Yet, I would almost feel a sense of relief is this p.o.s. were to be shot down - especially by a progressive caucus.

I suppose that kind of mindless anger on my part is the type of thing that fuels revolution  - the type where people burn their own cities.

What a goddam mess.

For the deal itself, given the available information, is a disaster, and not just for President Obama and his party. It will damage an already depressed economy; it will probably make America's long-run deficit problem worse, not better; and most important, by demonstrating that raw extortion works and carries no political cost, it will take America a long way down the road to banana-republic status.
...
Make no mistake about it, what we're witnessing here is a catastrophe on multiple levels.

It is, of course, a political catastrophe for Democrats, who just a few weeks ago seemed to have Republicans on the run over their plan to dismantle Medicare; now Mr. Obama has thrown all that away. And the damage isn't over: there will be more choke points where Republicans can threaten to create a crisis unless the president surrenders, and they can now act with the confident expectation that he will. Krugman

Dear Senator Durbin;

I'm totally disgusted at being talked down to as the spoiled, selfish child that refuses to accept the wisdom of his elders.

If Obama truly believes that the only way to preserve the Democratic Party is to destroy it, then he needs to step down.

There are values worth fighting for. There are issues that are not negotiable.

"What you are now witnessing is the most masterful rope-a-dope ever performed by a president against an opposition party in Congress."

Manufacturing activity barely grew in July, falling to the weakest level since just after the recession ended.

I have traffic school to take care of today.  Normally I'd rather have teeth pulled without anaesthesia than do traffic school.  But with the news today, blah, traffic school is a spa day.

The debt deal announced today is a victory for bipartisan compromise (and here I thought the issue was the debt ceiling), for the economy (the one I live with or the one the banksters, Wall Street and the elite control?) and for the American people (notice there's no mention of which American people this is a victory for, although I know of one person - his name rhymes with "Barack Obama" - who pretty much desperately needs to claim victory now - so his potential donors don't go looking to remove a couple of zeroes from the checks he wants them to write -  if he wants any chance to haul out the Greek columns for his 2012 victory celebration).

I wonder what happens when the confidence fairy doesn't show up; oh, I guess that's when we get the "go shopping" speech, huh?

In any event, the deal will certainly be a loss for Democrats and I can only hope no Democrat, from the White House on down, attempts to claim victory. That would be self defeating.

=

Load up on guns,
Bring your friends
It's fun to lose and to pretend
She's overboard self assured
Oh no I know, a dirty word.

Hello, hello, hello, hello?
Hello, hello, hello, how low?