I see what you’re doing here. We all do. I think all of us are, like Amy described in her righteous rant yesterday, sick and tired of being held hostage by extremist right wing ideologues who behave like petulant children when they don’t get absolutely everything they want. What’s most infuriating about it is that these very same ideologues have […]

Wow, you guys are incredible I suppose it’s a good sign that Republicans are finally waving the red flag on repealing the Affordable Care Act as a condition for not putting a bullet in the brain of our national (and possibly the international) economy. For weeks now, that has been their precondition for passing a budget to fund the government […]

Ruh roh, Raggy The whole “if you’re in a hole, stop digging” thing seems to really be escaping the tea party members in Congress these days. This past week, for example, my Congressman, Tim Walberg, sent out an email hilariously titled “Rep Walberg Works to Reopen Government”, claiming that he “passed four pieces of legislation to fund the entire government”. […]

Let’s stop this talk about Democrats refusing to negotiate and compromise. It’s a lie. [Photo credit: Chris Savage | Eclectablog] I am continuously astonished by how well Republicans are able to shape reality and perceptions. Honestly, with enough focus group work by Pete Luntz and poll-testing of messaging, they can convince Americans of nearly anything. The fact that our media […]

It’s kinda like whack-a-mole. Maybe whack-a-whacko? According to the latest Quinnipiac poll, 72% of the country opposes shutting down major activities of the federal government as a way to stop the Affordable Care Act from being put into place. Despite this and despite the fact that there are enough votes in the House to pass the “clean” continuing resolution to […]

Remember that time President Bush canceled an overseas trip because Democrats shut down the government? Yeah, me neither. Photo credit: Anne C. Savage, special to Eclectablog President Obama had scheduled a trip to Indonesia and Brunei over the next few days but, because Republicans insist on holding the government hostage to exact some sort of concessions from President Obama and […]

Such utterly blatant pandering ought to be below ANY politician. Even tea partiers. It was a VERY busy couple of days at the World War II memorial in Washington, D.C. First, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann made an utter spectacle of herself, diving in front of cameras to slather herself in patriotic, anti O-BAH-mah rhetoric with elderly WWII vets as a […]

What IS it about Texas Republicans??? I posed this Q&A on Twitter this morning: Q: If a bad guy says, "Come closer and I'll shoot this guy" and someone comes closer, who do you blame for the guy getting shot? A: Obama. — Chris Savage (@Eclectablog) October 3, 2013 This is, at its most basic level, the situation in Congress […]

Trying to be nationally relevant, Governor? [Caricature by DonkeyHotey from photos by Anne C. Savage for Eclectablog] In what may be one of the nauseating media efforts I’ve seen in a while, Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has embarked on an internet tour to lecture Washington, D.C. lawmakers and President Obama on how to “end the gridlock”. He sent out this […]

That was a day we will all remember President Obama signs the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, photo by Congressman Keith Ellison Well, I looked out the window the morning, Day Two of Obamacare, and the sky was still UP and the sun was rising. IN THE WEST! No, wait [turns around] IN THE EAST! Despite warnings of the […]

It’s easy to make a fool look foolish As I mentioned earlier the other day, Michigan Congressman Gary Peters pledged to donate his salary to charity if Republicans were successful at shutting down the government. The story took an interesting turn when, earlier this evening, Luke Russert tweeted this little tidbit about Texas Senator Ted Cruz: Ted Cruz will copy […]