Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job "Many of them seem loaded,"

Grayson blames shutdown on GOP literally drinking on the job
"Many of them seem loaded," the liberal congressman says, charging his GOP colleagues smelled like alcohol
BY JOSH EIDELSON



.....

In a Tuesday interview, Rep. Alan Grayson charged that Republican House members have been literally intoxicated while casting votes on the continuing resolutions that set the stage for today’s government shutdown. Noting “a number of public reports that you can smell alcohol on their breath as they’re voting gleefully to shut down the government and create chaos,” Grayson said that he had personally witnessed GOP colleagues smelling like alcohol. “Many of them seem loaded,” said Grayson. The Florida congressman declined to name names, saying, “it’s the usual suspects,” but that he didn’t “really feel like getting that personal with people.”

A spokesperson for Speaker John Boehner did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Politico reporter Ginger Gibson tweeted Saturday that she could “smell the booze wafting from members as they walk off the floor.”

Grayson said he thinks on-the-job alcohol consumption by GOP House members has “been a problem all year long.”

“It’s a fact we all have to live with,” Grayson told Salon, “and it’s making them violent and abusive towards America.”


the rest:
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/01/grayson_blames_shutdown_on_gop_literally_drinking_on_the_job/

KRUGMAN: Pay NO Attention To "The Kamikaze Kongress"

October 1, 2013, 12:59 pm
Good Glitches

So, very early reports are that Obamacare exchanges are, as expected, having some technical glitches on the first day — maybe even a bit worse than expected, because it appears that volume has been much bigger than predicted.

Here’s what you need to know: this is good, not bad, news for the program. The glitches will get fixed; remember the calamitous rollout of Medicare Part D? What matters is whether enough people — especially, of course, young, healthy people — actually do sign up for insurance. If they do, health reform will be a success, and will become irreversible.

The big fear has been that a combination of ignorance and misinformation would keep people away, that they wouldn’t sign up either because they didn’t know that insurance was now available, or because Republicans had convinced them that the program was the spawn of the devil, or something. Lots of people logging on and signing up on the very first day — a day when the Kamikaze Kongress is dominating the headlines — is an early indication that it’s going to be fine, that plenty of people will sign up for the first year of health reform.

Yes, there may be some negative news stories about the glitches. But Obamacare is not up for a revote. As Jonathan Bernstein says, the only thing that matters is whether it works. And today’s heavy volume is yet another sign — along with abating health costs and below-expected premiums — that it will.

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/01/good-glitches/

Charles Pierce's Xlnt Rant: "The Reign Of Morons Is Here"

OCT 1, 2013
The Reign Of Morons Is Here
By Charles P. Pierce at 9:10am

Only the truly child-like can have expected anything else.

..........

We have elected an ungovernable collection of snake-handlers, Bible-bangers, ignorami, bagmen and outright frauds, a collection so ungovernable that it insists the nation be ungovernable, too. We have elected people to govern us who do not believe in government.

The difference between Democrats and Republicans in one image, on one day

Via Americans United for Change, an image that says it all today:



http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/10/01/1242952/-The-difference-between-Democrats-and-Republicans-in-one-image-on-one-day
http://www.americansunitedforchange.org/

Ted Cruz Erupts in Hooters After Expense-Account Master Card Refused

Ted Cruz Erupts in Hooters After Expense-Account Master Card Refused



WEST PALM BEACH — Following a live radio interview today, Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz and host Rush Limbaugh immediately left the studio and went for lunch at a nearby Hooters but the restaurant refused the Senator’s government expense-account credit card and asked that the $53 tab be paid in cash.

That set Senator Cruz off according to media reports.

“He got the hiccups he was so mad,” Hooters’ assistant manager Kyle Lane told the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein.

After shouting at Hooters’ waitresses and management for an extended period, Cruz admitted he had no cash and was forced to borrow the money from a FOX News reporter.

“At first, the balding guy with the comb-over kinda bellowed that their lunch should be free because, like, didn’t we know who they were?” said Lane. ”Free? Two beef dips extra gravy, basket of onion rings, fried jalapeno poppers, two cheesecakes, two jugs of beer and a diet Coke? No siree.”

“Then the guy with hair tried to pay with a Master Card that said U.S. Government on it…right after he’d been waving his arms around and bragging real loud about how he was single-handedly shutting down the whole U.S. I told ‘em they needed good old American cash.”

Senator Cruz recently completed a 21-hour speech in Congress ostensibly about raising the federal debt ceiling but entirely focused on defunding the Affordable Care Act, better known as Obamacare. Failure to raise that spending figure will result in a shutdown of U.S. Government services, put more than 1 million federal workers on furlough immediately, halt pay for armed forces personnel, close National Parks, and reduce the hours at Congress’ Gym & Health Spa.

“This is ridiculous,” shouted Cruz, standing and jabbing his finger at Kimmie, the young single mother who had been his waitress. “The important business of government must go on even after I’ve shut down all the unimportant business of government. Show me some respect here. I deserve some damn respect here. Did Obama put you up to this? He did didn’t he?”

Senator Cruz and Mr. Limbaugh left the West Palm Beach Hooters after paying the $53 tab with the borrowed money.

He did not leave a tip according to Mr. Lane.



Dan L’Homme
Reportering for The Lapine
SNARK SNARK SNARK:
http://thelapine.ca/ted-cruz-erupts-in-hooters-after-expense-account-master-card-refused/

Ouch: ‘House of Turds’: New York Daily News Cover Skewers Boehner

How the GOP Invented Obamacare...

Democrats Open Big Lead in Generic Ballot

Democrats Open Big Lead in Generic Ballot
Another interesting tidbit from the new Quinnipiac poll:

"Looking at the 2014 Congressional races, voters pick a generic Democrat over a generic Republican candidate 43% to 34%, the widest Democratic margin measured so far."

According to Politico, Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) "has privately warned House Republicans that they could lose their majority in 2014 as a result of shutting down the government."


http://www.quinnipiac.edu/institutes-and-centers/polling-institute/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=1958
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2013/10/01/democrats_open_big_lead_in_generic_ballot.html
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/house-senate-government-shutdown-97557.html?hp=t1

Sorry Republicans,

Ted Cruz copies Mich Rep. Peters in donating pay during govt shutdown, Peters responds. Brilliantly.

Gary Peters ✔ @RepGaryPeters
.@sentedcruz joining me to donate pay to charity, but not to stop shutdown. I urge you to drop politics. Irresponsible to do anything less.
5:23 PM - 30 Sep 2013