Perhaps you missed when Nelson was the 60th vote for universal healthcare?
yeah just loved his demanding pro-life concession, such a fucktard.
you really are gabbneb aren't you
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:16 (twelve years ago) link
with friends like bill nelson, democrats don't need any enemies.
^^^
I mean we've all seen what a roaring success this Dem majority in the Senate has been amirite
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
mattyglesias @mattyglesias -- Ben Nelson has to be the least-loved Senator in Washington. He somehow never managed to snag the gushing coverage of other "centrists."
lol
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
also lol.
btw "I am womansplainer hear me roar" is an oddly compelling screen name. and i don't even know what a "womansplainer" is!
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:18 (twelve years ago) link
are you familiar with this little dittyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmifO2sKT7g&feature=related
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Had drinks last night with a friend who works on the Hill, has worked on a campaign or two since 2008. He was pretty confident about the Dems losing the Senate but regaining the House -- says a bunch of criminal investigations will start coming sometime in the spring and summer over money.
A novel theory, and I told him that he would owe me quite a bit of $$ in November should this fever dream come to pass.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
Nelson voted for the bill, which grants Americans universal healthcareHis GOP successor would never do so
You can quibble about the marginal provisions, but these are simple facts, whether you like them (or Nelson; I don't either) or not.
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:20 (twelve years ago) link
i do know that song! other songs i know: don't go breakin' my heart; muscrat love; afternoon delight.
i didn't know the word "womansplainer" is in that song, tho.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:21 (twelve years ago) link
to "mansplain" is a thing now, so shakey mo is just being clever.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
ah. "womansplaining," as operationally defined in the context of defining 'mansplaining'.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:23 (twelve years ago) link
Anyway, good for Nelson for voting to pass heathcare (despite his strongest attempts to weaken it). I don't see this administration ever being so bold again and I don't see a Dem senate majority mattering at all in the short term. So his retirement is mostly inconsequential.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:24 (twelve years ago) link
i think you're wrong about that part (admin. never being that bold again).
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:27 (twelve years ago) link
I do, too.
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:27 (twelve years ago) link
Administrations are rarely bold in a second term.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:28 (twelve years ago) link
a second-term obama can aim high, since he doesn't have to worry about re-election. i'm not saying he will, but it's certainly possible (e.g., bush's effort to radically change social-security at the beginning of his second-term).
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:28 (twelve years ago) link
well, alfred might be right. i'd have to research it some, but you can see why -- in theory -- a second-term president might feel more empowered to push for his or her agenda.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
Reagan and FDR's second terms are the only exceptions that come to mind.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
There really is no good basis to generalize about the Presidency based on history. There just isn't much data out there.
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:29 (twelve years ago) link
historically all the big shit happens in the first term, with some very rare exceptions
xp
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:30 (twelve years ago) link
well, alfred might be right. i'd have to research it some, but you can see why -- in theory -- a second-term president might feel more empowered to push for his or her agenda
It never happens, and it's usually the stick with which political parties beat voters ("Don't worry -- he'll take care of X in the second term").
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:30 (twelve years ago) link
i'll concede the point. but it makes no sense to me; why not swing for the fences in the second term?
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
it's more that their parties aren't going to support sweeping agendas in the second term since the President isn't going around to help them get re-elected
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
Because the president is a lame duck for the next four years?
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:31 (twelve years ago) link
going TO BE around
rmde
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:32 (twelve years ago) link
It's fairly well known that Obama hasn't done anything to help Congressional Democrats get re-elected. They're pretty pissed about it.
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
okay, that makes sense, i guess. gutless, but rational, behavior.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:33 (twelve years ago) link
You're right -- we'll overlook 220+ years of American history
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
we need at least 300 years for an adequate sample-size!
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:34 (twelve years ago) link
we'll overlook 220+ years of American history
There are 220+ years of second Presidential terms (in the modern political environment)?
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:35 (twelve years ago) link
You seem to have found two rather notable exceptions to the "rule" (out of how many in the same period) without going back very far.
Of twentieth century presidents who've won a second full term on their own we've got:
McKinleyWilsonFDREisenhowerNixonReaganClinton Bush II
Of the successful ones, FDR's second term was certainly the worst: after the court-packing loss, the failed midterm party purge, and the economy tanking again, he didn't get on with the second New Deal until war was breathing down his neck. Then he set the New Deal aside altogether.
As for Reagan, I give him credit for negotiations with Gorby. The rest of his second term was Bitburg and Iran-Contra.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:40 (twelve years ago) link
and I really shouldn't count McKinley because he lived for only three months of that term.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:41 (twelve years ago) link
why bother running for a second term?
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:46 (twelve years ago) link
Presidents think that history judges second-term presidents more successfully, although Bush II will certainly give them pause.
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:48 (twelve years ago) link
You forgot:
― Aimless, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:48 (twelve years ago) link
SECOND TERM INITIATIVES (RECENT HISTORY)
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:55 (twelve years ago) link
social security reform
this didn't pass btw
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
Nixon's: destroy everyone. (Before he stumbled over the great revelation that then you destroy yourself.)
― clemenza, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
Nixon: getting himself in deeper shit
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
i know. the point isn't what passed, but what was promoted.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:56 (twelve years ago) link
reagan: war-on-drug
a marvelous achievement this is
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
I was thinking Nixon created the EPA in his second term, but it was his first.
― Johnny Fever, Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:57 (twelve years ago) link
reagan: war-on-drug__________________a marvelous achievement this is― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, December 27, 2011
__________________
― Lord Sotosyn, Tuesday, December 27, 2011
alfred speaks like a man holding a whole sheet of lsd drops on wax-paper.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
clinton: state children's health insurance program; adoption and safe families act; foster care independence act
this is pretty pathetic next to the far-reaching implications of previous term's successes: telecomm act, welfare reform, changing FDA rules, NAFTA, reversing the Glass-Steagall act, Commodity Futures Modernization Act Family Medical Leave Act, DOMA...
this is reminding me how much I kind of hate Clinton
― I am womansplainer hear me roar (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 20:00 (twelve years ago) link
Bush II wasn't a "20th century president" btw
― macarena of time (step hen faps), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 20:01 (twelve years ago) link
this is pretty pathetic next to the far-reaching implications of previous term's successes: telecomm act, welfare reform, changing FDA rules, NAFTA, reversing the Glass-Steagall act, Commodity Futures Modernization Act Family Medical Leave Act, DOMA..
...raising the top rate by nearly 9 points, EITC expansion, community block grants...
― illegal crew member (C.K. Dexter Holland), Tuesday, 27 December 2011 20:03 (twelve years ago) link
there you go.
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 20:04 (twelve years ago) link
Noam Scheiber @noamscheiber -- What I appreciate about Ben Nelson: He spent lots of time making Dem policies crappier to aid re-election to a seat he's giving up. Thanks!
― Daniel, Esq., Tuesday, 27 December 2011 22:08 (twelve years ago) link