRock


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