House Republicans Call Out Senate Republicans Over Government Shutdown Plan

Does Ted Cruz have a plan to get 41 votes? Does he have a strategy he’s executing on to get 41 votes? Not that I’m aware of. Has he ever come to the House leadership and said, ‘Here’s my plan to get 41 votes in the Senate, to hold the line so we can defund Obamacare?’ Never. No. He’s just on his twitter account attacking House Republicans.

A frustrated but anonymous “GOP leadership aide” to NBC News, criticizing tea party Republicans vying for the 2016 presidential race, like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, who want to shut down the government (or at least pretend their goal isn’t to gain political advantage) in yet another attempt to derail the Affordable Care Act.

If You Have a Sister, Be Thankful She’s Not Like Liz Cheney

In 2004, Dick Cheney proved that even conservative Republicans are one gay child away from a sensible view on marriage. In 2012, Liz Cheney is proving that Republicans will sell out a sibling to win a primary.

— LOLGOP, National Memo columnist, noting that Wyoming Senate candidate Liz Cheney declared herself against marriage equality in an effort to prove she is even more conservative than incumbent Sen. Mike Enzi. Cheney’s sister, Mary, is openly gay.

Bringing “I Blame Obama” to a New Level

29%

Louisiana Republicans who blame Pres. Obama for the federal government’s response to Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Obama was eight months into his term as a freshman senator when the disaster struck, but only 28% of the state’s GOP voters blame George “Doin’ a helluva job Brownie” Bush, despite the fact that he was actually president at the time. The other 44% said they can’t say who was at fault, or more likely, can’t admit it was Pres. Bush.

Even Seniors Are Starting to Dislike Republicans

Remember when Republicans held their noses and voted for Mitt Romney in 2012? The results showed that really, really hating Candidate A isn’t enough to overcome feeling pretty meh about Candidate B.

A new poll, from a Democratic polling group, shows the same scenario heading into 2014.

Just 28 percent of voters 65 and older had a favorable view of the Republican Party in a national survey conducted last month by the Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg, versus 40 percent who had a positive view of the Democrats. That’s a reversal from a poll Greenberg conducted in early 2011, when 43 percent of seniors saw Republicans favorably and 37 percent saw Democrats that way.

“It is now strikingly clear that [seniors] have turned sharply against the GOP,” Erica Seifert, a senior associate at Greenberg’s firm, wrote on the company’s website this week. “We have seen other voters pull back from the GOP, but among no group has this shift been as sharp as it is among senior citizens.”

And yet, seniors still say they will vote Republican. For now.

[…]

Voters: Democrats are Bad, but Republicans are Worse

51%

Of Americans say Republicans are responsible for gridlock in Washington, D.C., while 35% percent say President Obama “lacks the skills to convince leaders of Congress to work together,” a new Quinnipiac poll finds. Asked another way, 53% say Obama is doing “too little” to compromise with congressional Republicans, but 68% of voters say congressional Republicans are doing “too little.” Said pollster Peter Brown: “Voters think the Democrats and Obama aren’t playing nice, but they think the Republicans are worse.”

Peggy Noonan Auditions for the Role of “The New Phyllis Schlafly” on Live TV

Noonan

If you missed former Reagan speech writer Peggy Noonan’s over-the-top performance on ABC’s This Week, Wonkette can catch you up, in superb Wonkette style. The site has the video of Noonan, known for her soaring grandiloquence, gagging verbosity and tortured, drawn-out articulation, condescending over the filibuster by Texas state Sen. Wendy Davis.

Wonkette also points out the ridiculousness of Noonan, who is 62, dismissing Davis, who is 50, as the victim of youthful enthusiasm.

On the one hand, she’s very impressed with “the story of this young woman, she’s so spirited. You know, she has such energy and she seems to have such commitment.” You know, the young woman who is 50 years old and has been in the Texas Senate for four years, after a decade of serving on the Fort Worth City Council, the sweet li’l thing. Sure, her youthful passion is admirable, but these kids, what do they know? Especially those 50-year-old teen moms who have learned nothing from their experience?

Is Noonan queuing up to replace Phyllis Schlafly if and when the old bird finally kicks it? If so, congratulations young lady, you got the part!

See the whole post at Wonkette.

Rick Perry is Unclear on the Concept of Democracy

Rick Perry’s remarks are incredibly condescending and insulting to women. This is exactly why the vast majority of Texans believe that politicians shouldn’t be involved in a woman’s personal health care decisions. Women are perfectly capable of deciding whether to choose adoption, end a pregnancy, or raise a child, and they don’t need Rick Perry’s help making that decision.

— Celine Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, commenting on Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) criticism of state Sen. Wendy Davis, whose 11-hour speech on the floor of the legislature postponed a vote on an anti-abortion bill. Perry told Right to Life members at a national conference, “I’m all about honest, open debate…But what we witnessed Tuesday was nothing more than the hijacking of the Democratic process.” Davis spoke on topic, without food or water, in pink running shoes, and was not allowed to touch furniture during the vigil.

Republican, Determined to Ignore the World as It Is, Introducing DOMA-Like Constitutional Amendment

A majority of Americans don’t like President Obama as president, but he’s still the president. What did not happen is what the court and then the folks pushing for [DOMA repeal] hoped would happen: that it would end the debate. The debate is not over.

Rep. Tim Huelskamp (R-Kan.), showing there are at least two ways he’s delusional. A majority of Americans do approve of Pres. Obama, and the debate on marriage equality died a natural death within the past few years, as more states have granted it. Huelskamp is wasting time and effort by introducing a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage that can’t possibly pass.