Most of the time I find TTDB funny, but the realism here just doesn’t work for me.
Thanks to Tom, I just had a moment of clarity: this is all about the GOP promoting its own alternative medical system – “sociopathy.”
That’s interesting. Many BBers know that I generally having nothing good to say about TTDB. But this one is so over the top that I found it quite funny. Most of the other strips read like they could be unadorned transcriptions from the daily news, but this one shows some imagination and humor.
Good stuff, Ruben.
Often the strips are good for conversation starters, but not humorous. I actually cracked a grin at this one, and that’s more reaction than I’ve had for any previous TTDB.
You folks from the south have to do something about this. These Tea Party rubes are running the country off a cliff. Most congressional districts are tightly gerrymandered. People from the rest of country are going to have to send money to other states to get this idiots out of politics. If you are not involved in the political process then your opinion doesn’t matter. Instead of watching sports or reality television get into the political process. That is the fastest way to get the government we want.
The comic is funny because its true.
Sort of.
The real-world situation is not funny at all.
Exactly. There was a time when I would have thought of this as satire. Now, since we’re talking about people who sing Amazing Grace before killing yet another deal to end the shutdown, I can’t read this as satire. This strikes me more as a frighteningly accurate representation of how the people responsible for the shutdown really see themselves and the world.
i actually really liked this one. satan shrieking made it all worth it, haha
So, if Thoreau didn’t say that, did someone else say something similar…?
I don’t understand why this isn’t bigger news: the day before the shutdown, the Republicans changed the rules so that only the Republican majority leader could call a vote to re-open the government.
Previously, any house member could call such a vote, but the GOP realized that it might not have enough votes in their ranks to keep the government shut down (indeed, they now officially don’t), so they changed the rules so that even if a bipartisan majority of the house wanted to re-open the government, they could not do so unless Eric Cantor chose to call the vote.
They changed to rules specifically to allow the party leader to keep the government shut as long as they like.
How the actual fuck is that democracy? And how the actual fuck do the Republicans still get to play the aggrieved party that just wants to negotiate – and many, many of their followers still believe them?
Would it make sense to outlaw gerrymandering? Can we demand an amendment that says congressional distracts must be as near to rectangular as possible? I know it probably makes too much sense but letting the legislators draw their own district lines is foolish.
As bad as gerrymandering is, I’ve read some recently apparently well-researched papers that suggest that “self-gathering” is playing a role of similar magnitude in district politics. Worth keeping in mind.
Not sure if this is feasible at a federal level, but certainly it has been done in some states, such as CA, and the results have been very positive, with more competitive races forcing representatives to better connect with their constituents.
I dunno, there is a level of entertainment to be gained from the GOP being both the antagonist and protagonist in their political theater show.
Besides, at least now I see polls coming out saying that neither party has the will of the people in mind. It seems like it only took the government literally doing nothing good to finally shift a majority opinion that way. Maybe it will only be a little bit longer before people are willing to take a risk on something new.
“Most people who toss around quotations from famous people don’t even care if they are genuine.” —Socrates
The flu shot and the leaping Scalia elicited a (barely) audible chuckle – I think that the kids call it a (b)AC.
Is there an actually viable third option? It seems that this might be the time to start one, but it will be a long fight to get a new party to power. Where should the third option sit on the political spectrum? As an outsider I would suggest the left, since from our perspective, you have a centre-right party and a crazy-right party at the moment.
It alarms me how much of politics might owe its continued existence to “entertainment value”. It seems the only reason Sarah Palin and half the Republican candidate nominees during the last election were kept around is because, rather than listen to some boring old folks having a sober discussion about “issues”, people just couldn’t wait to see what those wacky funsters were going to do next.
