Well the universities are becoming, at the high end, endowment funds with some charming real estate attached to them and some pretensions of education and networking. At the midrange scale they're research institutions that have to put up with students running around. At the low end, they're merely bloated administrative work programs with football teams that pretend to care about students (and this administrative parasitic presence is also present but able to conceal itself more in the midtier and elite universities).
And any talk about student loan relief or more money for higher education will founder on the rocks of those facts. There's going to be a painful reckoning at some point. It can't go on the way it is- and it shouldn't.
MY said something along the lines that the Dems "should have asks but keep them modest but otherwise be gettable" and I agree with him. It's all moot, though, because McCarthy never offered anything.
I have read an interesting thread that Kremlinology'd the 45 days continuing resolution and concluded that McCarthy offered it, the way he offered it, under the assumption that the Dems would vote against it and he could, thus, blame the shut down on them.
Because McCarthy was very public in his statements that the Dems had asked for nothing and he would offer nothing?
Note, also, that no minority party in the House has voted for the majority party's speaker in ages. When was the last time it happened? And moderates think it's somehow on the Dems that McCarthy went down to defeat?
Also it's pretty fishing bold to give a farewell speech to your caucus where you explicitly admitted the Democrats offered to intervene on your behalf but you refused and said you would rather get ousted than “sell your soul” and work with the other party, and then walk out from that speech directly to a press conference and proceed to blame Democrats for not saving you.
The outcome of subsidizing weasels like McCarthy is we get more weasels like McCarthy- that's one heck of a downside. Maybe the next Speaker will view their right wingers with more caution or internalize that if they want some moderate left support they might actually have to offer to pay policy asks for it or, at a bare minimum, ask politely for it.
I suppose, but the Democratic caucus is not a monolith even though they've been in admirable array lately. Giving away votes to a proven double-crosser on the nebulous hope that at some point it’ll flip around to your benefit is a tough ask and if the Dems splintered over it that’d be a painful cost for a faint hope of benefit. Maybe if a longer standing Democratic Minority leader were in charge* they could try such a maneuver and pull it off.
*Note: it’s good Pelosi stepped down and Jeffries has done a great job so far.
Other than saying "clowns" instead of monkeys I agree with you on this and am baffled at the tut-tutting that the Dems should be expected to bail McCarthy out on this.
"A l'exemple de Saturne, la révolution dévore ses enfants".
A quick google search tells me that the Speaker of the House of representatives gets paid a cool $223,500.00 per year. So if elected I would, assuredly, take the job. I think my boss might even let me take unpaid leave to do it for the few weeks that I could, maybe, keep it.
So yeah. Though I'd never live down being a Republican Speaker of the House down around here and Prof. Hanley would probably unfriend me on facebook.
I think there're more moving parts to this than you're considering. For instance the literal fact of Blue members moving to support a Red speaker would cause more red congresscritters to stop supporting him. Which then requires even more team Blue congresscritters to support him and steadily increases the "wait, why are we doing this for this deceitful, doublecrossing right wing fisher?" questions.
And, it bears noting, that the Speaker in question very publicly indicated he wouldn't offer anything to team Blue for their support and didn't want it.
Yes our Kevin said he wouldn't run well after this conversation.
That being said, you CAN elect someone Speaker even if they aren't running. A majority of the house could elect me speaker if they so chose to- right now- even though I'm assuredly not campaigning for the office.
You can find any given number of Dems if you cut a deal with Dem leadership. If you don't then you may find it tricky because the Dems have been in charming array for quite some time now.
As for bribing Republicans, I don't see what any Dems could offer them- most Republicans are more afraid of being primaried than defeated in the general and any moderate GOP congresscritters know they'll go down if their party is wiped out. What do you offer such folks that's persuasive?
I laughed heartily. True, maybe there'll be an absolute nutter replacing him or maybe the GOP will just stand in a circle shooting each other until the 45 day CR runs out and we paralyze into a shut down but those are future worries.
McCarthy deserved to be deposed and he was deposed by the wingers he coddled so assiduously- the fisher had it coming.
She's a placeholder Senator until the actual candidates are chosen by their voters. In that context I see no serious matter for concern and if she tries to run for the seat then her voters can (and will) weigh in on the carpetbagger allegations.
Well, with 20/20 hindsight we should be pretty grateful Kerry lost. 2004-2008 was a brutal term. The reeking fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan were just becoming evident but both were already locked in and the great recession was gearing up.
But reading Noonan celebrating the Swift Boating was amusing. Just another vector point in the rights relentless descent into alternative reality but not a small vector point.
On “From The New York Times Magazine: Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That?”
Well the universities are becoming, at the high end, endowment funds with some charming real estate attached to them and some pretensions of education and networking. At the midrange scale they're research institutions that have to put up with students running around. At the low end, they're merely bloated administrative work programs with football teams that pretend to care about students (and this administrative parasitic presence is also present but able to conceal itself more in the midtier and elite universities).
And any talk about student loan relief or more money for higher education will founder on the rocks of those facts. There's going to be a painful reckoning at some point. It can't go on the way it is- and it shouldn't.
"
For most people, yes, formal education is only something they desire to obtain access to better jobs. And I don't blame them a wit for it.
On “Blowing Out the Speaker”
MY said something along the lines that the Dems "should have asks but keep them modest but otherwise be gettable" and I agree with him. It's all moot, though, because McCarthy never offered anything.
I have read an interesting thread that Kremlinology'd the 45 days continuing resolution and concluded that McCarthy offered it, the way he offered it, under the assumption that the Dems would vote against it and he could, thus, blame the shut down on them.
"
Because McCarthy was very public in his statements that the Dems had asked for nothing and he would offer nothing?
Note, also, that no minority party in the House has voted for the majority party's speaker in ages. When was the last time it happened? And moderates think it's somehow on the Dems that McCarthy went down to defeat?
"
I'm not precluding Dems voting for a new more rational Republican Speaker- not at all. So I'd be all for it.
"
Also it's pretty fishing bold to give a farewell speech to your caucus where you explicitly admitted the Democrats offered to intervene on your behalf but you refused and said you would rather get ousted than “sell your soul” and work with the other party, and then walk out from that speech directly to a press conference and proceed to blame Democrats for not saving you.
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1709341271595094177?s=20
“...And i did it for the good of the conference. The Dems came to me to make a deal. I wasn't going to make a deal.”
https://x.com/JakeSherman/status/1709341670221775347?s=20
“I'm not going to sell my soul to Democrats.”
"
The outcome of subsidizing weasels like McCarthy is we get more weasels like McCarthy- that's one heck of a downside. Maybe the next Speaker will view their right wingers with more caution or internalize that if they want some moderate left support they might actually have to offer to pay policy asks for it or, at a bare minimum, ask politely for it.
On “Kevin McCarthy Ousted As Speaker of the House”
I suppose, but the Democratic caucus is not a monolith even though they've been in admirable array lately. Giving away votes to a proven double-crosser on the nebulous hope that at some point it’ll flip around to your benefit is a tough ask and if the Dems splintered over it that’d be a painful cost for a faint hope of benefit. Maybe if a longer standing Democratic Minority leader were in charge* they could try such a maneuver and pull it off.
*Note: it’s good Pelosi stepped down and Jeffries has done a great job so far.
On “Blowing Out the Speaker”
Other than saying "clowns" instead of monkeys I agree with you on this and am baffled at the tut-tutting that the Dems should be expected to bail McCarthy out on this.
"A l'exemple de Saturne, la révolution dévore ses enfants".
On “Kevin McCarthy Ousted As Speaker of the House”
A quick google search tells me that the Speaker of the House of representatives gets paid a cool $223,500.00 per year. So if elected I would, assuredly, take the job. I think my boss might even let me take unpaid leave to do it for the few weeks that I could, maybe, keep it.
So yeah. Though I'd never live down being a Republican Speaker of the House down around here and Prof. Hanley would probably unfriend me on facebook.
"
I think there're more moving parts to this than you're considering. For instance the literal fact of Blue members moving to support a Red speaker would cause more red congresscritters to stop supporting him. Which then requires even more team Blue congresscritters to support him and steadily increases the "wait, why are we doing this for this deceitful, doublecrossing right wing fisher?" questions.
And, it bears noting, that the Speaker in question very publicly indicated he wouldn't offer anything to team Blue for their support and didn't want it.
"
Scheming graspers for power generally have an idea of wanting to preserve it and use it for something.
"
Yes our Kevin said he wouldn't run well after this conversation.
That being said, you CAN elect someone Speaker even if they aren't running. A majority of the house could elect me speaker if they so chose to- right now- even though I'm assuredly not campaigning for the office.
"
It is entirely possible.
"
It was the noontide of political libertarianism and we didn't even realize.
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Thank you for this. I laughed heartily for a minute, then I drank some water and laughed again.
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Hahahah!
"
You can find any given number of Dems if you cut a deal with Dem leadership. If you don't then you may find it tricky because the Dems have been in charming array for quite some time now.
As for bribing Republicans, I don't see what any Dems could offer them- most Republicans are more afraid of being primaried than defeated in the general and any moderate GOP congresscritters know they'll go down if their party is wiped out. What do you offer such folks that's persuasive?
"
I laughed heartily. True, maybe there'll be an absolute nutter replacing him or maybe the GOP will just stand in a circle shooting each other until the 45 day CR runs out and we paralyze into a shut down but those are future worries.
McCarthy deserved to be deposed and he was deposed by the wingers he coddled so assiduously- the fisher had it coming.
On “From NBC News: Sen. Dianne Feinstein, a trailblazer in U.S. politics and the longest-serving woman in the Senate, has died at 90.”
She's a placeholder Senator until the actual candidates are chosen by their voters. In that context I see no serious matter for concern and if she tries to run for the seat then her voters can (and will) weigh in on the carpetbagger allegations.
"
Who the actual fish cares what the Jacobin clowns think? Democrats most assuredly don't.
"
Well, with 20/20 hindsight we should be pretty grateful Kerry lost. 2004-2008 was a brutal term. The reeking fiascos of Iraq and Afghanistan were just becoming evident but both were already locked in and the great recession was gearing up.
But reading Noonan celebrating the Swift Boating was amusing. Just another vector point in the rights relentless descent into alternative reality but not a small vector point.
"
Fair enuff, it was fun!
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Well it's a fun thought experiment but utterly ludicrous politics even if Harris were willing to accept it graciously.
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Woof! That aged like an egg in a glove compartment in august!