Dept. of Irony: Shutdown masked real failure of HealthCare.gov

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 1 Comment
Go ahead and dress up your dorky son as an Indian. You probably won't run into any.

Go ahead and dress up your dorky son as an Indian. You probably won’t run into any.

In the aftermath of this month’s federal government shutdown, a Washington Post-ABC poll has found that approval ratings of the Republican Party have fallen to an all-time low. Sixty-two percent of Americans say they hold an unfavorable view of the GOP, with 40% describing their views as “strongly unfavorable.” Eight in ten disapprove of the shutdown. Tea Party-identified voters overwhelmingly blame Obama for the shutdown, but mainline Republicans blame their own party almost as often as they blame the president. It’s starting to look like the promise of future budget negotiations wasn’t worth it.

Continue reading

Close Readings: Jeff Gordinier is sad you’re petty, but so it goes

By Dan Brooks in Close Reading 2 Comments
Food writer Jeff Gordinier—it's not his fault; everyone looks like a douche at PoetryFoundation.

Food writer Jeff Gordinier—it’s not his fault; everyone looks like a douche on PoetryFoundation.

A couple weeks ago, my friend and editor Erika Fredrickson wrote this article for the Missoula Independent about Georgia Pellegrini’s “Girl Hunter” weekends. In addition to letting me use the word “rimjob” in music reviews, Erika is very nice, so I was disappointed to hear that New York Times food writer Jeff Gordinier tried to big-time her when he showed up to cover Girl Hunter, too. Gordinier believed he had an exclusive, and he appears to have strong-armed Pellegrini’s publicist into excluding Erika from the falconry and pheasant hunting portions of the weekend. You can read about the whole sordid affair on Jim Romenesko’s media blog, along with Gordinier’s explanation, which is the subject of today’s Close Reading.

Continue reading

Friday links! Loud, unnecessary, blows edition

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 0 Comment
Louie Gohmert (R–TX) rails against something for a picture.

Louie Gohmert (R–TX) rails against something for a picture.

What a difference a day makes. It seems like only a few minutes before yesterday that the government was on the verge of fiscal catastrophe, mired in stalemate and preparing to default on its most concrete obligations. Then everything was fine. A small group of conservative Republicans stopped doing what they had been doing, and Washington snapped back into function again. “Function” is perhaps an overstatement, but I cannot help but notice that, unlike most historical events, this massive failure of governance had exactly one contributing factor. I’m beginning to think that the loudest corner of American politics is also the least necessary. Today is Friday, leaves drift down in front of my window, and the rakes have been supplanted by the blowers. Won’t you leave a passive-aggressive note for the neighbors with me?

Continue reading

We do! We do have a deal!

By Dan Brooks in Uncategorized 0 Comment

output_8JqVVN

Our long national nightmare is over: Joe Biden brought muffins to EPA headquarters, and the federal government is open for business again. Congress reached an agreement last night, after conservative Republicans in the House finally agreed to settle for defunding of Obamacare delay of the individual mandate delay of the medical device tax nothing. I’m glad the government is working again. I’m super glad the US didn’t default on its debts and cause Cthulhu to rise from his oceanic trench. And I’m somewhere between those two levels of glad that Tea Party extortion was not rewarded. Threatening to wreck the country does not get you want you want. We proved it. The events of the last three weeks will stand, hopefully, as a lesson to future generations of jerks. The constitutional system is not your weapon. It’s not your hostage. It’s your tool.

Continue reading

Do we have a deal?

By Dan Brooks in Politics versus Government 1 Comment
Senator Ted Cruz (R–TX), who has quietly stopped being the biggest dick in the world, for now

Senator Ted Cruz (R–TX) has quietly stopped being the biggest dick in the world, for now.

Earlier this morning, Republican and Democratic leaders in the Senate struck a deal to fund the government through January 15 and extend the debt ceiling to February 7. The Senate will essentially dictate the bill to the House, which will hopefully pass it and send it back to the Senate before we run out of borrowing authority tomorrow. Or Ted Cruz will scotch the whole thing. Or fractious House Republicans will refuse to pass anything, and the United States will resume its proud, constitutionally mandated position as a second-rate power. But for now, it looks like we have a deal.

Continue reading